Download society journal - Auckland Astronomical Society

DECEMBER 2010
JANUARY 2011
SOCIETY JOURNAL
December Society Meeting - Meteorites
With DR Joel Schiff - Monday december 13th 8PM
Heather Couper and Nigel Henbest, two of
today’s leading science communicators and
authors., will be in Auckland this July.
M
eteorites bring to Earth a vast amount of information about the formation and evolution of the Solar System. Modern
methods of quantitative chemical (and physical) analysis enable scientists to develop and test their theories. Some
meteorites have been shown to have been blown off the Moon during past energetic impacts, others are pieces
of Mars. Our speaker, Joel Schiff, is one of NZ’s foremost experts on meteorites, and an avid collector. He was also advisor to
Stardome during the recent development of the new meteorite display. His talk will explain the new display and give an overview
of meteorites and their relationship to asteroids.
November Society Meeting
Astronomy: What have we learned
in 100 years?
A Message from Earth: Voyager the Golden Record with Jon Lomberg
Report by Clive Bolt
Jon Lomberg is perhaps the best-known
astronomical illustrator in the world. He is
well known for his graphic design of the
Carl Sagan documentaries and for some
of Carl Sagan’s books but perhaps his most
famous images were developed to be carried
aboard the Pioneer and Voyager spacecraft.
The images and sounds that were recorded
on the Voyager Golden record were the
principal subject of his talk.
Jon began by playing an opening sequence
from one of the Carl Sagan documentaries
in which he produced the sounds depicting
the radio traffic from Earth as the observer
travelled outward in to the Solar System,
and then into the Galaxy and finally into
interstellar space. The sequences were
accompanied by images that were carefully
constructed to show the correct perspective
and scale.
Jon has a fascination with the Milky Way
Galaxy. Much of his artwork depicts the
Galaxy from various angles and scientific
perspectives, all carefully accurate for scale
and perspective. Any of these paintings are
used for illustration. One example showed
the region around the Orion Spur and
the location of the Solar System with an
illustration of the cone of observation that is
seen by the Kepler Spacecraft, some 3,000
light-years long with a 10° field of view.
After this introduction, he explained how
he became involved in the Voyager mission
and the narrow time window to prepare the
design work and put together the images
and the sounds for the Golden Record.
Music makes up about 75% of the sounds
on the record and the images depict both
scenes and people, including children.
Apparently NASA baulked at an image
of a naked man and a pregnant woman,
opting instead for a silhouette. Jon told
of how annoyed he was until Carl Sagan
stepped in and pointed out that NASA had
accepted everything else. Perhaps NASA
actually expected someone to see the
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society journal, DECEMBER 2010
Perhaps the best known of Jon Lomberg’s images was the Pioneer Plaque
images? It was an interesting compromise
between what people on earth would see
being included on the spacecraft and what
an extraterrestrial might be expected to
interpret.
he is very passionate about his subject and
he is both talented and a very articulate
speaker. This would rate as one of the most
entertaining talks we have hosted in recent
years at the Society.
Jon concluded with a discussion of his work
with the Galaxy Garden in the Paleaku
Peace Garden Sanctuary in Kona, Hawaii.
This is a garden 100 ft. in diameter laid out
as a model of the Milky Way. The scale is
1000 light years per foot, which is about
83 light-years per inch. The Galaxy Garden
is set on 1/4 acre of lawn, with a gentle
slope that suggests the observed warp of
the galactic disk. Spots on the leaves depict
individual stars, while flowers represent the
nebulae. A fountain in the centre represents
the central massive black hole. The water
represents the axial jet and the water trough
represents the event horizon.
A selection of his artwork was on display in
the sunroom for display and for purchase.
You might not think that art work would
make a great talk for astronomy but Jon
has a very good knowledge of astronomy,
Jon Lomberg’s Galaxy Garden proved
extremely popular with his audience.
November Practical Astronomy
Astrophotography with Dave Moorhouse - Report by Shaun Fletcher
“In the winter of 2005 David “strictly
visual” Moorhouse (myself) was the only
person to attend the first ever RASNZ
Astrophotography Conference with only
a visual 8” binocular telescope. All the
others brought something to photograph
with! However during the daily talks I heard
about FWHM, autoguider dithering, LRGB
image stacking and de-convolution. At this
point the techie side of my nature kicked in
and I knew I was hooked, astrophotography
was now in my blood. Upon returning to
Auckland I got the key and started to look
about the 4 meter dome at Kumeu, that
wasn’t at that stage working well. I spent
a huge amount of time learning, tweaking
and fighting to get a working system. Now
we have two top class astrophotography
setups at Kumeu and I know enough to
regularly take prize winning photos.”
In response to this enthusiastic introduction,
a large (rather overwhelmingly so!)
and keen group of members attended
Dave
Moorhouse’s
presentation
on
astrophotography at the Society’s November
practical session.
A lot of ground was covered, ranging from
what kinds of astrophotography are possible
to the equipment required.
Dave explained the use of simple cameras
with only a tripod to take simple images
such as Moon photographs, star trails etc.
He also gave useful tips on how to take
longer exposure pictures successfully with
this kind of equipment.
Even the simplest of equipment can be
used to take fascinating and beautiful
pictures of the night sky.
Moving on to more advanced topics, the
various types of cameras used to capture
astro-images were introduced along with
the ancillary equipment used such as filters,
and the mounts and tracking equipment
that form the platform for this work.
The many types of telescopes suitable (and
not so suitable) for photography were
Dave explains the intricacies of the
astrophotography process at November’s
practical astronomy meeting
introduced.
Developing a diagram (shown in the image
above) to provide a structured view of the
requirements for imaging, the group were
shown the, at times intimidating, number
of aspects to be considered in order to
achieve good images.
An extremely lively discussion took place
during and after the presentation, and
it was clear that many members are very
interested and keen to pursue this aspect
of astronomy.
Dave then invited those interested to remain
to discuss the organisation of a proposed
astrophotography learning group at the
Society’s Kumeu observatory.
Introducing Comet Hartley 2 Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UMD
Comet Hartley 2 can be seen in glorious
detail in this image from NASA’s EPOXI
mission. It was taken as the spacecraft flew
by around 6:59 a.m. PDT (9:59 a.m. EDT),
from a distance of about 700 kilometres
(435 miles). The comet’s nucleus, or main
body, is approximately 2 kilometers (1.2
miles) long and .4 kilometers (.25 miles) at
the “neck,” or most narrow portion. Jets
can be seen streaming out of the nucleus.
The mission’s Medium-Resolution Instrument
was used to capture this view.
www.astroNoMy.org.nz
3
Library Corner
with Tony Reynolds
An Expanded View of the Universe
European Southern Observatory QB82
A rather plush ‘booklet’ put out by the
ESO extolling the virtues of their envisaged
European Extremely Large telescope.
The tone is set on the first page; Galileo,
Newton and the E-ELT (heady company).
Lots of pretty pictures of deep-sky
objects as well as eye-popping computergenerated images of the telescope (which
is all they have as it’s not due to be built
until 2018!)
Jantar Mantar
Featured Section – QB81-84
Observatories
As well as the two new titles featured
above, this section contains books
on Jodrell Bank (by Bernard Lovell),
Greenwich, megalithic lunar observatories
and a cluster of booklets from famous
observatories around the world.
