The Celestial Observer

 

Newsletter of the North Shore

 Amateur Astronomy Club

 

 

June, 2006

 

 

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From the President

Seven NSAAC members combined with four from the ATMoB club and two from the South Shore Astronomical Society to enjoy two glorious nights of clear skies at Barrie Sawyer’s Starport in Groton, NH on the last weekend in April. In addition to Barrie and me, from our club there was Theresa Earle, John Boudreau, Marc O’Connor, Tom Powers, and Art Corbett.

 

There was some concern about wind before the sun set on the first night, but it settled out and was not an issue once night fell. The new macadam pad got its first use, and it enabled us to use (for the first time) our warehouse ladder for Godzilla (the 36” DOB) instead of the fourteen foot step ladder. Not only was it much less tiring going up and down, but the safety rails enabled us to lean on them and provided a much more relaxed means of observing while far above the planet.

 

Godzilla spent the majority of both evenings with his head pointed at Leo, Virgo, Coma Berenices, and Ursa Major. He loves to gobble up galaxies after a long winter hibernation! I wasn’t counting, but I know we observed well over a hundred galaxies over the course of both nights! Observing galaxies with Godzilla is particularly challenging. Not in the normal sense of not being able to find or see them well, but in that one finds so many, and they appear so large that it can be confusing identifying them. For example, when trying to point at M101 (Pinwheel Galaxy) I focused on nearby NGC 5474 which is also a face on spiral with similar structure. For a moment I believed it was the Pinwheel, but it was only filling about a quarter of the field which clued me in that it couldn’t be M101.

 

Although this was by far the largest group yet at Starport, Barrie commented afterwards that he wished more observers from our club had participated. So, the next time you see an event announced please know that you are welcome even if you’ve never met Barrie.

If you couldn’t make it to Starport in April you’ll get another chance to observe galaxies at our Spring Galaxy Hunt GO-ON to be held at Halibut Point State Park on May 19th (cloud date May 20th). Michael Deneen and I will be your hosts and will provide participants with galaxy hit lists. See the article elsewhere in the newsletter for more info.

 

At the time of this writing everything is in place for the Young Astronomer Program, except the young astronomers. I sent seventy two emails to school principals and superintendents yesterday, and the newspaper ads will hit the presses this week, but as of today I have not received a single registration. I remain optimistic however; the hit count on the YAP page of our website was higher today than any day in recent times.

 

There will be no NSAAC meetings and no newsletter in the month of July. A Naked Eye GO-ON is in the plans for July. Please watch the list server for announcements for this and other summer observing sessions. I look forward to seeing people under dark skies in the months ahead. Have a safe summer!

 

Clear skies,

Kevin Ackert

President

 

 

NSAAC Welcomes Our New Members:

Bill Leary of Winthrop, Ma.

Robert Peters of Pelham, NH

Adam Peters of  Pelham, NH


Jim Koerth,

Membership Director

 

 

If You Haven’t Paid Your Membership Dues…

Members who have not paid their 2006 dues by June 2 will have their status set to “Former Member” and will lose membership privileges.


Minutes of the NSAAC Business Meeting,
May 5th, 2006

President Ackert called the May Business Meeting of the NSAAC to order at 8:12 PM. President Ackert called for introduction of new members: There were none. There were two guests, Victor Barbu and Bernie Halison.. There were 7 members in attendance plus 4 Board members.  There was an official quorum. 

 

Secretary: Minutes of the March Business meeting were accepted by acclamation.

 

Treasurer:

Treasurer gave an abbreviated report

 

Membership:

There are 3 new members in the club since the last business meeting.

 

Committee Reports:

 

Merrimack College:

Kevin had about 24 people pass through the observatory on April 26 with about half of them Russ’s students.  The scope and guidance system were a dream to operate. 

 

Salem State:

The observatory will be closed for the summer and will reopen after Labor Day.

 

Go-On Committee:

There will be a galaxy hunt GO-ON at Halibut point on May 19th with a cloud night of the 20th.  It will be hosted by Kevin Ackert and Michael Deneen.  Russ Pinizzotto will host a naked eye GO-ON at a date to be determined.

 

Star Parties:

There is a star party at IRWS Saturday 6th for Astronomy Day.  Program starts at 7:30PM with observing at 8:30PM.

 

Young Astronomers Program:

The day for the program is May 13th at Merrimack College.  All is in place, waiting for customers to register. We will start the setup around noon.  We expect the program to run from 2 to 4 PM with set-up at 1 PM. If you want to help at the meeting contact Kevin Ackert.

 

Site Selection Committee:

Committee has not met yet.  Options for the committee will be discussed at the Board Meeting in the coming months.

 

Upcoming Events:

There has been some interest expressed in possibly attending the Black Forest Star Party in PA August 25th to 27th.  See Barrie Sawyer or Kevin Ackert if interested and want information.

