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Last meeting
by Cindy Bowers
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Share table:
- Chris
McCann brought a handout of objects to observe for 6/9/03
– 7/14/03.
Reports and observing:
- The SMV Skywatch and Malvern Hill, like last month, were clouded out.
- John
Raymond attended the Mason Dixon Star Party in Pennsylvania
– the event was moved to a new site at a state park with nice
facilities. It was mostly cloudy – he did manage to get in 2 hours of
observing on Friday. Saw Mars early Saturday A.M. It rained on Saturday.
John won 3 door prizes.
- Joe
Hetmanski reported seeing 10 minutes of the lunar eclipse before it
was clouded out. He was in Newark, NJ at the time of the
eclipse.
- 11
visitors showed up for the meeting Jonathan Cowne, Bill Robinson, Scott
Robinson, Tom Horne, Douglas D'urso, Rob McTier, Edgar Adams, Bob Crist,
Jerry Vaughn, and Ruth Petrov. Whew! I've missed one name, but welcome
all.
- Library report--no books were brought to the meeting.
- The
Science Museum will have a Mars Sky Watch at the end of
August. More info will be presented at the next meeting.
Observatory:
- Jim
Petty reported that he and Randy looked at sunspots at the
observatory – the grass needs cutting.
Skywatches and other events::
- The SMV skywatch will be July 18.
- Twin Lakes Park... just east of Burkeville on 360, about 45 minutes
west of
Richmond, lists the following event going on several Saturdays this
summer: 6/07/03, 7/05/03, 8/02/03 - Star Gazing. Amateur astronomers Ken
Allen, Keith Johnson and Margaret Kenny conduct an educational
program that includes the history of astronomy, information on
getting started, as well as viewing of planets, stars, star clusters
and nebulae.
John
Raymond gave the short topic, on Edmund’s Mag 6 Star Atlas. He noted
that it is light-weight and easy to carry. Has black and white maps on the
right hand page with details listed on the left hand page – plots the
brighter objects with their positions along with a description of the bigger
objects.
Jim
Petty gave a short talk on the Keugel Ball that is in front of the Science
Museum. It weighs 28 tons; was machined in Germany; self-aligns at 23
degrees pointing North, then it goes west to east like the Earth. There is a
.6 millimeter space between the ball and the base. Go to the Science
Museum’s web site for more information.
Norm
Guenther gave the main topic - Stonehenge + 900 more.
There are 900 circles of stone in the British isles – the only place where
they can be found. 100 of the 900 have ditches surrounding them. Norm gave a
thorough history of the origin of the monument.
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Astronomical League clubs
by John Goss, RVAS
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To
all MERAL Presidents and ALCors,
MERAL would like to post on its web site tips and suggestions for
completing the various AL observing clubs. Sometimes
people who are working their way through these observing lists get
bogged down because they come across something unusual or more difficult
than anticipated. Sometimes they don't get started because the observing
club seems too difficult. This web posting would help ease their
concerns and get them started. Probably the most popular observing club
is the Messier Club. Tips and suggestions for tackling it are currently
being worked on. Below is a partial list of observing clubs that need to
be looked at . Included are some possible points to address. Do
you know of someone who would like to submit tips and suggestions for
completing a particular club?
Double Star (most difficult double stars)
Messier Binocular and Deep Sky Binocular
Lunar (how to crater hop, using lunar maps)
Planetary ( timing Jupiter's moons, finding Uranus and Neptune)
Sunspotters
Caldwell
Asteroid (finding asteroid positions)
Meteor
Sometimes an organized observing program motivates amateurs! But a list
that's is frustrating defeats its purpose. A compilation of this
material may prompt your club members to enjoy what the night sky has to
offer!
John Jardine Goss
MERAL Chair
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Sky & Tel dues change
by Cindy Bowers
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If your subscription ends in 2004 and you subscribe
through the club, your next dues for Sky & Tel magazine will be
$32.95.
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Powhatan report
by Mike Parker
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I'm on vacation this week & with this weekend
busy, I decided to
travel out to Powhatan Thursday night. First time out to Powhatan in
over 5 months & second time overall. I arrived around 8:30 pm
&
stayed until 11:00. For 2+ hours, it was just me, my 8"
Discovery
Dob, & the mosquitoes.
