AUGUST 2018 UPCOMING EVENTS Wednesday, August 1 - Regular PAC meeting @ 6:00 PM in the Founders Suite, Prescott Public Library. Jeff Stillman will give a presentation on the Messier Objects. NOTE: The location of the monthly regular meetings has changed to the Founders Suite, Prescott Public Library for the remainder of 2018 Wednesday, August 8 - METASIG @ 5:00 PM at local restaurant. August 1 meeting. Wednesday, August 15 - Board meeting @ 6:00 PM in the Elsea Conference Room at the Prescott Public Library. REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING VENUE CHANGE FOR 2018 Beginning with the August General meeting of the Prescott Astronomy Club and continuing on through the November meeting, the meetings will be held at the Prescott Public Library in the Founders Suite. The start time is moved to 6 PM. The business portion of the meeting will take the first 20 minutes, then a break, and then the main topic will follow until 7:25 PM. We will wrap up with final announcements and be out of the building no later than 7:55 PM. The reason for the change is two-fold. First, Embry-Riddle wants to charge us more for a room than does the library. Second, the library closes at 8 PM instead of 9 PM like it used to the last time we were meeting at the library, and we would have to start at 5:30 PM in order to have a full two hour meetings. The Board agreed to limit the meeting time to 1.5 hours; that meant that there will only be a main presentation no short topics. We are looking at other venues for our meeting that will allow for a start time of 6:30 PM for two hours and hope to have this resolved for 2019. 1
ANNUAL CLUB PICNIC The annual PAC picnic will be held at the Watson Lake, Large Ramada, Saturday, September 8th, from noon to 4pm. The sign up sheets will be at the August 1st general meetings. A map of Watson Lake is located in the appendix, showing location of the Large Ramada. ASTRONOMICAL LEAGUE AWARDEES At the July regular meeting, four more members were received the Astronomical League Outreach Award. Marilyn Unruh and Doug Tilley received the Stellar Level Award; Jason Hoover and Jack Szelka received the Basic Level Award. The Basic award requires doing 5 events with 10 hours of outreach; the Stellar Award requires the Basic award plus an additional 50 hours of outreach. Congratulations to these award achievers. PAC OUTREACH HOURS By Dennis Eaton, Director at Large, Member Relations, coldoonetri@gmail.com Many members have participated in the PAC Outreach Program. I m sure you will agree that sharing the night sky with visitors is very enjoyable. I hope you will read the following article by Dr. W. Maynard Pittendreigh, How Local Clubs Can Grow Through Nurturing the Novice. It is a wonderful explanation of just how important the Outreach Efforts are to our club. The club accumulates your hours as best as we can. But, we also realize that some data may be missed; especially for those events that are not sponsored by the club. So, if you should attend an event with your equipment and want that data to be included in the club s records, send an e-mail to the address above. Include the location and/or name of the event, start and stop times, and 2
number of visitors you spoke to. HOW LOCAL CLUBS CAN GROW THROUGH NURTURING THE NOVICE By Dr. W. Maynard Pittendreigh Coordinator of Astroleague Outreach, Sky Puppy, and Beyond Polaris programs The growth of our local clubs is built on three steps: reaching out to the community to introduce people to astronomy, encouraging new people to join our local club, and nurturing the novice to become an experienced and skilled astronomer. Many clubs do an incredible job in reaching out into the community to introduce astronomy to the public. Members of the Fort Bend Astronomy Club in Texas has earned over 150 Outreach Awards. Flint River Astronomy Club has over 70 awards. North Houston Astronomy Club has over 60. Since the inception of the Outreach Award program in 2001, the submissions for these awards reflect over 65,000 volunteer hours in outreach. These submissions record a total of over 2.9 million participants! We are doing an outstanding job with step one: reaching out to the community to introduce people to astronomy. The next step is more challenging: encouraging people to join our local club. Not all who come to an outreach event will join our clubs. Many attend an outreach event out of mild curiosity looking forward to their first glimpse through a telescope. Others may prefer astronomy as an activity of solitude, while others are busy with work, family and other concerns and have no room for one more activity. Some, however, will want to join our local clubs. Every outreach opportunity needs to provide easy access