IT HAS IMPORTANT INFORMATION THAT WILL BE USEFUL ALL YEAR.

We had to submit this as part of the documentation for NELS JOHNSON, for the Incorporation of the Club, and I think that it should perhaps be re-iterated for the membership, for those of you who don't really know what the original intentions were for this club and how those intentions have evolved.

1. To Promote An Interest In The Science And Hobby Of Astronomy By Providing A Forum For Like-Minded People To Interact And Learn From Each Other, And To Share Our Expertise With Those Who Would Benefit From It.

2. To Provide An Interface Between Ourselves And The Educational Community,

Providing Observing And Lecture Programs For School-Age Children, With 'Hands-On' Teaching By Demonstration And Example

3. To Provide An Interesting Environment For The Education Of The General Public In The Science Of Astronomy And Related Environmental And Space Sciences.

4. To Build, Equip & Staff:

-TWO Astronomical Observatories; One On the East Central College campus, The Other On Private Land, Under 'Dark-Sky' Conditions, For Undergraduate Research By College-Level Astronomy/Physics Students And EMDSO Members.

-A Planetarium In Or Near The Washington/Union Area, Open For The General Public, For Daytime & Cloudy-Weather Programs On Astronomy.

5. To Provide Classes On Observational Astronomy And Related Subjects, Teaching Familiarization With The Night Sky And The Use Of Star Charts And Telescopes; Telescope Making And Astrophotography For Any One Who Is Interested.

6. To Build A Few Portable 'LOANER' Instruments, Built By Club Members, FOR Club Members Who Don't Have Instruments Of Their Own, To Check Out And Use.

7. To Offer Public Observing Sessions, Free Of Charge, On A Quarterly Basis, Throughout The East-Central Missouri Region That We serve.

8. To Provide Weekly Observing Nights At The Obsrvatory(s), Staffed By Members Of The E.M.D.S.O. To Operate Telescopes And To Answer Visitors' Questions About Objects Being Viewed Or The Instruments Being Used.

9. To Offer Consumer Information And Advice Free Of Charge, To Those Interested In The Purchase or fabrication Of A Telescope For Personal Use.

NOTE: Officer’s meetings for the EMDSO are generally on the first SUNDAY afternoon of each month. Specific times and locations or for directions can be obtained from either the

Nothing much happened during September and October. On the second Saturday of October (the regular Meeting night), the EMDSO hosted a Star Party at Schmidt-Scott for students from Clark-Vitt Elementary School in Union and from Our Lady of Lourdes School in Washington. There were approximately 120 kids total, at least that's what I believe I heard from some one. On another night, there was supposed to be a Special Observing Session for the Faculty & Staff of ECC, but only one secretary showed-up and perhaps a half dozen other people. I was unable to attend either of these sessions because of having to study.

THE OCTOBER Officer’s meeting was attended by Mark Birkmann & Rick Schwentker. Discussion included: 1.) Insurance for the ’Loaner’ telescope kept at the Schmidt-Scott Observatory at East Central College. This will be discussed further at some future time.

The November meeting & Observing session was clouded-out, as was the 4th Friday, consequently nothing happened in November.

The November meeting was cancelled & there was no meeting in December scheduled.

The January Officer’s meeting was held at Pat McDonald’s house in New Haven, SUNDAY, January 6th. Discussion included discussion about the funding still needed for the completion of the 30"’s Observing site & the Club’s Treasury, which currently is $753.08.

The Next BUSINESS MEETING will be on SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 3rd, at Mark BIRKMANN's house, 2:30 pm. Any member is welcome to attend.

On the agenda for the February meeting: Scheduled Activities for John Dobson’s visit in APRIL, a TO-DO list for FINISHING the 30" site before his arrival; Monetary disbursement sources for his visit; among other things.-----***-----

DARK-OF-THE-MOON Star Party at JERRY KELLEY’s House in Marthasville EVERY MONTH, except when it conflicts with Schmidt-Scott’s Regular Observing nights. These will ALWAYS be held on SATURDAY NIGHTS. Any EMDSO or SLAS member or any other ‘interested party’ is welcome to attend. If the sky is CLEAR, we’ll be there. However, the first one that was scheduled on January 22^nd, was cancelled due to snow. But it wasn’t all that cold out & the sky was beautifully clear. The ‘seeing’ was fast, but the ‘transparency’ was V.GOOD.

