The Celestial Observer

 

Newsletter of the North Shore

 Amateur Astronomy Club

 

 

October, 2005

 

 

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

 

From the President

An often heard cliché amongst observational astronomers is “aperture rules.” Well I, the co-owner of a 36” telescope, would like to suggest that “darkness rules,” not aperture. I suggest that the best thing that one can do to improve their celestial observations is to take their instrument (regardless of its size) to a really dark sky site. Larger aperture will certainly enable you to see fainter objects and larger images, but to improve the quality of the images, seek out dark skies such as those found in New Hampshire and Maine.

 

I know that our summer business meetings generally have light attendance, and that your president has not been setting a very good example as of late, but we have not had a quorum at a meeting since May. A quorum (10% of the membership; currently ten members not counting the board) is required in order to have an official meeting which enables us to conduct club business.  The September meeting had only six members in attendance. We were not able to vote on the Young Astronomer Program purchases, so that business will sit in limbo until next month. I am hopeful that we can have the Young Astronomer Program ready to go by December. To do so we really need to get it approved at the October meeting. There are purchases to be made, and we will be advertising it to the public, so we need time to put it all in place. The October meeting will be on the 14th due to Columbus Day weekend and will be followed by a Star Hopping  GO-ON presented by Barrie Sawyer. Please plan to attend.

 

Attending the November meeting (date to be announced soon) is also very important. The board works hard to come up with ideas for entertainment at our meetings. Many months ago we decided to try and attract notable guest speakers. We found that this requires a lot of work and effort, and that notable speakers prefer large audiences of people interested in their topic. Dr. Steven Hunt, of Lincoln Laboratory, will be speaking to us about the very interesting work he has done on meteor radar research for the Air Force. The meeting will be hosted by Merrimack State College in North Andover to enable their astronomy students to also attend. A poorly attended meeting would be embarrassing to the club, and could dampen our enthusiasm to seek guest speakers for future meetings.

 

Since this letter is turning into a pep talk, let me say a few word on volunteerism. Any organization such as ours is only as strong as its volunteers. Everything that we do including star parties, GO-ON events, meeting entertainment, picnic, road trips, public observing at colleges, merchandise sales, newsletter, website, Young Astronomer Program, Board of Directors, list server management, and even providing coffee and cookies at meetings, requires somebody to think about it and to then take action to make it happen. When all this work falls upon only a few people, the result is often, sadly, job burnout. There are no rules in our club that one has to participate in anything, but I would like to suggest that any member who has been enjoying the club for several years without having ever volunteered for anything, to please take a look at the new Help Wanted section in the newsletter and ask yourself, “What can I do for my astronomy club to help out?” You may find that you really enjoy it!

 

Clear skies,

 

Kevin Ackert

President

 

 

NSAAC Welcomes Our New Members:

John Alabiso of Peabody, MA

Nagarjuna Venna of Dracut, MA

 

 

Minutes of the NSAAC Business Meeting,
September 9th, 2005

Vice-President Pinizzotto called the September Business Meeting of the NSAAC to order at 8:15PM. Vice-President Pinizzotto called for introduction of new guests: there were no guests.  There were 6 members in attendance plus 4 Board members.  There was not an official quorum.

 

Committee Reports:

 

Secretary:   The SHARE system was used to view and broadcast Deep Impact.  The secretary received the receipt for the SHARE system from the Magic Valley Astronomical Society and they indicate that they have already taken the system to several star parties.

 

Treasurer:  No report.

 

Membership:  There were 8 new members since August.                  

 

Merrimack College:  The 20 inch tube is back at Merrimack, but has not been installed.

 

Salem State:  The Observatory has opened for the winter.  Monday nights are the official public nights.

 

Go-On Committee:    John Boudreau and Jim Foy’s CCD Imaging GO-ON will be rescheduled for a later date. Barrie Sawyer will hold a star-hopping GO-ON following the October Business meeting on the 14th.  John Hobbs will present digital setting circles GO-ON at a date to be determined.  A Mars GO-ON is being planned for October.

