The Meteor Journal of the Escambia Amateur Astronomers Association

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1 The Meteor Journal of the Escambia Amateur Astronomers Association VOLUME XXXVII Numbers 9-10 September-October 2012 ********************************************************************************************* President Steve Self (251) Vice President -- Ed Magowan (850) Secretary Richard Walker (850) Treasurer Jim Larduskey (850) Observing - Warren Jarvis (850) Librarian: Jacque Falzone (850) Education Chair Dewey Barker (850) NWFAA Contact: Dennis Hausch (850) PSC Student Chapter officers for 2012: Paul Rittenhouse-Pres., Adam Licko-VP, Sara Ingersoll-Sec.-Treas. Editor and ALCOR: Dr. J. Wayne Wooten, Physical Sciences, Room 1751, Pensacola State College, Pensacola FL Phone (850) (voic ) ( ) pensacolastate.edu Please mail all dues to EAAA Treasurer, 4660 Shannon Circle, Pensacola, FL Mayan Madness - The End of Days? Intrigued by the ancient mysticism of the Mayan civilization, their culture and advanced technology? Frightened by the increasing prophecies of doom and the end of time as told by their Mayan Calendar? Then join Dr. P. Clay Sherrod (Doc Clay) who once again visits Pensacola State College for: "Mayan Madness - The End of Days". On Friday, October 5, at 7:00 p.m. in Room 2142 (adjacent to the PSC Planetarium) for a captivating and mind-stimulating lecture about this ancient time-keeper and what the Mayan Priests and engineers had in mind when they constructed the calendar to " run out" on the Winter Solstice As December 21 approaches, fanatics and cults worldwide are preparing for "the end of the world" based on what they conceive as prophecies told by the complicated calendar mechanism which keeps time up to 5,125 days stopping on the Winter Solstice this year. Some have suggested - and enormous cults have evolved because of - the lack of days past December 21, 2012 implies that the Mayan High Priests knew of the end of the world in this year. Cult following for such astronomical oddities is nothing new and certainly nothing to be taken lightly. In 1997, for example, the famous "Hale Bopp" mass suicide took place from followers of The Heavens' Gate, a cult established because they believed alien spacecraft were following in the wake of then-approaching Comet Hale Bopp. All followers were found dead from a simultaneous suicide plot prior to the "arrival" of the aliens they believed were hidden and masked in the gaseous tail of the comet. This provocative presentation features dramatic graphics to explain the Mayan civilization and its expanse 3000 years ago, the workings of the famous Mayan Calendar, and exposes the TWELVE prophecies that are supposedly "forecast" that are concerning to millions of people today. Each of these prophecies will be explored in depth and each will be shown for its accuracy (or lack of) and influence as we approach the Winter Solstice, the longest night of Many never-seen-before concepts and explanations for the calendar will be revealed during this presentation for all ages. You will definitely leave with a new understanding of the Mayan Calendar and its reputation for doom, and with a new understanding of the ease at which science can be misrepresented. Dr. Sherrod has been an educator and researcher in the past five decades in Earth and physical sciences, astronomy and archeology and presently operates the private Arkansas Sky Observatories, a major contributor worldwide in the sciences of solar system objects. His contributions to amateur astronomers and aspiring students is well known throughout the world. This major one-time presentation is jointly hosted by Pensacola State College Physical Science Department, the Pensacola State College Student Astronomy Club Chapter, and the Escambia Amateur Astronomy Association (EAAA); Dr. Sherrod has generously provided lectures every year for the past decade to the public of Pensacola. There is NO charge for participating in this eye-opening experience and seating will be limited to the capacity of the lecture hall. Dr. Clay Sherrod PS: Club members will have a meet and greet hosting Dr. and Mrs. Sherrod at Golden Corral at 5 PM before his presentation, and a stargaze will follow outside the planetarium, clear skies permitting.

2 The Meteor Volume XXXVII Numbers 9-10 September-October 2012 Page 2 Pavilion Gazes for July 27-28, 2012 On Friday night, EAAA members were set up on the right side of the pavilion, nearer to the pier and the volley ball court. I was the last to arrive at around 7:45 and I found Lyen McAbbee, John Arnold, and Perry Vath on site with around people standing around waiting for views of the Moon and Saturn. It was fairly cloudy, so we didn't get to see much more than that. I would estimate that we had around 100+ people stop by during the night. John and Perry departed around 10:00 and Lyen and I held out until around 11:00 PM. On Saturday, I arrived around 6:30 PM to another night of overcast skies. I set up the table with the handouts and my 90 mm Orion Maksutov to catch views of the Moon through the gaps. I had a nice hole to view the Moon until the Sun went down, then the clouds began rolling in from the East. A scout pack had come out for the gaze, but they didn't stick around long because of the weather, hopefully we will hear from them later this year for a gaze at their location or at Camp Paquette. Lyen and Perry both came out again, but did not see the need to set up. I'd estimate that we had around 50 people stop by for the entire night and I broke down and headed for home around 10:00 PM. --Dewey J. Barker Hey, I was set up there too on Friday and Saturday nights! It was my first Pensacola Beach star gaze and I had a blast even though, as Dewey indicated, there wasn't much to see. We had people lined up all night just to get a peek. That was the very first time that I did any real sidewalk astronomy. I will be looking forward to the August program and hoping for clearer skies. --Tom Riederer (new member) Pavilion Gaze for Friday, August 24 th We had a fine picnic prior to the gaze, with many members and lots of fine fare for all at our annual summer picnic. Many thanks to members Rich and Carol Sigler, Tom Arnold, Tom Riederer, Andy Walker, Dewey Barker, John Ellard (VP of the Mobile AS), Don and Rita Meyer, Lyen McAbee, Harold Breyde, and Wayne Wooten for food and fellowship and gaze assistance with the 200+ folks who dropped by on the fine night under a first quarter moon. About 20 of my new astronomy students from PSC and UWF also dropped by and signed in. We did spot a Russian spy satellite, Cosmos 1633, but clouds prevented our spotting the ISS pass. We also wrapped up the Astronomy MB for some scouts from Troop 10, and here is a note of thanks from former student Sheryl Williams, Mark's mom. We had a great time Friday night, it was really nice to be around all the excitement. I think we will be coming to more gazes. I may even join the club. The boys that were there learned a lot. We thank you very much for all your time and effort to Troop 10 for the instructing and observation for the badge. --Sheryl Williams, PJC Astronomy Student, 1977 September 14, 2012, A Great Gaze at Fort Pickens I arrived at Ft Pickens around 6:00 PM, which was early for a change. I set out the star gaze yard sign and began setting up the table with the handouts. I had hoped to swap scopes the night before and bring the Flutterby Observatory, but ended up bringing the Orion 4 refractor. The weather was nice and it looked like we would have a good night, even with some heavy clouds to the South and some haziness to the North. As I was setting up, I spotted the following members arriving; Rick Johnston, Adam Licko, Ed Magowan, Rick Hogue, Lynn McAbee, Malone Calvert, Harold Breyde, Wayne Wooten, Margaret Hildreth, Jacque Falzone, and Tom Reider. Dr Wooten set up the video camera and laptop with Ed s Celestron and kept a large part of the crowd entertained while showing various objects on the monitor and while using his laser pointer on the constellations. I started out showing views of Saturn and moved over to M-13 for the rest of the evening. As the night got darker, the clouds seemed to evaporate and we had beautiful clear views of the sky and we had one of the best appearances of the Milky Way from this location in some time. I pointed out the constellations as best I could without my laser pointer and explained about star hopping when using a non-go-to telescope. I had a pair of 7 x 35 binoculars and had several individuals use them to scan the Milky Way to demonstrate what can be seen with a simple device and that buying an expensive scope is not always the best way to start into our hobby. I would estimate that we had people stop by during the course of the evening. As the crowd dwindled down, members began packing up for the night and Rick H, Rick J, and I were the last of the holdouts and we ended up heading for home around 10:30 after a thick blanket of clouds moved in overhead. --Dewey J. Barker, EAAA Star Gaze & Events Coordinator

