raros^LiDGm A L A C H U A A S T R O N O M Y C L U B

DECEMBER 1 9 9 2

THE MJOUA ASTRONOMY CLUB MEETS THE a © TUESDAY OF EACH MONTH A T 7:30

PM AT THE DOYLE CONNER BUILDING ON SV 34TH ST AT 20AVENUE. EVERYONE IS INVITED TO ATTEND MEETINGS, OTHER CLUB ACTIVITIES, AND JOIN THE AAC. NO _________ IS NEEDED. CALL ONE OF THE CI __ ________ FOR _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ] _ _ _ _

29 defl 31 Min North 82 <*a 21 win West PMSIKNT: GILBERT BCMVWOO 1-935-0340 BIUNFORD. FL

VICE RKSDENT/MIXM : MAMC COWDN 375-25*4 GAINESVILLE. FL THEASHER: DOUG RICHMOS 332-4317 GAINESVILLE. FL

W m i l l : PAMELA KYTMCK 495-91CC ARCHER, a imSIUOtr EtXTM: CHUCK BRONMO 475-1014 MELROSE, FL

_______ JOHN AMOROSO! Hf It seems like when we get a good club member they Move away...

John is Moving to Tallahassee (I think, Editor). Good luck in your new endeavors, John.

•LUNAR ECUPSE PUBLIC _____________ CHnSTMAS PARTY-

WEDNESDAY ____fl_j___B_ff__a §TH

On Wednesday evening at ______ the Moon will rise entering the eclipse. It should be an eyecatcher, and a great chance to involve the public in our hobby.

DOUG ________ is providing both the leadership for the _________ at MODEM OAKS SCHOOL from C:00 PM t* 7:45 PM and the CLUB _________ PARTY at 0:30 PM at Doug's house at 10123 SW 2nd Place.

HIDDEN OAKS SCHOOL IS LOCATED BEHIND FT. CLARKE MIDDLE SCHOOL on 23r_ AVMMM west of 1-75. Meet on the WEST side of the school.

THE PARTY AT DOUG'S HOUSE can be reached by taking NEWBERRY RD west past 1-75 to Se. 91st St (on the south side of N'berry Rd), then travel MM-block on So. 01st St and take the first right on SW 1st PI (Ft. Clarke Forest) to the STOP SIGN then turn left on SW Zmi PI to Deaf*s iMttse. Call 332-4317 if lost!!

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Graphic courtesy of the Starry Messenger. Ithaca, NY

EDITOrS CORNER>

It is December, about 22 days before Christmas, and I am sitting here next to the woodstove banging away on the 386 computer while contemplating cold feet and AAC over the past year.

First- I want to thank all that took their own time and created materials for the FIRSTLIGHT. George Russell has been , over the years, a fierce and consistent provider of useful information. Your president, Gilbert Bernardo, has obviously taken a lot of time putting together of material for you. Jan Sugalski has also filled these pages. To those, and the others, I say thank you. And keep it comingl

SECONDLY-I want to thank all of you who have taken a active part in the "doings" of the AAC. Every time a member shares his skills, knowledge, or expertise, I learn and grow a bit..and so do you. Thanks!

THIRDLY-if there is such a word (ly). I want a Christmas Present from all of you. A bit of your time and effort is all.

We have had woefully few starparties this year...the club could sure use some help in organizing starparties this coming year.

We could use more public contact.we need help in setting up and organizing public events, of interfacing with scout groups, schools, and other public functions.

I still dream of having a AAC owned viewing site, with a building and so on. Nuff said about that!

ANYWAY, MERRY CHKBTMAS EVEKYBODYB

Chuck Broward, FIRSTLIGHT EDITOR

Uranometria 2000.0 Jan Sugalski

I have just received my new copy of Uranometria 2000.0. This star atlas comes in 2 volumes of which I ordered only number one. The first volume gives the northern hemisphere down to declination -6°. The second volume gives the sky from -6° south to the south pole(-90°). This format really forces the serious observer to get both volumes (especially observers in Florida) because too many good areas to the south exist below -6° declination. To give you an idea, -6° runs just south of Orion's belt, it runs just below the head of Cetus and it cuts Virgo, Ophiuchus and Aquarius in half. So you see volume two would also be desirable. The editors probably planned it that way.

This atlas is a real masterpiece. The scale is more than twice that of Sky Atlas 2000.0 by Wil Tirion who also is largely responsible for Uranometria 2000.0. Volume one contains 259 actual charts with stars shown down to 9.5 magnitude. There are a total of 332,556 stars and 10,300 nonstellar objects. As a comparison, Sky Atlas 2000.0 contained 43,000 stars and 2500 nonstellar objects.

