Archive for May, 2010
Annual Astronomy Quiz
Wednesday, May 19th, 2010
The Conservatory, Papworth Everard
Wednesday, 19 May 2010, 7.30pm
The 2010 Astro Quiz will take place on Wednesday, 19th May, in the function room of “The Conservatory”, Chequers Lane, Papworth Everard. Teams from the Bedford, Nene Valley, Papworth and Sawtry clubs will be competing for the Admiral Smyth Trophy, and spectators and supporters are welcome to attend. The quiz will start promptly at 7:30pm.
The Admiral Smyth Trophy was presented by the Bedford Astronomical Society in 1991, the winners in that year. Its named after the astronomer William Henry Smyth (1788–1865), Gold Medallist of the Royal Astronomical Society. After retiring from the Navy, Smyth built and equipped an astronomical observatory at Bedford, where for many years he carried out observations of stars and published works on astronomy.
The Conservatory is Papworth’s only Pub, and serves a wide range of drinks, lagers and real ales, sourcing guest beers from local brewers. Check the map below for directions to The Conservatory.
Papworth win the Annual Astronomy Quiz
Wednesday, May 19th, 2010
Wednesday 19th May 2010
Papworth were once again victorious in the Annual Astronomy Quiz, beating teams from Bedford, Sawtry and Nene Valley to retain the Admiral Smyth Trophy.
Papworth were represented by Ed Zanders, Janet Vialls and Gordon Carter; Bedford by Dave Eagle, Darren Jehan and Gordon Waller; Sawtry by Rob, Andrew and Malcolm; and Nene Valley by Matt Lane, Steve Williams and Ian Barrie.
The questions, set by Keith Tritton, proved to be a bit more difficult than last year’s. A slight deviation from the usual rules allowed questions to be passed on to the fastest “hand in the air” following an incorrect answer. This might have favoured the Papworth team slightly – with Ed Zanders picking up a few points with the fourth answer to a difficult question – but didn’t affect the final outcome.
Since this was Papworth’s third win in a row – and because we thought it would be nice for Keith to have a rest from writing the questions! – Bedford agreed to host next year’s quiz.
Thanks to all who took part, or came to support their teams!
Andrew Chamblin Memorial Lecture
Monday, May 10th, 2010
Monday, 10 May 2010
The fourth Andrew Chamblin Memorial Lecture, entitled “The Amazing Diversity of Planetary Systems”, will be given by Professor Michel Mayor at 5pm on Monday 10th May in Lady Mitchell Hall, Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge.
Admission is free and there are no tickets or reserved seats – please just turn up on the day if you’d like to attend.
Prof Paul Murdin – “Secrets of the Universe”
Wednesday, May 5th, 2010
Wednesday 5th May 2010
We were very pleased that Professor Paul Murdin was able to make our May meeting as he had to dash off to London immediately afterwards for an appearance on ‘In Our Time’ the following morning on BBC’s Radio 4. Paul is a senior fellow at the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge and visiting Professor at Liverpool John Moore’s University. He is Editor of the Encyclopaedia of Astronomy and Astrophysics as well as a prolific book author. He gave us the opportunity to hear about his latest book ‘Secrets of the Universe – How We Discovered the Cosmos’.
The theme of the book is scientific discovery in its various forms as related to astronomy and cosmology. Seventy case histories have been covered in the book and Paul recounted a selection of these, ranging from the first telescopes to computer simulations of galaxy clusters. Discovery can happen when an unusual observation is picked up and explored further, rather than discarded. As Paul pointed out, the great science fiction writer Isaac Asimov wrote that “The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!’, but ‘That’s funny…’”. Some of these moments in astronomical history include the observation of planets by Galileo, in which the phases of Venus and the moons of Jupiter implied that the Earth goes round the Sun and not vice versa.
Jumping several centuries, Paul described how chance observations of radio pulses led to the discovery of neutron stars in the 1960s. Moving back again in time, he recounted the classic stories of the discoveries of Uranus by William Herschel and Neptune by LeVerrier and Adams. Although both involved planetary discovery, they were quite distinct in that the existence of Neptune was predicted purely from theoretical calculations, an astonishing achievement!
While the background to these older discoveries is fairly well known, that relating to more modern advances in cosmology and planetary science are less so, like the volcano on Io. The Voyager 1 mission imaged this moon of Jupiter in 1979. Linda Morabito was an engineer on the mission and wanted to examine the images in more detail for navigational purposes. She increased the gain on the images and noticed a plume of material on one side of the disc. Subsequent investigations showed that it was an active volcano, one of what is now known to be around 700 such features on a moon that is subject to huge stresses from Jupiter’s gravitational field. This was another neat example of serendipitous discovery brought about by the “prepared mind favoured by chance” to paraphrase Louis Pasteur.
All in all, this was a most thought provoking and enjoyable talk that prompted many questions for Paul, and much discussion over coffee and biscuits afterwards!
Paul’s book, published by Thames and Hudson, retails at £24.95 and is available from all good bookshops.
May Meeting Reminder
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010
Tuesday 4th May 2010
Don’t forget that the May meeting is tomorrow evening, Wednesday 5th May. Professor Paul Murdin from the Institute of Astronomy will give a talk based on his latest book “Secrets of the Universe – how we discovered the cosmos” which was recently published by Thames and Hudson.
As usual the meeting will be held at 7.30pm in the Vinter Room, Vinter Close, Papworth Everard. Check out the Meetings page for a map.