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JRASC February 2021 Hi-Res The Journal of The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada PROMOTING ASTRONOMY IN CANADA February/février 2021 Volume/volume 115 Le Journal de la Société royale d’astronomie du Canada Number/numéro 1 [806] Inside this issue: Order of Canada Impact of Lighting Montréal Centre Retrospective Give a little bit of Heart and Soul The Best of Monochrome. Drawings, images in black and white, or narrow-band photography. Klaus Brasch rang in 2020 by taking this image of our constant companion, the Moon, with his AP-155 ƒ/7 refractor with a Canon 6D, combining an over-exposed Earthshine with properly exposed crescent, shooting in mono. February / février 2021 | Vol. 115, No. 1 | Whole Number 806 contents / table des matières Feature Articles / Articles de fond 40 Imager’s Corner: Looking at Exposure by Blair MacDonald 7 Editorial – Order of Canada by Robyn Foret 43 CFHT Chronicles: Looking Back at the Past Decade 8 The Biological Basis for the Canadian by Mary Beth Laychak Guideline for Outdoor Lighting 4—Impact of the Spectrum of Lighting 46 John Percy’s Universe: Variable Stars I Have by Robert Dick Known—And You Should, Too by John R. Percy 16 The Montréal Centre of the RASC 1958 –1965: A Retrospective 49 Dish on the Cosmos: Starting the Square by Klaus Brasch Kilometre Array by Erik Rosolowsky 26 Pen and Pixel: 51 Celestial Review: A Planetary Grouping: Jupiter-Saturn Conjunction / Barnard’s E / Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter Ghost Nebula / Rosette Nebula by Dave Garner by Gary Stone / Ron Brecher / Dave Dev / Sheila Wiwchar Departments / Départements Columns / Rubriques 2 President’s Corner 22 Skyward: Hello, Bennu, and Remembering by Robyn Foret a Very Special Date by David Levy 3 News Notes / En manchettes Compiled by Jay Anderson 24 Observing: Peering at Mars by Chris Beckett 52 Astrocryptic and Previous Answers by Curt Nason 28 Charles Messier and the RASC: When Did Society Members Turn to Observing Deep-Sky Objects? iii Great Images by R.A. Rosenfeld by Erik Klaszus 36 Binary Universe: “He Who Controls the Spice Controls the Universe” by Blake Nancarrow Martin Gisborne captured what is a favourite of many astrophotographers: The Heart and Soul Nebulae. He shot the pair on 2020 November 8, from Maple Bay, Vancouver Island, B.C. He used a Nikon D850 and the Micro- Nikkor 105-mm ƒ/2.8 lens (at ƒ/5.6). The camera and lens were mounted on a Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer star tracker and a regular Manfrotto camera tripod. A total of 47 two-minute exposures were combined with dark, flat, and bias calibration frames. The image was processed in PixInsight with additional processing in Adobe Photoshop. February / février 2021 JRASC | Promoting Astronomy in Canada 1 The Journal is a bi-monthly publication of The Royal President’s Corner Astronomical Society of Canada and is devoted to the advancement of astronomy and allied by Robyn Foret, Calgary Centre sciences. It contains articles on Canadian astronomers and current activities of the RASC and its Centres, research and review papers by professional and amateur astronomers, ([email protected]) and articles of a historical, biographical, or educational nature of general interest to the astronomical community. All contributions are welcome, but the editors reserve the right to edit material prior to publication. Research papers are reviewed prior to publication, Our connected world is driving technology and professional astronomers with institutional affiliations are asked to pay publication and business at a fast pace. As a veteran of charges of $100 per page. Such charges are waived for RASC members who do not have access to professional funds as well as for solicited articles. Manuscripts and other 40 years in the industry, I help companies submitted material may be in English or French, and should be sent to the Editor-in-Chief. connect at higher speed and lower latency than ever before. We are building terrestrial networks today with 200 GB per Editor-in-Chief Contributing Editors wavelength. That’s 19 TB per pair of fibre. With 10 GB fibre Jay Anderson (News Notes) Nicole Mortillaro to the home and 5G promising 50 MB–1.8 GB over wireless, Email: [email protected] Chris Beckett (Observing Tips) Web site: www.rasc.ca Dave Garner (Celestial Review) technology continues to provide high-speed internet to much Telephone: 416-924-7973 Mary Beth Laychak (CFHT Chronicles) of the world. David Levy (Skyward) Fax: 416-924-2911 Blair MacDonald (Imager’s Corner) Of course, these terrestrial networks are not perfect, and they Associate Editor, Research Blake Nancarrow (Binary Universe) Douglas Hube Curt Nason (Astrocryptic) don’t extend into low-density markets, hence the un-served Email: [email protected] John R. Percy (John Percy’s Universe) and underserved marketplace. Today, we reach those users Randall Rosenfeld (Art & Artifact) Associate Editor, General