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Wadhurst Astronomical Society
Newsletter
June 2014
MEETINGS
The meeting was opened by Phil Berry who said that our Chairman John Vale-Taylor was on holiday and in his place he Phil
welcomed our Vice Chairman John Lutkin.
During the recent storms the spire of St Peter and St Paul Church was badly damaged. Now that the repairs are well in hand it was
suggested that a Time Capsule is placed there to be opened in a hundred year’s time and with this in mind the Wadhurst Astronomy
Society together with other societies in Wadhurst has been asked to contribute a couple of pages to help reflect present day life in the
town. Phil said that it would be a good idea to also include a photograph of as many members and guests as possible to be taken at
the June 18th “Open Evening”. This would then be placed in the time capsule together with some information about the Society and
Brian Mills is going to prepare and include a Sky Chart of the night sky at the time of opening of the time capsule on the 29th of June
2114.
At the next meeting called the “Open Evening”, we are invited to bring along telescopes and other astronomy aids that might be of
interest to members. Members of the public are being invited so it should be an interesting meeting with the possibility of passing on
our interest in astronomy to others. Anyone having difficulties with telescopes such as setting them up or other problems should
bring their instruments along and we feel sure someone will be able to help.
Our speaker was then introduced. Eric Gibson is a member of the Committee and has had an active interest in astronomy for 45
years or so and has also been Chairman of Brighton Astronomical Society which sadly no longer exists.
Charles Messier
Eric Gibson
Charles Messier
Eric began by giving a brief account of Charles Messier’s life, born to a poor family on the 26th of June 1730 at Badonviller in France,
and then later worked for a French astronomer Delisle who found him a job in the observatory at the Hôtel de Cluny in Paris. This
was housed in a sheltered platform at the top of an octagonal tower.
It was whilst he was at the observatory that he came across Nicolas Louis Lacaille and Johann Elert Bode. Bode became well known
for his part in developing the Titius-Bode Law that attempted to link mathematically the distances of the planets from the Sun. More
of this later in Brian Mills’ talk.
Eric related some of the observations made by Messier in his early career, such as the transit of Mercury across the face of the Sun
in 1753 and again in 1756, he recorded the total eclipse of the Moon in 1755, and in 1757 he recorded the start of the eclipse of
Jupiter’s second satellite by the giant planet.
Messier was given the job of searching for the predicted return of the comet now known as Halley’s Comet and it was whilst he was
looking that he found his first nebula, the Crab Nebula which is now called M1. From then on he devoted his time to searching for
comets.
He used speculum reflectors with the largest being 7½ – inches in diameter, but all with poor definition. He then changed to a 3½inch achromatic refractor. Eric said that Messier must have been a very good observer because some of the objects he recorded
would have been very difficult to see from Paris, although as he said the skies would have been a lot clearer in those days. He
collected a huge amount of data from his observations including all the possible lunar and solar eclipses and many occultations. He
observed the transits of Jovian moons across the face of Jupiter as well as separately recording the highest and lowest temperatures
every day.
In 1771 he began to compile a catalogue of nebulous objects because he became concerned that they could become confused with
comets. His final Messier catalogue listed a total of 104 objects although not all were discovered by him. During his comet searching
he found at least 13 comets and Eric noted there was some confusion here since there is some evidence that he actually found as
many as 21.
Unfortunately in 1781 Messier met with an accident in Lucerne when he fell into an Ice House and had to recuperate for a year and
never walked properly again but this didn’t stop him observing the transit of Mercury across the Sun.
Even at the age of 71 he still discovered a comet but his eyes were now deteriorating and he also had a stroke which paralysed his
right side. He finally died at the age of 86.
Eric now turned to observing the Messier objects saying that to see most of them, which he has, you would need at least a 6-inch
refractor, and then showed the meeting slides of some examples beginning with M1, the Crab Nebula in Taurus which he described
at being a supernova remnant with a central pulsar with a diameter of just 6 miles. The Super nova is recorded as having been
witnessed by the Chinese in 1054 AD. It has a magnitude of 8.4 and requires really good conditions to see the central star.
M1 The Crab Nebula
M8 The Lagoon
Another image we were shown was of M8, the Lagoon Nebula in Sagittarius which has a magnitude of 6 and is a galactic cluster and
gaseous emission nebula and we were told it is easy to find with a small instrument.
Also in Sagittarius is M17, the Horseshoe nebula, with magnitude 7. Eric said that with averted vision, a great deal of detail can be
seen.
