RASC eNews

The trustees of the Centre Projects Fund announced at the RASC General Assembly the award of three grants totalling $2,034 to the Hamilton, New Brunswick and Winnipeg Centres in support of their public outreach and member services.

The astronomical community welcomes a new book on variable stars by the RASC's most esteemed expert on the subject, Dr. John Percy. Understanding Variable Stars (ISBN 9780521232531) was published this spring by Cambridge University Press. In Dr. Percy's own words:

The Herdsman and the Snake

Sometimes known as the Hunter or the Ploughman, the constellations Bootes is most commonly referred as the Herdsman. Taking on the appearance of a giant celestial kite souring amongst the stars, this constellation holds one very bright star. To locate it, following the stars in the Big Dipper’s handle which arcs down to the star Arcturus. This K0 supergiant shines 113 times brighter than our Sun and emits 215 times more radiation. It measure 26 solar diameters across or one quarter the size of the orbit of Mercury. Located 37 light years from us the light of this magnitude -0.1 star was used to open the 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago.

Alan Dyer, a long-time member of the Calgary Centre and noted astronomy author has been selected as the recipient of the Simon Newcomb Award in 2007. This award will be presented at the General Assembly in Calgary later in June.