2 Astronomy Wise

4 Editor’s Notes

6 Solar Explorer

13 Solar Facts and Figures

14 When Stars go BANG!

18 Availability of Astronomy

CONTENTSVenus 21

AstroCamp 29

Awesome Astronomy 38

The Southern Crosses 40

John Harper’s Sky at Night 44

ON THE COVERCredit - NASAA small coronal mass

ejection blown from

the Sun over 10

hours on the 4th/5th

of December last

year.

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FROM THE EDITOR

4 Astronomy Wise

EditorialEditor in Cheif - David BoodSenior Editors - Edward DuttonImagery Editor - Edward DuttonWriters - Joolz Wright, Liam Edwards, Julian Onions, Andy Devey, Gillian Mallaney, Neville Young, John Harper, Ralph Wilkins

Art & DesignDesign Leader - Edward DuttonDesign Team - Edward Dutton, Robert Watson, Glen Wheeler

Editorial CorrespondenceE-mail: designteam@astronomy wise.com.

Website: astronomy-wise.com.

Advertising Information: David Bood, dbood@astronomywise.com

Subscription Rates: FREE

stronomyWise

As a young astronomer I

always wonder what potential

there is for humanity outside

of our cocoon, Earth. However,

my main concern is whether

or not it will happen in my

lifetime. From recent advance-

ment into the darkness, hu-

manity has really proven what

is available and what can be

achieved using the new tech-

nology and research we collect.

This month’s magazine focuses

on the community. With two

new young writers Liam and

Gillian providing their thoughts

on Astronomy and how we

are educated about science in

our society. I feel there is lack

of enthusiasm in the fields of

science education. I started my

learning in the sciences with

design on the frontier. It was

soon after my schooling that I

thought some topics became

boring. My career path veered

into somewhere different and

I have ended on a path very

different to where I set out.

Education is a difficult topic. If

you enjoy it, you’re more likely

to research it and learn. With

available support, dedication

and opportunity it is possible

to follow your dreams and

achieve what you set out to

achieve.

I hope you all enjoy reading

this month’s magazine and are

looking forward to the release

of our new website on July 1st

2013.

Edward Dutton

Astronomy Wise 5

Astronauts Carl J. Meade and Mark C. Lee test the Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue.Credit - NASA

6 Astronomy Wise

The start of 2013 was expected to be the peak of solar

maximum but up to the beginning of May the Sun has

been very quiet causing a dip in solar activity. This so-

lar maximum is looking like it could be double peaked

with the northern solar hemisphere peaking in 2011

while the last few weeks appear to have confirmed

that the southern hemisphere is about to peak shortly.

This is the weakest solar cycle for a hundred years and

very similar in character to solar cycle No.14. NASA

Science released a short video about this current solar

cycle in March 2013.

May 2013 has shown an uplift in sunspot numbers

and also yielded the first X-class solar flares for 2013

bursting forth from AR1748 in the week commencing

13 May 2013. This started with an X1.7, an X2.8 fol-

lowed by an X3.2 on May 13, and then an X1.2 on May

15. The region then went on to produce an M3.2-class

flare on 17 May that I was able to capture between

09:02 and 09:55UT to make a movie of the event with

my PST while I was hand tracking on an alt-azimuth

mount.

John Stetson of Maine USA was able to capture the

X2.8-class event his excellent images are included

below. I was able to get a short look at it with my PST

through lots of clouds but had no chance of imaging

it – sods law! I am not aware of any Moreton shock

waves being detected from this event. I was able to

capture one such event on 4 March 2012 triggered by

an M2.2-class solar flare.

When large flares release their energy close to the

solar limbs it is possible on occasions to see the

development and plasma flows in huge coronal loop

structures. Here is an example that I captured on the

20 May 2013 associated with an M1.7-class solar flare.

A comparison of the last three solar cycles. Credit - WUWT solar reference page.

This is the NOAA/SWPC Boulder Colorado plot of solar cycle No.24 to April 2013. Credit - NOAA/SWPC

Credit - John Stetson

THE SOLAR EXPLORER By Andy Devey

Solar cycle No.24 is proving to be very different to the predictions?

Astronomy Wise 7

The capture of an X-class solar flare has been a long

time goal that I have. Thus far there have been a

total of 19 during this current solar cycle and we are

already half way through it? To capture such an event

there needs to be an active region [AR] on the earth

facing side of the Sun that has a Delta-class magnetic

field [checking the spaceweather.com site will confirm

this]. The Sun needs to be up in your part of the world

and your equipment needs to be set up with a favour-

able clear sky conditions. These events only last for a

brief period of time and so the probability of catching

one remains fairly low even though I have moved to

southern Spain where there are long sunny days and

lower incidence of cloud cover. I have spent hundreds

of hours on delta-class active regions but no luck as

yet my largest was the loops from an M7.7 and the

flare from an M6.7 event!

The largest solar flares are often referred to as su-

per-flares with an X-ray classification above X10 and

there have been no such events during this present

solar cycle!

Here is a summary of the X-class solar flares for cycle

No 24 [updated 21 May 2013] with the largest being at

the top of the list.

Here is my capture sequence of my first solar shock-

wave. The GONG network captured a stunning solar

shockwave associated with an X6.5-class solar flare on

6 December 2006 from 18:43 to 18:51UT. Click here to see the video.

By participating in solar astronomy you have a unique

opportunity to capture and record a fleeting and

possibly spectacular solar event, so remember – ori-

entate your image correctly and record its date/time

and then you will have so much more than just a great

photo!

If you are considering buying a H-alpha telescope then

don’t delay now is the time to buy! Just beware as this

type of astronomy is extremely addictive and could

easily set you off on a spending spree in pursuit of

ever greater aperture and ever narrower band widths

and so try to stick to your budget!

Have fun with our Sun and enjoy the solar spectacle.

To read more about our Sun please visit:

http://thesolarexplorer.net/

8 Astronomy Wise

The first still from Andy Devey’s eastern limb sequence of these loops on the 20 May 2013 at 08:01UT. Click here to watch this spectacular event.

Astronomy Wise 9

In 1910 British astrophysicist Arthur Eddington sug-

gested the existence of the solar wind, without nam-

ing it, in a footnote to his article on Comet Morehouse

he postulated that the ejected material consisted of

electrons while in his study of this comet he supposed

them to be ions.

In 1919, Frederick Lindemann also suggested that par-

ticles of both polarities, protons as well as electrons,

come from the Sun. Eugene Parker realised that the

heat flowing from the Sun in Chapman’s model and

the comet tail blowing away from the Sun in Bier-

mann’s hypothesis had to be the result of the same

phenomenon, which he termed the “solar wind”.

In 1929 - Robert d’Escourt Atkinson and Fritz Houter-

mans used the measured masses of low-mass ele-

ments and applied Einstein’s discovery [1905] that

E=mc2 to predict that large amounts of energy could

be released by fusing small nuclei together.

Hans Bethe’s work in 1939 showed how nuclear fusion

powers the stars – the source of the Sun’s energy was

finally proven. Bethe won the 1967 Nobel Prize for

physics for this work.

James Stanley Hey laid the basis for the development

of radio astronomy while working on radar technology

for astronomical research. In 1942 he discovered that

the Sun radiates radio waves and also localized for the

first time an extragalactic radio source in the constel-

lation Cygnus.

In 1942 Hannes Alfvén suggests the existence of

electromagnetic-hydromagnetic waves in a paper pub-

lished in Nature. Alfvén waves in plasma are a low-fre-

quency travelling oscillation of the ions and the Sun’s

magnetic field.

Herbert Friedman an American pioneer in the appli-

cation of sounding rockets (an instrument-carrying

rocket designed to take measurements and perform

scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight) to

solar physics and was the first to detect solar X-rays in

1949.

Horace W. Babcock invented and built a number of

astronomical instruments, and in 1953 was the first to

propose the idea of adaptive optics. He specialized in

spectroscopy and the study of magnetic fields of stars.

He proposed the Babcock Model, a theory for the

magnetism of sunspots and in 1961 he proposed the

magnetic cooling of sunspots theory.

In January 1959, the Soviet satellite Luna 1 first directly

observed the solar wind and measured its strength.

Gail Moreton was using time lapse photography at

the Lockheed Solar Observatory when he spotted

the chromospheric signature of a large-scale coronal

shock wave in 1959. These shockwaves now bear his

surname.

