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SSouthernouthern SStarstars TTHEHE JJOURNALOURNAL OOFF TTHEHE RROYALOYAL AASTRONOMICALSTRONOMICAL SSOCIETYOCIETY OOFF NNEWEW ZZEALANDEALAND

Volume 56, No 4 2017 December ISSN Page0049-1640 1 Royal Astronomical Society Southern Stars of New Zealand (Inc.) Journal of the RASNZ Founded in 1920 as the New Zealand Astronomical Volume 56, Number 4 Society and assumed its present title on receiving the 2017 December Royal Charter in 1946. In 1967 it became a member body of the R oyal Society of New Zealand. P O Box 3181, Wellington 6140, New Zealand [email protected] http://www.rasnz.org.nz CONTENTS Subscriptions (NZ$) for 2016: The Great USA 2017 near Murray, Kentucky Ordinary member: $40.00 Ron Paine ...... 3 Student member: $20.00 Affi liated society: $3.75 per member. The 2017 Eclipse near Prineville, Oregon Minimum $75.00, Maximum $375.00 Ross Dickie ...... 6 Corporate member: $200.00 Printed copies of Southern Stars (NZ$): AR 12673: A Synoptic View $35.00 (NZ) Harry Roberts ...... 8 $45.00 (Australia & South Pacifi c) $50.00 (Rest of World) Dedication of the CAS’s 5 metre Dome as the Clive Rowe Memorial Dome Council & Offi cers 2016 to 2018 Carol McAlavey ...... 10 President: John Drummond P O Box 113, Patutahi 4045. A Look at the 10-day Old [email protected] Maurice Collins ...... 11 Immediate Past President: John Hearnshaw Dep’t Physics & Astronomy, Adventures in Radio Astronomy University of Canterbury, Allen Wallace ...... 14 Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140. [email protected] Vice President: Nicholas Rattenbury The Department of Physics, The University of Auckland, 38 Princes St, Auckland. [email protected] Secretary: Nichola Van der Aa 32A Louvain St, Whakatane 3120. [email protected] Treasurer: FRONT COVER Simon Lowther 19 Cape Vista Crescent, Pukekohe 2120. Diamond Ring effect at the end of the 2017 Total Solar [email protected] Eclipse as seen from Kentucky. Members’ Councillors: Image: Ron Paine Steve Butler 30 Hoffman Court, Invercargill 9810. [email protected] COVER Bob Evans 15 Taiepa Rd, Otatara RD9, Invercargill 9879. [email protected] Top Sergei Gulyaev 120 Mayoral Drive, Auckland, 1010. Waiting for the eclipse in Kentucky, USA.. Land between [email protected] the Lakes at Kentucky Village. Orlon Petterson Dep’t Physics & Astronomy, Photo: Ron Paine University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140. Bottom [email protected] Observing the eclipse in Oregon, USA. On farm land Glen Rowe 23 Stanhope Grove, Korokoro, near Primeville. Lower Hutt 5012. Photo: Robert McBride [email protected] Affi liated Societies’ Councillors: Peter Jaquiery 31 Wright St, Dunedin 9010 [email protected] Gary Sparks 67 Meeanee Road, Taradale, Napier 4112. [email protected] Fellows’ Councillor: Karen Pollard Dep’t Physics & Astronomy, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140. [email protected] Page 2 Southern Stars The Great USA 2017 Eclipse near Murray, Kentucky:- Ron Paine

The Great USA 2017 Eclipse near Murray, Kentucky

Ron Paine Travelogue

A description of a trip to observe the Total Eclipse of the Sun So why Kentucky you may ask? Maybe it was a lot of research on cloud cover, eclipse duration, accessibility, view ability and a whole lot of other reasons but it came down to a free bed and to be able to see my grandchildren.

These days Kentucky is easy to get to. Direct fl ight to Houston from Auckland on Air New Zealand, quick fl ight to Nashville (Home of YeHa music) and a 2.5 hour car trip to Murray. I went a few days before the eclipse as Murray is a few km (or should I say miles!) below the southern path limit. Greatest eclipse of 2 minutes 40 seconds was near Hopkinsville which is only one hours drive from Murray.

Before I went, a learned colleague advised me that for my fi rst full eclipse I should not worry about photography but enjoy the totality as it is an awe inspiring period of time. I took most of Ash’s advice but decided to try to set up a pretty much automatic system that could look after itself.

I had a Canon 1000D camera with a 300mm zoom lens and a wireless timer remote controller for my camera. A tripod would be required. Couldn’t get mine into the suitcase so purchased a lightweight collapsible one that did. To deal with the unattended option I used a iOptron SkyTracker mount. Set up of Canon Camera for the Eclipse Manufactured a solar fi lter from some Astrofi lm I had and a vegemite jar lid which clipped onto my lens.

Preparation involved researching how to photograph , and getting my system set up. Luckily I live in Cromwell so getting sunny days was no problem. The total time my system needed to run was 2 hours 55 minutes. Devised a way to get reasonable polar alignment during the day as long as the Sun was out. If it wasn’t out it wouldn’t matter. Practice, practice practice was the order of the day before I left. Found that the mount would run for about an hour with no adjustment and then only a little tweak to correct it. Took photos of the Sun at 2 minute intervals to check battery life etc and we were good to go. Land Between the Lakes - Kentucky Village

56, 4, 2017 December Page 3 The Great USA 2017 Eclipse near Murray, Kentucky:- Ron Paine

Waiting for the eclipse. Land between the Lakes at Kentucky Village.

Sunspots displayed during partial phase of eclipse. Total Eclipse with Corona and Prominences. When I got to Murray the amount of hype and hoopla from Shouts from locals as fi rst contact started. Americans are very the local media was incredible. Lots of entertainment was vocal. Solar glasses were plentiful. Some of the setups had being organized in stadiums and other areas but I didn’t want three or four telescopes. Slowly the moon moved across the that. There were warnings that the traffi c could be very heavy Sun. There were a couple of sunspot groups which helped so it would be nice to try and avoid that. Scouting around improve the interest. Slowly it got cooler and became darker. for the days before the eclipse I found a nice spot near the Very pleasant considering the hot day Kentucky Lakes Village. It was only a 30 minute drive and the advantages were: didn’t have to change highways (minor Finally totality arrived. I whipped the solar fi lter off my Canon highway 641 all the way). The car parking was a right turn off and just started clicking the remote while watching. the road so no need to cross road and it with nice green area with good views south and trees to shelter under from the sun. I now understand why total eclipses draw people to them time after time. It was now surprisingly dark and rather cool which On the morning of eclipse I set out early. Eclipse start was was a relief from the intense Sun earlier in the day. The corona 11:55 so left at 8:30am. Absolutely no traffi c so was there was about three time greater than the diameter of the Sun setting up by 9:15. Only another couple of cars in the carpark. showing some prominances and stars and planets could easily Got my position under the trees facing south so was all happy. be seen in the twilight. Jupiter and Regulus to the east while Mars, Venus and Sirius to the west. The effect was surreal, Leveled the tripod and used the Sun shadow to polar align. some shouted, some became rather quiet. Far too quickly it By 10am I was ready to go. Camera settings were: Exposure was all over. Got the Solar fi lter back on the camera, eclipse 1/500sec, F16, ASA 400. glasses on and watched as the Sun slowly appeared from behind the Moon. It was all over by 3pm so packed up and More people started fi lling up around the edge in the shade of went back to Murray with very little traffi c. the trees. My family arrived just before 12:00 and set up under the trees with me. Looking at my photos I was really pleased with the results considering I had ignored the camera most of the time with Got the remote clicking away just before the eclipse started. only three or four mount adjustments one of which needed when I put the fi lter back on. Totality was under exposed but

