RAS News

Newsletter of RAS (Richmond Astronomical Society)
May, 2001

Visit our web site at www.richastro.org

Next meeting--Monday, May 14

Last meeting ...
by Terry Barker

Ken Wilson brought in an Amateur Scientist anthology. For those of you who recognize the title, this is a regular feature of Scientific American magazine. It's geared for hands-on science, and is a wonderful aid for things like science fair projects, self study, and plain old browsing.

David Thomas showed us some fantastic aurora photographs he took during the recent solar storm, that gave us a wonderful sky show a couple of weeks ago. 

John and Marie Barnett had a good experience the other night at the observatory--Last night, or rather early this morning around 3 AM, I had my best observation of Mars yet in this apparition. The weather was relatively warm ( 60 F ) and humid, with a summer-like light haze undisturbed by any significant wind. The transparency was poor, about mag 4 max, but the real deal was the seeing, which I rated at best moments to be 8+. Mars has plenty of wattage, so the crummy transparency was not a factor. These have been historically the best conditions for observing Mars, and this morning was no exception. Since the planet is so low in the sky ( -25 deg Declination), viewing Mars this apparition is tough at this latitude, no matter what scope one has. Also, the nearby heat sources in the shopping center did cause annoying periods of macroripple, but some patience gives short rock solid views that permits drawing features. I saw Syrtis Major, Hellas, Sinus Sabaeus, Utopia, and a bunch of other stuff.

The solid mounting, the near perfect polar orientation, smooth drive, and great refractor optics make the RAS scope ideally suited for hours of high power ( 300 X ) study of Mars in particular. The planet popped out of the pine trees about 2:45 AM this morning, ready for target practice. I certainly commend some of this to all. It helps to change from a steady diet of the delightful dim fuzzies once in awhile. - Good seeing, John B.

Terry Barker would like to thank the volunteers that showed up for Astronomy Day at the Science Museum (Apr. 28)--Joe Hetmanski, Jim Petty, Susan Brubaker, Ansel Worley, Tim Brittain, Betty Wilson, Charlotte Talley, Ray Moody, Gary Cowardin, and Norm Guenther. We had a perfect day for the solar telescopes, and some wonderful displays inside the museum.

Joe Hetmanski was clouded out again at both the SMV and Malvern Hill skywatches for this month.

Terry Barker was assisted by Jim Petty, John Raymond, Grace Suttle, and Joe Hetmanski at a skywatch on the 16th for a boy scout troop at Woodlake. We had a great turnout of about 60 scouts, and one killdeer. Yes, we accidentally stumbled over a nest on the ground while we where setting up, and had to move my telescope due to the unhappy parents.

Jim Petty gave the main presentation, on the solar maximum that we're presently witnessing. He showed a set of slides and a video of the sun's current activity and the havoc, as well as the beautiful night sky scenery that this can create for us.

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Powhatan report
by Thomas Kunsitis

It was another good night for astronomy last night at Powhatan.  There was
some annoying dew and intermittent high clouds along with some even more
annoying revelers at the site but it didn't spoil a good evening.

I would rate the transparency somewhere around 5.0-5.5.  Seeing was bad but
no worse than usual out there.  There was no aurora visible while I was onsite.

I arrived at about 2100 EDT.  There were five astronomers total with
equipment including four telescopes and two sets of binoculars.  It was a
good night for the faint fuzzies.  In my 13" scope the spiral arms of M51
were once again visible.  Even the fainter NGC 3184 in Ursa Major showed
some hints of structure.  The brighter edge on galaxies NGC 4565 in Coma
Berenices and M104 in Virgo showed dark lanes.

I was able also to pick up some of the smaller yet relatively easy galaxies
in Leo Minor and Lynx.  These well-placed galaxies (NGC 3344, 2793, 2832,
and 3184) are described in Walter Scott Houston's posthumous book _Deep Sky
Wonders_.

At around midnight the intermittent clouds became mostly on.   About the
same time a caravan of revelers decided to drive through the observing area
on their way to a campsite by the lake.  That was when I packed up and
headed for home.

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Randy Tatum star party
Randy has some property in Cumberland county that is a good dark site. He'd like to invite you to a star party on May 19, details to be announced. You can contact him at 282-5227 for details.

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:

Name: ________________________________________________

Address: ______________________________________________

________________________________________________

Phone: _______________ (h) _________________ (w)

Email: _____________________________________________

Amount:

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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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