In 1960 Robert Leighton, Robert Noyes and George

Simon discover five-minute oscillations by observing

the Doppler shifts of dark lines and they published in

1962. In 1970 Roger K. Ulrich, John Leibacher and Rob-

ert F. Stein deduce from theoretical solar models that

the interior of the Sun could act as resonant acoustic

activity. The solar oscillations can be observed on

the surface of the Sun and can now be used to make

precise measurements of the characteristics of the in-

terior of the Sun. These two factors represent the birth

of Helioseismology.

R Tousey made the first detection of a CME on 14 De-

cember 1971, using the Seventh Orbiting Solar Obser-

vatory (OSO-7). Initially it was thought that the camera

may have failed but the next image showed that the

brighter area had moved away from the Sun.

A Brief History of Solar Astronomy – Part 3By Andy Devey

10 Astronomy Wise

Ken Huggett, founded Solarscope Ltd on the Isle

of Man in 1973 his company uses Laser optics, and

specifically for the manufacture of high quality planar

air-spaced, confocal, solid and tuneable Fabry-Perot

etalon instrumentation. : The Fabry-Perot interferom-

eter consists of two parallel flat semi-transparent mir-

rors separated by a fixed distance. This arrangement

is called an etalon, was designed by Charles Fabry and

Albert Perot in 1897.

Skylab was launched on 14 May 1973 it was the U.S.’s

first space station launched and operated by NASA

it orbited the Earth from 1973 to 1979. Numerous

scientific experiments were conducted aboard Skylab

during its operational life, and crews were using an

X-ray telescope and were able to confirm the existence

of coronal holes on the Sun [areas where the Sun’s

corona – its outer atmosphere is darker, and colder,

and has lower-density plasma than average].

Del Woods founded the DayStar Filter Company in

February 1975. DayStar developed several series of

specialized filters for visual and imaging applications

that became included in most professional solar ob-

servatories and those of amateurs.

The first accurate measurement of the period of hori-

zontal wavelength of the five-minute solar oscillations

was made by Franz-Ludwig Deubner in 1975.

The Solar Maximum Mission satellite (SMM) was de-

signed to investigate solar phenomena and in particu-

larly solar flares. It was launched on February 14, 1980

and it was notable in that its useful life compared with

other similar spacecraft. It was intercepted and main-

tained on the Space Shuttle Challanger in 1984, and in

the shuttle’s payload bay the satellite received mainte-

nance and repairs. The Solar Maximum Mission ended

on December 2, 1989, when the spacecraft re-entered

the Earth’s atmosphere and burned up.

The term heliophysics was first coined in 1981 to

denote the physics of the entire Sun: from centre to

corona.

In 1981 NASA retrieves data from 1978 that shows a

comet diving into the Sun.

In 1990, the Ulysses probe was launched to study the

solar wind from high solar latitudes. All prior obser-

vations had been made at or near the Solar System’s

ecliptic plane.

The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) was

launched on December 2, 1995 to study the Sun with

its 10 instruments and it has discovered over 2400

comets to date. It began normal operations in May

1996. This joint project between the European Space

Agency (ESA) and NASA was originally planned as a

two-year mission, SOHO currently continues to oper-

ate after over seventeen years in space and in Novem-

ber 2012, a mission extension lasting until December

2014 was approved.

In the late 1990s the Ultraviolet Coronal Spectrome-

ter (UVCS) instrument on board the SOHO spacecraft

observed the acceleration region of the fast solar wind

emanating from the poles of the Sun, and found that

the wind accelerates much faster than can be account-

ed for by thermodynamic expansion alone.

David Lunt developed Coronado Filters in 1997; Later

Coronado filters were responsible for launching the

PST [Personal Solar Telescope] in 2004 an introductory

H-Alpha telescope that has massively increased the

numbers of amateur solar astronomers viewing in

the hydrogen-alpha wavelength. Meade Instruments

purchased the company in 2005.

The TRACE (Transition Region and Coronal Explorer)

satellite was launched in April 1998 to allow joint ob-

servations with SOHO during the rising phase of the

solar cycle to sunspot maximum. No transition region

or coronal imager had witnessed the onset and rise

of a solar cycle to image the solar corona and transi-

Astronomy Wise 11

tion region at high angular and temporal resolution.

The TRACE mission obtained its last science image on

2010/06/21 23:56 UT it was replaced by the newer SDO

mission.

The massive solar X-ray flare that occurred on Tuesday

4 November 2003 at the best estimate was an X28.

This flare saturated the X-ray detectors on several

monitoring satellites. This remains the most power-

ful in recorded observational history. The associated

coronal mass ejection (CME) came out of the Sun’s

surface at about 2300 kilometres per second (8.2 mil-

lion km/h). Only part of the CME was directed towards

Earth, since the source region was on the right on the

limb of the Sun as seen from Earth.

On 25 October 2006, NASA launched STEREO, these

are two near-identical spacecraft which from widely

separated points in their orbits are able to produce

the first stereoscopic images and measurements of

CMEs and other solar activity. They orbit the Sun at

distances similar to that of the Earth, with one slightly

ahead of Earth and the other trailing. Their separation

gradually increased so that four years after launch

they were almost diametrically opposite each other in

orbit.

Andrew Lunt, David Lunt’s son founded Lunt Solar

Systems in 2008. They are based at Tucson Arizona

and manufacture a huge range of dedicated solar

telescopes, solar filters and accessories from 35mm to

230mm in diameter.

The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) was launched

on 11 February 2010 and came into operation in the

spring of that year. It has 10 instruments to observe

the Sun in exquisite detail. It is currently planned as a

5-year mission.

There are so many discoveries that have led to our

greater understanding of the Sun and so the decision

has to be made as what to include and what to leave

out. Those above and in the last two issues have been

my personal choice but this article is by no means

exhaustive on this subject and should be considered

only as a framework for further research.

Have fun delving into those archives and enjoy our Sun!

To read more about our Sun please visit:

http://thesolarexplorer.net/

Blue (171 Angstroms) full disk image: The Sun’s mil-lion degree atmosphere taken on Dec. 4 by STEREO’s SECCHI/EUVI telescope. Credit - NASA

12 Astronomy Wise

Astronomy Wise 13

Sun Facts & FiguresBy Gillian Mallaney

Our Sun, Sol, is a small star at the

centre of the Solar System that is

only 8 light minutes away from

Earth. It is an almost perfectly

spherical object made of hot plas-

ma and interwoven by magnetic

fields. To comprehend just how

big the Sun is; it has a diameter

of 1,392,684 km, 109 times that of

Earth.

The Sun formed about 4.6 million

years ago and is currently middle

aged, just like our Earth. It formed

from a gravitational collapse of a

region within a large molecular

cloud. The Suns Stellar Classifi-

cation based on Spectral Class is

a G2V indicating that the surface

temperature is around 5778K

(5505°C) which shows that it is a

gas because no liquid or solid ma-

terials can continue to exist in this

temperature.

The sun is composed of a variety

of gases. Although the sun has no

solid surface it still has a defined

structure. The three interior struc-

tures of the Earth are:

• Core – Centre of the Sun

and 25% of its radius.

• Radiative Zone – Immedi-

ately surrounding the core. 45% of

the radius.

• Convective Zone – The

outermost region of the sun. 30%

of the radius.

Above the surface of the sun is it’s

‘atmosphere’.

• The Photosphere- The

innermost part of the suns atmos-

phere and the only part we can see

from Earth.

• Chromosphere – In-be-

tween the photosphere and the co-

rona. Hotter than the photosphere.

• Corona – The outermost

layer and the hottest. Extends sev-

eral million miles from the chromo-

sphere.

The most recognisable feature on

the sun is the sunspots which ap-

pear to us as a significantly darker

area because of the difference in

temperature; the sunspot being

a lower temperature. Magnetic

fields are associated with sunspots;

where there is intense magnetic

activity it reduces energy trans-

port from the hot interior to the

surface. Sunspots alter and vary

consistently over an 11 year period

known as the solar cycle. At solar

minimum, few sunspots are visible,

occasionally none. As the cycle pro-

gresses, the number of sunspots

increases and move towards the

equator. Sunspots usually occur

in pairs with opposite magnetic

polarity.

Sol, our sun is a main sequence

star and becomes 10% hotter every

billion years. In two to three billion

years, Earth’s oceans will evaporate

and cause a runway greenhouse

effect, similar to Venus. The Sun

is destined to become a red giant

that will swell and engulf almost

all of the inner planets. A red giant

is a star that cools and expands.

