NEWS

The recent Leonid storm on thenight of 17 November fascinat-

ed observers throughout Europe –the ones with clear skies, that is.Madeira is an island famed for itswarm and sunny weather all yearround. Hence, the AstronomyGroup of the University of Madeiradid not want the locals to miss sucha spectacle. We organized a publictalk on the subject and an observ-ing session on the night of the 17th.The night brought wind, fog, rainand cold at the selected dark site,but this did not prevent a group of15 people from staying severalhours “observing” Leonids... on carradios.

Surprisingly, this back up plan

worked quite well. The set up wasas simple as parking the cars at thesite in a north–south direction(roughly perpendicular to the direc-tion of the radiant). The Canaryislands (about 700 km south)would make an ideal emission cen-tre. The technique was simply tocount how many Leonid “bursts”(different than spurious emissions –see Sky & Telescope Dec 97 108)were heard on the radio picking upfrom the noise; also for how longand at what time. These “bursts”

would correspond to the reflectionsof the waves of the distant Spanishradio stations onto the ionizedtrails of Leonid meteors.

The combined results were excit-ing even though they had littlemore than educational value: aftersome hours of average counts ofless than 12 meteors/hr, there was ajump to 20 meteors/hr around1:00 UT and a “radio storm” dur-ing over half an hour centred on2:00 UT with 90 meteors/hr. After2:30 UT, everything was back to

normal with less than 12meteors/hr. Since the optical andradio peaks occurred at nearly thesame time, this means that we haveradio-detected the Leonid stormseen over Europe wherever clearskies were present.

We are sure that, overall, it was agratifying experience for the groupthat was able to stand the harshweather for a different way of “see-ing” a meteor storm. It will certain-ly be repeated in the future, espe-cially in places where the weather islikely to be harsh when a shower/storm occurs.Pedro Augusto and NectariaGizani, Dept Matematica CCM,Univ. da Madeira, Portugal.

Radio Leonids at Madeira Pedro Augusto and Nectaria Gizani report on an unusual way towatch a meteor storm.

The Year of the Dark Sun: a science festival at Roseland ObservatoryBrian Sheen reports on asuccessful scientific and generalcelebration of the solar eclipseat Roseland Observatory inCornwall, 1999.

For an observatory located closeto the central line of totality,

involvement with last year’s totalsolar eclipse was essential. As far asRoseland Observatory was con-cerned, the eclipse started in 1996.We got involved with the eye safetycampaign and the public awarenessprogramme. Staff gave presenta-tions on all aspects of the eventthroughout the southwest of Eng-land to a range of audiences. Aneclipse booklet was checked andsupported and the school producedan information pack. We also hadinputs to two major videos andhelped to test solar viewers.

But we did not spend all our timeon negative aspects of the eclipse.On the positive side, the RoyalCornwall Museum asked for helpwith its major exhibition and wegave advice on the three Cornishastronomers featured: EdwinDunkin, John Couch Adams, andAnthony Hewish who opened theexhibition.

Very early on the Observatoryoffered the use of its facilities tovisiting scientists. A team from theRutherford Appleton Laboratoryteam took up the offer and theirwork evolved into an infraredexperiment, to be reported in thenext issue of this journal.

Roseland Observatory has alwaysaimed to be more than just tele-scopes and the festival gave theopportunity to demonstrate that toa wider public. We took everyadvantage of the public interest in

the eclipse. During the lead-in weeka “cut and paste” workshop madesundials, pinhole cameras and starclocks. Sessions were led in telescopemechanics and astrophotographyand short talks given on cosmology,solar physics and the solar system.

The coelostat, the only one in thesouthwest, was run whenever theSun allowed and proved to beimmensely popular, making it possi-ble to stress the links between theSun and our climate.

A key part of the organizationwas Mission Control with its com-puters interfacing with the outsideworld. Our Web site was hot-linkedto the Met. Office eclipse site andthis proved very useful. We wereable to access the latest data fromaround the world to ensure thatour public was fully informed. Itwas also the Press Centre and pressreleases were sent out every day toall the local media. The large num-bers of visiting press were alsocatered for and interviews weregiven almost without a break.

