Fourth Quarter 2009 Meeting Summaries

Oct. 2 and 4, 2009.  The public observing sessions at the Museum of Art were both clouded out.  They may be rescheduled at a later date.

Oct. 9, 2009 – Special meeting “The Rene Ward Memorial Lecture”.  This special meeting was held in the main auditorium of the Natural Sciences Museum.  To start the night off, Jerry Watson gave a narrated PowerPoint presentation about Rene Ward and her connection to the Raleigh Astronomy Club.  Many newer members may not know that she was one of the founding members of the RAC and supported its activities both by her presence and her financial gifts.  Jerry showed several photos of Rene.  One was her US Army photo when she was a nurse in WWII.  Some of the other photos were taken at RAC meetings and construction of the Morris Observatory.  Contribution to the Rene Ward memorial fund made it possible to bring Dr. DeVorkin to speak to the Club tonight.  Both Bob Wolk and Jerry were responsible for arranging Dr. DeVorkin’s visit to Raleigh.

Next, Bob Wolk gave a brief biography of tonight’s speaker and then introduced him to the audience.  Dr, David H. DeVorkin is the curator of the astronomical history at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC.  The title of his lecture was “The Discovery of Pluto:  Accident or Prediction?  Henry Norris Russell and the Early Controversy”.

Dr. DeVorkin is the author of ten books including the biography “Henry Norris Russell, Dean of American Astronomers”.  The lecture started with Fred Whipple, who while at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory computed one of the first orbits for the newly discovered Pluto.  There were early controversies about the orbital path, the eccentricity, and the mass of Pluto.  These debates also centered on whether Pluto had enough mass to influence the orbits of Uranus and Neptune.  Many prominent mathematicians at the time did not believe that Pluto could do this.  Henry Norris Russell was at Princeton University at the time, and wrote articles for Scientific American Magazine supporting the argument that Pluto was found as a result of Percival Lowell’s predictions.  Russell argued that Clyde Tombough found Pluto where a “perturber” should be and therefore the detection of Pluto was not an accident, but the result of a careful search.

History has now shown that Pluto does not significantly affect Uranus’ and Neptune’s orbit.  Russell eventually apologized in print for some of his articles.  The lecture mentioned many prominent astronomers and mathematicians and their role in the debate about Pluto.

Since this was a special meeting, there was no business meeting.

Oct. 11-18, 2009 – The Mid-Atlantic Star Party was held near Robbins again this year, but cloudy weather prevented viewing almost every night.  A few hours of mostly clear skies occurred one evening, but closed in by 11 pm.

Oct.23, 2009 – RACOBS was cancelled due to cloudy weather. The indoor meeting was also cancelled.

Nov. 13, 2009 – The RACOBS meeting was again clouded out.  A short meeting was held at the museum.  About 15 people attended. There were a number of announcements about upcoming events. The meeting was adjourned and 6 people went to Tripps to eat.

Nov. 27, 2009 – No regular meeting was scheduled due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

Dec. 11, 2009 – RACOBS was cancelled due to cloudy weather, so a short indoor meeting was held at the museum.  Phyllis Lang did a short presentation on the new USB based Sky Quality Meter and software she wrote to read it and generate reports.

Dec. 25, 2009 – No regular meeting was scheduled since the meeting date occurred on Christmas Day.