MINUTES of MEETINGS:
JANUARY THE January meeting was attended by about 20 people. The Program for the evening centered around the 'Operation & Use of Equatorial Mountings, and The Celestial Co-ordinate System'. Among the items discussed were; The use of the 'All-Sky' star charts found in Sky & Telescope magazine, how the Equatorial mounting works and the differences between it and an Alt-Azimuth type mounting. We had five or six instruments and mountings set up in the Lobby of the AD bldg. It was cloudy, so there was no observing that night.
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FEBRUARY The meeting on Feb. 14th, was intended to be a continuation of the program of the previous month. However, since it was Valentine's Day, no one showed-up, except Rick & I. We spent about three hours looking at the Gemini, Orion, Monoceros, Puppis, plus Canis' Major & Minor region of the southern sky. Rick has added several Messier objects to his list as a result of Saturday night's observing; M-35, 41, 46, 47, 50, 48 & M-93, all Open Clusters, the "Eskimo" Nebula, a Planetary in Gemini, the "Christmas Tree" cluster and associated "Cone Nebula" and the "Rosette", NGC 2237-39 & 44, in Monoceros and last but certainly not least, NGC 2169 the "37" cluster in Orion. Along about 10:00 we decided the breeze was making observing too uncomfortable, so we packed everything up and went home.
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MARCH THERE was a QUARTERLY BUSINESS MEETING at Les & Judy KEMP'S house on MARCH 8th, at 7:00 p.m. Only the Officers were present. We discussed several items, which will be outlined here.
BOB KIRSCHENMANN is making a presentation to the New Haven town council some time around MAY 1st, and wants to make a 'Dry-Run' presentation to us at the next Business Meeting, which will be on APRIL 5th.. Any member or person who has business with us who wishes to attend, may.
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WE'RE going to begin a 'Club Project' dealing with helping to develop the skills of the general membership in learning the night sky, operation of the telescopes at the Schmidt-Scott observatory and "Finding objects" with them, including, but not limited to, the MESSIER Objects.
What we'll do is to develop a set of 'SKILL SHEETS', which will be projects that everyone can do, beginning with simple constellation recognition and how to set up a telescope, to POLAR ALIGNMENT, and so on. There will be several levels of mastery. When you finish the first sheet, some one will check you out to make sure you understand what's going on, then you'll be given the NEXT sheet, if you want it. Everybody can work at their own pace - there's NO TIME LIMIT or anything like that - it's just something to give some of you some guidance or direction in your pursuit of this hobby. There seems to be several of you who might feel a bit lost.and these sheets will be designed to take you in easy steps , in whatever direction you may want to go. We'll try to have some ready for the next meeting (APRIL).
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One of the OTHER things discussed was the several times previously mentioned 'LOANER TELESCOPES', that the club has or will have. As you probably already know, ECC owns TWO portable instruments, a 6" f/8 and a 10" f/4.5, BOTH Newtonians, that we've had almost SOLE access to for the past several years. I also have THREE 6" instruments, or rather 3 incomplete sets of telescope parts that can be made into 3 complete telescopes, that could be used for this purpose (Loaner Instruments). There are several parts that would have to be obtained. One of the instruments is virtually complete, the 6" f/8. It's on an EQUATORIAL mounting that in turn is mounted on a castered pedestal. The Optical Tube Ass'y (Telescope itself) is complete and ready to go. All it needs are eyepieces. The second, the 6" f/5 was originally mounted on an Alt-Azimuth water pipe mount, just like the ones used for ECC's two. It needs a new TUBE, FOCUSER, TELRAD, EYEPIECES. The third scope, the 6" f/10 uses one of my mirrors that I ground 25 years ago and just never had aluminized. The tube is just like the one used for my 10" f/9 & is in pretty good shape. The mirror needs to be Aluminized, It needs a FOCUSER, SECONDARY MIRROR & HOLDER, TELRAD, MOUNTING and EYEPIECES. This one will make a VERY GOOD Planetary Telescope.
So, the 'Break-Down' of needed items for these instruments looks like this:
THE Sonotube I HAVE at home, but the cost involved here is not the tube itself, but the Vinylized Canvas covering which has to be purchased at a Fabric Store and the adhesive to stick it on. It COULD be dispensed with, but it's an EXCELLENT weather protection for the instruments
The possible purchase of a "GRAVITY DRIVE" for the UNITRON Refractor was discussed , but only very briefly. Unitron no longer manufactures them, but they have TWO left in stock. If I can come up with the necessary funds, I will buy BOTH - One to attach to the Untrion and the other as a 'Spare' or to use with another instrument. It'd be REALLY NEAT to be able to have a scope OR TWO that could track the sky without the necessity of being near ELECTRICITY!!
