SKYWATCHERS
NEWSLETTER OF THE CHINA LAKE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
Volume 39 No. 11 November 1, 2002
NEXT MEETING 7:30 p.m., Monday, November 4, 2002
Maturango Museum, 100 East Las Flores Avenue, Ridgecrest, California
NOVEMBER 4 MEETING-Telescope Observing Basics
Experienced CLAS member observers will lead a discussion on basic
observing techniques. Topics will include advantages and
disadvantages of different telescopes, finding your way around the
night sky, eyepiece selection, techniques for working at the
eyepiece, and specialized equipment to enhance your observing
experience. A variety of members' telescopes will be on display and
will be used to illustrate discussion points. The program is
oriented toward beginning observers.
DATES TO KEEP IN MIND
Friday, November 1, 2002: CLAS public Star Party. See below.
Monday, November 4, 2002: Regular CLAS Meeting at the Maturango
Museum in Ridgecrest, 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, November 20, 2002: Deadline for next Skywatchers Newsletter
Monday, December 2, 2002: Regular CLAS Meeting at the Maturango
Museum in Ridgecrest, 7:30 p.m.
No more star parties until March 2003.
STAR PARTY SCHEDULE FOR THE 2002 SEASON:
Star Parties will be held on the dates listed below. Star Parties
are an activity where members and guests join together to share views
of the skies. If you have a telescope, bring it. If not, come and
look through someone else's. Star parties are held at a site in the
open desert south of Ridgecrest. To reach the star party site from
Ridgecrest, go south on China Lake Boulevard 6.5 miles from its
intersection with Ridgecrest Boulevard. Continue straight across
Highway 395 and you will be on Brown Road (Old Highway 395). Follow
Brown Road as it curves to the right and goes west. After 2.3 miles
there will be a 30-inch orange cone on the left. Turn left and
follow the dirt road marked by 12-inch cones. The CLAS Star party is
0.5 miles along this road. Watch for signs and cones, which will be
put out about a half-hour before viewing starts. Call Carroll Evans
760-375-5681, or Bruce Churchill 760-375-7247, for more information.
Friday, November 1--Signs out at 6:30 p.m., Star viewing at 7:00 p.m.
A REMINDER ABOUT CLUB ELECTIONS
The China Lake Astronomical Society elections will be held at the
December 2 meeting. Please consider being an officer.
BRIEF ASTRONOMICAL CALENDAR FOR NOVEMBER 2002 (David Hollingsworth)
Nov 4 New Moon.
Nov 11 First quarter Moon.
Nov 18 Leonid Meteor Shower; best time for west coast USA is
2:30 a.m. morning of Nov 19.
Nov 20 Full Moon.
Nov 27 Last quarter Moon.
From Earl Towson's email:
LEONID METEOR SHOWER PREDICTIONS: NASA scientists have just released
new predictions for the 2002 Leonid meteor storm. Leonid meteor
storms happen when Earth plows through clouds of dusty debris shed by
comet 55/P Tempel-Tuttle. Right now Earth is heading for two such
clouds. "We'll collide with both of them on Tuesday, Nov. 19th. The
first cloud will cause a flurry of meteors over Europe at about 0400
UT (8:00 p.m. PST). We expect sky watchers in the countryside (away
from bright city lights) to see between 500 and 1000 Leonids per
hour." Earth will plow into the second cloud about six hours later
(1030 UT or 2:30 a.m. PST) and cause an even bigger outburst over
North America. "Observers here in the United States could see as
many as 2000 per hour." Other parts of the world will be sprinkled
with Leonids, too, but nothing like Europe or North America. If the
predictions are correct, observers in Asia, Australia, South America
and much of Africa will count no more than a few dozen bright meteors
in a one-hour span. Observers on the ISS and on Earth will be
equally bothered during this year's shower by a glaring full Moon.
"Moonlight will reduce the number of Leonids seen by some factor
between 2 and 5."
FULL STORY at
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2002/09oct_leonidsforecast.htm?list 55866
OBSERVING IN NOVEMBER 2002 (David Hollingsworth)
With the new Moon on the 4th, the best evening observing will be from
28 Oct through 7 Nov. On the 1st, the night of the CLAS public star
party, the sun sets at 16:55 and end of astronomical twilight is at
18:22.
Planets: At the end of astronomical twilight on the 1st, Uranus and
Neptune are at their highest (about 35:) in the south in Capricorn.
Saturn doesn't rise in the east for another hour and a half. By
22:30 Saturn (located about 40 from M35) will be high enough (about
30:) for fairly decent views. Views of Saturn should be rewarding,
since its rings are currently open just about as wide as possible.
The best views of Jupiter are still in the early morning hours, as
Jupiter doesn't get high enough for viewing until well after midnight.
Binocular and Telescope Highlights: For the Messiers, the planetary
nebulae M27 (Dumbbell Nebula) and M57 (Ring Nebula) are the
highlights in the west; globular clusters M30, M15, and M2 are in the
highlights in the south; and spiral galaxies M31 (Andromeda Galaxy)
and M33 (Triangulum/Pinwheel Galaxy) are the highlights in the east.
Non-Messier highlights for November include Cr 399 (Brocchi's
Cluster, or Coathanger Cluster, OC in Vul), NGC 7293 (Helix Nebula,
PN in Aqr); NGC 253 (Sculptor Galaxy, about 7: south of beta Cet);
NGC 246 (PN, about 6: north of beta Cet); gamma And (a nice yellow
and blue double, 9.58' separation); and NGC 869/884 (Double Cluster,
in Per).
