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The Lucknow Sentinel, 2016-01-06, Page 9Moonshine-Earthshine over Bluewater region John Hlynialuk Bluewater Astronomical Society The only natural satellite of the Earth, our Moon, is both a blessing and a curse as far as stargazing is concemed. If there is more than a half -lit Moon in the sky, its light washes out faint objects like galaxies and nebula. But, on the other hand, sci- entists have determined that without the stabilizing gravity of our Moon, life on our planet might have been quite different or might not have evolved at all. Taking the good with the bad, amateur astronomers plan their observing activities around the phases of the moon unless they are specifically viewing the moon's manyinter- esting features or looking at only bright objects in the sky like planets and bright stars. While a full or quarter moon washes out serious deep -sky viewing, the crescent before and after new moon is always a fascinating sight. Add a bright planet like Venus and it becomes a view that even those stargazers who curse moonlight still enjoy. In any case, a thin crescent moon does not seri- ously degrade the viewing since crescents do not contribute as much background light as do the other phases. My most remarkable inci- dent while moon -watching occurred with an audience of Gr 5 and 6 students at the Fox Observatory several months ago. They happened to be visit- ing when the Moon was at first quarter phase and I had avideo camera attached to the tele- scope projecting the Moon onto the big screen in the observatory. As I was pointing outvarious craters and maria of the Moon on the screen image, a jet aircraft passed right through the field of view! You could see a perfect silhouette and even the trail of turbulence from the motors as it passed! The kids cheered, and not skip- ping a beat, I bowed to the class and waved at the aircraft, taking credit for arranging the event On the momings of Jan 6 and 7, 2016, a pretty collection of objects can be seen in the east The view includes both a last crescent Moon and not one, but two planets, Venus and Sat - um. Look for the Moon above the pair of planets Jan 6 and below the pair Jan 7. But note also that Venus and Saturn are changing positions too. If you have a chance to see Venus and Satum over the next few mom- ings, (those peskywinter clouds might interfere) you can watch as the brighter planet of the two, Venus, "swoops" down on Sat- urn and slips past on Jan 8 (Venus above Saturn) and Jan 9 (Venus below Saturn). On Jan 9, when they are closest, you will have to look carefully with the naked eye to see the two as sep- arate objects. Try a pair of bin- oculars if you have trouble. On both of those mornings, the Moon - planet group is well above the horizon by 6:30 am and you should have no trouble seeing "earthshine" on the Moon's unlit face. Earthshine, also generally know as planetshine, is the faint light that fills in the unlit part of the Moon during a crescent phase. Itis sunlight that comes to the Earth, reflects from oceans and clouds to the Moon and then comes back from the Moon to the eye of the observer. To an astronaut on the Moon standing in Earthshine, the Moon's surface would be faintly illuminated and the Earth would be a bright blue and white ball in the sky. On the Apollo missions the effect was never observed because land- ings were always on the sunlit surface during the Moon's morning hours. Only the bright full Earth was visible in the sky but if an astronaut stood in the shadow of the Lunar Module, a fewbright stars could be seen. Earthshine is easiest to see during crescent phases of the Moon because the illuminated portion of the moon is not yet bright enough to obliterate the faint glow. During quarter and gibbous phases (Moon more than 50% lit) earthshine is not visible to the naked eye, but in a telescope or binoculars, it can still be detected if the viewer moves the bright portion of the Moon out of the field of view. Through a telescope you may also see a star or two disappear- ing behind the dark edge of the moon, a phenomena called an occultation. Times of Wednesday, January 6, 2016 • Lucknow Sentinel 9 7 L -ifw Moon ,lnrn t$ 4 anus 4SiNrw 1ri,:kir.J SF 5:.1.:u', ..ri=..i h Jr 1 7 Cutline here, thanks. occultations of bright stars are provided in astronomy hand- books like the RASC Observer's Handbook and on the BAS astronomy website mentioned below. Some of these events can easily be seen with binocu- lars. In fact, the next one, an occultation of the bright star Aldebaran, is due Jan 19 and will be featured in next week's column. You can get a preview by going to the SKY SIGHTS page of the website. So, if you are outwalking the dog or getting some exercise Troy Pattersonnuncararne News (snowshoeing by moonlight?), checkthe sky