- Intro by Jeff Pivnick
- Astronomy in South America – Ecuador & Galapagos – Jeff PivnickAstronomy in South America – Ecuador – Jeff Pivnick
- Ecuador
- Quito – “middle of the world” nearest to the Equator
- Rene Descarte – Earth is prolate (bulging at the poles)
- Isaac Newton – Earth is oblate (bulging at the equator)
- France sent missions 1736-39 to both Lapland and Ecuador to perform arc measurements, proving an oblate shape
- Ecuador erected two monuments to celebrate the geodetic missions on the Equator
- Indigenous Equator monument (800BC) – more accurate!
- Modern geodesy tells us the Earth is actually an oblate spheroid – Joe Carr
- Chandler wobble – Randy Enkin
- Galapagos Islands (Ecuador)
- Islands discovered in 1535
- Darwin mission
- An active volcanic area – low viscosity basaltic lava
- Wildlife – rare species
- “Galapagos” is a Spanish name for turtle
- 14″ south of the Equator
- How to find the South Celestial Pole using the Southern Cross and pointer stars
- Polaris should be visible from slightly south of the Equator
- No soil on newly-formed islands, so very few plants except cactus. Ecology changes dramatically from island to island.
- Ecuador
- Only Bad Astronomers Forget Generally Known Mnemonics (Stellar Classification) – Randy Enkin
- 19th century saw massive collection of astronomical data about stars
- 1881 – Harvard College Observatory (HCO) – Edward Pickering, Williamina Flemming – Henry Draper Catalogue in 1886
- 1863 – Angelo Secchi, a Jesuit at the papal observatory – created star classes I, II, III
- 1887 – Antonia Maury hired to produce a classification system for spectra
- 1895 – Orion Lines – William Ramsey
- 1896 – Annie Jump Cannon – a human computer at HCO – improved, simplified 7-class scheme – OBAFGKM
- References
- Beginner theory about spectral lines/classes – Stellar Classification – 8A – Intro to Astronomy Sessions – PhysicisMichael
- The Glass Universe – book by Dava Sobel
- Episode 3.35: By The Letter – podcast
- Discussion
- The Solar Wind – a follow-up – Marjie Welchframe
- Protons and electrons from helium, hydrogen
- “Particles” – are real but very tiny, so they can only be detected when they are energetic
- Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on their Apollo mission moon walk brought back solar wind particles caught by an aluminum sail
- Astrophotography
- Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) – David Lee
- The Forbidden Squid – Ou4 in HSO Narrowband – Dave Payne
- The physical processes that are at play are presently unknown
- Discovered in 2011
- Earth’s Shining Upper Atmosphere — From the Apollo Era to the Present – False colour image of Earth’s UV light with atomic Hydrogen blocked and atomic Oxygen and Nitrogen transmission – taken in 1972 by Apollo 16 mission using using Dr. Carruthers’ telescopic instrument.
- Events
- Beginners SIG – Nov 5 – David Lee
Video transcript of meeting
Astronomy Cafe – Oct 28, 2024