Page 4 Southern Stars The Great USA 2017 Eclipse near Murray, Kentucky:- Ron Paine

Hobby Airport Fire Truck in Surface Water Outside our Motel. considering I changed nothing when removing the fi lter they for 5 days, all the airports were closed and only emergency were great shots. Did a little tweaking and enlarging on the transport was allowed on the roads. Extensive fl ooding in parts tablet and voila! of Houston and many people being evacuated. I was getting sick of garage food by then but couldn’t change to a hotel with All the excitement was now over. More time with my family, a restaurant as the was no way of getting there. Rain fi nally Go back to Houston, couple of days at the Space Centre then stopped on Tuesday the 29th. Airport was still closed with little home by Monday 28th August. indication when it would re-open. Arranged a bus to Dallas and AirNZ booked me back via San Francisco. Bumped into On arrival in Houston it was starting to rain. Took a rental car John Hearnshaw, his wife and Bill Allen at the airport who down to the Space Centre. At the Space Centre all the outside were also returning after viewing the eclipse. Got to Auckland exhibits were closed because of the threat from Cyclone Harvey and it was raining but nice to be home. so unable to do the NASA tram tour to Mission Control etc. Enjoyed the exhibits but while there got a text from AirNZ to say my fl ight for the next day Saturday 26th had been cancelled due to Cyclone Harvey. By then it was raining really hard and Space Centre was not opening the next day. Organised 18 Ray St a motel for the next night near the airport and took the rental Cromwell 9310 car back to the airport. By then it was teeming and there was New Zealand quite a lot of surface fl ooding on the return trip. Glad I left early in the morning as by evening some of the roads were [email protected] fl ooded. My fl ight next day cancelled again. The motel was basic as I wasn’t planning on being there long. All private transport was cancelled. At least the motel supplied breakfast but all other meals were from a garage 100m away. Re-booked the fl ight and again it was cancelled!! Re-booked again. And this time I watched it leave Auckland on Flight Radar. Great I am going home. Flight was almost at Houston when I noticed it turning away and it went to LA. It rained continuously

56, 4, 2017 December Page 5 The 2017 Eclipse near Prineville, Oregon:- Ross Dickie

The 2017 Eclipse near Prineville, Oregon

Ross Dickie Travelogue

Another description of a trip to observe the Total Eclipse of the Sun I fi rst became acquainted with my American friend from with those refractors lasting for 80.4 seconds, along with his Mataura in Southland, Robert McBride in 2009 after he colleagues, family and friends coming over to photograph and emigrated to New Zealand from the United States. Two years view the eclipse 2½ days later. later, I became aware of an upcoming total eclipse of the Sun across the US, and I suggested to Robert that we should travel Eclipse day began with an unexpected awakening at 3:00am to the USA to view the eclipse. Robert said, from Oregon for me and Robert sleeping in our tent that morning, with the the weather would be very good with continuous days of fi ne arrival of a rubbish truck to pick up a wheelie bin next to the weather, unlike our NZ’s Roaring Forties weather where it farmhouse. A second truck soon arrived to pick up the second rains “every three days or so”. So that’s Robert’s American bin. The unearthly arrivals of those trucks were to avoid the destination for us to see a total for the fi rst time eclipse traffi c to begin within hours that morning. in our lives. Following a hearty breakfast in the farmhouse, after 9:00am On August 17th, four days before the eclipse, from Seattle eclipse visitors Lisa, Alda and Kriss, plus Robert and I and airport (SeaTac) we hired a rental car and drove south towards the farm owner Paul, gathered on top of a nearby terrace with Portland and then headed south-eastward over a mountain a clear view of the Sun and also to see the Moon’s shadow saddle to the “centreline town” of Madras. We refuelled our coming in from the west. With our eclipse glasses, we saw rental car in Madras, which we had done as well earlier on the Moon gradually move onto the Sun from its fi rst contact the eastern outskirt of Portland. Our two refuellings were in at 9:06am, and the daylight gradually become dimmer and anticipation of the excessive demands for fuel for the massive the hot air temperature became noticeably cooler for the next number of eclipse-goers with vehicles, estimated to be a 73 minutes. Closer to totality at 10:19am, I looked westward million viewers within the 62 mile wide totality band across and I could vaguely see the southern edge of the Moon’s Oregon. The gas station was busy at 10:45pm that night, shadow in the western sky which contrasted with the bluer sky 3½ days before the eclipse. We continued on southeast of in the southwest. Madras to our destination on a farm east of Prineville, some 33 miles away from Madras. The farm which Robert’s friends Then the totality began, and the ladies, Robert and Paul awed own, was toward the southern end of the totality shadow band at the totally eclipsed Sun. With my HD video camera on a lasting for 79 seconds. tripod facing westward toward the oncoming and vague eclipse shadow, I aimed and zoomed my other camera onto the fully Next evening, we visited a neighbouring astronomer, Bill eclipsed Sun. To me with my naked eye, it was like seeing a McLaughlin, who is an accomplished photographer and and white photograph of the eclipse in the sky; one of hundreds astrophotographer. He had cruised to Antarctica and toured of eclipse photos I have seen in publications in my lifetime, NZ. He has an observatory with three apochromatic refractors only that the eclipse corona is very real to my own eyes and not and he intended to stay put and photographed the eclipse a “photographed corona”. The corona was an unusual three- spiked corona, something like a “Y”-shaped corona. One of

Figure 2: Lisa from Eureka, California; Alda and Kriss from Port Angeles, Washington viewed the narrowing of the eclipsed Figure 1: Ross (right) listens to astrophotographer, Sun with their eclipse glasses, while Ross faced westward Bill McLaughlin describe the aspects of his three apochromatic photographing the oncoming Moon’s shadow in the sky, a refractors in his Prineville observatory. Photo: Robert McBride. minute before totality began. Photo: Robert McBride.

