SKYWATCHERS
NEWSLETTER OF THE CHINA LAKE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
Volume 40 No. 3 March 1, 2003
NEXT MEETING 7:30 p.m., Monday, March 3, 2003
Maturango Museum, 100 East Las Flores Avenue, Ridgecrest, California
MARCH 3 MEETING --MESSIER MARATHON MONTH
March is Messier Marathon Month! Let's have an interactive
discussion on the subject, beginning with some basics for newcomers,
and then delving into more advanced topics. Several of our members
are experts on the subject. If you have some advice, experiences, or
pictures, bring them along to share. What is your favorite Messier
object? Editor's Note: Messier objects are a collection of fuzzy
objects in the sky, cataloged by Charles Messier, in order to
differentiate them from the comets which he delighted in finding.
DATES TO KEEP IN MIND
Monday, March 3, 2003: Regular CLAS Meeting at the Maturango Museum
in Ridgecrest, 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, March 26, 2003: Deadline for next Skywatchers Newsletter
Monday, April 7, 2003: Regular CLAS Meeting at the Maturango Museum
in Ridgecrest, 7:30 p.m.
STAR PARTY SCHEDULE FOR THE 2003 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, March 28--Signs out at 7:30 p.m., Star viewing at 8:00 p.m.
Friday, April 25--Signs out at 8:00 p.m., Star viewing at 8:30 p.m.
Friday, May 30--Signs out at 8:30 p.m., Star viewing at 9:00 p.m.
Friday, June 27--Signs out at 8:30 p.m., Star viewing at 9:00 p.m.
Friday, July 25--Signs out at 8:30 p.m., Star viewing at 9:00 p.m.
Friday, August 29--Signs out at 8:00 p.m., Star viewing at 8:30 p.m.
Friday, September 26--Signs out at 7:00 p.m., Star viewing at 8:00 p.m.
Friday, October 24--Signs out at 6:30 p.m., Star viewing at 7:00 p.m.
Friday, November 21--Signs out at 6:30 p.m., Star viewing at 7:00 p.m.
BRIEF ASTRONOMICAL CALENDAR FOR MARCH 2003 (David Hollingsworth)
Mar 2 New Moon 18:35 PST.
Mar 10 First quarter Moon 23:15 PST.
Mar 18 Full Moon (Sap Moon, Crow Moon, or Lenten Moon) 2:34 PST.
Mar 20 Spring (or Vernal) Equinox 17:00 PST.
Mar 24 Last quarter Moon 17:51 PST.
Mar 28 Venus 0.050 N. of Uranus in morning sky (closest
conjunction of major planets this year).
OBSERVING IN MARCH 2003 (David Hollingsworth)
On Friday, the 28th, the night of the first CLAS star party of 2003,
the Sun sets at 18:09 PST and astronomical twilight ends at 19:37.
Unless otherwise stated, descriptions that follow are for observing
on the 28th from Ridgecrest.
Planets: At 19:37 on the 28th, Saturn is 520 high in the west above
the Hyades in Taurus and Jupiter is 710 high in the south in Cancer.
March is another good month to observe Saturn's greatly uptilted
rings. Look for the Cassini division about 2/3 of the way towards
the outer edge; larger scopes may discern the much narrower Encke
Division just inside the rings' outer edge and the faint inner Crepe
ring. Saturn is at east quadrature (900 east of the Sun) on March
13, and therefore casts its shadow farthest to the side of the rings
and has an even more three-dimensional appearance than usual.
Jupiter continues to move closer to M44 (Beehive Cluster). At 18:59
PST on the night of the 28th, Europa occults Callisto for nearly 8
minutes. One hour later, at 19:56 PST, Io eclipses Callisto for 2
minutes.
Binocular and Telescope Highlights: Naturally, a lot of Messiers are
up in March, since this is the month of the Messier Marathon (see
below). By the end of astronomical twilight (19:37 on the 28th), M's
74, 77, 33 (Triangulum/Pinwheel Galaxy), 45 (Pleiades), 34, 35, 36,
37, 38, and 1 (Crab Nebula) in the west; M's 31 (Andromeda Galaxy),
32, 110, 76 (Little Dumbbell Nebula), 103, and 52 in the northwest;
M's 42 (Great Orion Nebula), 43, 78, 79, 41, 50, 46, 47, 48, and 93
in the south; M's 44 (Beehive Cluster), 67, 95, 96, 105, 65, 66, 61,
49, 58, 59, 60, 84, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 98, 99, 100, 85, 53, 64
(Blackeye Galaxy), and 3 in the east; and M's 101 (Pinwheel Galaxy),
102, 51 (Whirlpool Galaxy), 63, 94, 106, 109, 108, 97 (Owl Nebula),
40, 81, and 82 in the northeast. You'd be surprised how many of the
Messiers are visible (and easily found!) through binoculars. They're
all visible in 20x80's. If you know where they are, you can see all
these Messiers in less than an hour. If you stay out till 21:37 on
the 28th, M's 104 (Sombrero Galaxy), 68, 83, 5, 13 (Hercules Cluster)
and 92 will also become visible. Some non-Messiers: Double Cluster,
Pleiades, Rosette Nebula, gamma Andromeda (blue and gold double).
