SKYWATCHER Newsletter of the China Lake Astronomical Society Volume 36 No. 7 July 5, 1999 NEXT GENERAL MEETING 7:30 p.m., Monday, July 12, 1999 BUSINESS MEETING STARTS AT 7:00 p.m. Maturango Museum, 100 East Las Flores Avenue, Ridgecrest TOUR THE SUMMER SKY WITH DAVID HOLLINGSWORTH "A Tour of the Summer Sky" is the title of David Hollingsworth's talk for the July 12th meeting of the China Lake Astronomical Society (CLAS). Hollingsworth, CLAS Vice President, will show how to locate the most popular (and some not-so-popular) star clusters, nebulas, and galaxies visible locally during the summer months. Typical black and white images of these objects--such as what you might expect to see with a small telescope--as well as color CCD images and photos will be shown. DATES TO KEEP IN MIND July 12, 1999: Regular CLAS Meeting at the Maturango Museum, 7:30 p.m. (Business meeting at 7:00 p.m.) Friday, July 9, 1999: Star Party, see schedule below. Wednesday, July 21, 1999: Deadline for next Skywatchers Newsletter Monday, August 2, 1999: Regular CLAS Meeting at the Maturango Museum in Ridgecrest, 7:30 p.m. Friday, August 13, 1999: Star Party. STAR PARTY SCHEDULE FOR THE 1999 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 619-375-5681, or Bruce Churchill 619-375-7247, for more information. Friday, July 9--Signs out at 8:30 p.m., Star viewing at 9:00 p.m. Saturday, July 10--First Light Observatory, Inyokern, Star Party at dusk. Call Jim Leonard 377-3474. Friday, August 13--Signs out at 8:00 p.m., Star viewing at 8:30 p.m. Friday, September 10--Signs out at 7:30 p.m., Star viewing at 8:00 p.m. Friday, October 8--Signs out at 7:00 p.m., Star viewing at 7:30 p.m. Friday, November 5--Signs out at 6:30 p.m., Star viewing at 7:00 p.m. OUTREACH PROGRAMS Tillie Creek campfire programs are scheduled for Saturday, June 12 and Saturday August 14. Contact Carroll Evans for details. Neal Barry will be coordinating slide shows and telescope viewing at the Black Rock Ranger Station. Contact him at 375-3283. CLAS members have been busy taking astronomy on the road. On Saturday evening June 12 we did a presentation at the Tillie Creek campground in Wofford Heights. Neal Barry took his 8-inch telescope, Carroll Evans took the CLAS 12.5 Meade Dobsonian, and David Hollingsworth took his new 20-inch Obsession. A full house viewed the slide show presented by Carroll Evans, followed by telescope viewing. August 14 is our next Tille Creek show. Then, a week later, Neal Barry, Roger Young, David Hollingsworth, John Veazey, and Jim Leonard went to the Black Rock Ranger Station, above Kennedy Meadows. David gave the slide show, and then the public looked through the telescopes. The next Black Rock show will be July 10th. On Monday June 28 Carroll Evans gave the slide show and talk to a room full of enthusiastic Ridgecrest youth. It was the start of Solar System study week at the City's annual day camp. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * REPORT ON THE MAY 1999 STAR PARTY Bruce Churchill Our May 1999 star party was held on the 14th. It was a windy night, but the sky was mostly clear. This combination affords good naked-eye viewing, but telescope images were blurred. We had several newcomers from Ken Pringle's astronomy class and Alex Shlanta's earth science class at Cerro Coso Community College. Venus and Mars were in great position for viewing, but the wind was too much to allow any surface or atmospheric features to be seen. Ursa Major is perfectly placed for viewing in may. We saw M81, M82, M98, M101, and M108. Virgo is similarly well placed in the south, but it was more difficult to shield the telescopes from the wind in that direction so observations were limited. We did see M4l9, and M104, the Sombrero Galaxy. Other observations included M3 and M51 (Whirlpool Galaxy) in Canes Venatici, M13 and M92 in Hercules, M57 (The Ring Nebula in Lyra), M44 (Beehive) and M67 in Cancer. REPORT ON THE JUNE 1999 STAR PARTY Bruce Churchill Our June star party was held on Friday, June 11, 1999. There were some clouds and breeze at sunset, but conditions improved throughout the evening, and the viewing was mostly good. There was a good turnout, and there were several telescopes including Dave Hollingsworth's new 20-inch giant. Venus was the first object to appear near its greatest elongation. Beginning near the pole star we observed M81 (Bode's Galaxy), M82 (Exploding Galaxy), and M97 (Owl Nebula) in Ursa Major. M51 (Whirlpool Galaxy) was impressive in Canes Venatici. Albireo, the orange and blue double star at the south end of Cygnus, was spectacular. M57 (Ring Nebula) was observed in Lyra. The M13 globular cluster was good again in Hercules this month. M44 (Beehive) is best under low power in Cancer. The M65 and M66 spiral galaxies in Leo were observed in the same field. Moving into the southern sky the M49 and M104 (Sombrero) galaxies were observed in Virgo. Also in Virgo was a near occultation of Mars and Spica. In Sagittarius, we saw M8 (Lagoon Nebula), M17 (Swan Nebula), M20 (Trifid Nebula), and the M24 star cloud. Scorpius provided us with views of the M4 globular cluster, the M6 (Butterfly) open cluster, and the M7 open cluster. An eye-catching green fireball appeared in the east about 11 p.m. ITEMS FOR SALE Chris Quinnert, 760-376-2686 (after 4:00 p.m.) has a 10" f 4.5 Newtonian Dobsonian for sale. The mirror was made by Newport Glass Works. Sonotube construction. $375.00 is the asking price. Steve Davis has a Meade 10-inch F 6.3 LX200 telescope for sale, with lots of accessories: Super Wedge, Meade 26 mm, 12 mm, and 9 mm illuminated reticle, Celestron 12.5 mm and 17 mm Plossl, Diagonal Prism,2x Meade Barlow, off-axis guider, 12 volt auto adapter, nebular and moon filters, Minolta and Pentax camera adapters, and camera mount. $3,350. All I have is Steve's email address davissm@ridgenet.net. If you don't have email, call Carroll Evans at 375-5681, and I will get you in touch with Steve. A LINK YOU CAN TRY: http://www.laspositas.cc.ca.us/lpc/courses/harpell/astrlink.html HIGH COUNTRY STAR PARTIES Contact David Gregg, 760-375-3932 for information about star parties held at our dark sky location high in the mountains to the west. Call David for details, and for directions to the winter site to the south. MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION! Basic CLAS dues are $8.00 per year, which includes the Skywatchers Newsletter. As a benefit of membership you may receive Astronomy Magazine and/or Sky and Telescope Magazine.The fee schedule is as follows: Basic membership $8.00 per year Membership with Astronomy magazine $32.00 per year Membership with Sky and Telescope magazine $38.00 per year Membership with both S & T and Astronomy $62.00 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 - David Hollingsworth - 446-1005 (email hollings@ridgenet.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) CLAS home page http://www1.iwvisp.com/brower/clas.html Meetings of the China Lake Astronomical Society are normally 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 FIRST CLASS NEXT MEETING: 7:30 p.m. MONDAY, JULY 12, 1999 AT THE MATURANGO MUSEUM, 100 EAST LAS FLORES.