IN THE JANUARY ISSUE... Next Meeting Tuesday, January 17 th, 2016 at 8pm. FROM THE PRESIDENT--Rob Lancaster. At the Mt. Cuba Astronomical Observatory

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1 Vol. 62, No. 1, JANUARY, 2017 Next Meeting Tuesday, January 17 th, 2016 at 8pm Topic: Einstein's Dice and Schrödinger's Cat: How Two Great Minds Battled Quantum Randomness to Create a Unified Theory of Physics ~Speaker: Paul Halpern, Professor of Physics at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia ~ At the Mt. Cuba Astronomical Observatory FROM THE PRESIDENT--Rob Lancaster Albert Einstein DAS Members, Happy New Year! This year, as we celebrate another milestone in our astronomical journey around the sun, we start the 61 st year of the Delaware Astronomical Society. We will start this year off with a bang talking about philosophy and physics, as our first talk of the year is about Albert Einstein and Erwin Schrodinger, modern scientific intellectual giants who pondered the very meaning of our existence. Of course, one side effect of our current location in Earth s orbit around the sun is the onset of inclement weather. We will not know whether the meeting will happen or will not happen until we observe it. Please stay tuned and check your in the event of wintry weather. IN THE JANUARY ISSUE... AP-SIG Image Processing Workshop Featuring PixInsight Pages 2&7 Public Nights Schedule at Mt. Cuba Observatory Page 2 Sawin Reminder & Loaner Telescopes and Equipment Page 3 DAS Forum / Site on Yahoo Page 3 Photo by DAS Member Lewis Greiner, Jr. Page 4 Beginners Corner Page 5 Photo by DAS President Rob Lancaster Page 6 Photo by DAS Secretary Bill McKibben Page 7 DAS Board Meeting Agenda for Jan. 17th Page 7 November 15th Board Meeting Minutes Pages 8&9 Astronomy Picture of the Day Page 9 AP-SIG On-Site Meeting at Dave Hockenberry s : Pages 10&13 Casting Call for Beginners Corner Participants Page 14 NASA Spacecraft Fly in Record-Setting Formation Page 13 Casting Call for the New Beginners Corner Page 14 Photo by DAS Member Mark Mitchell Page 15 The Many Benefits of Being a Member of the DAS Page 16 WELCOME New Members of the DAS! Page 16 Earth and Moon from the Mars Recon. Orbiter Page 17 Discount Rate for Amateur Astronomy Magazine Page 17 The Ins & Outs of Getting Started in Astro-Photography Page 18 Join the Telescope Making SIG Page 18 Next AP SIG Meeting Dates Page 19 Upcoming Monthly Meetings Page 19 Sawin Certification Program Page 20 Astronomical League Membership Page 20 Call for AstroImages for Display in Mt. Cuba Lobby Page 20 Information about Memberships & Magazine Subscriptions Page 21 Contact Information for the DAS Board Page 22 The Last Word, FOCUS editor Joe Neuberger Page 22 Erwin Schrodinger Thank you very much and enjoy our longer clear dark nights of winter! Rob Lancaster DAS President Each issue of FOCUS is full of useful hyperlinks. Just click on any graphic or telltale blue web address and your browser should take you to additional linked web resources.

2 Observing with the Delaware Astronomical Society... PUBLIC NIGHTS at the Mt. CUBA OBSERVATORY... MCAO PUBLIC NIGHTS Greg Weaver The Mt. Cuba Observatory Public Nights continue year round! In addition to learning about many aspects of the heavens, you ll have a chance to visit and view our all-digital full-dome planetarium. You can pick up a schedule when you next come to a meeting or get the latest updated version off the website at: MountCuba.org. Programs are presented on Monday nights at 8pm. Please check the website for full details and updates on programs planned. Interested individuals or groups can apply by letter or call (preferably between the hours of 9 and 11 am, Monday through Friday) to the Observatory to obtain reservations for these Public Nights. Public Nights schedule Mondays at 8pm for 2016: Date Speaker Topic 23 Jan Judi Provencal Jupiter 6 Feb Greg Weaver The Drake Equation. Probability of Life Elsewhere. 20 Feb Scott Jackson Exoplanets 13 Mar Sheila Vincent TBD 27 Mar Billie Westergard TBD 10 Apr Carolyn Stankiewicz Differences and Similarities Between Astronomy and Astrology 24 Apr Paul Stratton Our Solar System Upcoming Events and Activities Extended Great Nebula in Andromeda: the Great Nebula in Andromeda (M31) may not be classified as a Nebula anymore, but it s still a great target for a wide-field photo. As it is rising into view in the east earlier each night, I thought I d see what I could do to get an image of it with our club s 12 f/4 GSO and HDX110 mount. The image below shows the result. This REALLY deserves to be viewed full-screen. Photo taken by DAS Member Bill Hanagan AP-SIG Deep-Sky Image Processing Workshop Featuring PixInsight to be held on Saturday, January 21 from 10 AM to 4 PM by Bill Hanagan In lieu of our regular AP-SIG meeting for January, the AP-SIG will be running a workshop on Deep-Sky Astronomical Image Processing focusing on the use of the program PixInsight. It will be taught by a team of several AP-SIG members including Nico Carver and myself. Many astro-imagers have varying levels of proficiency in the use of PixInsight and even Mt. Cuba s resident astronomer, Judi Provencal, says she has recently acquired the program and is eager to learn more about it. PixInsight is a very powerful program for processing deep-sky images and has garnered a great deal of interest, but it isn t particularly easy to learn, which is why we re running the workshop. If you don t currently own PixInsight, you can download and install a free, fully-functional 45 day trial copy ahead of the workshop so you can follow along and decide if PixInsight is for you. The workshop will feature a series of short lectures on both basic and advanced deep-sky image processing using the best features of PixInsight. The topics to be covered include: manual and batch image calibration, selection of light frames for integration, star-alignment of light frames, integration of light frames, dynamic background extraction, background neutralization, color calibration, color saturation, using masks, sharpening techniques, noise reduction techniques, histogram transformation, and curves transformation. Following each mini-lecture there will be a practice session to cement what you ve learned. Example image data will be provided so you can exercise what you see during the lectures even if you don t have an applicable data set of your own. Anyone interested in image processing for deep-sky images, from curious beginner to expert, is welcome to attend! I ve been asked whether this workshop is for beginners. If you are a beginner at deep-sky image processing, or you already have some experience but want to learn even more, then this workshop is for you! However, if you want to get started learning the basics of astrophotography, you ll probably get more out of the monthly AP-SIG meetings. That said, you don t need to be particularly proficient at astro-imaging before you start learning how to do deep-sky image processing and it could be awhile before we run this workshop again. The available seating for people plus their computers is somewhat limited, so we require (Continued on Page 7) Check out the website at for all of the upcoming events and activities. There s PLENTY going on, so be sure you re informed and don t miss something that would interest you -2-

