At the March Meeting
Don Surles brought the meeting to order at 7:15 with 28 members and guests attending.
 New Members   Brad Smith, Magnolia, DE

Lightbuckets-the cure for aperture fever presented by Keith Lohmeyer
Keith  started his Power Point presentation by defining a Lightbucket as a large aperture  (12” to 25” +)  Newtonian telescope
 usually on a Dobsonian mount where the OTA is usually a solid cardboard tube or a truss tube which can be broken down
 for portability.
Origin- It all began with John Dobson, creator of the alt-azimuth mount which bears his name. It features large bearing surfaces
 made from inexpensive materials  to provide a stable portable mount for large mirrors.
History
 These scopes first appeared in Telescope Making in 1979.
For the first 10 years, Lightbuckets were completely in the domain of amateurs as were the early accessories such as the
Cranford Focuser (John Wall), theTelrad pointing device (Steve Kufield) and the Teflon/ Ebony Star bearing surfaces (Peter Smitka).
One Scope’s Evolution 
Keith cited Club member Bob Bunge who  has documented the history of his 20” Lightbucket on his website beginning in 1983.
His OTA was Sonotube and ¾” plywood 2” thick rocker box weighed about 800 lbs and required 3 people for setup.
1987 OTA was portable truss tubes, still lots of plywood, weight about 400 lbs, 2 person assembly.
2001 Design based on Kriege/Berry book on large Dobsonians. Weight about 175 lbs. One person transport and assembly
Commercial Offerings-
1989 Obsession -Truss Design 12.5 “to 25” $3000-$10,750
1991 Discovery –Truss design 12.5”-24” $2000-$9000  Solid Tube up to 20” alsoavailable with split tube
The Future ?
 Keith discussed  lighter weights and minimal designs. The lighter weights feature fiberglass over Styrofoam and a
 Carbon Fiber composite 15” weighing 18 lbs. without mirror.
  Keith also showed two minimalist designs which were basically trusses, mirrors and the spider assemblies. No tubes or even curtains.
 One was a 24” mirror with wooden trusses and the other a 22” mirror with aluminum trusses.
 
Program
Renaissance Astronomers Presented by Ron Tatman
Nicolaus  Copernicus (1473 - 1543 )
Copernicus was born in Poland and studied math and optics at Cracow University. Around 1514,  Copernicus wrote the
Little Commentary, or the 7 axioms which  later were refined into his De revolutionibus orbium coelestium
They are listed below:
(1)There is no one center in the universe.
(2) The Earth's center is not the center of the universe.
(3) The center of the universe is near the sun.
(4) The distance from the Earth to the sun is imperceptible compared with the distance to the stars
(5) The rotation of the Earth accounts for the apparent daily rotation of the stars.
(6) The apparent annual cycle of movements of the sun is caused by the Earth revolving around it.
(7) The apparent retrograde motion of the planets is caused by the motion of the Earth from which one observes.  
It was not until the end of his life in 1543 that the completed work, De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium was published.
Theoretical confirmation was to be provided in the years to come by Kepler, Galileo and eventually Newton  through his
theory of Gravity.
Tycho Brahe (1546-1601)
Born in Skane, now in Sweden. He attended the universities of Copenhagen and Leipzig, and then traveled through the
German region, studying at Wittenberg, Rostock, and Basel. His main interests were alchemy and astronomy.
 Tycho published many important astronomical works  At Prague, he hired Johannes Kepler as an
assistant to calculate planetary orbits from his observations. . Because of Tycho's accurate observations and Kepler's
elliptical astronomy, these geocentric tables  were much more accurate than any previous tables.  While
Tycho did not accept the Copernican heliocentric theory, it did have advantages which he wanted to keep.
 Therefore Tycho  developed a system with the best of both worlds. He kept the Earth in the center of the universe, so that he
could retain Aristotelian physics (the only physics available). The Moon and Sun revolved about the Earth, and the shell of the
 fixed stars was centered on the Earth. But the other planets revolved about the Sun.
 This world system was popular early in the seventeenth century for those people who could not accept the
Ptolemaic system and, would not accept the Copernican alternative.
Galileo Galilei    (1564-1642 )
Galileo was born in Pisa.  If you had to name his most important contribution to astronomy it might be his improvement of the
 newly invented telescope (1609). With this device, he discovered the 4 moons of Jupiter, round appendages on Saturn and
the complete phases of Venus. This latter would bury the Ptolemaic universe forever.
Under pressure from the church, Galileo  recanted the Copernican concept, but by now the genie was out of the bottle.
Concerning Galileo’s work with gravity, Ron Tatman gave a demonstration of Galileo’s work with objects rolling on an inclined plane.
Galileo had observed  that the speed acquired by the same movable object over different inclinations of the plane are equal
 whenever the heights of those planes are equal.  Ron used 2 PVC channels at 2 different angles and simultaneously released marbles from
 the top of each one. They both reached the bottom at the same time!
 Johannes Kepler (1571- 1630)
Unlike Tycho, Kepler accepted the Copernican. solar system resulting in his 3 laws of planetary motion.
Law #1  The orbit of a planet about the Sun is an ellipse with the Sun's center of mass at one focus
Law #2:  A line joining a planet and the Sun sweeps out equal areas in equal intervals of time.
Law #3:  The ratio squares of the periods of the planets are proportional to the  ratio of the cubes of their semimajor axes:

Kepler’s third law plays an important part in the final sections of the Harmony of the World, (Harmonice Mundi) 
 Here appears, the  first known calculation of the golden ratio as a decimal, given to Kepler by his former Professor, Michael
Maestlin, . This value was 1.61803398874989484821... . This number also corresponds to the ratio of adjacent terms 1n  the Fibonacci  series.
This is truly a magic number which manifests itself in all kinds of natural and aestheic values.
Ron Tatman found it could even apply to certain curves in furniture and brought in one of his hand made Windsor chairs  to illustrate. the point.
Isaac Newton (1642 - 1727)
Newton is the ideal person to conclude this subject since he was the paragon of a renaissance man in the breadth of his achievements
 He is best known  for his laws of gravity and to us stargazers for the reflecting telescope  In math he worked on,the theory of equations,
 and differential calculus   In physical chemistry he studied viscosity.  His corpuscular theory of light, although lacking wave properties,
 in a way anticipated the quantum theory and photons.
 
Southern Constellations
The Argos Navis  group presented by Paul Riley
When the International Astronomical Union officially defined the 88 constellations and their boundaries, they split Argo Navis into 4 parts:
 Carina (the keel), Vela (the sail), Puppis (the poop), and Pyxis (the compass). Puppis is the stern of the ship that was built by the Argos for
 Jason and the Fifty Argonauts seeking the golden fleece.   When the voyage was over, Athene placed the boat in the sky, curiously
without a bow.Visible In Latitudes: 50° thru -90°
Viewing Season: Spring Best Seen In: March, 9:00 pm Right Ascension: 8.93 hours
Declination: -31.0 degs.  Paul’s 21 page Power Point slide show covered the many viewing
objects; among them: Open Clusters M46, M47,  and M93, The barred spiral galaxy NGC2442,
 Planetary Nebulae NGC2438 and NGC2140.   Double Stars Gamma and Epsilon Volantis.
 
The Solar system in April by Paul Riley
If you are traveling to Antarctica or Southern Africa in April, there is a partial solar eclipse on April 19th.
 On the morning of April 22nd the Lyrid meteors shower will peak.
The comet Thatcher, whose orbit is tilted 80 degrees to the ecliptic, left behind the Lyrid meteor stream. Because of this tilt,
the debris stream has remained stable, with recorded observations over centuries. The Chinese have
observed the Lyrids since 7 century BC. There will be a full moon on the 22nd, but you still might see some great meteors.
So get up a little early on the 22nd, grab a cup of coffee, and look between Vega and the Constellation Hercules
between 3AM and dawn. You might be surprised.The two comets 'in the news' are Comet C/2002 T7 and C/2001 Q4.
 Both of these will not be visible from here in April, but be ready in May. The Comet C/2002 T7 (Linear) will spend April
appearing to travel through Pisces (RA: 0 Dec: 10 to 0 deg.). Comet C/2001 Q4 (NEAT) is traveling in April very close to
 the Southern Celestial Pole.
April is a good month to look for 'Dark Nebulae'. Dark Nebulae are just as their name inplies, dark matter blotting out starlight
 behind it. Pull out your 2004 copy of the RASC Observer's Handbook, turn to pg 282 (authored by Paul Gray, thanks
Paul!), and see what you can't see.
 
