The Celestial Observer February, 1999

Hardy, or foolhardy ? Where were you all on January 8th ? About seven of us made the trek to VMP for the monthly business meeting, which featured a first time showing of Dave Fournier's video and powerpoint presentations.

OK, so there was a little snow. And yes, it took me almost three hours to travel what would normally be a one hour trip. After all, except for Lew Gramer, who continually pines for the warm dark skies of Florida, we seem mostly to be New Englanders by choice. Our rocky coasts and mountains reflect our character and our ability to ignore mother nature's small challenges.

Or, perhaps it reflects the material of which our brains are made, and the smart people are those who stayed home. I hope you can all make it for the February meeting, weather permitting, of course!

We've got a busy couple of months coming up. Elections, kickoff work on MediaOne, the usual variety of star parties and Our 10th Anniversary Party. Details of these and other events are contained elsewhere in the newsletter. Read on! And I hope to see you at several of these events.

Clear Skies to all.

John Gall
President

Salem State College

Please call 978-542-6452 on Monday evenings around 7 pm to see if there is an event taking place. If you are a regular assistant at these events and you want a parking pass for Lot A, please see John Gall.

Merrimack College

The third-Thursday-of-the-month observing sessions are a wonderful opportunity to bring astronomy to the general public. Plus, you can get to use a very high quality observatory with a significant set of observing instruments. The next event is scheduled for February 18, 1999. See Greg Pearce if you have an interest in joining the Merrimack observing corps.

VMP

Locks have been installed on the doors to the club offices. Please see either John Gall or Dave Fournier if you need access to the offices. Our next major workday will take place in the spring, getting ready for the summer season at the Park. We'll be scheduling it for the Saturday following one of our business meetings, so that we can keep close tabs on the participants. VMP provides us with a convenient location and a host of ancillary capacities. Please show up for these important "sweat equity" contributions to the Park.

Tenth Anniversary Party

Mark your calendars for the night of March 13, 1999. On that evening we'll celebrate the 10th year of the NSAAC's existence with a buffet meal, "out of this world" music and a variety of other activities. The evening's event will be free for those who preregister with either Ilane Walberg (781) 596-0556 or John Gall (978-927-1804). If you have an interest in helping with the evening, please give Ilane a call.

Membership Renewals

You should be receiving membership renewals in the mail any day now. As has been the case for the past several years, dues will stay the same at $18 per year. Included with the renewal form is a survey that we are circulating to better understand what is important to the membership. We've got a pretty good idea of what the regulars want - but for those who are only periodic visitors to club events, we'd like to know just what it is that interests you, and how we can assist. Please send the survey back with your membership renewal.

Magazine Subscriptions

Astronomy magazine has recently changed its subscription renewal policy. Instead of doing a mass renewal once a year, Astronomy subscriptions are now expiring on a monthly basis. As with Sky and Telescope, you should renew through the club in order to get your discount. Simply follow the instructions on the renewal form, and send it along to Chris McCarthy.

Club Goods

We have T-shirts and other items that no self-respecting astronomer should be without. See Dennis Gudzevich for them. 1999 calendars were a hot selling item. See Chris McCarthy if you need one - if he has any left.

Observing opportunities

There are several spectacular conjunctions coming up this month that warrant our collective attention. On the night of February 18th, Jupiter, Venus and the crescent moon will be relatively close to one another just after sunset. On the night of February 23rd, Jupiter and Venus will be only one tenth of a degree apart, easily visible in the field of view of most scopes. What a way to announce the coming of the millennium! On both evenings, the planets set relatively early. So, it is advisable to get out early (before 7 pm) to view the events.

We'll be doing star parties the night before and after the 23rd, which should give us the opportunity to view a relatively close conjunction of the two planets. See the calendar, and come join us at these events.

Business Meeting Minutes for the Meeting of January 8, 1999.

There wasn't much of one, with a little snow causing a lot of travel trouble. About eight people showed up. We voted to put $300 towards the 10th Anniversary evening, and we previewed Dave Fournier's video presentations. We adjourned at about 8:40 pm.

John Gall
Secretary UP

Club Elections

Elections for club offices for the upcoming year will be held during the March business meeting. If you are interested in running for office, please see Gary Fenton, who is serving as the chairman of the nominating committee.

There are several opportunities for officer positions that could use your help. Secretary, newsletter editor and membership director are especially in need of help. Officers get their own, personalized business cards among other benefits. All kidding aside, serving as an officer of this club is a rewarding and exciting experience. Give it a thought, and give Gary a call at 978-975-9846

Directions to the NSAAC Observing Site

The NSAAC meets regularly on clear Friday nights in Groveland, MA at Veasey Memorial Park, 201 Washington Street. Observing begins around dusk throughout the year. If the sky is only marginally clear, members may not be present to observe on that night. Monthly business meetings are held on the first night Friday of the month at 8:00 p.m.

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, call Barrie Sawyer, Membership Director at 978-922-0489 or contact John Gall, President, e-mail at M104@aol.com. Better yet, visit our Web Site at:

http://www.nsaac.org.

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.