3 The Meteor Volume XXXVII Numbers 9-10 September-October 2012 Page 3 Dr. Stephen Squyres Talk at IHMC on September 6, 2012 The institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC), located in Pensacola, Florida, describes its award-winning Evening Lecture Series as a community forum where individuals gather to hear engaging and enlightening conversation and where speakers present an ongoing series of fascinating lectures. The IHMC 13 September 2012 evening talk by Steven W. Squyres entitled Roving Mars: Spirit, Opportunity and the Exploration of the Red Planet was engaging, enlightening, and fascinating. Dr. Squyres is the Goldwin Smith Professor of Astronomy at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. According to his bio summary, His research area is in planetary sciences, with a focus on large solid bodies in the solar system such as the terrestrial planets and the moons of the Jovian planets. Moreover, Dr. Squyres is principal investigator of the Mars Exploration Rover Mission (MER). His talk that evening was aimed at providing an up-to-date summary of the missions of twin robotic explorers named Spirit and Opportunity that landed on the surface of Mars in January Designed for an operational lifetime of only 90 days, these two rovers have been gathering science data for more than eight years. Many of us watched Steve Squyres on television during different phases of the mission, especially during rocket lift off and during those tense moments when Spirit and Opportunity were entering Martian orbit and making their final plunge to the surface of Mars. Now, we were about to see him in person. As in most instances of a real celebrity being present, there was considerable excitement at the IHMC when we were within five minutes of Dr. Squyres walking up to the podium to speak on the Spirit/Opportunity Mars exploration mission. As Principal Investigator, no one could be better qualified to describe the hectic, and sometimes harrowing, months involving the design, building, launch, sevenmonth flight, and successful landing of the two vehicles. Starting with his first sentence, there was no doubt that Squyres is every inch a scientist and communicator. He had probably given that presentation many times, yet he brought to the room a level of enthusiasm that clearly spoke of commitment, dedication, and, above all, a love for adventuring into the unknown. Passion is so often the driving force behind really difficult endeavors; it was easy to sense that passion during every minute of Dr. Squyres presentation. Beginning with the initial concept and design of the rover vehicles, there were lots of unknowns; configuring the solar panels is one example. One might think that pure function would dictate a narrow range of panel designs, but, no, there were many attempts to come up with something that everyone could agree upon. Many designs were produced, and subsequently thrown away, until one of the engineers came up with the now familiar swept wing version. It was love at first sight. Everyone on the team said at once: Stop; that s it; that s perfect. The look worked; a real case of form follows function. When seeing the solar-paneled vehicles for the first time, some of us wondered: Why not onboard nuclear power? Squyres cleared that up. Sure, it would have been more complex, but the most significant inhibiting factors were paper work (government permission and certification), expense, and project timelines. Solar power was a good option for Spirit and Opportunity and, together, they cost something like $800 million dollars to land on Mars. Curiosity s cost was about $2.5 billion dollars, but the vehicle required nuclear power. Squyres described some of the really harrowing moments. For example, designing a parachute capable of handling the rover s descent velocity in the lower Martian atmosphere proved very difficult, almost a show stopper. Numerous designs failed open-air tests until, finally, only a few months before launch, a reliable design was found. Also, finding a suitable material for constructing the bouncing bags surrounding the rovers for contact with the ground was another serious challenge. Of course, there are lots more: Even after the safe touchdown of the first rover, learning how to drive it across the Martian surface required learning and a lot of practice, given the communication time delay. I think we all learned something new. I learned, for instance, that the rovers were equipped with on-board obstacle avoidance sensors, something that had to be taken into account while learning how to drive them. Most of us have read about the many exploits and adventures of these two remarkable vehicles, but hearing about these events from someone who virtually lived in mission control and can describe the events in minute, intimate detail was a real treat. Ken Ford, Director, Founder and CEO of the Institute for IHMC and his staff are to be congratulated for hosting this outstanding presentation by Dr. Steve Squyres and for bringing in many other big hitters for the Evening Lecture Series. Well done, and thank you! --Jerome Klingaman