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DUES FOR 1998 NEED TO BE IN BY APRIL 10TH. No exceptions. If you don't, this will be the LAST NEWSLETTER YOU'LL RECEIVE, and you'll be dropped from the Mailing List. In the past, we've sent Newsletters for up to 6 months to people who were either prospective members OR to those who were just overdue on their renewals, but it's becoming too expensive and we have other things to spend money on besides mailing costs etc. If you need to renew, best do so SOON.
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We're having a 'WORK DAY' at ECC, probably on MAY 2nd, 1998, to do some needed repairs to the structure and some up-keep on the observing pads surrounding the observatory. Also, We need to do some work on the access road, like cutting brush that scratches cars using it & leveling off some of the bumps. We'll also have a 'Work Day' at Menke's on JUNE 6th. There are a couple of things needed to be done there, like the digging of a Latrine, Installation of the Poncet Table and the computer system.
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FROM THE SECRETARY 1 March, 1998
APRIL 12th, 1998 marks ONE YEAR since the dedication of the SCHMIDT-SCOTT Memorial Observatory. Throughout the year, the observatory has been open for Public Star-Gazing two times every month, weather-not-always-permitting (especially this Winter). The word is getting around of the availability of the observatory to students. Through Rick Schwentker's enthusiasm, many of his Washington High School physics students have come to observe for 'extra class credit'. Other elementary students and parents have come from CLARK-VITT Elementary - Union; Our Lady of Lourdes, Washington; Clearview Elementary, Washington and Cub Scout Pack 449, from St. Clair. The approximate totals for the year: High School Students, 105; Elementary Students , 110, Parents and General Public, 244; Bringing the total number of people who've actually signed the guest register to 459.
The presence of the E.M.D.S.O. members and their scopes are very welcome when classrooms of children descend on us. Thank You to all members who helped during this past year.
Outreach to the community and the schools is one of the main goals of EMDSO through the SCHMIDT-SCOTT Memorial Observatory. We Are Striving to Bring Astronomy To The People.
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TREASURUER'S REPORT 1 MARCH, 1998
AS OF 1 MACH, 1998,the Treasury balance is $ 584.79. We have recurring costs for Newsletter copying and postage. We also send a Yearly Fee to the Astronomical League. Last Year, this was $ 118.00 for 36 members. We also expend money for maintaining the Schmidt-Scott Memorial Observatory at the ECC campus.
Since 1 January, we have received 19 EMDSO membership renewals. If you haven't sent in your $24 dues for 1998, please do so now. Send them to EMDSO, 8247 HWY 'YY', New Haven, MO - 63068
Any one who wishes to subscribe or renew a "Sky & Telescope" subscription can do so through the club at a rate of $27 per year. Send a check made out to EMDSO, at the above address. "ASTRONOMY" magazine can also be obtained at the rate of $24 per year, once we have at least 5 members who want to subscribe. Currently, no one has sent in money for 'Astronomy' magazine. Thanks, Les KEMP, Treasurer.
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These are irregularly scheduled business meetings that we TRY to have on a more-or-less regular basis just to discuss club stuff, meeting 'Programs' & activities of the subsequent couple or few months, and when we up-date the Club Roster or make any 'Change-of-Address' notations - stuff like that. If you have never been there, & need directions call them at 573-459-6633.
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THE regular MARCH club meeting will be on the 15th, at East Central. The evening will be one of OBSERVING. We're gonna try to get as many people as possible to start working on their MESSIER list. So, if you have a personal telescope, bring it to the meeting. The lobby will be open for the use of the rest rooms, water fountain & soda machines that are in the Cafeteria.
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THE APRIL meeting will be at ECC, same as always. The meeting night is scheduled for the 11th, which is, of course, the Second SATURDAY. The meeting time is 7:00p.m. It will be a continuation of the 'Program' of the MARCH meeting.