User’s Guide – DVDs
This month sees the introduction of the
official DVD lending section. At present
only the Society’s monthly meeting
recordings are available but general release
material will be added in time.
The DVD section is located on the
bookshelves and the barcode for each is
located on the disc itself inside the box.
V.N. Sharma
Not entirely ‘new’, this booklet was
donated to the library by Timothy Hannah
in 2009 but only added to the catalogue
this month.
Check them out in the same way as the
books and magazines, i.e. on the sign-out
form near the door with your membership
number or name, the barcode and the
DVD title.
In Timothy’s words ‘Truly a remarkable
place.’ Thank you Timothy.
QB82
Kumeu Astrophotography
D
ave Moorhouse has begun running
a series of sessions at the Kumeu
observatory aimed at giving those
members taking part a solid grounding
in astrophotography, familiarity with the
equipment and software used, and along
the way at helping them to produce many
fascinating and stunning images.
These sessions take the form of small
groups, and take place on clear nights as
and when they are available. The Kumeu
observatory contains a Celestron C14 on
an equatorial fork mount, and the ‘WASP’
observatory a 10” Meade on a german
equatorial mount.
Beginning with a larger
group session on a sunny
Saturday afternoon, Dave
gave an introductory talk,
and then led the members
through a disassembly,
cleaning and reassembly
of the mount for the
WASP telescope, intending
that this would give them
the best understanding
possible of the functioning
of these mounts.
At following sessions there
has
been a hands-on Image of NGC2070 Tarantula Nebula, produced by the
tutorial in the use of the members at the early group sessions.
mounts, telescopes and,
perhaps most daunting,
the software used to control all of this. By produce images, progressing through the
the end of their first night session, everyone sequences of Red, Green and Blue images
was hopefully able to turn on, set up and and assembling them.. initiallty to produce
point the telescope and prepare the cameras the remarkable image you see above!
and tracking systems for use.
The group has begun extremely well, with
Following on from this, the groups have
learnt about focusing, automated through
the maxim DL software that sits at the heart
of the system. They have then begun to
4
society journal, DECEMBER 2010
by Shaun Fletcher
an enthusiastic response from a lot of our
members.
Calendar and Events
FEBRUARY PROGRAMME
DECEMBER PROGRAMME
Fri 3
7:30pm
Young Astronomers with
Margaret Arthur
Fri 4
7:30 pm
Young Astronomers with
Margaret Arthur
Mon 6
8:00pm
Practical Astronomy
Summer Star Party
Mon 7
8:00pm
Monthly meeting
Speaker TBA
Mon 13
8:00pm
Monthly Meeting
“Meteorites”
Mon 21
8:00pm
Film Night February
TBA
Mon 28
8:00pm
Introduction to Astronomy
Continuing course with
Bernie Brenner
with Dr Joel Schiff.
Mon 20
8:00pm
Introduction to Astronomy
Continuing course with
Bernie Brenner.
January Break
DECEMBER MONTHLY MEETING
Monday 13th December at 8:00pm
Speaker: Dr Joel Schiff
Meteorites.
Joel Schiff is one of NZ’s foremost experts on meteorites, and an
avid collector. He was also advisor to Stardome during the recent
development of the new meteorite display. His talk will explain
the new display and give an overview of meteorites and their
relationship to asteroids.
Total Lunar Eclipse
Tuesday 21st December
There is a Total Lunar Eclipse visible from Auckland on the
evening of 21st December. While the eclipse has started before
the moon rises, totality starts just after moonrise. Totality will
last for 1 hour 12 minutes. The moon will be rising 60° East of
due North so the best places to view will be where you have a
clear north-easterly view. Times for Auckland are;
Partial (Umbral) Eclipse Starts:
7:33pm
Moon Rise:
8:35pm
Totality Starts:
8:41pm
Greatest Eclipse:
9:17pm
Totality Ends:
9:53pm
Partial (Umbral) Eclipse Ends:
11:01pm
Stardome Observatory will be having special eclipse viewing
sessions on the night. If you are interested in helping with
operating telescopes, please contact Jill Jessop at jillj@stardome.
org.nz or phone 09 624 1246 in the evenings.
A number of Society members should have some viewing
locations set up for the event. Check the society website
(www.astronomy.org.nz) or contact Andrew Buckingham on
09 473 5877 or email [email protected] closer to the
date for more information.
More details on the eclipse can be found online at
eclipse.gsfc.naa.gov/eclipse.html.
Please note that the society holds no activities in January.
DECEMBER YOUNG ASTRONOMERS
Friday 3rd December at 7:30pm
with Margaret Arthur
Young Astronomers end of year Christmas Party
Practical Astronomy DECEMBER
Monday 6th December from 7:00pm
Summer Star Party
The Summer Star Party is our seasonal observing event at the
Stardome Observatory.
The session will start in the planetarium with a tour of the
summer night sky and as it gets dark outside we will move to
telescope viewing. The EWB Zeiss Telescope will be available for
viewing as well as portable telescopes outside in the courtyard.
Ivan Vazey (AAS Curator) will be on hand to help people who
have questions about telescopes or your own telescope. Feel
free to bring your own telescope along.
If the weather prevents telescope viewing, we will show the
new planetarium show ‘Natural Selection’.
The evening is aimed to include members who are getting
started with exploring the night sky as well as the more
experienced, so come along and join in.
Welcome to New Members
John Burns (ordinary)
Benjamin Andersen (family)
Peter Blomfield (ordinary)
Mike Thomson (ordinary)
Jeremy Steinberg (ordinary)
Paul Beach (ordinary)
Carlus Dovens (ordinary)
Brian Smith (ordinary)
Laura Burgess (student)
www.astroNoMy.org.nz
5
2010 Astrophotography Competition Runners up
M
any of the entrants in this year’s Astrophotography Competition could easily have been prize winners. Below are the highly
commended entries in each category, along with the Judges’ comments on each.
J
ohn Dunlop, Invercargill. After much
humming and hawing the judges
decided that the runner-up in the
Artistic Section is MA15 Matai-Whetu. This
is a delightful star-party scene. The people,
trees and buildings appear in vibrant colour
while, at the same time, the stars and
brighter Milky Way are visible. This picture
would make a good background for a starparty poster.
K
enric Ma, Auckland. Rather arbitrarily we decided that the runner-up Deep Sky entry
was D27 IC2944, a faint nebula in the southern Milky Way. Because of its faintness
it is technically challenging. The observer has done a fine job of firstly recording the
nebula and its surrounding companions. Then he has presented it well, leaving some darker
area around it to set off the nebula.
M
aurice Collins, Palmerston North. Our choice of runner-up in the Solar System section was S11 Terminator_220510. This image
looks dark and unimpressive at first glance but at full size it is dramatic and alive with detail. The observer has caught one of
the most interesting parts of the Moon at just the right light. He has also been blessed with exceptionally good seeing and has
complemented it with careful focusing. One can study this picture for a long time. The Straight Wall is superbly captured, as are long
jagged shadows of crater walls and central peaks. Tycho’s central peak has just the first rays of sun on its summit.
