The Meteor Journal of the Escambia Amateur Astronomers Association

Transcription

1 The Meteor Journal of the Escambia Amateur Astronomers Association VOLUME XL Numbers 9-10 September-October 2015 ********************************************************************************************* President Ed Magowan (850) Vice-President: Tom Riederer (920) Secretary Richard Walker (850) Treasurer Jim Larduskey (850) Librarian: Jacque Falzone (850) Education Chair: Dewey Barker (850) NWFAA Contact: Dennis Hausch (850) Deep Sky Committee: Dave Haluposki (850) UWF Astronomy Club Contact: Jon Ellard (251) PSC Student Chapter officers for : President: Dave Cochran (850) Vice President: Sara Herrington Secretary: AllyKat Francis Treasurer: Susanna Rogers Editor and ALCOR: Dr. J. Wayne Wooten, Physical Sciences Department, Room 1751, Pensacola State College Pensacola, FL Phone (850) (voic ) ( ) pensacolastate.edu Please mail all dues to EAAA Treasurer, 4660 Shannon Circle, Pensacola, FL ********************************************************************************************************* Fort Pickens Picnic and Gaze on August 14, 2015 My wife and I enjoyed the Gaze and we appreciated the time you spent on us. However my disability was painful and I am no longer able to bend over. I want to thank you tor the time and work you are a very special and I don't think you realize how much your attention to our telescope and questions was appreciated. --Mike and Helen Kern Thanks for the kind words, Michael and Helen. Here are my notes on the night. We did finally get a break in the clouds on Friday for our picnic at Battery Worth, with a nice deep sky gaze following. Turnout from club and campers was great, with over 100 folks dropping by to meet us and our astronomy Ranger Carol Pirpiliu, who distributed August skymaps and Sky Calendars. Representing the EAAA were sponsor Wayne Wooten, co-sponsor Thor Garber, club president Ed Magowan, student chapter president Dave Cochran, past presidents Rick Hogue and Jon Ellard, V-P Tom Reiderer, and members Michael and Helen Kern, Trey and Regina Hall, Neil Clark, Hughey Hearn, Malone Calvert, John Arnold, Lyen McAbee, Rick Johnston, Steve Huber, Ron Fairbanks, and Don Meyer. We started about 6:30 PM with solar viewing with my Lunt 60 on the newly repaired ioptron mount. Some small prominences, but nothing worth shooting, alas. Picnic was great, with lots of food left to share with hungry campers later. Will have to do it again for the Pavilion gaze Friday evening, cause Dewey Barker was still not back, and he loves these events! Hope to see you this weekend, Dewey; keep getting better. You too, Jim Lardursky! Skies are clear until about 10 PM, when we got some clouds rolling in. While Dave Cochran put up my C-8 OTA and Eon 72 off the ioptron mount (still having some teething troubles...anyone able to help?), I used my laser pointer to take the campers on a 20 minute sky interpretation tour of the constellations, stars, and some sky mythology, then we packed it in. I do remember Thor Garber doing a fine job on catching a bunch of satellites about an hour after sunset. We watched several, and compared polar with equatorial orbits. I even nailed a disappearance into our umbra to the second! We had good views of several globulars and nebulae with the C-8 and Eon 72, but when I tried out the new Orion StarShoot Deep Space Video camera. Again, teething troubles...not much color, and image no better than the old reliable AstroVid Stella Cam II, and a lot harder to set up in dark! Well, practice will hopefully make perfect, or at least better in the next gaze this Friday at the Pavilion. --Wayne Wooten, EAAA Sponsor

