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               |         Biuletyn PTA nr 11         |  
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  Biuletyn informacyjny Zarzadu Glownego Polskiego Towarzystwa Astro-  
  nomicznego (Adres kontaktowy: M. Ostrowski, pta@oa.uj.edu.pl , 
  a w bardzo pilnych sprawach: mio@oa.uj.edu.pl )  
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Spis tresci:  
  
   I.   50 LAT TORUNSKIEGO OSRODKA ASTRONOMICZNEGO 
   II.  Informacja z Klubu "URANOS" 
   III. Nowinki naukowe 
  
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I. 50 LAT TORUNSKIEGO OSRODKA ASTRONOMICZNEGO 
   ------------------------------------------- 
 
W lipcu 1999 roku uplynie 50 lat od pierwszych obserwacji wykonanych  
w Obserwatorium Astronomicznym w Piwnicach przy pomocy wypozyczonego od 
amerykanskiego Uniwersytetu Harvarda astrografu Drapera.        
  
Z tej okazji  Centrum Astronomii Uniwersytetu M. Kopernika organizuje  
11 czerwca 1999 roku. jednodniowa uroczysta sesje  poswiecona historii  
i wspolczesnosci osrodka astronomicznego w Piwnicach . 
 
Sesje te pragniemy polaczyc  z odbywajacym sie w dniu nastepnym tradycyjnym 
zjazdem sprawozdawczym, sluzacym  prezentacji najnowszych osiagniec naukowo 
badawczych   Centrum Astronomii. 
 
W programie obchodow przewidujemy referaty naukowe, zwiedzanie Centrum 
Astronomii oraz okolicznosciowe spotkanie towarzyskie. 
 
Do uczestnictwa w sesji jubileuszowej i sprawozdawczej  zapraszamy 
wszystkich zainteresowanych, a szczegolnosci absolwentow astronomii 
Uniwersytetu Mikolaja Kopernika oraz astronomow z innych osrodkow 
astronomicznych w kraju i za granica. 
 
Koszt uczestnictwa w  sesji wynosi 30 zl. 
Istnieje mozliwosc skorzystania z  noclegu w dniach 9/10 i 10/11  czerwca  
w pokojach goscinnych  Centrum  Astronomii w Piwnicach w cenie  25 zl za  
dobe (ilosc miejsc ograniczona) badz w domach studenckich czy hotelach. 
 
Wstepne zgloszenia  uczestnictwa  (jedno lub dwudniowego) w sesji prosimy 
o przeslanie w terminie do 6 marca 1999 roku na  adres: 
 
Komitet Organizacyjny  Jubileuszu 50-lecia. 
Centrum Astronomii  Uniwersytetu M. Kopernika  
87-100 Torun, ul. Gagarina 11. 
Telefon: (56) 6113002, (56) 6113005 
Fax : (56) 6113008 
E-mail: tcfa@ astri.uni.torun.pl. 
 
Komitet organizacyjny : 
Prof. dr hab. Jacek Krelowski - Przewodniczacy 
Prof. dr hab. Andrzej Woszczyk - Sekretarz  Naukowy 
Prof.  dr hab. Aleksander Wolszczan, prof. dr  hab. Romuald Tylenda,  
prof. dr hab. Andrzej Kus, mgr Stanislaw Krawczyk, Joanna Kaminska, 
dr Andrzej Marecki - czlonkowie 
 
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II.  Informacja z Klubu "URANOS" 
 
 
      * * *  URANOS: Klub Kosmicznej Ekspansji Cywilizacji  * * * 
 
Klub URANOS to na razie nieformalna grupa ludzi, ktorych laczy przekonanie,  
ze Polska i Polacy powinni brac bardziej aktywny udzial w eksploracji 
kosmosu, a stawiajaca sobie za cel zbudowanie grupy nacisku mogacej 
skutecznie wplywac na wieksze zaangazowanie Polski w tej dziedzinie. 
Aktualna dzialalnosc Klubu ma miejsce glownie na Internecie -  
poprzez witryne Klubu pod adresem  http://www.uranos.eu.org/ 
i elektroniczna grupe dyskusyjna <klub@uranos.eu.org> Klub zamierza: 
* upowszechniac swiadomosc faktu, ze badania, eksploracja i podboj kosmosu 
  sa niezbednym warunkiem rozwoju i przetrwania ludzkiej cywilizacji; 
* popularyzowac wcale niemaly, choc malo znany wklad Polakow i osob 
  polskiego pochodzenia w badania i podboj kosmosu, poczynajac od 
  Kopernika, przez Ciolkowskiego, do wspolczesnych naukowcow i inzynierow, 
  odkrywajacych planety wokol innych gwiazd lub budujacych aparature  
  dla sond kosmicznych; 
* uswiadamiac, ze nie trzeba juz byc supermocarstwem, by moc aktywnie  
  uczestniczyc w podboju kosmosu - takze mniejsze kraje i narody,   
  jak Polska i Polacy, moga i powinny w tym podboju brac czynny udzial. 
                                                ZAPRASZAMY DO WSPOLPRACY! 
 