6
society journal, DECEMBER 2010
Double Feature Popular
By Gavin Logan
century precipitated the fall of the Moche
civilisation in South America.
Another great attendance at November’s
Film Night for two controversial films.
Over forty society members watched
two controversial 50 minutes films at the
November Film Night. One was about
El Nino and the other about Nuclear
Nightmares.
“The Life and Times of El Nino” began
with an account by a girl caught in a
deadly landslide in California in 1998. The
audience then learn that between April
1997 and May 1998, Peru, Kenya and
Eastern Europe experienced unseasonable
floods,
Queensland
unseasonable
drought, Africa heavy rains that brought
Malaria and Indonesia a heat wave that
caused devastating fires. These all put
down to that year’s El Nino.
The film told of how scientists over the
last century discovered that El Nino affects
climate in almost the entire world. The
massive fluctuations that El Nino causes
in the world’s weather systems could have
changed the course of history. Unusually
cold winters and the resulting poor crops
helped ferment the French Revolution.
Hitler’s march across Russia was halted
by one of the harshest winters on record.
Severe drought in India in 1877 killed
millions and a super El Nino in the sixth
Unseasonable drought caused by El Nino
Would these events have happened
without the impact of El Nino? This
documentary investigated El Nino, as
well as its history and its rise from a little
known occurrence to a headline-grabbing
phenomenon. It looked at whether its
occurrence can be accurately predicted,
and the possibly of its power being
harnessed. It ended showing that Global
warming could increase the power and
frequency of El Nino.
The second documentary, “Nuclear
Nightmares”, suggested that the fear of
radiation associated with nuclear power
may be exaggerated. The documentary
interviewed a number of scientists who
are asking whether we need to think
again about the dangers of radiation as
there is evidence to suggest that there is
a threshold below which radiation may be
harmless, or even beneficial.
It examined in detail the aftermath of the
ultimate nuclear nightmare, the explosion
and fire over 20 years ago at Chernobyl
Reactor number four. In the aftermath
of Chernobyl experts predicted tens of
thousands of deaths from cancer. Those
predictions were based on a theory called
the Linear No Threshold (LNT) model.
BBC Horizon’s investigation has turned up
evidence to suggest that there is a threshold
below which radiation may be harmless.
It claimed that there are many places
on Earth where the natural background
radiation is tens or even hundreds of times
higher than in the Chernobyl exclusion
zone. Yet studies of populations who live
in these natural radiation hotspots have
consistently failed to find any negative
health consequences.
The programme also reports on scientific
experiments that suggest that a little
radiation may even protect against cancer
by stimulating the body’s natural cancer
defences. These ideas are controversial
and caused a lively debate among society
members during question time after the
film screening. Many members disagreed
with much of the film’s content. As a
person who has been to the Ukraine and
spoken to people there about Chernobyl,
I have some doubts about this film’s
account of the level of harm to the health
of the people that were exposed to
radiation from the Chernobyl accident.
The next Film Night will be on Monday,
February 21st 2011 at Stardome. Watch
the Society’s Website and the next edition
of the Society Journal for the programme.
Yet, when the authoritative United Nations
Chernobyl Forum report, compiled by
scientists from organisations such as the
World Health Organisation, was published
it put the total death toll from the accident
at just 59. Fifty workers in the plant died
from acute radiation sickness and so far
only nine cases of cancer can be attributed
to the accident. This, the documentary
stated, is a huge discrepancy between
prediction and reality.
The LNT model is, the scientists admit,
little more than an informed guess.
This model was derived by studying the
survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, who
received huge radiation doses. There is
almost no data to support the model at
the sort of levels of radiation exposure
caused by Chernobyl.
Chernobyl Reactor number four after the
accident.
www.astroNoMy.org.nz
7
Quiz – Jupiter and Uranus QUIZmaster - Bernie Brenner
Jupiter
1. Jupiter is how many times larger than Saturn?
2. What elements make up Jupiter’s atmosphere?
3. How fast does Jupiter spin?
4. How many years does it take to orbit the Sun?
5. Name the 4 largest moon’s of Jupiter?
URANUS
6. Which moon has volcanic activity?
1. Who discovered Uranus and when?
7. What is the mechanism of this volcanism?
2. How far is it from the Sun compared to Earth?
8. When was the great Red Spot first seen, and
3. What makes up it’s atmosphere?
approximately how large is it?
9. How many other prominent spots are there?
4. What is Uranus’ spin axis and how long does it take to
orbit the Sun?
10. Which of Jupiter’s moons may harbour life, and why?
5. What are its 2 largest moons called?
This quiz was originally presented as part of the Society’s Introduction to astronomy course
Answers on page 19
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your choice, leaving your equipment permanently set up.
No need to re-align your scope between each session.
We are also a
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8
society journal, DECEMBER 2010
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For colours & models contact Ivan at [email protected]
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Obituaries
Brian Marsden (1937-2010)
Astronomers all over the world, including
several in New Zealand, lost a great friend with
the death of Dr Brian Marsden on November
18. As noted above, Brian was Director of the
International Astronomical Union’s Central
Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams (CBAT)
from 1968 till 2000, then continued on as
Director Emeritus. He was also Director of the
Minor Planet Center (MPC) from 1978 till his
retirement in 2006.
Brian used his directorships to encourage
observers both amateur and professional.
Having a lifetime interest in comets, he was
particularly concerned at the lack of observers
in the southern hemisphere, so greatly assisted
anyone who contributed.
In 1973 Brian visited NZ to present, jointly with
Dr Elizabeth (‘Pat’) Roemer, the Comet Medal
of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific to
Albert Jones. At that time Dr Roemer, at the
University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary
Laboratory, ran the only comet astrometry
programme on large telescopes in the world.
Allan Sandage (1926-2010)
When Allan Sandage died on November 13th,
succumbing to pancreatic cancer at age 84,
we lost one of the true giants of observational
astronomy. It’s hard to overstate this man’s
contributions to our understanding of the
visible Universe. Starting his career literally at
Edwin Hubble’s side as an observing assistant,
Sandage carried on efforts to measure distances
to the nearest galaxies and the rate of the
Universe’s expansion after Hubble’s untimely
death in 1953.
By exploiting the power of the new 200inch Hale telescope atop Palomar Mountain,
Sandage realized that Hubble had mistaken
small star-forming regions in nearby galaxies for
individual stars and therefore had miscalculated
the galaxies’ distances. Other tweaks followed,
and in May 1958, Sandage published a
drastically revised extragalactic distance scale,
shrinking the value of k, relating an object’s
distance and its recession velocity, from
Hubble’s value of 530 km/s per megaparsec, to
just 75. This meant that the Universe was not
1.8 billion years old, as Hubble had surmised,
but instead much older — more like 12 billion
years.
Sandage later insisted that this critical value,
known today as the Hubble constant, H0,
was even lower, around 50, and the Universe
even older. But in hindsight he’d nailed it the
first time. Recent observations of the cosmic
She recovered several ‘lost’ comets using
Brian’s new calculations of their orbits.
When we began our astrometric programme
at the Carter Observatory in the early 1970s,
tracking southern comets and asteroids, Brian
(and Pat) gave us much encouragement.