 

Star Parties:   No report..

 

High-Rock Tower Observatory:  The city of Lynn contacted Kevin Ackert requesting help with repairs to the telescope.  Ralph Pass stepped in and saved the day and made the repairs.  Kevin discussed the clubs involvement with the Hightower Observatory and it does not appear that they want to engage the club assistance in running a program there.

 

Upcoming Events:  Dr. Steven Hunt will be our guest speaker at our November Meeting that will take place at Merrimack College. He will talk about his research on meteors.

 

Moose Dodge was September 9th through 12th.

 

NSAAC picnic will be September 17th at VMP from noon to 4:00PM because VMP is having a barbeque to thank all their volunteers. Those club members who did volunteer work at VMP in the past are invited to attend this function.  This NSAAC picnic is a pot luck event and soft drinks will be provided by the club.  Several solar scopes and an h-alpha will be present. [The picnic was rained out on the 17th. Hopefully it will be rescheduled. –Ed.]

 

Tony Costanzo has donated an h-alpha filter to the club and it will be tested on the Unitron at Merrimack.

 

Old Business: 

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:

The board would like to have a Kid Scope Give-A-Way this year and we would like to purchase a 6” Stargazer Dob from the Astronomy Shoppe for $99.00 as a special with Tony Costanzo donating the rest of the cost.  A vote will be taken to spend this money at the October meeting.

 

The Board would like to make the Kid’s Scope Give-A-Way an annual program and doing so would allow the board to annually purchase telescopes for this purpose, up to $150.00 without requiring a vote by the membership.  We take a vote on this at the October business meeting.

 

The club needs volunteers for the following positions:

 

Webmaster:  Our website needs editing, updating, and to progress into the future. We need a webmaster willing to do this work.  Our newsletter editor, Leor, has been filling this role, but only has limited time to do minor changes. [See fuller description below. –Ed.]

 

Young Astronomer Program Coordinator:  This persons job will be to administer all aspects of the Young Astronomers Program with at this time consists of a once a year telescope give-a-way program.

 

Merrimack Observatory Volunteer:  This person would be trained to use the observatory dome and telescope for public observing.  They would be a Blue Wednesday person and could also fill in for others when regulars can’t do their night.

 

The October business meeting has been changed to the 14th in order to avoid holiday weekends,

 

There are blackout days scheduled for IRWS on September 10th and October 29th.  Members will not be able to observe on those dates.

 

Board Meeting has been set for September 20th at 8:00PM.

 

Meeting adjourned at 8:45 PM

Respectively

Respectively submitted,
John Hobbs, Secretary NSAAC

 

Using Veasey Park On a NON-Friday Night

 

We have permission to use Veasey park (VMP) on any Friday night. On nights other than Friday, the procedure for using VMP is as follows:


Contact any board member VIA TELEPHONE on the day you wish to use VMP. Try to do this by 5:00 PM, but it’s OK  to contact later, especially in summer. The board member then  contacts VMP to let them know  someone will be using the parking lot and turning out the light. We do this so the caretaker at VMP knows that it is  one of us who turned out the light.


I can’t reveal the location of the light switch in the newsletter. Ask someone where it is  at a meeting, or ask a board member, or ask when you are at VMP next, or ask me via phone.


Contact any of these board members to use VMP on a Non-Friday

 

Kevin Ackert 978-663-5305 office or 978-337-0138 cell

Russ Pinizzotto 978-837-5335 office or 978-257-3521

Barrie Sawyer 978-239-0503

Art Schneiderman 978-352-2031

John Hobbs 978-887-6082

Tony Costanzo 603-382-0836

Kevin Ackert

 

 

Help Wanted

 

Below is a list of positions which need to be filled in our club. They are listed in order of their need. Please consider volunteering for one of these positions if you have the means. Please contact any Board member with questions about these positions.

