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APRIL 2012 ISSUE
Page 6
-9.
THE NIGHT SKY IN APRIL PG 12-13
SETI– IS IT A SCIENCE OR A RELIGION
PG 10-11
THE 2012
PHENOMENON
Page 4-5
Faulkes Tele
scope:
Hints and Ti
ps
PG 16-17
THE LAW OF SPACE
Pages 14-1
5
Editor: Chloe Partridge
Copy Editor: Martin Griffiths
Contributors: Chloe Partridge, Alexander Hunt,
Louisa Connelly
Columnists: Phill Wallace, Martin Griffiths, Sam Whitaker
Faulkes Telescope Images: Sam Whitaker
If you would like to contribute in any way, either by sending us
your Faulkes images, or perhaps even writing an article , then
get in touch, we would love to hear from you.
Editorial Contacts :
EDITORIAL
Astronomy at present is getting more and more difficult due to the increasing lightness of the evenings. However, there are some compensa-tions such as drinking wine whilst sitting in the garden or learning how to produce huge conflagrations whilst lighting the BBQ with stored
petrol….
Anyway, look out for Venus in the Pleiades early this month and hope for a return to the balmy sunny weather we experienced up until this week. For those who want to read through the latest professional papers in astronomy, where better to turn to than the National Astronomy Meeting held in Manchester last week. – news of this event and some wonderful introductions to all things heavenly can be found on their
webpage: http://www.jodrellbank.manchester.ac.uk/meetings/nam2012/
Enjoy the Easter break and don’t be sick with all the choccie eggs you have hidden away…..
IMAGE REFERENCES:
PG4-5. We were warned (2012) - www. Blog spot.com, 2012 Apocalypse - www.mnn.com
PG6-9 Panspermia - www. Ciencialimada.com.ar, Alien picnic - www.steambird.com
PG10-11. SETI - www.realscience.us, SETI@home - Wikicommons, UFO - www.german.china.org.cn
PG12-13. Sky map - www.heavensabove.com, Moon, Corvus, NGC 4361 - Martin Griffiths
PG14-15. Yuri Gagarin - www.untreaty.un.org, Moon landing - www.therelativelyinterestingblog.blogspot.com
PG16-17. NGC 7009, M27, Screen dump - Sam Whitaker.
PG18. Richard. P. Fynman - www.uweanimation.blogspot.com
Alisdair Smith (1978 – 2012)
It is with deep sadness that I report the death of Alisdair Smith, a former student on the Astronomy & Space course here at Glamorgan. He is pictured above examining the Sun during the Exploring the Sky
field school, Andalucia in 2010.
Alisdair obtained a first class honours degree and graduated just last summer. He then went on to take a Master’s course in Paleoanthro-pology at Liverpool University. Sadly he passed away last week. All here at Glamorgan send our heartfelt condolences to his family and will always remember him as a quiet, intelligent and gentle soul with a great sense of humour and an infectious laugh. He will be greatly
missed.
A P R I L 2 0 1 2 I S S U E
GLMAORGAN
ASTRONOMY
C O S M O L O G I C A L N E W S
6 - 9 . A C O S M I C I N H E R I T A N C E
W H E R E D O E S L I F E S T A R T I N T H E U N I V E R S E , A N D H O W D I D I T G E T T H E R E - W A S I T P L A N T E D O R
S P O N T A N E O U S ?
1 2 - 1 3 . T H E N I G H T S K Y I N A P R I L
T H I S M O N T H ’ S N I G H T S K Y R O U N D U P F E A T U R E S T H E C O N S T E L L A T I O N O F C O R V U S A N D A L L T H E L A T E S T P L A N E T A R Y P O S I T I O N S . W A T C H O U T F O R V E N U S C L O S E T O T H E P L E I A D E S I N T H E E A R L Y
P A R T O F A P R I L .
1 0 - 1 1 . I S S E T I A S C I E N C E O R A R E L I -
G I O N
S E T I H A S P R O V I D E D M A N Y C O N T R A V E R S I E S B E T W E E N T H E S C I E N T I F I C A N D R E L I G I O U S C O M M U N I T I E S , H E R E W E E X -
P L O R E T H E Q U E S T I O N , I S S E T I A S C I E N C E , O R R E L I G I O N ?
1 6 - 1 7 . F A U L K E S A M O N T H I N I M -
A G E S
W E T A K E A L O O K A T S O M E F I N A L A D D I T I O N S T O
O U R I M A G E P R O C E S S I N G .
4 - 5 . T H E 2 0 1 2 P H E N O M E N O N
W I L L 2 0 1 2 B E T H E L A S T Y E A R I N H I S T O R Y ? S H O R T A N S W E R : N O . R E A D O N T O F I N D O U T W H Y T H I S B E L I E F I S T O T A L L Y W R O N G . D I S C L A I M E R : I F T H E W O R L D D O E S E N D , Y O U W O N ' T H A V E T I M E T O
T E L L M E I T O L D Y O U S O .
1 6 - 1 7
4 - 5
6 - 9
1 0 - 1 1
1 4 - 1 5 T H E L A W O F S P A C E
A N E X A M I N A T I O N O F T H E L A W S A N D R E G U L A T I O N S O F
O U T E R S P A C E A C T I V I T Y .
