The Celestial Observer
Newsletter of the North Shore
Amateur Astronomy Club
December,
2004
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From the President
Some of my favorite
astronomical events are planetary conjunctions. They are so easy to enjoy, no
instruments needed, and can be easily shared with, and appreciated by
non-astronomers. I hope that some of you early risers have been enjoying the
beautiful Venus/Jupiter/Moon conjunctions of the last week. For those of you
who do not get up before dawn, I checked when the next evening conjunction of
Venus and Jupiter will occur. In mid to late March of 2012 we’ll enjoy
beautiful evening conjunctions of the two brightest planets with the closest
being on March 12.
Members
have been commenting on how much they enjoyed Lew Gramer’s Naked Eye GO-ON held
this past June. I have suggested to the GO-ON committee that we have four
seasonal Naked Eye GO-ON events planned well in advance. The committee likes
the idea and they’ll be planning the first one for the Winter season. We have
an exciting Lunar GO-ON scheduled for November 19 during the first quarter moon
at VMP.
We
are now staffing the dome at Merrimack College every Wednesday evening for
public observing. Members are encouraged to spread the word and to come on by
for a look through this wonderful instrument. Children especially seem to enjoy
being in a “real observatory dome,” but it’s a great experience for all.
Our
first star party at Merrimack College competed with the seventh game of the
World Series. Each time the Sox did well (I had a radio on) we could hear the
cheers from the dormitories. In spite of this we still had about thirty people
attend Jim Joy’s presentation, and about a dozen observing with us outside.
Good thing we had a total Lunar Eclipse to show! We’ll plan another star party for
Merrimack soon, hopefully not on Super Bowl Sunday!
Kevin Ackert
President
NSAAC Welcomes Our New Members:
John Castle of Danville, NH
Terry Crowley of Beverly, MA
Mark Mathews of Lynnfield, MA
Minutes of
the NSAAC Business Meeting November 5, 2004
President Ackert called the November Business Meeting of the NSAAC to order at 8:10PM. President Ackert called for introduction of new guests: there were no guests. There were 16 members in attendance plus 5 Board members.
Committee Reports:
Secretary: The minutes of the October Business Meetings as printed in the newsletter were approved.
Treasurer: Treasurer indicated that there was $20 income, $7,628 in checking account, and $7K in the land fund. Everything is OK. Treasurer’s report was approved.
Membership: The membership chairman announced two new
members. Also in attendance was
honorary member Chris McCarthy.
Merrimack College: The every Wednesday observing program was kicked off successfully with Jim Koerth, Dave Leclerc, Fred Sammartino, and Kevin Ackert. Their group is still looking for another volunteer. If interested contact Fred Sammartino. The lunar eclipse event at Merrimack College included a presentation by Jim Foy on the moon and the eclipse in the Student Union. Ralph Pass manned the observatory and entertained 60 people during the night. Kevin Ackert and Russ Pinizzotto set up scopes outside and had about 20 visitors for the night.
Go-On Committee: The GO-On event scheduled for Halibut Point was rained out. Seasonal events are planned every four to six months on constellations and nice naked eye objects to introduce new comers to astronomy. The first of these is scheduled for Saturday, December 11th: see the ‘nsaac’ email list, our online NSAAC Calendar, or your favorite Board member for more details as that event draws closer!
In addition, a lunar GO-ON is tentatively planned for November 20 in which the Charles Wood “Lunar 100” things to see on the moon will be observed.
Salem State: Observatory was open two Mondays of the last month.
Star Parties: No star parties planned for December.
Site Selection Committee: No report
High-Tower Rock Observatory. Marc is planning to meet with the Lynn officials the week of November 8th.
Upcoming Events: Astro Poetry Saturday evening November 6th in Haverhill.
There will be a Space Vision 2004 national conference on November 11-14.
President Ackert reported on work to get more Keynote speakers for future meetings. Lew Gramer did some research and reported that it does take a fair amount of legwork to get a named speaker.
Dennis Gudzevich announced that the 2005 Tidemark and Observers calendars were available for sale.
Bird Seed day is this Saturday November 6th at IRWS and they are asking for volunteers to help unload the seed and distribute it to Mass Audubon members.
Old Business: The VMP has sent a thank you note to the club for our help in stripping the cottage roof.
Kevin Ackert indicated that the VMP lighting would be upgraded to non-glare soon.
Lew asked if the SHARE system could be adapted for use in this project. Yes, it can, since it has all the basic requirements. The club originally got the SHARE equipment from corporate grants, but owns the equipment now. The purpose of the SHARE program was to make astronomy accessible to the handicapped. It is a television hooked to a telescope so people who can’t physically go to the eyepiece can still see objects on the TV. Our SHARE equipment has not been used for 3 years, and the technology is quite bulky compared to modern laptops.
It was decided that we consider the options for SHARE and make a decision at a future meeting once we have considered the possibilities and proposals, and how well the equipment would be suitable for that application.
New Business: The Board of Directors has determined that the by-laws as written make no mention that a quorum of Board members required at the General Business Meeting to be an official meeting. Only a quorum of general members is needed which is defined in the by-laws as 10% of the active members.
