Alamogordo Astronomy Club November 2005 Newsletter President: Bob Unger runger@charter.net Vice Present: Jack Dembicky astrman@yahoo.com Treasurer: Vera Mangold mangold@tularosa.net Secretary: Gene Mangold nmdarksky-aac@yahoo.com (505) 682-1008 Directors: Bill Galther, Chris Jones, Greg Krinklaw Membership benefits Regular monthly club meetings with speakers and workshops Observing sessions, campouts, field trips and parties Online discussion forum Membership in the Astronomical League, including a subscription to The Reflector Discounted subscriptions to Sky and Telescope and Astronomy magazines This monthly newsletter Our club meetings are held on the third Friday of each month (except December) at 7:30 PM at the Hubbard Building of the New Mexico Museum of Space History. For more information Our web site: http://www.zianet.com/aacwp/ Alamogordo Astronomy Club P.O. Box 4151 Alamogordo, New Mexico 88310 November Meeting Our regular club meeting will be held on Friday, November 18 th, 2005 at 7:30 PM in the Hubbard Building at the Space Center. Our pre-meeting dinner will be at announced on the Yahoo Group web site. Program: to be announced on the Yahoo site Constellation of the Month: Cepheus by Phil Simpson The President s Message The beginning of a new year! Always an exciting time as far as the club is concerned. At the September meeting members listed some things they would like to do in the coming year. That information was passed on to the Board and subsequently to the events committee. The will be meeting in the middle of the month. Won't you think about helping out? We just received the third toolkit from Night Sky Network, "Black Hole Survivor", and from a cursory look it was very interesting. We need members to volunteer to use the activities at star parties and the like. There is another kit coming out in January, "Telescopes: Eyes on the Universe" We only need to log 2 events between now and the end of the year to qualify for this new kit. Also in January they will be awarding a prize to 5 clubs that have logged 5 events or more since January 2005. We already have entries and the more events we log before January 2006 the more chances we have to win! The Prize? A Coronado 1
Personal Solar Telescope! That would be a great asset for the club. I also have a task for each and every member this year. I would like to see our membership grow! So I'm asking you to try to bring 1 new member to the club this year. More important, we need to find more families with school-age children and new youth members to help our club bring the Astronomy message to the public. New members bring new ideas so that things don't get stale or boring. So please help us help ourselves become an exciting club to be a part... Valley of the Fires Star Party Oct 29th were given to the group. The telescope viewing highlights were the Andromeda galaxy and Mars. Other club members present were Carl Kohler, Peg & David LaMure, and Eric Ehrich who shared their scopes for the crowd. Those who stayed late were treated to some great views of Mars and free camping! October 29, 2005 Valley of Starlight II Valley of Fires Recreation Area, Carrizozo, NM Our second annual Valley of Starlight Star Party at Valley of Fires Recreation Area was held on October 29, 2005 near the south group shelter. It was a clear and pleasant night, and we had about 45 people in attendance. John Pijawka gave a short talk on Native American Archaeoastronomy, and was assisted by By John Pijawka Gene Mangold on the Our Place in our Galaxy presentation. A green laser constellation star tour, and star maps Valley of Fires The Valley of Fires Recreation Area is adjacent to the Malpais Lava Flow, a BLM Wilderness Study Area. The lava flow is between 1,500 and 2,000 years old, making it the youngest such flow in the continental United States. It extends from Little Black Peak south into the Tularosa Basin for 44 miles. The flow is between 4 and 6 miles wide and the lava is 160 feet deep at its thickest point. A surprising number and variety of plants and animals thrive in the rugged landscape of the flow. 2
Buena Vista Obseravtory A set of new quality Eyepieces were purchased by the School System and are stored in the dome. The Alamogordo Astronomy Club is the Unofficial custodian of this facility. Attempts where made after the renovation to interest someone in the school system to take over this facility, but no interest was shown. Located near 18 th Street and the Buena Vista Elementary School in Alamogordo, is a complete Observatory, which contains a 12-½ Cave Optical Newtonian telescope. The telescope and dome were installed in the late 1960 s. From the information I have been able to gather, a teacher in the system was able to get a grant to cover the purchase and installation of this facility. The telescope is located in a rotating dome and is pier mounted. In the spring of 2002, the Alamogordo Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Phil Knight, approached me to assist with an Eagle Scout Project to restore this facility. During the summer and fall of 2002, the Observatory