Page 6 Southern Stars The 2017 Eclipse near Prineville, Oregon:- Ross Dickie the ladies pointed upward to a brilliant “star”, which struck me but it was the planet, Venus. Robert spotted another bright star lower down and this was Sirius. Regulus, which was only 1.3 degrees away from the totally eclipsed Sun was not obvious to the naked eye, however it was briefl y detected on HD video and also on one of three images taken with my handheld Canon PowerShot SX100 IS digital camera, at 11× magnifi cation. At my advice, Robert took my binoculars and was amazed that he could safely view the fi ner details of the corona and the red prominences sticking out from the southwestern limb through to the eastern limb of the eclipsed Sun, plus a few “whirls” within the corona. The ladies also viewed the corona and prominences through their pairs of binoculars following my advice. At 10:21am, the Diamond Ring reappeared and so ended the totality and the binocular-viewing of the corona. The daylight was like “someone has switched the light on”.

I had expected to see the shadow bands, which are wavy lines seen on fl at surfaces shortly before and after totality and they are a projection of the thin bright crescent of the Sun’s photosphere distorted by ’s high altitude winds. I had read about those shadow bands for many years. A circular Figure 4: Totality! Photo: Ross Dickie white blanket was laid on the ground held down by rocks in Two days later, we took a ferry to enter the US at Friday Harbor case of wind gusts for us to view the shadow bands (there was on San Juan Island in Puget Sound. From there, Robert’s sister no wind at all). Apparently, to my surprise, no shadow bands Cathy took us on her motorboat north to Waldron Island, where were seen on the blanket before or after totality. we based ourelves for the next 20 days. This was Robert’s “summer island” during the 1970s where his late Californian After totality, the crescent Sun reversed its partial phase grandparents have their cabin on the northwestern shore during the next 80 minutes until the Moon moved off the Sun of Waldron Island, a small island of 4.6 square miles with a altogether at 11:41am, resuming another hot summer day in population of 100 and no electricity. From the cabin, I had Oregon. grand nighttime views of the Northern Hemisphere stars I have not seen before, along with a number of meteors, some from Three days later, Robert and I returned our rental car to Seattle the Perseid meteor shower. airport. We then fl ew to Los Angeles, then home to Auckland and Momona airports. Robert’s older brother from Hawaii, William arrived on Waldron Island and stayed with us during our fi nal there. th Prior to Oregon, we arrived in Vancouver last July 19 . After He is a solar telescope engineer for the Daniel K. Inouye two nights there, we fl ew to Bella Coola, a remote valley to Solar Telescope being constructed atop Haleakala, a 10,000 ft the sea, 440km north of Vancouver to visit a relative of mine. mountain on the Hawaiian island of Maui. In early August, After three days in Bella Coola, we took a long day’s scenic its 4 metre diameter primary mirror is being installed into the voyage by two ferries to reach Port Hardy at the north end of telescope and is the world’s largest solar telescope, to begin Vancouver Island. After two nights in Port Hardy, we took operating in 2019. a bus down to Victoria at the south end of Vancouver Island. My trip to Oregon to view the total eclipse of the Sun took place 11 after my father, Norman passed away last June 4th in Gore, aged 100 years and 8 . He too had travelled to see a total solar eclipse, shortly after sunrise from Matauri Bay in Northland on 31st May 1965. For 52 years, he was the sole person residing in the Gore district ever to see a total solar eclipse, which was the highlight of his centenary life. Now Robert and I joined that tally in the Gore district. In ten years’ time, that tally number will be expected to be boosted dramatically from the nearby total solar eclipse going across Otago on 22nd July 2028.

41 Milton Street Gore 9710 Figure 3: Lisa, Alda, Kriss, farm owner Paul Clay and Ross New Zealand awed at the beginning of totality, for which they needed to take off their eclipse glasses and a welding shield to take it all in! Photo: Robert McBride. [email protected]

56, 4, 2017 December Page 7 AR12673: A Synoptic View:- Harry Roberts

AR12673: A Synoptic View

Harry Roberts Observation

An active sunspot region survived four of the Sun’s rotation; early 2017 July to late September. Its activity over this time is described.

Synoptic Plot The regions for each rotation are shown on the accompanying Synoptic Plot (Figure 1). This maps spots onto a square latitude/longitude grid; thus, spot shapes are unaffected by the Sun’s curvature and position angle of the Sun’s axis of rotation. Their forms, when close to the CM, are used and the four Carrington Rotations (CR) are arranged vertically. Spot sizes, shapes, polarities and proper motion are seen, and it’s clear which spots survived and grew, and which didn’t.

Rotation 2192 (plot 1) AR12665 had a huge (p) spot of 9 square degrees (860 units) with a strong umbral magnetic fi eld of R26 (26 gauss, directed up out of the Sun), equal to the strongest this cycle. It had a train of lesser V spots, with V20 (20 gauss, directed into the Sun) maximum, that soon started to scatter and fade, as the big (p) began to rotate. From July 11th to 14th it rotated counter clockwise 50º (dotted outline) and ‘dragged’ the following inversion line (broken line) IL- IL with it! A most unusual event; the M2.4 fl are resulted from this motion.

Rotation 2193 (plot 2) For the spot’s August transit it was numbered 12670 and had migrated approximately 3º west. It retained a dark fi lament while a second fi lament lay to the south and bright plage covered much of the old site. The region rounded the west limb on August 14th.

Rotation 2194 (plot 3) By August 28th the spot, now numbered 12673, had rounded the east limb with no limb activity to ‘warn’ Hα observers. It now seemed quite stable. It was unchanged until it reached the Central Meridian on September 3rd. Here we see it on September 4th See also Figure 1: AR12673 Synoptic history 2017. Polarities © SDO and Regents of Figure 2. It is fully ‘fenced in’ on the NE side the University of California. Compiled by the author. by a vast ‘coronal hole’ so that spot fi elds can now connect to surface fi elds only in the SW. Delta confi guration and persisted until the group rotated out of view on September 10th. This new, extreme, activity may The original 12665 R (p) spot at -8,119, is retained, but new be seen as the random emergence of a new spot group from R spots have joined it and they are ‘hemmed in’ by new V directly below the old 12665 (p) spot, but it would not account polarities creating an almost circular inversion line; an unusual for the earlier signs of activity: the rotated spot, the strong entity. The V pocket (pp) that intrudes will become a strong fi elds and dark fi laments of its earlier transits.

Page 8 Southern Stars AR12673: A Synoptic View:- Harry Roberts

Figure 2: Active regions 12674 (left) and 12673 (right) in H images taken (left to right) 2017 September 4th 03:55, September 5th 00:04 and September 8th 02:49 UT. On September 8th AR 12673 was nearing the west limb. Images: George Ionas

some 7º in longitude since last seen at the west limb. This is not unusual proper motion for a one- time Delta group. It retained a strong umbral fi eld during transit 4, while at times small spots and pores would briefl y appear in its wake and dark fi laments persisted at the site.

