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Mar 2017 Newsletter Volume22, Issue 7 NWASNEWS March 2017 Newsletter for the Wiltshire, Swindon, Beckington Space race hotting up Astronomical Societies and Salisbury Plain With Elon Musk bristling with confidence Exo planets took another huge boost with Wiltshire Society Page 2 as his solar tiles business kicks off to work a 7 earth sized planetary system being with his batteries, his cars going well, and Swindon Stargazers 3 discovered around a small red star. It may the Falcon 9 launch successfully takes off have three planets in the ‘goldilocks’ zone Beckington 4 and lands after problems in September, he for liquid water to exist BUT there are did refire a used launch stage. Suddenly many more variables that need sorting, Space Place Prepare for USA 5 he is announcing trips around the Moon for and questions need to answered. eclipse. paying tourists. Planets revolving round a star I hear you Binocular views March 5-6 Blue Origins are also feeling brave and feel gasp in disbelief! Yes. Movements of the they can run deliveries to the Moon. planets suggest that is the case. Dark Matter may be found 7-21 Galactic X from Virgin are retesting suc- Luckily we have Steve Tonkin here to- Colliding galaxies cessfully after the disaster in 2015. Cracksin Mars poles night as our speaker to put this more Planetary foundation missing With India interested in going back to the earthly findings and theories to the test of link Moon and China also looking at Mars it is history. His talk ‘And Yet It Moves’ is a Elon Musk tourists to Moon not surprising that Donald Trump can see view from the Greeks to the Renaissance Trump asks NASA for same some glory coming his way, and he has men in the quest to answer the move- 8 or 110 planets? asked NASA to put astronauts on the pro- ments of the wanderers and place then 7 earth size planets found posed Moon launch in 2019. around our own star rather than the Earth. IViewing logs, travel notes 22-24 Interesting times indeed. Such heracy. As long as we don’t have to Dark matter astronomy has taken a lurch move the stone at Stonehenge. Interest to What’s Up March 2017 25 forward with research coming in to take see the royal astronomical society has taken a view on the building of a tunnel shape following gravitation wave discover- near the site. Isn’t it enough we’ve got to Constellation of the Month 26-29 ies last year. Cepheus move them when the clocks go forward The calls for Pluto to be renamed a planet later this month. Herschel dance in Bath. 30 took a bit of a hit when some researchers Clear Skies say the rules changing the dwarf planet Space Station Timings 31 status may mean adding another 102 plan- Andy IMAGES, VIEWING SESSIONS 32 ets to the list. That is going to make on and OUTREACH heck of a memory to name those! M41. The large open cluster in Canis Major sits just below Sirius. The diameter of the cluster is between 25 and 26 light years. It is estimated to be 190 million years old Up to 100 star exist in this cluster, about 2,300 light years away. 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 Andy Burns (Chairman, and Editor ) Tel: 01249 654541, Meetings 2015/2016Season. email: [email protected] NEW VENUE the Pavilion, Rusty Lane, Seend Vice chair: Keith Bruton Meet 7.30 for 8.00pm start Bob Johnston (Treasurer) 2016 Philip Proven (Hall coordinator) 7 Mar Steve Tonkin, And yet it Moves! Peter Chappell (Speaker secretary) 4 Apr Dr Chris North, Telescopes through the Nick Howes (Technical Guru) Ages Observing Sessions coordinators: Jon Gale, Tony Vale 2 May Martin Griffiths, Planetary Nebulae Contact via the web site details. This is to protect individuals from unsolicited mailings. Marathon 6 Jun Mark Radice, Observing from the Carib- bean + AGM Rusty Lane, Pavilion Observing Sessions The Wiltshire Astronomical Please treat the lights and Steve Tonkin is Society’s observing sessions return to full working order an astronomy are open, and we welcome before leaving. With enough author who is visitors from other societies care shown we may get the engaged in as- as well as members of the National Trust to do some- tronomy educa- public to join us. thing with them! tion and out- We will help you set up reach to people equipment (as often as you PLEASE see our proposed of all ages, via need this help), and let you changes to the observing visits, talks, test anything we have to help sessions, contacting and STEM ambas- you in your choice of future other details. Back Page sadorship, run- astronomy purchases. ning astronomy classes, and