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Regulus, September 2010 Issue

1. Saskatoon Centre selling Buzzard Coulee meteorites and we picked up a couple for our personal collections along witha Whitecourt meteorite There were a lot of formal dinners with fresh seafood again and we finally got to the Annual General Meeting Bad news the fee increased passed without any strong debate or discussions other than ourselves gt Inthe audience 63 yes 10 against gt Proxies 56 for 34 against gt Total 119 for 44 against From the Kingston Centre were Kim Hay Brian Hunter Kevin Kell Richard Schmude and David Levy Richard drove up from Georgia gave attalk left the next day and we really missed being able to chat and catch up with him RASC National Council Attendance from Regular GA goers is down and there were not any representatives from Vancouver Sunshine Coast or Prince George Centres Again too bad General Assemblies are getting more and more expensive to be sure and unless something changes there will be fewer heading off to Winnipeg in 2011 Other items that came to mind from the GA were meeting the new Executive Director Debra Thomp son from whom you will have already received e mail regarding the oga RASC Council Annual Meeting Motions James Edgar Natlonal Recorder July 1 Council Meeting MOTION 10201 Moved by Colin Haig seconded by Charles Darrow that the Agenda be adopted as presented MOTION 10201 was CARRIED MOTION 10202 Moved by Jame
2. seconded by Barry Matthews that the annual member ship fees of the Society be changed as follows For members with Canadian postal addresses 1 Ordinary members changed to 70 00 and 2 Youth members no change For members with United States postal addresses in US dollars 1 Ordinary members changed to 86 00 and 2 Youth members no change For members with postal addresses outside Canada and the United States in US dollars 1 Ordinary members changed to 115 00 and 2 Youth members no change The current Centre affiliation incentive remains unchanged These new fees shall become effective at a date determined by the Executive Committee except no earlier than 2010 July 4 MOTION AM1004 was CARRIED Regulus neler the RASC Kingston Centre MOTION AM1005 Moved by Colin Haig seconded by Brigitte Schaffer that Tinkham and Associates be appointed as Auditor of the RASC MOTION AM1005 was CARRIED MOTION AM1006 It was moved by Denis Grey seconded by Patrice Scattolin that the meeting adjourn MOTION AM1006 was CARRIED 2010 GA Pictures The 2010 Annual ready tostart N Chilton Prize recipients I to r Damien Lemay Kim Hay Marc Keelan Bishop Ron Macnaughton Dave Lane Jennifer West Paul Gray Ted Dunphy Remi Lacasse Chris Weadick Lise Lacasse Don Kelly Three key IYA people just after receiving their Canada Mint TYA2009 coin 1 to r Jim Hesser Dave Lane outgoing RAS
3. a stop at the SwissAir 111 memorial along the way Peggy s Cove was very coo and we could have sat there all day listening toand watching the water But we had more plans that included being in Digby that night for the best scallops in the world with a stop at Shag Harbour cauiipoiaorwik Shag Harbour UFO incident We could not find the museum in Shag Harbour it turns out they had just recently relocated so we carried on and pulled into Digby early enough for a great dinner and found a campsite within the town itself before dark The next day was another early start across the Fundy Bay side of Nova Scotia heading to Jost Wineries near Malagash on the Cumberland Straight We found it easily enough GPS in cars was a wonderful idea and we stocked up with wine supplies after rearranging the 20cm Dob sonian scope we brought with us We ended up that night at Jellystone Park home of Yogi Bear and Boo boo somewhere between Moncton and Fredericton Itwas a noisy place right on the highway but we did manage to fit in a short stop at Magnetic Hill near Moncton The next and last moming was off to Edmunston which by the way the highway goes around it now and we did not see any speed traps Ian found the Botanical Gardens and spent a couple of hours wan dering through them Back on the road in fairly warm weather into Qu bec got alongside Qu bec City and the heatwave hit 34 35 36 and eventually 38 degrees going th
