JWST's Iconic Primary Mirror. Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, CC BY 2.0 Three days ago on Monday 24th January 2022 at 19:00GMT, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) arrived at L2: the location where observations of Outer Space will take place. This means we've got a whole six months to wait until everything's calibrated and ready to take the first images (aka JWST's first light). So, what is there to do until then (well, apart from work, exams and other life events)? Here is a list of resources/activities for you to peruse/complete at your leisure so you can be fully briefed and ready for the day (some time in July/August): An event organised by ESA on YouTube/Facebook to teach you more about JWST (happens on Thursday 3rd February at 2-3pm (GMT)) though questions to be answered live are needed by 31st January at 4pm A NASA Eyes visualisation of where JWST is A webb page (see what I did there!) explaining what's happening with the JWST at the moment A list of deployments of JWST with videos and photos related to the events (you can scroll through the list on a bar at the top) An article I wrote explaining the ins and outs of the JWST (with lots of other useful links at the end for you to investigate) Take a photo of some artwork you have created which is what you believe images from JWST will look like (deadline is when the first images from JWST come in) and post them on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag 'UnfoldTheUniverse' View Webb's factsheet to get a brief overview of what the mission is all about Make an origami version of JWST's iconic mirror Create a bookmark representing the lifecycle of a massive star: something Webb will observe once it's up and running Play a quiz by NASA teaching you all about the different types of telescope and what makes each so unique If you find any other fantastic resources that you think would also sit well on this list, then please share them with me so I can publish them on this page! Use the email address: "webmaster.adas@gmail.com". by George Abraham, ADAS member #JWST #NASA #ESA #CSA #L2

At the Dawn of Time… plus a few hundred million years The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is an Infra Red (IR) telescope as tall as a three story house, as long as a tennis court, weighing the same as a school bus (6200kg) and designed, built and tested over 32 years using 40 million hours to built it with people from 14 different countries who are part of 3 space agencies (NASA, ESA, and the Canadian Space Agency, CSA). You may think it’s ‘just another Hubble’, but, whilst the images produced will be equally as stunning, the wavelengths (or colours) of light observed overlap a bit, and they’re both in space, that’s about all they’ve got in common. The James Webb Space Telescope partly folded up. Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn Let’s Start at the Beginning Thought of in a 1989 conference called “Next Generation Space Telescope Workshop” at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in the USA (with the JWST formally called the “Next Generation Space Telescope or NGST), scientists formally proposed it in 1996. They said it would be an Infra Red Telescope, using redder light than you can see (right so far) with a mirror larger than 4m in diameter (only 2.5 metres out!) with a budget of $500 million (Ah, just a mere $9.16bn out!). 2002 brought the selection of people to make it a reality, and 2004 marked the start of building work. By 2005, ESA’s spaceport in the French territory of French Guiana in north east South America was picked as the launch site. Being free from cyclones and earthquakes, and near the equator to give the reliable Ariane 5 rocket a boost in speed as it leaves the Earth due to Earth’s centripetal force, this was the perfect launch site. Indeed, everything was going so well… until they had to redesign it in 2005 to pick only the worthiest of instruments to be on board. This led to the original 2007 launch date being pushed back. An early concept of the JWST, called the Next Generation Space Telescope or NGST. Credit: NASA A True Multitasker JWST was given a lot of goals to achieve in its mission, selected over the many years of building, as science has progressed and many new questions have come to light. First off, the early Universe. It will look over 13.5 billion years into the past by looking at distant light and, due to light’s fixed speed, old light. Old enough to reveal the first stars (formed through cooling of molecular hydrogen) and galaxies which formed 300 million years after the Universe’s start in the Big Bang. The light emitted was at such high energy (Ultra Violet or UV, bluer in colour, outside of what we can see) that it’s detectable today as IR radiation, due to redshift (the elongation of light due to spacetime, the fabric of the Universe, is growing in all directions, meaning everything is moving away from everything else). This period of star and galaxy formation is called reionisation, where the first hydrogen atoms clumped to make the first and ‘purest’ stars, called ‘Population III Stars’. Artist's concept of the first population III stars Credit: NASA/WMAP Science Team Then, JWST can look over a galaxy’s lifetime to see how they evolve and how chemical elements distribute themselves in galaxies, before seeing what happens when they combine, like what will happen with the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy in 3 billion years time. In terms of stars, JWST can look at how and where they first formed, helping to find what determines how many stars form in a location and their masses. Death also comes into play when JWST will observe how they ‘die’ (stopping fusing elements together) , how this ‘death’ impacts the surrounding environment. The black holes that stem from massive stars (over 10 times our Sun’s mass) will then be studied to find out, once and for all, what came first: the black hole in the centre of a galaxy or the galaxy itself. Another tension it may solve is that of the Hubble Constant: a number showing how fast the Universe is expanding. For an unknown reason, using supernovae (the cataclysmic event occurring after a star’s collapse) gives a higher value than that of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (the CMBR: the remnants of the Universe’s earliest light which remains observable). The Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR) Credit: NASA/WMAP Science Team Then there’s planetary systems, specifically looking at both exoplanets (planets outside our Solar System) and how they evolve, as well as if they’re habitable; and our Solar System. Notably, the JWST will observe superior planets (planets outside the area of Earth’s orbit) since JWST won’t need to look at the Sun (a source of IR light). For instance, scientists will use JWST’s IR vision to pier beneath the clouds of Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune to see what’s hidden (since IR light can penetrate clouds, also helpful when looking at early stars and planets, shrouded in gas and dust). As well as this, other mysterious objects will be imaged. Comets (balls of ice and dust) will have their spectra taken, showing what elements they hold from light they emit, and moons such as Jupiter’s Europa and Saturn’s Enceladus, improving our understanding of their potential habitability. False colour Cassini image of jets in the southern hemisphere of Enceladus. Credit: NASA If you thought that wasn’t enough, JWST has many more thousands of objectives, plus that of searching for the unexpected. Within 48 hours, JWST can stop a planned observation and whisk round to observe transient events like supernovae to improve our understand of them. Mister Gold… Mirror 2011 marked the completion of JWST’s array of mirrors. The primary mirror is the one you’ve