Seeing was actually good, but transparency was awful due to the thick
haze. I actually had difficulty making out Sagittarius & Leo,
plus
the haze magnified the Richmond city lights. (Actually thought I
was
seeing the geigenschein for a while until it didn't diminish as
twilight ended). Another factor that hampered observing was the
heavy dew. Had to routinely wipe off the telrad + eyepieces + my
glasses every few minutes.
Observed Jupiter for over 40 minutes (looked like Europa had just
completed it's transit). Observed several globular clusters,
M22,
M4, and M13 (wow!). Caught M81 & M82, then finished the night
with
the Ring nebula M57. Tried to look for Omega Centaurus but it
never
rose above the treeline. I also brought my 8x56 binocs &
enjoyed
scanning the dark skies between observing sessions.
All in all it was a decent night to observe but the heavy dew &
limited transparency brought the night to an early end. Looking
forward to making the next RAS meeting & joining RAS. Take care.
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Powhatan report #2
by John "southside man"
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I arrived just before 9pm. There was not a cloud in the
sky, but
quite hazy. I started observing around 10 as the twilight deepened
into night. Vega, Deneb, and Altair sparkled in the east. Jupiter
and Regulus followed the twilight in the west. Antares and Delta
Scorpii were well off the horizon in the southeast. Delta is nearly
as bright as Antares. Arcturus and Spica rode along the meridian.
I hadn't seen a clear sky like this in months.
I had the 12.5" Discovery all ready to go. I started with Coma
Berenices, indulging the the spray of the Coma Cluster and several
galaxies, including NGC 4665, the bright edge on galaxy. I moved up
to Canes Venatici, splitting the white hot sparks of Alpha CVn, Cor
Caroli. I spotted several galaxies, including M106.
The bowl of the little dipper is made of 4 star groupings, each with
distinct color contrast pairs. Several faint galaxies are in this
area also
The dew and fog moved in soon after sunset, but the Kendrick money
removers kept my finder, eyepieces, and secondary mirror dry. My
charts and notebook were soaked. The problem I have is moving the
battery when moving the scope in azimuth. I want to build a dew
remover with a small battery on the mirror box (to also take the
place of the counterweights) that will also run a cooling fan.
The summer Milky Way was bright with distinct knots and starclouds
from Aquila to Scorpius. I turned my scope to the Scorpion's sting.
I saw several open clusters, the globular next to orange G Scorpii,
the Bug nebula, and an Abell planetary. M7 and M6 were glorious!
Each is also surrounded by fainter open clusters. I toured the
Sagittarius milky way, seeing old friends like M8, M20 (looks like
the photos except no color), M22,23,24,25,17,16,27,11.
There are quite a few open and globular clusters in the areas, that
I had overlooked with my smaller scopes. The variable W Sag fooled
me last year, it was bright and I thought Sag had a "new
star". It
must have been near minimum last night, as it was just at the limit
of visibility. W has a lovely yellow color. For more info:
http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/alnasl.html
The Barnard dust clouds appeared as "empty" spaces in the
Milky Way.
I logged a few of those, especially in Scutum. The M24 star cloud
became a "city" in the big scope, as embedded and adjacent
clusters
became visible. It took on texture and personality that i was
preiviously unaware of. I was used to seeing just a uniform glow at
low power in smaller scopes.
I finished my Milky way tour with the Gamma Cygni region and The
Veil nebulas. The northern section of the veil looks like a ghostly
arm with reaching fingers.
I looked at Mars last. The polar cap was bright and several greenish
markings were visible. The seeing wasnt so great as Mars was still
low at 3am. I packed up and left at 3:20 am. I had five great hours
of observing.
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New astronomy page
by Clark Thomas
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I'm an amateur astronomer in Roanoke, Virginia. I have
created a
free astronomy links web page that hopefully will benefit all levels
of your membership. This project is part of my giving back to the
community which embraced me as a ten-year-old.