He arranged for Alan to attend the Comet
Colloquium at the Goddard Spaceflight
Center in 1974. Around the same time he
convinced Yale University Observatory’s
director that we would put one of their old
measuring machines to good use.
In the 1970s and 1980s the Carter Observatory
received telegrams and telexes from CBET and
disseminated the information to astronomers
around NZ. In our time at Carter we often
sent information back the other way. Thus
nova brightness estimates and other urgent
variable star results from Albert Jones and
others were sent to CBAT from Carter, so a
close partnership developed. Graham Blow
continued to act as go-between at Carter in
the 1980s.
her onto the Committee for Small Bodies
Nomenclature (CSBN), as it is now called; the
international panel that approves names for
asteroids. Brian continued as Secretary of the
CSBN till his death, sending out the last batch
of name proposals only three weeks ago.
In later years Brian was particularly encouraging
of the astrometric and other work being done
by Auckland observers Grant Christie, Marc
Bos, Jennie McCormick and Tim Natusch. He
took time out on a tour of NZ with his wife
Nancy in 2006 to meet the Auckland group.
-- Alan Gilmore and Pam Kilmartin
Much later, when Pam was made an IAU
member, Brian immediately seconded
microwave background, as well as accurate
distances to galaxies made with the Hubble
Space Telescope and other means, have
established that H0 is 71 km/s/mpc to within
a few percent.
Interestingly, Sandage didn’t really think of
himself as a cosmologist. “I’m really much more
interested in stellar evolutionary processes,”
he noted in an oral history recorded in 1978.
“I’m an astronomer, [interested in] calibration
processes, the determination of absolute
magnitudes of certain types of objects, their
use in the astronomical context, structure of
the Milky Way Galaxy and density gradients.
Those are the problems that occupy me.”
Sandage continued to tackle “those problems”
throughout his remarkable career and long
after his formal retirement in 1997 from the
Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena, California.
For example, he co-authored a seminal
1962 paper (with Olin Eggen and Donald
Lynden-Bell) that describes how an enormous
primordial gas cloud collapsed to form our
galaxy. No astronomy library is considered
complete without a copy of Sandage’s Hubble
Atlas of Galaxies, published in 1961.
“Allan was one of the greatest observational
cosmologists of the 20th Century,” comments
Wendy Freedman, Carnegie Observatories’
director. “He was tremendously prolific. His
work on cosmology and the ages of the oldest
stars in the Milky Way was tremendously
influential, and he will be remembered for his
decades of contributions to cosmology.”
Much of his observational work came before
the advent of digital detectors and comfy
observing rooms surrounded by control
consoles. Instead, he laboured in the primefocus “cage” of the 200-inch telescope,
suspended high above the beast. “There is
a tremendous advantage, which is not easily
stated, of sitting in the dark in the primefocus cage, close to the instruments,” he once
recalled. “It gives you a great deal more time
to think about the consequences of the data
coming in…. The mind is put in a state when
it’s more receptive to call things up from its
deep recesses.”
In that sense, Sandage enjoyed a certain kinship
with amateur astronomers. Born in 1926, he
was the only child in an academic family and
got the “astronomy bug” after looking through
the backyard telescope of a boyhood friend. (In
fact, he once ground a 6-inch mirror but never
finished it.) He double-majored in physics and
mathematics at the University of Illinois before
earning his doctorate at Caltech 1953. By then
he’d already been observing with Hubble and
on his way to making his indelible mark in
astronomy.
For more insight on Sandage, especially his
quest to find the Hubble constant, read Richard
Panek’s excellent 1999 profile for the New York
Times.
www.astroNoMy.org.nz
9
Spacecraft is first to bring asteroid
dust to Earth
by New Scientist
The troubled Hayabusa
space probe has become
the first spacecraft to
bring material from an
asteroid back to Earth,
the Japanese Aerospace
Exploration Agency (JAXA)
has announced.
Although
Hayabusa’s
capsule
was
retrieved earlier this year, it wasn’t clear
whether the dust it contained came from
the asteroid it landed on in 2005. Now
an analysis by JAXA has shown that the
dust’s composition is extra-terrestrial,
even containing a mineral not found on
the Earth’s surface.
Further study may reveal what materials
existed when the solar system formed,
and give insights into how best to mitigate
asteroid impacts based on new knowledge
of their composition.
“The science that we will obtain from
these particles over the next few years
will be invaluable,” says Paul Abell of the
NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston,
Texas, who is a member of the Hayabusa
Joint Science Team.
“After all the hard work and the many
years of patiently waiting, we now can
say that we have returned samples from
an asteroid to the Earth for the very first
time,” he says.
Outback landing
Hayabusa’s sample capsule was retrieved in the Woomera Prohibited Area of Australia
(Image: JAXA)
nursed back to life and released a capsule
that landed safely in the Australian
outback in June.
It was still not clear, however, whether
Hayabusa had actually managed to grab
dust from the asteroid. Things looked
promising in July, when JAXA confirmed
that the capsule contained particles, but
there was a possibility that these were
contaminants from Earth.
Asteroid origins confirmed
Now, after analysing some 1500 particles
using scanning electron microscopes,
JAXA says that nearly all the material
was extra-terrestrial and originated in
Itokawa.
Hayabusa blasted off in 2003 with a
clear mission: to collect samples from
the asteroid Itokawa. But after several
technical failures and a bumpy landing
on the asteroid in 2005, when it was 300
million kilometres from Earth, there were
fears Hayabusa might not make it back.
The relative abundances of elements and
minerals in the dust – including olivine
and plagioclase – are similar to what is
seen in primitive meteorites and do not
correspond to the make-up of any rock
found on Earth’s surface, JAXA reports.
Despite these hitches, Hayabusa was
What’s more, one mineral in the dust,
10
society journal, DECEMBER 2010
troilite (an iron sulphide), is not present on
the Earth’s surface. “Everything points to
a successful sample return from Itokawa,”
says Trevor Ireland, an earth chemist at the
Australian National University in Canberra,
who was involved in preliminary work on
the dust sample.
Over the next few years, the particles will
be analysed further to see what they can
reveal about asteroids, meteorites and the
formation of the Solar System.
The particles from Itokawa may have
retained minerals from the early Solar
System,
unlike
meteorites
whose
composition may have been altered by
the high pressures and temperatures they
encounter as they crash to Earth.
The 2011 NZ Astronomical
Yearbook is now available
Members can purchase copies directly from the society at the discounted price of
$14.00 + $2.00 postage (normal retail is $20)
The 2011 edition celebrates the 50 year anniversary of the first man in space and
Neptune’s first orbit since discovery. Other articles include; Rockets in NZ, Radio
Astronomy, space junk, the Pleiades star cluster and the Mt John Observatory.
A full set of monthly sky guides along with rise and set times for the Sun, Moon and
planets are also included.
To order a copy, contact Andrew Buckingham at [email protected] or phone
09 473 5877.
They will also be available on meeting nights. Note this special pricing is not available
from the Stardome shop
Phoenix Astronomical Society Almanac 2011
The Phoenix Astronomical Society New Zealand Almanac 2011 is now
in production.
