At the September Meeting......
Don Surles brought the meeting to order at 7:15 with 23 members and
guests attending.
UFO?! August 31 While searching for comet C/2003
K4 (LINEAR) in the neighborhood of Arcturus, member Rick Barnes
stumbled
on a white nova-like
cloud about the size of the moon...had the comet exploded? Rick
photo-graphed
the object and posted images on the yahoo pages where a number of folks
were able to identify his “UFO”. Mike Borgia and others
identified
the event as the launch of an Atlas Centaur Rocket from the Kennedy
Space
center. The actual white cloud was formed by a dump of liquid hydrogen
fuel from the spent upper stage of the rocket that launched the
payload.
Outreach Opportunities
Volunteers are needed to help out with the following events:
Dover Library Wednesday afternoon astronomy sessions
starting October 6.
Near Augustine Beach 40 to 50 cub scouts Inside and
outside
programs October 15.
Bombay Hook November 19 with Nov 29 rain date. Many
birding
people.
Prime Hook Wildlife Refuge Probably November.
What’s up September 2004 Keith Lohmeyer
Conjunctions 9/10/04
Venus, Saturn and the Moon will form a triangle near the constellation
Gemini, best
viewed just before dawn.
Mercury will rise ¼ degree away from Regulus in Leo, just as
the sky brightens.
New Comets
2004/Q2 (Machholz) is a 10th magnitude comet in Eridanus with
a 3’coma that should be visible in a 6-inch telescope from all but the
far-northern latitudes.
Unfortunately, moonlight will interfere until Sept 9th or so. Comet
Machholz, discovered visually in a 10 inch reflector on August 27at
3:00A.M.,
is the 10th
comet discovered by Don Machholz of California. According to the
preliminary
orbit, this comet will brighten dramatically and may be visible to the
naked eye
after Christmas!
2004 Q1 (Tucker) is a 12th magnitude object in
Cetus
with a 21” coma that should be visible in an 8 –inch telescope.
Moonlight
will interfere until the
5th or so. Comet Tucker was discovered on CCD images by Roy A. Tucker
of Tuscon, Arizona on August 23 at 3:00 A.M. This comet should brighten
until around November 1, when it should be brighter than 11 magnitude
and
in Andromeda. Throughout time it will be well placed for evening
observation from both the northern and southern hemispheres.
*************
From the President’s Desk...
September 17 What is recreation and how much are you willing
to commit to your chosen forms of recreation? If you include
amateur
astronomy and star
parties in your chosen forms of recreation then this weekend and our
No Frills Star Party provided an acid test. The skies, the
hurricane
gods, the fog gods,
the god of clouds, the muggies, and various other celestial and
meteorological
forces successfully conspired to produce the worst week of star party
weather
our organization has experienced in all of our nineteen star
parties.
Days of weatherfunk and fickle would-be star party attendees may alter
this organization’s willingness to commit to future star parties.
The volunteered efforts of our many Star Gazers were ignored by all
those
who did not show for the Ninth No Frills Party. Although I can
understand
the decision of each person who did not attend it is still quite
disappointing
to prepare for 4 or 5 days of amateur astronomy for
a very limited number of people. We will review our inputs and
the outputs of No Frills #9 and report to you next month of any changes
in our plans for star
partiesin the coming year.
Sunday morning, September 19th update: the 9th No Frills
is history. The remains of Hurricane Ivan successfully and
thoroughly dumped on the observing
field from late Friday thru all day Saturday and convinced even the
most hardy of us that we should pack up and vamoose. So, we
strategically
retreated from the
Equestrian Center at 1:00 PM Saturday afternoon; now only the storing
of Star Party equipment and supplies and analysis of NF #9
remain.
Quoting one of our
party attendees, “Sometimes you are the windshield and sometimes you
are the bug!”. Now, to rub salt into the wounds of rained
out
starparty planners and
attendees the skies cleared by 2:00 AM Sunday morning and the forecast
for the next several days is for clear skies – this morning it is 54F
with
a north wind and
CLEAR!
The overall attitude of our attendees this year is disturbing to
me.
Talking to the few attendees has confirmed my belief that our scopes
and
equipment are taking
root in storage. They are being used less each year due to the
lack of access to suitable observing sites. Our backyard has
become
too bright for most of us to
use. Our hobby has never had access to more or better equipment
than at present. We have a desire to continue with amateur astronomy;
some
of us have more time to devote to star gazing than before. Money,
time, equipment, and desire are very plentiful. But we do
not
have the skies and in recent years we have been plagued with
weatherfunk
of one type or the other. I believe each of us spends more hours
traveling to and from observing sites and loading(home),
unloading(site),
reloading(site) and unloading(home) equipment than we do observing.
