The Canadian Astronomical Handbook for 1908
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Transactions 1905
THE Royal Astronomical Society of Canada TRANSACTIONS FOR 1905 (INCLUDING SELECTED PAPERS AND PROCEEDINGS) EDITED BY C. A CHANT. TORONTO: ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL PRINT, 1906. The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. THE Royal Astronomical Society of Canada TRANSACTIONS FOR 1905 (INCLUDING SELECTED PAPERS AND PROCEEDINGS) EDITED BY C. A CHANT. TORONTO: ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL PRINT, 1906. TABLE OF CONTENTS. The Dominion Observatory, Ottawa (Frontispiece) List of Officers, Fellows and A ssociates..................... - - 3 Treasurer’s R eport.....................--------- 12 President’s Address and Summary of Work ------ 13 List of Papers and Lectures, 1905 - - - - ..................... 26 The Dominion Observatory at Ottawa - - W. F. King 27 Solar Spots and Magnetic Storms for 1904 Arthur Harvey 35 Stellar Legends of American Indians - - J. C. Hamilton 47 Personal Profit from Astronomical Study - R. Atkinson 51 The Eclipse Expedition to Labrador, August, 1905 A. T. DeLury 57 Gravity Determinations in Labrador - - Louis B. Stewart 70 Magnetic and Meteorological Observations at North-West River, Labrador - - - - R. F. Stupart 97 Plates and Filters for Monochromatic and Three-Color Photography of the Corona J. S. Plaskett 89 Photographing the Sun and Moon with a 5-inch Refracting Telescope . .......................... D. B. Marsh 108 The Astronomy of Tennyson - - - - John A. Paterson 112 Achievements of Nineteenth Century Astronomy , L. H. Graham 125 A Lunar Tide on Lake Huron - - - - W. J. Loudon 131 Contributions...............................................J. Miller Barr I. New Variable Stars - - - - - - - - - - - 141 II. The Variable Star ξ Bootis -------- 143 III. The Colors of Helium Stars - - - ..................... 144 IV. A New Problem in Solar Physics ------ 146 Stellar Classification ------ W. Balfour Musson 151 On the Possibility of Fife in Other Worlds A. -
The Maunder Minimum and the Variable Sun-Earth Connection
The Maunder Minimum and the Variable Sun-Earth Connection (Front illustration: the Sun without spots, July 27, 1954) By Willie Wei-Hock Soon and Steven H. Yaskell To Soon Gim-Chuan, Chua Chiew-See, Pham Than (Lien+Van’s mother) and Ulla and Anna In Memory of Miriam Fuchs (baba Gil’s mother)---W.H.S. In Memory of Andrew Hoff---S.H.Y. To interrupt His Yellow Plan The Sun does not allow Caprices of the Atmosphere – And even when the Snow Heaves Balls of Specks, like Vicious Boy Directly in His Eye – Does not so much as turn His Head Busy with Majesty – ‘Tis His to stimulate the Earth And magnetize the Sea - And bind Astronomy, in place, Yet Any passing by Would deem Ourselves – the busier As the Minutest Bee That rides – emits a Thunder – A Bomb – to justify Emily Dickinson (poem 224. c. 1862) Since people are by nature poorly equipped to register any but short-term changes, it is not surprising that we fail to notice slower changes in either climate or the sun. John A. Eddy, The New Solar Physics (1977-78) Foreword By E. N. Parker In this time of global warming we are impelled by both the anticipated dire consequences and by scientific curiosity to investigate the factors that drive the climate. Climate has fluctuated strongly and abruptly in the past, with ice ages and interglacial warming as the long term extremes. Historical research in the last decades has shown short term climatic transients to be a frequent occurrence, often imposing disastrous hardship on the afflicted human populations. -
Hardy 1 Williamina Fleming
Hardy 1 Williamina Fleming: Breaking Barriers with A Universe of Glass Isabella L. Hardy Junior Division Individual Performance paper 500 words In the past, women in the sciences were often overlooked, so for National History Day, I chose to focus on an under-recognized female scientist. Early in my research, I found Williamina Paton Fleming. I was surprised I had never encountered her although I had heard of her colleagues, Annie Jump Cannon and Henrietta Leavitt. I have always loved studying the stars and am fascinated by the role of women in astronomy whose important contributions are sometimes forgotten. Williamina Fleming’s unique ability to interpret astronomical photographs changed astronomy in nineteenth- century America and beyond, breaking barriers for scientists and for women. In preliminary research, I located Harvard’s digital scans of Fleming's diary and excellent period photographs, as well as many academic articles about her and other women at the Harvard Observatory. I was also privileged to interview Dr. Lindsay Smith, current Curator of Astronomical Photographs at Harvard. She was extremely helpful in suggesting sources and later reviewed the performance script. Not much is known about Fleming’s early years in Scotland. After her husband abandoned her, she worked for Harvard Observatory Director Edward Pickering, who hired her for the new project to map the night sky. The process involved taking images though telescopes, then mapping all the stars in that small section of sky. Using this process, Fleming discovered stars, novae, and nebulae and encouraged the work of other astronomers, while facilitating many important discoveries. I chose performance to give a voice to a person who has been largely unnoticed. -