The Almanac is a beautiful calendar with wonderful photographs taken by New
Zealand astronomers. Every year the photographs seem to get better - and this
coming year’s edition is no exception! The Almanac is also packed with information
on various astronomical events occurring throughout the year that is presented in an
easily accessible calendar format.
Almanacs make wonderful Christmas presents, so consider giving them as Christmas
stocking fillers.
The price is $20 plus $2 p&p. We have succeeded in keeping the price virtually
unchanged for the last few years. We will continue to give discounts for members,
societies and for bulk orders.
We are now taking orders, so please contact Kay Leather: [email protected] to order
your 2011 Almanac or post an order to: Almanac 2011P.O. Box 156, Carterton 5743
Society Contacts
The 2010 Council
President
Grant Christie
Vice President
David Britten
Treasurer &Andrew Buckingham
Membership
Secretary
Michelle Knowler
Curator ofIvan Vazey
Instruments
LibrarianTony Reynolds
Journal EditorsClive Bolt
Shaun Fletcher
WebmasterNick Moore
CouncilBernie Brenner
Council
Gavin Logan
021 024 04992
09 846 3657
09 473 5877
021 148 6764
09 535 3987
09 480 8607
09 534 2946
09 480 5648
09 537 1500
09 534 4103
09 820 6001
Auckland Astronomical Society Inc,
PO Box 24187, Royal Oak,
Auckland 1345, New Zealand
Email
Journal
Website
[email protected]
[email protected]
www.astronomy.org.nz
Membership enquiries:
contact Andrew Buckingham at [email protected]
or by phone on 09 473 5877 or 027 246 2446
www.astroNoMy.org.nz
11
The Furor Over FUOrs
By Mike Simonsen, Simostronomy - Article provided by the AAVSO writer’s bureau
were forced to learn what they could
from the only known example, or wait for
another event to provide more clues.
Finally, more than 30 years later, FU Ori-like
behavior appeared again in 1970 when the
star now known as V1057 Cyg increased
in brightness by 5.5 magnitudes over 390
days. Then in 1974, a third example was
discovered when V1515 Cyg rose from
17th magnitude to 12th magnitude over an
interval lasting years. Astronomers began
piecing the puzzle together from these
clues.
FU Orionis and its associated nebula. Image
credit: ESO
I
n 1937, an ordinary 16th magnitude
star in the constellation Orion began to
brighten steadily. Thinking it was a nova,
astronomers were astounded when the star
just kept getting brighter and brighter over
the course of a year. Most novae burst forth
suddenly and then begin to fade within
weeks. But this star, now glowing at 9th
magnitude, refused to fade. Adding to the
puzzle, astronomers could see there was
a gaseous nebula nearby shining from the
reflected light of this mysterious star, now
named FU Orionis. What was this new kind
of star?
FU Ori has remained in this high state,
around 10th magnitude ever since. This
was a form of stellar variability never seen
before. Since there were no other examples
of this kind of variable star, astronomers
FU Orionis stars are pre-main sequence stars
in the early stages of stellar development.
They have only just formed from clouds of
dust and gas in interstellar space, which
occur in active star-forming regions. They
are all associated with reflection nebulae,
which become visible as the star brightens.
This artist’s concept shows a young stellar
object and the whirling accretion disk
surrounding it. NASA/JPL-Caltech
Astronomers are interested in these systems
because FUOrs may provide us with clues to
the early history of stars and the formation
of planetary systems. At this early stage
of evolution, a YSO is surrounded by an
accretion disk, and matter is falling onto
the outer regions of the disk from the
surrounding interstellar cloud. Thermal
instabilities, most likely in the inner portions
of the accretion disk, initiate an outburst
and the young star increases its luminosity.
Our Sun probably went through similar
events as it was developing.
One of the major challenges in studying FU
Orionis stars is the relatively small number of
known examples. Although approximately
20 FU Orionis candidates have been
identified, only a handful of these stars
have been observed to rise from their preoutburst state to their eruptive state.
Now, in the last year, several new FUOrs have
been discovered. In November 2009, two
newly discovered objects were announced
in Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams
(CBET) #2033. Patrick Wils, John Greaves
and the Catalina Real-time Transient Survey
(CRTS) collaboration had discovered them
in CRTS images.
The first of these objects appears to coincide
with the infrared source IRAS 06068-0641.
Discovered by the CRTS on Nov. 10, it had
been continuously brightening from at
least early 2005 (when it was mag 14.8 on
unfiltered CCD images) to its present mag
12.6. A faint cometary reflection nebula
was visible to the east. A spectrum taken
Rolling Across the Rocky Plains of Mars - Credit: Mars Exploration Rover Mission, JPL, NASA
Explanation: You stare out across the rocky plains of Mars. Before you, in every direction, is dark sand and bright rock. Although little has chang
in the region. Your human overlords back on planet Earth wonder if the impact that created this distant crater might have also uncovered uniqu
the image centre, an unusual rock sticks out from the landscape. Quite possibly, this rock is not from this world, and you divert to inspect it. You
field a day, you might reach Endeavour crater sometime in 2012. If you survive.
12
society journal, DECEMBER 2010
with the SMARTS 1.5-m telescope at Cerro
Tololo, on Nov. 17, confirmed it to be a
young stellar object. The object lies inside a
dark nebula to the south of the Monocerotis
R2 association, and is likely related to it.
Also inside this dark nebula, a second
object, coincident with IRAS 06068-0643,
had been varying between mag 15 and
20 over the past few years, reminiscent of
UX-Ori-type objects with very deep fades.
This second object is also associated with
a variable cometary reflection nebula,
extending to the north. The spectrum of
this object also shows Hα and the strong Ca
II infrared triplet in emission.
Light curves, spectra and images can
be found at
http://crts.caltech.edu/
CSS091110.html
In August 2010, two new eruptive, pre-main
sequence stars were discovered in Cygnus.
The first object was an outburst of the star
HBC 722. The object was reported to have
risen by 3.3 magnitudes from May 13 to
August 16, 2010. Spectroscopy reported by
U. Munari et al in ATel #2808, Aug 23, 2010
support this object’s classification as an FU
Ori star. Munari and his team reported the
object at 14.04V on Aug 21, 2010.
November 10, 2010, results presenting rare
pre and post outburst observations from the
Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) show that
HBS722 is a bona fide FU Ori type star that
was a classical T-Tauri star before eruption,
providing strong evidence that FU Orionis
eruptions represent periods of enhanced
disk accretion and outflow, likely triggered
by instabilities in the accretion disk.
The second object, coincident with the
infrared source IRAS 20496+4354, was
discovered by K. Itagaki (Yamagata, Japan)
on August 23, 2010 and reported in
CBET 2426. The object appears very faint
(magnitude 20) in a DSS image taken in 1990.
Subsequent spectroscopy and photometry
of this object by U. Munari showed that
this object also has the characteristics of an
FU Ori star. Munari reported the object at
14.91V on August 26, 2010.
Another paper, released the next day, also
based on observations from the PTF, shows
IRAS 20496+4354 brightened by more than
5 magnitudes, reaching 13.5R in September
2010. Near-infrared spectra appear quite
similar to a spectrum of McNeil’s Nebula/
V1647 Ori, a FUOr which has undergone
several brightenings in recent decades.
