H A M I L T O N A M A T E U R A S T R O N O M E R S Volume 3 Issue 3 January 1996 making at HAJA (our junior group) or Editorial perhaps an observing workshop or two. hroughout this issue you will The best part of this "job" is that find pictures of all the I get to meet so many more of my fellow Hamilton Amateur Junior HAA'ers. I really enjoy hearing from all Astronomers (HAJA) logo of you at our meetings, gatherings or contest entries. On page 2 is the winning Chair’s Report over the phone & internet. Don't be shy. entry by Aaron Simpson. If you have any questions, suggestions or even complaints about the club, drop me appy New Year everyone and Starting on page 5 is an article a line, give me a call or see me after a my very best wishes for a from the Murdoch Astronomical Society meeting. I also want to hear about any CLEAR 1996! (MAS) in Australia. A number of observing you've done, whether it's a astrophotos were e-mailed to Charles photometric study of unusual flare stars I can't recall a more miserable Baetsen along with the article and one of or a visual observation of a particularly fall in all the years we've been the images appears on page 6. I had to beautiful grouping of the moon and stars. observing. Let's hope it gets clear soon manipulate the image to get something and stays that way. Especially since that would survive being printed on my The whole idea of an astronomy 1996 holds the promise of a few celestial printer and subsequently be photocopied. club is to share ideas and experiences. goodies: two lunar eclipses; Saturn's This process does n’t do justice to the Let's do it! rings edge-on; the Perseid meteor original image. If anyone with internet shower during new moon and Starfest; access would like to see the originals they Ann Tekatch and what seems to be an unending can be found on my web pages: parade of comets. http://www.io.org/~stewart 575-5433 and on the HAA web pages: [email protected] In the meantime, there's plenty http://www.science.mcmaster.ca/HAA of activity around the HAA to keep you /index.html 19 Pheasant Place, busy. Those of you having withdrawal Hamilton, ON symptoms because of the lack of A number of our members now L9A 4Y4 observing can check out the Cosmology have their own web pages and I would Discussion Group, Jim's ongoing ATM like to publish a list of them in the next sessions, the fun, games & telescope issue. So please send your addresses to ______________________________ me before the January 31 deadline. Also, Grant Dixon will provide links to our member’s pages from the HAA pages. If Inside This Issue anyone has found some good astronomy related pages they could also be published q EDITORIAL q POLE TO POLE and have links provided. Finally, I would like to offer my q CHAIR’S REPORT q ROMAN AROUND congratulations to Rob Roy for getting his name into Sky & Telescope ONCE q HAJA CONTEST q ANOTHER BRIGHT COMET ! AGAIN. The January 1996 issue has a description of his technique for q GALILEO UPDATE q COSMOLOGY CORNER parfocalizing eyepieces in the “Telescope Making” department by Roger Sinott. q WHAT’S YOUR I.O. q GALILEO MISSION STATUS Stewart Attlesey [email protected] q POST 85 IO OCCULTATION q GALILEO PROBE q LUNAR OCCULTATION q DID YOU KNOW THAT Page 2 Event Horizon The purpose of this "dual-spin" system is to carry out observation of Jupiter's A Galileo extraordinary magnetic field, which require sweeping measurements, while Update providing a stable platform for cameras and other sensory devices. don't know about any of you, Although we're not hearing The winning logo by: but I've been rather much about Galileo now, it has already Aaron Simpson disappointed with the press made some important discoveries. It has coverage of Galileo's arrival made numerous flybys of the Earth and at Jupiter on Dec. 7th. After many a Venus (mainly due to changes in it's tantalizing story in the years leading up flight schedule after the Challenger AJA has a Logo to this momentous occasion, there has disaster) and is the first spacecraft to been precious little information now that have made close flybys of two asteroids, The logo contest the spacecraft has actually arrived at its Gaspara and Ida. Among the discoveries was a success! All of the destination and discharged its probe into during these encounters was a small logos were terrific, which made it a the torrid Jovian atmosphere. "moon" (newly dubbed Dactyl) orbiting difficult task to choose one. We had a Ida; the first such object found in our vote at the December council meeting to But I suspect this dearth of news solar system. In addition, Galileo has pick the logo. It was a close vote, but we is due more to the recent shutdown of all given us valuable information about the chose the logo created by Aaron "nonessential" U.S. Government services Shoemaker-Levy 9 impact and new data Simpson. We were so proud of the than to a lack of interest by the media. on interplanetary dust, apparently fantastic logo entries that we had to show For instance, a press conference originating from Jupiter's ring system or them off. Have a look at them and I scheduled for December 19th to volcanoes on Io. think you'll agree that we have some very announce the early Galileo probe results creative junior members. I would like to was canceled. The briefing will Its next major encounter is the thank all who entered for the time and apparently be rescheduled once NASA Ganeymede 1 closest approach in slightly effort put into the entries. They are employees are allowed to return to their less than six months. Let's hope we hear great! posts. something about the probe drop and orbiter before then. The December HAJA meeting A terrific source for anyone was a funfilled event. Not only did we interested in the progress of this space Denise Kaisler reveal the new HAJA logo, but we also probe is NASA's Galileo Home Page [email protected] had a great discussion about space flight, (http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/index.html), handed out Certificates of Astronomical where one can get up-to-the-hour status Achievement to all the kids, and started reports. As of this writing, the spacecraft grinding the glass for the mirror of the itself is about 11 million km above the telescope. What a night! I hope that the colourful belts of Jupiter's atmosphere (to certificates will inspire the children to give some scale, that's 164 Jovian radii). contribute to the newsletter because we The spacecraft is on an elliptical orbit desperately want them to bring in that compromises between getting close something written, drawn, or whatever to the Jovian system and staying out of for their own newsletter. I also hear that the way of the dangerous radiation and Uncle Grant is looking for contributions magnetic fields of this giant planet. for the HAJA web site. So, parents encourage your children to bring Galileo possesses a total of 10 something for the newsletter and it will instruments on board the orbiter and 6 also go on the home page! more on the probe. The orbiter's complement of devices includes a The next meeting is on January magnetometer, a plasma-wave detector, a 16 and we'll be talking about "Comets: heavy ion counter (to look at the Visitors from the Outer Reaches of the potentially dangerous particles in the Solar System." See you there! orbiter's flight path), a UV spectrometer, and Extreme Ultraviolet detector. The Raechel Carson spacecraft is divided into two sections: 308-8041 one that is stationary with respect to the Earth and another that rotates at 3 RPM. Logo contest entry by: Andrew Cairns and Dustin Pickard Page 3 Event Horizon 3) T/F The average shooting-star and found both my tape recorder and my meteor is about one inch in diameter. shortwave radio. Then I frantically tore 4) T/F A famous Danish astronomer the house apart again and found fresh kept a pet dwarf, had a false nose, batteries for my tape recorder and my and equipped his observatory with a shortwave radio. prison. I feverishly printed up finder 5) What is an orbit? charts for SAO111235, took them, my 6) If you go to Australia, will you see excellent illuminated clipboard and my elcome to another of your the same stars as you do from even more excellent observing chair out New Earth Years. Hope all England? to the arctic circle (backyard). While I had a safe and happy was star hopping (someday I'll explain Christmas and New Year I like these hot drinks. We have none this alien term to you), my considerate holiday. I'm still here. I got an ice pack on Io. My favourite is tea with lemon. neighbours threw on their floodlights in my stocking. Hope it will come in See you next month. about 15' away from my vantage point. handy when I go home in the summer. Ah well, better go get an observing Here are the answers for last month: Io, Keeper of the Flame hood..