BBC coming to Woodchurch for Star Gazing live on saturday

Star Party - This Weekend!!

(to co-incide with Brian Cox and Dara O'Briain on BBC2 this week!)

Stargazing Live with Ashford

Date: 8 January, 6:00pm-9:00pm
Place: Woodchurch Memorial Hall, Front Road, Woodchurch, Kent TN26 3QB

There will be live stargazing outside (weather permitting), the public are invited to bring along any telescopes they may have to take part in this. Inside there will be a live planetarium show, our very own in-house speakers giving talks on the Planets of the Solar System, and the Lives of Stars. There will also be a telescope workshop for the public to come and ask questions about telescopes, astro photography and imaging. On hand will be our resident experts and a respected telescope retailer to guide you.

All are welcome and entrance is free.

Refreshments and food will be available on the night.

Contact

telephone: 01233 333945

email: jacethebace@gmail.com

Website: Ashford Astronomical Society

Brian Cox gives 'crash course on skies marvels'

Stargazing LIVE:
3, 4 and 5 January 2011, 8pm, BBC2

Three nights of exraordinary astronomical events
on 3- 5 January 2011 on BBC2, with Brian showing
Dara the astronomical basics. Liz Bonnin
will tell us how stars affect us (live from Hawaii)
- watch it if you can!

These are more photos from the Herstmonceux trip (see earlier news). The photos show the amazing rising floor in Dome E, home of the 26-inch Thompson Refractor. Look at the door in the photos, you clearly see it is rising, you may also notice J.D.R posing for us next to the door, lovely!

Once the floor had risen fully we got a talk from one of the experts that worked there. She explained that the telescope was not touching the dome at all. It was free-standing, on top of a huge concrete pillar. This is so the telescope does not get nudged while taking a picture. She told us many interesting facts while we were there, but sadly it was over too fast and we were on out way down again. I think we can all say this was a out of this world experience. These awesome photos were taken by one of the astronomy reporters, thanks Asteroid Adam (Adam Farmer).





In other news
We all take astronomy seriously, we are dedicated, work hard and always.... eat sour sweets!! Well just the once. I think we all know who pulled the funniest face though. I shall be kind and name no names, SIR.

By Mr Meteor (Jack Morgan)

For the past few months a small team of astronomers from uplands community college have been on a mission to locate a new ellusive asteroid using are schools classes to the Faulks telescope project located in Hawaii and Australia. The study was tedious and extremely hard, we were hoping to get a deep space picture of it but after a lack of information about where in the image to find the asteroid, and bad weather anomalies over Hawaii and Australia we finally conceded defeat and a four and a half month project came to an end. We used a blinking method which means that we take several pictures of an area of space and we flash the pictures and see of we can see a correlation between the pictures but any disturbances like planes and asteroids which ruin the pictures.

Although this mission was a failure we hope to start a new one were we hope to discover something new in our galaxy or the next.
The next three are todays solar filter images of the same asteroid imaged yesterday:

Sky Object Name: 2010 LX15
Taken By: Uplands Community College
When taken: Jun 16, 2010 13:07:00 UTC
RA: 16h47'51"
DEC: -22°44'53"
Filter: Solar
Exposure time: 120 secs.
Instrument: EM03

Sky Object Name: 2010 LX15
Taken By: Uplands Community College
When taken: Jun 16, 2010 13:12:05 UTC
RA: 16h47'51"
DEC: -22°44'53"
Filter: Solar
Exposure time: 120 secs.
Instrument: EM03



by Jordan Harris (Yr10) Badge Winner
(Editor)

[*Ed. Jordan also had the idea to take different colour pictures of the same area of sky, and see if the asteroid movement could be seen by layering the images, but, unfortunately, this did not reveal any more than the above pictures]

Forthcoming Event: Brian Cox Internet Lecture 28th June

Star Lectures
by Brian Cox, physicist, recent presenter of BBC's "Wonders of the Solar System"





On Monday 28 June 2010, University of Manchester Physicist Professor Brian Cox will be delivering a lecture aimed at GCSE/Key Stage 4 Science pupils that will be broadcast live via webcast. Professor Cox will be discussing the "Big Bang", the origins of the universe and the importance of science to our modern civilisation.