provision of practical re- source material on the internet. And Yet It Moves According to legend, Galileo famously muttered, "Eppur si muove!" (And yet, it moves!) There was, how- ever, no direct evidence of this until almost a century after his death. This talk traces the story of heliocen- tricity, which begins in ancient Greece and ends with the third Astronomer Royal, James Bradley, who made a chance discovery whilst trying to determine stellar distances . Please also see my companion website for general astrono- my, including courses and online tutorials, The Astronomical Unit. Page 3 Swindon’s own astronomy group Meeting Dates for 2017: The club meets once a month at Liddington Hall, Church Road, Liddington, Swindon, SN4 0HB at 7.30pm. See pro- Friday 17 March 2017 gramme below. Programme: AGM plus Dr Bob Gatten - Using the Faulkes Telescope Project's remote telescopes, results so far This Month Friday 24 April 2017 This month we are holding our AGM and following the meet- Programme: Dr Pauline Norris - The Ancient Egyptians and ing our secretary, Bob Gatten will be giving a talk on using their Astronomy remote telescopes. Friday 19 May 2017 All welcome! Programme: Martin Griffiths - Contact with extraterrestrials, how will it affect us Friday 16 June 2017 Ad-hoc viewing sessions Programme: Paul Roche - Robotic Astronomy ---------SUMMER BREAK-------- Regular stargazing evenings are being organised near Swin- don. To join these events please visit our website for further Friday 15 September 2017 information. Programme: Prof. Richard Harrison MBE BSc Phs FRAS FinstP - Space Weather Lately we have been stargazing at Blakehill Farm Nature Reserve near Cricklade, a very good spot with no distrac- Friday 20 October 2017 tions from car headlights. Programme: Steve Tonkin - Binocular Astronomy Friday 17 November 2017 We often meet regularly at a lay-by just outside the village of Uffcott, near Wroughton. Directions are also shown on the Programme: Mike Leggett: Exploration of Mars website link below. Friday 15 December 2017 When we use East Kennett, we meet at the public car park Programme: Christmas Social just below The Red Lion pub at Avebury; we usually hang on for 10 minutes and then move on to our viewing spot at East Website: Kennett. Information about our evenings and viewing spots can be found here: http://www.swindonstargazers.com Chairman: Peter Struve http://www.swindonstargazers.com/noticeboard/ noticeboard06.htm Tel No: 01793 481547 Email: [email protected] If you think you might be interested email the organiser Rob- Address: 3 Monkton Close, Park South, Swindon, SN3 2EU in Wilkey (see website). With this you will then be emailed regarding the event, whether it is going ahead or whether it will be cancelled because of cloud etc. Secretary: Dr Bob Gatten (PhD) Tel Number: 07913 335475 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 Email: [email protected] up and have a great evening looking through other people's Address: 17, Euclid Street, scopes. We are out there to share an interest and the hobby. There's nothing better than practical astronomy in the great Swindon, SN1 2JW cold British winter! And hot drinks are often available, you can also bring your own. Enjoy astronomy at it's best! Members of the Wiltshire Astronomical Society always wel- come! At Liddington Village Hall, Church Road, Lid- dington, 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: http://www.swindonstargazers.com/clubdiary/directions01.ht Page 8 You too can contribute to science through one of several citizen science projects. For example, you can also help study the corona through the Citizen CATE experiment; help produce a high definition, time-expanded video of the eclipse; use your ham radio to probe how an eclipse affects the propagation of radio waves in the ionosphere; or even observe how wildlife responds to such a unique Solar Eclipse Provides event. Coronal Glimpse By Marcus Woo Otherwise, Habbal still encourages everyone to experi- ence the eclipse. Never look directly at the sun, of course On August 21, 2017, North Americans will enjoy a rare treat: (find more safety guidelines here: https:// The first total solar eclipse visible from the continent since eclipse2017.nasa.gov/safety). But during the approxi- 1979. The sky will darken and the temperature will drop, in one mately 2.5 minutes of totality, you may remove your safe- of the most dramatic cosmic events on Earth. It could be a ty glasses and watch the eclipse directly—only then can once-in-a-lifetime show indeed.
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