This was an informal meeting at the St. Michaels Hotel where members were invited to bring along ideas and contributions; presentations were informal.
Webcam Astrophotography - Keith Rollaston The meeting began with Keith Rollaston describing his initial exploration of the use of a webcam to perform astrophotography. There was much interest and Keith recommended looking at the Astrovideo Software download (free for one month) which enables multiple images to be obtained, obviating the need for fine tracking and appears to enable the stacking of multiple images. This is likely to be a growing area of interest for our members
Orion Down Under - Robin Waddling This was a short PowerPoint presentation by Robin Waddling answering the question posed at the last Falmouth meeting concerning the orientation of Orion in southern skies. Included were images of plates taken from Edward Dunkin's The Midnight Sky from 1870.
Gemini - Robin Waddling Robin's second presentation was an introductory guide to Gemini. Castor and Pollux, the open cluster, M35, and the Eskimo planetary nebula were covered. A description of the forbidden electronic transitions of the O2+ ion, the source of much of the visible emissions from this nebula, brought this talk to a close.
History of Cosmology and Astronomy - Bill Barlow Bill provided an overview from the ideas of the ancient Greeks to present day eleven dimensional string theory. In this he showed how various cosmological ideas had been revisited in subsequent centuries and how the inappropriately named Big Bang Theory replaced the Steady State model of the universe. This led to much discussion.