3 SAWIN OBSERVATORY REMINDER AND DAS LOANER TELESCOPES AND EQUIPMENT Bill Hanagan The DAS owns and maintains The Sawin Observatory on the grounds of the Mt. Cuba Astronomical Observatory. The Sawin Observatory houses the club s equatorially mounted 12.5" reflecting telescope. The Sawin is also currently home base for our 17.5" split-tube Dobsonian telescope. DAS members can obtain a key for access to the Sawin Observatory by being checked out on these telescopes and the use of the observatory. Naturally, all DAS members are invited to look through these telescopes during our Member Star Parties (MSPs) at the Sawin. DAS members who are interested in becoming key holders of the Sawin Observatory should contact Greg Lee to receive training in the use of the facility and the telescopes. See more information on Page 24. LOANER TELESCOPES and EQUIPMENT 80 mm Celestron Refractor (on loan from Bill McKibben) The club currently has on loan from our Secretary, Bill McKibben, an 80 mm Celestron Refractor with a Nextar GOTO mount. Contact Bill McKibben if you would like to give this scope a try. 6 Orion Dobsonian Telescope We have a 6" Orion Sky-Quest XT6 Dobsonian reflector, complete with eyepiece set, available for loan to members. You can keep the telescope out on loan for a month or more. However, we use this telescope heavily for outreach star parties at the Woodside Farm Creamery, so if you have it on loan from April through October you may be asked to bring it out to one or more of these events. Meade 8 LX-10 Telescope We also have an 8 Meade LX-10 Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope (SCT) available for loan. This telescope is equipped with an equatorial wedge and is driven in Right-Ascension only. If you have any thoughts about buying a telescope, especially an SCT, you are strongly advised to take this one out on loan so you can learn the advantages and disadvantages of this design. Barlowed Laser Collimator Toolset Also available for loan to DAS members is Howie Glatter s version of the Barlowed Laser Colimator. This is actually made up of a set of three very nice tools: 1) a 1.25 Glatter laser collimator (which is useful on its own for collimating the secondary mirror); 2) a 1.25 TuBlug, which converts the straight beam laser collimator into a Barlowed laser collimator, complete with a target screen that s visible from the back end of your Newtonian telescope; and 3) an Orion 2 to 1.25 centering adapter for use with 2 focusers. Along with the center donut or triangle on your Newtonian primary mirror, a Barlowed laser collimator is a very accurate and incredibly easy way to collimate your Newtonian or Dobsonian telescope. It may sound complicated, but using the Barlowed laser collimator is incredibly quick and easy compared to earlier generations of collimation tools. As one person noted It s one of the handiest and most useful tools the club has ever offered for loan to the membership! Obviously, no one DAS member can keep these collimation tools out on loan forever, but borrowing this set of tools is a great way to become familiar with the new Barlowed Laser Collimator approach to collimation without having to buy the tool set sight unseen. If you re interested in borrowing any of the club s loaner telescopes or other items, please contact Bill Hanagan, Jeff Lawrence, or Greg Lee at one of our monthly meetings. DAS FORUM / SITE ON YAHOO This is a restricted service for use by DAS members for DAS purposes. To use this site, go to search for Delaware Astronomical Society; and click on the link that comes up. To join, you must have a Yahoo ID and password; if you don t, you can register at this time by following Yahoo s instructions. You will then be allowed to Join the group upon clicking in that box. You must then register for the DAS group and add your profile by clicking on add new profile and completing the form When adding or editing your profile, you will need to enter your actual name in the Real Name box so you can be identified as a DAS member so Don Shedrick can approve your application to join the DAS group, and everyone will know to whom they are communicating. Finally, specify your desired address for delivery of messages. Note: You may choose to not have your name and address displayed to any-one other than DAS members who are members of the Yahoo DAS group. For more detailed instructions, go to the DAS website under DAS Resource Links. -3-

4 Photo by DAS Member Lewis Greiner IC1396 and The Elephant s Trunk Cepheus Constellation Photo Taken October 20-21, 2016 Image obtained October 21-22, 2016 through RVO s Megrez 80mm refractor with Orion field-flattener lens, using a Baader-modified Canon XSi DSLR and BackyardEOS image-acquisition software 23 carefully selected and stacked 300-second luminance frames combined with multiple dark, flat and bias calibration frames shot at ISO 1600 and totaling more than 315 minutes (115 minutes effective luminance) were used to create this image; optics driven by the Losmandy G-11 mount equipped with Ovision s precision RA worm gear, guided with a ZWO ASI 120MM Monochrome CCD camera through a 60mm guidescope using PhD2 guiding software and post-processed with DeepSkyStacker, Digital Development Process in Maxim DL Pro, NeatImage noise reduction and Photoshop CS3 s/w -4-

