The Celestial Observer

 

Newsletter of the North Shore Amateur Astronomy Club

 

 

January, 2003

 

To Download This Months Newsletter Click Here 

 

From the President

 

At the close of the year, I’d like to use this space to once again thank all the members who have contributed so much of their time and effort to the club. We wouldn’t have much of a club without these folks; committee persons Jim Foy and Dennis Gudzevich, board members Dave Fournier, Dave Thomas, Rich Bickerton and John Hobbs, and Members at large Kevin Ackert and Lew Gramer have all volunteered their time and resources for the benefit of us all.

 

I also want to take a minute to mention something new I’m trying. As part of my effort to enjoy astronomy under the broadest possible range of conditions, I’ve recently joined AAVSO, the American Association of Variable Star Observers. If you’ve read Leonard Peltier’s Starlight Nights, you’ve heard of these folks (and if you haven’t read this book yet, you should). AAVSO members periodically observe and record the activities of variable stars, measuring their brightness against nearby stars of known magnitude. People observe with all sizes and types of scopes, in all kinds of locations, and contribute this data to an enormous database used by scientists and professional astronomers worldwide. 

 

For a small membership fee I got a CD full of star charts, and a pile of instructions.  I have no idea how hard it will be to find some of these particular stars, let alone judge their magnitude with any accuracy, but I’ll let you know how this goes (the carbon star t lyrae is a long-period variable, so I know where to look for at least one). This looks like a fun way to add actual scientific contribution to the pure joy of observing.

 

Speaking of observing, January 3rd is a new moon, so if the weather holds up we should have some good observing time after the meeting.  Dennis Gudzevich has lined up a presentation on lunar mapping software, and this will be the last business meeting before the great 2003 swap meet, so you might want to come and get some details. I hope to see you there.

 

Mike Deneen

President

 

 

NSAAC Swap Meet

 

This is the fourth reminder about the great NSAAC swap meet, to be held on February 7, 2003 at Veasey Memorial Park. You are invited to bring any astronomical stuff you wish to sell or trade. You are welcome to show up to buy, or just to look. I have a list of items spanning a large range of astronomical needs that will be offered up at the swap meet. A partial list of items that will be at the event are as follows: telescopes, mounts, tripods, eyepieces, books, star atlases, observing tables, and other odds and ends.

 

We will set up a series of tables to share for the swap meet. If you feel that you will need an entire table to yourself, please let me know as soon as possible. Tables will be in short supply that evening. Also, if you have an item that you think you would like to list in advance, such as a mount, or a scope, etc., let me know. I will not list the particular item as such, but I will indicate that items of that type will be at the swap meet. The idea here isn’t to give one person an advantage, but to get the attention of anyone who might be interested in such an item. The more people that show up for the swap meet, the better it will be for scheduling future events of this type. If you would like to sell a large item, such as a telescope, but find it’s too big to bring along, you can bring a picture, or write up a full description of the item, along with full contact information and asking price, and place it on one of the swap tables that night.

 

We want to make this a great swap meet, so mark your calendars, and keep checking your astronomy closets. I will post a final announcement about the swap meet in the February newsletter. Don’t miss out on your chance to pick up a real bargain. I can be reached at dgudzevich@attbi.com if you wish to contact me. I can also be reached at the January meeting, or on Friday observing sessions at Veasey.

 

Dennis Gudzevich

Program Coordinator

 

 

Business Meeting Minutes for the December, 2002 Meeting of the NSAAC

 

There was no Quorum for the December meeting, meeting was informational only.

 

Old Business:

A cut off switch was installed on the light on the corner of the building at Veasey to help with observing. As always the last person leaving the observing area should turn the switch back on.

Temple Ner Tamid sent a donation of $200.00 along with a thank you letter from Rabbi David Klatzer PHD

 

New Business:

Extending the membership age was discussed. Several proposals were presented including those from Barrie Sawyer and Dennis Gudzevich. The proposals ranged from dropping the membership age down to 16 with a junior membership from age 12 to 16, to having the junior membership range from 12-18. A reduced fee was suggested for the junior membership. Lew Gramer voiced a concern about members 16 to 18 driving to club events. A waiver or parental agreement form to be kept on record was suggested.

