Journal of the Escambia Amateur Astronomers Association · THE METEOR VOLUME XXXIV Number 5 MAY 2009 Page 2 Meanwhile, in Mississippi Last week I accompanied my church group to a

The Meteor Journal of the Escambia Amateur Astronomers Association

VOLUME XXXIV Numbers 5-6 May-June 2009 *********************************************************************************************

President – Rick Hogue (850) 474-9119 V-P – Dewey Barker (850) 458-1591

Secretary – Sharon Bogart (850) 983-9860 Treasurer Jim Larduskey (850) 434-3638

Observing - Warren Jarvis (850) 623-8061 Librarian: Jacque Falzone (850) 261-9745

Observatory Chair - Paul Moffat (251) 621-0299 NWFAA Contact: Dennis Hausch (850)428-9467

Editor and ALCOR: Dr. J. Wayne Wooten, Physical Sciences, Room 9704, Pensacola Junior College,

Pensacola FL 32504-8998 Phone (850) 484-1152 (voicemail) (E-mail) wwooten @ pjc.edu

Please mail all dues to EAAA Treasurer, 4660 Shannon Circle, Pensacola, FL 32504

Festival on the Green Report

The members that did not attend this years Festival on the Green missed an excellent

opportunity to participate in a great event that we could tie into the 100 hours International Year of Astronomy program. There were significant crowds attending both days of the event and I was quite

surprised that we were able to get two clear days and nights in a row for a scheduled event…I hope that this bodes well for the beach gazes.

On Friday, it was primarily Jim Lardusky and I that manned the fort. I set up the Ha scope and my Orion 100 mm refractor along with my 15 x 70 binoculars on a parallelogram mount and Jim set up

his trusty 8” Celestron SCT. I grabbed a table and set up some baskets I rigged to hold the star charts,

beach gaze flyers and other hand outs and I brought a couple of my photo albums, and Jim brought some Orion catalogs to pass out as well. We were on site from 11:00 AM to 10:00 PM with Richard and

Connie Walker coming out for a bit just before sunset, followed by Mark Branch around 8:00 PM. The sky was mostly clear all day and all evening long. The Sun was being most uncooperative….there were

no sunspots to be seen and no solar flares could be coaxed into view…not even with averted imagination!

Still, most people were impressed that we could use our telescopes to view the sun. We were even questioned several times about the dangers of viewing the sun and that doing so would burn out people’s

eyeballs. We explained about the proper use of filters and how the Ha scope worked its magic. The waxing Crescent Moon came into view around 2:30 or so and I swung by refractor over to show views it.

Once the sun went down, I stowed the Ha scope and began looking for Saturn, and since Leo wasn’t

readily recognizable because of the area light pollution, it took some hunting to find it. Once located, it brought out many "oohs" and "ahhs" from the small group of people that stuck around until after dark.

Jim and I did a bit of constellation identification using our laser pointers and we showed off M-42, M-45 and M-41 and before we packed up for the night I was even able to locate M-3.

Saturday was quite busy and I was glad that more members showed up to help out. Sharon Bogart was already getting things organized by the time I arrived at 9:30 AM and during the course of

the day the following members arrived; Jim Lardusky, Rich and Carol Sigler, Mary Katherine and her

Mom, Liz Rushing and Woody Sonderlind. Sharon made a new display panel promoting the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s use of a telescope

and had some hand outs showing how to make the PVC versions of the Galileo and Keppler telescopes from the write up Dr Wooten had published in the last Reflector. Jim wrangled up a couple stakes and

we were able to hang up the club banner. We may want to consider getting some PVC and make a

frame for displaying it at other events when the trailer is unavailable. The telescope set up, and the views through them, were pretty much a repeat of Friday’s. Jim and I were the last hold to hold out and

we finally packed up and headed for the barn around 10:00 PM. --Dewey J. Barker

THE METEOR VOLUME XXXIV Number 5 MAY 2009 Page 2

Meanwhile, in Mississippi Last week I accompanied my church group to a children's home in Columbus MS for volunteer

work. This is an annual rite for us. They have about 60 children of all ages (infant through high school)

organized into several cottages supervised by house parents. Realizing from heavens-above that we had a couple great opportunities to view the ISS, I organized a couple of sky watches after giving a short

briefing describing the ISS and explaining what to expect. It's always amazing how few people are aware of what's happening right over their heads. On Weds. Apr. 1, we got a reasonable view through filmy

clouds as the ISS rose at 8:41, came over just below the moon, and proceeded to disappear into the earth's shadow. On Fri. the 3rd, we had a spectacular view practically from horizon to horizon (NW to

SSE), rising at 7:59. As good as it gets! We had probably 30 or so kids and adults and much

enthusiasm. One little girl declared her intention to be an astronomer, while another blew me away with descriptions of some of the mythology behind the constellations. I spent another half hour answering

questions including why, with a 90 minute orbit, we can't see the ISS every time it comes over. Anyway, a very enjoyable and fulfilling activity. -- Bob Burkart McArthur Elementary School Science Night Report I arrived at McArthur Elementary school around 5:15 PM Thursday March 26th. The weather was not conducive for star gazing, which is a polite way of saying that it was overcast and raining. I went

inside and met with Lisa Nelson, the teacher that requested our assistance during the schools science night. I gave her a brief explanation of the “Plan B” program I planned for and provided her with a flash

drive that contained an older copy of Star Shooting to run in a slide show program loop on the cafeteria computer projector. While the school staff was getting the computer working, I set up my 4” refractor in

the cafeteria and focused it on a Moon map I mounted on one of the walls. I set out flyers promoting

our upcoming gazes at the Pensacola Beach Performance Pavilion, along with the March star charts I’d picked up from Dr Wooten earlier in the week, and I also brought one of my astro-photo albums for

viewing. Bob Gaskin was on hand and running various science projects that he’d brought from his Emerald Coast Science Center. I would estimate that there were around 150 students and parents that

braved the bad weather and participated with this event. The kids were a bit disappointed that they

didn’t get to actually see any astronomical sights, but they appeared to enjoy themselves learning from the different hands-on projects that were set up for them. The school principal and I discussed some

options for next year, budgets will be extremely tight and they may not be able to fund more events like this one. It’s possible that we may try for some half-day programs with specific class groups with some

solar observing, if it’ll cooperate and give us some spots…The evening came to a close at 8:00 PM and I

packed up and headed to the barn. --Dewey Barker Hurlburt Field Picnic Area Report The weather cleared up as the Clear Sky Clock predicted and I set out to the event around 6:15 PM and arrived about an hour later. Dennis Hausch, Dave Halupowski, Gary Wiseman, Louis Pcheny,

Tony Russo and another star gazer were already on site and set up by the time I arrived. Sabrina, from the Hurlburt library, was also on hand along with the usual hot chocolate and cookies. There was a

strong wind coming out of the South-South West and the temps were a bit on the chilly side. The sky

was fairly clear and Dennis estimated seeing around Mag 4 or so. I set up a couple baskets in the back of my van with the remainder of the March star charts I had along with some more Pavilion flyers. For

viewing, I set up my new 12” Meade Light Bridge and used a Hotech laser collimator to properly align the mirrors. The Hotech made collimation a breeze and I was done within 10 minutes and the views with the

12” were stunning, even in the strong gusts. I was able to find and focus on the following objects; the

Crescent Moon, Saturn, M-42, M-41, M-37, M-1, M-81 and M-82, (both of them visible in a 26 mm eyepiece). The views of M-81 & 82 were the most stable, guess the scope was better angled with the

breeze. I would estimate we had no more than 30 people attend this event. Time disappeared rather quickly while I gave a few constellation tours using my laser pointer and using the scope to find objects

to view. Next thing I knew, it was 10:00 PM and it was time to wrap things up. All in all, it was a nice night under the stars and I’m hoping the weather will be nice for F O G and I’m looking forward to seeing

how this new scope performs during the Mid-South Star Gaze. --Dewey Barker


Sabrina was taking a head count and the total number was 40. Besides the list from Dewey I also

showed many guest the Beehive, Pleiades, and the Hyades with my 9X63 binoculars. With the wind

blowing all night long the binocs were probably the best viewing instrument. I also observed one of my favorite doubles, Iota Cancri, a yellow and blue double which is a slightly dimmer version of the summer

double Albireo. --Dennis Hausch

Minutes of the EAAA Meeting for April 10, 2009 EAAA President, Rick Hogue, opened the meeting at 7:10 p.m. in the Geology Room at PJC.