As we travel farther and farther to observing sites we also must travel
farther
and longer late at night when we are less alert (ie, we are
asleep!).
This is unsafe and is a recipe for disaster for us and for our
hobby.
Recognizing we have a
problem is just the beginning. Finding workable solutions and
implementing them is absolutely necessary and the time to begin is nowI
believe we should lobby our government reps for assistance in reducing
excessive light pollution, for night-time access to government owned
properties,
and for establishment of permanent facilities on those properties for
the
purpose of amateur astronomy activities Government owned property can
be
used for astronomy just as surely as it is used
for hunting, hiking, biking, fishing, logging, and low-rent leases
to private agriculture. I invite anyone who is interested in
pursuing
more access to more
government-owned observing sites to contact me so that we can form
a task force to make this a reality.
Now we must put the No-Astronomy Summer of 2004 behind us. Fall
2004 begins tomorrow! No more summer weatherfunk to foul our
plans.
Coming events include: a total lunar eclipse October 28th, Saturn
reaches
60 degrees in elevation and will provide us with excellent
viewing
- and it grows
in size and brightness, Daylight Savings Time ends Sunday Oct
31st, Jupiter and Venus are in conjunction Nov 4th, there will be
occultations
of the Moon with Jupiter (1 deg), Venus (0.2 deg), & Mars (0.5 deg)
on Nov 9, 10, & 11, the Leonid meteor shower peaks Nov 17th (very
little
moon interference!),
Jupiter grows in diameter, brightness and elevation, and the Geminid
meteor shower peaks Dec 13th (again very little moon interference).
Fall is also a time for increased Auroral activity. If you are
interested in auroras please log on to www.spaceweather.com for current
information on
sunspots, coronal mass ejections, and their effects on our
atmosphere.
All of these events will happen during the driest months of the
year.
Keep your
astronomical fingers crossed and hex the weatherman/woman as often
as possible.We have plenty of opportunities to improve our astronomy
activities
in the
coming months. I am sure each of you will do your best as each
opportunity makes it’s appearance. Please don’t forget to enlist
the assistance and input of
your fellow amateur astronomer friends. Progress is faster and
better when we all pitch in and pull together for the common good.
Keep your Naglers dry and do the Clear Sky Dance often. See you
at the Church or Tuckahoe.
Don…
October Deep Sky Challenges Kent Blackwell
In the words of poet T. S. Eliot, “If April is the cruelest month”,
then surely October is the kindest. The air becomes cooler and
cleaner
in this month of bracing
air. There is just something magical about the golden colors of dying
cornfields and myriads of orange-colored pumpkins lining outdoor
markets,
ready to be
carved for spooky Halloween decorations.
October is also a very good month to dry off one’s telescope after
a very wet summer season. For this month’s challenging objects I’ve
picked
two globular
clusters and a Barnard dark nebula. That Barnard is the best nothing
I've ever seen.
NGC 6717 Sagittarius
Globular Cluster
Apparent Position: RA. 18h55m15.3s Dec. -22°41'57"
Magnitude: 8.4
A pretty little globular cluster only 1.7' south of the 5.8 magnitude
star Nu2 (35 Sgr). Though it’s small and contains only a very few
bright stars, it's quite
interesting to see a globular so close to such a bright star. The only
time I have observed N6717 was on August 24, 1995 through a 12.5" f/6
Newtonian.
Have you ever seen it?
Barnard 146 Cygnus
Dark Nebula
Apparent Position: RA. 20h04m59.9s Dec. +36°04'24"
Barnard 146 is a small, inky black spot lying next to a 6.6 and 9.5
magnitude double star. The inky spot stands out from the glow of the
Milky Way.
I saw this in a 4.5” Orion StarBlast, so it’s not too terribly
difficult. Report to me if you see it.
Palomar 2 Auriga
Globular Cluster
Apparent Position: RA. 04h46m21.7s Dec. +31°23'26" (Aur)Magnitude:
13.0
I was expecting this to be much more difficult. Easy at 200x in a
12.5”,
but don’t expect to resolve it. Quite large and faint, but one of the
easiest
of the
Palomar globulars. Lies just west of a 13.3 magnitude star, but that
star does not affect viewing Pal 2. Obscure globulars aren’t always
easy
but are
always rewarding
Kent Blackwell
MULTIPLE STARS - Contributed by
Dave Wells
ETA CASSIOPEIAE
RA 0h49.1m DEC +57° 49’
PA 293 Sep 12.2”
Mag 3.4, 7.5
A nice binary with good color contrast.
