ERR cet or BL ae a A Se se

‘Now that the fail eqitinox is past; évening darkness comes,
earlier and earlier each successive night.” _

This is bécause the. tilt of the earth’s axis. causes a rapid change ne

in the sun’s altitude in the sky from one day to'the next. near the. ae
- fime of the equinoxes.- Near the solstices, . the change in day. :
length on successive days is much slower, and thus it is not until

mid-August that.the long summer evenings:seem to be ending.
much earlier. Through September and October the chaige i is.
rapid, and. then as the winter solstice comes nearer ‘the’ “Tate of

change i in.day length slows again. ea
-While.I am sorry to see the end of summer, iti is nice to » find
again the familiar stars of the sky. I really enjoy looking out at ©

the sky in the early morning and seeing Orion shining brightly i in. . 7
the south, At the same time, Jupiter is high in the sky and'shin--

ing very brightly, a magnificent sight,

‘In the evening, too, there is much of interest. Saturn i is low in,
the southwest as darkness falls. Overhead still are the-stars of. the
summer triangle asterism, Slightly later in the evening Perseus
rises above Terrace Mountain (viewed from where I live) and _
then a little later the unmistakable Pleiades cluster of stars shows
that all of Taurus will soon be visible. I have great pleasure in

. seeing all these beautiful constellations so easily, some in the

evening, others in the morning.

September was a good month for northern lights. You can ex-

pect to see more of these spectacular displays over the next few
months. They result from streams of highly energetic particles
emitted from regions of activity in the sun, When these energetic
particles reach the earth, they excite atoms high in the earth’s at-
mosphere; it is these excited atoms that give off the light of an
auroral display.

Approximately every 11 years the sun’s activity increases, and.

- at the moment it is near the peak of one of these activity cycles.

Evidence for activity is solar flares, streams of material thrown:

out from the.sun’s surface, and sunspots, darker, cooler areas on:

the sun’s surface.

Flares don’t last for long — an hour at most — but sunspots
last for days. You can see them with remarkably little equipment
too. I’ve been looking at them safely with a #14 welder’s mask
filter. You-can order a similar filter for about $2 from Acklands.
They don’t normally stock these very dense filters, but they are
very good at getting the filters in quickly when they are ordered.

If you observe the sun through the filter you can see large
spots reasonably easily. By judging | the movement from day to

day you.can even estimate the sun’s rotation rates. I’ve included”

a@ picture I. took of the sun on Sept, 9 so you can-see what the
spots look like. Don’t expect a view through a.welder’s filter to
be so evident. I took the photo through a telescope at 40X —
magnification.

Please be sure that if you do look at the sun you use only. this

type of filter. It will block-out the intense sunlight that is visible

and as well removing the invisible ultra-violet light from the sun
that could blind you, Do not use these filters behind binoculars
or telescopes — they could crack from the heat that would be

produced within them.

Besides Saturn and Jupiter, you may see Mercury this month.
You can look for it in the southeastern sky shortly before sunrise
a few days either side of October 10. It is.a fairly bright object
but can never be seen very far from the sun, so unless you have
an unobstructed horizon towards the southeast you will have”
trouble seeing this elusive’ planet.

The Orionid meteor shower occurs on Oct. 21,-The best time
to see meteors from this show is after midnight; unfortunately,
the last quarter moon will interfere with their sighting this year,
It’s fun to watch for these meteors anyway. If you do look for
them, see if you notice that they originate from near Orion i in the

‘sky (hence the name Orionids).

The Terrace Astronomical Society will hold its next meeting on»
Tuesday, Oct..24 at 7:30 p.m. in the meeting room of the Terrace
Public Library. The meetings consist of a discussion of some —
aspect of astronomy followed by an observing session if the
weather permits. New members are always welcome.

Last year the Astronomical Society operated observing nights
on clear Tuesday evenings. From 8 p.m. to about 10 p.m.,
telescopes were set up.in the park near the library for anyone to
look through. The Society will be doing the same thing again this
year, starting with the first Tuesday of October. Y hope to see
you there. ae .

- Overpass under way

by Ailen Wootton LO : oa.

Perseus @ Casslopela
of eo °
L

. A contract has been awarded —
by the Ministry of Transporta-
tion and Highways to eliminate -
a dangerous rail crossing west of
Terrace, and the work is slated
to begin almost immediately.

The Esker crossing is placed
at the end of a long straight
stretch in Highway 16 between
Terrace and Prince. Rupert,

’ forcing: drivers to slow down

and negotiate an obtuse curve
with a CN rail crossing in its

center, A, L. Sims and Son of
Prince George submitted the
lowest tender for constructing a
52-meter overhead and 1,44 kil-
ometers of approaches at
$3. 147 million.

_ The project is one phase in a
long-term commitment by ‘the
Ministry of Highways to elimi-
nate level rail crossings.on- High-

way 16. Scheduled completion -

date is Aug. 31, 1990.0 .2.:

There is light.
at the end
of the tunnel.

Please give generously.

t
Oak Fa en
TY CUCANCLR

" dezebel’s Cabaret & a

want you to see the TR A El

:lpaLLine Mm STOneS

in Vancouver °
Draws will be made:
| THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5th, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12th
_& THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19th
at dezebels Cabaret

The package includes: Airfare, accommodations, pre-concert party and tickets. mini

Bo aki adcirnmemcnsintanecdlie ch vig satin Tbe ncertetaceel ig oe eee a