It will become so large that it will

begin to destroy the Earth as we

know it.

The Sun will eventually die out

because it does not have enough

sufficient hydrogen reserves to

burn indefinitely. A white hot dwarf

will form from the remaining core

of the sun which will produce very

little light and heat.

For the remaining planets it will be

cold and dark and will never see

Sols light again.

On the 31st of August 2012, a giant prominence on the sun erupted.Credit - NASA / Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)

14 Astronomy Wise

“The star collapses inwards at a huge rate, a good fraction of the speed of light in fact.”

I mentioned briefly last time what happens

when stars die, mentioning in passing that

big stars often go off with a bang. The sub-

ject here though is the detail of what hap-

pens when stars of with a bang.

Firstly, the scale of these explosions are

quite staggering. A star going supernova in

our galaxy will be quite a sight, and there

are several good candidates locally - Be-

telgeuse in Orion being a prime example.

Supernovas tend to go off about once every

100 years per galaxy, and we haven’t had a

local one since 1604 (Kepler’s supernova),

and before that there were well observed

ones in 1572, 1181, 1054, and 1006 - so we

are well overdue for one. If it happens it may

galaxy types and a number of other cases

all of which made sense once, but now with

more knowledge are either less useful or

downright confusing.

So supernovas were first classified by their

spectral signature. There were type I super-

novae, which show no signs of hydrogen

in the spectrum, and type II which show

hydrogen. So OK - that sounds fair enough

so far, you’d expect hydrogen generally, it’s

the most commonest thing around, so it is a

reasonable thing to split on.

Next there were different sorts of lines that

were apparent in type 1 supernovae spectra.

Type 1a shows a line indicating the element

silicon is involved, type 1b has a helium

signature, and type 1c doesn’t show much of

either.

Type II’s started to break ranks too. There

are type IIp’s which explode and then have

a plateau in their light signature where the

brightness fades, then stays the same for a

while, before ultimately fading again. The

type II-l has a linear decay (sort of constant

de-lighting so to speak) in contrast. The type

IIn shows narrow lines in the spectrum, and

the type II-b starts off like the others but

looks like a type I-b after a while.

Confused yet?

well be visible during the day, competing

with the Sun. When we see them go off in

nearby galaxies they are often brighter than

the entire galaxy of 10 billion stars or more,

for a short time.

First, there are 5 - or possibly 6, or maybe

more, types of supernova. With a lot of

astronomy we are stuck with history, annoy-

ingly so in a lot of cases. I could go off on

one about magnitudes, stellar classification,

When Stars Go BANG!By Julian Onions

Top Image: Before and after galaxies show-ing how bright supernovae are.Credit - NASA

Well if you’re not confused yet, then let me

throw another confounding thing into the

Graph: Type II-p and II-l light curves over time. Credit - Paul Smith via Wiki-pedia

Astronomy Wise 15

than generated. Firstly lots of intense light

is generated that splits up a lot of the heavy

elements built up so far back into helium

and hydrogen. The core collapses, com-

pressed by all this infalling material, getting

squashed into huge density. Such a force ac-

tually pushes electrons into protons, turning

them into neutrons, and so making a neu-

tron star at the centre. This produces a huge

number of neutrinos, those ghostly parti-

cles that hardly ever deign to interact with

normal matter. However SO many neutrinos

are made (maybe 1058 - yes that IS 1 with

58 0’s after it) that even though they hardly

ever interact with normal matter - with that

number present they have an effect pushing

out material.

The material then “bounces” off this solid

core, exploding outward running into the

gas that has started to fall in with a mighty

collision. They tussle it out for a while, but

Top Image: Artists impres-sion of a Supernova. Credit - NASA

mix. All the above types have basically the

same cause, except for the type I-a. All the

others, the type I-b and type I-c and all the

type II’s are caused by a giant star collapsing

at the end of its life.

These are massive stars, in hydrostatic equi-

librium as it’s known. This means that the

star wants to collapse due to its gravity, but

also wants to expand because of the heat

produced from fusion. So it settles down to

an uneasy equilibrium where the pressure

outwards is exactly equal to the force of

gravity inwards. Then the fire goes out, and

gravity takes over. It takes over with a rush!

The star collapses inwards at a huge rate - a

good fraction of the speed of light in fact.

One second the iron core is maybe the size

of the Earth, the next second it is the size of

something just slightly bigger than the M25.

During this time energy is consumed rather

Bottom Image: Crab nebula - the remains of supernova that went off in 1054. Credit - NASA

16 Astronomy Wise

the huge numbers of neutrinos passing

through heat up the material. Perhaps heat

up is the wrong word, they actively fry the

material which means the outward forces

now win. There is violent nuclear fusion,

making new elements by the r-process

whereby the newly freed neutrons make up

new elements in fractions of a second ( the

r-process - r standing for rapid in contrast to

the slow s-process).

Those watching (hopefully from afar!) would

see first a blast of neutrinos (provided they

had neutrino detectors!) and then a little

later a blast of light, as the explosion finally

makes its way out from the shrouding outer

material.

There are a lot of short lived highly radioac-

tive elements made during this process, and

it’s these that keep the supernova shining

for several weeks.

The brightness peaks, and then slowly di-

minishes. Over the subsequent years, a shell

of expanding material can be seen, until it

looks something like that of the image on

the previous page - the crab nebula.

Although it is the death of the star, it con-

tains the seeds of rebirth. Firstly it scatters

lots of heavy elements into the nearby envi-

ronment, giving the building blocks for rocky

planets and life itself. It also send shocks out

that cause clouds of otherwise stable gas to

start to collapse forming new stars. They are

also important in regulating the life of galax-

ies as a whole. So - part of the circle of life.

I skipped over the type 1a supernova - they

have quite a different process of going off,

and one that is extremely useful for astrono-

mers - so I’ll defer that to another article.

Image: Kepler’s Super-nova Remnant In Visible, X-Ray and Infrared Light. Credit - NASA

“Newly freed neutrons make up new elements in fractions of a second.”

Astronomy Wise 17

*Page Break Text*

*Description or annotation of image*

18 Astronomy Wise

Astronomy being introduced in Schools

Just think for a minute of where your interest in space came

from. Whether it was from a TV show, a film, looking at the

night sky or even science class, it developed from some-

where. Space and Astronomy have long been considered an

interest of wonder, fear and excitement in the science curric-

ulum, depending on prior knowledge, extent of self-teaching

and how it was taught in class, if it was taught to you in class.

Osborne and Collins (2000) came to the conclusion in their

study of attitudes to science in school that; “The one topic

[among the sciences] that generated universal enthusiasm

was any study of astronomy”. The results of this study led

to the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council to

commission Martin Barstow of the University of Leicester to

review and report on the use of astronomy in UK schools.

With such media outlets as Stargazing Live, presented by Bri-

an Cox, peaking at prime time the levels of interest of astron-

omy are developing a various ages. GSCE science students

can learn about a variety of things including; electromagnetic

spectrum, compare and contrasting views of the sun and the

milky way in the Royal Observatory’s Colour and wavelengths

in space activity, rotational periods of the sun, planet Earth,

the Moon and Sun, the Solar System and Stars and Galaxies.

Carl Rutter, a student from Darlington, has a small interest

in astronomy but has never been able to pursue his interest

through the education system. He says; “I think it’s an impor-

tant part of the human experience to understand how the

universe works and pay more insight into the world beyond

your front garden”.

Astronomy is a subject that touches up on history, religions

and cultures globally as well as moral/ethical issues. The

specification to teach Astronomy in the UK has been updated

to include the latest news about space, not just the basics.

Since 2011, GCSE and astronomy teaching has been sup-

ported by the Royal Astronomical Society and numbers of

candidates participating in GCSE Astronomy are predicted to

exceed 5000 in upcoming years.

Schools and AstronomyBy Gillian Mallaney

Availability of Astronomy to young people

Astronomy, as I’m sure you all know, is the study of

everything outside of Earth’s atmosphere. All of space

is included within this parameter so astronomy is a

very widespread branch of physics. However, it has

been brought to my attention over the past few years

that astronomy is far from accessible to young people.

I believe this needs to change..