4. and the Great Andromeda Galaxy along with M32 and M110 of course rounded out the telescopic targets for this session The Summer Triangle was setting in the NW so the season is definitely moving on Orion and Gemini are back now before twilight and it won t be long now until Sirius makes an appear ance T ve always thought of the heliacal rising of Sirius as the end of summer Perhaps if I ignore it the summer will last a little longer There is hope for a warm autumn this year hopefully with lots of clear nights and lots of tomatoes into Novemb Kevin F replies That would be a Japanese rocket H 2A R B catalog number 27369 Friday August 20 Susan Putting some of my vacation time to good use I was lying in the shade observing Venus with the binoculars today around 15 00 It is so cool in the daylight I find it very ping pong ball like Hank Awesome for you I was going to post tonight that Venus is now a NEDO Naked Eye Daylight Object 4 33 T too was out after 3 00 p m 3 30 today but I have no binoculars Poge Observing Reports GA 2010 Report aed ton page Kevin Kell atwork Using StarryNight ittook me about 15 minutes but I finally nailed it naked eye Venus was directly S at about 38 above the horizon BIG NEWS At 18 22 UT an object impacted on Jupiter the third time in 13 months and two Japanese amateurs recorded it on video How much longer will it be until
5. no use over the last few years and we simply do not have room to store them any more Their actual depreciated value is too low to attempt to sell off so instead we are donating them as door prizes to the Fall N Stars 2010 star party The three items are Bushnell Voyager Telescope 1999 4 5 14 3 f1 475mm with two eyepieces Smm 100x and 27mm 19x Pl ssl a blue padded carry bag and a User s Manual This is a good portable scope that needs a picnic table to work from Itisa little hard to aim because of the design 7x50mm Binoculars Set 4 1995 Thousand Oaks Solar Filter Glass Type III 4 5 filter gives an orange cast Perseids 2010 The consensus on this year s Perseid meteor shower is that it was not a particularly spectacular display and no this is not because we have been spoiled by previous spectacles like the 2001 Leonid storm Never theless everyone enjoyed their time outside and the Starlight Cascade all sky camera even managed to catch a couple one of which is shown above Dark Matter in Abell 1689 Cedi NASA ESA E Jallo IPL P Natarajan Yale Universi ad I P Kocib Laboratoire Ast plynguc de Marseilio CNRS Fane RASC KC Board of Directors President Vice President Secretary Treasurer librarian Editor National Council Rep Susan Gagnon vacant Steve Hart Kevin Kell David Maguire Walter MacDonald Brian Hunter ITEMS OF INTERE
6. C president and Kim Hay Seplember 2010 RASC National Committees James Edgar National Recorder The following are the unofficial motions of National Council meeting NC103 as prepared by James Edgar Recorder Non voting committee members are denoted byan asterisk MONON 10301 Moved by David Pate seconded by Charles O Dale that the following committees be elected as proposed Executive Committee E mail executiveflists rase ca Composition President ch Ist Vice President 2nd Vice President Treasurer Secretary and Executive Secretary Chair Mary Lou Whitehorne President Members IstVP Glenn Hawley 2nd VP Colin Haig Treasurer Mayer Tehelebon Sec Rec James Edgar Exec Sec Deborah Thompson Executive Director Thompson rase ca Awards Committee E mail awards llists rasc ca Compasition Past President ch Journal Editor and up to three others Chair Dave Lane Members Jay Anderson James Edgar Peter Jedicke Scott Young Constitution Committee E mail constitution lists rasc ca Composition Ist Vice President ch and twoothers Chair Glenn Hawley Members James Edgar Patrice Scattolin Education Committee E mail education listsrase ca Composition three to five members Chair Ron Macnaughton Members Julie Bolduc Duval Robyn Foret Mare Keelan Bishop Julie Tom Finance Committee E mail financo ilists rase ca Composition Treasurer ch 2nd Vice President
7. ST FROM MEM BERS full articles or even just a couple of paragraphs are always welcome Items are gratefully accepted on each and every day of the year Send items to walter2 at starlighteed dot com or Walter MacDonald PO Box 142 Winchester ON KOC 2K0 The Fine Print Members of the Kingston Centre receive Regulus as a benefit of membership Non commercial advertisements are free to members of the Centre Paid commercial advertising is also welcome and shouldbe inelectronic format Submitted material may be edited for brevity or clarity 2010 all rights reserved Permission is granted to other publications of a similar nature to print material from Regulus provided that credit is given to the author and to Regulus We would appreciate you letting us know if you do use material published in Regulus RASC Kingston Centre PO Box 1793 Kingston ON K7L 5J6 E m 2009 10 Committee Chairs Coordinators kingston rasc ca Equipment Loan Kevin Kell P KAON Susan Gagnon Websit Webmaster Walter MacDonald Sipinga age 2 Raguks never of ihe RASC Kingston Cate Sepiember 2010 Report on the 2010 General Assembly Kevin Kell HE 2010 GENERAL ASSEMBLY of the RASC was held at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton NB July 1 4 See the images at kingston rasc ca pics za 2010 Having been to most GAs across Canada in the last 10 years Kim amp I decided to drive out to Fredericton as it g
