Public Observing at the Institute of Astronomy 7th March 2007

Institute of Astronomy http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/IOA/ & Cambridge Astronomical Association http://www.caa-cya.org/home/index.php Any comments or suggestions please to Carolin Crawford ([email protected])

Our open evenings will continue to run till the end of March. The talk schedule can be found at http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/IOA/public/0607timetable.html.

This week’s talk : Steve Wilkins will be telling us Why the future isn’t so bright – the history and future of formation Next week’s talk : Derek Jones will be revealing A National Scandal: how we didn’t discover Neptune

We have a selection of activities coming up for the Cambridge Science Festival: . Junior School Art Competition : Create a poster/picture that expresses Your View of the Universe. The prize is a half-day visit to your school by the Stardome Planetarium; but hurry! – the entry deadline is this coming Friday, 9th March. . Do you know anyone who might enjoy an afternoon of activities about Astronomy for the Visually Impaired ? Sunday 18th March, 2-6pm, prior booking is essential. . Open Afternoon : The IoA opens up its doors to everyone on Saturday 24th March, 4-8pm (followed by observing if the weather is clear). Full details of all these activities can be found at: http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/public/csf/2007/

The Society for Popular Astronomy is holding their annual convention here at the IoA this coming Saturday, 10th March, 10am – 5.30pm. Admission to the event is free, and open to everyone. If you want more information, please look at http://www.popastro.com/convention07.htm.

Astroblast is returning to the IoA! This it is planned to be bigger and better; it will be held on Saturday 21st April. Further details can be found at http://www.astroblast.org.uk/

Astronomical object of the week :

NGC 2362 is a beautiful of about 60 , all loosely bound to each other by gravity. These stars formed from the same gas cloud somewhere between 10 and 20 million ago, the remnants of which are still present as faint wisps of nebulosity. The cluster is dominated by the very bright star, tau canis majoris, which is really a double system. The cluster appears as a faint haze around this star when seen through binoculars, and it requires a telescope to properly resolve individual stars.

Iridium flares in the early evening are few and far between this coming week, Day start time altitude & direction 11 Mar 19:13:17 41° N 13 Mar 18:36:53 53° N However, to make up for it, both of these flares are expected to be particularly bright. For more details or the exact timing from somewhere other than Cambridge, look at www.heavens- above.com

Tonight we intend to show you the following astronomical objects (weather permitting, of course): Saturn : and some of its brighter moons Beta Camelopardalis : a supergiant star that has a of over 3000 times that of our Sun Tau : the brightest member of the bright open cluster of stars called NGC 2362. Algol :a star that periodically varies in brightness as it is eclipsed by a companion star Mizar : a star that has an easily-seen companion, Alcor NGC 1502 :an open cluster of stars, many of which are double stars M1 : the ‘crab ’ which is a remnant from a supernova explosion M42 : the ‘great’ nebula in Orion, a region of intense star formation M41 : an open cluster of stars The of Camelopardalis, Canis Major and the Plough

Chart of the night sky from Cambridge for 8pm on Wednesday 7th March (taken from www.heavens-above.com)

You can see Venus to the West every evening after sunset until just after 8.30pm – it appears as a really bright ‘star’ above the horizon.

Saturn is now easily visible in the night sky, bright and high in the of Leo towards the south-east.

If you are an early riser, you can catch Jupiter bright towards the south-east in the morning twilight. It rises at 2:14am.

And finally, a site map to help you find your way back to the car in the dark if we are observing tonight.

Alternative parking here

Public observing happens here

Enter the IoA here for the talk

You have probably parked here

suggested route back to the car park