Firstly I’d like to start off by telling you my story and

how I became interested in astronomy. I’ve been an

inquisitive and curious soul for all my life, I’ve loved

finding out about the world around me and how

everything works. As any normal child I wanted to be

a lot of things when I grew up. Firstly I wanted to be

a palaeontologist and study the long dead remains

of dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures. Then I found

a love for marine biology after visiting SeaWorld in

Orlando, Florida in 2007. I bought loads of books to

Availability of AstronomyBy Liam Edwards

Teaching and learning even happens on the ISS.

Credit - NASA

Astronomy Wise 19

Teaching and learning even happens on the ISS.

Credit - NASA

do with marine biology – most of them I still have to

this day because I still have a hidden passion for the

field. At the time, physics was my worst subject and

biology was my favourite. I absolutely hated physics

(especially forces and motion) whereby the most I ever

received in a physics test was 46%. However, all of that

was to change when one Professor Brian Cox and one

Dara O’Briain presented the first series of Stargazing

LIVE on the BBC in January of 2011. From that point

onwards I was hooked on astronomy. I bought books,

DVD’s, apps, notes – anything to do with astronomy

just so I could try and satisfy my insatiable thirst for

knowledge. As my knowledge increased I became in-

terested in more areas of physics that I previously had

thought impossible to understand and comprehend

such as quantum mechanics and particle physics.

Whilst I was discovering my passion for astronomy I

noticed that there wasn’t a lot of firsthand information

for people just starting out in astronomy. You could

buy books and watch videos on the internet etc. and

just simply learn them inside out, but that doesn’t

make an ounce of difference until you actually get out

there with a telescope (or a pair of binoculars) and do

some stargazing – something that guide books and

websites don’t tell you to do straight away. When I

was just starting out, I took the risk of buying my first

telescope very early on and without much research

done into it. This was a risk that proved to be a very

good choice later on as, after my first stargazing

session outside in my grandparents’ back garden, I

was hooked! Nothing quite beats the feeling you get

after a successful night’s stargazing – especially your

first one. This is a feeling that I think everyone should

experience at one point in their lives, preferably early

on in their education because then they’ll be inspired

to pursue a career path into astronomy or physics.

Several famous astronomers agree with this point for

example Neil deGrasse Tyson and the late Carl Sagan.

However, despite the lack of firsthand experience and

knowledge around these days, there are a growing

group of people who wish to destroy the stereotype

that astronomy is only available to do if you have

grand 10m telescopes, these are the astronomical

societies. Astronomical societies are a fantastic way

Expedition 35 Commander Chris Hadfield (left), Roman Romanenko (center), and Tom Marshburn (right) have all

had extense training and education to get to their role the International Space Station. Credit - NASA

20 Astronomy Wise

to make new friends and to learn more about the

universe in which we are a part of. There are several

different astronomical societies and charities scat-

tered around the world (the best being Astronomy

Wise - hehe) and they are all united with one common

goal – to observe the cosmos above our heads. A

worrying fact about astronomical societies is that they

are few and far between. Here in North Wales there is

no astronomical society or community which is a real

shame because astronomical societies are probably

the best places to get inspired and to get involved with

astronomy because practically everyone in astronomi-

cal societies started out with the exact same problems

as young people just getting into it.

When people think about astronomy they immediate-

ly think that you need colossal 10 metre telescopes

to even see some of the planets in our Solar System.

This is a common misconception that I’ll admit I

thought myself before I started out. Then I thought

I’d go on various e-commerce sites to see if they had

any telescopes – this was just after Christmas and

because I didn’t work back then I had a plan of saving

up my pocket money and my Christmas money to

buy a telescope. I genuinely thought I’d have to save

up for months and months before I could afford a

decent one, but then I saw one that was only £20 from

Argos that had a focal length of 360mm and a 50mm

two elements coated achromatic lens. It was a table-

top telescope, a very small one that had 2 eyepieces

(4mm and 20mm). But it was with this telescope that

I first saw the rings of Saturn, the Galilean moons of

Jupiter, the Orion Nebula, the things I believed were

completely out of reach but for only a select group of

people who had a double decker-sized telescope in

orbit around the Earth.

So to concur, in order to get astronomy more available

to younger people, we must first bring these younger

people through the doors of misconceptions and into

the realm of reality whereby beautiful and mystical

things await. With an increased number of amateur

astronomers we can then set our sights on even wider

audiences and eventually lift the whole world’s eyes

up to the skies and the mysteries that wait to be seen.

The voice of the astronomical community must be

louder in order to extend our horizons and invite more

people in, there needs to be an increase in physicists

and scientists alike who have a greater interest in

providing the public with the necessary information

otherwise people trying to start up in astronomy will

suffer and their curiosity for the heavens will ultimate-

ly begin to drain out of their minds due to the lack of

information and inspiration. This is why programmes

like Stargazing LIVE, Horizon, Carl Sagan’s Cosmos

and The Sky at Night are crucial to opening up the

previously mentioned ‘doors of misconception’ up to

the general public. Most importantly young people,

because it’s young people who are the future of this

planet and the role it plays in scientific expansion and

space exploration.

Not all careers lead to becoming an Astronaut, some advance onto engineering spacecraft such as the Orion.

Credit - NASA

Astronomy Wise 21

VenusSome call it the origin of women and some call it a god who encompassed

love and beauty. They say, it’s the closest to our home.

Could We Ever Land On Venus?By Gillian Mallaney

Image Credit - NASA

22 Astronomy Wise

Curling up on the sofa bed, with the blinds drawn

and the door closed just enough to let the light from

the bathroom enter the room; a little girl grabs the

duvet from next to her and opens her Encyclopaedia.

She flicks past everything and slams her hand on the

Universe section. With a massive smile on her face,

she spends the next few hours mesmerised, thumbing

through pages and pages of facts about planets much

more inferior to her own.

I was eight years old when I developed an interest in

space. Even the Seven Wonders of the World couldn’t

hold my interest to this planet. Years later, around the

age of 11, I was grounded for two weeks for sneaking

downstairs in the middle of the night to watch a sci-

ence fantasy television series about a group of astro-

nauts that would spend the rest of their life exploring

the solar system. I cannot recall exact details of what

the show was about; I can only remember the one

memory of sneaking downstairs, sitting with my back

up straight and in front on the television very wide

eyed. I just couldn’t wait for this episode to be re-

corded like all the others because this one was about

Venus.

The History of VenusVenus was named after the Roman Goddess of love

and beauty, is the second planet from the sun and is

often called Earths ‘sister’ planet or ‘twin’. The Baby-

lonians named the planet Ishtar, the manifestation

of womanhood and Goddess of Love. She also played

a key role as a Goddess of War. Although the planets

are similar in size, gravity and bulk composition, they

are very different in nature. Venus is shrouded by an

opaque, yellow tinted, highly toxic layer of sulphuric

acid. These clouds are highly reflective and are the

reason that Venus can be seen so clearly on Earth.

She reaches her maximum brightness shortly before

sunrise and just after sunset. Cultures refer to her as

the ‘morning star’ and the ‘evening star’ because of

these timings.

Although we are lucky to be able to see Venus clear-

ly without the aid of technology or equipment here

on Earth, the thick layers of clouds prevent us from

being able to see her surface. She has the densest

atmosphere of the four inner planets, with a surface

pressure of 92 times that of Earth. Venus consists

mainly of a 90-95% Carbon Dioxide atmosphere. This

gas prevents the heat from the nearby Sun escaping

and raise surface temperatures to 735K (462°C, 863°F).

This makes Venus hotter than Mercury and the hottest

planet in the Solar System; even though she is twice

the distance away from the Sun.

Venus has a very slow rotation, a Venusian Day equals

out to 243 Earth Days and she orbits the sun in only

224.65 Earth days. If you could spend the day on

Venus, you would most certainly realise that the Sun

rises in the East and sets in the West. This is because

unlike the other planets in the Solar System, Venus

rotates on its axis in a clockwise fashion. Venus has a

Astronomy Wise 23

very weak magnetic field, most likely due to her liquid

iron core.

There is a theory that Venus did once have her own

rotating moon, just like our planet. Her moon was also

created by a huge impact with the developing planet,

billions of years ago. In the 17th Century, Giovanni

Cassini reported seeing a moon orbiting Venus. The

moon was named Neith and over the next 200 years

there were numerous reports of sightings. About 10

million years after formation, according to Alex Alemi

and David Stevensons 2006 Study of the early Solar

System, another impact reversed the planets spin

direction and caused the Venusian moon to spiral

towards her at great speed, until eventually the moon

collided with the planet and merged with her.