Page 4 C O S M O L O G I C A L N E W S
The 2012 Phenomenon
The date is December the 21st 2012. Most people
in the Western world will be doing their final
preparation in order for Christmas, perhaps
hunting down last minute gifts and worrying
about an alarming lack of stuffing for Christ-
mas dinner. Those with a longer view might be
looking forward to a good New Year’s bash in a
week or so. The Church will be holding final
Christmas services and most people will be
looking forward to a long weekend of material
and (for those who care for it) spiritual gain.
Perhaps there is snow falling and children
playing. Altogether, it’s a wonderful time of
year and virtually everyone will be happy, or
trying to make those less fortunate feel better.
And yet, there is a disturbing number of people
who believe that all these preparations for
Christmas won’t be necessary this year, be-
cause those celebrations won’t be happening.
No, I am not talking about a global Grinch con-
spiracy; I am referring to the now-infamous
2012 Phenomenon.
The idea that the world will end, or at least
change drastically in late 2012 has been kicking
around for a while. By now it has penetrated so
far into our society that there are countless
documentaries, TV series and big-budget films
about 2012 and The End Of The World (yes,
capitalisation is required). We are at the point
now where even sensible, rational people be-
lieve in this nonsense. Of course, most of the
time they believe in it until somebody explains
the full facts.
So, what horrible fate does 21/12/2012 have in
store for us? Well, most likely to be death or
destruction or possibly some kind of spiritual
hippi-ness. Either way, most of the ideas stem
from the end of a certain calendar from Latin
America.
The Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar was a
date system widely used in Central America
prior to the arrival of European explorers.
Originally developed by the Olmecs, it was
adopted by the Mayans during their “classical
period” from 250-900 AD (or thereabouts). It’s
broken up into a series of units roughly based
on 20. Days, weeks and years emerged from
the system, culminating in the “b’ak’tun”, equal
to 144,000 days (roughly 394 years).
According to Mayan histories, the Gods made
several attempts at a suitable world. The first
three failed, while the fourth was deemed suit-
able and man was placed in the world. Accord-
ing to the Long Calendar, the previous world
ended after 13 B’ak’tuns (about 5,125 years).
The zero point for the calendar for our present
“fourth world” was set as the end of the third
world and the beginning of the fourth. This zero
date corresponds to the 11th of August 3114 BC.
If we assume that the 4th world lasts as long as
the third, it will “end” on December the 21st
2012 (Mayan date 13.0.0.0.0).
However. There is nothing in Mayan prophecy
(or any other Mesoamerican prophecy) to
Don’t Panic !
Page 5 A P R I L 2 0 1 2 I S S U E
B Y P H I L ‘ S T A R M A N ’
W A L L A C E
suggest that the end of the 13th B’ak’tun would
be a catastrophic event. It would be something
of a celebration for the Mayans of course, ra-
ther like the 2000 celebrations were. The Ma-
yans had a strong notion of great cycles, and it
is likely that they perceived this date as nothing
more than the start of a fresh set of dates, just
like 2000 was.
In fact, there are even some Mayan inscriptions
which refer to dates well beyond 2012. For in-
stance, the Temple of Inscriptions at Palenque
which has a section of text projecting forward
several thousand years past the coronation of a
Mayan ruler, specifically to a date correspond-
ing to 21st of October 4772 AD.
The end of the Long Count calendar has been
known about since the days of Christopher Co-
lumbus, who sparked End Time fears after his
discovery of “most distant lands.” The ideas
remained in the back of societies’ mind until
quite recently. Most specifically, the 70’s.
The 70’s culture led to the emergence of Ameri-
can New Age mysticism, which at its core
contained a bastardised version of Mayan cul-
tural wisdom. The idea that the end of the 13th
B’ak’tun would lead to a great transformation
for mankind rather than apocalyptic destruc-
tion. Since it was dreamt up by hippies, this of
course means a spiritual transformation, gener-
ally expressed in wonderfully grandiose terms
such as “global transformation of conscious-
ness.” This was connected with various astro-
logical beliefs, such as the dawning of the Age of
Aquarius (even though no one is quite certain
when this Age begins).
Another common myth is the idea of a “galactic
alignment” of some kind, even though astrono-
mers have known for years that no alignment
will occur on 21/12/2012. Theorists will often
mention solar precession, where the Sun’s
March equinox position slipping backwards
through the Zodiac by about 1 degree every 72
years. Similarly, they speak of the Sun’s winter
solstice lies currently in Sagittarius, towards
the centre of the Milky Way galaxy. Apparently,
this solstice position will pass through the plane
of the galaxy on 21/12/2012 and that this is
“of great significance.” However, since many of
the originators of such theories confessed to
dreaming of them while using psychedelic mush-
rooms, their reliability is highly questionable.
By today, the damn myth is everywhere. Some
elements of it are too ridiculous for me to bring
myself to elaborate on (Earth being hit by a
previously unknown planet called Nibiru for
instance). There is however a few major ad-
vantages to having such an absurd mysticism
around for those of use who are scientifically
minded. First, it allows us to feel really smug
when destroying such claims in an argument.