 From The President’s Desk...
Delmarva Stargazers-the beginnings          
Beginning with this issue of Star Gazer News I will attempt to provide a history of our organization from my point of view.
I am sure there are others in our organization who would like to contribute to the accounting of how DSG began and has grown
from their point of view.  Please be assured your contributions are most welcome and will become part of our history.  Please send
your stories to Frank Sheldon.
So, here goes the DSG story from DRS’s memory.
My fascination with the night sky began when I was very young.  I remember going outside at night and seeing an inky black,
 very rural North Carolina sky dripping with stars.  At school I heard classmates talking about specific stars and planets and
strange sounding critters in the sky such as Scorpions, Dogs, and Dippers.  But from my house there were just so many stars
 that I could not comprehend how a person was supposed to know the name of a specific one - or which one was a planet.
 I remember the September nights I would go with Daddy to the cotton fields to load cotton that had been picked during the
day so that it could be trucked to the gin the next day.  The fall sky was dark and clear and the late summer Milky
Way was gorgeous.  The cotton loading was done by starlight because there were no lights  in the cotton field or on the tractor
 Also, we would get up at 2:00 am from July through late August to ‘take out tobacco’ (taking out tobacco means emptying a
curing barn of  cured(dried) tobacco so that we could refill it with green tobacco during the day).  We did this work in darkness;
sometimes there would be a kerosene lantern in the barn.  There were no electric lights anywhere except inside our house.
 Some mornings in August you just had to stare at the sky and wonder how all of it came to be.  Late August was also a time when
I looked forward to a lessening of the summer humidity and the maturing of our tobacco,  cotton and corn.  But the late September
and October skies were awesome!
My high school and college years are only a blur.  By the last semester of college I had the opportunity/necessity to take an astronomy
course.  Calculating orbits did not entice me to become an astronomer.  But the observing lab was hands-on science.  The first night
of our lab we were given a disassembled 6 inch newtonian and a german equatorial mount to reassemble so that we could do some
observing and photography during the semester.  I  learned a lot about telescopes and less about the sky that semester.  Specifically, I
learned that telescopes and mounts were expensive and nervous (they had a bad case of the jitters).  I do remember the Ring Nebula
and how pretty and lonely it appeared in the eyepiece.  I remember the Gemini and Apollo missions.  Strangely enough, I don’t remember
Apollo 11 landing on the moon because after graduating in June 1969, I worked two jobs that summer and just didn’t have time to sit in
front of the TV.  But I do remember Apollo 13 during the Christmas holidays of 1969 and how the whole world was relieved that our
guys made it home safely.  After graduation came responsibilities.  Twenty years of finding jobs, getting married, buying houses, moving
around the country and raising a family did not provide time or funds for a telescope
Then, in 1985, I had a significant, life examining experience in the form of a heart attack. Priorities changed immediately.
 And the desire to have a telescope made the cut.  I ordered a 10 inch Coulter dob in early 1986 on the advice of Billie Westergard, then
 president of Delaware Astronomical Society.  The delivery of the 10 inch Coulter was nine months from date of order.  Shortly after placing
the order I saw a used 80MM Towa refractor advertised in the For Sale section of the Sunday paper.  I decided it would be a fill-in until
 the Coulter arrived.  I was fascinated with the refractor and the fact that I could use it as long as I wanted any night that was
clear.  For nine months I scoured the Milky Way for globulars and was mesmerized by the moon, Jupiter, and Saturn
 Then the notice finally arrived that said my 10 inch Coulter Odyssey II was ready for shipment.  It was a HUGE scope and looked like a mortar
launcher. It arrived without a finder scope but I managed to find Jupiter without much difficulty the first night.
 As the French say, ‘Viva la difference!’.  The lights had been turned on and I never looked through the 80mm again.  The 10 inch was a
 wonderful scope.  I could see nebulae and galaxies!  I could see the Deep Space stuff that was out of reach of the 80mm Towa.
 Soon I was observing from Uncle Melvin and Aunt Kitty’s farm on the DE/MD line west of Smyrna.  And then I discovered star parties
 through star gazer/telescope maker Dave Pishnery from Cleveland, OH. Dave was working temporarily with us at Louviers Building and
guided me to astronomy magazines and Stellafane.
 The first star party I attended was Stellafane in 1988.  And I met Clyde Tombaugh there...such luck!  Also, I was introduced to other amateur
astronomers during the peak of the Perseid meteor shower.  I learned that we are all amateurs although some folks had been amateurs for 30 or
40 years and some of us for only a few months.  The camaraderie of that night of meteors at Stellafane and the opportunity to use equipment
I had only dreamed about set a course for my future years in amateur astronomy.
Stella-Della was next.  And Mars was at opposition.  While at Stella Della I looked at Mars through many different types of scopes (Celestron,
 Meade, Questar, & Cave).  The best view of all was through a 6 inch homemade newtonian.  Prior to that view I did not have a lot of positive
