Day:                Friday, December 5, 2003

Chair:         Phil Mozel

Speakers:   Randy Attwood
                   Phil Mozel
                   Bob McCall 
                   Brian Cheaney
                   Ian McGregor
                  George Peer                   

 
Mississauga Astronomical Society, TSE, Mars, and lunar eclipse

 Randy Attwood, President of the M.A.S. showed the new logo of the society which was designed by Kari Ross. It was received with enthusiasm by the audience. The first meeting of the M.A.S. council was held on Nov. 18, 2003. The council set membership fees for 2004 as $20 for members, $10 for students (less than 21 y.o.), $25 for a family (which allows for one vote per family), and $10 for U of T at Mississauga students.  The council will also develop bylaws for the society and set benefits of membership. Potential benefits include meetings, star parties, telescope loaning, M.A.S. website access.  The council also agreed to apply for R.A.S.C. membership, possibly in 2005.

 Randy discussed the recent solar eclipse in Antarctica on Nov. 22. The Canadian Discovery channel had live coverage of this event. Randy showed images of the eclipse from the ground in Antarctica and the moon’s shadow from space in satellite images.

The upcoming Mars robot rover missions (Spirit and Opportunity) were described with a video from NASA.  An enormous amount of research and planning was involved in putting the rovers together, picking targets (Gusev crater and Sinus Meridiani winning out over 155 contenders), navigating to Mars and safely landing.  Risks, though substantial, were addressed as well as is humanly possible.  The video showed the simulated landing of Spirit at Gusev crater. 

Randy then showed his pictures of the total lunar eclipse of Nov. 8, taken with an ETX scope from Mississauga library. Randy gave a lecture about the eclipse at the library prior to the event. For a while it looked like clouds might spoil the occasion, but they cleared in time and approximately 150 people outside the library enjoyed the eclipse. Randy remarked that the moon was very bright in the umbra because of the near graze through the shadow.

 
Lunar eclipse

 Phil Mozel, has been photographing lunar eclipses for years using the same setup, namely a C8 telescope and 200 Ektachrome slide film. This enables him to compare eclipses from one event to another. Unfortunately, Kodak has changed the film over the years making comparisons less than perfect. The recent eclipse of Nov. 8 was almost clouded out, but the sky cleared on time and Phil obtained some fabulous slides which he shared with group. He stated that it was unprecedented to see colour so early on in the umbral phase of the eclipse. Even short exposures showed much colour. Danjon scale estimates at totality were 3, 3.5 and 4 from several members of the audience.

 
Saros Cycle

 Bob McCall gave a talk about the saros cycle in which eclipses repeat closely at an interval of 18 years, 11 days.  The saros is 223 synodic months (new moon to new moon) long. Saros series begin at high latitudes and gradually progress towards the other side of the earth. A series can last 1315 years. Bob also mentioned the inex series of eclipses (358 synodic months) and left it as an exercise to the audience to research the significance of the inex on the periodicity of eclipses.

 
The Sky Tonight

Brian Cheaney gave his monthly talks about the sky events.  Planet visibility for December was nicely illustrated by a new chart showing rise and set times. Orion, a very recognizable constellation can be used to locate a number of impressive objects such as the Pleides, open clusters of Auriga, the Crab nebula, Orion nebula and other objects. M42, the Orion nebula, was especially emphasized as a very impressive naked-eye and binocular object. Again, Brain challenged the members to locate these sky treasures.

 
The Year of Venus

Ian McGregor discussed Venus as the prime planet for the year 2004. Whereas Mars dominated 2003, Venus will put on a big show next year. On Aug. 18, 2003, Venus went through superior conjunction and moved into the evening sky. By late October, the planet’s visibility improved, and in early 2004 it will be increasingly visible in the western sky. In fact, from Jan. to May, Venus will dominate the west being especially high the sky for the northern hemisphere. Greatest elongation east occurs on March 29, greatest brilliancy on May 2. And then, on June 8 a rare transit of Venus across the sun will take place, an event highly anticipated by astronomers.

Ian described how the synodic period (location in the sky to location) of Venus at 584 days is related to the earth’s rotation around the sun of 365 days with the ratio of 5:8. As a result, Venus is in the same position in the sky every 8 years and has a brilliant evening apparition every 8 years as in 2004. The Maya, with their longstanding calendar,  recognized this cycle centuries ago. It was a  very interesting talk enjoyed by all.

Beautiful Universe

George Peer described the publication “Beautiful Universe” of Sky Publishing with its 100 pages of fantastic photographs, such as the Asteroid Eros, Mars canyon and others. He emphasized how photographs add meaning to the images of objects seen through a telescope. 

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