CLUB EVENTS

10 Aug--Public Observing at Lewis Center, 8:00pm

11 Aug--

PARTY

at Larry & Patty Deuel (potluck), 6pm

17 Aug--Public Observing at Lewis Center, 8:00pm

18 Aug--HiDAS Meeting at Lewis Center, 7:00pm

31 Aug--Planetarium Show at VVC, 7:00pm

07 Sep--Public Observing at Lewis Center, 8:00pm

14 Sep--Public Observing at Lewis Center, 8:00pm

The Luz Observatory August 2007

High Desert Astronomical Society Newsletter

The Total Lunar Eclipse of August 28th will be a fantastic event for us on the West coast. The second lunar eclipse of the 2007 is another total eclipse. It is a

deeper event since it is the first central total eclipse since 2000. The Moon's trajectory takes it deep into the southern umbral shadow, resulting in a total eclipse that lasts 90 minutes. The eclipse occurs at the ascend-ing node of Luna's orbit in southern Aquarius. Since the Moon is 2.6 days shy of perigee, it will appear 8% larger than it was during March's eclipse. At mid-totality the Moon's center passes just 12.8 arc-minutes south of the shadow axis. This places the Moon's northern limb only 3.4 arc-minutes north of the axis while the southern limb is 15.4 arc-minutes from the umbra's southern edge. Since different parts of the Moon will probe radically different portions of Earth's umbral shadow, a large variation in shadow brightness can be expected. As a consequence of this geometry, the southern half of the totally eclipsed Moon will appear brighter than the northern half. The penumbral phase of Augusts eclipse begins at about 00:54 PDT, but most observers will not be able to visually detect the shadow until about 01:30 PDT. The following timetable for the major phases of the eclipse: Partial Eclipse begins at 01:51PDT, Total Eclipse begins 02:52, Greatest Eclipse is at 03:37, Total Eclipse ends at 04:22, Partial Eclipse ends at 05:23, Penumbral Eclipse ends at 06:21. All of North America will witness some portion of the eclipse, but western observers are favored. From the eastern USA, the Great Lakes region and Ontario, the Moon sets in total eclipse. Only observers to the west of the Rockies (including Alaska) will be treated to the entire event. For those that may be interested in watching the umbral immersion and Continued on page 3)

Lunar Eclipse

The Perseid meteor

shower's annual August 12/13 peak occurs during New Moon this year. Moonlight won't wash out faint mete-ors, which makes this an especially good Perseid year. Warm weather and good displays make the Perseids the year's best-observed meteor shower. The activity began July 17 and lasts through August 24th. Meteor rates slowly rise to a peak over North America on the morning of August 13, although significant activity occurs within a day of the shower's peak. The Perseids' parent comet is 109P/Swift-Tuttle. The comet's orbital period is about 130 years, so it is now receding back into the outer Solar System after its 1992 apparition. Americans Lewis Swift and Horace Tuttle, working independently, discov-ered the comet in 1862, and they watched the August 11th filament billow into space. Three years later Giovanni Schiaparelli (of the Martian "canali" fame) realized it was the

Perseid Meteors source of the Perseid meteors. He understood that the comet could come close to Earth, but in those days no one worried about such things. The radiant lies in the constel-lation Perseus, which rises in the late evening and is well placed by 11:00 PM local time. Like most meteor showers, Perseid activity increases during the early morning hours, when the Earth (continued on page 4)

August 2007 The dog days of summer are upon us; yet September 23rd, a scant 6 weeks from now, is the autumnal equinox bringing with it the Fall season. With the Teapot of Sagittarius transiting after 22:00 at this time of August, the Summer wonders will be gradually disappearing into the sunset soon. Now is the time to view the many mysteries of Sagittarius, Scorpius, Ophiuchus before they Fall in the west. 25% of the Messier Catalogue are in these constellations, so it would behoove one to see as many as one can to have a good start on the Astronomical Leagues Messier certificate. The binocular Messier or Deep Sky would be other programs to begin, also. At the last meeting we had one of Alex