Almost 1000 impact craters on Venus are evenly dis-

tributed across her surface. On Earth and the Moon,

the impact craters exist but show various signs of deg-

radation, whereas Venus 85% of them are in pristine

condition.

On Earth, the degradation happens a lot faster be-

cause of the atmosphere. Wind and liquid erosion are

the fastest and primary cause of degradation. This

was compared with the Grand Canyon on Earth and

the Valles Marineris on Mars. The Grand Canyon is

shaped, smoothed and altered by the weather and wa-

ter on Earth but the Valles Marineris remains almost

untouched because there is little change in weather

on Mars and only a very thin atmosphere.

Compared to the Earth, Venus’s crater impacts aren’t

as lethal. The dense atmosphere slows objects with

such a force down that most incoming foreign objects

are less than 50 meters in diameter or will burn up

long before they get to hit the surface.

The number of pristine crater impacts indicates that

the planet went under a global resurfacing approxi-

mately 300-600 million years ago. Project Magellan,

also referred to as the Venus Radar Mapper, was

launched on May 4, 1989. The study provided evidence

to help us understand the role of impacts, volcanism

and tectonism in the forming of Venus’s surface struc-

tures. The surface was covered with volcanic matter

and volcanic features, such as plains, small lava domes

and large volcanos. The signs of large plate tectonics,

like the many we have on Earth, are not evident on Ve-

nus. The planet is dominated by global rift zones and

coronae; Venus is unable to sustain such a process

that we have on Earth. Without the plate tectonics, the

planet undergoes a cyclical process in which the man-

tle raises in temperature until they hit a critical level,

thus weakens the crust. Over a period of approximate-

ly 100 million years, subduction occurs and completely

recycles the crust.

Compared to objects such as the Earth and the Moon,

Venus expressed few crater impacts which expressed

to Magallen that the surface was geologically young-

A 3D Perspective view of Gula Mons gathered by MagellanCredit - NASA

24 Astronomy Wise

about 800 million years old.

Venus’ IngredientsThe centre of Venus and the mechanics of the planet

are not known but are predicted to be similar to that

of our own because of the size, density and mass of

Venus. The surface research conducted by missions

such as the Mariner 2 gave us indications that the

inside of Venus is thought to contain a core of metal

3,000km across, this is submerged inside a mantle of

rock 3,000km thick and then covered with a thin crust

of around 50km thick.

Venus most likely contained a lot of water, similar to

Earth, but it all boiled away because she is so close

to Sun. Earth would have suffered the same fate as

Venus if we were positioned any closer to the Sun. The

average temperature on Venus is 461 to 500 °C, since

water boils at 100 °C, it is not possible for water to

exist on the planet. Scientists believe that Venus and

Earth formed in the same way, the same materials

were ‘collected’ and the same process happened to

each. ESA’s Venus Express Spacecraft found that Venus

has a trail ‘blown’ by the solar winds coming from the

sun, the Earth’s magnetosphere protects our atmos-

phere from the sun, channelling the solar wind around

the planet and preventing it from reaching/taking our

atmosphere.

The Earth’s magnetosphere was formed by the large

temperature difference between the outer core and

the inner core. At some point plate tectonics ceased to

exist on Venus and the planet stopped releasing interi-

or heat, without this the convection stopped and took

away the magnetosphere. If we lost ours, we would

lose all of our water too.

Weather on VenusThe Venus Express was the closest thing Venus had to

being a moon. It was launched in 2005 and by 2006/07

it found evidence of the intermittent appearance

indicated a pattern associated with weather activity,

whistler mode waves, the signature of lightning. It is

the only lightning we know of that is not associated

with water clouds but clouds of sulphuric acid. The top

layer of Venus’s clouds take just four days to complete

an orbit of the surface as they travel as hurricane

speeds, making entry of the planet very difficult.

The weather on Venus is harsh and unpleasant; a lot

worse than Earths Atacama Desert. Earth has four sea-

sons because of the rotation axis ‘set’ at 23 degrees.

Venus has been impacted so much that she has been

flipped almost completely upside down leaving her

with a tilt of just three degrees from the sun, seasons

don’t exist. Whereas on Earth we have a hot summer

and a cold winter, Venus has the most circular orbit in

the entire Solar System, this means that she is pre-

vented from becoming hotter or cooler by moving to-

wards and away from the sun. Also after a lengthy day

(almost an Earth year) you would think that the night

Hubble’s photograph of Venus’ CloudsCredit - NASA

Astronomy Wise 25

Galileo’s Violet and Near Infrared Filter imagesCredit - NASA

26 Astronomy Wise

side would be cooler, but the sun gets little access

to the planet, the blanket of sulphuric acid creates a

greenhouse effect and the high winds move the in-

tense heat around, keeping temperatures only varying

within 100 degrees. All of the planets water has boiled

away and the remaining water particles have been

‘blown’ into space, so you don’t get precipitation (bar

sulphuric acid rain that burns up in the heat before

hitting the surface) or storms like you do on Earth.

There are two ‘cold’ areas of Venus above the acid

clouds in two layers called the mesosphere and the

thermosphere. In Earth’s atmosphere, a circulation

pattern occurs when warm air rises over the equator

and towards the poles, where the air is cooled and

settles. Venus composes the opposite. The winds blow

in a retrograde fashion, they are fastest near the poles

and as you approach the equator, they can die down

to almost nothing.

Our Future on VenusThe impermeable Venusian Clouds once gave writers

the freedom to make up an atmosphere and alien life

forms of Venus. The genre peaked between the 1930s

and 1950s but was quickly put to bed when findings

from the first missions to Venus were made public.

As a result of the harsh conditions, unbearable heat

and crushing surface pressure; a surface colony is

out of the question with current technology. The

atmospheric pressure approximately 50km above

the Venusian surface is similar to Earths according to

Geoffrey Landis, a scientist at NASA’s Glenn Research

Centre. Earth air (nitrogen and oxygen) would be a

lifting mechanism in the Venusian atmosphere. Landis

proposed that the atmosphere at this precise point

was so Earth like, that we could create ‘floating cities’

on Venus where people could live, work and study the

planet below.

He states that humans would not require pressurised

suits when outside just air to breathe and protection

from the sulphuric acid in the atmosphere.

So the possibility of landing and living on Venus is

there. Humans would have to adapt to such a harsh

world and it probably wouldn’t be happening this

century. Landis’ theory is more of a science fiction

novel than a long term goal at present as a lot is still

unknown about the Venusian world but with missions

to Mars and potential Colonisation on the red planet

happening, the dream is becoming more of a possibil-

ity each day.

Venus Colorized Clouds taken by the Galileo Spacecraft Credit - NASA

Astronomy Wise 27

28 Astronomy Wise

Astronomy Wise 29

AstroCamp is back this year with their first bi-annual event with loads of new and exciting stories to be shared.

For more information packed with images, testimonies, future book-ings, astronomy discussion and advice, please visit their website at:

www.astrocamp.org.uk | Facebook | @TheAstroCamp

30 Astronomy Wise

The eagerly anticipated second

AstroCamp finally arrived in early

May and the organisers were espe-

cially excited to be welcoming new

people to the event in the Brecon

Beacons.

The number of bookings increased

by around 50% on the first As-

troCamp in September 2012 and

included people from far-flung

astronomical societies as well as

curious newbies – we were very

keen to welcome everyone, get

to know new people and share

scopes as we pitched tents and set

up a bewildering array of astrono-

my equipment.

The Friday that we arrived and

took over the Cwmdu valley in

the heart of the Black Mountains,

promised poor weather for the

evening– a meteorological set back

that has plagued each and every

star party so far this year – so this

gave us time to get to know each

other, talk astronomy and, more

importantly for some, reconnoitre

the local pub!

But the Saturday heralded a few

sunny patches and hints of star-

gazing weather after sunset. This

was enough of a chance that we

felt confident enough to bring out

the full force of equipment! ‘The

Common’, the open central area in

the campsite designed specifically

to encourage a shared stargazing

experience, suddenly became pop-

ulated with scopes of all shapes

and sizes as we teased out some

lunar detail on the 24% lit waning

crescent moon, resplendent in the

rich blue skies.