Evening lectures, given by distin-

guished astronomers visiting Corn-wall for the eclipse, were extremelypopular. The Observatory was verygrateful for their contribution.

Eclipse Day when it came wascloudy and with a poor forecast,but nevertheless all the plans wereput into action. A video camerawas mounted on the coelostat andthe Sun’s image projected on to thebig screen. Eclipse videos were alsoshown together with TV coverageand local radio commentary, somefrom the Observatory.

We tried to photograph everytechnical aspect of the event, withcameras mounted on the fixed tele-scopes and mobile units on theroof. But the almost total cloudcover meant that no useful pictureswere taken. The weather was capri-cious: only a few miles away atNewquay the sky cleared at just theright time. Nevertheless the dark-ness and the temperature drop cer-tainly made the whole experienceunforgettable. Even normally stolidscientists were impressed.

Although no results were expect-

ed from the infrared experiments,the equipment was run throughtotality. Everyone was surprised atthe outcome: the analysis showedan unexpected drop in radiation.The infrared results were takenback to the Rutherford AppletonLaboratory and were studied close-ly to eliminate instrument problemsas a source of the radiation dip.The paper was written up andreviewed in-house before submis-sion to Astronomy & Geophysics.Watch this space.

As a follow-on, we mounted ameteor watch for the Perseids but itwas another disappointment: thecloud did not clear and we saw onlya few meteors. The successful TescoSchoolnet 2000 ran a suite of com-puters, which proved popular withyoungsters and the young at heart.Many were able to contribute totheir Web site. In the week after theeclipse we consolidated our workand established links with a repre-sentative of astronomy in Zimbab-we, ready for the 2001 eclipse.

An off-beat feature was a contri-bution from the Dark as Light Fes-tival, of the Tate Gallery at St Ives.A photographer with a full platecamera took pictures of some 50people with their eyes shut.

In an attempt to draw a lineunder the eclipse, a small confer-ence was called giving the opportu-nity for those who carried outexperimental work to report back.In spite of the weather on the daythe Observatory was able todemonstrate that it could host visit-ing professionals and carry out sci-entific experiments beyond the nor-mal eclipse photography.Brian Sheen, Roseland Observatory,Truro, Cornwall.

Roseland Observatory turned inside out for the Dark Sun. (Geoff Richards.)

NEWS

Telstar for Tonyand JulieThe Planetary Society’s BritishVolunteer Team has awardedthe TELSTAR Award 98–99 toBBC Radio’s The Late Showwith Tony & Julie.

The TELSTAR award is for thepromotion of space science to an

audience that is not necessarily look-ing for such information, in otherwords for bringing space scienceinto new arenas in a manner that isunderstandable and entertaining.

This innovative radio programmeis broadcast to a third of the coun-try between 9 p.m. and 1 a.m. eachweekday, on BBC radio WM, fromPebble Mill Studios in Birmingham.It reaches the Midlands, Yorkshire,Lancashire, the East Coast and asfar north as Hull.

The show uses the format of abattling husband and wife team,featuring Tony Wadsworth andJulie Meyer. It covers a very broadrange of subjects. Two years agothe programme began coveringspace-related activities, from thelatest discoveries in astronomy tothe events surrounding spaceflight.The style adopted was novel: thesubject is approached as if a familywas discussing the issues, with con-stant questions of why and how.

This approach has attracted a largeaudience that would not normally beinterested in space science. The dailybroadcast of the crossing times ofthe Mir, ISS, Starshine and SL16satellites has led to scores of peopletaking a first look into the night sky.The whole subject is demystified andmade much more accessible.Andy Lound, The Planetary Society.