expectations from homemade telescopes, they were ‘homemade’ and they looked like homemade.   But the view through that 6 incher
was wonderful and left an impression. 
 Photography also caught my eye.  There were some presentations with stunning night skies in color and I filed a note that someday
I wanted to produce the same quality slides of our skies.  I also filed away the desire to have a long focal length planetary scope.
Telescope making was the next venture.  I decided I wanted an eight inch F-10 scope and proceeded to buy all the components to assemble it
 Telescopics mirror, fiberglass tube, fancy mirror cell and focuser, etc, all this added up to approximately $1000.  After evaluating this scenario
 I decided to cancel the 8 inch parts and invest $999 for a 17.5 inch Coulter Odyssey.Using an off axis mask would create the long focal ratios
I wanted for planetary viewing. 
Three months after placing the order my light bucket arrived and it became a magnet for meeting amateurs at star parties.
During the Mason-Dixon Star Party of 1990 I met the first of many future Delmarva Star Gazers, Herman Kline.
 I had the 17.5 inch Coulter at the party and Herman introduced himself as the owner of a Meade DS-16 permanently mounted in his backyard
 observatory  and that he lived on Route 72 which I traveled every day on my way to work.
 During that first night’s observing it became apparent to me that Herman knew the night sky like a taxi driver knows his town.  We became good
 friends and began observing together at Uncle Melvin and Aunt Kitty’s farm.  Through Herman I learned of the next future Star Gazer,
Lyle Jones, from Dover.  It seems his wife, Sheri, had car problems in front of Herman’s house and asked to use his phone (pre cell phone days!).
 She spied one of Herman’s telescopes while waiting for a rescue and commented that her husband had made a telescope.
 So, it wasn’t long until Lyle joined our observing sessions on the farm.  Next came Chuck and Frances McLaurin, more of Herman’s friends.
 Both were excellent  observers and telescope makers and Chuck insisted on ending our sessions with a looooooong peak at Stephan’s Quintet. 
Soon, there was Kathy Sheldon, Lyle’s next door neighbor.  Then Norm Todd, a friend of Kathy’s, joined in the observing with his new 20 inch
Obsession. 
During this period, I was reading Sky & Telescope and saw a report on comet viewing with 80MM binoculars by a person from Delaware, so
I looked up Doug Miller and gave him a call.  At  the Stella Della Party in the fall of ’88 I met Dave Groski and was introduced to the art of mirror
 making at Mt. Cuba.  While there, I met Greg Lee, Chuck Harkin, Tom Sidowski and Homi Bedhwar.
Needless to say, there were many more amateur astronomers in Delaware than I had anticipated.  During the early 90’s I lobbied some of the Delaware Astronomical Society folks for assistance in forming a group for the stargazers living south of the Canal.Success seemed remote through this channel so
 late in 1992 several of us began talking  about the possibility of creating our own organization. Early in 1993, the same few met to formally discuss how
to make our star gazing organization a reality.  And within a few weeks we met again to adopt a constitution/bylaws and formally established Delmarva
Star Gazers.  I believe the signers of the Articles were Kathy Sheldon, Lyle Jones, Herman Kline, Chuck and Frances McLaurin, Norman Todd,
 Doug Miller, my daughter Natalie, and myself.  I remember we decided there were a few must do’s to be successful:
(1) we wanted a monthly newsletter,
(2) we wanted monthly observing (star gazing)
(3) we wanted a monthly inside meeting
(4) we did not want to manage money
(5) we did not want to squabble over rules of order in our meetings
(6) we did not want to own real estate (maintenance is work)
(7) everyone with an interest in learning about their universe would be welcome to join our organization
(8) and, we decided to call ourselves Star Gazers vs Society because we were mainly interested in stargazing.
So, we were off and running.  Dues were set at a whopping $5.00 per year to cover the cost of producing and mailing our two-page newsletter.
We continued our monthly meetings at the First Presbyterian Church and observing at Uncle Melvin and Aunt Kitty’s farm. 
By Christmas our membership was approaching twenty-five.  
We decided to hold the First Delmarva Star Gaze in April of 1994 at Killens Pond State Park.So, by the time our organization was one year old
 we promoted the first regional star party on the Delmarva Peninsula.  I remember the weekend well.  The weather was absolutely great!
 Mother Nature dressed Killen’s Pond State Park in her finest spring attire..  The trees were budding, flowers were in bloom, the skies were clear
 and blue and also the nights were clear.  It was just a beautiful time.  Our Keynote speaker was Dr.Harry Shipman from the University of Delaware.
Although I don’t remember the subject matter I do remember he was a great speaker and kept the audience’s attention for approximately an hour.
The most important result of the First Delmarva Star Gaze was the communication among 125-150 amateur astronomers from this area.
 Overall, our membership probably doubled as a result of DSG #1.  And another important result of the Party was the confidence DSG
members gained and the camaraderie we experienced during planning and promoting the event.
Rewards were many and we continue to build on the success of that first year of Delmarva Star Gazers.
Stay tuned for a recap of the years that followed
Don...
 
