| The Night Sky oe me Venus and 4 Mercury E prominent in May : by Allen Wootton There were some really beautiful evenings of observing during April and there should be more again this month, At the beginn- ing of the month the western sky will be dominated by Venus; it reaches its greatest brilliancy on May 6, and it will become more and more crescent shaped as the month progresses. The crescent makes a wonderful sight through binoculars, so I hope that if you have a pair you will take a few minutes to look at this beautiful planet. By the end of May Venus will set shortly after the Sun so it will be much easier to see at the beginning of the month than at the end. . aw a Appearance of Venus ° on, April 26 While you are out looking at Venus try to find Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun. Because its orbit is so close to the Sun, this planet is usually quite difficult (or impossible) to see. May is the best month of 1988 for its observation, however, so you will have a good chance of seeing it in the evening twilight from about the first week of May until near the end of the month, Don’t wait for too long after the Sun sets — Mercury will set on- ly about 45 minutes later. It is at its greatest easterly elongation (its furthest angular distance from the Sun) of 22 degrees on May 19, and it will be as bright as a bright star. If it is clear on May 11 look for it about 8 degrees north of the star Aldebaran, and on May 17 you may be treated to a beautiful view of Venus, the waxing crescent Moon, and Mercury all fairly close together i in the western sky. @ Venus oo wed) Moon ” @ Mercury e Copella ] If you like getting up early in the morning you will be able to see three other planets. Two of these, Mars and Saturn, are quite easy to. see and you can pick them out as bright star-like objects between 4 and 5 a.m. You will find reddish-colored Mars quite low in the southeast sky while Saturn is slightly. brighter, yellowish-white, and located low in the southern sky. If you look at these planets with binoculars you can see that both of them . have some size — they are not spots like stars, Later this year these planets will be easier to see and you will be able to sec them at a more-convenient time of the night. It is always nice to see them, however, and I was very pleased to do so several times in April. On one of these mornings: (April 22) there was even a very ~ nice display of northern lights as well. Very few people have seen the third planet that j is visible in the morning sky. This planet, Uranus, was, unknown to ancient astronomers because it is so faint. It was discovered i in 1781 by Sir William Herschel and this discovery was a major event of the time. You will need binoculars to see Uranus slightly. to the south ‘and west of Saturn. . harvested selectively’, * Saturn 9° “Ny Uranus a Both Saturn and Uranus will be visible - -in the same binocular view The sketch I have drawn to show what the sky should look like on May 17 provides an interesting contrast to the photo I have | included with this month’s article. 1 took this photo of a waxing crescent moon (just like the waxing crescent moon in the sketch) — from Melbourne, Australia. You might wonder why the lighted — crescent is opposite when viewed from Terrace compared to ‘Melbourne. The reason is that from the southern hemisphere you are upside down. compared to your. position in Terrace so your view of the sky from ‘‘down under” is also inverted — as it would be if you stood on your head and viewed the moon from Terrace, Since the fall I have had a telescope available at the Terrace Public Library on Tuesday evenings. I have been very pleased with the number of people who have shown up, sometimes on- very cold nights, to take a look through it. Because it gets dark so late now I will not have the telescope out again until next fall. -[ hope’ you will have a chance to see through it at that time. Have a good month of observing. Terrace Review — Wednesday, May 4, 1988 23. This photo shows a waxing crescent moon (a moon that is getting bigger from night to night). From the picture, you should be able to determine the following: the direction in which the camera was pointed; where the photo was taken; and if it-was possible for the photo to be taken in Canada. Islanders support commercial fishery The Kitimat-Stikine Regional District’s recently declared sup- port for a District of Houston resolution has been countered by the Village “of Masset. The Dis- trict of Houston wrote federal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Tom Siddon asking him to notify the Salmon Management Regime system of the need for the protection of weaker fishery stocks — a position which the Regional. District of Kitimat- ‘Stikine supported. However, the Village of Mas- - get has written Houston council ” to-advise them that they believe “that certain fish are being ' According to Masset ‘mayor Gordon Feyer, ‘Many changes have occurred in the commercial fishery to efsure ‘that ample escapement of chinook, coho and steelhead stocks, does occur.” Feyer cites the secession of the chinook gillnet fishery, the. reduction of commercial net fishery time from about 50 days to 15 per season, the elimination of the troll fishery from Feb. 1 to July and during the month of September, and ‘‘stringent’’ and ‘¢monitored’’ limits placed on the commercial fishery by the ministry as examples of these changes. He adds that there has also been a further reduction to the commercial net fishery on the Skeena River this year which will ensure a higher escapement of chinook, coho and steelhead. “It has not been proven that the over-fishing by the commer- cial fishery is the reason that the salmon enhancement program was brought into being; rather, it is believed that the degrada- tion of the fish habitat by pollu- tion, mining and logging is the main reason the program was needed,” writes Feyer. He added, “Council under- ‘stands that these stocks (chinook, coho and steelhead) are increasing, particularly the chinook, faster than the original ‘Dept. of Fisheries estimates.”’ Houston’s letter to Siddon asked that he modify current harvesting practices of pink and sockeye salmon on the Skeena system to one that is species- selective in order to reduce the incidental catch of chinook, coho and steeJhead by the com-- mercial fishery. ‘. Blame was placed in part on the “‘significant success’’ of the Fulton River Hatchery, which _ Fesulted in an increased commer-__ cial fishery for sockeye and pink | salmon during the same period of time that sports fishing stocks ; return to the Skeena.. . Their concern was further in- . creased by a prediction wiade at a Skeena River Advisory Board meeting last December that fore- cast 1988 returns of about 2.5 million sockeye and 4.5 million pinks. It was said at the time that because of this,the number’ of commercial openings was ex- pected to be 33, compared to 17 in 1987 and 22 in 1986. - Survey concerns being | addressed _ Terrace City Council has followed a Finance Committee recommendation, and deficien- cies pertaining to the fire depart- ment which were listed in last fall’s Fire Underwriter’s Survey will be corrected in the 1988 Mm . budget where feasible. In order to address one concern, council has also asked Fire Chief Cliff Best to make recommendations on feasible sites for the construc- tion of a training facility for local firefighters. The training site would in- clude facilities such as a training tower and test pit, and would be available to Terrace firefighters as well as those from neighbor- ing communities and industry. The survey also showed that the adequacy and reliability of the city’s water supply for fire protection purposes has improv- ed substantially since the last formal review but pointed out some areas that should be upgraded.. Areas of concern included small. diameter piping, inade- quate -looping and excessive spacing of water mains in some areas. According to'a Public Works Committee report, these are problems which the city is already addressing. A Fire Underwriter’s Survey is conducted in all B.C, com- munities periodically to deter- mine their ability to attend and successfully extinguish a fire. The survey is used for fire in- surance grading classification purposes. Police report — _ Terrace RCMP have a 43-year-old male Terrace resi- dent in custody as the result of a robbery committed at 2 p.m. April 30 at Grace Fell Florist on - Lakelse Ave. Police report that’ an undisclosed amount of cash - was stolen by.a lone robber. The — _ Suspect appeared in Terrace: court Monday, charged » with hoy! . robbery. oa Spring “CounterAttack “oads a blocks netted local RCMP five. impaired drivers during the, late. evening of April. 29 and early morning of April 30. Two of the - drivers were. charged. and the other three received 24-hour license suspensions. Wednesday is SHIRT DAY Men's business shirts or Ladies’ cotton blend dress shirts expertly laundered - TWO : LOCATIONS TO SERVE YOU BETTER! | Kiddie Corner from the Post Office Thornhill Public Market WWiseasiies) Rickards Cleaners REE cc ee a a