8. Walter I had the dome fired up at midnight so I could finish off my Miras for another week Fortunately I did not see any bats in the attic tonight The computer s CPU seemed to be overheating so I had to run a floor fan to help cool the machine Most likely the CPU may need a new coat of thermal grease T Il have to check things out this weekend The computer ran all night without incident the CPU did not melt and there were no USB lockups or system reboots Iwent outside a couple of times to watch for Perseids briefly At 3 00 a m I reclined in a lawn chair for 20 minutes until the mosquitos found me Isawa few meteors but nothing to write home about At 04 15 I went up to the attic with plans to stop the variable star run so I could image Comet Tempel As it turns out my imaging plan finished with just enough time left over to image the comet though I was into nautical twilight by the time I was done September 2010 Comet 19 Tempel 2010 Aug 13 08 53 UT 10x30s V FrifSat August 13 14 Kevin K Kim amp I went out to observe last night from around 23 00 23 30 and saw a very few Perseids with maybe one good mag 3 or 4 with yellow and a good length of 20 degrees or so Ten images of 64 seconds were taken but onreview no meteors in themat all Mark I hear so many people say that Iwent out for an hour and I did not see anything Then I ask them what time did you go out at and they say aft
9. aka on his website wildernessastronomy com More RASC Online Jim Low s extensive 180MB archive In this issue gt Reports amp Other Items gt GA 2010 Report gt Council AGM Motions gt 2010 GA Pictures gt RASC Committees gt July Aug Observing Reports ai a a i of material from the 1960s is now onlineat Don tletthe warning at the top of the page fool you this archive is a lot of fun to poke around in and a fascinating window into past astro nomicalendeavours Asteroids Aplenty A new video shows the Sun s known family of asteroids from 1980 to 2010 highlighting the new dis coveries and their spatial distri bution along the way In this interval the asteroid population grew from some 30 000 objects to over halfamillion A pup siwww youtube com watchv S d gs0WoUw 2010 GA Online Pictured above David Levy speaks at the panel discussion on The Future of the RASC which was recorded for an episode of Let s Talk Stars You can hear thi talkstars com and also read David s report of his GA experience see link below Web Link David Levy s blog A Fabulous General Assembh blog sharingthesky ori SharttheSkyBlow tabid 135 EntryIb S4 Default aspx Reports amp Other Items Regulus Needs You Equipment Loan Program Changes to Inventory Effective immediately we have reduced some of the inventory in our Equipment Loan program These items have had little or
10. and wo others Chai Mayer Tehelebon September 2010 Members James Edgar Colin Haig Glenn Hawley Mary Lou Whitehorne History Committee E mail histricalGlists rasc ca Composition Up to seven members Chair Members Barry Matthews Roy Bishop Peter Broughton Robert Duff Chris Gainor Robert Garrison Consultan Randall Rosenfeld Membership and Promotion Committee E mail map lists rase ca Composition Between 3 amp 5 members Chair Members Chris Weadick James Ayles Holly Ayles Roland Dechesne Randall Rosenfeld Jo Taylor Nominating Committee E mail nominating lists rasc ca Composition One Past President ch and two appointees Chair Colin Haig Members Peter Jedicke Frank Tomaras Observing Committee E mail observing lists rasc ca Composition Five members Chair Chris Beckett Members Edward Essex Hugues Lacombe Bruce McCurdy Alan Whitman Property Committee E mail property lists rasc ca Composition Treasurer ch and two to four others Chair Members Mayer Tehelebon Vacant Publications Committee E mail publications lists sasc ca Composition Ist Vice President ch Journal Editor Observer s Handbook Editor and up to four others Chair Glenn Hawley Regulus nevaleter of the RASC Kingston Centre Members Jay Anderson James Edgar Pat Kelly Craig Levine Ian Levstein MOTION 10301 was CARRIED Special Committees MONON 10302 Moved by Rich
