A regular meeting of the Society will be held on Saturday 24 April at 6:30pm at the Sir Frank Stockdale Building, UWI, St Augustine. We are continuing with our programme of learning the skies. Members are reminded to log their observances.

On Saturday April 17 we will be going on a filed trip to Valencia where the conditions should be ideal for viewing. Interested members are asked to contact the President at 663-2305 or the Secretary  658-2527.

On Sunday April 11 the Cosmology group will meet from 3:00pm to 5:00pm. Dr Stephen Gift will talk on ‘Another look at the Big Bang’. Members who would like to attend should contact the President or Secretary.

Meeting of February 27

The skies were hazy and not conducive to viewing. However, Committee Member Gerlad Marfoe set up the telescope and we viewed the Orion Nebula (M42), planet Saturn and the star cluster on the back of Canis Major. Member Aubrey Mitchell set up his telescope and trained it on the Moon although it was the night before full moon and therefore quiet bright for viewing.

SKY PHENOMENA -April

2 Friday                                    Good Friday

4 Sunday (8UT)             Mercury 3.0° WNW of Venus (about 19° from Sun in evening sky;

Magnitudes -0.6 and -3.9. Quasi conjunction with Venus. First quasi-conjunction of bright planets since 2006

8 Thursday (23UT)         Mercury at greatest elongation east; 19.4° from Sun

8 Thursday (18UT)         Moon 5.5° NNW of Jupiter (32° from Sun in morning sky)

15 Thursday (17UT)       The equation of time is 0. That is, sundial (apparent solar) time and mean solar time are the same

                  (23UT)        Moon 1.5°N of Mercury (about 17° from Sun in evening sky)

16 Friday (11UT)           Moon 4.0° N of Venus (23° from Sun in evening sky)

17 Saturday (19UT)        Receding Mars passes near Beehive cluster (100° from Sun in evening sky)

29 Tuesday (5UT)          Sun enters astrological sign Taurus, i.e. its longitude is 30°; but astronomically it has just entered Aries

22 Thursday                  Lyrid meteors. Quite favourable year for this sometimes strong shower

24 Saturday                   Astronomy day. Started in 1973 and held in April or May on the Saturday closest to the first quarter Moon

25 Sunday (19UT)          Moon 7.4° SSW of Saturn (about 143° from Sun in evening sky

Constellations and Stars

Leo is one of the few constellations that look like what they are supposed to be. Crater (the ‘goblet’) is another. West end of Leo (Regulus his heart, Algieba his shoulder and 3 more for his mane and head): also called the Sickle. Could be a backwards question mark. East end of Leo: a triangle. Denebola, ‘tail of the (lion)’ was anciently a first magnitude star, brighter than Regulus. Merak and Dubhe point to Polaris; the distance is 5 times their separation. They point back the other way to Layers: Ursa Major, Leo Minor, Leo, Hydra.

Clear skies!!

Mona Rahamut

                                                                                                Secretary

                                                                                                274 Gopaul Circular Drive

                                                                                                Marabella

                                                                                                Tel 658-2527

Visit us at www.tt-astosociety.com

Note: Information in the above SKY PHENOMENA is taken from Astronomical Calendar 2010 by Guy Ottewell. Printed in USA.