The Celestial Observer

 

Newsletter of the North Shore

 Amateur Astronomy Club

 

 

May, 2005

 

 

Links: Prior Issue  /  Next Issue  /  Download Page  /  Archives /  Home

 

From the President

Being someone who loves winter, (I know what you’re thinking…) it is never easy for me to see it pass, and to think it will be seven months before I can enjoy skiing again! Since becoming an amateur astronomer, however, this transitional time of year has become much more enjoyable to me. As one hobby recedes, the other picks up and fills the gaps nicely!

 

By the time you will have read this, the first Telescope Clinic at VMP will be history, but we are having a second clinic which is open to the public on Tuesday evening, April 26 at Merrimack College. I’ll bet that everyone out there knows somebody who could benefit from attending this clinic with his or her telescope. Perhaps there is a neighbor, or a relative who has purchased a telescope and is unclear on how to use it, or perhaps is having a mechanical problem with it. Please tell them about the clinic, and perhaps attend with them. We would appreciate it if you email us if you intend on bringing a telescope so that we can be repaired for any particular problems.

 

Please also tell your friends and neighbors about Astronomy Day on April 16. NSAAC will be sponsoring a program at Merrimack College between 2:00 and 5:00 PM with indoor presentations and solar viewing outdoors. We’ll also be opening the dome for observing at 8:00 PM if it is clear.

 

We had a very successful workday at VMP on April 2. About six to eight NSAAC volunteers removed sheetrock from walls and ceilings inside the cottage. We remain in very good standing with the VMP Committee, and although they cannot yet guarantee that we’ll be able to use space in the cottage, they are working to come up with a means to allow us to do that. Guidelines from the Town of Groveland for its use have to be met and the committee is attempting to work out a solution to satisfy all.

 

Our entertainment for the May Business meeting will be a CCD Imaging GO-On hosted by John Boudreau and Jim Foy. For June, we’ll have a Summer Naked Eye GO-ON hosted by Russ Pinizzotto.

 

In upcoming months the board will be discussing aspects of the Equipment Enhancement program which I’ve proposed. The plan is to acquire new observing instruments which members and the public will be able to use. I encourage members with suggestions and ideas to forward them to me at president@nsaac.org

 

Kevin Ackert

President

 

 

NSAAC Welcomes Our New Members:

Ken Stover of Swampscott

Mohammed Chibane of Malden

Alan S. Peters of Marblehead, MA

 

Also welcome back returning member Sean Walker of Methuen.

 

 

Minutes of the NSAAC Business Meeting,
April 4th, 2005

President Ackert called the April Business Meeting of the NSAAC to order at 8:10PM. President Ackert called for introduction of new guests: there was one guest and one new member.  There were 11 members in attendance plus 4 Board members.  There was an official quorum.

 

Committee Reports:

 

Secretary:  The minutes of the March Business Meetings as printed in the newsletter were approved.

 

Treasurer:  The treasurer’s report was accepted.

 

Membership:  The membership chairman announced two new members and two returning members..                   

 

Merrimack College:  There have been many people showing up including Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts.  There has been new artwork installed on the 4th floor of the Science building and is called the Planets.

 

Go-On Committee:  May 6th will be a GO-ON event for CCD imaging.  June the 3rd event will be naked-eye observing given by Russ Pinizzotto.  The next event will be digital setting circles at a date to be determined.

 

Salem State:  The Observatory was open twice last month with 6 and 3 visitors respectively.

 

Star Parties:    There was a well attended star party for the Salem School District on Thursday, March 24th from 6-8PM.  There were long lines and a new slide program.  There will be a star party at IRWS for Astronomy Day.

 

High-Rock Tower Observatory.  No report.

 

Upcoming Events:  On Saturday April 2 is a work day at Veasey Park.  There will be a new moon April 8th.  The member’s telescope clinic will be at 5PM April 9th at Veasey Park. Astronomy Day will take place at Merrimack College on Saturday, April 16.  The New England Astronomy Forum will be April 16-17 in Suffern, NY.  There will be a Lunar Eclipse on April 24th.  The Public Telescope Clinic will be Saturday April 26 at Merrimack College. 

 

Old Business: 

SHARE System – The club voted to send the SHARE system to Magic Valley Astronomical Association. The inventory has been completed and Idaho club has been contacted regarding arrangements for shipping.  President Ackert will meet with Mike Dempsey, Veasey Director on Saturday at the work party and discuss the club needs with him. Essentially the club would like two rooms, one for storage and one for small meetings and continued access to the main building for business meetings.

Equipment Enhancement Program- The club needs suggestions for this program.  We need to have different types of instruments available.  We will also want to have a permanent equipment manager.

 

New Business:

Barrie Sawyer suggested hats from awards.com.  Baseball caps could be silk-screened or embroidered for about $10 each as opposed to $12 the last time.  A motion was made to refer to the Board for authorization of an expenditure of up to $300.  A similar motion was approved about 1 year ago.