EPSILON LYRAE
RA 18h44.3m DEC +39° 5840’
PA
Sep Mag
AB+CD 173 207.7” 4.7,
5.1 (e1 + e2)
AB 357
2.6” 5.0, 6.1 (e1)
CD 094
2.3” 5.2, 5.5 (e2)
The famous “double double”. Easy to split the main double (e1 +
e2) with
binoculars. Splitting e1 and e2, individually, is a good test of
your telescope
optics.
32 PEGASI
RA 22h21.5m DEC 28° 21’
PA Sep Mag
AB 127 72.6”
4.8, 9.2
BC 018 2.4”
9.2, 10.9
AD 307 42.3”
4.8, 11.9
AE 116 60.3”
4.8, 11.9
AF 294 00.4”
4.8, 8.9
A six star multiple.--MESSIER OBJECTS
- Contributed by Dave Wells(With apologies to Stephen James
O’Meara)
M31
– Andromeda Galaxy
RA 0h42m7 DEC +42°
16’
Mag 3.4 Size 3°x
1°
A large spiral galaxy 2.3 million
light years distance from Earth, one of the most distant objects
visible to the
naked eye. A magnificent binocular study, with much detail
available to even
small aperture telescopes.
M52 – Open Cluster – The Scorpion
RA 23h24m.8 DEC +61° 36’
Mag 6.0 Size 16’
This open cluster appears as a large uniform glow to binoculars, but is
a rich telescopic cluster.
Dominated by an 8th magnitude topaz star (not an actual part of
the cluster) which is the tip of the scorpion’s tail
M56 – Globular Cluster
RA 19h16m.6 DEC +30° 11’
Mag 8.4 Size 7’
Constellation: Lyra
At low power this globular cluster appears as a “dirty snowball” amid
the Milky Way. Moderate power starts to resolve the cluster.
<>The Solar system in October
Paul Riley
Good
News - Bad News
Bad News first - The partial solar eclipse on Oct 14th is not visible
from here. If you are traveling to NE Asia or parts of Alaska, you
might see this
event!
Good News - are you in luck!! On the night of Oct 27-28th the Hunter's
Moon will
be eclipsed. The whole event is visible for us on the
eastern half
of the US. The eclipse will start (enter penumbra) a little
after 8PM EDT. Total eclipse begins 10:23 PM EDT and ends 11:45 PM
EDT.
The Moon leaves penumbra 2 AM EDT. Start praying now for clear skies
on the
27th. Almost 6 hours of just pure entertainment! You won't find this
on cable!
Zodiacal Light should be visible during October. See your March
newsletter
for
more info on this phenomenon.Planets- Uranus and Neptune are
near
Capricornus
this month with Saturn hanging around Cancer. Set your alarms early
this month,
for you can find Venus, Jupiter and Mars (in that order) rising in
the early morning
just before the Sun.
The Edmund Halley Program
presented by Bob Mentzer appears below in
an
abridged version to fit this newsletter. It is presented in the
first person.
Tonight’s speaker will be, Edmond Halley, the second Astronomer
Royal.
In this rare
appearance, or apparition, Dr. Halley will talk to us about his “Life
as a Scientific
Adventurer”. Dr. Halley has told me that most astronomy books
only mention one or two
things that he did and thus give no sense of the variety of pioneering
scientific work that he
engaged in over his entire life span.
MY LIFE AS A SCIENTIFIC ADVENTURER
It is indeed a pleasure to appear before such a distinguished
group of amateur astronomers. Whenever I read a current
account of my life,
they always talk about my prediction of the return of Halley’s comet
and my work on
getting Newton to publish,
and actually paying for the publication of
his Principia.
Now those two things are correct, and I am justly proud of them.
Yet my
interests were much wider ranging then just those two
things.
So tonight I would like to tell you my life story
and see if you agree that I did indeed have a multi-textured scientific
life.
