MAY 2016     www.bas.asn.

au

»  Never-before-seen galaxy orbiting the Milky Way

»  New evidence for oxygen on ancient Mars
»  Squeezing and releasing Enceladus
»  Astrophotography for the impatient
»  27th NACAA (Sydney 2016) report
 HUBBLE DISCOVERS DWARF PLANET’S MOON

ABN 90 130 679 791

POSTAL ADDRESS
PO Box 15892
City East, QLD 4002
WEBSITE
www.bas.asn.au
EMAIL
info@bas.asn.au

Club representatives
PRESIDENT
Chris Landman
Ph: 0419 861 689
Email: president@bas.asn.au
VICE-PRESIDENT This artist’s concept shows the distant dwarf planet Makemake and its newly discovered
Tony Surma-Hawes moon. Makemake and its moon, nicknamed MK 2, are more than 50 times farther away than
SECRETARY the Earth is from the Sun. (Image courtesy of NASA, ESA, and A. Parker (Southwest Research
Mike Lewis Institute))
TREASURER
Subbarao (Siva) Sivakumar
We still have much to learn about the outer reaches of our Solar System, but the
GENERAL
COMMITTEE MEMBERS Hubble Space Telescope has recently filled in yet another gap in our knowledge –
Alison McDermott Andy Polichronis the discovery of a moon orbiting the dwarf planet Makemake.
Caroline Williams Chris Watson
Makemake was discovered by a team at Palomar Observatory in 2005, but
ASTRO-IMAGING OFFICER only now has it been revealed that it has a moon – provisionally designated S/2015
Tony Surma-Hawes
(136472) 1 and nicknamed MK 2.
CATERING OFFICER
Alison McDermott The discovery was announced on 26th April, 2016, following analysis of
DEEP SKY OFFICER
observations made by the Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 in
Vacant 2015. MK 2 is 160 kilometres in diameter and an astonishing 1300 times fainter
EDUCATION OFFICER than Makemake.
Vacant Makemake is the second-brightest
EQUIPMENT OFFICERS dwarf planet in the Kuiper Belt (Pluto being
Cheryl-Ann Tan and Ashley Ruaux
the brightest). The discovery of MK 2 not
FUNDRAISING/GRANTS OFFICER
only highlights the similarities between
Mike Lewis
Pluto and Makemake, but will also enable
LIBRARIAN
Stephanie Williams astronomers to estimate Makemake’s
LUNAR AND PLANETARY OFFICER density, as was done with Pluto when its
Tony Surma-Hawes moon Charon was discovered in 1979.
MEMBERSHIP OFFICER So . . . will we witness a Pluto-type
Caroline Williams flyby of Makemake and its moon? It has
MERCHANDISE/SALES OFFICER been calculated that a mission of this type
Linda Landman
would take just over 16 years using a Jupiter
PUBLICITY OFFICER
Tony Surma-Hawes
gravity assist, based on a launch date of
21st August, 2024, or 24th August, 2036.
WEBMASTER/FACEBOOK ADMIN
Ashley Ruaux Makemake would be approximately 52 AU
Hubble image of Makemake and its moon taken
NEWSLETTER EDIT3OR from the Sun when the spacecraft arrived. in April 2015. (Image courtesy of NASA, ESA, and
Darryl Nixon Darryl Nixon A. Parker and M. Buie (SwRI))A)
Ph: (07) 3219 3839
Email: darryl@sunsetdigital.com.au
Cover Photograph
Layout and design: Hubble image of the Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635), chosen to mark the 26th anniversary of the launch of
Sunset Publishing Services Pty Ltd Hubble into Earth orbit. (Image courtesy of NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA))

No material may be reproduced from this publication without the written permission of the Brisbane Astronomical Society Inc.  © BAS 2016

2 BAS OBSERVER

MAY 2016       www.bas.asn.au
CONTENTS

CLUB ACTIVITIES  4
by Chris Landman, BAS President

MAY–JUNE EVENTS  5
MAY FRIDGE CALENDAR  6
27th NACAA (SYDNEY 2016)  8
A report from Mike Lewis

DON’T ALWAYS BELIEVE WHAT YOU’RE TOLD  9

ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY FOR THE IMPATIENT  10
by Peter Allison

NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN GALAXY ORBITING  13

10
THE MILKY WAY  13
SQUEEZING AND RELEASING ENCELADUS  13
STAR CHARTS FOR MAY  14
from Paul Floyd

LUNAR AND PLANETARY GUIDE  16 MEADE EQUIPMENT FOR SALE  20

A Solar System reference for May–June
from Tony Surma-Hawes BAS INFORMATION  21
NEW EVIDENCE FOR OXYGEN ON ANCIENT MARS  19 EARTH BARRAGED BY SUPERNOVAE  24

8
NEW MEMBERS
A big welcome to Davide Chini, Steven Jonsson, Clint and Meagan Quinlivan, Mark Robinson and Kenneth Wishaw.
We do hope that you enjoy being members of the Brisbane Astronomical Society and are able to participate in as many
social and astronomical functions as you can. May your journey in exploring and learning about the stars, planets and
space be an enjoyable one.