And most importantly for students, it can be a
source of great wealth; making bets that we
survive the year is an excellent win-win scenar-
io.
A final word: I mentioned earlier “big budget
films” about the 2012 phenomenon. Most promi-
nent amongst these is the film 2012. If you have
any scientific training or interest; don’t watch it.
It takes the laws of physics and batters them
mercilessly. It also takes plausibility and logis-
tics and murders them and then urinates on
their graves. If however you enjoy watching cool
special effects of Los Angeles falling into the
Pacific, by all means go ahead. We were warned...No, we weren’t!
Page 6 C O S M O L O G I C A L N E W S
P A N P E R M I A N R O O T S
Panspermia is an ancient idea, according to which life arrives from space.
These roots date all the way back to the 5Th
Century BC when the Greek philosopher Anax-
ogoras hypothesised about the “seed of life”
from which all organisms descend, though this
idea did not take true scientific form until the
mid-19th century due to the work of Louis Pas-
teur(1822-1895). His theory of biogenesis had
accumulated so much evidential support that
other alternative theories of spontaneous
generation, like that of Charles Robert Darwin
(1809-1882), where effectively disproven.
Pasteur’s response to proponents of Darwin’s
spontaneous generation was, as told to his
students during a lecture in 1864:
“Gentlemen, I could point to that liquid (in
the flask of sterile culture medium on the table
before him) and say to you, I have taken my
drop of water from the immensity of creation,
and I have taken it full of the elements appro-
priated to the development of inferior beings.
And I wait, I watch, I question it, begging it to
recommence for me the beautiful spectacle of
the first creation. But it is dumb, dumb since
these experiments were begun several years
ago; it is dumb because I have kept it from the
only thing man cannot produce, from the
germs which float in the air, from Life, for Life
is a germ and a germ is Life. Never will the
doctrine of spontaneous generation recover
from the mortal blow of this simple experi-
ment. Know, there is now no circumstance
known in which it can be affirmed that micro-
scopic beings came into the world without
germs, without parents similar to themselves.
Those who affirm it have been duped by illu-
sions, by ill-conducted experiments, spoilt by
errors that they either did not perceive or did
not know how to avoid.”
Pasteur had now left space for new ideas and
thoughts on the question of how life could have
first arisen, which is exactly what began to
happen.
A COSMIC INHERITANCE
A P R I L 2 0 1 2 I S S U E Page 7
A V E H I C L E F O R P A N S P E R M I A
In 1865 the German Physician H.E. Richter was
among some of the first people to argue the
case for Panspermia, saying that it may be
possible for meteors to pick up living cells
from their environments and carry them away,
where in time they may possibly be delivered
to the surface of other worlds. Richter’s idea
accommodated Darwin’s theory of evolution
without having to explain the origin of ‘life’
itself, making Darwin’s theory of spontaneous
generation irrelevant to his own ideas. The
idea that biological material can be transport-
ed around the universe by meteors and other
such objects is subdivided into two categories
by which their destination is determined. Litho-
panspermia is the transfer or spreading of
this biological material from one solar system
to another. Whereas Ballistic Panspermia is a
more specific branch to the Panpermian hy-
pothesis whereby the transfer or spreading of
this biological material is from one planet to
another planet within the same solar system.
Although both these hypothesises rely on the
survival of the biological material from a) the
impact ejection process from the planets
origin, b) space itself, and c) arrival at it des-
tination.
Lithopanspermia was later re visited by William
Thomson (Lord Kelvin) and Hermann Von Helm-
holtz, both of whom reinforced Pasteur’s views
and argued that life came from space. The best
known opinion on this subject though was ex-
pressed in 1871 by Lord Kelvin in his address to
the British Association at Edinburgh, where he
said:
"When two great masses come into collision in
space, it is certain that a large part of each is
melted; but it seems also quite certain that in
many cases a large quantity of debris must be
shot forth in all directions, much of which may
have experienced no greater violence than indi-
vidual pieces of rock experience in a landslip or
in blasting by gunpowder. Should the time when
this earth comes into collision with another
body, comparable in dimensions to itself, be
when it is still clothed as at present with vege-
tation, many great and small fragments carrying
seed and living plants and animals would un-
doubtedly be scattered through space. Hence,
and because we all confidently believe that
there are at present, and have been from time
immemorial, many worlds of life besides our
own, we must regard it as probable in the high-
est degree that there are countless seed-
bearing meteoric stones moving about through
space. If at the present instant no life existed
upon this earth, one such stone falling upon it
might, by what we blindly call natural causes,
lead to its becoming covered with vegetation. I
am fully conscious of the many objections which
may be urged against this hypothesis. I will not
tax your patience further by discussing any of
them on the present occasion. All I maintain is
that I believe them to be all answerable."
L I F E F R O M L I F E
S O L A R S A I L S
However, it was the Swedish chemist Svante
Arrhenius, in 1908, who popularized the concept
of life originating from space, driving it into the
20th century. His theory was different from
previous hypothesises and suggested that radi-
ation pressure from our Sun and other stars
would effectively “blow” microbes from one
place to another within space. He said that the
radiation acts like tiny solar sails, giving mo-
mentum to these microbes, sailing them on the
sea of space to other worlds. This variation on
Panspermia is given the name Direct
Panspermia. Although Arrhenius gave a cau-
tious note at the end of his famous book titled
Worlds in the making: “There is little probability,
though, of our even being able to demonstrate
the correctness of this view by an examination
of seed falling down upon our earth.”, his idea
still promoted a variety of experimental work.
