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Delmarva Stargazers 10 Year Anniversary
  As the end of the club’s 10th  year approaches, Cheri Jones has volunteered  to collect data from the club’s first  years, before it fades from memory.   To achieve this, she will interview the early members to document and edit any anecdotal material they are able to provide including photos.  This will be incorporated into the Club’s 10 year history which will be published in PDF format, and possibly issued  on CDROM.
 
Constellation of the Month: Scorpius (SKOR-pee-us)
This constellation was presented by Steve Long.
 Mythology- Scorpius is associated with Orion and indeed was the instrument of Orion’s death.  Fathered by the god Poseidon in a union with a mortal woman, Orion was half  god and half mortal.  When Orion got on the wrong side of the godess Artemis, she sent the scorpion to kill him.  For this deed, Artemis rewarded Scorpius by placing him in the sky.  She then placed Orion in the opposite part of the sky so the two would never tangle again.
Astronomy-
Stars
The alpha star in Scorpius is Antares, and is a M class Red Super Giant like Betelguese.
Beta Scorpii is a fine bright double star with a 13.6” separation;  easy  for 2” telescopes.  In his
handouts, Steve lists over 80 double stars ranging in separations from 4 to 15 arc seconds.
Deep Space Objects
Like its neighbor Sagittarius,  Scorpius is a large constellation in the south with a plethora of wonderful deep sky objects to observe. Steve did a fine job of listing  them in his hand outs which include a planetary nebula, 4 globular clusters and 29 open clusters. Below are excerpts of deep space objects which include 4 Messiers.
M4 is a Globular cluster.  At a distance of 7000 light years and visible to the naked eye, it may be the nearest globular cluster.
M6 This rectangular shaped open cluster when viewed with  binoculars and some imagination, can resemble a pair of starry wings stretching to either side of the cluster’s more densely packed center, earning the nickname, the Butterfly Cluster.
 M7 This open cluster is sometimes called Ptolemy’s Cluster, because he was the first to describe it as the fuzzy patch, following the scorpion’s stinger.  Rather large, M7 covers 1.3 degrees of the sky.
M80 This 7th magnitude globular cluster is tiny and concentrated, almost starlike in binoculars and a challenge just to identify.
NGC6242 is an open cluster located 1.6 degrees SSE of Mu Scorpii in the scorpions “tail”.Dreyer describes it as  a  bright (mag 6.4), large (9’) and rich with about 23 stars from mags. 8-11.
 
Program-  Halos and Sundogs
Presented by Doug Miller and Don Surles
Doug began this presentation with  descriptions of the various events interspersed with slides illustrating the events.   Sundogs and Halos are examples of atmospheric  phenomena produced by ice crystals as opposed  to phenomona produced by water droplets (Rainbows, Coronas and Glories) .   These ice crystals form year round as hexagonal prisms in cirrus clouds at heights
of 3 to 6 miles above the earth.  These prisms can be in the form of plates or columns.
The most frequent occurrence is the  22 degree ring around the sun aka Parhelic circle and the second most common are the Parhelia or Sundogs.
Doug and Don both showed slides of atmospheric phenomena. Don’s slides covered the whole field whereas Doug concentrated mostly on halos and ice formed phenomona.
In the course of his activities, Doug constructed a device to measure halo-type refraction. He filled a hexagonal betta fish tank with water and then passed a 632.8 nm laser ray through it. The water filled hexagon simulates the ice crystals in the cirrus clouds and the red laser shows the angle of the refracted rays.  Blocks were put in the path to visualize the actual ray.  Doug’s final measurements were actually 25^o, which while not 22^o, is close enough considering the variables.
The Les Cowley website (listed in Doug’s program handouts) has a halo simulator program and is located at: http://www.sundog.clara.co.uk/halo/halosim.htm.
Below is an image of the Halo3 user menu:

If you download and install the Halo3 simulation program, you will be able to creat your own color Halo displays.
The program is a lot of fun, even if you don’t know what you’re doing (me).  In the 120^o parhelion ray path, the program  traces a ray until it finally emerges from  the crystal or until the user defined  maximum number of  internal reflections is exceeded.  The user defined variables are the altitude of the Sun (in degrees), the number of rays, crystal shape and
orientation etc.   In my limited experience, the most influential variable seemed to be the number of rays.
Below is an image of a simulation using 800,000 rays with a Sun  altitude of 12^o.

