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Change to meeting location
by Ken Wilson
Due to the last minute addition of the NASCAR Imax movie to out schedule, we'll have to relocate the RAS meetings from the planetarium
to the Eureka Theater beginning with the April meeting and lasting
through the September meeting.
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Would you like to be a board member?
by Terry Barker
Jim Langley will be leaving Richmond temporarily, due to a work
reassignment. We're looking for a new board member to replace him. If you
have an interest, we'll be asking for nominees at the upcoming meeting. What
does the board do? We brainstorm ideas for events like the VAAS convention,
awards for the Metro Richmond Science Fair, events for Astronomy Day, and
many others. You'd be required to attend quarterly board meetings, and be
responsible for giving the program once during the year. Jim's month is
October. If you'd like to talk to a board member before then, there's a list
at the bottom of the newsletter. Requirements are that you have been a
member for one year, and attended a majority of the last 12 meetings.
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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
also had a signup sheet for assistance with Astronomy Day, April 24.
- John Raymond had a flyer from the Central Appalachian Club,
that is putting together a trip to Green Bank Marcy 19-21.
- John also had a copy of Phil Harrington's new book, Star Watch.
Reports and observing:
- Gary Cowardin has not come up with a date for the next
observatory training, but will do so soon. The monthly SMV skywatch had
about 300 people. However we only had one telescope (Joe Hetmanski's) to
handle the crowd--the sky had been cloudy all evening, and cleared a
little just before the start time. Hmmm, does this sound familiar to
anyone?
- John Raymond got a look at an intense red carbon star in Orion.
- Susan Brubaker, our librarian, reminded everyone that the
library is open 15 minutes before the
meeting each month.
- Charlotte Talley greeted our visitors, Lewis Gason and Wayne
Sacheben. Welcome, and we hope you'll come back next
month!
- Eric Shelton observed a newly discovered comet near M78 in
Orion.
Observatory:
- The next training session will be scheduled soon.
Skywatches and other events:
- The Delmarva Star Gaze will be held Apr. 14-18, near Queen Anne, MD.
Get more info at www.delmarvastargazers.org.
- The SMV skywatch will be Friday, Apr. 16.
- Chesterfield County's next monthly skwatch is also Apr. 16, at Clover
Hill Park, 7:30 pm.
- Public Night at the McCormick Observatory at UVA, hosted by the
C'ville Society is Apr. 23, 9:00 to 11:00 pm.
- There will be a Va-IDA meeting on April 23 at the SMV
with a variety of speakers, including Chris Elvdige, who has help
produce all the satellite images of the earth at night.
- And the big one--Astronomy Day is Sat., Apr. 24. We hope to
have a big showing from the membership, as we're pioneering a new
concept to get more kids involved with astronomy. See more details later
in the newsletter.
Ruth Petrov gave a book report, on Tom Ferris's
new book, Coming of Age in the Milky Way. She found it to be heavy reading.
She read a particular passage on what, she thinks, shows the author's
intent--"We now know where we are. We also know how old we are-- 5
billion years". Ruth felt the author did well with a complex subject.
Dave
Thomas gave
the main presentation, on the Orion Nebula. He showed some views taken with
different wavelengths that gave us a new way to look at this well known
constellation.
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Richmond Metro Science Fair
by Bill
Dickinson
On Saturday (March 20, 2004) my daughter Mary Kathryne participated
in the 2004 Richmond Metro Science Fair. Her project was entitled:
Where Have All the Stars Gone? - The Effect of Light Pollution on
the Night Sky. I'm really pleased to report that among her awards
that day was the T. Wilbur Stone Award from the Richmond
Astronomical Society!
For those who don't already know (that included me until yesterday),
the RAS presents awards each year at the science fair to promote and
encourage student interest in astronomy.
I just want to express my gratitude to the society and commend
Donald McAfee, Norm Guenther, and Cindy Bowers for their personal
time judging projects and interviewing students. The awards of $100
and letter of recognition awarded for excellence in astronomy and
space science projects had quite an impact on many of the students
at the fair.
I understand that last years fair had no astronomical projects and
no awards were made but there were several this year, due in no
small part to Wilbur Stone's thoughtful and generous bequeath.
Editor's note: We gave away two $100, and one $50 checks to
astronomy related exhibits. And no, Bill wasn't one of the judges!
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SMV skywatch
by Jim
Blowers
It was a beautiful night.
I got there a lot earlier than I would usually, because of conversation
on this group that there was an ISS pass at 1914 last night. Sure
enough, about 1915, erupting from about Julian's, a moving star
appeared. Ken pointed it out to me. It moved to just under Venus, then
headed straight towards Polaris before disappearing behind the big train
station dome.
Then I set up my 8in SCT. It was a good night. Too bad it wasn't at
1830; perhaps we could have picked up Mercury. That would have made five
planets. As it was, it was a four-planet show. I first took it to Venus,
which was a half-crescent. It was so bright that I put a light-pollution
filter on it; that made it cyan, and some wondered if that was its real
color. Then I went to Mars, a far cry from the glory days of last
summer. Then I told my go-to scope to go to Saturn, which is always the
audience's favorite. Then to Jupiter. The crowds were low; maybe about
200-300 showed up. Frequently I had no people in line, and then when
someone asked me to go to Saturn when I had it on Jupiter, I brought out
my keypad, hit Planet, then Saturn, and voila, the telescope started
slewing to Saturn. That always seems to amaze the audience. Saturn was
brilliant with its rings in plain view and with Titan nearby, and
Jupiter showed two broad bands, but no spot, as well as four satellites.
