Newsletter of the Peterborough Astronomical Association The Reflector Volume 14 • Issue 10 December 2015 ISSN 1712-4425 peterboroughastronomy.com twitter.com/PtbAstronomical I t was just over 20 years ago that the very first exoplanet was found and confirmed to be orbiting a star not so different from our own sun. Fast forward to the present day, and the stel- lar wobble method, wherein the gravitational tug of a planet per- turbs a star’s motion, has been surpassed in success by the transit method, wherein a planet tran- sits across the disk of its parent star, blocking a portion of its light in a periodic fashion. Thanks to these methods and nasa’s Kepler spacecraft, we’ve identified many thousands of candidate planets, with nearly 2,000 of them having been confirmed, and their masses and densities measured. ETHAN SEIGEL Images credit: NASA / Kepler Dan Fabricky (L), of a selection of the known Kepler exoplanets; Rebecca G. Martin and Mario Livio (2015) ApJ 810, 105 (R), of 287 confirmed exoplanets relative to our eight solar system planets. The gas giants found in our solar system actually turn out to be remarkably typical: Jupiter-mass planets are very common, with less-massive and more-massive giants both extremely common. Saturn — the least dense world in our solar system — is actually of a fairly typical density for a gas giant world. It turns out that there are many planets out there with Saturn’s density or less. The rocky worlds are a little harder to quantify, because our methods and missions are much better at finding higher-mass planets than low-mass ones. Nevertheless, the lowest mass planets found are comparable to Earth and Venus, and range from just as dense to slightly less dense. We also find that we fall right into the middle of the “bell curve” for how old plan- etary systems are: we’re definitely typical in that regard. But there are a few big surpris- es, which is to say there are three major ways our solar system is an outlier among the planets we’ve observed: • All our solar system’s planets are significantly farther out than the average distance for exoplanets around their stars. More than half of the planets we’ve discovered are closer to their star than Mercury is to ours, which might be a selection effect Our Solar System Is Almost Normal, But Not Quite See “Exo Planet” on page 16
Transcript
Newsletter of the Peterborough Astronomical AssociationThe ReflectorVolume 14 • Issue 10
December 2015ISSN 1712-4425peterboroughastronomy.comtwitter.com/PtbAstronomical
It was just over 20 years ago that the very first exoplanet was found and confirmed to
be orbiting a star not so different from our own sun. Fast forward to the present day, and the stel-lar wobble method, wherein the gravitational tug of a planet per-turbs a star’s motion, has been surpassed in success by the transit method, wherein a planet tran-sits across the disk of its parent star, blocking a portion of its light in a periodic fashion. Thanks to these methods and nasa’s Kepler spacecraft, we’ve identified many thousands of candidate planets, with nearly 2,000 of them having been confirmed, and their masses and densities measured.
Ethan SEigEl
Images credit: NASA / Kepler Dan Fabricky (L), of a selection of the known Kepler exoplanets; Rebecca G. Martin and Mario Livio (2015) ApJ 810, 105 (R), of 287 confirmed exoplanets relative to our eight solar system planets.
The gas giants found in our solar system actually turn out to be remarkably typical: Jupiter-mass planets are very common, with less-massive and more-massive giants both extremely common. Saturn — the least dense world in our solar system — is actually of a fairly typical density for a gas giant world. It turns out that there are many planets out there with Saturn’s density or less. The rocky worlds are a little harder to quantify, because our methods and missions are much better at finding higher-mass planets than low-mass ones. Nevertheless, the lowest mass planets found are comparable to Earth and Venus, and range from just as dense to
slightly less dense. We also find that we fall right into the middle of the “bell curve” for how old plan-etary systems are: we’re definitely typical in that regard.