The Great Andromeda Nebula, M31 is a naked eye object and is a spiral galaxy. Also very close to M31 is M32, a dwarf elliptical
galaxy although it has a magnitude of 8.7 and is best observed using a medium sized telescope.
The great nebula in Orion is M42 and is very easily a naked eye object and is the birth place of stars.
Eric showed the impressive Whirlpool spiral galaxy, M51 in Canes; although a faint 8.1 magnitude it needs an 8-inch telescope or
greater to see it. It looks like two objects with a wispy connection between the two stars. He said it isn’t good using high
magnification because of the loss of light.
Another interesting object is the planetary Ring Nebula in Lyra, M57 with a magnitude of 9.3 and can be seen with a small telescope
although Eric said you need a telescope of at least 8-inches to see the bright central star. What we are seeing is in fact a ball of gas
and we are looking through it.
M51 Whirlpool Galaxy
M57 Ring Nebula in Lyra
Finally Eric said that he had taken images of many of the Messier objects using film in his Practica camera. He said that to track the
night sky he had used something called a gas clock. This was a mechanical wind-up clock mechanism that had once been used to
turn the gas in street lamps on and off. They had become redundant and he was able to buy one for a couple of pounds. It had to be
regularly wound up but was capable of driving the camera mount satisfactorily to track the night sky. He said he still has the original
photographic film images.
Snippets from the World of Science
John Wayte
Ceres
Ceres is a dwarf planet in the asteroid belt.
The Inner Planets and the Asteroid Belt
Now you will all remember that the asteroid belt is situated between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, and Ceres is the largest object in
this location of our Solar System.
Well, apparently they have just found water on it! Water jets have been spotted by the ESA space observatory, Hershel. This is
good news because this dwarf planet may have an ice layer beneath its dusty surface.
This is likely to be confirmed when NASA’s Dawn spacecraft arrives in 2015 for a close-up inspection.
Now for something completely different.
We think that our predictions for a Multiverse are a modern idea.
Well, think again, because an English theologian may have unwittingly come up with the idea in 1225! Tom Mcleish of Durham
University applied modern mathematics to translations of an ancient text titled De Luce written by Philosopher Robert Grosseteste.
Turning the Latin words into modern equations the team modelled the process that the philosopher described, to find that yields
exactly the sort of nested-spheres that we theorise on today.
The Rosetta Mission
A number of video clips can be found through Google at various ESA links that explain the progress of the Rosetta Mission and if
members like the idea it is intended to keep a close eye on the mission and include reports in future talks.
The Planets that (probably) Never Were
Brian Mills
This follows on from Brian’s informative talks for beginners introducing the planets in the Solar System, but having described all the
planets, the asteroid belt and Dwarf Planets he now looks at theoretical ‘planets’ that probably never existed.
As early as 1843, Urbain Le Verrier studied Mercury because the planet’s position wasn’t always where it was calculated to be in its
orbit and there was a proposal that there was another body causing this discrepancy and it was given the name Vulcan. Le Verrier
was a mathematician and predicted a transit of Vulcan across the face of the Sun in 1843. But it didn’t happen.
Eventually Le Verrier said that it wasn’t possible to give an explanation although at the time he was using Newton’s laws of planetary
motion. But as Brian said, he was well respected because in 1846, it was he who calculated the existence and position of Neptune.
He had requested Berlin Observatory to look at his calculated position and on the first night, the observatory found Neptune only a
degree from were Le Verrier had asked them to look.
But in 1859 an astronomer, Edmund Lescarbault reported seeing a body transit the Sun and from the data he gave to Le Verrier, Le
Verrier worked out the period, the inclination to the ecliptic and the body’s greatest elongation. With this he felt he could announce
the discovery of Vulcan to the Academy of Science in Paris in 1860.
Numerous accounts of sightings of a body were reported and in 1878 Professor James Watson and Lewis Swift both gave accounts
of observing an object during a total eclipse; Le Verrier had died in 1877. After this nothing else was reported and interest declined.
Brian said that now we know that the discrepancies in the orbit of Mercury can be accounted for through an understanding of
Einstein’s theory of Relativity.
We moved further out to Phaeton, a planet initially thought to exist between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
John Wayte has already referred to the works of Titius and Bode who formulated a law: a = n+4 where a represents the planetary
distance from the Sun, n is a sequence of numbers; 0, 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, 96 starting with 3 and doubling each time, and 4 is a
constant.
