Vol. 28 No. 11 August 1999 http://physics.weber.edu/oas/oas.html


NO OAS MEETING IN AUGUST

For the second month in a row, there will not be a regular Ogden Astronomical Society meeting held this month. Rather, members will come together for the second annual camping star party at the Monte Cristo campground in the Wasatch-Cache National Forest. The event is scheduled for the weekend of August 13, 1999. Loop "E" is the likely location/hangout for OAS members.

For additional information on this star party contact any member of your illustrious Executive Committee. See last month's newsletter for numbers.


THE "ANNUAL" SEPTEMBER MEETING IS APPROACHING

Nominations for OAS members willing to hold Executive Committee positions are being taken. Between now and the Annual Meeting, which will be held on the second Thursday in September, club members with ideas for the club and an incentive for guiding and directing our society should express their interests to our club president, Ron Vanderhule. The Prez is in the process of assigning a Nominating Committee who will be posting the slate of nominees in next month's Star Diagonal.


HIGH ALTITUDE OBSERVING SCHEDULED FOR MONTE CRISTO

The second scheduled camp out and star party at the Monte Cristo campground is scheduled for August 13 and 14. Weather permitting, the seeing is always excellent, the food is great and the comradeship makes for a memorable event. The Perseid meteors will be peaking this weekend. It is not unusual to see a Fireball meteor during the Perseids. Arrive early in order to secure your favorite came site. The fees this year are $10.00 a day. We met the campground hosts last month and they were pleased to have us there and they seemed very pleasant. Contact one of your club officers if you have questions.


ANTELOPE ISLAND IN AUGUST

The next scheduled public star party at Antelope Island State park will be held on the evening of Saturday August 21, 1999. OAS members are admitted to the island free, (wear your club shirt and cap or bring your card). Visitors are charged $7.00 per car to access the island. Dr. John Sohl, Director of the WSU Ott Planetarium will conduct the Tour of the Universe slide show at dusk. We will have a first quarter moon and Mars and Venus are still magnificent objects to view from the island.


THE

PRESIDENTS PARSEC The Prez.jpg (5715 bytes)

Greetings Earthlings

Well it's time for your president to come out of the closet and make a confession. I just hope we can all be civil to one another after you hear it.

I've been reading alternative views to conventional scientific thought ranging from evolution to the Big Bang. And why, you ask, would someone as level headed as myself indulge in such reckless behavior? There are two reasons I can think of right off, 1) it is kind of my nature to go against the grain (you all said to buy a 8 inch or 10 inch 'scope to start with), 2) there is no belief you have that is truly yours until you have it challenged and see what remains.

In the area of cosmology, I have encountered highly qualified people, professors at leading universities, etc. that examine the conflicts in the evidence for an expanding universe/Big Bang theory.

In a book titled Seeing Red by Halton Arp (of Arp Galaxies fame) he takes 306 pages to examine several scientific reasons why red shift indicates something other than speed and distance. He cites, for instance, that in our own galaxy bright blue stars are red shifted in relation to other stars by about 10 km/sec., and O stars in clusters within our galaxy are red shifted with respect to the B stars by another 10 km/sec. There are two galaxy clusters he refers to in which all the companion galaxies have net red shifts with respect to the parent galaxy. Statically, about 50% should be blue shifted.

Another author I read indicated that the sun itself is red shifted, with the poles of the sun red shifted more than the equator. He suggests that if red shift indicates speed then it also could be used as evidence for a collapsing universe. With a greater mass at the center, galaxies closer to the center would be falling faster than galaxies further out. Hence, the more remote a galaxy, the greater it's red shift would be with respect to those closer to the center.

There are several inconsistencies surrounding the age of the universe and the accepted range of years. The huge superstructures of galaxies and the immense voids between them should require vastly more time to develop than current theory allows. Our own galaxy has only made about 50 revolutions since the Big Bang. This is not enough time to produce its present spiral formation.

I've been reading about gravity, speed of light and planetary formation, all presented with a different twist based on observations and/or inconsistencies with accepted theory. And let me add one more time, most of these people have impressive credentials. Often these people, don't have answers but they do have questions. Isn't that why science was born, to answer the questions?

The paradox is that quite often the answer science derives causes a variety of other questions that nobody knew to ask until they had that answer. There is a beauty to this whole set-up. Regardless of what eyepiece you look through, be it a microscope or the telescope, it all gets more amazing and complex the more it is examined.

Here's a quiz to put it all in perspective. Take all there is to know and give it a score of 100%. Now take all that we know and score it between 0-100%. Being a generous person, I would say we know about 0.00125%. You might say "we don't know what percent of all knowledge we have". Either way, it leaves plenty of room for debate on any theory we have and even room for debate on a lot of the facts.

To me, the lesson of history is clear. What we knew in 1799 was nothing to what we knew in 1899. What we know in 1999 dwarfs what we knew in 1899. And what we will know in 2099 will make what we know now appear crude. So my advise in light of this thought provoking essay would be to recommend that you read some of the alternative views and have your fundamental beliefs challenged. That is one way to know what you believe. It's a great learning experience.

The Prez

P.S. A great, and what I consider credible, web site to start with is:

www.metaresearch.org

Here is some information about my sources:

Cosmology:

1) " The Big Bang Never Happened" Eric J Lerner, Vintage Books 1992. Very good book. He gives a good history of the evolution of the theory and makes good arguments for the premise of the book.

2) "Dark Matter, Missing Planets, and New Comets." Tom Van Flandren, North Atlantic Books 1999 This book is on the Astronomical Leagues' list that you can purchase from them.. I think the author is or was a teacher at Yale and is the founder of Meta Research.

3) 'Seeing Red" Halton Arp pub. Aperion 1998. I have only read the review but the name Arp should say something about the book.

4)www.biblicalastronomer.org This web site is really interesting. A few steps above flat earth science but with some physics and math used to support some really interesting contentions. It is way off the beaten path but is definitely worth a look

Evolution:

1)" Evolution from Space" Sir Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasigne, Simon and Schuster 1982

Two renown astronomers team up to look at all the gaps in the theory; statistically, biochemical, lack of fossil transitions, and come up with their own theory of directed evolution from intelligent sources beyond our planet. Was reviewed favorably by Discover magazine.

2) " Darwins Black Box " Michael Behe, Simon and Schuster 1997. Very challenging to the theory of evolution. The most telling impact of this book is the amount of fire it drew from the opposing view point in the scientific community. Behe is a research scientist in the field of microbiology. His web site is very good also <www.arn.org >

That's a short list of stuff you can get started on and like I said maybe we will have some interesting tea time soon.

the Prez


MINUTES

OGDEN ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY

July 16, 1999

No official meeting of the Ogden Astronomical Society was held in July, 1999. Members came together at the Monte Cristo campground in the Wasatch-Cache National Forest for the overnight camping star party. This was purely a vacation meeting. Although the weather was generally uncooperative for this event, the attending members enjoyed themselves, over ate on Friday and Saturday nights at the pot luck dinners and had a generally fine time. No official business was conducted at this event.

Bob Tillotson, Secretary


TELESCOPES FOR SALE

Coulter 13.1 inch f/4.5

Dobsonian mount

4 years old (red tube)

Asking $600.00

New, Still in box,

Meade 4.5 inch reflector

f/8 on Equatorial mount

with 2 eyepieces

Asking $150.00

Eyepiece:

Teleview Nagler

11 mm Type I

Cost $300.00, Asking

$175.00

For inquiries into all of the above items contact OAS member Wayne Sumner at 721-5852 or e-mail to:

sumner@iomega.com