Volume26 Issue 7 NWASNEWS MARCH 2021 Newsletter for the Wiltshire, Swindon, A LITTLE PERSEVERANCE AND EARTH STRIKE Beckington, Bath Astronomical Societies Another fantastic landing for a probe to they do get any samples to use clean kitch- Mars. After two other missions arrive earli- en foil or plastic bags without touching the er in the the month the 18th was full of sample. I hope they will be suitably reward- Wiltshire Society Page 2 tension in the mission control. ed, knowing how much these fresh samples Swindon Stargazers 3 Initial images confirmed perfect landing, can be worth for science and value to col- and even the Mars Reconnaissance Orbit- lectors AFTER study. Beckington AS and Star Quest Astronomy 4 Perhaps these meteorites are left from for- Group page. er picked up the landing parachute (which had it’s own coded message in the pan- mation of the solar system (or before) and SPACE NEWS 5-22 els),and later showed the lander, the deliv- possible failed moons ripped apart by gravi- Space X scrubs launch of 8th reuse rocket ery vehicle and detached parachute. tational pull. (BIG SEGWAY) Our speaking Perseverance Seen from ESA Exomars at the zoom meeting tonight is Pete Wil- ESA working on Lunar Cave Explorers So it is going to look for life, well collect samples for a later mission to return. liamson (FRAS) who will be talking about Earth life already on Mars the moons in our solar system… What Geologists see at Jezero Crater But hidden in our monthly round up evi- Our Region of Milky Way packed with dence is mounting that life is on Mars. BUT Binary Stars not Martian life. This is microbes that have Andy Burns is inviting you to a scheduled Dare Mighty Things Cygnus X-1 much bigger than first thought hitched a ride on equipment sent from Zoom meeting. Map of 25,000 supermassive Black Holes Earth, and it appears they are not only Topic: Andy Burns' WAS monthly Zoom How Long for Space Junk to Burn Up surviving on Mars but thriving. Meeting First Pictures from Perseverance Meanwhile the solar system has been hap- Time: Mar 2, 2021 07:45 PM London Ceramic chips in Meteorites give clues pily throwing itself into the Earth. A large LRO gets an Upgrade Join Zoom Meeting Near Year on Mars started Feb 7th iron rich meteorite fell into Sweden and How Moons got Their Names locals were able to recover pieces includ- https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89631378335? Exomoons ing a large 30lb sample from near Upsalla pwd=Mi8wVUZsQ2g4MWsycGp3enlIWmZ3 but the fall was last November so the sam- Zz09 ples may already be corrupted by Earth Meeting ID: 896 3137 8335 Members Logs, images and notes 23-24 microbes. Passcode: 294566 Whats Up March 21 25-30 Then on Sunday night a large bollide was Dark Sky Wales free zoom talks 31 seen over England, and parts of breaking Clear skies up meteorite fell in the Cheltenham area Andy Constellation of the Month: (missing GCHQ by not a lot. Imagine the 32-34 Cassiopeia kerfuffle had a chunk hit that building). Because of lock down the experts cannot Space Station Timings 35 go in and search so they are asking locals IMAGES, VIEWING SESSIONS and OUT- 36 to photograph on site and not collect piec- REACH es. Not to use magnets to pick up, and if The Lion chases the little dog over the White Horse at Cherhill. “0mm lens on Nikon D810a. The half Moon was bright enough to put features in the foreground. The thin high cloud also caught the Moon light, and stopped more de- tailed shooting. Andy Page 2 Volume25, Issue9 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 Chair, [email protected] Facebook members page: https:// Andy Burns Outreach and newsletter editor. www.facebook.com/groups/ Bob Johnston (Treasurer) Debbie Croker (vice Treasurer) wiltshire.astro.society/ Philip Proven (Hall coordinator) Dave Buckle (Teas) Meetings 2020/2021. Peter Chappell (Speaker secretary) During COVID19 ZOOM meetingd Nick Howes (Technical Guru) Observing Sessions coordinators: Chris Brooks, Jon Gale, HALL VENUE the Pavilion, Rusty Lane, Seend Web coordinator: Sam Franklin Contact via the web site details. Meet 7.30 for 8.00pm start SEASON 2020/21 2021 Rusty Lane, Pavilion 2 Mar Pete Williamson/The moon & Moons of the Solar System. 6 Apr Paul Money and ‘Triumphs of Voyager (part 2) – Where no probe has gone before’. 