Such as that of Paul Becquerel, who’s worked
showed that bacteria retained their germinating
powers under extreme cold in a vacuum for as
long as two year (conditions which reflect
space). Though, Becquerel soon discovered that
these same strains where killed quickly by ul-
traviolet light, which it would need to survive out
in space in order to harvest life elsewhere.
Therefore , this contributed experimental data
which ultimately cast serious doubt over Arrhe-
nius’s idea of radiation pressure leading to
Panspermia faded from view, not to be revived
for another four decades.
Page 8 C O S M O L O G I C A L N E W S
In the 1960’s Thomas Gold described of anoth-
er way in which life might travel from world to
world, an idea that painted intelligent life stop-
ping by for a picnic and unwittingly not clean-
ing up afterwards, thus leaving behind “bugs”
which then in turn would adapt to their sur-
roundings. What effect these “bugs” may have
on Earth is impossible to predict, but such
considerations are in the minds of scientists.
With the discovery of meteorites on Earth,
which almost certainly have come from the
Moon and Mars, it has become logical to ask
the question of whether one planet can affect
another ballistically. Exchange of mater, in the
form of asteroids, between Mars and the Earth
was very common during the first 800 million
years of Solar System formation. If simple
organisms arose during this time on either of
these planets then there would be a strong
case for the life to have been ballistically
transferred between the two. Some re-
searchers believe that there is already evi-
dence to suggest that life came to Earth bal-
listically from Mars, as in 1996 a meteorite
known as ALH84001 (known to have come
from mars), contained microscopic structure
which resembled that of nanobacteria. Howev-
er, this is not for certain as many experts now
believe that the structure may have been
formed, instead, abiotically from organic mol-
A L I E N P I C N I C
P R E B I O T I C M A T E R I A L
P L A N T I N G T H E S E E D
In 2006 Thomas Dehel also proposed a new
idea for the transportation of life through
space, except his followed on from the con-
cepts of Arrhenius and radiation pressure. He
said that plasmoid ejected from the magneto-
sphere may move spores lifted from the Earths
atmosphere out across interstellar space but,
with such speed that it may reach other condi-
tions right for life even before the spores have
time to be destroyed by ultraviolet light and the
conditions of space. The result of this proposal,
along with scientific back up that showed the
time it would take for radiation pressure to
carry spores of life to another planet , has led
to the idea that microbial capsules could be
sent into space to germinate other planets with
life. It was postulated that these capsules
could take anywhere between 0.1- 1 millions
years to reach other star clusters and be filled
with extremophiles for diverse environments
and cyanobacteria which is similar to early
microorganisms. There is much debate though
over whether deliberate directed Panspermia
is a good idea, although perhaps it would se-
cure the future of life, it may also affect our
own search for extra terrestrial life.
The case for Panspermia is a strong one, with
many branches that have gained measurable
scientific respectability over the years. From
its ever mounting evidence of interplanetary
transfer and its detection of prebiotic material
in the interstellar medium, it would seem only a
matter of time before this hypothesis becomes
fact. No longer embedded in science fiction, but
a reality of how life came to be what it is today.
Whether that be on the solar sail of another
Sun or even as a result of an un-cleaned picnic.
Maybe in the end all will be “vehicles” for
Panspermia, who knows? Though until conclu-
sive evidence is found to support one of
them ,then unfortunately Panspermia will re-
main only a hypothesis , perhaps left to take the
back bench to future ideas...
S U N R I S E O R S U N S E T
Researchers Fred Hoyle and Chadra Wick-
ramasinghe have gone even further and specu-
lated, persistently since the 1970’s, that com-
plex organic substances and perhaps even
primitive organism, may have evolved on the
surface of cosmic dust grains and then been
transported to Earth by comets and meteorites.
There is evidence to support this as prebiotic
material has been detected in interstellar
clouds comets, and meteorites. The extraordi-
nary durability of some extremophiles, bacteri-
al spores, and even exposed DNA, lends cre-
dence to the view that simple life-forms may
have originated between the stars or been
capable of surviving long interstellar journeys
falling from the sky as well as in addition being
manufactured here on Earth.
A P R I L 2 0 1 2 I S S U E Page 9
B Y C H L O E P A R T R I D G E
Page 10 C O S M O L O G I C A L N E W S
Origins of SETI
From the moment humanity stared up towards
the stars, the question of are we alone has
been wondered. It is only in the last century
that scientific research projects have really
begun. SETI is the name given to the research
people and organisations undertake to search
for intelligent life. It is classed as an explora-
tory science searching for any signature of
another technology being used by an alien
civilisation. It uses massive radio telescopes
in an attempt to pick up radio signals. The
official organisation is the SETI institute, which
was founded in in November 1984. It is a non-
profit corporation which originally, in the be-
ginning was funded by the United States gov-
ernment. However now it relies on private
funding.
