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Last meeting
by Terry Barker
Share table:
- Ken Wilson brought in monthly sky charts, ISS timings, and Iridium flare timings. Ken is
giving another class on "How to Use a Telescope" on Feb. 14 at
the Science Museum.
Reports and observing:
- Roger Rigby brought in a tape on the Mars rover, that he
offered to loan out.
- Ken Wilson reported that the last SMV skywatch was cancelled,
due to interference from bright lights at another event on the grounds.
- Ray Moody visited Powhatan of couple of weeks ago, and had
good seeing.
- Charlotte Talley greeted our visitors, Colin Hooper, Carissa
Unruh, Judith Brown, and Jack Fox.
- Susan Brubaker, our librarian, brought in two books in for
checkout.
- Grace Suttle showed off a very nice DVD on Galileo's first
publication, Starry Messenger. Each page of the book was photographed
and copied onto the DVD, along with the English translation. You can
find other digital books at the publisher's web site, octavo.com.
Observatory:
- Several people have signed up for training, and a class will be
scheduled soon.
Skywatches and other events:
- The SMV skywatch will be Friday, Feb. 20.
- Chesterfield County's next monthly skwatch is also Feb. 20, at Clover
Hill Park, 7:30 pm.
Donald Rosenfield gave the "short
presentation", on upper end (expensive) refractors. Some of the better
known names are Burgess and Beck. A waiting list for a telescope from one of
these vendors can extend several years.
John
Raymond gave our
main presentation, on "Essential
Astronomical Accessories." As a follow up to his last presentation, on
buying a telescope, this year's talk concentrated on accessories, like
focusers and eyepieces. Along with descriptions of some products, John gave
some nice tips on what to look for, and approximately how much you might
spend.
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Dues are due
Please bring your checkbook to the next meeting, and catch up with your dues.
Please pay our treasurer, Cindy Bowers, but make your check out to RAS. There's a form to fill out at the bottom
of this newsletter.
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Powhatan report
by Tom
Kunsitis, 1/16
It was cold at Powhatan last night. However, the
astronomy was
excellent. This is the time of year when a lot of astronomy can be done in
a single session given the long nights.
I arrived on-site at about 1915 EST. I and my 13 inch telescope joined two
other astronomers. Besides my scope, there was a 10-inch reflector and 80
mm short focus refractor. Seeing was poor. Cassini's Division was
clearly
visible but did not show crisply. However, what the night lacked in seeing
it made up in transparency. I would rate the limiting magnitude at 6 based
on the Little Dipper stars I could see. Also the air was very dry.
There
was not one flake of frost the entire evening.
I began the night by looking at Comet LINEAR (C/2002 T7). This comet
continues to brighten and show more of a tail as time goes on. It looked
particularly good through Jim's image intensifier.
I was able to find the planetary nebula NGC 7354 without too much
trouble. This 12th magnitude nebula is on the eastern edge of
Cepheus. It is large enough to show a decently sized disk and bright
enough to be seen with direct vision and without a filter. Some guides say
that it has a ring structure. However, I could not convince myself that I
really saw it last night.
I worked the southern horizon to pick up the galaxies NGC 1291 in Eridanus
and NGC 1365 Fornax. Both of these galaxies would be spectacular objects
if they were further north. However, both are at around -40 degrees
declination so they only clear the horizon by about 10 degrees. As near as
I can tell, I was only able to see the centers of these galaxies. NGC 1291
is also designated as NGC 1269 as the result of poor bookkeeping done
by19th century astronomers.
I was also able to pick up some bright open clusters. I saw NGC 2204 which
I saw as roughly 3 dozen stars in an X pattern. I also picked up NGC 2506
in Monoceros. This cluster was a relatively tough star hop from Alpha
Monoceros. The cluster was much more impressive than NGC 2204. The
guides
rate it at 100 more stars in 7 minute area. I saw it as many faint stars
against a background of many more unresolved stars.
I packed up at about 2330 EST and headed home.
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