RAS News

Newsletter of RAS (Richmond Astronomical Society)
March, 2002

Visit our web site at www.richastro.org

Next meeting--Monday, Mar.  11

Meeting relocation

We're back to the IMAX Planetarium, starting with this meeting.

Missing books

Several books are missing from our library, and we'd like to request that you look around your home to see if you have one or two you have forgotten to bring back. No penalty!

Telescope class

Ken Wilson will be holding a class, "How to Use a Telescope", at the SMV on Sat., Apr. 8, 8 am to noon. The class will cover: telescope functions, designs, and specifications; eyepieces; alignment; cleaning of optics; observing techniques; reference materials; and accessories. Call 864-1411 to make a reservation.

Prez makes Earth and Sky correction
by Jim Blowers

I enjoy the Earth and Sky program at about 6:35 am in the morning on WCVE 88.9 FM. One day I noticed that they said that a Gregorian year is the time it takes for the earth to go around the sunonce. This is not correct, and I wrote them an email on it. That email appears on the Earth and Sky web site at:

http://www.earthsky.com/Tools/comments.pl?show_date=2002-02-12

Last meeting
by Terry Barker

Ken Wilson provided printouts of this month's star maps, satellite timings, and a new comet's positions. He also brought an Astronomy Day (Apr. 20) signup sheet. Ken saw the Horsehead Nebula Sat. night in his 17.5" Dobsonian.

Gary Cowardin, reported a small crowd for last month's SMV skywatch.

John Raymond led an observatory training session last Sat, for six members.

Terry Barker is forming a planning committee for the VAAS convention, to be held Oct. 5, at Randolph-Macon College, where we held it in 1997. VAAS (Va. Association of Astronomical Societies) is made up of all the astronomy clubs in Virginia. We hold it every year, and we rotate the club that sponsors it--Roanoke held it last year. If you're interested in helping out, talk to Terry!

Grace Suttle greeted one visitor, Dale Smith, and it's his second visit.

Sue Brubaker, our librarian, has replaced two books--Turn Left at Orion, and The Backyard Astronomer.

Keith Johnson gave both a short presentation, and the main talk for the night. His short session showed off his LX-90, and the modifications he has made. 

Sky pollution bill
by Bob Parks, Executive Director, Virginia Outdoor Lighting Taskforce, VOLT.ORG

Great News!

SB379 requiring fully shielded fixtures for state facilities sailed through the General Laws committee approximately 20 to 1 and will make it to the House floor for a full vote next week. Sen. Whipple did an outstanding job of talking to VDOT and reaching a reasonable arrangement that they could support. Connie Sorrell, Deputy Administrator of VDOT actually spoke in favor of the bill for Sen. Whipple at the committee meeting today.

Special thanks to John Nusbaum for making the long drive with me to Richmond and Leighton Powell of Scenic Virginia for showing up on short notice to support the bill. I also would like to thank all the folks that took the time to send emails to the committee. You did make a difference.

The last hurdle should be to write your delegates and let them know you want them to support it next week in the full House. Procedurally, the bill will have to go back to the Senate to be ratified because amendments were added after they voted for it. Realistically this should be a formality. The only concern now is to see if they can get it done before this session of the General Assembly is over March 8th.

Here's the sample letter and the link to find your legislator.

Dear Delegate,

As my representative, I ask you to support SB379 introduced by Senator Mary Margaret Whipple (D-31). SB379 has been reported from the General Laws committee and will reach the House floor for consideration soon.

SB379 will start the Commonwealth of Virginia down the path of installing fully shielded outdoor lighting. This decision will decrease glare, increase safety and reduce light trespass. It also will not cost us any additional money, as it is designed to replace aging fixtures at the time of maintenance and install new fixtures that will cost no more than the unshielded models currently being used.

I also want VDOT to initiate an internal policy review of roadway lighting to consider the conversion to fully shielded roadway lighting whenever technically feasible. VDOT lighting currently is installed without adequate concern for glare and it's impact on traffic safety. I am especially concerned with the effect of glare on senior citizen's roadway safety.

Glare affects the eye's ability to see well and it becomes more pronounced as we get older. It's time for Virginia to become a leader in safe, glare-free outdoor lighting.