From the President’s Desk...
September 16, 2002  Well, we did survive the hot and dry summer.  I am looking forward to Fall and the clear, cool nights of September through November.  Yes, we might need a jacket and a hat but the mosquitoes don’t have that luxury and they must leave the field when temps begin to fall.  They are replaced by Buck Deer looking for Jane Doe, migrating Canada geese, and other strange night critters that seem to come alive in Fall.
The Summer Milky Way begins to shift westward and loses a significant amount of it’s brilliance.  Watching Aquila and Cygnus dive head first into the southwest is a sure sign of Summer’s end and the beginning of forecasts that include the possibility of frost on the punkin.
Fall also means it is time for our No-Frills Star Party.  As all of you who have attended a No-Frills party know, there are plenty of “frills” at this party – we just don’t advertise them.  The No-Frills is a time for relaxing and visiting with old friends, making knew ones, and learning about the latest gadgets our attendees have acquired.  It is also a time to enjoy some great “woods cooking” that normally includes fried fish and mouth-watering hushpuppies, corn-on-the-cob, lima bean and ham soup, and of course, Dan Kennedy’s famous crab soup from the waters off Bivalve, MD.  Normally there are some slide shows of our
nighttime favorite deep sky objects and some presentations by attendees depicting their astronomical exploits (such as looking for the perfect observing site, photographing the Horsehead, discovering a new comet), kinda like Jason and the Argnauts’ quest for the Golden Fleece.
And then there is a lot of amateur astronomy that takes place around the all-night coffee pot and hotdog table – especially from 2-4AM.  We do have a good time!  I hope every Star Gazer attends and enjoys this party.  Please remember it is October and the nights can get cool so bring an extra layer of clothing.
We have a special event this year for the No Frills.  In past years we have made mirrors, telescopes, solar filters, etc.  This year we will make “Scope Coats”.  We have a supply of aluminized Tyvek, a sewing machine, and plenty of time to make a nice scope coat for your telescope.  The benefits of aluminized Tyvek: it reflects sunlight and heat, is waterproof, it breathes, keeps your scope clean, cool, and dry, and it is CHEAP.  Consider a new wardrobe for your equipment – I think you will like the functionality and price of this product.
Our program for October is “Buying the Christmas Telescope”.  This will be an informative session for anyone contemplating buying a scope or related equipment for a favorite person this Christmas season.  Please plan to attend and have those questions ready – I am sure someone will have the answer.
Terry Young will do the Constellation of the Month – Aquila.  There are lots of objects for viewing and mythology stories about Aquila.  And none of them mention the heavenly baseball diamond – could the mythology creators be biased or just ignorant?  I am sure Terry will have the answers for us.
So, we are off to a great start on our ninth year of amateur astronomy – yes, we will be ten years old in April 2003!  Looking back at the accomplishments of this organization in the first ten years we just have to question what the next decade holds for us.
See you at the Church or Tuckahoe.
Don…
 
The Editor’s Quadrant....
The Planets in October
Mercury is a morningstar for all of October increasing in magnitude from +3.6 to -1.0 as the month ends and will show phase changes along the way.   Venus is an evening star visible but low in early October heading towards inferior conjunction towards the end of the month. Mars is a morning star in October, dim (Mag 1.8) and unimpressive throughout the month.  Jupiter rises well after 1:00a.m. as October opens and then rises ever  earlier as the  month proceeds, going from  Mag. -1.9 to -2.1 as the month ends.  Saturn will also do nothing but improve in October as it rises ever earlier in the evening and the
rings open to their widest and the magnitude reaches -0.2.    As for the remaining planets in October, Uranus and Neptune can still be found in Capricornus and Pluto remains in the southern part of Ophiuchus.
Clear Skies!  Frank Sheldon f.a.sheldon@att.net

Future Meetings...The remaining meeting dates  for 2002 will be:   October 01, November 05, December  03.  The regular meeting format includes discussion of club activities, observing highlights and an advertised presentation.
We solicit suggestions for topics and presenters.

Club Observing... Observing is (usually) scheduled for the Friday nearest the New  Moon to maximize the hours of  deepnight  without the moon in the sky.   Unless otherwise stated,  the monthly observing site will be at the baseball field in the camping  area at Tuckahoe State Park.
The monthly observing days left for the year 2002 will be:   No-Frills VII  October 2-6, November 1, and December 6.   The cloud or rain date for the monthly Friday observing will be the following Saturday, but don't trust the weather man!  Go outside and look for yourself or check the CNN weather link on our web page.   If  you still can't decide, Call Don Surles (302) 653-9445 or Lyle Jones (302) 736-9842