But there are a few big surpris-es, which is to say there are three major ways our solar system is an outlier among the planets we’ve observed:
• All our solar system’s planets are significantly farther out than the average distance for exoplanets around their stars. More than half of the planets we’ve discovered are closer to their star than Mercury is to ours, which might be a selection effect
Our Solar System Is Almost Normal, But Not Quite
See “Exo Planet” on page 16
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President’s Message
The Reflector is a publication of the Peterborough Astronomi-cal Association (P.A.A.) Founded in 1970, the P.A.A. is your local group for astronomy in Peterborough and the Kawarthas.
keep my hands firmly planted on the table one hand flew into the air and I
became president of this fine organization. The last four years presented a challenge for me to assume this role. I’m certainly not the most knowledgeable in the club regarding the night sky but I felt I could perform the task at hand. This has proven to be a rewarding experience for me and I hope I have served the club well. Like our new prime minister I promised change, in this case the amount of business carried out at the regular meetings. I think this has worked, perhaps setting precedence for the incoming chair and I offer full support to this individual.
I thank Louise for supporting me through this period. Hosting executive meetings, helping with the president’s Star-B-Q and offering suggestions from time to time.
It’s election time again and once again Sean Dunne has done a great job as elec-tion chair. Sean will be center stage at the December meeting and will enlighten us with the results of the polling and nomina-tion process.
The permits for the use of Ashburnham Park and the Heritage Pavilion are being prepared with our planned schedule of events for 2015. In order will be Earth Hour on Saturday, March 19th, Astronomy on the Hill Saturday, May 14th and finally the Perseids MeteorShower on Friday, August 12th. Our Astronomy on the Hill has been changed to a Saturday-only event.
It’s time for our “Annual General Meeting & Christmas Social.” This meeting will see the election of directors for the club and our Christmas Social. You are invited to bring “goodies” in the form of cookies, cakes, tarts etc., to share during the social. The enjoyment of the goodies and coffee will be accompanied by a fun movie.
I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year. Thanks for your sup-port over the last four years.
Reminder. It’s membership renewal time.
Rodger Forsyth PAA President
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John CroSSEn
That’s the motto of the ex-perienced backyard astronomer. Forget your pretty or dashing and
handsome image. Nobody can see you in the dark, so dress warmly, even if it looks stupid. Winter isn’t a beauty pageant, it’s a survival test.
Expensive ski wear isn’t going to keep you warm. It’s designed to vent moisture because ski bums are active and sweating as they carve their way down the slopes. Standing around with binoculars or a tele-scope is very much a “no sweat” hobby. So grandma’s old fur coat may be out of style or politically incorrect, but on a dark night when it’s -10°C it’s just fine. And as I said, nobody’s going to see you anyhow.
The big chill starts with your feet. Once they’re gone, you’re gone, too. Thick-soled boots will help keep the chill out. Some observers even take a piece of carpet along to stand on as extra protection from having the cold creep into their boots.
Double socks will also help, though they may make it a squeeze to get you feet into your boots. Be careful that your boots aren’t too tight. You are wearing boots aren’t you? I’ve seen too many people try to get away with just their running shoes. It’s not long before they’re running indoors.
The layered look is the winter astrono-mer’s best friend. The space between each layer provides extra insulation. If you have too much on, you can always take it off and stow it in the car. In fact I recommend that you bring along too much outer wear. After all, it’s a long drive back to town to pick up that extra sweater or wind-proof outer coat.
Of course you should always bring along the tried and true hats, long Johns and scarves. I recommend those dorky-looking, fake fur-lined hats with the ear flaps that buckle or snap beneath your chin. They
Winter stargazing — it isn’t pretty, it’s a challenge
Winter Stargazer. Winter warm wear doesn’t have to be the hottest fashion it just has to keep you warm. The winter stargazer’s fashion statement is — toasty comfort.
keep both your head and ears comfortably cozy.
Gloves are another important item, but for those operating telescopes, the ones with the flip-back fingers are best. They not only keep your dainty digits warm, but let you have better control over your focuser or push-button go/to hand control.
Having a hot rum tottie may sound good, but the truth is alcohol makes your feel colder once that warm glow in your belly is gone. So nix that notion until you get home. And remember, you have to drive home so-ber. So you have yet another reason to wait until you’re safely ensconced in front of the fire at home.
