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CAMBRIDGE ASTRONOMICAL ASSOCIATION

Newsletter 197. Mar/Apr 2019Registered Charity No. 800782

Cover Jupiter captured in 1979 see page 4 for the story…. 1Chairman’s comments .….……….………….………….…. 2Norfolk Broards Stargazing at Creake Abbey …...…..…... 215th Mar 2019 Prof Wynn Evans The Restless Galaxy …….. 312th Apr Prof Brad Gibson Are we alone in the Universe … 3Editors article re Paul Money’s Pt 2 Voyager lecture ….… 4Members article The Universe in 100 words Chris Austin…. 5Capturing NGC 6981 Picture and story David Davies ……. 5Stargazing on Jesus Green story by the Editor .………….. 6

CAPELLACAPELLA

CAA & CYA Who’s who contact info. P8

This Issue’s Contents

Photo credit NASA

Paul Money’s second lecture about the success of the Voyagermissions in February showed this extraordinary image ofJupiter’s Red Spot (Solaris), with Europa bottom left and theshadow of Io above taken by Voyager 1’s flyby in 1979.

Lunar Eclipse by Mark Russell Jan 21st 2019 …….…...…. 6Winter morning dance of 4 solar bodies by Jerry Hall …… 7New feature CAA/CYA Diary events What’s coming up ….. 8Display Table, Editors notes & Loan Telescopes …..…….… 830th March Trip to IMAX to see Hubble film in 3D …..… 9CYA 7 - 11yr old Meetings 27th Apr 2019 Space telescopes 1011+ year olds Parents welcomeMonday 4th March 2019 Female Astronomers …………… 10Monday 1st April 25 years of the CYA Group ..…………. 10

Jupiter’s Great Red Spot -- a huge storm system that has been raging possiblysince Giovanni Cassini's likely notation of it 352 years ago. Io was found byVoyager 1 in 1979 to have been so volcanic that no impact craters could befound. This discovery bolsters the modern hypothesis that Europa has anunderground ocean and is therefore a good place to look for extraterrestrial life.

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Chairman’s Comments

In this edition of our newsletter you will see mention of the recent "City Stargazing on the 22nd February starting at5:30pm". It was an very well attended event which we put together along with the Cambridge City Council. We wereof course extraordinarily lucky with the weather giving us clear skies and dry grass to set up on at the location on JesusGreen - and around 200 people including many children turned up. It was noticeable that many of them had never heardabout the CAA or the CYA, nor knew about the public open evenings at the Institute of Astronomy. While this eventhelped publicise that, and indeed resulted in some new members, especially to the CYA 7-11 group that was the nextmorning, it does show that we might think about doing a bit more to spread the word.

The website is now showing that apart from July, we have the rest of the year's speaker meetings all lined up now, andhow time flies, we are looking at 2020 already. We took a decision to alter the format of the CYA-11+ group and openit up to adults as well, and that was announced by Brian at our recent speaker meeting. I'll feed back later on how thishas gone and if we plan to continue with it, or make other changes. So if you have any comments, I'd like to hear them.

Finally, just a word about our AGM - Due to the fact that I am going to be away in April, I've moved the AGM to ourMay meeting, and again, if there are items for that agenda do let me know.

Paul Fellows

Cambridge Astronomical Association& Cambridge Young Astronomers

Creake Abbey 12th Feb 2019Stargazing event on the Norfolk Broards

Creake Abbey in North Norfolk was the host to a stargazing event which Paul put on recently taking advantage of theexcellent dark-sky location. Far away from any light pollution it is a lovely location to visit if you are ever up thatway, with rows of artisan shops. From a stargazing point of view, in addition to the lack of light pollution, somelovely open horizons give views even of very low placed objects.As it was on this occasion the weather was somewhat uncooperative and so the carefully planned timetable for theevening had to be adjusted. We began with observing the Moon while the sky was still not properly dark and everyonegot a good view through two different 8-inch telescopes that I had set up, with different magnifications deployed ineach. Then the cloud rolled over so everyone, about 50 guests and the crew, adjourned inside for drinks and a talkabout exo-planet discovery.A brief gap in the cloud allowed a few people to glimpse Mars and Uranus – visible in the same field of view as theywere so close together on that night – and with the second telescope, a quick look at the Orion nebula.The clouds rolled in again, and we were then treated to a warming bowl of chilli and a dessert indoors, while I put ona “planetarium” show of the sky as it would have been that night.Everyone went home happy, and wanting to come back another time, so we will be doing it again on 8th October.

