THE DARK-SKY OBSERVER

MARCH - had us beginning to set up the training course material for the Observing Skills Program. Also,we talked about dropping un-paid members from the mail\ing list after the first quarter, because mailing costs were becoming a problem. We set up a 'work day' at Schmidt-Scott and spoke about setting up an observing session in Hermann (which by the way, we're doing May 14^th), and we did a review of the club's Purpose & Objectives.

APRIL - Bob Kirschenmann was planning a program concerning Light Pollution concerns for the City Council of New Haven, MO., and wanted to do a 'run-through' for us ahead of time. He did a good job of presenting his material and had several slides demonstrating the effects of Light Pollution & its solutions. Also, a letter was sent to the ECC Administration March 20 concerning the culmination of the first year of operation of the Schmidt-Scott Memorial Observatory.

THE FIRST EVER meeting of the Jefferson City Chapter of the Eastern Missouri Dark-Sky Observers happens on MAY 30th, 1998, 3 p.m., at Missouri River Regional Library, at 214 Adams St., Jefferson City. Members of the parent organization are requested a/o encouraged to attend. The show of support would be GREATLY APPRECIATED. If any of you want to attend, PLEASE bring a scope if you can, because we’d like to have an observing session afterward, weather permitting. Any one who would be interested in giving a little talk, or might have slides to show, please get in touch with me by Monday after Memorial Day.

ANOTHER ‘chapter’ in ROLLA will be formed in the VERY NEAR future, probably this Summer. Our contact there is JOHN HUDLER, an amateur who has been doing astronomy on his own, without any sort of club, for around Forty Years, & is REAL KEEN on the idea of getting a club going.

The ‘Observers Skill Level Checklist’ that I’m working on for self-directed learning is coming along, albeit slowly.

If you are a member of the SAINT LOUIS ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, ( or any other astronomy club), and joining EMDSO also, we welcome you. We appreciate your enthusiasm and support for our astronomy group. If you are receiving the "REFLECTOR" through the other club, please notify me, so you don't receive a second copy through EMDSO member affiliation.

Please save your empty, CLEAR 2 LITER soda bottles and 6" candle stubs. These are used to make the 'Luminaires' along the pathway to the Schmidt-Scott Observatory on public observing nights. The Luminaires, of course, light the way; and they look very nice too. Oftentimes the plastic melts out of shape from the heat of the candle and needs to be replaced. Candles are expensive to buy, so donations are greatly appreciated.

sincerely, JUDY KEMP

Treasury Balance on 20 APR., 1998, is $ 708.52. We now have 28 members paid for 1998. If you haven't sent in your dues for 1998, please do so now. If you are joining for the first time, dues for the remainder of the year are $ 16.00. Recent NEW and re-newing members in the club include LOIS FITTER, ( past President of the St. Louis Astronomical Soc ).; DAVID LEE & DONNA PAUL. We welcome you to EMDSO and wish you clear, dark skies, always.

Members may obtain "SKY & TELESCOPE" magazine for $ 27.00 per year, through the club. (This is a 25% discount) Send a check to EMDSO, at 8247 HWY 'YY', NEW HAVEN, MO - 63068.

Thanks, - Les KEMP, Treasurer

Fellow EMDSO members:

A year ago at this time, we had just started a new chapter in our club life. The ECC's "SCHMIDT-SCOTT MEMORIAL Observatory" had just been dedicated after a long five years of hard work and the Colter-Menke Observatory was under construction. The Colter-Menke Observatory became a reality, through major contributions of Kim Colter, Mark Birkman and others who "made-it-so", in a very short period of time. Both facilities are in operation now with only a few loose ends to tie up at the New Haven site. Pat McDonald has spearheaded the electrical work and much of the finishing work. Of course, there will always be up-keep, modifications and improvements, but we as a club can now get down to the business at hand; using our facilities to do astronomy and share our resources through community outreach to strengthen community interest in astronomy.

This past year we have acquired a Web Page to promote our club on the Internet. This space on the computer service was donated by a business owned in part by two ECC instructors, Barry BOOKOUT & Jim FEHER. Travis WOLFF & Kevin DIXON, club members, are keeping-up this website They are doing an excellent job. Of course, Jerry KELLEY has kept the newsletter going and always puts 100% into "his baby".

With the major building projects winding down, new equipment acquisitions are developing and our club needs to focus on making events, outreach, facility usage and meetings work smoothly, so that every one can benefit from our efforts.

There's a lot going on. We are currently working on a 'Skill Level Checklist", so club members can work on their astronomy skills with the more experienced members of the club to elevate their abilities.

We would also like to develop a set of 'LOANER' telescopes that can be 'checked-out' by club members (List of Needed Parts for the 3 Telescopes That Will Be Used For 'LOANER' Instruments Follows ). If you are interested in seeing this goal happen, you might want to get involved by helping to raise the funds necessary to purchase the additional equipment or just donate money to this cause and help in the construction of the telescopes. E-mail me or our Home-page to give feedback on this topic. We also would like to acquire a 'Gravity Drive' for the club's 4" UNITRON refractor,( which is now mounted at the Schmidt-Scott Observatory).

We are making 5-6 signs to post in the region to publicize our 'Star Parties' to the public. Nancy NEURNBEGER & Jerry KELLEY are helping me with this project. To improve public 'star-gazing' attendance, Debbie MILES has sent a letter to area school Principals to promote the availability of public star-gazing at ECC. We are starting to have entire classes show-up at ECC and scout groups inquiring about the activity.

We have picked up a number of new members in our club this past year. Some of these new members have greatly expanded the knowledge base that our club can draw upon. We now can say that we have as club members 2-3 astrophotographers, another master telescope maker (we already have a couple of these), who also has built an observatory with a computer controlled telescope and CCD imaging, and several other experienced observers. We have also added to our membership list even more people and families who know very little about astronomy but want to learn more about the subject. This is an exciting time to be a member of the Eastern Missouri Dark-Sky Observers. I urge you to get involved and help support our effort to,

Bring Astronomy To the People

Sincerely,

Rick SCHWENTKER, President EMDSO

As mentioned in the President's Letter, the needed parts for the 'Loaner' telescopes follows:

For the eyepieces I would recommend Meade series 3000, 26 mm, 16mm & 9.5 mm for each instrument. However, if the expenditure is too much, then Meade's Modified Achromatics could be obtained at a much lower price, but the quality , likewise, is inferior to the others.

The suggestion was made several years ago that we should do a 'Club Campout & Float Trip'. There was a little discussion about what a neat idea it was, but then nothing was done, so it never happened. WELL, I would like to re-open the idea for further discussion and although I never hear from any of the membership, except at the Club meetings and Observatory Nights, I WOULD like to hear your views on THIS subject.

I think it'd be real neat to have any CHAPTER CLUBS join us for this kind of event: Where ALL of us could get together and not only get acquainted, but share some observing tips, spots and PRIME locations for this kind of event in the future.

This year, I'd suggest floating the Meramec or Huzzah, or maybe the Bourbeuse. There's also the Gasconade - OR, if you might want to go a bit further afield, the BUFFALO in northern Arkansas is SPECTACULAR. There's also the CURRENT & JACKS FORK, in Missouri, and I imagine I've missed quite a few others that are good floats.

YA KNOW?, in thinkin' 'bout it from a diffrnt angle, sumthin like this'd be good INSTEAD of a 'STAR-B-Q, OR IN ADDITION TO a STAR-B-Q, or CONCURRENT WITH, a STAR-B-Q -- COMBINED ACTIVITIES.

If the event was held at someplace fairly close, like WASHINGTON STATE PARK or MERAMEC STATE PARK , ONONDAGA, or maybe even 'T' LAKES, we could hold it on the Regular Club Meeting weekend at a Group Campsite, & a couple of us could make the short trip up to ECC to open the Observatory for the Public on that Saturday evening, and still have a pleasant weekend campout with the rest of this Extended Family. If the logistics worked-out well, we might want to make this an ANNUAL EVENT.

However, unlike other groups that hold similar events, I believe that VISITORS & GUESTS should be welcome. BUT, I'm only one person, & this is YOUR club too, so your input carries JUST AS MUCH WEIGHT AS MINE, if you care to exercise it.

ANYWAY, We need to make definite plans, A.S.A.P., so that we might be able to reserve a campsite for that weekend with the Conservation Commission or Park Rangers.

In MAY,at the regular club mtg, the final decision will be made by those present. COMPLETE DETAILS will then be sent out so that everyone will know what the score is, as far as IF, WHERE and how to get there, WHEN the event is EXACTLY & its DURATION IT WON'T BE MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND !!

ALSO, at the MAY meeting, there will be NOMINATIONS for VICE PRESIDENT, since I'm retiring from the post. I don't think Rick is quite 'burned-out' yet. - * -

In JUNE, we'll have our Annual Star-B-Q (& Mayhem). However, since we can't have it at the MENKE observatory, we thought about having it at the City Park, in New Haven. THEY, however, require a $75.00 deposit, to reserve the Pavilion, for groups under 50 people, and $100 for groups of over 50.

Rather than spending the money there, we thought that 'perhaps a member would volunteer to host' the "Star-B-Q' this year. If any of you would care to volunteer your yard for this event, PLEASE, contact Les / Judy at 459-6633, Rick @ 239-7196 or me (Jerry) @ 433-5608. I SPOKE TO MAMA about this problem and SHE suggested that we host it here in Marthasville again,,, SO,,,,

 In addition to the regularly scheduled Observing Nights, there will occasionally be Special Events where we may have an observing session for a Scout or School group, where we'll need people to man telescopes and answer questions and/or just help out.

IT HAS COME TO MY ATTENTION that several of the 'Newsletters' have been sent to LES & JUDY's, instead of the destinations that were intended. This is because the Post Office apparently saw the club's address on the back of the 'DSO' and thought THAT was the destination, SO,,, If you've NOT gotten your newsletter over the past several ISSUES, PLEASE contact one of us & we'll make SURE that you get them.

 JUPITER -is the highest of the dawn worlds. It climbs higher into the morning sky leaving brighter VENUS behind. At the beginning of May they are about 8 degrees apart (a little less than a 'fist-width at arm's length), but by the end of June Jupiter will rise about Mid-nite and Venus will be the last planet to rise before Sunrise.

MERCURY - is the lowest of the dawn planets for most of May. Look for it on the horizon as the dawn twilight grows brighter. On the 12th, it outshines SATURN, which is just a 'Fingers-width to its' upper-left. Look EAST for them 30-40 minutes before Sunrise, with binoculars, if you have them. As an added guidepost to finding elusive Mercury, start with VENUS, which is just about HALF-WAY between Jupiter to its Upper Right & the Mercury-Saturn pair to its Lower-Left at the horizon on MAY 12th. During June MERCURY drops out of the morning sky and back into the Sun's glare, but look to the WEST-NORTHWEST horizon on JUNE 25th, about 40 minutes after Sunset and you might see it again, just a 'fist-width' to the right of the Crescent Moon.

MARS - is lost in the Sun's glare during this period. It probably won't be easily observed for several months.

NEPTUNE - URANUS -are both near to Jupiter throughout the rest of 1998.

The MOON reaches first Quarter on May the 3rd, FULL on the 11th, 3rd Quarter on 19th and NEW on the 25th. In JUNE, 1st Quarter is the 1st, Full on the 9th, 3rd Quarter is the 17th and New Moon is the 23rd.

- * -

THE SUN reaches it Summer SOLSTICE point on JUNE 21st, at 9:03 a.m., Central Daylight Time. This marks the beginning of Summer for us and the BEGINNING of longer nights.

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.

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 occurring, so I'm not much help.

In the constellation CANIS MINOR, there is ONE Messier Object, M-48. It's an Open cluster and it's a VERY pretty one with binoculars or telescope.

In the constellation LEO MAJOR, there are are ZILLIONZ of GALAXIES. This is kind of the direction of, the edges at least, of the Virgo Supercluster" of galaxies. Lying along the line running from 1st Magnitude REGULUS to Leo's hind quarters, are 5 Messier objects; M-65, M-66, M-95, M-96 & M-105, all galaxies and most are fairly bright, at least as far as galaxies are concerned.

M-65 & M66 - are a closely associated pair of galaxies on the southern edge of the LEO asterism, found between the stars Denebola (94-Beta) & 70-(Theta) LEONIS. They are a gravitationally bound system at a distance of around 25 MILLION light-years, which means that they may be part of the Virgo Supercluster of Galaxies. M-95,96 & M-105 - is a trio of galaxies that are also gravitationally bound, and may also be part of the Virgo Supercluster.

M-65 (NGC 3623) is a Binocular object in the constellation LEO MAJOR. M-66 has a rather elongated shape : it's a Spiral tilted about 20 degrees from edge-on, and measuring 7.8' x 1.6' at mag. 10.3. It appears to have a tight spiral, with a fairly prominent 'dark lane' on one side; probably the nearer side..

M-66 (NGC 3627) is another Binocular object in Leo. M-66, at mag 9.7 is the brighter of the two (M-65-66), and measures 8.0' x 2.5', making it appear somewhat rounder or 'teardrop' shaped because it's more nearly face-on. It is thought that this small group of systems is actually an outlying part of the Virgo Galaxy Cluster, even though the Red-Shift implies a distance of 25 million Light-Years +/-, which is about HALF that of the Virgo cluster. This implies that the M-65 group is actually an independent cluster, rather than part of the MUCH larger system, which is centered about 15 degees away. Actually, M-65, M-66 & NGC 3628 form a tight trio, with NGC 3593 only a degree or so to the west. The other member of this trio, NGC 3628, measures 12' x 2', with a very prominent dust lane bisecting it on the long axis. It has a bright central region, which is probably made-up of Population ONE stars, while the fainter outer regions are extremely faint, due in part to thick interstellar dust. NGC 3628 is seen almost EXACTLY edge-on.

M-95 (NGC 3351) is a member of another trio about a degree on a side, which includes M-96 & M-105. M-95 measures about 4.0' x 3.0', (type SBb), and at mag. 11.0, is one of the faintest of the Messier objects. An interesting feature of M-96 is that it appears to be (and IS classified as) a BARRED Spiral, and we might just have to check it out with the 30". With smaller instruments, I've never noticed the Barred structure. It's described as appearing much like the Greek letter 'Theta'.

M-96 (NGC 3368) at mag 10.2 is 6.0' x 4.0' and is a Spiral of average coarseness (type Sb).

M-105 (NGC 3379) is an ELLIPTICAL galaxy, 2.1' x 2.0', at mag 10.6. It's quite a bit smaller than M-95 & 96, but due to its' smaller size, appears easy to find. It also forms a very tight grouping with NGC 3382 & 3384, all within 5 arc minutes of one another. --.

NGC 2903, is an impressive sight in the 30". We looked at it one night a week or so ago, and were duly impressed. I'm surprised it's not a Messier object-It should be. If you want to try finding this one, it's pretty easy. It's just off ( 1 degree south) of Leo's nose. Measuring 11.0' x 4.7' & at mag 9.7, it ain't at all difficult and should be easily visible in a six inch scope at a hundred or so power. It MIGHT even be a Binocular object.

NGC 3745, is part of a cluster of galaxies that occupies a spot just above the 'hind-quarters' of Leo Major (the Lion). This cluster is known as "COPELAND'S SEPTET". Although not plotted on the Sky Atlas 2000.0, it can be found by looking above the 'Hind-Quarters' of LEO. There you'll see a star, maybe even two. These are 93 & 92 Leonis, and are about 2 degrees apart, running SE to NW. Copeland's Septet is less than one degree NW from 92 Leonis. This grouping consists of NGC 3745, 3746, 3748, 3750, 3751, 3753 and 3754, and occupy an area less than a quarter degree across. All seven galaxies should fit inside the field of view at 150X.

NGC 3840 is part of another galaxy cluster known as ABELL 1318. Supposedly, an observer at the Texas Star Party reported seeing over 120 galaxies in this cluster, which only spans about a degree and a half by a degree across the sky. This group can be found IMMEDIATELY to the west of 93 LEONIS (Finder Chart on last Page ).

1. HOW MANY WAYS ARE GENERALLY USED TO DESIGNATE STARS ?

A) Well let's see, there's 1)- PROPER NAMES, of course. These are generally Arabic names used to describe a star's position in a given constellation- names like: Ras Al Hague, Ras Al Gethi, DENEB, REGULUS & Zuben El Genubi. The brighter stars often have Greek or Roman given names like; Regulus (‘KING’), Astera, Plieone, Alcor, Maia, Merope,Taygeta (Pleaides), Mizar, Duhbe, Merak Alioth, Megrez, Alkaid & Phecda (the stars of the 'Big Dipper' also representing seven brothers), or BETELGUESE (the Right Shoulder). But there are only about a hundred or so stars with Proper Names. There's 2)- the 'Old Standby', GREEK LETTERS. This designation is used for the BRIGHTEST stars in a given constellation. With 88 constellations and 24 letters in the Greek alphabet, it's USUALLY enough for simple constellation maps & offers the possibility of 2,112 possible designations, which is not enough for more detailed star charts. Occasionally when there are more than 24 fairly bright stars in a given constellation, more than one star is given a certain Greek letter. To differentiate between them, they're also given 3)- a number after the Greek letter, i.e,; PI 3, Omicron 2, Theta 6. There's the 4)- FLAMSTEED NUMBER, which designates every 'NAKED EYE' star in a given constellation with numbers ascending from west to east, to correspond to RIGHT ASCENSION co-ordinates. These are the most common and widely known designations. 5)- There are designations from some of the Major Star Catalogues of the last century and first part of this one, when TRIGONOMETRIC PARALLAX came into general use to determine stellar distances & when SPECTROSCOPY was begun to determine what stars were made of. These were usually abbreviations of the Catalogue title or the author's initials, followed by a number representing the stars position in the catalogue or it's position in the sky: AC+12 5361 (Astrometric Catalogue- stellar positions); BD 10 -2113 (Bonner Durschmusterung) or CD -68 3245 (Cordova Durschmusterung), SAO 234567 (Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory), etc. Then there are star catalogues devoted to specific topics like: Dwarf stars, BINARY systems, WHITE DWARFS, stellar DISTANCE, Stellar MOTIONS, etc., where the usual designation is the author's last initial: G (Giclas), L (Luyton), Gr (Groombridge), H-R (Hertzprung-Russell) & Gl (Gliese). There are other designations too, but I think you get the picture; There's a BUNCH !

2. WHERE'S "THE HUNTER'S FOOT" ?

a) The "HUNTER'S FOOT" is an 'ASTERISM' below RIGEL, in

Orion that isn't mentioned, as such, in ANY Star Chart or literature that I've EVER seen, but kind of LOOKS like it ought to be included in the figure of 'The Hunter'. The stars are all found inside the constellation LEPUS, 'The Rabbit' and are comprised of 4th magnitude 3-IOTA, 4-XI, 7-NU & 5th magnitude 8-LAMBDA Leporis. Together, they form a 'Trapezoid', which might be construed as a 'MOCCASIN' as can be seen in the Diagram below:

3. WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN 'OPEN' CLUSTER AND A 'GLOBULAR' CLUSTER?

a) - An OPEN star cluster, is a system of young stars that formed IN OR NEAR, THE PLANE of the Milky Way galaxy, from a cloud of interstellar dust & gas called a 'Diffuse Nebula'. The Open clusters have for the most part, formed within the past 2-300 million years and many are only one or two million years old, like the "Pleaides" cluster in TAURUS.

A 'GLOBULAR' cluster, on the other hand, is a system that formed billions of years ago OUTSIDE the galaxy. These are generally, much larger and more densely populated than the 'Open' cluster. While Open clusters may be on the order of 3-10 light-years across, Globulars are more on the order of 50-75 light-years in diameter and are generally spherical in shape. As mentioned before, they are generally several BILLION years old, and are thought to have formed about the same time that the Galaxy itself formed. Most Globulars are found within 30,000 light-years of the Nucleus of the galaxy and orbit it in various planes, other than that of the main part of the Spiral Arms. Of course, there ARE exceptions to ANY rule, as in the case of NGC 2419, which is a Globular found in the constellation LYNX. It, is located 180,000 light-years away from the Sun in a direction OPPOSITE from the Galactic Center, which makes it the most distant object that is still considered part of our galactic system. Another Globular of the same type, is designated G-1. It however is a globular of the Great Nebula in Andromeda, M-31. This cluster, if as close to us as Omega Centauri is (8,200 L-Y) would cover TWO DEGREES of the sky. It is about 1 MILLION Light-Years from the nucleus of M-31.

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THIS IS AN APPENDIX TO THE 'DIRECTORY' PRINTED IN JANUARY

& INCLUDES ONLY THE NAMES, ADDRESSES AND PHONE NUMBERS

NOT LISTED THERE

SUNIL APTE - WASHINGTON, MO

MARY ARMISTEAD - WASHINGTON, MO

KEITH BERRY -- (HAS MOVED TO DALLAS, TX)

CHRIS KINCAID - WASHINGTON, MO

BOB KIRSCHENMANN - NEW HAVEN, MO

EDWARD WEBER - UNION, MO

LOIS FITTER - CHESTERFIELD, MO

DAVID LEE - SULLIVAN, MO

MEMBERSHIP in 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:

EMDSO - 8247 HWY 'YY' - NEW HAVEN, MO - 63068

Upon receipt of the Membership Application and Dues payment, you will receive a Membership Card at the next club meeting, or by mail, if you prefer.

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