Projects
Since 1960 there have been a few major re-
search projects carried out by Universities,
NASA and the SETI institute. These include,
Project BETA (1995), a Harvard University
project which scanned billions of radio chan-
nels looking for any profitable data. Project
META (1985) is also a Harvard University ex-
periment, which searches millions of channels
at specific frequencies. NASA’s project - the
High Resolution Microwave Survey (HRMS)
began in October 1992, using two elements; an
all-sky survey and a targeted search. Its pur-
pose was to search for microwave signals
from extra-terrestrial intelligence. However
controversially, it was cancelled after the U.S
congress voted to discontinue its funding for
the NASA’s SETI program. Subsequently, the
SETI institute
intervened and
continued the
targeted search
portion and was
re-launched as
Project Phoenix.
SETI@ home
grabbed public
attention and
interest, and is a widely successful project. It
involves using a programme which can be
downloaded for free by anyone with an inter-
net connection. This then downloads and anal-
yses radio telescope data. To date however,
there has been no confirmation of any detec-
tion of ETI. So is this search for other beings a
futile one?
Opposition
For many, it is their objective opinion that
funding for SETI projects is a waste of time.
SETI is based on assumption. To many, it does
seem likely that life exists elsewhere in the
Universe. But it is another uncertainty wheth-
er this life has evolved to become intelligent.
Even then, how can we be sure that another
civilization which could be millions of years
old, use technology as simple as ours? Gov-
ernment funding is no longer available for SETI
attempts and the financial climate that we now
find ourselves in definitely doesn’t help argue
the case. Science fiction seems to have influ-
enced SETI majorly, maybe even scaring the
public into what the implications of actually
communicating with other civilisations could
bring. The idea of alien invasion can seem all
too real to some. There are a number of polls
suggesting that a high percentage of
SETISETISETISETI One of, if not the biggest question modern science asks is, does
extra-terrestrial intelligent life exist? It may be the stuff of sci-
ence fiction but the topic is hotly debated, creating controversy
between cultures, religion, and the scientific world. So, is the
search for extra-terrestrial life (SETI) a real science, providing
answers to questions we need answering? Or is it a type of fol-
lowing, a religion, in which people are chasing a dream, which
cannot possibly be found, at least in this generation?
A P R I L 2 0 1 2 I S S U E Page 11
Americans believe that UFO’s exist and that
alien abduction has and does occur. It could be
argued that the media has conditioned this way
of thinking. It has led to many civilians into
believing that active SETI projects are danger-
ous and could provoke hostile attacks or con-
tact from alien worlds. However, they seem to
overlook the fact that if contact were to be
made, it would be via some sort of signal, radio
or maybe microwave – if they use that technol-
ogy. Maybe the solution is to educate people
about what SETI actually is and does.
Reactions
What would the possible societal and cultural
effects be if extra-terrestrial life actually exist-
ed? Would it provoke hope or fear amongst our
society? If any of the SETI projects succeeded,
it would most certainly be the biggest discov-
ery in human history, but it could potentially
disrupt humanity’s way of life. There are many
tools which can be used to study our reaction;
psychology, sociology and anthropology to
name a few. There have been a number of soci-
ological studies into the consequences of dis-
covering life. The conclusion of these studies
show that religions would be rocked, but most
would probably openly embrace the idea that
we’re not alone. This could be a popular idea
through the majority of the public. Most people
would be curious, and would want to know
more, there would be little panic or hysteria.
Different societies will be affected differently
because of the diversity in cultures, religions
and morals within them. It has been shown
through human history that an idea that is so
shocking or out of the ordinary takes time to
settle on people’s minds. Such as Copernicus’
heliocentric idea which rejected the notion of
the Earth being at the centre of the Universe,
or Charles Darwin’s’ hypothesis on biological
evolution. It would take a gradual change in
world view for the discovery of ETI to be ac-
cepted, especially as a beneficial concept.
Science or religion?
SETI has some parallels to Religion. But if you
examine what a religion really is; the directed
devotion to an omniscient being or beings and
faith in the absence of material evidence, it
seems unlikely for SETI to be classed in this
area. Yes, there is no solid proof that ETI exists,
and the search for it has given negative results
thus far, but we do have material evidence that
life exists in the Universe…us, human beings
here on Earth. Faith in the scientific method is
what drives SETI followers. Many people follow
the idea maybe because they want to believe
that we are not alone in the Universe. SETI
uses scientific methods to achieve its goal,
therefore is a science. I believe that it’s
very important, if these projects are to con-
tinue, to spend more time and funding on
studying the cultural aspects it could bring.
This may seem a bit premature as we still
don’t know if other intelligent life exists,
however we do know that it is likely and it is
important that we think of the cultural im-
pacts well in advance of the discovery of it.
We need to begin by looking at humanity and
the issue of where our species wants to go in
our own cultural evolution. Understanding our
own will help us in the mutual understanding in
the event of extra-terrestrial contact.