JUNE GENERAL MEETING

Friday, 20th May, 7.30 p.m., at St Ita’s Catholic School Hall, Dutton Park (entrance via Pope Street – see map).
Visitors and all prospective members welcome. Supper provided. The meeting will start with 30 minutes of telescope
observing at 7.00 p.m. (weather permitting) and an introduction to the constellations visible in the sky, with more observing
after the meeting. The formal meeting content will commence at 7.30 p.m., with the well-intentioned aim of closing the
meeting at 9.00 p.m. All visitors are encouraged to bring their telescopes if they need assistance in using them.

MAY 2016 3
Club activities
by Chris Landman, BAS President

A
nd so we are still waiting for this phenomenon called
winter. (I seem to recall it was some time last year on a
Wednesday between 8.00 a.m. and 9.00 a.m.) With the
hope of a winter that is supposed to come, we are still waiting
for the cooler, clearer nights that we should be experiencing –
like our fellow astronomers from south of the Tweed River.
As I mentioned in my last ‘Club Activities’ report, one of
our goals is getting out there to be seen, and getting the public
interested is one of our main targets. We are still getting heaps
of enquiries after the airtime that we had on Channel 7’s ‘Great
South East’.
It seems that we have awakened a sleeping giant in the
community, as there is a huge amount of interest from the public.
With each scheduled public viewing night we are overrun with
enquiries about the evening, but unfortunately we have not had the
privilege of a full observing night. Luckily for us, the members of the
public are very understanding and know that we are weather dependent.

Paniyiri Greek Festival

It is that time of the year again, and we are heading off to the Paniyiri Greek Festival again this year. We are looking
for quite a few volunteers to come and help out with the Festival, as it starts in the morning at about 10.00 a.m. and
goes through to about 10.00 p.m. The viewing is full on the whole time, as there are many patrons who have never
seen the Sun through a telescope during the day. But when the evening comes around, that is when the fun starts
and the telescope queues are packed with prospective viewers. Another plus point is that there is no shortage of
food, and the variety is ‘Out of this World’!

School nights
Speaking of volunteers, we are always looking for more persons to help out with our school nights. The only
requirement is that you are willing to go out to a school on a booked school night, set up your telescope and show
the little (and sometimes not so little) children the night skies.
Although it is not a requirement to have a Working with Children Blue Card, we can always apply for one for you.
Seeing that this is a volunteer position, there are no charges for applying for these cards.

Star-BQs
Unfortunately, the Star-BQ evening that was scheduled for the end of April had to be cancelled due to bad weather.
Please note that as from this month, we have scheduled our Star-BQs to be held at the picnic area near the dam wall
at Lake Moogerah. This first ‘Winter’ Star-BQ is on 28th May.

Astrocamps
As far as astrocamps are concerned, we have none scheduled until the Queen’s Birthday weekend in October. There
will be an important announcement made at the next General Meeting with regards to this astrocamp, so if you are
interested in coming along to the astrocamp, come to the meeting and hear the news!

May General Meeting

And speaking of our next meeting, just a reminder that it will held on Friday, 20th May, at St Ita’s Catholic School in
Dutton Park. We will be having David Parkinson from UQ as our guest speaker. David will be talking on the topic of
‘Exploring the Big Bang!’.

4 BAS OBSERVER
 If there are any contributions that members want to present at the meetings, feel free to contact me so that we
can make arrangements to schedule them in a meeting. Also, if there are specific topics that you want covered, talk
to us and we can see when we can accommodate your request.

Library books sale

At the May meeting and for the next few meetings we will be selling our older Library material, giving our members
first choice of the older books and magazines. We are selling these older books and magazines to fund our project
to purchase new Library material that is more up to date and also more relevant. If anybody has any suggestions of
what new books we should purchase for the Library, please forward your suggestions to Stephanie Williams, our
Librarian, at librarian@bas.asn.au.
Well, that is all from my side for this month and we’ll see you at the next meeting. As I said earlier, I really
hope winter arrives soon with clear skies so that we can get some good observing done – and some wide-field
photography.
Clear skies to all, and remember to keep your feet on the ground and reach for the stars!  ■

May–June Events
General Meetings
• Friday, 20th May (St Ita’s Catholic School, Dutton Park)
• Friday, 17th June (St Ita’s Catholic School, Dutton Park)

Combined Societies Meeting

•  Friday, 10th June (Schneider Electric Auditorium, 80 Schneider Road,
Eagle Farm). Starting time will be 7.00 p.m. for 7.30 p.m.

