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June 2019 Newsletter

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Volume24, Issue 10 NWASNEWS June 2019 Newsletter for the Wiltshire, Swindon, Beckington THANK YOU and Happy Recess Astronomical Societies and Salisbury Plain Observing Group Wiltshire Astronomical Society moves face of the Sun due this week, and into a summer recess, well for club has found three racks going close to, Wiltshire Society Page 2 house meetings. or through, Wiltshire in the next 4 days… but the weather is not due to Swindon Stargazers 3 So can I as vice chair, newsletter edi- brilliant. Beckington AS 4 tor and outreach coordinator thank all the committee members and stand ins Don’t forget from now until late July NASA Space Place 5 called on in the year, plus coffee mak- there may be noctilucent clouds in the Jupiter in June ers, dish washers and out reach volun- evening North West or morning North Space News 6-19 teers. It has been a difficult year for East skies. Around and hour to two Spotting Planetary Nebulae our chair and I have (and am currently hours before or after Sun rise/set. Protecting the Solar System from very much) had a lot of arthritic pain or I am able to keep watching because Exploitation Messier 86 pain killer side affects to deal with, so of blooming pain/pain killer cycles, Chang’e Lander Moon Mysteries the help has been very gratefully re- but they are worth a look. 18 Near Earth size objects found ceived. in Kepler data. Mars Sand Dunes are different May I single out Sam Franklin for his Clear skies Motherload of Clay found on Mars stoically work in sorting out our web Andy Burns. Restored Solar Eclipse film page and getting into a good shape Mars Rovers to look for Pasta going forward. The introduction of the shapes Subaru finds 1800 supernovae members page of Facebook has also New All-sky X-ray map. been working very well, and will ena- ble us to keep in touch over the sum- mer months with ad hoc viewing ses- Members Logs, images and notes 20-21 sions and calls for help. What’s Up Summer 2019 22-23 We (well Peter Chappell and Tony Constellation of the Month 24-26 Vale) have put together some dates Ophiuchus for the beginning of next season and I am able to include them on page 2 Space Station Timings 27-28 and the back page of the newsletter. IMAGES, VIEWING SESSIONS 29 Also John Dartnell has taken a shared and OUTREACH message about ISS passes of the sur- Summer skies bring us the Milky Way (not here), Noctilucent clouds and meteors. At the end of May I managed to capture some noctilucent clouds just above the northern horizon at the some time as a very bright fireball meteor streaked down to the north. The meteor was around –7 magnitude, easily outshining the noctilu- cent cloud and 1st Magnitude Capella in the centre of the pic- ture. Nikon D7200 with 12- 24mm lens at 15mm, f4.5 and 6 seconds ex- posure. Page 2 Volume21, Issue8 Wiltshire Society Page Membership Meeting nights £1.00 for members £3 for visitors Wiltshire Astronomical Society Wiltshire AS Contacts Web site: www.wasnet.org.uk Keith Bruton Chair, [email protected] Facebook members page: https://www.facebook.com/ Vice chair: Andy Burns and newsletter editor. groups/wiltshire.astro.society/ Email [email protected] Meetings 2018/2019Season. Bob Johnston (Treasurer) Debbie Croker (vice Treasurer) NEW VENUE the Pavilion, Rusty Lane, Seend Philip Proven (Hall coordinator) Dave Buckle (Teas) Meet 7.30 for 8.00pm start Peter Chappell (Speaker secretary) Date Speaker Title Nick Howes (Technical Guru) 2019 4 Jun Owen Brazell Observing Planetary Nebulae Observing Sessions coordinators: Jon Gale, Tony Vale NEXT SEASON 2019/2020 Web coordinator: Sam Franklin 3rd Sep: Steve Tonkin, Time & Calendar + AGM Contact via the web site details. 1st Oct: TBC (awaiting come back e mail from possible speaker) 5th Nov: Andrew Lound:, Uranus – George’s planet 3rd Dec: Dr Dirk Froebrich, Making stars & planets – The Rusty Lane, Pavilion Hoys=Caps Citizen Science Project. Owen Brazell: Thank you Owen for standing in for our postponed speak- er. As member of the Webb Society and an avid eye to the Observing Sessions telescope exponent, Owen is a very learned astronomer and will be sharing his viewing of the planetary nebulae, many of which are visible in our summer skies. The Wiltshire Astronomical Society’s observing sessions PLEASE see our proposed are open, and we welcome changes to the observing visitors from other societies sessions, contacting and as well as members of the other details. Back Page public to join us. We will help you set up Note this year we have equipment (as often as you moved away from the ‘4th need this help), and let you Friday of the month’ routine test anything we have to