Make certain that your car’s battery is well-charged and that you have a set of booster cables at hand. You might also want to make sure you have a full tank of gas in case your car is also your warm room.
As is the case with any out-of-town star-gazing venture no matter the season, carry your charged up cell phone and let someone know where you’re going and when you expect to return.
Keep warm, keep safe and keep on look-ing up.
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D r. Gord Williams is a retired medical doctor and surgeon, now 82 years of age, who sold his be-
loved cottage on the southwest side of Kasshabog Lake this summer to Morgan Storie and her husband of Mississauga. The new owners are not currently active as-tronomy buffs but wanted to see the obser-vatory used constructively so they reached out to local community organizations to offer them the opportunity to do that. The paa and the Trent University Physics and Astronomy Department were approached. Sean Dunne and I accepted an invitation to see the observatory for the paa as did Gina Collins for the Trent Physics Department on Saturday, October 10th, a day when Dr. Williams would be visiting the area and could give a demonstration.
Dr. Williams owned the property since at least 1965 and built most, if not all, of his cottage, fireplace, docks, etc., himself.
Visit to Gord Williams Observatory
Some distance behind the cottage there is a natural granite dome of rock about 10 feet higher than the average height of land nearby. Always wondering what he would do with the interesting formation, Dr. Wil-liams eventually decided to build a tower on it to allow clear viewing of the night sky through a telescope which could not be otherwise easily done because of the lack of open, tree-free space nearby. The skies in the area are quite dark. Commencing the project in 2002 at the age of 69, presum-ably after he retired, he first built a wooden tower with a square cross-section, about 8 feet a side and 50 feet high and stabilized with guy-wires on all sides. He then poured a massive reinforced concrete pier in the centre of the wooden tower in the form of a column 3 feet in diameter with a 6 foot diameter cone base anchored to the rock, all the way up to the viewing platform at the top. The wooden tower is not connected to
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When it Comes to Moons, Jupiter Outshines Them All
the concrete column in any way. An invert-ed 12 foot long steel light standard is em-bedded upside down in the concrete at the top and serves as a convenient mounting platform for a telescope. Dr. Williams’ most recent telescope was a Celestron 11” SCT which had an equatorial go-to mount and is shown in the photos below.
Dr. Williams installed an electric “tele-scope elevator” made from a hot water tank to raise his telescope to the top of the tower. The peaked roof opens up in four sections and the ends fold down as well. One man can handle the roof opening and closing with the help of a single steel wire winch, routed by a system of pulleys and levers and is quite ingenious and safe, although to some it might appear to be a bit Rube Goldberg-ish. With practice it would take 15 minutes to open and another 15 minutes to close. He wisely does not recommend open-ing on windy days. There are seven landings to the spiral wooden staircase leading to the top and some of them serve as rest stops with educational displays on astronomy and the tower construction.
When questioned how rigid the concrete column is, Gord demonstrated how he could “move” the top of the column by brac-ing himself on the wooden tower structure and pushing it with his foot. He believably said, however, that the relative motion
was the result of movement of the wooden structure surrounding the concrete column.
Morgan Storie and her family say they are not now astronomy buffs although with their young family and this facility I expect they potentially could become so. They hate to see the facility unused and so are reach-ing out to community groups who might use it occasionally in their programs. I would certainly encourage them to someday explore getting a telescope of their own. It could be a potential site for a Peterborough Astronomical Association observing night or nights. It would require some members to test out mounting a scope in advance and arriving early to do so on any given observ-ing day.
The visit on October 10th by Sean Dunne and I was fascinating for both of us and left us with a great deal of admiration for the creativity, careful design and courage of Dr. Gord Williams in creating this unique astronomy tower. He didn’t even start the project until the age of 69 in 2002 and it took him 11 years to complete, finishing in 2013!
Harold BriggsOctober 29, 2015
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riCk StankiEwiCz
“Houston … we don’t have a problem!”
