Volume 40 No. 9 September 1, 2003
NEXT MEETING 7:30 p.m., Monday, September 8, 2003
Maturango Museum, 100 East
Las Flores Avenue, Ridgecrest, California
SEPTEMBER 8 MEETING :
Since Mars is on
everyone’s mind let’s talk about our experiences with the Red Planet’s closest
approach. Some slides from the Viking
probe will be on hand. If you have some
pictures or stories bring them along.
Do you remember the previous close approach?
DATES TO KEEP IN MIND
Monday, September 8,
2003: Regular CLAS Meeting at the
Maturango Museum in Ridgecrest, 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, September 24. 2003:
Deadline for next Skywatchers Newsletter
Friday, September 26, 2003 – Star Party, see below.
Monday, October 6, 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,
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 SEPTEMBER 2003 (David Hollingsworth)
Sept
3 First quarter Moon.
Sept
10 Full Moon (Harvest Moon;
also Fruit Moon).
Sept
18 Third
quarter Moon.
Sept 23 Fall
Equinox at 3:47 PDT.
Sept 24 Zodiacal
Light visible in east before morning twilight for next two weeks.
Sept
25 New Moon.
Sept
26 Mercury at greatest western
elongation (18°); best morning view in 2003.
OBSERVING IN SEPTEMBER 2003 (David Hollingsworth)
With
the new Moon on the 25th, the best deep sky observing will be from
the 18th through the 29th. The CLAS public star party will be held on Friday, the 26th. On the 26th, the Sun sets at
18:42 and the end of astronomical twilight is at 20:07. Unless otherwise stated, the comments below
apply to observing on the 26th from Ridgecrest.
Planets:
Mercury will be very low in the East before sunrise late this
month. Venus will not be easily visible
this month. Mars will be the highlight
planet again this month. Mars starts
September at magnitude –2.9 and 25” and ends the month at –2.1 and 21”. Mars rises early enough in September to be
at its highest in the south before 11 p.m.
Uranus (mag. 5.7) is just a few degrees northwest of Mars. Neptune (mag. 7.9) is located about 20° west
of Mars. Pluto is probably already too
low in the southwest to hunt down.
Jupiter, Mercury, and Venus start September grouped closely near the
Sun. Jupiter gains a little separation
westward from the Sun by month’s end.
Saturn, located about 50° west of Jupiter in Gemini, is visible in the
morning hours.
Binocular and Telescope Highlights: There are just too many fine objects this
time of year to mention them all. Many
hours can be spent just scanning the Milky Way from Sagittarius in the
southwest to Perseus in the northeast with binoculars. However, here are some specific objects to
look for. Many can be seen in
binoculars, however, the smaller, fainter objects will be more enjoyed through
larger telescopes. In the west, look for alpha Her (colorful
double, 4.9” separation, near the northern edge of Ophiuchus), GC’s M13 (the
Hercules Cluster) and M92 (one of our Galaxy’s oldest globulars) in Hercules,
and the Ring Nebula (M57) in Lyra. In
the southwest, look for the Wild Duck Cluster (M11) in Scutum, the Eagle Nebula
(M16) in Serpens, and the Swan Nebula (M17), the Trifid Nebula (M20), the
Lagoon Nebula (M8), and GC M22 in Sagittarius.
Barnard’s Star, the 9th magnitude red dwarf (AKA the “Runaway
Star,” famous for having the greatest known apparent motion of any known star)
can be found by carefully star hopping 41’52” @ 299° from 66 Oph, which lies
about 4° east of beta Oph. In the
southeast, look for GC’s M15 in Pegasus and M2 in Aquarius. High above in Cygnus can be found the North
America Nebula (NGC 7000), the Veil Nebula (NGC 6992/5, a SN remnant), and the
Blinking Planetary (NGC 6826). The soft
glow of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) is visible naked eye (at almost
18,000,000,000,000,000,000 miles away) in the northeast. In the north, try the Cat’s Eye Nebula (NGC
6543) in Draco and mu Cephei (Hershel’s “Garnet Star,” a red giant of the same
class as Betelgeuse, 100’s of times the size of the Sun) in Cepheus.
Comets: None this
month.