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NEW BUSINESS I'm doing a 'Special Program' for a Girl Scout group at Schmidt-Scott sometime in the Spring '98, probably about the end of March to the middle of April. I'll offer a VERY Special Program to the ones who show the most interest out of the group for a private session at the 30" facility, somewhat later in the Spring. I will have twelve 14-17 year-olds and 10 Adults. According to the Scout Leader Shannan Grus, she'd would really like to make this a regular activity for them, perhaps on a quarterly basis throughout the year. Sounds fine by me, too. - * - DAVID MENKE is having a group of 5th Graders, their teachers and perhaps some parents out to the observatory at the farm, in MARCH ,1998. He says there are about 20 kids, a couple of teachers and perhaps some parents too. We will be looking primarily at Solar System objects. - * - CORRESPONDENCE with the club can be sent by e-mail to:
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Guess What !! The EMDSO JEFFERSON CITY, MO. is about to become a reality as a Chapter of the EMDSO. We're sending out a 'Public Service Announcement' in the local media; Radio & TV stations & in the Newspaper. The group's first meeting will be in a Meeting Room at the Jefferson City Regional Library, Second floor at 210 ADAMS St. We will invite attendees to start a "Chapter" of the EMDSO, take Applications and collect any dues that come our way. They will need to elect Chapter Officers or a Chairperson to run their meetings in our absence, unless they decide to go-it-alone. In either case, I'd really like to see a new club formed there, and will do whatever I can to help them achieve that end. My contact, DAVID MEYER, is Director of Economic Development for the Jefferson City Chamber of Commerce & avid about astronomy.
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WELCOME TO NEW MEMBERS
OBSERVATORY NEWS
SCHMIDT-SCOTT SCHEDULE of "OPEN TELESCOPE NIGHTS" for MARCH & APRIL, 1998
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THE February 29th "Open Telescope Night" was an unqualified success. About 20-30 people showed up during the evening. I had switched telescopes in the observatory a few days prior, and there was some concern expressed about how the 'new' arrangement would work. In practice, it worked beautifully. I machined an adapter for the UNITRON 4" refractor, so that it would fit on the pier & mounted the 10" Newtonian and its' Equatorial mounting on a short pedestal, so that it can be taken outside and set-up in the field. The pedestal is short enough that young children can simply walk up to the telescope and look in, without having to climb a ladder. The instrument also is now accessible to Wheel-Chair guests, should any chose to come. It appears that the UNITRON is a natural fit for the observatory structure; they work REAL WELL together and the ladder-stairs move around inside the building more easily, AND the eyepiece is lower with the refractor than it was with the Newt in there. Every one seemed to think that the new arrangement worked out real well, and it may be adopted as a 'permanent' arrangement. I think I may try some astrophotography with this set-up. We also had some discussion about the purchase of a 'Gravity Drive' to mount on the Unitron so that it can track the sky for extended periods. This, of course, would make photography a WHOLE LOT easier, but also I, or some one else, wouldn't have to stand there all the time adjusting the instrument while folks are looking. When I spoke to Unitron on the phone, they said that they no longer manufactured the weight-driven telescope drives, but they still had TWO in stock. If it were possible for me, I would buy BOTH: one for the Unitron and the other as a 'spare' or to use on another instrument where access to electricity was a problem. With a weight-driven scope, you don't need electricity to track the sky, which makes a portable instrument all the more valuable and useful. The 'Gravity Drives' cost $400.00 each. Is any one willing to fork over some bucks so we can make this purchase ?
EMDSAF
The observatory at the Menke's farm is seeing a lot of use. Construction is nearly finished and all seems to be well. The 'Warm-up Room' is nearly completed, as of DEC 1. I'm completing a design for the PONCET TABLE, which is the Equatorial drive planned for the 30", so we'll be able to track an object in the sky for extended periods. That'll be REALLY useful when we have large groups observing AND when we're doing CCD IMAGING or Astrophotography. The Design & Bill of Materials was scheduled to be completed by MARCH 1st. We'll then go out & buy the stuff we need to build it, so that hopefully by the time of the 'Star-B-Q", it'll be Up-&-Running.
Needed to be done, besides the Poncet Table, is installation of the computer system that will operate it. There's still the taping of the walls in the 'Warm-Up Room', but other than that, it's pretty much done.