Mt Coot-tha public Moon and planets viewing nights

•  Saturday, 14th May  •  Saturday, 11th June

Star-BQ
•  Saturday, 28th May (Lake Moogerah)

Paniyiri Greek Festival

•  Saturday, 21st to Sunday, 22nd May, Musgrave Park, South Brisbane. Email education@bas.asn.au for further
information.

School nights
•  Thursday, 5th May (Parklands Christian College, 11 Hillcrest Road, Park Ridge)
•  Friday, 13th May (Busy Bee’s Playgroup, Colleges Crossing, Recreation Reserve, Mount Crosby Road, Chuwar)
•  Monday, 16th May (St Michael’s Catholic Church, Dorrington, 250 Banks Street, Ashgrove)
•  Wednesday, 18th May (Guardian Angels’ Primary School, 188 Bay Terrace, Wynnum)
• Thursday, 9th June (QASMT, 78 Bywong Street, Toowong)
• Friday, 10th June (Our Lady of Victories Parish and Polish Pastoral Centre, 1 Roche Avenue, Bowen Hills)
•  Monday, 13th June (McDowall State School, 1018 Rode Road, McDowall)
• Wednesday, 15th June (Northside Christian College, Teralba Park, 120 Pullen Road, Everton Park)
• Thursday, 16th June (Albany Hills State School, Cnr Keong and Old Northern Roads, Albany Creek)
Volunteers are always needed to assist on school nights (setup at 6.30 p.m. for a 6.45–7.00 p.m. start, unless
otherwise noted). Email education@bas.asn.au for further information.

NEWSLETTER DEADLINE FOR JUNE ISSUE

Just a reminder that the newsletter deadline for the May issue is Friday, 13th May. Only essential
announcements and news items will be accepted after that date. Late material will be held over for the
following issue.—ED.

MAY 2016 5
 BAS fridge calendar for the month of May
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Labor Day School night New Moon
(Parklands
Christian
College,
11 Hillcrest Road,
Park Ridge)

8 9 10 11 12 13 14
School Night Public viewing night
(Busy Bee’s at Mt Coot-tha
Playgroup,
Colleges
Committee meeting
Crossing, First Quarter Moon
Chuwar)

15 16 17 18 19 20 21
School night School night OGM at St Ita’s Paniyiri Festival
(St Michael’s (Guardian Catholic School, (Musgrave
Catholic Church, Angels’ Primary Dutton Park Park, South
Dorrington, 250 School, 188 Brisbane)
Banks Street, Bay Terrace,
Ashgrove) Wynnum)

22 23 24 25 26 27 28
Paniyiri Festival Star-BQ
(Musgrave (Lake
Park, South Moogerah)
Brisbane)
Full Moon

29 30 31
Last Quarter
Moon

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6 BAS OBSERVER
 Brisbane Astronomical Society

Star-BQ

COME JOIN US UNDER

THE STARS!
DATE: Saturday, 28th May

TIME: 4.00 p.m.

LOCATION: Lake Moogerah

Picnic Area, Moogerah Connection
Road, Moogerah (near dam wall)

BYO: Excellent BBQ facilities; bring

your own picnic food, or enjoy food
from the Lake Moogerah Café

WHO: All members and

non-members welcome!

FREE!

MAY 2016 7
27th NACAA (Sydney 2016)
A report from Mike Lewis

T
he 27th National Australian Convention of Amateur Astronomers (NACAA)
was held in Sydney on the Easter long weekend and was hosted by the
Sutherland Astronomical Society Inc. The Convention was held at the Sydney
University Law School, with about 140 delegates attending from all over Australia.
The Convention commenced on the Friday with the Variable Stars
Symposium 4 (VSS), followed by the evening’s Welcome Function.
The opening Keynote Speaker on Saturday morning was Professor Joss
Bland-Hawthorn, the Director of the Sydney Institute of Astronomy. The topic of
his address was ‘Fireworks at the Heart of the Galaxy’. The talk focused on the
history of black holes, with Joss predicting that Galactic Centre research would
in the future be a distinct field of physics.
Saturday and Sunday had two streams of talks, with each talk being thirty
minutes.
The Perdrix Address was the last event on Saturday’s program, before the
NACAA AGM. The address was given by Brett McMillan from the Sutherland
Astronomical Society, his topic being ‘50 Years of NACAA’. Brett outlined the
history of all the NACAA events, including the three held in Queensland in 1982,
1996 and 2012. BAS was a joint host in 1996.
The Convention Dinner was held on Saturday evening, with the Berenice and Arthur Page Award presented to
Roy Axelson from the AAQ. Roy won the award for his work on Delta Scuti stars. The after-dinner speaker was Fred
Watson from the Australian Astronomical Observatory. Fred’s talk was titled ‘Trollops, Tyrants and Telescopes –
Tales from Astronomy’s Underbelly’. Fred was his usual entertaining self.
Monday’s events included a workshop at the University titled ‘An Introduction to Image Processing in PixInsight’
and a guided two-hour tour of the Sydney Observatory at Millers Point.
A number of Poster Papers were on display during the four event days. One example was ‘History and
Observations of the Jewel Box 1603 to 1983’ by Andrew James.

