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Location: Chemistry/Physics Building, MUN
Time: 8:00 pm
Present: 27
Chris noted it was a lovely evening and took some cell phone pictures of the Moon and Venus just before our meeting.
This talk was based on a presentation Dr. George gave at Sci-Fi on the Rock last year. He took us from the Earth-Moon system, the Sun, and all the planets, to the Kuiper belt, the Oort cloud, and beyond. Each planet's distance and basic properties was discussed. Notable and interesting features were brought to our attention. The talk was a very good survey of all these objects, and brought to even more experienced members a few surprises (as an example, Phoebe's retrograde orbit).
One notable image included the view of our solar system from Sedna. Some extra time was spent exploring all the Trans-Neptunian and Kuiper Belt Objects. We spent some time with the nearest stars, the life cycles of stars, supernova, typical galaxies, and things seen in the Hubble Ultra Deepfield. Finally, he ended with a discussion of the Cosmic Microwave Background.
There followed a question and answer session. Chris noted just very recently 8 galaxies (though only as points of light) have been found with z>8. One question was asked about methane on Titan: shouldn't it all explode? Glyn noted you would need oxygen for that to happen.
We had intended to present Dr. George with a gift for his efforts, but it was left at home, so he will receive it at another time.
Chris asked members to stay tuned for imminent news concerning our plans for the future. Chris is currently starting work on a draft of our observatory. Gary Snow noted one of his magazines from the UK has plans for a small observatory we might find useful.
Richard Newman again presented this feature for this month. He passed around a sheet for members. Topics covered included the New Moon, Zodiacal light this month, Pleiades and the Moon, meteor showers (or lack thereof), all the new sunspots, planets, and comets you can observe.
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