During the past 40 years, SETI has failed to
enhance our knowledge of ETI. But I think to
advocate the termination of any SETI experi-
ment based on discouraging results would not
be in our best interest. The technology we are
using today may seem simple, but it is still in its
infant stages. It will take time and analysis
techniques to improve, so why give up the
search now? It is only the beginning in the
quest for such a monumental discovery. Hu-
manity did not abandon and achieved space
exploration, even after failed attempts. Fur-
thermore, through these ‘failed’ SETI observa-
tions, our understanding of the Universe has
expanded. From the detection of supernova
remnants and the discovery of organic mole-
cules in space, our knowledge has increased.
There are many things we still don’t know about
our universe, but SETI is at least providing
some answers, and so long as it does, it should
continue. It may take hundreds of years or just
a couple we do not know, to achieve likely suc-
cess, but if we do not try at all are chances of
success are zero. Whether you are of religious
or scientific background, everyone is searching
for the reason as to why we are here and what
our place is in this Universe. Therefore any
attempt to find out surely seems worth it?
B Y L O U I S A C O N N O L L Y
Page 12 C O S M O L O G I C A L N E W S
Moon In April:
On the early evening of the 22nd April a very thin crescent Moon will accompany Jupiter in the west. They will be within 2 degrees of each other, yet make a chal-lenging photographic opportunity due to
the light evening.
The Night Sky in AprilThe Night Sky in AprilThe Night Sky in AprilThe Night Sky in April
First quarter: 30th March 29th April
Full: 6th April
Last Quarter: 13th April
New: 21st April
Mercury: Reaches greatest western elongation on the 18th April and is a morning object rising
before the Sun
Venus: Visible in the southwest after dark and still a very bright object though it has passed its greatest eastern elongation. It is magnitude
is a bright -4.4
Mars: Visible in the evening in the east as a red star shining at magnitude -0.4 It has passed opposition but is visible for most of the night nonetheless. A telescope should reveal the
shading of features on its surface though high
magnification is needed.
Jupiter: Moving toward conjunction with the Sun in May, it is a magnitude -1.8 star in the west, which sets around 22:00 in the middle of the month. Its moons and belts are clearly visi-
ble through a telescope
Saturn: Is at opposition on the 15th April and is visible all night It should have a magnitude of 0.7 and the rings are plainly visible through a telescope. Look for the Cassini division in the
rings and any satellites or shadows cast by the
rings.
Uranus: Still in conjunction with the Sun and due to the lighter evenings and shorter nights is not well placed this month it is 2 degrees north of Mercury on the morning of the 22nd
April
Neptune: is a faint morning object in Aquarius shining at magnitude 7.9 but is not well placed
in the bright morning sky.
Although the nights are now much lighter after the spring equinox and the clocks have gone forward, April has many great opportunities to ob-serve as long as the April showers don’t get in the way. The winter constellations are disappearing and the spring sky, full of galaxies, gives a
glorious vision of the great beyond.
Planets in April:
The constellation of Corvus, "the Crow" is one that
is steeped in antiquity, but the many legends re-
garding this bird have been lost in the stream of
time. One such legend records how this bird came
to the aid of Hera, when she and her brother Zeus
were fighting for supremacy over each other.
Zeus killed the bird, but it was reverently placed in
the sky by a grateful but vanquished Hera in hon-
our of its bravery.
Constellation of the month: Corvus
Page 13 A P R I L 2 0 1 2 I S S U E
B Y M A R T I N G R I F F I T H S
The sky in April:
The sky as it would appear at 22:00 on the 1st
It has also been known as a Raven, and a bearer of bad news; Ovid’s Metamorphoses informing us that at one time the bird was silver coloured, but after bringing the great god Apollo news of his lovers infidelity, Apollo turned the bird black. Edgar Allan Poe used this image of the raven and the foreboding that accompanies it in his epic gothic, brooding poem The Raven, describing the despondency experienced over the death of a
loved one:
“Bird or fiend I shrieked upstarting, Get thee back into the tempest of the nights plutonian shore, Leave no black plume as a token of the lie that thou has spoken, Leave my loneliness unbroken, take thy beak from out my heart and quit the bust above my door, quothe the Raven “Nevermore”
Historical associations with this constellation are rife across the Celtic world. None can be as powerfully epitomized as the legend of Bran the Giant from the Welsh folk tales the Mabinogion. Bran is the brother of Branwen, daughter of the sea god Llyr. Branwen is married off to the king of Ireland, but is mistreated, leading to war between the British and Irish. The Irish king Maddolwch is defeated but a poisoned arrow mortally wounds Bran. He asks his followers to cut off his head and bury it in London, with his face to the south to stop the land being invad-ed. In Celtic afterlife beliefs, souls become birds; Bran’s soul becomes a raven and his burial place, Bran’s tumulus, is now the site of the Tower of London. Tradition states if the ravens desert the Tower, the land will fall to
foreign invaders, giving us an entertaining story and direct link back to Bran’s raven as
the ancient Britons knew it.
Corvus is a rather dim constellation comprised of 4 main stars that make up a trapezoid that can be found above the back of Hydra. The star Delta Corvi is the brightest recognizable star in this constellation, and marks the upper right hand corner of the trapezium. Delta Corvi is a wonderful coloured double, conspicuous in a small telescope. The primary is a brilliant white in colour whilst the 8th magnitude companion
is orange.