5 The December meeting was a bacchanalian holiday celebration with many treats. We were also treated to the usual interesting presentation from Greg Lee about What s Up in the sky. A few people were asking about the planetarium program Greg used. The program is Stellarium and can be downloaded for free from sourceforge.net/projects/stellarium/. You can get it for your smartphone or desktop/laptop. One of our Beginner s Corner suggested topics is a basic lesson on using Stellarium. Let me know if you get the program and would enjoy a talk on its capabilities. Another highlight of the December meeting was the talk by Mike Turco on binoculars in astronomy. Mike did a great job narrowing a big topic down into useable choices for beginner and experienced astronomers alike. Mike had some specific recommendations for those wanting to purchase binoculars for use in astronomy. These included: Fit and Weight assure they are comfortable in your hands, with proper eye spacing & eye relief (distance of eyes from eyepieces, which is important if you wear glasses) Fully Multi-Coated lenses BaK 4 Prisms Beginner s Corner Ted Trevorrow ED (Extra low Dispersion) glass lenses. This reduces chromatic aberration, or color fringing. The better these aberrations are controlled, the cleaner and brighter the image will appear. Need solid tripod if binoculars are over 10x50 size Image Stabilization is great but expensive. Canon 10x42s are highly regarded. A handout was provided that included all slides and additional material to allow attendees to make good buying decisions on binoculars for nighttime observing. Mike if you would like a copy. Michael.Turco@Honeywell.com Michael A. Turco lives in Thornton PA with his wife and two daughters. Mike points to his family make up as a reason he spends a lot of time building models in his basement. He has won regional and national awards for his model building efforts. Mike has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and an M.S. in Environmental Engineering from Drexel University. He is a contributing author, Civil Engineer s Handbook of Professional Practice, He has 48 years experience so far. His experience includes 23 years as a chemical engineer in the petrochemicals industry, 25 years in the environmental arena with expertise in air pollution control, groundwater remediation and treatment, hazardous waste handling and treatment, incineration, and toxic waste site investigation and remediation. Mike s hobbies include motorcycling, astronomy, vintage chemistry set restoration, model building. Mike is a club officer of Delaware Valley Scale Modelers. His interest in astronomy began before he could read. He was fascinated by an artist s depiction of the solar system in his grandparent s 1935 encyclopedia. Like many of us, the 50 s and 60 s space race caught Mike s interest. Mike got his first good telescope in He wrote articles published in Astronomy (Feb. 2000) and Sky & Telescope (Dec. 2000), and was President of the Chester County Astronomical Society from about 2000 to He held presentations and star parties during that period for youth groups and public nights at the Flower & Cook Observatory prior to its demolition. -5-

6 Photo by DAS President Rob Lancaster So I got a new guide camera from my wife for Christmas, the ZWO ASI 120MM-S and it works great! She is my guiding light...pun intended. Very fast, better resolution, better quality, and yes, even prettier than my DSI. So I thought I would try it out on a different object that I haven t photographed before, the Monkey Head Nebula, NGC This is a stack of 13, 5 minute hydrogen alpha exposures. I also took some OIII data to get color, but I didn t do as many of those and unfortunately, I think a cloud passed through about half of them which makes the color version look less detailed than this. So here he is, the Monkey! (I believe he is facing to the left if that helps) -6-

7 Photo by DAS Secretary Bill McKibben Saturn AP-SIG Deep-Sky Image Processing Workshop (Continued from Page 2) reservations and recommend that you make them at your earliest convenience. To register, Bill Hanagan and convey your wish to attend the AP-SIG Deep-Sky Image Processing Workshop. If you haven t already installed PixInsight, you should check PixInsight s system requirements at this link pixinsight.com/sysreq/ to make sure that your laptop or portable desktop has the required horsepower before you register for the seminar. If you use Windows, you ll need a 64 bit version of Windows 7, 8, or 10. The requirements aren t extreme, but image processing is not a task suited to ultra-cheap, low performance computers. If your computer currently can t run PixInsight you re welcome to attend anyway, but you ll get more out of the workshop if you bring a computer that can run PixInsight. If you haven t already installed PixInsight, you should install it on the computer you plan to use a week or two before the seminar. Then run it to download and install the updates. 1/17/17 DAS Board Meeting Agenda 1. Review of Minutes from Last Meeting 2. Treasurer s Report Diana Metzger 3. Astronomy Workshops Refrigerator 4. Solar Scope Mount Greg Lee 5. ByLaws, Standing Rules, and Board Member Roles/Responsibilities 6. Educational Outreach Plans and Member Star Parties

