Garry's Futurian Dinner
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1 TBS&E Number 51 - February to April 2012 Pages 13 - 16 – Garry’s Book reviews Pages 21 and 24 – Elizabeth’s Produced by Garry Dalrymple as Movie Review, the Battle for Los a contribution to mailing No. Angeles 666, of the Australian and NZ Amateur Press Association. Postal Address: Garry Dalrymple, Local Post Office Box 4152, Bexley North NSW 2207 Home ph. (best after 7 pm) 02 9718- 5827 Email; [email protected] The August 6, 2012 Sydney City Skywatchers meeting, Sydney Observatory. Topic; Gale’s Crater and the Landing of the Curiosity Not much to say, bit of a rush job as usual, had more material for this issue Mars Rover, followed by a than I could use. More for TBS&E #44 I Telescope viewing session. guess. If I can, there may be a TBS&E #43c, for Mailing Comments. Speaker : Dr Andrew Jacobs Who was there? - Twenty members and friends were present at the meeting Issue Index tonight, on what promised to be coldest Pages 1, 2, 27 & 28; Travellers night of the year – 2 degrees in Sydney Tales and Basenjis Tales overnight? Pages 3-5 & 25-27 – Astronomy On this occasion our usual meeting and Science format, Member’s observations then Guest Pages Index speaker was discarded. The event of the Pages 6 & 7 – Galaxy Paranormal hour was the safe and successful landing Romance of the robotic Curiosity Mars explorer Pages 7, 22 – 24 – The March 2011 earlier today, local time. Members Kipling Society of Australia observations were shelved for this meeting, so we could use the meeting Observatory’s 3D theatre (formerly the Pages 8 - 12, 17 – 21 – Feb & Astronomer’s lounge room) between the March Sydney Futurian & Infinitas other paying bookings. After this there SF&F Book Review notes was a session of sky viewing using the big telescope in the Observatory’s (cold and windy) North dome. 1 2 Australia’s role - As Mars was ‘Up’ in Curiosity is currently being ‘set up’ for the Australia at the time, the news of curiosity’s active part of its mission. Two low safe landing first came through Australia’s resolution, ‘proof of landing’ photos which Tidbinbilla Satellite ground station, and had been radioed back were shown. The thence to NASA in the US. suite of cameras on board, once activated The Rover - Andrew briefly explained the and calibrated will return better than ‘Mecchano-like-Centaur’ Plutonium human eye levels of resolution etc. powered Mars rover. It ‘stands up’ so as Gale’s Crater – Gale’s crater is named to give a human like perspective of the after Walter Gale F.R.A.S., a very Martian geography and it is about the size distinguished Sydney Astronomer and an of a dune buggy / lite SUV. It has a ex-President of the predecessor group to number of cameras and glove box sized our current Sydney City Skywatchers, the laboratories to examine for signs of NSW Branch of the British Astronomical evidence of past life, as well as geology Association. The observatory possesses type research. Its nuclear power source, a portrait of Walter Gale, whose pre- ‘warm’ plutonium heating bi-metallic joints to eminence in Australian Astronomical generate current, frees it from the necessity circles was only exceeded by John Tebbutt to only operate in daylight as well as F.R.A.S. Walter Gale F.R.A.S. was in substantially reducing the rover’s bulk. some ways the main driver behind the The Mission – The mission of Curiosity is setting up of the NSW Branch of the British to explore the vicinity of Gale’s crater. Astronomical Association, and was for Gale’s crater is a large, 90 km diameter, many years the ‘go to guy’ for comment on crater, which lies on a slope at a fairly high astronomical matters, after John Tebbutt’s latitude and it features landforms which are retirement from active observing. interpreted as being evidence of erosion Andrew was able to ‘walk us around’ effects. Its size and shape suggests a Gale’s crater using the 3D theatre’s great diversity of Martian landforms within a projection of orbiter images of the crater relatively small area, i.e. examples of collected over several Martian seasons. Highlands, Plains, Slopes, Crater bottoms Targets for the Curiosity rover to and semi-permanent ice covered features. investigate were clearly seen. A particular curiosity of this crater is that it possesses a ‘central peak’, which due to Members Observations? – the size of the crater is ‘nearly annular’ (see Members observations were shelved for diagrams of the original shape of the this meeting, so we could use the Central American ‘Dinosaur killer’ crater and Observatory’s 3D theatre (formerly the several large lunar Astroblemes) but Astronomer’s lounge