Volume21, Issue 4 NWASNEWS December 2015 Newsletter for the Wiltshire, Swindon, Beckington Happy Christmas and New Year Astronomical Societies and Salisbury Plain Seasons greeting to all. piece of readily available software each month. Does anyone want to take this on? Wiltshire Society Page 2 It is good to have Andrew Lounds back to give us his talk in his inimitable style about This month I have given a list of ‘finder’ Swindon Stargazers 3 the discovery of Neptune using mathemat- software, planetarium or sky charts for the Beckington and SPOG 4 ics from the orbit of Uranus…. Moon, the planets, the stars and deepsky I forgot to mention it was our pre Christmas objects. Software list: Downloadable 4 meeting because last months speaker, Even weather prediction tools and aurora software and apps. Paul Money had to go first. However, as alert apps for your phone. Have fun play- Space Place : How normal 6 with last year the committee has agreed to ing with these. is our solar system? the society paying for those nibbles in Software for imaging will come later. place of the summer trip and bbqs that Space News: 7-12 have fallen by the wayside due to lack of The outreach has been very busy this Webb Telescope progress support. This is not to suggest that they will month but mainly in the background from Philae finds organic mole- the other members point of view with cules on comet not be reinstated if we get above 40% of the membership turning up for the events. schools days in schools and two ‘guide’ Apollo 16 booster crash site groups, though one was very much pre found on Moon Meanwhile we did not have an after meet- brownies age. Star Clusters a new insite ing photoimaging session, though the ob- Planet Earth as a planet serving session at Lacock did go ahead in We also have requests to return to do Moon mysteries explained spite of poor weather up to 8pm. viewing sessions in Melksham and some Mystery Domes on Mars – interesting work/involvement at East conspiracy and UFOlogists Again a very low turn out, but we did man- Witchell in Swindon. age to view star birth nebula, star clusters Viewing log and images 13-16 and galaxies as well as the very bright Don’t forget our early evening after Christ- mas viewing session at Lacock. From What’s Up December 2015 17-18 moon. During an after viewing session discussion it became apparent that we 6pm on Tuesday December 29th. Constellation of the Month 19-20 could include some more about the soft- Orion ware available and we regularly use when Andy imaging so we can begin to put this into Space Station Timings 21 the newsletter as an introduction, and we IMAGES, VIEWING SES- 22 spin off the beginners sessions a new SIONS and OUTREACH Messier M35 and NGC2158. Two open clusters in Gemini, looking out to the next spiral arm of our Milky Way galaxy. M35 is a comparative- ly young cluster, 150 million years old and lies around 2800 ly away, and has be- tween 400 and 500 members. The smaller denser looking ngc2158 is much further away 12630ly, and much much older 3.2Billion years. Imaged this Novem- ber from Chippenham. Nikon D810A, 30sec- onds, 640iso. Andy Burns Page 2 Volume21, Issue2 Wiltshire Society Page Membership Changes in fees to be discussed. Could be lowered! Wiltshire Astronomical Society Meeting nights £1.00 for members £3 for none members Web site: www.wasnet.org.uk Wiltshire AS Contacts Meetings 2015/2016Season. Andy Burns (Chairman, and Editor ) Tel: 01249 654541, NEW VENUE the Pavilion, Rusty Lane, Seend email: [email protected] Meet 7.30 for 8.00pm start Vice chair: Keith Bruton Bob Johnston (Treasurer) 2015 Philip Proven (Hall coordinator) Dec 1st Neptune - A Calculated Guess : Andrew Lound Peter Chappell (Speaker secretary) 2016 Nick Howes (Technical Guru) Jan 5th Rosetta - An Update : Dr Andrew Morse Feb 2nd 10 Years at the Helm of the European Space Observing Sessions coordinators: Jon Gale, Tony Vale Science: Professor David Southwood Contact via the web site details. This is to protect individuals Mar1st Life on Mars : Professor Mark Sims from unsolicited mailings. Apr 5th The Story of Star Names : Mark Hurn May 3rd Oddities of the Solar System : Bob Mizon June 7th The Current State of SETI : Martin Griffiths Rusty Lane, Pavilion Andrew Lound. has been Observing Sessions presenting public lectures and staging exhibitions for over 30 The Wiltshire Astronomical care shown we may get the years and has participated in Society’s observing sessions National Trust to do some- over 2,300 events. are open, and we welcome thing with them! He regularly tours the UK visitors from other societies with his Odyssey Class Dra- as well as members of the PLEASE see our proposed