Reference 1 Roberts, Harry, (2017), AR12665: “Unlikely Hero!”, Southern Stars, 56 (3), 15-17.

11 Kahlua St, Bomaderry, NSW Figure 3: Post fl are loops from the X8 fl are of 2017 Sep10th. Top right: Earth scale size. 2541, Australia. [email protected] AR12673 fl ared almost non-stop on 2017, September 4th to 5th. The writer’s session was 23:00 to 02:48. An M2.2 erupted as the WL map was made. The M4.2 that peaked at 01:08 was perhaps the best. There were numbers of other fl ares: though no X-class arose in our time zone. Well-observed M-class were an M1.2 on 6th, M3.9 on the 7th and an M2.1 on the 8th; most arising along the Inversion Line. Splitting of the spot group does not, it seems, remove the Delta state. As it went behind the west limb on September 10th, it powered an X8 fl are: second strongest of this Cycle. While unseen from Earth, it caused some very fi ne limb events (Figure 3 – 12,13 & 14 and Figure 4).

Rotation 2195 (plot 4) This persistent group returned for a fourth transit on September 24th, as AR12682, again, like transit 2, as a small R (p) spot, with strong fi laments. During its backside transit the very irregular shaped group dissipated, along with its Delta confi guration. A simple small spot was the sole survivor, though a ‘tuneable’ dark surge and bright Ellerman Bomb erupt on its NW side and a thin fi lament lay to the south

The R23 fl ux shows this is the original p spot from July’s Figure 4: Arched prominence on the west limb, 2017 12665 group, apparently unaffected by the dramatic events September 11th 02:13 UT. Four hours after Figure 3 #12. of its third transit. It was sited at -10, 126, i.e. it had moved Image: George Ionas

56, 4, 2017 December Page 9 Dedication of CAS’s 5 metre Dome as the Clive Rowe Memorial Dome:- Carol McAlavey

Dedication of CAS’s 5 metre Dome as the Clive Rowe Memorial Dome

Carol McAlavey Canterbury Astronomical Society

Background to the dedication of the 5m dome at the R F Joyce Memorial Observatory, West Melton near Christchurch

Way back in early April I had a thought that CAS should do something to acknowledge the immense time and effort that Clive Rowe had put into practical astronomy at our observatory out at the R.F. Joyce Observatory in West Melton. My thought was that the committee should look into seeing whether the 14” telescope dome would be a suitable candidate, as my fi rst impressions of Clive was him explaining to me how his Photometer that was attached to the end of said telescope, worked. The committee was totally onboard with the suggestion, a plaque was commissioned, and we decided that sometime in September after our open nights schedule had fi nished would be a good time. I discussed the proposal with Marilyn Denton Rowe (Clive’s wife) and she was very touched that CAS considered Carol McAlavey speaking at the Dedication of the Clive Rowe Memorial Dome. Clive in such high esteem. We Photo: Huia Parker settled on Saturday 23rd September 2017 as the ideal date. It was a lovely afternoon and the dedication was attended by 65 people, including Clive’s family and friends and past and current CAS members. We started with a welcome to the event and then the Reverend Ian Crumpton lead the dedication. That was followed by a wonderful speech by Marilyn then several people spoke of their memories of Clive and the friendship they shared with him over astronomy. We then moved into the lodge where a magnifi cent spread was served, while we watched a slide show on the screen from photos that Ashley Marles had supplied. To top the evening off we were all serenaded by the awesome voices of Euan Mason and his daughter Rhiannon. The commemorative plaque mounted in the foyer of the It was a tremendous opportunity for us to let Clive’s family observatory. Photo: Raewyn Marles know how much he was revered by all of us and how much he is missed.

Page 10 Southern Stars A Look at the 10-day Old Moon:- Maurice Collins

A Look at the 10-day Old Moon

Maurice Collins Lunar Travelogue

Perhaps my favourite is around the 10-day old Moon. With the great crater Copernicus coming into sunrise and the fl at being uncovered, it is just the nicest looking Moon you can see. On the night of 2017 September 30th, I captured this image with my Williams Optics FLT-110 (4.3-inch) refractor and would like to give you a quick tour of the lunar surface features seen that night.

Starting at the top (south in my image) we have one of the largest craters on the - Clavius (231 km dia.): the location of the in the fi lm “2001: A Space Odyssey”. In the fi lm the crew travelled north to the crater Tycho, the location of the monolith.

Tycho (86 km dia.) can be seen in the image with some of its rays just becoming visible. At full-moon they will dominate the lunar surface with rayed streaks from the ejecta from its formation 109 million years ago.

South of Clavius in the closeup image (Figure 2, next page) we have one of the deepest craters on the Moon, Newton (75 km dia.), named for Sir Isaac Newton, where the depth in one if its interior craters lies 7 km below the rim!

Next to it is Moretus (114 km dia.) similar to Tycho but larger. Below Clavius we have Maginus (181 km dia.) to the east, and Longomontanus (146 km dia.) to the north. Both old degraded Figure 1: South top, East left large craters similar in age to If you look carefully with a telescope, just above (south of) Clavius, with Maginus being the oldest and most worn by the Bullialdus is a ghost ring crater called (45 km dia.), and relentless rain of meteoroid impacts and other crater ejecta near that is a lunar dome called Kies π (160 m high and 14 km (such as Imbrium basin ejecta) hitting its walls over the eons dia.) See closeup image of it from same night (Figure 3). Lunar and wearing them down. domes are small lunar shield volcanoes where the vented and got slower and thicker toward the end of the fl ow as the Moving down we come to (715 km dia.), the Sea temperature dropped, leaving a low hill with a small vent crater of Clouds. The largest crater there is Bullialdus (61 km dia.). on top. The Kies π type is known as an effusive dome. Other

56, 4, 2017 December Page 11 A Look at the 10-day Old Moon:- Maurice Collins

Figure 2 types of domes are formed by lava below the surface pushing up from below but not quite breaking through the surface and just raising it into a dome, causing what is called a laccolithic intrusive dome. The “Valentine dome” shaped like a heart in Mare Serenitatis is of this type. For more info on domes, see this free e-book by Raf Lena: https://sites.google.com/site/lunarvolcanoes/