2 The Meteor Volume XL Numbers 9-10 September-October 2015 Page 2 Messier s Scope heading south With my family health issues, I have given up on spotting the Magellanic Clouds, but my replica of Messier s refractor is heading south to Australia in September with Malone Calvert, to see things Charles Messier and Wayne Wooten can only dream of Looking forward to your report on the trip in the next Meteor, and many photos as well, Malone! Perseid Reports There were folks at Munson, set up in what Ron Fairbanks termed the "Daktari grass", I didn't think about snakes because it was best not to. It's grown up a -wee- bit since winter. Perseids were seen all around the sky, sometimes coming in bursts of several per minute. Transparency varied from fair to very good, with the Milky Way arching across the entire sky earlier in the evening. I saw one head-on meteor (my first), just happened to be looking toward the radiant when it came in. Dave Halupowski counted (I believe) 170+ meteors, although he noted he missed many while walking around. Distant lightning far to the south periodically lit the horizon but didn't really interfere with meteor watching, added to the ambiance, actually. A light jacket would have been welcome as the night wore on. Meteors were still quite visible as the sky lightened toward dawn. I have to give this Perseid watch 5 stars. --Ed Magowan, EAAA President Out west, not so much. I have not attended recent astronomy club meetings because I am on an extended trip out West. I am currently in Great Basin National Park in Nevada, which must have some of the darkest skies in the country. Nevertheless, when I watched for meteors Tuesday night and Wednesday night I saw very few. So for me the Perseid meteor shower was a bust; you might say it was the Kohoutek of meteor showers. The Milky Way looks glorious from this location, however. I should be home for the September meeting. --Mike Lewis But in North Carolina, Carol and Rich Sigler had better luck. Carol reports Saw about 12 Perseids, 4 worth a big aahhhhh in NC. Hazy sky but we were only out an hour. Pavilion Gazes on August 22 nd While Friday night was clouded out, Dave Cochran and I did drive out on Saturday for a nice pavilion gaze under the first quarter moon. We set up early to catch some solar activity; I was very impressed with solar images with new 60mm Bushnell zoom spotting scope with 2 Draco Baader solar filter. Got it on sale for $80 at Gander Mountain Sporting Goods. A Simmons one with similar stats sells for $60 at WalMart; both come in good tripods. Great to see Dewey and Ella Barker out; we held our second club picnic of the year in honor of his return to active status! As the skies darkened, we were joined by Andy Walker and his wife, Tom Riederer, Lynn McAbee, Ed Magowan, Don Meyer, John Arnold, and Jacque Falzone. Dr. Charlie Schuler and his many mythology students also started arriving, and many of them joined the public in shooting the moon through my Orion Eon 72 and Tom s Quantum 6 with their smartphones. The quality of these images is amazing, often better than what we see at the eyepiece! Of course, Saturn was soon out as well, but the iphones did not get such good images of it, alas. We had a fine ISS pass just after 9 PM, and over 300 folks come out to one of the best attended gazes in a long time. Dave and I packed it in about 10 PM, but many younger members were still going strong on a really nice evening! --Wayne Wooten, EAAA Sponsor

3 The Meteor Volume XL Numbers 9-10 September-October 2015 Page 3 Copier Lens Telescopes Never Die Robert Lawson here in Pensacola. An old (literally) student of your with all the 'looking up' PJC classes circa '65-67, early '80's club member and Xerox copier scope maker (twice) for my then little people. Note still use them both with me grandbabies now. <grin> "like a Timex those scopes are...". Tell me what is the tube composition of the one the fellow had in the group of jpg shots that you recently sent? Mine are still those cardboard photocopier paper tubes. My two use the big Zeiss (sp) lens that were sought after and one with a Army surplus tank gun eye piece. Like wide field view. Love it still for those grandchildren 'kinda sorta point it at something star'ie and see it views, yes yes grandopa I see it...!!' moments. Keep looking up, --Robert Lawson EAAA Student Chapter Meeting: September 9, Room 1775 David Cochran, acting president, opened the meeting for the fall 2015 election of officers. The slate of candidates was: David Cochran president Sara Herrington - vice president AlleyKat Francis secretary Susanna Rogers - treasurer The slate of officers was elected by acclamation. All officers received a laser pointer as a thank you for serving their chapter. Dewey Barker explained the education program and the incentive awards that accompany each level. He had copies of the Sky Observer s Guide by Mayall and Mayall for $7 from Amazon. Rally Day / Rush Day will be held September 16-17, EAAA student and regular members are needed to man the tables, set up telescopes for solar viewing and answer questions. Student volunteers will receive a code and a t-shirt. - a motion to purchase 6 Galileo scope kits for about $150 was seconded by Sara Harrington and passed unanimously. - a motion to purchase solar filter material for those scopes for about $70 was seconded by David Cochran and passed unanimously. - a motion to provide milk and cookies at the lunar eclipse for about $50 was seconded by David and passed unanimously. - The total lunar eclipse will occur late on Friday, Sept 27, from 8-11 PM at the Planetarium. - Dr. Clay will give his annual talk on Saturday, Oct 3, with our 5:00pm Dutch treat dinner at Golden Corral followed by the talk at 7:00pm in the Hagler auditorium. - The last of the summer gazes will be in October. Friday, Oct 9 th will be at Fort Pickens, and- Saturday, Oct 10 at Big Lagoon State Park. Fall Astronomy Day will be celebrated at the Pavilion gazes on Friday, Oct 16 th and Saturday, Oct 17 th. - A good grouping of Venus, Mars and Jupiter will occur on Sept and October in the pre-dawn sky. October 23 will have an especially close cluster of planets. - A trip to the Wetumpka crater is being studied. More details will follow as they are firmed up. ADJOURNMENT 7:00pm --Richard Walker, acting secretary