One of the most famous deep sky objects in the heavens lies right on the northern border of Corvus. This is NGC 4594, the "Sombrero" gal-axy, as it looks like the renowned Mexican head-gear in a small telescope. The object is other-wise known as Messier 104. A good pair of bin-oculars should pick up this fuzz of light against the background stars, but the view through a modest telescope is amazing, the whole galaxy is edge - on and is bisected by a dark dust lane that extends into the darkness of the night on its southern side. NGC 4594 is part of the Virgo cluster but is removed from the central area by many degrees. Its distance is estimat-ed to be in the region of 50 million light years
away.
Within the trapezoid of Corvus there lies a large planetary nebulae, which is of 10th magnitude and is a good target for modest equipment. The nebu-la is known as NGC 4361. The only other object worth hunting for is NGC 4038/39, a pair of
colliding galaxies lying about 90 million light years away. The fascinating aspect of these gal-axies is that the collision has led to the creation of long streamers of stars radiating out into space, which has given rise to the name the "Antennae Galaxy". Corvus is a little low in the sky from the UK but does contain some great deep
sky objects nonetheless.
NGC 4361
Page 14 C O S M O L O G I C A L N E W S
T he Law of space is a fairly obscure
topic. Mostly, it’s because space is
interesting, and law is generally not. In
the same way as you don't think about
the contract formed when you buy a pint, you
also don’t usually think about the law that goes
into launching a satellite into geo-stationary
orbit.
However, space law is not only very important,
it’s also older than you might think. In 1967, the
UK, US and Soviet Union signed what was to
become the first piece of space legislation: the
Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of
States in the Exploration and Use of Outer
Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial
Bodies—or Outer Space Treaty. This Treaty
forms the basis of all space law since, and I
wish to highlight some of its more interesting
propositions.
Who Owns Space?
Property rights in space are a curious thing. In
some ways they exist, in others they are barred
from existing.
The fact that space is primarily a vast nothing-
ness presents a few problems. How do we know
what part of space we own?
One of the few times we can answer this ques-
tion is also the only time formal property rights
exist in space: where that space is directly
above a particular country, i.e. a geo-stationary
orbiting position. Since GSO satellites must
orbit the equator, there are limited ’slots’ which
countries can fill. Without going into too much
property theory, it is hard to think of slots as
being owned, in the same way that you don’t
technically own a parking space you have a
permit for it. In light of this, the 1976 Bogota
Declaration was an attempt by eight countries
on the equator to claim sovereignty over parts
of the GSO. Unsurprisingly, it failed.
Article II of the Outer Space Treaty expressly
provides that “outer space, including the Moon
and other celestial bodies, is not subject to
national appropriation by claim of sovereignty.”
So it is, in fact, technically impossible to own
any part of space. There are two other interest-
ing things to note about Article II. First of all, it
expressly prohibits ownership of the moon or
any other ‘celestial body.’ Like the Antarctic,
space is considered to be ’the common heritage
of man.’ In other words, even if the USA had
wanted to claim ownership of the Moon in 1969,
they couldn’t have.
The second interesting point is that the Article
only mentions national claims to sovereignty.
This theoretically leaves the door open to pri-
vate ownership—something which MoonEs-
tates.com has exploited to full effect. Although
the legal position is unclear, I wouldn’t expect
the law to protect your acre of moon land too
carefully…
Although ownership of space may seem rather
pointless at the moment (bar the novelty factor,
if it can be called that), the question remains of
what might happen when space travel becomes
the norm. Presumably Richard Branson won’t be
able to open his inevitable moon hotel, but I’ll
discuss this in more detail below.
Space Regulation
The ban on property rights seems a pragmatic
compromise to what isn’t really that much of an
issue. The regulation of space, however, is a
fantastic bit of Cold War paranoia mixed with
wild Space Race overambition.
Article IV of the Outer Space Treaty firstly ex-
pressly prohibits the placement of nuclear
weapons or weapons of mass destruction in
orbit. A later Treaty outlawed conventional wea-
ponry. Given that the military potential of space
was probably the spur of the Space Race to
begin with, this makes a lot of sense.
The second provision is rather more prospec-
tive, in that it prohibits the establishment of Yuri Gagarin (right) at the signing of the 1967
Treaty at the UN.
Page 15 A P R I L 2 0 1 2 I S S U E
military bases or fortifications in space, or on
the Moon or other celestial bodies. Once again,
it refers explicitly to states only. So presuma-
bly there is nothing to (legally) prevent a su-
pervillain setting up camp on the moon with a
massive laser.
The fact that military operations are barred in
space, though in part not strictly necessary,
sends out an important message about the
nature of space exploration as a cooperative
endeavour, that space should be considered a
resource for all mankind to share, not a tool of
mutual destruction.
This leads me onto the second strand of space
regulation, that of environmental protection
and scientific transparency. The Treaty impos-
es an obligation on all states to accept liability
for any damage caused due to their space
activity, and to preserve the cleanliness of
space and of celestial bodies. It also forces
nations to disclose “to the greatest extent
feasible” any scientific discovery made, and to
provide assistance to any astronaut or other
person in space, regardless of nationality. This
theme of cooperation goes a long way towards
explaining the lack of property rights as well.