11. ard Christie seconded by Paul Schumacher that the following Special Committees be elected as proposed Green Laser Pointer Committee ene yearern elparsccs Composition Chair plus additional members appointed by Chair Chair Members Randall Rosenfeld Chris Beckett Dr Roy Bishop Mike Hanes Blake Nancarrow Paul Schumacher Information Technology Committee one year term ite liss rase ca Composition Chair plus additional members appointed by the chair Chair Ryan May Members Colin Haig Dave Lane Walter MacDonald Patrice Scattolin Light Pollution Abatement Committee one year term Ipucomm alistsrase ca Composition Chair plus additional members appointed by the chair Robert Dick Mark Coady Roland Dechesne Dr Yvan Dutil Brian Lucas Bruce McCurdy Dorothy Paul Chris Weadick MOTION 10302 was CARRIED MOTION 10303 Moved by Charles Darrow seconded by Rick Huziak that the meeting djoum MOTION 10203 was CARRIED Note some of the committees have been filled out since these motions passed the additional names have been included here Poge5 Various Members Observing Reports July amp August 2010 Tuesday June 29 Hank Bartlett Things are looking better a big sunspot some filaments and prominences YEAH 2010 June 29 18 55 EDT Thu Fri July 1 2 Walter MacDonald I took advan tage ofthis clear night just before the hot weather really hit to do a mosaic imag
12. ave us the chance to explore the scenery and all the highways and byways mostly byways Driving easterly out of Ontario is a lot faster approx 3 hours than driving westerly approx 40 hours including an overnighter We left early on a Saturday morning 5 a m or so with a plan to drive the 401 to Quebec then the 20 all the way to Riviere du Loup and down into New Brunswick to Mt Carleton Provincial Park for the night We made it with sunlight to spare but it was dark and cloudy witha little rain Mt Carleton is a designated RASC Dark Sky Preserve rasc ca Ipa darkskyshtml and we wanted to get a good look at it at night Too bad it was clouded over and the next morning the temperature was acold 3C We packed up quickly and headed for the shoreline through Bathurst Caraquet nice place Miramichi and through Kouchi bouguac National Park of Canada another dark sky preserve and into Shediac for lunch Across the bridge to Prince Edward Island for the night and across the ferry the next morning to Baddeck Nova Scotia for an early start to the Cabot Trail the next morning Itwas rainy and cloudy and foggy on the eastern leg but cleared up enough to let us see some scenery on the western leg along with wonderful fresh seafood everywhere we went That 4th night we stayed at Havre Boucher and up early the next morning to get to Fredericton that evening as the National Council meeting was carly Thursday morning S
13. came back in Kim Hay replies Nice going Walter Saturday night I did see the Venus and Regulus conjunction in the west It was clear here mostly both Saturday and Sunday nights but after coming back from holidays we are now suffering from an east coast bug which has notbeen nice Hank Did anyone else watch the solar eclipse 4 total solar eclipse visible in the south Pacific I could not believe it I was watching it from the pool and all was clear I got out for the SolarMax and in came the clouds Yes they did get some diamond ring and there were oooohsss and ahhhhs but then it went all cloudy and that was it Imagine paying like 10k and having that happen Fri Sat July 16 17 Mark Kaye I did some sidewalk astronomy on Friday night and I was able to show people the speck that is Mars right now when I was asked about it becoming as large as the Moon in August Despite only being a red tiny disk most people where still thrilled to see it I was quite surprised given how featureless it is right now Saturn was a big hit a ball witha pin throughit September 2010 Various Members Observing Reports July amp August 2010 Sun Mon July 25 26 Walter Mars and Saturn made a nice pair low in the west though they could not compete with nearby Venus in terms of brightness Still it was a nice scene from the dome slot Too bad Mercury and Regulus were behind tree I started an all night ru
14. e of Pluto and the dark nebula Bamard 92 These dark nebulae really image well so may have to try some more this summer T also imaged globular clusters PAL 8 9 10 and 11 but they are decidedly not spectacular clusters asos V H Crossing the void Pluto just a few days priorto its traverse of dark nebula B92 Sun Mon July 4 5 Ken Kingdon 1 observed Pluto earlier this morning 12 30 a m EDT July Sth from a very dark site 40 km west of Kingston I got a late start Poge amp and the Moon was just starting to come up very low and hidden by trees but I managed to see it at the putative position of my planetarium program which shows the dimmest stars are still 4 mag brighter than Pluto it s mag 14 Fortunately there are very few stars in front of this dark nebula Pluto was faint but distinct with direct vision using 180x with 12 inch aperture Minutes later as the Moon climbed higher it became seen with averted vision only then soon became impossible Considering that Pluto is crossing the dark nebula B92 I expected it to be easy itwas NOT Itwill continue to cross this dark nebula for 3 more nights but with the forecast for high humidity and haze it may not be seen further Please let us know if you observe Pluto I then tried Comet 10P Tempel and failed Tempel currently is 25 W of the Moon and of course it should rise well before the Moon rises BUT IT DOES NOT In the east at this