Uranometria 2000.0 is in black and white as was the first editions of Sky Atlas 2000.0. Currently Sky Atlas 2000.0 is in color. Personally I don't find any particular practical value in a color star atlas. It remains to be seen if Uranometria 2000.0 will appear in color.

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SEASONS GREETINGS

THROUGH THE EYEPIECE - Well, another year comes to a close. I'm sorry that I'll have to miss the upcoming star party and Holiday get-together, but if all goes well Mr. Bernardo's 4th grade class will be hosting an eclipse party for the town of Branford. The kids are really looking forward to it, but Branford is notorious for clouding up during astronomical events. Maybe luck will be on our side.

As this year comes to a close, so does my term as president of the AAC. It's time to pass the torch. January's meeting will need to concern itself, in part, as to the selection of new officers. Come with some names in mind.

One primary problem for any club is the planning of monthly programs. A club should not depend upon outside sources for its programs. We have been fortunate in that several of our club members have come forward with presentations, but there are others that we have not heard from. Don't be shy. Give us your best shot! Here are a few topics I would like to here more about: Astrophotography - More historical astronomy - always something about optics - observing techiques - observing the moon - inovations in astronomy - what the pros are doing - make and takes. I'm sure others of you have a list of ideas , too. Let's hear from you.

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Blue Galaxies and the size of the universe Jan Sugalski

In the June, 1992 edition of Physics Today, there is an article entitled "Mapping Dark Matter with Gravitational Lenses". If you look far enough into space, back to a time when the universe was one half to one third its present size, you will see a background of blue galaxies. This is true in any direction you loo The light from these background blue galaxies can be bent by the gravitation of dark foreground matter. Astronomers can determine alot about the dark matter by seeing how it bends the light from these blue background galaxies.

I first heard about these blue galaxies on the six-part series called The Astronomers which was run on PBS. Since then I have wondered - why should they be all blue? The article on gravitational lensing gave the answer.

It turns out that at the age of the universe we are seeing at the distance of the blue galaxies, star formation was much more active than it is now. Furthermore the abundance of new hot massive stars radiate very brightly in ultraviolet light. But at the distance of the blue galaxies, the redshift is large and has shifted the ultraviolet just into the visible spectrum at the blue end. Hence these galaxies appear blue to us.

In addition to this information, the article on gravitational lensing mentioned something which may help you appreciate the true size of the universe.

The most sensitive CCD detectors when used with the 4 meter telescope at Cerro Tololo in Chile has found more than 300,000 blue background galaxies per square degree of sky!l (You may pause here to catch your breath). To put this in perspective, the Uranometria 2000.0 star atlas catalogs a total of 332,556 stars and 10,300 nonstellar objects for a grand total of 342,856 objects. It is certainly possible then, in fact likely, that each square degree of sky contains as many galaxies as all the objects listed in the entire Uranometria 2000.0 atlas. Now consider that each of these galaxies contains about 100 billion stars! The mind boggles.

Alachua Astronomy Club

November 28th, 1992

Mr. Bill Herschleb, Curriculum Supervisor and Fair Director, School Board of Alachua County 620 University Avenue Gainesville, FL 32601

Dear Mr. Herschleb:

At a regularly scheduled meeting, members of the Alachua Astronomy Club, on October 13th, 1992, agreed in principal to participate in the 1993 Alachua Regional Science/Engineering Fair.

What has changed however is the kind of an award that is to be pre­sented to the winners selected by the judges of our organization.

Please note the attached completed summary sheet provided by you for additional details.

Members of our group look forward to this very worthwhile endeavor and wish you and your associates great success.

For the Alachua Astronomy Club, I remain,

Sincerely,

George H. Russell

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4606 S.W. 84th Drive, Gainesville, FL 32608 376-7633

Business or Organization: Alachua Astronomy Club

Contact Person: Mr. George Russell

Address:

City:

Telephone:

4606 SW 84th Drive

Gainesville, FL 32608

376-7633

Special Awards your business or organization gave at th_1992 Alachua Regional Science and Engineering Fair:

Two Cash Awards: $25.00 award to the student in the Junior Section and $25.00 to the student in the Senior Section judged to have the best projects relating to astronomy. An award certificate to each of the schools attended by these students.

Please place a check mark in the space proceeding each response which is applicable for your business or organization.