The University of Sydney – venue for NACAA 2016.

8 BAS OBSERVER
Fred Watson speaking on ‘Trollops, Joss Bland-Hawthorn presenting Barry Adcock from the Astronomical Society of Victoria
Tyrants and Telescopes – Tales from ‘Fireworks at the Heart of the Galaxy’. speaking on ‘Infrared Studies of Jupiter's Atmosphere’.
Astronomy’s Underbelly’.

Presentations that I found interesting included:

•  Spectroscopy with RSpect
•  New Discoveries in the Solar System
•  The Parramatta Star Catalogue: A New Perspective
•  The Star of Bethlehem . . . Fact, Fiction, Myth or Miracle
•  Women in Astronomy
•  Supernovae Don’t Go ‘Pop’
•  Astronomy and 3D Printing
The overall main themes of the four days were centred on space science education, plus the significant growth
in amateur spectroscopy. A special meeting was also held to discuss the problems of light pollution and the new
LED street lighting. A full record of the proceedings will be published and made available for purchase from the
NACAA Shop.
The next Convention will be held at Ballarat in Victoria at Easter in 2018.
For those wishing to increase their knowledge of all things astronomical and enjoy the good company of other
amateur astronomers, NACAA is not to be missed.  ■

Don’t always believe what you’re told!

BAS member Anne-Louise recently received a phone call from someone she
describes as a ‘concerned citizen’ (Graham). Since moving from Canberra to
Bribie four years ago, Graham has rarely used his ’scope (a 10-year-old Celestron
NexStar GoTo 8-inch), but recently he attempted to do so.
Unfortunately, when he powered up the ’scope, he found that the handset simply
said ‘input data’. It appeared that all the memory had somehow been lost. When he
called the company from which he’d purchased the instrument, he was told that they
had seen this problem before and that he would need to spend $300 on a replace­
ment handset!
Fortunately, the weekend was coming up, so Graham decided to do some fiddling to see
whether he could solve the problem himself. His first thought was that there might be a flat
battery in the handset, but he found that the handset didn’t take a battery.
He did know that there were batteries in the main ’scope, but as he always ran it with AC power he had never
bothered to replace them. With nothing left to lose, he put in eight new batteries, turned the ’scope on – and
everything worked!
Graham has already wised up another of our members who had a similar problem, and he wanted to let the
rest of us know. So there you go . . . and a big thanks to Graham!

MAY 2016 9
Astrophotography for
the impatient
by Peter Allison

M
ost amateur astronomers initially spark an interest in this hobby
from seeing stunning astronomy photos in astro-magazines and on
astro-websites. Those detailed, gorgeous and colourful images set
the imagination running. ‘How cool is that?’ we think. ‘How hard can it be?’
we think.
While the huge advances in capability and simplicity of telescopes,
mounts and imaging equipment have made the dream more of a reality,
it can still be a bit like trying to learn the violin. The astro-imaging learning
curve can be long and steep. It can also prove to be expensive as more and
more bolt-on and plug-in gadgets and aids get purchased to try to achieve
that ‘Hubble look’. And then there is the image-processing software to
purchase and contend with – yet another steep learning curve.
But many of us are born impatient, and for some the trait seems to gets stronger with age. I am so afflicted. For
years I have marvelled at the astrophotography achievements of the masters of the art. I never miss an Astronomy
Picture of the Day (http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html). For years I have clicked through to see the details of
APOD images – the imaging time, the equipment used, etc., etc. But I was always stopped in my tracks when I saw
images that comprised, say, 200 sub-frames of 10 minutes each. And the equipment used often just looked like a
jumble of countless cables, and two, three or more telescopes hidden somewhere under the tangle. What are all
those cables for? I still don’t know. How can anyone capture 200 good-quality images? I struggle to achieve one.
How do these people get their telescope mounts to track properly for 10 whole minutes? That’s an eternity to me.
Life is too short. There must be a more simple way.
I did find a more simple way. The solution arose from an understanding of the f-ratio of telescopes. Wikipedia will
give you the formal and accurate explanation of the f-ratio and its implications for photography (https://en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/F-number). But the simple explanation for astrophotography is the smaller the f-ratio of your telescope the
wider its field of view and the more light it can concentrate into each pixel on a camera chip.
Most Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes are designed with a very long focal length, often f/10, which means they
look at a very small patch of sky. This can be great for visual observing of small objects like planets and planetary
nebulae, but when you replace the eyepiece with a digital camera it means you are collecting light from just a very
small area; that means just a ‘trickle’ of photons if you want to image a misty nebula. It is like trying to take a photo
through a long, narrow straw.
But if your telescope has a much shorter focal length and f-ratio of say f/2, the story is totally different: f/2 means
a wide field of view. Now you can see, or image, the entire Orion Nebula, whereas at f/10 you might not see much
beyond the central Trapezium region.