15. egu uliis 2010 RASC Kingston Centre V385 Carinae and its Planetary Nebula NASA s Wide field Infrared Survey Explorer WISE imaged this nebula around the Wolf Rayet star V385 Carinae This star is 35 solar masses and is 16 000 light years distant Read more at pi nass ov acws ncws cf release 2010 203 Reports amp Other Items From Kingston Centre the RASC and Beyond Upcoming Meetings Friday September 10 2010 Regular Meeting 7 30 9 30 p m Terence Dickinson A Personal Quest for the Finest Star gazing Location in the World Friday October 8 2010 Members Night 7 30 9 30 p m Meetings are held at 7 30 p m at Stirling Hall Theatre A on Bader Lane at Queen s University in Kingston Ontario Our meetings are co sponsored by the Queen s Physics Department and include Astronomy lectures open to the public KAON Public Observing Saturday October 9 730 pm Saturday December 19 730p KAON Kingston Astronomy Outreach Network sessions are held at Queen s Observatory on the 4th floor of Ellis Hall Other Events fall N Stars September 17 19 Vanderwater Conservation Area Tomasburg Ontario More info at kingston rasc ca Wilderness Astronomy Peter McMahon a member of the centre a couple of years back has been travelling the country and promoting Astronomy in the Canadian wilderness You can read all about his adventures and marvel at the very nice astro photos by Yuichi Takas
16. eptember 2010 The council meeting went forward very quickly with little debate on important stuff and too much on mundane stuff More from our National Council Rep Brian Hunter is coming I suspect Tours of the historically designated Brydone Jack observatory on campus were attended by Kim as I found a cable TV set and was able to watch the Montreal Alouettes at the Saskatchewan Roughriders opening season game It was a killer game But I got to look at the tour pictures later Brydone jack Observatory One ofthe oldest observatories in Canada Friday July 2nd was a tour out to Hopewell Rocks at low tide pretty cool lunch and then back again for high tide Not bad We would have gone ourselves outside of the GA if they did not have this tour Great fresh seafood again and fresh bakery cookies too The GA kicked off for real on Saturday July 3rd at a modem conference centre that worked out quite well Not that many paper posters on display but they were nice to see even one from Leo Enright and Raymond Auclair The paper sessions were in two streams that morning forcing us to make choices as to what tosee This I did not like There was time enough to keep one stream running allowing more people to attend them all See the members only section of the kingston raso ca website for more information on the talks Regulus neler ofthe RASC Kingston Centre Rick Huziak and Kathleen Houston were there from the
17. er twilight One item that seems to be lost in the translation is that this is an early morning shower You have to stay up until after midnight to really have a chance of getting into a good patch of meteors We took the boat out onto the lake at 01 00 13 14 for an hour the best horizons I can get are outon the Lake and we saw plenty of meteors I would say there was an average of one every 30 seconds Some were quite bright As usual from my experience with the Perseids they seemed to come in groups of two or more together then a minute pause and then another group My daughter and nephew were very impressed On the night of Aug 14 15 there were still lots of meteors and by far the brightest one ofall as well Wed Thu August 18 19 Walter I observed visually with the C8 this morning from 03 45 to 04 15 and was ableto find Comet Tempel Regulus nevaleter of the RASC Kingston Care it is not particularly bright ECU lists itat mag 8 5 Tt was a nice little diffuse smudge and not too difficult with the C8 This may not be bright enough to see from a city like Kingston Tt was nice and cool at 14C with no wind or dew and only one mosquito At 3 54 I was looking at Tau Ceti a nearby sun like star of SETI fame and saw in the finderscope a satellite go by practically occulting tau It had a nice slow sinusoidal brightness variation sort of like a mobile variable star Very nice The Double Cluster in Perseus