I’ve been corresponding with the person that does the scheduling for JOHN DOBSON’s lecture programs, that he travels around the country doing. Originally, she contacted me, since I’m President of the St Louis Astronomical Society, because last year, the previous Pres., John BEAURY & Jim SMALL, the Webmaster & Newsletter Editor, stayed in Kansas City at the same place that John stayed at during his visit there. They tried to get him to come to St Louis, but his schedule was too full & he couldn’t make it. So, she got in touch with me. Anyway, we were trying to work out a good date for the SLAS visit and I thought, hey, why not have him come and do another program for the EMDSO, while he’s in the neighborhood? So, we initially made arrangements for him to spend 8 days here: He would stay here at my house (at least take his meals & have a place to crash) & I’d take a week’s vacation at the same time & act as Chauffeur for him to take him wherever he wanted to go. As it turned out, he had another commitment on the regular weekend of the SLAS meeting night & so with the time conflict, once again, it didn’t work out for them. However, he’s STILL planning on COMING HERE, albeit only for three days - April 12, 13 & 14. The dates are NOT yet set in Concrete though, & there MAY be a cancellation yet & maybe he’ll be able to stay longer.

As a consequence of the conflict, (and, I think, because they want him to be staying closer to STL ), the SLAS is looking at having him come for a somewhat longer stay in the Summer.

There HAS BEEN A QUESTION raised about FUNDING his visit. He requires a STIPEND, MEALS, LODGING & TRAVEL EXPENSES. To this end, I have already pledged $100 toward his stipend & he’ll be staying at my home, so his Lodging, Transportation while he’s here & Meals are covered. Rick, I believe, has also pledged $50 to this end, so we’re asking for funding from the rest of you, to help make this visit a reality. The total shouldn’t be any more than about another $300.

John, for those of you who DON’T KNOW WHO HE IS, is the Founder of the Los Angeles Sidewalk Astronomers, the Founder of the San Francisco Sidewalk Astronomers and the Inventor of the DOBSONIAN Telescope Mount that has since become very popular around the world, over the past 30 years or so. John is an EXTREMELY ACTIVE Observer & will be outside EVERY CLEAR NIGHT while he’s here, and during the day will want ‘PROJECTS’ to work on, or people to help with whatever telescope problem they’re faced-with. I’m told that he’s ADAMENT about staying busy, during these visits.

It seems that if we're going to have Public Observing Sessions at the Schmidt-Scott Observatory, that we need to develop 'Programs' for presentation. I had done some thinking along these lines and came up with a tentative schedule of programs that MIGHT be implemented. I started these program titles in January and ran straight through to December, however, since we'll not open the facility until at least the first weekend of February, it couldn't be implemented without serious revisions. But, anyway, here it is. If any one has any better ideas: any ideas at all, about programming, or what ever else we might try to do over there, PLEASE FEED ME SOME IDEAS!!!

for the 2002 Calendar Year. If you haven't already sent them in, remember, they're $24.00 per year. If you want SKY & TELESCOPE magazine, it's an additional $29.95.

----- *** -----

The 30 INCH scope SHOULD be ’on-line’ in the Spring, according to Rick Schwentker. He and Pat McDonald have been pouring much of their resources into getting that project done & they’re nearly finished. The telescope may be ready to move up the hill about the end of MARCH, maybe sooner. Rick said that he’s pretty sure that it’ll be useable by the time of JOHN DOBSON’s visit in APRIL.

We've had an influx of new members and Rick & I decided a couple years ago, that one thing this club really should have for new members is some sort of packet that would introduce them to the workings of the club and give them a little security and a feeling of welcome. To this end we're still in the process of putting together a ‘New Member Packet’ which will probably consist of something like the following:

1. Purpose of the E.M.D.S.O.
2. List of available re-prints.

3. Resources external to the club, i.e., Useful Websites, Books, etc.
4. Discounts available for club members.
5. CLUB DIRECTORY
6. List of Library holdings & Equipment available for loan owned by the club.

7. Explanation sheet defining terms used in the DSO columns, esp., "KEEP IT IN THE DARK", where there are numerous abbreviations as in the descriptions of deep-sky objects.

8. Articles (perhaps) for informational purposes such as; "So, You Want To Buy a Telescope ?", "But THAT Doesn't Look Anything Like the PHOTOGRAPH", or "So, You Got A Telescope For Christmas, Now What?"

If you have ANY suggestions for this packet, PLEASE let me have them, 'cause-I'm looking for ideas.