Both these objects are now the subjects of
an AAVSO observing campaign announced
October 1, 2010 in AAVSO Alert Notice 425.
Dr. Colin Aspin (U. Hawai’i) has requested
the help of AAVSO observers in performing
long-term photometric monitoring of
these two new YSOs in Cygnus. AAVSO
observations will be used to help calibrate
optical and near-infrared spectroscopy to be
obtained during the next year.
Since these stars are newly discovered, very
little is known about their behavior. Their
classification as FU Ori variables is based on
spectroscopy by U. Munari et al. Establishing
a good light curve and maintaining it,
over the next several years, will be crucial
to understanding these stars. This kind of
long-term monitoring is one of the things at
which amateur astronomers excel.
So after a very slow start, discoveries of
new YSOs and our understanding of the
dusty disk environments around them are
starting to heat up. With new tools and
new examples to study we are peering into
the the early stages of stellar and planetary
formation and finding some of our models
have been pretty close to the truth. We
expect to find more and similar objects as
new all-sky surveys begin to cover the sky,
but these objects will still be relatively rare
and therefore interesting, because this
period in a star’s evolution is short-lived and
only takes place in the active star forming
regions of galaxies.
Images of HBC722 and IRAS 20496+4354
from Discovery of possible FU-Ori and UXOri type objects Wils, P., Greaves, J. and the
CRTS collaboration, Nov 18th 2009.http://
crts.caltech.edu/CSS091110.html
ged here for millions of years, no one has ever seen this view before. You are being sent on a long journey to a distant crater, the largest crater
ue clues to the distant past of Earth’s neighbouring planet, clues that might reveal if life ever existed here. Breaking the monotony, visible toward
u are the robotic Opportunity rover, and you are the eyes for countless humans following your trek back on planet Earth. Rolling about a football
www.astroNoMy.org.nz
13
The Evening Sky in December 2010
By Alan Gilmore, University of Canterbury‘s Mt John Observatory, www.canterbury.ac.nz
Jupiter is the ‘evening star’ in the northwest sky
at dusk, setting in the west around midnight.
It slips lower in the sky, and sets earlier, as we
move to the opposite side of the Sun. A small
telescope easily shows its four bright moons,
lined up on each side of the planet.
Mercury and Mars are very low in the southwest twilight. At the beginning of the month
Mercury is bright and easily seen. Mars is below
and left of it, much fainter. Both sink into the
twilight and disappear by mid-month. Mercury
is 100 million km away. Mars is 360 million km
from us on the far side of the Sun.
The brightest stars are in the east and south.
14
society journal, DECEMBER 2010
Sirius, the brightest of all the stars, is due east
at dusk, often twinkling like a diamond. Left
of it is the bright constellation of Orion. The
line of three stars makes Orion’s belt in the
classical constellation. To southern hemisphere
skywatchers they make the bottom of ‘The
Pot’. The faint line of stars above and right of
the three is the Pot’s handle. At its centre is
the Orion Nebula, a glowing gas cloud nicely
seen in binoculars. Rigel, directly above the line
of three stars, is a hot blue-giant star. Orange
Betelgeuse, below the line of three, is a cooler
red-giant star.
Left of Orion is a triangular group making the
upside down face of Taurus the Bull. Orange
Aldebaran is the brightest star in the V pattern.
The name is Arabic for ‘the eye of the bull’.
Still further left is the Pleiades/Matariki/Seven
Sisters cluster, impressive in binoculars. It is 400
light years away.
Canopus, the second brightest star, is high in
the southeast. Low in the south are the Pointers, Alpha and Beta Centauri, and Crux, the
Southern Cross. In some Maori star lore the
bright southern Milky Way makes the canoe
of Maui with Crux being the canoe’s anchor
hanging off the side. In this picture the Scorpion’s tail can be the canoe’s prow and the
Clouds of Magellan are the sails.
The Milky Way is low in the sky, visible around
the horizon. The broadest part is in Sagittarius
low in the west at dusk. It narrows toward
Crux in the south and becomes faint in the east
below Orion. The Milky Way is our edgewise
view of the galaxy, the pancake of billions of
stars of which the Sun is just one. The thick
hub of the galaxy, 30 000 light years away, is in
Sagittarius. The nearby outer edge is the faint
part below Orion. A scan along the Milky Way
with binoculars will show many clusters of stars
and a few glowing gas clouds.
The Clouds of Magellan, (LMC and SMC),
high in the southern sky, are two small galaxies
about 160,000 and 200,000 light-years away,
respectively. They are easily seen by eye on a
dark moonless night. The larger cloud is about
1/20th the mass of the Milky Way Galaxy, the
smaller cloud 1/30th. That’s still many billions
of stars in each.
Very low in the north is the Andromeda Galaxy,
seen in binoculars as a spindle of light. It is similar in size to our Milky Way Galaxy and three
million light years away.
The Geminid meteor shower may be seen in
the morning hours of December 14 and 15.
The meteors appear to come from the constellation of Gemini, in the northeast at first, moving to the north by dawn.
There is an eclipse of the Moon on December 21st. The Moon rises in the northeast at
Sunset. In the North Island it will rise almost
fully eclipsed; only its top edge still in the Sunshine. At moonrise in the South Island the
Moon will be fully in Earth’s shadow and will
be quite faint in the evening twilight. Colours
of eclipsed Moons vary: anything from red,
through apricot to dark brown. Mid eclipse is
9:17 NZDT, moonrise time in the deep south.
The Moon begins to emerge from Earth’s dark
shadow (the umbra) at 9:54 and is fully clear of
the fuzzy edge of the shadow (the penumbra)
by 12:06 a.m.
Venus is the brilliant ‘morning star’, rising about
two hours before the Sun. Above and left of it
are Saturn and Spica, making a matched pair.
Saturn is the one on the left.
Diary of Solar System Events December 2010
By Brian Loader RASNZ
Date (NZDT)
Diary of Solar System Events in DECEMBER 2010 for New Zealand
December 1
Mercury at greatest elongation 21°
east of the Sun.
December 2
Crescent Moon 20% lit, 7° to upper
right of Saturn and 7° to upper
left of Spica magnitude 1.1, low in
morning sky.
December 3
December 6
December 20
Mercury at inferior conjunction.
December 20
Moon furthest north, so lowest
southern hemisphere transit for the
month.
December 21
Full Moon at 9.13pm NZDT
(08:13 UT). Total eclipse of
Moon. Moon rises in total eclipse
Crescent Moon 11% lit, 5° above
Venus and 7.5° to right of Spica
magnitude 1.1, low in morning sky.
New Moon at 6.36am NZDT (Dec 5,
17:36 UT). Moon furthest south, so
highest southern hemisphere transit
for the month.
December 6
Uranus stationary.
December 7
Crescent Moon 3% lit, 2.5° below
Mercury very low in evening sky
following sunset.
December 10
Mercury stationary.
Jupiter and Uranus, in conjunction,
separation 0.8°.
December 13
Moon at apogee, its greatest distance
from the Earth for the Lunar month,
404405 km.
December 14
Moon at first quarter at 2.59am
NZDT (Dec 13, 13:59 UT).