And while it’s all nice and heart-warming, I
predict some problems arising in the future.
The Future of Space Law
Much of the debate surrounding space explo-
ration has been concerned with the future of
mankind as a whole. Once we run out of re-
sources on Earth, we must then turn our gaze
skywards. The problem is that the current
legal position would make it impossible to
exploit the resources available on the Moon,
Mars and beyond. The lack of property rights
and conservation-geared laws would have to
change first.
Perhaps a more pertinent issue is how we will
ever get to the stage where harnessing celes-
tial resources is even within our technological
grasp. With public space programmes being
cut, perhaps its time the UN liberalised the
space industry. Let Google, Branson et al do
the hard work for us. The private space indus-
try is growing—the commercial infrastructure
is there already.
So let’s take a positive outlook on the future of
Space owner ship: Japan will build their space
elevator, Branson will get his lunar hotel and a
proper legal framework of property rights and
concessions for the space industry may be
established.
Talk of earth colonialism may be premature,
let alone the concept of a Solar Federation (or
a Galactic Empire, perhaps…), but with the
development of space law into a coherent body
of legislation to stimulate growth and shared
scientific progress , there’s no reason to think
why we can’t expand beyond our tiny blue
planet.
Not pictured: military fortifications or massive lasers
B Y A L E X A N D E R H U N TB Y A L E X A N D E R H U N TB Y A L E X A N D E R H U N TB Y A L E X A N D E R H U N T
Page 16 C O S M O L O G I C A L N E W S
Hints and tips for improving your images.
NGC
In this installment we will look at some of the final steps in creating the perfect astronomi-
cal images.
After choosing your colour combinations you may find that space isn’t as black as you thought. You can quickly adjust this by Select-ing the Levels option and clicking the inner most brush (below options in the image below). Then click the part of your image that you want to be black, probably the space bit This will then set every pixel of a similar colour and
darker to black.
This may make the main part of your image darker. If so, then use the Magic select tool to highlight the desired piece and use the History tool to turn just that part of the image back to
how it was before hand.
Once you have found the right Levels for your image, we then move on to the High Pass func-tion. For Galaxies, Planetary Nebulae and solar imaging this is a must. This filter sharpens the image, bringing dust lanes, filaments to the foreground of the image. Right Click the image in the layers menu and hit Duplicate. Select the top image and then find Filter on the toolbar. Next, click Other, near the bottom and then High Pass. Depending on how sharp you re-quire your image depends on the radius size.
For astronomical images I find between 0.5
and 4 pixels works best.
Clicking Okay will have made your image go grey with vague outlines of the previous pic-ture. This is supposed to happen. Make sure the High pass layer is selected and then change the Blending mode (Layers menu) from Normal to Overlay and choose how strongly you want to have your image sharpened. Once
this is decided, Flatten the layers.
This process might have resulted in random pixels being sharpened and the appearance of noise in your image. This can be fixed by an
external plugin called Neat Image, that, once downloaded for free, will appear in your Filter menu. This will smooth the random pixels while
leaving the majority of the image sharp.
This is the final in this series of articles and after following all these hints and tips you should now be producing images like the pro-fessionals. If you have any questions, please email them in and I will try and answer them
as best as possible.
Good luck and have fun!
A P R I L 2 0 1 2 I S S U E Page 17
B Y S A M W H I T A K E R
Continuing on from last months look at planetary nebulae, I thought I would share my two favorite, one for its beauty, the other for just being ex-
tremely cool for scientific research.
The Dumbbell Nebula, M27, is the first planetary nebula to be discovered. Charles Messier added this to his catalog in 1764, classifying these distinct objects as planetary nebu-lae, due to the observational similarities they shared with Uranus and Neptune through the small telescopes of the time. It is located in the constellation of Vulpecula, some
1400 light years from the Earth and is around 10,000 years old. Similarly to the Helix Nebula we saw last month, M27 also contains Cometary Knots, though these are far less
obvious and appear to be only at a stage we see in the out
skirts of the Helix.
This image uses the H-Alpha filter, coloured orange, where the OIII and Red filters are both designated blue colouring.
Each filter exposure length is 11 minutes long.
Saturn Nebula, NGC 7009, located in the constellation of Aquarius, was discovered by William Herschel in 1782. It gets its name from the very close superficial resemblance to the planet of which it shares its name. Instead of icy rings however, the halo we see here are jets, expelled from the poles of the dying star. These jets are travelling at over 2000km per second making them some of the fastest moving objects in the universe, and thus making NGC 7009, one of the most dynamically and dramatically changing objects in deep space. The rapid changes in this nebula, in the jets and within the interior fillaments, make it an ideal subject to study the evolution and
death of a star.
Taken with simple RGB and stacked using only the processes I have been through in the last few issues, this took no more than
10 minutes to do.
Dumbbell Nebula
NGC 7009
BSc (Hons) Observational AstronomyBSc (Hons) Observational AstronomyBSc (Hons) Observational AstronomyBSc (Hons) Observational Astronomy
“If I could explain it to the aver-age person, I wouldn't have been worth the Nobel Prize “ - Richard.
P. Feynman