18. her flashing geo sat The nice thing is they both fit in the field of view so I can observe them both and see when they flash and how long they take between flashes so I know ifthey take more or less time between flashes as the days pass by The nice thing about satcom C1 is it takes less time between flashes over time what liketo see Walter replies Thanks Kevin It s funto see these sat flares and that fun is greatly enhanced by knowing what they are Hank This was taken about 7 hours before the M I class solar flare Things are really picking up 2010 August 7 Sun Mon August 8 9 Hank After such a lousy weather day who would think the sky Regulus newsletter the RASC Kingston Centre overhead would become so clear The Milky Way is glowing beautifully Attimes like this I think should buy an SLR I tried a few 32 and 64 second images but pocket cameras just don t capture it all even at 1600 NoPerseids Kevin K replies The SCO all sky camera has not picked up anything overnight either The exposure time was changed this moming from 80 sec to 120sec as it increases the overall percentage of capture time given the 20 second download time for each frame since it s new moon the increased exposure times should not be ruined by a bright moon Thu Fri August 12 13 Hank Well it was fun but out of 58 images at 64sec and 1801600 there are NO Perseids in any of them We did see about 25 of
19. ings but finding out a bit more about one thing All friends accounted for my eye piece was one that I had purchased from Nancy Wellbanks Very nice and very appreciated by its new owner T keep the tarp over the scope at all times now since a couple of weeks ago when it was raining up and some water gotin Sat Sun August 7 8 Walter There was a nice Venus Saturn Mars conjunction tonight Surprisingly I was able to see Venus and Saturn from the dome as I was opening it Venus was only 5 up at thetime Mars was behind a tree but it was still a nice view I started a variable star run but cloud soon put anend to that after just 10 stars CSC said it would be clear until 1 a m Oh well As I closed the dome I saw a satellite flare rivalling Vega It passed west of Vega and I was able to watch it go up through the head of Moges Draco passing very close to gamma Draconis The closest match I could find on Heavens Above is IGS 1B although the track shown is shifted wellto the east of what I observed Kevin Fetter I have USA 186 catalog number 28888 following that path and it s known to flare As for my sat watching I watched Satcom Cl give some flashes under 2 minutes apart It seems to flash around the same time each night so far based on my observing of it I will have to check tonight s obs against the other day Thave aimed at another flashing geo sat which is located close to still anot
20. laments in the north It is hard to image it as seen filaments are often very wispy shadows The two upper ones appeared to actually be joined as if one filament that was bounding across the surface and touched down inbetween Things have been very quiet but when you consider 3 filaments 2 sunspots 1089 center left with a very large active region not seen well here amp 1090 the light active region near the double filament the prominences the northern ones being continuations of the filaments and just some cool ok not so cool granulation there is alot to look at Kim replies Very nice image Hank Yes 1089 is starting to dissipate and decay 1090 did not last long and prominences and filaments have been reported as very active over the last few days Regulus nevaleter of he RASC Kingston Centre There are many more people now doing observations of the promin ences in Ha now with classi fications One set of classifications is the Ziron classifications See here for more detail prairieastronomyclub org halpha Some observers of the ALPO Solar section have started to submit their Ha obervations and will be going online after this current Carrington Rotation CR2099 Wednesday July 28 Hank Wow nice prominence today offthe east side In the image you will seea long spike that isnot cloud that isaprominence Features on the Sun A Active region 1089 F In clear sky these filaments now appear t