JOHN DOBSON will be in the St. Louis area TWICE this year. The first time, he’ll be coming to Marthasville for 3 days, APRIL 12 - 14. He’ll be staying with me, however, he will want to keep busy doing ‘Projects’ during the day & Lecturing & doing Star Parties at night. He will give a lecture Program at East Central College on SATURDAY evening. The subject of his talk is titled, "Cosmology: Debunking The Big Bang Theory for the Formation of the UNIVERSE".

His SECOND visit will be approximately AUGUST 3^rd through the 20^th. Since he’ll be here for about two and a half weeks, his time will be shared between the EMDSO & SLAS, but will be mostly with SLAS. He MAY do some ‘Programs’ for other astronomy clubs, such as ASKC (Astronomical Society of Kansas City) or CMAA (Central Missouri Amateur Astronomers) of Columbia during that visit.

In both visits, John will want, No, EXPECT to be kept BUSY, doing Scope Making projects, Observing sessions & Lecturing. He got a reputation for getting irritable if he isn’t busy teaching something, & I would LIKE for his visit with us to be a pleasurable experience for ALL….

For those of you who didn’t get my e-mail about WHO John Dobson is, He’s Founder of both the Los Angeles Sidewalk Astronomers, the San Francisco Sidewalk Astronomers & Invetor of the DOBSONIAN TELESCOPE MOUNT that many of us use for our instruments. He travels around the world, doing astronomy Lectures , demonstrations, and Star Parties for astronomy clubs and other organizations. This is something he’s been doing for about 30 years, & he averages 200 programs per year. - Pretty Busy Boy, this one!! By the way, he’s 86 years old & has the energy of a 30 year old Hyperkinetic. It SHOULD prove to be a very interesting experience for us.

1. WHERE'S THE "FLAMING STAR NEBULA" ?

2. OVER THE PAST 15 YEARS, HOW MANY STARS HAVE BEEN

DETERMINED TO HARBOUR PLANETS, BESIDES THE SUN ?

3. WHAT IS THE "HEAVENLY 'G'"?

4. "WHERE'S THE 'BLACK PILLAR' ?"

5 "CAN YOU FIND THE 'PIPE NEBULA' ?"

6. "HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF THE 'STAR-QUEEN' ?"

Answers In NEXT Issue: ‘MARCH/APRIL’

Answers To Last Issue's Questions plus a few others:

Q)- "WHAT'S THE NAME GIVEN TO THE SMALL STAR CLUSTER LOCATED IN THE BRIGHT CENTRAL PORTION OF THE 'ORION NEBULA', AND WHY IS IT GIVEN THAT NAME ?"

A)- "TRAPEZIUM". The reason appears to be because of the 'shape' of the grouping of four faint stars resembles that of a Trapezoid'.

Q)- "Where's The 'CHECKMARK' "?

A)- The 'CHECKMARK', or 'SWAN NEBULA', or 'HORSESHOE, or 'OMEGA NEBULA' are all one and the same.: M-17, a diffuse Emision Nebula in Sagittarius, the "Archer". M-17 is one of the most prominent of the Diffuse nebulae, which are interstellar clouds that some day may, and many times currently are, condensing into stars and star clusters. Located in the Summer Milky Way, M-17 may be glimpsed under very dark conditions with the 'naked-eye' as a faint patch of light above the 'TEAPOT' of Sagittarius, near the Northern border of the constellation and some two degrees south from M-16, the "EAGLE Nebula" in the constellation Serpens. M-17 is one of the largest nebulae in the sky, with its faintest outer reaches measuring 45' x 35'; about 1-1/2 times the amount of sky covered by the Full Moon.

For the visual observer, M-17's main feature is the long, bright 'comet-like' streak across the Northern edge; on the West end, a curved 'hook' gives the whole, the appearance of a figure '2', with the long streak forming the extended base. The entire area is strewn with stars from magnitude 9 down to the limit of visibility, but no stars seem to be directly associated with the nebula itself. There must, however be stars present to cause the nebula to glow so brightly. They're probably just buried deep in the opaque portions of the cloud out of our line of sight, most probably on the Northern side. There are about 35 stars in the immediate area that are part of the M-17 complex, and the total mass of the nebula is enough to form about 800 Sun-type stars. The best estimates for the distance to M-17 comes to about 1.8 KILOPARSECS, or about 5,700 light-years. The brightest portion of the nebula extends around 12 light-years, with the faint outer portions reaching as far as 40 light-years.

Q) "Can You Find The 'FLYING GEESE CLUSTER' "?

