The Atmosphere
was  presented in Power Point by Michael Borgia.
The meteorological graphics provided a stunning “wallpaper” background to his presentation.  Borgia defines the Atmosphere as a thin layer of gases
surrounding the earth, largely created by earth emissions and trapped by the earth’s gravity. It sustains life on earth by providing air to breathe and
protection from the sun’s radiation. The chemical composition of the atmosphere is basically Nitrogen 78% and Oxygen 21%; the remaining 1%
consists of a variety of noble gases, CO2 and lighter elements. The atmosphere may also contain up to a maximum of 4% water at any given time.
The 4 main layers of the atmosphere were presented from the ground up as follows:
Troposphere Sea level to 24,000 feet
This layer contains 50% of the entire atmospheric mass and is the layer in which all of the weather occurs.
The temperature in the troposphere goes down, the higher you climb.
Stratosphere 24,000-63,000 feet
In this layer, air is quite stable and the temperature is constant to 175,000 ft.where it peaks at -5 deg. C (stratopause). The Ozone layer occurs
between 75,000 and 110,000 ft.
Mesosphere. 175,000 feet to 62 miles
As height increases,temperatures fall again to as low as -93C at 62 miles.  At this height, atmospheric pressure can no longer be measured.
This layer is home to the Ionosphere and  Auroras as the Sun’s energy strips electrons from their atoms creating NO+ and O2+ ions.
Thermosphare  62 to 370 miles
In this layer as height  increases, temperatures can reach 1700C in individual air molecules.    It could never be felt, however, because the air is so rare
 In spite of this, the International  Space Station loses 600 feet of altitude a day because of air friction! The Thermosphere ends when atmospheric gas
can no longer be differentiated from interplanetary space gas.
Weather-The major result of all of this, is weather which Borgia defines as the heat exchange between different areas, all trying to reach a state
of theoretical equilibrium, the International Standard Atmosphere (ISA).  Since this stable state can never be attained, the troposphere is
always in motion.   If this stable state could be attained, it would result in a Sea Level temperature of 15C/59F.  This temperature would fall by 2C/3.6F
for every 1000 feet of altitude  The processes preventing ISA from ever happening, are called variations,
Some of these variations are listed below:
Diurnal- Night and Day
Seasonal- Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter
Geographic- water masses vs. land masses
A Good Night at the Scope
Borgia concluded with all aspects of seeing for Stargazers. This included things like Transparency (Air free of particulate matter) and
Stability ( air free of motion)  Instability causes stars to “twinkle”and planets to blur.