to information about when and where your club meets. A simple handout is all it takes. You will find that as people join your local club, these newcomers represent two different varieties: experienced and novice. The experienced astronomer will speak our lingo and have a good familiarity with the sky and telescope skills. That is the kind of member that will help lead programs, participate in outreach events, perhaps take leadership roles, and will become a paying member for years to come. The novice, however, will not understand terms like declination and right angle, globular cluster, or magnitude. Novices do not know enough to help lead a program and may not even understand the programs and presentations in the club meetings. They become frustrated and stop coming after a meeting or two. They will not continue as members of your club. The future of your local club is built on welcoming both the experienced and the novice member. The novice member will need your special attention if they are to become continuing members, attending meetings month after month and paying dues year after year. The novice will come to 3
your meetings not looking for how they can contribute to your club, but how your club can help them become better, more knowledgeable astronomers. Don t let them down! The Astronomical League offers two programs that are perfect for your local club to use to nurture the novice astronomer. One is for the youth and one is for the person of any age. For the youth, we have the Sky Puppies program. To qualify for the Sky Puppies Observing Program, a person must be age 10 or younger. A manual is available that is age appropriate for the young astronomer. Basic terms are taught. Simple skills with the unaided eye, binoculars or a small telescope are developed. This program is designed to nurture the young person for a lifetime of interest and activity in astronomy. The Sky Puppy program began in 2003. One does not have to be a member of the Astronomical League to earn this award. This is one of our very few programs open to non-members. You may be a Cub Scout leader who might want to use this program in your local Pack. You may have a niece or nephew with budding interest in the stars. The young person simply needs to have a mentor who is a member of the Astronomical League. For adults, we have the Beyond Polaris program. This program was introduced in 2017 and was designed by three members of the Mason Star Gazers in Mason, Texas: Bridget Langdale, Suzanne Bjork, and Wendy Hastings. Beyond Polaris can become an important component in your local club, providing you with a process for taking the inexperienced, but interested, novice astronomer into a more fulfilling relationship with the stars. The main focus is to understand the constellations, star party etiquette, simple star-hopping, how to use a planisphere, and how to find Polaris. The program does not use binoculars or a telescope. Promoting these two introductory programs can be helpful to nurturing and retaining membership. Clubs may find it helpful to give a discount to the next year s membership dues of 10%, 50% or even 100% for those who earn the Beyond Polaris award. Your club s future, after all, depends on members who are active participants. Nurturing novices to become experienced astronomers will nurture your club s future. More information about Sky Puppy and Beyond Polaris can be found on the Astronomical League s web page, www.astroleague.org. JUNE 23 RD SOLAR VIEWING & PUBLIC STAR PARTY The solar viewing and star party at Pronghorn Park on June 23 was amazing. We had a great turn out. It was warm with a clear sky. When we asked the folks how they heard about the star party, they said the Pronghorn HOA newsletter, the town of PV Facebook, our Facebook and others 4
often attend. Six people (two small parties) came to the solar viewing. Fortunately, the sun had some activity, so that was good. We had a small group who came with a 6" they had just purchased. Several members helped them get it dialed in. It was nice to have a good sky with enough ambient light to easily get from one scope to another. We had many families. We also had two families from an astronomy club in Pennsylvania. The moon was beautiful in waxing gibbous phase, showing many iconic lunar features along the terminator. And even with the gibbous moon - we were able to observe Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn. 5