Thank you for your time and for your service to the citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Sincerely, 
Name, Address, Phone Number

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Sayler's Creek report
by Kim Kenny

We had a great turnout at Sailor's Creek this past Friday. About 50 showed up and we had 4 telescopes there: Keith with his ETX 90, I had my C-8, Margaret (my wife) was using the Skyquest XT 4.5 Dobsonian for the kids to see through, (they really love that one) and another man had a 90 mm refractor. We lucked out as usual with perfect seeing conditions. We have had a great night now 4 months in a row. That has to be some kind of record especially for this time of year. We were also competing against the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics on TV, so I call that a huge success.

Powhatan report
by Tom Kunsitis

Last night was one of the better nights for the Powhatan site.  I was
clearly able to see a 5.7 magnitude star in Ursa Minor when it was less
than 40 degrees above the horizon meaning the limiting magnitude was
probably 6.0 at the zenith.  The winter Milky Way was easily visible in
Orion, Monoceros, and Canis Major.  There was also very little dewing or
frosting last night.  Seeing was fair which is about average for the
site.  What the night lacked in seeing was more than made up in transparency.

I arrived on-site at about 2130.  I counted five astronomers and four
telescopes at the site last night.  It is good to see the site getting more
use these days.

I spent a good part of the night hunting galaxies in Lynx.  I picked up NGC
2537 which is the Bear Paw galaxy.  This 12th magnitude galaxy is fairly
easy to see.  I saw it with my 13" scope as a uniformly bright oval.

In the same field with NGC 2537 is the 13th magnitude galaxy IC 2233.  This
galaxy is much tougher.  It is edge-on with very low surface brightness.  I
could only see it with averted vision as a faint streak of light.  An
interesting thing about this galaxy is that there is an obvious (~12
magnitude) foreground star that is not shown on my computer star atlas
(Guide 8.0).  However, it is clearly shown on Digital Sky Survey
images.  Apparently the star was deleted from the Hubbell Guide Star
Catalog because it is superimposed on a galaxy.

I was also able to see NGC 2776 and 2782 which are in Lynx.  Both are 12th
magnitude and not very difficult.  NGC 2782 presented the classic galaxy
image in my telescope where there is a bright nucleus surrounded by the
fainter outer regions of the galaxy.

The larger and brighter NGC 2775 in Cancer presented a similar image.  This
galaxy is just behind the "head" of Hydra.

The last object I was successfully able to see was the open star cluster
NGC 2421 in Puppis.  This star cluster has a lot of bright stars in
it.  However, it is in the middle of a fairly rich area of the Milky Way
making it a bit difficult to pick out of the background.

I ran some more tests on the mirror cooling system I tried out for the
first time last week.  I did notice improvements in that I did not see the
bloated star images I normally see at higher powers at Powhatan.  Also the
mirror cool down time was again reduced to on the order of 15
minutes.  Normally cool down can take almost an hour on cold nights like
last night.  I could not duplicate the planetary details I saw last week
although I was able to see from Powhatan what I normally can only see from
the steadier skies in my backyard in Richmond.  I think that last Saturday
was just an extraordinary night for steady skies.

At about 0045 I packed up and headed home.

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Powhatan report #2
by John Raymond

Thursday night was clear so I took my 6" dob outside.With all the light
pollution I usually stick to the brighter objects. It was very cold also.
I observed:

Sirius- unable to see the Pup (i never have but keep trying anyway)
Nu1 CMa - easy double
Mu Cma - difficult and colorful double
ngc 2360 , open cluster in CMa Milky Way
M50 , open cluster in Mon. Milky Way, with a prominent orange star on the southern
edge
Omicron 1 Cma - pretty orange star
Adhara (Epsilon Cma) unable to resolve due to poor seeing, it was just above
neighbor's roof
Aludra (Eta Cma) easy, wide double
Tau Cma - surrounded by pretty cluster ngc 2362
Sigma Cma -orange star
hd 3945 - easy and beautiful double, just north of Tau Cma
M41  - naked eye cluster, with bright orange star in center and another
along the southern edge
Zeta 1 and 2 Cma - Wide naked eye pair
ngc 2354 - faint oc between Delta and Tau Cma. Almost invisible in skyglow.
ngc 2264 - oc in Monoceros. Naked eye object in dark skies. Wide, triangular
cluster
ngc 2244 - same as above. Rectangular
Gomeisa (Beta Cmi) unremarkable bright star, observed only because Frank
Herbert used this star in a short story.
Epsilon Hydrae - difficult double in the head of Hydra
Pyxis and Antlia - I observed some of the brighter stars in these faint
constellations, only because I've never sone so before.
Puppis and eastern Hydra - viewed some stars and objects but didnt record
them
Gamma Crateris- difficult double, mags. 4 and 9.5
ngc 3242 - the "Ghost of Jupiter" planetary in Hydra. Small greenish
non-star dot.
Gamma Velorum - southerly triple star just above the trees on the southern
horizon.
Lambda Vel - bright orange star near southern horizon

Sunday I went to Powhatan. The Moon was up but M35, M41, and M47 were easily
visible to the eye. The wind blew constantly and was very cold. Its also
very spooky being out there alone. I arrived just aftter 7pm and stayed to
11. The usual dew was absent.