Following along the we come to an interesting mountain range called the Riphaeus Mountains (190 km long) which border the Known Sea, Mare Cognitum (350 km dia) where 12 with and Alan Bean landed in 1969 right next to the Surveyor 3 spacecraft that had arrived there two years earlier. East of them is the Apollo 14 landing site at Fra Mauro (97 km dia.) where Commander Alan Shepard played a round of golf at the end of their Moonwalk. Next, to the north, is the crater Lansberg (39 km dia.), then Reinhold (43 km dia.) and fi nally the great crater Copernicus Figure 3 (96 km dia. - Figure 4), perhaps the most spectacular crater on the visible face of the Moon. Copernicus was studied in http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1962IAUS...14..289S the early 1960’s by astro-geologists Eugene Shoemaker and Robert Hackman as a key to dating the relative ages of surface East of Copernicus is the crater Eratosthenes (59 km dia.) and features on the Moon. The key to it is that younger features the rim of the Imbrium basin with the Apennine mountains. overlie older, so they can work out which features formed Inside Mare Imbrium (1146 km dia.) is the large crater earlier than others by the layering and how a younger crater (81 km dia.) and the lighter toned surface of has damaged an older one. Lunar Stratigraphy has been used the Apennine bench, which appears to be lava of a different to map the entire Moon. Mostly, but not always correctly, as composition and colour. It is a fairly mysterious feature and was found out from where the rocks on the ground may be part of a collapse of the Imbrium basin rim that has slid were not what they thought they were from geologic mapping! into the basin after it formed, with the peaks still above the “sea Only lunar samples give the “ground truth” of what is actually level”. landed nearby in the Palus Putredinis (Marsh there, and we have so few sites that have been sampled so far. of Decay) area that shows up as darker lava in this region. If The landmark paper is titled “Stratigraphic Basis for a Lunar you look closely at high magnifi cation at an earlier lunar phase, Time Scale”, and can be found online at NASA ADS server: Hadley can often be seen.

Page 12 Southern Stars A Look at the 10-day Old Moon:- Maurice Collins

can sometimes be seen on its fl oor. Often disputed as an effect of the seeing conditions on otherwise straight shadows (most likely), they do look curved at times to this observer.

Right at the bottom of the Moon is Mare Frigoris (1446 km long), the Sea of Cold. The (tilt) of the Moon put it very close to the northern limb this night, but at other more favourable it is further in on the disc. A good gauge of what the libration is doing is its position when you observe. Just coming into sunrise is the easternmost portion of the Bay of Rainbows, Sinus Iridum (249 km dia.). Over the next few hours and into the following night, it will become very prominent in this northwest area of the Moon. The section just in sunrise here is Promontorium Laplace (2590m high).

Figure 4 So this concludes our brief tour of the 10-day Moon. It is the Two pairs of craters nestled in between Archimedes and the most convenient to observe due it rising in the late afternoon Caucasus mountains are (39 km dia.) and and being well placed just after dark, so hope you can get out (55 km dia.) (Figure 1). Down a bit from them is Cassini (56 km to enjoy a view of it, clouds permitting! dia.) and as we head into the lunar Alps mountains we observe the fabulous Alpine Valley (155 km long) (Figure 5). Once thought to be a gash in the mountains caused by a low fl ying meteoroid, it is now known to be a geological formation called a graben. Grabens are formed by pairs of parallel faults where the ground between them drops down as the surface stretches Palmerston North apart. It was most probably formed when the Imbrium basin New Zealand rim readjusted after the huge impact that excavated the basin. There is a thin rille that runs down the centre of the valley, a real [email protected] tough test of telescope resolution and seeing conditions. I am not sure I have conclusively seen it visually but it can sometimes be just detected in images. Lunar Orbiter spacecraft have imaged it very nicely though, so have a look on lunar Quickmap (http://quickmap.lroc.asu.edu) for a closer view.

Mare Imbrium has lots of isolated mountain peaks on its fl oor. These are remnants of an internal basin ring as Imbrium, like all large basins, is a multi- ring impact basin. These peaks, like Mt. Pico (2360 m high) and Mt. Piton (2370 m high) and the Teneriffe mountains (1570 m high, 112 km long) and Straight Range, (2050 m high, 83 km long), all in an arc near the shore are what is left of this inner ring.

The great black lake on the rim of Imbrium in the Alps mountains, is the crater Plato (101 km dia.), which is another of the great natural wonders of the Moon. It’s fl at fl oor and wonderful play of shadows as the Sun rises, (to be seen on a previous night), are very interesting to watch. Plato’s Hook, a bent hook like shadow Figure 5

56, 4, 2017 December Page 13 Adventures in Radio Astronomy:- Allen Wallace

Adventures in Radio Astronomy

Allen Wallace Instrumentation

Having been in electronics and particularly RF communications for most of my life it was surprising, being an astronomer, that I had never become interested in radio astronomy as so many of my friends had suggested. At the end of the day it appeared some squiggly lines on a piece of paper would be the only result for all the effort that would go into building, installing and calibrating such a system, however it might be achieved. Deep space had always been of major interest, so having seen a simple article about radio reception from Jupiter and Io, I fi nally thought: “let’s have a go at this thing regardless of the outcome.” Well, it soon became apparent that it was not a simple matter to discern noise from real outer space stuff, and so the challenge began. Based on an article written for the Victorian Astronomical Group in Melbourne Australia Some Thoughts on a Radio Telescope the two antennae need to be spaced a few wavelengths apart in In the beginning I wondered whether using a radio receiver and an east west direction enhancing the distance effect. This is the pointing an attached antenna at the galaxy somewhere would so-called baseline and can imitate a dish antenna of the same achieve some sort of repeatable results. No doubt a lot of others diameter. In fact the interferometer has some advantages over have wondered this as well. In a word, no. The combination a single dish system with this spatial effect. of antenna sensitivity, the detector and observations could not reveal any increase in radio noise when an object passed I had recalled an article written by Dr G W Swensen in the through the antenna beam. This simple arrangement cannot be American Sky and Telescope magazine way back in 1978. compared to a dipole antenna and radio receiver listening for Well, it just so happened that I had removed all the practical 15-metre radiation from Jupiter. A dipole antenna is one of the interesting pages from these old issues before I discarded standards for antenna gain measurements and as such has 0 db them and yes, sure enough I still had it. Swensen must be of gain. The radiation from Io and Jupiter is strong enough to commended for his approach and inspiration to young be received in this fashion but listening to light year distant enthusiasts of Radio Astronomy. He was one of the lead radio noise sources requires considerably more antenna gain designers of the Very Large Array, and director of Vermillion and more complicated detectors to reject unwanted background River radio observatory at the time of writing the article. His noise and terrestrial local noise. An antenna system with skills in simplifying a very complicated system at the time must 20 decibels of gain actually increases the signal power by 100 be acknowledged, and he must defi nitely have inspired many times at the antenna. This is very important as a good noise of our knowledgeable experts of today. The article describes fi gure (signal to noise ratio) is achieved and preserved up front an interferometer running at 75 MHz. These frequencies were at the antenna. Trying to get this same amplifi cation in later chosen because the necessary equipment could be begged, electronic stages just does not work as the inherent equipment borrowed and scrounged at that time because of the low band noise is amplifi ed as well. Even when listening to the raw TV broadcasts, particularly the off the shelf fringe area (read noise from a gain system with good receivers it is very diffi cult high gain) 75 MHz antennae that could be freely purchased and to identify the noise increase when a radio object passes by. set up. Many other components could be purchased through Having studied this on an oscilloscope as well as by ear my ham radio outlets, clubs and amateurs themselves, especially if conclusion is that it is still diffi cult to repeatedly identify real you could persuade the hams to get interested in this madness galactic noise from the varying background radiation. It is also as well. a fact that the radio noise source varies in output so during the 90 minutes or so when the noise source passes by the antenna So, being simply persuaded, I decided to build a system at it could be at a peak or null in radiation. If the radio source is 75 MHz. In retrospect, this would not happen again, but it being tracked across the sky then the variation can be seen but this is not how an interferometer normally operates.