8 DELAWARE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY Board of Directors Meeting Minutes Meeting Date: 11/15/2016 Meeting was called to order at: 7:03 PM Meeting Minutes: Board meeting minutes from 10/18/2016 were approved. Treasure s report highlights: Diana was not present in the meeting. Jeff reported we have received 87% of the budgeted dues which is consistent with this time in previous years. Treasurer s Report: Access the Treasurer s Report on along with the Budget for on the DAS website at Standing rules: Discussed roles and responsibilities. Jeff and Rob compiled a list of roles and responsibilities for board members and others based on what they are doing today. This is important to prevent incidents like the Creamery outreach where no one showed up. Jeff and Rob will update the list and circulate prior to the next board meeting in anticipation of a vote. Concrete work: Jeff emphasized the need to be prepared for the DAS concrete work when Mount Cuba is ready to do theirs. Significant grading will be required to extend the concrete outside of the Sawin door. This will require engineering, a large volume of dirt and heavy equipment. We discussed following up with Gus Swartout for advice on how to proceed. Concern was raised over the adverse effect on seeing due to the retention of heat in a concrete pad. Special paint may be able to reduce the effects. Other business Bill McKibben requested up to $50 for the purchase of a digital voice recorder for recording the board meetings. A vote was taken to approve the purchase. Discussed liaisons for various outreach and observing sites. Jeff agreed to take responsibility for the Woodside -8-

9 Discussed liaisons for various outreach and observing sites. Jeff agreed to take responsibility for the Woodside Creamery. Mount Cuba requested help for a work day to remove the existing steps in preparation for their replacement. The date is TBD. Votes / resolutions: For / Against / Abstain Resolution Approved 8 / 0 / 0 Vote to approve Board meeting minutes from 10/18/2016. Approved 9 / 0 / 0 the board meetings. Vote to approve up to $50 for purchase of a digital voice recorder for recording Board Meeting was adjourned at 7:57 PM Astronomy Picture of the Day In the Center of Spiral Galaxy NGC 5033 Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble, MAST - Processing: Judy Schmidt -9-

10 December AP-SIG Meeting Held Our fifth and final on-site meeting for the fall of 2016 was held on Friday, December 2 at Dave Hockenberry s home. A photo of Dave s roll-off observatory and imaging rig can be seen below. The observatory structure (in back) rolls away in two stainless steel channels visible at the lower left and right of the image. The walls and roof of the structure roll off as a single unit, leaving the telescope and pier fully exposed to the night sky with room all-around. The Windows computer that controls the rig is located under the roll-off section. Dave treated us to an excellent dinner of Chinese take-out, including an especially tasty Kung Pao Chicken. Dave s wife Ann made some delicious home-made spice cake and brownies for dessert. I brought along a dozen of Mary Ann s chocolate cup-cakes for dessert as well. The indoor presentations and Q&A session started immediately after dinner, at which point I gave the evening s special-topic presentation on the subject of Off-Axis Guiding for deep-sky imaging. Dave also reviewed his and his wife Ann s trip to Birr Castle in Ireland, where they recently toured the rebuilt Leviathan of Parsonstown ( wiki/leviathan_of_parsonstown). The original 72 aperture telescope known by that name was the largest telescope in the world for 73 years, from 1845 to After the indoor presentations, we went out to Dave s observatory, where we reviewed a collection of astrophotos which Dave produced using his Active Optics (AO) equipped imaging rig. Experts who have seen his images have commented that Dave is definitely getting sharper images of deep sky objects than our sky conditions generally allow. Dave demonstrated his AO unit for us and I ll go into some detail on that a little later. -10-

11 On-Site at Dave Hockenberry s by Bill Hanagan In the above photo, Bob Trebilcock and Dave Hockenberry can be seen inside Dave s roll-off observatory structure reviewing one of Dave s images on the dedicated Windows computer that controls his imaging rig and all of the related equipment such as the imaging camera, the guide camera, the AO unit, the filter wheel, and the motorized focuser. The telescope is located in the dark area outside the door to the right. An electroluminescent panel with a pink glow can be seen on the wall to the left and is used for making flat frames, photos of a uniformly lit object which are employed during image processing to calibrate the images obtained. The flat frames are acquired after the moving structure of the observatory is rolled back over the telescope, with the telescope aimed directly at the panel. Dave often monitors the progress of his system from a computer in his house. But for experiments and for reviewing large numbers of photos, he likes the speed and ease of use afforded by direct access to the dedicated computer in his observatory. The computer seen here is stationed in his roll-off observatory 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and Dave reports that it is not bothered in the least by the ambient temperature and humidity of his open-air observatory. Dave s large format Active Optics unit (aka the SXV-AO-LF), guide camera, and imaging camera can be seen in the photo at left. (Continued on Next Page) -11-

12 December AP-SIG Meeting at Dave Hockenberry s (Continued from Preceeding Page) The AO unit is attached directly to the focuser drawtube. Attached to the back of the AO unit is a Quantum Scientific Imaging (QSI) 583-wsg astro-camera. The front half of the camera is a dull black and contains a built-in off-axis guider fitted with a Starlight Xpress Lodestar X2 guiding camera, which is the vertical tube with the wire connected to the top end. The back half of the camera is a metallic blue and has two small fans in the back end. As with all imaging rigs, the initial setup was a little complicated, but this rig produces spectacular results night after night with little additional adjustment! The Starlight Xpress AO unit is capable of making in excess of 15 corrections per second, though I can t find a specification for the upper limit on this. The AO unit effectively works as a super high speed auto-guider, making corrections roughly 10x faster than a loaded telescope mount is able to do. This increase in speed is due in large part to the fact that only a small piece of glass needs to be moved inside the AO unit, as opposed to moving the entire telescope and the counterweights installed on the mount! In addition, the AO unit has the advantage that it need not work through the backlash in the mount s DEC axis gearing, as is sometimes needed when guiding corrections are carried out entirely using the mounts motors and gearing. A conceptual diagram of Dave s AO arrangement, which is not to scale, appears below. The filter wheel and filters are built into the camera and don t appear as individual items. The blue deviator plate shifts the position of the image around on the image sensor according to the extent to which it is rotated in X or Y, with Z being the optical axis. Image shifts are detected by the guide camera when they amount to no more than a small fraction of a pixel and corrected on the imaging camera by adjusting the deviator plate before the image shift becomes detectable -12-