was cleaned, painted, and the observatory was made operational. The telescope is on an equatorial mount with synchronous clock drive. These where checked and lubricated, the mirror was removed and cleaned, and the dome drive system was greased so that it would rotate smoothly. The Club has hosted star parties at the request of the school system for Science Nights for the elementary school. We have used the facility on and off for 10 years. It is not what you would call a Dark Sky site, but is an excellent location for public star parties, and an excellent facility for public viewing. This is a facility that needs to be used more frequently by the club. With Mars now in an excellent position and relatively large, it would be a great time to have a public or club activity at this facility. By Mike Mosier 3
Featured Astronomers of the Month Carl Kohler (right). I first got interested in telescopes when I was 14 and a friend of ours, who lived at the beach, bought a 4 refractor to look at ships that were out in the ocean. I was immediately attracted to the hardware and became a pest wanting to look through this wonderful toy. At the same time, an old merchant seaman, who lived across the street from the telescope, started teaching us, the local kids, about the night sky. One night, I pointed the telescope at the moon, saw craters, and was hooked. Unfortunately, I thought only the sun and moon were good targets for such a small scope. Nobody showed me that I could see planets and deep space wonders. With this limited knowledge, I rigged up my camera behind a pair of binoculars and took moon and sun photos (the sun was filtered with multiple layers of exposed film to allow eye and camera protection.) Not knowing what else was out there within my grasp, I soon lost interest in telescopes and took up girls instead. Telescopes would have been cheaper. About fifteen years slipped by, and I found myself married and on vacation with my new family. We had bought a truck with a camper shell (same camper shell, different truck) and decided to drive to a place called Whidbey Island in Washington State, to visit my father and stepmother. While we were visiting, we were looking at a 2 refractor my father had bought to look at ships in the ocean. I decided to drag it out on the deck to show Gloria the craters on the Moon. After a few minutes of craters, I decided to scan around and look for something else. I saw a bright star and aimed for it. Imagine my surprise to discover that the star was Jupiter, with bands and moons. Wow! We were both awestruck at what we saw. That night we decided we would have to have a telescope--- someday. It took three years, and one day I was shopping at the Lockheed salvage yard, and discovered this strange object that had a big mirror (22 ) in it and was 4
looking for a home. I couldn t leave it there, so I adopted it. This was the real beginning of the Astronomy Odyssey. I went to a telescope store and they sent me to Cave Instruments in Long Beach, CA. They said my mirror was good for shaving, since it was an f-1 primary Cassegrain. I then went to Meade Instruments in Costa Mesa, and they said about the same thing. Meade had some flyers from the Orange County Astronomers club. Gloria and I joined the OCA, bought an Edmund Scientific Astroscan (4.5 ), signed up for an Astronomy Class at Cypress College, bought a Celestron C-8 (aperture fever in 3 months), and traveled back to Washington to see our first Total Eclipse of the Sun in January of 1979. Since then, we have belonged to five Astronomy Clubs, served on three boards of directors, and helped found the Mount Wilson Observatory Association and serve on its board. Gloria s life has always centered around children, as a kindergarten teacher, preschool owner/director, and now, as a Marriage, Family Therapist, she is the contract Mental Health Consultant for the three Whidbey Island state funded preschools. With this child-centered environment, it is our goal to show the Wonders of the Universe to children at an early age. I don t want anyone to have to wait until they are adults to discover the beauty of the night. If, through our efforts, one child is hooked on Astronomy and becomes an Astronomer or Astronaut, it will all have been worthwhile. As members of the Night Sky Network, and the Island County Astronomical Society, we have the ideal venue to continue this work. ICAS is tied for second place on the NSN list of clubs doing outreach events with 22 in the last six months. During the four months I was up there this year, we went to five schools and showed the Sun to over 250 students, as well as doing the NSN presentations. Around December 15, 2005, we will be moving, permanently, to Whidbey Island, Washington, having come full circle, back to within a mile of where it all began in 1975, thirty years and many Astronomical Adventures later. By Carl Kohler Editor s note Carl rebuilt all 4 of the Shuttle camp s 10 Dobsonion scope as a parting favor on his way to Washington State to live. I recently got to know this kind and giving man. He will be a real loss to the club and I wish him the best. He and Gloria plan to return for the Messier Marathon in the Spring. Upcoming s Events 11 /5 Living Desert State Park Star Party 11/15 AAC Events Committee Meeting 11/18 Regular Membership meeting and star party following 11/20 Board Meeting 5
