Yes, I know that there are numerous and wonderful objects in the universe.  With the invention of the telescope 401 years ago, and the subsequent failure to secure a patent on this new military device, our universe became visually accessible to anyone with a penchant for exploring new worlds.  That’s what excites us all about astronomy. We need to share that excitement with the public on Astronomy Day.  But don’t let the wonders of the universe mislead you into thinking that you must look outward to explore the universe.  Earth has a lot to teach us about the universe.

 For instance, we only recently realized how lucky we are to have Earth positioned just 90 million miles from a yellow dwarf star.  The mix of energy from the star and the availability of liquid water was the right combination to kick-start and support life here on Earth, at least as we know it.  The rarity of these conditions is becoming more apparent as we search for exoplanets.  The effort has turned up more than 400 other planets orbiting other stars.  But not one of these out-of-this solar system planets is within its star’s “green zone”.  Granted, the technology currently employed in the searches isn’t sensitive enough to detect earth-sized planets, but even the super-Jupiter and super-Earth sized planets already found lie outside the green zone.  So, Earth and all its life are now at least a 1 in 409 proposition — I’m counting Pluto.

 Maybe, different forms of life exist in the universe, or even in our own solar system.  Life that isn’t carbon-based and water-dependent is possible, and maybe even prevalent.  But then our form of life would be different, if not rare.   

 What if it turns out that life is everywhere throughout the cosmos?  Then there is the question of intelligent life.  Will the other forms of life that we find be smarter than us?  Or challenged?  So far, the efforts of SETI have concluded that any form of life within 60 light-years of Earth (60-yrs is how long we’ve been listening for radio waves from space) has yet to develop communication via the radio spectrum.

 And once found, how will we treat these other forms of life?  Will we have learned anything from our experience with life that once lived, and that now lives, among us; sharing our planet, our form, our fate?  Can we now cherish earthbound life as we would life found on another world? 

 Astronomy Day may never be as big as Earth Day, but they do complement each other.  Don’t they?

Ross Gorman, President

Hi, everybody! I first want to remind everyone that if you haven’t renewed, please do so. The SVAS is down to less than 100 paid members, and $35 can’t be too much for everyone. This situation is improving financially somewhat as a result of not printing our newsletter out anymore, but we do need people to renew. (Click here to download the Membership Form in PDF format.)

It’s been six months now since I became SVAS President and I’d like to review the changes that have happened since then. The most important one is that we have a new place to meet. Sac City has been gracious enough to host us for our monthly general meetings thanks in part to the stellar roster of speakers that Board member/Speaker Seeker Mike Mehrdadi has created. In fact, in November our local legendary eclipse-chaser Dave Buchla will speak on eclipses and China. We also have a more user friendly website. All information about meetings and directions and parking (which is FREE) is located there. We are also working to get an email service that can actually email the newsletter to the membership. This should come on line within the next month or so. This way, everyone (almost) will be reading this instead of an unknown number now.

That’s it for the good news. The bad news is that our volunteer base has dropped way too much. Few folks have stepped up to help out and that has not been good for the organization. As a result, our public face is much reduced here in the community. Lynda Hall has become our Outreach Director again and if you are interested in volunteering, I urge you to contact her at lyndahall@surewest.net We are always looking for volunteers and this has always been true.

It’s almost the end of the International Year of Astronomy and there are still two months left. It is, we must admit a poor choice for this anniversary as no really (TV reporter type) interesting astronomical things happened that were visible here this year (not even a bright comet, massive impact on the Moon, or nearby supernova ). There was the big impact from LCROSS and the Moon, but that appears to have been a bust.

The one truly interesting thing in the sky this year because of its very nature can’t be shown with a telescope. The Sun is quiet, in fact too quiet. It’s in the 14th year of its 11-year sunspot cycle. That’s not a typo. Every time I check the sunspot count for the day (http://www.ct.astro.it/sun/ , click on the picture marked Continuum), it’s pretty dead. So what, you ask? When the sunspot count is low, the luminosity or power output of the Sun goes down. It seems like it should be the other way around, but that’s how it works. This means that when the Sun is quiet, the Earth gets less energy from the Sun. Global Warming, anyone? In the 17th century during a time known as the Maunder Minimum, the Sun was comatose quiet and the Earth was very cold. If the Sun is going into another minimum, this could delay or even counteract the effect of Global Warming for decades. Climate modelers don’t want to hear this because the issue has become politicized, but the warming of Earth could be delayed. Of course, when the Sun comes raging back to normal it will make the effects of warming much worse down the road, but when have humans ever planned for the long term? Now the Sun may not be going through a minimum like the Maunder Minimum, but it is an interesting coincidence that it should happen right when we need it to buy time to get off fossil fuels. Perhaps it will help our species dodge a bullet. Perhaps. We’ll just have to keep watching the Sun.

Clear and action filled skies to all (keep hoping for that supernova – my money’s on Eta Carinae),
Liam McDaid, SVAS President