From The President’s Desk...
February 15, 2004   Time is marching on…by the time you read this it will be nearing March.
The days are growing longer, the sun is rising higher every day; and if you note the positions on the horizon where it rises and sets,
you will notice it’s rise moves from southeast to due east (March 20) and the setting sun moves from southwest to due west (March 20).
 We will talk about the sun’s continued march toward the northeast (sunrise) and northwest (sunset) in later editions.  And don’t
forget to listen for the swamp frogs’ early singing later this month – they should be singing by late February.
How do you deal with the disappointments that often enter into our hobby?   Example: Friday, February 13 was a gorgeous day.
All day long the sky was crystal clear; the weather forecast for the night was clear with temps in the 25-30F range (the Tuckahoe Clear sky clock
forecast was transparent and dark).  The moonrise was slated for shortly after midnight.  Being good amateur astronomers, some of us decided
to go to Tuckahoe for a great night of stargazing – this would be the first decent opportunity in several weeks for many of us.
After an hour of loading equipment and driving for almost another hour we arrived at the baseball field to find a sky already showing clouds
in the west and as the sky darkened, the clouds moved overhead and thickened.  Waiting two hours for the sky to clear, proved useless so
we packed up and came home.  The trip home plus unpacking was another two hours.  So, we spent approximately six hours and the
only fruit was the camaraderie of the group.
In my opinion, this scenario is played out too often for amateur astronomers on the Delmarva Peninsula.  Our actual time at the eyepiece is a
tiny fraction of the  total hours we invest in our hobby.  We cannot change the weather.  We cannot reduce the light pollution around our homes
within our lifetime.  So we must travel to a dark site and we must deal with the weather.  That leaves the packing and unpacking of equipment
which must be done four times for each observing session.  I would like to reduce the packing and unpacking time for myself and other amateur
astronomers.
We have discussed permanent observing facilities in the past and failed to take the first steps toward establishing anything permanent.
I propose we establish a team of four or five people to investigate how to successfully go about the task of creating a permanent observatory(s).
The scope of the investigation should include:
(1) a list of possible sites and the number of sites necessary,
(2) legal arrangements for obtaining use of the sites,
(3) possible permanent type structures,
(4) a survey of other clubs with permanent facilities for key learnings,
(5) some idea of the cost associated with a permanent site, and
(6) the team should also investigate the fog factor, ie, we should look for a site
that does not promote fog.
Please consider becoming a member of the team; we will discuss further at our next meeting. Another concept we might want to pursue is to look
at the way we observe…we are continuing in the tradition of amateur astronomers of 100-200 years ago with our current scope and eyepiece visual astronomy.
It may be time for us to challenge the correctness of looking thru the eyepiece of a reflector or refractor.  As technology changes and offers us more
opportunities to wipe out many of the effects of light pollution and to create hi-quality images, maybe we should stop riding the old light bucket and eyepiece – maybe we should embrace technology.  A dedicated setup consisting of a small hi-quality scope, precision mount, hi-performance camera, and the right computer algorithm may be the engine that puts Ol Maude out to pasture and puts some zip back into our observing sessions.  I view this scenario as almost inevitable
although personally I am not ready to put my Ol Maude in the pasture.  It’s similar to film vs digital; I know digital is the way of the future but I just can’t dump my film cameras at this time.  Such a sentimentalist!
Our Fourth Mid-Atlantic Mirror Making weekend is upon us.  We have the glass, grit, & pitch in hand – early for the first time.  We have a full slate of mirror
makers.  Keith Lohmeyer, James Morgan, Dave Wells, Jim Acker, and I assembled tables Feb 7 to replace those sold last year.  The new tables plus those remaining from last year should be sufficient.  If you have borrowed a table please consider returning it for MMM#4 weekend – and then take it home with you
for another year.  I will make sure my truck is empty for the next meeting (March 2) if you would like to bring it to the meeting.  Today, we are divvying up the grits and checking the glass for shipping damage.  And all is well – no broken glass!!!  Please plan to stop by Mallard Lodge and learn the art and science involved in
amateur telescope mirror making.
For those who may not have heard the announcement: our Star Gaze X will be held April 14-18 at the Tuckahoe Equestrian Center.  I think you will like the additional sky.  Although it is early March it is also time for each of us to begin thinking about the next cycle of officer nominations and elections that commence
with the May meeting (nominations) and in June the actual elections.  Please consider offering your services and talents for the good
of the club.  This is a fine organization and it is fine because of the contributions and time devoted to it by all of our members.
Continue the good work and continue to enjoy the camaraderie of your fellow Stargazers.
Our contact with the community is off to a great start for 2004.  We have engagements with the public at Prime Hook and Bombay Hook Wildlife Refuges in
November; we are considering a program at Camp Arrowhead in August.  I am sure there are others – these are just the events for which I have
been contacted.  There will be many other opportunities; the transit of Venus in June for example.
Enuf said – see you at the Church, Tuckahoe, or Mallard Lodge the first weekend
of March for the Mirror Making weekend.
Don…

The Solar System in March   Paul Riley
The five 'naked eye' planets will be visible as the sun sets this month. Mercury will naturally be lowest in the sky, visible as the sun sets, with Venus, Mars,
Saturn and Jupiter following across the sky, west to east.
                                *****
Have you seen the Zodiacal Light? Have you seen the Zodiacal Light and not known what it was?
In the spring and fall, the Zodiacal Light is visible  before sunrise and after sunset. It appears as a triangular bright area near the horizon when the sun is
below the horizon. It is called Zodiacal light because the glow appears in front of the Zodiac Constellations.  It  is caused by sunlight reflecting off interplanetary
dust and debris left over from the formation of the planets some 4.5 billion years ago. This dust is in orbit around the sun in the same plane as the planets (the
Ecliptic). This effect is most noticeable in the spring and fall because the ecliptic is almost perpendicular to the horizon during these seasons. Go outside in March
and see if you can be “enlightened”.
 

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