4 The Meteor Volume XXXVII Numbers 9-10 September-October 2012 Page 4 Big Lagoon Gaze on September 21, 2012 We currently have a good opportunity to view Uranus and Neptune. Uranus is very near opposition which occurs September near the Cetus - Pisces border. Neptune is in Aquarius. In spite of hazy skies during the Big Lagoon gaze on September 21, quite a few folks were treated to seeing these two planets. I have really come to appreciate my new GOTO mount! As skies cleared, I directed my Celestron C6SE to find Uranus. In a matter of seconds, the scope located the planet and a close star in the 50x field. At first glance, I was not quite sure which was the planet. It made me appreciate William Herschel even more as I realized how star-like the planet was at low power. He found it initially during a "sweep" with a 6 inch Newtonian. Changing to higher power quickly helped me identify the disk. The September S&T has an article on these planets on page 50, and it mentions that the star was 44 Piscium which is yellow. The planet's disk is blue-gray and about 3.7 seconds in diameter. Neptune is only about 2 seconds in diameter, but was easy to identify. Another example of telescope technology was the setup Ed McGowan was using. I believe he had a Canon DSLR attached to a C8 making fairly short exposures of various objects. Several of us had been viewing M57 in Lyra, but Ed had just imaged it and was displaying the exposure on his laptop screen. There in color was a beautiful image of the nebula with the 15th magnitude central star visible! Again, I was amazed. I have always tended toward traditional observational astronomy with maps, star hops, etc. Looks like I can't ignore the trends any longer. Great time to be an amateur! --Ray Hayes We had a great time at Big Lagoon Friday night. Thought the clouds were gonna shut us out, but they finally dissipated. I was taking a lunar tour with the 8 inch and really loving the details at higher power. Can't wait to use the 10 with my Nikon behind it. Would love to set it up next to some of the more experienced members who know more than I do about astrophotography and learn more about the process. --Adam Licko, VP, PSC Student Chapter The Demise of Tycho I was in the library a few days ago and picked up RENAISSANCE magazine and paged through it. It was startling to find an article about the exhumation of Tycho Brahe for a study about how and why he died suddenly. There have been opinions that he was murdered! Some say that that Kepler may have poisoned him to inherit his decades of observations. But, Kepler wasn't his heir! His heirs thought the observations had great monetary value and Kepler was lucky they let him use the Mars positions. No potential buyers thought the other observations were worth the high price the heirs wanted for them, so Tycho's life work disappeared into some dustbin of history--maybe used to start the fire in fireplaces. Walt Jones had an uncle who's lifework was as a NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC photographer. When Walt went his estate sale, the relatives had dumped his lifework of thousands of Kodachrome slides onto the floor so they could sell off the empty slide trays. Perhaps the spirits of Tycho and Walt's uncle are consoling one another in that great observatory in the sky. Two interesting things from the preliminary study: 1.) there were traces of copper oxide found next to the skull. Tycho was supposed to have used an gold/silver blend hand crafted nose after losing his original nose in a duel. Perhaps he had a cheaper copper nose for everyday use and kept the precious metal version for special occasions---a Sunday go-to-meeting nose. Maybe the heirs buried him with the cheapie and kept the valuable one. 2.) There were large amounts of Mercury found in the remains suggesting poison. But, Tycho was also an alchemist and the mercury could be from those studies. Understanding that mercury is dangerous is a recent realization. As late as the 1960's I remember children playing with mercury---rubbing it into dimes to make them even more shiny.in the Victorian period, centuries after Tycho died, when hatters used mercury in the production of hats, no one realized that it was exposure to mercury that made so many of them go crazy! The Mad Hatter! I don't think Kepler killed his benefactor. If you don't get RENAISSANCE magazine, google: "Tycho Brahe exhumed" and read several account as they are not all the same. --Robert Blake, EAAA Founder

5 The Meteor Volume XXXVII Numbers 9-10 September-October 2012 Page 5 David Rittenhouse: America s First Astronomer ( ) David Rittenhouse was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania in 1732 and was colonial America s first native born astronomer who was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania in David Rittenhouse taught himself mathematics and mechanical theory from an inherited set of books, mastered an English translation of Newton s Principia, and built an observatory on his father s farm in Norriton, Pennsylvania. He was the first colonist to predict the transit of Venus in David Rittenhouse was also known for constructing very ornate astronomical instruments one of these instruments is an orrery which is a mechanical model of our solar system. Two of these orreries remain to this day. One is located at Princeton University and the other at the University of Pennsylvania. David Rittenhouse was respected throughout colonial America and Europe for his mathematical knowledge, scientific instruments and other works in various fields with only Benjamin Franklin was considered to be more knowledgeable. -- Paul Rittenhouse, President, PSC Student Chapter Works Cited: "Rittenhouse Astronomical Society." Rittenhouse Astronomical Society. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Aug < TOPIC. "David Rittenhouse ( ), University of Pennsylvania University Archives." University Archives and Records Center, University of Pennsylvania University Archives. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Aug < TEACHERS AND ASTRONOMY PROBLEMS TO OVERCOME For nearly all K-12 students in America, knowledge of astronomy is limited to what can be obtained from student textbooks. Occasionally a local astronomy club will offer its services and conduct at star gaze for a limited number of students. However, for most students at American schools, the opportunity to view planets within our solar system and deep space objects will never come. In 2009 I tried to change that by focusing on eight schools within the a school district located in the Panhandle of Florida. I wanted each school to have a simple, affordable, computerized Altitude/Azimuth mount and at least a 6 (150mm) cassegrain telescope. The school district obtained a large grant for the purchase of astronomy systems, and I recommended that they buy ioptron Alt/Az Mini Towers and ioptron 150mm Maksutov Cassegrain telescopes for all participating schools. Eight schools volunteered to institute a program and provide volunteer teachers for training. In the fall of 2009, the school district received all telescopes and mounts from ioptron and training commenced in December, Initial classes focused on assembling the tripod, mount and telescope quickly and under conditions teachers would encounter during an outdoor star gaze. No problems were encountered during this program phase. The first problem that surfaced was that with a few exceptions, nearly every teacher was completely ignorant of the night sky. While some teaching on my part took place, the burden was on each teacher to learn the sky. I bought many basic astronomy books which were available online or at the local Barnes and Noble store and gave them to the most interested teachers. Since the schools had allocated no money for these books, each teacher had to purchase them out of pocket or get me to do the same. The lack of financial support from each school to support the program proved to be a constant problem. Meanwhile, the teachers had no idea of what deep space objects existed in the evening skies. They did not know the difference between an open star cluster and a globular cluster, a reflection nebula and an emission nebula, a spiral galaxy and an elliptical galaxy. On and On. For teachers, if it wasn t in the textbook, they were completely ignorant of what the night sky contained for viewing. This problem persists to the present day at star gazes offered by local astronomy clubs. Once the astronomer leaves the Solar System, students and teachers have no idea of what they are looking at. The second problem was encountered by the female teachers in the group. While the 150mm Maksutov Cassegrain telescope was considered by most male astronomers to be a lightweight telescope, female teachers had a real problem getting the scope out of the case and onto the mount, balanced and secured. Most brought husbands along to help with this task. The third problem for teachers was learning how to work the mount s computerized controls, both to align the mount and then to move from target to target during student star gazes. For most, this proved to be the most difficult problem. The mount had to be aligned and this required the knowledge of key stars that most teachers lacked.

