Officers
President………………………………………...…..Tom Adkins
Vice-President……………………………………….George Bell
Secretary………………………………………….Gary Caldwell
Treasurer……………………………………………..David Witt
STAR Editor……………………………………….Steve Ramey
Webmaster…………………………………………….Rod Ruch
Database Manager………………………………....Bill Seymour
Star Party Chairman………………………………Victor Rogers
July Minutes
The July 14, 2005 meeting of the Barnard Astronomical Society was called to order at 7:50 PM by president Tom Atkins. There were eleven regular members present and one visitor.
Correction to the June minutes:
George Bell is the Vice President and the Astronomical League delegate. The AL dues for the BAS is $10.
Treasurer’s Report:
There is currently a balance of $553.14 in the Society's account. A check to the AL for $225 for 41 active members will be written.
Old Business:
A letter about "Uncle Edward's home" is still to be written. Contact Erica Thornberg for program next week(Galaxy Girls). The corporate charter has been received and the society is good for another year.
New Business:
John Manonne announced that Starfest will be on October 13-14 at Bays Mountain State Park near Kingsport, TN. Also Poetry Under the Stars will be at the North Georgia Science Center on August 6.
There will be a star party at Orion Acres Aug. 6 weather permitting.
The "Bridge" star party was a success.
Proceeds from the book sale will be given to Dr. Durig.
Program:
Dr. Durig from Sewanee University presented a fascinating program on what is perhaps the most energetic event in the universe: GAMMA RAY BURSTS. These are detected all over the sky. They are randomly distributed and are of two types "long duration" lasting up to several minutes and "short duration" lasting only several seconds. They may or may not be accompanied by a visible light signature which may be captured with CCD imaging if the coordinates are known soon enough. Apparently the gamma rays are focused in a beam by electro-magnetic forces generated by the event. If there were to be a GRB in the Milky Way Galaxy and the Earth were to be caught in the beam it would sterilize the Earth and probably strip away the atmosphere.
Respectfully submitted
Gary Caldwell, Secretary
REMINDER- Your annual BAS dues of are now due on the anniversary of your membership in accordance with the adopted amendment to the by-laws. The due date appears below your name on the address on the front of this newsletter. If your expiration date says “Overdue” or if you don’t agree with the date shown, contact David Witt to resolve discrepancies. The current dues rates are as follows: REGULAR $15.00, REGULAR ASSOCIATE $7.00, JUNIOR $8.00, JUNIOR ASSOCIATE $5.00. Your Sky & Telescope or Astronomy subscription will continue to be handled as in the past. When you receive your subscription reminder card, submit it to:
David Witt
4503 Cove Lane
Chattanooga, TN 37415-2306
Along with the group subscription rate of $32.95 for Sky and Telescope, or $34.00 for Astronomy. Note the increased rate for Astronomy. This was effective July 31, 2005
DEADLINE- All articles and other materials for publication in the next STAR are due no later than Wednesday, August 31st. The following media are acceptable: hard copy, disk (IBM), video tape (VHS), prints, or e-mail to bas@chattanooga.net or stramey@catt.com and attach a file or mail to:
Steve Ramey
109 Sioux Trail
Ringgold GA 30736
PHOTOGRAPHS ARE ALSO ACCEPTABLE.
DIRECTIONS TO ORION ACRES
FROM NORTH HAMILTON COUNTY:
From 27 (corridor J) take hwy. 111 to Dunlap, continue through the Sequatchie Valley up the next mountain (Cagle Mountain). When you reach the summit about 5 miles turn LEFT onto hwy. 399 (sign reads 'to Savage Gulf State Park' Stay on 399 until it ends, which will be in Grundy Co. Now make a LEFT onto hwy. 108 South. This goes thru Palmer TN. Continue on 108 up to a higher elevation. When this levels off, turn RIGHT onto Palmer Fire Tower Rd. This is a large open area with possibly trucks loaded with timber for the paper mills. Orion Acres will be on the RIGHT about 8 tenths mile. A sign will be posted at 7pm on Saturday May 7th.
FROM INTERSTATE 24 (to Nashville):
Go to the Dunlap/Whitwell exit (#155). This is hwy. 28. Exit right and keep on 28 for about 11 miles, passing Hardee’s on your left. Continue through the stoplight and take the next LEFT on Hwy. 108 North. Continue another 11 or so miles. You will see 'Grundy County' sign. Take the next left. This is Palmer Fire Tower Rd. Go 8 tenths of a mile and Orion Acres is on the RIGHT. There will be a sign posted at 7pm on Saturday, May 7th.
Planet Problems!
The claim Friday that a 10th planet has been discovered in our solar system has set off a fresh round of debate and international talks aimed at defining the most vexing term in astronomy, the word planet. A formal proposal could come within a week or two. But some astronomers see no easy resolution. Now, the guy who stirred the latest dust is trying to snuff the whole debate by repositioning planet as a cultural term that no longer has any scientific meaning. "Scientists have for the most part not yet realized that the term planet no longer belongs to them," says Caltech's Mike Brown who led the discovery of the new larger-than-Pluto object.