There were approximately 35 members present with one visitor.

Richard Walker was awarded a certificate by Dr. Wooten for reaching Level I. Congratulations Richard!

Mike Davey has the educational book for Level I that can be purchased for $7.00. The test is online and can be downloaded. It is a 100 question, open book test that is given to Dr.

Wooten once it is completed. He will grade it and present you with an award at the next meeting. It’s as

simple as that. There are 5 levels in the education program and for each one completed you get a certificate and award.

Treasurer, Jim Larduskey presented his report for April. The club has $2,593.67 in checking, $1,607.84 in savings, $676.10 in cash, for a total balance of $4,877.61.

In stargaze reports, Dewey reported the McArthur Elementary School gaze was not bad except for the fact that the rain kept them from doing any star gazing at night. (see more detailed report

in this month’s Meteor) About 150 students/parents attended with Dewey setting up his 4” refractor and

focusing it on a Moon map. Bob Gaskin was there with several science projects. Dennis Hausch reported on the Hurlburt Field stargaze which was held on March 28th. The sky

finally cleared off at night, but the wind was blowing all night long (25-30 knots). About 40 people showed up. He also reported that at Eglin AFB on March 25th, a quick gaze was held for the cub scouts.

He had about 25 of the boys and 15 parents show up. It was a pretty good gaze with full moon.

Festival on the Green was a big success on April 3-4, with Dewey Barker and Jim Larduskey holding the fort Friday night. Saturday was a very good crowd. Present were Dewey

Barker, Jim Larduskey, Mary and Rosemary Heuvelman, Warren Jarvis, Rick and Carol Sigler, Jacque Falzone and her mom, Mark Branch, our new young recruit Branden with his parents, Liz

Rushing, Woody Sonderlind and Sharon Bogart.

Dewey Barker and Wayne Travis attended the Camp Paquette scouting event on March 13th. Dewey reported that it was rainy, so they set up the scopes for demonstration purposes only. (See

article posted this month in the Meteor) There were about 50+ kids. Dr. Wooten’s article on building replicas of Galileo’s and Messier’s refractors were published

in the March 2009 Astronomical Leagues Reflector. He still has parts available at $15 or $30 each for the pair.

The EAAA received a very nice letter from a corresponding member,

Elaine Smith. Wayne Wooten read it to the club members present at the meeting, so for all those members who were not able to make it to the meeting, I’d like to pass it on to you.

Dear Astronomers: Your March-April 2009 newsletter arrived yesterday. Sorry about the changes to mailings,

but I understand. I do not need to be on the mail list any longer even though I have always absorbed all

the activities of the association with much pleasure. When I moved to Hot Springs, there was an astronomy club of sorts here which I joined. It gradually declined to 5 members and disbanded. I used

my scope a number of times, but finally gave up and gave it to my son-in-law. There is a planetarium in Arkadelphia at the Henderson State College – the closest. College courses are offered there also – 40

miles away and nights involved, so it is “no go”. Please accept, Dr. Wooten, the pleasure I had at reading your dedication to your parents (one of the prior newsletters). Please let the dedicated board know how

much it has meant to read all they do! Enclosed is a check for $50.00 to use wherever needed, a

remembrance from me. Thank you all for really enjoying the heavens as I do. Sincerely, Elaine Smith


Dr. Wooten brought up the fact that everyone seems to have been acceptable to getting the Meteor in pdf format. Included in the PDF format will be a photo gallery with member photos, captions

and discussions. The issue was raised as to whether the Club needs to keep the Bulk Mailing.

There is an EAAA Website on Yahoo where you can post pictures also. The Meteor will eventually be posted on this website in pdf format, but you must join Yahoo Groups first. It’s quick and

easy! So join. No excuses. Upcoming Stargazes include Hurlburt Family Fun Day on April 11th 10:30-1:00 p.m. You

need to be registered to get on base, so contact Dennis Hausch. Children (100’s) go to booths and get

cards punched. Raffle prizes are given at the end of the event. The Gulfside Beach Pavilion Gaze is April 29 - 30th. The Mid South Star Gaze is April 22 – 25. Reminders for all these events will be sent

out via our Yahoo website. Future Programs: for our May meeting we have Dave doing a SLOOH program. Also scheduled

for that month is “Searching for Exo Planets with a video intro to Kepler. Wayne Wooten has offered to do a program on Digital Astro Photography with cameras under $200.00

for our June program.

The Atlantis Launch is scheduled for launch May 12th to make repairs on the Hubble Space Telescope. Anyone interested in going, see Dr. Wooten. The panel to the HST has been added, making it

brighter to view in the daylight hours. Bruce Mullis took a great shot of the ISS passing overhead Jacque Falzone has offered her property for stargazing. So we need to plan one soon. Let’s

bring some refreshments everyone!

There was a request from a teacher at Hurlburt Field to set up scopes for May 7th at the Eglin School on Eglin AFB. Bob Gaskin will be out there for another Science Night session. Anyone

interested contact Dennis Hausch or Dewey Barker. Mike Davey set up a mount in the parking lot after the meeting.

Meeting adjourned at 8:00 p.m.

PROGRAM: Gary Wiseman showed pictures of Venus that he took this month before sunrise. These were

some beautiful shots. Dennis Hausch presented a program on the International Dark Sky Association (IDA), which is a

non-profit group with lots of resources available on their website.

IDA was established in 1988 as an educational, environmental nonprofit group dedicated to protecting and preserving the nighttime environment through quality outdoor lighting. They have thousands of

members in more than 70 countries and is the leading authority concerning the problems and solutions related to light pollution. IDA works to stop light pollution’s adverse effects, raise awareness about those

adverse effects and their solutions, and educate the public about the value of keeping the night sky

natural. Dennis took us on a tour of their website, showing us lighting fixtures and devices approved by IDA. If

you want to become a supporter or learn of ways you can improve lighting conditions around your area, visit their website at www.darksky.org This is a great site, so please visit it. I did and found a lot of

resourceful information. --Sharon Bogart, EAAA Secretary

http://www.darksky.org/

THE METEOR VOLUME XXXIV Number 5 May-June 2009 Page 5

Calendar of Events

May 1 EAAA meets at 7 PM, room 1775 PJC, Kepler mission to discover Earths is program

May 4 Waxing gibbous moon passes five degrees south of Saturn

May 7 Eglin Science Night at Hurlburt; contact Dennis Hausch at 428-9467

May 9 Full Moon, the Fruit or Strawberry Moon

May 17 Last quarter moon passes 2.4 degrees north of Jupiter; both rise about midnight

May 21Crescent Moon passes 6 degrees north of Venus in morning twilight

May 24 New Moon; two months until the very long total solar eclipse for China on July 22nd

May 29 First Gulfside Pavilion gaze of the season, both Friday and Saturn at sunset

May 31 As it began, again a first quarter moon, this time passing six degrees south of Saturn

June 5 EAAA Meets at 7 PM, room 1775, program TBA

Venus at GWE, 46 degrees west of Sun, and half lit in morning sky now

June 7 Full Moon, the Rose Moon

June 13 Waning gibbous moon passes 3 degrees north of Jupiter in morning sky

June 15 Last Quarter Moon

June 17 Ft. Pickens Sky Interpretation, first at Battery Worth since Ivan! Set up about 7:30 PM

Waning crescent moon passes 8 degrees north of Venus in morning sky

June 21 Summer Solstice at 12:45 AM CDT this year

Venus passes two degrees south of Mars in morning sky

June 22 New Moon; next one produces the long totality in China

The Gulfside Pavilion Sidewalk gazes: May 29/30, June 26/27, July 24/25, Aug. 28/29, and Sept. 25/26.

Ft. Pickens Sky interpretations are June 19, July 17, Aug. 14, Sept. 18, and Oct. 6.

