Alamogordo Astronomy

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1 Special June Issue Solar Astronomy Volume 1, Issue 5 Published May 31, 2012 Alamogordo Astronomy On The Internet Alamogordo Astronomy Club Amateur Astronomers Group Tonight s Sky Hubble Images my/tonights_sky Visible Planet Guide earthsky.org The Sky This Month - nighskyinfo Sky Watching Events - space.com US NAVAL Observatory onomical-applications Produced By Alamogordo Astronomy Club The Special Solar Issue With all of the solar activity this year, I decided that a special Solar Astronomy issue was just the thing instead of a regular June Issue. I would like to thank all those that provided input, articles, photos, and support for this special issue. I would like to also thank my family and especially my wife who has tollerated me for over 27 years. She is a very strong woman. This June is very special for us; we celebrate our 25 th Wedding Aniversary on June 5 th Transit of Venus how fitting. We hope that all enjoy this special issue of Alamogordo Astronomy. David B. Wright Club President Alamogordo Astronomy Club The Wright Family made a Solar Observatory out of a $35 refractor and some old poster board. The May 20 Solar Eclipse Alamogordo Astronomy Club P.O. Box 4151 Alamogordo, NM aacwp@zianet.com The May 20 th Annular Solar Eclipse was a big hit here in southern NM. Hundreds of observers enjoyed the Sun as the Moon slowly covered up to 90% of the image. This special issue of Alamogordo Astronomy includes eclipse images from Haines Canyon, The Solar Observatory at Sunspot, NM Museum of Space History, Duran, and Estancia. A special Thank You to all that contributed with content for this special June issue of Alamogordo Astronomy.

2 Annular Solar Eclipse May 20, 2012 by John Pijawka The United States southwest was the center of the astronomical world Sunday evening, May 20th 2012 because of its unusual solar eclipse. A solar eclipse happens when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth and casts a shadow onto our planet. If the moon happens to be relatively close to the earth, it blocks the entire sun and we see a total solar eclipse. If the moon lies farther from earth than average, it doesn t quite cover the sun completely and observers see a ring, or annulus of sunlight at mid eclipse. This is called or annular solar eclipse which is the type that happened Sunday. The path of annularity just happened to cross Albuquerque Sunday evening and thousands of observers gathered to join in the festivity. We met some observers, photographers and astronomers as far away as New York and London. The best view in Albuquerque was on the West Mesa near Petrogylph Park because of its unobstructed open horizon and due to the fact that the eclipse would start with the sun at 5 degrees above the horizon. The eclipse started at 6:30 pm as the moon began to edge its way onto the sun. For almost an hour we watched the moon slide across the sun s plane and by 7:30 pm it reached annularity. There were a plenty of ooh s, ahh s and applause! Total annularity lasted a whole 4 minutes and 26 seconds! The ring of sunlight appeared perfectly symmetrical at the peak of annularity. On the West Mesa the Moon blocked 94 percent of the Sun s diameter or about 89 percent of our star s area. The unusual event of this eclipse was that the sun was setting while the eclipse was still in progress. Also shadows grew sharper and seemed irregular and odd almost too the fact you were seeing double and the sky grew darker! Eye protection was a necessity and folks had solar eclipse glasses, #14 welder glasses and special filters on telescopes. We even saw some pin-hole viewers where you can project the sun through pin holes onto white cardboard. Looking at the sun directly can damage the retinas of your eyes! It was a perfect evening, the weather cooperated and just a few clouds here and there made for this unique event. This was the first annular solar eclipse to touch the United States since The next one won t be till October 14, We ll all see you then!

3 Mike Smith supported the annular solar eclipse viewing event with the Amateur Astronomers Group at the New Mexico Museum of Space History Mike S. stated, We had at least 300 people at the Space History museum for the eclipse event with the Alamogordo Astronomy Group; everyone really enjoyed it. I was there with my little "Sunspotter" so lots of people could view the eclipse together, (at once.) This was one of the largest turnouts we have ever had for an astronomy event at the Space History Museum. I'll be at the Space History Museum on June 5 starting at about 4 PM for the Venus transit of the sun, again, with my trusty little "SUPER" "Sunspotter" telescope. I don't know if I'll be alone for this one, but anyone will be welcome to come for the viewing, weather permitting, of course. The rest of the Alamogordo Astronomy Group will be out at Oliver Lee State Park for the Venus transit (June 5) out there to show the park visitors the transit. Mike Mosier observed the eclipse from near Ruidoso Mike M. stated, It was great here at Ruidoso Downs. Went up the mountain where we had a great view. I tried to take some pictures and will see how they came out. We had almost a full ring. Taken from the Ruidoso Downs area with my old Kodak digital camera and a solar filter. We went up into the national forest about 1000 feet above town... Not the greatest. I think the most interesting thing about the eclipse was the shadows. The birds started talking and the crickets started singing as if nightfall was coming.