4 The Meteor Volume XL Numbers 9-10 September-October 2015 Page 4 EAAA Meeting Agenda: September 4, Room 1775 TONIGHT'S PROGRAM: 7:00pm 7:55pm - Wayne Wooten (Pluto update) - Rick Johnston (added Pluto to his planet collection) NEXT PROGRAM: - Lunar eclipse summary OPEN MEETING: 8:00pm Introduce Students and Guests There were several students and guests at the meeting. REPORTS Awards (Wayne Wooten) no awards were given this month. Amateur Astronomer Education Program and Levels (Dewey Barker) Dewey covered the education program during the EAAA Student Chapter organization meeting. Treasurer Report (Jim Larduskey) Checking Approx. $ Savings 5, Cash Total $5, Approx $6, Jim's computer glitched, causing his checking balance to go to zero. He estimates approximately $ in the account. He is getting the exact amount. - Jim circulated the annual list for calendars he will be purchasing after the November meeting. He estimates the astronomy wall calendar will cost about $6.50 and the Otwell calendar with extensive information will cost about $ Shirts and Hats (Dave Halupowski) Dave has hats (about $15) and all sizes of shirts (about $15) for sale. He is also able to arrange to have personal items embroidered for a reasonable fee (about $12). International Dark Skies Report no report this month Last Month's Minutes (distributed in the last Meteor) Please let secretary know of any needed corrections. OLD BUSINESS Past Star Gazes - maintained on EAAA calendar at

5 The Meteor Volume XL Numbers 9-10 September-October 2015 Page 5 Star Gaze reports appear in the Meteor. The calendar is being brought up-to-date, adding several new gazes. Local Dark Skies Locations: If you use established or find new dark skies please let the club know about them so we can compile a list with GPS coordinates, aiding other members to find them. The Munson area is being checked out for possible dark sky use in the fall. NEW BUSINESS Future Star Gazes - maintained on EAAA calendar at Clicking on any posted star gaze should bring up additional information about that event (Point of contact, begin time, location including GPS coordinates) Dewey Barker also sends out lists of gazes occurring in the near future. ANNOUNCEMENTS - Scopes were set up for use following the meeting. The skies cooperated and provided good gazing opportunities. - The total lunar eclipse will occur late on Friday, Sept 27, after 8:00pm - Dr. Clay will give his annual talk on Saturday, Oct 3, with our 5:00pm Dutch treat dinner at Golden Corral followed by the talk at 7:00pm in the auditorium. - The last of the summer gazes will be in October. - Friday, Oct 9, Fort Pickens - Saturday, Oct 10, Big Lagoon State Park - Friday, Oct 16, Pavilion - Saturday, Oct 17, Pavilion - A good grouping of Venus, Mars and Jupiter will occur on Sept and October in the pre-dawn sky. October 23 will have an especially close cluster of planets. ADJOURNMENT: 8:45pm In the stargaze following, we imaged Saturn with PlanetCam and StellaCam, got the Ring Nebula with StellaCam (no central star in these light polluted skies!), split Alberio with PlanetCam, and closed with a dazzling light show from the out of focus image of Arcturus, low in west and twinkling like crazy! --Richard Walker, Secretary