December 14
58% lit moon 10° to lower right
of Jupiter, and 8.5° fromUranus,
evening sky.
for New Zealand
December 22
Southern Summer Solstice. Sun
furthest south at midday in NZ
December 26
Moon at perigee, its closest to
the Earth for the lunar month,
368469 km.
December 26
Moon 78% lit, 4.2° above
Regulus magnitude 1.4, visible
after midnight.
December 28
Moon at last quarter 5.19pm
NZDT (04:19 UT).
December 29
Moon, 44% lit, 7.5° above
Saturn morning sky.
December 30
Moon, 33% lit, 4° to right of
Spica magnitude 1.1, morning
sky.
December 30
Mercury stationary.
www.astroNoMy.org.nz
15
The Evening Sky in January 2011
By Alan Gilmore, University of Canterbury‘s Mt John Observatory, www.canterbury.ac.nz
Jupiter is the ‘evening star’ (planet really), bright
in the western sky at dusk. It sets around midnight. It is 800 million km from us, the distance
increasing as we move to the far side of the
sun. It shows a disk in any small telescope with
its four biggest moons looking like stars lined
up on either side.
Jupiter is near Uranus in the first week of January. Uranus is easily seen in binoculars. It looks
like a star, greenish-coloured in a telescope.
Around the 1st it will be a full Moon’s width
(half a degree) below and right of Jupiter. A
star of similar brightness to Uranus will be just
left of Jupiter. By the 5th Uranus is below Jupiter and a little left. By the 10th Uranus will be
16
society journal, DECEMBER 2010
one degree from Jupiter at an angle of about
8 o’clock. Uranus was discovered in 1781. It
is 20 times Earth’s distance from the sun and
orbits once in 80 years. It is four times wider
than Earth and 15 times Earth’s mass.
Sirius the brightest true star, appears high in the
east at dusk. Left of Sirius, as the sky darkens,
are Rigel and Betelgeuse the brightest stars in
Orion the hunter. Between them, but fainter, is
a line of three stars: Orion’s belt. Left of Orion
is the V-shaped pattern of stars making the
face of Taurus the Bull. Left again, toward the
north and lower, is the Pleiades/Matariki/Seven
Sisters/Subaru star cluster. From northern New
Zealand the bright star Capella is on the north
skyline.
Sirius, ‘the Dog Star’, marks the head of Canis
Major the big dog. A group of stars to the right
of it make the dog’s hindquarters and tail, upside down just now. Sirius is the brightest star
in the sky both because it is relatively close,
nine light years away, and 23 times brighter
than the sun. Procyon, in the northeast below
Sirius, marks the smaller of the two dogs that
follow Orion.
Rigel, directly above Orion’s belt, is a bluish
supergiant star, 70 000 times brighter than the
sun and much hotter. It is 800 light-years away.
Orange Betelgeuse, below Orion’s belt, is a red-
giant star, cooler than the sun but hundreds of
times bigger: a ball of extremely thin hot gas.
To southern hemisphere star watchers, Orion’s
belt makes the bottom of ‘The Pot’ or ‘The
Saucepan’. A faint line of stars above and right
of the belt is the pot’s handle or Orion’s sword.
It has a glowing cloud at its centre: the Orion
Nebula
The V-shaped group making the face of Taurus
the bull is called the Hyades cluster. It is 150
light years away. Orange Aldebaran, Arabic for
‘the eye of the bull’, is not a member of the
cluster but on the line of sight, half the cluster’s
distance. The Pleiades/ Matariki cluster, pretty
to the eye and impressive in binoculars, is 400
light-years from us. The cluster is around 70
million years old.
Low in the south are Crux, the Southern Cross,
and Beta and Alpha Centauri, often called ‘The
Pointers’. Alpha Centauri is the closest nakedeye star, 4.3 light years away. A telescope
shows it is a binary star: two stars orbiting each
other in 80 years. Beta Centauri, like most of
the stars in Crux, is a blue-giant star hundreds
of light years away. Canopus is also very luminous and distant: 13 000 times brighter than
the sun and 300 light years away.
The Milky Way is in the eastern sky, brightest in
the southeast toward Crux. It can be traced towards the north but becomes faint below Orion. The Milky Way is our edgewise view of the
galaxy, the pancake of billions of stars of which
the sun is just one. Binoculars show many star
clusters and a few glowing gas clouds in the
Milky Way, particularly in the Carina region.
The Clouds of Magellan, LMC and SMC are
high in the southern sky and easily seen by
eye on a dark moonless night. They are two
small galaxies about 160 000 and 200 000
light years away. The larger cloud is about 5%
the mass of the Milky Way galaxy, the smaller
cloud 3%.
Saturn (not shown) rises due east about midnight. It is almost level with a star of similar
brightness. Saturn is on the left. It is 1400 million km from us. The star is Spica, the brightest
star in Virgo.
Venus, the brilliant ‘morning star’, rises after
3 a.m. It is around 100 million km away mid
month.
Diary of Solar System Events January 2011
By Brian Loader RASNZ
Date (NZDT)
Diary of Solar System Events in JANUARY 2011 for New Zealand
January 1
Crescent Moon 15% lit, 6° to upper
right of Venus morning sky.
January 17
January 2
Crescent Moon 7% lit, 3° to lower
left of Antares, magnitude 1.1,
morning sky
Moon furthest north, so lowest
southern hemisphere transit for the
month.
January 20
Full Moon at 10.21am NZDT (Jan 19,
21:23 UT).
January 2
Moon furthest south, so highest
southern hemisphere transit for the
month.
January 21/22
January 3
Crescent Moon 3% lit, 4° to right of
Mercury low in morning sky.
Near full Moon, about 8° from
Regulus, magnitude 1.4: moon to
upper left on 21st and to right of star
on 22nd, late evening sky.
January 22
January 4
Earth at perihelion, at 0.983 AU,
147.1 million km, its closest to the
Sun for the year.
Moon at perigee, its closest to the
Earth for the lunar month, 362794
km.
January 25
71% lit Moon 10° to upper left of
Saturn, morning sky.
January 26
60% lit Moon 2° above Spica
magnitude 1.1 and 10° to upper
right of Saturn, morning sky.
January 4
New Moon at 10.03pm NZDT (9:03
UT). Partial eclipse of Sun visible from
Europe.
January 4
Jupiter and Uranus in conjunction,
separation 30'.
January 27
January 9
Venus at greatest elongation, 47°
west of the Sun.
Moon at last quarter 1.57am NZDT
(Jan 26, 12:57 UT).
January 27
Saturn stationary.
January 10
Mercury at greatest elongation 23°
west of the Sun.
January 10
Moon at apogee, its greatest distance
from the Earth for the Lunar month,
404975 km.
January 29
Crescent Moon 27% lit, 5° to left of
Antares, magnitude 1.1, morning sky
January 30
Moon furthest south, so highest
southern hemisphere transit for the
month.
January 30/31
Crescent Moon, 5.5° above Venus
(30th) and 7.5° to lower left of the
planet (31st).
January 10
31% lit moon 7° below Jupiter, and
8.5° fromUranus, evening sky.