Please remember to pay your annual dues. Mail check or pay at the meetings to Jim Larduskey,

4660 Shannon Circle, Pensacola, FL 32504. Regular - $24, Student and Senior - $12, Meteor - $10

May 2009 Gallery

I went after M67 Open Cluster last night to calibrate my new digital micro autofocuser from Starizona. But when I saw the humidity (91%) I almost stopped. But I limited imaging to about an hour, to avoid corrosion damage down the road. M67 is one of the prettiest open clusters in the sky. Its very dense,with about 500 stars, and is easy to see at Mag 6.7. Its about 1500 light years above the galaxy's plane and about 2700 LY from us. Some compare it to the nearby Beehive cluster, M44, but in fact, M67 is four times further from us than the Beehive. Still, M67 is a very good binocular target as I had it in mine before starting imaging. This is rated as a very old open cluster, about 4 billion years in age - very unusual for open clusters. Perhaps that's why we see so many Red Giants. By the time I was finished I was dripping wet. --Bob Gaskin

Yes, M67 is regarded as the oldest known open cluster, but still less than half the age of many of the famed globular clusters. I think its longevity stems in part from its higher galactic orbital inclination than most open clusters...it does not move through high traffic areas in the spiral arms that tend to gravitationally tear up most loose clusters in the galactic plane. Our own mother cluster, like most open clusters, moved much closer to the plane of the Milky Way, and probably broke up 2-3 billion years ago. --WWooten

The Swiss Army Knife of Weather Satellites

Spotting volcanic eruptions, monitoring the health of crops, pinpointing distress signals for search and rescue teams.

It’s not what you might expect from a weather satellite. But these are just a few of the abilities of NOAA’s newest

polar-orbiting weather satellite, launched by NASA on February 6 and turned over to NOAA for full-time operations

on February 26.

Formerly called NOAA-N Prime and now renamed NOAA-19, it is the last in its line of weather satellites that

stretches back almost 50 years to the dawn of the Space Age. Over the decades, the abilities of these Television

Infrared Observation Satellites (TIROS) have gradually improved and expanded, starting from the grainy, black-

and-white images of Earth’s cloud cover taken by TIROS-1 and culminating in NOAA-19’s amazing array of

capabilities.

“This TIROS series has become quite the Swiss army knife of weather satellites, and NOAA-19 is the most capable

one yet,” says Tom Wrublewski, NOAA-19 Satellite Acquisition Manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

in Greenbelt, Maryland.

The evolution of TIROS began in 1998 with NOAA-K. The satellites have carried microwave sensors that can

measure temperature variations as small as 1 degree Celsius between Earth’s surface and an altitude of 40

kilometers—even through clouds. Other missions have added the ability to track large icebergs for cargo ships,

monitor sea surface temperatures to aid climate change research, measure the amount of ozone in Earth’s protective

ozone layer, and even detect hazardous particles from solar flares that can affect communications and endanger

satellites, astronauts in orbit, and city power grids.

NOAA-19 marks the end of the TIROS line, and for the next four years it will bridge the gap to a new series of

satellites called the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System. NPOESS will merge

civilian and military weather satellites into a single system. Like NOAA-19, NPOESS satellites will orbit Earth from

pole to pole, circling the planet roughly every 100 minutes and observing every location at least twice each day.

NPOESS will have yet more capabilities drawn from its military heritage. Dim-light sensors will improve

observations of the Earth at night, and the satellites will better monitor winds over the ocean — important

information for ships at sea and for weather and climate models.

“A lot more capability is going to come out of NPOESS, improving upon the 161 various environmental data

products we already produce today,” Wrublewski says.

Not even a Swiss army knife can do that many things, he points out.

For more on the NPOESS, check out http://www.npoess.noaa.gov. Kids can find out about another NOAA satellite

capability—tracking endangered migrating species—and play a fun memory game at

http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/poes_tracking.

This article was provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract

with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

http://www.npoess.noaa.gov/

Caption:

The new NOAA-19 is the last and most capable in the long line of Television Infrared Observation Satellites

(TIROS).


VOLUME XXXIV Number 6 June 2009 *********************************************************************************************








Texas Star Party Report

It was a bit of a drive approx. 1150 miles from Pensacola with the 6x12 cargo trailor and 4

cylinder Tacoma?? loaded to the hilt with the 28" F3.7 and the new 16.5" F3.6 FX Starmasters plus the

Orion Atlas go-to mount refractors, cameras, Mallincam etc. I was able to arrive Saturday the day before the Sunday noontime opening and met Rick at his campsite in the Ft. Davis mountains State Park, (which

was really cool on its own).

We dropped off my truck and trailer that Saturday evening to be first in line (imagine that?) at

the Prude Ranch, to get in. I really needed to have the trailor near the scopes etc, which turned out to be no problem at all. All went well getting in and setting up all this stuff. Rick brought the brand new of the

newest Super FX series the 22" F3.3 which looked as much like a huge short cannon as my 28" did.

Sunday night turned out to be awesome indeed, perfectly clear but a bit cold and after getting all the scopes setup it was nice to get back reaquainted with the night sky again, only dark. I was on a roll with

imaging with one scope, observing with the other and testing and observing things in Rick's 22". A brief list of observing and imaging objects for monday included M51, (in the 28, just like a picture only black

and white and live), M101, Omega Centauri, Centarus A, The atlas mount with wide field of Cygnus and

Saggitarius area's. On a visual note I was able to see for the first time with out a doubt the "double lensed Quasar in Ursa Major, approx 17.5 mag) it was steady for awhile then in and out with the seeing

conditions. The Virgo cluster had so many galaxies that I haven't seen before I almost didn't recognize

the one's I did know??

On the testing side we did some compairing with eyepieces with the various Nagler's and the

new Etho's eyepieces, man they are the way to go for sure, and they worked perfectly in all three scopes,

so F3.3 and higher spectacular. Another note, there was a question regarding "binoviewers" observations, I have the "Denkmeier bino's", with all the bells and whistles as well as the 3 power slide

bars to give 3 different magnification level with the same eyepieces. Rick has trouble viewing with them

and I have used mine many times on the 28" and were unreal, however I haven't tried them in my 16.5" as of yet, answer they work absolutely fine, and when we tried them in the 22" F3.3, the same was

observed. The correction with the OCS was virtually perfect edge to edge even though a parracor wasn't used. I also was able to see the quasar in the bino's as well in the 28".

I didn't do anything with the Mallincam on the first night because the upper field was really full and wanted to see how the light situation was going to be in such dark skies and how many folks really did

stay up all night, a lot did. Not a bad first night of observing and photographing, shut down at about 5:30

am with the moon coming up.

THE METEOR VOLUME XXXIV Number 6 June 2009 Page 2

Monday night was another very good night with much more of the same going on with added

objects etc, M3, M81, M82, the Dumbell and the Lagoon in both scopes. Did a bunch of imaging with both scopes this night. It was starting to get late, and I really wanted to give the MallinCam a tryout, so

I set it up on the 16.5" since its so easy to work with. I was imaging the Dumbell Nebula and observing it with the small Marshall monitor that I can attach right to the scope next to the focuser. The Dumbell was

wonderful and completely full of imbedded stars in the colorfull nebula. I was shooting it in the 6 and 12

second mode with different "gain" settings etc, just getting going with it. At about this same time an "observer" dropped by and it was "Alvan Huey" which if you don't recognize the name is also the author

of several of the best deep (deep) sky observing books/manuals that I have ever seen. (I did purchase his whole set, get back with me for more details if your interested as well), a very accomplished observer

to say the least!!.. Anyway we were chatting a bit and I had mentioned to him earlier that I was going to

give the Mallincam a go tonight and he asked if we could image "Shakhbazian 19" I have no idea if I spelled that right?? I asked him "what the @#$% is that? He and a handful of major observers were

looking at it through a friends 30" scope. Anyway its a very dim,small,remote, speck in the sky?? It turns out that it is a small chain of galaxies that form an arc similar to a lensed quasar only supposedly they

can be split in to their components, (2 are at 18 mag and the other 2 are at 20th magnitude!!) Well, I said what the heck lets try it. I added the rough coordinates into the sky commander and hit the go to

and it wasn't in there. Alvin looked visually and found the background stars to get to the proper location

and then I put the MallinCam in, turned it to 12 seconds and upped the gain,,,,, there it was 4 galaxies down the 20th mag in the 16.5" scope live!! He said a couple of nice words and said hold on and brougt

the whole observing bunch back, including Barbara Wilson and sorry can't remember all the other names,,, all extremely accompliched observers and they all stared at that little monitor back and forth for

along time. I did mention that I could put the image on a larger monitor but it would kill their night

vision, they were astonded at what they saw, as well as I,, this is some dim stuff here and only in 12 seconds of live integration. The 16.5 can easily image at 30 seconds with no trailing at all, so I can't wait

to see what a MallinCam can do with 30 seconds of integration time!! Stay tuned. I stayed up till about 6:30 am this night, moon again. Tuesday was also a good day/night, observed and photographed till

about midnight and I was done.