Last month my travels took me to Texas to meet my wife, who was already there in Houston, for
the world’s largest quilting convention, the last week of October. I flew in to meet her on November 1st. Neither of us had been to the second largest State in the Union, so it was a blank slate for us. We spent the next two weeks touring the Gulf Coast, east to Galveston, south to the Rio Grande River (Mexican border), then north to San Antonio (Alamo) and back east to Houston. There were many highlights, from adding birds to my “Life List”, to seeing and experi-encing things and places that we had heard and dreamt about as kids.
Trips like this really bring history alive and it all becomes so real. Nowhere was this more evident than during the second day of our trip when we headed south-east to the Space Center Houston (sch), the official visitor center for the nasa Johnson Space Center. This is the real deal, where history has been made time and time again. I know
a lot of people have visited the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, but fewer it seems have seen mission control at the sch. We were not prepared for what awaited us as we pulled into the parking lot. There in all its immensity was the Space Shuttle Inde-pendence, atop a 747 “shuttle carrier aircraft”. Wow, talk about first impressions.
You want to set aside the whole day at this facility, as there are loads of exhibits and movie theatres inside to spend hours at and then there is the nasa tram tour that takes you from the main visitor center to selected parts of the actual functioning Mis-sion Control. This was the same Mission Control for all the Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Apollo-Soyuz and Space Shuttle program flights. So, this was the same place they didn’t hear Apollo XIII say, “Houston, we have a problem”, but they did hear them say, “Houston, we’ve had a problem.”
We saw some of the astronaut training facilities and a Rocket Park that included a
continued on next page
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test rocket, Mercury-Redstone Rocket and a complete Apollo-Saturn V Rocket. Housed in its own building, you are able to walk the full 363’ (111 m)-length of the Saturn V, as it lay on its side. We felt dwarfed by the 33’ (10 m) diameter first stage rocket section. This part of the tour was conducted mostly with live bodies, but you could augment the exploration of the whole complex with a personal audio tour, which we opted for. This allowed for 32 stations throughout the entire facility where you could learn about key points in time, events and equipment you were standing in front of. This was a very efficient way to take in the overwhelm-ing amount of information available and do so at your own pace.
With hundreds of space artifacts to see and touch we felt a little closer to the history that we grew-up with. The Mercury, Gemini and Apollo capsules on display were actu-ally flown into space. I am always amazed at how small these spacecraft are, but they did the job. I was impressed by the Skylab model that you could walk inside and get a real appreciation for the pre-International
Space Station (iss) conditions that led to the building of the iss.
Outside from the main entrance off the Interstate to the doors of the Space Center, is a scale model of the solar system, with a stop for every planet. I have seen differ-ent version at various locations around the world and I always find them fascinating. The models here did not disappoint, as each stop had a number of facts and models to study. It was based on a scale of 1:10 billion. At this scale, you would cover a few hundred meters to walk from the Sun model to the Neptune model, but if you wanted to walk to the next closest star (Proxima Centauri), you would be hitchhiking to the Alaskan border!
The movie theatres were imax qual-ity and well worth seeing, but I was most impressed with the spacesuit collection they had assembled for display in the Astronaut Gallery. This world-class collection was a representative sample of spacesuits for
every era and gender. Each suit and article of clothing belonged to astronauts through the ages, including Schirra, Collins, Conrad and Resnik; there are samples to be exam-
See “Houston” on page 15
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Photo Gallery
Algol Binary Eclipse
Rick,
Algol, The Demon Star in the constellation of Perseus. Because this star dims and brightens like clockwork, and is also visible to the human eye, mythology called it the wink of the Demon Medusa, her head being held in the hand of Perseus, after he used her gaze to kill the Kraken.
Algol — 26 Beta Persei, is a variable star — an eclipsing binary star in a triple system. A magnitude 2.09 star in the constellation of Perseus at its brightest, it then drops in brightness for a few hours to magnitude 3.0 every 68.75 hours. Algol is a known variable star, which waxes and wanes in brightness.