Live Webcast

Where: on our live webcast page - a link will be posted on 28 June

When: Monday 28 June

Time: 1.30pm - 2.30pm BST

**If you want to see this video live, it will be shown at the Drama Studio at 1.30pm Monday (Arrive earlier. No admittance after form time bell goes!!) [update: cancelled due to technical problems. DVD of event will hopefully available to view in a similar session at a later date (hopefully before the end of term!)]

(If you miss the lecture on Monday, you can always catch it later on YouTube )

College Newsletter article from St Richard's, Bexhill

In an invitation to Mr Pert to return to St Richard's College for an up-and-coming conference on 12th July, Dr Durkin said of the previous visit ".... my Year 8 Astronomy potentials were absolutely buzzing and I hope to have a full class come September"

The 12th July conference will be aimed at the Yr8s from eight schools local to St Richard's as well as a few students selected from Uplands Yr8, and will feature Johny Ball , presenter of the popular science and technology television programs for children in the 1970s, 80s and 90s (eg. "Think of a Number" and "Think Again"), doing lectures in the morning. Mr Pert's Faulkes Telescope demonstration will be one of the practical activities in the afternoon. Sounds like a fun day.

This is the College Newsletter article from St Richard's (Thank you so much, Dr Durkin...It's always great to get feedback, especially when it's so positive!):



Year 8 Stargazing ‘taster’ lesson

On Wednesday 5th May, Year 8 pupils interested in starting the new GCSE Astronomy course in September, were treated to a visit from visiting Astronomy teacher, Mr. Iain Pert from Uplands School.
The pupils had prepared for the visit by identifying faint inter stellar objects, visible in the night sky over the Southern Hemisphere, using the newly installed (and free to download at home) stellarium software on the notebooks.


Guided by Mr. Pert, pupils identified binary star systems, nebulae and galaxies to observe and take images of, using the Faulkes Telescope in Hawaii.
At our allotted time, we were given remote control of the telescope and were able to aim it towards our chosen regions of space. Pupils observed and imaged three different galaxies, M98 (bottom right), M101 (middle right) and M64,the ‘Black Eye Galaxy’ (top right)’.

The ‘Black eye’ galaxy has been studied extensively by the Hubble Deep Field Telescope, in orbit around the Earth, and its distinctive appearance is thought to be due to an absorbing dust cloud which was produced as two star systems merged. First catalogued in the 18th century, it is located roughly 17 million light years away from Earth.

Congratulations to the pupils who took these amazing images.

Dr. Durkin

Maynard's Green Primary School

Sky Object Name: M8
Taken By: Uplands Community College
When taken: May 13, 2010 13:58:28 UTC
RA: 18h03'41"
DEC: -24°22'49"
Filter: RGB
Exposure time: 40 secs.
Instrument: EM01

The Lagoon Nebula (catalogued as Messier 8 or M8, and as NGC 6523) is a giant interstellar cloud in the constellation Sagittarius. It is classified as an emission nebula and as an H II region.

The Lagoon Nebula was discovered by Guillaume Le Gentil in 1747 and is one of only two star-forming nebulae faintly visible to the naked eye from mid-northern latitudes. Seen with binoculars, it appears as a distinct oval cloudlike patch with a definite core. A fragile star cluster appears superimposed on it.

Sky Object Name: ngc 6530
Taken By: Uplands Community College
When taken: May 13, 2010 13:52:03 UTC
RA: 18h04'48"
DEC: -24°20'00"
Filter: RGB
Exposure time: 40 secs.
Instrument: EM01

Discovered by Hodierna before 1654.

NGC 6530 is an extremely young open cluster which was formed from the material of the Lagoon Nebula M8, and it is situated well within this diffuse nebula.

As the light of its member stars show little reddening by interstellar matter, this cluster is probably situated just in front of the Lagoon Nebula. Its brightest star is a 6.9 mag hot O5 star, and Eichler gives its age as 2 million years.

