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Rascoctober 2019 WEB.Indd The Journal of The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada PROMOTING ASTRONOMY IN CANADA October/octobre 2019 Volume/volume 113 Le Journal de la Société royale d’astronomie du Canada Number/numéro 5 [798] Inside this issue: Combining Two Hobbies Andrew McKellar and the Temperature of Space Bert Petrie, Ken Wright, and the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory Scorpius’ s stinging tail The Best of Monochrome. Drawings, images in black and white, or narrow-band photography. Michael Boschat photographed the Moon using an ETX90 + Canon XSI at prime focus. The image was taken at 1/25 of a second, at 400 ISO. Finally, two images were stacked in Registax. Octobre / octobre 2019 | Vol. 113, No. 5 | Whole Number 798 contents / table des matières Feature Articles / Articles de fond 209 CFHT Chronicles: Odds and Ends from Hawaii 184 Combining Two Hobbies by Mary Beth Laychak by James Edgar 212 John Percy’s Universe: Refl ections 187 Andrew McKellar and the Temperature on the 2019 RASC–AAVSO General of Space Assembly by Donald Morton by John R. Percy 196 Bert Petrie, Ken Wright, and the 214 Dish on the Cosmos: Wobbly Jets Dominion Astrophysical Observatory and Bursty Black Holes by Donald C. Morton by Erik Rosolowsky 198 Pen and Pixel: Noctilucent Clouds / Hickson 44 / 216 Imager’s Corner: CGX-L Review The Milky Way / The Veil Nebula by Blair MacDonald by Garry Stone / Dalton Wilson / Stefanie Harron / Ron Brecher Departments / Départements Columns / Rubriques 178 President’s Corner by Dr. Chris Gainor 202 Skyward: Untaken Roads and a Dog’s Star by David Levy 179 News Notes / En manchettes Compiled by Jay Anderson 204 Observing: The Classic RASC Observing List, The Observers Handbooks 1943–1980: 193 Editorial A Foundation for Deep-sky Observing by Michael Attas in Canada by Chris Beckett 220 Astrocryptic and August Answers by Curt Nason 206 Binary Universe: To Catch the Stars by Blake Nancarrow iii Great Images by Stuart McNair Klaus Brasch imaged the centre of Scorpius's tail from Wupatki National Park. This was the fi rst test of his new 135 mm lens, made by Zhong Yi Optics. Klaus says, “This is a stack of 2 x 1-minute exposures at ƒ/4 and ISO 6400 with a modifi ed Canon 6D. The Crab and Cat's Paw nebulae are visible along with a lot of dust, dark nebulae, and a mind-boggling number of stars.” October / octobre 2019 JRASC | Promoting Astronomy in Canada 177 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 Chris Gainor, Ph.D., Victoria 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, and professional astronomers with institutional affi liations are asked to pay publication ere were two exciting announcements at 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 our 2019 General Assembly in Toronto in submitted material may be in English or French, and should be sent to the Editor-in-Chief. June that show how fundraising is paying o in the form of Editor-in-Chief David Levy (Skyward) new services for our members and for everyone in Canada who Nicole Mortillaro Blair MacDonald (Imager’s Corner) is interested in astronomy. Email: [email protected] Blake Nancarrow (Binary Universe) Web site: www.rasc.ca Curt Nason (Astrocryptic) Telephone: 416-924-7973 John R. Percy (John Percy’s Universe) First, we heard from Dr. Allan Carswell, a renowned physicist Fax: 416-924-2911 Randall Rosenfeld (Art & Artifact) who developed LiDAR systems and applications for airborne Eric Rosolowsky (Dish on the Cosmos) Associate Editor, Research surveying, 3-D imaging, atmospheric measurements, and space Leslie J. Sage (Second Light) Douglas Hube systems. As president of the Carswell Family Foundation, Dr. Email: [email protected] David Turner (Reviews) Carswell announced that the foundation will provide funding Associate Editor, General Proofreaders Michael Attas Michael Attas of $100,000 a year for three years to the RASC for astronomy Email: [email protected] Ossama El Badawy education and outreach. Margaret Brons Assistant Editors Angelika Hackett Michael Allen Michelle Johns is grant allows the RASC to engage a marketing and Martin Beech Barry Jowett Dave Chapman communications coordinator to provide vital support for Kim Leitch Ralph Chou Centre and national astronomy initiatives. e funding is Alida MacLeod Ralph Croning matched, meaning RASC must raise an additional $100,000, Dave Garner Design/Production Patrick Kelly Michael Gatto, Grant Tomchuk which Email: [email protected], Production Manager will have the e ect of doubling the value of this generous gift. [email protected] James Edgar Email: [email protected] Advertising e following day, RASC Kitchener-Waterloo member Adela Zyfi Rudolph Dorner pledged a $1.5 million bequest to establish Email: [email protected] Contributing Editors the Dorner Telescope Museum. e museum’s mission will Jay Anderson (News Notes) Printing Chris Beckett (Observing Tips) Cansel be to showcase the remarkable and largely unknown story of Mary Beth Laychak (CFHT Chronicles) www.cansel.ca astronomical optics in Canada by forming an institution to Her Excellency the Right Honourable Julie Payette, C.C., C.M.M., C.O.M., C.Q., C.D., “tell the story” of the instruments, their makers, and Governor General of Canada, is the Viceregal Patron of the RASC. their users. The Journal of The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada is published at an annual subscription rate of $93.45 (including tax) by The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. Mr. Dorner envisions an artefact-rich museum that will o er Membership, which includes the publications (for personal use), is open to anyone a robust interactive aspect to visitors. Randall Rosenfeld has interested in astronomy. Applications for subscriptions to the Journal or membership in the RASC and information on how to acquire back issues of the Journal can be obtained from: been named Director, and he will use bridging funding being provided by Mr. Dorner to set up the museum. The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada 203 – 4920 Dundas St W We have also been raising funds from many members to Toronto ON M9A 1B7, Canada support our Robotic Telescope Project. We are looking Email: nationaloffi [email protected] forward to getting that telescope fully on-line soon. Web site: www.rasc.ca Telephone: 416-924-7973 Fax: 416-924-2911 e best news is that there are more donations coming in, and I look forward to more news about new initiatives in Canadian Publications Mail Registration No. 09818 Canada Post: Send address changes to 203 – 4920 Dundas St W, Toronto ON M9A 1B7 astronomy supported by donations. Canada Post Publication Agreement No. 40069313 We on the Board of the RASC want to establish our S ociety We acknowledge the fi nancial support of the Government of Canada through the as the go-to place for astronomy in Canada. Many of our Canada Periodical Fund (CPF) for our publishing activities. members are prepared to give nancial support to programs © 2019 The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. that boost astronomy, and our challenge in the RASC is to All rights reserved. ISSN 0035-872X reinvigorate our current services and create new ones that will appeal to Canadians of all ages and backgrounds. Cert no. SW-COC-005174 None of these plans are possible without a solid grounding of sustainability. And that’s where fundraising comes in. 178 JRASC | Promoting Astronomy in Canada October / octobre 2019 I would like to thank our excellent fundraiser, Lisa Di Veto, thank those members who are stepping forward and making who has been working with us for the past two years to donations large and small to help the RASC in its work of ✶ turn our hopes for fundraising into reality. Above all, I also promoting astronomy to all. News Notes / En manchette e observations also con rm that Uranus’s brightest and densest ring, called the epsilon ring, di ers from the other Compiled by Jay Anderson known ring systems within the Solar System, in particular the spectacularly beautiful rings of Saturn. Rings of Uranus glow at microwave and infrared wavelengths “Saturn’s mainly icy rings are broad, bright, and have a range of particle sizes, from micron-sized dust in the innermost e rings of Uranus are invisible to all but the largest telescopes— D ring, to tens of metres in size in the main rings,” said Imke they weren’t even discovered until 1977—but they stand out de Pater, a UC Berkeley professor of astronomy. e new observations show that the main rings of Uranus are composed as surprisingly bright in new images of the planet taken by the of centimetre- to metre-sized particles, with a very small or Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA) and nonexistent dust component. the four-telescope Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile. ALMA observed the ring system at 3.1-, 2.1-, and 1.3-mm wavelengths, By comparison, Jupiter’s rings contain mostly small, micron- while the VLT conducted measurements in the mid-infrared sized particles. Neptune’s rings are also mostly dust, and even (18.7-mm) band. All of these wavelengths detected radiation Uranus has broad sheets of dust between its narrow main rings.
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