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KEEP IT IN THE DARK
PLANETARY DATA
MERCURY - MARS - have a close pairing for a couple of days around MARCH 10th, VERY low and almost DUE WEST. You'll need an UNOBSTRUCTED western horizon to find them. Mercury is usually a difficult planet to observe, mainly because it never ventures far from the Sun and is nearly always found in fairly bright skies. Look for them about 45 minutes after Sunset. Mercury gets higher and more prominent each night, as it seems to pull away from the glare of the Sun. By the 21st, it's nearly as high as Saturn, though well to its' right (north). In the next few days, Both planets will get noticeably lower, and Mercury fades so much that by month's end it will probably be too faint to detect in the bright evening twilight. Try to see how long you can follow them with scope or binoculars as they sink deeper into the twilight. You'll notice that they are also getting closer and closer to each other. By the 28th - VENUS, Mars and the crescent Moon make a very small triangle on the EASTERN horizon. Early in March, Venus passes between us and the Sun, and by the end of the month it and Jupiter are pulling out of the Sunrise glow, to become bright morning twilight objects. JUPITER and VENUS become closer to each other as March closes and April progresses, until, on APRIL 22nd & 23rd, they have a VERY CLOSE CONJUNCTION, being only 1/2 DEGREE apart. They should BOTH fit SIMULTANEOUSLY into a telescopic field of view at 50-75 POWER. On the 23rd, the Moon joins them in a very close encounter also. Set your alarm clock and get yourself outside - and hopefully, it'll be clear - THE BEST TIME TO VIEW this triple conjunction will be about one hour before Sunrise on the 23rd. MERCURY comes into the morning sky in late APRIL. Look along the horizon far to the lower left of Venus and Jupiter.
SATURN - If you were able to find Mars & Mercury, look to their upper left and there you'll find SATURN.
NEPTUNE & URANUS - can be found, with difficulty, between Venus and Jupiter, in western CAPRICORNUS.
PLUTO - might be visible in the 30". We need to give it a try. We ought to, we have the ability to see it and there aren't very many amateur astronomers who HAVE seen this rather illusive denizen of the deep (interplanetary sky).
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THE MOON - In MARCH, the MOON reaches first Quarter on the 4th, FULL on the 12th, 3rd Quarter on the 21st and NEW on 27th. In APRIL, 1st Quarter is the 3rd, Full on the 11th, 3rd Quarter is the 19th and New Moon is the 26th.
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The SUN reaches VERNAL EQUINOX on MARCH 20th, at 1:56 p.m. Central Standard Time. - * -
METEOR SHOWERS FOR MARCH & APRIL
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. 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 next two months are the LYRIDS, in APRIL.
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.
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DEEP SKY
In the constellation ORION, there are a number of very interesting objects. The stars themselves are, for the most part hot, young and intrinsically very bright. One exception is BETELGEUSE or ALPHA ORIONIS. This star, with Yellow-Orange color is the LARGEST KNOWN star. On a scale where the Earth is 1" in diameter, the Sun would be 108" or 9' in dia., but Betelgeuse would be OVER A MILE AND A HALF. This star has about 20-30 times the MASS of the Sun, but its volume is greater by a factor of about 3.4 BILLION !! Even if you were 100,000,000 MILES down INSIDE this star, there would still be a better VACUUM in your surroundings than can be produced in the laboratory on Earth. HUH ??
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RIGEL, or BETA ORIONIS, is a Blue-White Supergiant star. Although not nearly as large as Betelgeuse, it's diameter is still about a hundred times that of the Sun, and it's energy output is approximately 60,000 times the Sun's. The distance to Rigel is about 950 Light-Years or about TWICE as far as Betelgeuse & the Orion Nebula. It's located as Orion's left knee.
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The 'MILKY WAY' appears particularly narrow and sparse in the region of Gemini & Orion, because it's in this direction where we are looking OUT of the galaxy, 180 degrees away from the center, into intergalactic space At the distance that the Sun is from the Galactic Center, the disk of the Milky Way is only about 2,500 to 3,000 light-years thick, so, if we look at right angles to the plane of the galaxy, we need only see past a thousand or so light-years of stars and interstellar dust, which out here doesn't account for much, to see the other galaxies. In the direction of Orion, and Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis), we are looking through about 20,000 light-years of more and more sparsely spaced stars plus a large space BETWEEN two adjacent Spiral Arms of the galaxy. consequently, the 'Milky Way' appears thinner in this direction.
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Near the 'Northern Feet' of GEMINI, is a well known Open Star Cluster, M-35. This is a 'Naked-Eye' object on a good night, and usually looks nice in binoculars, even on a mediocre night. Just on the NW side of M-35, is NGC 2158, another Open Star Cluster, although this one is 10X further away. In most backyard telescopes, NGC 2156 at a distance of about 16,000 light-years, appears as a 'fuzzball' near one edge of M-35 because its' brightest stars are around magnitude 16.5. If NGC 2158 were only as far away as M--35, It would be one of the most impressive of ALL our Deep-Sky objects., and would cover more sky than the PLEIADES and over a thousand stars would be visible. This is one of the objects that, once the CCD Imaging System is up & running, I REALLY want to image. I believe that objects like NGC 2158 are only visible because we're looking through 'holes' in this huge nebular cloud and being allowed to see the much more distant objects that otherwise would be totally lost to our view.