I
was born in London October 29th 1656, making me 14 years younger than
Newton. My father had a soap making factory and other business
interests and property in and around London. Our neighbors,
friends, and my school friends frequently had business connections with
the East India Company or other similar business interests. The
1650’s were turbulent times in England. To quote Dickens “they
were the best of times, they were the worst of times.” They were
the best
because they were my childhood years. But civil war stalked the
land. Cromwell and the Commonwealth were in power at my
birth. Charles had been beheaded
7 years earlier. The monarchy was restored when I was 4
years old in 1660. Samuel Pepys, who would become a friend of
mine, was 27 that year when he went out to see Major-General Harrison
hanged, drawn and quartered. The new King’s revenge had
started. In 1665, when I was 9, the Great Plague hit
London. People died by the thousands. We had enough money
that we could flee to our country property so no one close to me
died. Then the next year the
Great Fire hit London. The people who fled the plague were
mainly the wealthy and they did so over several weeks. But this
time everyone was fleeing London over the span of a few days. The
roads teemed with refugees. At every rise you could look back and
see the towering flames of London on fire.
I was only 10 so those awful scenes would appear in my
dreams for the rest of my life. When we returned we found that
the house we had been living in had narrowly escaped the fire.
The turbulence continued. For more than 25 years of my life
we were at war with France, and if not them then the Dutch. I was
32 when William of Orange invaded and captured the crown.
In 1673, when I was 17, I went to Oxford University. I was
always interested in astronomy I often observed with
my friend Charles Bouche who put me in touch with the first Astronomer
Royal, John Flamsteed At this time the Greenwich buildings were
still on the drawing boards.I published 3 papers while at
Oxford.
One dealt with a mathematical way to determine the elliptical
orbits of planets. The second
was on sunspots and the third on an
occultation of Mars by the Moon that allowed me to calculate the
longitude difference between Oxford and other locations \
that had made
similar observations. After 3 years at Oxford, I left to
begin my
first scientific adventure: sailing to St Helena’s to spend a year
measuring
the stars in the southern hemisphere. Thus one October day in
1676 I stepped aboard the ship “Unity” for my 3 months voyage to
St Helena. I brought with me state-of-the-art instruments
including a 5 ½ foot sextant with telescopic
sight. Remember this was 67 years after Galileo’s
reinvention of the telescope.
I also had a 2 foot quadrant, a
pendulum clock, several telescopes, one 24 feet long. Telescopes
had to be long to minimize aberrations until Dolland patented
achromatic lenses in the 1750’s. I also noticed that a pendulum
clock ran slower near the equator. I had no explanation at
the time but later Newton would have one using his new theory of
gravitational attraction. In St.Helena I did publish data on some 300
stars. I also observed a transit of Mercury while
there.
After a full year of observing I left for
England. In the 3 months voyage home I was able to complete the
work and I published it soon after I arrived
back home.
Although
it was not all I had hoped for, it still was a major accomplishment,
the first accurate star
map of the southern skies. Fifty years later it was
still the
most comprehensive map of the southern skies. As a consequence, I
was granted a degree from Oxford and elected to the Royal
Society
The premier observational astronomer at this
time was Johann Hevelius of Danzig. In May of 1679 I went
by boat to meet him and brought my 2 foot quadrant
with telescopic
sights. In January of 1681, I journeyed to Paris to meet with Cassini
who was doing impressive work on the rotations of Venus, Mars and
Jupiter.
He used the times of the Jupiter Moon eclipses as a
celestial clock for determining longitude. In 1695 I did the
first comet calculations. I gave a report to
the Royal Society in
1696 where I concluded that some comets could return periodically and
that the comets of 1607 and 1682 were the same comet.
In 1720,
upon the death of Flamsted, I was appointed the second Astronomer
Royal. I was 64 years old. I studied the saltiness of seas
and lakes with
no outlet. By estimating the rate that rivers
carry salt into them, I could estimate there age and approximate the
age of the earth.
My estimates were greater than the
current biblical-based predictions of a few thousand
years.
In 1691, a frigate floundered off the coast of
Sussex. This ship’s cargo includied much gold. I designed a
diving bell and divers helmet to try and salvage the cargo.
We worked in about 50 feet of water. The bell sat on the bottom
and the divers could go inside to breath. I sent air down in
wooden casks full of air.
They were opened in the bell and the pressure
forced the air to the top. The diving helmet had an air
line from the air in the bell to the helmet and a return
line to a
container above the bell at lower pressure. The pressure
difference forced air from the bell to the helmet. We had much trouble
with currents moving
along the bottom but finally had fair success with
the salvage. Harrison came to me around 1730 with his first
clock. I could see the genius in the man and sent
him to Graham the leading clockmaker of the day. Graham
encouraged him to continue his work.In 1735 Graham and I and others
signed a certificate saying that Harrison deserved public support for
his work.