Sky Object Name: triffid Nebula
Taken By: Uplands Community College
When taken: May 13, 2010 13:45:46 UTC
RA: 18h02'42"
DEC: -22°58'19"
Filter: RGB
Exposure time: 60 secs.
Instrument: EM01

Sky Object Name: Eagle Nebula
Taken By: Uplands Community College
When taken: May 13, 2010 13:37:52 UTC
RA: 18h18'52"
DEC: -13°49'00"
Filter: RGB
Exposure time: 60 secs.
Instrument: EM01

Saint Richard's School, Bexhill

These images were taken by Yr 8 students of St Richard’s School, Bexhill, who are going to take GSCE Astronomy next year there.

Sky Object Name: M98
When taken: May 5, 2010 11:22:31 UTC
RA: 12h13'48"
DEC: 14°54'00"
Filter: RGB
Exposure time: 55 secs.
Instrument: EM01

Messier 98 (M98, NGC 4192) is one of the faintest objects in Messier's catalog. It is a beautiful spiral galaxy seen edge-on, and a member of the Virgo Cluster of Galaxies, situated in the southern part of constellation Coma Berenices.

Pinwheel Galaxy

Sky Object Name: M101

When taken: May 5, 2010 11:15:28 UTC
RA: 14h03'12"
DEC: 54°21'00"
Filter: RGB
Exposure time: 60 secs.
Instrument: EM01

Spiral galaxies, like M101, have well-defined spiral arms that wind around the galaxy within a rotating pancake-shaped disk of material. In this Hubble telescope “face-on” view of M101, bright blue areas of star formation pepper the spiral arms, which look like the arms of a pinwheel. Dark, thin dust lanes follow the spiral structure into a yellowish central bulge containing older stars.
In fact, M101’s disk is so thin that the Hubble telescope easily sees many more distant galaxies lying behind it. Seeing these background galaxies shows that a galaxy’s disk is really mostly empty space.

Sky Object Name: Black eye galaxy
When taken: May 5, 2010 11:08:04 UTC
RA: 12h56'44"
DEC: 21°40'58"
Filter: RGB
Exposure time: 60 secs.
Instrument: EM01

The Black Eye Galaxy (also called Sleeping Beauty Galaxy; designated Messier 64, M64, or NGC 4826) was discovered by Edward Pigott in March 1779, and independently by Johann Elert Bode in April of the same year, as well as by Charles Messier in 1780. It has a spectacular dark band of absorbing dust in front of the galaxy's bright nucleus, giving rise to its nicknames of the "Black Eye" or "Evil Eye" galaxy. M64 is well known among amateur astronomers because of its appearance in small telescopes. It is a spiral galaxy in the Coma Berenices constellation.

Astrodome

The Astrodome Team

Today, all Yr 11 classes took turns to visit the Astrodome in the hall. They were treated to the nearly hour-long Space Show inside the huge tent, which doubled up as a planetarium.

The Astrodome has been coming to the school for many years now, and continues to delight both students and teachers, if they are lucky enough to accompany a class, or have a chance to sneak in :-) .

Thanks Astrodome team for providing such a great way to view the heavens!

Dominic Oram's gravitational interaction program

*Update to Open Evening comment: Dom Oram is did his presentation on a computer simulation of gravitational bodies today… It was excellent, as we knew it would be!




One of great interest to young students was a program written in C++ from scratch by Dominic Oram, currently yr 13, a former GCSE astronomy student.

The program, created as part of an Extended Project scheme, modelled the gravitational interaction between stars and planets. You could change the number of stars/planets (as long as it was less than 200!), each planet’s properties, how much light the stars gave off and see the objects with reflected light.

The variables that can be changed on each planet include: spin, mass, size and colour, including the surface texture. The colourful and informative interactive program showed how these changes would affect the orbits of planets around each other. Though already very advanced, the program is still in development, and Dominic is hoping to add further improvements. For example, a simulation of the heat the star creates and so the temperature of each planet orbiting the star.