Filipenko’s astronomy class lectures on DVD from his “Understanding the Universe: An introduction to Astronomy” presented. Star Clusters, Ages and Remote Distances was the topic. That leaves us with 95 more different lectures. So, I will bring the list to the star party at the Deuel’s this Saturday and we all can get together and pick for the next meeting. They are just a half hour in length. Taking a short nap

is not allowed, though. —GFW

From the President High Desert Astronomical Society 2 www.hidasonline.com

Reminder…...HiDAS Meeting….August 18th…...7:00pm rest of the year. Pluto is located in Sagittarius, 7.6 degrees northeast of M20 (the Trifid Nebula) and 3.7 degrees northeast of the bright open cluster M23. Comet C/2006 VZ13 (LINEAR) travels south-ward through Virgo this month. As it does so, the comet passes to the east of the galaxies NGC 4793, NGC 4697, and M104. Asteroid 4 Vesta is 8' south of the fourth magnitude star psi Ophiuchi on the night of August 18. The minor planet passes just north of Jupiter during the last week of the month. The Perseid meteor shower is at its best for western hemisphere observers during the early morn-ing of August 13. Expect to see one meteor or more per minute from a good dark site. The radiant of the shower is located a few degrees to the northeast of the Double Cluster (NGC 869 and NGC 884) in Perseus. Since the New Moon occurs on August 12, conditions are ideal for viewing the Perseids this year. Minima of Algol has appearances during August: 08/08@ 02:45; 08/10@23:34 and 08/28@04:25; 08/31@01:14. September: 09/02@ 22:02; 09/20@ 02:54; 09/22@23:43.

Mercury is visible very low in the east north-east during morning twilight in early August. Venus can be seen in evening twilight in early August as its crescent shape gets even thinner. Later in the month it becomes the Morning Star, rising ahead of the Sun. Mars passes by the Pleiades in early August and the northern arc of the bright open cluster the Hyades on August 19. It is still quite small at 8", but will almost double in apparent size when it reaches opposition on December 24. Jupiter is a fixture in the southern sky a bit more than 5 degrees above Antares. Saturn can still be detected but with great difficulty, shortly after sunset at the very start of the month. After that it will be in the Sun’s glare until early September when it rises in the morning less than 1 degree from Regulus. Uranus moves closer to phi Aquarii (at 4.2mag ) during the course of August. It is just 15' north of Phi on the night of August 24. Uranus reaches opposition next month and at 5.7 magnitude is visible to the unaided eye from a dark site. Neptune is located less than three degrees north-east of Iota Capricorni and will reside therefore the

http://www.astroleague.org/index.html is their website. Drop by for a look. More to come in the future.

August Astronomical Updates

Although I did send out an email referencing the Potluck and Star Party at the Deuel’s on Saturday, August 11th at 6pm, I will reiterate the invitation of all HiDAS

members and friends. Please assist Patty and Larry as they try to accommodate all that are coming that eve-ning by calling (760) 949-6644, (760) 964-4413 (cell) or email wdeulers@aol.com with information on your party and the dish/accessories that will be brought. Please bring some chairs with you, also. It is a little earlier to pinpoint the weather, but as of now it is to be 98° in the daylight hours with clear skies for the evening along with WSW 6mph breeze and 25% humidity. So, that sounds like a very good evening and I am crossing my fingers that it will stay that way or get better! This should be a lot of fun. I would like to take a moment to say “thank you very much” to those that participated in Summerfest at the Pinion Hills Elementary school this past Saturday. Brandi and Olivia Tidball with their twin refractors, Cliff Saucier-10” dob, Mike Simpson and Tony Rogers with Aldebaran, his 12.5” Discovery dob, Hal and Judy Pollner, also with 12.5” Discovery dob Antares. Thank You. If you need a badge, hat, or HiDAS business cards, let Dave Meyer know so that we can get an order together. Elsewhere in the universe…—Gary Witt

HiDAS Notes

High Desert Astronomical Society 3 www.hidasonline.com

Reminder...Star Party…August 11th at the Deuel’s...6PM

emersion for 20 well-defined lunar craters, the timing of these craters is useful in determining the atmos-pheric enlargement of Earth's shadow.