Comets: C/2001 RX14 (LINEAR) in Ursa Major at about 10th magnitude.
See the March 2003 Astronomy magazine for a finder chart.
MESSIER MARATHON (David Hollingsworth)
The Messier Marathon (see
http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/messier/xtra/marathon/marathon.html)
will be conducted again this year on Friday, March 28th (the night of the
March CLAS public star party) from the CLAS star party site off Brown
Rd. southwest of Ridgecrest. David Hollingsworth will be
coordinating the event. Call David Hollingsworth (446-1005 or
d.ahollings@verizon.net) if you need information.
DEATH VALLEY STAR PARTY (David Hollingsworth)
The 2nd Annual ASN Death Valley Star Party is planned for 28-30 March
at the Mesquite Springs Campground near Scotty's Castle. ASN hopes
to be bringing their 20" Obsession and newly rebuilt 24" scopes.
Mesquite Springs campground is a first come first served location (30
sites, water, tables, fireplaces, flush toilets) with
self-registration ($10 per night). Go to the following web site for
details and to sign up: http://www.astronomynv.org/dvsp/.
HAIKU FROM LAURABELL
made of star dust
the twinkle
in her eyes
OBSERVER'S HANDBOOKS ARE HERE-There are still plenty of them.
The Royal Canadian Astronomical Society Observer's Handbooks for 2003
are available. You can arrange for your copy by calling Carroll
Evans at 760-375-5681 or sending an email to clevans@ridgenet.net.
We are selling the handbooks for $15.00. These items together make an
excellent way to plan your astronomical activities for the coming
year.
CAPTURING SOME OF THE LAST MOMENTS OF THE SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA
by David A. Rosenthal, Unintentional Historian
I doubt that my wife Donna and I were the only people in
Ridgecrest who got up to see the Space Shuttle Columbia fly over
before dawn on Saturday morning, February 1st, but as far as I know,
I was the only one who shot a photo.
I receive regular e-mails from Brian Webb, an amateur
astronomer living near Vandenberg AFB who maintains both a web site
(http://home.earthlink.net/~kd6nrp)
and a list server (subscribe by
going to http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/launch-alert)
for providing updates on spacecraft activities. A recent message
described the coming Shuttle re-entry overflight and supplied a NASA
URL where users could enter their geographical coordinates and
receive predictions specific to their location. I'd visited the
site, recorded the times for Ridgecrest, and set the alarm to wake up
in time to capture the flyover.
At 5:53 AM, I was ready with my tripod-mounted Canon
PowerShot S40 digital camera set up in its totally manual mode,
programmed for an effective ISO of 100, a f/5.0 aperture, and an
exposure time of 15 seconds. The spacecraft would move from west to
east across our northern sky, about thirty degrees high; my house is
located at the southern edge of Ridgecrest so I'd be observing across
the glare of the city lights. Nevertheless, the northern sky was
nicely dark with a very thin layer of scattered altocumulus clouds
the stars penetrated well. To the east, the morning twilight had
begun about half an hour earlier.
Exactly as predicted, the Shuttle appeared at 5:54 AM and I
took an initial photo. After the 15-second exposure, the camera
takes about the same amount of time to write the data to its compact
flash card and then displays it for a few seconds on the monitor
screen. As soon as I could, I shot a second photo, this time with
the Shuttle moving across the due north point.
Visually, the spacecraft was a yellowish white in color and
left a pure white trail that seemed to vary in intensity. It even
disappeared for a few seconds, and then reappeared. I couldn't
really discern whether the variation in intensity was due to the thin
cloud layer, irregularities in the tenuous atmosphere at the
Shuttle's altitude (about 40 miles, putting it at the height of the
ionosphere's D-region), or other factors.
After the second exposure, the Shuttle disappeared behind a
particularly thick cloud and vanished into the predawn glow. As far
as we were concerned, the flyover didn't seem unusual at all and we
went back inside so I could extract the images from the camera.
The first shot turned out to be quite dark and essentially
useless but the second (shown here) yielded a good image. The streak
in the sky indeed revealed the brightness fluctuations we'd observed.
The graininess is primarily due to the fact that I'd increased the
camera's video gain from an ISO of 50 to 100.
I sent a copy of the image to Brian and almost immediately
received a message from someone on the list server who had apparently
selected the "Reply All" option on his earlier flyover notification
message from Brian. It described the loss of contact with the
Shuttle.
I turned on the television to see the initial accounts of
what appeared to be the disintegration of the spacecraft.
At that point, I extracted the time of the digital exposure
the camera records along with the photo from my image file, and then
turned on the camera to check its internal clock. Using the
broadcast time from radio station WWV, I obtained a correction to
determine the actual time I took the photo. That turned out to be
5:55:40 AM PST (13:55:40 UTC).
Since then, I've sent a copy of the photo to NASA to aid in
their imaging re-creation of the total time-line.
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--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
NEXT MEETING: 7:30 p.m., MONDAY, MARCH 3, 2003 - "MESSIER MARATHON MONTH"
AT THE MATURANGO MUSEUM, 100 EAST LAS FLORES AVE.
CLAS WEB PAGE