Lunar & Matariki Calendar
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Newsletter WELLINGTON ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY July 2011, Volume 41, Number 6, ISSN 01147706, www.was.org.nz Wednesday,6thofJuly, 7:30PMatCarterObservatory THIS MONTH’S MEETING FEATURES Lunar & Matariki 07-2011 Calendar a presentation by Frank Andrews In this issue: Presidents rePort for July 2011 2 oBserVinG At PAuAtAHAnui 3 oBserVinG At tHoMAs KinG 3 WAs July’s tAlK resuMé 3 CounCil of tHe WellinGton AstronoMiCAl soCiety inC. 3 June 2011 CrossWord AnsWers 3 soMe AstronoMiCAl relAted siGHts on A reCent triP to euroPe 4 neW ZeAlAnd’s stArliGHt reserVe - A Brief History 5 tHe eVeninG sKy in July 2011 7 Cross Word WitH MurrAy forBes 8 Presidents Report for July 2011 The month of June was very quiet on Guest speaker Fred Watson’s public about Light Pollution. Most enjoyable the astronomy scene although we have talk “Timewarp” about Time Travel and well done Haritina. had one or two good nights but that was and Space was the highlight of the about all. conference although there were I also enjoyed the talk by Gary Sparks some other excellent presentations. “Thinking Outside the Envelope” this Observing at Pauatahanui on June 4th Fred also presented a talk called “An was about his collection of Space Stamps was clouded out and canceled so we moved Alien Like You” this was about Life on and some of the stories behind its superb observing to the following Saturday other worlds. and very extensive collection. June 11th and this to was clouded out. Observing seems to be getting less and If you ever get the chance to here Fred The conference dinner was excellent and less frequent as the weather gets cloudier Watson talk you will be enthralled and and wetter. his humour is just outstanding. Borg, Martian, Romulan, Arthur Dent and Frank as himself. Photography by Dr Who The Reception hall On June 4th Frank Andrews spoke to David Malin the second guest speaker had as a theme ‘Your Favourite Sci-Fi another enthusiastic group in Levin at spoke about ‘The discovery of the Character’, there were some excellent Ron Fishers Stargazers group and he spoke Southern Cross’. David was here to costumes. Fred Watson’s after dinner about Matariki. Frank is also talking to run the Photographic Workshop which speak was called “Poles Apart? Extremes our July meeting and this promises to be was held on the Monday with about 25 of Art and Science”. a very educational topic about the Lunar attendees unfortunately I was not one of Calendars & Matariki. them as I had other business to attend to. Next years conference will be in the I am told that the workshop was excellent Wairarapa and hosted by the Phoenix My talk about “Peter Read the Peoples and attendees learned a lot from it. Astronomical Society. Astronomer” went together quite well as I only had a couple of hours to prepare as Our own Haritina presented a different The Minor Planet symposium on the it was different to what I showed at the version of her trip to the Mars desert Thursday & Friday prior to the RASNZ RASNZ conference. research station this was Sunday morning conference was well attended with she then stepped in for Steve Butler and 30 people and was a most interesting Frank gave us an excellent overview of Deborah Hambly and presented a Light symposium which was all about timing the RASNZ conference. I enjoyed the Pollution presentation which she followed and accuracy and how to achieve exact conference very much. up with a question and answer session timing. A new timing device was launched by David Herald which unfortunately is being built in the USA and is not cheap. On July 9th there will be a first quarter moon. The August talk will be with Dr Melanie Johnston-Hollitt talking about the SKA (Square Kilometer Aray) she will come to us from Victoria University. continued in page 5 Warwick and Marilyn - Pride and Prejudice Zombies Page 2 ISSN 01147706, NUMBER 6, VOLUME 41, WAS NEWSLETTER OBSERVING AT COUNCIL OF THE June 2011 PAUATAHANUI WELLINGTON Crossword answers ASTRONOMICAL Across The next observing evening at SOCIETY INC. Pauatahanui is on July 9th starting 1 . P o l A r i s ‚ T h e n o r t h s t a r ; 5. CANOPUS‚ Autahi; 8. NORTH‚ thorn at 7.00 pm, alternative July 23rd. (anagram); 10. BAr‚ some spiral galaxies If doubtful please ring Chris President: have one; 12. GIOTTO‚ Name of ESA Monigatti on his mobile 021 890 spacecraft that intercepted Halley’s comet; GordonHudson 14. ENCELADUS‚ end clause (anagram); 222 to see if the session is going [email protected] 16. MAss‚ I weight 6 times less on the Moon, ahead. Ph 04 236 5125 but still have the same ???; 17. AlGol‚ Demon star; 19. HyAdes‚ an open cluster in taurus; Vice-President: RogerButland 