Volume 14 • Issue 6 June 2015 ISSN 1712-4425 peterboroughastronomy.com twitter.com/PtbAstronomical The Reflector Newsletter of the Peterborough Astronomical Association The “G” in GOES Is What Makes It Go ETHAN SEIGEL oing up into space is the best way to view the uni- verse, eliminating all the Gdistortionary effects of weather, clouds, temperature variations and the atmosphere’s airflow all in one swoop. It’s also the best way, so long as you’re up at high enough altitudes, to view an entire 50 percent of Earth all at once. And if you place your observatory at just the right location, you can observe the same hemisphere of Earth continuously, tracking the changes and behavior of our atmosphere for many years. The trick, believe it or not, was worked out by Kepler some 400 years ago! The same scientist who discovered that planets orbit the sun in ellipses also figured out the relationship between how distant an object needs to be from a much more massive one in order to have a certain orbital period. All you need to know is the period and dis- tance of one satellite for any given body, and you can figure out the Image credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, of the first image ever necessary distance to have any de- obtained from a GOES satellite. This image was taken from over 22,000 miles (35,000 sired period. Luckily for us, planet km) above the Earth’s surface on October 25, 1975. Earth has a natural satellite — the an orbital distance of 42,164 km same location on our world. Other Moon — and just from that infor- (26,199 miles) from Earth’s center, effects — like solar wind, radiation mation, we can figure out how or 35,786 km (22,236 miles) above pressure and the Moon—require distant an artificial satellite would mean sea level. onboard thrusters to maintain need to be to have an orbital period We call that orbit geosynchro- the satellite’s precisely desired that exactly matches the length of nous or geostationary, meaning position above any given point on a day and the rotational speed of that a satellite at that distance Earth’s surface. While geostation- Earth. For our world, that means always remains above the exact See “GOES” on page 16 2 • peterboroughastronomy.com President’s Message May Flowers and Good Weather stronomy on the Hill” was for the until September but this does not mean the most part another very successful end of activities for the paa. Our monthly event. We got some great press Sat- observing sessions will continue and in Aurday night with a silhouetted Phil appear- August we will be back “on the hill” for the ing in the Peterborough Examiner and eight Perseids meteor shower and back out to more photos on their website. There was Emily Park to dazzle the campers. Keep good viewing and an estimated 200+ people checking the website, e-mail reminders will arrived on the hill. Sunday was a bit of a be sent out as well. fizzle with a poor turnout but we did have Don’t forget the President’s Star-B-Q another great display by Dean Shewring and viewing on June 20th. Please reply to and a kids craft organized by Kristina, Rob the email that was sent out to allow suffi- and Adam Flindall. The Sun co-operated cient time for planning. We’ve had very few with a fair number of sunspots. responses so far however we do request a The paa was requested to set up tele- reply by June 13th. scopes in Isabel Morris Park Lakefield at I wish everyone a safe and fun filled sum- the Scout Ship. Cubs and leaders enjoyed mer with lots of clear skies. Keep observing some great viewing with the cubs getting and we’ll see you in September if not before. their Astronomy Badge. A write-up is in- Rodger Forsyth cluded in this issue. PAA President June is our last meeting before our sum- mer break. Meetings are discontinued Summer Send-off he month of June heralds Summer gives us the details of this interesting day of and the possibilities of wonderful celebration. stargazing. As we hope for clear So, away we go to a great summer. We Tskies and break from meetings we also take hope to see you at our next public event, the a hiatus from the club newsletter. Perseid Meteor Shower viewing on Armour So without further ado lets introduce Hill. this month’s reading. We have reports from Phillip Chee Rodger Forsyth about the Lakefield scouts Editor, The Reflector viewing session. Dean Shewring reports on the new club displays that graced the Astronomy on the Hill weekend. Rick Stankiewicz reports on the Hill weekend The Reflector