probably noticed on all images of JWST: 6.6m diameter, with a collecting area of 25.4 square metres, and made of eighteen 20kg hexagonal segments. As the largest mirror to be sent into space, its back plate is made of beryllium (a rare, very light and strong metal at number 4 on the Periodic Table). This large mirror, 6 time the size of Hubble’s, means for a high resolution leading to detailed images, though you should expect strange lines from stars instead of the normal points of light you’ve seen in Hubble’s images, due to the unusual shape of the mirror A graphite-epoxy composite structure covers the beryllium, before a layer of gold is placed on top. You may have noticed a theme in science… we love gold, but not just because it’s great on rings. The 700 atom thick gold layer reflects IR light better than the normal silver-coloured coating used for space telescopes. JWST holds 3 other mirrors. The secondary is on the end of 3 arms and is a convex (bulging) circular mirror, only 0.74m in diameter. The tertiary mirror is within the telescope, almost rectangular in shape, at 0.73x0.52m. Then there’s the Fine Steering Mirror (FSM), which is the same shape as the primary, only much smaller! It is also within the telescope, there to stabilise the image with milli-arcsecond precision (where 1 arcsecond is a 60th of a degree). JWST's mirrors each individually photographed. "SM" stands for "Secondary Mirror". Credit: NASA Please DON’T Shine Bright Like a Diamond! From 2013-14 the mirror came together at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre north of Washington DC. Then in 2013, work on the sunshield began. As long as a tennis court (21.2m by 14.2m) and made of five 0.025-0.05m thick membranes, this shield puts JWST in a 24 hour night. It reduces the light from the Sun from 200KW to less than a Watt, leading to a -233ºC telescope and a 110ºC outer shield: equivalent to a sun cream of SPF 1 million! This means there’s no interference of IR light from the Sun, as well from Earth and the Moon (IR light being responsible for most transfers of thermal energy, or heat, around an environment). Its extremely thin thickness means ripstops are built into all the sunshields to minimise the impact of micrometeorites and debris, so it doesn’t rip. JWST's Sunshield. Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn A Telescope with Many Eyes During 2013-16, all the scientific instruments onboard were subjected to vibration tests so we were sure they wouldn’t break on the way up to their destination in space. The ‘black box’ on JWST’s back houses the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM) containing all these important instruments which will take light focused by the telescope and analyse it. The Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam) is a NASA instrument designed with a coronographic imager (a camera with something to block a source of light from shrouding out objects around it) and a wide field slitless spectrograph using grisms: a prism and a diffraction grating which spreads light into a spectrum, used so the camera can be used for spectroscopy and imaging. NASA hopes to observe distant transiting exoplanets, along with the first galaxies and their formation. Y dwarfs (cool stars in the Y part of the OBAFGKMLTY stellar classification), which contain methane, carbon dioxide, water and ammonia (organic, life giving compounds) and exoplanets will also be observed for signs of life and understanding what makes somewhere habitable. NIRCam in 2013. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Centre The Near-InfarRed Spectrograph (NIRSpec) is slightly different. A joint ESA NASA venture, it has a spectrograph with over a quarter of a million individually addressable shutters thinner than a human hair, to observe the spectra of around 100 sources simultaneously. This gives it a large 9 square arcminute (0.15 square degree) Field of View (FOV) to see transiting exoplanets and protoplanets (planets which haven’t yet developed), taking their temperature, mass and chemical compositions using their spectra. NIRSpec. Credit: Astrium GmbH, CC BY-SA 3.0 CSA’s (Canada’s) contribution to JWST is the Near-Infrared Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS): the only instrument to contain an aperture mask (an opaque circle improving the contrast of bright objects by dimming them), used to investigate molecules present in the atmospheres of exoplanets, and find their temperature, mass and chemical composition, all using the transit method (where an exoplanet goes in front of its parent star, blocking some light) and spectroscopy to investigate them. NIRISS. Credit: NASA The Mid Infra-Red Instrument (MIRI) is another ESA and NASA partnership, headed partly by the UK Astronomy Technology Centre in Edinburgh. Its use of a redder part of the IR spectrum means it can look at star formation, since many molecules have fundamental bands in the mid IR spectrum (being bands which scientists can use to say a molecule is present). It can also look the furthest back in time at galaxies with the highest redshifts (along with colder, and so redder, but closer objects). As well as the spectrograph, it has an integrated field unit, with a camera and spectrograph, capturing and mapping spectra across its field of view. Its Mid-IR imager means it also must be cooled to 33ºC less than everything else (reducing interference from cooler Mid-IR light from the Sun), cooling it to just 7ºC warmer than Absolute Zero: the temperature where molecules stand still. However, this and the technology behind the imager mean it’s 50 times more sensitive than Spitzer: one of the largest IR telescope in space. MIRI. Credit: NASA All Systems Go! Now… no! Now!… I mean, erm… now!! In 2017 vibration and temperature tests were underway, ensuring nothing would stop working due to the vibration from the rocket on lift off and the dramatic changes in temperature from Earth to near Absolute Zero in space. Then, in 2018, during the assembly and testing phase, the sunshield tore! Yes, the one with all the protections to stop this from happening tor. So, it took another 2 years and another push back of the launch date to get it ready for launch. All eyes looked to 2020, but Covid-19 happened and it had to be pushed back to make way for missions like NASA’s Perseverance Rover, which had a specific time window for launch (unlike JWST). 2021 came and, in August, the Ariane 5 rocket to take it to space was grounded due to an issue with the payload fairings (what stores the observatory when getting it to space). Then, in late November, a clamp band (something on the telescope, a bit like an elastic band) released, shaking the telescope, leading to a further delay to wait for it to stop shaking. Then came December, where unfavourable winds led to the date being moved again to Christmas Day, when we currently expect lift off to occur. And LAUNCH! On Christmas Day at 12:20pm, I’ve got just the thing to have on in the background during Christmas lunch! Any time after 12:20pm, Ariane 5 will lift off from French Guiana, taking with it JWST. 2 minutes later, its boosters (the towers attached either side) will separate, before the fairing (containing JWST) splits in two a minute later. Just 9 minutes after launch, JWST will be freed from the main stage and flown for 18 minutes by a spacecraft below, before that too leaves. Since JWST is battery powered, the first thing to deploy will be its solar panel, just 2 minutes later, before the high gain antenna deploys 2 hours after launch to make contact with Earth. Ariane 5 on the launch pad with JWST in it. Credit: ESA - S. Corvaja 12 hours after launch, JWST will fire up to make its 29 day journey to the Sun-Earth Lagrangian Point 2 Halo Orbit (L2 for short). This is a point where Earth and the Sun are always directly in front, and where the gravitational pull from both equals the centripetal (turning) force from JWST, decreasing the fuel needed to stay there. At 1.5 million km away from Earth, it’s 4 times further away than the Moon. Whilst it’s on the voyage, JWST will unfurl its sunshield, before opening out its primary and secondary mirrors, like, as NASA’s Keith Parish put it, a transformer, to become a star destroyer (from Star Wars) with a ray gun on top (accurately put!). That said, there are 344 things that can go wrong, 80% of which are in the deployment, so this is arguably the most tense part. 2 to 6 months after launch, JWST will be calibrated and cooled to its chilly -233ºC, making it ready to take its first images. JWST's Sunshield opening. Credit: NASA/GIPHY Let the Science Begin! 