These speaker meetings will be in the Hoyle building of the Institute of Astronomy, Madingley Road,Cambridge. Doors will open at 7.30 pm. and the talks will begin at 8:00 p.m. For security reasons, entry will notbe possible after 8:10 pm. As usual, the library will be open before and after the lecture and refreshments will beavailable after the lecture. These meeting are free to members. Non-members are charged £1

Speaker Meetings“The Restless Galaxy”Friday 15th March 2019

Start time : 20:00Speaker : Prof.Wynn Evans

“Are We Alone in the Universe”Friday 12th April 2019

Start time : 20:00Speaker : Prof. Brad Gibson

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In this talk Prof. Gibson will look at the evidence and science of the possibilitiesfor life beyond the Earth - what we know, and what we can expect.

Professor Gibson joined the University of Hull in 2015 and established the E.AMilne Centre for Astrophysics. One of the country's most influential scientists, his300 publications have amassed 20,000 citations from his peers. His research wasnamed a Top 10 News Story of the year by National Geographic; with the HubbleSpace Telescope, he determined the expansion rate of the Universe, for which histeam was awarded the Gruber Prize in Cosmology. Brad discovered that our MilkyWay is cannibalising its neighbours, the Magellanic Clouds. A world-renownedexpert in using supercomputers to model the distribution of chemical elementsthroughout the Universe, Gibson's team are Hull's research stars.

This lecture is the annual Michael Penston Lecture : Michael was based here at theInstitute of Astronomy.

In 1990 he was due to give a talk to the CAA, but had to cancel because of illness. Sadly,Michael died soon afterwards. In March 1991 the CAA held a lecture in memory ofMichael, and a collection was made for Cancer Research. By the following year a fundhad been set up in his name, administered by the Royal Astronomical Society, to helpup-and-coming astronomers establish themselves in their chosen profession. Each year, atthe end of the lecture we have asked CAA members to make a donation to this fund.

Tonight we are very pleased to welcome Professor Wyn Evans to give us an update on theprogress in analysing the enourmous amounts of new data being gathered by the Gaiasatellite.

Gaia is a scanning satellite launched by the European Space Agency in December 2016. It is measuring the positions,distances and motions of stars in our Milky Way Galaxy with unprecedented precision. It has revealed an unruly pictureof a beaten-up Galaxy, never at rest. Gaia has uncovered evidence of the most recent major merger of the Milky Waywith a dwarf galaxy (the Sausage galaxy) about 8 to 10 billion years ago. This huge smash-up helped create the MilkyWay's central bulge, disk and outer halo of stars. The debris of this head-on crash is all around us.

Gaia has shown us many other star streams from smaller mergers that criss-cross the Galaxy, stellar wreckage still intactafter billions of years. It has shown us that another intruder -- the nearby southern irregular galaxy, the Large MagellanicCloud -- is readying to knock our Galaxy around. Though this encounter is still 2 billion years in the future, the LargeMagellanic Cloud is already twisting the outer parts of the Milky Way, softening us up before the Great Cataclysm.

Wyn Evans is Professor of Astrophysics at the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge University, having been a ResearchFellow of King's College Cambridge.

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The Universe and Everything in 100 words.

Written by Chris Austin

Member’s Contributions

Three astronomical facts:

· the Universe is 13.8 billion years old:

· light from most distant object left when the Universe was only 0.8 billion years old and still expandingrapidly post Big Bang:

· this is the fastest object we've observed.

Inference: the furthest away objects are older and move away faster than nearer objects.

The Generally Accepted Conclusion? The Universe is expanding ever faster. WRONG!

The-Chris-Austin-Armchair-Astronomer-And-Philosopher Conclusion? We are seeing the Universe the way it was,not as it is, and, in our ignorance, we could be completely unaware that it is collapsing on us at the speed of light.

Please debate.

Paul Money’s lecture

“The Triumphs of Voyager pt2”

February 16th 2019

Short review written by Richard White

Member’s Contribution

Paul gave his excellent comprehensive second Voyager lecture in his trademark inimitable and very amusing style in ourFebruary slot. As before this lecture was definitely not to be missed, which accounted for the full house.