Charles Le Charles Lewis Brook: Third
Charles Lewis Brook: third Director of the BAA Variable Star Section Jeremy Shears Charles Lewis Brook, MA, FRAS, FRMetS (1855−1939) served as Director of the BAA Variable Star Section from 1910 to 1921. During this time he was not interested merely in collecting the observations of the members (to which he also contributed), but he also spent considerable time analys- ing the data and preparing numerous publications on the findings. This paper discusses Brook’s life and work, with a particular focus on his con- tribution to variable star astronomy. Introduction with a particular fo- cus on his contri- bution to variable Charles Lewis Brook (1855−1939; Figures 1 and 2) was the star astronomy. It third Director of the BAA Variable Star Section (VSS) serv- draws on four sepa- ing from 1910 to 1921. As well as being an enthusiastic ob- rate obituaries: one server of variable stars, he undertook the analysis of vari- written for the BAA able star observations submitted by others, writing many by a later VSS Di- papers and memoirs on the subject. His astronomical inter- rector, W .M. Lindley (1891−1972),2 one written for the Royal ests were not confined to variables and he observed a range Astronomical Society by Annie (A. S. D.) Maunder (1868− of other astronomical objects. In addition to astronomy, he 1947),3 one for the Royal Meteorological Society4 and a brief was an active meteorologist. one published in the Huddersfield Examiner.5 In addition I Brook led a busy professional life as a Director of the have reviewed Brook’s published work, especially his pa- thread and textile company Messrs J. -
Spectroscopy: History 1885-1927
SPECTROSCOPY: HISTORY 1885-1927 Harvard Observatory director Edward Charles Pickering hired over 80 women as technicians to perform scientific and mathematical calculations by hand. They became known as the “Harvard Computers”. This was more than 40 years before women gained the right to vote. They received global recognition for their contributions that changed the science of astronomy. Due to their accomplishments, they paved the way for other women to work in scientific and engineering careers. WHAT DID THEY DO: They studied glass photographic plates of stellar spectra created by using a spectroscope. Using a simple magnifying glass, they compared Credit: Secrets of the Universe: Space Pioneer, card 48 positions of stars between plates, calculating the temperature and motion of the stars. WHO WERE THEY: They measured the relative brightness of stars and analyzed spectra Some had college degrees, others received on-the job-training. to determine the properties of celestial objects. A few were permitted to receive graduate degrees for their accomplishments. These plates were gathered from observatories in Peru, South Africa, New Zealand, Chile and throughout the USA They worked for 25 cents an hour, six days a week in a small cramped library. Many of these women received numerous awards and honors for Harvard University Plates Stacks Digitization Project their contributions. Noteable among them were: Harvard College Observatory’s Plate Collection (also known as the Plate Stacks) is the world’s largest archive of stellar glass plate negatives. Taken between the mid 1880s and 1989 (with a gap 1953-68) the WILLIAMINA FLEMING (1857-1911) - developed the Pickering- collection grew to 500,000 and is currently being digitized. -
Women of Astronomy
WOMEN OF ASTRONOMY AND A TIMELINE OF EVENTS… Time line of Astronomy • 2350 B.C. – EnHeduanna (ornament of heaven) – • Chief Astronomer Priestess of the Moon Goddess of the City in Babylonia. • Movement of the Stars were used to create Calendars • 2000 B.C. - According to legend, two Chinese astronomers are executed for not predicting an eclipse. • 129 B.C. - Hipparchos completes the first catalog of the stars, and invented stellar magnitude (still in use today!) • 150 A.D. - Claudius Ptolemy publishes his theory of the Earth- centered universe. • 350 A.D – Hypatia of Alexandria – First woman Astronomer • Hypatia of Alexandria Born approximately in 350 A.D. • Accomplished mathematician, inventor, & philosopher of Plato and Aristotle • Designed astronomical instruments, such as the astrolabe and the planesphere. The first star chart to have the name An early astrolabe was invented in "planisphere" was made in 1624 by 150 BC and is often attributed to Jacob Bartsch. Son of Johannes Hipparchus Kepler, who solved planetary motion. Time line of Astronomy • 970 - al-Sufi, a Persian Astronomer prepares catalog of over 1,000 stars. • 1420 Ulugh-Beg, prince of Turkestan, builds a great observatory and prepares tables of planet and stars • 1543 While on his deathbed, Copernicus publishes his theory that planets orbit around the sun. • 1609 Galileo discovers craters on Earth’s moon, the moons of Jupiter, the turning of the sun, and the presence of innumerable stars in the Milky Way with a telescope that he built. • 1666 Isaac Newton begins his work on the theory of universal gravitation. • 1671 Newton demonstrates his invention, the reflecting telescope. -
