Mississauga Centre RASC

93rd Meeting

                                                            Members’ Night       

                                                   

 

Day:                Friday October 26, 2007

 

Chair                 Bob Anderson 

 

Speakers:            Bob Anderson,  Roy Swanson, Ray Khan

                            Jim Jackson, Randy Attwood, E. Brettingham

                            David St. Louis,  Keith Jarvie

                          

 

Highlights

 

Bob Anderson showed images of Comet Holmes including a faint tail. The comet has recently erupted from a dim magnitude 17 to 3.  The last previous eruption was in 1892.  

The 50th anniversary of Sputnik was marked in the last week.  Sputnik circled Earth 1400 times and was followed by Sputnik 2 with a dog.

China launched its first lunar probe just weeks after Japan.

NASA’s Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes found 9 of the smallest faintest galaxies, 13 billion light years away.

Astronomers found a sun-like star HD 56948.

A magnetar has been found with 1 ½ solar masses, the size of Toronto and rotating at 1000 x per second.   This is a neutron star with a high magnetic pulse. 

Bob showed his images of the Horsehead Nebula, Double Cluster, Heart Cluster,  M42.

 

The Sky this and next Month

 

Roy Swanson spoke about the occultation of Regulus on November 3.  Daylight savings time ends on November 4.  Mercury is having a good morning apparition due to the angle of the ecliptic.  Mars stops and begins to retrograde.  On November 27, the Moon will be south of Mars. 

 

Meade mySky

 

Ray Khan spoke about Celestron’s Sky Scout last year.  Now Meade has introduced its mySKY.   Years ago the planisphere was used to show the sky but there was often confusion with the horizon.  In 1995, Mike Lemp, an engineer trying to point out the stars developed the Sky Scout technology with the Yamcon Company. He used the global Positioning System but the device was complicated.  The Celestron Sky Scout Database has stars, constellations, deep space objects. It can identify an object or direct the observer to an object. It is affected my metal and cannot be used easily as a GoTo telescope. The field of view is 3.6 degrees.

Now, Meade has the mySKY at a cost of $425 Can.  It has a large data base and longer battery life than the Sky Scout (6 hrs vs. 3 hrs).  mySKY can identify planets, stars, constellations rapidly, describe them and take the observer on a guided tour.  Available since September 2007, it can be connected to a Meade computerized scope.  Containing magnetic sensors, a GPS receiver and accelerometers, it traces constellations, has catalogs including ISS locations.  Ray compared the Sky Scout, to mySKY.  The former is ergonomic, has an easy to read data base but consumers batteries quickly and requires turning over to read. The latter is also easy to use, has an audio and colour image data base and instructional; video, intuitive controls, and is in the shape of a gun.

In conclusion the mySKY is a useful but somewhat expensive unit to learn about and get interested in the sky. 

 

 

Book reviews

 

Jim Jackson recommended two books. “The Haunted Observatory” by Richard Baum (author of “In Search of Planet Vulcan”) is a non-fiction book about historical subjects, observatories and astronomy such as early sightings of the rings of Uranus, the mountains of Venus and the city on the Moon.  “Observatory Mansions” by Edward Carey is a fiction taking place in a building which has an observatory on the roof. 

 

 

The DDO, Comet Holmes

 

Randy Attwood showed a TV clip on the 50th  anniversary of the David Dunlop Observatory in 1985.  The governors of the University of Toronto are to meet next week to decide the fate of the property.  The DDO opened in 1935 and at that time contained the world’s second largest telescope.  Randy described the telescope, instruments, spectrograph and the problem of light pollution. 

He also showed images of Comet Holmes which he took with a C11 telescope.

 

Lunar Eclipse August 28

 

E. Brettingham showed pictures of the lunar eclipse taken from the beaches area with a digital SLR and 300mm lens.

David St. Louis observed the eclipse with other members of the Mississauga Centre and showed his images.

 

Manitoulin Star Party, “Astromist” 

 

Keith Jarvie attended the Manitoulin Star Party in August. He described the venue, the Perseid meteors, and the Andromeda Galaxy as seen from there.

“Astromist” is a new PalmPilot and astronomy software which is comprehensive and can control a GoTo telescope.  He described objects such as M31,  NGC 224 as described in Astromist. 

 

 

Submitted by Chris Malicki, Secretary  Chris Malicki, Secretary                               back to Miss Centre. meeting reports page
Mississauga Centre RASC