On Wednesday the clouds started coming in and we made the trip to El Paso to deliver a new

Starmaster scope, basically chilled out on Wed night and was planning a different day on Thursday. There were cloudy nights predicted later in the week so Rick and I had made an observing trip during the

daytime to the "Top of the Hill" at the Ft. Davis state park and at the top is a large parking lot with an awesome view from the top of the mountain (at 5530 elevation according to my GPS) So I thought I

would try doing some major southern sky imaging from there with the Atlas Mount and also the 16.5"

Starmaster. I set up just before sunset and there were some storms and lightning in the way south and east? Just where I wanted to observe, so it fought me a little early on but settled down nicely later. Some

of the objects imaged included, lightning, M51, M101, more lightning, Omega Centauri, M82, M3, alot of M8 and long exposure wide fields of Sagittarius/ Scorpius. The transparancy was good, but the seeing

was real bad, McDonald observatory rated the night at approx. 3 arc minutes!! (not seconds?) I did shoot

over 500 exposures from sunset to sunrise. Rick came up after 11pm and observed until after 2 am with

me, we had a great time "On top of the hill".

The weather went bad basically the rest of the time with the exception of a few hours hear and

there. We had plans of doing some more work with the MallinCam on some of the very obscure and

difficult objects but the clouds wouldn't break long enough for us. All in all it was an awesome starparty. The 3 Starmaster's performed flawlessly, and we had a large

amount of observers come by to look and all were happy with what they saw. I was able to get in 3 full sunset to sunrise nights in and almost wore my camera and myself out, and

that was the plan!! Stay tuned for some hopefully real good images as soon as I can get them processed

in the near future. --John VeDepo


Thank you for the wonderful report. John, I got to go to the Texas Star Party around 20 years ago. Still one of my favorite memories. I flew in alone then rented a car for the last several hours to the

Prude, didn’t take a scope but never regretted that because of all the generous folks there. The year I

went was a special one for me as Clyde Tombaugh was the guest speaker. I’ll never forget the first night when I thought the clouds were rolling in and was told, No…that’s just the Milky Way. I think my

favorite viewing experience was getting to see Coma Berenices naked eye and absolutely stunning….diamonds in the sky. Unfortunately, these last 17 years have been hopeless as far as the

stars go because of the city lights now that I’m in Nashville. Thanks again for the happy thoughts, so

glad you got to go. --Bonnie B. Keough

French Camp Report

The current economic times have made things a bit tough for a lot of people, as was apparent at the Mid-South Star Gaze this year. Attendance did not reach much above 90, but those of us that did go;

we were on the receiving end of a spectacularly clear and unprecedentedly dry event. The days typically

began mostly cloudy with a fairly strong breeze, but once the sun set the clouds appeared to evaporate and the wind died down to just strong enough to help keep the dew off the optics and equipment. Ella

and I arrived in French Camp around 4:00 PM on Sunday the 19th. We checked in with Jim Hill and went to unload our bags and foodstuff in our room at the Memphis Guest which is located on the school

grounds. The rooms are fairly nice and can sleep a group of 3…or 4 if someone doesn’t mind sharing the small queen-sized bed. They also provide indoor plumbing for those people that take exception to making

any trips to the bathroom in the night which would involve the use of shoes and a flashlight….(;-D!!!

The event is slated to run Wednesday to Saturday, but I often heard on earlier trips that the

views were better on Mondays and Tuesdays, so I started going earlier to see if this was true and to give Jim some help in getting things set up and assist with registrations. The EAAA was represented by me,

and Joe Robinson who had arrived on Saturday, then Dave Halupowski arrived on Monday and Thor

Garber arrived on Wednesday. Joe had his 8” Meade LX200 to use and I set up my new 12” Meade Lightbridge and my Orion 100 mm refractor. Dave made use of the observatory’s 6” Astro-Physics

Refractor, a Meade 12” SCT and a 10” or 12” f/15 Schmidt telescope during his stay.

The Rainwater Observatory has had a reputation for living up to its name and these gazes have

always had 1 or 2 days of rain. This was the first year that I can remember that we had clear nights all week long and I was on the field every night of the week and I stayed up later and later as the week

progressed. My observing sessions culminated as I watched Jupiter, Venus and Mars fade away as the Sun rose on Friday morning. It was a lot of fun putting the new dob to work and seeing objects a little

more clearly than with my SCT or my refractor, but I was quite surprised with the detail I was able to pull out of M81 and M82 with my 100mm refractor Wednesday night. I spent the week viewing many Messier

objects and wandering around looking through the various scopes and watching the displays on the

monitors set up for the event.

We had some good guest speakers, and even Dave was one, that provided some interesting and informative information. I especially enjoyed Dr Donna Pierce’s presentation on comets and the Star

Dust return mission. As the event drew to a close on Saturday night, it started out fairly cloudy and

hazy, but things cleared up after 9:00 PM. I stayed on the hill unwilling to surrender my time at the telescope, but I knew that I had a long drive the next day so I wrapped my gear up around 2:00 AM and

headed for bed. Ella and I got up late in the morning and proceeded to get the van packed for our trip back home, we said our good-byes to Jim and the few people still on the hill and finally departed French

Camp around noon. This is definitely one of the best gazes we have ever had and it’s placed the expectation bar quite high, hopefully next years will be as good. --Dewey J. Barker, EAAA Vice-President


Family Fun Day at Hurlburt Field

Saturday, April 11 was Family Fun Day at Hurlburt Field in Fort Walton Beach. I arrived about 8:30, located our booth and started to set up the C-8. Dennis Hausch arrived about 9:30 and brought his

8" home-made Dob. This year, we got to share a canopy with the Armed Forces Insurance rep. It was nice to be able to get out of the Sun for a break. I put the Baader filter on the C-8 and showed the kids

the sun while Dennis focused on far-away objects so that everyone could see how a telescope brings

distant objects close-up. I don't know the exact count, but would estimate that we had over 700 children get their cards stamped at our booth. The children enjoyed our show as usual, and we tore down about

2pm. --Jim Larduskey

Lyrid Meteor Shower Observations Wednesday morning April 22, Rick Little and I decided to go out to the 3rd parking lot past

Portofiino on the beach to check out the Lyrid meteor shower. We set up about 2 am and were rewarded

with some of the best skies we have seen at the beach for quite a while. Alas, it was too windy for telescopes, but the naked eye view of the Milky Way more than made up for it. We saw about 25

meteors in the next 3 hours, a couple of which were quite spectacular, leaving bright trails behind. Once the meteor shower died out, we stayed to watch the conjunction between the Moon and

Venus. When they rose, Venus was several moon diameters away, but as time progressed, it got closer

and closer, passing just below the bottom horn of the Moon's Crescent about 7:40. It was interesting to see through the binoculars that the crescents of both the Moon and Venus were identical. Mars made an

appearance in the beginning, but disappeared as the Sun rose. By the time conjunction approached we had to use binoculars to follow the two due to the sun being well up by that time. We packed it in about

8 am just as Venus was passing directly under the moon about one Venus diameter away. Due to being too far east, we got conjunction rather that occultation. I got a few pictures at the beginning, but my

camera battery ran out with about 2 hours to go. --Jim Larduskey

Gazing at the Rave

This past weekend marked the opening of the new Star Trek movie. Jay Gallops and Sharon Bogart, both members of the local Star Trek Continuum, had sent a request to the EAAA to set up

telescopes outside the Rave Theater on Bayou Blvd during the evening shows. The Continuum had

several members on hand from Thursday through Sunday in full costume. Most members seemed to favor the uniforms worn by the cast of the Next Generation, except for three, two members wore

costumes from the original series and one was dressed up as a Klingon. They had an interesting display set up in the lobby with their club banner mounted on some PVC framework that was standing behind a

couple tables that contained various props and handouts. They also had a video display running an hour

long DVD slide show of clips taken from the various TV shows and movies. The highlight of their display consisted of a replica of the Captain’s Chair used in the original series and was surprisingly comfortable.

The chair garnered a lot of attention and was used as a means to grab some of the movie goers, as they stopped to look and to stage photos with the dressed up Continuum club members in the background.

The chair will make a great recruiting tool for future Continuum club members.