6 The Meteor Volume XL Numbers 9-10 September-October 2015 Page 6 Calendar of Events Sept. 13 Sept. 14 Sept. 15 Sept Sept. 21 Sept. 23 Sept. 27 Oct. 2 Oct. 3 Oct. 4 Oct. 8 Oct. 9 Oct. 10 Oct. 13 Oct. 16 Oct Oct. 17 Oct. 20 Oct. 25 Oct. 26 Oct. 27 Nov. 1 Nov. 3 Nov. 6 Nov. 7 Nov. 11 Nov. 13 Nov. 17 Nov. 19 Nov. 25 New Moon, partial solar eclipse in Antarctica only Rosh Hashannah, Jewish New Year 5775 AM Crescent moon 5 degrees north of Mercury in western twilight Pavilion Gazes, sunset 11 PM, Pensacola Beach Gulfside Pavilion First quarter moon Autumnal Equinox, Fall begins at 3:21 AM today Total lunar eclipse, gaze at PSC Planetarium and other venues? Partial phase begins at 8 PM, totality 9:10 PM 10:20 PM locally EAAA meets at 7 PM, room 1775, results from the lunar eclipse? Dr. Clay Sherrod s talk, 7 PM, WSRE Last Quarter Moon Waning crescent moon passes just south of Venus Final Fort Pickens gaze of season, sunset at Battery Worth Mars, Jupiter, and Moon in nice morning conjunction Final Big Lagoon Gaze New Moon, Muslim New Year 1437 AH Waxing crescent moon passes 3 degrees north of Saturn in evening sky Pavilion Gazes, sunset 11 PM, Pensacola Beach Gulfside Pavilion Mars passes.4 degrees north of Jupiter in the dawn sky First quarter moon will not interfere much with Orionid Meteor shower Venus passes 1 degree south of Jupiter in morning sky Mars, Venus, Jupiter very close, Venus at greatest western elongation Full Moon, the Hunter s Moon, after the Harvest Moon on Sept. 27 th Fall back to CST at 2 PM this first Sunday in November Venus passes.7 degrees south of Mars in the dawn sky, last quarter moon EAAA meets at 7 PM, program TBA Waning crescent moon passes 1.2 degrees south of Venus in dawn New Moon Waxing crescent passes 3 degrees north of Saturn, low in twilight Setting crescent moon does not interfere with peak of Leonid Meteor Shower First quarter moon Full Moon, the Frosty or Beaver Moon, Happy Thanksgiving

7 Join us for a Fun Night Under the Stars! The Escambia Amateur Astronomers Association Will Hold Free Public Star Gazes on these dates: Big Lagoon State Park Star Gazes for 2015 are scheduled for Saturdays; March 14, April 11, May 9, June 6, July 11, August 8, September 5, October 10 The gaze is free, but normal park entry fees will still apply. Participants must enter park before sunset, the gate is locked at that time. Fort Pickens Star Gazes at Battery Worth for 2015 are scheduled for Fridays; April 17, May 15, June 12, July 17, August 14, September 11, October 9 The gaze is free, but normal park entry fees of $8.00 will still apply. Gulfside Performance Pavilion Star Gazes for 2015 are scheduled for both; March 27 & 28, April 24 & 25, May 22 & 23, June 19 & 20, July 24 & 25, August 21 & 22, September 18 & 19, Oct 16 & 17 Free parking is available in the Casino Beach parking lot, near the Beach Ball Water Tower. Members Telescopes and Binoculars will be set up for views of: the Moon, Planets and other Celestial Objects. Clear skies permitting, Members will begin setting up their Telescopes for these events just before sunset. The Astronomy Club meets on the first Friday of each month at 7:00 PM, building 17, room 1775 at Pensacola State College. For more information about the Astronomy Club, or for scheduling a star gaze for a school, scouting, or other social event at your location; Contact Dewey Barker after 4:00 PM at (850) for any questions. Please be sure to visit our website at or go to: to view our calendar of events and club members Astro - Photos

8 The Super Blood Moon Eclipse on September 27th Photo by EAAA member Gary Wiseman on Feb. 20, 2008, the last similar evening eclipse. About 8 PM on Sunday, September 27, 2015, the Super Moon (a full moon at perigee, when the moon is closest to earth and largest in our sky) will start to enter the Earth s shadow. By 9: 10 PM CDT, it will be completely inside our shadow, and will stay totally eclipsed for about the next hour. We call this one a school kids eclipse, since observing it will be in convenient evening hours for all the family to enjoy in their yards. If you want a closer view of the events, plan to come out (clear skies permitting, of course!) to Pensacola State College where the Physical Sciences Department and the student chapter of the Escambia Amateur Astronomer s Association will host a public star gaze from 8 PM 11 PM to watch this colorful event. We will be setting up telescopes around the planetarium on Airport Blvd across from Taco Bell, and not only let you look through them, but take photos of the event to share with everyone on Facebook and other media through your Smartphones. As is our tradition, for observing this leisurely event, we will be serving milk and cookies to the public. There is no charge for any EAAA event; join us in looking up!