6 reaction wheels which store angular momentum, 6 gyroscopes and 3 star trackers help position JWST within arcseconds of its target, pointing at 60% of the sky at any one time, pointing at any one point for anywhere from a few minutes to 14 days. The science for JWST’s first year (known as ‘Cycle 1’) has already been planned, with the General Observers Programme including 2,200 investigators from 41 different countries using 6,000 hours of time. There’s also the Director’s Discretionary Early Release Science, taking place in the first few months of JWST’s life, with 13 programmes in place to demonstrate Webbs capabilities to the world. Then, for anyone luck enough to be affiliated with JWST, there are the Guaranteed Time Observations, where people have been allocated time on it for working on creating the telescope. The End… already? Hubble has, so far, worked for 32 years, providing amazing images that we’ve come to take for granted. However, JWST works a bit differently. When any telescope turns, the Sun exerts a pressure on it, making it tumble. To counteract this, Hubble used magnetic bars to connect to Earth’s magnetic field to counteract this (needing no limited fuel supplies). However, being 1.5 million km from Earth instead of just 570km, JWST can’t do this, so it uses propellent instead. And there’s only enough for 10 years of operations, so there’s no way we’re going to get any extra years out of JWST (since it can’t be refuelled). Eventually, JWST will drift out of orbit in L2 and become dysfunctional, since it won’t keep a steady view of objects. The next 10 years of science from JWST will certainly be exciting, especially for the first image which will be produced in, hopefully, 6 months time. However, even after its time is up, as with many missions from Apollo to Hubble, the scientific papers will keep coming for years to come as more and more people look at data produced from this ground breaking telescope. Webb being packed up before its launch on Christmas Day (hopefully!!). Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn by George Abraham, ADAS member. #JWST #NASA #ESA #CSA #Sunshield #Telescope #Exoplanet #Saturn #Jupiter #Europa #Enceladus #Comet #CMBR #Redshift #InfraRed Click here for the previous news article Click here for the next news article Click here to make your own JWST Click here to see the place where all data from, not just JWST, but TESS and Hubble, store there data, and have a brows through images Click here to participate on the launch online with NASA Click here for the live stream from NASA of the event Click here for the live stream from ESA of the event Click here to explore all science questions the JWST hopes to answer Click here for the countdown to the launch Click here to track JWST on its journey after launch Click here to see where the organisations who took part in making JWST are based References "Webb". ESA. Archived from the original on 24th December 2021. "Small Steps, Giant Leaps: Episode 73, James Webb Space Telescope". 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History of Communication Satellites in a Nutshell These days we can call up someone in the remotest parts of Antartica and have a conversation as though they were right next to us. However, without the nifty technology that is the ‘Satellite’, none of this would be possible. They were first mentioned by Arthur C. Clarke (author of ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’) in his article ‘Wireless World’ written in 1945, where he described the transmission of TV programmes from manned satellites in 24-hour orbit around Earth; and then later looked at in detail by John R. Pierce in 1951-2, paving the way to the first communication satellite to be launched in 1957: Sputnik 1. Sputnik 1 Replica. Credit: NSSDC, NASA Following this, many more innovations came and with this, many more communication satellites. From Telstar 1 in 1962 which transmitted the first satellite TV (including images of the Eiffel Tower and Statue of Liberty, since it was sent from Brittany to Maine in north east USA); to e-BIRD: a broadband satellite which provided signal to parts of Europe with none. As well as their many innovations of everything from what they could transmit to where in Earth’s orbit they were (more on that later), communication satellites have also famously been getting smaller; a lot smaller. The small light (from 1 to 10kg) nanosats have become very popular in recent years: ever since the first six in June 2003, they’ve been providing an affordable way to collect data and send it back to Earth, needing little fuel to send them into Space and little material to make them. Another miniaturising innovation is the the smallsat: a satellite class slightly bigger than the nanosat at less than 180kg. They have been especially popular as communication satellites; most notably with Starlink and OneWeb. Aside from the disruption of Earth-based astronomy, their focus is on fast global broadband, reaching places that couldn’t get an internet connection before using much cheaper methods than older broadband satellites to provide more universal coverage [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. Model of OneWeb Satellite. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett Where are they? The simple answer is, of course, in orbit around Earth. However, Earth’s orbit is a very big place, so there are various common orbit types: Geostationary Orbit (GEO), Low Earth Orbit (LEO), Medium Earth Orbit (MEO), Polar Orbit and Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO), Transfer Orbits and Geostationary Transfer Orbits (GTO) and the Lagrange Points (L-points) [8]. First, let’s look at GEO: 35,786km above Earth and travelling west to east to follow the rotation of the Earth along the equator, thereby staying above the same place on Earth at all times. They can serve large sections of Earth with constant coverage, and so ensure that area always gets coverage (for relaying signals, for instance) or is continually monitored (like with weather satellites) [8]. LEO is, as the name suggests, low: less than 1000km high to be specific, following any plane (angle of orbit) they want, meaning there’s lots more space for satellites. This makes them fantastic for imagery satellites, but not so for satellite communications, since they’re travelling so fast, orbiting 16 times a day. However, mega-constellations like those of Starlink and OneWeb are in LEO, so how? It’s down to the fact they work together to cover the whole Earth at once, seamlessly changing the satellite in use after the previous one used is out of range. All this makes it extremely popular, whilst also creating a mine field of space debris [8][9]. And where does our prized GPS fit into all this? Well, GPS satellites (along with other navigation satellites such as ESA’s Galileo system) orbit in MEO, found between LEO and GEO. They have the advantages of a lower time to send signals than in GEO, a larger footprint across Earth than LEO, and the option of going in any plane around Earth [8][10]. Like