Lunar Eclipse continued Crater Immersion and Emersion Times for the Total Lunar Eclipse of 2007 August 28.

Immers Crater name Emer Crater name

08:58 Grimaldi 11:26 Grimaldi 08:59 Aristarchus 11:31 Billy 09:04 Kepler 11:36 Aristarchus 09:05 Billy 11:38 Kepler 09:10 Pytheas 11:39 Campanus 09:11 Copernicus 11:45 Tycho 09:12 Timocharis 11:47 Copernicus 09:13 Plato 11:47 Pytheas 09:18 Campanus 11:51 Timocharis 09:22 Aristoteles 11:53 Plato 09:22 Eudoxus 12:01 Aristoteles 09:24 Manilius 12:01 Manilius 09:27 Menelaus 12:02 Eudoxus 09:30 Tycho 12:05 Menelaus 09:30 Dionysius 12:05 Dionysius 09:31 Plinius 12:08 Plinius 09:39 Proclus 12:15 Goclenius 09:41 Taruntius 12:17 Proclus

09:44 Gocleniius 12:17 Taruntius 09:48 Langrenus 12:20 Langrenus

Space Shuttle

Endeavour is in good shape and on target for launch Wednesday, according to members of NASA's Mission Management Team known as MMT. Members of the team met Monday and confirmed that the countdown is proceeding right on schedule. Weather is not expected to stand in the way of a Wednesday evening liftoff. Currently, there's only a 30% chance that isolated showers or anvil clouds could prevent launch. This prediction remains the same in the event of a 24-hour delay. The countdown began on time at 8 p.m. EDT Sunday. Late Monday night, workers will load propel-lants into the onboard reactant tanks for the shuttle's three fuel cells. When that operation is complete early Wednesday morning, the pad will be reopened for initial pad closeouts and checks of the orbiter's three main engines. The 22nd flight to the International Space Station, STS-118 will be the first flight for Endeavour since 2002, and the first mission for Mission Spe-cialist Barbara Morgan, the teacher-turned-astronaut whose association with NASA began more than 20 years ago.

Endeavour Escapes Earth OK, hopefully Endeavour has launched on its 11 day mission and I will get to see another ISS/Shuttle duo going across the sky. It’s a beautiful sight to see and I am still amazed that there are human beings circling the globe every 90 minutes!

High Desert Astronomical Society 4 www.hidasonline.com

The July star party was held at our new Camp Rock Road site. I have put the directions on page 5, replacing the Landfill South site. Clouds were ever

present in all directions, but the sky clock had predicted clearings later in the evening. We had a good group for our initial viewing with nice temps and minor wind annoyances. Tony and Mike, Hal, Cliff and myself put 4 scopes on the ground. Harold and Gloria added another scope and binoculars. Sue and Andie, along with Jim and Shirley Hansen and Bob and Kaitlin sans scopes, but a pair of binoculars rounded out the members for our first star party at Camp Rock. Another one time member that lives in Lucerne, Ron Creamer, also stopped by, but didn’t bring his scope. It was a fun evening looking at the clouds shift about in the sky, waiting for that “sucker-hole” to open up. Sometimes they would last just moments, while other times the clearing would allow multiple views of different objects in the same area. Northeast to southeast was the predominant clearing spots, so it was nice to view some of Sagittarius’s wonders. It cleared in the northwest long enough for everyone to get a peek at comet C/2006 VZ13 (LINEAR) in Bootes and to watch as it moved slowly through the stars. —GFW The following report is penned by Hal with first light of his 16” NightSky truss dob. Hello...Last night saw the premiere of two events: 1: The first Star Party at our new High Desert dark sky site. 2: First Light for my 16" NightSky Truss dob "Omega". (It had its original First Light celebration in 2003, with its original owner.) The Northern sky was obscured by clouds the whole evening, preventing me from viewing my Ursa Major favorites: M51, M81 & M82.The remainder of the sky was alternately obscured and clear, and we were all waiting for the slow-moving clouds to uncover our

Star Party Report

10” Meade LX200 EMC

Classic telescope. Like new. It is a very nice Schmidt-Cassegrain. Only used five times, including at last HiDAS star party. In perfect condition including sev-eral eyepieces, tripod, diagonals and case. Cost new - $2700. Asking $1600 or best offer. If interested please contact Dave Meyer.