for the Moon and any nearby bright stars or plan- ets. It is always a friendly reminder of our connection to the worlds beyond our Earth. Although BAS does not usually schedule observing sessions during the nights near full Moon, sometimes interesting lunar events like eclipses and occultations of bright stars occur, so check www.bluewaterastronomy. com for our list of astron- omy events for 2016. Beef labelling battle with United States nearing its end Rob Gowan Owen Sound Sun Times A long-running battle over the labelling of Cana- dian meat south of the bor- der may be close to resolu- tion, but local producers aren't planning to celebrate just yet. The U.S. Congress has drafted legislation in response to demands from Canada, Mexico and the World Trade Orgainization that country of origin label- ling be repealed. A bill, which can be voted on as early as Friday in the Senate and House of Repre- sentatives, would repeal the mandatory labelling of beef and pork in U.S. stores. Rob Lipsett, a beef farmer from near Annan and member of the Beef Farmers of Ontario board of directors, said Thursday while it finally appears there is progress on resolv- ing the matter, "I don't think anybody wants to be too optimistic yet." The measure was "shoved" into an omnibus bill, "but the fact it actually made it in there is pro- gress," he said. "This is defi- nitely the closest we have been." Country of origin label- ling (COOL) was made mandatory by the U.S. gov- ernment on a wide range of foodstuffs in 2008. The Canadian and Mexican governments took the mat- ter to the World Trade Organization, saying it was in contravention of trade rules. On four occasions the WTO has ruled against the U.S. Canada and Mexico were poised to impose $1 billion in tariffs on a wide range of American products, includ- ing wine and frozen orange juice, following the lastest WTO ruling this year. Lipsett said the prospect of tariffs seems to have finally caught the attention of law- makers in the U.S. "The last WTO ruling where they set the level of tarrifs we put on, I think that is when some of the people who were opposed to repealing it finally started to pay attention that in time this could cost them a lot of money too." The Canadian Cattle- men's Association has esti- mated the loss to Canadian cattle and hog sectors as a result of COOL to be $1.1 billion a year. Lipsett said it is something producers have been concerned about for a long time. "I know when we go to the meetings and are out in the community, everybody always asks the question of where we are at and where we think it is going to go," he said. "It garners a lot of attention and people are concerned." Lipsett believes should labelling rules be removed, producers could immedi- ately see a bump in prices. "The producers in the States have had a hard time because of all the segrega- tion laws that they had to use within their own feed- lots and their killing plants, where you had to keep the Canadian cattle away from the American cattle ... the slaughter plants had to shut down and designate a day just for Canadian and Mex- ican beef to be processed," he said. "I think a lot of them just started to give up on buying Canadian cattle, so I think this will open the market right backup." Pressure to get rid of COOL has also been com- ing from south of the border, where a group of 250 high-profile retailers and processors have lob- bied Congress to bring the rules in line with the WTO rules. "It sounds like the vast majority wanted it repealed," said Lipsett. "The groups like the R -CALF group and the groups that spun off from it made a lot of noise and that is maybe what led to the COOL legis- lation in the first place." Bruce -Grey -Owen Sound MP Larry Miller said he is pleased to see the U.S. is finally moving towards removing the labelling requirement on beef and pork, something he said his party has long fought for. "Our government made it very clear we wanted COOL repealed and we had won at every level," said Miller. "I am happy to see this (Liberal) government, so far at least, say they are opposed to COOL as well." The COOL measure are part of a massive 2,000 - page omnibus spending bill that will require votes in the Senate and Congress to pass. After that it must be signed by the U.S. president to be enacted. Miller said the pressure must be kept on the U.S. until all the steps are com- pleted and the legislation is repealed. "We can't let our guard down ... until this is done," he said. "We can't let the pressure off, we have to keep it on them and make sure they know Canada is dead seri- ous about putting these sanctions on, which would hurt the U.S. big time." 2015 Annual Meeting January 14, 2016 Lucknow Community Center Banquet 7:00 pm. Business Meeting 8:00 p.m. $10 per person AHEAD OF THE CURVE DISTRICT C 0- OP E RTIVE INC.