Next up, a test of the solar viewing

project. Neil Hawkins from The

Tring Astronomy Centre kindly

.gave us a Lunt hydrogen alpha

scope to use for the event, and we

soon progressed from eyepiece

views to projection of the ‘bear

claw’ shaped sunspot group onto a

plasma screen TV that John Wil-

dridge of the Baker Street Irregular

Astronomers had brought for us to

use. The experiment worked well

and gave dozens of people their

first views of solar prominences,

sunspots and filaments.

But Saturday afternoons at Astro-

Camp are about astronomy talks,

a quiz and giving away prizes!

We filled the pub from alcoves to

rafters and heard a beautifully

illustrated talk from Tom Kerss on

the solar cycle and the predicted

long solar minimum. Then we had

2 quizzes – one for the children

(won by Olivia Williamson from

Winchester) and one for the adults

(won by Barbara Isalska of Man-

chester Astronomical Society). Well

done guys! We don’t make any

money from AstroCamp, and put

every penny of profit into prizes

so, with the help of Simon Bennett

of The Widescreen Centre, we

were able to give away, in total, 2

planispheres, astronomy books, a

sketching kit, space fact cards, 2

AstroCamp CoverageBy Ralph Wilkins

Astronomy Wise 31

pairs of binoculars with tripods, a

Celestron 127 Maksutov goto scope

and a Coronado hydrogen alpha

scope with tripod! Our aim was to

give prizes that could be used right

out of the box and allow people to

use that night. A lot of people left

the pub very happy and not just

because of the excellent beers.

This began a gradual increase in

our fortunes as the weather fore-

casts gave us hope of some clear

skies on Saturday night and we

saw the cloud bands and moons

of Jupiter first. The small refrac-

tors mitigated the atmospheric

shimmer the most to give us lovely

views before we turned our atten-

tion, shortly after, to the beautiful

ringed world, Saturn. Here we

saw the benefit of the longer focal

lengths of the catadioptric scopes

as we picked out the Cassini Divi-

sion in the rings and the majestic

moons Titan, Tethys, Rhea and

Dione. Sharing scopes is such a

fun way to learn about the benefits

of different methods of focusing

the light onto an eyepiece and an

excellent way of socialising.

The sparkling open clusters in

Auriga, Cancer and Cassiopeia

showed us why the contrast of a

dark background sky is so im-

portant to reveal the full beauty

of these star concentrations and

the globular clusters, that are so

plentiful in Spring, stood out as 3D

spheres through the larger scopes

– the 10½” Dobsonian, 9¼” Schmidt

Cassegrain and, the monster in our

midst, Owen Brazell’s 22” Dobso-

nian.

But the clouds rolled in around

midnight and we bided our time

in conversation to see if we could

ride out the weather. A few of us,

having decided around 2am that

enough was enough, were quite

dismayed to hear the next morn-

ing that the skies had perfectly

cleared up less than half an hour

after we’d given up! Those that had

kept the faith were rewarded with

a sight of the Milky Way stretch-

ing away from north to south and

views of summer skies to come:

Lyra and Cygnus showing them the

Ring planetary nebula, the Double

binary star and the Veil and Pelican

Nebulae.

Waking up on Sunday, we set up

the hydrogen alpha scope and

plasma screen once again. We

took videos to process into su-

per-resolution images while people

watched the rotating sunspot

groups and prepared for more

talks in the sunshine. Organis-

ers Paul Hill and Tom Kerss gave

talks on main sequence stars and

Patrick Moore respectively, and we

celebrated Simon Bennett’s 50th

birthday with a cake that would

have overshadowed many a wed-

ding cake! All afternoon Paul and

Tom answered follow up questions

on their talks and we passed a

very pleasant and sunny few hours

engaged in astronomy and cosmol-

ogy discussions.

But the night time stole the show

as the skies remained crystal clear

for as long as we could remain

awake. We started the evening

with the incredibly pleasurable

experience of watching stars pop

into view as the skies darkens. The

gas giant planets Jupiter and then

Saturn emerged from the fading

blue backdrop first. Then bright

Capella in Auriga, then Arcturus in

Bootes, followed by Procyon, Vega,

Betelgeuse… before long the sky is

dark and rather than stars, we’re

picking out deep sky objects with

the naked eye… the Double Cluster

in Perseus, the Beehive Cluster and

later, the vast expanse of the North

America Nebula - we don’t see that

from London!

The Hercules and Serpens globu-

lar clusters and the galaxies that

spanned Leo and Virgo loomed

large in Neil Hawkins’ 11” Schmidt

Cassegrain, while the contrasty

views through the plucky Taka-

hashi 60mm and Matthew Hodg-

son’s twin mounted APMs showed

the refractors can be just as

32 Astronomy Wise

sensational. All views that I feel are

delicately and indelibly etched onto

my retinas.

A few people, myself included,

were taking advantage of the

opportunity to take some images

of the skies too. Tom took wide-

field images around the camp and

into the light-speckled blackness

above. I hunted down the Leo

Triplet, the Great Globular Cluster

in Hercules and Kemble’s Cascade,

while Jupiter and Saturn coaxed

many people into a photographic

keepsake – some who were trying

astrophotography for the 1st time.

It was also warm enough to enjoy

the party atmosphere until late.

The sight of people relaxing on The

Common on airbeds with a drink

in hand as they gazed up into the

skies was a joy to behold. As were

the regular sounds of a ukulele

that floated across the camp from

time to time! The mood was exactly

as we’d planned. Clear skies for

stargazing, help and guidance to

newcomers (a special thank you

to Damien Phillips for all his help

there), a fun and relaxed atmos-

phere and a great social gathering

to learn more about the skies and

techniques to get the best views.

A count of scopes on the Sunday

showed more than 60 pointing

their lenses and mirrors skyward

from The Common, and many

more dotted elsewhere around the

camp site.

We also got the chance to talk to

other astronomy promoters such

as Callum Potter from Astronomy

Now, Andrew Davies from Mid

Cheshire Astronomical Society and

Jim Anning from AstroPub, where

of 3 clear nights at the 2nd, a few

people were suggesting that we’ll

be remembered for being the only

stargazing festival that can guaran-

tee good observing weather – but

we won’t put that on the website,

it’ll only jinx it for next time!

Astronomy Wise 33

we could exchange ideas, promote

new ones and plan more ways to

encourage others to look up. So

you can bet that there will be even

more astronomy outreach endeav-

ours to enjoy in the future.

With each night being clear at

the 1st AstroCamp, and 1½ out

What this event was really about

was a fantastic culmination of the

hard work of the organisers, gra-

cious offers to help the event from

astronomy retailers and, most of

all, the friendliness and enthusi-

asm of the people who booked to

join us at AstroCamp. When a new

astronomy event can be this much

fun - and introduce new people to

practical astronomy – we’d be fool-

ish not to do it all again in autumn

wouldn’t we?

Hopefully we’ll see you all again,

and many more, under clear dark

AstroCamp skies in early Septem-

ber 2013!

34 Astronomy Wise

When asked what AstroCamp was

all about it seemed a little odd

when the words that came out

of my mouth were …”I’m taking

my telescope and my son into

the middle of Wales to spend the

weekend with a bunch of people I

met on the internet”. But that was

basically it. Having never been to

a Star Party, very little knowledge

of the telescope I owned and only

having spoken to the folk I was

going to spend the weekend with

in 140 characters via Twitter...

to say it was daunting is an un-

derstatement! Well, that was last

September and it was so brilliant

I did it all again in May! This time I

was armed with my new telescope,

a Skywatcher Skymax 127 GoTo

(which incidentally, was purchased

with great sound advice of the new

Astro friends I met at AstroCamp

first time around) but I am still

a relative newbie to astronomy

having had very little use of my

scope due to the dreadful winter

weather!

Arrival in Cwmdu on Friday to a

warm welcome from camp organ-

isers was followed by an evening

of clouds, which on hindsight

was perhaps a good thing, giving

everyone chance to pitch up, settle,

catch up with friends and meet

new ones… the local pub optional

of course! Saturday was a social

packed afternoon with an Astro

Pub Quiz for both adults and chil-

dren with the most phenomenal

prizes and a talk on the life cycle

of the sun. Everyone then headed

back to camp for some solar obser-

vation and imaging. A huge screen

was set up at the base with live

streaming of the Sun. Incredible,

especially for the inexperienced so-

lar observers like myself… and the

camp children! The following after-

noon were more talks this time at

the camp so that astros could carry

on solar observing and imaging

and not miss the rare clear skies!