2 0 . B lu e M o o n ‚ O n c e i n a . ; OBSERVING AT [email protected] 21. HALO‚ angels and galaxies both have one; 22. Hst‚ an orbiting telescope; 27. dAy‚ THOMAS KING Ph 04 478 0419 24 hours; 31. lMC‚ could be mistaken for a cloud; 32. sMC‚ satellite galaxy All public observing evenings Secretary: RossPowell to the Milky Way; 33. NOON‚ mid-day; will be held at the Thomas King [email protected] 34. LOKi‚ volcano on io; 35. DENEB‚ alpha Observatory run by our Observatory Ph 04 389 9765 Cygnus; 37. DESDEMONA‚ A satellite of uranus, a character in othello; 38. telesCoPe‚ elect Director Ross Powell. from 7:00 pm. Treasurer: JohnTalbot pose (anagram); 40. sCORPIUS‚ constellation Ring Ross on 389 9765 to check [email protected] with a sting; 44. REDGiANT‚ A type of star if there are public observing evenings whose core hydrogen has been used up.; 47. Ph 04 293 4620 on most FRIDAYS, starting as soon as KePLER‚ Early German astronomer - formulated 3 laws of planetary motion; 49. ION‚ an it gets dark depending on the weather arrested atom; 50. fusion‚ process that powers and Ross’s availability. stars; 51. KILOGrAM‚ The SI unit of mass; Newsletter Editor: 52. ufo‚ flying saucer; 53. stArdAte‚ A nZ HaritinaMogosanu astronomy summer getaway; [email protected] Down 1. PeriGee‚ When the Moon is closest to the WAS July’s earth; 2. iCe‚ frozen liquid; 3. GiBBOUS‚ a talk resumé Committee phase of the Moon; 4. AnALEMMA‚ figure FrankAndrews of 8 pattern formed by the sun’s position Presenter: : Frank Andrews [email protected] at the same time of day over a year; 6. APoGee‚ When the Moon is furthest from Duration: approx. 50 minutes ChrisMonigatti the earth; 7. QuASISTELLAROBJeCt‚ full [email protected] TITLE: Lunar & name for quasar; 9. VeGA‚ alpha lyr; Mob o21 890 222 11. BINOCULARS‚ robin claus (anagram); Matariki Calendar JohnHomes 12. GAs‚ solid, liquid or ...; 13. eCLIPTIC‚ plane of earth’s orbit around the sun; 15. SOHo‚ satellite [email protected] observatory studying the sun; 18. Hour‚ unit By looking at the Lunar Calendar AlineHomes of time; 23. rutHCrisP‚ Carter observatory’s we are looking at the Origin [email protected] public telescope; 24. PLEIADES‚ The seven sisters; 25. PHoBOS‚ A Moon of Mars; that we used to measure time. 26. Bolide‚ A meteor that appears to explode; Positions Outside Council 28. PAndorA‚ a shepherd satellite of saturn’s We then look closer at the Email newsletter f ring, also the first women in Greek mythology; Lunar Calendar and look MurrayForbes 29. eCLIPSE‚ to block light from another at the way it is harmonised [email protected] object; 30. VIRGo‚ Constellation with spica; with the Solar Calendar. 31. LONGITUDE‚ Latitude and ?; 33. NOVA‚ a new star; 36. LEO‚ A lion circling the earth; In particular taking Matariki 39. PeGAsus‚ The winged horse constellation; as an example of the process. 41. seti‚ A serious search for aliens (abbrev); www.was.org.nz 42. BINARY‚ a double star; 43. VENUS‚ a very cloudy planet; 45. io‚ One of the Galilean satellites; 46. ATOM‚ smallest indivisible piece of a element; 48. PAVo‚ The Peacock constellation; WAS NEWSLETTER VOLUME 41, NUMBER 6, ISSN 01147706 Page 3 Some astronomical related sights on a recent trip to Europe By John talbot Apparently Kepler died in Regensburg while staying there trying to recover During May and early June my wife some monies owing to him. and I travelled across Turkey and Europe most by riverboat on the Rhine-Maine-Danube rivers and finished up in Prague. It was surprising (but maybe should not have been) how many places had connections with famous astronomers or astronomy. And in Prague there was an even smaller one room Kepler museum with this memorial in the courtyard. In Istanbul, Turkey I spotted the new moon echoing the crescent on the top of a minaret. In Regensburg, Germany, we In Salzburg, Austria I spotted this came across a punning poster in the window of a Keplerstrasse and fancy chocolate shop. I could find no found a small reference to him in the guide book but museum (which clearly at least some locals honour him. was shut on The Astronomical clock in Prague, Czech Monday) but had this memorial Republic displays 24 hour time, Moon The astronomical instruments gallery bust and plaque phase and season in the top part and of the Clementinium (for St Clement) accessible. Astrological Constellations in the bottom. museum in Prague. Page 4 ISSN 01147706, NUMBER 6, VOLUME 41, WAS NEWSLETTER President’s report, continued from New Zealand’s Starlight page 2 Reserve - A Brief History We are still trying to get our 6” The 2002-2003 Mackenzie County •The Chair of the Lake Tekapo Aoraki/ dobsonians returned so that they Council Tekapo Vision statement included Mt Cook Working Party held a two-day can be checked.