He showed us the latest progress of Voyager 2 starting with the space flight comparisons between Voyager 1 that entered theheliosheath in Dec 2004 and Voyager 2 in Aug 2007. He included many brilliant fly by close shots of Jupiter with its big redspot (see the cover picture) and then Saturn’s rings in a lot of detail. Then he explainedVoyager 2 passing Uranus with its twenty seven moons discovered between 1787 - 1986.He showed the new moons discovered in 1986 Cordelia, 42km, Ophelia 46km, Cressida82km, Rosalind 72km, Potia 140km and Bianca 54km, Desdemona 68km, Puck 162kmand Uranus’s newly discovered 7 rings. on its way to Neptune’s stormy spot and it’s 14moons. Further out moons are called Proteus 420km and Triton at 2705km and the discoveryof the 47o tilt from Magnetic axis to Rotation angle point. In 1989 Voyager 2 discovered

seven new rings on Neptune now named Galle,LeVerrier, Lassell Arago and Adams. and onwards.Voyager 1 will take 30,000 years to cross the OrtCloud. Voyager 2 the same but it will pass just 1.7lyfrom Ross 248. It will if it is still functioning, passSirius at 4.3ly in 296,000 years. This project shows how we will see way beyond our ownSolar System. An extraordinary achievement for mankind conceived in the early 1970’s.

Some of the moons of Uranus

Jupiter, with Europa above the RedSpot and Io to the right taken by

Voyager 1. In 1979

Saturn by Voyager 2

Neptune’s rotational angle

Voyager 2The Voyager 1 & 2 launches

Member’s Contributions5

Messier 72 (NGC 6981)

Story and Photo Image by David Davies

Messier 72 (NGC 6981) image by David Davies

This is one of several objects I observed during September and October last year, but I didn’t get around toprocessing the data until now.

Here is an image of M72 (NGC 6981), a very small, faint globular cluster in Aquarius captured on the eveningof 2nd September 2018.

Pierre Méchain discovered M72 on the evening of 29th – 30th August 1780 and reported it to Messier whoobserved in October that year declaring M72 to be a small faint nebula. Three years later William Herschellobserved M72 and discovered its true nature, a globular cluster, describing it as “a cluster of stars of roundfigure”.

M72 is 52,000 light-years away and is one of the most distant globular clusters in Messier’s list. It lies farbeyond the galactic centre and the cluster circles the galaxy in a retrograde orbit. It has been speculated,therefore, that M72 has been captured from a companion galaxy, after a close encounter. A good candidate forthe origin of M72 is the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy.

Individual stars of M72 are a maximum brightness of only 14.2; the 25 brightest stars have an average brightnessof 15.9. M72 is also small, estimated to have a total mass of just 200,000 suns. It provides for a small, faintchallenging object, at a magnitude of 9.2 and just 23° altitude, it lurks in the haze near the horizon.

This image was captured using an 8” Ritchey-Chretien telescope and QSI 583 camera. The image comprisesjust five subs of each RGB colour at five-minutes exposure each.

Members Contributions6

The CAA Stargazing event

Story by the editor

Pictures by John Whitehead and Jonathan CloughThe CAA in conjunction with Cambridge City Council and CAYPPS, the Children and Young People’sParticipation Servicer who set up tents and warm chocolate which was very needed much later on. The StarGazing event on Jesus Green was very well attended on Friday 22nd February.

Telescopes being operated by the CAA - Paul, with the Meade ETX125 maksutov - Dave Allen, with his 6” home made reflector -

Brian, with the 8” dobsonian reflector - Jonathan Clough also a Meade ETX105 maksutov - Brian Curry with a Meade ETX80 refractor

Paul well wrapped for the event, as itturned quite cold after sunset in the wind.

Brian with the 8” Dobsonian Reflector The popular CHYPPS Solar System Lecture

A very busy CHIPPS activity Marquee, at timescompletely full of very young interested

astronomers.

Paul setting up the Meade ETX 125

7 Members ContributionsLunar Eclipse on the 21st January 2019

Picture and article by Mark Russell

This photograph was taken at 06:01 on 31st Jan 2019 and shows (fromleft to right) Venus, the moon, Jupiter and Antares, all enjoying a merrylittle pre-dawn dance.  There is no post processing on it at all. Saturnwould have joined in another hour or so but the sunrise prevented hergetting her dancing shoes on.

