Vol. 35, No. 4 April 2004 Is it a planet, asteroid or a planetoid? On March 14, 2004 astronomers at the Palomar observatory site discovered the most distant object in the solar system. It is 90 AU from the sun, twice as far as anything discovered to date, and three times further than Pluto. It has a highly elliptical orbit that will take it 1000 AU from the sun in the next 5000 years. Its size is estimated to be up to 1800 km, somewhere between the 1250 km of the largest known Kuiper belt object, Quaoar, and the size of Pluto at 2390 km. (Largest asteroid is Ceres at 933 km.) It seems to have a rotational period of 40 days, and appears to be the reddest object in the solar system. Currently known as 2003 VB12, it has been suggested that because of its frigid temperatures it be named Sedna, after the Inuit goddess of the sea. There is much debate on what to call it. It is further than the objects discovered in the Kuiper belt, the zone of large objects discovered around and beyond Pluto, but nearer than the hypothesized Oort cloud zone believed to be the source of comets. It has rekindled the debate over whether Pluto is a planet. If Pluto is a planet then this, and many other large objects, should also be called planets. If this can’t be a planet then maybe Pluto should be declassified. Some have suggested a new category called planetoids. At magnitude 20.5 amateur astronomers won’t have much opportunity to do direct observations of this new object, but we can contribute to the discussion of what the definition of a planet should be. In this issue… Membership Information, Bottle Drive & U of S Observatory Hours 2 RASC Calendar of Events; General Meeting Notice 3 Books for Sale 3 Astronomy – A Personal Journey – One Year Later 4 Message from the Prez… 5 A stargazer’s dreaming: Kathleen Houston’s Mixed Media Artwork 6 Sky Buys & Mirror Cells 6 Minutes of the General Meeting 6 Confessions of a Messier Marathoner 7 Saskatoon Centre The Planets This Month, March 2004 8 The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Quest for M101: Hard times for a Backyard Astronomer 9 P.O. Box 317, RPO University Newsletters from Other Centres 9 Saskatoon, SK S7N 4J8 The Messier, H-400 & H-400 II, FNGC, Binoc & EtU Club 10 URL: http://duke.usask.ca/~ges125/rasc Observing Group Notes 10 E-MAIL: [email protected] TELEPHONE: (306) 665-3392 Membership? It’s never too late to join! About this Newsletter… Regular: $52.00/year Youth: $27.50/year Newsletter Editor – Tenho Tuomi Production & Layout – Linda Janzen The Saskatoon Centre operates on a one-year revolving membership. You will be Copy – Brian Friesen & WBM Collate – Brian Friesen, Walter Essar, a member for the next 12 months no matter when in the year you join. If you do Jim Young, Les & Ellen Dickson, not want to join at this time, ask to get onto our FREE 3-month Temporary Yannis Pahatouroglou Labels & Temps – Mike Clancy Membership list. You will receive regular mailings of our Saskatoon Skies Web Posting – Gord Sarty newsletter and will be invited to participate in Centre activities. Members are Printing of this Newsletter is courtesy of encouraged to renew early to avoid disruption in publications. Renew through the WBM OFFICE SYSTEMS membership coordinator, Mike Clancy, or renew through the National Office and 601 2nd Avenue North let Mike know that you did! Saskatoon, SK S7K 2C7 Copying is provided on a Risograph copier Benefits of Membership in the Saskatoon Centre for a nominal fee. Saskatoon Skies is published monthly by the • knowledgeable & friendly amateur • SkyNews Magazine (bimonthly) Saskatoon Centre of the RASC. Distribution is astronomers • use of the Centre library approximately 100 copies per issue. Saskatoon Skies welcomes unsolicited articles, sketches, • use of the Sleaford Observatory • discounts to Sky & photographs, cartoons, and other astronomy or • use of the U of S Observatory (after Telescope Magazine space science articles. Articles can be sent by mail in any format to the Centre’s mailbox. Submitted training) • discounts of Sky Publishing materials can be returned upon request. • Saskatoon Skies Newsletter merchandise Submissions may also be sent by e-mail – preferred as plain unformatted ASCII text files without • Observer’s Handbook 2004 •free, no-cost, no-obligation, 3-month line breaks. Images sent by e-mail should be • The Journal of the RASC temporary membership if you attached .JPGs (.GIFs also accepted). Send e-mail submissions to the editor at <[email protected]>. (bimonthly) don’t want to join right now! Please send articles in “generic” formats with simple formatting – one tab at the beginning of paragraphs, one space after commas and