Dividing the results by 10 gives the distance in Astronomical Units AUs (1 AU is the distance from the Earth to the Sun), Following
the results we find a sequence of distances that fairly accurately coincide with the distance of the orbits of the planets.
Planet
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Pluto
T-B rule
in AU’s
0.4
0.7
1.0
1.6
2.8
5.2
10.0
19.6
38.8
77.22
Real distance
in AU’s
0.39
0.72
1.00
1.52
2.77
5.20
9.54
19.20
30.06
39.44
% error
2.56 %
2.78 %
0.00 %
5.26 %
1.08 %
0.00 %
4.82 %
2.08 %
29.08 %
95.75 %
At that time only planets out as far as Saturn were known, and the formula worked pretty well for these planets except for the gap
between Mars and Jupiter.
In 1801, Ceres was discovered and then several other bodies at around this distance were also found in what is now known as the
Asteroid Belt. Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers suggested that a large planet had existed there but had fragmented for some
reason.
Brian said modern thought suggests that the Asteroid Belt is what is left over from the accretion disk out of which the planets were
formed but for some reason that material had never come together, perhaps owing to the presence of Jupiter.
The final object Brian spoke of was Planet X.
In 1846, Neptune had been discovered beyond the orbit of Uranus but there were discrepancies still found in Uranus’s orbit. Percival
Lowell founded the observatory at Flagstaff in 1894 and in 1906 began a search of the ecliptic for another body which might be
causing this and which he called Planet X.
Percival Lowell founded the Observatory at Flagstaff in 1894
A few years later he even predicted that the object was 7 Earth masses, was 43 Astronomical Units from the Sun and would have a
magnitude of +12 to +13 but Lowell suddenly died in 1916.
There was a temporary halt in the search for some time whilst Lowell’s equipment was re-purchased from his estate by the
observatory and was resumed again in 1929. The observatory director, Dr Slipher gave Clyde Tombaugh the task of again searching
for Planet X and in 1930 Tombaugh marched into the Director’s office and announced “I have found your Planet X!” and it was named
Pluto although it was much fainter that expected. Once Pluto’s moon, Charon was discovered in 1978 it became possible to
calculate the mass of Pluto so it didn’t explain the discrepancies in the orbit of Uranus after all.
After a fly-by of Neptune in 1989 by Voyager 2 Neptune’s mass was downgraded and this then did explain the anomalies in Uranus’s
orbit. Planet X was Dead!
JUNE MEETING
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Wednesday 18 June 2014 – The Society’s Open Evening which is open to visitors as well as members and is when we are invited
to bring along telescopes and other astronomical equipment to show others or receive help if there are problems.
Meetings begin at 1930 although members are invited to arrive anytime after 1900 as this is a good time to exchange ideas and
discuss problems and also relax before the meeting starts.
The venue as always is the Upper Room of the Methodist Church at the east end of Wadhurst Lower High Street, almost opposite the
entrance to Uplands College. (For those with SatNav – the post code is TN5 6AT)
Everyone is welcome and there is no charge for visitors tonight.
BRITISH ASTRONOMICAL ASSOCIATION SUMMER MEETING
This year, the BAA is holding its Summer meeting at the Christopher Ingold Building at London University, 20 Gordon Street, London
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WC1H 0AJ on Saturday the 12 of July between 10.00 am and 5.00 pm. The meeting is called “Observational Astronomy, Then and
Now; a Legacy of Sir Patrick Moore” with some observational interests of the late Sir Patrick Moore and the techniques being used
today in these same fields.
The meeting is free to members of the BAA. WAS is not affiliated to the BAA so it is £7.50 to non-members but does include entry to
the talks, coffee and biscuits. Pre-booking is necessary for all.
More information can be found on the BAA website at: www.britastro.org/summermeeting2014
FUTURE MEETINGS
Wednesday 16th July – Our Chairman John Vale-Taylor is giving a talk he calls “Cameras to Telescopes”
Saturday 30th of August - we will be holding our annual barbecue. Details to follow but it will be near Wadhurst.
Wednesday 17th September – John Lutkin gives a talk he calls “Infinity and Beyond” - some random thoughts on mathematics in
astronomy,
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Wednesday 15 October – Jan Drozd is giving a talk on “My First Steps in Planetary Imaging”.
SKY NOTES FOR JUNE 2014
Planets
Mercury is just coming to the end of its best evening apparition for this year. On the first of June it may be glimpsed in the west-northwest at an altitude of 13° as soon as the Sun has set. Waiting until the end of civil twilight (Sun 6° below the horizon) will leave
Mercury a little over 6° above the horizon at magnitude +1.4. The planet moves swiftly back towards the Sun and reaches inferior
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conjunction on June 19 . Next month’s morning apparition will be a moderately good one for UK latitudes.
