The Celestial Observer

 

Newsletter of the North Shore

 Amateur Astronomy Club

 

 

July, 2005

 

 

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From the President

I’m told that the membership voted at the June business meeting to “reconsider” our current logo before spending money on new hats. We will thus begin the process of gathering new logos to consider. Once we have some to consider we will vote for the most popular and our current logo will be the incumbent candidate. Members are encouraged to submit logos in any format or medium. Remember, a logo should look good in both a small size (hat) and larger size (t-shirt). The board will discuss any other parameters to consider at the next meeting and we’ll pass them on. I suspect we will not be ready for a vote until sometime this fall. I hope the process will prove to be fun and exciting!

 

I spent a week in West Texas at the Texas Star Party, then a few weeks later I toured Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and finally Northern New Mexico with my wife Stephanie. After visiting ruins which bear testimony to the work of ancient astronomers and engineers at Chaco Canyon, NM, we rented a house in Taos at the base of the Sangré de Cristo mountains. I met and befriended Lee Mesibov, president of El Valle Astronomers of Northern NM, http://elvalleastronomers.com. Lee is quite a character! He runs an organic farm on the banks of the Rio Grande, and also does contracting at Los Alamos. He has a 17” DOB which is completely home made. The secondary cage is made from a salvaged bomb casing from work!

 

During the trip the elevation ranged from 4,200 to 10,000 feet. The folks in the El Valle club give public star parties from right in Taos at elevation 7,200. They have an array of sites to choose from, but when they want to do “serious” observing they go to Bobcat Pass at 9,820 feet. I drove up there and looked at the night sky (sans telescope). I was able to find Polaris, but was not able to make out the Little Dipper as there were too many stars in the vicinity. During the day the skies were the same deep blue color at the horizon as at the zenith. As my plane descended into New England I raised my window shade to see an endless blanket of haze over the land and I sighed deeply: home again.

 

I’ll entertain after the October meeting with pictures and stories of my trip. We have an Imaging GO-ON planned for July 8. The SHARE system left for Idaho, so we can now proceed with our Equipment Enhancement program. Barrie and I will be observing from Starport during the July and August new moons and hope some of you can join us, and we are planning a Moose Dodge trip to Rangeley for September. Hope to see you under a dark sky this summer!

 

Clear skies,

Kevin Ackert

President

 

 

NSAAC Welcomes Our New Member:

Charles Wells, North Billerica, MA

 

Minutes of the NSAAC Business Meeting June 3, 2005

Vice-President Pinizzotto called the June Business Meeting of the NSAAC to order at 8:15PM. Vice-President Pinizzotto called for introduction of new guests: there was one new member.  There were 13 members in attendance plus 4 Board members.  There was an official quorum.


Committee Reports:

 

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

 

Treasurer:  The treasurer’s report was accepted.

 

Membership:  The membership chairman announced two new members.                   

 

Merrimack College:  Fred Sammartino has had many people showing up including Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts.  The 20” is scheduled to return in early July.  Approximately 20 people showed up during the day for solar observing

 

Salem State:  The Observatory is closed for the summer.

 

Astronomy Day Report:  About 20 people showed up at Merrimack College for solar observing and approximately 70 people came for evening observing.  There were two scopes setup for outside viewing.

Susan Baeslack from IRWS thanked us for supporting Gary Meehan’s program for Astronomy  Day where about 60 people participated.

 

Go-On Committee:    June the 3rd event will be naked-eye observing given by Russ Pinizzotto was cancelled because of weather.  John Boudreau and Jim Foy’s CCD Imaging GO-ON is rescheduled for July 8th.  The next event will be digital setting circles at a date to be determined in July.

 

Star Parties:    There was a well attended star party IRWS July 9th

 

High-Rock Tower Observatory:  Waiting for the weather to change.  Scope is in operation.

 

Upcoming Events:  Dr. Steven Hunt will be our guest speaker at our November Meeting that will take place at Merrimack College.

