Kenneth E.Chilton Introduction The Universe is a beautiful mysterious and fascinating place. Its allure has attracted the attention of men from the days of the ancient Chaldean shepherds, lying on their backs in the meadows at night, to the present time, when scientists, with their large and powerful instruments, probe and interpret radiations reaching the Earth from distant galaxies. Public interest in Astronomy, the science of the Universe, has never been higher. This, no doubt, is due, in part, to the tremendous impact of the manned space programmes. Man, at last, has left his home planet and has travelled the relatively short distance to the Moon. Consequently, ima­ ginations have been sparked, with the result that membership in astronomi­ cal associations has increased dramatically. With public interest so high, I began to wonder, in late 1970, if a television series on the subject of Astronomy might not be of value in educating the public with regard to the wonders of outer space. Since community television by means of cablevision, that is, broadcasting by means of coaxial cable instead of through the air, was comparatively new and in need of programmes, I wrote to Cable 8 Ltd., a company producing television by this means in Hamilton,Ontario. The idea was accepted and, on March 31,1971, the first edition of "The Sky Tonight" was produced. The format of "The Sky Tonight" is simple. Usually, I invite some local amateur astronomer, or a professional astronomer from a nearby university, knowledgeable in the topic of the evening, to the studio. While the guests answer my questions, the control-room staff show pictures and slides at the appropriate moments. This book contains the material covered in the programme. It is more or less chronological, but I have not tried to include the material from every programme. I have picked what I think are the best and most interesting. Neither is this book a complete astronomical compendium. Rather, it is a series of short essays on astronomical topics. In the production of this book, the writer owes a great deal to many people. Sincere thanks go to Malcolm Neal, General Manager of Cable 8 Ltd., and director of "The Sky Tonight". He pushes the buttons that make things come out right. Thanks also to the" staff at the studio for their encouragement. I would also like to express my appreciation to Mr.Patrick Moore of B.B.C.Television in England, whose programme "The Sky At Night" was a source of inspiration. Patrick's encouragement has made production of "The Sky Tonight" a great deal easier. Lastly, the writer owes a great deal to his wife, whose tolerance and understanding have made production of television, and of this book, much simpler. Her suggestions and criticisms have been more than valuable. At the time of this writing, "The Sky Tonight" has completed its 112th half-hour broadcast. Hopefully, the public will continue to view our efforts favourably, for it is their support and interest which make continuance of the programme possible. Ken Chilton Hamilton,Ont. December 1974 Table of Contents 1.The Universe 2.Astronomers 3.The Sun 4.Making a Telescope 5. The Moon 6.The Stars 7.Stonehenge 8 .Radio Astronomy 9 .The Motions of the Earth 10.Mars 11.Comets 12.The End of the World! 13.The Star of Bethlehem 14.Jupiter 15.Galaxies 16.Bode’s Law 17.Orion 18.Venus 19 .Meteors 20.Eclipses 21.Variable Stars 22.The Planet that Lies On Its Side 23.Taurus 24.Astrology 25.Mercury 26.Mariner IX 1. The Universe Italics: The first broadcast of "The Sky Tonight" occurred on March 31,1971. My guest in the studio was Rev.Norman Green, National Secretary of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, and Assistant Director of the McLaughlin Planetarium in Toronto,Ontario. The subject for the evening was to be "An Introduction to Astronomy" We hoped to give the viewers an overall picture of the Universe.Despite our initial nervousness, I believe that we succeeded! Regular Type: The Universe is an awesome place. For years, men dreaded the sky and the signs they saw in it. Dragons, serpents, monsters and wild animals populated the firmament, if not in reality, then certainly in the minds of primitive men. A few, however, refused to be frightened and tried to interpret the myriad points of light as physical phenomena. These men were the very first true astronomers. Why do men study the skies? In addition to wanting to know the true composition of celestial bodies, their motions, their distances and sizes, man has built into his nature some tremendous urge to know his own place in the Universe, and his role in the scheme of