the cotswold astronomical societycotswoldas.org.uk/archive/2007-may.pdf · 2012. 9. 26. · the...

The Cotswold Astronomical SocietyThe Newsletter of

CAS

Volume 25 Issue 1 May 2007

Mercury, May 2007, Volume 25 Issue 1 Page 1

Don’t forget, this is our 25th Anniversary Year

TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE

This montage of the March 2007 total lunar eclipse was taken by John Fletcher at Sir Patrick Moore’sobservatory in Selsey using a Canon DSLR 300 camera with 50mm mirror lens at F8 on a stationary tripodand a maximum exposure time of 3.25 minutes

VISIT to the SOUTH AFRICAN ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORYat SUTHERLANDBy Peter Burgess

Foreword

The purpose of this short article is firstly to give Mercury readers an account of my visit to SAAO which I hopewill be of interest and secondly to give some information for potential visitors. South Africa is an attractivetourist destination in its own right and for those people with an interest in astronomy it is probably the nearest, hasthe easiest access and is the cheapest and most reliable location from which to view the southern skies.

First, a little bit of history:

In the late 1970's the fragmented astronomical research facilities in South Africa were combined under a neworganisation based at the old Royal Cape Observatory in Cape Town. The organisation is called the South AfricanAstronomical Observatory (SAAO)

As a consequence of the growing light pollution around the major South African cities where the major telescopeswere then located, it was decided they should all be moved to a new site close to Sutherland a small town in theKaroo. The Karoo is a dry semi desert area on a high plateau between the summer rainfall and winter rainfall areas.This situation results in cloudless skies for 80% of the year and virtually no rainfall. As a consequence of the lowrainfall the Karoo is sparsely populated which also means there is no light pollution.

Location

The actual site is on a hill above the general level of the Karoo at about 6000 feet (1830m) above sea level andabout 12 miles (19km) from Sutherland. Sutherland itself is 200 miles from Cape Town about 50 miles to the westof the main Johannesburg to Cape Town road (N1). The access roads are all very good with a tarmac surface all ofthe way. My journey took about 4 hrs from my base near Cape Town.

The site is also home to a number of robotic telescopes from other nations including the UK, Germany and Japan.

Actual Visit

My party consisted of 4 persons, but with myself being the only amateur astronomer. There are a number of smallaccommodation establishments in Sutherland and we stayed at the Kambrokind Guesthouse run by a veryenterprising man called Jurg and his wife Rehta. We had a very comfortable and very well appointed guest cottagearound the corner from the main buildings. (Approximately £18 per person per night). The reason for choosing theKambrokind was that apart from being recommend as one of the best places to stay, Jurg had an 11inch Celestrontelescope at a purpose built viewing area just out of town. He gives 2 hour tours of the night sky for about £3.50.On the first night after our arrival I had one session with intention of doing some photography with the scope. Unfortunately there was a very strong wind and in spite of the telescope being in the centre of circle of tall densehedges it was buffeted so badly that photography was impossible. Fortunately I was able to visually see most theobjects I had planned to photograph.

The following morning I went to the SAAO site to do a day tour of the site. They do 2 hour public tours most days for anominal £1.50. These are run from a purpose built visitor centre which houses a number of astronomical displays and asmall shop. Because of time constraints I was not able to see all of the displays but I was impressed and enlightened by

Page 2 Mercury, May 2007, Volume 25 Issue 1

the spectrum displays. There were a number of spectrometer calibration gas discharge tubes glowing, each filled witha different gas which were viewed through a diffraction grating and a magnifying glass. The different Fraunhoferlines produced by the gases were clearly visible.

¬1.9m RadcliffeTelescope

The tour consisted ofa comprehensivelook round the 1.9metre Radcliffetelescope and thenew SALT scopewhich is the newest large telescope scopeto be built anywherein world. It has thelargest mirror of anyinstrument in thesouthern hemisphereat 11 metres diameter.

SALT®

Whilst I was doing the SAAO tour the others were exploring Sutherland’s artefacts and remnants of the Boer War andalso its flora and fauna using a guide book prepared by Rehta for her guests.

At dusk we all went back to the visitor centre at SAAO. At this time there is a public “Night Tour“ when the public isshown the various sights of the Southern Hemisphere’s night sky through a 16 inch Meade and a 14inch Celestrontelescope. This takes about 2 hours and costs about £3. They will accommodate groups up to 20 people. The laypublic is not allowed up to the actual observatory level at night.

For my party, special arrangements had been made. We drove from the visitor centre which was located about 200feet below the main observatory area up to the 0ne Metre Telescope. As this was in the no lights zone we had to drivewith the light of our hazard lights only. Here we were met by a lady astronomer who was doing research onCataclysmic Variable Stars. She explained what she was doing and we stayed with her or about an hour whilst sheset things up and was with her whilst she did an observing run.