 

Member Merrill Miller has had his small coffee table lunar astronomy booklet called “Andover Nights” published by Hewlett Packard as a standard print sample to show off their high digital presses.  They are using it to highlight their photo specialty market.

 

IRWS has sent a list of black out dates for no observing on Saturday nights.  They are June 17th, July 29th, and October 28th.

 

The star party at Starport was a great success with seven members from the club, four from ATMoB, and two from the South Shore Astronomy club. Godzilla spent the entire time galaxy hopping in Leo, Virgo, Coma Berenices, Corvus, and Ursa Major.. Also components of the comet 73P/S-S3 were observed.

 

Old Business:

Salem State observatory volunteers have been working for a number of years and are growing tired and are looking for someone to receive training and perhaps to take over the program.  See Dennis Gudzevich if interested.

We need a volunteer to plan and coordinate the annual club picnic.  Without a volunteer there will be no club picnic.

 

The Board has decided to apply for the Astronomy Magazine $2500 award.

 

New Business:

The incident involving the automobile that almost ran over people and equipment at Friday’s observing was discussed.  Kevin will speak to VMP about it.  If anyone has a similar encounter please notify Kevin and VMP right away.

 

Entertainment for the evening was a “Constellation Conversation” on the constellation Leo given by John Hobbs.

 

Board Meeting will be Monday, May 15th,2006 at 8:00 PM at VMP.

 

Meeting adjourned at 9:05 PM.

 

Respectively submitted,
John Hobbs, Secretary NSAAC

 

Naked-Eye GO-ON in July

Russ Pinizzotto will be leading a Naked Eye GO-ON at VMP, on a date as yet to be determined in July. Watch the list server for an announcement of the final date.

 

Spring Galaxy Hunt GO-ON

 

NSAAC will combine optics with GAAC (Gloucester Area Astronomy Club) for a Spring Galaxy Hunt GO-ON to be held at Halibut Point State Park (HPSP) on Friday, May 19th. The cloud date for this event will be the following day, Saturday, May 20th. HPSP will be a bit farther for some members to reach than VMP, but the darker skies of this venue should greatly enhance our ability to find these faint deep sky objects.

 

Kevin Ackert from NSAAC, and Michael Deneen from GAAC will be your hosts at what promises to be a memorable evening of deep sky observing. They will be providing participants with two “hit lists” of galaxies to hunt for. One list will be of brighter, easy galaxies; the other will be a more challenging list. This is not a contest or a marathon, just an evening of fun finding faint fuzzies, and comparing the views of them through different instruments.

 

This is the weekend of the last quarter moon. The waning crescent will be rising around 1:30 AM and 2:00 AM respectively on the two nights. So that we have an idea of how many hit lists to print, please send us a post if you think you may come.

 

Directions:

 

128 North into Gloucester. 

At Grant traffic circle where 127 (Washington St)  intersects 128, get onto 127 North. 

Follow 127 North for about 7.5 miles, until you  see signs for Halibut State Park. 

Make a left onto Gott Ave.

Follow the gravel road that says "no vehicles" up  the hill to the observing location.

 

Entertainment for June

Entertainment for the June meeting will be “Show & Tell An Astro Item.” Members should bring in any astronomy related item which they would like to tell the club about. You may do more than one item if you’d like. Your presentation does not have to be fancy or too detailed. It could be on anything from a telescope to a flashlight.

 

At the May meeting John Hobbs did a  Constellation Conversation on Leo. It was very informative and was well accepted.  These talks by members are on specific constellations and include history, mythology, brightest stars, and objects within. Members wishing to do a future Constellation Conversation please write to

entertainment at nsaac.org.

 

 

Help Wanted

Below is a list of positions which need to be filled in our club. Please consider volunteering for one of these positions if you have the means. Please contact any Board member with questions about these positions at bod at nsaac.org.

 

 

Long Term Positions:

 

Collins Observatory -  Salem State: The same two people have been doing this job for years and are looking for someone to train to take over the observatory.

 

Short Term Positions:

 

Annual Picnic Coordinator: A volunteer is needed to plan and coordinate the Annual NSAAC Picnic. The picnic has been held in August or September in past years, but the date for this year will be totally up to the coordinator. The coordinator’s responsibilities include: Choosing a date for the picnic and clearing it through Veasey Memorial Park, planning activities and refreshments, and posting announcements to the list server and newsletter. Unless we can find a volunteer for this position I’m afraid there may be no picnic this year. I’ve asked all the board members and none of them want to take on this additional responsibility


 

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 Jim Koerth,  Membership Director, email: membership at nsaac.org or contact Kevin Ackert, President, e-mail at president at 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 at nsaac.org.

 

New development on the NSAAC web site is currently being coordinated and implemented by Mike Deneen. Suggestions regarding the content of the NSAAC web site are always welcome; Please email webmaster at nsaac.org with your ideas.