Hyperstar lens assembly

I use a 12-year-old Celestron C14 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope with an f/10 focal ratio and a very basic Celestron
mount. But with the addition of a Hyperstar lens assembly I can image at f/2. Learn more about the system here:
https://starizona.com/acb/hyperstar/whatis.aspx.
The Hyperstar lens and camera are attached to the telescope corrector plate. The secondary mirror is removed
and the Hyperstar simple screwed in – a 30-second task. Hyperstar is great for wide-field imaging, but useless if your
interest is planetary imaging. Hyperstar is at its best with big regions of nebulae, star clouds and big star clusters.
Think of it as an ‘astro-landscape’ system rather than an ‘astro-microscope’. Hyperstar collects huge amounts of light
and concentrates it down into the camera pixel; f/10 spreads photons out across a camera chip, while f/2 concentrates
vastly more photons down onto the chip. This means an image can be captured in very little time. And I mean very, very
little time. A 30-second image at f/2 will place just as many photons in a pixel as a 750-second image (12.5 minutes)

10 BAS OBSERVER

at f/10. A lot can go wrong with a mount and tracking in 750 seconds, and it’s even harder if you need to repeat the
image 20 or 30 times. I don’t have the patience for that.

Focal Ratio Equal Exposure Times Equal Exposure Times

f/10 12.5 minutes 25 minutes
f/6.3 5.0 minutes 10 minutes
f/5 3.1 minutes 6.3 minutes
f/3.3 1.4 minutes 2.7 minutes
f/2 30 seconds 60 seconds

Orion Nebula – Hyperstar, 30 seconds, ISO 800

Lagoon Nebula – Hyperstar, 25 seconds, ISO 1600 – cropped image

MAY 2016 11
 At f/2 the imaging times are so short that you don’t have to accurately polar-align your mount. You also don’t
need auto-guiding equipment and software. Taking twenty or thirty 30-second images is a breeze. I just have one
USB cable running from my Canon EOS 60Da to a little table; that is all I need to set up – a 15-second task. I’m still
learning how to get the best out of Hyperstar, but the learning curve is pretty short and flat.

Eta Carinae – Hyperstar, 30 seconds, ISO 1250

Lagoon and Trifid Nebulae – Hyperstar, 25 seconds, ISO 1600

All the images in this article are just single images – not multi-stacked – and all unprocessed. They were all taken as
simple JPEG images, but they may give you a feel for how the impatient can have a go at astrophotography too.  ■

12 BAS OBSERVER

 Never-before-seen Galaxy Orbiting the Milky Way
The galaxy’s empire has a new colony. Astronomers have detected a dwarf galaxy orbiting the Milky Way
whose span stretches farther than nearly all other Milky Way satellites. It may belong to a small group of
galaxies that is falling into our own. Read the full story at https://www.newscientist.com/article/2084438-
never-before-seen-galaxy-spotted-orbiting-the-milky-way/.

The Milky Way is orbited by 49 other galaxies – that we know of. (Image courtesy of ESO)

Squeezing and Releasing Enceladus

This set of images from NASA’s Cassini mission shows how the gravitational pull of Saturn affects the amount
of spray coming from jets at the active moon Enceladus. Enceladus has the most spray when it is farthest
away from Saturn in its orbit (inset image on the left) and the least spray when it is closest to Saturn (inset
image on the right). Read the full story at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA17040.

Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/

University of Arizona/Cornell/SSI

MAY 2016 13
Star charts for May
from Paul Floyd

T
he star charts on the following two pages have been prepared for an observer located on the Gold Coast,
Queensland, Australia. If you are located north of the Gold Coast, stars shown on the northern horizon chart will
be located higher in the sky and stars shown on the southern horizon chart will be lower in the sky or not visible
at all. If you are located south of the Gold Coast, the opposite will apply.

Looking north at 6.30 p.m. AEST

Looking east at 6.30 p.m. AEST

14 BAS OBSERVER

The charts have been created using the highly recommended freeware astronomy program Stellarium and have been
prepared for after the end of astronomical twilight. This will mean you have a completely dark sky – assuming you are
away from street lights and the Moon is not visible. No planets are shown on the charts. If you happen to view a ‘star’ in
the sky that is not shown on a particular chart, you will have ‘discovered’ a planet or, if you are really lucky, a supernova!