Members ContributionsVenus, the Moon, Jupiter and Antares in an early winter morning dance,

Picture and article by Jerry Hall

It was taken from Milton nearCambridge and it had been was sucha clear night (the outside temperaturewas -7°C) that the planets were asbright as I have ever seen them.Jerry Hall

This is a sequence of photo's of the lunar eclipse in January this year taken from my back garden in Kennett. I was lucky withthe clouds - for most of the time anyway!

First image 03:26 UT and last 04:45 UT when the thick cloud rolled in again. Equipment used: Takahashi FC76DCU on avixen mount with a Fuji XT2 camera. Effective focal length with the camera crop factor taken into account was ~1425mm.

I've re-sampled it to 72 DPI for the screen but I've also got the full resolution to hand too.

CAA/CYA NewsDiary Dates See the CAA-CYA website for costs and more details.

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Sat 16th March Institute of Astronomy The IoA Moonwatch - Part of Cambridge University Science Festival

Sat 23rd March Institute of Astronomy IoA Open Day - Part of Cambridge University Science Festival

Sat 30th March CAA + CYA IMAX film “Hubble 3D” See CAA Website

At the Light Cinema, Cambridge Leisure Park, Clifton Road, Cambridge on Saturday 30th March 2019 at 9.45amAs part of the CAA 60th anniversary celebrations we are having a special showing of the film of Hubble in 3D. This meeting replacesthe CYA March meeting at the Institute of Astronomy. If you want to make more of a day out, the Cambridge Science Centreis less than 300 metres away.

Mon 6th May CYA 11+ Group When Astronomers Get It Wrong.

Wed 8th May - 3rd July Introduction to Astronomy Includes Digital Photography and Deep Sky Photography.

Fri 17th May Speaker Meeting Diamond Anniversay of the CAA Dr. Colin Crawford

Tues 11th June Steam Driving Day Bressingham Driving Experience

Fri 21st June Speaker Meeting Solar Eclipse Study Mariusz Krukar

Fri 19th July Speaker Meeting TBA

Fri 16th August Speaker Meeting Quasars Prof. Paul Hewitt

Fri 27th September Speaker Meeting Cold Dark Matter Dr. Julian Onions

Fri 18th October Speaker Meeting Hawking and the Edge of Physics Paul Fellows

Fri 15th November Speaker Meeting Tracing Black Holes with LOFAR Dr. Judith Croston

Fri 20th December Speaker Meeting The Star of Bethlehem Prof. David Hughes

Capella Editor’s notes.

A special thank you to all the new contributors for all theinteresting articles and pictures you sent for this edition.

But don’t stop there. Anything interesting Astronomy relatedcan be submitted as long as it is entirely your own work.

Please remember to credit the owner of any picture or articleif you have incorporated it into your story. It can even be aninteresting book or video that you want to recommend toothers or as I have done in this edition, a review of a lecture..

I would ask that any information you wish to include inCapella must be in a standard text or word formatdocument. Any embedded pictures you have used in yourstory should be also sent as separate JPG's. You can contactme by email on any content or publication issue atjazzyrjw@gmail.com or phone 07943 945222

Loan Telescopes.Our four existing loan telescopes are easy to use and easyto transport, and usually with no long waiting periods sowhy not give it a try.

We have new loan telescopes we have now added to theexisting loan stock. There will always be one that isavailable to try.Visit our website (www.caa-cya.org) and click to book anInstrument.Alternatively please ring Mickey Pallett on 01480 493045

Display table

At our speaker meetings we're putting out a table formembers to display their photographs, bring along laptopsto present their work or even show objects of interest.Please contact Paul or Brian to make sure it has not alreadybeen booked for the event or Speaker meeting.

9 Trip to the IMAX

“Hubble 3D”

Saturday 30th March 2019

Start time : 09:45Speaker : NASA

IMAX film "Hubble 3D" at the Light Cinema

LOCATIONThe Light Cinema,

Cambridge Leisure Park,Clifton Road,Cambridge

This meeting replaces the CYA March meeting at the Institute of Astronomy.

As part of the CAA 60th anniversary celebrations we are having a special showing of the film Hubble 3D.

