Alamogordo Astronomy Club May 2005 May Meeting Our regular club meeting will be held on Friday, May 20 th, 2005. The W&B Observatory and its TransNeptunian Object research program by Warren Offutt Constellation of the Month will be Canes Venatici & Coma Berenices by Phil Simpson Our pre-meeting dinner will be at the Compass Rose 2203 E 1 st Street (near Scenic) At 5:30 PM Astronomy Day On Saturday the 16th of April some of our members set up at the Museum to observe the Sun and to help the Museum as one of our MOU events. Unfortunately the weather was relatively uncooperative and the Sun played hide-and-seek for most of the time until it started raining around 2 PM. We met back around 7:30 for some pizza and soda, as well as to set up our telescopes for an evening observing session. During the early part of the night there were some great views of the, Saturn, and Jupiter. But there was a spectacular light show associated with thunderstorms moving in from Las Cruces and again the weather forced us to pack it in early. Members helped a couple of new owners (one only had his scope about 6 hours!) get things in order and we may get a couple of new members out of the deal! Thanks to everyone who came out and participated. Night Sky Network At the April Meeting, Bob Unger gave a brief demonstration of some of the Planetquest material that was provided by the Night Sky Network. With the meeting and the 2 segments of Astronomy Day, we now have logged 3 of the 5 events necessary for our continued membership. What's more important, we have now qualified for the second toolkit, Our Sky Events May 8, 2005 /// New 4:45 A.M. EDT May 8, 2005 /// Ceres 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. May 10, 2005 /// Vesta in conjunction with Sun A conjunction occurs when two or more bodies appear close together in the sky. May 13, 2005 /// Saturn 5 south of May 14, 2005 /// at apogee The point in the 's orbit when it is farthest from Earth. May 14, 2005 /// Mars 1.2 south of Uranus May 16, 2005 /// First Quarter 4:57 A.M. EDT May 18, 2005 /// Venus 6 north of Aldebaran Aldebaran is the brightest star of the constellation Taurus. May 19, 2005 /// Jupiter 0.4 north of, occultation An occultation occurs when one object passes in front of a smaller one, temporarily obscuring all or part of the background object from view. May 19, 2005 /// Neptune stationary The body appears motionless in the sky due to the turning point between its direct and retrograde motion May 23, 2005 /// Full 4:48 P.M. EDT
Galaxy, Our Universe. We would like to ask all club members to save the following items if they would and to bring them to future club meetings: Paper towel rolls (for telescopes), small bubble wrap (the bubbles should be 3/8" to ½" in size), and used CDs (those pesky AOL ones everyone gets in the mail would be great). These items will be used for the kits we have from the network. So what is the Night Sky Network? The Night Sky Network is a partnership of amateur astronomy clubs, NASA, Astronomical Society of the Pacific, and the Astronomical League. Amateur astronomers regularly share their knowledge, time, and telescopes to bring amazing aspects of astronomy to the public. In 2002, the Astronomical Society of the Pacific conducted a survey of amateur astronomers to determine the nature of outreach by amateurs. In the survey, amateurs express the need for support of their outreach efforts. The main requests were: Materials on themed topics Training in the use of the materials Effective ways to communicate with varied audiences Networking with other amateurs doing outreach The Night Sky Network was inaugurated to help meet these needs. Our club, as well as many others throughout the U.S., are bringing the science, technology and inspiration of NASA's missions to the general public. Folks, this is all about OUTREACH, one of the precepts upon which our club was founded. We saw this as a way to get toolkits and material to better help us reach the public about this great obsession we all love: Astronomy. The demos are pretty easy to do and there is lots of help for the questions that might be asked. Anyone interested in helping with this project, please contact Bill Galther or Bob Unger galther@pvtnetworks.net ; runger@charter.net May 24, 2005 /// Antares 0.8 south of, occultation An occultation occurs when one object passes in front of a smaller one, temporarily obscuring all or part of the background object from view. May 26, 2005 /// at perigee The point in the 's orbit when it is nearest to Earth. May 28, 2005 /// Neptune 5 north of May 30, 2005 /// Last Quarter 7:47 A.M. EDT May 30, 2005 /// Uranus 3 north of May 31, 2005 /// Saturn 7 south of Pollux Pollux is the 16th brightest star in the night sky. May 31, 2005 /// Mars 0.5 north of, occultation An occultation occurs when one object passes in front of a smaller one, temporarily obscuring all or part of the background object from view. June 3, 2005 /// Mercury in superior conjunction Mercury passes on the opposite side of the Sun from Earth June 5, 2005 /// Jupiter stationary The body appears motionless in the sky due to the turning point between its direct and retrograde motion. June 6, 2005 /// New 5:55 P.M. EDT June 8, 2005 /// Venus 4 south of June 9, 2005 /// Saturn 5 south of June 11, 2005 /// at apogee The point in the 's orbit when it is farthest from Earth.
Report on the Desert Starlight Weekend Star Party April 8-10 This was the second year Brantley Lake State Park north of Carlsbad has hosted a star party. It was done without the support of a local astronomy club, as there is none in the area. About 60 people attended it on both Friday and Saturday night. Those attending only had to pay the $5.00 park entrance fee. There was a Meade ETX-70AT given away to a very interested young 15 year old girl. The desert was in full bloom and there were bird and plant tours during the day. The night viewing was fair thanks to the winds diminishing at dark. Mike and Sharon Mosier, John Pijawka and Gene and Vera Mangold represented our club. Gene got roped into doing the featured speaker slot with his Pointer Star presentation using Starry Night and a computer projector. The billed speaker was sick and could not make the event. Free R/V sites were given to all who helped out and the sites were the premiers over looking the lake. Other events were the Telescope Workshop and Astronomy on a Shoestring by Hal Taliaferro. Solar Viewing was also done well by Hal and Jerry Krause two local amateurs. There were a total of 6 scopes set for public viewing. Katherine Jones from the Living Desert State Park and Shane Manager at Brantley should really receive a fine hand for all their fine work in promoting Astronomy. Benefits of Membership Regular monthly club meetings with Speakers and Work Shops Observing Sessions, Campouts, Field Trips and Parties Online discussion forum Membership in the Astronomical League, including a Subscription to the Reflector Discounted subscriptions to Astronomy and Sky and Telescope magazines This Monthly Newsletter Our Club Meetings are held the Third Friday of each month (except December) at 7:30 P.M. at the Hubbard building of the New Mexico Museum of Space History For more information: http://www.zianet.com/aacwp Bob Unger - President - runger@charter.net Jack Dembicky - Vice President - astrman@yahoo.com
Solar Observing at Desert Starlight Weekend Star Party April 8-10, 2005 Astronomy Day 2005 at NMMSH
M 65 N SkyTools 2 / Skyhound.com CASSIOPEIA CEPHEUS NE NW PERSEUS LYRA DRACO URSA MINOR CAMELOPARDUS AURIGA HERCULES TAURUS CORONA BOREALIS BOOTES URSA MAJOR CANES VENATICI LEO MINOR LYNX GEMINI ORION E Zenith W OPHIUCHUS SERPENS CAPUT COMA BERENICES LEO CANCER CANIS MINOR MONOCEROS VIRGO SEXTANS LIBRA CORVUS CRATER HYDRA CANIS MAJOR PYXIS ANTILA SE SW CENTAURUS VELA S 2005 May 15 09:00p, Alamogordo, New Mexico M 65 (Galaxy) Galaxy Nebula 5 4 3 2 1 0-1 -2
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