_____ We will give special awards for the 1993 Regional Science and Engineering Fair.

We wish to give the same type of special awards that we gave for the 1992 Regional Science and Engineering Fair held at the Oaks Mall.

We wish to contribute toward expenses for the two students selected to represent the Alachua region at the 1993 International Science and Engineering Fair in Mississippi Beach, Mississippi, in the amount of $ .

y1 We wish to give a different type of special award this year as follows:

__/__ _______ /__________ _f__i_________ TO ULL l±L£Ji££5.

___/___/_______»_ _________j_^c___ Lu'/'ic/l lL'<7/ <y///'£c//t/

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___ Please give us a reminder telephone call two weeks before the Awards ceremony

CATEGORY INFORMATION FOR THE 1993 REGIONAL SCIENCE/ENGINEERING FAIR Students in grades 6-8 will compete in the Jumior Section. Students in grades 9-12 will compete in the Senior Section. There will be thirteen (13) project categories in each section as follows-

PHYSICAL SCIENCES Chemistry Computer Science Earth and Space Sciences Engineering Environment Mathematics Physics

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES Behavioral and Social Sciences Biochemistry Botany Medicine and Health Microbiology Zoology

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The 6" - F10 George Russell. You have to agree that with overcast skies, it's quite difficult to generate

that little bit of extra enthusiasm to actually finish the job. To finish the job in this case means checking out the optics before sending the mirror and diagonal out for their aluminized coatings.

A front surface coated diagonal has been located and as soon as it arrives, it will be tested in the 6" - F10 and the optics actually tested on the moon and other bright objects; street lights for instance. This will give me that extra edge of knowing whether or not my 6 inch mirror is really ready to be sent out for aluminiz-ing.

With it will go another diagonal, polished but not coated, given to me by one of our club members, Jan Sugalski. Mirror and diagonal will be coated simultaneously.

Show and Tell George Russell. At the November meeting, John Amoroso and myself brought our home brew telescopes

for all to see. What was particularly interesting to me was a number of innovations on John's scope that could readily be incorporated in mine. Note the sketches below of just 3 of the neat ideas that can be helpful when adapted to the Dobsonian/Newton-ian reflector.

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. 12/17 12/18 12/19 12/20 12/21 12/22

LUNAR PHASES

Predictions for Atlanta & Vicinity

___ 12:24 12:52 13:19 13:48 14:19 14:54 15:35 16:22 17:17 18:19 19:25 20:34 21:43 22:51 23:58

01 KM 02:11 03:17 04:22 05:25 06:24

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00:22 01:16 02:11 03:08 04:07 05:08 06:10 07:12 08:10 09:03 09:50 10:32 11K» 11:44 12:18 12:52 13:27 14:06 14:48 15:36 16:29

40% 49% 58% 68% 76% 84% 91% 96% 99% 99% 98% 93% 87% 78% 67% 56% 45% 34% 24% 15%

8% 3%

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12/23 12/24 12/25 12/26 12/27 12/28 12/29 12/30 12/31 01/01 01/02 01A33 01/04 01/05 01/06 01/07 01/08 01/09 01/10 01/11 01/12 01/13

LUNAR ALMANAC: DON BARRY _,

D I A R Y : K E N P O S H E D L Y

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2 Dec 4 Dec 9 Dec

9 Dec

13 Dec 13 Dec 13 Dec

16 Dec 18 D M 19 D M 21 Dec 21 Dec 22 Dec

22 Dec 23 Dec

27 Dec 29 Dec

31 Dec

ASTRONOMICAL DIARY

(All Times arc EST)

16:10 Moon at apogee (251,290 miles from Earth) 01:17 Firat Quarter Moon 20:00 Society meeting Mercury at greatest western elongation 18:41 Full Moon, total lunar eclipse; Society observing Asteroid Toutatis brightest Gemini ds peak 16.-06 Moon at perigee (228,647 miles Trom Earth) 14:13 Last Quarter Moon

Society obMrvinsj— HLCO Society observing— HLCO 09:43 Winter Solstice 11:00 Venus 1.1' south of Satu—t 09:00 Moon 1.6' south of Mercury 16:00 Mars 3' south of Pollux 19:43 New Moon, partial solar

eclipse Asteroid Juno at opposition 12:06 Moon at apogee (261,699 miles from Earth) 22:38 First Quarter Moon

ALACHUA ASTRONOMY CLUB FIXSTUGHT EDITOR C. S. BROWARD. Ill

RT2 BOX 2915 MELROSE. FLORIDA 32666

phone 904-475-1014