LEO, SSO orbits at a similar altitude (600-800km) and does what it says on the tin: it orbits so, relative to the Sun, it’s fixed in the same position all the time, flying over certain locations at the same time each day and going over the North and South Poles within 20-30 degrees. This is helpful in seeing changes over time at certain places [8]. Scale diagram of where the orbits around Earth are. Credit: Rrakanishu, CC BY-SA 4.0 Want to use little fuel but still want to go all the way to GEO? Simple; use GTO: putting a satellite into a GTO when offloaded will let them move, with little use of the satellite’s energy, into a higher orbit. This is because it’s an elliptical instead of circular orbit, with two foci instead of one (points where a curve is constructed) — in other words, a stretched circular orbit [8]. However, what if you want to go much much further out? This is where the Lagrange Points come in. Totalling five, they are the points far away (1.5 million km) from Earth where a satellite can have a stable orbit, found using some cool maths curtesy of one Joseph-Louis Lagrange [8][11]. Where the Lagrange Points are relative to the Earth and the Sun. Credit: NASA/WMAP Science Team How to Navigate and Phone from Space What do we do if we don’t have this massive network of satellites though, like when you’re a spacecraft flung off into the far reaches of Space? That’s where NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN) and ESA’s Deep Space Antennae (DSA) come in. They are groups of enormous radio antennae (everywhere from Madrid in Spain, to just north of Perth in Australia) which transmit and receive data, used for telemetry (receiving the scientific data spacecraft collect) and command (controlling what the spacecraft does) [12][13]. However, as well as this, they also help with the problem of navigation in Space. The antennae send signals to the spacecraft and time how long it takes to arrive at a receiving dish after a signal has been transmitted by the spacecraft, determining: how fast the craft is travelling, its distance from Earth, and where the spacecraft is in the sky. A signal can then be transmitted to instruct the spacecraft as to how it can change its course [13][14][15]. A 70m antenna in Robledo de Chavela near Madrid, Spain, used in NASA's DSN Credit: Hector Blanco de Frutos, CC BY 2.5 That said, on longer missions, it may take many minutes, hours or days to do this (around 2.7 days for the Voyager 1 probe to receive, send and then receive a signal [16]). This is where pulsars come in: neutron stars (dying massive stars) which send regular pulses of light from their poles as they rotate. The spacecraft can use three sources of these pulses (the quicker the more precise) to measure changes in the timing between each pulse, thereby pinpointing its location in space [15]. Navigation and Communication on the Moon Unlike the far reaches of Space, the Moon is much much closer. This means that some Earth based technology already in place can be used: notably our global navigation systems, such as GPS. Their signals may be directed towards Earth, but some signal spills over into Outer Space. And some engineers think we could use that ‘spill-over signal’ to navigate, though the signal would be pretty weak [15]. This is where a new generation of satellites come into play: ones which take out the time issues; the weakness of signals and the trouble with a body like the Moon coming between you and the Earth. It’s called Lunar Pathfinder [17]. With the help of Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL - announced on 16th September), a satellite manufacturer based just outside Guildford in central Surrey, ESA will put a single satellite into orbit around the Moon in 2024 to provide continuous communication services for both robots and humans on the lunar poles and its far side (the side which never faces Earth) because there are thought to be sources of oxygen, rocket fuel and water in those locations [17][18]. It will also hold three experiments: an ESA receiver to detect the signals from GPS and Galileo (ESA’s version of GPS) from Earth, demonstrating the possibility of Lunar navigation with the aid of Earth and Moon based satellites; a NASA mirror (or retro-reflector) to demonstrate the possibility of laser ranging (tracking the positions of the satellites by measuring the laser light reflect off them [19]); and an ESA radiation detector to measure levels of radiation in orbit [18]. To do all this, the Lunar Pathfinder satellite will be put into a lunar orbit called an ‘Elliptical Lunar Frozen Orbit (ELFO). The ‘frozen orbits’ are where spacecraft can orbit the Moon at a low altitude (800-8,800km) indefinitely (though this satellite will end its mission after 8 years), and at a range of inclinations (angles of orbit): 27º, 50º, 76º and 86º (very close to those all important Lunar polar regions) [20][21]. Image showing the various missions which are part of the future lunar initiatives including NASA's Artemis programme and ESA's Moonlight programme. Credit: ESA In years to come, we may have an array of satellites helping our astronauts and robots on the Moon find where they are and communicate with the same ease we enjoy on Earth. by George Abraham, ADAS member. #Moon #Satellite #ESA #SSTL #NASA #GPS Click here for the previous news article Click here for the next news article Click here to look at the current state of NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN) Click here to see where ESA's Deep Space Antennae are located Click here to look at how ESA's Ground Stations are doing (which include ESA's Deep Space Antennae) - found at the bottom of the page References "Communications Satellites: Making the Global Village Possible". NASA. Archived from the original on 18th September 2021. "A Brief History of Satellite Communications". Ground Control. Archived from the original on 18th September 2021. "Cubesats: Tiny Payloads, Huge Benefits for Space Research". Space.com. Archived from the original on 18th September 2021. "Starlink". Starlink. Archived from the original on 18th September 2021. "July 12, 1962: The Day Information Went Global". NASA. Archived from the original on 18th September 2021. "Telestar 1 Legacy: 1st Live TV Broadcast by Satellite Turns 50". Space.com. Archived from the original on 18th September 2021. "What are SmallSats and CubeSats?" NASA. Archived from the original on 18th September 2021. "Types of Orbits". ESA. Archived from the original on 18th September 2021. "What is Low Earth Orbit?" Universe Today. Archived from the original on 18th September 2021. "Popular Orbits 101". Aerospace Security. Archived from the original on 18th September 2021. "What are Lagrange Points?" ESA. Archived from the original on 18th September 2021. "What is the Deep Space Network?" NASA. Archived from the original on 18th September 2021. "DSN Function". NASA. 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January February March April May June September October December MINUTES | 2009 2nd January 2009 January Present Kevin Thurstan (Chairman), Norman Thurstan, Geoff Flood, Steve Holt, Tony Aremia, Peter Baugh, Geoff Walton, Colin Bowler, Paul Brierley, Stephen McHugh, Colin Eaves, Richard Bullock. The Evening took the form of a Quiz, which was set by Kevin, who also acted as Quiz Master. Clearly a good deal of time and effort had gone into setting the Quiz and some great photographs had been down loaded for the event. Many thanks to Kevin for his efforts which led to a thoroughly enjoyable evening. The Quiz was won by the “Paul Brierley All Stars”. Following the quiz and a break for tea the Secretary announced that he had received information from: 1. The BAA regarding their Exhibition Meeting at the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich on 27th June 2009. 