The film follows the last servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope as the crew of the shuttle Atlantisundertake a number of space walks (EVAs) to repair and improve the HST and were accompanied by anIMAX camera. As you will see all does not go smoothly, and an act of vandalism is needed by astronautMichael Massimino to solve one problem. At the end of the 125th shuttle mission HST is left in the bestcondition it's ever been in, producing brilliant images of the Universe.

You will also fly deep into the Orion nebula where you see protoplanetary disks, as well as passing bygalaxies as you travel through the Hubble Deep Field, all in wonderful 3D.

Please book your tickets before the day. The cost. (which includes 3D glasses).

CYA members £7child non-members £9

CAA members £8adult non-members £10

If paying by cheque: Please make payable to the Cambridge Astronomical Association and send to BrianLister, 80 Ramsden Square, Cambridge, CB4 2BL

Want to pay electronically? Send the money direct to our account using your internet banking - click here fordetails, and then send an email to Brian stating the following,

Name and address and the number of members and non member tickets or guests required.

Amount transferred and name of your account.

This is so that we can work out why we got the money and who from!

CYA and the Cambridge Science Centre.

If you want to make more of a day out, the Cambridge Science Centre is less than 300 metres away. There arelots of hands-on activities and the present theme is Lifeworks. We tried, but were unable to get a groupdiscount (sorry!), so standard entry prices apply.

Any queries, please email Brian or phone him on 01223 420954.

And yes, you do get to keep the 3D glasses!

Meetings for the 11+ Group will be held in the Hoyle Building at the Institute of Astronomy, Madingley Road from7.15pm to 8.45pm. Free to CYA members; for non-members there is a £1.00 fee.

Female AstronomersMonday 4th MarchStart time : 19:15

11 + Group Meetings

Astronomy has been a mostly male dominated science. It was less than 200 years ago that womenstarted to work at observatories, not as observers, but as computers working on the observations oftheir male counterparts. Things have changed slowly, in the UK. Only 16% of astronomers are female(although in Argentina it is 40%!) although the percentage gets bigger each year.

We will be looking at some of the successful women in astronomy.

25 years of the CYA 11 GroupMonday 1st AprilStart time : 19:15

This month we will be talking about Tidal Effects, but perhaps more importantly "It's party time!"

There will be a birthday cake to eat at break time to celebrate 25 years of the older CYA group,which was formed 4 years after the younger CYA group had started in 1990.

The theme for the evening the gravitation effects of things by planets, stars, galaxies and black holes.

Although the effect of a black hole on a nearby object is pretty much the same as a CYA memberencountering a piece of birthday cake, it will come ever closer, be reduced to numerous fragments and

then disappear!

Website: www.caa-cya.org

Chairman : Paul FellowsVice Chairman : Brian ListerTreasurer & Membership Secretary : Mickey PallettSecretary : John HodsonEvents Secretary : Jonathan Clough

Capella Editor and DTP Setter : Richard White jazzyrjw@gmail.comMembers should send stories for inclusion where possible by email to Richard orsend them to Brian Lister Tel: 01223 420954 (evenings) or email btlister@btinternet.comPlease make sure that article text contributions are sent as standard Wordfiles and images as .jpg’s wherever possible.

President : Jim HysomVice President : Carolin CrawfordCommittee : Dave Allen, Kevin Black, Paul Drake, Barry Warman, RichardWhite, Brenda Field, Jonathan CloughCambridge Young Astronomers : (both groups): Brian Lister Tel: (evenings)01223 420954 or em ail btlister@btinternet.comTelescopes for hire to members : Mickey Pallett Tel: 01480 493045 or bookon line.Loan Telescope maintenance : Dave Allen, email day.vid@hotmail.co.ukLibrary : Kevin Black Tel: 01223 473121Webmaster : Paul Fellows: email paul.fellows@ntlworld.com

Continuing our theme of the space telescope from last month's IMAX film about theHubble Space Telescope, we will be looking a space telescopes. While most people canonly name one Hubble, there have been more the 75 telescopes launched into space.Admittedly, some were not very big, some did not work very well, some did not work atall! But there have been some spectacular successful space telescopes working in variousparts of the spectrum, some which we will be covering in this month's session.

7-11 Year GroupCYA Meeting

See Diary Page 8 for other interesting events

Space Telescopes

Saturday 27th April 2019

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