Looking south at 6.30 p.m. AEST

Looking west at 6.30 p.m. AEST

MAY 2016 15
Lunar and
planetary guide
A Solar System reference for May and June,
from Tony Surma-Hawes
All times AEST and, unless noted, events are for Brisbane locations.

M
ercury begins descending towards the Sun for inferior conjunction in May. At this conjunction Mercury will
transit the Sun, although it will not be visible from Australia. The next transits that will be visible for Australian
observers will occur in 2032 and 2039. After inferior conjunction the planet emerges into the dawn skies for
a good apparition from late May to mid-June. This planet rises two hours before the Sun in the first half of June, with
greatest elongation west of the Sun on the 5th. On 19th June, Mercury will pass near the Hyades Cluster (the head
of Taurus), and the Bull will have a right eye half a magnitude brighter than Aldebaran. The Moon passes (above, then
below) the planet on the 3rd and 4th of the month.
Venus. During April this planet sank ever lower into the eastern morning twilight, and by the end of the month
it was too close to the Sun to observe. We will not be able to view this planet until it reappears in the evening skies
around mid-July. Superior conjunction (passing on the far side of the Sun) occurs on 7th June.
Earth is at winter solstice (in the Southern Hemisphere) on 21st June, marking the point in the calendar when
the days begin to lengthen again.
Mars is approaching opposition, which will occur on 22nd May, but due to the elliptical nature and inclination of
the orbits of Earth and Mars, closest approach will not occur until the 31st. The apparent diameter of the planet will
be 18.6″ at closest approach and will pass high in the skies for southern observers. June will show the Red Planet
favourably for the second month in a row. Although by the end of the month Mars will have decreased in apparent
size to 16.5″, even small telescopes should show features such as Syrtis Major and Hellas Planitia (barring dust
storms). The south polar cap will also reach maximum width and be an easy feature to observe. By the end of June,
the planet’s retrograde motion will come to an end before resuming normal eastward motion against the stars. Almost
stationary for 10 days, Mars can be observed within half a degree of globular cluster NGC 9857 in Libra. The almost
Full Moon will appear near Mars on 17th June.
Jupiter will come to the end of its four-month retrograde motion on 10th May and will appear stationary against
the background stars. On the 15th, the 9-day-old Moon will appear less than 2° from Jupiter. The giant planet will
appear in the northern sky at the end of twilight during June. The Moon will pass Jupiter on two evenings in June.
It will appear west of the planet on the 11th, and then the First Quarter Moon will appear to the east on the 12th.
Saturn will reach opposition on 3rd June, so this will be the time to start observing this fantastic object. Around
the time of opposition the rings undergo an increase in brightness known as the Seeliger Effect. The effect is caused
by the Sun illuminating the rings from directly behind us, so any shadowing in the orbiting particles is hidden from
view. On 19th June the near Full Moon will appear nearby.
Uranus re-emerges into the morning twilight during May. By mid-June it will rise around 2.00 a.m.
Neptune is currently half a degree (the apparent diameter of the Moon) from 4th-magnitude star Lambda Aquarii,
whose common name is Hydor. The planet’s retrograde motion, which will begin on 14th June, will keep Neptune
within 0.5° of the star for the next four months. Appropriately for Neptune (the God of the Seas), Hydor means ‘water’
and marks the point where water flows from the Water Jar held by Aquarius. Neptune will rise at 11.00 p.m. around
mid-June.
Note: To the unaided eye all planets look like stars. Here’s how they were given their name: the word ‘planet’ is
from the Ancient Greek πλανήτης αστήρ (planētēs astēr), meaning ‘wandering star’. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn
and Jupiter are easily visible to the unaided eye.
Due to their faintness, Uranus and Neptune will require a minimum of a large pair of binoculars and a detailed
finder chart to locate (see http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/12435011.html).