Venus is still a brilliant morning object at magnitude -3.9 although it is not especially well placed. Sunrise at the start of the month
sees Venus 12° above the horizon and almost due east. By the end of the month this has increased to more than 15°, with the Sun in
an identical position in respect of the horizon although Venus is now a little to the north of east. Don’t forget that if you do want to see
this most brilliant of planets you will need to be up early as sunrise is 04.53 at the start of June and 04.50 at the end.
Earth reaches the summer solstice on June 21st at 11.51 BST. At that moment the Sun reaches its northernmost point relative to the
celestial equator and its right ascension is therefore greatest.
Mars is still visible in the evening skies amongst the stars of Virgo although it is growing gradually fainter and its angular size is
decreasing as the distance between it and ourselves increases. Mars is further from the Sun than we are and so takes comparatively
longer to complete an orbit. Having come together for opposition in April, the Earth is now rushing ahead of, and away from, Mars.
The planet is now moving direct (west to east) having reached its second stationary point towards the end of May. It moves briskly
eastwards into Libra and joins Saturn there by the second week of August. For a small constellation, Libra becomes quite congested,
as the two dwarf planets Vesta and Ceres join the party in late August.
By the end of June Mars will be setting by 01.00 BST and will now have reverted to a positive magnitude. A gibbous Moon is nearby
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on the 7 of the month when the two bodies will be a little under 3° apart. The map above shows you how to locate Mars by starting
with the tail of the Plough and drawing a curved line through the bright star Arcturus and on to the fainter Spica in Virgo. Mars is a
little north and west of Spica. Do bear in mind that the map is drawn for the first of the month and Mars is moving closer to Spica as
June wears on.
Jupiter is still visible in the west although at the start of the month it will set before midnight BST whilst by the end it will be lost to the
solar glare. It is in conjunction with the Sun on July 24th before it becomes a morning object later in August. Now is your last chance
to catch a view of the gas giant and see the four Galilean moons.
Saturn rises in daylight and culminates (crosses the meridian) at 23.30 BST at an altitude of 24° as the month begins. By mid-month
it is on the meridian at 22.30 BST. Its elevation might seem rather low for good steady observations to be made, but I’m afraid that in
subsequent years its altitude at opposition will become less and less favourable. In 2019 this poor state of affairs reverses and
successive oppositions see the ringed planet culminating a little higher each year. The planet is moving retrograde (east to west) in
the constellation of Libra, and will continue to do so until July when it resumes direct motion once more. Its current magnitude of +0.2
remains constant throughout the month. The easiest way to find Saturn is to draw a line through the two stars at the rear of the
Plough and continue it until it reaches a group of stars that resembles a back to front question mark. This is the head of Leo. Now
identify the rest of the celestial lion and use the two star at its rear quarters to point you in the general direction of Saturn. Your
imaginary line will pass Mars, but there are no other bright stars in the area until you reach Antares.
(1)Ceres and (4)Vesta are two asteroids that currently reside in Virgo, not far from the magnitude 3.3 star Zeta Virginis. I do not
usually mention them, but the two bodies are currently moving apparently closer together and by early July will be only 10 arcminutes
apart which will be their closest mutual approach since at least the year 1800. Their positions are drawn on the map for the 1st and
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30 of June. Both bodies are visible in binoculars with Ceres being magnitude 8.2 and Vesta magnitude 7.0. If you are unsure how to
find Virgo, follow the directions in the “Mars” section above.
Of course describing Ceres as an asteroid is not strictly correct. It is true that it does reside in the asteroid belt, that area between the
orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter, where it is the largest body known. However, since a ruling by the International Astronomical
Union (IAU) in 2006, Ceres is more correctly known as a Dwarf Planet because it meets the following criteria:•
It is a celestial body in orbit around the Sun
•
It is roughly spherical due to hydrostatic equilibrium
•
It has not cleared its own neighbourhood
•
It is not a satellite
•
Occultation of Mercury
On June 26th at 12.53 BST the almost new Moon will pass in front of the planet Mercury. This will be a difficult (and dangerous)
observation and should not be attempted by the inexperienced. The Moon is only 10° from the Sun so sweeping for the planet with
optical aid must not, under any circumstances, be attempted. The briefest glimpse of the Sun through binoculars or a
telescope could cause permanent blindness. Even experienced observers with accurately aligned go-to telescopes, must check
where the instrument is pointing before committing themselves to the eyepiece. The Moon will appear as the thinnest sliver, whilst
Mercury will be magnitude +2.4 so neither will be easy to find in a daylight sky. The diagram shows the positions of the Moon and
Mercury as the planet disappears at the bright limb and subsequently reappears at the dark limb.
