The Journal of The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada PROMOTING ASTRONOMY IN CANADA December/décembre 2011 Volume/volume 105 Le Journal de la Société royale d’astronomie du Canada Number/numéro 6 [751] Inside this issue: Since When Was the Sun a Typical Star? A Midsummer Night The Starmus Experience Hubble and Shapley— Two Early Giants of Observational Cosmology A Vintage Star Atlas Night-Sky Poetry from Jasper Students David Levy and his Observing Logs Gigantic Elephant Trunk—IC 1396 FREE SHIPPING To Anywhere in Canada, All Products, Always KILLER VIEWS OF PLANETS CT102 NEW FROM CANADIAN TELESCOPES 102mm f:11 Air Spaced Doublet Achromatic Fraunhoufer Design CanadianTelescopes.Com Largest Collection of Telescopes and Accessories from Major Brands VIXEN ANTARES MEADE EXPLORE SCIENTIFIC CELESTRON CANADIAN TELESCOPES TELEGIZMOS IOPTRON LUNT STARLIGHT INSTRUMENTS OPTEC SBIG TELRAD HOTECH FARPOINT THOUSAND OAKS BAADER PLANETARIUM ASTRO TRAK ASTRODON RASC LOSMANDY CORONADO BORG QSI TELEVUE SKY WATCHER . and more to come December/décembre 2011 | Vol. 105, No. 6 | Whole Number 751 contents / table des matières Feature Articles / Articles de fond 273 Astrocryptic Answers by Curt Nason 232 Since When Was the Sun a Typical Star? 273 It’s Not All Sirius —Cartoon by Martin Beech by Ted Dunphy 238 A Midsummer Night 274 Society News by Robert Dick by James Edgar 240 The Starmus Experience 274 Index to Volume 105, 2011 by Paul and Kathryn Gray 245 Hubble and Shapley—Two Early Giants Columns / Rubriques of Observational Cosmology by Sidney van den Bergh 250 Pen and Pixel: Ste. Rita Panorama / Cyrillus, 247 A Vintage Star Atlas Theophilus and Madler / NGC 4565 by Ken Backer by Ron Berard / Gerry Smerchanski / Howard Trottier 248 Night-Sky Poetry from Jasper Students 252 Cosmic Contemplations: How to Image Like by Mary Lou Whitehorne the Pros for Under $1000 by Jim Chung 256 David Levy and his Observing Logs by Roy Bishop 255 On Another Wavelength: Open Clusters and Nebulous Regions in Auriga Departments / Départements by David Garner 258 Astronomical Art & Artifact: David Levy’s 226 President’s Corner Logbooks in Context by Mary Lou Whitehorne by R.A. Rosenfeld 228 News Notes / En Manchette 264 Second Light: Pluto’s Twin? Nobel Prize awarded for Universe’s acceleration / MESSENGER by Leslie J. Sage Spacecraft reveals scientific details about Mercury / Fewer mid-size near-Earth asteroids found / Five of Saturn’s moons congregate / 265 Through My Eyepiece: Jim Low Mosaic shows Moon’s North Pole / Oxygen molecules seen in space by Geoff Gaherty 249 Great Images 268 Imager’s Corner: SMI Processing by Dave McCarter by Blair MacDonald 249 Birth Announcement 267 Royal Correspondence by Mary Lou Whitehorne Front cover — Lynn Hilborn of the Toronto Centre 269 Reviews / Critiques couldn’t wait to put a brand-new Tokina 300-mm Cosmic Challenge / Cosmic Noise: A History of Early f/2.8 lens to work and 8 hours later had collected Radio Astronomy / Stargazing Basics: Getting Started In enough light for this stunning photograph of IC 1396. Recreational Astronomy Lynn coupled the lens to an FLI ML8300 camera and 272 New Qilak Award for Astronomy Outreach exposed through three narrow-band filters. Exposure and Communication was 6×30 minutes at Hα wavelengths, the same in by Dave Lane OIII, and 4×30 minutes in SII. IC 1396, also known as 273 Call for Nominations for RASC National Awards the Elephant Trunk Nebula, stretches across an area six times the size of the by Dave Lane Moon in Cepheus. The nebula lies about 3000 light-years from Earth. December / décembre 2011 JRASC | Promoting Astronomy in Canada 225 President’s Corner Mary Lou Whitehorne The Journal is a bi-monthly publication of The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada and President, RASC is devoted to the advancement of astronomy and allied sciences. It contains articles on Canadian astronomers and current activities of the RASC and its Centres, research and review papers by professional and amateur astronomers, and articles of a historical, biographical, or educational nature of general interest to the astronomical community. All Greetings once again to all you astronomy contributions are welcome, but the editors reserve the right to edit material prior to publication. enthusiasts! Summer is over and we are into Research papers are reviewed prior to publication, and professional astronomers with institutional affiliations are asked to pay publication charges of $100 per page. Such charges the new season of meetings and Society are waived for RASC members who do not have access to professional funds as well as for events. I thought I’d provide a brief update on a few things solicited articles. Manuscripts and other submitted material may be in English or French, and should be sent to the Editor-in-Chief. that have a bearing on our activities. Consider this a sample of what occupies the time and attention of the Executive Editor-in-Chief Contributing Editors Jay Anderson Jim Chung (Cosmic Contemplations) Committee and our National Office staff. Read on—this is 203 – 4920 Dundas St W Ted Dunphy (It’s Not All Sirius) exciting