Basically she was plotting the light curve of a white dwarf and its accretion disc and that of the low mass normal starthat was rotating around the high mass white dwarf. The rotation period was in the order of a few tens of minutes.The various occultations and hot spots could be seen quite clearly on the resulting trace.

Mercury, May 2007, Volume 25 Issue Page 3

We then stumbled our way on foot across the Fynbos vegetation to the 1.9 metre Radcliffe Telescope. It was an extremelydark sky with no moon. It was possible to see Comet McNaught which was by now fading rapidly and the Large MagellanicCloud which stood out clearly as a large fuzzy patch several moon diameters across.

At the 1.9m scope, another lady astronomer was alsodoing research for a PhD on Cataclysmic Variable Stars.This time she was using the spectrograph to determinethe rotational velocity. With both sets of results the massof the stars can be determined. We spent some time withher whilst she completed her observing run and sheexplained the ins and outs of what she was doing andhow things worked.

After the visit to the Radcliffe Telescope we returned to the visitor centre. By this time the public night tour had justfinished. The other 3 members of my party had a private night tour using the 14inch Celestron and then returned toSutherland. I was left with the Meade to do what I wanted with it for the rest of the night.

I had a list of objects I that I had intended to attempt to photograph. Unfortunately for me it turned out that the Meade scope was faulty. By the time I had realised that it was the scope that was faulty and not me the operator, everybody had gone home. The Celestron had been shut down and I did not know how to start it up. The Meade, I discovered wouldn’t point to the same place twice; I think due to either a slipping RA drive or loose Optical Tube bolts. I struggled for some hours trying to find things before eventually giving up. However I did manage to find the

Orion nebula, 47 Tucanae and the Eta Carina nebula and took a couple of pictures of each but I could only manage very short exposures due to poor state of the RA drive.

Although I had privileged access through a personal contact I think it likely that similar access would be granted to members of a bone fide astronomical society, provided an official approach was made.

Finally

Websites with useful information: www.karoohoogland.co.za, www.saao.ac.za/~pah

Page 4 Mercury, May 2007, Volume 25 Issue 1


HOW I BECAME INVOLVED WITHTHE C.A.S.By John Fletcher

The first contact with the C.A.S. was a letter, dated1984 March 30th from Richard Warden, (See page 6). Iremember that first visit to my observatory which wasthe only one in Gloucestershire at the time. A Celestron8-inch was soon being set up in my lounge! I joined theC.A.S. within a month.

I hosted 18 meetings at MTO in my home and held withyour support the very first CAS star party as theGloucester Branch coordinator for the CAS. I took themiddle room out of my lounge to the front bedroom tohold more school lectures with slide presentations andalso up to 30 members of the CAS meetings. Doing thisgave me a 32 feet long lounge. Societies such as Bristoland Worcester regularly attended and supported us bothin Cheltenham and Gloucester.

Also events like when Richard Warden drove a largegroup of us all the way down to the RGO 160 miles eachway in a mini bus and we saw the automic clock and the36inch Yapp reflector and the large refractors, allworking then!

Following that visit to my observatory, then the third I hadbuilt. The present one being the forth one, an observatoryepidemic broke out in the CAS and no less than ninemembers had permanently mounted telescopes in all typesof observatory imaginable. See picture of founder memberAndy Packer’s splendid observatory housing his driven4.5inch reflector used for astrophotography. The fantasticdeep sky images he took were used on many displays thatthe society put up, including at places like the BAAWinchester Weekends at St Alfreds college in Winchesterthat the society regularly attended.

Andy went to St Andrews University in Scotland where hegained a 1st with honours in astro-physics and astronomy.

We all know what the views were of Mr John Fletchertowards computers at the time. Well here is a picture ofKen Sheldon of Worcester AS giving me the very firstlesson on an old BBC PC. The original “Sky” softwareshowed stars to 5th magnitude and would not run on an

old PC 286 machine with a maths co processor as it wastoo fast and the stars whizzed around as trails when youwanted to go from one to another. Then later John Rockcame along with one of the very first CCD cameras andproduced hundreds of pictures for the CAS displays inthose early days. Then there was Peter Cadogan who hadsampled Moon rock at University and analysed it. I couldgo on and on but it would require a book to do this.

All I can say is it is the members and the many excellentorganisers over the years that have made the CAS, in myopinion one of the best societies in the United Kingdom.Well done all of you.

Andy Packer’s obsevatory ‘The Goldings’

EDITOR’S CORNER

Firstly congratulations to Jack Newton on hiselection to become our Patron. Secondly, but no lessimportant welcome to Richard Warden as our newestHonourary Member in recognition of his efforts atthe beginning of the C.A.S.