TURKEY VULTURE FESTIVAL STAR PARTY (David Hollingsworth)
The
Turkey Vulture Festival is hosting a star party on Friday, September 26, from
8:00 to ?? p.m. at the Kern River Preserve Headquarters, located about a mile
west of Weldon on Highway 178. CLAS
members and local astronomers have been invited to participate. The one-day-old Moon will set during
twilight that evening, so views of deep sky objects should be very good from
the dark Kern River Preserve Headquarters site. CLAS members with telescopes wanting to participate should call
Bob Barnes at (760) 378-3044.
STAR PARTY REPORT (Bruce Churchill)
Our July Star Party was held on Friday July 25. Although there were some clouds and wind in the late afternoon, the sky cleared after sunset and we had one of our finest nights of the year. The viewing began with Mercury and Jupiter setting together about 8:40 p.m. Thereafter a multitude of deep sky objects were observed. The most impressive sights in Hercules were the M13 cluster and the red-green double alpha star. In Cygnus the blue and yellow double beta star was impressive, and the Crescent and Veil Nebulas were observable. The M57 (Ring Nebula) was observed at several times in Lyra. The M27 (Dumbbell) Nebula was shapely in Vulpecula. To the south the M4 globular cluster and the M6 (Butterfly) cluster were at their best. It was one of the best nights of the year for Sagittarius. The M8 (Lagoon) Nebula, M11 (Wild Duck) cluster, M17 (Swan) Nebula, and M20 (Trifid) Nebula were spectacular.
MARS FOR THE PUBLIC
CLAS members operated the Maturango Museum’s observatory and other telescopes on August 21 and 27.
SUMMER OUTREACH FOR THE FOREST SERVICE
Again
this year we provided informative astronomy programs for the U.S. Forest
Service. We had two programs at the
Tillie Creek campground, near Wofford Heights, and two at the Black Rock ranger
station, in the high country beyond Kennedy Meadows. The Tillie Creek programs featured a slide show by Carroll Evans
and telescope viewing provided by CLAS members including, but not necessarily
limited to, Rich Burdge and Roger Brower. Each Tillie Creek program had about
100 guests. The Black Rock programs
were led by Neal Barry. The first
program featured a slide show by Neal, and poor weather. The second time at Black Rock had no slide
show (Carroll used the slides at Tillie Creek) but great weather, good viewing,
and about 40 guests. There were at
least three telescopes, Neal’s, David Hollingsworth’s, and Kiran Mehra’s.
BOOK BUYING OPPORTUNITY
O*I*T*H = "Objects
in the Heavens", 2nd Edition
"Objects in the
Heavens" is an object-oriented deep-sky field book for use with small scopes
and binoculars to expand their personal viewing enjoyment. All types of magnitude 10 objects are
included, culled from 30 astronomy catalogs - galaxies, clusters, nebulae.
This pocket-sized,
spiral bound viewing list features detailed but simple maps, plain English
descriptions, types, sizes, locations and magnitudes along with ample space for
taking notes.
The 2nd edition has just
been released listing 665 objects in total, 187 of which are
other-than-Messier/NGC and also 130 binocular class objects with their own
symbol for easy reference. The text includes basic stargazing terminology and
tips as well as the full Messier Catalog, common-name
objects, bright stars,
meteor showers and planetary details. The goal of O*I*T*H was to be a complete
yet easy-to-use at-the-scope guide.
Available immediately
from my on-demand publisher (see website below) with substantial club quantity
discounts, O*I*T*H is designed for long-lasting field use and as a supplement
to large star charts and bulky reference works.
Press Reviews appear in
June'03 Sky & Telescope and
March'03 Astronomy Magazine. (These were for the 1st
printing; the new edition has been completely revised, redrawn, updated and
corrected.)
110 pages, spiral bound,
laminated soft cover, 5.5" x 8.5", $24.99 retail.
For more information,
expanded descriptions, sample pages and to get autographed copies, see my
personal website: http://www.birrendesign.com/astro.html
Order bulk quantities at
discount through Trafford Publishing: http://www.trafford.com/robots/02-0475.html
Thank you for your kind
attention. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact me directly.
- Peter Birren - author
of "Objects in the Heavens" - http://www.birrendesign.com/astro.html
847/640-0171
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 http://www.waa.av.org/
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
FIRST
CLASS
NEXT MEETING: 7:30 p.m., MONDAY, September 8, 2003 –“Observing
Mars”
AT THE MATURANGO MUSEUM, 100 EAST LAS FLORES AVE.
CLAS WEB PAGE http://www1.iwvisp.com/brower/clas.html
INDEX OF CLAS NEWSLETTERS http://www.ridgenet.net/~jebush/clas/