13 December AP-SIG Meeting at Dave Hockenberry s (Continued from Preceeding Page) by the main image sensor. Thanks to the off-axis guider, the guide camera effectively sees part of the same image being recorded by the imaging camera. Anything that shifts the aim of the imaging camera such as telescope flexure, mirror flop, focuser droop, etc. is automatically detected and corrected along with the tracking errors of the telescope as a whole. That much is typical of off-axis guiding when using an auto-guiding camera. The AO unit adds the ability to correct for some effects that happen on a faster time scale, including wind and the most basic blurring effect of poor seeing, which is simple displacement of the image. At the start of the demonstration, with the AO unit turned off, the full width of a test star at half maximum (FWHM) was about 3.0 arc-seconds. The FWHM is a common gauge of seeing conditions and represents the seeing-limited resolution that can be obtained using the techniques employed under the sky conditions prevalent at the time. With the AO unit turned on and with guiding corrections issued at a frequency of 6 Hertz (6 times per second), the FWHM for stars was reduced to ~0.9 arc-seconds, a 3x improvement! That s an unusually large improvement and not all seeing conditions lead to such large improvements when the AO unit is turned on. A 30-50% reduction of the FWHM is more common. Even so, a 50% reduction in the FWHM can lead to as much as a 4x increase in the resolvable detail in an image because it applies to the image along each of 2 dimensions. AO is particularly beneficial if you re using a sub-optimal telescope mount or your sub-exposures are often blurred due to wind causing the aim of your telescope to be deflected. Some users have reported that their AO unit made their imaging rig much less susceptible to wind, reducing the loss of sub-exposures to ¼ that experienced with simple autoguiding. Other users have reported that their AO unit compensated for rapid tracking errors in their mount that normal autoguiding could not correct. At present, amateur AO units are manufactured by Starlight Xpress (SX) and the Santa Barbara Instrument Group (SBIG), which is now owned by Diffraction Limited, the maker of MaximDL. Links to relevant information on these units appear below. Dave reports that the Starlight Xpress unit requires you to use one of their guide cameras and runs properly when using MaximDL running under Windows. The imaging camera can be made by anyone. The Starlight Xpress AO unit only appears to be supported under Windows. The SBIG AO units are made to work only with specific SBIG imaging cameras and SBIG guiding cameras or guide heads. 32 and 64 bit versions of Windows are supported and there is reportedly also MAC support. In addition to his Active Optics (AO) unit, Dave also demonstrated the newest version of the Astro-Physics Command Center Pro (APCC-Pro) software. A detailed description of the software appears here. APCC-Pro provides a wide range of mount support options for Astro-Physics mounts and acts as an ASCOM* hub, allowing multiple other Windows programs to share control of the mount. You can easily teach APCC-Pro to avoid any potential collisions between your telescope and the mount simply by moving the scope close to where collisions would occur. APCC-Pro then determines what area is off limits and automatically sets the required safety stops to permanently prevent collisions. With APCC-Pro used as the ASCOM* hub for control of the telescope, this collision protection is automatically extended to any of the myriad of Windows programs that might be used to control the mount. The brilliant part of using the APCC-Pro as the ASCOM hub is that any image acquisition or observing program that runs under Windows and uses ASCOM, including Sequence Generator Pro, Starry Night, Stellarium, MaximDL, Cartes du Ciel, and others can automatically benefit from this collision protection. Separate collision protection measures don t need to be implemented independently in every Windows program you use to control the telescope mount. Of course, all this and a great many other programs used for astro-imaging can t be run if you don t have a dedicated Windows computer to control the telescope! - *ASCOM stands for Astronomy Common Object Model. Thanks to ASCOM, astronomy applications written to run under Windows don t need to include internal drivers for every brand and model of astronomy hardware you will use. As long as a program is ASCOM compatible and the hardware you want to use has an ASCOM device driver, the program and driver will work together under Windows, even if one piece of hardware or software is released years after the other. This allows ASCOM compatible hardware and software to be developed independently and to work together regardless of which is released first. ASCOM compatible programs can also run at the same time as other ASCOM compatible programs and share control of the same astronomy devices. For example, Sequence Generator Pro, Maxim DL, CCDSoft, the SkyX, and FocusMax all have the ability to control motorized focusers. Using ASCOM, several of these programs can be running simultaneously, allowing you to choose whichever program you prefer for focuser control, while using another program for other functionality. Thanks to ASCOM, there is no need to commit to a single source of software for everything. If the software you re using doesn t work well, several competing Windows programs with ASCOM drivers are ready to take up the slack. Virtually all of the computer-controllable astronomy hardware on the market today is first and foremost supported under Windows and has an ASCOM compliant device driver. -13-