I scoped out the front of the theater (pun intended) for a place to set up my Orion 100 mm

refractor for views of the Moon and Saturn after I arrived around 8:00 PM on both Friday and Saturday nights. With all the light pollution from the parking lot lights, I knew that these would be my only targets

for either evening. I set up a table for displaying the Pavilion Gaze flyers, some Orion catalogs, club applications and a handout for pointers on selecting a first telescope. The weather was a bit dodgy on

Friday; views of the Moon and Saturn became a game of hide and seek among the sucker holes in the

clouds while they sped through the sky. The building was not constructed with a favorable angle for viewing celestial objects along the ecliptic. I had to move the scope around a bit in order to catch either

target during the course of the evening which negated the use of the right ascension drive.


I decided to focus primarily on Saturn on Saturday evening, 1) to use the RA drive and 2) to keep

me in better view of the main theater entrance and exit. I handed out around 200 Pavilion flyers, 15 club

applications, a dozen catalogs and a few of the pointer hand outs and I could have easily used another 100 Pavilion flyers. Everyone was quite impressed with the views of Saturn and they were quite

surprised that they could see it once I showed them where it was with my green laser. Many people asked if this location provided a favorable view or if there was something special about the evening. I

said that since they were getting the Hollywood version of space I wanted to let them see it for real, a bit

of science fact to offset the science fiction they just saw. A few people thought I was joking about viewing Saturn and tentatively approached as a line formed behind the scope. Some people mentioned

that I should have had a small replica of the Enterprise hanging in front of the scope to make it look like it was orbiting the planet. When I was asked several times “how much?” I usually responded “just a

smile with an occasional “Oh Wow!” would be just fine”. I stuck it out until 1:30 AM or so both nights. I wanted to catch the people as they were leaving the last show and to get the ones that were running late

that couldn't take the time to stop for a quick view. I received a lot of positive feedback for both my

efforts and the Continuum’s efforts to make this weekend more enjoyable to local movie patrons, hopefully both clubs will reap the benefits of acquiring new members. --Dewey J. Barker, EAAA V-P

First Pavilion Gazes of Summer great successes Friday, May 29th was a pretty an evening on the beach as you could imagine, and the turnout

was great, with over 200 folks watching the ISS pass into our shadow just west of Spica at 9:15PM. Many thanks to Mike Davey and Warren Jarvis for bringing the twin C-6 and 100mm refractor set for use

with our Color PlanetCam…lots of great photos of lunar craters, Saturn with edge on rings taken by public. Wayne Travis’ computerized 8” Celestron was a hit on Saturn, the Moon, and great resolution on

Omega Centauri at the end of the evening. Dewey Barker brought his 4” refractor, and I had the 72mm Eon, both of which did surprisingly well on Omega as well. Several prospective members brought their

own scopes for assistance in using them. Also from the club were Vicki and Rafael Barazza, Jackie

Falzone, John VeDepo, Roland McDavid and his big binocs, and five night AST students. –Wayne Wooten Saturday's Sidewalk Astronomy Night at Pensacola Beach was a huge success. As usual we had

hundreds of folks stop by to look through our scopes and ask many varied questions, including the inevitable "flag on the Moon" and the upcoming bi-annual August Mars hoax.

The oohs, ahhs, wows and cools were numberous all night long with many young people

expressing real excitement at actually seeing the rings and lunar craters for the first time, some were REALLY excited. I truly believe we "made some people's night".

The "star" of the show was of course Saturn followed closely by the Moon at 200X. Some brighter DSO's were also observed such as M-4, M-57 and M-104. Other members may have observed other

objects, I never got a chance to mingle as we were slammed for several hours. The ISS was spotted

twice, several other satellites pointed out and constellations were described. We handed out star charts, our schedule for the next gaze and some telescope information catalogs provided by Orion Telescopes.

We had a great representation of scope styles available for guest to look through. Members that set up scopes, and I may miss some, were Gary Wiseman 12" LX200, Manny Galindo LXD75 10" Schmitt-

Newtonian (very sharp optics, impressive), Jim Lardusky C-8, Rick Little 8" Dob, Carol and Rich Sigler Binos, Dave Halupowski 10" LX200, Dennis Haush 8" Dob, Harold Breyde 8" Dob, Roland McDavid binos

and my Meade 178 refractor. Other members that stopped by were Jacque Falzone, Ella and Dewey

Barker and Mark Branch. Once again our Sidewalk Astronomy Night introduced the night sky to hundreds of people that

had never even given it a second thought. With big cuts proposed for NASA and the end of US manned space flight looming in the near future I feel we are doing our part with these public gazes to sway public

interest back toward humankind's inevitable destiny to explore space and eventually expand into the

cosmos. Whomever thought of these pavilion gazes sure had a great idea, ;-) --Rick Hogue,EAAA Prez


Bellview MS gaze on May 26th Wayne Travis and I set up on the track at Bellview Middle School around 7:00 PM on May 26th. The cloudy day must have put quite a damper on the expectations for the evenings event. The clear sky

clock had showed clear skies after 6:00 PM, but that never happened. It was a bit of a disappointment, but considering the weather I was surprised anyone bothered to show up.

We had six students and three adults come by to see what was going on during the time we

were set up. Wayne and I stuck it out until 8:30-9:00 PM mostly chatting with the two teachers and the few students that hung around. --Dewey J. Barker, EAAA V-P

Minutes of the EAAA Meeting for May 1, 2009

EAAA President, Rick Hogue, opened the meeting at 7:09 p.m. at PJC. There were

approximately 25 members present with one guest. Mike Davey has the educational book for Level I that can be purchased for $7.00.

The test is online and can be downloaded. It is a 100 question, open book test that is given to Dr. Wooten once it is completed. He will grade it and present you with an award at the next meeting. There

are 5 levels in the education program and it is available to all members. Awards and certificates are given

for each level completed. Treasurer, Jim Larduskey presented his report for May.. The club has $2,160.72 in checking,

$1,608.23 in savings, $726.10 in cash, for a total balance of $4,495.05. Expenditures for this month include $400.00 to Draco for the website, $63.00 for Florida Business Registration and the yearly trailer

license fee or $27.00. Star Shooting CD’s are still available at $10.00 each or trade one in. Nothing to report for the International Dark Sky report.

Sharon Bogart mentioned the new Star Trek movie premiering May 7th. The local Star Trek

Sci-fi club will be at the Rave Theatre on Bayou Blvd to help promote the movie and the “Continuum” club. They will be there May 7th – May 10th in full costume along with a replica of the original Captain’s

chair. The EAAA has been invited to set up scopes outside the theatre.

OLD BUSINESS:

See Dave Halupowski for EAAA t-shirts and hats. Dark Sky Report: Nothing to report at this time.

Observatory Report:

As you all know, the PJC Planetarium is out of business for now due to equipment problems.

The Digistar is unrepairable because we cannot get the parts at this time. It will probably be a year or two before the planetarium can get the money to switch over and it may take over $100,000. It may

take a grant or some kind of governmental assistance for what we need to get it up and running. A lot of people have asked and are continuing to ask about the planetarium and the programs.

Stargaze Reports:

Hurlburt Family Fun Day: Dennis Hausch reported that 100’s showed up with over 2,000

children showing up for the festival itself. The EAAA probably had about 700 people show up with children getting their card stamped. Dennis brought his blue Dob and Jim Larduskey his C8. There was

no activity on the Sun, but despite this the kids and parents were amazed to be able to see the Sun through a telescope.

Mid South Star Gaze: Dewey Barker reported six consecutive days of clear sky. He was there

every single night that he could be there. (see report submitted) One of the best speakers was Dr. Donna Pierce who talked about the Stardust missions. Attendance was down this year with about 90 people

showing up.


Opal Beach Gaze: Jim Larduskey reported that he and Rick Little got there about 2 a.m. and

was the best night he had seen in about 8 years out on the beach. It was too windy to take scopes, so they just brought binoculars. The Milk Way was just spectacular. As far as the Meteor Shower they only

saw between 25 and 30 meteors with a couple that were spectacular with really nice trails.. Then they hung around for the conjunction between Venus and the Moon in the morning.

Dixon Middle School: Dewey Barker reported he and Wayne Travis were there and that it was

fairly crowded compared to the one that he attended at McArthur School. Bob Gaskin was there as well. There were about 1,000 – 1,500 people on hand for the event. The event ended at 7:00, but a lot of

people hung around until about 7:30. All were young elementary age school kids. As it was twilight, there wasn’t a whole lot to see.