21. n on Mira variables my first variable imaging run in just over two months Shortly after going to bed the computer alerted me to a problem it was a USB lockup they always occur during an autofocus when there is lots of comm with the camera and often just after I go to bed I went out to the dome pulled the camera cable out of the USB hub then plugged it back in After resuming the run I went back to bed Things continued without further incident for the rest of the night Trose at 4 a m so I could image Comet Tempel which is mag 8 2 in Cetus about 12 SE of Jupiter This comet was not alone this morning as it was situated right between the galaxies NGC 270 and 277 Going outside with the C8 I took a quick peek at Jupiter visually with its faded SEB To finish off the night I gathered a new set of flat frames just before sunrise and took a few quick images of Jupiter whose SEB continues to be e 2010 Mly 26 08 24 UT 123308 V Noc Comet 10P Tempet 2010 July 26 0931 UT 4x0 0015 V September 2010 rather subdued which gives Jupiter a rather different look these nights Monday July 26 Hank Things are starting to once again perk up on the sun but still I do not hold high hopes for the end of this slumber I took this image this moming before work N is right E is down In the east you can see a good size prominence coming around the limb The most interesting feature today however were the fi
22. o cross Yato Ye the Sun PNice prominence S Emerging sunspot looks big Sat Sun July 31 August 1 Walter I took the car and found a nice spot with a very low westem horizon not far from the edge of town By 20 50 I was scanning the horizon for Mercury Unfortunately there was thin cloud hugging the horizon and I was not able to find it in binoculars There were a lot of mosquitos around so I drove to the parking lot at the arena in town and set up the C8 to have a quick parting look at Venus Mars and Saturn The seeing was terrible that low down but Satumn Mars was a pretty naked Poge7 Observing Reports July amp August 2010 Various Members eye conjunction despite their modest magnitudes Susan I also ventured out on Saturday night as it was unexpec tedly clear It was great to get the roof open again Closing the roof was not that smooth as the dogwood behind the observatory has become quite tall Today I used the branches trapped in the gap between the roof and back wall to gauge what needed to be trimmed and took care of the problem Tenjoyed an hour of just driving the scope to a few obvious targets at high power lazy yet very enter taining I spotted a nice pair that was marked in the double star atlas and over breakfast the next day checked it out in Sissy Haas book of Double Stars I think that I learned from Leo that you can have a nice night of observing without looking at fifty th
23. pro fessional astronomers move in on the Jupiter monitoring game 2010 Aug 20 18 22 12 UT 2608 Fri Sat August 27 28 Hank That was the best pass of the ISS we have ever seen in the ENE it flared to at least 4 5 Wow that was cool T think that calls for a Black Russian to celebrate Kevin F Yes I was outside and watched the ISS get very bright It was the best pass of it I have ever seen My neighbours were over and got to see the show too Sun Mon August 29 30 Kevin K We missed the great ISS pass on Friday night but caught an 81 degree pass on Sunday night only it was at 20 14 still well into twilight barely after sunset and the mos quitos The prediction was for 3 4 and it probably was that We did not see any flares Your editor also observed this pass Mourn not the passing time that s logged As summer turns to fll What s boon is blurred the future s fogged What s real is now this moment all Unknown age 10 fee increases and membership survey there was a change of guard on the national Executive with Mary Lou Whitchome the new President Glen Hawley the Ist VP and Colin Haigas the 2nd VP The event wrapped up and we headed out the next morning for Halifax spent some time at the Maritime Museum and the wonderful boardwalk they have there and ended up outside of Peggy s Cove for the night Out early the next day to beat the tour buses with
24. rough Montreal in stop and go traffic Ick We arrived back home that evening and the journey was done approximately 6500 km in 13 days That about covers Canada for us We have taken the opportunities presented by these conferences to spend more time on our own ex ploring Canada and attempting to do so on the ground rather than fly in and fly out of any particular lace Since 1995 with Windsor we have been to Edmonton Toronto Winnipeg London Montreal Van couver St John s Kelowna Ottawa Calgary York and Cypress Hills Saskatchewan The only other location that would be nice would be the far north somewhere we need a Yellowknife Centre A General Assembly helps keep you in touch with others mostly the active members make new acquain tances get new ideas and generally think about astronomy for several days that you would normally not be able to due to home work etc Next year the GA will be held in Winnipeg Manitoba If you are in the area sign up for sure Mourn not the passing sky that s logged As nighttime turns to day Your objects blurred the corrector s fogged What s real now is for a dewcap you ll have to pay Regulus newt the RASC Kingston Cente Walter with apologies to unknown Seplember 2010