The 1980s were golden years for UK opticalastronomy. Our telescopes were unmatchedby any other European country. Theyspanned sub-mm to optical wavelengths andoffered a range of apertures and innovativeinstruments that allowed UK researchers tolead many areas of astronomy. I first becamenervous of our ability to retain this leadwhen I saw the SERC Ground Based Plan of1988. This, I thought, placed UK participa-tion in a new large optical telescope at toolow a priority. As a member of SERC’sAstronomy and Planetary Science Board, I lis-tened with incredulity to proposals that theUK should join the Gemini project at a miser-ly 15% level. We did eventually join as 25%partners, but this share is now widely recog-nized as insufficient. The UK has simplyunder-invested in large telescopes in compari-son to the USA, Europe and Japan and willhave slipped a division or two in opticalastronomy as we enter the new millennium.The 25% share of Gemini has cost the UKabout £25 million, yet the SERC/PPARC bud-get since 1988 has been over £2 billion. Thisrepresents about a 1% investment in newoptical telescopes since 1988, a record moreevocative of the grey days of British industrythan of modern cool Britannia.

Gemini will look cheap in comparison tothe next generation of optical telescopes. Anextremely large telescope (ELT) with an aper-ture of >30 m will cost $1 billion or more.The UK can only ever aspire to become aminor partner in such a facility. The organi-sation of ground-based facilities differs fromthat of particle physics and space astronomy.In particle physics, CERN provides UK scien-tists with access to the best facilities in theworld. The European Space Agency allowsUK space astronomers to participate, often ina PI role, in missions that provide crediblecompetition to NASA. But the UK is not amember of the European Southern Observa-tory, the European treaty-level organizationsupporting ground-based astronomy.

Should we be concerned by this? It might beargued that membership of ESO is unimpor-tant, or too costly. PPARC could buy smallshares of time on 8 m telescopes to solve the“8 m problem” and participate in an ELTproject following the ALMA (Atacama Large

Millimetre Array) model. I think that there issome validity in this strategy, but that it isrisky for the following three reasons:● The scale of ground-based astronomicalprojects is changing. Increasingly more high-impact projects will require survey-style pro-grammes on 8 m class telescopes, and largecollaborations. UK astronomers will be poor-ly placed to enter, let alone lead, such collab-orations if our involvement in large tele-scopes is fragmented over disparate facilities.● Our natural collaborators are in Europe.The UK invests heavily in ESA missions andhas a natural pool of European collaboratorsas a result. Furthermore, via EC funding wehave the opportunity for a healthy exchangeof postdocs with Europe. But are we likely toattract the best European postdocs in obser-vational astronomy if coming here means los-ing access to VLT? Could UK astronomerslead ground-based follow-up programmesbased on e.g. FIRST or NGST in competitionwith European groups that can use VLT? ● The UK should contribute on an equalfooting with the rest of Europe, and in closecollaboration with Europe, in the three mainareas of the PPARC programme, particlephysics, space astronomy and ground-basedastronomy. This provides a powerful politicalargument in favour of ESO membership.

The costs of ESO membership are high,approximately £60 million in capital contri-bution and £11 million in recurrent costs.ESO membership would require substantialnew funds for PPARC, a major restructuringof the ground-based programme, and wouldhave to be phased over a number of years.The political and financial problems in nego-tiating ESO membership are formidable, butnot insurmountable if the will exists withinthe UK astronomical community, PPARC andESO.

We have invested too little in optical facili-ties over the last decade and we now need toredress the loss of leadership in this key areaof astronomy as a matter of urgency. If we donot, somebody may well be writing an editor-ial in A&G in 10 years bemoaning PPARC’s1% investment in an ELT and the continuingdecline of UK ground-based astronomy. George Efstathiou, Institute of Astronomy,University of Cambridge.

Britain should be part of ESO

FellowsrecognizedA millennium lunch thatcelebrated achievers of thecentury honoured RAS Fellows.