Dom working on his program

Four Nebulae taken by GCSE Astronomy class

Four very beautiful nebulae taken by Uplands GCSE Astronomy students:

Sky Object Name: Trifid
Taken By: Uplands Community College
When taken: Apr 20, 2010 14:58:27 UTC
RA: 18h02'20"
DEC: -23°03'10"
Filter: H-alpha
Exposure time: 100 secs.
Instrument: EM01

The Trifid Nebula (catalogued as Messier 20 or M20 and as NGC 6514) is an H II region located in Sagittarius. Its name means 'divided into three lobes'. The object is an unusual combination of an open cluster of stars, an emission nebula (the lower, red portion), a reflection nebula (the upper, blue portion) and a dark nebula (the apparent 'gaps' within the emission nebula that cause the trifid appearance; these are also designated Barnard 85). Viewed through a small telescope, the Trifid Nebula is a bright and colorful object, and is thus a perennial favorite of amateur astronomers.

Sky Object Name: Trifid
Taken By: Uplands Community College
When taken: Apr 20, 2010 14:54:41 UTC
RA: 18h02'20"
DEC: -23°03'10"
Filter: RGB
Exposure time: 50 secs.
Instrument: EM01

Sky Object Name: Eagle
Taken By: Uplands Community College
When taken: Apr 20, 2010 14:47:31 UTC
RA: 18h18'52"
DEC: -13°49'42"
Filter: RGB
Exposure time: 50 secs.
Instrument: EM01

The Eagle Nebula (catalogued as Messier 16 or M16, and as NGC 6611) is a young open cluster of stars in the constellation Serpens, discovered by Jean-Philippe de Cheseaux in 1745-46. Its name derives from its shape which is resemblant of an eagle. It is the subject of a famous photograph by the Hubble Space Telescope, which shows pillars of star-forming gas and dust within the nebula.

Sky Object Name: Dumbbell
When taken: Apr 20, 2010 14:40:17 UTC
RA: 19h59'40"
DEC: 22°43'01"
Filter: RGB
Exposure time: 90 secs.
Instrument: EM01

The Dumbbell Nebula (also known as Messier 27, M 27, or NGC 6853) is a planetary nebula (PN) in the constellation Vulpecula, at a distance of about 1,360 light years.

"Where in Orion is the Afterlife?"

This was one of the questions a curious Yr 6 girl asked former students at Ticehurst Primary School last friday.

Two Yr 11, Ex-Astronomy GCSE students - Robbie Bramall and Connor Lynch - accompanied Mr Pert to the local school to demonstrate Faulkes Telescope. For the last two days Hawaii had been battered by poor weather, but amazingly the skies cleared just in time for the booked slot, where they could remotely control the 2m telescope!

The first image was picked at random from objects, listed once control was taken, available in the sky at the time:

M87

M87

The heart of the galaxy known as M87 is a place of unimaginable violence. A black hole up to seven billion times as massive as the Sun sits at the galaxy's center -- one of the most massive black holes ever measured. As gas spirals into the black hole, it's heated to millions of degrees, so it produces enormous amounts of X-rays. Some of the hot gas around the black hole shoots back into the galaxy in powerful jets that span thousands of light-years.

M87 is at the center of the Virgo Cluster, a collection of thousands of galaxies that move through space together. It is a giant elliptical galaxy, so it's shaped like a fat, fuzzy watermelon. M87's diameter is only a little bigger than the Milky Way's, but because the galaxy is thicker than the thin disk of the Milky Way, it encompasses a much larger volume. As a result, M87 contains many more stars and is perhaps 10 times as massive as the Milky Way.

The next three objects had been researched by Robbie:

Sombrero Galaxy

Sombrero Galaxy

Why does the Sombrero Galaxy look like a hat? Reasons include the Sombrero's unusually large and extended central bulge of stars, and dark prominent dust lanes that appear in a disk that we see nearly edge-on. Billions of old stars cause the diffuse glow of the extended central bulge. Close inspection of the bulge in the above photograph shows many points of light that are actually globular clusters.

The spectacular dust rings harbor many younger and brighter stars, and show intricate details astronomers don't yet fully understand. The very center of the Sombrero is thought to house a large black hole. Fifty million-year-old light from the Sombrero Galaxy can be seen with a small telescope towards the constellation of Virgo.