14 Our DAS meetings now include a Beginner s Corner segment. Each segment will be about 15 minutes long and consist of a presentation on a basic astronomy topic. We are looking for presenters and suggestions for topics you would like to hear more about. The presentations will be aimed at a beginner adult audience with an aptitude and interest in the topic. Think of a freshman college level course. Not a physics major or even an astronomy major, but someone with enough interest to sign up for the course and you will hit the perfect note. The topics suggested by our members so far include: - The chemistry of fusion on the sun (fusion of hydrogen to helium) - Lunar phases, eclipses - Brightness vs. luminosity of stars - How to select binoculars; exit pupil, eye relief, how to estimate pupil size based on age - The difference between reflectors and refractor telescopes and the advantages and disadvantages of each - Polar aligned telescopes vs. alt/az alignment - The search for extraterrestrials; the Drake equation, the Very Large Array telescope and the Arecibo radio telescope and newer developments (or Radio astronomy as its own topic) - How to select the best Dobsonian scope to suit your height and your objectives or goals - The wave-particle duality of light - The upcoming August 2017 total eclipse of the sun and where to view it. How to make solar filters economically - Meteor showers during the year; what are they and when do they appear, and where do you look - How one measures dark sky value, the instrument and how it works - Some easy star hops to faint fuzzy objects and how to find them - Building your own telescope -- what it involves and the basic how-to of doing it (reflector easiest, buy or grind, tubes and sources; great pitch for telescope building group. Bill?) - Basics of astrophotography for the starter (camera, T-adaptor, motorized mount, taking images, stacking images; good pitch for astrophotography group. Bill again?) - Beginner scopes - Reflectors, refractors and SCTs - basics of evaluating a scope you're planning to purchase (particularly if used which is often at better price!) - Telescope alignment, finding beginner level objects - Introduction to Stellarium and how it can be used to assist visual observation - Alt-Az vs EQ mounts with the pros and cons of each - How to successfully star-align an EQ mount Casting Call...Ted Trevorrow So please, if you are familiar with one or more of these topics, please volunteer to present to our members. Everyone will learn something (including you) and our beginners will appreciate it very much. If you want to suggest a beginning astronomy topic to the list, in particular one you would like to know more about, let me know. Contact Ted Trevorrow at or edt750@verizon.net. -14-

15 Photo by DAS Member Mark Mitchell Happy New Year. This is a 90 minute exposure of NGC 2644, the Christmas tree cluster in the constellation Monoceros (the Unicorn). The cone nebula, fox fur nebula and snowflake cluster are other named objects in the field. Technical information: Target: NGC 2466 Christmas tree cluster/nebulae in Monoceros. (Mag 4.4, 40, 2500 ly away). Hidden treasure #38; Date: ; Location: Hockessin, Delaware; Telescope: ED 127; Mount: Vixen SXP, guided, moderate dither; Camera: Atik 383L+ one shot color; Temperature: 7C cooled to -5; Filter: V4; Exposure: 16, 300 sec subs; Software: Deep Sky Stacker. Photoshop CC 2017; Observer: Mark L. Mitchell. markm2315@comcast.net. Click Below To Goddard Space Flight Center -15-

16 Think of the many benefits of being a member of the Delaware Astronomical Society! We have telescopes including eyepieces and collimating equipment for your use. All you need to do is ask an officer or other board member to arrange for you to become certified on the telescope you want to use. If you have a suitable camera, you can start taking your own photos of lovely celestial objects. If you know nothing about astrophotography, no problem, we have people eager to teach you how to do it. There is a special interest group in astrophotography that meets monthly. If you want to build a telescope of your own, we have members who are expert and who are willing to show you how to do it. We have books in our library that explain the concepts. If you are a beginner, you will have help in Greg Lee s What s Up in the Sky, so that you will know where to look for interesting objects that month. We have beginner topics each month offered early in the program, so that school age and morning people can get some good information and still be home for their preferred bedtime. We have a Great Courses astronomy course with minute lectures in our library that will get you up to speed in basic concepts. We have a Great Courses series on observing. There is a library with many topics on astronomy. If you want help with finding objects in the sky, come to our star parties, formal and informal, to get some help with using your telescope, collimating and aligning with your finder scope. If you have a problem with your equipment, come out on Tuesday nights to find members who can help you problem solve. Let us know in advance what you would like to work on or which problems need solved, or what interesting things you would like to try. If you like to party, come out on those Tuesday nights; sometimes we have informal cookouts and observing. We also have picnics coupled with solar observing at other times. If you love to work, come to our work days. In future we will be doing concrete work around the Sawin observatory, making an attractive area around the sundial, and painting the Sawin. Work will be done to upgrade the electrical system in the Sawin. If you want to be more involved, let one of the Board Members know! We need people with diverse interests! There is something for everyone in the DAS, so be sure to send in $30 for dues soon to help improve the amenities of the club even more. Checks to: Diana Metzger 604 Baldwin Lane Wilmington, DE Cash at the meeting to Diana Or you can pay with PayPal using the link below; you don t have to have an account with PayPal, just a credit card. WELCOME New Members to the DAS! Barbara and Dana Wright; David Greenblatt We re GLAD to have You on Board -16-

17 Earth & Moon from Mars Orbiter A view of Earth and its moon, as seen from Mars. It combines two images acquired on Nov. 20, 2016, by the HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, with brightness adjusted separately for Earth and the moon to show details on both bodies. Relative sizes and distance are correct. NASA s Jet Propulsion Laboratory released a new, magnificent picture of our home planet and our moon as seen from a telescope orbiting Mars on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. When the component pictures were taken, Mars was 127 million miles away from the Earth. Australia is the reddish continent featured near the middle of the Earth in the picture. DAS Now has a Discount Subscription Rate for Amateur Astronomy Magazine Amateur Astronomy Magazine: DAS members must print, fill out and mail the form found in the Files section of our Yahoo list website. The magazine is issued quarterly. Click to and Stay Informed About EVERYTHING to do with Man s Exploration of the Universe!