16 BAS OBSERVER

Lunar and planetary events for May and June 2016

2nd May, 2016 9.00 p.m. Neptune 1.7° south of the Moon
5th May, 2016 1.00 p.m. Uranus 2° north of the Moon
6th May, 2016 2.00 p.m. Moon at perigee (357 827 km from Earth in its orbit)
7th May, 2016 5.30 a.m. New Moon
10th May, 2016 1.00 a.m. Mercury in inferior conjunction
10th May, 2016 9.00 a.m. Jupiter stationary
14th May, 2016 3.02 a.m. First Quarter Moon
15th May, 2016 8.00 p.m. Neptune 2° north of the Moon
19th May, 2016 3.03 a.m. Moon at apogee (405 933 km from Earth in its orbit)
22nd May, 2016 6.00 a.m. Mars 6° south of the Moon
22nd May, 2016 3.00 p.m. Full Moon
22nd May, 2016 8.00 a.m. Mercury stationary
22nd May, 2016 9.00 p.m. Mars at opposition
23rd May, 2016 6.00 a.m. Saturn 3° south of the Moon
29th May, 2016 10.12 p.m. Last Quarter Moon
29th May, 2016 11.00 a.m. Closest approach to Mars
30th May, 2016 1.00 am Neptune 1.4° south of the Moon
1st June, 2016 11.00 p.m. Uranus 2° north of the Moon
3rd June, 2016 5.00 p.m. Saturn at opposition
3rd June, 2016 8.00 p.m. Mercury 0.7° north of the Moon
3rd June, 2016 1.00 p.m. Moon is at perigee (361 140 km from Earth in its orbit)
5th June, 2016 4.00 a.m. New Moon
5th June, 2016 7.00 p.m. Mercury at greatest elongation west
7th June, 2016 8.00 a.m. Venus in superior conjunction
12th June, 2016 6.00 a.m. Jupiter 1.5° north of the Moon
12th June, 2016 6.10 p.m. First Quarter Moon
14th June, 2016 6.00 p.m. Neptune stationary
15th June, 2016 10.00 p.m. Moon at apogee (405 024 km from Earth in its orbit)
17th June, 2016 8.00 p.m. Mars 7° south of the Moon
19th June, 2016 Mercury 4° north of Aldebaran
19th June, 2016 10.00 a.m. Saturn 3° south of the Moon
20th June, 2016 9.02 p.m. Full Moon
21st June, 2016 9.00 a.m. Solstice
26th June, 2016 11.00 a.m. Neptune 1.2° south of the Moon
28th June, 2016 4.19 a.m. Last Quarter Moon
29th June, 2016 9.00 a.m. Uranus 3° north of the Moon
29th June, 2016 6.00 p.m. Mars stationary All times AEST.

MAY 2016 17
Rising together on 15th May, Jupiter and the Moon make a striking pair that fits nicely in the field of a pair of binoculars, with Jupiter’s
moons visible on each side of the planet. In a telescope, the Great Red Spot crosses the face of Jupiter, transiting the meridian at
approximately 8.00 p.m. AEST.

Rising in the dawn twilight on 19th June, Taurus boasts two bright eyes as Mercury appears opposite Aldebaran in the Hyades Cluster.

18 BAS OBSERVER

Saturn and Mars dominate the constellations of Scorpius and Libra towards the end of June when Mars ends its retrograde motion,
appearing stationary against the stars.

Information about the finder charts

Charts accompanying this article have been produced with permission using the highly recommended Sky Safari Pro
tablet app. Stars are shown to 5th magnitude. This is a compromise between what would be seen from a dark-sky
site and the reality that most people live in cities or towns with significant light pollution.  ■

REFERENCES
Astronomy 2016, Quasar Publishing (http://www.quasarastronomy.com.au).
Sky Safari Pro iPad app (to generate finder charts – reproduced with permission of the software writers).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet

New Evidence for Oxygen on Ancient Mars

Rocks on the surface of Mars have yielded the best clue yet that the planet
once had an atmosphere rich in oxygen. Mars owes its sobriquet ‘the Red
Planet’ to the abundance of iron oxide, otherwise known as rust, on its
surface. But in addition to all that iron, NASA’s Curiosity rover has now found
substantial amounts of manganese oxide in rocks in Mars’s Gale crater.
‘We found 3 per cent of rocks have high manganese oxide content,’ Agnès
Cousin of the Research Institute in Astrophysics and Planetology in Toulouse,
France, told the European Geophysical Union meeting in Vienna, Austria, in
April. ‘That requires abundant water and strongly oxidising conditions, so
the atmosphere may have contained much more oxygen than we thought.’ Two especially manganese-rich
samples, imaged by ChemCam.
Read the full story at https://www.newscientist.com/article/2085604- (Image courtesy of JPL-Caltech/NASA)
first-direct-evidence-of-ancient-marss-oxygen-rich-atmosphere/?utm_
source=NSNS&utm_medium=SOC&utm_campaign=hoot&cmpid=SOC%7CNSNS%7C2016-GLOBAL-
twitter.

MAY 2016 19
 Meade Equipment for Sale
Meade 12-inch LX200 Classic OTA $1750 ONO
This is the OTA only. No other accessories are
included. Includes the Meade soft carrying case.
There are two small spots of mould on the inside of
the corrector plate (see photo). There are also two small
water spots on the primary mirror.
Due to size and weight, would prefer pick-up in
South-East Queensland. (Could deliver/meet within
3 hours of Ipswich.)

Meade 10-inch LX 200 Classic Forks $500 ONO

and Electronics
Suitable for spare parts or ATM projects.
Includes electronics, cables, RA and Dec. motors, handset
and power supply.
Would consider splitting forks from electronics.

Bausch & Lomb 800 mm f/10 Lens  $500 ONO

Suitable for camera lens or guidescope.
Includes camera mount, camera adaptor, diagonal,
18 mm and 30 mm Plössl eyepieces.

