ISS Flybys in October

The International Space Station 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 point object. The times and locations given in the above link will guide you.

NEAS members go to skycamp

A group of society members travelled up to Norfolk at the weekend for the Equinox Sky Camp. Kelling Heath is supposed to have very dark skies and, for one night at least, we were not disappointed – with a swaythe of Milky Way across the sky.

Photo to follow.

New sunspot finally appears

For the first time in months, a significant sunspot is emerging on the Sun.  It is a fast growing active region with two dark cores, each larger in size than the Earth.  The magnetic polarity of the sunspot identifies it as a member of new Sunspot Cycle 24.

Because 2008 has brought so many blank-disced Suns, some observers had wondered when the ongoing deep solar minimum was to end. Today’s new sunspot is an encouraging sign that the 11-year solar cycle is indeed progressing…albeit quite slowly.

This activity might also give the Society something to look at through the new Lunt LS60 solar scope purchased recently.

Society members attend the FAS Convention

Four society members were in attendance at the Federation of Astronomical Societies Convention on Saturday 20th September. The day event was held at the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge and featured talks on a range of subjects:

Prof Barrie Jones - ”The Seach for Extra-Terrestrial Life”

Nik Szymanek – “Photographing the Night Sky”

Dr Andy Fabian – “The Power of Black Holes”

Dr Somak Raychaudhury –  ”Einstein’s Outrageous Legacy”

The day also included a look round the various astronomy trade stands, as well as a trip down to the local American War Cemetary.

Stuart Clark, Tunguska and the AGM

We held a reasonably well attended public meeting last night, featuring both our Annual General Meeting and a lecture by Dr Stuart Clark.

The AGM included a review of past year’s activities and the election of the committee for the coming year (the line-up will be posted on the committee page shortly).

Honorary Vice-President Dr Stuart Clark and outgoing Chairman Roger Humm.

Dr Clark’s talk was about the topic of the 1908 Tunguska event and what the truth was behind the explosion/impact/air burst …. it seems that nobody is 100% sure what happened 100 year ago in Siberia, but the investigation will continue.

Next month’s public meeting will feature a talk by supernovae expert Tom Boles.

September Public Meeting

Our public meeting this month takes place on Wednesday 17th September 2008, and as with every September meeting is a double header – both the AGM and a talk by our Honorary Vice-President Dr Stuart Clark.

At 7:15pm, our Annual General Meeting will begin – a review of the past year from our committee members, your chance to put your views across, and we will elect our new committee.

At 8pm, Dr Clark will be talking about the Tunguska event – 100 years on from the famous air-burst impact by an object from space.

The meeting takes place at the Henry Dixon Hall, Rivenhall End, Witham. For details on this and how to get there, click the Events tab at the top of this page.

NASA in the sky with diamonds

An ESA spacecraft has flown by an asteroid, and imaging has shown it to be a diamond worthy of King Kong’s wedding ring:

It’s asteroid 2867 Steins, as seen by the Rosetta spacecraft when it passed only 800 kilometers away on Friday. It’s a diamond in the rough – asteroids of this size range (~5km across) can theoretically be pretty much any shape, as the gravity of an object that size isn’t strong enough to form the rock into a sphere. However, collisions with other asteroids generally tend to make them roundish so most of the ones we see are either spherical due to random collisions, or potato-shaped (known as “spuds”).

The diamond shape extends all the way around the visible half of Steins – as Rosetta passed the asteroid imaging as it went by, so more than half of Steins was mapped. The shape appears to hold up and It is shaped like a diamond.

Steins has a massive crater on it, spanning 1.5 km of its surface. That’s quite big, and the impact that made it must have been of an impressive scale. If Steins were a solid chunk of rock, an impact that large would have likely shattered it (or covered the body with cracks). It could be that Steins is instead a “rubble pile” – a body made of loose pieces of rock, held together by it’s weak gravity.

Some asteroids have very low density, and astronomers think that these used to be solid bodies, but several collisions has made them a looser body of fragments and empty space – lowering its density.

Asteroid Steins seen from a distance of 800 km, taken by the OSIRIS imaging system from two different perspectives. The effective diameter of the asteroid is 5 km, At the top of the asteroid, a large crater, approximately 1.5-km in size, can be seen. Scientists were amazed that the asteroid survived the impact that was responsible for the crater. Credit: ESA ©2008

The Rosetta mission was launched in 2004 and it’s main science goal is to study the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Rosetta consists of two elements: the Rosetta space probe and the Philae lander, which will be used to make contact with the comet’s surface. The spacecraft will also flyby and examine the asteroid 21 Lutetia in 2010, before making it’s approach to the comet in 2014.

The Large Hadron Collider

Professor Brian Cox is currently referred to as the “rockstar of physics”, which is a big complement considering the stereotypical physicist in minds of most people.

From the get-go you know that Professor Cox is a person you want in your laboratory – he is a tireless advocate of communicating science to the world and his outreach style appeals to many. And you can see why from this excellent lecture he gave at the TED Conference this year:

But as with many modern scientists who are working on cutting-edge research, they are often at the mercy of public misconception, media hype and personal attacks. And recently, along with the mass hysteria surrounding the start of experiments with the Large Hadron Collider this week, we’ve heard news that that some of the physicists involved with the project are receiving threats…and one starts to further lose faith in humanity…

As Professor Cox puts it:- “Anyone who thinks the LHC will destroy the world is a tw*t.”

Early Morning ISS

The International Space Station is again flying over – but you’ll have to be up in the early hours!  From the 9th to the 14th September it will pass overhead in the UK at around 4-5 O’clock in the morning.

If you think you’ll be awake then, see the ISS viewing times for detailed listings.