An interferometer has two antennae separated by a few wavelengths. The two signals are compared in phase as the radio source passes over. Initially only the fi rst antenna receives the radio source. Gradually over the period of an hour or so (as the Earth rotates) the second antenna receives the signal and the fi rst antenna slowly loses the signal. As can be imagined, the strength and comparative phase of the signal varies as the distance of the radio source varies in wavelengths from each antenna due to the rotation of the Earth. This is why Figure 1: 75 MHz antenna.

Page 14 Southern Stars Adventures in Radio Astronomy:- Allen Wallace

Figure 2: 408 MHz antenna gave me valuable experience to move on. If a person is at home with UHF around 400 MHz this frequency has many advantages over 75 MHz. The signals are louder, more sensitivity is achieved, and there is less interfering radio static, Figure 3: l: 75 MHz electronics. r: 408 MHz electronics which can be a real problem in the city area. Top marks to antennae with similar length feeders to keep the maths simple. Swensen. Again, he made his Radio Telescope portable for The two signals are fed to the adder and amplifi ers but one fi eld excursions, a lot harder then than now. Swensen didn’t signal is alternately delayed by half a wavelength and then fed have a laptop in 1978! At 408 MHz the antennae are smaller direct at a switching rate of a few hundred hertz. This has for much higher gain, although it does take technique if you two advantages. The combined signal strength is alternately build them from scratch, as testing equipment is more diffi cult compared at the switching rate and is therefore effectively as the frequencies increase. 20 db of antenna gain though is a doubled in strength. Secondly the switching rate “tags” the lot easier at 408 MHz than 75 MHz. A picture of the arrays will signal at the switching frequency so that only the antenna help show this. The two 6 element 75 MHz yagis (Figure 1) received signal is detected as it is clocked through the detector have a gain of around 10db each end whereas the two 408 MHz at this same rate; i.e. only the switching signal noise bursts yagis (Figure 2) have a gain of 18db each end. Two more are detected. The result at the interferometer output for a antennae can easily be added to the 408 MHz arrays to achieve point radio source is a series of voltage level sine waves as over 20db and a larger capture area. This is approaching the the object passes by the two antennae. The number of sine gain of a 12-foot dish. The one big advantage that occurred waves for a pass can be calculated by calculating the number when building the second system at 408 MHz was that there of “fringes” which occur, a function of the baseline length were two completely individual radio telescopes giving the (antenna separation) and the frequency being used (receiver exact same information on a daily basis. It is very encouraging frequency). The angle of the object above the horizon also to know that you are actually receiving something from outer effects this calculation. Bandwidth has not been mentioned space and not the local radio station down the road! but it is a fact that the receiver needs to be much broader than a normal radio receiver so that a wide chunk of the band is being The second very valuable piece of luck was fi nding Radio looked at through the “eyes” of the antenna. This is good and Eyes, a program like a planisphere, with all of the radio sources bad as the broader the receiver bandwidth the more noise is overlaying the star map constellations, complete with levels of received both wanted and unwanted. signal strength to be expected, and when they might pass over. Once my fi rst system was built and thought to be running, how One early lesson learnt with a radio telescope is that you don’t could I prove I was getting something of relevance, and what make it, turn it on and expect it to work. After many weeks of scale would the signals be? Do I look for 0 to 5 millivolts spare time evaluation, testing, thinking (in the middle of the or perhaps 100 to 200 mV? How much gain should I give night of course) and adjusting, fi nally the scale of signals being my IF amplifi er stage so as not to mask the space junk noise? received was realised, along with the odd bit of terrestrial What sort of noise fi gures had I achieved at the antenna interference. We were now fully hooked by the concept, even amplifi er? Did the down converter do the right thing and were though there had been moments of “Let’s throw it all in the its levels high enough for the IF amplifi er? Did the detector bin and show who really is the around here!” I was also work properly and was there enough IF level at the input of repeatedly commenting to my wife, “I have absolutely no idea the detector? Were the wiggly lines space noise, equipment what is going on here.” Every morning the previous 24-hour noise or temperature drift or other Earth bound noises? My results were gone over to try and make some sense of them. problem was I was on my own, though not literally, for my Usually it was totally confusing and these sine waves would wife tolerates and encourages my interests in astronomy and just not appear consistently. Second lesson: the radio sources radio, to her much appreciated credit, but there it ends. do not put out the same strengths and signals repeatedly at each pass, silly thought for thinking it would be the same every day. In a typical interferometer the two antennae are spaced say This universe thing is a strange place. You would think after a about 50 metres apart, for a receiver running at 408 MHz, on few billion years things would have stabilized somewhat. One an east-west baseline. At 75 MHz a greater spacing of about thing about science: if you cannot repeat the result many times, 90 metres is used to achieve about 20-wavelength spacing. you are probably missing the main lesson, but this didn’t help Ideally the receiver is placed in the middle between the two either. Finally I turned my attention to the Sun. “Surely this

