The Celestial Observer

 

Newsletter of the North Shore Amateur Astronomy Club

 

 

February, 2003

 

To Download This Months Newsletter Click Here 

 

From the President

 

This has been a slow time for the NSAAC, with the last business meeting cancelled because of weather, and precious little observing time available for the same reasons. With the upcoming 2003 elections just a month away, I thought I’d take this opportunity to remind everyone that every position is up for grabs, and to encourage anyone who wants to take a larger role in club affairs to contact Chris Nicholl of the Nominating Committee and get some more information on the opportunities that await you.

With the lack of observing news, I also thought that this might be a good opportunity to mention some specific examples of what the current board has been up to, other than washing and waxing our telescopes. We’re currently investigating ways to control the mosquito population at VMP, we’re talking about new hats and T-shirts, and, as you’ll notice when you look at your new membership renewal forms, we’re trying to control newsletter costs by asking everyone to consider taking the newsletter electronically.

If you’ve managed to get in some observing recently, you’ll have noticed the new lighting at VMP. Treasurer Dave Fournier has taken a particularly prominent advisory role in the upgrading of these lights, and is currently our point man regarding some new shielding for the street lights at the bottom of the observing field. Dave was also the one responsible for the installation of a NSAAC mailbox at VMP, which allows us to have a single permanent mailing address. And we’ve been looking very seriously at ways to make the club more open to younger members.

This month’s business meeting will be an important one, and I hope you can attend. We’ll be talking about the March elections, accepting membership renewal forms, and moving on as quickly as possible to the evening’s main event, the 2003 Swap Meet. I hope to see you there.   

 

Mike Deneen

President

Business Meeting Minutes for the January, 2003 Meeting of the NSAAC

The business meeting was cancelled due to weather.

 

 

Magazine Renewals

Members who receive Astronomy Magazine must have their dues and subscription fee ($29.00) paid before or at the March meeting. We renew Astronomy Magazine with a group payment which I plan to mail out within a week following the March meeting, (which happens to be the beginning of the NSAAC's fiscal year).
Dave Thomas

Star Party News

 

Our next star party is Wednesday, February 5, 2003 at the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary.  The program, “The X-ray Astronomers’ Answer to Hubble” by Gary Meehan begins at 7:30 PM and will end about 8:30 PM.  Observations follow the program.  The program will not be cancelled for weather.  Please help support one of our clubs sponsors by bringing a telescope or pair of binoculars.

 

 

Text Box: Club Elections It is that time of year again, time for the election of club officers. If you would like to submit your name for office, or nominate someone for office, please use the contact information provided below. Just a note, please do not nominate someone without asking them first. Though it is an honor to serve, it is a sizable commitment. Officers need to accept this freely and without being taken by surprise. A reminder that if you would like to be considered for one of the officer positions within the North Shore Amateur Astronomy Club for the upcoming year, then you need to contact me to get your name on the nominating list. This is your chance to get involved, help out, and help shape the club! As a side note, club bylaws require that we have a 3-person nominating committee, which I am heading up. It would be hard for me to understate the amount of work involved with this, but I need two volunteers. Please contact me if you have interest in helping out. In preparation for this year's annual Club officers' elections, we have created a Nominating Committee email address. If you'd like to reach the three members of the NSAAC NomCom to nominate yourself or someone you know for Club office, please just email: nominations@nsaac.org Or if you know members without email access, ask them to contact Chris Nicholl by phone at 978-352-2102 or cell at 617-320-6089.

 

Passing the IRWS Baton

Jim Foy will provide the logistics of this Wednesday's star party at the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary (IRWS) in Topsfield in a day or so. However, it's time for me to pass the role of IRWS speaker on to someone else to free up my time to pursue other, non-astronomical interests. My Astronomy Day lecture will be the last of my four years worth of teaching.