Patrick Moore CBE, Prof. SirBernard Lovell and Prof. Colin

Pillinger were counted among the“major achievers of the century” ata dinner given by the Lord Mayorof the City of London in the pres-ence of Her Majesty the Queen.They were honoured together withsporting stars, voluntary workers,heroes of the armed forces, politi-cians and distinguished figures fromthe arts and sciences. SB

NEWS

This plaster relief model of partof the Moon was discovered, of

all places, among the Society’s pho-tographic archives. There are actu-ally two copies of the same model,one in a cardboard box with ahand-written description, and theother in a fitted wooden box, witha hinged lid, the description withthe same text being printed andstuck to the inside. Both are signed“Henry Blunt, Shrewsbury”, theoriginal being dated 1848 and thecopy 1849, and both depict the areaaround the crater Eratosthenes.

The model measures 5 ×4 inchesand the detail and finesse of themodelling, especially in the chains

of outlying craters, is exquisite. It isrecorded among the “presents” tothe Society in Memoirs of the RAS,18, p210, 1850, but alas no corre-spondence survives relating to thegift. It appears that Henry Bluntwas the son of Robert Blunt, bothtrading as pharmaceutical chemistsin Wyle Cop, Shrewsbury. Henrywrote a letter to the Salopian Jour-nal on 22 September 1835 givingreaders details of how to locate the“notable Comet” (most probablyHalley, though it could possiblyhave been Encke’s Comet) whichwas then becoming visible.

Henry was also a dog lover, artist,and antiquary; in 1843 he was tak-

ing proceedings against a carterwho had run over and killed aNewfoundland dog of which hewas very fond (Salopian Journal 29November) and in 1838 he drew,engraved and published a set of“Six Views in Shrewsbury”, thatwere favourably reviewed (SalopianJournal 5 December).

He may well have intended tomanufacture and sell these lunarmodels for instructional purposes,the effects of different ages of theMoon being demonstrated byshowing the model under obliqueillumination; the dramatic effectand the considerable degree of real-ism produced is illustrated here by

the photograph skilfully taken byNick Moss of Rodney Todd-Whiteand Son. It would be most interest-ing to hear of the survival of anyother copies, of other models byBlunt, or indeed of other examplesof early Moon modelling.

The boxed model bears the labelof Roberson and Co., 51 LongAcre, London. This company is notlisted by Gloria Clifton in her Dic-tionary of British Scientific Instru-ment Makers, 1550–1851 (Zwem-mer/National Maritime Museum,London, 1995). Much better knownexamples of lunar modelling arethose made later in the 19th centuryby James Nasmyth and James Car-penter, and their book The Moon(John Murray, London, 1874), inwhich they attempted to determinethe heights of lunar mountains bymeasurements of models pho-tographed under oblique illumina-tion, includes numerous illustra-tions of their efforts and of theexaggerated ideas of lunar topogra-phy which resulted.

This innovative astronomicalenthusiast died in early October1853, after a long illness, beingcommemorated in a sermonpreached by the Revd James Colleyat Trinity Church, Shrewsbury, thatpraised his professional, artistic,and astronomical attainments(Salopian Journal 5 October 1853).Warm thanks are due to Mr JamesLawson, the Archivist of Shrews-bury School, and Miss Kerry Dick-ins, Librarian of ShropshireRecords and Research, Shrewsbury,for providing background informa-tion on Blunt. P D Hingley, Librarian of theRoyal Astronomical Society,Burlington House.

From the RAS Archives

An unrecorded Shropshire modeller of the Moon

This model of the surface of the Moon, made by Henry Blunt, surfaced among the Society’s photographic archives.

Stars in the LargeMagellanic CloudThis spectacular picture from the HubbleSpace Telescope is the deepest colourpicture yet of the Large Magellanic Cloud.It covers a region over 100 light yearsacross and the full image shows morethan 10 000 stars, as well as clouds of gasand dust. The image came from the WideField Planetary Camera in 1996 and is acombination of images from colour filters.Hot stars (>10 000 °C) appear blue, thosecooler than the Sun (6000 °C) are reddish.If the Sun were here, it would be one ofthe faintest stars. This image is part of theHubble Heritage project. (NASA and TheHubble Heritage Team [STScI].)