2. Liverpool AS regarding their monthly meeting on January 16th 2009. This came in the form of a poster on the International Year of Astronomy format which can be used by Astronomical Societies to promote their events. A card has been received from Marie Utton in which she says: "Thank you very much for the lovely gesture, visiting Don's grave and leaving flowers. My thanks to ADAS for the kind thoughts of you all. Some of my family were here for Don's anniversary and when we went to the cemetery and saw the flowers we were all very touched at your remembrance." The next meeting will take place at 8:00pm on Friday 6th February when Dave Ogden will give a talk on “The Meaning of Light” 6th February 2009 February Present Kevin Thurstan (Chairman), Geoff Flood, Jonathan Odom, Nick Odom, Peter Baugh, Norman Thurstan, Chris Suddick, Richard Bullock, Colin Eaves, Colin Bowler, Graham Sinagola, Paul Clark, Tony Aremia, Ged Burbeck, Anne Muldoon, John Tipping. Kevin introduced our speaker, Dave Ogden from Macclesfield AS his topic was: The Meaning of Light Dave's talk began with the thought that more than 3000 years ago man understood that the Sun had a bearing on life and that they worshipped it. Later the Egyptians worshipped Aton, the Sun God. The ancient Greeks originally believed that light came out of your eyes but later Leucippus and Democrates thought that light was particles which came into ones eyes. Euclid decided that light travelled in straight lines. Archimedes wrote a book on optics and tried to burn Roman ships using mirrors to focus the sun's rays on them. In 900 AD Ibn Al Haytham gave the first explaination of vision and made the first use of the Camera Obscura - Vermeer is thought to have used a Camera Obscura, which inverts images to aid his painting. Kepler made a Camera Obscura used in a dark room and went on explain the working of the eye. The early Egyptians possibly had telescopes, they had the capability of polishing glass. Galileo however made his own telescope in 1609. Robert Hooke, who was a wide ranging scientist and who worked with Wren and Isaac Newton amongst others made an early microscope. The refractive index of the medium through which light travels can alter the effects thus we get spectra by passing light throught a prism and we see water droplets acting as prisms to create rainbows. In nature there are many uses of light, for instance chlorophyll creates energy from light and Carbon Dioxide certain creatures glow using a photochemical process. In the 1800's Herschel showed that there was energy beyond the red end of the spectrum - Infra Red but it was Johanne Ritter who discovered Ultra Violet rays by use of Silver Nitrate. The Elctromagnetic spectrum was gradually built up after it was realised that light is an electromagnetic effect and used to identify various elements from the spectra that they emit. This of course is invaluable in identifying stars, as their emissions indicate their make up. In more recent times there has been a better understanding of light and Einstein and Planck found that light was indeed made up of particles - photons - but that they act in a wave like manner. Photons might take millions of years bouncing about and crashing into one another in the Sun but once they come to the surface they race away at around 186,000 miles per second. Galileo had long since worked out that light travels faster than sound and, of course, he was correct. Hau has been able to slow down the speed at which light travels and indeed has been able to stop it altogether at very low temperatures in in atomic condensates. There have been a variety of experiments in this area. Finally Dave concluded that light IS indeed particles ie Photons. Kevin thanked Dave and the meeting showed its appreciation. Geoff informed the meting that we have had notification that the Isle of White Star Party will be held on 26th to 30th March 2009, Also we have had notification of the Liverpool AS Conference details were passed around. There being no other business Kevin closed the meeting. 6th March 2009 March Present Kevin Thurstan, Nick Odom, Roger Livermore, Peter Baugh, Chris Suddick, Tony Aremia, Graham Sinagola, Mark Crossley, Paul Clark, Paul Brierley, Geoff Walton, Colin Eaves, Colin Bowler, Ged Birbeck + Chloe, Richard Bullock, John Tipping, Gerard Gilligan. Total 18. The meeting started a few minutes late due to electrical power problems. Kevin welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced our speaker (Gerard Gilligan). He then started with society business due to the power problem. The first item was whether we should have a presence at the Jodrell Bank Astro Party on May 9th. Kevin said he will get in touch with them as the society no longer has a contact there and find out the situation as to tickets for people who bring a scope along. We then got the power back we went straight into the evenings talk. Gerard started by telling us that he had been researching William Lassell in 1993 after a memorial lecture by Alan Chapman in Liverpool. We were told William Lassell born on 18th June 1799 in Bolton and was educated in Bolton & Rochdale. His father was a timber merchant but died in 1810 and William moved back to Toxteth where his family came from in 1815. He served an apprenticeship as a brewer from 1815-1822, then set up as a brewer in 1824 and married Maria King in 1827. William did well as a brewer due to the growth of Liverpool, its docks and immigration. Over his life he used his money to fund three large telescopes. His first was a 9 inch reflector and was instrumental in the building of Liverpool’s first observatory on waterloo dock in 1844. Gerard explained how William Lassell was held in high regard by fellow astronomers. He was a guest of William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Ross, and helped develop polishing machines for telescope mirrors. His next telescope was a 24inch version of his original. He would give dinner parties for up to 19 people and after the meal he would take them all out to his observatory and show them the sky through eyepieces he made himself. He discovered triton, Neptune’s largest moon, only 12 days after Neptune its self was discovered and shares the discovery of Saturn’s moon Hyperion with his great competitor William Cranch Bond. William also met Queen Victoria and prince Albert on their visit to Liverpool in 1851. He went to Malta 1861-1864, shipping his telescopes with him. While there he had a 48 inch open truss telescope built & tested then shipped over to him in Malta. He also had Albert Marth working for him making observations for many of his discoveries, many to do with Saturn. In 1864 he moved back to Maidenhead bringing his telescopes. He died in 1880of a heart attack and is buried with his wife who died 2 years later. Gerard was thanked for his talk and the meeting then took a break. On re-starting Gerard took questions. After again thanking Gerard, the chairman stated that the next meeting would be on Friday 3rd of April and that the speaker would be William Stewart from South Cheshire AS with a talk on Observing Satellites. The meeting was then closed. 