18 DAS ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP Bill Hanagan The DAS astro-photography special interest group (DAS AP-SIG) meets monthly at Mt. Cuba and at our members homes. The AP SIG sometimes meets regardless of the weather, but some meetings are planned around specific imaging demonstrations and are Flex-Scheduled using on 1-2 day notice to synchronize with the weather. AP-SIG meetings are regularly announced via the DAS Yahoo Group as well as by to AP-SIG members. See the sidebar for a brief rundown on how to get started taking astro-photos. To join the AP-SIG, send me an at hanaganw@verizon.net with your name, address, and phone number and tell me that you want to join the AP-SIG. AP-SIG meetings are informal and typically include the presentation of astrophotos taken by the members along with an extended question and answer period. The topics discussed during our Q&A sessions have covered the entire gamut of astrophotography, from how to get started with a minimum of equipment, to polar aligning your telescope, to the fine points of using auto-guiders and post-processing digital images. Even if you aren t an AP-SIG member, you re welcome to attend the AP-SIG meetings to learn more. The specific date will be announced a day or two ahead of the meeting via DAS Yahoo Group . February 2017 Marks the AstroPhotography Special Interest Groups 15th Anniversary!! WOW!! On How to Get Started in Astro-Photography Bill Hanagan You can get started in astrophotography with your current camera mounted on a tripod by taking wide field photographs of meteor showers, conjunctions, constellations, and star trails. Mounting your camera piggyback on a motorized telescope that tracks the movement of the stars allows you to photograph a few more subjects, mostly large and bright nebulas and comets. At this level, some smaller subjects may benefit from the use of a telephoto lens. As you move to progressively fainter and smaller subjects, the demands on your equipment will grow considerably. However, as you improve your equipment, the number of subjects that you can photograph will also increase exponentially. Joining the AP SIG is a great way to learn what equipment you ll need to photograph the subjects that interest you and to find out what specific equipment works well (or doesn t work) before you spend your money. DAS AMATEUR TELESCOPE MAKING SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP Bill Hanagan The DAS Amateur Telescope Making (ATM) Special Interest Group (SIG) is made up of DAS members who get together to work on their own as well as club related telescope making projects. The ATM SIG meets at times and locations appropriate for whatever projects are currently underway. The general range of activities of the ATM SIG includes all manner of telescope making including Newtonian mirror making, the testing of complete telescopes as well as individual optics, and the making of telescope accessories. In the past, we ve made several Newtonian telescope mirrors from scratch and completed some that members brought in as works in progress, including one that was started in the mid-60 s! We ve also made new telescope tubes, made secondary mirror holders, tested numerous telescope objectives, manufactured spiders, and made many solar filters for telescopes and binoculars. We recently completed the refiguring of the DAS 17.5 Newtonian mirror. Anyone interested in joining the ATM SIG should their name, address, and phone number to me at hanaganw@verizon.net.. FOCUS uses plenty of photos in banners & elsewhere each issue, and we want to use YOURS...not Hubble s!! Photos need NOT be current. So how about you?? HAVE ANY OLD or NEW ASTROPHOTOS?? PLEASE to FOCUS editor (or tell us where they can be found on the web if your photos reside therei) -18-

19 The Next AP-SIG Meeting will be a Seminar on Saturday, January 21 from 10 AM to 4 PM by Bill Hanagan The next AP-SIG meeting is scheduled for the weekend of January 21 at Mt. Cuba. Full details can be found on pages 2 and 7 of this month s FOCUS. As always, the specific date and time of the meeting depend on the weather and will be announced via DAS YAHOO GROUP as well as by direct to AP-SIG members. Anyone interested in astrophotography, from curious beginner to expert, is welcome to attend! But, if you re a visual observer, please note that while you re always welcome to come out to AP-SIG meetings to learn about imaging, lighting conditions at our meetings are sometimes less than ideal for simultaneous visual observing because of the computers and cameras in use. Further, some telescopes may be configured for imaging during the meeting and it may not be convenient to reconfigure them for visual use until after the meeting. The AP-SIG is very good at helping beginners improve their images, so don t be shy about bringing imperfect images along to get some advice on how to take even better images. If you are not an AP-SIG member you can always come to the meeting to see what goes on and sign up later. We always have a Q&A period in which we present and discuss all types of imaging gear including telescopes, auto guiders, CCD cameras, DSLRs, camera lenses, etc. We also take a look at everyone s most recent photos. When you come, be sure to bring a USB memory stick with your astrophotos and any related project materials that you would like to show the group. Even if some of your photos have imperfections, it s a good idea to bring them along to promote the discussion of image acquisition and processing techniques. Upcoming Monthly Meetings February 21, :00 pm - 9:30 pm DAS Monthly Meeting--Topic: Tour of Spitz; Board meeting at 7PM, all are welcome; General Meeting at 8PM. March 21, :00 pm - 9:30 Mike Turco The Effects of the Sun on Earth's Climate April 18, :00 pm - 9:30 pm DAS Monthly Meeting Topic: Prof. Dave Goldberg ; Board meeting at 7PM, all are welcome; General Meeting at 8PM. May 16, 2017 DAS Monthly Meeting -- Annual Dinner Meeting - Shawn Domagal-Goldman June 20, :00 pm - 9:30 pm DAS Monthly Meeting Topic: TBD; Board meeting at 7PM, all are welcome; General Meeting at 8PM.. The Astro-Photography Special Interest Group (AP SIG): One of the GREAT Benefits of Belonging to the Delaware Astronomical Society. So Join or Re-Join and get involved In the Hobby s Most Advanced Element in Astronomy Today. And get a Look at what the Heavens REALLY look like --Something that can only be Found in Modern Astro-Photography! -19- And the DAS Has The Equipment and Expertise Needed for YOU to Get Started in Astro-Photogrophy!