56, 4, 2017 December Page 15 Adventures in Radio Astronomy:- Allen Wallace

Figure 4: This Plot displays in the following order: Sun, Centaurus A, Sagittarius A, Cygnus A and Taurus A (Crab Nebula) over a 24 hour period received from latitude 37° south. on a frequency of 70 megahertz. The Antennae were moved in declination over the 24 hour period to point at each object in turn as the rotation brought them into view. Note. Although Cent A is the closest Radio Source to Earth Cygnus A has much higher radiation at this frequency as seen by the recent received plot. The Crab Nebula in Taurus was the fi rst Radio Source discovered after the Super Nova Pulsar was found in 1967. It may be noted this plot is quite noisy with random spiky type reception and interference. This is typical of the lower frequency reception. Under about 100 megahertz the ionosphere still has considerable infl uence on radio waves passing through the various ionosphere layers. 400 MHz plots are much smoother and quieter. Capturing the signals The Radio Eyes program gives Flux Density outputs for most of the known sources. The Sun can vary drastically due to sun spot and fl are numbers on the it’s surface. Most other sources are relatively stable with constant output. The bottom scale relates to about 1 hour per 1 thousand units. The Earth rotates at 15°/hour moving over the radio source. Celestial rotation is a little less as we know. The beam pattern of the antenna controls the capture time of the source. Antenna beam widths of 30° to 40° are typical. This is why Figure 5: Sun 408 MHz signal. You will note the scale at the side is the sine wave will not last much longer than 3 hours or so 2500 at 400 MHz which is about the size of the maximum excursion of and typically only half this time for weak sources.. This is the Sun output for this plot. This relates to 2500 milliVolts or 2.5 volts. the basic way an Interferometer operates as the antenna must The plot at 70 MHz is 600 milliVolts much lower. This is the difference be fi xed in one position to enable the phase detector to detect in the radio wave output at the different radio frequencies. Some sources the phase difference in the received antenna source signal, such as Cygnus have a much higher output at 70 MHz than at 400 MHz from the two antenna, which is many times weaker than the other sources are quite the opposite. cosmic back ground noise from the universe.. monster has to be putting out big noise.” Wrong again, unless activity or reported activity. there is activity, just more confusing wiggly lines as it passes over, but occasionally very big wiggly sine waves. But at least The second interferometer built at 408 MHz solved all the it could be checked to see if there were any sunspots, visual queries. It confi rmed almost exactly what was happening at

Page 16 Southern Stars Adventures in Radio Astronomy:- Allen Wallace

75 MHz but with much louder higher scale readings. What an tags the signal so it can be easily recognized as a 300-hertz encouragement this was, and it allowed the two systems to be switching signal. After amplifi cation the signal is detected in a tweaked and pruned to optimum performance together. Today synchronous detector synchronized to the 300 hertz switching two old Pentiums are run at about 100 MHz to record the two signal. This means the detection is only active when the phase radio telescope outputs and these are networked to a laptop and delay is either in or out. This helps to detect only real galactic higher speed Pentium in the house. These mornings I can get noise and rejects other extraneous equipment noise. up, turn on the laptop, and evaluate the last 24 hours of data in minutes from the two sources. Still only wiggly old sine waves The result as the radio source passes over the two antenna but this is being worked on to build a system of mapping an arrays is a sine wave output as the combining antenna signals area like a mosaic in order to build crude radio pictures of areas move slowly in and out of phase during the transit caused of the sky. Luckily I have come across two 3 metre dishes by the Earth’s rotation. A typical transit of a radio source is which have set up another challenge, so one day there may be 90 minutes or so giving several sine wave deviations during more to tell of the many challenges in getting the 1545 MHz this period. At the end of the transit all becomes quiet again band running (hydrogen emissions). Hopefully there will be and the background galactic noise is received giving a wobbly more sensitivity and higher defi nition. Still, there won’t be any old squiggly line again. The transition from this line to the challenge to Parkes or Arecibo we suspect. Hopefully this text sine wave is very pronounced and obvious as the radio source has inspired some others to have a go at this interesting side of comes within range of the antenna, often beginning with a very our hobby. It has some huge advantages in not requiring clear large swing upwards or downwards. There are several ways skies or non-light polluted areas or night time even. If it is of to record the signal. Freeware is available on the web but also interest, details of the homemade circuitry electronics could be for $50 a digital multimeter complete with RS232 interface supplied. Some converted equipment and some home made and software can be purchased. Then there is equipment like has been used for the 408 MHz interferometer. The 75 MHz DATAQ starting at about the same price, and this is a software interferometer is all home made as these frequencies are a little package as well. Dataq is an Excel add-on and very fl exible. easier handled. The antenna was also home manufactured to Chart recorders are a little old hat these days and don’t lend suit the conditions. themselves to the same manipulation Excel can offer but are another possibility. The output from the interferometer is a How it Works slowly fl uctuating DC voltage in the 500-millivolt range. An interferometer is an instrument that compares two radio signals being received from the same outer Addendum space source but from slightly different Technology has moved on in leaps and terrestrial locations meaning the antennae bounds since this system was designed are separated by a number of wavelengths 15 years ago and today I make these at the frequency being used. This could suggestions. On eBay many items made be 50 metres at 408 MHz or 100 metres at for the satellite TV market have become 75 MHz. Closer separation can be used and available. Low Noise Amplifi ers with .5db of course less feeder cable losses can be Noise Figures costing less than NZ$10. achieved. Interferometers have advantages Convertors, Gain blocks and Oscillator over large dishes and the baseline can modules all for under $10. Basically all that simulate a single dish of this baseline is required for a complete Radio Telescope diameter. It is advisable to have antenna- receiver front end. The Detector is not mounted amplifi ers to establish a good noise complicated and can be made or purchased. fi gure; feeder losses can then be neglected. I have a very good design from a friend for At microwaves down, converters are instance probably well under $100 to build. normally mounted at the antenna, allowing A laptop computer can be dedicated to the job much lower frequencies to be passed over for $300 these days and the Dataq recorder the feeder lines to the receivers. At 400 purchased with very good software for also MHz and below this is not necessary and the about $100. At VHF and UHF frequencies down converter and most of the electronics there are now many obsolete analogue can be back in “the shed”. This means a TV antennae, waiting to be removed from simple low noise amplifi er can be connected houses, easily converted to the purpose. directly to the antenna through low loss coaxial cable. Now At UHF most city house blocks are wide enough to have a low loss open wire feeders could arguably be used but these decent baseline to accommodate a pair of antenna set up in this days most would not understand the term and if a good noise fashion for a respectable Interferometer. A simple 10 element fi gure is established why not use simple coaxial cable or yagi on each side will easily show many noise sources. I have heliax. The electronics back in “the shed” merely adds and a system with antenna spaced at 15 metres working fi ne on removes a 180-degree phase shift to the received signal from 400 MHz for example. one of the antenna feeders, then combines the two signals to be fed to the frequency converter and Intermediate Frequency stage amplifi ers. This phasing in and out causes enhancement 520 Lund Road, RD2 Katikati 3178, New Zealand and reduction to the received signal at the switching rate, [email protected] normally about 300 hertz. This increases the sensitivity and

