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Meeting room for December
by Terry Barker
The December meeting will take place in the Eureka Theater, on the third
floor. Remember, this is our holiday party meeting, so we'd like you to bring
some food to share. Sue Brubaker has set up a web page to coordinate items
at http://www.pipeline.com/~aviatrix/RASX03.htm.
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2004 board and officers
by Terry Barker
All 12 board nominees were elected. They are:
Terry Barker
Jim Blowers
Cindy Bowers
Gary Cowardin
Dave Credicott
Norm Guenther
Joe Hetmanski
Jim Langley
John Raymond
Roger Rigby
David Thomas
David Medici
The new board elected the following officers:
President--John Raymond
Vice President--Jim Blowers
Secretary--Terry Barker
Treasurer--Cindy Bowers
Observatory Director--Gary Cowardin
Librarian--Sue Brubaker
Co-librarian--David Credicott
Membership--Charlotte Talley
Co-membership--Roger Rigby
Skywatch Coordinators--Gary Cowardin and Joe Hetmanski
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Last meeting
by Terry Barker
Share table:
- Lakewood Manor sent us a nice thank you letter for the skywatch that
John Barnett organized.
- Susan Brubaker brought in some RAS library books on the moon, since an
eclipse is coming up.
- John Raymond brought in a light wedge, made of plastic, that uses a
diffuse red light source to view star maps at night. You simply place
the wedge over the map to illuminate it. There's also a white light
version, and it costs abut $45.00.
Reports and observing:
- Norm Guenther said the Jansky Lecture this year was exceptional. It's
an annual lecture given at the University of Virginia each year by a prominent astronomer. This year, it
was Professor Donald C. Backer, giving a talk entitled "Massive Black Holes". Professor
Backer talked about the discovery of millisecond pulsars, and the fact
that many black holes gradually merge, which creates a tremendous
gravity event.
- Randy Tatum, one of our long term members, is being published in the
January issue of Sky and Telescope. His article is on basic telescope
shelters, and features one he built himself (and his own hand built
telescope).
- The lunar eclipse event at the SMV skywatch was great--approximately
1,000 people showed up. Eric Shelton heard one of the visiting observers
proudly announce that there are "17 craters on the moon." Jim
Blowers was accused of showing a view of Saturn that was so good, that
it was "not real!"
- The monthly SMV skywatch was rained out.
- Ray Moody attended the East Coast Star Party in North Carolina. Friday
was perfectly clear, but Saturday was cloudy. There were about 50
telescopes.
- John Raymond went to the Mid Atlantic Star Party. Attendance was huge,
with over 500 attendees.
- Charlotte Talley greeted Stephen Girimont, David
Fasaone, Wayne and Sandy Parker, Janet Kay, and
Brad Crist.
Observatory:
- Not a lot of activity--will be holding a cleanup day soon.
Skywatches and other events:
- The SMV skywatch will be Friday, Dec. 19.
Our
main presentation, on astrophotography,
was given by Jim Schauberger, owner of Scopes & Stuff, in Moneta, VA.
Jim gave a good overview of all aspects of photographing the planets and
stars, including CCD and film methods. From the feedback I got, it was
easily understandable by complete novices. Good job, Jim!
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Dues are due
Please bring your checkbook to the next meeting, and catch up with your dues,
payable to our treasurer, Cindy Bowers. There's a form to fill out at the bottom
of this newsletter.
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Skywatch at Jackson Middle School
by Terry
Barker
My thanks to Grace Suttle, David Credicott, Jim Petty,
and John Barnett, who brought telescopes for this skywatch last week. We
had about 50 parents and kids of the school's science club show up on a
surprisingly clear and warm night. We viewed the Andromeda Galaxy, Mars, the
Ring Nebula, and Albireo.
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Powhatan
report
by
Roger Rigby
I arrived a little after sunset and set up hoping to catch a
quick nap before beginning the evening. But twilight came quickly to Powhatan and Mars and Venus were bright and inviting against the deep blue sky.
I observed Venus for the first time in a year or so and then completed my set-up.