with smaller ISP’s (Internet Service Providers) and satellite Eric Rosolowsky (Dish on the Cosmos) Michael Attas Leslie J. Sage (Second Light) systems. The latest satellite internet in Canada is provided Email: [email protected] David Turner (Reviews) on the ViaSat-2, a geo-synchronous satellite in the Ka-band Assistant Editors Proofreaders (25–40GHz) with 9 beams encompassing Canada and 63 Michael Allen Michael Attas beams covering the US. It offers up to 25 Mbps downloads but Dave Chapman Margaret Brons typically > 100ms–200ms. Ralph Chou Angelika Hackett Ralph Croning Michelle Johns What’s new, and gaining a lot of attention, is the entrance Dave Garner Barry Jowett Alida MacLeod into this space (pun intended) of SpaceX and likely others. Patrick Kelly Design/Production SpaceX and its constellation of Starlink satellites, launching Production Manager Michael Gatto, Grant Tomchuk into low-Earth Orbit (LEO) promises to bring high-speed, James Edgar Email: [email protected], low-latency internet to the entire planet. Everyone Email: [email protected] [email protected] understands high-speed but latency may be a new term to Advertising Printing many. Latency doesn’t play a big role in internet surfing and Adela Zyfi Cansel Email: [email protected] www.cansel.ca similar tasks, but for voice over IP, video streaming, or gaming, latency is equally if not more important than speed. Early Her Excellency the Right Honourable Julie Payette, C.C., C.M.M., C.O.M., C.Q., C.D., Governor General of Canada, is the Viceregal Patron of the RASC. beta testers of the Starlink service are providing very positive feedback and they are expecting 50Mb–150Mb service and The Journal of The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada is published at an annual subscription rate of $125 (plus Canadian tax), $140 USD for US subscriptions, $150 USD expected latency of 20ms–40ms; a game-changer for rural for International subscriptions. Membership, which includes the publications (for personal Canada. With monthly costs of $129.00 CAD and about use), is open to anyone interested in astronomy. Applications for subscriptions to the $650.00 for the terminal, its cost is in line with other, mostly Journal or membership in the RASC and information on how to acquire back issues of the inferior services. While the promise of SpaceX and others Journal can be obtained from: sounds altruistic and of great benefit, don’t lose sight that this The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada is a business venture. Analysts predict $35B–$120B USD 203 – 4920 Dundas St W in revenues. If Starlink gets anywhere near this, others will Toronto ON M9A 1B7, Canada certainly join in. Email: [email protected] Web site: www.rasc.ca The technology is not without its challenges though. If we Telephone: 416-924-7973 Fax: 416-924-2911 consider cellular networks, we have fixed cell towers that hand off our signals as we drive from the coverage of one cell Canadian Publications Mail Registration No. 09818 to the next and we’ve all likely experienced the odd dropped Canada Post: Send address changes to 203 – 4920 Dundas St W, Toronto ON M9A 1B7 call during hand-off. In the LEO constellation of satellites, Canada Post Publication Agreement No. 40069313 the user is stationary and the cell site is moving, so every © 2021 The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. internet connection undergoes handoff as the cell zips by at All rights reserved. ISSN 0035-872X 28,000 kph. Consider too that the volume of space needed to encompass the globe is huge. The approved number of Starlink satellites to garner this global footprint is 12,000 satellites. Cert no. SW-COC-005174 12,000 satellites! Also, the bandwidth per satellite is limited and shared among users, so, as the number of users goes up, 2 JRASC | Promoting Astronomy in Canada February / février 2021 the actual bandwidth per user goes down. Signal degradation Another consideration is the potential detritus. It’s nice to may decrease customer satisfaction too as Starlink is licenced know that Starlink satellites have a life cycle and deorbit plan, in the 10–12 GHz band and is susceptible to rain fade. but what are we bringing back into the atmosphere and our soil and lakes and streams? We all try to recycle our electronics For the astronomical community, Starlink has a lot of cons. in a conscious effort to protect the environment but that is For amateur astrophotographers, it’s a nuisance at best. For impossible with a deorbiting piece of space junk. And what professional astronomers, particularly those engaged in happens if the parent company of one of these constellations wide-field surveys and such, this introduces a challenge and an goes out of business? Who is left with the remains? In a CBC unwelcomed usurper into the field. For radio astronomers, this interview, I likened this to the dilemma we face with plastic will have the greatest detrimental impact.
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