Stargaze at Jacque Falzone’s Property: Rick Hogue reported that it was a beautiful place. The sky was a little bit hazy, but was able to see quite a few things. Left about 11:30 p.m. and just as

they were leaving it cleared up with a beautiful sky. Another one is being planned for the 16th of May,

which is a Saturday evening.

NEW BUSINESS: Future Programs:

1) June – Digital Astro Photography – Dr. Wooten

2) Kepler – TBA 3) Atlas of the Universe – TBA

4) SLOOH – TBA Upcoming Stargazes:

May 7th – Eglin AFB May 29-30th - Pensacola Beach Pavilion

June 19th – Ft. Pickens

May 26th – Bellview Middle School

WSRE-TV has all the volunteers they need right now for their campaign.

EAAA Annual Picnic is scheduled for August 14th (Friday) 6 or 6:30 p.m. at Fort

Pickens. More information to be supplied at a later date.

Hubble Telescope was observed by all after the meeting at approximately 8:03 with a bright flaring pass.

Meeting was adjourned at 7:50 p.m.

PROGRAM TONIGHT: Gary Wiseman showed us pictures taken at the Hurlburt Field gaze of Venus and Saturn with its

rings. Nice photos Gary! Dave Halupowski gave a power point presentation of his visit to French Camp. Included were

pictures of the observatories, classrooms, domes, control room, planetarium, various telescopes, and

buildings with roll-off roofs scattered throughout the camp. Dave talked about the sketching program that was presented, which is basically drawing or sketching the Moon, stars, comets, planets, galaxies,

etc. from visual observation. This can be done from a photo, looking through a telescope or observing the night objects with the naked eye.

The next Mid-South Star Gaze is April 14-17, 2010. --Sharon Bogart, Secretary


Calendar of Events

June 5 EAAA Meets at 7 PM, room 1775, Wayne Wooten shows astrophotos with small digital cameras

Venus at GWE, 46 degrees west of Sun, and half lit in morning sky now

June 7 Full Moon, the Rose Moon

June 13 Waning gibbous moon passes 3 degrees north of Jupiter in morning sky

June 15 Last Quarter Moon

June 17 Ft. Pickens Sky Interpretation, first at Battery Worth since Ivan! Set up about 7:30 PM

Waning crescent moon passes 8 degrees north of Venus in morning sky

June 21 Summer Solstice at 12:45 AM CDT this year

Venus passes two degrees south of Mars in morning sky

June 22 New Moon; next one produces the long totality in China

June 23 Pluto at opposition, but hard to find in rich Milky Way of Ophiuchus

June 26 Gulfside Pavilion gaze starts at sunset, waxing crescent moon passes 3 degrees S of Regulus

June 27 Waxing crescent moon passes six degrees south of Saturn

June 29 First quarter moon

July 3 Earth at aphelion, farthest from the Sun

July 7 Full Moon, the Hay or Thunder Moon

July 10 EAAA meets at 7 PM, moon passes 3 degrees north of Jupiter, both rising about 9 PM

July 15 Moon at Last Quarter

July 17 Sky Interpretation at Ft. Pickens’ Battery Worth, sunset until 11 PM

July 19 Waning crescent moon passes six degrees north of Venus

July 22 New moon, total solar eclipse for India and China

July 25 Waxing crescent moon passes six degrees south of Saturn in SW evening sky

The Gulfside Pavilion Sidewalk gazes: May 29/30, June 26/27, July 24/25, Aug. 28/29, and Sept. 25/26.

Ft. Pickens Sky interpretations are June 19, July 17, Aug. 14, Sept. 18, and Oct. 6.



Scoring More Energy from Less Sunlight

For spacecraft, power is everything. Without electrical power, satellites and robotic probes might as well be chunks

of cold rock tumbling through space. Hundreds to millions of miles from the nearest power outlet, these spacecraft

must somehow eke enough power from ambient sunlight to stay alive.

That’s no problem for large satellites that can carry immense solar panels and heavy batteries. But in recent years,

NASA has been developing technologies for much smaller microsatellites, which are lighter and far less expensive

to launch. Often less than 10 feet across, these small spacecraft have little room to spare for solar panels or batteries,

yet must still somehow power their onboard computers, scientific instruments, and navigation and communication

systems.

Space Technology 5 was a mission that proved, among other technologies, new concepts of power generation and

storage for spacecraft.

“We tested high efficiency solar cells on ST-5 that produce almost 60 percent more power than typical solar cells.

We also tested batteries that hold three times the energy of standard spacecraft batteries of the same size,” says

Christopher Stevens, manager of NASA’s New Millennium Program. This program flight tests cutting-edge

spacecraft technologies so that they can be used safely on mission-critical satellites and probes.

“This more efficient power supply allows you to build a science-grade spacecraft on a miniature scale,” Stevens

says.

Solar cells typically used on satellites can convert only about 18 percent of the available energy in sunlight into

electrical current. ST-5 tested experimental cells that capture up to 29 percent of this solar energy. These new solar

cells, developed in collaboration with the Air Force Research Laboratory in Ohio, performed flawlessly on ST-5,

and they’ve already been swooped up and used on NASA’s svelte MESSENGER probe, which will make a flyby of

Mercury later this year.

Like modern laptop batteries, the high-capacity batteries on ST-5 use lithium-ion technology. As a string of

exploding laptop batteries in recent years shows, fire safety can be an issue with this battery type.

“The challenge was to take these batteries and put in a power management circuit that protects against internal

overcharge,” Stevens explains. So NASA contracted with ABSL Power Solutions to develop spacecraft batteries

with design control circuits to prevent power spikes that can lead to fires. “It worked like a charm.”

Now that ST-5 has demonstrated the safety of this battery design, it is flying on NASA’s THEMIS mission (for

Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms) and is slated to fly aboard the Lunar

Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Solar Dynamics Observatory, both of which are scheduled to launch later this year.

Thanks to ST-5, a little sunlight can go a really long way.

Find out about other advanced technologies validated in space and now being used on new missions of exploration

at nmp.nasa.gov/TECHNOLOGY/scorecard. Kids can calculate out how old they would be before having to replace

lithium-ion batteries in a handheld game at spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/st5_bats.shtml.



http://nmp/TECHNOLOGY/scorecard

http://spaceplace.jpl.nasa.gov/en/kids/st5_bats.shtml

Caption:

Helen Johnson, a spacecraft technician at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, works on one of the three tiny

Space Technology 5 spacecraft in preparation for its technology validation mission.

Note to editors:

This image may be downloaded from http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/news_images/st5_assembly.jpg.

http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/news_images/st5_assembly.jpg

June 2009 Gallery

Messier 53 is one of the more distant globular star clusters, being about 60,000 light years away

from the Galactic center, and almost the same distance (about 58,000 light years) from Earth.

M53 has a bright compact central nucleus, but the stars are not at all concentrated toward the

center when compared to other globulars such as M3. Its discoverer Johann Elert Bode, who

found it on February 3, 1775, described it as a "rather vivid and round" nebula. Charles

Messier, who independently rediscovered and cataloged it two years later, on February 26,

1777, found it "round and conspicuous" and that it resembles M79. Neither one of these early

astronomers realized that they were looking at gigantic balls of hundreds of thousands of stars.

In small telescopes M53 appears as a slightly oval and very small wispy object with fairly even

surface brightness. In larger telescopes, M53’s outer fringes appear resolved into stars, while

the central part is still unresolved and grainy, with one star standing out. –Bob Gaskin


VOLUME XXXIV Number 7 July 2009 *********************************************************************************************








Return to Battery Worth on June 19th Would have been hard to imagine a better night. A gentle breeze kept the skitters at

bay, but not strong enough to mess up observing as long as we stayed under 200X. Somewhat humid, but still dark skies (now to mag 5 at least) as we looked south over Gulf of Mexico. No electricity yet at Battery Worth, where the EAAA set up just around sunset, but plenty of car inverters in use for our electronics. About a hundred folks, some driving over from as far as Louisiana, got star charts from our astronomy ranger Becky Mims, and talked with a fine group of club members and observed through their scopes or with our imaging setups.

