Newsletter of RAS (Richmond Astronomical Society)
June, 2002

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Next meeting--Monday, June 10

Last meeting
by Terry Barker

Share Table – 

• Ken Wilson brought in star maps, and info on ISS and iridium flares.

Observing – 

• Skywatch – Gary Cowardin had a great crowd of about 150 people. It was partly cloudy, but Jupiter and Saturn were visible.

• Malvern Hill – clouded out. Joe also announced changing the July observing dates to the 19th and 20th.

• Powhatan – no report.

• Sayler’s Creek – clouded out.

• John Raymond attended the East Coast Star Party. It was cloudy too, but they did get some observing in. Kent Blackwell had his 25 inch there, and John won a couple of the door prizes-- a 25 mm Plossel eyepiece, and a dual beam flashlight.

• Gene Dick observed the beautiful five planet alignment last Sunday night.

Education/skywatches --

• Terry Barker announced that he has set up monthly observing sessions with the Chesterfield County Parks Program, and the first session will be May 16, at the Dutch Gap Park.

• We have several skywatches planned for June--June 7 and 8 at Malvern Hill, the 13th at Clover Hill, the 15th at Twin Lakes, the 20th at Three Lakes, and the SMV skywatch on the 21st.

• The Mason-Dixon Star Party, at Spring Valley County Park, PA, is coming up June 7. You can get more information at http://masondixonstarparty.org.

Observatory --

• John Raymond happily announced that 5-6 people have finished training, and are now qualified to use the observatory on their own.

• The CCD camera, just recently ready for use, is very sensitive, overexposing even views of Jupiter. The light from the nearby shopping center is possibly washing out the sky, causing contrast problems with the CCD.

Ken Wilson thanked all the Astronomy Day volunteers, by giving each of them, appropriately, a Milky Way candy bar. Thanks again to the volunteers!

Grace Suttle welcomed our visitors, Wes Mallory, and David Bell. Welcome, and we hope you'll soon become members!

Gary Cowardin gave the main presentation, on the history of the Ragland Observatory. Gary showed some slides of the construction while we listened to a prerecorded session from 1992 of Henry Stockmar describing the history and building of the observatory. Some of the pictures shown were of T. Wilbur Stone, our first club president, who founded the club in 1949.

Change in meeting location!
by Ken Wilson

Due to renovation work in the planetarium, RAS will meet in the Eureka Theater on the 3rd floor (west wing) for the June meeting.

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The planetary convergence in broad daylight
by John Barnett, May 6

The daylight planetary convergence observation at the RAS Ragland observatory was attended by me, Marie Barnett, Grace Suttle, and Sam Whitby. The sky was almost clear of clouds and haze, and when the sun hid behind the high western treetops, it became ideal for daytime scoping.

Following the initial sidereal time alignment of the scope to the meridian, we obtained Venus immediately. The daylight view of the planet showed a well defined gibbous globe, without the splintering, spangling image that usually presents when viewed at night. Jupiter was easily found, and showed a paler but still well defined disk with the Equatorial and N. temperate belts visible. The dimmer planets were tougher to get, as distant Mars was captured only after several tries. Its sensible disk was less than 4" arc, and really did not show any ball detail. Unlike a week ago when I did find Mercury's half-full disk, the search was unsuccessful this time, and Saturn was a no show also, unfortunately. Since we had no problems retargeting the brighter planets, I assume that the dimmer planets' contrast was probably below their observable threshold at the time, which would account for our lack of success.

The main difference between daylight and night planetary viewing is the much lower contrast images seen in broad daylight. This is an advantage for viewing really bright objects like Venus. Also, there are times when unusual celestial events just happen in the daytime, and to view such things the only option is to use the techniques such as sidereal time - meridian alignment that we used, or the "Goto" - equatorial technique that Eric Shelton related recently.

For the next RAS meeting, I'll try to assemble a little handout describing my simple calculation by hand (computers need not apply!) of sidereal time. This would be for general information and use with the meridian circle at the RAS observatory.  - John B.

Editor's note: Computer controlled telescopes have no problem finding objects in the daytime, as was pointed out to John by several readers after this message was posted on the list server.

New board member
by Terry Barker

We're pleased to announce that we have a new board member--Eric Shelton. This was necessary as Gene Dick has been forced to relocate to North Carolina, due to his employer. Gene, we'll miss you, as you were very active in the club, on the board, and assisting with skywatches.

Eric has been a member of the club for two years, and has likewise been very active. He was a board member in his previous life, in Atlanta, and still makes the annual trek back for the Peach Gaze Star Party.  He will make a great addition to the board--welcome Eric!

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