Brown's new view comes after contemplating six years of mostly fruitless scientific arguments that began when the public became outraged over a rumor that scientists planned to demote Pluto, a rumor rooted in the fact that some astronomers had already stopped calling Pluto a planet by the late 1990s.
At the heart of the problem is small world that should never have been called the ninth planet when it was found 75 years ago. Pluto is small, its orbit very non circular, and it travels 17 degrees outside the main plane of the solar system where the other planets roam. In recent years, several other round worlds at least half as big as Pluto have been found on similar offbeat paths, including two announced last week in addition to 2003 UB313, whose orbit is inclined a whopping 45 degrees.
Most astronomers view all of them, Pluto included, as members of the Kuiper Belt The newfound object, temporarily named 2003 UB313, is perhaps 1.5 times the diameter of Pluto and appears to have a similar surface rich in frozen methane. So Brown called it the 10th planet in a hastily arranged teleconferencing with reporters Friday evening.
NASA, which funded the research, appeared to endorse the label by using Brown's terminology in its official press release. But yesterday, NASA's Paul Hertz said, "It's not NASA's job to decide what is and what is not a planet." Hertz, chief scientist in the agency's Science Mission Directorate, acknowledged the task falls to the International Astronomical Union (IAU). "We anticipated there would be a difference of opinions," Hertz said in a telephone interview.
Very different, it turns out if, 2003 UB313 is a planet, one argument goes, then so are those other round things out there. So the new kid on the block would have to go to the back of the line, numerically. It might be No. 12 or No. 24, depending on whose scheme you like. Proposal soon? Efforts to craft an official definition have dragged on for years. The IAU, responsible for nomenclature of all things beyond Earth, has been mulling a planet definition since at least 1999. An IAU Working Group specifically set up to develop a recommendation has been stalled for the past six months. But most of the dozen members in the group were "exchanging a lot of email this weekend," said Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute, who is on the committee. The members have said they "want to get something done, pronto," Stern told SPACE.com. He said it's possible a proposal could be finalized in a week or two and made public. Still, group members have clearly different ideas goals in mind. A synopsis of Stern's thinking:
A planet is a body that directly orbits a star, is large enough to be round because of self gravity, and is not so large that it triggers nuclear fusion in its interior.
"I think there's a consensus moving in this direction," Stern said.
The actual definition will, at least, be more complex than that. Stern favors calling the smaller objects dwarf planets, for example. Other astronomers prefer the term minor planet. Another term bandied about is Kuiper Belt planets. Some don't like the idea of applying the planet label at all.
Brian Marsden, who is also on the IAU Working Group and who runs the Minor Planet Center where data on objects like these end up, says a simple definition like Stern's makes sense from a theoretical point of view. If adopted, the wording would bring our solar system's tally of known planets to about two dozen, Marsden said. But practically speaking, Marsden, who expects it will take "somewhat more than a week or two to come up with a policy," prefers another approach. "The only sensible solution is to accept that the solar system contains the eight planets known a century or so ago," Marsden said via email, "and to add new members only if they are larger than, say, Mars -- or maybe even the Earth."
Stern and others contend that such large worlds indeed await discovery. The discovery of 2003 UB313 presents "the best chance to resolve the problem," Marsden said. "I doubt that all astronomers will be happy with the outcome, but I would hope that what is decided is enough of a compromise that most of them are."
Mike Brown yesterday attempted to shift the whole debate away from science. In Brown's mind -- and he admits to changing it recently -- Pluto is too enshrined in our culture, from place mats to postage stamps, to strip it of planethood. "Some astronomers have rather desperately attempted to concoct solutions which keep Pluto a planet, but none of these are at all satisfactory, as they also require calling dozens of other objects planets," Brown wrote on his web site this week.
"While people are perhaps prepared to go from nine to 10 planets when something previously unknown is discovered, it seems unlikely that many people would be happy if astronomers suddenly said, 'we just decided, in fact, that there are 23 planets, and we decided to let you know right now’. We declare that the new object, with a size larger than Pluto, is indeed a planet,” Brown wrote. “A cultural planet, a historical planet. I will not argue that it is a scientific planet, because there is no good scientific definition which fits our solar system and our culture, and I have decided to let culture win this one.”
He advises the public to ignore the distracting debates of the scientists. It seems clear the IAU Working Group plans to ignore Brown, at least insofar as they expect to forge a scientific definition.
Yet no matter what the group comes up with, you can bank on at least one more year of debate. For a definition to be made official, it must be voted on at an IAU General Assembly meeting. The next one is in Prague in August, 2006. Stay tuned!
Good Seeing!
