April 2021 Havering Astronomical Society www.havastro.co.uk Havering Astronomical Society Group Havering Astronomical Society Celebrating the Society’s 27th anniversary This month is the 27th anniversary of the creation of the Havering Astronomical Society. The H AS was formed by members of an astronomy evening class taught by Konrad Malin-Smith of the Croydon Astronomical Society. When their course finished, they decided to create a new local astronomical society to allow th ose members to continue meeting on a regular basis to study astronomy. Over the years the Society has gone from strength to strength thanks to the enthusiasm and dedication of its members both past and present. Sadly, we are yet again prevented from celebrating together in person but if you are able to join us online for Konrad’s traditional anniversary talk, we can virtually toast the Society and its future together. So have a drink ready (and perhaps a piece of cake). Les Jones , Chairperson Forthcoming Online Presentations Things to do whilst on lockdown. Wednesday 21 April, 7.15 for 7.30pm Members are reminded that there is plenty of Konrad Malin -Smith: a founder member of the information available on our own Society website HAS, and a regular speaker to our club which includes such activities as Peter’s three ‘Objects of the Month’ . This month they are: Y ‘Clusters of stars and their evolution’ Canum Venaticorum AKA: La Superba (Star of the Wednesday 5 May, 7.15 for 7.30pm Mont h), Caldwell 59 AKA: Ghost of Jupiter (DSO of the Month) and 54 Leonis AKA: STF 1487 (Double Affelia Wibisono , PhD student of the Planetary Star of the Month). Also, there is ‘ Martin’s Monthly Science group at UCL’s Mullard Space Science Challenge ’ this month there is M106 spiral galaxy in Laboratory Canes Venatici (Easy Object) and NGC4565 Needle ‘Seeing Jupiter’s aurora in a different light’ Galaxy or Caldwell 38 in Coma Berenices (Difficult Wednesday 19 May, 7.15 for 7.30pm Object). There are also links to other websites and software as well as some spectacular images from Roger O’Brien : regular speaker to the HAS, and our own members. Members can also view our astronomy tutor at several institutions Society Facebook page where fellow members post ‘The James Webb Space Telescope: On track various articles and items of interests and for an Hallowe'en launch’ occasionally links to other pages and websites. You Members will be sent an invitation with joining can also now follow us on Twitter. For those instructions. If you have not received one please members who are particularly interested in practical contact Liz Watson at [email protected] Astrophotography and imaging there is the HAS Observing Group Chat on WhatsApp. If you would If any member would like to give a short talk or like to have access to this group, please contact Les presentation online can they please contact Brand at [email protected] either Magda or Peter at [email protected] NIGHT SKY Lyrid meteor shower: This shower is expected to reach peak activity at around 13:00 BST on 22nd April so the best displays might be seen before dawn and after dusk on the 22nd. From Havering, the radiant point in the constellation Hercules will be 72° above the horizon all night, which means that the shower will be active throughout the hours of darkness. In favourable conditions you may be able to see up to 17 meteors per hour at the shower's peak. The parent body responsible for creating the Lyrid shower has been identified as comet C/1861 G1 (Thatcher). Venus: can best be seen on 30th April from 20 minutes after sunset in Aries low in the West – north west. At this time Venus’s brightness, at mag.-3.9, will help the planet stand out against the evening twilight until it sets at around 21:15 BST. A decent pair of binoculars or a small telescope will provide views of the planet’s phase or subtle cloud shadings. Eta Aquariid Meteor Shower: This shower is expected to reach peak activity at around 03:00 BST on 6th May so the best displays might be seen before dawn and after the radiant rises after dusk on the 6th. Seen from Havering, the shower will not be visible before 02:38 BST when its radiant point in the constellation Aquarius rises above the eastern horizon. It will then remain active until dawn breaks around 04:41 BST. The shower will peak close to the new Moon, and so moonlight will present minimal interference. However, you are only likely to see only around 12 meteors per hour, even at the shower's peak since the radiant will be relatively low in the sky. The Eta Aquariids is one of two meteor showers created by debris from Comet Halley. New Horizons Reaches Deep-Space Milestone, What Cosmic Secrets Will The Roman Telescope Snaps Photo Reveal? NASA’s New Horizons probe had already made history In 2025, NASA will be stepping up its space-based when it beamed back the first close-up photos of Pluto astronomy game when it launches the Nancy Grace in 2015. After that, the probe flew deeper into the Roman Space Telescope or Roman Space Telescope (RST) Kuiper Belt and delivered the first images of Arrokoth. for short. The name honours Nancy Grace Roman, NASA’s first Chief Astronomer and the scientist who laid the Now it is only the fifth human made object to reach a groundwork for space telescopes. For her efforts, Roman distance of 50 astronomical units. In celebration, New was nicknamed "the mother of Hubble." Once it Horizons snapped a photo of the Voyager 1 spacecraft. establishes a stable orbit at the Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange Well, it tried, but Voyager 1 is still way out in the Point, it will join a host of other space observatories that lead. New Horizons now joins the 50 AU club with are similarly dedicated to searching for answers to the Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, Voyager 1, and Voyager 2. It mysteries of the Universe. For instance, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), scheduled to launch by October would have taken too much fuel to slow New Horizons 31st, 2021, will work in tandem with Roman to investigate down at Pluto, so it just kept on going. An astronomical parts of the Universe that are only visible in the infrared unit (AU) is equal to the distance between Earth and wavelength. It will also join the three "Great the sun, about 93 million miles. Observatories" that are still in operation, including the Chandra x-ray observatory and the Compton Gamma Young Astronomers Ray Observatory (CGRO). But most importantly, the Roman Space Telescope will be joining its predecessor, Our next online Young Astronomers meeting will take the venerable Hubble Space Telescope. The RST was place on Thursday 29th April at 6:45pm. If you know of designed to be the designated successor mission any individual youngsters or youth groups aged 8 – 16 to Hubble and to build on the foundation its predecessor who would be interested in joining for free, please let established. The RST will have the sensitivity and ability to them know about the date and time and advise them cover a larger viewing area, effectively giving it the to either register online at www.havastro.co.uk or surveying power of “100 Hubbles." Astronomers hope the email [email protected]. RST will address some of the deepest and most daunting questions about our Universe and reveal what was Also if any member would like to assist with giving a happening during its earliest epochs. presentation or talk to the youngsters online please contact Les Brand. .