Lastly, we'd like to make special note of those people who have made generous contributions in support of the SHARE program, including Putnam Investments, Lucent Technologies and that inestimable gentleman, Harry Chase at F. C. Meichsner Co, in Boston. If you need to equip a telephone company see Lucent. If you need a telescope, see Harry.

How Good is your Eyesight ?

From Mel Bartel's www astronomy page

The Pleiades Star Cluster, known as Messier 45, often called the "Seven Sisters", is the most famous galactic star cluster in the heavens, revered from antiquity.

According to Richard Allen's "Star-Names and their Meanings", the Pleiades seem to be the among the first star mentioned in astronomical literature, appearing in Chinese annals of 2357 B.C. Job is thought to refer to them twice in his word Kimah. The Egyptians called them Chu and said that they represent the goddess Nit. Burnham's Celestial Handbook, Vol III relates an interesting American Indian legend connecting the Pleiades to Devil's Tower. The Kiowa say that the Tower was raised by the Great Spirit to protect seven Indian maidens pursued by giant bears, the maidens afterwards being placed in the heavens for protection, and the bears' claw marks seen today in the vertical striations on the Tower's sides. There are many wonderful references to the Pleiades in tradition and literature, I recommend reading the two books that I have cited.

The Pleiades is an open cluster drifting through space at a distance of 410 lightyears, in a SSE direction at an apparent rate of 6 arcseconds per century, or about 25 miles per second. In 30,000 years, the cluster will show an apparent drift the width of the Moon.

As with any challenging observing project, be prepared to spend many hours over weeks, months and years. Each time you come back, you will be a bit more familiar and see a tiny bit more. For instance, it was years before I succeeded in seeing the Cone Nebula in a 24". Most of the time, when observing at, or just beyond, the limits of what's observable, you will fail. But every so often, you succeed. Perhaps Skinner's chickens, pecking furiously at random reinforcement, at last have their revenge!

You must absolutely get to the darkest most transparent skies at highest altitude you possibly can. Wait until the Pleiades transits. Get a lawn chair and blanket and commit an hour or two each observing session.

Learn the positions of the Pleiades by studying star atlases. Just like you find the Andromeda Galaxy by finding the great square, then two over, then two up, know where to look in the Pleiades. Most star atlases that I have seen draw a fairly tight circle, about 1.5 degrees, around the Pleiades. Any star inside is countable.

Burnhams, in Volume III, page 1874, is correct when he states that,

"There are at least 20 star in the group which might be glimpsed under the finest conditions, having a brightness just below usual unaided-eye range;" This is true, but the next clause is not true, where he goes on to say,

"the crowded massing of the stars, however, makes this impossible." Actually, the star separations are far greater than the unaided-eye resolution of 1-2 arc minutes. You can test your own unaided-eye resolution by looking at Epsilon Lyra. You should see two adjoining specks of light. If you see clear black in between, your resolution limit is closer to 1 arc minute, if you See the specks as an elongated star, you resolution limit is closer to 3 arc minutes. The average resolution is supposed to be 2 arc minutes, but I have found when asking people at star parties to tell me what they see, most of them do not see clear black in between, indeed many do not see an elongation.

Break apart the Pleiades into regions. Start with the brightest four stars of the square: Alcyone, Merope, Maia, and Electra. Next find Taygeta, Celaeno, and Atlas. Right on top of Atlas is BU Tauri, a variable star that ranges from 4.8 to 5.5 magnitude.

Probably the biggest problem in going for faint stars in the Pleiades is the nebulosity. In good dark skies, you should see the Pleiades enveloped in a fairly bright solid glow. This is similar to the problem of the central star in the Ring Nebula, where it too is embedded in a faint glow of the ring's interior. The central star in the ring is supposedly at 15.5 to 16 magnitude, but it is more difficult than a stand alone 15.5 star to see. You can see faint stars in nebulosity, but it takes more effort and time.

Now, you are at 8 stars and ready for the next level. Just above Maia are two stars close together, 21 and 22 Tauri, at 5.8 and 6.4 magnitude. A little to the east is an unnamed 6.7 magnitude star, easier to see because it is by itself. The most extreme north star is 18 Tauri, a 5.6 magnitude star just on the edge of our circle.

Between Maia and Alcyone is a star of 7.1 magnitude. Just to the north of Alcyone is a line extending to the east of three stars, magnitudes 7.4, 7.3, and 6.2. South of Alcyone are two stars, magnitude 7.0 and 7.3. Much further to the south, right at the edge of our circle, is a 5.5 magnitude star. Between this star and 27 Tauri to the northeast are 3 stars of 6.1, 6.7, and 7.2 magnitude.

You are now over 20 stars in the count! We have 11 stars brighter than 6.0, 14 stars brighter than 6.5, 16 stars brighter than 7.0, and 22 stars brighter than 7.5. In dark skies, you should catch 13-14 stars, in very dark skies, up to 17 stars, and in exception skies over the years, more than 20 stars.

My personal standard is to record three observations before I count it as real. An observation may only consist of a several second 'popping into view' in the most extreme cases.

Also, as time goes by, one gains a certain ability to guess how an observation might go. One can look at a field, and almost instantly tell if the observation is a possibility. There are many objects that Barbara Wilson, Stephen O'Meara, and the other gifted deep sky observers have seen, that I am still trying my darndest to see!