13.1 ODYSSEY 1 DOBSONIAN AND ACCESSORIES - RAFFLE The Prescott Astronomy Club is offering a raffle of a 13.1 Odyssey 1 Dobsonian telescope and accessories. Raffle tickets will be sold at the general meetings for $5.00 each at the July 5 and August 1 regular meetings. Anyone who is interested in seeing the telescope can contact Steve Eubanks (steve@advancedtelescope.com or (928) 515-3017) 13.1 Odyssey 1 Dobsonian Reflector 1 - Telrad finder 1 - Televue Wide Field 15mm 1 1/4 eyepiece 1 - Meade Super Plossl 32mm 1 1/4 eyepiece 1 - Televue 2.5x Barlow 1 1/4 1 Eyepiece extension tube 1 1/4 4 1 1/4 Parks filters: #23A, #58, #82A, #15 1 Adjustable focus reticle eyepiece This is a red tube Dobsonian-type reflecting telescope. It was made commercially in the 1980s as part of the "Dobsonian revolution" in amateur astronomy. The tube and mount are in good shape, no nick or dents. The mirror may need cleaning. 6
FOR SALE - MEADE 12 ½ STARFINDER DOBSONIAN The Prescott Astronomy Club is offering for sale a Meade 12 ½-inch Starfinder Dobsonian telescope and accessories. Members who wish to buy it will have until August 31, 2018 to submit a sealed bid to John Baesemann (7295 N. Viewscape Drive, Prescott Valley, AZ 86315). Meade 12 ½-inch Starfinder Dobsonian Reflector Right angle 8 x 50 finder scope with adjustable focus 1 ¼ reticle eyepiece 1 1 ¼ 26mm Plossl eyepiece The base has trim pieces missing and there are some nicks on the tube. 7
The minimum bid price to members is $200.00. Anyone who is interested in seeing the telescope can contact John Baesemann (jbaesemann@q.com or 928-642-8004) for a mutually convenient time. A CLOSE-UP VIEW OF MARS By Jane Houston Jones and Jessica Stoller-Conrad In July 2018, skywatchers can get an up close view of Mars even without a telescope! In fact, on July 31, Mars will be closer to Earth than it has been in 15 years. Why is that? Like all the planets in our solar system, Earth and Mars orbit the Sun. Earth is closer to the Sun, and therefore it races along its orbit more quickly. Earth makes two trips around the Sun in about 8
the same amount of time that Mars takes to make one trip. Sometimes the two planets are on opposite sides of the Sun and are very far apart. Other times, Earth catches up with its neighbor and passes relatively close to it. This is called Mars s closest approach to Earth, and it s happening this year on July 31. The Moon will be near Mars on that night, too! Keep in mind that even during its closest approach, Mars is still more than 35 million miles away from Earth. That s really far. So, Mars won t appear as big as the Moon in the sky, but it will appear bigger than it usually does. July and August will be a great time to check out Mars. Through a telescope, you should normally be able to make out some of the light and dark features of the Red Planet and sometimes even polar ice. However, a huge Martian dust storm is obscuring these features right now, so less planetary detail is visible. There is another important Mars date in July: Mars opposition. Mars opposition is when Mars, Earth and the Sun all line up, with Earth directly in the middle. This event is happening on July 27 this year. Although you may see news focusing on one of these two dates, Mars will be visible for many months. For about three weeks before and three weeks after opposition and closest approach, the planet will appear the same size to a skywatcher. From July 7 through September 7 Mars will be the third brightest object in the sky (after the Moon and Venus), shining even brighter than Jupiter. The best time to view Mars during this time is several hours after sunset, when Mars will appear higher in the sky. Mars will still be visible after July and August, but each month it will shrink in size as it travels farther from Earth in its orbit around the Sun. In other sky news, there will be a partial solar eclipse on July 13, but it will only be visible from Northern Antarctica and southern Australia. On July 27 (beginning at 20:21 UTC), a total lunar eclipse will be visible in Australia, Asia, Africa, Europe and South America. For those viewers, Mars will be right next to the eclipsing Moon! If you re wanting to look ahead to next month, prepare for August s summer Perseid meteor shower. It s not too early to plan a dark sky getaway for the most popular meteor shower of the year! You can catch up on NASA s missions to Mars and all of NASA's missions at www.nasa.gov 9
In 2018, Mars will appear brightest from July 27 to July 30. Its closest approach to Earth is July 31. That is the point in Mars' orbit when it comes closest to Earth. Mars will be at a distance of 35.8 million miles (57.6 million kilometers). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech LET'S PARTY FOR AUGUST Astronomical objects for public (and private) star parties. by Fulton Wright, Jr. Flashy, deep-sky objects, visible in the middle of the month, at the end of astronomical twilight, 8:00 PM in March, (when it really gets dark). This list customized for Prescott, Arizona, should work well anywhere in the state, and be usable anywhere in the old 48 states. Double Stars (2 or 3 stars, close together) 10 Beta Cygni (Albireo, SAO 87301) Mag: 3.4 (yellow) & 4.7 (blue), Sep: 35 arc-sec R.A.: 19hr 31min, Dec.: +27deg 58' Zeta Ursae Majoris (Mizar, SAO 28738) Mag: 2.2 & 3.9, Sep: 14 arc-sec R.A.: 13hr 24min, Dec.: +54deg 56'