3rd April 2009 April Present Kevin Thurstan (Chairman), Geoff Flood, Tony Aremia, Peter Baugh, Norman Thurstan, Geoff Walton, Chris Suddick, Colin Eaves, Colin Bowler, Rosamund Tanner-Tremaine, Chris Tanner-Tremaine, Richard Bullock, Nick Odom, Jonathan Odom. William Stewart from South Cheshire AS was introduced by Kevin as our speaker for the evening. The title of his talk was: Observing Satellites There are 3 aspects to the life of a satellite, namely Launch - Orbit - Landing. How do they stay in orbit? As the earth is round they need to have sufficient energy to blast off and then get high enough so that they circle the earth and keep going round i. e. not crashing back down to earth. Satellites are always launched in an easterly direction which gives a saving of around 1000 mph in speed which has to be generated. The angle of inclination at launch depends upon the latitude of the launch site but steeper angles require bigger rockets, as of course do heavier payloads. The height at which the satellite operates and its orbit depends on the purpose to which it is to be put. . Spy satellites need not be very high but are in polar orbit to cover the earth whereas equatorial ones only cover a given area. Geostationary (26000 miles above the earth) are used for communication satellites which are very specific in the coverage that they give. The ISS operates at around 200 – 400 miles high and can be seen reflecting the light of the sun; if it went in areas of shadow it would require huge batteries to keep operating. In 1957 there was 1 satellite in orbit, Sputnik, but by 2009 there were some 13,000. There is lots of debris floating around in space everything from rocket bodies to tiny pieces, which never the less could puncture a space suit, so great care has to be taken in space. The antennae on the Hubble telescope have been pierced, thus one of the jobs astronauts have to carry out is to film the Shuttle before returning to earth to ensure that all is well. Naval Ocean Surveillance Satellites listen to signals from ships and can workout their position with great accuracy Re-entries are normally over the sea but Skylab came down over Australia – fortunately in an uninhabited area. Russian satellites frequently come down over land in relatively uninhabited areas. Weather satellites, in addition to following the weather, may be used to track launches as vapour trails from them can be easily picked up. For the future there will be increased global surveillance there will be more satellites and their uses disguised (camouflaged) for instance with an inflated balloon around them. There was no Society business discussed because of time constraints. 1st May 2009 May PRESENT Kevin Thurstan (Chairman), Geoff Flood, Roger Livermore, Peter Baugh, Steve Holt, Tony Aremia, Nick Apostocides, Fran Apostocides, Paul Brierley, Geoff Walton, Paul Clark, Colin Bowler, Colin Eaves. Kevin welcomed members and guests and introduced Phil Rogers from Chester AS. Phil spoke on the topic of: Optics in Astronomy and Space – Huygens to Hubble Phil has retired from Thales, manufacturers of lenses and is now a visiting professor at the Cranfield Institute. In 1655 Huygens who had devised a new and improved means of grinding lenses built a refracting telescope but it had to be many metres long to get a decent image and of course telescopes this long are very unstable which brings its own difficulties. The lenses were also imperfect and it wasn’t until 1758 that John Dolland came along with the achromatic lens. In the 19th century Airy produced a diffraction image of a star and Rayleigh worked on mirror accuracy. It is quite amazing that Huygens discovered that Saturn has a “flat solid” ring and a moon - Titan - in 1655, considering the equipment available to him. Newton believed that a single lens of any material would always split colours from light but blur due to chromatic aberration and this as not too bad with small lenses but double the size of the lens and you double the size of the blur. In 1758 John Dolland produced an improvement with a double lens of window glass (crown glass) and crystal which was 25 times better than a single lens. There was much experimenting with lenses and mirrors and finding the best equipment for the type of astronomy to be undertaken. Arrangements lenses and mirrors were made to cancel out interference patterns but there was usually a down side with, for instance, edge effects. Reflectors, we were told, give more problems with diffraction patterns but are better for double stars and worse for planets. In 1906 Lowell discovered the canals or canale on Mars however his interpretation may well have been due in part to an optical illusion. More recently the Hubble telescope used adaptive optics which need to be set up very accurately, 3 tests were applied to check the set up. The main test indicated that all was well but 2 subsidiary tests indicated otherwise, sadly these were believed and the field lens was set up incorrectly – by 1.3 mm and this is what caused the early problems. The later corrections have improved things enormously, as was illustrated with side by side photographs; although still not perfect it is phenomenal all the same. Adaptive optics used has unusually shaped mirrors and to reduce edge effects. Other modern telescopes include the Keck in Hawaii which has two 10m mirrors comprising of 36 segments. This instrument is in a controlled temperature environment and has a computer controlled primary mirror. The Giant Magellan Telescope has seven 8.4 m mirrors and gives images 10times sharper than Hubble. The TMT – thirty metre telescope mirror has some 950 segments some of which are manufactured in North Wales. Other modern telescopes use X-Ray optics which give remarkable images of very high energy (hot) objects Phil gave us a very entertaining and informative talk and was thanked by Kevin and the whole audience. Following the talk Kevin reported on a NWGAS meeting. They are trying to organise an imaging workshop and are looking for contributors or “lecturers”. A Star party is to be held at Jodrell Bank on Saturday 9th May 2009, several members showed interest. On June 5th there will be an open imagery meeting. BAA are having a membership drive and are offering 18months membership for the price of 1 year, forms are available from the Secretary. In the absence of the Treasurer, speakers’ expenses of £30 were paid by Kevin Thurstan. 5th June 2009 June PRESENT Kevin Thurstan (Chairman), Geoff Flood, Colin Bowler, Mark Crossley, Steve Holt, Norman Thurstan, Paul Clark, Chris Suddick, Geoff Walton, Colin Eaves, Tony Aremia, Peter Baugh, Stephen McHugh, Roger Livermore, John Tipping, Richard Bullock, Ged Birbeck. Kevin welcomed members to the meeting and congratulated Graham Sinagola who “starred” in the recent Sky at Night programme. On this occasion the evening was given over to members’ presentations of some of their images taken in recent times. Paul Clark showed some images taken with his 6inch refractor in La Palma, these were simple photographs but stacked(X10) Paul illustrated an incredible improvement that could be made by varying the contrast on the computer some others were taken using a 220mm instrument with a tracking mount. Colin Bowler had visited La Palma with Paul and showed some terrestrial shots showing the observatories, and also the general terrain. He explained that the Trade Winds bring cloud during the day but that they clear at night. Mark Crossley showed some of his highly technical photographs and explained some the tricks of the trade for instance using a Hyper Star set up and then replacing it with a camera. Photographs of M81/82 taken with a 3 minute exposure showed some activity as indicated by red colouration of hydrogen. There was a good deal of light pollution at the time and a good deal of processing was required. A Fish Eye photograph of this back garden gave a very good illustration of light pollution in the area. Kevin thanked all the contributors and also Paul and John Tipping for their help at Jodrell Bank which went down well with the general public. Another event will be held at Jodrell Bank on August 8th when there will hopefully also be a BBQ and again in December a Star Party is planned. ADAS can now be visited ont th Clubz site There was a NWGAS meeting at the end of April which Kevin attended - he has a copy of the Minutes - the Website is to be updated. NWGAS is trying to get an imaging workshop and memebers should speak to Kevin if interested. The NW group still needs an FAS representative. Mention was made of the Campaign for Dark Skies and NWGAS newsgrooups. Kevin is looking for a speaker from the Society for the November meeting - any offers will be gratefully accepted. The next meeting is the AGM which will be held on Friday 4th September. There was no other business and Kevin closed the meeting. 