Observer's Handbook 1986
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
OBSERVER’S HANDBOOK 1986 EDITOR: ROY L. BISHOP THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF CANADA CONTRIBUTORS AND ADVISORS A l a n H. B a t t e n , Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, 5071 W. Saanich Road, Victoria, BC, Canada V8X 4M6 (The Nearest Stars). L a r r y D. B o g a n , Department of Physics, Acadia University, Wolfville, NS, Canada B0P 1X0 (Configurations of Saturn’s Satellites). Terence Dickinson, R.R. 3, Odessa, ON, Canada K0H 2H0 (The Planets). David W. Dunham, International Occultation Timing Association, P.O. Box 7488, Silver Spring, MD 20907, U.S.A. (Lunar and Planetary Occultations). Alan Dyer, Queen Elizabeth Planetarium, 10004-104 Ave., Edmonton, AB, Canada T5J 0K1 (Messier Catalogue, Deep-Sky Objects). Fred Espenak, Planetary Systems Branch, NASA-Goddard Space Flight Centre, Greenbelt, MD, U.S.A. 20771 (Eclipses and Transits). M arie Fidler, The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, 136 Dupont St., Toronto, ON, Canada M5R 1V2 (Observatories and Planetaria). Victor Gaizauskas, Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, National Research Council, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1A 0R6 (Solar Activity). R o b e r t F. G a r r is o n , David Dunlap Observatory, University of Toronto, Box 360, Richmond Hill, ON, Canada L4C 4Y6 (The Brightest Stars). Ian H alliday, Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, National Research Council, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1A 0R6 (Miscellaneous Astronomical Data). W illiam Herbst, Van Vleck Observatory, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, U.S.A. 06457 (Galactic Nebulae). H e l e n S. H o g g , David Dunlap Observatory, University of Toronto, Box 360, Richmond Hill, ON, Canada L4C 4Y6 (Foreword). B a r r y F. M a d o r e , David Dunlap Observatory, University of Toronto, Box 360, Richmond Hill, ON, Canada L4C 4Y6 (Galaxies). B r i a n G. M a r s d e n , Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, 60 Garden St., Cambridge, MA, U.S.A. 02138 (Comets, Asteroids). J a n e t A. M a t t e i , American Association of Variable Star Observers, 187 Concord Ave., Cambridge, MA, U.S.A. 02138 (Variable Stars). R o b e r t L . M i l l i s , Lowell Observatory, Mars Hill Road, 1400 West, Flagstaff, AZ, U.S.A. 86001 (Planetary Appulses and Occultations). P e t e r M. M i l l m a n , Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, National Research Council, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1A 0R6 (Meteors, Fireballs and Meteorites). A n t h o n y F. J. M o f f a t , Departement de Physique, Universite de Montreal, Montreal, PQ, Canada H3C 3J7 (Star Clusters). John R. Percy, Erindale College and Department of Astronomy, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada M5S 1A1 (Sky Month by Month). P. Blyth Robertson, Earth Physics Branch, Energy, Mines and Resources Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1A 0Y3 (Meteorite Impact Sites). Akio Senda, International Lunar Occultation Centre, Geodesy and Geophysics Division, Hydrographic Department, Tsukiji-5, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, 104 Japan (Total and Grazing Lunar Occultations). Ken Tapping, Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, National Research Council, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1A 0R6 (Radio Sources). J o s e p h F. V e v e r k a , Centre for Radiophysics and Space Research, Cornell Uni versity, Ithaca, NY, U.S.A. 14853 (Planetary Satellites). C h a r l e s E. W o r l e y , U.S. Naval Observatory, Washington, DC, U.S.A. 20390 (Double Stars). PRINTED IN CANADA BY THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS OBSERVER’S HANDBOOK 1986 EDITOR ROY L. BISHOP SEVENTY-EIGHTH YEAR OF PUBLICATION © THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 136 DUPONT STREET, TORONTO, ONTARIO M5R 1V2 ISSN 0080-4193 HALLEY’S COMET - A TRILOGY In my browsings I have come across three items which have specially intrigued me about this, the most famous comet. I am succumbing to the urge to bring them to the attention of as many readers as possible. The first is a superb new volume: Halley's Comet, A Bibliography, compiled by Ruth S. Freitag, Senior Science Specialist, Science and Technology Division, Library of Congress, Washington, 1984. Of course this volume will be reviewed in many publications including the Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, but it merits extra mention. The massive information on the 580 pages includes 3235 numbered references arranged in alphabetical order from (1) Angstrom, Anders at Uppsala in 1862 on light variation in the comet, through Ziolkowski, Krzysztof in Urania (Krakow) 1983, on the International