November 7, 2010 ALP Monthly Meeting  Report
by James Kevin Ty & Christopher Louie Lu
 

Last November 7, members of the Astronomical League of the Philippines (ALP) held their monthly meeting at the Manila Planetarium at 3:00pm.  Members who attended were ALP President James Kevin Ty ,  Charito Ty and son Kendrick Cole (KC) Ty, PRO Armando Lee , Myra Lee  and son Jason Lee, Treasurer Henry So, Dennis Buenviaje, Kristine Angeli Valdez, Maria Cristina Gonzales, Vincent Lao, Christopher Lee, Crispin Riosa, Christopher Louie Lu, John Ray Cabrera, Desiree del Rosario and guests Julio Lopez Jr , and Ferdinand Llorca.

Meeting started at around 3:45pm with ALPer Christopher Louie Lu continuing his last month's  lecture on Asterism & Astro Folklore Part 2 and Leonids Meteor Shower.  Below is his short summary of his lecture.

ASTERISM

A star-pattern that is not a constellation. Asterisms may be contained within a single constellation or consist of stars belonging to different constellations. An asterism may be composed of stars from one or more of the official constellations. Their mostly simple shapes and few stars make these patterns easy to identify, and thus particularly useful to those learning to familiarize themselves with the night sky.

 MYTH

A traditional sacred story, typically revolving around the activities of gods and  heroes, which purports to explain a natural phenomenon and cultural practice.

ORION

Orion was a famed hunter, and in one story boasted that no creature could kill him. Hera then sent a scorpion to sting the hunter. Orion smashed the animal with his club, but not before he was poisoned. Both are now on opposite sides of the sky. They cannot be seen at the same time.

BOOTES

In Greek legends, Bootes is seen as representing Icarius, an Athenian who was taught the secret of winemaking by the god Dionysius.  Icarius allowed some peasant to sample his wine.  The men became extremely drunk and the next day they experienced hangovers.  Believing that they were poisoned the men murdered Icarius.  Zeus then transferred Icarius to the heavens as the constellation Bootes.

LEO (THE SICKLE)

In Greek mythology, it was identified as the Nemean Lion which was killed by Hercules during one of his twelve task / labours.

VIRGO

Astraea is the daughter of Zeus and Themis, Astraea means 'star-maiden'. She was belived by the Greeks as the goddess of justice, the dispenser of law and order. Astraea is believe to have lived on Earth and among men during what the Greeks call, 'the golden age'. The age when gods/goddesses lived with men and women in harmony. Until humanity became too proud and calloused in they're ways that they started rejecting Astraea's wisdom and counsel. They became greedy, selfish and ultimately wared against each other. Thats when Astraea decided to leave the Earth to be with her heavenly host where she became the constellation of Virgo. Her scales of justice became the constellation of Libra.

URSA MAJOR (BIG DIPPER) & URSA MINOR (LITTLE DIPPER)

This myth involves mother and son. The nymph Callisto and her son Arcas. Zeus had an affair with Callisto who bore him a son, Arcas. Upon learning  of Zeus' infidelity, Hera transformed Callisto into a big bear. Arcas grew up and became a hunter. While hunting in a nearby forest, Arcas came upon the big bear which he didn't know is his mother. Arcas took aim with his bow and arrow to kill the beast but before he could release his arrow, Zeus transformed him into a little bear. To prevent Hera from causing anymore harm to mother and son, Zeus held both big and little bear by the tail and hurled them into the sky where they became Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.

Chris then proceeded to give a short discussion on the Leonids Meteor Shower which will peak more or less on November 17-18 but is not favorable because it is close to the Full Moon :(

ALPers listen as ALPer Christopher Louie Lu presented part 2 of his interesting lecture on Astro Folklore and Myths.	ALPer Christopher Louie Lu also gives a short lecture on Leonids Meteor Shower.
ALP PRO Armando Lee added some more pointers on Louie's lecture as well as how to observe and record a meteor shower the correct way.	ALP President James Kevin Ty discussed with fellow ALPers on the upcoming December 12 ALP Meeting / Election / Xmas Party preparations.

ALP PRO Armando Lee then continue Louie's lecture with some more pointers as well as how to observe meteor shower the right way and how to record them.

The meeting ended at around 5:15pm .