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NOVEMBER 1992 THE ALACHUA ASTRONOMY CLUB MEETS THE 2ND TUESDAY OF EACH MONTH AT 7:30 PM AT THE DOYLE CONNER BUILDING ON SW 34TH ST AT 20AVENUE. EVERYONE IS INVITED TO ATTEND MEETINGS. OTHER CLUB ACTIVITIES, AND JOIN THE AAC. NO EQUIPMENT IS NEEDED. CALL ONE OF THE CLUB OFFICERS FOR INFORMATION.

29 deg 38 min North 82 deg 21 nrin West PRESIDENT: GILBERT BERDARDO 1-935-0340 BRANFORD. FL

VICE PRESIDENT/ALCOR : HARK COWAN 375-2564 GAINESVILLE, FL TREASURER: DOUG RICHARDS 332-4317 GAINESVILLE. FL

PUBLICITY: PAMELA MYDOCK 495-9166 ARCHER, FL FIRSTLIGHT EDITOR: CHUCK BROWARD 475-1014 MELROSE. FL

JOURNEY TO SIR WILLIAM HERSCHEL'S ENGLAND AT THE NOVEMBER 10th MEETING

Join other AAC members as CHARLIE TARJAN leads us via

speach and photography on a tour of the LIFE AND TIMES

of SIR WILLIAM HERSCHEL, a most remarkable

18th CENTURY ASTRONOMER.

CLUB NEEDS A STARPARTY COORDINATOR AND TRANSPORTATION ORGANIZER!!! HELP!!! North Florida's sky is changable enough that last minute action may

be needed to "pull off" a scheduled starparty, or shift it to another evening. Also, some club members need transportation to starparty locations.

Since your trusty editor and club president both live away from Gainesville it is difficult for us to manage effective coordination of starparties. Sooooo, we really need a volunteer starparty boss to help out! Let's discuss this at the meeting.

UPCOMING LUNAR ECLIPSE A GOOD REASON FOR A SIDEWALK STARPARTY??!!! December 9ths TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE seems like a marvelous excuse to

set some telescopes up in a public place and introduce people to the night sky....plus it will give club members a chance to view occultations with the moon in shadow.

HOW MANY HAVE FOUND COMET KEGEL/SWIFT/TUTTLE/KIUCHI??? Dale Niederwriter has seen it, John Amoroso has plotted it...your

half blind editor can't see itl Look for a finding chart (thankfully clipped from Astronomical Society of the Atlantic's journal) elsewhere in this issue of FIRSTLIGHT.

If you have info on TUTTLE to share, please do so at the meeting.

DECEMBER IS ANNUAL CHRISTMAS PARTY MONTH...HO HO HO! Mi-Golly another year is wrapping up and we need to discuss a

evening of gaity and festivity e.g., AAC's party.

Science Fair Project George Russell. The Alachua Astronomy Club has again been invited to participate in next years

Alachua Region Science/Engineering Fair. The event will be held at the Oaks Mall in Gainesville, FL on February 19 and 20th, 1993. At the clubs October meeting, it was generally agreed by members to participate as requested but to modify the method of awarding prizes to selected winners in the Junior and Senior Divisions. Strong opin-ions were expressed that rather than presenting cash awards that awards directly relat-ed to astronomy should be offered. That is, perhaps a poster or other useful item that is astronomy oriented should be considered rather than monies.

In addition to the foregoing, it was suggested that a letter or a certificate of appreciation be offered to the principal of the school of the student selected as a winner. More on the Science Fair Project at a later date.

EDITORIAL COMMENT I'm typing this listening

to election returns and wonder-ing what all this will have to do with my avocation (either astro-nomy or newsletter publishing)

Hopefully, more $$$ for science, space, and UF (Me!)

HELP! 1 mess with LIVING HISTORY and reenact the late 1700's. If you saw LAST OF THE MOHICANS you saw bunches ot reenactors. I want to establish a persona as a surveyor/astronomer/ cartographer/scientist. (Wmn Herschel move over!)

If you have info, items or hints, please let me know!