4th September 2009 September 9 paid-up members and 3 visitors present. The Chairman welcomed all to the meeting. Apologies for absence were heard from Norman Thurstan, Paul Brierley and Geoff Flood. Minutes of the 443rd AGM were read and accepted. Treasurer gave his report: · Room rent accounts form most of expenditure. We are now paid up on rent for all of last year and this year. · Room rent has been doubled to £20 per meeting – it was suggested we need to discuss a larger and cheaper room for future monthly meetings. · Noted that accounts are provisional, as the previous secretary still receives all correspondence. · All accounts in order Appointment of Officers: · Due to the lack of paid-up members, it was stated that decisions could not be made at this AGM – it was not quorate. The meeting thus decided to discuss issues informally. · The Chairman stated that he and the current Secretary both wished to step down. The current Treasurer stated he was willing to continue for another year · The Chairman called for nominations. No nominations or volunteers to serve were forthcoming for either Secretary or Chairman. · Chairman proposed an Extraordinary General Meeting in December to decide the future of the society. Geoff proposed this should be later, in January. December was agreed in informal discussion. The Chairman agreed to stand until that point in order to continue the society. · The Chairman noted that officers feel they have little support from the general membership – particularly the events and fundraising secretary in relation to support for the Timperley Country Fair, our main fundraising event. · The Chairman described the role of secretary in response to a request · The Chairman proposed the role of vice-secretary and vice chairman, to make the main roles less onerous. No-one was in disagreement during informal discussion. · The Chairman asked if anyone would prefer a different meeting night. No-one wanted any day in particular other than Friday night. Colin B proposed a vote when sufficient people were present, as agreement would be unlikely otherwise. · Informal discussion proceeded on the meeting room size, as it was agreed that some meetings were very busy for the current room size. A consensus was reached that the current venue was sufficient for smaller meetings only. Timperley Village Hall was suggested, but it was noted that this was also 50% (£10) more expensive, and was not feasible at the current membership rate and number. · Possibilities for more outdoor meetings were discussed. Light pollution was seen as a significant problem locally, and sites close to Timperley but away from immediate LP were suggested. Siddington was the most popular suggestion, but no consensus was reached. · Public Liability Insurance was discussed. The Treasurer stated we were not covered at present – particularly for new members, visitors, or external events. This was seen as a problem, with Jodrell Bank outreach events in particular noted as a cause for concern. · A need to stimulate group outings to local sites was discussed, following on from the previous discussion. Weather, lack of time, lack of interest and lack of access to newsgroup postings were seen as significant barriers to organisation. · However, it was noted that the newsgroup is seen as the only real means of communication within the society. The Chairman proposed that all members should supply email addresses for officers to communicate. A sheet of paper was circulated for those present to give their email addresses. · Level of subscription – it was decided (as far as is possible for an in-quorate AGM) that the present level of subscription would continue at £20 for adults, and £1 for minors. · Geoff asked for all pertinent discussions from this AGM to be distributed in the October meeting, for discussion at the EGM in December. ColinB agreed to make the meeting minutes available for the October meeting. · NWGAS – The Chairman reported that he was prevented from attending the recent meeting due to family illness, and no other member wished to attend when requested, so no representative from ADAS was present. · Geoff suggested a monthly newsletter of some form to try and inform people of events, meetings and possibilities for dark-sky observing. The Chairman stated that, as ever, it was difficult to get anyone to volunteer and commit to producing it. · Difficulties in gaining control of various areas of the ADAS website were discussed. No consensus was reached, but it was stated that several areas would be more accessible to members shortly. Ged entered the AGM at this time, and stated that he would get the current owner/webmaster to remove redundant links. · Timperley Country Fair: Ged stated that it was on September 12th, and he requested assistance at the Scout Hut the on Friday 11th September to organise and prepare. · Jodrell Bank Star Party was discussed, and the consensus of the members that had attended was that it had been a very successful and enjoyable evening. More attendance was requested for the next Jodrell event on Sat 12th December. · Ged asked for fliers which the Chairman had distributed at the previous Jodrell event to be made available for distribution at the Country Fair. · The Chairman asked for volunteers to get fliers distributed to local libraries. Geoff also agreed to update the Stockport Telescope and Binocular Centre with the new website address. ------------ Tea Break ------------ · It was suggested that groups and dark-sky observing visits should be formally organised, possibly following each monthly meeting. · Society equipment was discussed. It was suggested that all society equipment holders should bring in equipment at the next meeting so that members could see what was available. · It was agreed that further discussion and work was required on the ADAS website. · Ged asked for consideration that a binocular observation session be arranged regularly following every monthly meeting. · Ged again asked for help in organising the Timperley Country Fair, volunteers to be present at 9pm on Friday 11th September. · 21:25 the Chairman brought the meeting to a close.aid 2nd October 2009 October PRESENT Kevin Thurstan (Chairman), Geoff Flood, Nick Odom, Norman Thurstan, Steve Holt, Geoff Walton, Roger Livermore, Colin Bowler, Tony Aremia, Elaine Rutherford, Adam Rutherford, Scott Rutherford, Chris Suddick, Graham Sinagola, Peter Baugh, John Tipping. Kevin Kilburn (Speaker) Total 17. Kevin welcomed members to the meeting and introduced the speaker for the evening, Kevin Kilburn from Manchester AS, Kevin’s talk was entitled:- A NEW LOOK AT AN OLD MOON Kevin introduced himself saying that he has been observing since 1954. He has seen 2 Apollo launches and as a member of Manchester AS has for some time been imaging the moon as one of a group of people with different specialities, a group which includes Phil Masding and Mike Tyrell. Kevin uses a low tech approach. Early work used film photography but the cost of using rolls of film from which only the odd shot was worth keeping. Eventually, Kevin bought himself a digital camera, which a big improvement and then he discovered that he could take video which enabled him to stack frames and improve even more. Operating in Movie Mode he can achieve the equivalent of 100ft focal length. By this means it is possible to see craters down to a mile in diameter following stacking and cleaning up. A good deal of work has concentrated on Aristarchus, a 40mile wide crater. From the pictures produced it is now suspected that this is