the newsletter of th e QUEEN ELIZABET H PLANETARIUM DEC. 80/JAN . 81 and the EDMONTON CENTRE, RASC 50* the rings of Saturn from Voyager 1 Will giant earthquakes occu r in 1982 ? Do sunspot s affect lif e on eart h ? What were the Martian canal s ? Did ancient civilization s possess advanced astronomical knowledge ? Are UFO' s rea l ? TO FIN D OUT, SEE..., narrated by Leonar d Nimoy NOW PLAYIN G AT A PLANETARIU M NEA R YO U Queen Elizabet h Planetarium SHOWTIMES : Tuesda y - Friday at 8 pm Saturday, Sunday an d Holiday s at 3 pm and 8 pm (no show s Christmas and Ne w Year's Day) Vol. 26 No . 1 di DEC. 80/JAN . 81 - A Deep-Sk y Portfoli o JOH N LEADE R 8 At my observatory near Medicine Hat it is possible to photograph 12 months of the year, even in high summer, due to our southern latitude. How Radi o Telescope s Wor k DAV E BEALE .... 1 4 Radio astronomy is basically similar to optical astronomy except that the Editor received radiation is at a much lower frequency. Alan Dyer A Continent-Wid e Radi o Telescop e 1 8 Assistant Editor If approved, the VLBA would create a significant advance in our knowledge of Stewart Krysk o the universe. Contributing Editors Ted Cadlen John Hault Dave Holmgre n Mark Leender s The Fron t Pag e Editor' s Message 2 Andrew Lowe Rod McConnel l Astronomy Basic s Th e Messier Catalogue 4 Anthony Whyte General Meetin g Notice 5 Typesetting Discoveries Hundred s an d Hundreds of Ring s 6 Loma Mllllga n RASC New s 2 1 Graphic Arts Dave Belche r At The Planetariu m 2 3 Rick Corrigan Look Bac k Tim e 5 0 and 100 Years Ago 2 4 Printed by What's U p ? Let' s See Orion Again 2 5 The City Of EDMONTON Parks and Recreation COVER: O n Nov . 12, Voyage r 1 passe d withi n 125,000k m o f Saturn , returnin g spectacular close-up photos of the planet, Its rings, and its moons. In this photo, taken on Oct. 30 from a distance of 16 million km, we can see the full extent of the rings, from the outer edge of the bright A-rlng, past Encke's Division, the remaining major portion of the A-rlng, Casslnl's Division, the B-rlng, and the dark Inner C-ring. The shadow of the rings on the planet ca n also be seen. See page 6 for mor e details. Deadline lo r Feb./Mar . issue : Monday , Januar y 1 2 STARDUST, the newsletter of the Queen Elizabeth Planetarium and the Edmonton Centre, RASC, is published bi-monthly and is available free to all members of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Edmonton Centre as a benefit of membership. Single copies are available at the Planetarium Bookstore for 50* . STARDUST i s also available by subscription fo r $4.50 per year for 6 issues ($9.00 for two years for 12 issues). Please make all cheques or money orders payable to: The Queen Elizabeth Planetarium. Write to: The Editor, STARDUST; c/o Queen Elizabeth Planetarium; CN Tower 10th Floor, 10004 - 104 Avenue; Edmonton, Alberta, T5J OK1. Unsolicited articles or photographs pertaining to any aspect of astronomy are welcome. EDITOR'S MESSAGE I'd like to take the opportunity t o wish all our readers, wherever they ma y be , a very happ y holida y season , an d a prosperous Ne w Year. I hope that one of your resolutions for 198 1 is to write an article or two for Stardust. Item s of any length are welcome, whether they be short observing reports or feature length articles. Astro-photograph y is particularl y welcome , preferabl y i n the for m o f btack-and-whit e prints. All I ask is that to avoid disappointment pleate hand in material before th e deadline. I n 198 1 i t woul d b e so nic e i f I didn't hav e t o the continually pro d people into submitting their promised contribution s to Stardust o n time. If you ar e putting together a major article (i.e. longer than on e front Stardust page) , please let me know about i t beforehand so I can fit it into a n upcomin g issu e a s soon a s possible . I generally hav e th e overall contents of issues planned 3 or 4 months in advance, and the page more lea d time I have for big articles, the better I like it. The next issu e (Feb./Mar.) will feature an item by Paul Deans on life at the