So I wanted to encourage those members who might be inclined to become star party speakers to attend my talk, which will be about the Chandra X-ray Observatory, including some of its recent observations. This will give you a flavor for what goes on at one of these presentations, as well as the tools that are at your disposal. You'll quickly see just how easy and fun it can be to create and deliver presentations. It would be nice to see some new faces giving the IRWS talks.

 

If you'd like to come and sit in on the presentation, drop me an e-mail. The talk begins at 7:30. If you need directions to IRWS, I can provide you with the details.

meehan@head-cfa.harvard.edu

 

Gary Meehan

 

Planet Roundup

For more information please go to

http://skyandtelescope.com

 

Mercury (about magnitude 0) can be spotted low in the dawn. Look for it near the southeast horizon about 45 minutes before sunrise, far to the lower left of bright Venus. They're separated by 20°, or two fist-widths at arm's length. (You can find your sunrise time by entering your location and time zone into our almanac.)

 

Venus (magnitude –4.3) is the brilliant white "Morning Star" shining low in the southeast before and during dawn.

 

Mars (magnitude +1.3) glows 15° to 20° to Venus's upper right. Look about 5° to Mars's lower right for Mars-like Antares.

 

Jupiter (magnitude –2.6, in Cancer) shines brightly low in the east as twilight fades, then rises higher all evening. For most of the night it's the brightest point of light in the sky — until Venus comes up before dawn.

 

Saturn (magnitude –0.2, in Taurus) shines very high in the southeast during evening — to the upper left of Orion after dusk, and directly above Orion later.

 

Uranus and Neptune are lost in the glare of the Sun.

 

Pluto (magnitude 14, in Ophiuchus) is low in the east-southeast just before dawn.

 

Observing Highlights

 

Wednesday, February 5

Right after dark, look to the right of the waxing crescent Moon by two or three fist-widths for the Great Square of Pegasus. It's currently balanced on one corner.

 

Thursday, February 6

Jupiter's Red Spot transits around 10:04 p.m. EST.

Take a look at Venus with a telescope during early dawn Friday morning, and you'll find 4th-magnitude Mu Sagittarii close by like a little Venusian satellite. They'll be about 2 arcminutes apart as seen from the East Coast of North America, and 9 arcminutes apart by the time dawn comes to the West Coast.


Friday, February 7

Look to the upper right of the Moon this evening, by about 1½ fist-widths at arm's length, for the little constellation Aries.

Saturn's largest moon, 9th-magnitude Titan, can be spotted with a telescope four ring-lengths east of Saturn tonight and tomorrow night.

 

Saturday, February 8

Jupiter's Red Spot transits around 11:42 p.m. EST.

 

For more information please go to

http://skyandtelescope.com

 

Getting to Veasey Memorial Park

 

Text Box: Do not forget to read the articles on The February Club Swap Meet The 2003 Club Elections Found elsewhere in this issue 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 Dave Thomas Membership Director at, email: membership@nsaac.org or contact Mike Deneen, President, e-mail at president@nsaac.org.  No email, call Richard Bickerton, Vice President at 978-887-8533.

Better yet, visit our Web Site at: http://www.nsaac.org.

 

Members who subscribe to Astronomy or Sky and Telescope through the club should send their renewal notice, together with a check in the proper amount payable to the NSAAC and mail to N.S.A.A.C. Treasurer, C/o Veasey Memorial Park, 201 Washington Street, Groveland, MA 01834-2007.   The Treasurer then sends it on to the magazine.

 

E-Mail Listserve

If you have access to the Internet or other email system, 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)

Message: subscribe NSAAC Your Full Name <your-email-name@your-isp.com>

 

Subscribers will be verified as actual members in good standing before being granted access to the system.

 

NOTE: To remove yourself from the email list send the same message but replace subscribe with "unsubscribe" in the message body.

 

Please support those who support us. 

 

Star.net is our Internet service provider, please look them up if you need Internet service.  Additionally, the Phoenix Press in Groveland provides printing services for our monthly newsletter.  Please consider them for any printing needs you may have.