It hardly seems a year since I took over Mercury fromPeter Cadogan, and you’ve had a year of my efforts.

This issue, as you may have seen, has more on thebeginnings of the C.A.S.. Many thanks to thecontributors of those articles.

Mercury, May 2007, Volume 25 Issue 1


DATES FOR YOUR DIARYBy Tony Ireland

We certainly were lucky weren’t we with the grazingoccultation of Saturn and the Lunar Eclipse back inMarch. As you will read in a minute or so there is anotherplanetary occultation to look forward to in May.

But before that, can I say how delighted I was with theapproval of the appointment of a Patron for our Societyto celebrate our 25th anniversary and to the subsequentappointment of Jack Newton as our first Patron. Mark’smagic showed those members present at the AGM aglimpse of the great man in his observatory and hispromise to take us under his wing in the months andyears to come. If you want to contact Jack then an eMail to [email protected] will do the trick. He andhis wife Alice will be back in Osyoos Canada by the timeyou read this, running their famous astro B&B. They arealready fully booked for the coming summer!!

Back home yours truly has at last got his astro shed up, ifnot, as yet, running at the time of penning these fewlines. But, hopefully, by the time of the next edition ofMERCURY all will be in place for an opening ceremonyby Mr.John Fletcher at a date to be fixed. My two exTaxes pals who have adapted an ordinary (cheap !)garden shed have done a great job. Photos in the nextedition, but if anyone else wants to employ them thenplease give me a ring on 235505 and I shall be glad to putyou in touch. Dave lives near Pershore and Bob inGloucester. My astro shed is their first effort but I havewarned them that it wont be the last! ASTRO SHEDSINTERNATIONAL are up and running!!

OK, now to higher matters….

13th MAY to 14th JULY

During this period we do have an unusual event.Back in March we hopefully observed a very veryclose approach of the Moon to Saturn. On May 22nd theMoon will occult Saturn in the evening at a time to suiteveryone. So we must hope for a clear sky that night.

Venus remains in the Western sky but you will be surprisedat how quickly it ‘sinks’ into the Western horizon. But it getsbrighter and brighter as it does so reaching –4.5. Jupiterreaches opposition on June 5th shining at Mag –2.6 with adiameter of 46” – polish that ‘scope’ !

Meanwhile the Moon will perform a fine pass near Venus,Saturn and Regulus between June 17th and June 20th.

MAY

Sunday 20th TThe Moon occults star ZC 1170 Mag 3.7 at 22.06 BST atPA 97°

Tuesday 22nd MAY B T PPray for decent clear skies this evening.

The Moon occults Saturn at PA 143 at 20.10 BST and re-emerges at PA 282 at 21.14 BST. The disappearance willbe in a light sky, the Sun will still be above the horizon,whilst the re-emergence will occur minutes after sunset.You might be lucky to see four Moons around Saturnwhen it emerges, but only in a telescope.

The only other event of note is the fact that we have twoFull Moons this month, on the 2nd May and late on May30th, so the second Full Moon can be described as BlueMoon.

JUNE

Venus is still King of the evening sky drawing closer toSaturn and providing some interesting conjunctions withthe Moon and some bright stars.

Jupiter reaches opposition on June 5th. Now higherin the sky than for some time it will definitely beworth observing.

Saturn, getting slowly less bright, will come nearer andnearer to Venus. See the entry for June 30/July 1st.

Tuesday 5th B T Jupiter is at opposition tonight at 24.00 BST. 403.2million miles, 648.9 million kilometres away. It now hasat least 62 known Moons! The disc is 45.7” across at Mag–2.6. All four of the Galilean Moons are to the West ofJupiter. Europa and Ganymede will be very closetogether.

Saturday 9th Venus is at its greatest elongation East 45.4 degreesfrom the Sun.

Wednesday 13th B T PThis evening Venus is just a degree NNE of the centre ofthe Beehive or Præsape cluster.

Monday 18th Only those of you with a really big telescope are goingto have a go at this event. Just after 16.00 BST at PA138 the Moon occults VENUS which re-emerges fromthe bright side of the Moon at PA 278 at 17.22 BST.Yes, in daylight!!

Saturday 30th B PThis evening Venus will be very close to Saturn thisevening and also tomorrow. It will be interesting toobserve how these planets relate to each other in thecoming weeks.

Nothing of note for the first two weeks in July, unlesssomething unexpected appears.


C.A.S. ANNUAL DINNER

The Annual Dinner which this year took place at theCharlton Kings Hotel


Tony Ireland with his two ex taxes pals Dave (on theright) and Bob who completed his astro-shed today 16th

April, - though it still needs some electrical work and tobe painted. But they have done a great job. More photoswill follow in due course..