6 The Meteor Volume XXXVII Numbers 9-10 September-October 2012 Page 6 Second, the teachers were unable to understand the coded identities of objects outside our Solar System. They did not know the difference between a Messier object (M) or an object in the New General Catalog (NGC). The fourth problem was money for program support from the schools. For example, the 150mm Maksutov Cassegrain telescopes from ioptron came with what I would consider a very inferior 1.25 diagonal and two 1.25 eyepieces, one high power and the other moderate power. Given the problems students had in learning how to look through a telescope eyepiece in the first place, these small 1.25 instruments made things especially difficult. After much cajoling schools finally provided 2 star diagonals for each telescope but were unwilling to spend the additional money for a 2 eyepiece to match it. I bought several 2 eyepieces for motivated teachers out of my own pocket. But in the end it did little good, as these teachers moved on and no teachers volunteered to step up and learn what was needed to keep the program going at their school. After three years, the program basically collapsed. The two exceptions were (1) a teacher who was already an astronomer with his own equipment was able to conduct regular star gazes for his students, but even here, he could only handle small groups, so he limited the observing program to the gifted and talented classes. (2) one especially dedicated teacher who taught herself astronomy and worked with the mount and scope so much that she became a master at its operations and very knowledgeable about astronomy in general. Teachers like this one, did not exist at the other schools. So, success with this program is indeed possible for school astronomy programs using moderately sophisticated astronomy equipment, but only with the highest degree of dedication from the teachers involved. Today, those high quality ioptron mounts and telescopes are are tucked away in storage closets in most schools originally in the program as the teachers go back to the old practice of asking nearby astronomy clubs to schedule star gazes for their students. Its ironic that schools often had better equipment in their storage closets than that which local astronomers brought to the star gazes. In conclusion, it Is the dedication of the teachers that is the key to any successful school astronomy program. It makes no difference what kind of equipment is involved or if the teachers don t now astronomy in general, the dynamics of the night sky. If the teachers are not willing to put in the time to learn what they must teach and then meet with their students under night skies, long after school has been dismissed, the program will never succeed. I am more than willing to consult for free with any school considering instituting an astronomy program or astronomy club within the school so as to avoid the mistakes made with the program I was involved with for three years. Bob Gaskin Two Bright Comets for 2013 The amateur astronomical community is eagerly awaiting the arrival of two promising Oort Cloud comets. Comet PANSTARRS 2011 L4 is due next March, and I have included a chart of its predicted path and brightness in the western March twilight using the best available ephemeris data with SkyMap at the end of this issue. If it lives up to these predictions, may indeed rival Hale-Bopp in April Then in the fall, Comet ISON is due. Here is more from SpaceWeather.com on September 27 th. Astronomy forums are buzzing with speculation about newly-discovered Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON). Currently located beyond the orbit of Jupiter, Comet ISON is heading for a very close encounter with the sun next year. In Nov. 2013, it will pass less than AU (1.8 million km) from the solar surface. The fierce heating it experiences then could turn the comet into a bright naked-eye object. Much about this comet--and its ultimate fate--remains unknown. "At this stage we're just throwing darts at the board," says Karl Battams of the NASA-supported Sungrazer Comet Project, who lays out two possibilities: In the best case, the comet is big, bright, and skirts the sun next November. It would be extremely bright -- negative magnitudes maybe -- and naked-eye visible for observers in the Northern Hemisphere for at least a couple of months. Alternately, comets can and often do fizzle out! Comet Elenin springs to mind as a recent example, but there are more famous examples of comets that got the astronomy community seriously worked up, only to fizzle. This is quite possibly a 'new' comet coming in from the Oort cloud, meaning this could be its first-ever encounter with the Sun. If so, with all those icy volatiles intact and never having been truly stressed (thermally and gravitationally), the comet could well disrupt and dissipate weeks or months before reaching the sun.