Lunar Occultations
In the table below I’ve listed events for stars down to magnitude 7.0 that occur before midnight although there are many others that
are either of fainter stars or occur at more unsociable hours. DD = disappearance at the dark limb. The column headed “mm”
(millimetres) shows the minimum aperture telescope required for each event. Please remember that the Society has telescopes that
members can borrow, all of which are suitable for the such events.
Times are in BST.
June
rd
3
Time
Star
Mag
Ph
Alt °
% illum.
mm
22.47
Omega Leonis
5.5
DD
15
32
40
Phases of the Moon for June
First ¼
5th
Full
13th
Last ¼
19th
New
27th
ISS
Below are details of passes of the International Space Station (ISS) that occur before midnight and are magnitude -2.0 or brighter.
The details of all passes including those visible from other areas can be found at www.heavens-above.com . Please remember that
the times and directions shown below are for when the ISS is at it’s maximum elevation, so you should go out and look a few
minutes beforehand. Times are in BST.
June
1st
2nd
3rd
3rd
4th
5th
5th
6th
7th
7th
8th
Mag
-3.1
-2.7
-2.2
-3.4
-3.3
-3.0
-3.2
-3.3
-3.4
-3.2
-3.2
Time
23.57
23.08
22.19
23.55
23.06
22.17
23.54
23.05
22.16
23.53
23.03
Alt°
48
35
24
78
61
45
81
89
75
79
78
Az.
SSE
SSE
SE
SSE
SSE
SSE
N
S
SSE
N
N
June
9th
9th
10th
11th
11th
12th
13th
13th
14th
15th
17th
Mag
-3.2
-3.4
-3.3
-3.1
-3.2
-3.3
-3.3
-2.3
-2.8
-3.1
-2.3
Time
22.14
23.51
23.02
22.13
23.49
23.00
22.11
23.47
22.58
22.09
22.07
Alt°
83
84
84
79
55
72
88
30
43
59
33
Az.
N
SSW
N
N
SSW
SSW
SSW
SSW
SSW
SSW
SSW
Iridium Flares
The flares that I’ve listed are magnitude -2.0 or brighter although there are a lot more that are fainter or occur after midnight. If you
wish to see a complete list, or obtain timings for somewhere other than Wadhurst, go to www.heavens-above.com . Remember that
when one of these events is due it is sometimes possible to see the satellite before and after the “flare”, although of course it will be
much fainter at those times. Please note that there are some very bright events in the list this month, namely those on the 10th, 15th
and 21st.
Times are in BST.
June
2nd
6th
8th
10th
15th
16th
Time
23.12
22.57
21.11
22.43
22.22
22.16
Mag.
-5.8
-6.3
-5.9
-7.2
-7.5
-2.9
Alt°
22
29
66
36
44
44
Az.°
26 (NNE)
32 (NNE)
52 (NE)
36 (NE)
41 (NE)
42 (NE)
June
17th
20th
21st
22nd
26th
Time
22.11
22.01
21.55
23.23
23.08
Mag.
-4.3
-3.8
-7.9
-6.1
-2.2
Alt°
46
51
52
19
25
Az.°
43 (NE)
44 (NE)
45 (NE)
23 (NNE)
29 (NNE)
The Night Sky in June (Written for 22.00hrs BST mid month)
Looking north we find Ursa Major to the west of the celestial pole while its smaller relation is standing on its tail and pointing towards
the zenith. Closer to the horizon, the first magnitude star Capella in Auriga, can be seen at an altitude of just 15°. To the east of the
pole are Cassiopeia, Cepheus and Draco, the latter of which is well placed for its twists and turns to be identified, with its head
reaching eastwards to Hercules.
Turning eastwards we find that all three members of the Summer Triangle have risen with the brightest member, Vega, lying due
east. Above Vega is the faint and fairly indistinct constellation of Hercules whilst below it are the small groups of Vulpecula, Sagitta
and Delphinus.