4 Chris Jones and Greg Crinklaw supported the event at Estancia. Chris stated, The annular eclipse in Estancia was EXCELLENT! The perfectly concentric annulus was absolutely stunning and well worth the drive. About three dozen people showed up at Punkin' Chunkin' Field. Some friends of Greg's came in from Albuquerque with a Televue refractor and an Orion dob. With 5 telescopes, including the PST, and plenty of solar glasses nobody had to wait in line. The star party afterward lasted until about 11:30. Mayor Ted Barela, his family, and all the attendees thank AAC for this memorable event. Greg (skyhound.com) stated, Everyone had a great time in Estancia. The event was held at the Punkin' Chunkin' field. You can see some of the pumpkin cannons in the background. My son Harry made a projection device with duct tape, cardboard, and an old pair of broken binoculars. You can see the perfect annulus projected on the chair next to him in the picture. The view of the eclipse in the club's PST, with prominences all around the edge of the prefect ring, was unforgettable. The purchase of this telescope was an outstanding decision by the club. I'd like to thank Chris Jones for having the idea of doing the event in Estancia and seeing it through!

5 Richard Sass provided these pictures Richard states, Here are some pictures I took of the eclipse. The pictures were taking at Hayes Canyon Lookout. Lots of people out to view the eclipse. We were lucky to find a parking place. After the Moon covered the Sun,I notice how cool to cold it got. Clear Skies Richard.

6 Images from the folks at the National Solar Observatory (NSO) Thank you Jackie Diehl and all of the folks at NSO who shared and supported the eclipse activities.

7 Solar Eclipse Images From Kit Richards, Telescope Engineer at the NSO Kit Richards took a few pictures of the eclipse and made them into a movie. The movie is available on the web at

8 Solar Eclipse Images From Eric Galayda IMAGES FROM STACEY SUEOKA Thanks again to the National Solar Observatory

9 Solar Photos Provided by JAMES TOMAKA and the Amateur Astronomers Group Jim tells us, sunspot AR 1476 taken on May 11, 2012 using an Orion 90mm refractor at f30 using a DMK41AU02 camera through a Lunt solar wedge and Baader 532 nm solar continuum filter from Alamogordo, NM. Using Mira AL astrometric software I was able to determine the sunspot stretched about 160,000 km. the annular eclipse taken from the AAG annular eclipse star party up at the New Mexico Museum of Space History on May 20, The photo was taken by Michael Johnson of the Alamogordo Daily News using a Canon XSi Rebel DSLR using a mm zoom lens and a Baader solar film filter built for him by the AAG. The AAG created a separate Solar Gallery on the Amateur Astronomers Group website ( so we could post various solar related photos. The Venus Transit Jim Tomaka Amateur Astronomers Group On June 5, 2012, Venus will pass across the face of the Sun for only the second time this century and the last time until December 11, 2117 (105 years!). When Venus lines up between the Earth and the Sun, its as close as it ever comes. It will appear over 58 arcseconds wide (a little less than 1/30 the width of the Moon or Sun in the sky.