The April Membership Meeting Will Be Held on Thursday, April 19, 2007 at 7:30 Pm at the Adventure Science Center
The Newsletter of the Barnard-Seyfert Astronomical Society - Organized in 1928 APRIL 2007 The April membership meeting will be held on Thursday, April 19, 2007 at 7:30 pm at the Adventure Science Center On Thursday, April 19, 2007 we will hold our regularly scheduled membership meet- ing at the Adventure Science Center. Our speaker this month will be our own Lonnie Puter- baugh. He will focus on two topics for his presentation. The first topic he will address are the Outreach Awards offered by the Astronomical League. These awards are also known as the AstroOscars. This is a new category of awards currently offered by the Astronomical League and are designed to recognize individuals who have made a substantial impact on public edu- cation and enrichment in the science of Astronomy. His second topic will be Mount Palomar Observatory. Mount Palomar Observatory is located in North San Diego County, California and is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology. Lonnie will discuss the features of the world-class observatory, fo- cusing on the impressive equipment and advancements in Astronomical Research that the ob- servatory has achieved throughout its history. Message from the President Page 2 In last month’s “President’s Message”, I spoke about the wonderful job JanaRuth Ford and her program committee is doing to arrange the programs for our monthly membership meeting and the fact that Steve Wheeler is now the BSAS coordinator of Star Parties. This month I want to talk about the TNSP07 and the job Board Member, Keith Burneson is working to cause this event to happen. -
ANNIE SCOTT DILL MAUNDER (1868–1947)| Solar Scientist
HIDDEN GEMS AND FORGOTTEN PEOPLE ANNIE SCOTT DILL MAUNDER (1868–1947)| Solar Scientist Annie Scott Dill Russell was born on 14 April 1868 in Strabane, Co. Tyrone, the second of three children and the younger daughter of William Andrew Russell (1824–1899), minister of the Presbyterian Church in the town, and his wife, Hester (Hessy) Nesbitt Russell, née Dill. She was educated at home and at the Ladies' Collegiate School (later Victoria College), Belfast. She entered Girton College, Cambridge, at the age of eighteen on an open scholarship and took Part One of the mathematical tripos in 1889 with second-class honours. After a year as a mathematics mistress at the ladies' high school in Jersey she obtained a post at the Royal Greenwich Observatory in September 1891 as a ‘lady computer’, and was assigned to the solar department under Edward Walter Maunder, a solar astronomer. ‘Lady computers’ were successfully used at Harvard’s observatory, but previous to Maunder’s hiring, the “computers” name was reserved for teenage boys or women without college training. Being a “computer” was considered the lowest scientific post: the pay was poor and the work was generally considered tedious. Annie’s job consisted of examining and measuring daily sunspot photographs, and through this work, she became an expert in solar astronomy. Prior to meeting Annie Walter Maunder had worked to include women in astronomical societies, and therefore his support of her as a scientist was not unusual. Annie spent four years on the Greenwich staff, and resigned on 31 October 1895 before her marriage to Maunder on 28 December. -
Benefits of Diversity
commentary Benefits of diversity Abraham Loeb Discoveries in astronomy — or, in fact, any branch of science — can only happen when people are open-minded and willing to take risks. ccording to Mark Twain, “It ain’t used it to discover the expansion of the weak, as most of the X-ray sources would what you don’t know that gets you Universe. It was surpassed in 1948 by the be flaring stars. The launch of an X-ray Ainto trouble. It’s what you know for 200 inch telescope at the Mount Palomar telescope by NASA was therefore delayed sure that just ain’t so.” This illustrates a very Observatory in California, which played a by half a decade, after which astronomers common flaw astronomers have, which is to key role in the discovery of radio galaxies discovered X-ray emission from numerous believe that they know the truth even when and quasars and in studies of the other sources, such as accreting black holes data are scarce. This fault is the trademark intergalactic medium2. Clearly, bigger and neutron stars, supernova remnants and of a data-starved science. It occasionally telescopes continued to benefit astronomy galaxy clusters. leads to major blunders by the scientific as technology improved. community causing the wrong strategic Dark matter. In the early 1970s decisions, and bringing about unnecessary Composition of the Sun. While Jerry Ostriker gave a talk at the California delays in finding the truth. Let me illustrate working on her PhD thesis in 1925, Institute of Technology describing the this phenomenon with ten examples, in Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (who became case — developed by him in collaboration chronological order. -