12/3 Holiday Party at Bob Unger s House Night Sky Network Our Alamogordo Astronomy Club participates in a nationwide coalition of amateur astronomy clubs bringing the science, technology and inspiration of NASA's missions to the general public. We share our time and telescopes to provide you with unique astronomy experiences at science museums, observatories, classrooms, and under the real night sky. Our Goal is to Inspire, astound and amaze! For more information logon at http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/ or http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/ On October 8 th, 2005 John Pijawka gave a Star party at the New Mexico State Park of Bottomless Lake. There were 38 people enjoying his talk on Distant Worlds star maps. There were 15 teens and 8 children. Viewing of crescent moon and Mars was featured. On October 29 th, 2005 John Pijanka with Gene Mangold assisting gave a star talk on Our Galaxy at Valley of Fires Rec. Area Carizozo. There were 50 people in attendance, 15 were children. Viewing concentrated on Mars in our solar system, M31 Andromeda outside our galaxy and the Pliedes M45 within our Galaxy. From the Secretary Alamogordo Astronomy Club General Meeting October 21, 2005 meeting was called to order at 7:40 P.M. by Vice-President Bob Unger DISCUSSION Bob asked that the members provided input by Nov 18 th on the Yahoo Web page or at the meeting concerning the upcoming bylaws changes to be voted on at the January meeting. Changes such as proxy voting, horary membership were briefly discussed. The upcoming Valley of the Fires Star Party was announced for Oct 29 th. Mike Smith presented Bob and the Club with a new Celestron Nexstar 102m GOTO telescope with many accessories. Gene Mangold introduced the Loaner Scope Program. Members can check out a scope on a renewing 30-day free contract. Mike Smith and Gene Mangold will be responsible for the program. The Treasurer asked that members pay their dues and passed out membership and magazine subscription forms. One WSSP T shirt was sold at the meeting. Chris Jones asked for volunteers for the events committee. The Holiday party was announced and will be held Bob Unger s house December 3 at 5:30 PM. We had two families from Ruidoso as guests of Peg LaMure. Phil Simpson gave his Constellation of the Month talk about Cepheus.. 6
Jack Dembicky gave a really interesting talk on the Moon. The October 15,2005 Board Meeting Minutes and Budget can be found under the Files section in the Yahoo Web site. By Gene Mangold From the Treasurer Please send your dues now for the 2006-year beginning 10-01-2005. Magazine Subscriptions: Discounted magazine subscriptions to Astronomy have increased to ($34.00) or $60 for two years. Sky and Telescope is still ($32.95) are renewable at any time of the year. Thanks, Vera Mangold Alamogordo Astonomy Club Certificate Program Download the requirements and logs from the Yahoo web site or pick them up at the next meeting. This is a great way to increase interests in a great hobby. Please send your forms to Bill Galther, Awards Chairman Telescope Loaner Program Mike Smith is shown presenting a new Celestron Nexstar 4 with all the accessories to Bob Unger our club president. This is the 4 th scope Mike has given the club. For all his efforts the Board has made him a member of the Loaner Scope Program. Gene Mangold. will head the program 7
Members in the News Carl Kohler Carl is also moving to Washington State December 5 th. We will all miss him and his expertise for telescope mechanics. Leah Tookey helped organize the X Prize Education day on Friday, October 7 at the New Mexico Museum of Space History Go. Experience Space A special education day dedicated to the next generation of space travelers, designers, pilots, engineers, space business entrepreneurs and educators. More than 1000 students came to interact with astronauts and engineers to learn about their future in space. The museum hosted activities in planetary science, rocketry, robotics, living and working in space and showcase the New Mexico history as the birthplace of missiles and space in the United States. A special X PRIZE competition for students highlighted the day s events. This event followed only five days after WSSP! Leah how did you get the energy to do both in less than a week? John Pijawka continues to do outreach programs for the club. In October he was at Bottomless Lakes State Park and then Valley of the Fires. Nice going John Those Daring Young Men in Their Flying Machines Las Cruces, NM October 22, 2005: On Sunday we took a drive over to La Cruces, NM for the X Prize Cup and Personal Space flight Exposition. The drive was across Highway 70 and the White Sands Missile Test range was refreshing. The air was fresh from a rain the night before and the desert flowers were in full bloom. We went over the Organ Mountains into La Cruces and then onto the exposition. Since this was the first show of its kind and considering the rains last night we were in no hurry as we thought few people 8