In an informal vote, over three quarters of the members present seemed to favor the sidewalk observing proposal. Keeping a stack of club brochures and placing a sign with the club name at the observing site were recommended.

 

Dennis Gudzevich brought up that Sean Bryant of Boston Telescope was interested in doing a cable access show on club activities and would be interested in filming an observing session.

 

Presentation:

Dennis Gudzevich gave a talk on the Meade LXD55 mount. Dennis gave a good accounting of the pros and cons of this piece of hardware.

 

Highlights:

The highlight of the meeting was the recitation by Tal Mental of The Night Before Christmas and Sam McGee. As always our thanks go out to Tal for providing such wonderful entertainment.

 

Star Party News

Wednesday, January 8, 2003, we will host our next star party at the Mary D. Altavesta School, 990 Main Street, Woburn, MA.  Set-up is 6:30 pm for telescopes and the program.  About 100 people are expected to learn about “Our solar system" plus "How to find constellations".  The program will last 30 to 45 minutes.  Observations will start at 7:45 pm and last until about 9:00PM.  The star party will not be cancelled for weather.

 

Please help with the star party by bringing a telescope.  We were at this school two years ago and the school supported the activity very well.

 

Directions to Altavesta School:

The school is located at 990 Main Street, Woburn, which is Route #38.  Route #38 is exit #35 off Route 128 South. Take exit #35 off 128 and go north towards Wilmington.  After the second traffic light the school is on the left about 1/3 of a mile and set in behind a soccer field. There is a sign on the driveway entrance.

 

James Foy

Star Party Coordinator

 

Talk for January

 

Mike Deneen, our speaker from last month, was unable to do the presentation on his Meade LXD55, model AR-5, go-to, five-inch achromatic refractor, due to a business emergency. By happenstance I had borrowed his LXD55 mount and was asked to step in to do his talk on it. I tried to describe the basic operation, and give some pros and cons on the mount from my brief use of it. Hopefully I was successful and didn’t dissuade anyone from purchasing one, as overall they are a good bargain. I also tried to do a virtual talk on his tube assembly based on information Mike had e-mailed me. I’m sure that we can get him to do a follow up on his scope if anyone wants him to.

 

We are honored to have a guest speaker from outside of our club this month. His name is Hung Pham. Mr. Pham graduated from the Massachusetts Maritime Academy with a B.S. Degree in Marine Transportation. He is currently an active US Coast Guard Third Mate with an Unlimited Ocean License. He worked as a marine navigator on various US Navy oceanographic research vessels throughout the Far East, Europe, Middle East, and Africa, before joining (RITI) Reading Information Technology, Inc. as Product and Service Manager. He is a technical specialist in (GIS) Global Information System related Mapping Products, which include paper navigation charts, digital charts, and astronomical mapping.

 

Mr. Pham will demo and talk about his company’s software package called Lunar Map ProTM. This is RITI’s latest mapping product, and their first product ever developed for astronomy enthusiasts, who have a passion for lunar observing. Nearly 13,000 features have been digitalized, and combined, from various lunar data sources. The named features alone total more than 7,300, making Lunar Map ProTM the product with the largest and most complete software database ever developed for the observation of the moon. Its use of “state-of-the-art” GIS vector technology, combined with high-resolution Clementine raster maps, makes Lunar Map ProTM the most advanced lunar mapping software available to date. For more details on this package, please visit:

 http://www.riti.com/prodserv_lunarmappro.htm or call RITI at 781-942-1655.

 

I am also looking for more volunteers to speak at future general meetings about their scopes and other astronomical subjects. The scope talks don’t have to be positive reviews. You can talk about a scope you really hate. The purpose of these talks will be to acquaint other members of the club with different scopes, binoculars, or scope projects, so that they can make an informed decision as to whether they wish to acquire, or make, one for themselves. We also accept volunteers to speak on other topics, such as mounts, CCDs, photographic techniques, astronomy trips, the ten things that got them interested in astronomy, etc. Giving a talk can be a lot of fun. In addition, I’m looking for non-members willing to do a talk on astronomy related subjects. If you know of anyone, please contact me at (781) 438-7375, or at dgudzevich@attbi.com, or at the general business meetings, or at the VMP observing site on partly cloudy to clear Friday evenings.

 

Dennis Gudzevich

Program Coordinator

 

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 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.