Skywatcher the News Letter of the Guildford Astronomical Society
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SKYWATCHER THE NEWS LETTER OF THE GUILDFORD ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY http://www.guildfordas.org/ FROM THE EDITOR¼.. Welcome back from your holidays folks, for CfDS Contact Details those of you who went away I hope you had a good time. The last meeting that we had was the AGM For more information and literature about the back in July, for those of you who came, you BAA Campaign for Dark Skies, please do know who is on the new committee, but for not hesitate to contact us. You can contact those of you who could not make it, I have either the co-ordinator Bob Mizon via done a page or two on who is on the post or email... committee, hope this is of some help to the new members? info dark-skies.org So its back to business on the astronomy side of things, with Kelling Heath at the end of the The Coordinator, CfDS Bob Mizon month I take it those of you who are going you 38 The Vineries are getting yourselves ready, for those of you Colehill Wimborne who are unable to come I hope the skies are Dorset BH21 2PX clear for you back here? With this being the start of our year so to say, Skywatcher is going to have a few changes Forthcoming Meetings made to it, such as a PRESIDENT Column? But if you the members would like to add Tonight's Meeting something or see something in Skywatcher then please send it to me at my email address Nik Szymanek or call, one more thing, there will NOT be a Skywatcher next month as I am in Kelling. ª An introduction to Well that's all from me folks. astrophotography ª Clear skies to you all Oct 6th Neil Ross Editor Jerry Stone [email protected] Call this number if you would like to send it by ª The day they launched a pos t¼..07841130231 woodpecker ª WE DON'T JUST TALK ASTRONOMY¼¼.WE DO ASTRONOMY SEP 50p The Committee for 2005/2006 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 & 10 1. President - Mr G Stacey 2. Vice President - Mr P Woolliams 3. Secretary - Mr J Axtell e th 4. Treasurer - Mr T Dodman ll l. f a al o 5. Observatory Director - Mr C Hooper u es yo am to n 6. Asst Observatory Director - Mr R. Alder n d e io an sit at g o 7. Observational Co-ordinator - Mr J Axtell ul in pp at ist o r l l ee 8. Publicity Officer - Mr J Wilhelm ng ul , s o f ee C r a tt 9. Newsletter Editor - Mr N Ross Fo mi om 10. Librarian - Mr Mallison C There are a couple more thing's I would like to say, firstly that is a big thank you to Mr Bushell, who stood down as secretary. Thanks John Next is goodbye to Adrian, who after many years as a member of G.A.S, is moving out to OZ. We would like to wish him and his family all the best and I hope he keeps in touch. Good luck mate! Astronomy Picture of the Day Explanation: A recent survey of stars conducted with the Spitzer Space Telescope is convincing astronomers that our Milky Way Galaxy is not just your ordinary spiral galaxy anymore. Looking out from within the Galaxy©s disk, the true structure of the Milky Way is difficult to discern. However, the penetrating infrared census of about 30 million stars indicates that the Galaxy is distinguished by a very large central bar some 27,000 light-years long. In fact, from a vantage point that viewed our galaxy face-on, astronomers in distant galaxies would likely see a striking barred spiral galaxy suggested in this artist©s illustration. While previous investigations have identified a small central barred structure, the new results indicate that the Milky Way©s large bar would make about a 45 degree angle with a line joining the Sun and the Galaxy©s center. DON©T PANIC ... astronomers still place the Sun beyond the central bar region, about a third 2005 August 25 of the way in from the Milky Way©s outer edge. Tenth planet found! A team of astronomers systematically scanning the far reaches of the solar system has discovered a distant, icy world that is bigger than Pluto but so far away the head of a pin held at arm©s length would blot out the sun. The discovery, if confirmed, would force astronomers to re-write their textbooks and give school kids a 10th planet to memorize once a governing body sanctions the still- secret name proposed by a trio of discoverers. Currently known by the catalog number 2003UB313, the newly discovered planet wheels about in an elliptical orbit tilted some 45 degrees to the plane of the solar system©s eight major planets, taking 560 years to complete one trip around the sun. At its most distant, the planet is a remote 97 times farther from the sun than the Earth. At its closest, it passes inside the orbit of Pluto at a distance of some 36 astronomical units. It is currently the most distant object known in the solar system, so far removed that its surface temperature is a frigid 30 degrees above absolute zero. "It has a surface just like that of Pluto," said Michael Brown, a planetary scientist at the California Institute of Technology. "It©s a little bit bigger than Pluto and the main difference, of course, is it©s much, much farther away than Pluto right now, so it©s going to be a much colder place to be. Not a very pleasant place to live, definitely. And life as we know it would certainly not be doing much out there." The new world was discovered Jan. 8 by Brown, Chad Trujillo, of the Gemini Observatory in Mauna Kea, Hawaii, and David Rabinowitz, of Yale University, using the 48-inch Samuel Oschin Telescope at Mount Palomar. With a surface dominated by methane, the distant world is 1,677 miles in diameter, compared to about 1,400 miles for Pluto. It is a member of the Kuiper Belt, a broad fan-shaped disk of icy debris extending from the orbit of Neptune to well beyond Pluto. Disturbed by gravitational interactions, primarily involving Jupiter and Saturn, a Kuiper Belt object can fall into the inner solar system and become captured in a so-called short-period orbit. In the early solar system, gravitational encounters also threw large numbers of comets into a vast , spherical shell known as the Oort Cloud. Comets that eventually fall back into the inner solar system from the Oort Cloud typically have orbits measured in millions of years. The newly discovered world is a "very cold, very distant place," Brown told reporters in a teleconference Friday evening. "If you were standing on the surface and you held a pin at arm©s length, you could cover the sun with the head of the pin. As I said, it©s not a place you©d want to go for a summer vacation. Now, in 280 years, it©ll be a lot closer, but it still won©t be much of a vacation spot then, either." This time-lapse image of a newfound planet in our solar system, called 2003UB313, was taken on Oct. 21, 2003, using the Samuel Oschin Telescope at the Palomar Observatory near San Diego, Calif. The planet, circled in red, is seen moving across a field of stars. The three images were taken about 90 minutes apart. Scientists did not discover the planet until Jan. 8, 2005. Credit: Samuel Oschin Telescope, Palomar Observatory The size of the planet was inferred by observations of its brightness. "Even if it reflected 100 percent of the light reaching it, it would still be as big as Pluto," Brown said in an earlier statement. "I©d say it©s probably one and a half times the size of Pluto, but we©re not sure yet of the final size." Talking to reporters, he said a name has been submitted to the International Astronomical Union and "I don©t want to say what it is yet because we really want this name to get accepted and we want to make sure we go through all the proper channels," Brown said. The discovery almost surely will re-ignite the debate over what it takes to be defined as a planet. Many astronomers believe Pluto is more accurately grouped with other Kuiper Belt objects and should not be considered a planet in the traditional sense. The debate has even made it into the lyrics of popular song, "Planet X" by Christine Lavin (http://www.christinelavin.com/planetx.html). "Even I have promoted the idea that we should consider Pluto not to be a planet and a Kuiper Belt object instead," Brown said. "But historically, it©s been called a planet for such a long time that I think we©re never going to not call Pluto a planet. And that©s fine. I think historically, we can call it a planet." But if Pluto is, in fact, a planet, "then anything larger than Pluto - I think we should draw the line there - anything larger than Pluto is a planet. Things that are smaller, I think we just call them typical members of the Kuiper Belt and they don©t join this very special class of things that are planets." Bro wn said the discoverers were holding off mak ing an announcement until after they completed their observations.