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RAS News |
Newsletter of RAS (Richmond Astronomical Society)
April, 2002
Visit our web site at www.richastro.org
| Speaker: | Jim Blowers |
| Topic: | Asteroids: Big and Small |
We're back to the IMAX Planetarium, for good now.
Thanks to those of you who brought back several books last month. Please take another look, as we still have a few missing.
John Goss, of the Roanoke club, has put together a visit to the Green Bank Radio Telescope, in West Virginia. We've been very kindly invited to joint the tour. Details aren't final yet, but the date has been set for May 4. John says "We have yet to work out the time for a guest NRAO speaker, if one is available. But we're thinking late morning for the talk and just after lunch for the tour. Some of our members will probably stay the night in the Green Bank area and may do some observing on the NRAO grounds."
John would like to know how many of us would like to attend--so, please send me an email, tbarker@i2020.net, or call my home, 379-8175, and leave a message to that effect.
FYI, I just received an invitation from the Va Air & Space Center to attend their 10th Anniverary Gala, from 7-10 PM on Friday, April 5. There will be a special appearance by Apollo 11 lunar module pilot and the second man to walk on the moon, Buzz Aldrin.
Cost is a little steep --- $30 per person but includes an array of heavy hors d'oeuvres provided by the Radisson Hotel-Hampton and musical entertainment by Robin Welch. Cocktail Attire. Cash bar.
An autographed copy of Buzz Aldrin's book The Return is available for an additional $12.00. I received this notice as a member of VASC, but I'm sure it will be advertised later for the public. If anyone is remotely interested in going, please let me know. You can reach Glen at howellgl@mindspring.com.
Wal-mart is putting in a new store near Brackett's Farm. George Nolting, our good friend, who is the caretaker at Brackett's, would like some help in recommending a lighting plan for the Wal-mart building. This is a great chance to influence a major business in our community, to show how cooperation with local astronomy clubs can lead to good lighting and less light pollution. Here's a letter that George wrote to Dave. Note the question near the end of the letter.
David-
An update. The site plan for the new distribution center was approved by the Louisa Planning Commission after a few questions, some concerning lighting, but with no lighting professionals present it was hard to determine what we were looking at. I have since gotten a reaction from Phil Ianna that the plan was not very good.
Last night I talked with the chairman of the board of supervisors who suggested that there was some possibility of getting amended lighting if I were to acquire the site plan and return it with specific recommendations.
I have e-mailed Dr Ianna for help with this, but don't know of his availability. Is there anyone in the Richmond area who could advise about full cut off lighting, and ground illumination needs for a facility of this size and intended use? To have any sort of chance of success these recommendations have to be right on the mark, authoritatively presented, and cost-effective.
Ground breaking is April 1, or thereabouts, but lighting can be resolved somewhat after--I hope. Let me know either way. Thanks.
Ken Wilson provided printouts of this month's star maps, satellite timings, and a new comet's positions.
Gary Cowardin, reported a crowd of 80 or so people for last month's SMV skywatch. Unfortunately, the skies clouded over almost immediately.
John Raymond showed us a red gel sheet, suitable for covering flashlight lenses, computer screens, etc. for nighttime viewing. He got it at a music store, and it is normally used for stage lights. John also saw the latest comet (I-Z) at Powhatan. He estimated the tail to be 2-3 degrees long. He has led another observatory training session, and that group is now 2/3 done.
Terry Barker has had a busy time with multiple public sywatches since Jan. On Jan. 26, we had 9 telescopes for a gathering of about 150 Boy Scouts. Terry was accompanied by Don McAfee, Cindy Bowers, Jim Petty, Joe Hetmanski, Gene Dick, John Barnett, and I'm sure I've left one or two others out--my apologies. Feb. 22, Jim Petty helped me with a small skywatch for about 20-30 students and parents at a Brandermill Family Night. On Feb. 28, Don McAfee, Dick and Joanne Baker, and Jim Petty, joined me for a skywatch at Henry Clay Elementary in Ashland. We had about 80 students and parents at their Science Night. March 4, Jim Petty and I traveled to the Village of Powhatan for about a dozen boy scouts. And, unfortunately, we were clouded out of a Science Night for Crestwood Elementary, planned for March 19. The big event coming up is a Girl Scout camp near King's Dominion on Apr. 6. They expect over 1,000 girls for this, and we'll be one of about 30 activity stations. However, we'll be the only one active that night, so we should have a huge crowd. Jim Petty is heading up this event, so please contact him asap, as we'll need every available telescope.