matic Lectures and is invited public to join us. changes to the observing back time and again due to We will help you set up sessions, contacting and popular demand. He has also equipment (as often as you other details. Back Page worked in USA and in 2005 need this help), and let you became the first western sci- test anything we have to help ence speaker to tour Libya you in your choice of future following the removal of sanc- astronomy purchases. tions. Please treat the lights and He can be heard regularly on BBC radio WM where he is return to full working order known as “The Urban Space man” or “WM’s Titanic Ex- before leaving. With enough pert...” His current projects include working with the Cali- fornia Institute of Technology JPL on promoting the Cassi- ni Mission to Saturn and The Antoniadi Project – a space- probe to the Hellas Region on Mars. He is also developing new computer techniques for use in public lectures. An- drew is a man of many interests who specializes in space science and astronomy from both a current and historical perspective. Another main area of interest for Andrew is the Titanic. After many years of dedicated research he is now recognized as one of the worlds leading authorities on the subject. Page 3 Swindon’s own astronomy group The club meets once a month at Liddington Hall, Church http://www.swindonstargazers.com/clubdiary/ Road, Liddington, Swindon, SN4 0HB at 7pm. See pro- directions01.ht gramme below. Friday 18 Dec 2015 Weather Forecasting For Astronomy Christmas Social. Our speaker for November was Trevor Pitt who gave a very interesting talk on weather forecasting in astronomy, the talk Meetings for 2016 included various ways of predicting the weather by reading the clouds etc. At Liddington Village Hall, Church Road, Liddington, SN4 0HB – 7pm onwards Our next meeting will be our Christmas meal at a local hos- telry canned The Village Inn at Liddington, we are, of course, Friday 15 Jan 2016 very much looking forward to this. Programme: Philip Perkins: Astrophotography Ad-hoc viewing sessions near Uffcott Friday 19 Feb 2016 Regular stargazing evenings are being organised near Swin- don. To join these events please visit our website for further Programme: Andy Burns: A presentation on John Herschel information. Friday 18 Mar 2016 We meet regularly at a lay-by just outside the village of Uff- Programme: AGM plus a presentation cott, near Wroughton. Directions are also shown on the website link below. Friday 15 Apr 2016 When we use East Kennett, we meet at the public car park Programme: Mark Radice: Observing the Moon just below The Red Lion pub at Avebury; we usually hang on for 10 minutes and then move on to our viewing spot at East Friday 20 May 2016 Kennett. Information about our evenings and viewing spots can be found here: Programme: Owen Brazell: Shrouds of Night - Observing Dark Nebulae http://www.swindonstargazers.com/noticeboard/ noticeboard06.ht Friday 17 Jun 2016 If you think you might be interested email the organiser Rob- Programme: James Fradgely: How (on Earth) Did Life Start in Wilkey (see website). With this you will then be emailed regarding the event, whether it is going ahead or whether it will be cancelled because of cloud etc. Website: We are a small keen group and I would ask you to note that http://www.swindonstargazers.co you DO NOT have to own a telescope to take part, just turn Chairman: Peter Struve up and have a great evening looking through other people's scopes. We are out there to share an interest and the hobby. Tel No: 01793 481547 There's nothing better than practical astronomy in the great Email: [email protected] cold British winter! And hot drinks are often available, you Address: 3 Monkton Close, Park South, Swindon, SN3 2EU can also bring your own. Secretary: Dr Bob Gatten (PhD) Enjoy astronomy at it's best! Tel Number: 07913 335475 Members of the Wiltshire Astronomical Society always wel- Email: [email protected] come! Address: 17, Euclid Street, Swindon, SN1 2JW Meetings for 2015 At Liddington Village Hall, Church Road, Liddington, SN4 0HB – 7pm onwards The hall has easy access from Junction 15 of the M4, a map and directions can be found on our website at: Page 4 BECKINGTON ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY SPOG OBSERVING SITES We also have a new website www.beckingtonas.org where Any ground rules for a session? details of our programme and other useful information can be Common sense applies in the group; red light is essential to found. General enquiries about the society can be emailed to preserve night vision; we park cars so you can leave when you [email protected] wish and not disturb others with your headlights.