56, 4, 2017 December Page 17 INDEX Volume 56

6 DAY MOON, Maurice Collins 3, 14 ADVENTURES IN RADIO ASTRONOMY, Allen Wallace 4, 14 AR12665: “UNLIKELY HERO!”, Harry Roberts 3, 15 AR12673: A SYNOPTIC VIEW, Harry Roberts 4, 8 AUCKLAND OBSERVATORY RESEARCH IN THE FIRST 25 YEARS - A PERSONAL VIEW, Stan Walker 1, 5 AUCKLAND OBSERVATORY RESEARCH IN THE FIRST 25 YEARS - A PERSONAL VIEW II, Stan Walker 2, 18 AURORA AUSTRALIS 1979 TO 2016, R W Evans 3, 11 BOOK REVIEW - CRATERS OF THE FAR SIDE MOON, Maurice Collins 3, 18 CHARIKLO OCCULTATION MARCH 18, 2017, Gordon Hudson abnd Roland Idaczyk 3, 12 Collins, Maurice, 6 DAY MOON 3, 14 Collins, Maurice, BOOK REVIEW - CRATERS OF THE FAR SIDE MOON 3, 18 Collins, Maurice, A LOOK AT THE 10-DAY OLD MOON 4, 11 DEDICATION OF CAS’S 5 METRE DOME AS THE CLIVE ROWE MEMORIAL DOME, Carol McAlavey 4, 10 Drummond, John, SWAPA 2017 2, 3 Evans, R W, AURORA AUSTRALIS 1979 TO 2016 3, 11 Evans, R W, SOUTHLAND OBSERVATORY 1972 - 2017 3, 3 Fraser, Grahame, THE NORFOLK ISLAND EFFECT AND THE WHANGAROA REPORT, 2, 11 GREAT USA 2017 ECLIPSE NEAR MURRAY, KENTUCKY, THE, Ron Paine 4, 3 Griffi n, Ian, AN OBSERVATION OF 31, 32 AND 110 FROM OTAGO 1, 3 Hudson, Gordon and Orchiston, Wayne, A REPORT ON THE STATUS OF STEPHEN CARKEEK’S OBSERVATORY AT FEATHERSTON: THE OLDEST SURVIVING ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY IN NEW ZEALAND 3, 6 Hudson, Gordon and Idaczyk, Roland, CHARIKLO OCCULTATION MARCH 18, 2017 3, 12 Idaczyk, Roland and Hudson, Gordon, CHARIKLO OCCULTATION MARCH 18, 2017 3, 12 LOOK AT THE 10-DAY OLD MOON, A, Maurice Collins 4, 11 LOUWMAN COLLECTION OF HISTORIC TELESCOPES, THE, William Tobin 2, 6 McAlavey, Carol, DEDICATION OF CAS’S 5 METRE DOME AS THE CLIVE ROWE MEMORIAL DOME 4, 10 NORFOLK ISLAND EFFECT AND THE WHANGAROA REPORT, THE, Grahame Fraser 2, 11 OBSERVATION OF MESSIER 31, 32 AND 110 FROM OTAGO, AN, Ian Griffi n 1, 3 Orchiston, Wayne and Hudson, Gordon, A REPORT ON THE STATUS OF STEPHEN CARKEEK’S OBSERVATORY AT FEATHERSTON: THE OLDEST SURVIVING ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY IN NEW ZEALAND 3, 6 Paine, Ron, THE GREAT USA 2017 ECLIPSE NEAR MURRAY, KENTUCKY 4, 3 RASNZ ANNUAL REPORT OF COUNCIL 2016 1, 13 REPORT ON THE STATUS OF STEPHEN CARKEEK’S OBSERVATORY AT FEATHERSTON: THE OLDEST SURVIVING ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY IN NEW ZEALAND, A, Gordon Hudson and Wayne Orchiston 3, 6 Roberts, Harry, AR12665: “UNLIKELY HERO!” 3, 15 Roberts, Harry, AR12673: A SYNOPTIC VIEW 4, 8 SOUTHLAND OBSERVATORY 1972 - 2017, R W Evans 3, 3 STEVE BUTLER - FRASNZ 2, 10 SWAPA 2017, John Drummond 2, 3 Tobin, William, THE LOUWMAN COLLECTION OF HISTORIC TELESCOPES 2, 6 Walker, Stan, AUCKLAND OBSERVATORY RESEARCH IN THE FIRST 25 YEARS - A PERSONAL VIEW 1, 5 Walker, Stan, AUCKLAND OBSERVATORY RESEARCH IN THE FIRST 25 YEARS - A PERSONAL VIEW II 2, 18 Wallace, Allen, ADVENTURES IN RADIO ASTRONOMY 4, 14

Page 18 Southern Stars outhern Stars is published quarterly in March, June, September and December. It is sent to all members and affi liated societies. Institutions and libraries may subscribe. SIndividuals may purchase single copies. Contact the Executive Secretary for information. Contributions The editor welcomes; RESEARCH PAPERS theoretical, observational, technical, historical, etc.; NEWS ARTICLES regarding recent events in NZ astronomy, discoveries, gatherings, awards, etc.; ANNUAL REPORTS from NZ astronomical institutions; REVIEWS of astronomical activities, sections, local/regional groups, personal, etc.; OBSERVERS’ FORUM particularly interesting photographs and/or descriptions. All contributions should be original; not (at least widely) having been published elsewhere. All correspondence regarding Southern Stars should be addressed to the editor: 15 Taiepa Road, Otatara R D 9, Invercargill 9879, New Zealand or [email protected].

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Sections Astrobiology Director Ms H Mogoşanu, 31E Patanga Crescent, Thorndon, Wellington, NZ http://astrobiology.kiwi Astrophotography Director Mr J Drummond, P O Box 113, Patutahi 4045, NZ http://www.rasnzaps.co.nz Comet and Meteor Director Mr J Drummond, P O Box 113, Patutahi 4045, NZ http://www.cometeor.co.nz Dark Skies Group Convenor Mr S C Butler, 30 Hoffman Court, Invercargill 9810, NZ http://www.rasnz.org.nz/groups-and-sections/dark-skies-group Education Section Convenor Mr R A Fisher, 39 Wilton St, Levin 5510, NZ. http://www.rasnz.org.nz/wiki/doku.php?id=education:start Occultation Director Mr S R Kerr, 22 Green Ave, Glenlee, Queensland 4711, Australia http://www.occultations.org.nz Professional Astronomers’ Group Ass. Prof. K R Pollard, Dep’t of Physics and Astronomy, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140, NZ http://www.rasnz.org.nz/groups-and-sections/professional-astronomers-group Space Weather Director Damian McNamara, 16 Harlech St, Oamaru 9400, NZ [email protected] Variable Stars South Director Mr M G Blackford, 25 Bambridge St, Chester Hill, NSW 2162, Australia http://www.variablestarssouth.org

Fellows Mr W H Allen Prof E Budding Mr S C Butler Dr G W Christie Mr R W Evans Mr A C Gilmore Prof. J B Hearnshaw Ms P M Kilmartin Mr B R Loader Ms J M McCormick Ass. Prof. K R Pollard Dr D J Sullivan Mr W S G Walker Prof. P C M Yock

Honorary Members Gerry Gilmore, FInstP, ScD, MAE, FRS Thomas Richards MA(Hons VUW), DPhil(Oxon)

Brian Warner BSc(Hons), PhD, DSc(London), MA, DSc(Oxon), Assoc RAS, FRSSAf, MASSAf

© Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand 2017. Individual articles, illustrations, etc. remain the copyright of the author or photographer, whose permission must be obtained before reproduction.

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