stuff! Toronto ON M9A 1B7, Canada Geoff Gaherty (Through My Eyepiece) Internet: [email protected] Dave Garner (On Another Wavelength) Web site: www.rasc.ca Blair MacDonald (Imager's Corner) Telephone: (416) 924-7973 Bruce McCurdy (Orbital Oddities) The RASC has a new fundraising guide! Fax: (416) 924-2911 Curt Nason (Astrocryptic) Andrew I. Oakes (News Notes) Prepared by Executive Director Deborah Thompson, this new Associate Editor, Research Randall Rosenfeld (Art & Artifact) guide is provided as part of the Centres and volunteer support Douglas Hube Leslie Sage (Second Light) Internet: [email protected] Gerry Smerchanski (Gerry’s Meanderings) programme outlined in our strategic plan. The several purposes Associate Editor, General David Turner (Reviews) of the fundraising guide are: Michael Attas Don Van Akker (Gizmos) Internet: [email protected] Proofreaders • To help Centres and National Office understand their roles Ossama El Badawy Assistant Editors Margaret Brons in relation to fundraising; Michael Allen Ralph Croning Martin Beech Angelika Hackett • To give volunteers a process for developing their Dave Chapman Terry Leeder Ralph Chou fundraising plan; Kim Leitch Dave Garner Suzanne Moreau Patrick Kelly • To give fundraisers helpful suggestions to assist in their Gail Wise fundraising efforts; Editorial Assistant Design/Production Suzanne E. Moreau Michael Gatto, Grant Tomchuk • To outline factors fundraising volunteers must consider as Internet: [email protected] Internet: [email protected], [email protected] they engage in fundraising activities for the Society. Production Manager James Edgar Advertising Internet: [email protected] James Edgar Why is fundraising important to the RASC? To quote directly Internet: [email protected] from the guide: Printing Maritime Digital Colour “Fundraising is one of the most important activities for a The Journal of The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada is published at an annual subscription not-for-profit organization to undertake. For the RASC, rate of $93.45 (including tax) by The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. Membership, fundraising is central to the advancement of the charitable which includes the publications (for personal use), is open to anyone interested in astronomy. Applications for subscriptions to the Journal or membership in the RASC, and role of the organization and to realizing our mission and information on how to acquire back issues of the Journal can be obtained from: vision. Although fundraising is not a new role for the RASC, The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada our ability to better share and strengthen our knowledge in 203 – 4920 Dundas St W this area will serve the Society well.” Toronto ON M9A 1B7, Canada Internet: [email protected] If you or your Centre are wondering about fundraising, you Web site: www.rasc.ca now have a concise guide to lead you though the process. The Telephone: (416) 924-7973 Fax: (416) 924-2911 fundraising guide and a tip sheet to help you get started can be Canadian Publications Mail Registration No. 09818 found on the members’ only portion of our Web site. Canada Post: Send address changes to 203 – 4920 Dundas St W, Toronto ON M9A 1B7 Canada Post Publication Agreement No. 40069313 We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada 2. Three-year NSERC Grant Application Periodical Fund (CPF) for our publishing activities. We have completed and submitted a joint RASC/CASCA/ FAAQ three-year grant application to NSERC PromoSci- ence to further develop and deliver the Web-based educational © 2011 The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. programme, Discover the Universe / À la découverte de All rights reserved. ISSN 0035-872X Cert no. SW-COC-005174 l’univers, an interactive, on-line astronomy training programme for educators in remote and underserved communities. 226 JRASC | Promoting Astronomy in Canada December / décembre 2011 The grant proposal executive summary describes the vision for Some limited information about the new Ontario Not-for- this major, Canada-wide astronomy outreach initiative: Profit Corporations Act, 2010, is available on the Province of Ontario Web site. Topics include: “Astronomy is a powerful tool for attracting young people to science. However, both schoolteachers and informal educators • The not-for-profit reform objectives (youth group leaders, park interpreters, First Nations elders) • Key features of the Not-for-Profit Corporations Act often find astronomy intimidating to teach. This is especially true in poor or geographically remote communities that lack • Organizations affected by the not-for-profit reform connections to universities or amateur astronomy clubs. To • Impact on charities overcome this challenge, we will develop and offer a program of Web-delivered interactive astronomy training workshops • Information for directors and officers and follow-up materials. Building on our successful 2011 Nationally, RASC plans to seek legal assistance to comply pilot project, this interactive training will: (a) be easily with the anticipated enforcement of federal legislation.