help to get away from nights when you in your choice of future the Moon is too bright to view astronomy purchases. other objects, so may be 1st Please treat the lights and Friday of month... return to full working order before leaving. With enough care shown we may get the National Trust to do some- thing with them! Page 3 Swindon’s own astronomy group Enjoy astronomy at it's best! June Meeting: Peter Chappell Members of the Wiltshire Astronomical Society al- He will be speaking ways welcome! on 'My Aurora Adven- ture'. Meetings at Liddington Village Hall, Church Road, Liddington, SN4 0HB – 7.30pm onwards The hall has easy access from Junction 15 of the M4, a map and directions can be found on our website at: His main interests is http://www.swindonstargazers.com/clubdiary/ visual viewing of So- directions01.htm lar System objects Meeting Dates for 2019 especially the surface Friday 17 May 2019 of the Sun which changes quite quickly Programme: Mark Woodland FRAS: Exoplanents and and also the planets. the Charterhouse Exoplanet Project He is very keen on observing Solar eclipses and has seen around eight in Friday 21 June 2019 total from the Feroe Islands to China. Programme: Peter Chappell: My Aurora Adventure Peter is a member of three local astronomy groups: July & August: Summer break Wiltshire AS (speaker secretary), Swindon Stargazers Friday 20 September 2019 and Salisbury Plain Observing Group. Programme: Dr. Lilian Hobbs: How Astronomy Has Changed Ad-hoc viewing sessions Friday 18 October 2019 Regular stargazing evenings are being organised near Programme: Robert Slack: The Grand Tour Swindon. To join these events please visit our website for further information. Friday 15 November 2019 Programme: TBA Lately we have been stargazing at Blakehill Farm Na- Friday 13 December 2019 ture Reserve near Cricklade, a very good spot with no Programme: TBA distractions from car headlights. Website: We often meet regularly at a lay-by just outside the village of Uffcott, near Wroughton. Directions are also http://www.swindonstargazers.com shown on the website link below. Chairman: Robin Wilkey Information about our evenings and viewing spots can be Tel No: 07808 775630 found here: Email: [email protected] Address: 61 Northern Road Swindon, SN2 1PD http://www.swindonstargazers.com/noticeboard/ noticeboard06.htm Secretary: Hilary Wilkey Tel No: 01793 574403 If you think you might be interested email the organiser Email: [email protected] Robin Wilkey (see below). With this you will then be Address: 61 Northern Road emailed regarding the event, whether it is going ahead Swindon, SN2 1PD or whether it will be cancelled because of cloud etc. We are a small keen group and I would ask you to note that you DO NOT have to own a telescope to take part, just turn up and have a great evening looking through other people's scopes. We are out there to share an interest and the hobby. There's nothing better than practical astronomy in the great cold British win- ter! And hot drinks are often available, you can also bring your own. Page 4 STAR QUEST ASTRONOMY CLUB BECKINGTON ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY This young astronomy club meets at the Society Details & Speakers programme can be found on Sutton Veny Village Hall. our Website www.beckingtonas.org Second Thursday of the Month. General enquiries about the Society can be emailed to [email protected]. Our Committee for 2016/2017 is Chairman: Steve Hill (email [email protected]) Treasurer: John Ball Secretary: Sandy Whitton Ordinary Member: Mike Witt People can find out more about us at www.beckingtonas.org Meetings take place in Beckington Baptist Church Hall in Beckington Village near Frome. See the location page for details of how to find us on our website………… Post Code for Sat Nav is BA11 6TB. Our start time is 7.30pm. 17th May The Herschel 400 Jonathan Gale 21st June Annual General Meeting Member Talks Page 8 Jupiter Shines in June By David Prosper Jupiter stakes its claim as the king of the planets in June, shining bright all night. Saturn trails behind Jupi- ter, and the Moon passes by both planets mid-month. Mercury puts on its best evening appearance in 2019 late in the month, outshining nearby Mars at sunset. Jupiter is visible almost the entire evening this month. Earth will be between Jupiter and the Sun on June 10, meaning Jupiter is at opposition. On that date, Jupiter rises in the east as the Sun sets in the west, remaining visible the entire night. Jupiter will be one of the brightest objects in the night sky, shining at magnitude -2.6. Its four largest moons and cloud bands are easily spotted Caption: A giant storm in Jupiter’s north polar region, with even a small telescope.
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