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| January 2010 Newsletter |
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Trinidad & Tobago Astronomical Society
The Annual General Meeting of the Society will be held on January 30 at 6:30pm at the Sir Frank Stockdale Building, UWI, St Augustine. Items on the agenda are
Members interested in joining the committee to become part of a vibrant team, are asked to express their interest to Mrs Mona Rahamut (658 2527) before the meeting. All positions are open, including that of President, as Dr Imbert has resigned from T.T.A.S due to the current serious illness of her husband. She will, however, never relinquish her ties to T.T.A.S and she regards her 38 years as President as one of her more rewarding experiences.
Members are reminded that it is planned to hold Cosmology Meetings in 2010. These meetings will take place once a month on Sundays from 3-5 p.m. in member's homes. Please phone 645- 7238 for details.
The skies are clear many nights of this season and members are encouraged to view regularly and log their observations.
A limited supply of Astronomical Calendars 2010 is available at $175.00 each (subsidized by the Society). The price of calendars is higher this year due to increased cost of freight/postage.
MEETING OF 31 OCTOBER 2009 The Vice President welcomed the 18 members and 2 guests who attending the meeting. The main feature of the evening was a lecture by member Mark Mohammed on the topic ‘The Evolution of the Universe’. Mr Mohammed’s talk was very informative and comprehensive and included Hubble’s observation, proof of the Big Bank Theory, Cosmic microwaves, background radiation, inflationary expansion, String theory etc. Neatly bound brochures of his presentation were distributed and will be reproduced in issues of Astro News.
SKY PHENOMENA January 6 Wed (13UT) Moon 7.4°SSW of Saturn (101° from sun in morning sky) 7 Thu Eastern Orthodox Christmas, at least celebrated by ‘Old Calenderists’ still using the Julian calendar, in which 25 Dec is now 13 days after Gregorian 25 Dec 11 Mon (10UT) Theoretical middle of eclipse season, Sun is at the same longitude as the Moon’s ascending node, 291.1° 14 Thu (17UT) Saturn stationary in right ascension, begins retrograde (westward) motion 15 Fri Annular eclipse of the Sun (not visible in T&T) 18 Mon (4UT) Moon 4.3° NNW of Jupiter. About 31° from Sun in evening sky 23 Sat (11UT) Moon shows maximum libration for the year (10.17°) 27 Wed (5UT) Mercury at greatest elongation west (24.8° from Sun) (19UT) Mars nearet to Earth (1,664AU) 29 Fri (20UT) Mars in opposition. Middle of the best time of the year to see it Biggest Moon of 2010. The full moon rises 7° right of brilliant Mars. The exact time of Full Moon is only 3 hours before the Moon’s closest approach of the year. 30 Sat (6:18UT) Moon full (9UT) Perigee only 2.7 hours after full Moon; high tides expected The Milky Way on January evenings crosses overhead from south east to north west.
Constellations and Stars Betelgeuse red, Rigel blue. Taurus the Bull rushes down on Orion. Orion raises his shield and club to defend himself. The Bull: triangular face (Hyades) and two long horns. Aldebaran a red glaring eye. Pleiades in the hump of the Bull’s shoulder. El Nath (Arabic ‘the butting’), point of the upper horn, formerly belonged to Auriga as well. Auriga is an irregular pentagon if El Nath is included. Capella and Rigel are on a north-south line. Below Orion’s feet, the Hare (Lepus), then the Dove (Columba). Western end of Leo like a reverse question mark with Regulus the dot.
Clear skies! Mona Rahamut Secretary 274 Gopaul Circular Drive Marabella Tel 658-2527
Note: Information in the above SKY PHENOMENA is taken from Astronomical Calendar 2010 by Guy Ottewell. Printed in USA.
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