25. s Edgar seconded by Randall Rosen feld that the Minutes of National Council Meeting NC101 be adopted as distributed MOTION 10202 was CARRIED MOTION 10203 Moved by James Edgar seconded by Mary Lou White home thatthe list of new Unattached Members be accepted as distributed MOTION 10203 was CARRIED MOTION 10204 Chris Weadick moved seconded by Barry Matthews that Kejimkujik National Park be designated as a RASC Dark Sky Preserve MOTION 10204 was CARRIED MOTION 10205 Moved by the Executive Committee that Mary Lou Whitehorne be appointed as a trustee of the Helm Fund MOTION 10205 was CARRIED MOTION 10206 Moved by James Edgar seconded by Mary Lou Whitehome that ac commodations be included in the covered costs in the policy of the Public Speaker Programme MOTION 10206 was CARRIED MOTION 10207 Moved by Peter Jedicke seconded by Charles Darrow that the meeting adjourn MOTION 10207 was CARRIED Page 4 MOTION AM1001 Moved by Randall Rosenfeld seconded by Ted Bronson that the Agenda be approved as presented MOTION AM1001 was CARRIED MOTION AM1002 Moved by Brigitte Schaffer seconded by Richard Christie that the Minutes of AM 2009 as corrected in the Annual Report 2009 be approved MOTION AM1002 was CARRIED MOTION AM1003 Moved by Paul Gray seconded by Charles Darrow to approve the Financial Statements aspublished MOTION AM1003 was CARRIED MOTION AM1004 Moved by Adrien Bordage
26. time of year the ecliptic makes a low shallow angle with the horizon Further complicating things the Moon is above the ecliptic while Tempel is an equal amount below Thus when Tempel has finally climbed high enough for an observation the further east Moon has already beaten it and floods the sky with bright light that kills the comet It won t be possible to visually see Comet 10P Tempel until after July 9th or 10th in the early moming sky when the Moon is finally out of the way BTW during the Ist week of July the Moon was rising only about 13 minutes later each night thanks to Mr Ecliptic despite having its usual large east wardly motion every night Sun Mon July 11 12 Walter I notice on the satellite loop that only easternmost Ontario is Regulus newsletter af he RASC Kingston Conte under cloud tonight However the clouds did part for a few minutes and I just happened to see a satellite flare up near to and brighter than Deneb Checking Heavens Above I see that it was Abrixas the German X ray Astronomy satellite about 500 km up It was a nice high pass and I was able to just barely see it all the way through Cygnus as it faded out Ifit hadn t flared I wouldn t have paid any attention to it it is listed as only mag 3 2 so it was good that it did It is a nice cool and gently breezy night a great break from this month s heat and humidity and I had a nice view of the Milky Way too until the clouds
27. which Di saw most not me from 10 19 p m EDT to 12 41 a m EDT It started to cloud some so we came in I did get plenty of Boeing meteors of course Mark comments Go back out the clouds came in and out quite quickly just saw some nice ones Kim reports 1 was not out I was getting a few hours sleep before trying to go out at midnight The phone alarm was set for the wrong day and I would wake up every hour and look for meteors seeing not any The body did not seem to want to get out of bed It was the first cool night inaweektosleep The clouds kept coming by throughout the night I cannot find my tape recorder to record the observations Kevin did go out and take some images but he too believes he did not get anything He was up watching the football game so he could go out and observe Kevin K reports I went out after the football game just past midnight and took 6 images untracked at 64 seconds exposure each three aimed September 2010 Various Members Observing Reports July amp August 2010 at Perseus two at Jupiter and one at Sagittarius On first inspection there were no meteors seen Idid see a few while not looking at the camera and it promised to be a spectacular night but I was already sleepwalking through most of the viewing and just can t do 19 and 20 hour days anymore Manual inspection of the all sky camera pictures turned up one good perseid at 02 12 in the NNW

Regulus, September 2010 Issue

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