Mississauga Astronomical Society

55th Meeting

Members’ Night

Day:                January 27, 2006

Chair:         Phil Mozel

Speakers:   Bob Anderson

Roy Swanson

John Marchese

Betty Robinson

Tom Olien

Colin Jackson

Jim Jackson

Phil Mozel

Terry Hardman

Overview of astro-image capture and processing

Bob Anderson an accomplished astro-imager described the techniques of advanced astrophotography to capture and process an image, specifically using the Crab Nebula as his target.  He uses “The Sky” software, locks the telescope onto the correct region and guides on the subject.  He then does 5 minute images and stacks and accumulates them using the program “Maxim”. He described the method and technical aspects of imaging.  He combines the Luminance and RBG images. The background is flattened to compensate for light pollution.  Images are imported into “Photoshop”, colour balance adjusted, and noise eliminated to produce a superb image of the Crab Nebula, M1.  

Miscellaneous

Roy Swanson, in follow up to the previous meeting about satellites, clarified that the GPS satellites are at an altitude of 1,000 miles and Iridium at 485. He also described the night sky as he observed it from Kenya. 

John Marchese, Chairman of the Light Pollution Committee, asked for a few volunteers for the committee to develop a strategy and plan to present to the General Meeting.

Betty Robinson announced that the MAS now has a newsletter produced by Kari Ross and herself.  It will be posted on the website.  She described the contents and asked for volunteers and contributions. 

Tom Olien has participated in a Messier marathon in Arizona on David Levy’s property where the group saw 103 of 110 objects collectively.  The best weekend this year is February 25.  He is going again and asked if anyone else was interested. He suggested that this could become an annual junket for the MAS.

Phil Mozel spoke about his observations of the variable R Tri which he has submitted to the AAVSO. He showed their website wherein one can submit and view observations.

Terry Hardman described the upcoming SuitSat which will be released from the Space Station and which will broadcast on the 145.990 MHz band for ham radio. 

My Favourite Martian

Colin Jackson described aliens, specifically Martians, as depicted in the media and in popular culture, as in the TV series “My Favorite Martian”.  He asked at his school and the audience who believed in aliens and/or UFO’s and outlined the pros and cons for extraterrestrials.  He then described the screen saver SETI@home wherein idle computers analyze SETI data which has been gathered by the Arecibo radio telescope.  His survey at school indicated that most of the kids do not believe in aliens. 

My Favourite Equation

Jim Jackson spoke about his favourite equation, or more specifically, about the term

√ˉˉ(1-v²/c²), referred to henceforth as γ, which varies in value from 0 to 1.  Historically, it was believed that a luminiferous aether filled all of space and formed a stationary reference frame and was the medium for the propagation of light.  Such an aether would need to be fluid, incompressible, transparent, massless.  It was disproved by Michelson and Morley when they showed that there was no preferential direction for earth’s motion through space. As a result, either there was no luminiferous aether, or the Earth was at the centre of the universe, or the aether moves with the Earth, or measurement was done at the wrong time of the year, or the velocity of light is constant.  Then, Lorenz and Fitzgerald showed that the contraction of the arms of an interferometer in the direction of Earth’s motion was γ.  In 1905, Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity showed that the speed of light in a vacuum is the same for all observers, the laws of physics are the same in any inertial frame of reference. With velocity, length contraction decreases by a factor of γ. Mass increase and time also change by the same amounts.  Finally, Jim showed the equation for the addition of velocities and spoke of the relativistic effect of time change. 

Submitted by Chris Malicki, Secretary  Chris Malicki, Secretary                               back to M.A.S. meeting reports page
Mississauga Astronomical Society