room) between the peculiarly ‘Australia Shaped’ (if you squint a other paying bookings. Stalwart Solar bit). This identification was first made by (Star) observer, Monty Leventhal is Dr Nick Lomb of Sydney and Melbourne currently unwell. Monty is believed to be Observatories, and has subsequently made resting up after receiving back surgery. it’s way into the official NASA briefing about On the way out – I handed out 20 or so the mission. An obvious target for the copies of an 8 page booklet about the life Curiosity to observe are some of the and times of Walter Gale as revealed by erosion features, as these are likely to Sydney Morning Herald articles indexed provide a ‘cutaway’ view of the sedimentary under “W. F. Gale”, found (and corrected) geology, of the crater bottom and slopes. 2 3 TBS&E Number 51 - February to April 2012 on the Trove website. I had spent much of the preceding weekend looking up Trove to edit / correct a substantial number of ‘W.F. Gale’ references to allow for a representative selection to be made and this booklet formed. While we paused beside the transit instrument, on the journey through the Observatory between the 3D theatre and the North Dome, I was able to address the meeting to explain the booklet, my attempt at selective, chronological view of many of the aspects of Walter Gale’s public life. The booklet did include three occasions when Mars was discussed, but I got the feeling that Mars was not a major pre-occupation of Gales’ (he observed Comets and Jupiter more frequently?), instead, it was largely coincidental that he was the B.A.A. N.S.W. President at a time of several significant Mars oppositions, and consequently his opinions were sought on Mars, as the major Astronomical issue of I was there on George Street on the day the day. that the world changed. Being drawn from only a single newspaper, the booklet provides an imperfect When it all happened I was just standing at biography. It probably excludes a number the window idly watching the Street, a of his ‘out of Sydney’ activities, a significant passive observer, my mind in neutral, omission given the evidence of the range of having failed to find a new book that was his ‘in Sydney’ activities. It also excluded, compelling enough for me to want to buy. as I was to discover after setting up the I saw, but honestly, I did not comprehend. booklet, a number of items indexed under ‘Walter Gale’, including his obituary and What I saw was a dozen or so presumably also any items indexed under supermodels leave the Apple (Pear) Apps ‘W. Gale’. shop and walk along George street, with © G. Dalrymple Aug. 2012 pedestrians on the crowded street parting like the Red Sea to let them through and I was there on George then to stand and stare. Was it some sort of World Hunger, Anti-Fur Street or Pussy Riot style protest? My inner Nerd asked, ‘How was this being By Garry P Dalrymple, an entry in the projected?’. Short Story Writing competition of the 2012 Unicon Freecon (it came nth out of 12) My mind was not fully processing what was actually happening, until they met a similar group of super models emerging 3 4 from the Korean Pear Apps clone shop clones) turned out to be wildly more (identical in number and form). Then the powerful than even its makers had penny dropped and then I realized exactly dreamed. It could, and did, download what it was that I had not previously been down whole load people, assisted by a able to accept. rogue computer virus generated by some adolescent minded boys that temporarily They ... were ... all ... absolutely ... naked. united the processing power of all online Dozens of supermodels, all tall thin and computers (including the hypothesised angular young women, were walking along quantum ones) into a random and lunch time crowded George Street, bare- unplanned one off super computer capable assed and buck naked. They stopped of real time matter replication and pedestrians in their tracks. transmission. It was an effect that will take a generation of Phd.s to fully explain. They soon stopped traffic. Beyond the chaos in the City, a similar but The last I saw of them, panicked by the different type of chaos had spread at light crescendo of chaos that surrounded them speed across the world via copper cable, and surrounded by a halo like glitter of glass fibre and even wifi. For the phone camera flashes going off, they fled supermodels to emerge from city computer into the open doors of the Anglican stores, University Computer Labs and Cathedral and out of sight, Angels to College Dorms was to be expected, and receive an uncertain welcome from the accepted as no one in particular’s fault, but Fathers of that church.