Hailey Watch. Other information includes computed perihelion dates for the comet from 1986 February 9 back to 1464 B.C. October 15, and bibliographical sources, library location symbols, and two indices, one by name, the other by topic. Long after the comet has faded from our skies on its 1986 return, workers will be blessing Ruth Freitag for her tremendous efforts in placing references only a finger’s touch away from us. My second item pertains to a comment by the American humorist Mark Twain on this comet. Frequently I have been asked if it is true that Twain said that he had come in with the comet and would go out with it. It is true, but the precise reference is rarely mentioned. It cannot be found in Ruth Freitag’s work. Obviously she could not index everything that anybody ever said about the comet. In 1909 Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens, 1835-1910) remarked: “I came in with Halley’s Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with i t .... The Almighty has said, no doubt: now here are these two unaccountable freaks: they came together, they must go out together.” This statement is recorded by Twain’s biographer, Albert Bigelow Paine, in Volume III of Mark Twain, page 1511,1912. Twain died on April 21 before the comet became a bright object. My third item is a poem about Halley’s Comet which appeared in the delightful column “From an Oxford Notebook” by Professor H. H. Turner in the periodical The Observatory, volume 33, page 150, 1910. David Hughes drew attention to this poem in Nature, volume 304, page 119,1983, and more recently so did Peter Broughton in The Observatory, volume 104, page 273, 1984, adding a related verse of his own. The first verse of this poem has been fairly well known for decades, with various users improving on the word “meteors” in the first line by substituting “objects” or “comets”. This verse has a real significance by explaining in a nutshell that Comet Hailey is the brightest periodic comet and has naked eye visibility; that the proper pronunciation of Halley’s name rhymes with “periodically”; that Hailey was not the discoverer, but was the first to predict the return of this comet. (However, you cannot deduce from the rhyme that Hailey was the first to predict the return of any comet.) In his Notebook Professor Turner writes: “With so many comets about, it is perhaps not surprising that the MS. of another comet song has been put into my hands by the gifted author. It originally contained four verses, but as the last one mentions names in a manner which might be deemed invidious, I have ventured to suppress it”. The poem is without a title, so with help from a professor of English, I am contributing one. 2 LINES ON HALLEY’S COMET (Air: “Sally in our Alley”) Of all the meteors in the sky There’s none like Comet Halley; We see it with the naked eye And periodically. The first to see it was not he, But still we call it Hailey; The notion that it would return Was his originally. Of all the years we’ve lately seen There’s none to rival this year, Because though busy we have been We’re likely to be busier. When five-and-seventy years are sped, Then back comes Comet Hailey; He told us that it would return, And mathematically. Some probe the secrets of the Sun, And most effectually; There’s much good honest work been done Selenographically. Whatever quest may prove the best We all admire bold Hailey, Who said his comet would return, Perhaps perpetually. by Sir Frank Dyson, later ninth Astronomer Royal All these years the name of the author has remained a mystery. Now it has been revealed by Ruth Freitag in her Bibliography, Reference 2920, along with the publication in which the missing fourth verse may be found. With the help of her volume, readers may now complete the story of the Halley’s Comet poem. H e l e n S a w y e r H o g g COVER PHOTOGRAPH Comet West (1975n), the brightest comet of the past 15 years, in the dawn twilight on March 6, 1976. Moving across the southwestern comer of Pegasus, Comet West was near 1st magnitude and displayed a tail spanning 20° to the unaided eye. This is a 20-second, unguided exposure with a standard 50mm, f/1.4 lens, and Tri-X film. In this instance, initiative and timing were more important than elaborate equipment. Photograph by Sherman Williams of Avonport, Nova Scotia. 3 EDITOR’S COMMENTS On behalf of The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada I wish to thank the twenty-four contributors, listed on the inside front cover, without whose support this Handbook would not exist. I particularly wish to acknowledge the many years that Gordon Taylor of the Royal Greenwich Observatory has provided predictions of occultations by asteroids and planets, and to welcome Dr. Robert Millis of Lowell Observatory who has taken over this section.