things. With this in mind, let us make a small trip through the Universe, simply making note of the objects that abound there and learning a bit about them. To we Earthlings, the brightest object in the sky is the Sun. The Sun is a star. It is slightly smaller than medium-size, but, nontheless it is much larger than the majority of stars. Its diameter is 864,000 miles, or about 115 times the diameter of our tiny dust-speck, the Earth. It is a. seething cauldron of gases whose surface temperature is 10,000°F.. Estimates of the interior temperature usually mention the figure of 22 million degrees. This is extremely difficult to visualize! The Sun is accompanied through space by a retinue of smaller bodies known as planets .There are nine major planets: Mercury Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, in that order from the Sun outward. Whereas the Sun is a hot gaseous body, the planets are relatively cool and solid. Jupiter, the largest, has a diameter of 88,000 miles, while tiny Mercury is only 3,000 miles from side to side. Each of the planets, except Mercury, Venus and possibly Pluto, have smaller bodies revolving around them. These are known as moons or satellites. Jupiter has a retinue of 12 moons, Saturn 10, Uranus 5, Neptune and Mars 2 each; and the Earth has one. Our Moon has been studied more by amateur astronomers than any other object. Its pitted, cratered, mountainous, rugged surface is a magnifi­ cent sight when viewed through a small telescope. Astronauts have visi­ ted the Moon with the purpose of depositing scientific instruments there. As a result, scientists here on the Barth can measure "Moon- quakes”. In recent years, much controversy has arisen as to whether the money spent on space programmes might not be better spent here on the Earth. Of course, all of the money has been spent here on Earth. The astronauts took no money with them. The money was spent in wages, wages for the thousands of men and women who participated, in both science and industry, in placing men on the Moon. In addition, many many modern conveniences, such as Teflon, and transistors, have come from research connected with the space programme. The Sun and its family occupy only a. very tiny part of the Universe, If you were to make a model with the Sun and the Earth being about one inch apart, then the nearest star would be four miles away! In fact, stellar distances are so great that astronomers have had to invent a new unit of length with which to measure the scale of the Universe. That unit is the Light Year. A Light Year is that distance which a beam of light would traverse in one year, travelling at 186,000 miles per second. This comes to nearly six trillion miles, an imagination-defying distance. Stars are arranged in systems called galaxies. The shape of a galaxy is rather like two fried eggs, glued back to back. They often remind me of children's pinwheels which revolve in the wind. There are millions of galaxies, each containing millions of stars. The stars are suns, huge cauldrons of seething gas, literally exploding, converting Hydrogen into Helium. Our own star-system, or galaxy, is called "The Milky Way". It appears as a faint band of hazy light across the sky. However, even a pair of binoculars will show that it is, in reality, thousands and thousands of stars. It has always been a pleasure for me to lie back on a cool summer's evening and to watch the myriad points of light spread out along the Milky Way. Also found in the Milky Way system, and in other galaxies, too, are some very interesting aggregations of stars, roughly spherical in shape, called Globular Clusters. Each of these contains several thousand stars. It appears to astronomers that the Globular Clusters form a spherical halo around the entire galaxy. Some of the most beautiful sights in the galaxy are the nebulae, great clouds of gas, glowing because of stars imbedded in them. It appears that the stirs are formed inside of these nebulae, from the material of the nebulae. Two particles of gas attract each other through mutual gravitation.They cling together. Then other particles are attracted until the mass of gas that has accumulated is suffici­ ently heavy for the atoms at the centre, under tremendous pressure from the other atoms above, to begin atomic reaction. The star then begins its life. Of course, the light given off by the star would illuminate any gases left in the vicinity. Naturally, dear reader, this has been but a very brief tour of the Universe. I have deliberately avoided getting into detail on the objects mentioned, since I intend to elaborate in later chapters.