Institute of Astronomy Cambridge

FEDERATION OF ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETIESCONVENTION & AGM 2010

AGM • Subscriptions from this year onwards to be

aligned to financial year. Now due in January for April 2011.

• 50% Discounted subs rate for prompt payment. Accounts show that funds are higher than needed, hence discount scheme. Additional income is due to sale of educational pamphlets and Astro Calendars.

• No change to subs this year.

• FAS would like societies to register their post codes on the FAS web site. An embedded Google map will then display all societies in a region as a pin on the map.

Institute of Astronomy

Convention

1. JERRY STONE FRAS FBIS ‘VISITING THE LORD OF THE RINGS’

Notes1. Greek word for Saturn is KRONOS2. History of observing Saturn – who and when3. Signal strength from the Cassini space craft is only 20W when

it leaves – tiny fraction of that when it arrives on earth4. Huygens probe – surface consistency (wet snow or sand),

video & still photography.5. New research using radar to probe inside Titan – may be

internal oceans of water and ammonia.6. New images from previous day showing new blue ice exposed

by impact in false colour image of Rhea.7. Cassini mission may extend to 2017 , skimming just 3,000km

from cloud tops before tumbling into Saturn's atmosphere.

PROF. PHILIPPA BROWNING‘OUR ACTIVE SUN’

Notes1. 100,000 years for energy to escape – drunken stagger

through the woods 2. Photosphere temperature is 6000K. 3. Inside sunspots 4,000K, hence much darker.4. Carona is 1-2M K – much hotter than the surface!5. Cycle 23 (current) has been much longer and deeper

minimum than usual: • longest in a century (12.1 - 12.8 years) • 51 sun-spot free days.

6. Spectacular displays of erupting prominences and 3-dimensional views of coronal mass ejections using stereo.

7. Prof. Browning’s specialisation is in Re-connection of magnetic field lines.

PROF. TIM NAYLOR‘STAR & PLANET

FORMATION’

Notes1. Two diverse camps - divided over the influence that a strong

magnetic field has over the process of star formation. Results differ by factor of 5-10:

1-2M years or 10M years.High field strength => Slower star formation Research continues from ground based telescopes

2. Collapse is rapid and chaotic , mass aggregating along filaments in the spiral arms similar to large cosmological models of galaxy formation.

3. Disc formation in young stars is visible in the infra-red.4. Disc carries away angular momentum from the star and leads

to planet formation.5. BUT Jupiter took 10M years to from and discs last approx 3M

years.

DR PETER WHEATLEY ‘HUNTING FOR EXTRA-SOLAR

PLANETS USING SMALL TELESCOPES’

Notes1. Dr Wheatley is a founder member of WASP, Wide Angle

Search for Planets.2. First direct images of extra-solar planets – around

Formalhaut-b using Keck and Hubble.3. Most planets found to date are ~10x MJ.4. Most planets are found by doppler wobble.5. Very highly stable environment for measurements – fibre

optic from telescope to spectrograph in basement - vibration free, N2 atmosphere, constant temp and pressure.

6. WASP uses an array of Canon telephoto lenses f/1.8 – wide angle array.

7. 28.6M stars have been surveyed to date. Computerised search for dips in brightness.

8. Most difficult data to inerpret : eclipsing binary with a 3rd star present.

DR PETER WHEATLEY ‘HUNTING FOR EXTRA-SOLAR

PLANETS USING SMALL TELESCOPES’

Notes1. Team have discovered ICE GIANTS – Neptune sized planets.2. For transit planet method, observer on earth has to be in the

plane of the orbit.3. Anomaly: MP= 10MJ creates a tidal effect on parent star. They

have found a 5Bn year old relationship which will end within 1M years => is it fully understood?

4. Can measure red/blue shift of the light blocked by a transiting planet – can tell which side of rotating star was hidden.

5. Also brightness and spectrum of planet before it passes behind parent star.

6. May be just 10 years away from finding oxygen rich atmosphere which would point to RESPIRATION process => LIFE !!

end