Vaughan Willoughby with his gift of appreciationfrom the grateful members for supplying refreshmentsand his valuable aid at meetings and other eventsheld by the C.A.S.

John Fletcher at his Mount Tuffley Observatory with some of the children from the Harewood Junior School inTuffley. He had ninety school children in three sessions. 12th and 13th March 2007.

John said of the visit:Learning about the stars and planets. Shown in detail the observatory and tour of the telescopes.Oh! How they enjoyed handling a real iron-nickel meteorite from outer space. They were so interested.

I think following my advice many of the children will be asking for binoculars for their birthdays so that they canview the Moon in finer detail and see many hundreds more stars than can be seen simply using one’s eyes.


THE NIGHT SKY FROM TUFFLEY,MAY 2007By John Fletcher F.R.A.S.

Many people have wondered and asked “How do Ifind things around the sky at night?One of the easiest ways to explain this is to use the wellknow constellations such as The Plough, or The BigBear, or The Saucepan as some call it in theconstellation of Ursa Major. At the opposite side ofPolaris the ‘pole star’ is the easily spotted “W” shapedstar constellation called Cassiopeia named after thelegendary queen of Ethiopia. These star constellationsnever ever set below the horizon from our latitudes.See star chart. Another great marker in springtime isthe constellation of Orion, the Mighty Hunter with its

super-giant red star in the upper left shoulder calledBetelgeuse, and its great nebulae called M42 that can beseen with binoculars. Finally is our satellite the Moon,and our star the Sun.

Now we do need a star atlas that shows the North SouthEast and Western sky views and also the overhead viewaround the point we call the Zenith for each month of theyear. There are many of these guides and charts that canbe purchased from any good bookshop. I will not talk ofthese now but you may contact me if you wish at myMount Tuffley Observatory via the email address below.

Known as ‘The Wandering Stars’ in ancient times theplanets are in a different part of the sky each year asthey orbit our star the Sun.


Many of you have observed a very bright star in thewestern sky after sunset. This is the second planet fromthe Sun called Venus by the Romans or Aphrodite by theGreeks, the goddess of love. Venus can be seen in thewestern sky throughout the month of May.

Look for the 3.4-day-old waxing crescent Moon close tothis bright planet on the evening after sunset on the nightof the 19th of May.

On the 20th of May the Moon has moved to the left intothe constellation of Gemini and it is a 4.5-day waxingcrescent. It is close to the two bright stars of Gemini thetwins that sit side by side in the sky. The left one is calledPollux and the right one is called Castor. The moon takesaround 28 days to show all its phases as it moves aroundthe sky. A 7-day old moon shows a half phase in theevening western skies. 14-day is the full moon. 21-days isa half phase in the morning eastern skies.

Well what about the new moon everyone speaks of?

On the 28th day or zero phases it cannot be seen exceptwhen it eclipses the Sun.

Highlight.On the 22nd of May find the almost half phase firstquarter moon and it will be around 28-degrees altitudeabove the western horizon. Close to the right of it is astar, which is actually the Lord of the rings. Namely, theplanet Saturn. To the left a little more distant is the alphastar called “Regulus” in the constellation of Leo the lion.By the 23rd of May a day later, the then slightly largerthan half phase moon is to the left of Regulus in Leo.

So, starting with the Moon move to the right about3-degrees or 6 full moon diameters and the first star isRegulus. Carry on much further and the secondbright star you come to is the planet Saturn and waydown much further to the right and only 14-degreesaltitude above the West North West horizon is thebrilliant Venus.

It is amazing to view Saturn through even the smallest oftelescope as the rings can be seen well if the magnificationis times 20 or greater.

By mid month at midnight the three bright stars thatform what is known as thesummer triangle are well placed in the Eastern sky. Thehighest shining brilliant white at 57-degrees altitude.Above the horizon is the bright alpha star named Vegain the constellation of Lyra. Below Vega and at analtitude of about 24-degrees is Altair in Aquila the Eagle.To their left moving around the sky you will come to thenext bright naked eye alpha star called Deneb in theconstellation of Cygnus the Swan.

On a clear moonless night the main plain of our MilkyWay galaxy can be seen to pass through these areas andon downwards later in the Summer to the richSagittarius regions. Here you are looking towards themost densely populated star regions at the heart of ourMilky Way galaxy. This is the misty grey band of lightwe often see in the summer months.

Above the Northern horizon, and low down if viewedaway from the direct glare of city lights one will be ableto find the constellation of Cassiopeia that looks like a“W” at an altitude of about 22-degrees.

