The Celestial Observer
December, 2003
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From the President
The NSAAC board met with representatives of VMP last Tuesday to discuss lighting and a few other aspects of our partnership with the park. We’ve noticed that many more lights have been on recently, including the monster death-ray floodlight brooding over the parking lot we observe in.
We learned that the lighting policy at VMP has changed due to some recent security problems, and that many more lights will generally be left on throughout the property after dark. The VMP staff are willing to work with the club on this, however, and have agreed to shield some of the additional lighting on the building and to allow us to turn off the large parking lot light when we observe. The board voted to prepare and submit a proposal for new shields and lighting switches and a timer for the floodlight. We do not expect the cost to be prohibitive.
In addition, VMP, like many other organizations, is looking for ways to increase its cash flow, and one way for them to do this is to rent out the facility on weekend nights. No one who has seen the state of the ceiling in our old meeting room can fault VMP for trying to find more sources of operating funds. We can thus expect to find the park unavailable for observing on more Saturday nights in the future, so we should begin to make more use of the IRWS field on Saturday nights. We don’t believe that Friday nights at VMP will be affected. VMP will only be available for weeknight observing if we notify the park in advance. Any NSAAC member interested in this should talk to a board member or member at large for schedules and park contact information.
I and the board feel that these
changes are manageable, and that our relationship with VMP remains a mutually
beneficial one. We will be discussing our options and our proposal for dealing
with the VMP lighting at the business meeting on December 5, so please plan to
attend if you can.
Mike Deneen
President
DECEMBER BOOK FAIRE
We will be hosting a different kind of book faire at this December's business meeting. In addition to bringing books to sell, we are asking members to bring one or more books (including charts, guides, fiction, etc.) they want to share with the membership. Anything with an astronomical theme is OK. We hope several of you will give a short review (one to five minutes) of your material. Please mark your stuff with your name.
LAPTOP ASTRONOMY PROGRAMS.
We are looking for members willing to bring astronomical guide programs and demonstrate them at a future business meeting. If you do not have a laptop, you can use the new club machine. We would like to get several programs setup so the members can compare them. Contact Barrie Sawyer at: barrie_sawyer@yahoo.com or call (978) 744 2688) if you are interested in participating in this event.
Business Meeting Minutes for the November, 2003 Meeting of the NSAAC
No minutes were submitted for this meeting.
Star Party News
There are no Star
Parties scheduled for December.
2004 Calendars
We only have a few Tide Mark calendars left, but we have
more Astronomy calendars available. If you don’t have one yet, the December
general meeting may be your last chance to get one. The price of the calendars
this year is $8.00 each. Remember, they make excellent Christmas presents, and
purchasing these calendars is one of the ways that you help support this club.
A portion of each sale goes back into our general fund to help support other
club ventures. You may purchase one or more of the calendars at the upcoming
general meeting, or contact me at dgudzevich@comcast.net and I will put your
calendar order aside for you. Please note that I will not mail any calendars
out to members, and that I will only hold them until I sell all of the remaining
calendars, which usually means the December business meeting. After that it’s
first come first serve, unless other arrangements have been made. So if you’ve
reserved one, please try to pick it up at the December meeting.
Dennis Gudzevich
NSAAC Club Hawker
Annual Road Trip Recap
Well, we only had four adventurous souls this year
participate in the annual club road trip. The weather didn’t cooperate of
course, but I took a vacation day and said, what the heck! I took my wife and
son with me, and met
I would like to thank Barrie Sawyer for his hospitality and putting up with us. He was a very gracious host. Starport appears to be all that he said it was. Though I didn’t actually get to observe at the site, I had a good time. To those of you who didn’t go, you may get another chance if the snows don’t move in too early this year, as we are contemplating a frozen toes trip to Starport.
Respectfully
submitted,
Dennis Gudzevich
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 a short distance down on the right
For more information about the club and its activities, contact
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The Geminid Meteor Shower
A relative newcomer
observed only 150 years ago, the Geminid meteor shower will reach its peak on
the night of December 13-14. Meteor showers are usually the result of streams
of debris shed by comets as they approach the Sun. A search for the cause of
the Geminids in 1983 revealed it to be asteroid, 3200
Phaethon. It is the first time that an asteroid has been noted as the cause of
a meteor shower. This being the case, there is now debate over whether it is an
asteroid or a comet. Regardless, it produces a really nice show which is
increasing in intensity each year. This year predictions are for a peak of 75
Geminids per hour under ideal conditions. The rates increase for several days
prior to the shower, and fall off rapidly after the peak.
Bye
This will be my last issue as editor of the Celestial Observer. It has been a pleasure to be able to do this for the last four years. Leor Zolman will be taking over the duties starting next month.
Thank You, Richard
Bickerton