Sonoma Skies The Newsletter of the Sonoma County Astronomical Society

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1 Sonoma Skies The Newsletter of the Sonoma County Astronomical Society a non-profit scientific and educational organization March 2003 Volume XXVII No. 3 SCAS Monthly General Meeting 7:30 pm Wednesday March 12, 2003 Proctor Terrace Elementary School 4th Street and Bryden Lane, Santa Rosa Guest Speaker - Terry Dye International Dark-Sky Association Say Milky Way to most people nowadays, and they probably conjure up a chocolate bar in their minds. This is not surprising given the fact that approximately 65% of Americans live in an area where the astronomical Milky Way is invisible to them due to urban sky glow. Amateur astronomers like us know we have to travel to dark sky sites to do any serious observing, but less than 50 years ago the dark sky was right in our backyards. Now energy-wasting upward-directed lighting along with horizontal glare have combined to wash out the wonders of the night sky. Fortunately, some people are paying attention to this light pollution and do not believe that this is a permanent or inevitable problem. The International Dark Sky Association based in Tucson is working to educate the public and encourage the use of quality light installations which will save energy and our night sky views, but not compromise safety or security. SCAS member Terry Dye has been working with IDA for a number of years and will discuss local dark sky issues and ways for us to get involved in preserving the beauty of the night sky in Sonoma County. This is an excellent opportunity to think cosmically and act locally. Hope to see you all there. - Lucy McMahon, VP & Program Director Striking Sparks Festivities By Vicki Tandecke and Victoria Vertrees Mark your calendars for STRIKING SPARKS DAY, Saturday, March 29 at Proctor Terrace School. 4:00 5:00 Set up 4:00 6:00 Solar Viewing 6:00 7:00 Potluck Dinner 7:00 8:30 Program, awarding of telescopes 8:30 9:00 Star Party Anyone who would like to donate prizes for the Young Astronomers raffle drawing on Striking Sparks day, please contact either Vicki Tandecke or Victoria Vertrees If you would like to volunteer your time and/or talents for Striking Sparks day, please call us. We can always use extra hands on this worthwhile project. If you can t commit now but would like to be part of the volunteer staff, drop by on March 29 th and let us know you would like to help. Among the people who will be leading us: Cathy Wells will supervise the kitchen and potluck, Fran Sanders will be in charge of table setting and decoration, Bud Nystrom is taking care of opening and closing the facility, Marni Saxe will create the name tags, plaques and program, Coby Lafayette and Lucy McMahon will be our official greeters, and Larry McCune and Steve Follett will be in charge of assembling all the scopes on the stage. Many thanks to all of you for your contributions. REMINDER: The telescope assembly party will be on Saturday, March 15 th, at Mark Hillestad s garage, 278 Brey Road, Santa Rosa, Volunteers are always welcome. (continues on page 5)