4 May TBC 1 Jun Robert Harvey/Understanding the Universe. Thank you Peter and those that have helped get a list together in the circumstances. Pete Williamson FRAS After leaving school 1973 I continued with astronomy and Kidderminster Astronomical Society still using my 6" Telescope and was Observing Sessions see back page getting quite proficient in the art of Astro Photography using hypered film and dark room techniques. As time moved on relation- my and before long was I still do the occasional bit of ships, work in the music business and the IT sector forced as- presenting BBC Radio planetary imaging but am tronomy to take a back seat and eventually sadly had no place Shropshire Eye On the Sky, not very proficient in that in my life at this time. a regular sky guide with area. I have got a few Lu- In 1989 we moved to rural Shropshire and the first thing I did features for the beginner nar, I am a DEEP SKY Im- was to go out and buy a 10" Astro Systems reflector and have it plus any other astronomical aging consultant with mounted on a permanent pier in the centre of the garden, as- events the BBC require. the Faulkes Telescope Edu- tronomy was again high on my agenda with good dark skies I now do solar imaging, cational Project that has 2 and a beautiful setting. Deep Sky Imaging with ro- metre, 1 metre and 0.4 me- I had a major accident later that year and ended up being una- botic Telescope workshops tre class telescopes across ble to work for over 12 months or get out to the telescope. It for organisations or the indi- the globe in both northern was around this time I looked for a local society to join and vidual and not just in the and southern hemisphere found none listed in Shropshire. I set about forming the Whit- UK, I also have many imag- locations. Recently I have tington Astronomical Society with the help and assistance of Sir es published in the major started working on a Euro- Patrick Moore, the society grew quickly with the help of my wife Astronomical Journals and pean project through Cardiff Sybil and Daughter Sarah, we renamed the society to The books around the globe plus University Astro Physics Shropshire Astronomical Society which is still in existence to- I write articles for publica- Department. day. My work in astronomy started to make headways and had tions when asked to do so. Working with Cardiff Univer- media attention, to that end in 1994 I was elected a Fellow of In 2015 I created and built sity on a part time basis on the Royal Astronomical Society hence FRAS. an internet based radio sta- the On - Line Observatory In 1991 I set about building and founding the on line service tion entitled Astro Radio and Project linked to the EU Starbase Four a bulletin board which exchanged early Astro- now have many people Erasmus. nomical Shareware and early versions of email plus posting working as volunteers within Am a Slooh Space Ambas- Astronomical News. the organisation with spon- sador ( Remote Telescope As time went on and work situations changed with my work in sorship via Astronomy Now Community Observatories ). the music business astronomy again had to take a back seat Magazine , Faulkes Tele- but kept my hand in with observations whenever possible and scope Project & iTelescopes My membership's are honor- still wrote and had articles published in many journals. Australia. ary member of 8 astronomi- In 2012 things changed as far as music was concerned ena- Solarsphere Astronomical & cal societies across the UK bling me to concentrate on astronomy in earnest again. I went Music Festival is another & Ireland and a Fellow back to University (home study) and obtained full astronomical one of my projects along of The Royal Astronomical certification with UCLAN & Planetary Geology with John Moors with my Daughter Sarah in Society & European Astro- University. I purchased many new pieces of equipment and which we try to bring the nomical Society. found a new calling which is Solar Astronomy. Not being one to world of astronomy and mu- sit on the sidelines I looked for work within the world of astrono- sic together . Page 3 There's nothing better than practical astronomy in the great cold British winter! And hot drinks are often available, you Swindon’s own astronomy group can also bring your own. Physical meetings suspended Due to the Covid crisis our meetings, like many other physi- Enjoy astronomy at it's best! cal meetings have been suspended and replaced with Zoom Meetings at Liddington Village Hall, Church Road, Lid- meetings. 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: Next Zoom Meeting: AGM & Viv Williams http://www.swindonstargazers.com/clubdiary/ Our AGM will be held on the 19 March, postponed from directions01.htm March last year. Meeting Dates for 2021 Our speaker will be Viv Williams: Friday 19 March Zoom meeting Viv has been interested in astronomy since an early age.