Club was represented by new member Manny Galido and his 10” Meade Schmidt-Newtonian, John VeDepo and Mike Davey set up the monster dob (wow, was Saturn and its moons in a row spectacular through it!), Jim Larduskey had his C-8, Rick Little his 8” Newtonian, Harold Breyde his 8” dob, and Dewey Barker his 8” SC. Jeff Krieder also came out to help. Bill Cristea had his 10” Meade SC, which I mated with the StellaCam II and a 19” LCD display for deep sky observing, with great success once we got the alignment working well. Some of our better imaging included M-104 (the dust lane showed up well), NGC 5128 (Centaurus A, with the spiral arms of the doomed galaxy sticking out in front the cannibal elliptical), M-82 (the dusty jets perpendicular to the disk came out very nice), M-57 (white dwarf central star showed up), M-13, M-22 (nice resolution), M-27 (dumbbell shape is easy), and finally, the spiral arms of the Whirlpool, M-51. All photographed well with cell phone cameras and my Olympus D-595.

Naked eye observing was good as well. At 8:26, the Hubble Space Telescope flared nicely to mag. -1 for perhaps ten seconds, drawing exclamations from all as it sailed past Spica. Several fainter satellites also coasted by, and we did constellation identification for my students from PJC, about ten in attendance. --Wayne Wooten Pavilion Gazes on June 26-27th

Friday, June 26th, I arrived at the Performance Pavilion around 7:45 PM and was pleased to see that a nice crowd had already formed around the telescopes set up by Dr Wooten, Jim Lardusky, Rick Little and Manny Galido. Bill Cristea was in the process of setting up when I arrived, and we were followed by John VeDepo, Sharon Bogart, Sam Woodward and Roland McDavid after I began setting up my Orion 100 MM refractor. I would estimate that we had between 100-150 people stop by for views of the Moon, Saturn, M-57, M-13, M-4, M-7 and M-8 as well as other targets during the course of the evening. There were a lot of wows, ohhs and ahhs as people stopped to look through the eyepieces or watch the objects on the video monitor Dr Wooten set up. I passed out several Orion catalogs along with some Moon maps, gaze schedule flyers and the star charts I had left over from the Pickens gaze. We had a real nice sky for viewing, considering the light pollution, and Saturn was taking magnification well.

THE METEOR VOLUME XXXIV Number 7 July 2009 Page 2

I believe Bill put a 5 MM eyepiece in his 10” SCT and Saturn’s rings extended past the

field of view, granted the image wasn’t tack sharp, but there was still a decent amount of detail visible. I had a bit of an interesting hunt for M-57, couldn’t see the two guide stars in Lyra, but I finally pulled it out of the glare coming off Crab’s Restaurant. The Moon had sunk behind the life-guard office and the passer-bys dwindled away after 10:30 so Bill and I began wrapping up around 11:00, leaving Rick, Jim and Manny to hold down the fort. We’ve had some great nights at the beach so far, I just hope the weather holds out. --Dewey J. Barker, EAAA VP

The Club members at the Gaze on Saturday, June 27th, were Carol and Rich Sigler, Austin Page and his Father, Mike Davey, Warren Jarvis and myself. I would say we all arrived between 7:30 and 7:40 PM. I was told Jackie Falzone was there for a while as well, and John VeDepo put in an appearance later in the evening. Austin Page was the Star of the Show with his 60mm Refractor and the Club's 10" Dob (donated by Ron Munion and refurbished by Warren Jarvis). He focused on the Moon and Saturn with both scopes then moved on to M13 and M7. Meanwhile, Mike and Warren were setting up Mike's drive and working on the adapter plate for his 4" Refractor. Once Mike was up and running he showed the people some nice views of the Moon and Saturn. Carol was pointing out Objects in the night sky for people with the Meade my Sky, and I handed out a few pictures and talked to some of the family groups. Four of the families stayed and talked and looked for quite a while. One of the families had been at Friday's Gaze and commented on how much they enjoyed both evenings.

I'd say we had about 40 to 50 people stop by to view. Sometime between 10:30 and 11:00 Austin and his father packed their scopes up and Warren and I helped Mike breakdown his monster drive and pack it in his van. All in all, a very enjoyable evening! --Rick Johnston Barlow Bob’s Personal Solar Observatory

There are simple ideas that amateur solar astronomers can use to improve their solar observing. Using the K.I.S.S. Principle (Keep It Simple Stupid), I created Barlow Bob’s PSO Personal Solar Observatory. This is an extremely portable low-tech solution, to reduce solar light pollution. Light pollution continues to decrease the amount of dark night sky sites, for amateur astronomers. However, amateur solar astronomers are also affected by solar light pollution. Amateur solar astronomers, who only observe one star from sunrise to sunset, may find it difficult to block out the light pollution from this one extremely bright star. To prevent the natural solar light pollution from ruining your enjoyment of solar observing, I would like to introduce Barlow Bob’s Personal Solar Observatory. Audrey Salvatore, a member of the Rockland Astronomy Club in Suffern, NY, made a PSO for me. This consists of two-sided white and black pieces of cloth.Purchase a yard of medium or heavy weight black cotton fabric at least 44 to 45 inches wide and a yard of medium weight white fabric 44 to 45 inches wide. The white fabric should cost from $4.95 to $7.95 per yard. The black fabric should cost from $5.95 to $8.95 per yard. Sew the two pieces with right side together, with a 1/4 inch seam around the edge leaving an opening along the side, to turn it right side out. Press before turning to set seam. Turn and press it again so the seams are all pressed out. Whip stitch the opening closed. Sew a top stitch 1/4 inch from the edge all around. This makes a cloth approximately 44 x 36 inches. This should be big enough for everyone.

When observing the Sun, place this cloth over your head with the white side facing the Sun. The white side keeps the inside cooler, than if you place the black side facing the Sun. When you place this shield over your head while observing the Sun, your pupils will open in the darkness under the shield.


You will notice much better contrast, without the interference of the glare from daylight. When you first enter a dark movie theater on a sunny day, everything is extremely dark. Then as your pupils open in the darkness, you can see the inside of the theater. This PSO makes a big difference observing the Sun. You can also use this product to block out stray light pollution, when observing the night sky. Please consider making this PSO, as a club project, at a meeting or star party. You could also sell these as a club fund raiser. --Barlow Bob

ISS on the Sun Predictions This link, http://www.calsky.com/, is the best real time calculator I have found for natural and artificial satellites that I have found. It has a lot of other good information. To find satellite crossing from the home page go to "Satellites "on the top right, then go to Sun/Moon Crossers. There are no crossings of the ISS or Hubble in the near future for Pensacola, but there is a Sun crossing of the USA/Lacrosse on Sunday, June 19. Clicking on the "Centerline" gives a map with the exact times it crosses thru Pensacola; click on the Red squares. –Dennis Hausch

Minutes of the EAAA Meeting for June 5th, 2009

EAAA President, Rick Hogue, called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. at PJC. There were approximately 40 members present with several students and guests attending. Billy Jackson of the PJC Planetarium was our guest speaker for the night. Billy gave us an update on the Planetarium repairs and replacement. A new system would cost around $30,000 to $50,000 (new technology & simple to use). We are on a list for a demonstration. This would be sufficient for star talks and school shows mainly. Right now the Planetarium is closed to the public for the summer and hopefully by the fall we will have it up and running. Our mission right now is to get the projector up for school groups and night shows at the moment and will need volunteers to run them. The new system is a mirror projection system, which means it will project off the mirror onto the dome and only ¾ of the dome will have an image. Any additional shows will cost anywhere from $4,000-$6,000 and will be in full color. Another thing we would like to look into is a new sound system and LED lighting. Billy will keep us posted as to a demo show. You can check it out on the website www.Discoverydome.com Manuel Galindo was awarded a Level I Award from Dr. Wooten. Mike Davey has ordered more Level I test books. They can be purchased for $7.00. It is a 100 question open book test which can be downloaded. Once completed and it is graded, you will receive an award from Dr. Wooten. Treasurer, Jim Larduskey provided the Treasurer report for June. The club has $2,160.72 in checking, $1,608.23 in savings, $779.10 in cash, for a total balance of $4,548.05. Al dues to be paid next week. Star Shooting CD’s are available for $10.00. OLD BUSINESS: See Dave Halupowski for EAAA t-shirts and hats. Dark Sky Report: Nothing to report at this time. Observatory Report: Billy Jackson gave an update on the Planetarium. Stargaze Reports: Gulf Side Pavilion @ Pensacola Beach (May 29/30) Around 250 people stopped by. It was a clear night, but a little hazy. Steady stream of people and very enthusiastic.

http://www.calsky.com/

http://www.discoverydome.com/

THE METEOR VOLUME XXXIV Number 7 July 2009 Page 4 NEW BUSINESS: Future Programs:

5) July 10th – Billy Jackson to do a demo in the planetarium and will show how to run the program for anyone interested.