FOR SALE/TRADE: FINDER SCOPE, RT ANGLE

$25 PHOTO GUIDER FOR SCT

SCOPE $50

286 COMPUTER, NO FLOPPY OR HARDDRTVE, 1 M RAM DOCUMENTATION, MONO-MONITOR, KEYBD $240

MODEL 100 LAPTOP DUAL DISC DRIVE AND VIDIO ADAPTER AND SOFTWARE

$125 CALL CHUCK 475-1014

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Above: Finding chart for Comet Kegel/Swift-Tuttle/Kiuchi during the months of November and December. The comet will be visible in the evening sky, requiring a good pair of binoculars or a small telescope for easy visibility.

THROUGH THE EYEPIECE : Mark your calend Wednesday, December 9. We will be tre the moon that will allow us time to g fact, the moon will be rising as the First contact should be shortly after December issue of Sky and Telescope f This eclipse should prove interesting volcanic activity that our earth has The results of Mt. Pinatubo's 1991 er and add to that particles from Alaska Mt. Hudson.

ar for the evening of ated to an eclipse of et to bed early. In eclipse is beginning. 6:00 PM. Check the

or the exact timings. due to all the recent

recently experienced, uption is still with us, 's Mt. Spurr and Chile's

THE NOVEMBER ISSUE OF ASTRONOMY i Everytime I'm about ready to give up on Astronomy magazine, they seen to come up with a real wizz-bang issue. The November issue is such an issue. If you don't have it yet, be sure to get yourself a copy. Included in this issue is a binocular buyer's guide, plans to build a 12V star tracker for astophotography, and an excellent article on astrophotography basics. It discribes in detail the barndoor drive that John Godman talked about a few meetings back.

REMEMBER

WHEN

ATM JOURNAL i A few months a saddened to hear that Kalmb print Telescope Making, and Our lifeline had been cut. a group of amateurs saw the Issue 1, the fall 1992 issu point to a very good public tion, the editor, William J is to become more that just of ATM's. The subscription four times a year. The addr Bothell, Washington. 98012 in telescope making should

go, amateur tel ach Publishing issue 46 would It was back to need and have

e, arrived last ation. In a rec . Cook, pointed a magazine, bu price of $20.00 ess is ATMA , 1 ph. (206) 481-7 support this ef

escope makers were Co. would no longer be the last issue,

working alone. Happily, established ATM Journal. week, and all indications

ent telephone conversa-out that the intent

t to form an aggoelitisn brings you an issue 7606 28th Ave. SE, 627. Everyone interested fort.

| l f | | A T I A PROFESSIONAL f i l m I . REFLECTING Uke This UNDER »100«*? YES, lf% Herat Th* Amazingly TowarM

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and its New Combination Mount with Free Moving Polar Axis Rod

3 ACHROMATIC EYEPIECES, 6SX-130X-167 X 4 POWER FINDER AND...4 INCH PARABOLIC MIRROR

SoMiiltcaUy Caiad mi JMMJBi

TK HIT masm Ma $w ira IU ma

FEATURES 1.4" tarafcclte Minor, AtawhiLx*. and Pre— -Quartz c *» tu

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Shi*»tng Wal«M 14 Ik*. Kx]>r«ii Char fM Collect YOU MUST BE 100% DELIGHTED OR MONEY BACK! •UY DIRECT FROM MANUFACTURER SAVE $60 OR MORE

S E E I N G IS BELIEVING 1 - - - Unbel ievable but true! Yet, now it's a reality . . . DYNASCOPE — the triumph in l t l«Kopf craftsmanship) You couldn't match the precision workmanship or quality of this new DYNA-SCOPE even if you paid two or thre« times its unheard of price) You save at least $60.00. It's a f a d and we're willing to prove it. We say to all you amateur and pro-fessional astronomers, "Seeing is Relieving!" Just wait until you see how the highly precise, superbly mode parabolic mirror — with its V_ more light than 3V_ inch mirror — gives you exquisite *imoges of star clusters, nebulae comets, planets, eclipses, even double stars! Just wait until you see the new improved, combination equatorial and alt* azimuth mount with free moving polar axis rod that gives you double sta-bility and adaptability to slow motion controls, clock work or setting circles.