I explained how the transit of Venus was the best tool available to
determine the size of the solar system.
Finally on January 14, 1742. I was sitting in a chair after drinking a
glass of wine, not brandy, when the spirit, that was Edmond Halley,
departed this earth. My obituaries talked of my achievements but
none mentioned my prediction of a comet’s return in 1759, 17 years
after my death. The comet is on about a
76 year cycle, it had to be in
the sky above me sometime between age 10 and 76. And indeed it
was known as the comet of 1682. So I saw it at age 26
It
wasn’t very impressive that year.
-finis-
Sun and Moon Data for October 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 %
10/1/2004 5:31a 7:00a 12:53p 6:46p 8:14p 8:24p 2:57a 10:09a 90
10/2/2004 5:32a 7:01a 12:53p 6:44p 8:13p 8:56p 3:44a 11:14a 83
10/3/2004 5:33a 7:02a 12:53p 6:43p 8:11p 9:33p 4:32a 12:17p 75
10/4/2004 5:34a 7:03a 12:52p 6:41p 8:10p 10:17p 5:22a 1:17p 66
10/5/2004 5:35a 7:04a 12:52p 6:40p 8:08p 11:07p 6:13a 2:11p 57
10/6/2004 5:36a 7:05a 12:52p 6:38p 8:06p ***** 7:05a 2:59p 48
10/7/2004 5:37a 7:06a 12:51p 6:36p 8:05p 12:04a 7:55a 3:40p 38
10/8/2004 5:38a 7:07a 12:51p 6:35p 8:03p 1:05a 8:44a 4:15p 29
10/9/2004 5:39a 7:08a 12:51p 6:33p 8:02p 2:08a 9:32a 4:44p 21
10/10/2004 5:40a 7:09a 12:51p 6:32p 8:00p 3:13a 10:17a 5:11p 13
10/11/2004 5:41a 7:10a 12:50p 6:30p 7:59p 4:18a 11:02a 5:35p 7
10/12/2004 5:42a 7:11a 12:50p 6:29p 7:57p 5:24a 11:46a 5:58p 3
10/13/2004 5:43a 7:12a 12:50p 6:27p 7:56p 6:31a 12:32p 6:22p 0
10/14/2004 5:44a 7:13a 12:50p 6:26p 7:55p 7:41a 1:20p 6:48p 0
10/15/2004 5:45a 7:14a 12:49p 6:25p 7:53p 8:53a 2:10p 7:19p 3
10/16/2004 5:46a 7:15a 12:49p 6:23p 7:52p 10:09a 3:06p 7:55p 8
10/17/2004 5:47a 7:16a 12:49p 6:22p 7:51p 11:25a 4:05p 8:40p 16
10/18/2004 5:48a 7:17a 12:49p 6:20p 7:49p 12:37p 5:08p 9:36p 25
10/19/2004 5:49a 7:18a 12:49p 6:19p 7:48p 1:42p 6:11p 10:42p 36
10/20/2004 5:50a 7:19a 12:48p 6:18p 7:47p 2:36p 7:12p 11:54p 47
10/21/2004 5:51a 7:20a 12:48p 6:16p 7:45p 3:19p 8:10p ***** 58
10/22/2004 5:52a 7:21a 12:48p 6:15p 7:44p 3:53p 9:03p 1:08a 69
10/23/2004 5:53a 7:22a 12:48p 6:14p 7:43p 4:22p 9:51p 2:20a 79
10/24/2004 5:53a 7:23a 12:48p 6:12p 7:42p 4:48p 10:38p 3:30a 87
10/25/2004 5:54a 7:24a 12:48p 6:11p 7:40p 5:11p 11:22p 4:38a 93
10/26/2004 5:55a 7:25a 12:48p 6:10p 7:39p 5:34p ***** 5:44a 98
10/27/2004 5:56a 7:26a 12:48p 6:08p 7:38p 5:58p 12:06a 6:49a 100
10/28/2004 5:57a 7:27a 12:47p 6:07p 7:37p 6:24p 12:50a 7:54a 100
10/29/2004 5:58a 7:28a 12:47p 6:06p 7:36p 6:54p 1:36a 8:59a 98
10/30/2004 5:59a 7:29a 12:47p 6:05p 7:35p 7:29p 2:24a 10:03a 94
10/31/2004 6:00a 7:30a 12:47p 6:04p 7:34p 8:10p 3:14a 11:05a 88