There are many variable stars known throughout the heavens, but Algol might well be the most famous variable star of them all. This star brightens and dims with clockwork regularity, completing one cycle in two days, 20 hours and 49 minutes. (68.75 hours) Plus its entire cycle is visible to the eye alone.
I captured this image last Saturday night. Look for some little background Galaxies in the image as well!
Ten minute exposure, ISO 1600, modified Canon Rebel Xsi, 5.5” Newtonian reflector scope at my observatories at JBSPO in Yellow Springs, Ohio on November 14, 2015.
More info on the binary system and how it works, this is a must see: http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr162/lect/binaries/algol.html
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I haven’t been putting much up on the net this year due to other pressing business issues. But it appears my Deer Lick Cluster appeared in print (page 74) of Januarys issue of Sky and Telescope.
This image was done last year. So it appears it can take a while to filter through some times.
Hope all out there are well.
Keep in touch,
Brian McGaffney
Deer Lick Group
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John CroSSEn
Binoculars. Binoculars are a stepping stone to a telescope. If the novice has shown enough interest in stargaz-ing, a pair of binoculars will open up an even bigger universe to explore. 10 power by 50mm aperture (10 × 50) are recommended. Image by Gary Seronik of SkyNews Magazine.
What the Novice Astronomer Really Needs for Christmas
I f your first thought is a tele-scope, you’re off by a couple of light years. That’s the last thing he or she
needs. First they need know-how, and that comes from a wide variety of sources, both electronic and conventional paper.
For starters there are books. My recom-mendation is Terence Dickinson’s Night-Watch. It has answers to just about any question you could ask. From basic star charts and stargazing equipment to cos-mology and astrophotography, you name it and Mr. Dickinson has it covered. Ama-zon or your local Chapters are great places to shop for these items, and you can do it online.
Another idea comes in the form of as-tronomy dvds. Again there are some great ones available for all levels of interest. At the See “Binoculars” on page 15
top of my list for a beginner is “The Celes-tial Sphere Video” which is available at www.starlight-theatre.com. It is now a dvd. You’ll find a helpful host of astro dvds from Nova and pbs Online as well.
If your budding astronomer has either an Android or Mac tablet, there are a number of astronomy app downloads available. The neat thing with some of them is that you can hold the tablet up to the night sky and it will display the constellations and planets you’re looking at. Plus background informa-tion is available at a finger touch.
A more conventional version of the tablet app is the old-fashioned star wheel or Plani-sphere. It performs the same function but also lets you explore the available constella-tions for that date and time prior to going
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Santa with Telescope. From his warm boots to his beanie, Santa is dressed for winter stargazing.
December’s Treats Will Keep You Up From Dusk to Dawn
John CroSSEn
D ecember delivers a colossal cornucopia of constellations, a plethora of planets and a magical
menagerie of meteors. Okay, enough cute stuff, let’s get down to astronomy.
The winter constellations are out in full force this December. Orion the hunter and Taurus the bull lead the pack. In close pur-suit you’ll find Gemini the twins and Auriga the shepherd. Our autumn royal family King Cepheus, Queen Cassiopeia and their daughter Princess Andromeda has now moved overhead, accompanied by Perseus and his flying horse Pegasus. In short, it’s a constellation bonanza and time to break out your star chart. No star chart? No problem, just Google one up for December 2015.
Planet hunters had better be early birds during December’s dawn skies. Star of the December stage will be Venus. The closest planet to Earth will glow like an aircraft landing light. Next up on the brightness scale is Jupiter and sandwiched between the two is a little red dot called Mars.
Mercury is in retrograde, so it isn’t visible but it will be back soon as an evening target. To make up for Mercury’s absence from the sky, binocular and telescope owners still have Neptune, Pluto and Uranus to ogle at night.
The Geminid Meteor Shower will slowly build from December 4 to the 13th when they will peak on the night of December 13/14. They will appear to radiate from the constellation Gemini, after which they are named. While most meteor showers are the result of comet debris, the Geminids are the leave-behinds of asteroid 3200 Phaethon which takes 1.4 years to orbit the Sun. The Geminids can be one of the year’s most spectacular displays with up 120 meteors per hour. That’s two celestial streakers every minute or one every 30 seconds, so stay alert and keep those peepers peeled.
