SKYWATCHERS
NEWSLETTER OF THE CHINA LAKE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
Volume 37 No. 6 May 24, 2000 NEXT MEETING 7:30 p.m., Monday, June 5, 2000 Maturango Museum, 100 East Las Flores Avenue, Ridgecrest PROGRAM FOR THE JUNE 5 MEETING Dr. Gary L. Peterson, "The Independent Planetologist" will present a slide illustrated program "Collisions of Comets and Planets." Dr. Peterson is Professor of Geology at San Diego State University, Department of Geological Science. We recall that the extinction of dinosaurs on the Earth may well have been caused by the impact of a comet on the Yucatan peninsula, and much more recently, a comet hit the planet Jupiter. Massive forces are involved, and the result of the Jupiter impact could be seen from Earth in even an 8-inch telescope. Come to the meeting, and bring your friends--Dr. Peterson will bring us up to date on this interesting topic. If you have access to the internet, find out more about planetary geology at http://www.rohan.sdsu.edu/~3gleep6/tipcont.html DATES TO KEEP IN MIND Monday, June 5 , 2000: Regular CLAS Meeting at the Maturango Museum in Ridgecrest, 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 2, 2000: Star Party, see schedule below. Wednesday, June 28, 2000: Deadline for next Skywatchers Newsletter Friday, June 30, 2000: Star Party. Monday, July 10, 2000: Regular CLAS Meeting at the Maturango Museum in Ridgecrest, 7:30 p.m. STAR PARTY SCHEDULE FOR THE 2000 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, June 2--Signs out at 8:30 p.m., Star viewing at 9:00 p.m. Friday, June 30--Signs out at 8:30 p.m., Star viewing at 9:00 p.m. Friday, July 28--Signs out at 8:30 p.m., Star viewing at 9:00 p.m. Friday, August 25--Signs out at 8:00 p.m., Star viewing at 8:30 p.m. Friday, September 29--Signs out at 7:00 p.m., Star viewing at 7:30 p.m. Friday, October 27--Signs out at 6:30 p.m., Star viewing at 7:00 p.m. Friday, November 17--Signs out at 6:30 p.m., Star viewing at 7:00 p.m. What's Up for CLAS Star Party on 2 June? 20:02 Sun sets 20:29 Moon sets 21:48 End of astronomical twilight 21:51 Mercury sets 23:30 Neptune rises At 22:00, the following challenging objects may be seen at the referenced locations: In Virgo: The "Eyes" (NGC 4438/5, mag. 10.2, RA 12h 27.8m, DEC +13° 01', in Markarian's Chain, 1 FOV east of M86/M84). The "Lost Galaxy" (NGC 4526, mag. 9.7, RA 12h 34.0m, DEC +07° 42', 1.1° east of M49 between two 7th mag. stars). NGC 4762 ("the flattest galaxy known", mag. 10.3, RA 12h 52.9m, DEC +11° 14', located 2.25° west of epsilon Vir, half way between epsilon Vir and M60; mag. 10.6 galaxy NGC 4754 is in same field). In Corvus: The "Colliding Galaxies" (aka "Ringtail," or "Antennae" Galaxies, NGC 4038/9; mag. 10.2, RA 12h 01.9m, DEC -18° 52', located 0.5° south of a point on a line extending from delta Crv through gamma Crv continuing out the distance between delta Crv and gamma Crv-about 2.5°). In Centaurus (if you have a low horizon view to the south, e.g. at First Light Observatory): Omega Centauri (NGC 5139, globular cluster, mag. 3.7, size 36.3' (!), Alt 6° 43' 53", Az 185° 9' 1") In Coma Berenices: NGC 4565 (a stiletto-like, edge-on spiral galaxy with dust lane, mag. 9.6, RA 12h 36.3m, DEC +25° 59') located about 2 degrees east of the center of the Coma Berenices Star Cluster. In Hercules: NGC 6207 (Sc galaxy, mag. 11.6, RA 16h 43.1m, DEC +36° 50', located 0.5° to the NE of the Great Hercules Cluster, M13, in same FOV). In Draco: The "Cat's Eye" Nebula (NGC 6543, mag. 8.1, RA 17h 58.6m, DEC 66° 38', a planetary nebula whose HST photo is often seen on the the space ship Voyager). In Ursa Major: The "Pinwheel Galaxy" (M101, a diffuse approx. 0.5° diameter mag. 7.9, RA 14h 03.2m, DEC +54° 21', located at the vertex of an equilateral triangle formed with, and on the NE side of, Alkaid, and Mizar, the last two stars in the handle of the Big Dipper. Thanks to Kern Valley Bioregions Festival Astronomy Program Participants Many thanks to those who participated in CLAS' astronomy program at the Kern Valley Bioregions Festival activities on Saturday, April 29. The following members brought telescopes for the evening stargazing at the South Fork School in Weldon: Neal Barry (club 12.5" Dobsonian), David Hollingsworth (20" Dobsonian), Randy Cope (10" Dobsonian), Cal Clayson (8" Newtonian), and Rich Burdge (8" SCT). David Hollingsworth presented an astronomy slide show. Approximately 60 people enjoyed the astronomy slide show and the stargazing. HELP NEEDED The Summer outreach season is upon us. We need members to bring their telescopes to scheduled presentations at Black Rock Ranger Station and at the Tillie Creek Campground amphitheater, both are Forest Service programs. Black Rock is scheduled for Saturday evenings, June 3, July 29 and August 26. Tillie Creek programs are scheduled for June 10, July 8, and August 