TBS&E Number 64, January to April 2015 1 INDEX to this issue Page 1 – Index. The Beatles; ‘Will you still need me when I’m 64?’ Pages 2 – Editorial Pages 2 to 9 - Sydney City Skywatchers meetings of February and March 2015 Craig Anderson on Detecting Active Galaxies. Dr. Wayne Orchiston on Astronomy in NZ. A Celebration of 120 years of the BAA NSW Branch and the Sydney City Skywatchers. Pages 9 to 22 – Sydney Science Fiction Discussion meetings, January to March. Books discussed at Concord Library SF&F Book Group meetings; Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin The Bone Doll Twins by Kate Flewellan Sydney Futurian Meetings, Jan. Feb. & Mar. Your Years Best and Worst SF&F of 2014 Lost Race, Cities and Hidden Civilization SF stories. SF&F Stories with strong Female Characters. Pages 22 to 29 – Garry’s Book Reviews Page 22. ‘Brain Wave’ by Poul Anderson Page 23. ‘The Transit of Venus’, the life of Jeremiah Horrocks’, by Peter Aughton Page 24. ‘Wool’, by Hugh Howey Page 25. ‘Who Wrote the New Testament?’ by Burton L. Mack Page 26. ‘The Outcast’, An Anthology, Edited by Nicole R. Murphy Now available in Century Gothic! Page 27. ‘Africa’s Discovery of Europe, Produced by Garry Dalrymple as 1450-1850’, by David Northrup Page 28. ‘The Quantum Thief’, his contribution to mailing No. by Hannu Rajaniemi 285, of ANZAPA, the Aust. and NZ Page 29. ‘Schrodinger’s Cat III, The Amateur Press Association. Homing Pigeons’, by Robert Anton Wilson Pages 29 to 32 – Political Life, Garry’s Postal Address: 1 Eulabah March 28 2015, NSW Election day report. Avenue, EARLWOOD NSW 2206 Pages 32 to 34 – Garry’s account his Niece Home phone number Janene’s 21 st. Birthday event (Best after 7 pm) 02 9718-5827 Pages 34 to 36 – Vale Michael Duggan (by Email; [email protected] Doug Nicholson) Traveller’s Tales and Basenjis Tail Piece 1 TBS&E Number 64, January to April 2015 2 of …?’ and received some ‘No’ responses and then extrapolated from this to conclude that there were not 500 members among the 550 names they had accepted. Not quite business like, currently subject to appeal. Garry Welcome to TBS&E issue 64, a ‘Slow Glass’ perspective on some aspects of my life, from January to April 2015. I look forward to reading your mailing comments, over the next year or two. My life so far this year has been dominated by the March 28 NSW State election, where I stood as candidate number 12 for the Australian Democrats’ upper house ticket. This distraction resulted in a degree of distraction from my Notes from the February 2, 2015, usual routines, meetings missed, delays in Sydney Observatory, Sydney writing up from rough notes etc., but, catching up and assembling material for City Skywatchers meeting. TBS&E #64, as a January to April omnibus, I Guest Speaker, Craig Anderson was heading toward a 50 page issue, so of Sydney University. Topic; TBS&E #64 will cover Jan. to Mar. the rest shifts to a TBS&E #65. Observing Active Galaxies To lose one Ex-Prime Minister is unfortunate, Present were 25 ea Members and guests, to lose two … . The passing of Ex-PM 13 M & 12 F. Malcom Frazer was marked by a more measured re-assessment of his place in The technique of observing Radio emission Australian history, with. His government’s Polarisation from stellar sources is an old policies and the Whitlam government’s principal, but recently it has again policies now being seen to differ only on the become important as new instruments and dismissal? Or perhaps not. However, in techniques are aimed at Active Galaxies. the retrospective account of his career the Active Galaxies are a subset of all Galaxies sense of grass roots community outrage who are observed to be very much caused by the dismissal and its brighter in High Energy Non Thermal EMF consequence, with the formation of the emissions, i.e. A far greater output in Australian Democrats seemingly edited out Radio frequencies than in visible light. The of televised history. AND then the AEC Centaurus A Galaxy is an example, declared the Democrats to be dead, as a impressive in visible light but much larger in Federal registered political party. Passing Radio. These emissions may be seen to strange, as the AEC requires a Party to have be coming from the core of a Galaxy, 500 members, but in NSW alone, the usually a small star-like source and Australian Democrats have maintained frequently there are polar jets whose high State registration with 750 members, and it velocity particles light up larger volumes of also has enough members to be registered space than the visibly apparent parent in other States! Surely this is an Galaxy. Based on apparent geometry exaggeration of demise similar to that and energy output, active Galaxies can suffered