Stellaspecta Jan '12

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STAR GAZING CLUB NEWSLETTER! JANUARY 2012

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There has been a lot ofinterest lately in the theory thatthe world is going to end in the year 2012. TheHollywood moviethat hit theaters in November2009, has definitely made animpact and gotten people thinking!

So, is this something that weneed to be taking seriously? IsEarth in the danger of beingannihilated? Is the governmentactually hiding the facts from us?

In a single word: No.

Before we move on to explainthe no, lets understand this:

WHY 2012?

The ancient Mayan calendarends on December 21, 2012. Manyhave taken this to mean that theMayans believed that this date would bring the end of existence.

However, this is not so. Likemodern calendars, the Mayancalendar is a way of keeping track

of time. The Mayan calendar wasnever meant to be a predictor ofthe future any more than thecalendar in our rooms is meant to.

The ending date of the Mayancalendar is not meant to representthe end of time, but rather the endof their calendar cycle. Just as ourcalendar begins again on January 1,their calendar will begin a newcycle on December 22, 2012. Theircalendar cycle is just much longerthan our 365 day cycle.

Heres a list of all the theories which have been put forward asclaims for the end of the world in2012; fol lowed by a brief description of why we think wewont die.

NiburuTheoryThe threat most often quoted,

is a collision with a planet (orpossibly a brown dwarf) known as

Nibiru in 2012. The result would be

the virtual destruction of Earthand mankind.

According to the theory, theplanet Nibiru orbits our Sun onceevery 3600 years, making itdifficult to observe. A rash ofconspiracy theories have evolved toclaim that one of the unidentifiedobjects observed was Nibiru andthat the government is tracking it.However, subsequent studiescarried out by other telescopesaround the world quickly identifiedthese objects, and none of them were planets at all. But could the government be lying to us abouttheir results? Not a chance,considering they would need toconspire with tens of thousands of

astronomers, both professional andamateur, around the globe to keepthe secret.

2012worth the worry?

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AlignmentsTheorySome theories contend that acoming planetary alignment in 2012

will start a chain reaction that willcause strange weather and events onthe Earth. Two problems with thistheory:

1. There is not going to be aplanetary alignment in the nextseveral decades - never mind 2012.

2. No scientific reason to believealignment causes trouble.

There is also some worry about

an alignment between the Sun andthe center of our Galaxy. It is possi-ble for the Earth, Sun and GalacticCenter to be temporarily aligned( where the Sun would be blockingour view of the Galactic Center).

The Sun is 30,000 light yearsaway from the center of the galaxy-hardly a reason to believe an align-ment will disrupt anything from thatfar. Some believe that the solar sys-tem will be transported to the vio-

lent centre of the galaxy, because ofthe alignment!

Note this: The Galactic align-ment actually happenseveryDe-cember with no consequence.

SolarMagneticShiftRoughly every 11 years the mag

-

netic poles of the Sun flip. This iscalled as the solar maximum whichbrings the greatest appearance ofSun spots, solar flares, prominencesand other solar activity. Some believethat, 2012, a year of solar maximum,will bring the largest "solar storm" inhistory, and will knock out our tele-

communication systems, causeblackouts and other problems onEarth. It is true that communica-tions and power could be disrupted,but certainly not like the doomsdayevents portrayed in fiction. Also,there is no reason to believe thatsuch a storm will happen during the

next solar maximum or any othertime in the future because the onlyrecord of an event, even close tocausing disruption of passable scaleoccurred in 1859.

EarthsPolarShiftSimilar to the Suns pole shifts,

Earth has one too - but on a longertime scale; roughly 400,000 years! Inspite of being longer than that, sincethe Earths last flip there is no evi-dence that one is coming in the nextseveralthousand years, much lessby 2012. Even if a shift did occur, itcertainly would not cause the Earthto start spinning in the opposite di-rection or flip the whole Earth up-side down -- which are both out-comes believed by some conspiracy

theorists.

AsteroidCollision This is a fear popularized by

several disaster movies in the lastcouple decades. In truth, meteoritesfall to Earth everyday, they are justtoo small to do any damage. The good news is that an object largeenough to do any real damage wouldbe easy to see. The likelihood thatone of these objects would sneak up

on us is slim to none. We wouldlikely know it was coming years be-fore it actually arrived, so we wouldhave time to hopefully prevent thecollision.

2012worth the worry?

It actually happens every December with no consequences.

Failed predictions of cosmic disaster go back far beyond our

time. This is an 1857 cartoon of a comet tearing our planet

apart.

Year Commentary

2800 BC to1850 AD

Over 85 major predictions made byreligious heads, philosophers,

mystics, mathematicians, etc. John Napier (invented logarithms)

Boticelli (Italian Artist)

Stifle (Mathematician)

Columbus (Navigator)

Joseph Mede (Cambridge Scholar)

Alfred Wegener (Meteorologist)All predictions failed.