A) M-11, in SCUTUM, is an Open, or Galactic Star Cluster, found at the 'edge' of a very rich

star cloud in the Milky Way, just on the SE side of the constellation AQUILA, the "EAGLE"( not to be confused with the "Eagle" Nebula). The cluster gets its name from the fact that it resembles a flock of geese flying in their customary 'V' pattern, perhaps because some 'foreground' obscuring dust blocks the light from parts of the cluster. M-11 can be easily seen with the 'naked-eye' at Magnitude 6, with a diameter of about 12 minutes of arc, which at its distance of 5,500 light-years corresponds to 18-20 light-years.

An observer in the middle of M-11 would see several hundred 1st Magnitude stars in their sky, and possibly 40 or so with brightnesses equal to from 3 to 50 times the brightness of SIRIUS. Estimates of the number of stars in M-11 is something like 2,300 between 11th & 14th Magnitude, with 870 above magnitude 16.5. The star density inside the cluster, is something on the order of one star every 1/10 light-year, and if viewed from as far away as M-11, the SUN would appear as faint star of magnitude 15.9. The total luminosity of M-11 is about 10,000 Suns.

Can You Find The 'NORTHERN CROSS' "?

A)- The "NORTHERN CROSS" is an 'Asterism' in the constellation CYGNUS, the 'Swan'. The Northern Cross is made up of the stars ALPHA (Deneb), at the 'top' of the 'Cross'; BETA (Albireo), at the 'bottom'; GAMMA (Sadr), EPSILON (Gienah) and DELTA form the 'Crossbar', and the whole asterism makes a Very Good likeness to that of a CRUCIFIX.

DENEB, Alpha Cygni, is intrinsically, one of the most luminous stars known. With an Absolute Magnitude of -7.1, it's about 12 or 13 magnitudes, or about 60,000 times brighter than the SUN.

ALBIREO, Beta Cygni, until just recently, was thought by many to be a Binary Star System. It has a Very striking color contrast between its components: the brighter is a Yellow Giant; the other a type dwarf which appears Sky Blue. It's a very pretty pair, and offers a fine chance to really see color contrast in the night sky. Recently, it was discovered that the Blue component is actually about Twice as far away as the yellow one, so it's simply two stars that are aligned with the Sun, giving the false impresion of being a gravitationally bound system.
 
 

IN JANUARY SATURDAY - JULY 14th

OBSERVATORY CLOSED FRIDAY - JULY 27th

IN FEBRUARY SATURDAY - AUGUST 13th

OBSERVATORY CLOSED FRIDAY - AUGUST 26th

SATURDAY - MARCH 9th SATURDAY - SEPTEMBER 14th

FRIDAY - MARCH 22nd FRIDAY - SEPTEMBER 27th

SATURDAY - APRIL 13th SATURDAY - OCTOBER 12th

FRIDAY - APRIL 26th FRIDAY - OCTOBER 25th

SATURDAY - MAY 11th SATURDAY - NOVEMBER 9th

FRIDAY - MAY 24th FRIDAY - NOVEMBER 22nd

SATURDAY - JUNE 8th SATURDAY - DECEMBER 14th

FRIDAY - JUNE 21st FRIDAY - DECEMBER 27th -

OBSERVATORY CLOSED (UNLESS SOMETHING AMAZING HAPPENS IN THE SKY THAT NIGHT)

WITH THE RE-LOCATION of the 30" Newtonian, from the MENKE farm to the top of the ETLAH KNOB, owned by PAT McDONALD, an Observatory of sorts, had to be constructed & the Very Steep access road to the site had to receive some serious refurbishment. With these things in mind, Rick SCHWENTKER & Pat McDONALD have been pouring their resources into the project with GUSTO, for the past couple years. The access road has been repaired with several truckloads of new rock & some drain pipes to help to keep the road from washing away every time it rains. The observing site itself, which consists of a DECK surrounding a roll-off shelter for the telescope, is nearly finished. Since the road doesn’t go all the way to the top of the hill, they decided rather than continue the road to the site, they would take it as far as a Parking Area, on the hillside & from there build a STAIRWAY up a rock face to the site.
 
 

THERE will be several inserts placed in the Newsletter‘s next issue. Among these, a copy of the club "MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION" that is needed from several of you; There's a copy of the "Standard Observing Form" created by Scott MacKenzie, for making DRAWINGS of your observations .