Harvard's Computers
Prior to the nineteenth-century, little is written of women’s contributions in astronomy. In most astronomy texts, you will find no mention of Hypatia of Alexandria, considered the first woman astronomer. Most historians consider her brutal death in the early fifth-century to be the beginning of the “Dark Ages.” There is no mention of Hildegard von Bingen (1099-1179) whose ideas on “universal gravitation” predate Isaac Newton’s, nor Sophia Brahe, Tycho’s younger sister. It was not until the director of Harvard Observatory became disgruntled with the sloppy work of his male assistant, saying his housekeeper could do better, that women were readily accepted into the study of astronomy. 1 Harvard College Observatory was founded in 1839, a time when astronomy was beginning to be taught as a science subject in its own right, instead of as an extension of philosophy. This was also a time when universities were receiving funds for astronomical research, an endeavor previously pursued by learned men of means. Astronomy is a science requiring observations and exact calculations, particularly of positions of celestial objects. This was tedious work completed by “computers.” Originally, young men performed these tasks. This changed when Edward Charles Pickering became director of the observatory in 1877 and opened the doors of astronomy to women. 2 Pickering was sympathetic to the women’s suffrage movement and recognized that there was a new breed of women, women that were educated. He also realized that with the new technologies of the time, telescopes that were readily available and astrophotography, that the data collection was happening faster than could be catalogued so as to be useful. -
The Next Solar Cycle and Why It Matters for Climate David Whitehouse
THE NEXT SOLAR CYCLE And why it matters for climate David Whitehouse The Global Warming Policy Foundation Note 22 Contents Summary 1 About the author 1 Introduction 3 Solar variability 3 The Little Ice Age 4 Blaming sunspots 4 A sunspot cycle 5 The Maunder Minimum 6 A magnetic cycle 7 Cycle 24 8 Cycle 25 9 Coda 11 Notes 11 About the Global Warming Policy Foundation 12 The Next Solar Cycle and Why it Matters for Climate David Whitehouse Note 22, The Global Warming Policy Foundation © Copyright 2020, The Global Warming Policy Foundation ‘Any coincidence is always worth notic- ing. You can throw it away later if it is only a coincidence.’ Agatha Christie, Nemesis. Summary Predictions for the next solar cycle – Cycle 25 – range from very low activity to stronger than Cycle 24. The National Oceanic and Atmos- pheric Administration’s Solar Cycle Prediction Panel says there is no evidence for another period of very low activity, as in the Maunder Minimum of the late-17th and early-18th cen- tury, which could have an important effect on factors that govern the Earth’s climate. Never- theless, there is no consensus and it remains a possibility. About the author The science editor of the GWPF, Dr David- Whitehouse is a writer, journalist, broadcast- er and the author of six critically acclaimed books. He holds a PhD in astrophysics from the Jodrell Bank Radio Observatory. He was the BBC’s Science Correspondent and Science Editor of BBC News Online. Among his many awards are the European Internet Journalist of the Year, the first Arthur C Clarke Award and an unprecedented five Netmedia awards. -
Transactions of the APST for the Year 1894
TRANSACTIONS OF THE Astronomical and Physical Society of Toronto, FOR THE YEAR 1894, INCLUDING FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT. PRICE ONE DOLLAR. TORONTO: ROWSELL & HUTCHISON, Printers to the Society. 1895. CHARLES CARPMAEL, M. A. (CANTAB.) TRANSACTIONS OF THE Astronomical and Physical Society of Toronto, FOR THE YEAR 1894, INCLUDING FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT. PRICE ONE DOLLAR. TORONTO: ROWSELL & HUTCHISON, Printers to the Society. 1895. CORRIGENDA. Transactions, 1S90, page 29, line S from bottom, for “ Jupiter ” read “ Neptune.” Transactions, 1891, page 5, line 11 from top, for “ B.C. 380 ” read “ B.C. 310.” Transactions, 1893, page 59, line 9 from top, for “ 7 p.m. ” read “ 11.15 p.m.” Transactions, 1893, page 67, line 3 from bottom, value of comp, log n' should be “ 2.2132633.” Transactions, 1894, page 16, line 3 from top, for “ 1.500th ” read “ l - 500th.” “ “ “ line 5, for “ 1.250th ” read “ l-250th.” Transactions, 1894, page 31, line 14 from top, for “ two angles” read “ three angles. ” TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE. Officers ............................................. .......................................... V Council ............................................. .......................................... V Life Members..................................... .......................................... V Honourary Members ...................... .......................................... VI Corresponding Members................... .......................................... VI Active Members and their Addresses .................................... VII Associate