2 Page 2 SCAS Membership, Renewals and Subscription Information SCAS new membership dues are $25 from June 1st through November 30th; and $12.50 from December 1st through May 31st. SCAS annual renewal membership dues are $25 per year; due and payable on June 1st each year. Membership is dropped if dues become delinquent. SCAS Membership and Meetings As a benefit of membership, discount subscriptions to Sky & Telescope and Astronomy magazines are available. Membership meetings take place on the second Wednesday of each month at 7:30 pm in the Multipurpose Room of Proctor Terrace Elementary School on Bryden Lane near Fourth Street in Santa Rosa unless otherwise announced in this publication. Star Parties are meetings held each month at our viewing site on the Saturday evening nearest to the new moon. The Public is invited to both. New or renewal subscriptions for Sky & Telescope through SCAS: send your $29.95 subscription check (payable to SCAS) along with your complete mailing address (for new subscriptions) or the Sky & Telescope renewal card and return envelope provided by Sky & Telescope (for renewals) directly to Larry McCune, 544 Thyme Place, San Rafael, CA Subscriptions to Astronomy through SCAS occur yearly around October. Check Sonoma Skies for details. Telescopes Available As a benefit of membership, SCAS members are eligible to borrow telescopes for a $5 a week donation. Four telescopes are available: a Celestron 8" SCT and a 5" Celestron SCT, complete with clock drive and inverter; an 8-inch Newtonian on Dobsonian mount; and a 80 mm refractor on a motorized equatorial mount. Contact Joan Thornton at if you are interested. Access To Palmieri Observing Site The Palmieri Observing Site is locked to public access. For use during monthly star parties, SCAS members can obtain the combination to the gate lock to the site by contacting any board member listed to the right. Publication Sonoma Skies is the newsletter of the Sonoma County Astronomical Society (SCAS) and is published each month. Subscriptions to the newsletter are included as part of membership to the Society. Articles, news items and member announcements for Sonoma Skies are welcome. The deadline for articles for next month is the 28th of this month. Submissions must be typed or, if on computer media, in a commonly used word processing and/or graphics format, and may have graphics (pictures, drawings, etc.) They are published on a FCFS basis, space permitting, and may be edited. Editor: Ben Barker and Leah Barker benbarker@earthlink.net Mail To: SCAS, P.O. Box 183, Santa Rosa, CA SCAS Elected Board President Steven Alvernaz jaas1@attbi.com SCAS Library Joan Thornton phonyjoanie@juno.com Sonoma Skies, March 2003 Vice-President & Program Director Lucy McMahon lucysonoma@aol.com Treasurer Larry McCune (415) llmccune@attbi.com Secretary Bruce Lotz ablotz@sonic.net Membership Director Harry Linder harry@sonic.net Community Activities Director Len Nelson lennelsn@attbi.com Publications Director Ben Barker benbarker@earthlink.net SCAS Appointed Positions Amateur Telescope Making Steve Follett sfollett@sonic.net Young Astronomers Advisor - Vacant Striking Sparks Program & Sparks Day Coordinators Vicki Tandecke vtandecke@webtv.net Victoria Vertrees Librarian Joan Thornton phonyjoanie@juno.com SCAS Public Star party Coordinator Loren Cooper lorenco@sonic.net. SCAS has a library of over 70 books that may be checked out by SCAS members. A book may be checked out until the next meeting or for one month. Requirements to check out a book: 1. Be a SCAS member. 2. Give me (Joan Thornton) your name and phone number.

Sonoma Skies, March 2003 Page 3 The Semi-Sirius Astronomer by Herb Larsen Public Astronomy by Len Nelson SCAS Community Activities Director lennelsn@attbi.

3 Sonoma Skies, March 2003 Page 3 The Semi-Sirius Astronomer by Herb Larsen Public Astronomy by Len Nelson SCAS Community Activities Director lennelsn@attbi.com (707) School Star Parties and other astronomy programs are a public service of SCAS. Up-Coming School Star Parties: March 10 - Happy Day Elementary in Petaluma (or alternately the 11 th in case of overcast) March 26 - Evergreen Elementary in Rohnert Park Yosemite Summer Camp & Star Party: Our date this year for providing public astronomy at Glacier Point in Yosemite is the weekend of Friday, July 18 / Sunday, July 20th. In return for our providing public astronomy, the park allows us to occupy the group campground at Bridalveil Falls at no charge. The group campground is limited to a maximum of 30 people. It s a win win situation. The bats like it because the dome is open from dusk to dawn, and the astronomers like it because they make money from the guano! SCAS Star Party The next SCAS Star Party is Saturday evening, April 5, Location: Palmieri Observatory, Mercuryville,CA (on the slopes of Geyser Peak near The Geysers) Altitude: ~2700 feet Longitude: 122deg 49min Latitude: 38deg 46min Sunset: 6:38 p.m. PST, Sunrise: 5:48 a.m. PST (4/6/03) Moonset: 10:36 p.m., Moonrise: 8:26 a.m. (4/6/03) End Astronomical Twilight: 8:48 p.m. Begin Astronomical Twilight: 4:17 a.m. (4/6/03) If you wish to come, you are agreeing to provide public astronomy at Glacier Point both Friday, 7/18, and Saturday, 7/19, evening from 7:00 PM to midnight. The purpose of the Star Party is to provide an interpretive program on astronomy to the park visitors. So, if you come, you must bring an appropriate telescope and be prepared to answer questions, give explanations and otherwise provide to the park visitors an introduction to astronomy. If you are interested, please contact Len Nelson at or lennelsn@attbi.com. Name Tags: Please be prepared to attach a name tag to your apparel at the next meeting. Your Board feels that wearing a name tag is an appropriate practice that we should not have allowed to slip away from us. Most newcomers do not know the names of people around them. Visitors who may wish to join the SCAS will be more inclined to do so if they can relate to the people around them and that starts by knowing names. Also, those of us who have been with the club for ages forget names and need to know the names of new people to help them feel comfortable and welcome. SCAS Egroup URL

