The Celestial Observer

 

Newsletter of the North Shore

 Amateur Astronomy Club

 

 

June, 2005

 

 

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From the President

With our club about to spend over $1,000.00 on hats, I felt it was a good time to examine whether we want to consider changing our logo. Personally, I don’t care much for our logo and I know several members share that feeling. The Board discussed the issue and decided it was worth putting it before the members. There will be a discussion and a vote at the June 3rd business meeting whether or not we want to pursue acquiring a new one. The hat purchase will remain on hold until this issue is resolved. If members decide at the June 3rd meeting that they would like to pursue a new logo we will discuss various options including submissions from within our club.

 

We had an extremely successful Astronomy Day on April 16th at Merrimack College with about twenty-five people showing up during the day for solar and lunar observing, and approximately seventy-five people at night! I set up my DOB outside the building to relieve the pressure on the dome. It was an exceptional night for transparency and seeing and the views of the planets were extremely crisp and steady.  I explained to several observers seeing the planets for the first time that they were being treated to a viewing experience with rare conditions for New England. We also had press coverage from the North Andover Citizen. Reporter Sally Applegate wrote an excellent article that can be viewed at:

http://www.townonline.com/northandover/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=230686

 

A second very successful event at Merrimack College, the public telescope clinic, was held later in April. We had a turnout of six to eight people needing both telescope repairs and lessons on their use. Russ Pinizzotto suggested that we have another public clinic at Merrimack College later this summer.

 

Entertainment following the June 3rd business meeting will be one of our extremely popular Naked Eye GO-ONs, hosted by Russ Pinizzotto. That is also the new moon weekend so, skies permitting, it could prove to be a spectacular night; don’t miss it!

 

Many exciting events are planned for the summer months ahead and into the fall, including a Star-Hopping Go-On (date to be announced), a Digital Setting Circles Go-On (date to be announced), observing at Starport, the Moose Dodge road trip in September, our club picnic in September, a guest speaker in November with our first meeting to be held at Merrimack College, and of course Stellafane in August. Watch the Celestial Observer for more information on these and possibly other events.

 

As some of you may or may not know, former Board member Lew Gramer and observer extraordinaire will be leaving us for the sunny skies of Florida. Although he will most likely remain a member and in touch with us, we will miss him and we thank him for all the service he has done for the club.

 

Clear skies,

 

Kevin Ackert

President

 

 

Welcome New Members

We have three new members:

 

Alan Bowen of Plaistow, NH

Alan Peters of Marblehead, MA

Anthony Catanzariti of Amesbury MA

 

Please be sure to make them feel welcome!

 

 

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

Part 3 of 3

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

 

Globular star cluster – These are some of the brightest and prettiest – and also some of the faintest and most elusive deep-sky objects. The basics of logging a GC include: Is it tight (mostly core and little halo), or loose (a smaller core, and then many stragglers on the periphery)? Can you resolve its stars? Just at the edges, or right down to the center? (Some globulars, even a few brighter ones, will not resolve at any power, because their constituent stars are too faint to be individually visible!) How many stars would you estimate are resolvable total? (A trick for counting stars is to choose just one wedge or “quadrant” of the GC in the field, to count the stars in that quadrant, and then multiply by four!) Finally, does the GC show any unusual features – in particular, can you see any blank areas, “cuts”, or indentations in the core of the cluster? (These may or may not be actual physical phenomena… Whether they are due to some trick of the eye in a crowded field, or to some obscure orbital dynamics, or possibly even to dark material in the GC core, I have never heard a convincing explanation – but a surprising number of GCs will show “dark features” like this, at one power or another, and at different contrasts. For example, sometimes these features are most visible when observing a GC in some twilight or moonlight… Who knew! J)

 

Open star cluster – I don’t often turn my attention to open clusters – but they are by far the most numerous of the objects that appear bright in a small telescope… When logging an OC, how many stars do you estimate are definitely visible? How many are just on the edge of visibility? Are there any clumps of fainter, unresolved stars in or near the OC – and what Position Angle do they make with the cluster central area? Is this OC more or less rich (many bright stars), and more or less concentrated (stars close together)? Also, remember that OCs are sometimes associated or involved with a galactic nebula of one kind or another – can you see any hints of this nebula or nebulae?  Finally, do you note any particularly pretty double stars, or strikingly colored stars in the cluster? (Many OCs of all types, for some reason I have never understood, seem to have a nice orange or red star near their center! And some clusters are populated mostly by very young, “blue-white” members, while others are clearly older clusters – because many of their stars are on the yellow or orange end of the range of spectral types.)

