Minutes 1st october 2004

The 400^th Meeting of the Altrincham and District Astronomical Society, held at Timperley Village Club on Friday 1st October , 2004 at 8pm

Those present were:

Paul Clark Don Utton Tony Aremia

Ged Burbeck Graham Sinagola Geoff Flood

Colin Eaves Mark Crossley John Tipping

Colin Henshaw Nick Dixon Kevin Thurston

Geoffrey Walton Roger Livermore Mary Stewart

Martin Leahy Daniel Leahy (Total 17)

The chairman Paul Clark opened the meeting by welcoming everyone. He announced that the talk tonight would be given by Colin Henshaw who had agreed to step in at the last minute because the original speaker was stranded in Newcastle. This would be followed by refreshments and then business.

Colin’s talk was entitled ‘Historical Supernovae’ and he started that there are two distinct types; the first is caused by the self-destruction of a white dwarf in a binary system. The second is due to the gravitational collapse of a super giant. The first type occur when the white dwarf exceeds the Chandrasekhar limit of 1.44 solar masses consequently they all have a similar magnitude, and so can be used to determine the distance of their galaxies. With Type II supernovae if the super giant mass is < style=""> in the USA, Japan and Russia, which have enabled its time to be determined within a few seconds. Colin also pointed out that nuclear fusion reactions leading up to a supernova explosion create the heavy elements which are vital to life so that we all children of the stars. He finished by speculating on possible future candidates which included rho Cassiopeia, Rigel and Betelguese. The chairman thanked Colin for an interesting and informative talk.

Following the break Paul Clark pointed out that a supernova has recently been discovered in Cepheus, near to NGC 6946, its present magnitude is 12.5 – 13.0. He also reminded everyone that a lunar eclipse will occur in the early hours of 28^th October, and that in January Comet Q2 Machholz will be high in the southern sky with an expected magnitude of around 4.

Under business, the minutes were taken as read and correspondence noted. The ADAS stall at the Timperley Country Fair raised £147. Everyone was urged to support our presentations at Delamere Forest on 22^nd October, and Ged Birbeck reminded everyone that the 40^th Anniversary Party is on 13^th November at the Altrincham Leisure Centre.

The Chairman then thanked everyone for coming and closed the meeting.

Chairman Secretary