Volume25, Issue 5 NWASNEWS January 2020 Newsletter for the Wiltshire, Swindon, Happy New Year Beckington Astronomical Societies Happy New year. And we start our year have one or two spots recently that are part with the usual forum of questions and an- of the new cycle there were over 280 days in 2019 with no Sunspots, This is the high- Wiltshire Society Page 2 swers plus any beginners queries for the evening. Even ‘seasoned’ astronomers est low activity year for over 135 years, and Swindon Stargazers 3 have questions that may seem easy but the last cycle one of the worst recorded. Dark Sky Wales sky preview 4 confused. We hope that you can learn The significance for Earth’s climate is an something from tonight. unknown, but it worth noting. Beckington AS and Star Quest 5 I have only received one formal question See the Spaceweather web page for histor- Astronomy Group page. on equipment that I could pre research for, ical numbers. Atmospheric Dispersion Correction 5-6 and it is a piece a equipment I have seen but never bought, even for Spain. Clear skies Andy Burns. Space News 7-15 But we will find answers for most questions Australian Wildfires Lunar Magnetosphere Twice and can through together some talks or Earths pictures that we can learn from. Super Puff Planets I have included in the full Newsletter a Spaceflight for 2020 page that showed my latest mistake when Astronomical events for 2020 imaging. A whole evening of deep sky Betelgeuse. Whats happening? tests wasted by a little software error that I Comets due in 2020 (nothing great) forgot to compensate for. Error in the drive How Planets formed from Dust speed being auto set by the control panel. I Meade files for Bankruptcy Protec- have upgraded my paddle to series 4 but tion, again have yet to test if the same error occurs. I We are Red star dust. need some more clear nights to test. It may seem we had a cloudy year for ob- Members Logs, images and notes 16-19 serving, but I can confirm it wasn’t as bad What’s Up December 2019 & 20 as we may think, with February and March Geminids being the worst months in total nights available, but in an El Nino year we have Constellation of the Month 21-23 had much worse periods of poor weather. Taurus Chris Brooks has been monitoring the Sun- Space Station Timings 24 spot activity on the Sun, And while we IMAGES, VIEWING SESSIONS 25 The evenings have been putting on a show of planets in the south west, unfortunately an area and OUTREACH of the sky cut off to me through trees, electrical cables or houses. But with the winter leafless state I caught a series of exposures with Venus and Saturn between clouds. 40 exposures from upstairs window… stacked in Startrails. Andy Page 2 Volume21, Issue8 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 2018/2019Season. Peter Chappell (Speaker secretary) NEW VENUE the Pavilion, Rusty Lane, Seend Nick Howes (Technical Guru) Meet 7.30 for 8.00pm start Observing Sessions coordinators: Chris Brooks, Jon Gale, Web coordinator: Sam Franklin Contact via the web site details. NEW SEASON 2019/2020 2020 Rusty Lane, Pavilion 7th Jan Open Forum/Beginners Meeting. 4th Feb Jon Gale ‘Observing the Herschel 400’. 3rd Mar Dr Lilian Hobbs ‘Armchair Messier Marathon’. 7th Apr Pete Williamson ‘The Moon and Moons of the Solar System’. 5th May Martin Griffiths ‘The Habitable Zone – What is it and How is it determined’. 2nd Jun Paul Money ‘Triumphs of Voyager (part 2) – Where no probe has gone before’. Tonight is our forum and beginners Q and A session. Observing Sessions see back page Members for sale/wanted As ever Philip Proven Hi Andy. I tried to put my for . sale stuff on the web page but was unavailable. Briefly this is. For sale. I EQ6pro. Go to equatorial mount ( hardly used)wth controls. 1 Sealy Power Products Road Start. bat- tery. Model RS102 v2. All for £860.00. Inspection anytime just across Rusty Lane in my garage. Phone 01380828407/ [email protected] Please advise if you can put in NL or not Page 3 Swindon’s own astronomy group Friday 17 April Programme: Gary Poyner - Variable Stars around the Perseus Double Cluster January meeting Friday 15 May Programme: Mike Foulkes: Herschel's Planet We reconvene on January 17th when Ian Smith will be Friday 19 June presenting a presentation on ' Imaging Planetary Neb- Programme: Graham Bryant - Pluto from Myth to Dis- ula', the first of two sessions on astrophotography this covery year. -------Summer Break------ Ad-hoc viewing