I kept hopping from one planet to another all night long, although I
looked at Mars only once. Once I took it to M42 instead. I tried to go
to M37 but the light pollution was too much for it. The people asked me
about my telescope, so I had a handout prepared that described my scope.
It was a good night, with both RAS members and public in low numbers;
perhaps because of skywatches elsewhere at Clover Hill and in Coinjock
in the Outer Banks.
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Astronomy Day and you
by Terry
Barker
Would you like to help RAS out on Astronomy Day? We'll be having a really,
really big show at the Science Museum this year, and we need lots of help. For
instance, we're pioneering a kids activity that we think will be a big draw--pop
bottle rockets. No, not the dry fuel version--this is one that involves 2 liter
coke bottles, water, and air pressure provided by a bicycle pump. And by the
way, even if you can't help, would you start saving your plastic bottles for us?
This'll work with the smaller bottles, as well as the larger, but we prefer the
2 liter bottles. We need volunteers for the actual launching--even though it's
perfectly safe, kids will be kids!
In addition, we need help with things like someone watching over people's
exhibits while they take a break, carrying equipment in, cleanup, etc. We have
exhibits set for the following:
- ATM--Joe Hetmanski
- Meteors--Frank Carney
- CCD demo--Gary Cowardin
- Kugel lecture--Jim Petty
- Club photography--Susan Brubaker
We'll also have solar telescopes set up out front, where we'll do the
rocketeering (with some separation, of course!), so we need some help with
telescopes, too.
Astronomy Day is Sat., Apr. 24, and we'll be setting up between 11:00 am and
noon.
Please let me know asap if you'd like to help at all, and what area you'd
like to help in. You can call me at home, 379-8175, work 261-9416, or email at
tbarker@i2020.net.
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One fun night at the McCormick
by Don
McAfee
Saturday Mar 28 was the triple shadow event. I joined Rob Capon and
3 others at the McCormick observatory in C'ville and viewed Jupiter
from midnight to 4 am through the historic 26 in f/15 Alvin Clark
refractor, the 2nd largest when it was commissioned in 1884, and the
10th largest refractor in use today. Rob asked me to extend the
invitation to all of the RAS, but my attempt to announce the event
did not get past more than a few because I had not registered on
this listserver. However, we are invited for future viewings coming
up in May. I will post date and times soon. Check out the website at
http://www.astro.virginia.edu/research/observatories/McCormick.html
I took my Kodak 4800 digital camera and shot some pics through the
eyepeice and tried to get the scope, but its pretty hard
even with a wide angle - could never get the whole scope in one
frame. The seeing started out fair, but deteriorated to poor.
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[spruceknob] Official 2004 Gatewood Dates
by Eric
Shelton
Speaking of Spruce Knob, WV, here are the dates for observing at that
Nirvana of Darkness.
The Northern Va Astronomy Club has once again reserved the Gatewood group camp
near Spruce Knob for observing every dark weekend this spring and summer.
They ask $7/night or $20/yr to camp and observe there, and IMNSHO I think it's
well worth it. Camping is primitive, it's 4 hours from Richmond, but the
limiting magnitude is typically 6.8 or even 7.0. Clouds (and I hope not to
see any) appear as black voids in the sky. Due to the continual bad
weather last year, only 4/28/03 was suitable for observing. So I'm ready!!
I plan on camping up there April 15-17, weather permitting. And speaking
of weather, it can get COLD. I wore thermal underwear (yes, and other
clothing) in August 2002, and was glad for it.
More detailed information, photographs, and directions can be found at http://www.novac.com/spruce/index.htm
(be sure to click on the links in the frame to the left for even more details).
Note that while this site may say that you must get the combination to the gate
before arriving, this has recently changed and the gate should be open on the
reserved dates. If not, go to the Spruce Knob Lake campground located 1
mile away and see the caretaker. It's also important, if you are
interested in going, to subscribe to the spruceknob yahoogroup.
Anyway, here's the forwarded message, and I hope others from the RAS will join
me this summer.
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Powhatan report
by Roger
Rigby
I arrived at Powhatan last night around 7:00, I was very shortly
joined by Jim Langley and his neighbor Steve (?) who had just received an
8" Orion Dob for his birthday. Jim Browder arrived later.
The sky was very stable. The transparency left a little to be desired. As the
night progressed we had to contend with an increase in haze, then bands of
clouds, then around 11:00 Pea Soup. At which point Jim Browder and I packed up
and left (Jim Langley had already gone).
One of the highlights of the evening was an unexpected transit of Ganymede's
shadow, first time I have seen that! The steadiness allowed us to really crank
up the power at times observing between 308 and 444X (which is beyond my scope's
theoretical limits, and would only briefly snap into view.)
Besides that, Saturn, and a handful of Satellites I also knocked a few more off
my Messier list, which were:
M35
M44
M48
M65
M66
M67
Only 66 more to go!
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