There are seemingly thousands of astronomy-related web sites, only a
small percentage excellent. I have spent several months evaluating
hundreds of them, selecting some of the most useful for my varied
collection of links. My personal and sometimes eccentric site is
totally free and without advertisements. It is not intended to be
encyclopedic, just a flexible resource for our astronomical
community. You will find links for beginners, and links for very
advanced observers. The best way to experience what's here is to go
on a "treasure hunt" within your favorite section. Finally, I
am
constantly improving this site.
Here's the web address: http://members.cox.net/clarkt7/astronomylinks
Clear skies,
Clark M. Thomas
clarkt7@cox.net
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Mars observing
by Sam Whitby
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I'm glad to see some other folks taking an interest in
Mars. This morning the seeing was good, and I made a drawing and took
some notes. The dusky area in the south polar cap was still evident.
Sinus Sabaeus was easy, Syrtis Major was on the terminator. For what it
is worth, Mare Sirenum is on the other side of Mars, not visible, when
Sinus Meridiani is visible. The "easy" side of Mars-the more
prominent and easier albedo features- will be visible near dawn for the
next few days. The ALPO, OAA, and BAA would be glad to receive your Mars
obs, visual, photographic, or CCD.
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And more Mars observing
by Bill Dickinson
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Night owl that I am, 4:00am in the morning is usually seen after a
long night out under the stars. So I must admit that getting up for
a pre-dawn observing session is something I've rarely done and I
wasn't really looking forward to it. But once I was up and dressed
it turned out to be quit a pleasurable experience. The morning sky
was dark and calm and the neighborhood was quiet. I had setup my
8"f4.5 that evening in the yard just a few feet from my door and
covered it with a small tarp to protect it from the morning dew. I
stumbled outside at 4:15am removed the tarp and with the scope
already equalized I was all set to observe. In the dark before
twilight Mars was just east of the meridian shining brightly at -1.3
magnitude. I started out with 104x and found the southern polar cap
and gibbous shape immediately visible but the planet's small
diameter and glaring brightness hid any other detail. I quickly
moved up and down the power scale settling on 334x. At this
magnification Mars had a large enough apparent diameter with
sufficient brightness, contrast and sharpness to easily see surface
detail. The seeing varied a great deal from rock steady to boiling
but on average it was a better than the typical night. I observed
Mars for the next hour, well into twilight, watching the planet side
across the eyepiece field over and over, taking notes and making a
drawing along the way. Among the features spotted were Mare Sirenum,
Sinus Meridiani (most noticeable on this night) Mare Serpentis,
Pyrhale Regio, and a darkening running along the edge of the
southern polar cap. The polar cap had some notable detail of its own
being brightest white at the pole and a noticeably dimmer white
along it's northern edge and at the terminator.
More than two months before the great opposition of 2003 Mars
turned
out to be more impressive than I had imagined. Its 15.6 arc second
diameter was more than adequate to view surface details and as it is
early spring on Mars the southern polar cap is still quite large.
Was it worth getting up at 4:00am? Yes, absolutely.
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Observing in West Hanover
by Jerry Zaun
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I would like to publicly thank John Raymond for his excellent
pointers and help Sat night. We went to western Hanover to a
private
club I belong to and had a great time between the intermittent
clouds. The club is lucky to have someone who is so knowledgeable
and
dedicated as president. John Thank You!.
On the observing, I got to try out my just completed 13"
truss scope.
The shadows I previously mentioned did not show up in the
2" eye
piece at night and I am now hooked on the 2" eyepiece. I
will have a
barlow SOON. One note of importance. Dropping a 2" lens
on concrete
WILL do some damage to it. !@#$%%^ I learned the hard way mid
way
through the night and had to revert to my 1 1/4 eye pieces but
the
new scope worked beautifully with both. John had a few extra
lens (
10-15) ha, so I got to try others.
The seeing improved as the night went on but unfortunately I had
somewhere to be Early Sunday and we had to knock off about
1:00AM. I
didn't log everything we observed but my first light on the
13" scope
was Mizar-Alcor, Lobster Nebula, M3 M4 M13 M7, M7, M2 and M64.
Pluss
others that John found. It was great to get out after so many
nights
of rain.
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