Venus steals the morning sky at a dazzling magnitude of Venus is a tight crescent with only 37% of the part facing us illuminated.

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1 Smoky Mountain Astronomical Society S. C. R. A. P. S. Society s ChRonological Astronomical PaperS Message from the President The New Year brings SMAS and its members great opportunities. We will have a delightful year. Since our Star Party at Cades Cove we have received numerous contacts asking about telescopes and club activities from the contact form on our web page. Many are parents or grandparents of youngsters inspired to know more about astronomy. I hope we will see some of these people at our meetings and star parties. For SMAS we have several new members and I look forward to enjoying with them the thrill of learning about Telescopes, the methods of observing, the easy exciting things to observe and the more challenging subtle things to observe. For the new members, especially those who are new to the hobby, the sky currently holds some delights. Jupiter is visible in the evening. Watch as the second equatorial cloud belt is reestablished which is thought to be happening now. Do not miss this as it was about 30 years since the last time Jupiter put on this show. Also up at dark is the grand nebula in Orion. Easy to find and interesting to see you want to view it naked eye, with binoculars and with any telescope. Soon Saturn will be swinging into view. It is already a morning object. I look forward to spring star parties where we can show off Saturn. A little over a year ago as Saturn was lost in the glare of the Sun, they went "edge on" due to the motion of both Saturn around the Sun in its orbit and the Earth around the Sun in our orbit. So during the last two year the rings have been almost "edge on" which makes them disappointing for some observers. However it was much easier to point out to people that Saturn was not perfectly spherical. The moons of Saturn were easier to see also. As we observe Saturn this year the rings will be tipped slightly more face on. This makes the whole system brighter. For some years now we can compare Saturn's brightness to the bright stars along the path of the ecliptic and watch as Saturn gets brighter as it approaches the position with the rings at maximum "face on". It is then that a defocused telescope can let you understand what Galileo saw when he said something to the effect that, "Saturn is weird. It has ears." It will be about 5 years for the rings to be fully "face on". As a morning object, Saturn is in the eastern sky. You can find it in the constellation of Virgo. Cartes du Ciel* (The planetarium program I use) reports it's magnitude at This magnitude is almost exactly the same as the brightest star in Virgo, Alpha Verginis at Alpha Verginis is more commonly known as Spica. You can tell them apart however because of the color. Saturn is orange and Spica is blue white. A screen shot from Cartes du Ciel centered on Saturn is below. Venus steals the morning sky at a dazzling magnitude of Venus is a tight crescent with only 37% of the part facing us illuminated. So brave the morning cold and see these two planets. Do so repeatedly and watch them move and change.

2 Page 2 *You can get Cartes du Ciel free at: Lee Erickson SMAS Annual Dinner The SMAS annual dinner was held at Calhoun s on December 5, 2010, with 16 persons in attendance. Sorry, but no photos were taken to record the gala event. At the close of the meeting, Michael McCulloch presented to the group the idea of purchasing a tracking platform for Sasquatch. The idea was well received and it kicked off a fund raising drive to raise enough money for the purchase. See more in the next article.

3 Page 3 A Tracking Platform for Sasquatch Through the generosity of many people, SMAS was able to raise enough money to purchase a used, equatorial tracking platform for Sasquatch. The tracking platform s function is to keep an object in the field of view for a reasonable amount of time. This tracking ability can enhance our use of Sasquatch in several areas: 1. At public star parties, we have a better chance that the object will stay in the FOV as people climb up and down the ladder reducing the time wasted to have someone climb up and reposition the scope. 2. High magnification planetary viewing the planet stays pretty well centered in the FOV rather than shooting through the FOV so fast that it is hard to do any observations. How does a tracking platform for a Dob work? How can a device that is only a few inches high provide Equatorial Motion? Look in next month s for a article explaining all the secrets of the Cylindrical Bearing Equatorial Platform. The platform purchased by SMAS is built for large dobs (up to 28 ) and for 35.3 degrees latitude. The unit has arrived; but, we haven t had the opportunity yet to test it with Sasquatch. Here is Michael McCulloch s initial report: The platform was received today. It is in good shape and appears to be nicely constructed. I have connected a 9V battery and I am testing the travel now. Everything appears to run fine so far and the hand controller has some nice features. It has an E/W 1/2 speed adjust as well as a 3x fast adjust. The motor wheel is knurled metal and the "runner" on the conical sector is rubberized. It should track better than my previous Astrosystems platform. (Editorial discretion used). It supports my body weight without showing any sign of strain. I also confirmed with the manufacturer through a Cloudy Nights contact that it should support the weight of Sasquatch. The only concern he expressed was the stability of the f/5.2 scope sitting on it. We will test that. I was going to test the tracking tonight with the 6" club dob I have, but clouds will prevent that.

4 Page 4 Upcoming Events January 14, 2011 Regular SMAS meeting at PSTCC Tentative program: Report from Nominations Committee: recommended slate of officers for (Elections will take place at the February 2011 meeting. Any person wishing to volunteer to serve as an officer for the year 2011, please contact Jim Sanders sandersj@chartertn.net (the club secretary and chairman of the Nominating Committee). Observation Reports Few people braved the cold to watch the Geminids meteor shower; but, here is one report from Michael Reuter: I braved the cold and saw 23 meteors in about an hour from 5 AM to 6 AM. The thermometer read 9 deg F when I came in. MR Several club members participated in the Great World Wide Star Count. Here is one report: Gary Bridges reports on Nov 8: I thought I'd make a report of my night observations. First of all I did the star count and sent in my report. Tonight's seeing was very good. Even from my house I was able to see the S group of stars in Cygnus, but I think the seeing was a little better than 6 mag but not quite 7, I'll call it about 6.5. I got my scope out and observed Jupiter, the Double Cluster,M31, M32, M110 and the Pleiades. The Great Red Spot was very prominent and no problem to observe. I believe it was the best I've seen. Of course the Double Cluster was beautiful as usual. I think this is the first time I've actually seen nebulosity around the stars in the Pleiades. All in all a good night, lots of hot coffee and a small fire to keep warm. Minutes of November 12, 2010 Meeting Any corrections to these minutes should be sent to JC Sanders ( sandersj@chartertn.net ) The regular SMAS business meeting was held at PSTCC on Friday, November 12, 2010 The meeting was called to order by President Lee Erikson. Those in attendance were:

5 Page 5 Jerry Kornegay, Kenny Pridgen, Duane Dunlap, Lee Erikson, Michel Reuter, Jim Sanders, James East, Brent Holt, Michael Littleton, Michael McCulloch, and guest Harold Shamafield. Michael McCulloch delivered the 3 new eyepieces that were purchased by the club. Lee Erickson displayed a Celestron NexStar 6 SCT that was donated to our club by Mike Braun (who is a Park Ranger at GSMNP). The scope seems to be in excellent condition. Here are a few photos that were taken several days after the meeting: Assembled Scope and Mount Eyepiece and Filter Kit

6 Page 6 Lens Markings Close-up of unit Celestron PowerTank Battery Unit JMI Carrying Case for Telescope and Mount Head Lee Erickson mentioned that TAO was hosting the Boy Scouts next Saturday and encouraged SMAS members to attend and bring scopes. Michael McCulloch stated that he had been contacted by TAO about the possibility of having a combined TAO/SMAS Holliday dinner at TAO. After discussion, the consensus of the group was to keep the events separate. Lee Erickson reported that the Great Smoky National Park has donated $100 to SMAS as appreciation of our work to make the recent Cades Cove Star Party a great success.

7 Page 7 Program #1: How the telescope changed our understanding of the universe presented by Michael Reuter Before telescopes, astronomical measurements were made with stick type instruments and the human eye (which has a resolution of about 1 arcminute). The invention of the telescope allowed much better and precise observation of the universe. Michael presented 7 basic questions that the telescope helped to answer and the group chose to examine 3 questions in detail: Question: How far are the stars? Michael presented figures to explain how to measure star distances using the Parallax Method. This involved making 2 observations that are 6 months apart when the earth is on opposites sides of the sun. These observations compare the position of the star of interest with background stars and measuring the optical shift of the star. (This method only works if the star of interest is at least 5000 times closer than the background stars.) This method was developed by Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel at the Königsberg Observatory in NOW 6 Months Question: One Galaxy or Many? In 1924 Edwin Hubble detected Cepheid type variable stars in the Andromeda nebula, M31 and the Triangulum nebula M33. Using these he determined that their distances were 900,000 and 850,000 light years respectively. He thus established conclusively that these "spiral nebulae" were in fact other galaxies and not part of our Milky Way. (The distance measuring technique was based on previous work by Henrietta Leavitt and Ejnar Hertzsprung. This work by Hubble was the first step in the realization that we live in a universe full of galaxies. Question: Did the universe have a beginning? Hubble s later study of the red shift data of galaxies revealed that the more distant galaxies are moving away faster than the closer galaxies thus the universe is expanding. In 1965, Arno Penzies and Robert Wilson were using the large ATT microwave receiver and discovered the universe background radiation left from the big bang. My analyzing the background radiation, scientist were able to calculate the age of the universe to be 13.7 billion years.

8 Page 8 Program #2: What is up in the night sky presented by Jim Sanders Jim gave a brief summary of objects coming into view now that winter is approaching. Program #3: Introduction to telescopes and optics presented by Michael Littleton Michael gave a very informative presentation on the basic optical principles of telescopes. He defined terms such as aperture, focal length, resolution, magnification, f-ration and how the aperture and focal length affect the quality of the image. The light gathering capability of a telescope is determined solely by the square of the aperture diameter. Some comparisons: Diameter Limiting Magnitude 6 mm 6.6 this is what a human eye can detect. 254 mm mm 22 The equation is: Star Magnitude detectable = 2.7+5*log(Diameter) A larger diameter scope will produce a brighter image Inage size depends of the telescope s focal length. Larger focal lengths mean larger images but also less bright images. The combination of aperture and focal length is defined as the focal ratio or f-ratio: f-ratio = (aperture diameter)/(focal length) The f-ratio of a scope tells us a lot about the image we will see. A lower f-ratio will mean a smaller but brighter image, and a higher f-ratio will give us a larger but less bright images. Lee Erickson concluded the meeting by reading a letter of appreciation from the Great Smoky Mountain National Park Service for our work at the Cades Cove Star Party.

9 Page 9 The meeting concluded at 9:30 PM. Submitted by J. C. Sanders News Articles Needed In order to have a better newsletter, I would ask that members contribute articles for publication in. Write about a project you have underway, a trip or visit made that had some astronomical connection, a review of an interesting book, a link to a useful website, or any other subject that might be of interest to the group. Please send your articles to Jim Sanders (sandersj@chartertn.net)

10 Page 10 December 2010 SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SMAS Annual Holiday Dinner 4 TAO 5 New Moon Geminids Meteor Shower 14 Geminids Meteor Shower TAO Full Moon Lunar Eclispe Winter Solstice Last Quarter UTK roof of Neilson Physics Building on the Hill At UT on 1 st and 3 rd Fridays TAO Tamke-Allen Observatory Public Stargaze Watts Bar Lake, Roane County 1 st and 3 rd Saturdays S.CR.A.PS. is published monthly. Editor: JC Sanders ( sandersj@chartertn.net )