RAS News

Newsletter of RAS (Richmond Astronomical Society)
April, 2001

Visit our web site at www.richastro.org

Next meeting--Monday, Apr. 9

Last meeting ...
by Terry Barker

Ken Wilson had a signup sheet for Astronomy Day, which will be April 28 this year. Ken also had a flyer for his upcoming Stargazing 101 class. It will be held over 5 Tuesday evenings, May 1-29, 7 PM to 9 PM at the Science Museum. Cost is $50 ($45 for SMV members). Call 864-1411 to make a reservation.

Eric Shelton has successfully set up the club's list server on Yahoo. With this tool, members will be notified of any new messages that appear on the list server. There, you will find messages on members' recent observing sessions, upcoming sky events, club events, etc. To subscribe, send a message to richastro-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. To post a message, send it to richastro@yahoogroups.com. There is also a link on our web home page. Here's a sample, from a recent Powhatan session by Eric:

As far as last night's observing goes, it was nice to finally get out under the stars for a change - until last weekend my last log entry was dated October 28! I spent last night hunting down a half-dozen or so small faint fuzzy galaxies; I'm trying to finish up my Herschel 400 list this spring. I did take time to observe some old favorites, such as M51 (as Tom reported), as well as M101 (spiral structure easily seen with many HII regions visible), M108 (a relatively bright, highly elongated streak with much interesting mottling), and M109. I suspected spiral structure in M109, and the bar was clearly discernable. I think with better sky transparency the spiral structure would have been clearly seen. Also M81/M82. All observations were made with an 18" f/5 scope at 160x and 260x. Actually, I hate observing on Friday after a full day's work. We bagged it in at about midnight - normally I would rather go until at least 2:00am or so. Maybe next month. I'm moving to Montpelier and hope to have relatively dark skies, but I will still try to get out to Powhatan regularly, especially because I won't have a clear, low southern horizon at my new home.

There were also a couple of messages about how lonely people were at Powhatan and how little it is utilized by our members--sounds like they're trying to tell us something!

Terry Barker is still trying to set up a skywatch at Liberty Middle School--we have been clouded out the last two times. A skywatch for Indian Princesses is scheduled for Mar. 26. The Metro Richmond Science Fair is also scheduled for Mar. 24 (see story in this same newsletter).

Charlotte Talley has a new Celestron Nextstar 8 (inches), and is enjoying it very much!

Jim Blowers has been watching the changing brightness of the middle star of Scorpius's head. It is a very visible change, but you have to get up early in the morning to see it.

Joe Hetmanski has been rained out of both the SMV and Malvern Hill skywatches for this month.

Sam Bruce was only three miles from the last shuttle launch (Cape Canaveral in Florida)--he was watching from across a body of water, and said it was an incredible event, and incredibly loud! Sam also announced that the Science Museum will be temporarily shutting down the building on Monday nights, due to state budget problems. So, we are entertaining ideas on when and where to reschedule.

Tim Brittain, Observatory Directory, will be scheduling an observatory training session soon.

Jim Blowers gave the main presentation, on Native American Constellations. Jim described how Native Americans had alternative constellations to the ones we commonly use, and he told some of the stories about how those constellations originated.

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Metro Science Fair
by Terry Barker

Each year, our club gives out scholarship awards to science fair participants that are related to astronomy and space science. Some years, we have had to settle for one or two exhibits, since these do not seem to be popular subjects for projects. But this year, we had a good group, and we actually give out four $50 cash awards. Thanks to Abe Heller for contributing $100 for this very worthy cause. We give the awards in remembrance of T. Wilbur Stone, founder of our club. Here are the winners.

The Effect of the Sun's Magnetic Field on Communications Here on Earth, Mark Hotze, Tucker High School, Henrico.
The Effect of Solar Flares on the Earth's Megnetosphere, Erin Strawn, Godwin High School, Henrico.
The Effects of Light Pollution on the Visibility of Stars, Sarah Willis, Tucker High School, Henrico.
The Effect of the Amount of Moisture in the Air on How Well Stars are Seen, Catherine Worsham, Math & Science High School at Clover hill, Chesterfield.

Set of Astronomy magazines for good home

Buford Wade, 730-9233, has a complete set of issues of Astronomy magazine from 1975-95, available for no cost. He will deliver.

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Aurora in Richmond
by David Thomas

As I'm sure you're aware, the sun is at the top of its 11 year cycle, and amazing things, like giant sunspots and aurora sightings in southern latitudes are possible. Here's a report (off the Yahoo email server) by David Thomas on a recent event.

Please tell me some of you guys saw the aurora last night. I went out to Powhatan last night arriving there about 10:40. The aurora was visible but pretty faint and confined to the northern horizon. It was a red glow with the occasional green ray. The moon was interfering but after a short while a band of thick clouds blotted it out (its about time the clouds got on my side). I took about 20 pictures. Things started to calm down and the clouds rolled in so I called it a night and packed up. About 5 minuets out from the wild life refuge I had driven out from under the clouds and I could see the aurora through the car window so I pulled down a side street turned around and pointed the car north and stuck my head out the window. Things were heating up again with a red glow to the north but I drove on. Did the side street thing again, same story. I was driving myself crazy thinking I was missing the show. Finally I pulled over on the shoulder about 25 minutes out from Powhatan and got out of the car with the traffic whizzing by it was about 11:45. There I saw the most amazing thing I have ever seen. The northern sky was Bright green up to about 20* from there it turn Bright red. red curtains of light could be seen up to 90* brightest to the east continuing all the way to the north west. There was obvious movement it the curtains and bight rays through out coming and going quickly so that they could be seen fading in and out. The rays were sometimes broad and sometimes razor thin. In a word I was blown away. I got back in my car pulled it as far off the Midlothian as far as I could so as not to cause a wreak and got my camera out and took about 15 pictures in between cars passing by.Things were calming down about 12:45 so I left. It turned out I was only a couple of miles from were the big car lots all start. I can only hope others of you saw it and that the pictures come out. If I get some good pictures I will post them on the yahoo page. Got to get some sleep. I got home at 1:am and had to be at work at 3:am. David Thomas

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Calendar

Calendar created by ImpactSoft

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Dues Renewal Form

Your RAS 2001 membership subscription is now overdue, if you haven't paid yours.

Please furnish the following information to the treasurer:

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Contact information

All meetings are the second Monday of the month, at the Science Museum of Virginia, 2500 W. Broad St. For more information, contact Terry Barker, 379-8175, or tbarker@i2020.net.

Board presentation months

The months that have been assigned for presentations by the board for 2001 are:

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