Whirlpool Galaxy

M64



Aren't they great? :-D The best we've had yet!!




So...Where in Orion is the Afterlife?

....Well, apparently it's in 'Aries'

:-D

Yr 11 Physics triple science - No image available

Feb 11th the telescope was not working! (Used by Triple Physics class here at Uplands).
Images of NGC 2613 & NGC 2298 didn't come out... :-(

Viewing a comet

A level class took pictures of a comet for external research reasons. This provided a good start to the A level Cosmology section of the course:

When taken: Feb 10, 2010 10:50:07 UTC
RA: 9h35'19"
DEC: 12°25'10"
Filter: H-alpha
Exposure time: 60 secs.

When taken: Feb 10, 2010 10:46:56 UTC
RA: 9h35'19"
DEC: 12°25'10"
Filter: Blue
Exposure time: 60 secs.

When taken: Feb 10, 2010 10:44:44 UTC
RA: 9h35'19"
DEC: 12°25'10"
Filter: Green
Exposure time: 60 secs.

When taken: Feb 10, 2010 10:42:50 UTC
RA: 9h35'19"
DEC: 12°25'10"
Filter: Green
Exposure time: 60 secs.

When taken: Feb 10, 2010 10:40:01 UTC
RA: 9h35'19"
DEC: 12°25'10"
Filter: RGB
Exposure time: 60 secs.

When taken: Feb 10, 2010 10:33:43 UTC
RA: 9h35'19"
DEC: 12°25'10"
Filter: Green
Exposure time: 60 secs.

The trouble with viewing stars in the daytime...

Faulkes Telescope North

Many of us have looked up at the night sky and wondered what's out there. We can see the stars - lots of them - and we see the moon and, if we're lucky and have a little knowledge in which direction to look, we can spot a planet or two.

If we want to look deeper? Learn a little more about our solar system or what's between those twinkling little lights? Well, for years, at Uplands, there has been our GCSE Astronomy class (now held on a Tuesday), and locally there is the Wadhurst Astronomical Society, which meets on the third Wednesday of the month in the Methodist Church, Wadhurst (details on the website).

However, unless there's an event such as a solar eclipse, actual space viewing is difficult in the daytime, because the light from the sun prevents the observation of dimmer objects. Although there are some activities we can, and will, do at school (eg observing and recording sunspots) for studying more distant suns and galaxies we need further assistance...

...and this is where the Faulkes Telescopes come in.

Two large (2m) telescopes have been made available for educational use. In the northern hemisphere, Faulkes Telescope North (FTN) is in Hawaii (Haleakala Observatory ) and in the southern hemisphere, Faulkes Telescope South (FTS) is in Australia (Siding Spring Observatory). The best thing about these two telescopes is they are in nighttime during our daytime, and we can obtain full and exclusive use of them for our half-hour (previously booked) sessions.

As long as there's access to a computer and the internet, the telescopes can be robotically remote controlled from anywhere (I've heard that someone even used an iphone when he couldn't get computer access!) to locate any visible astronomical object of interest (with limits on the brightness), which can then be photographed. The image can then be downloaded for use from the Faulkes Telescope website.

We have now tried out the telescope a few times.

The first trial was a bit of a flop, because there was a glitch in the system and we couldn't get the telescope to take pictures. The second effort was more successful and, using FTN, we managed to take images of the Ring Nebula in Lyra (M57) with colour filters and the hydrogen alpha filter (dark splodges on images are dust on telescope):

FT North:Tue 9 June, 2009 10:30 UTC

M57 (Ring Nebula in Lyra): RGB (Red, Green and Blue) filters

M57 (Ring Nebula in Lyra): H-alpha (hydrogen) filter

as well as a these two interacting galaxies:

NGC 6621: RGB (Red, green, blue) filters

and a cluster of galaxies:

NGC 6027: RGB (Red, green and blue) filters

This year we will be introducing the telescope to all year 7 groups as part of their 'Forces and Space' course, as well as hopefully visiting local primary and secondary schools. More news on this to follow...