American Astronomical League (AAL) – should we continue with membership and get the Reflector Magazine and participate in their observing programs to get the pins and be mentioned in the magazine. Lew will make a report at the next meeting on expense to bring the club current with membership.
No presentation was made because it was clear.
Next Board meeting will be Tuesday, November 16th at 8PM at VMP..
Meeting adjourned at 9:44 PM
Notes were taken by Fred Sammartino and edited by John Hobbs.
Respectively submitted,
John Hobbs, Secretary NSAAC
Talk for December
Our speaker this month will be club member Andy Martin. His talk is entitled “Preparing Observing Plans” - creating and organizing lists from available resources. I’m sure that a good number of us are rather disorganized when observing most of the time. It should be interesting to see an organized approach to an observing session instead of anyone know what’s up tonight? Join us if you can, and if the weather cooperates, put some of that new found organization to use after the meeting in the lower parking lot.
Please consider volunteering to speak at future general meetings about your scopes and other astronomical subjects. The scope talks don’t have to be positive reviews. You can talk about a scope you really hate. The purpose of these talks will be to acquaint other members of the club with different scopes, binoculars, or scope projects, so that they can make an informed decision as to whether they wish to acquire, or make, one for themselves. We also accept volunteers to speak on other topics, such as mounts, CCDs, photographic techniques, astronomy trips, etc. Giving a talk can be a lot of fun. In addition, we’re looking for non-members willing to do talks on astronomy related subjects. If you know of anyone, please contact any of the board members or myself. I can be reached at dgudzevich@comcast.net, or at the general business meetings.
Dennis Gudzevich
Program Coordinator
Bird Seed Day Recap
The annual “Bird Seed Day” was held at the IRWS on Saturday, November 6, 2004. Our club was well represented at the event with about five of us, plus my wife and son, showing up during the day, including four members who helped unload the truck. I’m not sure of the number as my family and I arrived late this year. As it turned out, our help was greatly appreciated as there were only a few Audubon volunteers with us this year. As usual they provided us with drinks and a hot meal for lunch. Thank you to Kevin, John, Ron and Dave for your help. I apologize if I left any other members out.
Dennis Gudzevich
2005 Calendars
We still have a few 2005 Tide-Mark calendars left. The price of the
calendars this year is $8.00 each. As in the past, I would like to clear all
the calendars out at the December business meeting. They make excellent
Christmas presents, and what self-respecting amateur astronomer would want to
be without one? Please remember that purchasing these calendars is one of the
ways that you help support this club. A portion of each sale goes back into our
general fund to help support other ventures. If you wish to purchase one or
more of the calendars, just show up at Veasey at a general meeting, or contact
me at dgudzevich@comcast.net and I will put your calendar order aside for you.
I have put calendars aside for those of you who requested them. Please note
that I will only hold them until I sell all of the remaining calendars, unless
other arrangements have been made.
Thanks,
Dennis Gudzevich
NSAAC Club Hawker
Site Search
Due to the environment at Veasey Memorial Park changing, it has been decided that a committee would be set up to explore new sites for the club’s meetings and observing. We are in no rush to leave a site that has been very good to us and anticipate the search to take quite a while. The following are the criteria for the search.
1. The new site should be within a reasonable distance of our current location.
2. A site where we could both meet and observe would be preferable.
3. A site where we could meet with a nearby site for observing would be O.K.
Even if you do not wish to participate in the site search, if you know of someone affiliated with an organization, State, Non-Profit or Private, that meet these conditions and might be willing to house us, please pass the information on. If you do wish to join the committee please e-mail us at sitesearch@nsaac.org.
Deep-Space Objects of the Month
Observer: Lew Gramer
Your skills: Intermediate
Date and UT of Observation: 1997-12-25/26, 01:00 UT
Location: Medford, MA, USA (42N)
Site classification: suburban
Limiting magnitude: 5.1 (zenith)
Seeing: 7 of 10 - good
Moon up: no
Instrument: 7x35 handheld Tasco binoculars
Magnification: 7x
Filters used: None
Object: M45 (Pleiades or Seven Sisters)
Category: Open Cluster [I,3,r,n]
Constellation: Tau
Data: mag 1.2 size 110'
RA/DE: 03h47m +24o07m
Description: This Christmas night I managed to catch a few moments of cloudless darkness in the backyard with the little binoculars, before we set off to see that cheery Holiday movie "Titanic"(!) Though the stars of 1990s Medford can hardly compare to those of the desolate 1910s North Atlantic, the views were nonetheless a thrilling gift for me. The "Named Nine" stars of the Pleiades were immediate and striking in my arm-steadied 4o field, with Atlas and Pleione separated wide, and Pleione appearing somewhat brighter than normal at the moment? The tiny, distinctive double at the center of the "bowl" was not at all resolvable. But the companion to Alcyone was fairly easy when I took steadying deep breaths for a moment, and Asterope was easily split without real effort. M 45 stands out best in very wide-field views like this one, looking much like a pile of white jewels placed on a velvet cloth. In a very brief respite from tonight's persistent cloudiness and light pollution-disturbed haze, I easily counted at least 35 stars in clear association with the central cluster. That was in addition to a lovely string of five mag. 8 stars trailing SE out of the "bowl", which I had somehow never noted before in smaller (1o - 2o) fields of view, and had certainly never managed naked eye! At some future time, under a MUCH darker sky, I hope to snag some of M45's fabled reflection (and dark!) nebulosity in just binocs... :)
Observer: Lew Gramer
Date and UT of Observation: 1996-12-03, 03:50 UT
Location: Medford, MA, USA (42N)
Site classification: urban
Limiting magnitude: 5.2
Seeing: 2 - good
Moon up: no
Instrument: Newt Reflector 4.2" f/4.25 (AstroScan)
Magnification: 20x, 40x, 65x
Filters used: None
Object: M35 Category: Open Cluster
Constellation: Gem
Data: mag 5.1 size 28' (catalog) 50' (apparent)
RA/DE: 6h08m +24o20m
Description: This beautiful gem in the outer "shoe" of Castor the Twin was only barely distinguishable from the central Milky Way field it lies in at 20x. However, at 40x in a Nagler, MYRIAD faint stars popped out to please the eye. At 65x, more than 70 stars filled the 50' field, including a pretty arc of stars mag 7-10 ~ 20' long, 20' NW of and arcing away from the field center. A beautiful sight in this scope, and even an intriguing little object in binoculars from suburban sites!