 
Ps. Przy okazji - czy nie wiedza Panstwo, co sie dzieje/stalo z Polskim 
Towarzystwem Astronautycznym? Czy jeszcze istnieje? A jesli tak, to jak 
mozna sie z nim skontaktowac? 
 
Zenon Kulpa 
 
http://www.uranos.eu.org/          E-mail:    uranos@uranos.eu.org 
 
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   III. Nowinki naukowe 
 
INFLUENCE OF COSMIC RAYS ON EARTH'S CLIMATE. Do 
small changes in solar activity translate into climate change on our 
planet?  One possible linkage is the sun's  influence over the local 
flux of galactic cosmic rays (GCR); as the solar magnetic field gets 
stronger, fewer cosmic rays are able to penetrate to the inner solar 
system and Earth.  And because the GCR are the biggest ionizer of air 
molecules in the lower atmosphere, they might play a role in 
processes like cloud formation.  Henrik Svensmark, a physicist now 
at the Danish Meteorological Institute (011-45-3-536-2475, 
hsv@dsri.dk), has studied the connection between GCR flux, solar 
activity, and climate on Earth.  He finds that during the past 11-year 
solar cycle, Earth's cloud cover was more closely correlated with the 
GCR flux than with other solar activity parameters, such as solar 
radiance, the main energy emitted by the sun.  Svensmark concludes 
that climate seems to be influenced by solar activity via the GCR- 
cloud connection.  In other words, climate is partly affected by 
processes in deep space.  (Physical Review Letters, 23 November 
1998; see figure at www.aip.org/physnews/graphics.) 
 
 
SPACE WEATHER EXERTS ITSELF IN SEVERAL WAYS.  
Here are two examples, from reports given at this week's 
American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting in San Francisco, of 
how a hurricane of particles from the sun can push things around 
here at Earth.  First, Geoffrey Reeves of Los Alamos described 
new data recorded by a number of orbiting spacecraft which 
suggests that Earth's own magnetic field is more important than 
the solar wind in supplying electrons and whipping them to high 
speeds in the Van Allen Belts.  Electron energies and densities in 
the belts change too quickly, Reeves argued, to be responding 
directly to solar eruptions.  Another report, delivered by Thomas 
Moore of NASA Goddard, confirmed with new observations by 
the Polar satellite the idea that blasts of solar wind can greatly 
enhance the escape of oxygen, helium, and hydrogen ions from 
Earth's upper atmosphere.  This exodus of ions contributes to near- 
Earth space storms and promotes a charge buildup on nearby 
spacecraft. 
 
 
THE TOP PHYSICS STORIES FOR 1998 were, according to us, 
the realization (based on observations of distant supernovas) that 
the cosmological expansion of the universe is not only not slowing 
but actually accelerating (Updates 355, 361) and the observation of 
neutrino oscillation (Update 375).  Other highlights from last year 
included the mapping of the cosmic infrared background (Update 
354), the localization of near-visible light (Update 356), Bose-Einstein  
research (Updates 362, 382, 402), progress in quantum 
teleportation (Update 356), the complementarity principle 
demonstrated for electrons (Update 362), quantum computing used 
to perform simple searches (Update 367), the detection of gamma 
rays from a high-magnetic-field pulsar (or "magnetar," Updates 
374, 394), the idea of chaos-based computing (Update 389), 
Physics Nobel Prize (Update 396), low-field MRI (Update 398), 
direct observation of time-reversal asymmetry (Update 402), no 
end in sight for cosmic-ray energies (385), and some indication of 
CP violation in B meson decays (405). 
 
 
IS THE FINE STRUCTURE CONSTANT CHANGING?  The 
inherent strength of the electromagnetic force is characterized by a 
parameter called the fine structure constant (denoted by the Greek 
letter alpha), defined as the charge of the electron squared divided 
by the product of Planck's constant and the speed of light.  The 
size of alpha determines how well atoms hold together and what 
types of light atoms will emit when heated up.  And just as the 
elastic band keeping a swimsuit snug will gradually relax with 
time, so it is reasonable to ask whether an atoms' elasticity (or 
alpha) might also vary with time, an idea broached by Paul Dirac 
in 1937. A group of scientists at the University of New South 
Wales in Australia (John Webb, jkw@edwin.phys.unsw.edu.au) 
test this proposition by sampling ancient light emitted by ancient 
atoms, and comparing them to modern light from modern atoms.  
In particular they looked at the relative spacing of doublets of 
absorption lines in the spectra of several types of atoms in distant 
gas clouds lying in front of still more distant quasars.  The 
spacings, not easy to tease out from the faint spectra, are 
proportional to alpha squared.  After taking into account Doppler 
effects owing to the expansion of the universe, the Australian 
scientists find that there is a consistent change in alpha with 
increasing redshift (z), especially above a z of one.  Owing to the 
caution needed in claiming a "measurement" of alpha change, the 
researchers prefer to think of their result as constituting a new 
upper limit on the fractional alpha change for z>1 of about 2 parts 
in 10,000.  (Webb et al., Physical Review Letters, tent. 25 Jan. 
1999.) 
 
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