9 7 PM, Saturday, October 3, 2015, Hagler Auditorium (Room 252) at Pensacola State College Have you every wondered why some times there is a lot of buzz about UFO's (unidentified flying objects) but others there seems to be nothing happening in the sky? There may be a reason for that and it may have a lot to do with our brains and the way that we perceive things of which we are uncertain and things that frighten us because of a plausible explanation. "UFO: The Phenomenon" explores the history of UFO sightings, even into prehistoric times, and demonstrates the modern view of UFO's, extraterrestrials, and the possibility that Earth is being visited by aliens. We examine the reports to identify where the sightings normally occur, what the typical report contains, the physical makeup of "aliens" as described by those purporting to have seen them. In addition we visit the UFO phenomenon's affect on everything from lifestyle and media to architecture throughout the world. This presentation, sponsored by Pensacola State College and the Escambia County Amateur Astronomers, will feature one half of the time in the presentation, followed by an open forum with audience interaction on their sightings, beliefs and theories; persons will be allowed to present their stories in a 60-second time frame after which the moderator and audience will interject science, ideas and opinions. P. Clay Sherrod, Director of Arkansas Sky Observatories, one of the nation's oldest private observatories, will give this overview in an exciting audience participation Forum on Saturday evening, Oct. 3, at 7 p.m. in the Hagler Hall Auditorium on the campus of Pensacola State College; it will represent more than a decade of public presentations by Sherrod on the PSC (and previous PJC) campus. Common misconceptions and identification mistakes will be presented, showing how may times common events and objects can be mistaken for alien spacecraft, and Sherrod will discuss the psychological influence that the UFO revolution has had on lives throughout the world. Examples of reported UFO's will be shown, some never before seen, as will many "Photo-shopped" enhancements of objects and scenes as hoaxes; among them will be the famous Gulf Breeze UFO hoax that made world headlines for several years before accomplices came forward to reveal the nature of the true "UFO's" and the originator behind the hoax. Nonetheless, people are genuinely convinced that they ARE indeed seeing "flying saucers" in the sky, virtually every night. The reasons as to how normal and otherwise responsible citizens are seeing these are presented, along with the social ridicule stigma that associates with many who do report legitimate sightings. The presentation is free and open to the general public; it is an ideal forum for students and families for further exploration. It is sponsored by the Physical Sciences Department and the PSC Student Astronomy Club.

10 Solar Wind Creates and Whips a Magnetic Tail Around Earth By Ethan Siegel As Earth spins on its axis, our planet's interior spins as well. Deep inside our world, Earth's metal-rich core produces a magnetic field that spans the entire globe, with the magnetic poles offset only slightly from our rotational axis. If you fly up to great distances, well above Earth's surface, you'll find that this magnetic web, called the magnetosphere, is no longer spherical. It not only bends away from the direction of the sun at high altitudes, but it exhibits some very strange features, all thanks to the effects of our parent star. The sun isn't just the primary source of light and heat for our world; it also emits an intense stream of charged particles, the solar wind, and has its own intense magnetic field that extends much farther into space than our own planet's does. The solar wind travels fast, making the 150 million km (93 million mile) journey to our world in around three days, and is greatly affected by Earth. Under normal circumstances, our world's magnetic field acts like a shield for these particles, bending them out of the way of our planet and protecting plant and animal life from this harmful radiation. But for every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction: as our magnetosphere bends the solar wind's ions, these particles also distort our magnetosphere, creating a long magnetotail that not only flattens and narrows, but whips back-and-forth in the onrushing solar wind. The particles are so diffuse that collisions between them practically never occur, but the electromagnetic interactions create waves in Earth's magnetosphere, which grow in magnitude and then transfer energy to other particles. The charged particles travel within the magnetic field toward both poles, and when they hit the ionosphere region of Earth s upper atmosphere, they collide with ions of oxygen and nitrogen causing aurora. Missions such as the European Space Agency and NASA Cluster mission have just led to the first accurate model and understanding of equatorial magnetosonic waves, one such example of the interactions that cause Earth's magnetotail to whip around in the wind like so. The shape of Earth's magnetic field not only affects aurorae, but can also impact satellite electronics. Understanding its shape and how the magnetosphere interacts with the solar wind can also lead to more accurate predictions of energetic electrons in near-earth space that can disrupt our technological infrastructure. As our knowledge increases, we may someday be able to reach one of the holy grails of connecting heliophysics to Earth: forecasting and accurately predicting space weather and its effects. Thanks to the Cluster Inner Magnetosphere Campaign, Van Allen Probes, Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System, Magnetospheric Multiscale, and Heliophysics System Observatory missions, we're closer to this than ever before. Kids can learn about how solar wind defines the edges of our solar system at NASA Space Place. Image credit: ESA / C. T. Russell (L), of Earth's magnetic tail and its cause: the solar wind; Southwest Research Institute / IBEX Science Team (R), of the first image of the plasma sheet and plasmasphere created around Earth by the solar wind.