a live volcanic area. Although some say that the moon is “dead” several astronomers claim to have seen glowing in some areas. In 1968 Kevin contacted Patrick Moore to say that he believed that he had seen such a glow and by chance so had Patrick, contact with NASA led to them asking astronauts to look at Aristarchus and they also reported glowing. Colour on the Moon The project at Manchester AS is looking at Transient Lunar Phenomena (TLP) and stratification. Some astronomers had decided that Aristarchus is decidedly yellow, a colour plate in the Larouse Encyclopaedia of Astronomy, of a painting, shows colours all over the moon. Observation indicated that this was correct and with the help of digital photography we can show that this is correct. Kevin pointed out that once you see the colours they become obvious, the colours are best seen at the full moon of course, but contours etc. at lower light. Dark areas, which are blueish, are Titanium, brown areas Iron, Yellow Basalt etc. Thus by means of colour we can learn something of the geology of the Moon. Aristarchus is seen to be mainly blue but with a yellow rim, there is also pink and oranges to be seen. Phil Masding and Mike Tyrell have developed software known as Planet Warp which corrects shapes distorted by the curvature of the Moon and Plato, which normally appears to be elliptical now appears round - which is what pictures taken from Apollo show. Encouraged by Patrick Moore this was published in the Sky at Night magazine. Phil and Mike have also developed some software for “Colour Draping” where colour is lifted mathematically from a picture and then dropped onto a picture of the same area but taken at low illumination thus showing stratification but in the correct colour, brilliant results are achieved by this means. Multi Spectral Polarimetry. Kevin admitted to not fully understanding the maths of this technique but the results tend to speak for themselves. We have had high resolution and colour but now we can bring in Polarisation, using filters. Pictures take by this means show the texture of particles (smooth ones being different from coarse ones). The Russians have suggested using the Hubble telescope with colour and polarising filters, in this manner it should be possible to map out suitable geological areas for exploration. Sunlight is not polarised but scattered light is so using multi-spectra polarisation we get quite different images which tell us something about the structure of the surface. At a very high degree of polarisation we can see particle structure not seen by any other means. According to Umov the albedo /polarisation should give a straight line but variations from this are caused by scatter by several different particle sizes. This type of plot has been used to examine different traces left around craters following meteor strikes. Kevin finished off by talking about a white are on the moon which as yet is unexplained but which also has a magnetic field. It is thought that this might be the result of the magnetism of the meteor which crashed into the moon at that point. Kevin Thurstan thanked Kevin Kilburn for his interesting and informative talk. Following the talk there was a small amount of Society business. Kevin thanked all those who had contributed to the stall at the Timperley Country Fair, following which Tony Aremia has paid £175.30 into the bank. All the prizes in the tombola were gone very early on. Many people asked about ADAS meetings. Chris Suddick was asked if we could provide examiner(s) for the local Brownies Astronomy badge. Chris has agreed but would like some volunteers to assist. The leaflets, prepared for the Jodrell Bank Star Party, have been distributed and the Secretary agreed to put one in each of the local libraries. The next meeting, on November 6th, will be an open meeting when members can bring new images or equipment to show to members, but also those people holding pieces of Society equipment were asked to bring them in so that other members can see what is available. On Thursday 15th October Tim O’Brian from Jodrell Bank will speak to a meeting of Manchester AS at MMU starting at 7:30pm. There is no charge for this event. There being no other business the Chairman closed the meeting. 4th December 2009 December MINUTES OF THE 451st MEETING HELD ON FRIDAY 4th DECEMBER 2009 EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL MEETING PRESENT Kevin Thurstan (Chairman), Geoff Flood, Graham Sinagola, Geoff Walton, Steve Holt, Stephen Mc Hugh, John Tipping, Richard Bullock, Colin Eaves, Paul Brierley, Chris Suddick, Tony Aremia, Ged Burbeck. Total 13 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE Peter Baugh, Roger Livermore, Mark Crossley, Norman Thurstan. The meeting was called because of the lack of members who were prepared to stand for office at the AGM. Kevin opened the meeting by listing the offices to be filled, namely: Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer and Events Organiser. There was some discussion about the various positions and it was suggested that, to ease the burden, the posts could perhaps be split and the work shared. CHAIRMAN The way matters are handled at present the Chairman, not only chairs meetings but also arranges the programme. The possibility of having a “Speakers Secretary” to arrange talks was considered and under those circumstances Chris Suddick agreed to take the position of Chairman and was proposed by Kevin seconded by Geoff and elected. Chris stated that he would like to return to having more structured meetings with the minutes being read out each month, so that those without computer access are informed and could comment. Kevin reported that with one exception speakers are booked for the remainder of this ADAS year to June and he agreed to complete the programme so that an incoming Speakers Secretary would not need to begin looking for speakers until about March 2010. The position was left open for the time being. Kevin explained that speakers were found from ADAS members or from one of the lists of speakers provided by the BAA or by NWGAS. Contact is normally made via e-mail. SECRETARY Geoff Flood stated that he had some difficulty with minute taking but was prepared to continue as “General Secretary” which was approved by the meeting. Graham Sinagola agreed to become “Minutes Secretary” and was proposed by Kevin seconded by Tony and elected. TREASURER Richard Bullock has agreed to remain as Treasurer and was elected. Richard reported that a number of members have agreed to Giftaid their subscriptions on which the Society can claim the tax which the individual would have paid on that sum of money. This has rebate has not been claimed for several years so we should get a reasonable windfall from HM Customs and Revenue. Venue There was some discussion about the venue for the Society‘s meetings, some members feel that the room at the Scout hall is too small. Various options were discussed Graham mentioned the hall at Bowdon Parish church which appears to be ideal for our needs, although it would be difficult to get to for members travelling by public transport. Geoff F agreed to once more investigate Timperley Village Hall. Kevin reported that a list of Society equipment and names of those holding it is available on the Yahoo website. The question was asked, “Do we need anything else?” A laptop for use with PowerPoint presentations was agreed and Ged agreed to get prices for a decent second hand one. It was also suggested that as the mount for the Large binoculars had been sold (without agreement of the whole Society) a suitable tripod should be purchased. Paul B agreed to examine the possibilities. It was reported that we have been invited to once more participate in the Jodrell Bank Star Party on Saturday 12th December 2009.

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