But then it is when dusk begins

to approach that the real magic

happens. The buzz on the central

observing area with astronomers

of all ages and experience setting

up scopes, the general banter

amongst like-minded people, the

first excitement as Jupiter’s first

glow is seen in the sunset just has

to be experienced to be believed.

Then those black velvet skies

descend and a busy night of ob-

servation begins. Voices call out

astronomical objects and people

move from scope to scope by soft

glowing red light to enjoy and

share their views. Then as the

night becomes early morning all

that can be heard is the whirring

of scopes slewing, seeking out

their new targets in the night sky

(with the occasional expletive!) as

the real die hards eek every last

minute of clear sky.

You see, that is the beauty of The

Astrocamp. There are folk there

with equipment to give the Hub-

ble a run for its money, well okay,

not quite but there were some

incredible views at the eyepiece

this weekend. There are imagers

who were guaranteed no interrup-

tions in a corner of the “Hub” or

“Common” as it was affectionately

My AstroCamp ExperienceBy Joolz Wright

Equipment (above) - Much better than CBBC!

Astronomy Wise 35

called. And there are people like

me who just LOVE to view the sky,

happy to soak up the mass of ex-

pertise that was freely given by the

experienced attendees of the camp

and practise my new found skills

with my new scope. My 12 year old

son saw an Iridium Flare for the

first time this weekend along with

many other celestial treats shared

at the eyepiece and I was given

fantastic help on using my DSLR

and scope.

Okay, it may not be the best image

you have ever seen of Saturn… but

it’s my first!

And here’s another amazing thing:

an astronomer I met at the first

camp had upgraded his webcam

so he brought his older one which

he not only gave to me but spent

his Sunday morning giving me a

hands on tutorial, both in imaging,

stacking and processing practicing

on trees! This is the kind of amaz-

ing camaraderie that Astrocamp

fosters. By the end of the week-

end I came away with so much

more knowledge and experience

that could never be gleaned from

a manual, not to mention new

friends!

So there it is. Astrocamp. If you

ever get the chance to go I can

highly recommend it. A place

where memories are made, friend-

ships are formed and knowledge is

freely shared but most of all those

skies...

Saturn (above) - Joolz’s first image of the planet. Equipment (below) - Many telescopes on the day.

36 Astronomy Wise

Astronomy Wise 37

38 Astronomy Wise

Change is underway in Cydonia. The Face on Mars (our

version of Mount Rushmore) is undergoing a revision

to replace Tom’s likeness with that of his successor on

the podcast, Paul.

Since we began recording in April 2012, Tom and I

have been incredibly excited to record an hour of

astronomy news and information each month. It ac-

tually takes around 3 hours to record each hour-long

episode, but much of that is due to deliberate mis-

takes, trying to put each other off and general clown-

ing around. I really would recommend podcasting to

anyone – you just can’t know how much fun recording

is until you give it a go! But we’ve also been delighted

to see that more people have been listening month

on month – this, I think, has really demonstrated to

us just how popular astronomy has become and that

ever more people are keen to learn more about this

incredible universe we live in.

Our favourite part of the show has always been an-

swering astronomy questions that have come into the

programme via the Twitter account (@AwesomeAstro-

Pod) and the Facebook Group, because this allows us

to interact with a wider astronomical community and

get a better understanding of which issues interest

people the most. If you’re interested, exoplanets, Mars

and black holes seem to be the most popular ones!

We started off the podcast last year with Sir Patrick

Moore’s last ever interview (episode 1), talked about

the search for ET with SETI Senior Astronomer Seth

Shostak (episode 3) and closed out 2012 by not suc-

cumbing to the misinterpreted Mayan ‘prophesy’ but,

instead, going on a dark matter hunt with the particle

physicists at Fermilab.

However, Tom has now moved on to pastures new.

He’s left the poor atmosphere on Mars for more as-

tronomy ventures on Earth, but I’m absolutely thrilled

to announce that Paul Hill will take on the mantle of

educating and entertaining on Awesome Astronomy –

the show will go on!

Paul has a long background in education and astron-

omy communication and is one of the keenest visual

observers I know – he’s one of those curious breed of

astronomers that does his imaging with pencil and pa-

per. How very nineteenth century! So he spends more

hours at the eyepiece than is probably wise!

Awesome AstronomyBy Ralph Wilkins

Astronomy Wise 39

Nevertheless, we’re continuing to bring you the latest

news in astronomy, planetary science and cosmology

– always delivered with the intention of being engag-

ing to anyone, regardless of their astronomy knowl-

edge. We’ve also kept the Q&A section and an absorb-

ing interview each month (spoiler alert: astronomy

populariser Mark Thompson will be joining us in the

next episode, out on 1st June). But we’ve also added

a section to explain in five minutes those frustrating

concepts in astronomy that can be difficult to under-

stand. Paul started this in episode 11 with his simple

explanation of the Big Bang and he already has ideas

for guides to astrobiology, inflation and many other

exciting astronomy concepts.

Our aim’s still to promote astronomy and deflate any

of the misconceptions or baseless conspiracy theories

that stray into astronomy – okay, don’t ask us about

the Face on Mars. We’re committed to entertaining

with fact-based reporting and if we can’t continue to

entertain you, we’ll break out the tripods and heat-

rays once more and, armed with antibiotics this time…

slowly but surely, we’ll draw our plans against you…

Hear previous episodes, subscribe to the show and

download episode 12 on 1st June here.

40 Astronomy Wise

For viewers in the northern hemisphere at,

say, latitudes between 40⁰ N and 55⁰ N, dur-

ing May the distinctive quadrilateral of Cor-

vus (the Crow) lies low in the southern sky,

with the bright star Spica to the east (left) of

it. There are not many other bright objects in

that part of the sky, (apart from Saturn at the

moment!), but just below the horizon lie a

wealth of bright and interesting sights which

do not rise at the higher northern latitudes.

These sights include what are known to

southern sky viewers as ‘The Southern Cross-

es’ – of which there are three.

Southwards of latitude 30⁰ north (e.g Cairo),

the Southern Cross itself (Crux) becomes

visible below Corvus. The further south one

travels, the higher in the sky Corvus and

Crux become, and it can then be seen that

the long axis of the Southern Cross, when

extended northwards, points straight at

the Crow. At latitude 26⁰ S (e.g Pretoria),

Corvus passes almost exactly overhead (the

declination of the southern most stars of

Image Credits - Stellarium

The Southern CrossesBy Michael Poll (Pretoria Centre, Astronomical Society of Southern Africa)

Astronomy Wise 41

the quadrilateral is 23⁰ S – declination is the

celestial equivalent of latitude). The declina-

tion boundaries of the Southern Cross are

between 55⁰ S and 65⁰ S so when Corvus

is overhead, the Southern Cross attains its

highest altitude of about 55⁰ for Pretoria,

and stands upright. (The Southern Cross

becomes circumpolar south of 34⁰ S, for

example in Cape Town, Buenos Aires and

Sydney).

The other two crosses are known as the

False Cross and the Diamond Cross, and

they lie to the west of Crux. The False and

Diamond Crosses are asterisms, and not

constellations – the Diamond Cross is wholly

part of Carina the Keel, and the False Cross

is split between stars of Carina, and Vela, the

Sail.

For Pretoria, these groups rise in the early

evenings of late December and early Janu-

ary. The False Cross rises first, so that it is

in the sky before the Southern Cross itself

is visible. (note the Magellanic Clouds to the

right of Canopus). For a first time viewer,

this is where the ‘false’ part may come into

play, but when the Crux rises, the difference

is apparent. Referring to the diagram along-

side it can be seen that the stars of Crux are

brighter, and the constellation itself is small-

er – the axes of Crux are 7⁰ x 4⁰, whereas the

False Cross axes are 9⁰ x 7⁰, and the short

axes slope in the opposite sense to each oth-

er. Given that the stars of Crux are labelled

42 Astronomy Wise

clockwise from Alpha to Delta, starting with

Alpha in the ‘6 o’clock’ position, a fifth star,

Epsilon is easily seen on the line joining Del-

ta and Alpha. The False Cross does not have

an equivalent star.

This diagram above shows the southern

evening sky at 22h00 for mid-May. Consider-

ing that the upper diagram above is for the

end of December, it can be seen how the sky

has rotated around the south celestial pole

from December to May, so that the Diamond

Cross lies to the left of the False Cross in this

diagram.