7 The Meteor Volume XXXVII Numbers 9-10 September-October 2012 Page 7 "Either of the above scenarios is possible, as is anything in between," Battams says. "There's no doubt that Comet ISON will be closely watched. Because the comet is so far away, however, our knowledge probably won't develop much for at least a few more months." Meanwhile, noted comet researcher John Bortle has pointed out a curious similarity between the orbit of Comet ISON and that of the Great Comet of "Purely as speculation," he says, "perhaps the two bodies could have been one a few revolutions ago." --Dr. Tony Phillips, SpaceWaether.com editor About Comet Nuclei PANSTARRS, if it is like other comet nuclei, including Tempel I, Borrelly etc., is a hot dark dry rock with no water on it - blasted by plasma jets, scalloped and cratered by electric discharge machining, with a hard rocky surface well cratered and dark - emitting X-rays on the sunward side as it gets closer and emitting dust to combine with solar wind ions to form water in the coma appearing as electric jets - but with no discernable vents because the dust is electric discharge machined from the crest of ridges that are burnt back like a receding delta leaving no erosion residue on the surface because the rock is electrodynamically pulverized and expelled to space where oxygen ions from the rock combine with hydroxyl and unite in the coma form the water observed - only secondarily from the comet tail and surrounding envelope does a microscule percentage of water in the comet tail condense back in negligible pockets on the surface where no jetting is observed... etc. IEEE Astronomy has a lot of interesting links: As an electrical engineer I tend to give weight to astronomy theories that acknowledge the existence of electricity, magnetism and plasma dynamics. Johnny Godowski, UWF IHMC Minutes of the EAAA Meeting for September 7, 2012 For our program, Dr. Wayne Wooten Curiousity rover on Mars, Dr. Wooten presented a historical chart showing each country's efforts going to Mars, whether the effort was an orbiter, lander or rover and how successful the effort was. He then showed video clips and slide shows of the recent Curiosity mission. President Steve Self opened the meeting, and welcomed many students came to hear to Curiosity rover presentation. We had four potential new members attending. Paul Rittenhouse will be the new president of our student chapter, Adam Licko the new VP and program director, and Sara Ingersoll the secretary-treasurer of the chapter. We plan on Wayne Wooten reported there were no awards to be presented this month. (Editor..my error, should have awarded Level I to Adam Licko, who has now also earned Level II; will present both on October 5 th my apologies, Adam!) Dewey mentioned our education program for those new to the EAAA. Treasurer Report by Jim Larduskey noted that he has been having computer troubles and is in the process of getting it fixed. He indicated that both savings and checking are over $6000 and that we have no new expenses anticipated until after the first of the year. Dave Halupowski has t-shirts for $15 and hats for $12. He can arrange for embroidery for an additional cost. His International Dark Skies Report had no new dark skies information for this month. No minutes from last month. We had a picnic on the beach. Report in this issue of Meteor. For future Star Gazes, Dave Halupowski provided information on the Deep South Regional Star Gaze to be held November 7-11 in Clinton, LA, run by Barry Simon. Other gazes in Chiefland and south Florida were mentioned. I'll try to get information on those. In other new business, Clay Sherrod will be giving the program Mayan Madness - The End of Days at our October meeting. We will meet at 5:00pm at Golden Corral for dinner. The meeting and program will begin at 7:00pm in room Dewey said that there is a need for EAAA judges for the astronomy category at the Pensacola Interstate Fair. He is participating this year and will be unable to judge. Editor: Many thanks to Margret Hildreth, who will do the judging! The meeting was adjourned. Several members left to see if it might be possible to do some star gazing. We set up outside the planetarium and used the club 10 Meade loaner to image the Ring Nebula and several other deep sky objects. The Autostar controller proved very accurate and this is an impressive instrument that does not need to stay in the planetarium scope room, but be put to good use under deep skies. --Richard Walker, EAAA secretary

8 The Meteor Volume XXXVII Numbers 9-10 September-October 2012 Page 8 Minutes of the EAAA Meeting September 7, Prior to the business meeting Dr. Wooten gave an interesting presentation about the history of Mars exploration by different countries including both successful and unsuccessful satellites, landers, and rovers. The information was an introduction to the main topic, the recent successful landing of lander Curiosity on Mars. A simulation video of the launch and landing of the rover was shown along with some of the photographs that the lander has sent back to Earth. President Steve Self opened the EAAA business meeting at 8:00 p.m. There were pproximately 40 members and guests present. The guests were introduced. Dr. Wooten introduced Paul Rittenhaus. Paul is a direct descendent of the first American astronomer, David Rittenhouse. His report on his ancestor is in this issue of the Meteor, and he agreed to serve as President of the student chapter. The EAAA treasurer, Jim Larduskey, reported there were no EAAA expenditures in the past month and the treasury was solvent. Jim commented he was experiencing computer upgrade difficulties and did not have exact figures. In old business, Dave Halupowski reported EAAA shirts and hats were available. The cost of the shirt is $15 and the hat is $13. In addition items can be embroidered at a cost of $10. In new Business, the October 5 th meeting will be a special program by Dr. Clay Sharrod entitled Mayan Myths. The meeting will be in Room 2142 at 7:00 p.m. For members interested there will be a Dutch treat dinner at the Golden Coral prior to the meeting beginning at 5:00 p.m. WE were reminded that the Pensacola Interstate Fair is in late October, Judges are needed for the astronomical photo award. EAAA elections at the November 2 nd meeting, and we still need a program for it. The 30 th annual Deep South Star Party is scheduled for November 10 th at Clinton, Louisiana. The party actually begins on the Wednesday before the 10 th. Dave Halupowski will supply details of go to the web site. Our Christmas party will end the year on December 7 th. Editor: there are tentative plans for a PSC student chapter meteor watch at Ft. Pickens campground on December 14-15, in conjunction with the student biology and geology clubs; we may need club scopes to assist, clear skies permitting, with the meteor shower a nice bonus. The meeting was adjourned at 8:45 p.m. --Bert Black, Secretary Emeritas The club meeting and presentation on the Mars mission(s), I think was a huge success.standing room only is always a good sign and after you went outside, at least 10 people signed up. As always I find your lectures fascinating and and full of great information. I am proud to be a part of a group that has genuine passion for what they do. Most people my age would like to be doing other things on a Friday night, but I truly enjoy what the club has to offer and I thank you for bringing so much to it. I know it might seem weird to some, but I feel at peace when looking at the sky. At the end of the gaze I did want to take the scope home and still do. I need to take the seat out of my car to fit it in safely. I'll take care of that this week and maybe after class one night I can pick it up. I have been reading about it to familiarize myself with it's controls and limitations. looks like great weather this week and we should all be able to finally be able to enjoy the night sky. --Adam R. Licko, PSC chapter VP

9 The Meteor Volume XXXVII Numbers 9-10 September-October 2012 Page 9 Calendar of Events Oct. 1 Mercury 1.6 degrees NE of Spica use binocs low in the SW twilight Oct. 3 Venus passes.15 degrees SW of Regulus in dawn sky Oct. 4 Jupiter stationary, begins retrograding with opposition on December 3rd Oct. 5 Mayan Astronomy Talk by Dr. Clay Sherrod, 7 PM, room 2142 PSC Mercury 3 degrees SSW of Saturn in western twilight Waning gibbous moon passes 1.1 degrees SE of Jupiter, occultation in Australia Oct. 8 Peak for Draconid Meteor shower, in the evening hours before last quarter moon rises Oct. 12 Waning crescent moon passes 6 degrees south of Venus in dawn skies Final Ft. Pickens gaze of the 2012 season, sunset until 10 PM Oct. 13 RHEC Open House, 9 AM 1 PM; solar scopes set up? Oct. 15 New Moon, but no eclipses until next month s totality for the South Pacific Oct 17 Waxing crescent moon passes 1.4 degrees north of Mercury in SW twilight Oct. 18 Waxing crescent moon passes 2 degrees north of Mars and Antares Oct Final Pavilion gazes of the year, sunset until 10 PM, Saturday is Astronomy Day Oct. 21 Peak for Orionid Meteor Shower, Mars passes 3.6 degrees north of Antares Oct. 22 First Quarter Moon Oct. 25 Adventures Unlimited Gaze for HNIS, 7 PM Oct. 26 Avalon Middle School Gaze, 7 PM Mercury at Greatest Eastern Elongation, 24 degrees east of Sun in SW twilight Oct. 29 Full Moon, the Hunter s Moon Oct. 31 Halloween finds the waning gibbous moon rising locally at 7:20 PM, set up scope for trick for treaters where they can see the orange pumpkin moon rising in NE Nov. 1 Waning gibbous moon passes a degree south of Jupiter, both rising about 8 PM Nov. 2 EAAA meets at 7 PM, room 1775, Pensacola State College Nov. 3 Adoption Walk, UWF 8 AM 1 PM, solar observing and handouts? Nov. 4 Fall back to Central Standard Time Nov. 7 Last quarter moon Nov. 13 New Moon, Total Solar Eclipse for areas in South Pacific and NE Australia Nov. 15 Muslim New Year, 1434 AH, set by appearance of the thin crescent after sunset Nov. 16 Starry Helen Caro Elementary est star time 5:30 PM Waxing crescent moon passes 4 degrees north of Mars Nov. 17 YMCA on Langley for boy scout group 9:00 am - 1:00 pm Leonids Meteor Shower peaks in morning hours, no moon interference Nov. 19 Starry Night Gaze, Jim Allen Elementary School, 5:30 PM Nov. 20 First Quarter moon Nov. 27 Venus passes.5 degrees SW of Saturn in dawn sky Nov. 28 Full moon, the Frosty Moon, passes.7 degrees SW of Jupiter, occultation for S. America Dec. 3 Jupiter at Opposition, rising in NE at sunset Dec. 4 Mercury at GWE, 20 degrees to right of Sun in sawn sky Dec. 7 EAAA Christmas Party, 7 PM, room 1775 PSC Jan. 17 Starry Pine Meadow Elementary School, start time 5:00 PM

10 The Lagoon Nebula by Jerry Klingaman How it was done.. Thank you for your very kind comment and your interest in the M8 (Lagoon Nebula) image. There is really no short answer to the question How do we do that, but I will try to describe the principal functions and techniques that go on during a shoot. I have attached a photograph of my imaging system to give you an idea of the equipment involved. Lets discuss that part first. You may already know this basic stuff, but let s do it anyway. The mount, the black mechanism below the telescope, is an Astro-Physics Mach 1 Go-To German equatorial. It operates just like any standard German equatorial mount; servo motors drive the two rotating pieces of the mount around both the right accession and declination axes. As the Earth rotates East at 1000 miles per hour, the stars appear to move West. Looking to the North, everything rotates counterclockwise. The mount s movement in that direct (around the right accession axis) is set at the stars sidereal rate and therefore tracks (keeps up with) the stars apparent rotation to the West. Movement around the declination axis corrects for up and down requirements. The large, main imaging telescope, an APM 105/650 refractor (105mm diameter optics/650mm focal length), painted white, is attached to the mount and is subject to its movement around the right accession and declination axes. At the focuser end, closest to you, is a large black, drum-shaped astronomical camera with two grab handles, a Santa Barbara Instrument Group ST-10 XME CCD. It s peak quantum efficiency is about 85 percent; i.e., collects about 85% of the incoming photons of light, which is quite astounding. The white cord you see tied to the camera is to prevent it from falling to the ground in the event I drop it. These is a smaller scope, a William Optics 66mm refractor, mounted on top of the main scope. It has a small, red, drum-shaped, astronomical camera (a cooled Starfish guide camera) attached to the focuser end of the smaller scope. All this is referred to as the guide scope. For precision astrophotography, simple tracking by the mount is not good enough. More on that later.

11 Both cameras are connected to, and controlled by, a computer running some specialized astronomical software. The main ST-10 XME camera is controlled by MAXIM DL 5. The guide camera is controlled by P.H.D Guide, a piece of freeware. P.H.D., stands for Push Here Dummy. There is an even smaller scope located between and to the left of the two scopes just discussed. It is the finder scope that you look through to get a rough sighting on a target. The guide scope camera control window on the monitor allows you to click on a star, do a calibration, and initiate actual guiding. If the guide camera senses that the star is starting to move, it sends a signal to the computer, and the computer sends a command to the telescope mount to move a precise amount to correct. The Starfish is capable of sub-pixel guiding; i.e., will not allow the star to get out of a one pixel area on the chip. For an actual shoot, I first do a polar alignment; i.e., align the mount s right accession axis parallel to the Earth s rotational axis. Precise alignment is critical for astrophotography. You want the rig to track the stars with the highest possible degree of precision. I then manually slew the scope to a known star, using the finder scope, and enter the star s name in the mount s hand controller. I lock the mount s clutches and take a one-second shot. The image downloads on the computer monitor. I take more shots, each time moving the star closer to the camera s crosshairs, until I get it exactly centered. I then hit GO TO. Nothing goes anywhere, but the mount is now synced to the sky. I then slew the scope, using the hand controller, to a magnitude 4 star, any magnitude 4 star, and in my back yard that is usually the faintest star I can see. I hate light pollution. I center the little star and then focus the scope on it. Doing that manually with the camera and a fine focuser knob on the scope takes about 20 minutes to a half hour, and it makes my knees hurt like crazy, jumping up to focus, sitting down to read the numbers, jumping up to refocus, etc. So, I have a computer controlled, motorized focuser that does it in about 15 seconds if it is properly calibrated. With a reasonably clear sky, the motorized focuser is accurate to about 27 microns at the draw tube. I don t always get a reasonably clear sky. After focusing, I enter the target name, designation, or coordinates into the hand controller and hit GO TO. The scope slews to the target. I then take a 30 or 60 second shot to see where I am. When the target downloads on the screen, I take a series of short-duration shots and make adjustments with the hand controller to get the target centered or into the position I want. Also, the entire sequence of shots, including exposure times, number of shots desired, bin number, and designator codes for each individual filter were already loaded in MAXIM DL 5 when I started the shoot. Now, all I have to do is hit START, and the sequence begins. During the Imaging sequence, the camera looks through a set of various filters. The camera filter wheel contains seven filters: RED, GREEN, BLUE, LUMINANCE, Hydrogen alpha, Oxygen III, and Sulfur II. Let s make a note of something: When you take a shot through the RED filter, the camera is not looking through a filter that is colored red. Rather, the filter is only allowing light in the red frequency range to pass into the camera. Same with GREEN and BLUE. My 5nm Hydrogen alpha (Ha) filter only allows light at nm (and 2.5nm either side of that number) to pass into the camera. That filter is so narrow, I can take photos with it under a full moon. The Oxygen III (OIII) and Sulfur II (SII) filters only allow light at 672.4nm and 501nm, respectively, to enter the camera. That s why these last three filters are called narrow-band filters. During the shoot, you are taking photos of the target at those three specific band widths. Why did I go into that kind of detail about narrow-band filters? Well, I took the Lagoon Nebula shots through the Ha, OIII, and SII filters. In fact, I took a series of ten-minute shots through each filter. Using a computer program called CCD Stack, I stacked the shots from each filter series into three separate masters Ha, OIII, and SII. The shots were captured in FITS format (an astronomical format) but I changed the masters to TIFF so I could open them in Photo Shop for processing. Now, Sheran, comes the terrible, disappointing news about nebular objects. Stars have colors to the naked eye, but there are no colors out there among the nebulae. Their density is less than a manmade vacuum on Earth. We are also looking at them through extremely narrow band widths and with the rods in our eyes, which are not color sensitive. I have seen the Great Orion Nebula visually, fairly close up with a large refractor, as most of us have, and it is a ghostly gray-green thing hanging there in silence like a frozen waterfall; absolutely awesome. In a broad-band RED, GREEN, BLUE, and LUMINANCE (LRGB) computer-processed image, however, it is a profusion of glorious colors. The different frequencies register in those colors on the camera chip. Not so with narrow-band (NB) shots. The band widths are too small. They come out in gray scale--black and white, so to speak.

12 I won t go into this in detail, because it is just a bit complex, but I ll describe the basic maneuvers to get colors into a narrow-band image. I import the NB TIFF masters into Photo Shop and set them up as layers; i.e., I paste the OIII master on top of the Ha master, and then paste the SII master on top of that, so I wind up with three layers. I then assign a different color to each layer. RGB is the standard color sequence in the art world, so, to do the famous Hubble palette (SHO), I assign RED to SII, GREEN to Ha, and BLUE to OIII. That gives me the S-H-O sequence and color palette. You can use different color sequences like HOS, etc., but SHO is generally quite pleasing. I then blend the layers, flatten them, using specific commands in Photo Shop, and produce a multi-color image that I can further process with about a hundred million different adjustments, readjustments, and tweaks to come up with a final product. A final NB product is called a false-color image. It can take me many hours of experimentation and many trial and error attempts to complete the processing. Professional amateur astro-imagers can probably do it quickly, but I am not that accomplished. Sheran, all this is probably a lot more than you ever wanted to know about how we do this, but I hope it gives you a rough idea of what goes on. If you have stayed with me this far, you are to be congratulated; I know it s a bit tedious and involved. To help clear your mind, I have attached two NB images of The Wizard Nebula [capture date: 29 July 2011]. I am sending you two different versions of the same imaging session to give you an idea of how much the processing technique can vary. Notice the many subtle colors in SHO#3-cropped versus the predominantly green, gold, and blue of color#2-2xha overlay. This is where the art comes in, another indication of how we do it. The Wizard (NGC 7380) is one of the reasons I wanted into deep-space imaging. He is located on the edge of the constellation Cepheus in the northern sky, about 7000 light years from here. The nebula is approximately 110 light years across and holds a small cluster of very young stars that emerged from the cloud about five million years ago. I caught him here just past midnight, looking to your right, holding out both hands, casting a spell. I love this object with his pointed nose and conical hat. The Wizard is possibly the most graphic example of anthropomorphism that exists in the sky. The Wizard was discovered by Caroline Herschel, sister of the famous English astronomer William Herschel, in This object is only one of Caroline s many discoveries, making her famous in her own right. One wonders how she found it visually; Ben Franklin was only getting started on electricity, but bear in mind that Caroline Herschel would have been working in a pitch black rural location in England with a very good, and fairly large, telescope (an 8 reflector if I remember correctly) that her brother built specially for her. There was no light pollution, but she would have only seen the nebula as a fuzzy glow against that black sky. Please accept my best wishes and encouragement for your interests in astronomy. Cheers, --Jerry Klingaman

13 The Heart of the Milky Way by Adam Licko I had a great time last night and I hope this coming Friday is just as nice. I edited the constellations so they could be seen easily. The Milky Way is a multiple RGB stacked image. All were taken with my Nikon, a 35mm lens and a tripod (no telescope). Scorpius is below, with M-6 and M-7 just above his tail. Adam Licko

14 Stellar Nursery IC 1396 by Jerome Klingaman After arriving home from Steve Squyres IHMC presentation Thursday night, the sky was clear enough to image, and IC 1396 was in a good position. I got started really late, so there are only five frames of Ha and four frames each of OIII and SII in this shot. The graininess on the left side of the image is a natural outcome of insufficient sulfur II data. Still, it was fun to set up in the back garden and watch the stars slowly wheeling overhead. My big male cat Skeezics and I were out there late enough (2:30 AM) to watch Orion rising and glittering away over the tree tops. What a sight. We re approaching a wonderful time of year on the Gulf Coast, and possibly some clear, dark nights. When I started Narrow-band imaging, Sid Rosenthal advised me to buy Gradient Terminator. I haven t really done anything with it until now. I applied it today, with one iteration, to my IC 1396 image, and was astounded at the results. The offending rust color on the left side went away and the tone evened out across the image. Again, thanks for steering me in the right direction. Gradient Terminator works in both broad band and narrow band, but has specialized applications for color, texture, and lighting variances (gradients) moving across the image. It s major application is probably color as that is where you are more likely to see obvious gradients. I have very little experience with this program, but am happy to tell you how I made it work on this project. Just call up my previous NB shot of IC 1396 in Photo Shop; select Gradient Terminator; Set Detail at Coarse and Aggressiveness at Low. Check Balance Color. Hit OK. You are selecting Coarse because you are after equalizing and evening out a large piece, or area, of the image on the left. Aggressiveness is low because the overall color background is not drastically different in tone and intensity. My main objective was to Balance Color, and that s what happened. I Hope this helps. Cheers, --Jerry Klingaman