A LOT of you, in fact I'd wager, most of you don't save your past issues of the DARK-SKY OBSERVER. Consequently you may no longer have copies of all those neat observing lists that I''ve printed over the last few years. WELLLLL, Weep NO MORE !!!! We will offer them again as re-prints. These include the MESSIER LIST, the HERSCHEL CLUB 's first 400, the CALDWELL CATALOGUE, re-prints of ALL the KEEP IT IN THE DARK columns and TRIVIA Q's & A's and the three part BINOCULAR OBSERVING LIST that I put together a few years ago.

IN THIS COLUMN, I OFFER DESCRIPTIONS OF SEVERAL DIFFERENT TYPES OF OBJECTS, i.e., SOLAR SYSTEM (SUN, MOON, PLANETS , COMETS, ASTEROIDS& METEOR SHOWERS That are due for an appearance) Also various ‘Deep-Sky objects from certain constellations visible at this time in the night sky.

Meteoroids are small solid particles moving in orbits around the Sun. On entering Earth's atmosphere at velocities of between 15 and 75 kilometers per second they are heated by the friction of passage through the atmosphere and are vaporized. These luminous trails we call "Falling Stars" or meteors and Fireballs. Occasionally, one is large enough to reach the surface, but the odds of this happening are perhaps on the order of 1 in a Billion. Meteors are visible on any night of the year. On average, an observer will see 7 meteors per hour that aren't associated with any of the KNOWN Meteor Showers. These are called "SPORADIC METEORS". At certain times of the year, the Earth encounters a "Stream" of meteoroids traveling together in the same orbit about the Sun. These 'streams' are thought to be the remnants of usually, long dead comets. The effect of this encounter is what we call a METEOR SHOWER. The MAJOR Meteor Showers of the year are the GIACOBINIDS, ORIONIDS, QUADRANTIDS, PERSEIDS, LEONIDS, LYRIDS, GEMINIDS, URSIDS, DELTA AQUARIDS, ETA AQUARIDS and the TAURIDS. These, plus other minor showers, or suspected showers are listed here with their APPROPRIATE DATES, DURATION AND RADIANTS** (THE POINT IN THE SKY WHERE THEY SEEM TO COME FROM), AND IF KNOWN, THE ASSOCIATED PARENT COMET. (**NOTE:- The resource I

used for much of this information listed RADIANTS with what I assume to be Altitude & Azimuth positions. There was no reference to whether these coordinates were Geo-centric or Heliocentric. If Geocentric, they would undoubtedly be entirely dependant on LATITUDE of the observer. If Heliocentric, they would probably follow the ECLIPTIC, or in other words would be ECLIPTIC CENTERED, and so, wouldn't necessarily correspond very well to Right Ascension & Declination coordinates. SO, any way, I wasn't able to determine exactly what the case might be and consequently, these Radiants are indeterminate. BUT, there's STILL a lot of good information here and so I offer it to you.)

NOTE - 2 Readers will see a term that they may not have encountered before: SOHR. This is simply an abbreviation for Single Observer Hourly Rate.

JANUARY

On the 3rd-4th, the QUADRANTIDS will appear. This shower is associated with HALLEY'S COMET. The normal duration with at least 1/4 maximum hourly rate equals 1.1 day, with a PEAK of 0.6 day, centered on the 3rd. Coming in at 41 kps, a single observer (SOHR) averages about 40 meteors per hour. Radiant is 15Hrs. R.A., +50 degr. Declination, which is (I think) in the constellation BOOTES, between the 'Handle' of the Big Dipper and the 'Keystone' of Hercules. (REF. ORIONIDS - Oct 20, for more)

FEBRUARY

NO METEOR SHOWERS THIS MONTH - BOOO
 
 

MARCH -

On the 16th, the CORONA AUSTRALIDS occur. This isn't a very well known shower. In fact, I've NEVER seen anything about it in Sky & Telescope or Astronomy magazines. One can expect 5 meteors per hour at maximum for this shower, which has its Radiant at 245D, -48D dec, and the duration of about 10 days centered on the 16th. NOTE that CORONA AUSTRALIS is SOUTH of Sagittarius in the Summer Milky Way.

During a 15 day period centered on the 26th, the Earth encounters the VIRGINID Meteor Stream. There's no estimate available to me as yet, for hourly rates, but if you're interested in watching for this one, watch toward (190,00) Virgo during the nearly two week period.

APRIL -

During a period of 20 days +/- centered on the 9th, is the ALPHA VIRGINIDS Meteor Stream. There's no available estimates for hourly rates, but the RADIANT is as the name implies near the star SPICA(210,-10).