High up and above throughout May easily seen are theseven main stars of The Plough in the constellation of

Ursa Major. Between The Plough and Cassiopeia atan altitude at just less than 52 degrees is the pole starPolaris. Over a 6-hour period throughout the night theEarth has turned a quarter of its day and the twoconstellations of Ursa Major and Cassiopeia will havemoved around the relatively stationary Polaris in an anticlockwise direction one quarter of a circle. This is aneffect that we see by day as our Sun moves around the Sky.

Mount Tuffley Observatory.Observatory code J93.Tuffley. UK.Email: [email protected]

2 Images of Comet Swan taken by John Fletcherin November 2006


THOSE WERE THE DAYS, PART TWOTony Ireland interviews Tony IrelandThe Story Continues

TONY

We covered quite a lot in our first interview Tony butare there any other events during the Eighties thatyou think are worth remembering ?

T ICertainly. I bet no other Society has had a youngermember than one Adam Warden, who became Member15A on 26 January 1983 – the day he was born!! He stillowes me his subs for the past 23 years though !

TONYWhat other ‘firsts’ can you recall ?

T IPlenty! Our first Fireball! Peter Cadogan and I spotted itover the Severn Estuary from Nick Lawson’s front gardenat Deerhurst overlooking the Severn Estuary, against thebackground of a glorious sunset with Venus, Mercuryand the Moon close by. We thought at first it was a jettrail but it moved too fast for that.

Our first meeting with the Gloucestershire Echo at Dick Warden’shouse on 15th August 1983. Rookie reporter Ros Clarke tried herbest to understand the mysteries of astronomy, but went awaybaffled. They did, however, publish a photo of us all, whichappeared in the last MERCURY.

We also initiated the first quizzes that summer betweenThe Hardbacks and The Sofa Loafers. Now they werereally contentious affairs !

Our first effort at spreading astronomy to the masses tookplace in October 1984 when JF and I ventured to thedecaying ruins of Cowley Manor to give a talk to someearnest looking Girl Guides. I don’t know who was themore nervous - John or the Guides, but we survived, andsince then John has spoken to literally thousands ofschool children at Mount Tuffley. (See later entry forAugust 1989)

We had our first ever Star Party at Mount Tuffley on 20thApril 1985. 30 people attended including some fromBristol A S. A very enjoyable time was had by all, thanksto John’s efforts. (See picture on page 14, William)

The first ‘official’ visit by a delegation of the CAS to anoverseas observatory took place that summer whenHilary and I were invited to tour the Naples Observatory,by a very pleasant astronomer who showed us a numberof scopes and alibrary where documents written byGalileo were stored. We gave him copies of MERCURY.He insisted that we took a taxi back to the rail station‘because there are robbers about !’

1985 saw our first Christmas Dinner – after Christmas, atradition carried on to this day – at The Eventos Restaurantin Imperial Square (Now Pizza Express), where steakswere on offer for just £6.15 and most meals were below£4 – though, as someone remarked , when it came to themeat dishes they all seemed the same no matter whatyou ordered!!

Our first change of Co-ordinator occurred in 1987 whenDick stepped down after five years for Bernard Abramsto take over. Dick continued to edit MERCURY. (Thefirst edition of ASTRONOMY NOW arrived that month).Membership reached 40.

We took our first steps as a Society nationally when weentered the ASTRONOMY NOW Quiz. We were drawnagainst Reading AS away. Despite a gallant effort wewere beaten 41 – 36.5. I recall that we were royallyentertained by Reading AS and had a great evening.

Far away in Hawaii our Patron to be, Jack Newton sentus a report on his efforts to try out the new Konica 3200ASA film on one of their biggest telescopes – but spenthis allocated two nights looking at a snow storm!!

TONYWith 40 members it must have been difficult to find ahouse to accommodate everyone ?

T IHow true ! Matters came to a head when one meeting atmy house attracted so many people we had to take thedoors of the lounge off their hinges. And then stare inhorror as the speaker proceeded to demonstrate methodsof developing film using liquids over our unprotectednew carpet! Higher Authority put her foot down at that.

We subsequently also outgrew Peter Cadogan’s loft afterthat and decided to meet at Church House in GraftonRoad, which proved an ideal venue well into the late 90’s.

TONYI gather John Fletcher was becoming a media star in the80’s. Can you recall what that was all about ?

T IYes, our John was really putting the CAS on the map. Hehas a video of the BBC Breakfast Time Midlands TodayTV news and Central News items of Heather Couperand Nigel Henbest at the opening of Mount Tuffley.

Later in August 1989, John appeared on national TV inthe Channel 4 programme Equinox under the title‘EARTH CALLING BASINGSTOKE ‘ with several otherBritish amateurs. All our videos were going that night!!

As a result of his efforts John was awarded our firstHonorary Life Membership in 1990.