 

Webmaster: Our website is in dire need of a person to bring it up to date and add features. We have many plans and ideas which will make the website more useful to our members and more informative to the public. The webmaster should possess skills in web design and be knowledgeable about how to implement modern website features. [To clarify, I’d continue to edit/upload the newsletter/calendar and make simple edit changes. What we need is someone  able to do what I cannot, which is to infuse new blood into the web site, and esp. to expand the member astrophotography content -Ed./leor]

 

Young Astronomer Program Coordinator: This person would coordinate all aspects of the program including: planning, purchasing equipment and materials, and advertising. On the actual program day the coordinator will have as many volunteers as needed to aid in handling the event.

 

Merrimack Observatory Backup Host: This person would be trained and authorized to open the observatory and use the equipment to host public observing sessions on Wednesday nights. We currently have public observing on every clear Wednesday and each staff person has an assigned  week of the month. We currently have volunteers for the first four Wednesdays, but occasionally there are months which have five. The backup host would staff the observatory on these “Fifth Blue Wednesdays” and may also be called upon to substitute for one of the regular staff when they can not fulfill their evening.

 

Equipment Manager: This person would be in charge of managing the storage and usage of the clubs astronomy equipment. At this time, the position would require almost no effort as we really have little equipment which hardly ever gets used. The duties  will increase if we ever acquire a suitable “clubhouse” or storage facility and the amount of equipment we own increases.

 

Star Party Helpers: As we enter the Star Party season, please monitor dates, locations, and telescope needs of the various star parties and help out whenever you can..

 

 

Moose Dodge 2005

 

Moose Dodge road trips started in 1999, The one we just returned from was the sixth one. We did not go in 2003. This was my fifth Moose Dodge. Everyone of them has been unique with special memories. This was the second year I’ve been which I did not see moose, but others saw some. I did see red fox, coyote, and lots of wild turkey. Someone else reported seeing a porcupine. I also found moose and bear tracks while hiking.

 

The first night of observing was good, however, not as good as I’ve seen it there by a long shot. The crescent moon set at an early hour and we enjoyed several hours of clear skies albeit a slightly troublesome breeze and spotty clouds. By early morning we were looking through a thin layer of clouds, but we had enjoyed an entire night of deep sky objects though Godzilla and the many other instruments present. Thanks to John Boudreau and others who assisted me with Godzilla throughout the night. Also present that first night was Jim Koerth and his daughter Melanie (winner of last year’s Young Astronomer award), Mark Salvetti, Chuck Wells and his wife Joy, Theresa Earle, and of course Dennis Gudzevich. Many of us did not quit until 4:30 am.

 

Last year, as some of you may recall, I believed that I’d found the elusive Einstein’s Cross in Godzilla right before I was chased off the ladder by a moose. John and I had decided this year to determine if I had indeed found the cross or not, putting the rumor to rest either way. We planned to do this on the second night due to the poor seeing and slight breeze. On the second night the conditions were much better, but we knew we were in for nature’s light pollution when we saw the aurora beginning early in the North!

 

The 2005 Aurora Borealis ended up being the second best one I’ve ever seen. The best I’ve ever seen was at Moose Dodge 2002. You can see pictures of it on John’s website. This one only had one color (green) but it seemed to have much more energy. At one point in the show the curtains of light were 180° around the horizon and they were pulsating in synchronization with bursts of light converging at the zenith every second! We observed objects in the Southern sky on and off while the aurora ebbed and flowed, but by 2:00 am the light was so bright that shadows were visible on the ground and we called it quits.

 

Also joining us that second night was Lex Crosett and his son Raner (who had grown along with his telescope!), and a local amateur astronomer from Maine who had found us on the internet, Charlie Hoff. Thanks to everyone for adding another Moose Dodge to my collection of memories!

 

Kevin Ackert

 

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