Winter stargazing has its pluses such as the fact that it gets dark earlier but on the flip side, it’s cold. So here’s my mini tutorial what works. For starters, forget the jazzy looking skiwear. It’s designed to vent body moisture generated during sporting activ-ity. What you want is an outfit that works for someone who is just standing around doing nothing more than glancing at a star chart and looking up. That’s where a good old-fashioned, hefty winter coat comes in the winner – even more so if it has a wind-proof outer layer.
You can top it off with one of those Rus-sian hats with the fold down ear flaps. But don’t forget your feet. Fur-lined boots and double woolly socks will help keep your tootsies toasty as will winter leggings for the ladies and long Johns for the gents.
Staying warm and comfortable lets you stay out longer so you’ll see more and learn more to boot.
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For a Healthy Telescope, Eat Your Broccoli
H ave you been blithely tossing out the rubber-bands from your broccoli bunches? Then shame on
you. It’s time you changed your wasteful ways. With a touch of imagination they can be put to use on your broken astronomy gear.
John CroSSEn
Andy Boy (yes I read the label) is my favourite broccoli brand. They are just about the same width across as the cheap rubber finger grips used on some low-end focusers. Plus they’re just big enough in circumference to give a tight fit. More than once I have replaced chintzy import grips that disintegrate and fall off with my handy Andy replacements. Admittedly they don’t grip as well as the originals, but I have yet to have a pair deteriorate and fall apart. Plus, if you have ever tried to get replace-ment grips from the manufacturer, good luck. On the plus side, they also add a bit of colour. Will that be blue, pink or a darker shade of either?
The same goes for 2” eyepiece grips. I have one TMB/Burgess 40mm wide-field that has “shed” its original equipment twice. Andy Boy broccoli bands were my final alternative and they have worked lon-ger than either pair of oem replacements. Again, they aren’t as nice to grip, but they do add a touch of colour. You can even mix and match to suit your taste.
Another frequent problem myself and other amateur astronomers have encoun-tered is a loose closure on a Red Dot Finder (rdf). After a few battery changes the plas-tic clips can loosen or break off, thus ruin-ing the battery contacts inside. Once again, Andy Boy can remedy the situation. This time you’ll probably have to loop the rubber band over on itself twice, but you’ll have a snug fit, the rdf will work again and you’ll have about $30.00 in your pocket. There’s nothing wrong with that!
Eyepieces are prettier in pink.
Eat broccoli and get a grip.
Broccoli even improves your night vision.
Whether or not your grocery store’s broc-coli has Andy Boy elastics isn’t a problem. Most of the broccoli rubber bands are the same. Just turn them inside out and you’ll have a slip-on, no-name solution to some telescope tinkering.
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www.agenaastro.com has eyecups, screws and finder rings.
If you look on the shelf above my work table in the observatory you’ll find a box stuffed with different size elastics, includ-ing my Andy Boys. They come in handy for all sorts of weird things, I’ve even used them to par-focalize a couple of 2” eyepieces so that I could switch back and forth be-tween them without having to fiddle the focuser.
What’ll you use your Andy Boys for? Let your imagination reign free. In the mean time I wish they’d put Andy Boys on some-thing a tad more tasty than broccoli, like chocolate or beer or potato chips.
The Sky this MonthMercury is well placed in the evening sky from the 7th to the 31st with great-est elongation E (20°) on the 29th.Venus visible before sunrise. There is a daylight occultation by the Moon on the 7th. Mars in the morning sky travelling eastward through Virgo. Mars is 4° N of Spica on the 21st.Jupiter rises in the east in late eve-ning in eastern Leo.Saturn reappears low in the early twi-light late in the month in Ophiuchus.Geminid Meteor Shower peaks at 1 PM on the 14th.Ursid Meteor Shower peaks at 9 PM on the 22nd.Winter Solstice arrives on the 21st at 11:48 PM.