4 Page 4 SRJC PLANETARIUM SHOWS With Ed Megill, Planetarium Director Santa Rosa Campus,Lark Hall, Room 2001 Program Times 7:00 pm & 8:30 pm - Fridays & Saturdays 1:30 pm & 3:00 pm Sundays General Admission $4 - Students & Seniors $2 Tickets available at door 30 minutes before show No Children under 5 Parking Permits Required at $2 For more information, call or SCAS members provide telescope viewing whenever weather and light conditions permit. Our Star the Sun February 28 - April 6 We think of the Sun every day. How often, though, do we think of the Sun as the nearest star? In this show we will learn about our star the Sun: how and when the Sun and planets were formed, what we find inside our star, why it shines, and what will become of the Sun. The show also includes sunspots, solar prominence, solar flares, and the solar wind, as well as Sun related phenomena such as solar eclipses, rainbows, and the aurora. SCAS "Public" Star Party Loren Cooper lorenco@sonic.net Location: Santa Rosa Youth Community Park, on the west side of Fulton Road, between Guerneville Road and Piner Road, just opposite Piner High School. The next SCAS Public Star Parties are: Saturday evening, March 8, Sunset: 6:11 p.m. PST Moonset: 11:45 p.m. End Astronomical Twilight: 7:39 p.m. Saturday evening, April 12, 2003 Sunset: 6:44 p.m. PST Moonset: 4:13 a.m. (4/13/03) End Astronomical Twilight: 8:18 p.m. Sonoma Skies, March 2003 Robert H. Ferguson Observatory Public Observing Phone: (707) The 40-inch Moore Dobsonian in the west wing has been removed for reconstruction purposes. Bill Russell has graciously agreed to allow his 24-inch Dobsonian to be installed in its place. While there is no set admission fee for the solar viewing, donations to help defray the costs of operating the observatory are appreciated. There is, however, a $2 fee for admission to the night viewing sessions. SCAS members are welcome to set up telescopes to assist with the public viewing. However, automobile access is closed at dusk, so arrivals after dusk will need to be able to carry their equipment in from the parking area by the horse stables. The next public OBSERVING NIGHTS are March 8 Solar 12 Noon - 4:00 p.m. Night 7:00 p.m. - midnight April 26 Solar 12 Noon - 4:00 p.m. Night 8:00 p.m. - midnight SSU Dept. of Physics & Astronomy Observatory - Public Viewing April 25 9:00-11:00 p.m. Jupiter, Seyfert Galaxies The observatory is inside the football field at the SE corner of the campus, East Cotati Avenue and Petaluma Hill Road, 2 miles east of U.S.101 at Cotati. Follow signs from the freeway to the campus. Call before coming if it appears likely that clouds may force cancellation. Observatory Phone No. (707) SSU Lecture Series What Physicists Do Programs begin at 4:00, Room 108, Darwin Hall March 24: Measuring How The Universe Began Dr. Mark Halpern of the University of British Columbia will describe what the Microwave Anisotropy Probe s careful measurements of thermal radiation from the Big Bang tell us about the structure and dynamics of the universe.

Sonoma Skies, March 2003 Page 5 Striking Sparks Festivities (continued from page 1) Last month s story omitted Randy Fette s and Alberta Stone s names from the list of hard-working mirror grinders.

We also wish to acknowledge the folks who came to Cloverdale High School on February 8 to cut out telescope bases.