 

Clean-up day at VMP is June 11th  for outside work.  Bring lunch, gloves, and any equipment that you want to use such as rakes, etc.  

 

VMP and Marty the caretaker will need some assistance for installing sheetrock later in June.  Please contact Kevin Ackert at president@NSAAC.org or 978-663-5305 if you would like to help.

 

Rockland Astronomy Club Summer star party is July 29th trough August 7th at Shady Pines Campground, Savoy, MA For information go to www.rocklandastronomy.com.

 

Stellafane Convention is August 5th trough 6th.  Fro information go to www.stellafane,com.  John Dobson speaker.

 

Connecticut River Valley Astronomers Association Conjunction takes place August 26th through August 28th in

 

Northfield, MA.  For information go to www.philharrington.net/astroconjunction/program.htm.

 

Arunah Hill Days will be September 2-4.  For information go to www.arunah.org/calendar

 

Moose Dodge is September 9th through 12th.

 

NSAAC picnic will be September 17th at VMP

 

Old Business: 

 

SHARE System – A member of the Magic Valley Astronomical Association will be here June 7th with a truck to pick up the SHARE system.

 

President Ackert is waiting for Mike Dempsey, Veasey Director, to submit a proposal to us.  The VMP board must answer to the town of Groveland and there are issues surrounding the use of the cottage that have to be worked out.

 

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 made a motion that we start the process of acquiring a new club logo.  We are asking the members for suggestions for the logo and solicitations will be made in the newsletter and the list server.  Motioned passed 14 to 2.

 

 

There will be no business  meeting in July

 

Board of Directors Meeting will June 14th at Veasey at 8:00PM.

 

Meeting adjourned at 8:55 PM

 

Respectively submitted,
John Hobbs, Secretary NSAAC

 

Star Party News

We have two star parties scheduled so far for July and August.  The first one is Saturday, July 9 at the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary.  The event is part of a camping program.  Telescope observations will start about 9:30 PM.  Set-up is 9:00 PM to 9:30PM.  The event will be cancelled if cloudy or raining. 

 

The second star party is Wednesday August 3 at the Children’s Library in Seabrook, New Hampshire.  About 25 people are expected details will be posted on the list server.

 

Directions to Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary

 

1)     From Boston and the south: Take Rt. 95 north to exit 50 and follow Rt. 1 North into Topsfield. At the junction of Rt. 1 and Rt. 97, turn right onto Rt. 97 South (towards Beverly and Danvers).

 

From the north: Take Rt. 95 south to exit 53 and follow Rt. 97 south. At the junction of Rt. 1 and Rt. 97 in Topsfield, stay on Rt. 97 south.

 

2)     Once you have reached the junction of routes 1 and 97, and have traveled about 0.5 miles along route 97 South towards Beverly and Danvers, you will encounter a rather well lit intersection. On the left-hand side of this intersection you will see the sign of the Massachusetts Audubon Society, a bird within a triangle. Turn left onto the road marked by this sign. It is called Perkins Row.

 

3)     Perkins Row is a long, windy road. After about a mile, you'll encounter another, identical, Audubon sign. Shortly thereafter, you'll come across yet another. This last one marks the entrance to the Sanctuary. Note that at this entrance is a wooden gate. It is very possible that the gate will be closed. If the gate is closed simply get out of your car and swing it open. It won't be locked.

 

4)     As you drive through the gate, you'll find yourself proceeding up the sanctuary driveway. As soon as you catch sight of sanctuary signs posted along the driveway, look for an opening for the entrance to a dirt parking lot on the left-hand side. This dirt parking lot is where you'll want to set up the `scope.

 

 

Imaging GO-ON (rescheduled)

John Boudreau and Jim Foy will be leading a GO-ON event on Friday, July 8th. 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 will begin around 9:00pm.  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.

 

This event will be rain or shine, as part of the GO-ON event will be a PowerPoint presentation; so, even if the weather doesn't cooperate, John and Jim plan to share some imaging information in the building at VMP.


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.)

 

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