Moon PhasesLast Quarter 2:40 AM December 3New Moon 5:29 AM December 11First Quarter 10:14 AM December 18Full Moon 6:11 PM December 25
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BinocularsHoustonined up close and the stories behind them. The back drop for this gallery is where group photos of every team of astronauts launched, whether successfully or not, is re-membered. On this “wall of honour” it was rewarding to find the Canadian contingent, as it warmed our patriotic hearts.
There are lots scale models and suspend-ed from the ceilings are a Lunar Landing Module and an International Space Station. There is also a life-sized model and lots of talk of the new Orion Spacecraft. It sure looks Apollo-like to me, but it is the way of the future. If you have lots of time and are so inclined to spend it in an inter-active way, there is an area called the Exhibit Plaza that reminded me of hands-on science centre approaches to experiential learning with a space and technology theme. To offer something specific for the younger crowd, there was the Angry Birds Space area. We avoided this area, as it was overrun with little “space cadets”. It is hard to imagine what this place would be like during the peak period, with this was on a Monday in November.
Was it worth the time (10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.) and money ($29.50 usd each)? You bet, and I would go back in a minute, as I felt there was not enough time to see it all. You have to be very strategic with your time, as the shows and tram only run at par-ticular times. There is definitely something for everyone here and the whole set-up is world-class. If you ever find yourself in the Houston area and you have a day to spend, you won’t regret it. Maybe there will be a travelogue about this trip sometime in the New Year, at one of our monthly meetings?
out. So your astronomical friend can plan their observing targets ahead of time.
Another important item is the red-beam flashlight. The red beam protects dark-adapted eyes which are six times more at-tuned to dim starlight than daylight vision. That’s why astronomers recommend at least 30 minutes to get used to seeing in the dark. An online astronomy store will have just what you want. Try www.kwtelescope.com, www.focusscientific.com, www.durhamskies.com, www.ontariotelescope.com or www.canadian-telescopes.com. You’ll also find some of the aforementioned items on their websites.
If you live in the Peterborough area, the Peterborough Astronomical Association (www.peterboroughastronomy.com) is a great way to jump start a beginner’s learning process. Plus there are subscriptions to Astronomy Magazine, Sky & Telescope Magazine as well as Canada’s own SkyNews Magazine. There’s plenty out there without having to blow a bunch on a Christmas scope that’ll end up in next spring’s yard sale.
ArticlesSubmissions for The Reflector must be received by the date listed below. E-mail submissions are preferred (Microsoft Word, OpenDoc, ASCII and most common graphic formats are accept-able). If your article contains photso or graphics, please provide a separate file for each. Typed or hand-written submissions are acceptable pro-vided they are legible (and not too long.) Copy-righted materials will not be published without written permission from the copyright holder. Submissions may be edited for grammar, brev-ity, or clarity. Submissions will be published at the editor’s sole discretion. Depending on the volume of submissions, some articles may be published at a later date. Please submit any ar-ticles, thoughts, or ideas to:[email protected]
Next submission deadline:December 27 2015
Meetings The Peterborough Astronomical Association meets every first Friday of each month, except July and August, at the Peter-borough Zoo Guest Services and Rotary Educa-tion Centre (inside the main entrance at the north end of the Zoo) at 7 p.m. P.A.A. general annoucements will begin each meeting with the guest speaker starting at 7:30 p.m.
continued from page 1Exo Planet
(closer planets are easier to find), but it might indicate a way our star is unusual: being devoid of very close-in planets.
• All eight of our solar system’s planets’ orbits are highly circular, with even the eccentric Mars and Mercury only having a few percent deviation from a perfect circle. But most exoplanets have significant eccentricities, which could indicate something unusual about us.
• And finally, one of the most common classes of exoplanet — a super-Earth or mini-Neptune, with 1.5-to-10 times the mass of Earth — is completely missing from our solar system.
Until we develop the technology to probe for lower-mass planets at even greater distances around other star systems, we won’t truly know for certain how unusual we really are!
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