For Sale

turns skywatchers into the oncoming stream of comet debris. The International Meteor Organization pre-dicts two peaks August 13. The first, which is predicted to occur around 1am PDT, is best for North Americans. Normal rates of 50 to 60 meteors per hour may briefly double. Unfortunately the second peak comes around 8am which is after the Sun has risen. Still it should be an interesting evening for meteor shower watching.

"treasure" areas. Jupiter was stunning when the clouds momentarily allowed it to emerge. Things opened up around 11PM, with the luminous Milky Way cloud of stars stretching from Scorpius to Cassiopeia. Sagittarius was rich with its nebulae and clusters, and Omega's optics pre-sented them with brightness and clarity. M27, M13, M57, the Wild Duck, and other DSO's were there when I could catch them between clouds, and Omega served them to me on a platter, with refractor-like contrast. But the object that really grabbed me was the Swan Nebula...it was really BRIGHT! (I used only one EP during the entire evening: My 20mm Nagler T5). Yes, my Omega performed magnificently, con-sidering less than optimal skies. That First Light event was also the Last Light for this fine telescope, as I plan to sell it and then shop around for a 16" One Piece Rigid Tube dob, like the old Meade 16" f/4.5 Starfinder I used to own, the one that John Dobson once looked through! Clear Skies, HAL

I might add that as I viewed some objects through this scope, my conclusion was to say “that’s a very good scope, Hal”. I would have bought it in a heart-beat had I not owned a 16:, but alas, it is gone.

Perseid Meteors continued

HIGH DESERT ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY at THE LEWIS CENTER

High Desert Astronomical Society 5 www.hidasonline.com

HiDAS 2005 Board Members

OFFICERS

Gary Witt President 240-4422

Sue Alley Vice President 221-2939

Judy Pollner Secretary 247-4785

Larry Deuel Treasurer 949-6644

Dave Meyer Lewis Center Liaison/Publicity 245-8020

Contact List

CHAIRPERSONS

Gloria Johnson Speaker Programs/Events Coordinator 868-2001 Gary Witt Newsletter 240-4422 Sue Alley Star Party Coordinator 221-2939 Patty Deuel Historian 949-6644 Sue Alley Astronomical League Coordinator 221-2939 Steve Carey Member at Large 241-9312 Bob Schuette Member at Large 949-2199 Tim Baggerly Member at Large 242-2321 Anthony Rogers Member at Large 406-2985 Raymond McArthur Member at Large 952-0048

JUST A REMINDER . . . . . . The month and year (ex: 04/07) your HiDAS membership expires is shown in the upper right corner of your address label.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - HIGH DESERT ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY

MEMBERSHIP/RENEWAL APPLICATION DATE:____________________

NAME: _________________________________________________________ PHONE:____________________________

ADDRESS:______________________________________________________ EMAIL:____________________________

CITY:_____________________________ STATE:______ ZIP:____________

NEW MEMBER RENEWAL

MEMBERSHIP TYPE: STUDENT $10 INDIVIDUAL $15 FAMILY $20 (Does NOT include magazine subscriptions)

MAGAZINE REQUEST: SKY & TELESCOPE $32.95 ASTRONOMY $34.00 (Magazine requests are optional)

DONATION TO HiDAS ENDOWMENT: _________________ Note: If you wish to claim your contribution to the endowment on your income taxes, please write a separate check to: High Desert Partnership in Academic Excellence

MAY HiDAS USE YOUR APPLICATION INFORMATION FOR THE HiDAS ROSTER? YES NO

Please clip and mail this form, along with your payment (make checks payable to HiDAS), to: High Desert Astronomical Society, 17500 Mana Road, Apple Valley, California 92307

HiDAS Star Party Site

HiDAS Star Party Site

High Desert Astronomical Society 6 www.hidasonline.com

HIGH DESERT ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY

17500 MANA RD.

APPLE VALLEY, CA 92307

August 2007 September 2007