TONYAny other events which stick in your memory at that time?

T IWell on a more parochial level about 20 of us descendedon The History of Science Museum in Oxford for aprivate tour under the expert direction of the wonderfulAlan Chapman. A fascinating couple of hours marvellingat the instruments devised by our forefathers includingone of Herschel’s telescopes which had been discoveredin Liverpool being used as an umbrella stand! Mostamazing., however, were the gallons of tea drunk byAlan afterwards in his favourite Oxford watering hole!!

I also recall how we forestalled the SKY AT NIGHTmagazine – still then a dream in Patrick Moore’s eye - byholding a debate as to who was/is The World’s GreatestAstronomer. This created a great deal of heated debate.The result was as follows - and I have shown in bracketsthe result of the recent similar debate in the SKY ATNIGHT magazine !

C A S Sky at NightCopernicus 27 votes (2)Edwin Hubble 20 votes (4)James Bradley* 15 votesKepler 13 votes (8)Galileo 12 votes (1)Hawking 9 votesHerschel 8 votes (5) (William or John? William)Aristarchus 7 votesCaroloine Herschel 5 votesOtto Struve 3 votesFred Hoyle 3 votesTycho Brahe 2 votes

It is interesting to note that we didn’t rate Newton at all,nor Halley, whilst * James Bradley figured as he was aresident of Sherborne, the home of our quiet TV star EricDodson of Porridge fame.

So we come to the 1990’s with yours truly as Co-ordinator,and Peter Cadogan as Librarian, Treasurer andmembership Secretary.

And to show our keeness to be up there with the stars wepublished a form to apply to become the first Britishastronaut. Two CAS people applied but Helen Sharmangot the nod............

TONYI think that’s enough for now.. maybe you can recall theevents of the 1990’s in the next edition…

TONYI think that’s enough for now.. maybe you can recall theevents of the 1990’s in the next edition…

T IThere’s a lot going on in the Ireland household in the nexttwo months but we’ll see what we can do….

CO-ORDINATOR’S SPOTBy Callum Potter

The last few nights (April 18/19) have been some ofthe best observing conditions we have had for awhile. The view of the crescent Moon and Venus nearbyto the Pleiades and Taurus has been very nice – I havemanaged to get a couple of nice photos, and have sentone for inclusion in this edition of Mercury. Photo’s ofthis sort of event are not so hard to do, so its reallyworth having a go. For every ten photos you might take,one might be good. When you see pictures people havetaken you will only see the successful ones, not all thefailures, so don’t think that you can’t achieve greatresults - practice and persistence are the keys.

By the time you read this, we will probably havediscovered whether Comet Lovejoy has been a nicecomet or not. Only recently discovered by an Australianamateur doing wide-field views with a digital camera –he noticed a green patch, characteristic of a comet. Notthat he was searching for it – it was just another of thoseserendipitous discoveries that litter astronomy. With thesurvey telescopes sweeping up most discoveries, youmight think that amateur surveys were redundant, butnot so.

Accompanying this edition of Mercury you should finda couple of attachments. One is a booking form for our25th Anniversary Lunch at the Beckford Arms. Theother is the nomination form for our annual awards. Ifyou have not received either of these forms please let meknow, and I will send them through.

Clear, dark skies,

Callum

AUTUMN EQUINOX STAR CAMP

I am planning on attending the Autumn Equinox StarCamp again this year. It will run from Monday10 September 2007 until Thursday 20 September 2007with the main day being the 15th September at theKelling Heath campsite in Norfolk (near to Cromer). Iam thinking of staying from the Thursday to the Sunday(on the nights of 13th, 14th and 15th). If any CASmembers are interested in attending we could arrange tohave adjacent pitches. I would be happy to make thebookings, and the price is £10 per night per pitch. Fulldetails available at:

http://www.starparty.org.uk/

Let me know if you are interested ASAP.

Callum Potter.


ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGAPRIL 2007 By Rod Salisbury

The Society’s 25th AGM on 14th April was attended by22 members. All the current officers were re-electedto their posts and Duncan Willoughby was again co-opted to continue his role as Outreach Officer. Themeeting also voted to keep subscription rates at theircurrent level.

Three significant proposals were put to the meeting andall were carried overwhelmingly. Following the voteto amend the Society’s constitution to permit theappointment of patrons, Tony Ireland proposed theelection of Jack Newton as our first patron. He produceda surprise by playing a video in which Jack himselfaddressed the meeting and introduced himself to thosemembers who had not previously met him. The votewas unanimous and the Society now welcomes Jack asour patron. In the third vote, as part of our 25thanniversary celebrations Richard Warden, a foundermember of the Society and its first co-ordinator, waselected as our fourth Honorary Life Member in recognitionof his role in the formation of the Society and hiscontribution to the Society’s early years. Richard hasnot been a member for several years and we lookforward to welcoming him back.