by Mark Twain? What seems to be sorted into different categories. The have happened is that the AEC only most powerful Active Galaxies may be accepts 550 names and then contacts a continuously putting out the energy of 10 sample of these asking ‘Are you a member to the power of 12 of our own Sun, or the 2 TBS&E Number 64, January to April 2015 3 equivalent of the mass of 10 million stars Plasma has passed through. Work on being converted to energy. In fact, Active this is conducted in the Northern Galaxies may be responsible for 20% of the Hemisphere through the Very Large Array total energy emissions of the Universe. The Radio Telescope, which has led to a map important thing to remember is that Active of the Northern Sky, revealing clumps, Galaxies are usually too far away to record which has led to a mapping of 3D any detail of structure or what is happening Galactic structure not previously possible. at their core, in visible light. Nuclear In the case of Active Galaxy Centaurus A, Fusion by itself cannot provide this much subtraction of the background Milky Way energy, leaving only gravity, as material (Galaxy) emissions revealed previously cascades down into a Black Hole resident swamped internal structure of lower at the centre of an Active Galaxy. energy sources. Very Long Base The What and the Why? – They pump Interferometer (VLBI) analysis resolved a massive amounts of energy into the Black Hole’s accretion disc coming and interstellar medium – they limit the growth of going across the sides of jets, so we are the size of Galaxies and their emissions now able to read out some structure as per stimulate Star formation. There is an M the theories / models, revealing that the Sigma relationship between the mass of very narrow Active Galaxies jets are Black Holes and a Galaxy’s Central Bulge, sheathed and constrained by gun barrel so it becomes apparent that through a like strong magnetic fields. negative feedback loop, Black Holes at the A step further – structure smaller than that centre of a Galaxy are self-limiting as they directly detectable by VLBI beam width is eject energy and mass out of Active detectable by observing the sum of two Galaxies. waves, so all sorts of motion and point The Universe is supposed to be 90% Dark source detection is possible with multiple Matter and Energy, 9% Plasma and only 1% component observations. ordinary matter / visible stars etc. The Next Generation Instruments Universe cools and condenses by emitting The West Australian section of the X-Rays, which may explain why less Big and Australian Square Kilometre Array Small Galaxies are seen as per existing Pioneer (ASKAP) Radio Telescope, Universe evolution models. working but still incomplete. Cosmic Polluters - Active Galaxies’ Possum – which will check the emissions act to seed the Interstellar polarization of 3 million radio sources and Medium with metals and Magnetic Fields at much broader wavebands than which make for a universe with variable previously. These Radio Telescope Arrays features. Active Galaxies are also useful as feature observing elements which are cosmic backlights, illuminating / energising randomly placed to avoid duplication of distant objects which are in our line of sight. distances between the elements making How Do They Work? – The active regions up the interferometry array. of an Active Galaxy are too small and The Future - The aim for the future is to distant to be resolved directly to see if their observe all of the estimated radio sources, operation conforms to theoretical models above and beyond the estimated 20 created to explain their emissions. million potential sources and to repeatedly However as Magnetic Fields and (ionized / monitor these sources with a view to charged) Plasma interact in predictable detecting changes over time to allow a ways some structure can be inferred, determination of how the source magnetic particularly when the degree of polarization and ionized structures evolve over time. of synchrotron radiation is recorded, as Instruments like ASKAP will lead to heaps of (Faraday effect, polarization angle) the data as it will be monitoring millions of degree of polarization is proportional to the objects. field strength of the magnetic fields that the 3 TBS&E Number 64, January to April 2015 4 News and Association Business Dr. Orchiston’s visit to Australia had been th Our 120 anniversary will be celebrated in financially aided by a grant from the style. To avoid the Easter Monday public Donavan Trust. His talk started with some Holiday, the April meeting will move to April reminiscences of the BAA NSW Branch 13, and the same for the October AGM during his long association with it and meeting? Sydney.