sessions Friday 18 September Regular stargazing evenings are being organised near Swindon. To join these events please visit our website Programme: Ian Smith - Narrowband Imaging for further information. Friday 16 October Lately we have been stargazing at Blakehill Farm Na- ture Reserve near Cricklade, a very good spot with no Programme: Dr James Fradgley MSc, FRAS: The distractions from car headlights. Universe - 'A brief overview of what we know, or think we know' We often meet regularly at a lay-by just outside the village of Uffcott, near Wroughton. Directions are also Friday 20 November shown on the website link below. Programme: Dave Eagle FRAS PGCE BSc (Hons): Information about our evenings and viewing spots can be 'Comets, Enigmatic and Beautiful Visitors' found here: http://www.swindonstargazers.com/noticeboard/ noticeboard06.htm Website: If you think you might be interested email the organiser http://www.swindonstargazers.com Robin Wilkey (see below). With this you will then be emailed regarding the event, whether it is going ahead Chairman: Robin Wilkey or whether it will be cancelled because of cloud etc. We are a small keen group and I would ask you to Tel No: 07808 775630 note that you DO NOT have to own a telescope to take Email: [email protected] part, just turn up and have a great evening looking Address: 61 Northern Road through other people's scopes. We are out there to share an interest and the hobby. There's nothing better Swindon, SN2 1PD than practical astronomy in the great cold British win- ter! And hot drinks are often available, you can also bring your own. Secretary: Hilary Wilkey Enjoy astronomy at it's best! Tel No: 01793 574403 Email: [email protected] Address: 61 Northern Road Meetings at Liddington Village Hall, Church Road, Liddington, SN4 0HB – 7.30pm onwards Swindon, SN2 1PD The hall has easy access from Junction 15 of the M4, a map and directions can be found on our website at: http://www.swindonstargazers.com/clubdiary/ directions01.htm Meeting Dates for 2020 Friday 17 January Programme: Ian Smith: Imaging Planetary Nebula Friday 21 February Programme: Dr Jane Clark: Orbits in the Solar System Friday 7 March Programme: AGM / Bob Gatton: The Red Planet Page 8 The Night Sky in line with cancer, west of the star Alpha Lynxis and on a January 2020 line with it. NGC 2683 is a 10.6 magnitude smudge of Winter is upon us but blue white light that is easy to spot in a low power eye- beautiful constellations of piece, the most difficult part is finding it among the bar- Orion, Auriga, Taurus and ren stars of this group! Gemini are available in the The most observed object in this constellation is a re- early evening and the mote globular star cluster NGC 2419, which can be lo- spring groups rise after cated close to the 5th magnitude star phi Lynxis, above midnight. the glowing luminance of Castor in Gemini. This is not Moon in January the greatest cluster you will ever see, in fact it is one of New: 24thJanuary the dimmest, shining as it does at magnitude 11.2 In First quarter: 3rdJanuary addition its stars are virtually irresolvable in a small tele- Full: 10thJanuary scope. Its fame lies in the fact that it is the most distant Last Quarter: 17thJanuary globular cluster known to belong to our Milky Way gal- Planets in January axy. Mercury: may just be caught in the western sky by mid NGC 2419 was discovered by William Herschel in 1788, month shining quite brightly at magnitude -1.2. Venus but its actual distance was not known until earlier this will not be far away. century when the astronomer Harlow Shapley calculat- Venus: is an evening object in the constellation of ed that it lies at the enormous distance of 278,000 light Aquarius, very bright at magnitude -3.9 and unmistaka- years from us, over 300,000 light years from the focus ble as a bright white starlike object in the west of its orbit, our galactic centre. NGC 2419 contains over Mars: is an early morning object in the constellation of 175,000 Sun-like stars, making it a respectable cluster Scorpius, rising at 03:00 by mid month and shining fee- despite its remoteness. bly at magnitude 1.5 About 150 globular clusters are known to orbit our gal- Jupiter: Is still in Sagittarius and not really available for axy, but they mostly lie within a sphere of 65,000 light good viewing this month years of the galactic nucleus. Why NGC 2419 should be Saturn: Is also in Sagittarius and unavailable for good different is a mystery.