THE DARK-SKY OBSERVER

ANOTHER BACHELOR BITES THE DUST !!!!

Mark BIRKMANN GOT MARRIED ( finally ) on August 7th, to the very lovely JODI FERRIS, of Washington. Mark & Jodi have been dating for about a year and a half, apparently decided not to dislike each other, just yet, and tied the knot .
 

And WE ALL wish you the VERY BEST life has to offer
 

In JULY we were clouded out and we closed up early. The 'Open Telescope Night' on the 4th Friday was also cloudy so the only object observed was the "Missouri Nebula" (typical for this area ). Also, I got my signals crossed ( common for me), & showed-up on the 5TH Friday, and even though it was cloudy then also, a woman came out from Sunset Hills, in St. Louis county. Word DOES seem to be getting around that we're here.

The AUGUST meeting was attended by Rick Schwentker, Nancy Neurnberger, Judy & Les Kemp, Dave Lee, Teresa & Tom Zefo, Debra Burke, Christie Wiltz and m'self.
 

The SEPTEMBER meeting, as usual, will be at ECC, on the 2nd Saturday at 8:00 p.m., followed by an observing session (weather permitting ) at the Schmidt-Scott Observatory. This would be a good time to start, if you haven't already, on your 'Observing Skills List'. If you don't know HOW to get started, 1st, you need to make note of what skills you would like to work on, and we'll provide the necessary materials for you, or at least, we'll point you in the right direction.

NOTE: The meeting was attended by around 50 people and we had eight telescopes on hand. Marc Arnold, Dave Lee, Rick, Nancy Neurnberger, Christie Wiltz and Deb Burke and I were the members present. There were probably others, but it was dark and , as usual, I arrived somewhat later than everyone else and didn't get to talk to everyone.
 

The FIRST MEETING of the ROLLA CHAPTER will be on the 26th, 7p.m., at the Rolla Chamber of Commerce meeting room. The address is _________. We have planned a 'Star Party' after the meeting and would appreciate any member with an instrument to come along for support. Those of you who actually LIVE nearer to Rolla than here might benefit from the shorter drive to meetings there. There's certainly expertise to be found there, like John HUDLER and I'm sure there are others, too: I guess we'll find out soon enough.

The meeting is set for 7:30 -- 10:00 P.M., with an observing session possibly on the sidewalk outside the building afterwards. John has to work that night and won't be able to come til after ten o'clock, but he's invited us ( I guess, that means every one that shows up) , out to his house, north of town, after the meeting.
 

In OCTOBER, we will meet on the 2nd Saturday, as usual at ECC, 8:00 p.m.
 

The ROLLA Chapter will meet at the same place as before on the 4th Saturday, 8 p.m. As with the last (September) meeting, this is an informational gathering, intended for those who missed the previous meeting and for those who need repetition of some of the information given the previous month.
 

The NOVEMBER meetings are , traditionally, the last meeting nights of the Calendar Year, since there's no meeting in DECEMBER, due to the proximity of CHRISTMAS and all the hassles of the Holiday.
 

for the 1999 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 $27.00.

THE current amount in the Club Treasury is about $ 649.15, with an average over the past couple or three years of around $250.00 at year's end.
 

CHRIS KINCAID has taken a couple of my scopes that needed work or parts, to complete and make ready for use as 'LOANER' instruments. When he's finished, we should have FIVE telescopes that members can 'Check-Out' to use for a week or so at a time. A SIXTH instrument, a 6" f/10 Newtonian will be available at a later time, possibly as a Dedicated Solar Telescope.
 

There was some discussion about the cost of up-keep at the Observatory at the Menke farm. The Electric Bill runs about $10.00 per month and occasionally, because of the additional traffic on the access road, rock needs to be laid down periodically. With the approximately $200.00 plus annual expenses out there, in addition to the up-coming need to purchase materials for building a drive (maybe), software to load for the 30" telescope operations when the CCD Imaging System is installed and since the club's Treasury is nearly depleted, the suggestion was made to increase DUES by around TEN Dollars per year, to cover any cost of facility up-keep and also to help pay back the people that made VERY large cash outlays to get the facility going. Some of them MAY be concerned about whether they'll ever see that money again, some aren't. But this IS SUPPOSED to be a Club Project, and we shouldn't let some one or three people take all the financial burden.
 

There was also talk about doing another Fund Raiser to get some cash together to pay these expenses, but I for one don't think that a Fund Raiser will generate an on-going source of funding that will be required to make this facility worthwhile, or see its' potential. There's still the problem of the DRIVE for the 30" telescope, which I began to design before I got involved in school and which I will complete IF Kim, Greg & Mark don't decide to go ahead and purchase one from somewhere else. It might take me a little longer to build it but I like that sort of thing and I was a little dissappointed that I didn't get to do a lot more work in the building of the Observatory itself.

ONE CONCERN is that the increased dues will scare off new members. Well, that MAY or MAY NOT be true, but I think that if they're reaslly interested and made cognizant of the benefits we offer, that few would balk. The St. Louis Astronomical Society's DUES are $25.00 per year, and they don't even HAVE an observatory OR even a Dark Sky Site !! WE HAVE TWO observatories and put them BOTH to good use, with discussion about plans to expand our services further at ECC.

SO, THE QUESTION IS: "What Do You Think About The Idea Of Increasing The Dues To Around $30.00 - $35.00 per year ?? The additional dues payment would cover any expenses that would come up and an extra five or so bucks isn't gonna kill any one, even me. I'm willing, ARE YOU ?? This Is YOUR Observatory - PLEASE HELP us take care of it
 

WALTER is retired and has decidied to make a permanent move to Orlando, FL. He's planning on leaving, if everything goes well, in October or November. Walter was the NINTH person to join the E.M.D.S.O., back in 1986, when we were based in St. Louis., and I've known Walter for almost the entire time that I was a member of the St. Louis Astronomical Society, which was 25 years before the formation of this club. I've always appreciated those people who thought that there might be a need for another astronomy group in the St. Louis area, with a somewhat different approach to the subject than S.L.A.S. and a set of goals, unattainable ( at the time ), through them.

The numbers of us who started the group were originally a club of 11 members, has dwindled to FOUR: WALTER, Membership # 009, Del & Mary SCOTT - Membership # 008, Jim DEBNAM - Membership # 005 and me, Jerry KELLEY Membership # 003.

Walter, enjoy your new home and we'll keep in touch. Perhaps we'll see you sometime at the Winter Star Party !!

By the way, if any one is interested, and since this is going out on the Internet, Walter's house is for sale. It's in a Private & Security Gated Subdivision near Wright City, MO., about 50 miles west of St. Louis and convenient to I-70. The neighbors have NOT erected any Dusk-To-Dawn lighting and the site is fairly dark. Walt has been able to see OMEGA CENTAURI ( as a faint smudge ) from his place with 16x80 Binoculars. He's asking somewhere in the 90's for his place. If you're interested, contact can be made through the club's e-mail address & we'll forward your inquiry to him.
 

SATURDAY - SEPTEMBER 12th SATURDAY - OCTOBER 10th

FRIDAY - SEPTEMBER 25th FRIDAY - OCTOBER 23rd

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.
 

JIM DEBNAM, very graciously donated a 28mm PRETORIA eyepiece, for use at the Club Observatory in Etlah. The Pretoria is designedSPECIFICALLY for an f/4 optical system, which of course, the 30 " and it's 4.25" viewfinder both are, and the Pretoria corrects coma found in these fast systems, giving a very flat focal plane & sharp star images across the entire field of view.
 

The JULY meeting of the Rolla Chapter didn't happen, because John Hudler thought I was going to send out the meeting announcements to the local Rolla radio stations and papers, and I thought he was, because he lives there. Anyway, I think we've gotten evrything worked out and so I'll send it out a week or two ahead of time so that there'll be plenty of lead-time for the media and so that they can edit the copy, if needed.

John has some property in Colorado, and was there for much of late July and August and so consequently didn't have the time to do anything with the fledgling club. He said however, that his schedule would smooth out a bit in September and would like to do it then, so, that's what we're gonna do. So, as mentioned before, we'll have our first meeting on September 26th (see enclosed MAP for meeting place ).
 

NEPTUNE & URANUS - can be seen in a scope in central CAPRICORNUS, shining (dimly) at magnitude 7.9 & 5.7 respectively.

JUPITER - is found in the SOUTHEAST as evening twilight commences. It's found in Aquarius, near the Pisces border. It reaches OPPOSITION in September, that means it's visible ALL NIGHT, rising at sunset and setting at sunrise. At this time Jupiter will show a 50 arc second diameter disk, about as large as it ever shows.

ALSO, Mark told me that he saw on an item on the Internet that seems to indicate a piece of P/Comet Shoemaker/Levy missed collision with Jupiter on its' last 'conjunction', contrary to the rest of the comet, but may have hit on this visit, turning a

''fly-by' into a 'fly-into' I went out on several evenings (actually, since I'm working from 2 p.m. to 2 a.m., several mornings), to try and see and perhaps make drawings of this 'new' pimple on Jupiter's face. The results, as of this date, 8-29, have been VERY disappointing. Using the Unitron refractor, I've not seen a single blemish on the planet's cloud deck, though the images of the planet have been extra-ordinarily good.

SATURN - rises DUE EAST in early evening at the juncture of the constellations Pisces, Aries and Cetus. Saturn reaches OPPOSITION on OCTOBER 23rd, appearing slightly larger and brighter than it has in about 20 years. The reason for this is that it's in a position in its' orbit where it's closer to the Sun (Perihelion) and the Earth. In addition, the Ring System has been tilting more and more to our line-of-sight over the past few years, presenting more of their face and therefore appearing brighter .Saturn & Jupiter offer a tremendous incentive for late-night observing in October.

MARS - comes up in the wee hours of the morning during September & October. Being too far from Earth to really make a good telescopic object, just watch it during October , maybe with binoculars or naked-eye, as Blue-White REGULUS (ALPHA LEONIS) creeps up on Mars. On October 7th, they will be only 1/2 degree apart. THAT should be pretty impressive in the telescope and might make for a nice photograph. Give It A Try !

VENUS -Although it's getting lower in the pre-dawn sky, it'll have a lot of interesting company during September , but is completely out of sight in the Sun's glare during October.

MERCURY starts September with its best dawn performance of the year, lying about 3 degrees to Venus' upper-right. The star REGULUS edges up over the horizon during this period and on September 6th passes within ONE DEGREE of Venus, on its' lower-right On the 7th, look for a nice triangle less than one degree on a side of Venus, Mercury and Regulus. On Sept. 11th, Mercury will pass less than 1/2 degree to Venus' left. By the end of October, Mercury has become an Evening Object, and you MAY be able to glimpse it with binoculars in the southwest, near the horizon; but don't confuse it with Antares, which is to its' left or upper left.

PLUTO - IS visible in the 30". But, of course, it's still REALLY DIM !!
 

The MOON is FULL on SEPT. 5th , 3rd Quarter on the 12th and NEW on the 20th., 1st Quarter is the 28th. In OCT., Full Moon is on the 5th, 3rd Quarter is the 12th, New Moon is the 20th and it reaches 1st Quarter on the 28th
 

reaches the position in the sky where it crosses the Celestial EQUATOR from the Northern Hemisphere into the Southern. At this time the length of days and nights is equal. This crossing happens on SEPTEMBER20th and the event is called the AUTUMNAL EQUINOX.
 

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 INTENSEof any during the year, including the LEONIDS in November. Associated with P/Comet GIACOBINI-ZINNER, this shower had in 1946 an SOHR (Single Observer Hourly Rate ) of 1,000 meteors, and in 1933, 20,000 !!! ( that's about SIX PER SECOND ) 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 by the Duration length that the in-coming particles are fairly spread-out, while the out-going are a pretty tight bundle. CURIOUS. -- Does the Gravitational attraction of the Sun act as a sort of Gravitational collimator to the meteor stream ?
 

IN THE LAST issue, I described some of the Deep-Sky objects in the constellation LEO MAJOR. On the accompanying chart, I also included an object that wasn't mentioned in the text; LEO I. This object is a Dwarf galaxy that is a member of the 'Local Group' of Galaxies which includes the Milky Way, M-31, 32, 33, 110 and about 20 others. The LEO I system is seen FAINTLY just north of REGULUS at about mag. 11 , and covering 2 degrees of sky. Obviously, it's a difficult object and not one that is seen often at your local star party, but never-the-less, it's only a million or so light-years away: one of the 'next-Door' neighbors and should make your acquaintance. There is no reference to it in Burnham's Celestial Handbook, which is about the only reference material I have here, so, I really can't say much about it. At Schmidt-Scott, I attempted to find it with BOTH the Unitron & the 10" Newtonian scopes, with no success. I also used the 30" and from the eyepiece there made the drawing shown in this issue.
 

In the southern constellatoin of CAPRICORNUS, are found at this time, the planets URANUS and NEPTUNE. Also here, is found Globular Cluster,

M-30. ( By the way, there's a really EXCELLENT article in Sky & Telescope, this month about Globular Clusters that you should read.) M-30 was discovered by Charles Messier in August 1764 and described as, "a nebula.....seen with difficulty in an ordinary telescope of 3-1/2 feet....It is round and I saw no star there, having observed it with a good Gregorian telescope of 104X". It's not a real impressive Globular, but is easily found (a funny thing is that it can be found with binoculars by starting at M-15 in Pegasus, moving Straight south past M-2 in Aquarius and on to M-30. They ALL seem to be on a N-S line) from western Pegasus through western Aquarius through the EASTERN side of Capricornus.

M-30's nucleus is fairly dense and about a minute and a half in diameter. The extreme outer edges, as seen on photographs is about 9' (Nine Minutes), which at its' distance of about 40,000 light-years corresponds to a diameter of approximately 100 light-years.

The stars of the constellation aren't big bright ones but never-the-less, it's a major grouping in the Autumn sky as one of the 'Signs of the ZODIAC', and should be addressed. I keep thinking of an illustration I once saw depicting Capricornus. It showed an eel's body, or a fish's, the head of what I assume was a LION, but was somewhat anthropomorphic with a spiral 'horn', like that of a Unicorn coming Rhinoceros fashion out of its nose;... a pretty unlikely beasty. Anyway he's supposed to be a Sea serpent.
 

ALPHA CAP, or - Al Giedi, 'the goat',. Located at about R.A 20h15' , Decl. -12d 42'. A wide 'naked eye' double with a separation of 6-1/4'. The brighter star is ALPHA 2; mag. 3.56, with a spectral type of G9 (somewhat cooler than the Sun) The fainter star is ALPHA 1; mag 4.24, Spec. Class G3. Both stars have small companions, the two bright stars do not form a true physical system. ALPHA 2 is about 100 light-years away, while ALPHA 1 is about 5 times farther away
 

BETA CAP, or DABIH. Mag 3.08: Spectral - composite F8, A0. Position= R.A. 20h18', Dec. -14d56'. At a distance of about 150 light-years, it's a wide and easy pair offering a supposedly good contrast of star color for the small telescope ( but I can't see star color very well). Their actual separation is about 9300 Astronomical Units (REM: An Astronomical Unit = the distance from the Earth to the Sun ), or about 1/7 light-year. It appears that DABIH is a multiple star system, in that, the Primary, BETA 'A' is actually a SPECTROSCOPIC TRIPLE STAR, with periods of 8.678 days and 1,374.0 days. BETA 'B' , is a close visual DOUBLE STAR. The entire BETA system seems to have a luminosity equal to about 100 SUNS.
 

DELTA CAP, or DENEB ALGIEDI ("THE TAIL OF THE GOAT" ). At Magnitude 2.82, this is the brightest star in the constellation. Its' Spectral Type is A7, and is about 25 times the luminosity of the Sun. Delta is about fifty light-years away at R.A. 21h44', DEC-16d21'. Delta is an Eclipsing Binary system with a period of 1.023 day. The orbits are nearly circular with a separation of 1 to 2 million miles

About 4 Degrees NE from Delta, near MU CAPRICORNI, is the spot where NEPTUNE was discovered by J. GALLE, on September 25th, 1846. A funny thing is that since Neptune is NOW only a few degrees ( about 8-11 ) away from where it was at the time of its' discovery, and its' period of revolution around the Sun is 147 years ( Earth Years ), means that Neptune was discovered ONLY LAST YEAR ( NEPTUNE YEAR ) // 1998-1846= 152 // ( it's gone around the Sun ONCE, plus five [ Earth ] years).
 

1. WHEN'S THE AUTUMNAL EQUINOX ?

2. WHAT ARE THE METEOR SHOWERS TO WATCH OUT FOR DURING THE NEXT TWO MONTHS ?

3. WHERE ARE THE 'TEASPOON' & THE 'CREAM PITCHER' ?

Answers to last isuues' questions

Q- WHEN EXACTLY, WAS THE SUMMER SOLSTICE ?

a)- 10:03 a.m CDT., June 21st (1998)

Q- WHAT ARE THE NAMES OF THE 'BRIGHT STARS' OF THE 'SUMMER TRIANGLE ?

a) DENEB, Alpha Cygni; ALTAIR, Alpha Aquilae & VEGA,

Alpha Lyrae

Q- WHERE'S THE 'COATHANGER' ?

a)- The 'COATHANGER', ( also known as 'BROCCHI'S CLUSTER' ) is an ASTERISM found in the small constellation VULPECULA, between CYGNUS & AQUILA and DUE SOUTH of Albireo and nearly half-way to Altair, and five or six degrees west of Sagitta, the Arrow. The Coathanger, which is comprised of nine stars (five for the crossbar & four make up the 'hook' ) can be glimpsed occasionally with the un-aided eye, but it's very small - (1x2 degrees ) - and as such, one needs really to KNOW what you're looking at . It's best seen at about twenty-five to fifty power, but 7x50 binoculars will show it very nicely. The asterism is simply a 'line-of-sight' juxtaposition of stars and not actually a cluster, as such.

There are several tiny, dense star clusters in the area, one of which is just off the end of the 'crossbar' of the coathanger itself. In fact it MIGHT be considered a piece of lint stuck to the end of the hanger. This cluster is NGC 6802, which is the only one plotted on Sky Atlas 2000. Binoculars will show the Coathanger up-side-down, so keep that in mind when using them to locate it. (see accompanying finder chart).
 

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 at $2.00 per month, the first year. Fill out a Membership Application and return it with dues payment to:
 

You will receive a Membership Card at the next club meeting, or by mail, if you prefer.
 
 

FINDER CHART FOR 'BROCCHI'S CLUSTER' ( the 'Coathanger' )
 
 

EMDSO

8247 HWY YY

NEW HAVEN, MO

63068
 
 
 
 

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