10 A Brief History Johannas Kepler predicted the first Venus transit in 1627 would occur in Kepler's laws of planetary motion explained the relationship of the various orbits, for example, astronomers could tell that Venus was 7/10ths as far away from the Sun as Earth but could not gauge the actual distance. If the Earth-Sun distance could be accurately measured, then the true size of the solar system could be understood. Unfortunately, the 1631 event occurred below the horizon in Europe and went unnoticed. Jeremiah Horrocks and William Crabtree of England produced the first estimate of 59.4 million miles using the transit in By the 1700's, Edmond Halley (of Halley's Comet fame) laid out the techniques and observations needed to better measure the distance to the Sun using the transit of Venus. Expeditions were mounted in the late 1700's by various teams, including Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon (also known for the Mason-Dixon line!). The results were marginal due to the "black-drop effect" as the silhouette of Venus neared the limb of the Sun. Measurements in the 1760's indicated distances varying from 76 million to 96 million miles. The transits of 1874 and 1882 did little to improve the measurement. The Earth's atmosphere and telescope imperfections made the "seeing" fuzzy at the critical contact points. At the start of the 20th century astronomers instead used the near-earth asteroid Eros 433 to determine the astronomical unit. The image below illustrates the Venus egress "contact point" taken by an AAG member in 2004 from Florida. By precisely timing the event from widely separated locations, early astronomers thought they could compute the distance from the Earth to the Sun using trigonometry. However, the measurement was much more difficult to make due to the black drop effect. This optical phenomenon appears to connect Venus' disk to the limb of the Sun (see 2nd image from left) and complicated the precise timing of the event. This image was taken using a Nikon D100 DSLR through a Takahashi FS 102 telescope/baader solar filter using a Takhashi EM1 mount. Today, radio signals from spacecraft orbiting distant planets have refined the measurement. The astronomical unit (AU), or the mean distance from the Earth to the Sun, has been defined as 92,955,807.3 miles (149,597,870.7 km) (± 100 feet). Why don't Venus transits occur more often? While Venus passes in front of the Earth about every 584 days, the orbit of Venus is inclined (by about 3.4 degrees) relative to the Earth. Most of the time Venus passes above or below the Sun as viewed from Earth during this conjunctions.

11 What to Expect? While a transit of Venus no longer holds a scientific value, it is a rare and stunning event. Oliver Lee State Park, The New Mexico Museum of Space History and the Amateur Astronomers Group will have specially-filtered telescopes and glasses (limited) available for the public to view this "once in a lifetime event". Venus will look like a black dot silhouetted against the Sun's brilliant disk. The entire transit event will not be viewable from Oliver Lee state Park due to the rotation of the Earth, however we will witness the initial transit and approximately half of the transverse across the face of the Sun (weather permitting, of course!). Transits Today Scientists are currently using a 'transit method' to detect planets around distant stars. When the alignment of a distant star system and Earth is nearly edge-on, scientists can detect and measure the dip as a planet blocks a fraction of the starlight. Learn more about the detection of extra-solar planets at the Kepler Space Telescope website. For those of us who advance plan, Mercury will transit the Sun on May 9, 2016 (11:12 to 18:42 UT). June 5, 2012 Venus Transit The Amateur Astronomers Group and Oliver Lee State Park are teaming up for the Venus transit on June 5, 2012 starting at 4:00 PM at the park s group shelter area. What is a Transit? A Venus transit occurs when Venus crosses the face of the Sun as viewed from the Earth. Since Venus orbit is tilted with respect to the Earth, this alignment occurs periodically in sets of two about every 115 years. The last set of transits occurred in 1882 and this cycle occurred in 2004 and now The next set of Venus transits do not occur again until Star Party The Amateur Astronomers Group in collaboration with Oliver Lee State Park will be hosting a daytime star party to safely view the transit event. The AAG will have various solar telescopes trained on the Sun and a limited number of safe, solar filter glasses for the public to view the event. To learn more Visit the Venus Transit page at the Amateur Astronomers Group website at: or visit: Venus transit, courtesy of National Solar Observatory/AURA/NSF Warning: Never directly look at the Sun without proper equipment. Amateur Astronomers Group Alamogordo, NM visit:

12 Alamogordo Astronomy NASA has an enormous amount of Solar-related information on their web site(s). The two sites that I found on solar physics are solar science, and heliophysics, Astronomy Events for June in Southern New Mexico Star Party Events at Dog Canyon - Oliver Lee State Park Transit Of Venus June 5 Monthly Star Party June 23 Mercury, the Crescent Moon, Mars & Saturn create a spectacular alignment at sundown. Living Desert State Park Living Desert Star Party June 30 Bottomless Lake State Park Bottomless Lake Star Party June 23 Alamogordo Astronomy Club The club meets on the third Friday of the Month at 7:30 PM (except in December) at the Gerald Champion Medical Center- Conference Rooms 1 and 2 in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Visit us on facebook Or on the web at