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In ORION's up-raised Right Arm, lies another Open star cluster, NGC 2169. This cluster has been mentioned before, in this column, though not for a few years. Anyway, to find this cluster, look at Orion's Right Arm, trace it upward from his shoulder and at the point where it appears you've come to his ELBOW, there's a PAIR of stars. BETWEEN these stars and slightly below them (above, in a telescope) is NGC 2169. It doesn't look like much until you start cranking-up the magnification. At about 200X, if your image is oriented correctly, you'll notice the reason why it has the Proper Name, "The '37' Cluster". There are ten or eleven stars that outline the number 37.
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M-78 can be found just above Orion's 'Belt' on his right side. It's a Diffuse Nebula, undoubtedly part of the much larger M-42 complex, which actually covers more than HALF of the Orion asterism and much of neighboring MONOCEROS, and includes the "Star Queen" or "Cone" nebula, the "Rosette", the "Christmas Tree" star cluster, 'Hubble's Variable nebula", the "Horsehead" , "Flame" , M-42-43 nebulae & 'Barnard's Loop". M-78 can be found pretty much on a line from the Easternmost "Belt" star to Betelgeuse & is a smallish nebula that isn't really all that impressive, but it is fairly bright. There are several other smaller and dimmer areas of 'bright' nebulosity in the area.
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TRIVIA -
1. WHEN'S THE NEXT METEOR SHOWER ?
KICK IT & WEEP
THIS CLUB has been in existence for 12 YEARS now, and the only people who have served as OFFICERS are the current ones, with very few exceptions. Jim DEBNAM was Vice President for two years, until he had to leave the area because of his Naval duties during the Gulf War, Scott MacKENZIE was the 1st President, Larry ROBINSON was President one year, Roger THOMING was Treasurer one year. Scott, Larry & Roger are no longer members. Other than these people, the ONLY ones who have volunteered are RICK, LES, JUDY & myself.
I made the suggestion at the Business Meeting that perhaps we should take a 'Back Seat' , just to see if any one would pick-up the ball and take over (volunteer to run for Club Officer). Afterall, this club IS SUPPOSED TO BE for ALL of you. The idea was that we (the current officers) would stay on in an advisory capacity, as a Board of Trustees sort of, but the club's operations, activities etc., would be handled by another group of folks that would be ELECTED, not SELECTED. The club's direction is fairly clear, it's running fairly smoothly and we've accomplished much over the last 5-6 years. I think it's time to let someone else get MORE INVOLVED with club operations. We've had an influx of New Members over the past year or two, who seem very enthusiastic about the club & I think they should, perhaps, try to run for OFFICE. It's a REAL GOOD way to get involved with the operations of the club, learn 'How' we have done things in the past and how things might be done better in the future, AND GET TO KNOW PEOPLE IN THE CLUB. It CAN be very rewarding to know that you've had a hand in changes that have made this a better club than it was before.
If some of you would step forward and volunteer for Club Office, it would free those of us who are here now to do some of the other things that we'd like to do more effectively, like getting CHAPTERS started in Jefferson City and ROLLA.
I personally have been an officer since the club started in 1985 and have been writing the "DSO" since 1987, have also been President, Vice President, Secretary & Treasurer, ALCOR, Equipment Manager and also Club Librarian. I'd LIKE to be able to just write the newsletter and leave some of the OTHER things to a new generation of Officer.
When I made the suggestion about stepping back, the response was "the club will fall apart". WELL, gee, perhaps, if no one else is that interested in the organization, perhaps it SHOULD just pass away. I CERTAINLY HOPE THAT'S NOT THE CASE, but I think it needs to be put to the test. SO;
AS OF JUNE 1998, I WILL RESIGN AS VICE PRESIDENT OF THE EMDSO. There's going to be an opening...who'll fill it ??
THIS CLUB is like my child, but sometimes you just have to boot the child out the door to force personal growth. Like a decent parent, I'll be available to help any one who will take on the responsibilities of Club Operations but I will not accept nomination for an Office for the next FIVE YEARS. JERRY KELLEY
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MEMBERSHIP in the THE EASTERN MISSOURI DARK-SKY OBSERVERS is open to any one with an interest in the science of astronomy, regardless of age or experience level. Dues are $24.00 per year, running from Jan 1 thru Dec 31, and are pro-rated the first year. Fill out the attached Membership Application and return it with dues payment to: