July 2005 - East Valley Astronomy Club
Contents
1. Planetary Nebula in Sagittarius Distance 7 300 ly Dec 14 09 11 Magnitude of central star 15 0 a 5 Kaus Borealis f The Voyager Page 14 Lunar Map Pro version 3 0 Continued from page 4 your telescopes and with the focal lengths and apparent field of view for your oculars A very powerful obser vational tool is at your fingers when this tool 1s combined with phase dis play and proper map orientation 4 J t Eptinscss EO oed 1j Atlas and Hercules in a FOV map spe cific to an Intes MK66 and Barlowed 7mm UO HD Orthoscopic The Point of View tool is not about personal opinion rather it allows you to change your view of the Moon by aligning yourself at different points in space Another one of those features that is fun to play with SHIH HHH HHH HH IH HHH IH x The Feature Finder makes easy work of locating any feature in Lu nar Map Pro s vast database Once the feature is located you can em ploy other observational tools such as the sunrise and sunset gazetteer A click of the mouse lets you know the dates and times for the next sunrise and sun set for that fea ture what a useful planning feature that 1s Another useful feature of this tool 1s the ability to link your own images sketches and observing notes to any fea ture in the data base How cool is that amp Fieldcor Vi Eg Telescopes 552. will soon be available o o e co o for purchase meter telescope at Mauna Kea The Deep Impact spacecraft was launched on Jan 12 2005 Its mis o o 9 Q9 o o o o o o o o o o o o o Lap af 4 49 E 4 M E e 9 e In addition to the flyby spacecraft at Volume 19 Issue 7 Page 13 T m t s 49 Aql E ux x 2 n t L NGC 6818 Little Gem Magnitude 9 9 Size 40 RA 19h 43m 57 8s 5 z amp t alimain P P x E vt d t E wi t x ee T Ld N A 4t E d x r et t A Fe Ps Sr t E 5 D n j Coa GC 681 82 Sgr 4 dh Telrad E t P T m t y
3. FIRST QUAR TER MOON ON JULY 14 AT 08 20 FULL MOON ON JULY 21 AT 04 00 LAST QUARTER IMOON ON JULY 27 AT 20 19 Classified Advertisements Meade ETX 70 with Meade 9mm and 25mm eyepieces Autostar and flex focus 150 00 Damion Pauksta 602 240 5421 damionbow aol com NexStar 11 GPS Carbon fiber model purchased from Astro nomics late 2003 unused due to illness In cluded with all standard accessories are Feathertouch focuser 2 AP visual back JMI Wheely Bars with extra large wheels and complete Celestron gift set of eyepieces and filters in case Cost well over 3600 will sell for 2000 firm Prefer local sale Norm Rubenstein 623 322 6464 PHOTON INSTRUMENT LTD k T Ie KUTOK 122 EAST MAIN STREET e dee 480 835 1767 MESA ARIZONA 85201 E MAIL AT WEB SITE 800 574 2589 http www photoninstrument com Mr Telescope Uptown Plaza Shopping Center 20 E Camelback Road Phoenix AZ 85012 602 955 5521 Jack Johnston TELESCOPES ACCESSORIES LITERATURE BINOCULARS ASTROPHOTOGPRAP 1Y EQUIPMENT ASSISTANCE ADVICE Meade Pictor 416XT CCD All components filters manuals adaptors autoguider and CCD camera are still in their original factory sealed condition and plas tic wrap Why Well the Pictor and it s software are intended for use with a Windows computer and I never got around to buying a Windows laptop sounds silly but that s the fact The Pictor 416XT uses the Ko
4. From the Desk of the President by Steven Aggas 2005 EVAC President Clear skies get it while it lasts Monsoons will be here soon and with them comes time to work on the telescope Everyone knows that the amount of cloudy weather is propor tional to the amount of money spent on the new astronomy related gadget I don t know if one causes the other or the other way around but here in the valley there 1s usually a buying frenzy during July and August If you re building a new project or doing some modifications you think the rest of the club would enjoy hearing about show us Get some digital pictures or slides and bring em to the meet ing and I ll pen you into the meeting program As our speaker for the July General Assembly meeting we will have A J Crayon a member of both EVAC and the Saguaro Astronomy Club AJ has drawn many objects he sees in the telescope and he will not only present some of them but will have us try our skills at The Backyard Astronomer Double Your Pleasure by Bill Dellinges Drag yourself away from those Deep Sky Objects for a while and check out the six double stars listed be low Here are some of my favorite summer doubles They range from a binocu lar pair to a quintuple mul tiple star I hope you will enjoy viewing them as much as I have over the years Data found within the brackets are com ponents AB magnitudes separation in arc seconds and
5. ing campaign The software ships on a single CD ROM housed 1n a plastic case of the type used for DVD movies No printed documentation 1s supplied however a Quick Start Guide and a User s Manual are contained on the disc Both documents in PDF format are accessible from within the appli cation Adobe Acrobat Reader v5 05 is also furnished on the CD Docu mentation is also available on the RITI website While Lunar Map Pro provides so phisticated features and functional ity that will satisfy the most experi enced lunar observers it does not do so at the expense of those new to viewing our closest celestial neighbor The software installation is quick and easy The user 1s prompted for the desired installation directory the program group in which to locate the application s 1cons and the level of install ranging from a compact 110 MB to a complete 370 MB Given the cost of hard drive space these days and the nature of this application I don t see any reason not to perform a complete install A desktop shortcut 1s also created RITI employs copy protection that requires the user to insert the CD each time the application 1s launched The disc can be removed once the program starts RITI grants the user permission to install the software on as many PCs as desired An optional procedure can be em ployed to obtain a license string that negates having to insert the CD if so desired Once the installation is fini
6. Dob reflector my camcorder and tripod and some homemade garlic salsa chips good bug repellent all loaded in my jeep A stop to pick up Sam and we h3eaded for the Picket post trailhead site With my scope and his laptop we were ready to dine The appetizer was an Iridium flare which I videotaped and hope to show at the meeting These are predicted on an excellent website heavens above com Most man made objects paths are found here by entering your position and time The flare reached 8 mag Our next stop was at the far end of the table Quasar 3C 273 mag 13 in Virgo This 1s 3 billion light years away and is the most distant object for amateurs It is a very remote gal axy with an energetic nucleus It appears as a faint star We then located Pluto which will be at opposition June 13 Sam s laptop in one hand while peering thru the eyepiece makes it much easier to spot Two nights observing would also help to see the change of it s po sition My favorite object was next M13 1s the dazzling salad of this feast but tonite was special The conditions allowed two crackers with our salad NGC6207 mag12 and IC4617 mag16 Then a meteor accented the whole view Cepheus contains a treat often over looked A tasty pairing of an open cluster NGC6939 mag8 and a gal axy NGC6946 mag9 After this pal ate cleansing view it s time for the main course Comet Temple 1 It s now at mag 10 but may soon reach mag 5 On J
7. June 25th Conjunction of three planets Venus Mercury and Saturn The club will offer a public viewing of this event at the Riparian Preserve from 8 until about 9 PM July 3 4 The Deep Impact mission concludes a six month 268 million mile voyage to comet Tempel 1 by send ing a projectile crashing into the cosmic traveler July 84 Beginners Lab and Public Star Party at the Riparian Preserve with the lab beginning at 6 30 PM Plans are being made to purchase new club shirts All interested parties are asked to contact Randy All shirts are to be prepaid to ensure delivery Peter Argenziano presented Joe Goss with two plaques for his completion of the Planetary Nebulae and Finest NGC observing programs Congratulations Joe Goss Steven Aggas showed slides of his newest observatory a roll back shed recently built in Overgaard Pictures of the progress to near completion gave a good 1dea of the construction details of this project Pedro Jane offered a quick video of an Iridium flare from the overhead passing of a satellite Recognition goes to Joe Orman for two new photo publications The first 1s 1n the French magazine Attraction Phy sique of the Hale Bopp comet The second photo will appear in a new textbook Discovering the Universe of the Moon Venus conjunction The next meeting will be Friday July 15 at the Gilbert Southeast Regional Library A J Crayon will present tech niques for drawing while observing Al
8. Taurus has a declination of 16 30 cos 16 30 0 9588 Three drift timings 1 121 seconds 2 119 seconds 3 120 seconds Average time is 120 seconds on it At 9 14 Io s shadow leaves At 10 09 Europa s shadow falls on 1t 8 minutes later Europa moves from in front of the planet On Sunday July 17 at 8 33 PM you can see the Moon cover Antares The star reappears at 9 12 PM Binocu lars should be good enough to watch the disappearance on the dark limb of the Moon You might want a small 3 inch telescope to watch the reap pearance on the bright limb On Monday July 18 you can watch several events with Jupiter s moons Here 1s the schedule 8 59 PM Io s shadow falls on Jupiter Io is already in front of Jupiter 9 58 PM Io moves from in front of Jupiter 10 16 PM Europa moves in front of Jupiter On Wednesday July 20 at 7 40 PM the full Moon rises Forget the faint fuzzes tonight and check out the rays and other albedo features on the Moon For a few days around this date it will be an especially good time to look at the northern edge of the Moon which 1s tilted toward us by libration 120 x 0 9588 x 360 86 164 seconds 0 481 or 28 51 For this particular eyepiece telescope combination the true field of view is almost one half degree This is about the size of a full Moon Every combi nation of eyepiece and telescope will be different but in general The longer the focal length of t
9. and expenses including attorney fees caused directly or indirectly by my negligent or intentional acts or failure to act or if such acts or failures to act are directly or indirectly caused by any person in my family or associates while participating in an EVAC Star Party My signature upon this form also indicates agreement and acceptance on behalf of all minor children under 18 years of age under my care in attendance EVAC only recognizes those who are members or invitees and who also have a signed Liability Release Form on file as participants at an EVAC Star Party Please print name here Date Please sign name here PO Box 2202 Mesa AZ 85214 2202 www eastvalleyastronomy org Page 10 The Voyager NASA s Space Place Moving a Mountain of a Dish by Patrick L Barry Your first reaction That s impossible How on earth could someone simply pick up one of NASA s giant Deep Space Net work DSN antennas a colossal steel dish 12 stories high and 112 feet across that weighs more than 800 000 pounds move it about 80 yards and delicately set it down again Yet that s exactly what NASA engineers recently did One of the DSN dishes near Madrid Spain needed to be moved to a new pad And it had to be done gingerly the dish 1s a sensi tive scientific instrument full of delicate electronics Banging it around would not do It was a heck of a challenge says Benja min Saldua the
10. cally The time can be either your local time or universal time Within the Phases tool the opacity of the portion of the lunar disc in darkness can be varied thereby allowing the user to still discern features beyond the terminator When the Time tool 1s open the map 1s not updated auto matically the user must click a but ton labeled Current to update the map The Phase Manager shows one lunation and is an excellent tool to help the user understand the lunar cycle graphically It can also be em ployed to manually adjust the map to lunar cycles other than the current lunation This is very useful for plan ning purposes or to review past ob serving sessions so long as the dates are between January 1 1970 and December 31 2100 Working with the Ephemeris tool requires that the user input the lati tude and longitude of their observing site The Field of View tool is one of my favorite features of the entire pro gram This nifty tool allows for the creation of custom maps displayed or printed that correspond to the view through your telescope Natu rally you have to first configure the application with the focal lengths of Continued on page 15 Page 4 The Voyager July Guest Speaker AJ Crayon A Night of Feasting On Our Desert Sky by Pedro Jane Friday afternoon June 6 A welcome call from my friend Sam Herchak Would you like to go observing to night 45 minutes later I had my 16
11. or until they have appeared in three issues of the newsletter whichever occurs first Ads should be emailed to news eastvalleyastronomy org Support your local telescope dealer Page 6 4201 N Oracle Rd Tucson Ax STOA SVAN www starizona com The Voyager EN EIL 1 mi i Countryside The monthly general meeting 1s your chance to find ark I out what other club members are up to learn about upcoming club events and listen to presentations by professional and well known amateur astronomers x I LUE Brill Our meetings are held on the third Friday of each month at the Southeast Regional Library in Gilbert The library is located at 775 N Greenfield Rd on the southeast corner of Greenfield and Guadalupe Roads Meetings begin at 7 30pm Visitors are always welcome Ti ig I E E Terrace Ave e T E Mich lle Wa m i T 1 E m illbrag Ln or ae irse Sm Se de creatine Medie AL rare A DEER E Pkeside Dr E s E Houston Ave anita um 2002 MapQuest com Inz 2005 Navigation Technalagies E Bay Treen Cir y ads eE Gemini Et b F E cs ee E Libra 8t z S MAS C E Palkan St V en 5 1 ae aa EN Zi e S Dr EP s E E auagalupe Rd ETramaing St k E Radfiakl Ad r1 2003 Meeting Dates July 19 August 20 ET September 1 October 21 November 18 E Olney Aves T7 ay Pye s IE 5 WES LS Southeast Regiona
12. structural engineer at JPL who was in charge of the move But thanks to some very careful planning we pulled it off without a problem The Deep Space Network enables NASA to communicate with probes exploring the solar system Because Earth is constantly rotating a single antenna on the ground can communicate with a probe for only part of the day when the probe is over head By placing large dishes at three loca tions around the planet Madrid Califor nia and Australia NASA can maintain contact with spacecraft around the clock To move the Madrid dish NASA called in a company from the Netherlands named Mammoet which specializes in moving massive objects Mammoet is the Dutch word for mammoth On a clear day bad weather might blow the dish over they began to slowly lift the dish Hydraulic jacks at all four corners gradually raised the entire dish to a height of about 4 5 feet Then Mammoet engi neers positioned specialized crawlers under each corner Each crawler looks like a mix between a flatbed trailer and a centipede a flat load bearing surface supported by 24 wheels on 12 independently rotating axes giving each crawler a maximum load of 194 tons One engineer took the master joystick and steered the whole package in its slow crawl to the new pad never exceeding the glacial speed of 3 feet per minute The four crawl ers automatically stayed aligned with each other and their independently suspe
13. 3 0 I am con stantly seeking to enhance my lunar observation skills and this program has greatly facilitated that endeavor I would unequivocally recommend this program to anyone with a seri ous interest in lunar studies whether the studies involve visual observation lunar photography or just armchair observing 2 XX A Coming in August our guest speaker will be Dr Jeff Hester from the Physics and Astronomy depart lt x eun formed near one or more massive luminous stars and the ways that the presence of nearby mas xx xx ment at ASU Dr Hester s topic will be Born Among Giants which discusses the evidence that the X XX XX XX sive stars shaped our Solar System XX ee Arellano Se eto Gi II III II HI NI HIN INI NINE Star Party Disclaimer The East Valley Astronomy Club EVAC Is not responsible for the property or liability of any star party participant nor Will the club be held liable for their actions or possessions EVAC is not responsible for any vehicular damage theft or mechanical difficulties that may occur while attending a star party EVAC strongly recommends adherence to the doc trine of safety in numbers when it comes to remote observing sites In the interest of safety it is recommended that you don t go to remote sites alone and that someone knows where you have gone each time you go out observing Volume 19 Issue 7 Page 15 The Voyager is published monthly by
14. 6 7 107 173 A D 3 8 4 8 337 5 322 Double star observer James Mul laney calls this triple the Patriotic Star because the three have colors of red white and blue Dec 2000 S amp T p 123 It takes a little sorting out to figure which three stars you want to identify First of all forget the 13 1 mag B star It doesn t play a role in this The A star 31 Cygni also called Omicron one is the red one The C star is the blue one The D star is the white one In a reversed field A will be your central star C will be at 5 o clock D will be near the 11 o clock position Now I must confess some thing the D star 30 Cygni is an op tical component not a true member of this system even though it s listed as such in Sky Catalog 2000 vol 2 p 132 Also do not be confused by 32 Cygni Omicron two a little farther north of the above mess It sits on the northern edge of my Ranger s 2 3 de gree field if I put the colorful trio near the bottom of the field Though D is an optical member the A B C stars still make this system a triple Did you get all that By the way I don t see the colors as vividly as Mullaney does Maybe younger eyes would help X1 Scorpii ADS 9909 RA 16h 04 Dec 11 22 A B 4 8 5 1 0 7 341 A C 4 8 7 3 7 5 48 This beautiful quintuple star lies way wayyy up in northern Scorpius In the same field of this triple you can see St
15. 8 Dete Fiscal length 1800 Focal lengtty um mn And yet another useful feature of this tool is to se lectively apply labels Unlike the labeling feature discussed ear her this is where you have almost complete labeling control Almost Yes you are limited in where the application places the label It seems that the label has to touch the feature while 1t would be nice to be able to drag the label into just the right position The 3D Viewer tool is new in this version of the software It allows the user to create maps which depict the lunar topography The adjustable parameters include point of view magnification orientation relief ex aggeration and visual appearance Two resolution levels can be em ployed with the higher level using a display twice the size of the lower resolution with twice the data The Point of View is adjustable in 25 increments to the north south east or west You can zoom in or out by a factor of two Rotation 1s adjustable in 10 increments up down left or right The Relief Exaggeration ap plies a multiplier to all surface eleva tions and thereby makes it easier to see subtle features The Visual Ap pearance can either be photo realistic or in the form of a wire mesh Alter nating between the two allows the user to fully comprehend the topogra phy of the feature under study I started using Lunar Map Pro with version 2 0 and just recently up graded to version
16. ake check or money order payable to EVAC O Payment was remitted separately using PayPal O Payment was remitted separately using my financial institution s online bill payment feature LJ Publish email address on website How would you like to receive your monthly newsletter choose one option City State Zip Electronic delivery PDF US Mail Areas of Interest check all that apply Please describe your astronomy equipment General Observing O Cosmology Lunar Observing Telescope Making O Planetary Observing O Astrophotography Deep Sky Observing Cl Other Would you be interested in attending a beginner s workshop O Yes L No How did you discover East Valley Astronomy Club PO Box 2202 Mesa AZ 85214 2202 www eastvalleyastronomy org Volume 19 Issue 7 Page 9 Liability Release Form In consideration of attending any publicized Star Party hosted by the East Valley As tronomy Club hereinafter referred to as EVAC hereby affirm that my family and agree to hold EVAC harmless from any claims liabilities losses demands causes of action suits and expenses including attorney fees which may directly or indirectly be connected to EVAC and or my presence on the premises of any EVAC Star Party and related areas further agree to indemnify any party indicated above should such party suffer any claims liabilities losses demands causes of action suits
17. dak KAF 0400 CCD chip with the extended blue response As a CCD camera it s considered among the best available under 5000 The autoguider and camera will connect directly to the control panel jacks of Meade LX50 LX90 APM and LX200 telescopes and probably others with similar electronic relay autoguider ports See a current ad for this unit at http telescopes net ccd__cameras html The Pictor 416XT normally sells for about 2000 I paid 2035 with tax but I ll sell it for 1299 brand new John Matthews 602 952 9808 john cathy cox net 16 f4 5 Meade Starfinder with Equatorial Mount Optics remounted into a new tube built by Pierre Schwarr with a J MI focuser Includes 7 12 5 17 20 and 32mm eyepieces plus 2 8 Klee Barlow laser collimator and an Olympus OM1 camera Many extras Call or e mail me for a list I have 5200 invested in this telescope package but will sell for 2000 Dave Rainey 602 980 0582 drainey7 cox net Wanted 2 TV Everbright or equivalent quality diagonal with compression clamp Must be in excellent condition Contact Silvio 480 926 8529 silvioj msn com Only non commercial advertisements for astronomical equipment will be accepted from current EVAC members Ads will be published as space permits and may be edited Ads should consist of a brief text description and must include a current member name and phone number You may include your email address if you wish Ads will be run until canceled
18. entified a right click provides bio graphical data Continued on page 4 Volume 19 Issue 7 Page 3 Lunar Map Pro version Continued from page 3 The File menu provides the function ality to redraw the map on screen as well as to write the map to a file or send it straight to the printer In the View menu the user can tog gle the toolbar status bar and com pass The compass 1s a very handy feature when working with magni fied maps allowing the user to keep their bearings The new 3D feature is also activated from within this menu This feature 1s based on lunar radar data combined with a GIS platform to render some very interesting views 3D view of Theophilus area The user has control over point of view magnification and orientation in 3D views The Zoom menu provides control over map magnification Personally I find it easier to use the toolbar for this activity From here you can zoom in or out in 50 increments and quickly return to the full lunar disc map You can also enable zooming by way of a rectangle dragged across the map with your cursor this being the most useful feature in the menu for my use A scaling tool allows you to precisely scale your map if your pro ject calls for such precision The Help menu provides the ex pected functionality plus some unex pected features a glossary a list of label abbreviations a lunar fact sheet a legend for the color coded geology markin
19. gs and a table for locating the objects in Charles Woods Lunar 100 observing list The Pan menu is home to naviga tional commands such as stepping in 25 increments to the north south 3 0 east or west You can also enable the dragging of the map The mouse can be used to center a clicked on fea ture And a feature can be centered by entering its coordinates Within the Tool menu the user can access the labeling feature While this 1s quite extensive and customiza ble to a great degree I would like to see additional flexibility allowing users to apply whatever level of la beling they require on maps or saved files The labeling is executed by en tire groups of features which can t be edited So if you check the Craters box all craters visible in your map will be labeled This can be quite use ful but there will also be projects which just require the ability to se lectively label features Font size and color can be adjusted to suit the in tended use of the map The Surveyor tool is accessed from within this menu and it allows the user to make accurate lunar meas urements While most data regarding individual features is readily avail able this tool allows for measure ments limited only by your imagina tion The geographic information sys tem GIS upon which Lunar Map Pro is built takes into consideration the difference between the flat dis played image and the actual curva ture of the Moon T
20. he eyepiece the larger the field of view with the same telescope The longer the focal length of the telescope the smaller the field of view with the same eyepiece Page 12 The Voyager NASA S Space Eyes Focus on Deep Impact Target On July 4 NASA s Deep Impact spacecraft will attempt an extraordi narily daring encounter with the far flung comet Tempel 1 which 1s hur tling through space at tens of thou sands of miles per hour As if that is not challenging enough the comet s size shape and other characteristics are not entirely known Two of NASA s eyes in the sky the Spitzer and Hubble Space Tele scopes helped scientists prepare for the comet encounter From their or bits high above Earth the telescopes watched Tempel 1 1n early 2004 To gether they came up with the best estimates of the comet s size shape reflectivity and rotation rate The data may help Deep Impact snap pic tures of the dramatic rendezvous and increase the probability of making contact with the comet Even tiny adjustments to our model of Tempel 1 are crucial to hitting the target and setting camera exposure times said Dr Carey Lisse Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Laurel Md Lisse 1s team leader for the Tempel 1 Spitzer studies Previous observations of Tempel 1 taken with ground based telescopes indicated the comet 1s dark and ob long with a width of a few miles or kilometers Spitzer and Hubb
21. he result is a sur prisingly accurate measurement sys tem You can measure between any number of points so curved or ir regular shapes aren t excluded The user guide indicates that an en hanced level of accuracy is obtained when using higher map magnifica tions A useful tool that s fun to use too I found that accuracy can be fur ther increased by turning on the vec tor outlines in the map A Night View tool is available but I don t find it to be particularly useful It allows the user to dim the screen while keeping the toolbar buttons at full brightness Since dark adapta tion isn t really necessary when ob serving Luna at least not for me I don t see a need for such a feature If I want to dim the screen I normally just use that functionality provided by my laptop Maybe you will find it useful The Resource Viewer tool provides a link to tons of online lunar informa tion right from within the applica tion A very nice feature when you are using the program indoors or if you are so lucky as to have an inter net connection at the telescope The Lunar menu is home to some of the most useful features in the pro gram From here you can control the mapping properties the time phases search for specific features toggle the grid adjust the field of view create an ephemeris display landing sites and change your point of view The Time Phases and Ephemeris features all work together dynami
22. l Library 775 N Greenfield Road Gilbert AZ 85234 December 16 LIBRARY SEE All are welcome to attend the pre meeting dinner at 5 30 PM We meet at Old Country Buffet located at 1855 S Stapley Drive in Mesa The restaurant is in the plaza on the northeast corner of Stapley and Baseline Roads near the Walmart Su percenter just south of US 60 Old Country Buffet 1855 S Stapley Drive in Mesa Volume 19 Issue 7 Page 7 J uly 2005 Schedule of Events e July 2 Local Star Party at Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Boyce Thompson Arboretum 2 e July 8 Beginners Lab at Ri parian Institute in Gilbert 6 30 PM 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 e July 8 Public Star Party at Riparian Institute in Gilbert lo f 12 13 l4 l5 l6 oe e July 9 Deep Sky Star Party I7 8 19 20 21 22 23 AE VEKON ROGN o m e July 15 July General Meet 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 ing at Southeast Regional Li brary in Gilbert 3l Minutes of June General Meeting Meeting date Tuesday June 14 2005 Meeting location Southeast Regional Library in Gilbert The meeting was opened by President Steven Aggas The club officers stood and introduced themselves John Dobson inquired if there were any non officer members present Treasurer Wayne Thomas reported the income and disburse ments for the month He also reported that membership has grown to 211 members Events Coordinator Randy Peterson announced the following astronomical events
23. l in attendance are urged to participate as pencils and paper will be provided The meeting broke for a short intermission and refreshments The featured speaker for the meeting was John Dobson of Sidewalk Astronomer fame who explained often by short funny stories his perceived fallacies of the Big Bang Theory Many in the audience would have kept listening to him all night given the opportunity The meeting was regretfully closed with an ovation fully deserved Page 8 The Voyager East Valley Astronomy Club Membership Form Please complete this form and return it to the club Treasurer at the next meeting or mail it to EVAC PO Box 2202 Mesa Az 85214 2202 Please include a check or money order made payable to EVAC for the appropriate amount IMPORTANT All memberships expire on December 31 of each year Select one of the following New Member Renewal O Change of Address New Member Dues select according to the month you are joining the club 20 00 J anuary through March 15 00 April through June 10 00 July through September C 25 00 October through December Includes dues for the following year Renewal current members only Magazine Subscriptions include renewal notices O 20 00 January December O 29 00 Astronomy O 33 00 Sky amp Telescope Name Badges 10 00 Each including postage Quantity Total amount enclosed Name to imprint Please m
24. le re fined these measurements revealing a matte black comet approximately 14 by 4 kilometers 8 7 by 2 5 miles or roughly one half the size of Man hattan Spitzer was crucial in pinning down the comet s size said Dr Michael A Hearn of the University of Mary land College Park He is principal investigator for Deep Impact and the Hubble observations We ll know exactly what it looks like when we get there sion 1s to study the primordial soup of our solar system which 1s sealed away inside comets On July 3 as it approaches Tempel 1 the spacecraft will separate into two parts The impactor will attempt the tricky task of placing itself in the path of the speeding snowball while the second part the flyby spacecraft swings around for a ringside view After the impactor is released its specialized software will steer it to ward the sunlit portion of Tempel 1 s nucleus To program the software mission planners at NASA s Jet Pro pulsion Laboratory Pasadena Calif needed to know the size and reflectiv ity of Tempel 1 s surface Since its surface can t be observed directly from Earth scientists turned to Spitzer s infrared eyes to measure its size When viewing a comet in visible light from very far away only reflected sunlight can be seen so a big dark comet can look the same as a highly reflective small comet In infrared light a comet s radiated heat is measured providing a direct look at its si
25. ly Guest Speaker 5 Classified Ads 6 Meeting Site Maps 7 Calendar 8 Membership Application 9 and Liability Waiver NASA s Space Place 11 If It s Clear 12 NASA s Space Eyes Focus 13 on Deep Impact Target Deep Sky Object of the 14 Month July Events Local Star Party at Boyce Thompson July 2 Beginners Lab in Gilbert July 8 Public Star Party in Gilbert July 8 Deep Sky Star Party at Vekol Road July 9 Monthly Meeting at South east Regional Library July 15 The Backyard Astronomer Continued from page 1 mirror Easily split in hand held 8x50 binoculars The pair is the dimmest star in the head of the dragon Nu Scorpii ADS 9951 RA 16h 12m Dec 19 28 A B 4 1 5 2 1 3 3 A C 4 0 6 5 41 5 337 C D 6 5 7 8 2 3 39 A double double 10x70 binoculars will split the two pairs My 5 APO split the faint blue C D pair at 74x The 5 could not resolve the A B 1 3 pair with 173x My C14 at 230x shows A B as figure 8 during mo ments of good seeing at my observa tory next to the Superstition Moun tains where I have concluded the seeing 1s generally atrocious I seem to recall my C 8 split A B once at the Grand Canyon Give it a shot There aren t that many double doubles out there and this is one of the best That is if you can split A B 31 Cygni ADS 13554 Omicron one Cygni RA 20h 18m Dec 46 44 A B 3 8 13 1 36 6 331 A C 3 8
26. nded wheels compensated for unevenness in the ground uu B Placement on the new pad had to be per fect and the alignment was tested with a laser To position the dish believe it or not Mammoet engineers simply followed a length of string tied to the pad s center pivot where the dish was gently lowered It worked So much for impossible Find out more about the DSN at http deepspace jpl nasa gov dsn Kids can learn about the amazing DSN antennas and make their own Super Sound Cone at The Space Place http spaceplace nasa gov en kids tmodact shtml i In ausum id WU A 1 E E a Giant Deep Space Network antenna in Madrid is moved using four 12 axle 24 wheel crawlers Volume 19 Issue 7 Page 11 If it s Clear by Fulton Wright Jr Prescott Astronomy Club July 2005 Shamelessly stolen information from Sky amp Telescope magazine Astron omy magazine and anywhere else I can find info When gauging dis tances remember that the Moon is 1 2 a degree or 30 arc minutes in di ameter All times are Mountain Stan dard Time unless otherwise noted On Sunday July 3 at 10 52 PM you might be able to see the results of a space probe hitting a comet If all goes according to plan and that isa big if Arizona will be well placed to observe the event and the comet might brighten from mag 10 to mag 6 See Sky and Telescope June 2005 p 40 67 amp 70 or Astro
27. nomy maga zine June 2005 p 68 for details Search for Deep Impact on the web for even more information and last minute updates just before the event On Tuesday July 5 it is new Moon so you have dark skies for all night observing if you like On Friday July 8 about 8 30 PM you can see three solar system ob jects near each other With your un aided eye or binoculars look 10 de grees above the west horizon for the thin crescent Moon brilliant Venus below it and faint Mercury down and to the left all within a binocular s field of view On Monday July 11 you can see some events with Jupiter s moons At about 8 30 PM you should be able to find the planet in the twilight with Europa in front of it and Io s shadow Calculating True Field of View Continued from page 2 view on the east edge Let the star drift 1nto view Begin timing when the star first appears and stop timing when the star disappears off the other west edge of the field of view Calculate the elapsed time drift time Repeat this measurement 2 more times comparing your results to en sure no errors have been made Find the average time for the 3 meas urements Convert the average time to an angle of view as follows drift time x cos star dec x 360 86 164 seconds Be sure to use the same units for all like measurements usually seconds for time degrees for angles For example Aldebaran brightest star in
28. or atlas Stars travel westward through the sky at the rate of one revolution every 23 hours 56 minutes 86 164 seconds Stars near the celestial equator declination near zero move most rapidly across the sky Stars further from the equator move more slowly The adjustment factor 1s the cosine of the star s declination These facts can be used to calculate the field of view angle of view through any combination of eyepiece and tele scope It is known as the drift method Select any bright star which is near within about 20 the celestial equa tor Look up the declination of the star in an appropriate table Observe the star through the eye piece telescope combination you want to measure Turn off the motor drive The star will drift due west on the celestial sphere Adjust the declination of the tele scope so that the star passes right through the center of the eyepiece the widest part Adjust the right ascension of the telescope so the star is just out of Continued on page 12 Page 2 The Voyager Lunar Map Pro version 3 0 Software Review by Peter Argenziano Lunar Map Pro now in its fourth release 1s described by its publisher as the most advanced highest reso lution lunar application ever devel oped for Windows Most users will no doubt agree with this assessment even though this description seems inadequate after using the program within the context of a lunar observ
29. position angle in degrees 340 90 etc Albireo Beta Cygni ADS 12540 RA 19h 30 5m Dec 270 58 A B 3 1 5 1 34 4 54 King of the summer dou bles Perhaps it s most beautiful representative Composed of a gold pri mary and blue secondary this 1s an easy double to resolve Even 10x70 bin oculars begin to split it For a time it was doubted Albireo was a true binary star because at a distance of 400 light years a sepa ration of 34 4 1s equiva The Voya East Valley Astronomy Club July 2005 er drawing objects too This is a very good technique for seeing more detail as your eye gets trained to see finer detail that you may not get in a quick glance in the eyepiece Join us for an interac tive type meeting at the Southeast Regional Li brary Gilbert Public La brary on Friday July 15th at 7 30PM The GPL 1s located at the Southeast corner of Greenfield and Guadalupe Roads lent to 55 solar systems A very wide double indeed Nevertheless it s currently accepted as a double star I like to view it slightly out of focus to enhance the star s color difference Kuma Nu Draconis ADS 10628 RA 17h 32m Dec 55 10 A B 4 9 4 9 62 312 A double of exactly equal magnitudes like head lights in your rear view Continued on page 2 Volume 19 Issue 7 Inside this issue Lunar Map Pro Review 3 A Night of Feasting on 5 Our Desert Sky Ju
30. ruve 2725 ADS 14270 A B 7 0 8 0 5 8 358 which is consid ered a member of the group thus making a total of five stars My 5 at 173x splits the A C and Struve pair but the tough A B 0 77 pair would n t yield to the aperture challenged refractor My C14 failed recently to split AB at 98x 230x and 279x The good news A B is widening from its 1997 minimum So any night now you might be able to crack the A B nut Rho Ophiuchi ADS 10049 RA 16h 25m 35s Dec 23 27 A B 5 0 5 7 3 1 340 A C 5 0 7 3 151 360 A D 5 0 7 0 156 3 253 This is part of that well known color photo showing the Rho Ophiuchi bright and dark nebulae above Antares Rho is lighting up the top most blotch of gas which seems to also have a vertical split through it Visually you ll see none of that But even an 8x50 binocular or finder will separate the A C D components That s what brought this star to my attention Then I learned all of these guys were part of a multiple star I was later able to split the A B pair 3 17 with a TV85 at 75x So we have a most interesting quad ruple star here If summer monsoon evenings permit give these guys a try Warning dou ble star observing can be habit form ing Calculating True Field of View When looking through a telescope it is useful to know how wide or narrow a view you are seeing This can help you compare what you are seeing to your star chart
31. shed and the application is launched the CD can be removed from the drive if a complete install was performed When the program opens the user is greeted by a raster map of the lunar nearside created from NASA Clementine data with orange colored overlaying latitude and longi tude lines zero latitude and longi tude lines are blue The grid can be toggled on or off and it dynamically adjusts to the magnification level of the map Also displayed on the initial screen is a smaller navigational win dow The content of this window 1s a small vector map of the lunar disc with an inset rectangle indicating the area being displayed on the main map a very handy feature that can be dragged anywhere on the screen minimized or closed It 1s updated whenever the main map changes Navigational tools can be used on either map Like most astronomy software Lu nar Map Pro retains the general structure and appearance of any Windows application There are menu headings horizontally placed above a toolbar at the top of the screen and a status bar along the bottom Both the toolbar and status bar can be toggled on and off The toolbar is pre configured with what the publisher considers to be the most used features but 1t 1s not cus tomizable The menu headings in clude File View Zoom Pan Help Tools and Lunar with appropriate sub menus below The status bar dis plays the latitude and longitude rela tive to your cursor po
32. sition on the map in addition to the scale of the map The program boasts an impressive database of 8 169 named features including 1 561 primary craters 5 863 associated lettered craters 26 large plains 35 small plains 20 cra ter chains 158 domes or volcanic peaks 40 ridges 34 mountain peaks 19 mountain ranges 11 capes 269 fissures 9 scarps 33 valleys and 79 features named by Apollo astronauts The main lunar map is corrected for libration ensuring an accurate depic tion of the Moon The default display is North Up matching naked eye or binocular views It is also configur able as North Up Reversed SCT or MCT view South Up Newtonian or South Up Reversed southern hemi sphere SCT ensuring every lunar observer 1s accommodated with a dis play matching that of their telescope The map can be further configured to show vector feature outlines with or without the raster image This 1s es pecially useful in identifying difficult features both on screen and on the printed charts Mare can also be dis played using vector polygons And if that wasn t enough you can also dis play color coded geological data clas sifying features by type age and sys tem This flexibility is sure to provide a map appropriate to most any obser vational activity Vector outline map of Atlas amp Hercules In addition to the searching tool fea tures can be identified by hovering over them with the cursor Once id
33. the East Valley Astronomy Club and made available electronically PDF the first week of the month Printed copies are available at the monthly meeting Please send your contributions tips suggestions and comments to the Editor Peter Argenziano at news eastvalleyastronomy org Contributions may be edited www eastvalleyastronomy org Keep Looking Up East Valley Astronomy Club PO Box 2202 Mesa AZ 85214 2202 President Steven Aggas Vice President Howard Israel Secretary Peri Cline Treasurer Wayne Thomas Event Coordinators Gwen Grace amp Randy Peterson Properties Director Dave Williams Newsletter Editor Peter Argenziano Webmaster Marty Pieczonka Board of Directors Joe Goss Jim Fitzpatrick John Holmquist Chuck Crawford amp Dave Shafer b D xd4 qu PALO CN 4 l
34. uly 3rd at 11 00 P M planetary scientist H Jay Melosh and his pals are going to fire an 820 Ib copper bullet at this comet It will strike the surface at 23 000 mph I ll be watching this one On this night the comet was near NGC4845 mag4 and NGC4900 mag12 Comets and gal axies together oh boy How s about dessert A nice rectan gular cluster NGC6802 mag9 and the baked alaska of the sky NGC6826 mag10 The latter is a blinking planetary nebula I had never seen before Some believe the blinking is an optical illusion but a thrill just the same After a few Messier mints we were ready to leave The night had become quite cold so we packed up and headed home You Too can have a feast night like this Just remember to pick up Sam on your way out From the bayous of Louisiana to the deserts of central Arizona our guest speaker for July has spent many an hour at the eyepiece AJ Crayon will bring his wit humor and vener able observing expertise together 1n a presentation on techniques you can use to sketch the objects you are observing The club will provide pencil and paper so that you may prac tice the techniques that AJ discusses No previous artistic experience 1s required If you plan on participating please bring along a hard flat surface upon which you may write a book notebook or clipboard would work well Sketching at the eyepiece is a great way to improve your observational skills NEW MOON ON JULY 6 AT 05 0
35. ze Once the size of Tempel 1 was known scientists could calculate sur face reflectivity using a combination of Spitzer and Hubble data They found Tempel 1 reflects only four per cent of the sunlight that falls on it Knowing the reflectivity also tells us how to set up our cameras Lisse said Like photographers it s impor tant for us to know our subject before the shoot Tempel 1 s shape and two day rota tion rate were derived from long term observations made by various telescopes including Hubble Spitzer and the University of Hawaii s 2 2 least 30 telescopes around the world including Spitzer Hubble and the Chandra X ray Observatory will be watching the dramatic impact By analyzing the material blown out of the interior of the comet this global network of telescopes will assemble a list of the raw ingredients that went into making the planets in our solar system JPL manages the Deep Impact mis sion for NASA For information about NASA and the Deep Impact mission on the Web visit the following web sites http www nasa gov home index htm l http www spitzer caltech edu spitze r http hubblesite org news http deepimpact jpl nasa gov 0e 9 6 6 o o o o o o2 o2 So me O89 O09 0o 00o O90 OQ 0Oo9 Oo o 0 oo o o o he 2006 Astron o co o co omy calendars have been ordered and
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