 
  
 Sun and Moon Data for April 2004 Tuckahoe MD
       38.98°N  75.93°W  5hrW Daylight Time  Astronomical Twilight
          Sun                         Moon
      Date    Twi.  Rise  Transit  Set    Twi.  Rise  Transit  Set    %
   4/1/2004  5:16a  6:48a  1:07p  7:28p  8:59p  3:23p 10:36p  5:08a  83
   4/2/2004  5:15a  6:46a  1:07p  7:29p  9:01p  4:31p 11:23p  5:38a  90
   4/3/2004  5:13a  6:45a  1:07p  7:30p  9:02p  5:40p  *****  6:04a  96
   4/4/2004  5:11a  6:43a  1:07p  7:31p  9:03p  6:50p 12:10a  6:30a  99
   4/5/2004  5:09a  6:42a  1:06p  7:32p  9:04p  8:02p 12:58a  6:55a 100
   4/6/2004  5:08a  6:40a  1:06p  7:33p  9:05p  9:16p  1:47a  7:23a  98
   4/7/2004  5:06a  6:38a  1:06p  7:34p  9:07p 10:33p  2:39a  7:53a  93
   4/8/2004  5:04a  6:37a  1:05p  7:35p  9:08p 11:51p  3:35a  8:30a  86
   4/9/2004  5:02a  6:35a  1:05p  7:36p  9:09p  *****  4:35a  9:14a  77
  4/10/2004  5:00a  6:34a  1:05p  7:36p  9:10p  1:04a  5:37a 10:08a  67
  4/11/2004  4:59a  6:32a  1:05p  7:37p  9:12p  2:10a  6:40a 11:12a  56
  4/12/2004  4:57a  6:31a  1:04p  7:38p  9:13p  3:05a  7:41a 12:21p  44
  4/13/2004  4:55a  6:29a  1:04p  7:39p  9:14p  3:49a  8:38a  1:33p  33
  4/14/2004  4:53a  6:28a  1:04p  7:40p  9:16p  4:25a  9:30a  2:44p  24
  4/15/2004  4:51a  6:27a  1:04p  7:41p  9:17p  4:54a 10:18a  3:51p  15
  4/16/2004  4:50a  6:25a  1:03p  7:42p  9:18p  5:19a 11:03a  4:57p   8
  4/17/2004  4:48a  6:24a  1:03p  7:43p  9:19p  5:43a 11:46a  6:00p   4
  4/18/2004  4:46a  6:22a  1:03p  7:44p  9:21p  6:05a 12:29p  7:02p   1
  4/19/2004  4:44a  6:21a  1:03p  7:45p  9:22p  6:28a  1:11p  8:05p   0
  4/20/2004  4:43a  6:20a  1:03p  7:46p  9:23p  6:52a  1:54p  9:07p   1
  4/21/2004  4:41a  6:18a  1:02p  7:47p  9:25p  7:19a  2:40p 10:09p   4
  4/22/2004  4:39a  6:17a  1:02p  7:48p  9:26p  7:51a  3:27p 11:10p   9
  4/23/2004  4:37a  6:15a  1:02p  7:49p  9:28p  8:28a  4:16p  *****  15
  4/24/2004  4:36a  6:14a  1:02p  7:50p  9:29p  9:12a  5:07p 12:09a  22
  4/25/2004  4:34a  6:13a  1:02p  7:51p  9:30p 10:03a  5:58p  1:03a  31
  4/26/2004  4:32a  6:11a  1:01p  7:52p  9:32p 10:59a  6:49p  1:50a  40
  4/27/2004  4:31a  6:10a  1:01p  7:53p  9:33p 12:01p  7:38p  2:31a  49
  4/28/2004  4:29a  6:09a  1:01p  7:54p  9:34p  1:05p  8:26p  3:06a  59
  4/29/2004  4:27a  6:08a  1:01p  7:55p  9:36p  2:11p  9:13p  3:37a  69
  4/30/2004  4:26a  6:06a  1:01p  7:56p  9:37p  3:18p  9:59p  4:04a  78



Images from the 4th Mid-Atlantic Mirror Making Weekend