NOTE: All prices exclude postage and insurance.

Contact: Brendan Downs
Email: brendandowns@bigpond.com
Phone: (07) 3812 2813 (after 7.00 p.m.)

Telephone: (07) 3255 1455

Facsimile: (07) 3255 1466

are pleased to support the

Brisbane Astronomical Society Inc.
Call us for all your personal tax and small business advice needs.
Unit 1
P.O. Box 1431 63 Annerley Road
Coorparoo DC 4151 Woolloongabba 4102

20 BAS OBSERVER

 BAS Information
Equipment hire
The club has a number of telescopes and accessories for hire to members (see http://bas.asn.au/index.php/
equipment/ for hiring rates and equipment hire policy):
TELESCOPES
• 250 mm (10-inch) Dobsonian reflector (collapsible)
• 235 mm (9¼-inch) CPC Schmidt-Cassegrain and battery (Custodian only)
• 200 mm (8-inch) Dobsonian reflector (collapsible)
• 200 mm (8-inch) Meade LX90 ACF with Meade eyepiece, filter set and battery
• 150 mm (6-inch) Maksutov-Cassegrain reflector (‘Boris’) with equatorial mount
• 100 mm (4-inch) Sky-Watcher ED refractor
MOUNTS
• Sky-Watcher AZ-EQ6 GoTo altazimuth/equatorial mount
BINOCULARS
• Basic 16 × 50 binoculars (available to borrow rent-free)
ACCESSORIES
• 9 mm 100° Orion Ultra-Wide eyepiece (Custodian only)
• 12 mm 60° Meade eyepieces (three available – one reserved for Custodian only)
• Orion eyepiece set in silver case (includes 40 mm, 17 mm, 10 mm, 7.5 mm, 6.3 mm and 2× Barlow)
• 50 mm Orion guidescope (for use with SynGuider)
• SynGuider
• Argo Navis Astro Computer for Dobsonian telescopes (8-inch and 10-inch)
• Right-angled finderscope (no mounting rings)
• Nikon T-ring
• Canon T-ring
• 9¼-inch Orion Full Aperture Glass Solar Filter (suits 8-inch ’scopes)
• ‘The BAS Collection’: Set of miscellaneous eyepieces (available to borrow rent-free, individually or as a set).
Includes 1.25″ and 2″ eyepieces, colour filters and light pollution filters.

Library
An extensive range of books and magazines may be borrowed at meetings free of charge for a period of one
month. Please note that a fine of $2.00 per item per month applies to overdue material.

Membership subscriptions
Full Membership: $30.00
Family Membership: $36.00
Concession Membership: $18.00
The membership year is 1st July to 30th June, and renewal is due on 1st July each year. Rules and
Constitutio
New members joining after 1st July and before 1st October will pay a reduced amount of
of the
Brisb
n
ane Astro
nomical So
ciety Inc.
50 per cent of the above, while amounts paid on or after 1st November will go towards
the following calendar year.

BAS Rules and Constitution

The Rules and Constitution of the Brisbane Astronomical Society can be accessed at
http://bas.asn.au/Docs/BAS_Rules_and_Constitution/.
INCLUDING
DUTY STA
TEMENTS
AND BY-L
AWS

Enjoyed reading this newsletter?

Remember that you too can become a newsletter contributor and share your own experiences, astronomical
interests and images with your fellow members. Just don’t forget the deadline, which is always included in these
pages (see page 5 of this issue).—ED.

MAY 2016 21
 Lunt 50 mm Double-stacked
Solar Scope – Pressure-tuned

Sky-Watcher 80 mm
Esprit ED Triplet APO
Refractor

Sky-Watcher
AZ/EQ5
GoTo Pier

Meade LightBridge
Series Dobsonian

Sky-Watcher
Star Adventurer
Mini Tracking
EQ Mount Orion
StarMax 90
Table-top
Cassegrain with
tripod mount

22 BAS OBSERVER

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MAY 2016 23
 EARTH BARRAGED BY SUPERNOVAE

A simulation of iron-60 atoms dispersed by multiple supernovae close to the Solar System 2.2 million
years ago. Some of that iron still lies at the bottom of the oceans and on the Moon. (Image courtesy
of Michael Schulreich)

It sounds like the plot of a disaster movie: A nearby star explodes as a supernova, out­
shining the Sun in the sky. The fleeting lightshow blows away Earth’s ozone layer, leaving
the planet’s inhabitants – human and otherwise – exposed to the full force of the Sun’s
radiation. Cancer skyrockets, crops fail, and civilisation falls apart. Far-fetched, perhaps,
but two independent teams of researchers have found evidence that within the past
10 million years, our planet was in fact exposed to multiple nearby supernovae. Read
the full story at http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/04/earth-barraged-supernovae-
millions-years-ago-debris-found-moon.