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FRIENDS OF THE PLANETARIUM NEWSLETTER – AUGUST 2003
In this newsletter we focus on recent achievements and upcoming events in the night sky. Several of
the planetarium’s student volunteer helpers have just returned from overseas trips. Celia Hunter was
selected as one of only two New Zealand students to attend the annual International Space Camp run
by NASA in Huntsville, Alabama. She had a great time playing astronaut for a week and brought
back memories that will last forever. Darian Rhodes and Vickram Udyawer, along with the
planetarium’s director, Gary Sparks, attended the Australian International Space School. Only six
Kiwi students were chosen so out of eight students chosen to attend prestigious overseas events, three
are planetarium volunteers. Not bad, and a real feather in the planetarium’s cap. The planetarium was
also involved in the winter solstice festival in July. The one-man play, “Rocket Man”, was performed
in the actual planetarium dome to small but appreciative audiences and two members of the Hawkes
Bay Astronomical Society delivered the Solstice lectures. The Trustees have recently secured
funding to finish the landscaping at the front entrance of the planetarium. Once complete, there will
be a lovely space outside the lecture theatre for students to sit and enjoy a break. It will also make the
entrance much more attractive to visitors.
On to astronomical August. This is the month for M & M planets. In the western sky just after sunset,
tiny Mercury can be seen near the tail of Leo. It appears like a bright star about 25 degrees above the
horizon. Viewing Mercury is a relatively rare event due to the speed of its orbit and its close
proximity to the Sun. By the end of the month it will have disappeared as it moves behind the Sun.
The real excitement this month is Mars. A study of Mars by Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) finally
confirmed the suggestions by Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1513) and Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) that
the Sun and not the Earth was the centre of our solar system. Kepler discovered that Mars had an
elliptical orbit. This discovery was mainly due to his observation of Mars’ unusual orbital
movements, now known as retrograde motion. Having defined Mars orbit, Kepler went on to work
out the correct positions of the Sun and the known planets. We see Mars every 26 months but due to
the elliptical orbits of the planets, the distance between Earth and Mars varies between 55 million and
100 million kms. at each pass. This year as we swing past Mars, the distance between the two planets
will be just 55,760,000 kms., the closest pass in 60,000 years! Closest approach occurs on August 27
but the viewing is already terrific. Polar caps can be seen on a clear night just with binoculars. If you
know someone with a telescope, give him or her a tap on the shoulder this month. You won’t get a
better opportunity to see Mars for at least another 2000 years. Our fascination with Mars dates back
several thousand years. It has always been associated with war due to its blood red colour. To the
Chaldeans it was Nergal, a warrior hero. To the Greeks, it was Ares, the god of war. The Romans
gave it the name we use today, named also after the god of war. Fast-forward to the late 1800’s and
an Italian astronomer named Schiaparelli. He drew maps of Mars based on his telescopic
observations. He perceived lines running across the surface of Mars, which he called “canali”,
meaning channels. Naturally, the English translated this to mean canals and the general public was
convinced that these canals were made by an advanced civilization. It was around this time that H. G.
Wells wrote “War of the Worlds”. An American, Percival Lowell, became obsessed with Mars and
its “inhabitants”. He spent a lot of money constructing a large observatory and telescope in Arizona
for the sole purpose of observing Mars. He confirmed the existence of the so-called canals and went
on to propose that the Martian civilization was dying out and the canals were a way of bringing water
from the polar caps to the arid equatorial regions. The general public of the early 20th century was
eating this up. Along comes the actor Orson Welles. In 1938 he made a radio broadcast of War of the
Worlds, done to appear as though the Earth had really been invaded by Martians. His “joke”
broadcast caused serious panic and Welles was lucky not to have been arrested. It wasn’t until the
1960’s that spacecraft photographed Mars at close range and laid to rest any thoughts of an advanced
race living on Mars. Four spacecraft are currently on their way to Mars and will surely increase our
knowledge of the once mysterious Red Planet.