5. Call David Hollingsworth at 446-1005 to offer your services, and find out details. CLAS OUTREACH PROGRAM Carroll Evans Wednesday evening, May 24, David Hollingsworth and Carroll Evans responded to a request to discuss basic astronomy and constellations for a Kern River rafting group. The idea was to teach the guides some basics so that on overnight raft trips the participants could learn about the sky. Ridgecrest weather was so completely overcast that we were afraid that the stars would not be visible from the Kern River. However, as we headed for Kernville the sky cleared up. We did the program without any audio-visual aids, except the very real sky overhead. First we sat on chairs in a circle, with David leading a question and answer session. In the process we gave the basics of the solar system, and even a smattering of star formation, and the Big Bang. Then David pointed out the major stars and constellations visible from our canyon location. We got back home at midnight. 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. STAR PARTY REPORT Bruce Churchill Our April 2000 star party was held on April 7th. There was an enthusiastic turnout. Lots of telescopes and lots of viewers including many first time viewers from Ken Pringle's astronomy class at Cerro Coso college. Unfortunately the sky was far from its best. Overcast conditions limited viewing throughout the evening. The least dense portion of the cloud bank was along the western horizon. There, we were able to get views of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn before they set. The Galilean Moons of Jupiter and Saturns's Titan were visible, but the quality of the images was fuzzy. Later in the evening we were able to see M81 in Ursa major and the M42 Orion nebula. An even larger crowd attended our May star Party including students from Alex Shlanta's Earth Sciences class at Cerro Coso. The sky was hazy all over. The haze permitted viewing of bright stars and constellations, but deep sky objects were fuzzy. A few attempts were made at M51, M44 and M67, but the images were faint. Let's hope we have better luck at out June 2 star party. ASTRONOMY ON THE INTERNET Received from Earl Towson: Blackhole Candidate suddenly dims: During the current calibration campaign of its science instruments ESA's new X-ray observatory has chanced on a sudden and dramatic alteration in a binary star system, whose properties had not changed for thirty years. More at: http://sci.esa.int/content/news/index.cfm?aid=1&cid=1&oid=19360 Frame Dragging Experiment in development: An experiment using quartz spherical gyroscopes is being prepared to test portions of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. The spheres make up four extremely precise gyroscopes heading for Earth orbit on board the Gravity Probe B mission in 2002; they will attempt to measure the twisting and compression of space and time around our rotating planet. FULL STORY at http://spacescience.com/headlines/y2000/ast24may_1m.htm?list Scientists hope to stop NASA from destroying Compton Observatory: The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory has been producing good data since it was launched in 1991. But since one of its three gyroscopes failed, NASA has decided to de-orbit the observatory rather than allow another gyroscope to fail - if one does, NASA won't be able to control where the telescope crashes. Scientists who rely on the observatory are trying to get NASA to take the risk anyway. Original Source http://erbscobe.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgrohomepage.html High quality photos of Eros are now being produced (NEAR is now orbiting at 31 miles): A particularly interesting landform on Eros is the long ridge that wraps around most of the asteroid's northern hemisphere. The large number of superimposed craters indicates that the ridge is a relatively old feature. Photo and story at: http://near.jhuapl.edu/iod/20000524/ NASA RELEASES 20,000 PHOTOS OF MARS A new NASA Website has been set up with over 20,000 photos taken by the Mars Global Surveyor over the course of one Martian year (687 days). The photos are freely available to download over the Internet, and the general public is encouraged to examine the original data and make discoveriesfor themselves. To examine the gallery go to: http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/> 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 - David Hollingsworth - 760-446-1005 (email dhollings@email.msn.com) VICE-PRESIDENT - Roger Brower - 760-375-1181 (email brower@iwvisp.com) SECRETARY - Bruce Churchill - 760-375-7247 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 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, JUNE 5, 2000 AT THE MATURANGO MUSEUM, 100 EAST LAS FLORES SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER, DR. GARY PETERSON, COMET IMPACTS