There are lots of club tee shirts available at $10 and some club coffee mugs.

Kevin Ackert is now the list-server manager.

Russ Pinizzotto will chair the May and June Business meetings.

Barrie Sawyer has various eye pieces for sale.

Club cannot us laser pointers at Merrimack because it is too close to Lawrence Airport.

 

The presentation for the evening was by Russ Pinizzotto on “Observatories of the Southwest”.

 

Next Board meeting will Wednesday April 12 at 8PM at VMP.

 

Meeting adjourned at 9:35 PM

Notes taken by Russ Pinizzotto and edited by John Hobbs

 

Respectively submitted,
John Hobbs, Secretary NSAAC

 

Special Mini-Series: “What Am I Looking At?”
 (A Brief Guide to Observing Deep-Sky Objects)

Part 2 of 3

by Lew Gramer (dedalus@alum.mit.edu)

 

Variable star and “carbon star” – these are individual stars that are mostly interesting because of either their color, and/or the fact that their brightness can change. Estimating the star’s magnitude (using one of the AAVSO’s approved methods, or just by “Kentucky winding”) is always interesting. Estimating color or spectral type can be tougher – but appreciating the beauty of a bright red “blood drop” carbon star is easy! And always remember – understanding the physics of what you see, and therefore also of what you might be able to see, is a big part of the fun!

 

“Diffuse” or “Galactic” (non-planetary) nebula – Like Baskin-Robbins, these nebulae come in many flavors: emission, reflection, dark nebula, supernova remnant, “Wolf-Rayet” object, “proto-planetary” nebula, etc. Thanks to their radically different origins, and their differing mechanisms and wavelengths of illumination or excitation, each of these types responds differently to nebular filters (see Planetary nebula above), and will also show its own characteristic features or structure. And of course, many of the most interesting GNe are a mix of two, three, or even four of these different “flavors”! For instance, it is not uncommon for one “object” to include an emission component, a reflection component, and also dark nebulae involved or in front of it. For these fascinating “smoosh-in” nebulae, you may be able to spend hours just exploring the way different regions and features of the GN respond to different kinds of filters and magnifications… Now THAT is good fun. J

 

Galaxy – Can you see hints of the morphology (shape and gross features) of this galaxy: spiral, barred-spiral, Seyfert, spindle, elliptical, irregular? How many different gradations or “brightness steps” can you see in the galaxy? Is there a broader “outer halo”? A core – and maybe even a smaller “inner core”? A tiny or even “stellar” nucleus? If it has arms, how many can you untangle with your eye? Are they loose, or tightly wound around the core? Do they even form a complete outer or inner ring? Can you see dark features or mottling along the arms or in the core? Brighter spots or stellarings – or even tiny nebulae – in or near the visible extent of the galaxy? Remember, nebular filters – and even color filters – can sometimes be used to bring out unique features even in the brighter galaxies! What orientation (Position Angle) do each of the features you see make? Finally, does the galaxy have any companion galaxies, or does it seem to be interacting with any other nearby galaxy (interacters sometimes have a number in the “Arp” catalog of galaxies)? Is it part of a galaxy group - an informal “NGC group”, or a compact “Hickson” or “Shakhbazian” group? And/or is it part of a larger galaxy cluster, like an “Abell cluster” (AGC)? What other tiny, faint nearby members of that group or cluster can you glimpse? Don’t forget to try averted vision, field “jiggling”, concentrated vision, and even deep breathing if it helps! J

 

 

To learn more about deep-sky observing techniques, or about a particular deep-sky object, or to archive your own observing log of any object for posterity, visit the Internet Amateur Astronomers Catalog of Visual Deep Sky Observations (IAAC or ‘netastrocatalog’), online at:  http://www.visualdeepsky.org

 

GO-ON Event for May: Imaging GO-ON

John Boudreau and Jim Foy will be leading a GO-ON event on Friday, May 6th. They'll be giving us an introduction to CCD imaging equipment and techniques. Any of you who have wondered how those beautiful deep sky images are produced, or anybody who is just curious about what's involved in this interesting branch of the hobby, should consider joining us. Setup and program will begin shortly after the business meeting.  Note that this event is particularly dependent upon transparent skies, so excellent (not just "good") transparency will be required for the event to go forward on that night.


The GO-ON Committee:

Lew Gramer

Rick Margolies

Chris Nicholl

Fred Sammartino

Art Schneiderman

Ilane Walberg

go-on@nsaac.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 of the NSAAC observing sites are available on our web site's “About” page at:

        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 Kevin Ackert at (978) 663-5305.

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 ideas.

 

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>

 

The on-line archives of all list server messages since April ’04  are available via this URL:

   http://lists.nsaac.org/mailman/private/nsaac/

 

(See the  January, 2005 newsletter for information on retrieving your subscriber password, necessary in order to view the archives.)

 

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