 

 

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

 

 

Deep-Space Objects of the Month

 

Observer: Lew Gramer

Your skills: Intermediate (some years)

Date/time of observation: 19 June 2001 00:30 Local

Location of site: Myles Standish Forest, S Carver MA US (Lat 42N, Elev 5m)

Site classification: Exurban

Sky darkness: 6.5 <Limiting magnitude>

Seeing: 6 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>

Moon presence: None - moon not in sky

Instrument: 8x25 handheld binoculars

Magnification: 8x            Filter(s): None.

Object(s): M39              Category: Open cluster.

Class: III 2 p/III 2 m                  Constellation: Cyg

Data: mag 4.6 6.83m*; size 32'   Position: 2132.2 +4827

Description: Taking a break from observation with Steve Clougherty's fine 17.5" dob, I swept the lovely Milky Way north of the Swan's tail tonight with John Bishop's fine little 8x25 binoculars. Quite by accident, I happened on this little fuzzy, and realized it was M39... Rarely does M39 hold much interest for deep-sky observers as it is sparse and essentially lost in bright field stars. But tonight, with this tiny aperture, it stood out quite intriguingly in the field, showing a very nice (if tiny) assortment of resolved pinpoints, amid a clumpy haze of unresolved stars. Worth a look in small binoculars!

 

 

Observer: Lew Gramer              Your skills: Intermediate

Date and UT of Observation: 1996-06-16, 06:15 UT

Location: Bath, ME, USA (44N)

Site classification: rural              Limiting magnitude: 7.1

Seeing: 3 – medium                   Moon up: no

Instrument: Reflector 12.5" f/4.8

Magnification: 55x, 85x              Filters used: none

Object: M32                              Category: Elliptical galaxy

Constellation: And                     Data: mag 8.1  size 8'x6'

RA/DE: 00h43m  +40o52m

Description: A nice, slightly oblong blob with a clear concentration of 20" dia at it's center, and some less bright, slightly oval concentration outside that. Would be a pretty object in its own right, if not eclipsed by the monster in the same field of view (M31).

 

 

Observer: Lew Gramer              Your skills: Intermediate

Date and UT of Observation: 1996-06-16, 04:30 UT

Location: Bath, ME, USA (44N)

Site classification: rural              Limiting magnitude: 7.1

Seeing: 3 – medium                   Moon up: no

Instrument: Reflector 12.5" f/4.8

Magnification: 55x, 110x            Filters used: none

Object: NGC 6217 (Arp 185, HI-280)

Category: Spiral galaxy              Constellation: UMi

Data: mag 11.2  size 3'              

RA/DE: 16h32m  +78o12m

 

 

Observer: Lew Gramer

Your skills: Intermediate (some years)

Date/time of observation: Late Spring/Early Summer Evening

Location of site: Stinson Lake, NH, USA (Lat 44oN, Elev 330m)

Site classification: Rural

Sky darkness: 7.0 <Limiting magnitude>

Seeing: 4 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>

Moon presence: None - moon not in sky

Instrument: 36" f/5 Obsession dob

Magnification: 130x, 380x

Filter(s): None

Object(s): NGC 4565

Category: External galaxy.

Class: SA(s)b?sp I

Constellation: Com

Data: mag 9.6  size 16'x2'

Position: RA 12:36  DEC +25:59

 

Description: I had the chance to view this Monster of the Spring Skies at once with TWO larger instruments - my 20" (see previous log), and Barrie Sawyer and Ralph Pass's 36". Repeating my hop to 4565 from 17 Comae turned out to be difficult: the lack of a Telrad on the Big Eye tonight meant I had to spend considerable time making sure the mag 4-5 white star I kept pointing at was in fact 17! And once I was sure, the more limited wide-angle field (30' vs. 55') made the actual sweep a little tougher too - not to mention the sheer manual labor of slewing "Godzilla" vs. my own li'l "Frankendob". :) Once found however, the Great Coma Edge-on showed itself to me as I've never seen it! Again, this was a friend's scope, so my log was far more cursory than it would have otherwise been: but in the space of a few short minutes I managed to trace the roiling edges of the central dark lane for what seemed to me a full 20', could clearly distinguish some tiny bifurcations ("Great Rifts") within the lane, distinguished a pinpoint-sharp nucleus surrounded by an inner core in the bright S central bulge (with a matching inner core suspected in the N bulge), and even some hints of mottling AWAY from center, in the SE extremity of the spindle.  This object in this instrument tonight appeared clearly superior to any image or photograph I've ever seen: the breadth as well as depth of detail was staggering!  Thanks again to Barrie and Ralph for sharing the visual bounty that is Godzilla. :)

 

 (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 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