Made in limited quantities the complete DYNASCOPE Reflecting Telescope measures up to the highest professional standards on every point! Think of it —4 inch parabolic mirror (aluminized and coated with zircon quartz), 3 achromatic eyepieces, 65X— 130X— 167X, 4* power view finder . . . and five other expensive features. Do you wander why professional astronomers say it is comparable to scopes selling anywhere from $100. UPI TRY AT OUR RISK . . . The DYNASCOPE comes complete and ready for im-mediate uie. It is sold under Criterion's famous money-back guarantee of 100% satisfaction. Although we can make immediate shipment, production is limited because of precision manufacture. Send check or M.O. TODAYI

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The George Russell. There's no doubt it. You've just got to have a sense of humor if you intend to

build your own telescope. Murphy's laws are continuously made apparent to you as you go from one phase of construction of an amateur telescope to another. I know as I look back now and recall of some of the many seemingly impossible glitches that I ran into; "Murphy' seemed to be just everywhere.

Anyway, we (my wife and I), are now in the final phases of putting together the tube and the mounting for the 6"-F10. We are following, almost to the letter, Rich-ard Berry's 6" Dobsonian as described in his book "How to Build Your Own Telescope".

For reasons only known to Berry, I noticed certain details of construction were missing in spite of excellent photographs, etc., that appear in the book. I would like to share withyou a few items that really deserve a bit more consideration with details that helped me complete the project. See below:

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ASTRONOMICALCALENDAR1993 Guy Ottewell's "legendary Astronomical Calendar" (as Sky & Telescope calk it) has grown from its modest beginning in 1974 to be far more than a Calendar. It is an atlas-sized book: 70 pages in a large 11-by-l 5 inch format, so that each displays as much information as four pages of a standard book.

This is the necessary guidebook if you want to be alerted to—and to understand—the scenes and events that will fill the sky throughout this year eclipses, the shapes and jour-neyings of the Moon, the patterns formed by stars and planets, the nights ofthe meteor-showers.. .

Price list and order form

$ quantity $ Astronomical Calendar 1993 16.00

Send order to: Astronomical Workshop Furman University Greenville, S. C. 29613 U.S_\.

_)) lly Ceok _. By Bill Amenc OX TROT p u «

#

Will light pollution bring about the extinction of migratory birds, such as this Blackpoll Warbler ??

• • •

«_£_• _ a _ irtn'.i.-

Guided by the constellations, the diminutive blackpoll warbler can fly from New England to Venezuela in 60 to 80 hours without stopping to feed or rest.

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AAC ASTRO DIARY-NOVEMBER 1992

Mon 2 FIRST QUARTER MOON, Saturn 5 deg s of Moon, S Taurid Meteor Shower

Wed 4 Mars 5 de_ S of Pollux Tue 10 FULL MOON, AAC CLUB MEETING 7:30 PM DOYLE CONNER BLDG Wed 11 Mercury stationary Thu 12 N. Taurid Meteor Shower Sun 15 Mars 5 d N of Moon Tue 17 Leonid Meteor Shower

LAST QUARTER MOON Fri 20 Jupiter 7 d N of Moon Tue 24 NEW MOON Thu 26 Venus 1.9 d S of Uranus Fri 27 Venus 3 d S of Neptune

Uranus 3 d S of Moon Neptune 1.6 d S of Moon Venus 5 d S of Moon

Sun 29 Mars stationary Mon 30 Saturn 5 d S of Moon DECEMBER 1992 Wed 2 FIRST QUARTER MOON Tue 8 AAC CLUB MEETING 7:30 PM DOYLE CONNER BLDG WED 9 FULL MOON TOTAL LUNAR ECUPSE

ALACHUA ASTRONOMY CLUB HRSTUGHT EDTTOR C. S. BROWARD, III RT2 BOX 2915

MELROSE, FLORIDA 32666 phone 904-475-1014