The 21st & 22nd offers us the LYRIDS with its' RADIANT at 18H 16M R.A., +34 degr. Declination. Single observer hourly rate (SOHR) will be around 15 meteors. Duration 2 days. Not a particularly cataclysmic event but it's still considered one of the MAJOR meteor showers of the year. This Annual shower is associated with the comet of 1861.

MAY -

On the 4th, RADIATING out from a point near the star for which it's named, the ETA AQUARIDS make their appearance, radiating from about 22Hrs 24' R.A., on the Celestial Equator with SOHR of about 20. These cross the sky at 64 kilometers per second. DURATION approx. 3 DAYS.

JUNE -

During a 25 day period centered on the 15th, the Earth encounters the OPHIUCHID Meteor Stream. There's no SOHR available, and I've never noticed this one occuring, so I'm not much help.

28th; the DRACONIDS are an Irregular shower that sometimes is good and sometimes doesn't seem to happen at all. The SOHR of the year 1916 was about 50, but that was a rare occurance. This shower is associated with P/Comet PONS-WINNECKE.

JULY -

During a 20 day period centered on the 6th, Earth passes through the SAGITTRIID Meteor Stream.

Almost immediately, from another part of the sky in the south & during another 25 DAY period, centered on the 22nd, Earth passes through the CAPRICORNID Meteor Stream.

DELTA AQUARIDS - JULY 29th, radiate from 22Hrs 36m, -17 degr. DECL. SOHR , 20 with duration of less than ONE DAY, however there IS a broad 20 Day period where one can expect to see SOME meteors associated with this shower.

July rounds out the month with another 20 Day passage through still another Meteor Stream, the PISCIS AUSTRALIDS, which is centered on the 30th. Its RADIANT is (340,-30)

AUGUST -

A broad Meteor Stream is encountered during a 30 DAY period, centered on AUG 1st. This is the ALPHA AQUARIID; Radiant near Alphard (Alpha Aquarii). There's no available SOHR for this one either, but it really looks like JULY and AUGUST are pretty busy, with meteors zipping this way and that, and it may be lots of fun to try to determine which group this or that meteor belongs to.

STILL ANOTHER Meteor Stream, the Northern Delta AQUARIIDS, with a duration of about 30 days, centered on the 3rd may be seen with its RADIANT at (337,00), which is right on the Celestial Equator.

AND another, with an overall duration of approximately 40 days centered on the 5th is the NORTHERN AQUARIID Meteor Stream. Its' Radiant is at (331,-06)

The SOUTH AQUARIID Meteor Stream is another 40 DAY duration program centered on the 5th. Its Radiant is (335,-15), which is only four degrees west and nine degrees south of the OTHER ONE. ENJOY trying to separate them !!

The PERSEIDS peak on the 11TH. These are fast, Blue and radiate from 03Hrs 04m, +58 degr. DECL. in the constellation PERSEUS at about 60 kps. The SOHR will generally be about 50. These are associated with the 3rd Comet of 1862.

On the 18th another Meteor Stream is encountered; the CYGNIDS. The maximum duration length of this group is about 15 days centered on the 18th. Radiant (290+15). No known SOHR.

TIME FOR A REST! No meteoric activity this month

A very special Annual shower occurs this month: the GIACOBINIDS. With a maximum that lasts only 0.05 DAY (about an hour and a half), this shower CAN be THE MOST INTENSE of any during the year, including the LEONIDS in November. Associated with P/Comet GIACOBINI-ZINNER, this shower had in1946 an SOHR of 1,000 meteors, and in 1933, 20,000 !!! In recent years, it's been nothing to write home about, but who knows, maybe it'll do its tricks again this year. The parent comet passed by a year or so before HALLEY made its last passage, and there was a night I remember when Gene Schmidt, Scott MacKenzie and I were Observing at Mammoth Cave of Illinois, near Waterloo, when we could see FOUR comets in the sky, three of which were EASY naked-eye objects, one of those was comet G-Z. It had a lonnnngggg tail and traveled almost STRAIGHT south over a period of a month or so, from Cassiopeia (I think), through Orion & Eridanus. THIS SHOWER OCCURS ON THE 9th.

On the 21st, the ORIONIDS come in at 66 kps and peak at about 25 meteors per hour. This is an ANNUAL shower with a duration of 8 DAYS. This Meteor Shower, like the Quadrantids (and possibly the Aquarids of May 4th) are associated with P/COMET HALLEY. Basically they are the dust expelled from Halley, and we encounter the same debris stream twice, both in-coming AND out-going. SOHR for the Orionids is 25. Compare this and the speed of the Quadrantids:

QUADRANTID DURATION= 0.6 day SOHR- 40 SPD 41 kms/sec.

