Stratford-upon-Avon Astronomical Society http://www.astro.org.uk December 2007

Our faithful steed has a It has been proposed that the Society as Santa travels fast and NORAD Santa costume on this month. Committee should consist of the following: Cams take photos of Santa and his

reindeer! Download in • Chairman preparation for tracking Santa in 3D on Vice Chairman • Eve: • General Secretary • Treasurer http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html • Librarian • Newsletter Editor • Events Secretary • Membership Secretary (new post)

(Up to two other members may be appointed as appropriate)

The formal business should take no longer than 15 minutes - although any further discussion, about how the Society or its activities should develop, for example, Rangifer (the Reindeer) was a small would be most welcome. located between the Following the AGM we will hold our of Cassiopeia and usual club night including observing if it is . It was created by the clear. A number of people have asked for French astronomer Pierre Charles help with recently purchased telescopes and we hope these people will be able to Lemonnier in 1736 to commemorate attend with their telescopes. If anybody the expedition of Pierre Louis Moreau else has been treated to a new telescope de Maupertuis to Lapland. Geodetical or other equipment or books for Christmas “Never mind that, I think I’ve discovered a observations from the expedition or has other recent purchases, please do new planet” proved Earth's oblateness. The bring them along to show us. constellation is no longer in use. (Steve Smith) CHRISTMAS LIGHT SHOW

FORTHCOMING MEETINGS FOR SALE If the outdoor light pollution near you hasn’t reached ridiculous levels (courtesy (All meetings begin at 7:30pm) Optics Europa 200mm (8") f6 with of the fashion for outdoor Christmas EQ5 mount. 25mm and 10mm Plossl eye- lighting) then you may well see a lovely TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11TH pieces, 2x Barlow and 6 piece filter set. meteor shower. Look out for the Geminids "High Time Resolution Astrophysics" Includes all lens caps and manual. Mint starting at 10pm on Thursday, December (Prof Tom Marsh) th condition: £190. Seller wishes to buy a 13 and carrying through ‘til dawn on the th WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 9TH smaller more portable telescope. There 14 . Geminids are medium-speed AGM & Telescope Workshop are pictures and more details found at: meteors. Most of them don't leave http://tinyurl.com/259m25 glowing trains, but the brighter ones are TUESDAY, JANUARY 22ND George Smyth (01926) 312877, often coloured (yellow, green and blue are "Robotic astronomy in the 21st century" most common). The proportion of bright (Dr Paul Roche) [email protected] meteors and fireballs is higher during and WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13TH NORAD TRACKS SANTA after maximum than on pre-maximum nights. The shower is active from Club Night th th December 7 -17 . Both December TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26TH 12/13th and December 14/15th are worth "Planetary Nebulae" watching in addition to the peak night. (Owen Brazell) The Geminids are slightly unusual in

TH that they originate from the shedding of SOCIETY AGM, JAN 9 2008 material from an asteroid - a near-Earth object named 3200 Phaethon. It is thought We will hold our our AGM at the beginning that this asteroid may once have been a of January's Club Night commencing at comet as its orbit is highly elliptical, like 8pm on Wednesday 9th January 2008 the orbit of a typical comet, and brings with the following agenda: Phaethon extremely close to the sun, • Review and approval of the Society twice as close as Mercury itself. Every 1.4 accounts years, Phaethon swoops through the inner • Adoption of Ken & Chris Sheldon as solar system where repeated blasts of Honorary Members solar heat could easily reduce a • Election of a new Chairperson flamboyant comet to the rocky skeleton • Election of other Society Officers we see today.

• Election of vacant committee posts Beginning at 2:00am Mountain Time [9am If this scenario is correct, Phaethon- • AOB GMT] on , you can track the-comet may have produced many rich Santa Live as he makes his historical streams of dust that spent hundreds or journey around the world! This is exciting, thousands of years drifting toward Earth

Steve Smith (Chair) Lynda Smith (Treasurer & Membership) 0121 458 4197 ([email protected]) 01295 267368 ([email protected]) Julia Waller (Newsletter Editor & Librarian) 12 Badger Road, Binley, Coventry, CV3 2PU. Sue Whitecross (Secretary) Mike Whitecross (Events) 024 7644 0778 ([email protected]) 01789 731784 ([email protected]) 01789 731784 ([email protected])

Stratford-upon-Avon Astronomical Society http://www.astro.org.uk December 2007 until the first Geminid meteors appeared This involved the implementation of a handle it very well,' noted Hale during the during the US Civil War. Since then, modification to flight software on the pre-STS-117 flight briefing. Geminids have been a regular shower orbiters, and new ground procedures. 'We're making some changes to the peaking every year in mid-December. YERO is a problem that was first way the software works, which will be 3200 Phaethon is now catalogued as a highlighted when Discovery's STS-116 fairly simple and easy. So if we need to at "PHA" - a potentially hazardous asteroid launch window was restricted to launching the end of this year, fly across the end of before the mission could the year, we will be able to do that. overlap the change of year. 'We will have some restrictions on the In the end, Discovery ground software on the ground at the arrived home before Kennedy Space Center by way of the Christmas, moving the launch capability, which will restrict us focus to any mission that from launching literally on New Year's may occur at the end of Eve. So there's probably a day or so that 2007. we would not launch at the end of the The YERO problem year.' relates to the shuttle orbiter's computers needing CHRISTMAS CROSSWORD CLUES to reset through a change of year, which could cause a Across glitch on orbit. While a 2. Doggone contingency was already in 4. King Ken sees double place - involving the orbiter 5. The inventor of warp drive remaining docked to the 7. Decommissioned constellation International Space Station 12. The foal of ? (ISS) during a YERO event 14. This element keeps you in touch 15. Scientist drops the ball - a final solution to the problem was sought by Down shuttle manager Wayne 1. Astronomer in “The Scottish Play” Hale. 3. Apparent and absolute 'The shuttle computers, 6. Sought after refractor when they were originally 8. Travel tool for a medical professional programmed - the basic 9. This star dominates its group operating system was built 10. Canine in the daylight sky back in the 1970s - it was 11. Fermented honey drink not envisioned that we 13. You won’t need a detective to find this would fly across the end of comet the year, so we didn't whose path misses Earth's orbit by only 2 (Answers in the January issue) million miles. It measures 5 km wide and can be seen through amateur telescopes. In fact, now is a good time to look as 3200 Phaethon is flying past Earth just a few days before this year’s Geminid meteor shower. On December 10th Phaethon will be about 11 million miles away shining like a 14th magnitude star in the constellation . That's too dim for the naked eye but a good target for amateur telescopes equipped with CCD cameras.

A HAPPY NEW YEAR IN SPACE

Shuttle orbiters can now enjoy a happy New Year's Eve on orbit, following the recommendation to implement a YERO (Year End Rollover) solution that was recently designed by NASA engineers.

If you would prefer a colour copy of Equuleus via email (in pdf format) then email Julia at: [email protected]