A Month of Astronomy Outings

Apart from the regular monthly viewing outing held at Marist Brothers College on Friday 13^th (which was attended by 40 people who saw some amazing sights - including a fireball); three other excursions were held in November.

Eight of us enjoyed a weekend in idyllic surroundings at a cottage on a farm bordering Lesotho. As in Durban, the night of Friday 13^th was just perfect for astronomy - with no Moon out, the sky was pitch black and flooded with stars.

Apart from clear views of the planets Jupiter and Saturn (and their moons); the 16 000 light-year distant star cluster 47 Tucanae appeared immense and beautiful in the blackness. The most wonderful sights of all though, were the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (two small galaxies that orbit our galaxy at distances of 160 000 and 190 000 light-years respectively). It was a moving experience to have rays of light that had been travelling for almost 200 000 years end their journey in our eyes..........

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We saw between 6-10 shooting stars (meteors) per hour, including two fireballs (shooting stars which burn up in a bright explosion of light). We learned much about our Southern Sky that night, including how it is far richer in celestial phenomena than the northern hemisphere.

In fact, it was an unusually warm night for the Berg, and some of us did not go to bed at all, but lay under the stars all night - watching the stars circle the dark sky above us, seeing the Moon rise at 2:35am and the sunrise at 4:55am ..........a unique experience indeed!

The following week three AIG members again travelled to the Berg with a team from the Space Physics Research Institute of the University of Natal, in an attempt to observe and record the Leonid Meteor Shower. Unfortunately for us (and for South Africa in general) we experienced a shower of a different kind! Nonetheless, as the university team explained, the important thing is that we were there, since every 33 years or so the Leonids can be very spectacular indeed.

The Leonids could still produce a heavy storm in 1999 or even 2000, depending on the amount of cometary debris the Earth passes through. However future heavy storms after 2000 are unlikely for at least another 100 years, as the comet’s orbit will be altered by a close pass with Jupiter in 2029.

This was a combined field trip with the Bat Interest Group. Despite being there for four evenings though, we were plagued by cloudy weather and only saw Jupiter and its moons for about 5 minutes, and briefly sighted the Moon twice . This was disappointing for the 11 Friends Society members on the trip, and next year we hope to visit Jozini in winter. We nevertheless had fun chasing bats around the countryside!
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General enquiries: Mario Di Maggio Tel: 3006228 (w)
Enquiries about viewing evenings at Marist Brothers : Raymond Field Tel: 3094126 (w) 4657188 (h)

	AIG viewing evenings (at Marist Brothers College)*	Special Events	Astronomy Meetings (at Marist Brothers College)*
Dec 1998	First clear night of either: Sat 12^th or Fri 18^th or Sat 19^th at 19h00.	There should be very good meteor (shooting star)* viewing for several nights around the 14^th December.* The Geminid meteor shower is predicted to put on a good performance with a maximum rate during the time interval from 11:30 PM to 3 AM.
Jan 1999	First clear night of either: Fri 15^th or Sat 16^th or Fri 22^nd or Sat 23^rd at 19h00.	The predawn sky now has Mars as its only planet, high in the Northeast and getting moderately bright at long last. It forms a pair this month with the bright star Spica. They are about the same brightness now, but the planet looks much redder.	Wednesday 13^th January, 7:30pm: "What To Look Out For In 1999" - talk by Raymond Field
Feb 1999	First clear night of either: Fri 12^th or Sat 13^th or Fri 19^th or Sat 20^th at 19h00.	An Annular Eclipse of the sun occurs on the morning of the 16th. From the best viewing location, far out in the South Indian Ocean to the Southwest of Australia, the Moon will cover 99% of the sun, leaving only a slender ring of light encircling the Moon's black disk ("annular" comes from the Latin word annulus, meaning "ring" ). We are quite far from the best vantage point, and from Durban we will see about 54% of the Sun darken at about 6:50 AM	Wednesday 10^th February, 7:00pm: Simulated Planetarium presentation by Mario Di Maggio NOTE - this meeting will be at the Natural Science Museum
*Directions to Marist Brothers College: travel south along Ridge Road from Tollgate towards Entabeni Hospital. Just after the hospital turn right into Glenwood Drive, which is an L-shaped road. At the end of the road you will see Marist Brothers College in front of you. Turn right and then immediately left into the school car park.