January 13
Moon at first quarter at 12.31am
NZDT (Jan 12, 11:31 UT).
www.astroNoMy.org.nz
17
Book Review: Astronomical Symbols on
Ancient & Medieval Coins
By Dr K.A. Rodgers
Both the introduction and the conclusion, which
is not a conclusion but rather a beginning, are
essential to understanding the remainder of
the book and Marshall’s methodology. First
and foremost Marshall is a scientist. He brings
to his study the rigour of the scientific method.
He well knows that correlation does not imply
causation. His approach is spelt out on p. 5:
First, the date of a coin bearing an astronomical
symbol must be ascertained. Second, the
astronomical symbol must be the first
occurrence for that coin design or a
reintroduction of the symbol after a substantial
period of time to rule out immobilization
of the design. Third, the occurrence of the
astronomical event must be established.
Fourth, and most difficult to ascertain, historical
evidence must be presented that supports the
observation and importance of the event.
M
arshall Faintich scores gold with his
remarkable, 225 pp: Astronomical
Symbols on Ancient & Medieval
Coins. It is no common-or-garden coin book.
Much of the remainder of the book is
concerned with applying this strategy to a
remarkable range of European coins. Each
study is something of a mini-detective story.
His work explores the notion that many
astronomical symbols found on ancient coins
record actual celestial events. The study is
predicated on the use of coins by monarchs
as a propaganda tool, in particular one that
proclaimed their divine right to rule.
Typical is Marshall’s analysis of a well-trodden
path: the so-called two-star penny of William I.
He discounts one widely accepted contention
that one star represents a comet of 1077 since
no reliable sources identify a comet in that
year. There was, however, one in 1075 and he
explores that possibility that this is the comet
recorded in the coin’s design along with that
of 1066. That latter presaged William’s success
at Hastings; that of 1075 foretold his triumph
over a revolt by English barons. William was
no sluggard in exploiting coin designs as
instruments of state propaganda. By depicting
himself with two comets he declared his right
Marshall is well placed to make such an
analysis. He is, “an astronomer by training,
a cartographer by trade, and a student of
numismatics, archaeology, and history”. The
results of his investigation of several hundred
ancient coins are illustrated by some 550 line
drawings, including maps and records of
heavenly events.
The first four chapters examine representations
on coins of the Sun, Moon, stars, planets,
eclipses and comets, and of the events that
may have prompted their incorporation into the
coins’ designs. Following examination of outof-left-field astronomical designs and assorted
heavenly visions, three chapters examine the
coins of Norman England, some contemporary
European coins, and the influence astronomical
events held for the crusades, particularly that
of Louis IX of France.
18
society journal, DECEMBER 2010
to rule was written in the stars.
Some analyses are highly detailed and include
the three heavenly visions experienced by
Constantine, a ruler prone to apparitions.
I suggest readers ensure they are seated
comfortably, have plenty of time to spare, and
a goodly supply of coffee and/or a cheeky red,
before working their way through this one. It is
a provocative yarn that needs careful reading.
You are welcome to disagree. Marshall invites
debate.
Each and every story is illustrated with clear line
drawings. By using such drawings the necessary
detail is made clear and presented in a uniform
manner. The same clarity could not have been
achieved from photographs alone. In addition
Marshall has used his cartographic skill and
astronomical knowledge to bring us maps of
the night sky for the appropriate dates. A typical
example is that of the planetary alignment on
27 October 312 when Constantine beheld the
first of his fiery crosses.
This is a book not be to read in a hurry. It is one
to be savoured and digested at leisure. It makes
no claims to be definitive. It simply represents
the current state of play in Marshall’s thinking
after many years of collecting and analysis. It
was preceded by a couple of earlier, shorter
books on the subject. Hopefully a further is in
the offing.
Readers can obtain copies for US$55 plus p&p.,
from the publisher, McFarland & Company Inc,
Box 611, Jefferson NC 28640, USA or email:
[email protected] or buy directly for
the website www.mcfarlandpub.com
Typical line drawing as used to illustrate a Type V two-star silver penny ofWilliam I. Image
courtesy McFarland & Company and Marshall Faintich.
Society Telescopes for Hire
The Society has a wide range of telescopes for hire to members.
If you are looking to purchase or upgrade a telescope and are not sure what to buy, this is a very good
way to evaluate some of the available equipment. See also the advertisement on the back page.
To inquire about hiring or for advice on what to buy and for information about equipment, contact
Ivan Vazey, curator of instruments, on (09) 535-3987
Items for sale
Nelson Holmes has the following items for sale. Members can contact him on 09 2357195, 027 2912684 or emeail at [email protected]
if they are interested in anything or have any questions. All items are o.n.o. Regarding any postage costs just call and he will let you know the
best prices and pay the extra for insurance.
•
•
•
•
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100mm x 20x Apogee binoculars with
built in switch over nebular filters. Comes
on tall tripod. As new $595
•
Binoculars 7x50 Steiner military,
Germany. High quality, water/fog/shock
proof. Comes with laser protection
coating. $695ono
Assorted eyepieces; Leica zoom 1.25
$395, Meade Japan 4000series 56mm
super plossl $250, Edmund 28RKE $120,
25mm wide field $150, 2 inch Branden
Barlow $200, Takahashi 7x50 finder with
illuminated cross hairs and mounting
bracket $395, 40mm plossl 1.25, 20mm
Erfle wide, 0.96 Japan eyepieces ortho
etc, diagonals 1.25 and 2inch etc
Binoculars 7x50 Apogee, has built in
nebular filters. As new. $150
•
Astroscan Edmund Scientific 104mm
wide field. Has 28RKE eyepiece for
3degree field of view. $300
Telescope binocular viewer Denkmeier
Germany 1.25 size, suits all telescopes,
in case with fittings $890
•
76mm x 1200mm EQ Refractor Japan.
With tripod, all fittings, eyepieces etc in
wooden case. $495
•
Telescope pier, steel galv professionally
made1.6m 200mm diameter, comes
Telescope filter set. 21 filters in case
As new, 1.25size. All Japan. Cover all
colours planetary, nebular broadband,
neutral density etc. $450
with square mounting plate $295
•
Telescope/binocular pier Kowa stylesuit
small to large binoculars with tilting
swivel head and round mounting base.
$295
•
Celestron carry case suit C8-C11, Meade
8†, 10†SCT. $250
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Case foam lined air tight suit scopes,
eyepieces, accessories etc 15†x10â€
x8†$200
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60mm refractor, high quality, all
eyepieces, fittings, viewers etc in wooden
case with tripod. $295
If there are any Society members with items they wish to offer for sale to other members, please contact the Editors
Planetary Quiz - Answers
Jupiter
1.
Three times larger
9.
Two other
10.
Europa has water in its upper layer 150 km
2.Hydrogen (86.4%) Helium (13.6%)
Uranus
3.
9.93 hours (fastest of all planets)
1.William Herschel in 1781
4.
Just over 12 years
2.
5.
Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto
3.Hydrogen (82.5%) Helium (15.2%) Methane (2.3%)
6.
Io
4.
Spin axis is 98 degrees Orbit is 84 years
7.
Tidal bulges generate heat inside
5.
Titania and Oberon (Midsummer night’s dream)
8.
year 1665 size 26,000 km x 14,000 km
19 times further from the Sun than the Earth
www.astroNoMy.org.nz
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