5 Sonoma Skies, March 2003 Page 5 Striking Sparks Festivities (continued from page 1) Last month s story omitted Randy Fette s and Alberta Stone s names from the list of hard-working mirror grinders. Alberta also does a lot of work every year helping to set tables and prepare decorations. Thanks to both of you. We also wish to acknowledge the folks who came to Cloverdale High School on February 8 to cut out telescope bases. The group included: Lynn Anderson, Merlin Combs, Drew Kovaly, Bruce Lotz, Larry McCune, Len Nelson, Alberta Stone, Vicki Tandecke and Dick Yeager. B.J. Yeager, Dick Yeager and Barry Lindstrom complete our sponsors for this year s telescopes. We appreciate your support. WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING EVERYONE ON MARCH 29 TH FOR ANOTHER WONDERFUL STRIKING SPARKS DAY. Local Astrophoto To Go National The Envelope, Please The SCAS Board of Directors gathered on March 1 to pore over the many Striking Sparks contest entries. Selecting the best from the efforts of so many outstanding young people is always a challenge. After more than fifty judging hours of effort, we have the 2003 Sparks Winners. The students, their grade levels and schools are: Jacob Gaynor, Gr. 2, Park Side, Sebastopol John Greene, Gr. 4, Meadow, Petaluma Daniel Torres, Gr. 4, Meadow, Petaluma Haley Washington, Gr. 4, Olivet, Santa Rosa Laura Campbell, Gr. 5, Grant, Petaluma Nicole Teagarden, Gr. 5, Grant, Petaluma Eric Montenegro, Gr. 5, Cloverdale Adventist Blake Pepper-Tunick, Gr. 5, Gold Ridge, Rohnert Park Weston Stauffer, Gr. 5, Wilson, Petaluma Krisandra Adams, Gr. 7, Monte Rio The Sparks Judges and Coordinators This is the stalwart crew that led this year s Stiking Sparks project and judged the entries. From the left they are Judge Len Nelson, Coordinators Victoria Vertrees and Vicki Tandecke, Judges Larry McCune, Steve Alvernaz, Harry Linder and Lucy McMahon. Judge Coby Lafayette escaped the photographer. (photo courtesy Len Nelson) 2003 SCAS Calendar Look for Full Moon rising, in the Valley of the Moon by SCAS member Christine Churchill in Sky & Telescope magazine. It will appear in the Gallery section of the May issue. Christine took the image from her backyard on January 18, 2003 with a Sony 4.1Mp digital camera through the 40mm eyepiece on her homemade Dobsonian 10" telescope. Exposure was 1/500 sec at f2.8. Congratulations Christine! Sat. Mar. 8 Public Star Party, 7 p.m. at Youth Community Park, Fulton Rd., Santa Rosa Wed. Mar. 12 7:30 pm General Meeting at Proctor Terrace Sat. Mar. 15 Striking Sparks telescope Assembly Party Thu. Mar. 20 SCAS Board meeting at Bruce Lotz Sat. Mar. 29 Striking Sparks Day at Proctor Terrace Sat. Apr. 5 SCAS Star Party at the Palmieri site Sat. Apr. 12 Public Star Party, 7 p.m. at Youth Community Park, Fulton Rd., Santa Rosa

Page 6 Sonoma Skies, March 2003 STRIKING SPARKS TELESCOPES CONTEST SCAS MEMBERS, SPONSORS, FAMILY, FRIENDS, & TEACHERS ARE ALL INVITED TO

4:00 to 5:00 p.m. Set-up time 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. Solar Viewing 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. Welcome & Potluck Dinner 7:00-8:30 p.m. Striking Sparks Program 8:30 to 9:00 p.

Proceeds from the sale of raffle tickets are used to run the Young Astronomers program. Please help support this very worthwhile cause!

6 Page 6 Sonoma Skies, March 2003 STRIKING SPARKS TELESCOPES CONTEST SCAS MEMBERS, SPONSORS, FAMILY, FRIENDS, & TEACHERS ARE ALL INVITED TO THE 18th ANNUAL STRIKING SPARKS DAY SATURDAY, MARCH 29, 2003 At Proctor Terrace Elementary School, Fourth Street & Bryden Lane, Santa Rosa 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. Set-up time 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. Solar Viewing 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. Welcome & Potluck Dinner 7:00-8:30 p.m. Striking Sparks Program 8:30 to 9:00 p.m. Star Party FUND-RAISER RAFFLE TICKETS WILL BE ON SALE STARTING AT 5:00 P.M. Proceeds from the sale of raffle tickets are used to run the Young Astronomers program. Please help support this very worthwhile cause! Tickets are: $1.00 each or 6 for $5.00 FOR THE POTLUCK DINNER, SCAS PROVIDES DRINKS, CONDIMENTS, PLATES AND EATING UTENSILS. YOU SUPPLY A POTLUCK DISH TO SHARE. (CASUAL DRESS RECOMMENDED)

June 2016 E-Newsletter of the Sonoma County Astronomical Society

June 2016 E-Newsletter of the Sonoma County Astronomical Society 501(c)(3) Scientific and Charitable Organization Established in 1974 Hello members and friends, Thanks to all who attended my presentation