would be there. Little did we know! There were cars back upped for 4 miles on Interstate 10 waiting to park Our trip shocked us into the reality that Space Flight has come to the countryside of New Mexico something like what must have happened in the early 1900 s when the first airplane flights used grassy fields of the Midwest. We boarded a shuttle bus and were whisked away with amazing efficiency to the airport. At the airport we purchased our pass for $8.00 each and entered. We had the strangest feeling that we were entering a fantasy world. There was a big 50 feet diameter globe of the Earth and a slightly smaller one of Mars at the entrance. It looked like we were going into Epcott Center at Disney World. We were sure we would find people wearing green alien costumes but instead we saw well-dressed people looking quite normal. We hurriedly walked through all the kid s rides and expected to find an adult amusement center on the other side. But again we were surprised! There was a large tent area with many serious looking business people showing their wares. Did we make a mistake? This was a real trade show with all sorts of real vendors. It was where you learned about technology and products to build your own spacecraft. At first we thought it is was really bazaar, as this had to be a show for the governments and large aircraft companies. One vendor asked for our business card to win a trip on their upcoming space flight. The vendors were selling rocket stuff, electronics, planet rovers, and some were advertising seats on future space flights. NASA was there, the FAA was there to regulate and there were the some big private contractors such as Honeywell. Realtors were selling land near the future spaceport a few miles up the road. We escaped from the tented booth area not wanting to tell them that we were just two dazzled retired seniors. We then went onto the field where the static displays were found. There were thousands of people and you could hear the buzz of talking, rocket motors being tested in the distance and a large 50-foot TV screen announcing the next flight. It was something like a state fair! There were rockets of all sorts, but strange ones, which went up and then landed on their tail. They were reusable and brought their passengers safely back. This was wild! We saw a plane, which looked like a Lear business jet except it was had no jets, just rocket thrusters. Vera liked its traditional looks and signed up for a chanced to win a space flight. They could not give her an exact date, hopefully before she too old to pass the flight physical. I really got caught up into this New World, forgot my age and signed a personnel sheet with one of the companies seeking engineers. There were young, intelligent looking people everywhere and they didn t wear green outfits fits from Roswell, NM, site of the fist reported alien landing. They were the entrepreneurs and engineers, who ran the nibble companies thinking out of the box. Each had their own concept of how to win the next X Prize and then to develop routine flights that would bring space to us all. They were developing a new industry that may someday resemble general aviation. We heard a visionary on the stage and the big TV screen say that someday many of us would have our own private spacecraft. The TV screen was showing hourly launches, flights and VIP speakers. We listened and watched three NASA Assonants speak. They had been hired to test these strange new 9
machines. Vera got their autographs while I took pictures. We listened to venture capitalists who were members of the X Prize Foundation. They told us of their lofty goal of education and bringing everyday space travel to the common person. We watched the EZ Rocket, a plane with 4.5 minutes of fuel. It flew to 11,000 feet and then circled the field for about 30 minutes before landing. We watched a rocket take off and then land on its tail in a 20-knot wind gusting to 30. They said that crosswinds do not bother them, as their crafts were designed to operate in all weather condition. All this sounded so unreal and futuristic that we could hardly believe it. But then on the big TV screen we heard a man say, Don t be like the New York Times on January 13 th, 1920, when they featured an article on why rockets could not possibly go to the moon. They discredited Robert Goddard when he obtained substantial funding for his new rocket design. They wrote that rockets had no air to push against in space and therefore would not work! Robert Goddard is now considered the father of rocketry and the New York Times writer s name has long been forgotten. He reminded us, also, that Robert Goddard, interestingly, had his shop in Roswell,NM during the thirties. When the announcer asked who would like to take a flight to the outer space we raised our hands along with a thousand others. By Gene Mangold Foot note 1. In 1908 there