1850-2000 30 major predictions; Hundredsmore of corrected predictionssimilar group of people. Similar

result: Fail.

FAILED PREDICTIONS


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A meteor is an intense streak of light across thenight sky caused by small bits of interplanetary rocksand debris, called meteoroid, falling and burning high inthe Earths upper atmosphere. Traveling at thousands of

kilometers per hour, meteoroids quickly ignite insearing friction of the atmosphere. Almost all aredestroyed - melted, vaporized or exploded - in theprocess; the rare few that survive and hit the ground areknown as meteorites.

It is estimated that nearly 15,000 metric tons ofdebris fall into the earths atmosphere everyday. Thus,millions of meteors occur daily and all of themdisintegrate. Meteors typically occur in mesosphere atan altitude of 75 - 100 km and disintegrate at an altitudeof 40 - 60 km.

Many meteors appearing seconds or minutes apartare called as a meteor shower. They may seem tooriginate, and radiate away, from the same point in thesky, the radiant, and follow parallel trajectories.

At peak, showers can produce around 100 meteorsper hour. It is called as the Zenith Hourly Rate (ZHR).Intense or unusual meteor showers are known as meteoroutbursts and meteor storms, which may produce greater than 1,000 meteors an hour: the 2002 Leonidmeteor shower had a ZHR of over 3000.

Most of the times, the meteor showers are due tothe comets. Thus, making them largely regular and

highly predictable. Comets shed the debris that feedsthe meteor showers. As comets orbit the Sun, they shedan icy, dusty debris stream along the comet's orbit. IfEarth travels through this stream, we see a meteorshower. Depending on where the Earth and the streammeet, meteors appear to fall from that particular placein the sky, within the neighborhood of a constellation.

Meteor showers are named by the constellationfrom which meteors appear to fall. For instance, theradiant for the Leonid meteor shower is located in theconstellation Leo.

METEOR SHOWERS

DO-IT-YOURSELF:

How do I look for meteor showers?

If you live near a brightly lit city, drive awayfrom the glow of city lights and toward theconstellation from which the meteors willappear to radiate.

After you've escaped the city glow, find adark, secluded spot where oncoming carheadlights will not periodically ruin yoursensitive night vision. Look for parks orother safe, dark sites.

Once you have settled at your observingspot, lie back or position yourself so the ho-rizon appears at the edge of your peripheral

vision, with the stars and sky filling yourfield of view.

Meteors will instantly grab your attention asthey streak by.

Name Date of Peak

Quadrantids January 3

Lyrids April 21

Eta Aquarids May 5

Perseids August 13

Orionids October 21

Leonids November 17

Geminids December 13

METEOR SHOWER CALENDAR

This is a composite of Perseids and other meteors seen

on Aug 12-13. The concentric circles are star trails.


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MUST-SEE CELESTIAL EVENTS IN

THELIGHTERSIDE:

When What So?

Feb 20 -

Mar13

Evening apparition

of Mercury

Elusive innermost planet Mercury visible at the

western horizon in the evenings; flanked byJupiter and Venus.

Mar 3 Mars at oppositionfollowed

Earth passing by Mars; only at 110 million km;amongst the brightest objects in sky

Mar 13 Venus and Jupiterdouble planet

Venus and Jupiter team up to form double treat.Observed distance between them will be lessthan 3 degrees.

May 5 Largest moon of 2012

Expect dinner plans, strong tides and werewolfs.

May 20 Annular eclipse ofthe Sun

Watch a fiery ring of sunlight shining around themoon dark silhouette

June 4 Partial transit of Venus across theSun

Amongst the rarest of events. Only 6 transitshave been observed by humans. Next onecoming up in 2114.

Aug12 Perseids MeteorShower

The most followed meteor show of the year;with a ZHR > 90 and longer life of meteors.Make bigger wishes - the academic year begins.

Nov 13 Total Eclipse of Sun Total Solar Eclipse after a period of 14 months.

Dec 25 Jupiter and Moon

ornamental

Find an extraordinarily bright Jupiter, just above

the waxing gibbous Moon on christmas.

STAR GAZING CLUB

Events Schedule

1. Workshop - HOW TOSTAR GAZE; 16th Jan,5.30 pm, MB.

2. STARRY NIGHTS; 17thJan, 7.30 pm, MB Terrace.

3. SGC RECRUITMENTS:Pre-talk and written test,18 Jan, 5.30, MSH.

Star Gazing Club received a pleasant surprise early this year when theSGC Alumni gifted the club 3 pairs of Celestron Binoculars (15 x 70 mm).The binoculars have been well received and appreciated. On behalf of the

entire Club, we thank our Alumni for their generosity and constant sup-port. Their involvement is the single biggest catalyst for the growth of theclub. Looks like our starry nights just got brighter!

Alumni resentin the binoculars to the Club President.

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Stellaspecta Jan '12