The Ten Commandments for Amateur Astronomers

1. Thou shalt have no white light before thee, behind thee, or to the side of thee whilst sharing the night sky with thy fellow stargazers.

2. Thou shalt not love thy telescope more than thy spouse or thy children; as much as, maybe, but not more.

3. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s telescope, unless it exceeds in aperture or electronics twice that of your own.

4. Thou shalt not read “Astronomy Now” or “Sky at Night” on company time, for thine employer makes it possible to continue thine astronomy hobby.

5. Thou shalt have at least two telescopes so as to keep thy spouse interested when the same accompanies thee under the night sky or on eclipse expeditions to strange lands where exotic wild animals doth roam freely.

6. Thou shalt not allow either thy sons or thy daughters to get married during the Holy Days of Astrofest.

7. Thou shalt not reveal to thy spouse the true cost of thy telescope collection; only the individual components and that shall be done with great infrequency.

8. Thou shalt not buy thy spouse any lenses, filters, dew shields, maps, charts, or any other optical accessories for Christmas, anniversaries, or birthdays unless thy spouse needs them for their own telescope.

9. Thou shalt not deceive thy spouse into thinking that ye are taking them for a romantic Saturday night drive when indeed thou art heading for a dark-sky site.

10. Thou shalt not store thy telescope in thy living room, dining room, or bedroom, lest thou be sleeping with it full time.

(Source: Anonymous)

Fresh batch of astro-images from members

Below are some new images submitted by Society members. These are only the small version, the full size images are available in the Photo Gallery.

From Adam Hobden, images of an ISS flyby and a Jupiter image:

From David Warrington, another ISS flyby shot and some deep sky images (testing out the new piggyback mount on the observatory telescope):

Abusive Astronomy

http://xkcd.com/

ISS Flybys In July

The ISS is again making frequent passes over the UK over next ten days or so. Click here to see when you can observe it or use the link to the right of this page.

If you have not seen the ISS pass over before – you are looking for a fairly fast moving bright star-like object. The times and locations given in the above link will guide you.

Sky Notes for 19th-22nd July 2008

Saturday 19th July 2008
Mars is 4.8° to the upper left of Saturn. Look for both planets in the west in the evening twilight. This is the last chance to see both planets within 5° of each other. Mars and Saturn are moving away from each other and dropping closer to the western horizon each night. The star Regulus is 6.7° to the lower right of Saturn.

Sunday 20th July 2008
Regulus, Saturn and Mars span 12° in the western evening sky. Look for the three objects in a diagonal line across the sky. Regulus is to the lower right. Mars is to the upper left. Saturn is in the middle. Look about 1 hour after sunset. Saturn is the brightest of the three, shining at 0.8 magnitude. Much brighter at -2.6 is the planet Jupiter in the southeast sky at the same time.

Monday 21st July 2008
The waning gibbous Moon rises in the east near the end of astronomical twilight. The end of astronomical twilight is defined as the time when the Sun is 18° below the horizon. After the end of astronomical twilight, the sky is as dark as it’s going to get. Not counting light pollution from cities, towns and the Moon. Civil and nautical twilights end when the Sun is 6° and 12° below the horizon. During nautical twilight the sky is dark enough to see most of the brighter stars and planets but not the dimmest stars visible in the night time sky.

Tuesday 22nd July 2008
The globular star cluster M-13 is high overhead this evening. M-13 is located in the constellation of Hercules. With binoculars, M-13 looks like a fuzzy star. Through a telescope, the star cluster appears as a swarm of faint stars in the shape of a ball. M-13 is about 25,000 light-years from the Earth. This cluster was discovered by Edmond Halley of Halley’s comet fame in 1714.
The 22nd of July is also Pi Approximation Day!

[ link ]

July’s Public Meeting

On 16th July we welcome the return of Jerry Workman for the second part of his talks about the Hubble Space Telescope. This time Jerry will be talking about the “Hubble Deep Sky Images” ‐ a history of the universe via images taken using the Hubble Space Telescope, as well as an update on the current science data returned from the instrument. The giant spaceborne telescope was put into orbit to collect information
about a large variety of astronomical objects , from neighbouring planets and stars, nebulae and star forming regions, to the most distant galaxies and quasars.

One of the most famous images from the HST is the “Pillars of Creation” ‐ a gaseous region of the Eagle Nebula where stars are forming. Such images have not only proven vital to research but have also acted as a public relations boost for astronomy.

All are welcome to the public meeting which takes place at the Henry Dixon Hall, Rivenhall End on Wednesday 16th July. Doors open at 7:30pm for an 8pm start. Don’t forget to buy raffle tickets.

Top 5 Space News (12th July)

These are the top stories from the Digg Space category for the week ending Saturday 12th of July 2008:

1 Spot the Space Station

If you’re out watching the skies regularly you’ll often see a few “moving stars.” They are most likely artificial satellites. The brightest of all is the International Space Station, and this month provides some great opportunities to see it from just about anywhere. (For current UK-based sighting times, click the link on the right of the page)

2 Pluto Gets Respect: Dwarf Planets to Be Called “Plutoids”

Pluto is finally getting its day in the sun, after being stripped of planetary status by astronomers two years ago. From now on all similar distant bodies in the solar system will be called “plutoids.” That’s the decision by the International Astronomical Union, which met last week in Oslo, Norway, and announced the decision Wednesday.

3 Mystery of the Great Attractor Pulling the Milky Way

Astronomers have known for years that something seems to be pulling our Milky Way and tens of thousands of other galaxies toward itself at a breakneck 14 million miles per hour. But for a long time they’ve been unable to pinpoint exactly what or where it is.

4 Rare “Star-Making Machine” Discovered In a Distant Universe

Astronomers have uncovered an extreme stellar machine — a galaxy in the very remote universe pumping out stars at a surprising rate of up to 4,000 per year. In comparison, our own Milky Way galaxy turns out an average of just 10 stars per year.

5 Discovery of the source of the most common meteorites

Astronomy & Astrophysics is publishing the first discovery of asteroids with a spectrum similar to that of ordinary chondrites, the meteoritic material that most resembles the composition of our Sun. Most of the meteorites that we collect on Earth come from the main belt of asteroids located between Mars and Jupiter, and are a major tool for knowing the history of the solar system.

To find out what other stories are popular right now, click here.

NEAS Awarded Lottery Funding

We have just received news from out Treasurer John Green (who headed up the proposal submission) that the Society has received a sum of over £4000 -funded by the National Lottery through Awards for All.

This grant will allow the Society to further improve the telescope facilities at the observatory.