Reports to the AGM

Membership Secretary’s reportBy Rod Salisbury

The years of regular increase in the number ofmembers are over and for the second successiveyear wesuffered a drop in membership. During the year we lost12 members through non-renewal and a further 3combined memberships converted to single membership.Against that, 7 new applicants joined us, 4 of themas combined memberships making the total number ofnew members 11 and giving a net loss of 4. At the endof the year we therefore had 64 memberships of which 13were combined, giving a total of 77 members.

Meeting attendances were also disappointingly downwith the average attendance falling from 36 last year tojust 31 this time. The best attended (41) was in January tohear Helen Walker on “The exploration of planets”.Surprisingly, last year’s AGM with 27 members presentdid not attract the lowest attendance. It was surpassedby the December meeting with 24, but the worstattendance of all was in May when just 21 attendedfor a members’ evening largely devoted to descriptionsof solar eclipse observations in March. Perhaps therewas a message there.

Only one member attended all 12 meetings, unless any of

the 6 who attended 11 failed to sign in on the 12thoccasion. On the other hand 9 attended none and Isuspect more the half of these will not renew alongwith several of the others who only came along once ortwice. Let’s hope that we can continue to attractnew members to replace them.

Treasurer’s reportBy Rod Salisbury

On the face of it, the accounts (shown on a separatesheet) show a very satisfactory position with asurplus on the year of £173 and a general fund standingat over £900. However a closer look tells a differentstory.

Our income has been inflated by three exceptionalfactors which greatly exceed our year’s profit.Firstly Callum and Duncan attended on our behalf anevent called “Starry Messenger” at Compton Verney.For this they received a fee of £200 which they havegenerously donated to the Society. Secondly, wereceived a Lottery grant of £750 towards the purchaseof our new projector and associated equipment. Ofthis, around £730 has so far been spent on the projector,leaving a temporary surplus of £20. Thirdly, we raisednearly £30 in donations from the sale of booksgenerously given to us by relatives of the late DanTurton, a former member. Without these three factorswe would have incurred a loss of around £75 – a verydifferent picture.

Additionally we have again benefited by a fee of £50from our observation evening at Slimbridge, somethingwhich may be repeated in future years but whichwe cannot depend upon. Furthermore, membershipsubscriptions fell by £115 – the first fall in the 7 yearsI’ve been in this role. This reflects the reduction in andchanging nature of our membership. Although we’velost only 4 members in all, we now have a higherproportion of couples who pay less than 2 individualmembers.

On the expenditure side we suffered several increases.Indeed costs under practically all our headings wereup, but to highlight some of them:

1. Hire charges for our meeting room were increased by5% from last April. 2. Speakers’ expenses (always impossible to forecastfrom year to year) were substantially higher thanlast year. 3. Mercury production costs were higher. 4. Postage costs doubled. This reflects a number ofmailings we carried out (for example themembers’survey) and the higher cost of postingMercury once the new postal charges were introducedlast August. 5. Web site fees almost doubled with the acquisition ofmore web space.


So with all these increases we must be very grateful forthe Compton Verney fee in particular for keeping ouraccounts in profit.

Looking ahead to the new year, we cannot expect anyimprovements on the expenditure side and we still haveto purchase the additional equipment to go with theprojector (estimated to be £100-£130). Against that, ouronly guaranteed sources of income are the subscriptionsand a small amount of bank interestAnything else –donations, visitor charges, fees for outside events forexample – must be considered a bonus.

On that basis, with no change to subscription rates wecould face a loss of around £400 next year which wouldreduce our general fund to about £500. This though ismore than adequate I believe for a working balance atthe start of the financial year, so I therefore recommendthat subscription rates remain unchanged for a furtheryear and we meet the anticipated loss from ouraccumulated funds. If however things turn out as I’mexpecting, an increase in subscriptions next April may beinevitable.

Subscriptions are due!

The Society’s new session, April 2007 – March 2008, isnow underway and it’s time once more to pay yourannual subscriptions. The rates, unchanged from lastyear, are shown below.

We would as usual be very grateful if members wouldpay promptly and in any case no later than the endof June. If your subscription is not paid by then we willassume that you will not be renewing yourmembership. The next edition of Mercury will thereforenot be sent to those who have not renewed.

Payment can be made at a Society meeting or sent tothe Treasurer at the address shown at the back ofMercury. Cheques should be made payable to CotswoldAstronomical Society.

The rates for 2007-08 are:Individual membership Standard level £20 Reduced level £10

Combined membershipStandard level £30

Reduced level £15If you are in doubt about which

membership level applies to you, pleasecontact the Treasurer.