Observer: Lew Gramer
Date and UT of Observation: 1997-11-29/30, 05:00 UT
Location: Miles Standish State Forest, MA, USA (41N, elev 30m)
Site classification: rural
Limiting magnitude: 6.6 (zenith)
Seeing: 9 of 10 - excellent
Moon up: no
Instrument: 8" f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain, fork equatorial, 8x50mm finder
Magnification: 80x, 170x
Filters used: None
Object: ngc2419 (Intergalactic Wanderer cluster)
Category: Globular cluster (possibly extragalactic)
Constellation: Lyn
Data: mag 10.4 size 4.1'
RA/DE: 07h38m +38o53m
Description: The LOCATION of this famous interloper in our
Milky Way was easy enough to find tonight. Slewing the (unaccustomed) finder
due N of Castor about 3o, the pretty trio omicron1, omicron2, and 70 Geminorum
swing into view. Continuing NE beyond these I hit a pretty pale-orange
finder-pair of mag. 6 stars, PA 135o (NW-SE). Just NW of the pair (and maybe
only noticeable under a dark sky) were a pair of mag 8 stars pointing E.
Switching to a wide-field view (80x) in the 8", I looked for n2419
immediately E of these. There was no sign of it at first, so I tried switching
to 170x. Just visible to averted vision a few arcminutes E of the pair, the
Wanderer was extremely easy to miss! Once found though, it was an irregular
blur, exhibiting a possible "lobe" of haze to the S. It appeared in
the midst of a "Cancer box"-like asterism of four mag 13(?) stars,
looking intriguingly like a naked-eye view of the famous Praesepe or Beehive
Cluster (M44)! Certainly a less-than-thrilling object visually. But as I
mentioned in a previous observation with 20" f5 dob,, this mysterious
globular is worth the hunt, if only for knowledge of its vast distance from
us...
(For more observing logs online, check out Lew’s website:
http://www.visualdeepsky.org .)
Getting to Veasey Memorial Park
From Interstate 95 north, take the Route 133 west (54B) exit, and follow it into Georgetown Center. Go straight through the light, now on Route 97N. Go about 1.5 miles and take a left onto Salem Street (Tea Garden Restaurant at this intersection). Stay on Salem Street and turn left onto Washington Street. VMP is down a bit on the right.
Directions to all observing venues are available online. See NSAAC’s “About” page: http://www.nsaac.org/about.htm
Contact Information
For more information about the club and its activities, contact Barrie Sawyer, Membership Director, email: membership@nsaac.org or contact Kevin Ackert, President, e-mail at president@nsaac.org. If you have no email access, you may phone Fred Sammartino, Vice President at (978) 989-9977.
Our club web site is: http://www.nsaac.org.
The Celestial Observer is edited by Leor Zolman. Feedback, and member contributions are welcome. Contact: newsletter@nsaac.org.
Suggestions regarding the content of the NSAAC web site are also welcome, as I (Leor) am also acting as de-facto webmaster for the site. Do you have a web site you’d like to see listed on the members’ web site page? Suggestions for the Resources (or any other) page? Just email webmaster@nsaac.org with your requests.
E-Mail Listserve
If you have email access and are an NSAAC member in good standing, you may want to subscribe to the email notification system that Lew Gramer established for the Club in 1996. This is a "members only" system that places you in contact with other members for late breaking news concerning spontaneous observing activities, outings, tech talk, etc. You can subscribe by emailing your request to the address below. Your message should look like this:
To: majordomo@nsaac.org
Subject: Email list (you can put anything here)
Body: subscribe NSAAC Full-Name <email-address>
To remove yourself from the email
list, or to temporarily suspend
delivery from the list or access your other options, please use our “Subscriber
Settings” Web page:
http://lists.nsaac.org/mailman/listinfo/nsaac#subscribers