6) October 9th – Dr. Clay Sherrod & Dinner at Golden Corral @ 5p.m.

Upcoming Stargazes:

1) Sky Interpretation @ Battery Worth, Ft. Pickens: (June 19th) 2) Gulf Side Pavilion @ Pensacola Beach: (June 26/27) 3) EAAA Annual Picnic (August 14) Battery Worth, Ft. Pickens 4) Green Bank Star Quest VI: (June 24 – 27th)

Meeting was adjourned at 7:50 p.m. PROGRAM TONIGHT: Astro Digital Photography by Dr. Wooten A digital camera for around $150 can do some surprisingly good things right now. At Target you can purchase the Canon AS1000 at a good buy for $150.00. It has 4x Optical Zoom, ISO 3200, will do time exposures and is good for astronomical pictures. Another good camera that is less pricey is the Samsung SL90 for $100.00. Dr. Wooten showed us the different settings on his Olympus camera and how they work for taking astrophotography pictures. For constellation work a tripod is a good thing to have along. Dr. Wooten showed us pictures that he had taken with his Olympus such as the Alpine Valley on the Moon, various shots taken of the Moon, the Bay of Rainbow, solar activity, Hubble Space Telescope, Iridium Flares, Jupiter, constellations, Saturn and many more wonders of the Universe. --Sharon Bogart, Secretary Reminder The Perseid meteor shower peaks on August 12th, but our annual picnic will be on Friday, August 14th, at the Battery Worth picnic area at Ft. Pickens. Plans will be made at the July 10th meeting. This is the day Jupiter reaches opposition, and we should have a good turnout from the public as well. Come out and bring your scope to enjoy the giant planet, bid good bye to Saturn ( with Mercury close at hand in the SW), and sweep the summer Milky Way under dark skies. As is our tradition, there is no August EAAA business meeting; these will resume the first Friday in September.


Calendar of Events

July 10 EAAA meets at 7 PM, moon passes 3 degrees north of Jupiter, both rising about 9 PM

July 15 Moon at Last Quarter

July 17 Sky Interpretation at Ft. Pickens’ Battery Worth, sunset until 11 PM

July 19 Waning crescent moon passes six degrees north of Venus

July 22 New moon, total solar eclipse for India and China

July 24 Pavilion Gazes start at sunset this weekend

July 25 Waxing crescent moon passes six degrees south of Saturn in SW evening sky

July 28 Peak for delta Aquarid meteor shower, first quarter moon

Aug. 2 Mercury .6 deg NE of Regulus, low in western evening twilight

Aug. 6 Full Moon, the Green Corn Moon, passes 3 degrees north of Jupiter in SE

Aug. 12 Peak for Perseid Meteor Shower, from NE after midnight

Aug. 13 Last quarter moon

Aug. 14 Jupiter at opposition, EAAA picnic and August sky interpretation at Battery Worth

Aug. 17 Mercury passes 3 degrees south of Saturn in SW twilight, Neptune at opposition

Aug. 20 New Moon

Aug. 22 Waxing crescent passes close to Saturn and Mercury in western twilight…great photo op

Aug. 28 First quarter moon for the Pavilion Gazes on Pensacola Beach this weekend

Sept. 2 Moon passes 3 degrees north of Jupiter

Sept. 4 EAAA September business meeting, 7 PM, room 1775 at PJC, Full Moon, the Harvest Moon

The Gulfside Pavilion Sidewalk gazes: July 24/25, Aug. 28/29, and Sept. 25/26.

Ft. Pickens Sky interpretations are: July 17, Aug. 14, Sept. 18, and Oct. 6.



July 2009 Gallery

I have had great fun with my Canon DSLR, but recently bought an SBIG ST-

10XME for a greater range of opportunities. The attached shot of M13 is my

first attempt using this camera. I will freely admit that this "first shot” is a

thrilling experience to me. Aside from the final exam in Meta Logic in graduate

school at University of Oklahoma, this is probably the most technically difficult

thing I have ever attempted in my life, but it was worth it. This single, 10-second

shot was taken through a TMB 130mm refractor and clear filter last night, just

one step ahead of the moon.

Bob Gaskin drove over from Miramar Beach to help me through this event. If

he had not been here, I would have captured nothing. I know that Bob is self-

taught, but I do not see how anyone can do this without close supervision and

instruction. I learned more about hands-on astronomy last night than I have in

all the time I have been doing observing and DSLR work. I have a very long way

to go in this business, but as they say, this is something for lifetime learners

--Jerry Klingaman

I took these pictures last night and I am extremely pleased with them. The first one is a mag -8 flare from Iridium 49 and the second one is a totally unexpected flare from USA 129 (a.k.a Keyhole 12-3). I had about 30 seconds in between each satellite pass and I was not planning to image USA 129 but when I saw that it was fairly bright I turned the camera that way. It flared about 2 seconds after I tripped the shutter and the flare was probably mag -1 or so and extremely brief. Both images were taken with a Canon 20D and 18-55mm lens. Exposure was 30 seconds at f/4.5 and ISO 800 Austin Page

The Cool Chemistry of Alien Life

Alien life on distant worlds. What would it be like? For millennia people could only wonder, but now NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope is producing some hard data. It turns out that life around certain kinds of stars would likely be very different from life as we know it. Using Spitzer, astronomers have discovered the organic chemical acetylene in the planet-forming discs surrounding 17 M-dwarf stars. It’s the first time any chemical has been detected around one of these small, cool stars. However, scientists are more intrigued by what was not there: a chemical called hydrogen cyanide (HCN), an important building block for life as we know it. “The fact that we do not detect hydrogen cyanide around cool stars suggests that that prebiotic chemistry may unfold differently on planets orbiting cool stars,” says Ilaria Pascucci, lead scientist for the Spitzer observations and an astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. That’s because HCN is the basic component for making adenine, one of the four information-carrying chemicals in DNA. All known life on Earth is based on DNA, but without adenine available, life in a dwarf-star solar system would have to make do without it. “You cannot make adenine in another way,” Pascucci explains. “You need hydrogen cyanide.” M-dwarf and brown dwarf stars emit far less ultraviolet light than larger, hotter stars such as our sun. Pascucci thinks this difference could explain the lack of HCN around dwarf stars. For HCN to form, molecules of nitrogen must first be split into individual nitrogen atoms. But the triple bond holding molecular nitrogen together is very strong. High-energy ultraviolet photons can break this bond, but the lower-energy photons from M-dwarf stars cannot. “Other nitrogen-bearing molecules are going to be affected by this same chemistry,” Pascucci says, possibly including the precursors to amino acids and thus proteins. To search for HCN, Pascucci’s team looked at data from Spitzer, which observes the universe at infrared wavelengths. Planet-forming discs around M-dwarf stars have very faint infrared emissions, but Spitzer is sensitive enough to detect them. HCN’s distinctive 14-micron emission band was absent in the infrared spectra of the M-dwarf stars, but Spitzer did detect HCN in the spectra of 44 hotter, sun-like stars. Infrared astronomy will be a powerful tool for studying other prebiotic chemicals in planet-forming discs, says Pascucci, and the Spitzer Space Telescope is at the forefront of the field. Spitzer can’t yet draw us a picture of alien life forms, but it’s beginning to tell us what they could—and could not—be made of. “That’s pretty wonderful, too,” says Pascucci.

For news of other discoveries based on Spitzer data, visit www.spitzer.caltech.edu. Kids can learn Spitzer astronomy

words and concepts by playing the Spitzer “Sign Here!” game at spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/spitzer/signs.



http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/

Caption:

Do alien planets around other stars have the right ingredients for a pre-biotic soup?

Note to editor:

This image may be downloaded from http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/news_images/alien_world.jpg.

Documents

Journal of the Escambia Amateur Astronomers Association · THE METEOR VOLUME XXXIV Number 5 MAY 2009 Page 2 Meanwhile, in Mississippi Last week I accompanied my church group to a