-------------------------------------- | | | Biuletyn PTA nr 11 | | | -------------------------------------- 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 ) ======================================================================= Spis tresci: I. 50 LAT TORUNSKIEGO OSRODKA ASTRONOMICZNEGO II. Informacja z Klubu "URANOS" III. Nowinki naukowe ======================================================================= 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 ======================================================================= 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 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 ======================================================================= 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.) =======================================================================