Trinidad & Tobago Astronomical Society

A regular meeting of the Society will be held on Saturday 31 July at 6:30pm at the Sir Frank Stockdale Building, UWI, St Augustine.

We will continue with our programme for the year of getting to know the skies and hope the weather will be kinder to us in observing from the rooftop.

On June 13 the Cosmology group met at the home of member Mark Mohammed at Upper Santa Cruz. Committee member Vishnu Boodram gave a presentation on the topic ‘Exoplanets and the search for Earth-like planets’. Mr Boodram explained what an exoplanet or extrasolar planet is, discoveries, the ‘Goldilocks’ zone, detection methods etc. Discussion on the topic followed and included other astronomical phenomena. A delicious tea was provided by Mr & Mrs Mohammed.

SKY PHENOMENA – July

2 Friday (12UT)             Midpoint of the year. The midpoint occurs at July 2.0 in leap years

                                    and July 2.5 in common years

3 Sat (20UT)                  Moon 6.5° NNW of Jupiter (99° from Sun in morning sky)

10 Sat (12UT)                Venus 1.0° NNE of Regulus (42° from Sun in evening sky; mag -4.1 and

                                    1.4)

11 Sunday                     Total eclipse of the Sun. Visible in the Pacific

12 Monday (23UT)         Moon 3.9° SSW of Mercury (10° from Sun in evening sky)

14 Wed (22UT)              Moon 5.5° SSW of Venus (43° frp, Sun in evening sky)

24 Sat (3UT)                  Jupiter stationary in right ascension; begins retrograde (westward)

                                    motion

27 Tuesday (22UT)        Mercury 29° SSW of Regulus (25° from Sun in evening sky)

31 Sat (2UT)                  Moon 6.6° NNW of Jupiter (about 124° from Sun in morning sky)

            (6UT)                Mars 1.8° SSW of Saturn (53° from Sun in evening sky; mag 1.5 and 1.1

CONSTELLATIONS, STARS

Scorpius really like a scorpion. Antares at its heart; its two flanking stars the Praecordia ‘outworks of the heart’. Its carapace is a fence of stars through which planets often move. Libra was formerly the two claws of the scoropin. Ophiuchus treading dangerously on the scorpion – one foot on its head, the other on its sting. Ophiuchus means ‘snake-holder’; its separate halves rear up on either side of him. Rasalhague, ‘head of the snake charmer’, next to Rasalgethi, ‘head of the (upside down’ kneeler’ (Hercules).

Clear skies!!

Mona Rahamut

                                                                                                Secretary

                                                                                                274 Gopaul Circular Drive

                                                                                                Marabella

                                                                                                Tel 658-2527

Visit us at www.tt-astrosociety.com

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