Jet Propulsion La b during the Voyager Saturn flyby, and an article b y Kare n Finstad on observin g a t the University of Toronto's observing sit e in the southern hemisphere . The Apr./May issu e will again centre around STARNIGHT, tentatively scheduled fo r May 8/9. Throughout this issue , on th e other hand , you'l l fin d constan t reminders that it's time once again to renew your RASC membership. In fact, i f you haven' t renewed to date , then yo u ar e receiving this issue for free , as an enticement t o join again . But the Centre can't afford to kee p sending ou t free Stardusts to last year's members, so those who are not on the "paid - up members" list by Dec. 31 will no longer receiv e Stardust\d as I know you are by this prospect, may I kindly sugges t tha t this fate can b e avoided b y payin g you r dues. Give the Centre a Christmas present! If for some strange reason you do not intend to rejoin the Centre this year , bu t stil l wis h t o receiv e Stardust, yo u ca n d o s o b y subscribing fo r $4.50/year . Make all Stardust subscriptio n cheque s payable to "The Quee n Elizabeth Planetarium." Cheque s for RAS C membership renewal s (which include s a year's worth o f Stardusts} should b e payabl e t o "Th e Edmonto n Centre , R.A.S.C. " Bot h payments can be mailed to the Q.E.P. at the usual address on the back cover. Thank you for your continuin g support. —Alan Dye r Hours 8:30a m • 4:00pm; 6:30pm - 9:00pm Tues. - Fri . 1:30pm - 4:00pm; 6:30pm • 9:00pm Sat. & Sun. Coronation Park , Edmonton PH 455-011 9 Looking fo r a n astronomica l Christma s present ? Th e Bookstore has a wide variety of items suitable for gifts - everything fro m stockin g stutter s an d noveltie s t o complete telescopes. Drop by and se e us! E D Introducing the MEAD E SYSTEM 2000: a new 8-inch f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope . MeadeS- Schmidt-Cassegrain 31250.0 0 Meade 4= Schmidt-Cassegrain: with fork mount $8650 0 wtth German equatorial mount $7700 0 Equatorial wedg e tor 4= or 8= $6 5 00 Reid Tripod $1900 0 4= f/2.64 Schmidt Camera $670.0 0 Looking fora CELESTRON, the most Doputartetescope in the world? Loo k no further CetestronS ..S1450.00 C8 Package , wtth wedge and tripod. ..$1575.00 Cetestron 5 ..$116000 C6 Package, wtth wedge and tripod. ..$127500 C90 Telescope ....$750.00 C90 Spotting Scope ....$53000 C90 Tetephoto Len s ....$40000 o/lionomy bo/ic / the me//ie r catalogu e There ar e thousand s o f sta r clusters , In fact , Messie r ofte n use d achromati c nebulae, and galaxies within reac h of amateur refractors of this size. telescopes. Ho w ca n the novic e observe r sort Another question tha t usually comes up is out the bes t and the brightest fro m this wealth how many objects are actually on Messier's list? of deep-sk y wonders ? It' s simpl e — someone His Catalogue was published in 3 installments. has already don e th e sorting for you : Charle s The first, published in 1774, listed 45objects, 40 Messier. of which wereoriginal Messierdiscoveries. M40 He was a French astronomer wh o live d i n is actually only two stars. Messier knew this but the lat e 1700's , when observational astronomy listed i t anyway since previou s observers had was becoming a fine and noble art. Messier was reported i t as being nebulous. Even though they interested i n discoverin g comets , a tas k a t were alread y well-know n objects , M42 , M43 , which he was very successful. During his career M44, an d M4 5 were als o added , likel y just t o he discovered 21 comets. But h e is best known "round off" the list at 45. today for hi s list of other discoveries, of those pesky little nebulous patche s he kept bumpin g into a s he scanned the sky for comets. Lest he and othe r observer s mistak e thes e "fals e comets" for the real thing, Messie r decided to compile a catalogu e o f comet-lik e objects . Messier's catalogu e remain s toda y a s a compilation o f mos t o f th e fines t clusters , nebulae, and galaxies in the sky, and is the best starting poin t for amateur astronomers getting into deep-sky observing .