Comets: None this month.
Consult your star charts, computer programs, magazines, and
observer's handbooks for other deep sky observing suggestions.
FIRST LIGHT OBSERVATORY
Jim Leonard will hold monthly public lectures and viewing at his home
observatory. These events will be held on the Saturday evenings
following the CLAS Friday evening Brown Road Star Parties. Call Jim
at 760-377-3474 to check on the date and to get directions. Jim has
an observatory building with a roll off roof.
REPORT ON OCTOBER 4, 2002 STAR PARTY (Bruce Churchill)
Cloudy.
FOR SALE
Meade Pictor 416XTE enhances CCD camera-One year old but like new
with SCSI card and cable for PC and Adaptec PCMCIA SlimSCSI CARDBUS
for Laptop for downloads faster than parallel port. Includes CCD
camera, Control Box, hard carry case, Meade 201xt CCD Autoguider, PC
and Laptop SCSI cards and cables for fast downloads, extra camera
cable, car lighter power cables, PictoView camera control software,
Image 2000, Adaptec SCSI drivers. This camera uses the same chip as
the SBIG ST-7e and produces excellent images. Nearly New; only used
this camera for about six months. Selling to finance upgrade.
Approximately $2400 invested. Sell for $1350. This could be you
chance to get in on CCD imaging with a good, nearly-new camera at a
great price. Call Claude Wood at 760-377-5558.
ADVENTURES IN LEARNING (Carroll Evans)
Once again Harvey and Leatrice Sololoff and their group have visited
Ridgecrest as part of an Adventures in Learning tour. Once again it
was a pleasure to host the parents and children for an astronomical
presentation at the Maturango Museum. Clouds during the day did not
bode well for using the Museum's Observatory. However, the clouds
dissipated enough to allow viewing of several objects, including the
first quarter moon and various M-objects. This year's adventure
included the Gem and Mineral weekend at Trona, those down-to-earth
activities being contrasted with the celestial views provided by the
telescope. Viewing through the telescope was preceded by a slide
show and question and answer session.
My thanks to Chuck Morgan and Roger Brower for operating the
observatory, and to Harvey and Leatrice for their generous donation
to the China Lake Astronomical Society. Special Note: The hot
chocolate was excellent.
MORE OUTREACH
Rich Burdge, one of our Kernville members, now has one of the club
Dobsonians. He used it for the Astronomy Awareness Program at the
Kern County Library in Lake Isabella. Rick Crockett and Jim Spellman
also provided materials for the event. More than 30 school children
were present; they were able to view the moon, in spite of the
clouds.
NEWSLETTER CONTRIBUTIONS NEEDED
This is the club newsletter, and members' participation is
encouraged. Email submission is preferred, but even markings on
stone tablets will be transcribed.
MORE FROM EARL TOWSON
QUAOAR: (KWAH-o-ar) - NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has measured the
largest object in the solar system ever seen since the discovery of
Pluto 72 years ago. Approximately half the size of Pluto, the icy
world is called "Quaoar" (pronounced kwa-whar) 2002 LM60. Quaoar is
about 4 billion miles away, more than a billion miles farther than
Pluto. Like Pluto, The object circles the sun every 288 years.
Quaoar's orbit is tilted by 7.9 degrees. Quaoar dwells in the Kuiper
belt, an icy belt of comet-like bodies extending 7 billion miles
beyond Neptune's orbit. Although smaller than Pluto, Quaoar is
greater in volume than all the asteroids combined (though probably
only one-third the mass of the asteroid belt, because it's icy rather
than rocky). Quaoar's composition is theorized to be largely ices
mixed with rock, not unlike the makeup of a comet, though 100 million
times greater in volume. It is a 18.5-magnitude object creeping
across the summer constellation Ophiuchus (it's less than 1/100,000
the brightness of the faintest star seen by the human eye).
Discovers propose naming it after a creation god of the Native
American Tongva tribe, the original inhabitants of the Los Angeles
basin.
MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION!
Basic CLAS dues are $20.00 per year, which includes the Skywatchers
Newsletter. As a benefit of membership you may also receive
Astronomy Magazine and/or Sky and Telescope Magazine. The fee
schedule is as follows:
Basic membership $20.00 per year
Membership with Astronomy magazine $44.00 per year
Membership with Sky and Telescope magazine $50.00 per year
Membership with both S & T and Astronomy $74.00 per year
Send your check to: Carroll Evans, Treasurer, China Lake Astronomical
Society, P.O. Box 1783, Ridgecrest, CA 93556.
PRESIDENT - Roger Brower - 760-375-1181 (email brower@iwvisp.com)
VICE-PRESIDENT - Bruce Churchill - 760-375-7247 (email
bchurchill@atsecure.net)
SECRETARY - Don Bell - 760-371-7739
TREASURER - Carroll Evans (email clevans@ridgenet.net)
NEWSLETTER EDITOR - Carroll Evans Jr. - 760-375-5681 (email
clevans@ridgenet.net)
WESTERN AMATEUR ASTRONOMERS WEB SITE
Meetings of the China Lake Astronomical Society are held at the
Maturango Museum at 7:30 p.m. on the first Monday evening of each
month, except when the first Monday is a holiday.
SKYWATCHERS
Newsletter of the
CHINA LAKE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
POST OFFICE BOX 1783
RIDGECREST, CA 93556-1783
NOV MEETING: 7:30 p.m., MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2002 - " Telescope
Observing Basics "
AT THE MATURANGO MUSEUM, 100 EAST LAS FLORES AVE.
CLAS WEB PAGE