ORIONID DURATION= 8.0 days SOHR- 25 SPD 66 kms/sec.

From these numbers, you can see that the Orionids are the in-coming part of the meteor stream, accelerated by the gravitation of the Sun, and the Quadrantids are out-going, part, slowed by the same amount. Also, it can be seen that the in-coming particles are fairly spread-out, while the out-going are a pretty tight bundle. CURIOUS.

On the 5th are the S. TAURID-ARIETID Meteor Stream with a duration spread over 30 days centered on the 5th. At the time of PEAK, the SOHR is around 15. This stream is associated with P/COMET ENCKE and its Radiant is at (053+14) near the Taurus/Aries border.

The N. TAURID Meteor Stream has duration of about 45 days centered on the 10th. Its SOHR is unknown and there was no peak listed. The Radiant is (057,+22)

` Another Very Special though IRREGULAR, Meteor Shower is the BIELIDS, (pronounced - BAYLIDS), whose total duration is 0.2 DAY (about 5 hours), on the 14th. This shower is associated with P/COMET BIELA, which made its first known appearance in 1826. The following year (1827) the attending Meteor Shower was seen to develope an SOHR 0f 5,000, and again in 1885 its SOHR was 10,000 !! Normally, its SOHR is around 15. Its Radiant is (024,+44) near --,in the constellation ________. This MIGHT be another one well worth watching.

The LEONIDS arrive on the 17TH. This Annual shower is associated with the P/COMET of 1886, which has a 33 year orbit. Consequently every 33 years there is the chance of an incredible increase in this shower, which is expected in 1999. This is the ONE that really got me fired-up about astronomy, even though I'd been doing more than my share of observing before the LEONIDS happened along. Normally, the SOHR for the Leonids is about 50-60, but in 1867, there was one of these abnormal showers that produced an SOHR of 1,000. Again in 1883 it pulled-off another one; this time the count was about 10,000!! ONCE AGAIN, and this time I witnessed it, in 1966, I was totally stunned for 3-1/2 hours as an average 3,600 per hour fell across the sky (that's ONE PER SECOND, on average). It was amazing- sometimes I'd go for a minute or so without seeing any, then BAM! four would zip across SIMULTANEOUSLY !! Well, that was 1966 and now 33 years later it may well happen again boys & girls!! The exact year drifts a bit plus or minus three or four, but it hasn't happened yet this time as far as I know (we were clouded-out this year), but this is one I for one am eagerly waiting for a repeat performance.The normal peak, or should I call it SPIKE, lasts generally an hour and a half, or less. The total duration of the shower is about 4 Days, with a Radiant (152+22) near ______ in the constellation LEO MAJOR. I saw a brief burst that I MAY have just seen the end of the night before the peak when there were 5 meteors within a couple of minutes, that came cruising across the polar region of the sky all traveling in the same direction from the east. It was fairly early in the evening, about 9 p.m. and I saw NO MORE that night- or the next.
 
 

The GEMINIDS have a 6 day duration with the peak centered on the 13th. The SOHR usually runs about 50 and these are generally slow, yellow or sometimes multi-colored meteors that come at us from the constellation of GEMINI. The Radiant (113,+32) is near _-_____.

The URSID shower is the final one for the year. It's an ANNUAL shower that has a duration of 2.2 DAYS, centered on the 22nd. It's associated with P/COMET TUTTLE 1939, with an SOHR of 15-18. Radiant is (217,+76) pretty far north in URSA MAJOR, and consequently, visible ALL night with the peak probably occurring in the early morning hours before twilight begins. - * -

The following objects are taken from the Observing Lists that I've prepared over the last several years, The MESSIER LIST", The "CALDWELL CATALOGUE", and the "BINOCULAR OBSERVING LISTS, 1, 2 & 3."

AMONG the ‘DEEP-SKY’ objects discussed this month, is the "Great Nebula in ORION". The constellations that we'll be looking at, will be AURIGA, CANIS MAJOR, ORION, LEPUS and GEMINI. Following is a Description of Abbreviations used in this column:

M-36; NGC 1960; O.C.; d. 12'; m 9; 60 stars mag 8... Bright Open Cluster located in bright Auriga Milky Way. Best seen at 20-50 power in 6" - 8" scopes. Distance about 4,100 Light-Years.

M-37; NGC 2099; O.C.; d. 20'; m 9; 150 stars- Superb cluster resolveable in scopes as small as 2" aperture - Nice in any scope. Perhaps 500 stars to m12.5. Age around 200 million years w/ some Red Giant members. True diameter about 25 light-years and about 4,600 light-years away.