itself. Dallas Kitchen sent in some photos of his visit to the National Air and Space The Reflector is a publication of the Peterborough Astronomi- Museum in Washington, D.C. He promised cal Association (P.A.A.) Founded in 1970, the P.A.A. is your local group for astronomy in Peterborough and the Kawarthas. us an article but I figure we’ll let it go this www.peterboroughastronomy.com • [email protected] time. John Crossen previews the viewing Phone: 705.292.0729 Club Mailing Address highlights for June and July. Rodger Forsyth, President And we would be amiss to not promote Peterborough Astronomical Association 536 Robinson Road RR #1 Asteroid Day on June 30. Rick Stankiewicz Peterborough, ON K9J 6X2 Vol 14 • Issue no. 6 • June 2015 • 3 The Reflector PAA Assists Lakefield Cubs RODGER FORSYTH he peterborough Astronomi- cal Association(paa) was asked to set up telescopes at the Scout Ship in TLakefield’s Isabel Morris Park to provide a learning opportunity for cubs to help with their Astronomy Badge. Boyd Wood, Paul Ward, Sean Dunne and I took up the chal- lenge. I addressed the group before the viewing got underway. One item discussed was the Dawn Mission and mission cards were handed out. The group also received paa brochures and business cards. Group photos by Rodger Forsyth As the evening progressed things got Photo by Sean Dunne even better. Jupiter was only 6° directly As things got underway the excitement above the Moon. The Cubs and leaders started. We had three telescopes set up and enjoyed the cloud bands and the four Jovian all were “on the Moon” at the beginning. moons. Venus was available for viewing as The wow factor was rampant, the group well, then later in the evening Saturn made went from one scope to another. its appearance and the wow factor went up Most started with Sean, moved on to another notch. Boyd then to me. This was a very successful outing and I received the following email from the leader that asked for our help. “Thank you again for assisting us on Saturday...a good night and now have 5 happy Cubs who completed their astron- omy badge. If you send me a photo and some information I will hopefully be able to get it in the Herald. Carol” Paul arrived a bit later and set up with binoculars and a tripod. 4 • peterboroughastronomy.com The PAA on Display Photo by Dean Shewring DEAN SHEWRING ave you ever wondered where Material is often drawn from the library and how we get our displays and to exhibit for use to make up display boards what use we put them? for use in the Fine portable at the Peterbor- HDuring the past several years, the paa ough Museum for Astronomy on the Hill on has taken part in putting together a one- the Sunday. In the immediate past, we have week exhibit to place in the large wall lobby put together displays for special screenings display case at the Peterborough Public and guest lectures at Trent University and Library. About three months in advance, for other events. We also have an ongoing members are requested to provide materials campaign to combat light pollution, for on a theme approved by the executive. The which we have two display boards currently display is generally designed by myself, with in stock. We’ve also added a couple of out- input from other executive members. Then door signs to notify the public of our activi- several of us go down on the designated ties. All of this has added to our flexibility to day and time (Monday, just after 12 noon) promote the paa. to install the exhibit. Though only in place Our stocks of displays had become for a week, that’s generally enough time to depleted due to too many of the current attract much interest by the hundreds of display boards having “one-off” subject mat- people who pass through the library each ter, such the “Year of the Comet” or “Year of day. This exhibit has been timed to run one Astronomy”, lacking current relevance. So, or two weeks prior to our Astronomy on the four new display boards were created from Hill in May, and is used to help publicize the material used in “Our Changing Solar this event. continued on next page When it Comes to Moons, Jupiter Outshines Them All Vol 14 • Issue no. 6 • June 2015 • 5 The Reflector continued from previous page System” library exhibit. Additionally, Rick celebrating solar system missions to the Sun, Venus, Mars, a comet, Saturn and Stankiewicz provided his new philatelic dis- Titan. play on the Hubble Telescope to augment • The Hubble Space Telescope 1990-2015 our Astronomy on the Hill exhibition.