This Image of asteroid 2007 EH,was taken by Alan Cahill as itflew past the Earth on the 10th ofMarch during the evening. It wasso close, that it caused a streak allthe way across the CCD image.At the time, it was just between120,000 and 150,000 miles fromthe Earth.

They asteroid is just 3 metresacross and its brightness was mag15.9

He used A Meade LX200 12”Classic telescope with a StarlightMX5 CCD camera. The imagewas a 1 minute exposure, taken at20:24:51 UT

Cirencester Library which from19th February to 3 March, hosteda C.A.S. Display


The Moon and Venus imaged by Callum Potter


Members of the C.A.S. have been invited by the Scarborough and Ryedale Astronomical Society to join them attheir Summer Star Festival in August. Details are shown below.If anyone is interested in attending please see Callum or Rod for a booking form.


MONTHLY MEETINGS AND OTHEREVENTS FROM MARCH’S MEETING.

12th May 2007Saturn, Lord of the RingsAndy Lound

9th June 2007Astro-Imaging from Mauna Kea, HawaiiNick Szymanek

30th June 2007C.A.S. 25th Anniversary LunchBeckford Inn, Beckford, GL20 2AN12 Noon for 12:30pm

14th July 2007Great ObservatoriesMatt Griffin

11th August 2007Members Night.The Antikythera MechanismMark Gibbons (Not yet confirmed)

17th to 20th August 2007Scarborough and Ryedale Summer Star Festival 2007For a booking form see Callum or Rod

8th September 2007X-Ray Emissions around the Solar System, includingSMART-1 D-CIXS results.Barry Kellett, D-CIXS Project Scientist at the SpaceScience & Technology Department, RuthertonAppleton Laboratory(Postponed from February 2007)

13th October 2007The Stuff of the Universe – Dark Matter and Dark EnergySomak RaychaudhuryWebsite: http://www.sr.bham.ac.uk/~somak/

Saturday 20th October 2007Slimbridge WWT Observing evening

10th November 2007Speaker and subject to be announced

8th December 2007Christmas Meeting

Directions to ShurdingtonMillennium Hall

From CheltenhamFollow the A46 towards Bath/Stroud whichpasses through Shurdington. In Shurdingtonturn right into Church Lane, then 2nd left intoBishops Road. Millennium Hall is immediatelyon the left.

From GloucesterFollow the A417 towards Cirencester. At theroundabout with the A46 turn left towardsCheltenham. This road goes throughShurdington. In Shurdington turn left intoChurch Lane, then 2nd left into Bishops Road.Millennium Hall is immediately on the left.

From CirencesterFollow the A417 towards Gloucester. At theroundabout with the A46 turn right towardsCheltenham, this goes through Shurdington. InShurdington turn left into Church Lane, then2nd left into Bishops Road. Millennium Hall is

immediately on the left


Society PatronJack NewtonEmail: [email protected]

Society OfficersCo-ordinatorCallum PotterThe CottageBredon’s HardwickeTEWKESBURYGlosGL20 7EETEL: 01684 773256 (Home)

01452 638831 (Work)Email: [email protected]

Treasurer and Membership SecretaryRod SalisburyGrove HouseThe GroveChrist Church RoadCHELTENHAMGlosGL50 2PNTel: 01242 516416Email: [email protected]

Events OrganisersMark & Denise Gibbons85 Windmill RoadMinchinhamptonSTROUDGlosGL6 9EDTel:01453 731108Mobile: 07866 907017Email: [email protected]

LibrarianPeter CadoganElville House126 The ParkCHELTENHAMGlosGL50 2RQTel: 01242 235471Email: [email protected]

Special Events OfficerDuncan Willoughby69 Wellsprings RoadLonglevensGLOUCESTERGL2 0NJTel: 01452 416405Email: [email protected]

Mercury EditorWilliam Jackson4 Bathurst RoadChestertonCIRENCESTERGlosGL7 1SATel: 01285 659837Email: [email protected] Or: [email protected]

Newsletter DistributorRosemary Salisbury(As Rod Salisbury, opposite)

The Cotswold Astronomical Societywas Established in 1982 and is a member ofThe Federation of Astronomical Societies

Web Sitehttp://www.cotswoldas.org.uk

[email protected]

Weather Checkhttp://www.weather.mtobsy.co.uk

You may choose to receive your Mercury inPDF form, this will help us to keep downcosts.

The next issue of Mercury will be July 2007. Ifpossible please ensure all materials forpublication reach me by the end of June.Thank you, William.

the cotswold astronomical societycotswoldas.org.uk/archive/2007-may.pdf · 2012. 9. 26. · the...

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