M-38; NGC 1912; O.C.; d. 20'; m 8..; 100 stars-Resembles inverted Greek letter (PI) and is about 4,200 light-years away.

IC 405; D.N.; d. 18'x 30'; Faint, Large, surr. Variable star AE Aur. which has a luminosity of 900 Suns +/-. Average M = -2.5. AE illuminates nearby I.C. 405 and photos taken in RED and BLUE light show distinctively different features, Red indicates Ionized (glowing) interstellar gas and Blue shows dust illuminted by the light from the star. AE is one of 3 stars thought to have been ejected from the Orion O-B Association, at high velocity as recently as 3 million years ago, and is now passing through the nebula IC 405, making it visible. These three stars are called "Runaway Stars". Distance to IC 405 and AE Aur. is about 1,600 Light Years.

M-41; NGC 2287; O.C.; d. 30'; m 6; Around 100 stars, magnitude 7...Naked-Eye Object under the best conditions and might be glimpsed as a faint smudge directly below (south) of SIRIUS. Partially Resolved in BINOCULARS and lying 2,300 Light-years distant.

C-58; NGC 2360; O.C.; d. 10'; m. 9...; 50 stars+. 3.5 deg. E of Gamma (photo p.440 "Burnham's").

C-64; NGC 2362; O.C.; d. 6'; m 7.5; Unusually pretty cluster surrounding 4th magnitude TAU Ca Maj, which is thought to be an actual cluster member. The cluster is quite devoid of instellar gas, unusual for this type of object, especially since this cluster is probably only about 1 million years old. This cluster is actually about 8 light-years in diameter, with a distance of 4,600 Light-Years.

M-79; NGC 1904; G.C.; d. 8'; m 8.4; R w/ 8" - 10" scopes. 50,000 Light-Years. M-79 is a GLOBULAR CLUSTER which can be found by extending a line through the stars Alpha and Beta LEPORIS and continuing south 4-1/2 degrees. M-79 is not one of the brighter Globulars and has an intrinsic luminosity of about 90,000 suns.

M-42; NGC 1976; D.N.; "Great Nebula". d. 65'; m. 5. The "Orion Nebula is one of the MOST interesting objects in the ENTIRE sky to view. It is a stellar nursery and imbedded in it are perhaps several thousand stars that are currently in the process of formation. Recent research done by Dr. Schwartz from UMSL indicated a large number of T Tauri type stars in the nebular complex, and has made the determination that stars that have a Bi-Polar outflow feature are stars that are in the process of formation and that they have an acretion disc of material orbiting them and that this disc causes the Solar Wind from the star to spew out away from the star at its' poles of rotation. It seems that this action is a normal part of the process of stellar formation. The Orion Nebula lies about 450 light-years away, is about 50 light-years across (the Main Bright portion), and caused to glow by intense Ultra-violet radiation from the multiple star THETA ORI, which is imbedded in the nebula and easily seen in the brightest portion. Visually, the nebula can be seen with the naked eye, but the larger the aperure, the more detail you can see. The whole, appears BLUISH-GREEN to the eye, but photography really shows the region at its' best, because the film will reveal every color of the spectrum in the nebula and is caused by the light given off by the various gases in the area, or reflected by the dusty regions. M-42 is best seen at around 30 to 50 power in a scope that allows -a 2 degree field of view, say an 8" f/5, 12.5" f/4, etc.

M-43; NGC 1982; D.N.; Is the little "COMMA SHAPED", detached portion of M-42. It has a central star that is mag. 8, with a Spectral class of O-7 (-refer to article in previous "D.S.O.", on the Classification of stars and the "Hertzprung-Russell Diagram").

M-35; FINE cluster with any aperture or magnification. RICH, LARGE, with a diameter of about 3/4 degree, can be located just above the Northern feet of Gemini, not far from the "Club" of Orion. Distance is about 2200 light-years with a diameter of 30 light-years and a luminosity of 2500 suns. 1/2-degree SW is small faint, but EXTREMELY RICH NGC 2158. Sometimes referred to as - 'transition type cluster' between the Open cluster and the Globular cluster, NGC 2158 has several thousand stars, and if as close as M-35, would be a real showpiece of our night sky, however it's about 16,000 light-years away and consequently REAL faint. It's resolveable only in larger amateur instruments, though it can sometimes be glimpsed in one as small as 6" aperture.

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