periods. A separate by-mail subscription to Saskatoon Skies Saskatoon Centre’s main officers: is available for $15.00 per year. Saskatoon Skies is President – Rick Huziak also posted on our Saskatoon Centre homepage as a .pdf file and can be downloaded free-of-charge. Vice-President – Ron Waldron Members may choose to receive the newsletter by Secretary – Al Hartridge regular mail or via the Internet. Articles may be Treasurer – Barb Young reprinted from Saskatoon Skies without expressed permission (unless otherwise stated), but source credit is requested. DEADLINE for submissions is the 26th of each month. Saskatoon Skies accepts commercial advertising. Please call the editor for rates. Members can advertise non- U OF S OBSERVATORY commercial items free of charge. The U of S Observatory is open to the general public every Saturday of the year. Admission is free. The observatory is located on campus, one block north of the Wiggins Avenue and College Drive entrance. On clear nights, visitors may look through the Bottle vintage 6-inch and tour several displays. Current events are recorded on the Astronomy Drive Information Line at 966-6429. Observatory Hours: & January-February 7:30-9:30 pm Canadian Tire $ March 8:30-10:30 pm by Darrell Chatfield April 9:30-11:30 pm Canadian Tire Money collected to date is May-July 10:00-11:30 pm $34.25. Thank you to all who contributed August 9:30-11:30 pm to our fundraising for the Centre. Please September 8:30-10:30 pm bring your bottles and Canadian Tire Money to the General meetings. I will October-December 7:30-9:30 pm collect them after the meeting concludes. If you cannot make it to the meeting but would like to contribute, please call me at 374-9278. SASKATOON SKIES APRIL 2004 2 2004 RASC Calendar of Events DATE EVENT CONTACT TELEPHONE Apr. 17 POSTPONED until further notice: Saskatchewan Winter Warm-up – BBQ with Regina Centre at Sleaford Observatory Rick Huziak 665-3392 Apr. 19 Executive Meeting – Rm 175 Physics, U of S, 6:30 p.m. Rick Huziak 665-3392 Apr. 19 General Meeting – Rm 175 Physics, U of S, 7:30 p.m. – A stargazer’s dreaming: Kathleen Houston’s mixed media artwork – Kathleen Houston Rick Huziak 665-3392 Apr. 21-22 Lyrid Meteor Shower Peak Apr. 24 International Astronomy Day – The Mall at Lawson Heights, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Brent Burlingham 244-9872 Apr. 24 Astronomy Day Gastronomy – The Mall at Lawson Heights, 5:30 p.m.Rick Huziak 665-3392 Apr. 24 International Astronomy Day Starnight – Beaver Creek Conservation Area, 7:30 p.m. – 11:00 p.m. Brent Burlingham 244-9872 April 26 Dale Jeffreys’ Rosthern Kids at Sleaford – dusk Rick Huziak 665-3392 May 17 General Meeting – Rm 175 Physics, U of S, 7:30 p.m. – The Geology of Mars – Kim Mysyk Rick Huziak 665-3392 May 22 Noctilucent Cloud Season begins Rick Huziak 665-3392 June 8 Transit of Venus – Canadian East Coast or Eastern Hemisphere June 21 General Meeting – program & location tbd, 7:30 p.m. Rick Huziak 665-3392 July 8-11 AAVSO, ALPO, AL Annual Meeting – Oakland, CA Rick Huziak 665-3392 Aug. 11-12 Perseid Meteor Shower Peak Rick Huziak 665-3392 Aug. 12 Noctilucent Cloud Season ends Rick Huziak 665-3392 Aug. 12-15 Saskatchewan Summer Star Party (SSSP ’04) – Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park Les Dickson 249-1091 Aug. 14-22 Mt. Kobau Star Party – Osoyoos, BC Jim Failes (250) 763-6962 BOOKS FOR SALE by Bruce Brandell, Sales Coordinator We have a number of books, calendars and pins left over from SSSP Transit, When Planets Cross the Sun, Michael Maunder & Sales. Call 249-1119 or email [email protected] Patrick Moore. Title Author No. Price Touring the Universe through Binoculars, Philip S. Harrington Avail. Cdn$ The Deep Sky, An Introduction, Philip S. Harrington RASC 2004 Calendar Rajiv Gupta, Editor 9 $05.00 Astrophotography G.N. Patterson oodles $05.00 Observing Variable Stars, David Levy SSSP 2003 Lapel Pin 5 $05.00 SSSP 2002 Lapel Pin 34 $04.00 SSSP 2001 Lapel Pin 24 $04.00 Monday, Apr. 19, 7:30pm RASC Centenary Mugs 36 $09.00 Room 175 Physics, U of S The following books can be ordered from Sky Publishing (Sky and Telescope): Presenting: Parallax: the Race to Measure the Cosmos, Alan W. Hirshfeld. A Stargazer’s Dreaming This is a very interesting biographical history of the origins of by Kathleen Houston modern astronomy, bringing to life the long standing controversy, esp. 16th to 19th centuries, between the Ptolamic and Corpernican Kathleen Houston, our member from concepts of the universe, and the astonishing attempts to use Price Albert, presents a mixed media show inspired parallax to determine distances to the stars. by stronomy. See her article in this newsletter.