15 Putting the Loaner C-8 to Good Use Success!!!! After many failed attempts and lots of instruction from Dewey Barker and Ed Magowan, I was able to align the C-8 - then, was able to find objects using RA and DEC. Spent most of the time looking at the globular clusters in Ophiucus (M9, M10, M12, M14, and M19). Also, found M22, M17, and M11. It was a pleasure using the scope the way it was designed to be used. Thanks to Dewey and Ed for their help and thank you for allowing me to use the scope. I will continue to bring it to our gazes. Additionally, I show my neighbors objects at every opportunity. On Friday night, September 14 th, I took the club s C-8 to Cantonment and conducted a mini-gaze for six people. Initially, we identified Scorpius, Sagittarius, Cygnus, Pegasus, Cassiopeia, and the Big Dipper. With the C-8, we viewed the following. Planets: Saturn, Mars Open Clusters: M6, M7; Globular Cluster: M22; Stars: Albeirio, Mizar and Alcor; Galaxy: M-31 inandromeda One of the boys had his own small telescope. He used it to find Saturn, M7, and Mizar and Alcor. I explained to the parents about our club being available to conduct gazes at their children s school. It was a very successful evening. --John Arnold

16 A Brand New Age: Queue Observing at Mt. Paranal By Dr. Marc J. Kuchner First a caravan of white observatory cars arrives, winding up the narrow road to the 2600-m- (~8500-foot-) high summit. Then the shutters around the domes open, and rays from the setting sun alight on colossal mirrors and metal struts. It s the beginning of another busy night at Mt. Paranal, Chile, where I am learning about new, more efficient ways of managing a modern observatory. I stepped into the observatory s control room to soak up some of the new, unfamiliar culture. Here, under florescent lights and drop ceilings are banks of computer screens, one bank to control each of the four big telescopes on the mountaintop and a few others too. At each bank sits two people, a telescope operator and an astronomer. The layout of this workspace was not unfamiliar to me. But the way these Mt. Paranal astronomers work certainly was. When I was cutting my teeth at Mt. Palomar observatory in California, I would only go to the telescope to take my own data. In stark contrast. everyone observing at Mt Paranal tonight is taking data for someone else. The Mt. Paranal astronomers each spend 105 nights a year here on the mountain performing various duties, including taking data for other astronomers. The latter, they call executing the queue. Headquarters in Germany decides what parts of the sky will have priority on any given night (the queue). Then the Mt. Paranal astronomers march up the mountain and carry out this program, choosing calibrators, filling the log books, and adapting to changing conditions. They send the data back to headquarters, and from there it makes its way out to the wider astronomical community for study. This new way of working allows the Mt. Paranal astronomers to specialize in just one or two telescope instruments each. Surely this plan is more efficient than the old-fashioned way, where each of us had to learn every instrument we used from scratch sifting through manuals at 3:00 AM when the filter wheel got stuck or the cryogen ran out, watching precious observing time tick away. Here at Mt. Paranal, much of the work is done in a big room full of people, not off by yourself, reducing some dangers of the process. Also, queue observing cuts down on plane travel, an important step for cutting carbon emissions. It s a brand new age, I thought as I watched the giant domes spin in the silent, cold Chilean night. And maybe with queue observing, some of the romance is gone. Still, my colleagues and I couldn t help saying as we stared out across the moonlit mountains: I can t believe how lucky we are to be here. Dr. Marc J. Kuchner is an astrophysicist at the Exoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics Laboratory at NASA s Goddard Space Flight Center. NASA s Astrophysics Division works on big questions about the origin and evolution of the universe, galaxies, and planetary systems. Explore more at Kids can explore these topics at

17 European Southern Observatory at Mt. Paranal, Chile.

18 Doing Science with a Spacecraft s Signal By David Doody Mariner 2 to Venus, the first interplanetary flight, was launched August 27 fifty years ago. This was a time when scientists were first learning that Venus might not harbor jungles under its thick atmosphere after all. A Russian scientist had discovered that atmosphere during the rare Venus transit of 1761, because of the effects of sunlight from behind. Mariner 2 proved interplanetary flight was possible, and our ability to take close-up images of other planets would be richly rewarding in scientific return. But it also meant we could use the spacecraft itself as a light source, planting it behind an object of our choosing and making direct measurements. Mariner 4 did the first occultation experiment of this sort when it passed behind Mars as seen from Earth in July But, instead of visible light from the Sun, this occultation experiment used the spacecraft s approximately 2-GHz radio signal. The Mariner 4 experiment revealed Mars thin atmosphere. Since then, successful radio science occultation experiments have been conducted at every planet and many large moons. And another one is on schedule to investigate Pluto and its companion Charon, when the New Horizons spacecraft flies by in July Also, during that flyby, a different kind of radio science occultation experiment will investigate the gravitational field. The most recent radio science occultation experiment took place September 2, 2012, when the Cassini spacecraft carried its three transmitters behind Saturn. These three different frequencies are all kept precisely in tune with one another, based on a reference frequency sent from Earth. Compared to observations of the free space for calibration just before ingress to occultation, the experiment makes it possible to tease out a wide variety of components in Saturn's ionosphere and atmosphere. Occultation experiments comprise only one of many categories of radio science experiments. Others include tests of General Relativity, studying the solar corona, mapping gravity fields, determining mass, and more. They all rely on NASA s Deep Space Network to capture the signals, which are then archived and studied. Find out more about spacecraft science experiments in Basics of Space Flight, a website and book by this author, Kids can learn all about NASA s Deep Space Network by playing the Uplink-Downlink game at

19 Coming Attractions: Comet PANSTARRS in March 2013 Let us hope this SkyMap generated chart is correct, for note the comet is heading north (not south, like the infamous Comet McNaught that treated the Aussies so well back in January 2007!) and should be a nice naked eye object well in to April It will be well placed for evening viewing starting about March 10 th or so, but if the tail is well developed (always inpredictable for such virgin comets coming in from the Oort Cloud?), we may spot it earlier in the month. Stay tuned!