In Binoculars: the Canis Major / Puppis region:
Ngc 2477
ngc 2451
ngc 2546
ngc 2362
ngc 2354
Collinder 132
Cr. 140
Cr. 135
M46
M47
ngc 2423

In Cassiopeia and Perseus:
Double Cluster
ngc 457
Stock 2

In Camelopardalis:
Kemble's Cascade

In Vela:
Trumpler 10

Andromeda:
M31
M32
M110

Cetus:
M77

Ursa major:
M97
M108
M101
M81
M82
M51 (actually in Canes Venatici)

Coma Berenices:
M53
M64
Unable to spot ngc 4565

With the scope: ( the seeing deteriorated considerably after 9:30)

Sirius - unable to see Pup
5 stars in trapezium
Adhara (Epsilon Cma) - the companion of this bright star is difficult to see
but tonight i did it. Its very faint.
K Puppis - easy double
Zeta Orionis - difficult double
Eta Orionis - another difficult double
Sigma Orionis - 4 stars visible
Iota Orionis - easy double
Struve 750 - easy double in orion's sword
42 Orionis - unable to resolve

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Powhatan report #3
by Bill Beck

Got to spend some quality time (and some not so quality time) at
Powhatan on Thursday 14-feb-2002.  Arrived at approx 7:45pm and set up
my 8in SCT by about 8:00pm.

All the little dipper stars were visible, dry all evening, slight haze
in the west.  Noted some high thin clouds around 10:30, but not dense or
wide enough to stop looking.

I spent a miserable and unproductive hour looking for M74 and the
supernova nearby.  M74 was low in the west and just couldn't make it out
through minimal haze.  Most of the time spent was directly attributable
to lack of experience.

After giving up on the supernova, I continued my random attack on the
Messier objects which I had jotted down coordinates for.

Found:
1.  m41 in canis major.  open cluster visible in binoculars.  much
denser than background, big (i could barely get the whole cluster in the
field with my widest eyepiece)
2.  m50 in monoceros.  open cluster faintly visible in binoculars. not
as bright as m41, definitely denser than background, probably about the
same number of stars as m41.
3.  m48(?) / ngc 2548 in hydra.  open cluster visible in binoculars.
brighter than m50.  looks to me like a bunch of the stars in this
cluster could be doubles.
4.  m46 & m47 in puppis.  visible naked eye.  m47 is described as a
"loose cluster" in my book.  i have to agree.  m46 is fairly tight open
cluster of fainter stars.
5.  m35 in gemini.  visible in binoculars.  medium bright open cluster.
nothing especially unique - maybe i'm just getting bored with clusters.
6.  ngc 2158 in gemini.  a faint cluster just in the edge of m35.  this
was a bonus object for me, i had not planned on looking for it.

Spent some time looking at m42 in orion.  It's mighty pretty.  Trapezium
was easily visible at 80x.  m43 was also plainly visible.

Packed up about 11:15.

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Messier Marathon
from Susan Bender, C'ville Club

The Charlottesville Astronomical Society (http://www.cvilleastro.org/)
would like to invite you to the first annual Messier Marathon.   This
event will start as soon as it gets dark (around 6:30) on March 15 (rain
date is March 16).   The site (Susan Bender's house) is located south of
Charlottesville off of Rt 29.  Tents can be set up on the site.  

Direction to Susan Benders house (3129 Old Lynchburg  Road, North
Garden):

At the intersection of Rt 29 and I-64 continue on 29 south toward
Lynchburg.
About 5 miles beyond the I-64/Rt29 intersection is a blinking yellow
curve sign.  Turn left here, onto Rt. 708.  Go about 2.9 miles (carefully,
it's a twisty road.)  Take the first right, onto Rt. 631, Old Lynchburg Road.  There's a small brick church on the right where you turn.  Go 1.9 miles.
Susan's house is on the left.
There's a gray mailbox with the number (3129).  Park along the driveway or
on the grass. 

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