In the south Arcturus in Bootes has just crossed the meridian whilst below it the faint group of stars that form Libra are drawing close
to culminating. The area to the east of Libra contains the large and generally obscure constellations of Ophiuchus and Serpens, the
latter of which is divided into two parts, Serpens Caput and Serpens Cauda. You can use the map above to identify the star groups in
this area by first drawing an imaginary curved line through the end stars in the tail of the Plough. This leads you to Arcturus which you
then use in conjunction with Alphecca (the brightest star in Corona Borealis) to locate Hercules. Then simply follow the dotted lines to
identify neighbouring constellations. Remember that the orientation of the map will vary depending on the time of night and day of the
month that you use it. However, the relationships of the stars will always be the same. It is possible to use the map as late as 22.00 in
mid September providing that you rotate it accordingly.
Looking west it is possible to see the “Twins”, Castor and Pollux, in Gemini some 10° above the horizon. A little higher in the sky
Cancer and Leo are not far from setting, whilst the faint shape of Hydra stretches from the west almost to the south with its
attendants of Crater and Corvus.
Advance warning for July
July 23rd - Perseid meteor shower begins.
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July 5 - Ceres and Vesta only 10’ (ten arcminutes) apart.
Errata
If you read “Astronomy Now” you should ignore the map that forms the double page spread as it appears to be from June last year.
Brian Mills
NASA SPACE PLACE
The Hottest Planet in the Solar System
By Dr. Ethan Siegel
When you think about the four rocky planets in our Solar System—Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars—you probably think about them
in that exact order: sorted by their distance from the Sun. It wouldn't surprise you all that much to learn that the surface of Mercury
reaches daytime temperatures of up to 800 °F (430 °C), while the surface of Mars never gets hotter than 70 °F (20 °C) during
summer at the equator. On both of these worlds, however, temperatures plummet rapidly during the night; Mercury reaches lows of 280 °F (-173 °C) while Mars, despite having a day comparable to Earth's in length, will have a summer's night at the equator freeze to
temperatures of -100 °F (-73 °C).
Those temperature extremes from day-to-night don't happen so severely here on Earth, thanks to our atmosphere that's some 140
times thicker than that of Mars. Our average surface temperature is 57 °F (14 °C), and day-to-night temperature swings are only tens
of degrees. But if our world were completely airless, like Mercury, we'd have day-to-night temperature swings that were hundreds of
degrees. Additionally, our average surface temperature would be significantly colder, at around 0 °F (-18 °C), as our atmosphere
functions like a blanket: trapping a portion of the heat radiated by our planet and making the entire atmosphere more uniform in
temperature.
But it's the second planet from the Sun -- Venus -- that puts the rest of the rocky planets' atmospheres to shame. With an atmosphere
93 times as thick as Earth's, made up almost entirely of carbon dioxide, Venus is the ultimate planetary greenhouse, letting sunlight
in but hanging onto that heat with incredible effectiveness. Despite being nearly twice as far away from the Sun as Mercury, and
hence only receiving 29% the sunlight-per-unit-area, the surface of Venus is a toasty 864 °F (462 °C), with no difference between
day-and-night temperatures! Even though Venus takes hundreds of Earth days to rotate, its winds circumnavigate the entire planet
every four days (with speeds of 220 mph / 360 kph), making day-and-night temperature differences irrelevant.
Catch the hottest planet in our Solar System all spring-and-summer long in the pre-dawn skies, as it waxes towards its full phase,
moving away from the Earth and towards the opposite side of the Sun, which it will finally slip behind in November. A little
atmospheric greenhouse effect seems to be exactly what we need here on Earth, but as much as Venus? No thanks!
Check out these “10 Need-to-Know Things About Venus”:
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Venus.
Kids can learn more about the crazy weather on Venus and other places in the Solar System at NASA’s Space Place:
http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/planet-weather.
Image credit: NASA's Pioneer Venus Orbiter image of Venus's upper-atmosphere clouds as seen in the ultraviolet, 1979.
CONTACTS
General email address to contact the Committee
[email protected]
Chairman
John Vale-Taylor
Secretary & Events
Phil Berry
Treasurer
Mike Wyles
Editor
Geoff Rathbone
Director of Observations
Brian Mills
Committee Members
01892 783544
01959 524727
01732 832691
Paul Treadaway
Jim Cooper
John Lutkin
Eric Gibson
John Wayte
Wadhurst Astronomical Society website:
www.wadhurstastro.co.uk
SAGAS web-sitewww.sagasonline.org.uk
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Any material for inclusion in the July 2014 Newsletter should be with the Editor by June 28 2014