were less than 500 people who had ever experienced the thrill of flight. Then there were the barnstormers who brought sky rides to people who had courage and $10 to spend. Charles Lindbergh claimed a $25,000 prize offered by Raymond Orteig for making the first flight across the Atlantic in 1927. These were private citizens who dared to dream. Today close to 500 people have experienced the exhilarating experience of space travel. All have been part of big government programs except for one. On October 4 th, 2004 Burt Rutan s SpaceShipOne, won the X Prize of $10 million for two sub orbital flights within 2 weeks with the same space craft. He dared to design and his pilot Brian Binnie dared to fly 62 miles up. A feat thought impossible without big government funding. NASA is now stepping back and encouraging these startup companies. New Mexico has won the right to develop the spaceport and site for the X Prize Industry. The State has pledged $9 million to begin construction. More information can be found at www.xpcup.com Footnote 2. 10
Mojave, CA: On October 4, 2004, SpaceShipOne rocketed into history, becoming the first private manned spacecraft to exceed an altitude of 328,000 feet twice within the span of a 14 day period, thus claiming the ten million dollar Ansari X-Prize. OSHKOSH, Wis. July 27, 2005: Today, Sir Richard Branson (Founder, Virgin Group of Companies) and Burt Rutan (President, Scaled Composites) announced their signing of an agreement to form a new aerospace production company to build a fleet of commercial suborbital spaceships and launch aircraft Items for sale FOR SALE I bought a Super Polaris mount with the Meade GOTO system installed as an intermediate use mount while I was building my observatory. As all well laid plans of mouse and man go I never used it. Now that my observatory is finished, I no longer have a need for it. The mount is in perfect cosmetic condition, not a mark on it. You can t tell it didn t just come out of the box. The mount comes with the Polaris finder scope, counter weights, the Meade GOTO system and all manuals and instructions. There is NO tripod. I m asking $700.00 for the unit. This is a perfect mount for portable use, star parties, etc. and it will easily carry a C-8 with finder scopes and accessories. Just supply a suitable tripod. I ll even help making any required adapters to mate the mount to your tripod. If you have an interest calls me and come see it. My number is 505-437-4233 Andy Homeyer Sky Events November 1, 2005 /// New Moon 8:25 P.M. EST November 2, 2005 /// Juno stationary The body appears motionless in the sky due to the turning point between its direct and retrograde motion. November 2, 2005 /// Taurid meteors November 3, 2005 /// Mercury at greatest eastern elongation (24 ) Elongation is the apparent angular separation of an object from the Sun. November 3, 2005 /// Venus at greatest eastern elongation (47 ) Elongation is the apparent angular separation of an object from the Sun. November 3, 2005 /// Mercury 1.3 north of Moon November 4, 2005 /// Antares 0.2 south of Moon, occultation Found in the constellation Scorpius, Antares is the 13th brightest in the night sky. November 5, 2005 /// Venus 1.4 north of Moon November 7, 2005 /// Mars at opposition Opposition occurs when a body farther from the Sun than Earth appears opposite the Sun in the sky. It is the best time to observe a body. November 8, 2005 /// First Quarter Moon 8:57 P.M. EST November 8, 2005 /// Neptune 5 north of Moon November 9, 2005 /// Mercury 1.9 north of Antares Found in the constellation Scorpius, Antares is the 13th brightest in the night sky. 11
November 9, 2005 /// Moon at perigee The point in the Moon's orbit when it is nearest to Earth. November 14, 2005 /// Mercury stationary The body appears motionless in the sky due to the turning point between its direct and retrograde motion. November 15, 2005 /// Full Moon 7:57 P.M. EST November 15, 2005 /// Mars 3 south of Moon November 16, 2005 /// Uranus stationary The body appears motionless in the sky due to the turning point between its direct and retrograde motion. November 16, 2005 /// Leonid meteors November 17, 2005 /// Pallas in conjunction with Sun A conjunction occurs when two or more bodies appear close together in the sky. November 18, 2005 /// Mercury 3 north of Antares Found in the constellation Scorpius, Antares is the 13th brightest in the night sky. November 19, 2005 /// Vesta stationary The body appears motionless in the sky due to the turning point between its direct and retrograde motion. November 22, 2005 /// Saturn stationary The body appears motionless in the sky due to the turning point between its direct and retrograde motion. November 23, 2005 /// Last Quarter Moon 5:11 P.M. EST November 23, 2005 /// Moon at apogee The point in the Moon's orbit when it is farthest from Earth. November 24, 2005 /// Mercury in inferior conjunction Mercury passes between the Sun and Earth. November 27, 2005 /// Spica 1.1 south of Moon, occultation Spica is the 14th brightest star in the night sky. November 29, 2005 /// Jupiter 3 north of Moon 12