20 Sawin Certification Program The Sawin is the major centerpiece of DAS. In the past it was in use much more often and by a number of members on every clear Friday night. It has been largely underutilized for a number of reasons. One reason, I believe, is that newer members or members who do not own a telescope might feel intimidated by the equipment and the observatory s layout. We hope to address this by instituting the Sawin Certification Program. With the new upgrades installed, its use will be more inviting and user friendly to both new and experienced members. Certified Key Holders of the Sawin have access to its use at any time without supervision. The Program will consist of a minimum of 2 sessions, scheduled at the Sawin, to obtain the necessary knowledge and experience in using the Sawin equipment. These sessions will be supervised by a current Sawin Key Holder. The first session, likely set for a weekend in the daylight (even if it s cloudy), will familiarize learners with the layout of the Sawin and overall operation, including opening the roof, uncovering and covering the telescopes, handling eyepieces and pointing the telescopes, etc. If the supervising Sawin Key Holder determines that progression during the first session is acceptable, then the second session will be scheduled for a clear sky night session to address night time use of the equipment. The Sawin Certification Program is for DAS members only who are in good standing and 16 years of age or older. Participants in the program who are under 18 years of age must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. For information or sign-up, please contact Rob Lancaster, DAS President at RLancaste@gmail.com. ASTRONOMICAL LEAGUE MEMBERSHIP The DAS offers an optional membership in the Astronomical League (AL) at a discounted rate. AL membership dues are $7.50 per year and are due on June 1 for all members. Prorated discounts for new memberships starting mid-year are as follows: April 16 - July 15: $7.50 per member July 16 - Oct 15: $5.62 per member Oct 16 - Jan 15: $3.75 per member Jan 16 - April 15: $1.87 per member For questions regarding Astronomical League, its observing programs and to sign off on completed observing programs before being submitted to the Astronomical League, contact Lynn King at klynnking@verizon.net. Members should make their check out to DAS and mail it to the Treasurer whose information is below: Diana Metzger, Treasurer, 604 Baldwin Lane, Wilmington, DE Call for DAS AstroImages for Display in Mt. Cuba Lobby MCAO is asking for any DAS members to submit their astroimages for display in the Observatory. It would like to display the club member s talents and update some of the images currently on display in the lobby of the Observatory. Images will be displayed for up to a year and replaced as new images are submitted. Full credits to the imager will be included. Please include all technical information with the image (date, telescope and camera used, exposure time, image processing software, etc.). You may digital images to the Mt. Cuba website. Photos may be sent to the Observatory or brought to a DAS meeting. The Observatory looks forward to displaying your beautiful images! Contact Greg at mtcuba@physics.udel.edu. Click Below To -20-

21 INFORMATION ON DAS MEMBERSHIPS AND MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTIONS DAS MEMBERSHIP DAS membership dues are $30.00 per year and due on November 1 for all members. - There is no need to renew membership until the treasurer contacts you during the membership renewal drive starting in mid-october. New members joining at various times of the year may be eligible for a prorated dues amount. - $20 when joining March-May - $10 when joining June-August - $30 for joining September-October through November 1 of the following year. SKY & TELESCOPE MAGAZINE The DAS offers subscriptions to Sky & Telescope at a discounted rate of $32.95 per year. Call S&T magazine at and mention the club's name to receive the discount ASTRONOMY MAGAZINE The DAS offers subscriptions to Astronomy magazine at a discounted rate of $34.00 per year. Subscriptions to Astronomy will be processed by the club for the first subscription year only. Your subscription expiration date should be displayed on the mailing label on your magazine. Renewals can be handled by all club members on the Astronomy.com website using the following steps: a. go to b. select the customer service link in the upper right corner c. select the renew your subscriptions link d. enter your customer number (found on the mailing label), postal code, and the renewal code of RCLUB040 and click continue e. follow the remaining steps from there. NEW MEMBERSHIP FORM Please review the membership and magazine information above carefully. PLEASE fill out the membership form below completely NEW MEMBERSHIP FORM Please be sure to review the Membership and Magazine information above carefully. Please make checks payable to DAS and forward to: Diana Metzger, Treasurer, 604 Baldwin Lane, Wilmington, DE Membership $30.00/20.00/10.00 Astronomy Magazine $34.00 Total: Name Adress Street Address Phone Number City State Zip Notes For questions or concerns, contact Diana Metzger, DAS Treasurer at (302) dmetzgermd@gmail.com -21-

22 DAS CONTACTS Please Call Any of Us With Your Concerns or Problems Board Members Officers: President: Rob Lancaster also Webmaster Vice-President: Jeff Lawrence (302) also, Program Chair Secretary: Treasurer: Bill McKibben -- Diana Metzger -- (302) Board Members at Large: Terry Lisansky -- Glenn Bentley -- (610) Bill Hanagan -- (302) Astro-Photography Special Interest Group (AP SIG) -- Amateur Telescope Making Special Interest Group (ATM SIG) Standing Chairs: Publications: Joe Neuberger -- --(410) also FOCUS Newsletter, articles & Photo Contributions & Submissions Observatory: Education: Jack Goodwin -- (610) Ted Trevarrow -- (302) Library: Maria Lavalle and Sue Bebon Astronomical League Coordinator--K Lynn King -- Observing Chair: Greg Lee Elections Chair: Currently Vacant --also Awards Chair and By-Laws See Preceeding Page for New Membership Form If you have any questions call any of the member representatives listed. Otherwise, just check the appropriate boxes and complete the form on the preceeding page. Print it or cut it off and send it with your check to Diana Metzger at her address on the form. The magazine prices are group rates to DAS members. If you re just joining us for the first time, THANK YOU VERY MUCH, and WELCOME to the DAS! It s GREAT to have you with us! FOCUS Editor Joe Neuberger