Over the course of the night we had about 7 scopes ranging from a 3"
Refractor to a 20" Dob. The seeing was reasonably good, the due was non-existent until about 10 PM. A light breeze and temperatures in the
upper 40's made for a slightly chilly but very nice night for observing. We packed up and left at a little after Midnight.
I observed:
Cosmos 1484 Rocket Body
Cosmos 1154 Rocket Body
Venus
Saturn, Cassini Division, thin ring shadow on the planet and planet shadow on
the rings, cloud bands, and briefly and faintly the
Crepe Ring
Orion Nebula
Split the Double Double
M2*
M13*
M27*
M29*
M54*
M39*
M71*
M92*
*Needed for my Messier List, Only 96 more to go!
I had quite a good time, not only observing but comparing images in other scopes
and swapping eyepieces. It was also nice to talk to everyone, and especially to catch up with Russ Garber whom I haven't seen in
quite some time. He has the 20" Dob in a trailer.
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Powhatan report #2
by Tom
Kunsitis
At last, after a drought of astronomy which lasted 243 days
according to my
log, I was able to go to Powhatan last night. As fate would have it, it
was an excellent night for the drought to end.
I arrived on-site at about 1945 EST. I arrived in the midst of a
spectacular aurora borealis display. There where three large green clouds
in the sky. One was almost directly overhead, one was to the south, and
the other was to the southwest. There were also some fainter red clouds
mixed in. The display lasted for about an hour, and those who arrived
on-site before me told me I missed the best part of it. Of the four times
I have seen the aurora, this is only the second time where it was brighter
than the Milky Way. It was also the first time I ever had to look SOUTH to
see it!
I and my 13 inch telescope were part of a group of four astronomers and
four telescopes. The limiting magnitude was about 5.0 based on the Little
Dipper. Seeing was fair and the dew/frost was relentless. I did have
to
use my dew zapper before the night was over. However, the astronomy was
excellent.
After staring at the aurora for a while, I set up and did some comet
hunting. Using finder charts printed from the Guide 8.0 program, I first
found Comet Encke. This comet returns every three years. It was in
Vulpecula and was a short star hop from M27. It was not difficult at
around 8th magnitude but showed no signs of a tail.
I then moved on to Comet LINEAR (C/2002 T7). This comet was in Perseus and
was smaller and a magnitude fainter than Encke. However, it did show signs
of a tail, especially when viewed through a borrowed image
intensifier. This comet will get brighter as it gets nearer to the sun
towards next spring.
In the way of faint fuzzies, I picked up three galaxies in Cetus for the
first time. They are NGCs 615, 636, and 681. All are 13th magnitude
and
fit the description of small, round, and faint. NGC 615 is interesting in
that it is part of a quartet of galaxies that includes NGCs 584, 596, and
600. I had seen the other three earlier but only found NGC 615 last
night. NGC 681 is called the "Mini Sombrero", but that detail
was beyond
me and my telescope last night.
I did get a good look at Saturn last night. Seeing seemed to improve as
the night went on. With the rings at near maximum tilt, Casini's Division
stood out for the entire visible circumference of the rings. At times,
when the seeing would snap to crystal clarity, I caught glimpses of the
Encke minimum in the A ring. Saturn was able to hold 250x nicely which is
better than average for my telescope at Powhatan.
20 November 2003
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Aurora at
Powhatan
by
Jerry Zaun
Well, John called me around 5:00 and convinced me that last night
would be good at Powhatan.I arrived around 6:00 and was quite a bit
disturbed with the bright cloud cover. It was overhead, some to the
east and several to the west! Where did they come from? Well to make
the story short I was seeing my first Aurora display. The one
overhead and to the east was so big it covered most of Pegasus. I
gave up trying to observe with the scope and just admired the
display. When John got there around 7:00 it had died down a bit but
kept on until after 10:00. After it died down some I managed to
observe M13, M31, M76, M36 ( new to me), M77 (also new to me), M33,
M78. Spent some time on Jupiter and finished the night scanning the
milky way. Tonight looks good for the Club sky watch at SMV hope to
see you guys there.
Wish you all had been there.
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