Grace Suttle greeted one visitor, Dale Smith, and it's his second visit.
Sue Brubaker, our librarian, reported that 8 books, formerly missing, were returned at the last meeting!
Joe Hetmanski gave the short talk, about his successful restoration efforts on the club CCD. The club purchased a home built unit about two years ago, and Joe has rebuilt it. He showed it mounted on his 10 inch Meade, so we could see how it "in action." It involved quite a bit of cabling, building a new power supply, a cooling mechanism, interfacing to a PC, etc. But, it is now ready for mounting on our observatory telescope. Good job, Joe, and thanks!
Dave Thomas gave the main presentation, on Planetary Nebulae. Before Galileo, nebulae were believed to be patches of "ether." M27 was the first planetary recorded. Herschel discovered over 2,000 in 7 years, and first used the term planetary. At first, he thought they were star clusters, but he then resolved the central star in NGC1514 in Taurus, and this led to the correct explanation for the objects. Dave finished up by showing some excellent planetaries, photographed by the Hubble Telescope.
As the "other Dave" attending his first RAS meeting, I
would
like to thank all the members for your warm and friendly
hospitality. In particular, I'd like to thank Sue for
encouraging me to come to the meeting and for offering to be
my sponsor. I look forward to future meetings, and in
discovering some of the secrets of our sky above.
I'd also like to give my congratulations to Dave Thomas for
the *very* interesting talk on planetary nebula. You did an
excellent job!
Dave Credicott
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The Metro Richmond Science Fair was held March 23, at Atlee High School. RAS always supports this event by contributing an annual award, dedicated to T.Wilbur Stone, who was the founder of RAS. We select the projects that best reflect the study of astronomy or space science. Sometimes we give out more than award, depending on how many projects fit this category. This year, we only had one--it went to Austin Keller, Math & Science High School at Clover Hill, for his project, titled The Effect of Gravity on Model Meteors. He used different objects, like a tennis ball, rock, etc., to see how the object is affected by the earth's gravitational field.
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Jim Blowers, president, presents the award. |
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Austin's project. |
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The winner, showing off his check for $50, and the award certificate. |
This C'ville event was cancelled, due to weather. I don't know if it's been rescheduled yet.
Comet Ikeya-Zhang is easily visible in binoculars this week; look right at the end of twilight very low above the northwest horizon. (The darker your sky the better; artificial light pollution is deadly for comet viewing.) As of March 27th skywatchers were reporting that Ikeya-Zhang was about magnitude 3.5 and displaying a tail a couple degrees long in binoculars. If you have a very dark site, you might even make out the comet with your naked eyes. However, it's getting lower daily.
During the first week of April, the comet skirts north of the Sun and enters the morning sky where it will be seen very low in the northeast just before the start of morning twilight. A fine photo opportunity occurs the evening of April 4th, when the comet passes within 1½° of the Andromeda Galaxy, M31. Skywatchers in the Northern Hemisphere will likely get their best views in late April,when the comet makes a slow trek from Cassiopeia into Cepheus and then Draco.
Calendar created by ImpactSoft
Your RAS 2002 membership subscription is now due, if you
haven't paid yours.
Please furnish the following information to the treasurer:
Cindy Bowers
9415 Laurel Grove Rd
Mechanicsville, VA 23116
Name: ________________________________________________
Address: ______________________________________________
________________________________________________
Phone: _______________ (h) _________________ (w)
Email: _____________________________________________
Amount:
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Regular membership |
($30.00) |
_____________ |
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Observatory membership |
($10.00) |
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|
Astronomy renewal |
($29.00) |
_____________ |
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Sky & Tel renewal |
($29.95) |
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Total: |
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The months that have been assigned for presentations by the board for 2002 are:
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Jan: |
Jim P. |
May: |
Gary |
Sep. |
Grace |
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Feb: |
Keith |
Jun: |
Terry |
Oct: |
Charlotte |
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Mar: |
Dave |
Jul: |
Gene |
Nov: |
Joe |
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Apr: |
Jim B. |
Aug: |
John |
Dec: |
Cindy |