Crux used to be part of Centaurus – the

constellation of Centaurus surrounds Crux

on three sides. The separation of Crux from

Centaurus is generally attributed to the

French astronomer Augustin Royer in 1679,

although there are suggestions that it was

recognised as a separate constellation at

least a century before this. Alpha Crucis is

a very close double, with a third star close

by. All three stars are a brilliant white. Next

to Beta Crucis is the wonderful open clus-

ter NGC4755 (Caldwell 94). This cluster is

Sir John Herschel’s famous ‘Jewel Box’, so

named because of the variety of colours of

its stars. Gamma Crucis is the only reddish

star of the five brightest stars of Crux, and it

has a line-of-sight companion.

The False Cross and the Diamond Cross were

originally entirely part of the ancient constel-

lation of Argo Navis, which was one of Ptole-

my’s original 48 constellations and was the

largest constellation for about 2000 years. It

is said that the constellation was dismantled

for convenience in the 1750s by the Abbe

Nicolas Louis de la Caille, a French astrono-

mer who worked at the Cape of Good Hope

(Ref 1), but another source suggests that

Argo was broken up by the American Benja-

min Gould in 1879 in order to make this part

of the sky ‘more manageable’ (Ref 2). The

problem with Argo was in cataloguing all the

stars in the constellation. The Millennium

Star Atlas says that there 28 446 stars bright-

er than magnitude 10 in Argo, compared

with the next most populous constellation,

Cygnus, which has about 14 000 stars bright-

er than magnitude 10 (Ref 3).

Image Credits - Stellarium

Astronomy Wise 43

Argo ended up being split into Vela, the Sail;

Carina, the Keel; and Puppis, the Poop Deck.

There is no Alpha or Beta star in Vela - the

brightest star in this constellation is Gamma

Velorum. When Argo was split up, Alpha Ar-

gûs became Alpha Carinae, (a.k.a Canopus)

and Beta Argûs became Beta Carinae (a.k.a

Miaplacidus).

Gamma Velorum is not part of the False

Cross. The stars of this Cross are Delta

and Kappa Velorum, and Epsilon and Iota

Carinae. If the long axis of the False Cross

is extended a little further than Epsilon it

points to the pretty open cluster NGC 2516

(Caldwell 96). This cluster was discovered by

LaCaille in the early 1750s. Its more recent

nickname is the ‘Southern Beehive’.

The Diamond Cross lies between Crux and

the False Cross. It is a symmetrical asterism,

with the stars Beta and Theta of Carina form-

ing the long axis, and Upsilon and Omega of

Carina, the short axis.

At one end of the long axis of the Diamond

Cross, the naked eye star Theta Carinae is

actually the brightest star of a brilliant binoc-

ular or telescopic cluster of blue white stars,

known as the Southern Pleiades (IC 2602,

Caldwell 102). The cluster is very striking

even when viewed against light pollution.

Embedded in the cluster is a very distinctive

asterism of five stars, variously described

as the ‘Five of Diamonds’, or as resembling

a capital Greek letter sigma (Σ), or the letter

‘M’, depending on the orientation of the clus-

ter when viewed.

Taken together these three crosses lie in

one of the richest parts of the Southern

Milky Way. Apart from the deep sky objects

mentioned, there are also numerous other

wonderful sights in this region of the sky.

References1. Rambling

Through

the Skies

E C Krupp

Sky & Telescope

March 1999

p 87

(Note that a

date is mis-

printed in this

reference –

“1763” should

read “1753”)

2. Jason’s Phan-

tom Argonauts

Les Dalrymple

Sky & Telescope

December 2002

p 114

3. Southern

Hemisphere

Sky Fred

Schaaf Sky &

Telescope April

1998 p 88

44 Astronomy Wise

The Night Sky.. By John Harper F.R.A.SAs the month proceeds,

the Sun climbs through

the stars of Taurus until

around 13h on the 21st

when it crosses the

border into Gemini, the

solstice having occurred

on the June 21st at

05h04 The earth-sun

distance is 152, 028,935

km. The solstice marks

the astronomical start of

summer in the northern

hemisphere, and the

beginning of winter in

the southern. Thus takes

place the longest day

and shortest night for

us here in the UK, and

thereafter night length

increases once again. The

season of summer lasts

93.65 days. In the north-

ern UK, there is no true

night, and at astronom-

ical midnight, the sky is

not black but a beautiful

velvet deep blue, merg-

ing to turquoise on the

northern horizon. Don’t

forget to look out for

the ghostly silver-blue

noctilucent clouds in the

north, during the hour

before and after mid-

night, as they catch the

light of the sun, which

is not very far below the

northern horizon at this

time of year.

The Moon

Moon is at apogee

(furthest from the earth)

on the 9th at 21h40, and

perigee on (nearest to

the earth) 23rd, at 11h09.

New Moon occurs on the

8th, at 15h57, when the

moon lies in Taurus, and

3° south of the sun.

First Quarter is on the

16th at 17h24 takes place

on the Leo/Virgo border

4° north of the constel-

lation of Crater, the Cup.

The moon is midway

between Regulus in Leo

and Spica in Virgo.

Full Moon is at 11h33 on

the 23rd, is in the con-

stellation of Sagittarius

not far from Pluto’s cur-

rent position and is the

second lowest Full Moon

of this year.

Last Quarter Moon is on

the 30th at 04h54 in the

constellation of Pisces

5°to the right of the plan-

et Uranus.

The Planets

Mercury’s favourable

evening apparition

continues during the

first half of June, after

which it begins to move

in towards the sun, so

that during the last week

it can no longer be seen.

The planet is beneath the

twin stars of Gemini, Cas-

tor and Pollux. Mercury’s

greatest elongation east

of the sun (24°) takes

place on the 12th. During

the evening of the 10th,

the two-day-old waxing

crescent moon is low in

the WNW sky, 6° below

Mercury. The first object

you are likely to spot

when scanning in the twi-

light is Venus, which on

the day of the moon/Mer-

cury conjunction is some

5° to the right of Mercury

and slightly lower in the

sky. At around 21h, the

two inner planets are

around 10° above the

horizon, beginning to set

an hour later.

Throughout June, Venus

is a bright evening object

in the twilight, setting

about 90 minutes after

the sun. Never visible this

month in a dark sky, the

planet is easily detected

low in the NW because of

its brightness.

Mars rises only 40

minutes before the sun

at the beginning of the

month, but 90 minutes

before it at the end.

Unfortunately because

of the planet’s distance

from the earth, and its

comparative dimness,

combined with bright

June twilight, it is not an

easy object to observe

in Taurus, but if you can

spot the Pleiades when

they are 8° above the NE

horizon at about 03h,

and scan down towards

the horizon to the lower

left of this star cluster,

you may spot Mars ‘twin-

kling’ a couple of degrees

above the horizon.

Jupiter is in conjunction

with the sun during the

late afternoon of the 19th

and so is a very difficult

object to observe due to

its proximity to the latter.

Because of the bright

June twilight, Saturn is

best observed between

23h and 01h, straddling

Astronomy Wise 45

astronomical midnight;

when it may be seen as

a bright star-like object

just over 15° above the

SW horizon at 0h (UT).

As Saturn lies on the

Virgo Libra border, it is

easy to identify, lying as

it does in an area devoid

of bright stars, with the

exception of Spica, some

12° to the left, and lower

down in the sky than

Saturn. Take a look at the

ringed planet through

a small telescope and

delight in the spectacle

of the favourably placed

northern surface of its

ring system. By the end

of the month the planet

sets shortly before 01h.

On the 19th the gibbous

waxing moon passes

south of Saturn and

so when darkness falls

during the night of the

19th/20th, the moon is

some 6° to the lower left

of Saturn.

Uranus in Pisces is still a

difficult object to ob-

serve in the morning sky,

rising as it does in the

brightening twilight after

midnight.

The much fainter planet

Neptune, in Aquarius,

half a degree above

sigma Aquarii, is also

difficult to observe because of brightening twilight, although it lies over 10° above

the SE horizon.

Constellations visible in the south around midnight, mid-month, are as follows:

Ophiuchus, Serpens Cauda, Hercules, and the head of Draco the dragon, which is

near the zenith.

All times are GMT 1° is one finger width at arm’s length.

46 Astronomy Wise

Astronomy Wise 47

48 Astronomy Wise