Epsilon Lyrae (Double-Double, SAO 67310 & 67315) Mag: 5.0 & 6.1, 5.3 & 5.4, Sep: 2 arc-sec, 2.5 arc-sec R.A.: 18hr 44min, Dec.: +39deg 40' 70 Ophiuchus (SAO 123107) Mag: 4.0, 6.0, Sep: 7 arc-sec R.A.: 18hrs 06min, Dec.: +02deg 30' Open Clusters (about 50 bright stars) Collinder 399 (Coat-hanger) Mag: 3.6, Size: 90 arc-min R.A.: 19hr 25min, Dec.: +20deg 11' IC 4665 Mag: 4.2, Size: 70 arc-min R.A.: 17hr 46min, Dec.: +05deg 43' NGC 6633 (use wide field) Mag: 4.6, Size: 30 arc-min R.A.: 18hr 27min, Dec.: +06deg 30' M 7 (NGC 6475) Mag: 3.3, Size: 80 arc-min R.A.: 17hr 55min, Dec.: -34deg 47' Globular Clusters (about 200,000 dim stars) (this is not a good season for globulars.) M 5 (NGC 5904) Mag: 5.6, Size: 3.5 arc-min R.A.: 15hr 19min, Dec.: +02deg 05' M 4 (NGC 6121) Mag: 5.6, Size: 8.7 arc-min R.A.: 16hr 24min, Dec.: -26deg 32' M 13 (Hercules Cluster, NGC 6205) Mag: 5.8, Size: 20 arc-min R.A.: 16hrs 42min, Dec.: +36deg 28' M 22 (NGC 6656) Mag: 5.1, Size: 32 arc-min R.A.: 18hr 38min, Dec.: -23deg 53' 11
Galaxies (about 200,000,000 very dim and distant stars) M 82 and M 81 (Bode's nebula, NGC 3031 and NGC 3034) Mag: 6.8 and 8.1, Size: 21 x 11, 11 x 5 arc-min, 37 arc-min apart R.A.: 9hrs 55min, Dec.: +69deg 55' M 106 (NGC 4258) Mag: 8.3, Size: 17 x 7 arc-min R.A.: 12hr 20min, Dec.: +47deg 12' M 51 (Whirlpool Galaxy, NGC 5194, low but rising) Mag: 8.0, Size: 14 x 12 arc-min R.A.: 13hrs 30min, Dec.: +47deg 12' Diffuse Nebulae (Gas and dust lit by a nearby star.) M 17 (Omega Nebula, Swan Nebula, NGC 6618) Mag: 6.0, Size: 46 x 37 arc-min R.A.: 18hr 22min, Dec.: -16deg 10' M 8 (Lagoon Nebula, NGC 6523) Mag: 6.0, Size: 90 x 40 arc-min R.A.: 18hr 05min, Dec.: -24deg 23' M 20 (Trifid Nebula, NGC 6514) Mag: 6.3, Size: 29 x 27 arc-min R.A.: 18hr 04min, Dec.: -23deg 02' Planetary Nebulae (gas shell from exploding star, looks like Uranus in telescope) M 57 (NGC 6720, Ring Nebula) Mag: 8.8, Size 1.4 x 1.1 arc-min R.A.: 18hr 54min, Dec.: +33deg 02' NGC 6826 (Caldwell 15, Blinking Planetary Nebula) Mag: 8.9, Size: 2.1 arc-min R.A.: 19hr 45min, Dec.: +50deg 31' NGC 6543 (Cat's Eye Nebula, Caldwell 6) Mag: 8.1, Size: 0.4 arc-min R.A.: 17hrs 59min, Dec.: +66deg 38' For additional information, see: www.dso-browser.com 12
LET S TALK ABOUT THE MOON By John Carter, Sr. Calling all members! Let s have an open discussion on the Moon. The discussion can include: 1) Pictures with a DSLR and a tripod, single shot 2) Observing on vacation 3) Sharing the Moon with others 4) Get your birding binoculars out 5) Wherever the discussion goes We ll be asking for contributions during the short topic session at each meeting for the next few months. If you have pictures, bring them on a thumb drive to display on the big screen. For just talking about your experiences, the hand held mic will be passed around. NEED TO KNOW - ASK A MEMBER A new 15-minute segment is being added to the regular general meetings where members can have their burning questions answered by other knowledgeable members. If you have an astronomy related question you would like explained, submit the question to Jeff Stillman (jstillman50@cableone.net). You can also bring up the question at the meeting. BOOKS AND MAGAZINES Over the years astronomy books have been donated to PAC. Boxes of these books will be available at the regular meetings. For a donation to PAC of $1 per book, anyone can have a book. Books that are not purchased at a regular meeting will be available at the following Third Thursday programs. Any remaining unsold books will be donated to the Friends of the Prescott Public Library. We also have copies of past Sky and Telescope magazine. These will be available to any member wishing to take them. Unclaimed magazines will be recycled. 13
FOR SALE Please visit the Classified Ads section of the club website to view the items posted there for sale: http://prescottastronomyclub.org/classified-ads/ New items are added now and then, so don t miss out on something that you would like to get for yourself...or a friend. PAC MENTORS If you need advice on the purchase of astronomy equipment, setting up equipment, astrophotography, etc., contact a PAC mentor. Jeff Stillman - Astrophotography - (928) 379-7088 David Viscio - General - (928) 775-2918 Greg Lutes - Visual Observing - (928) 445-4430 Joel Cohen - Beginner s Astronomy: Selecting & Using a Telescope - (856) 889-6496 Bill McDonald - Video Observing John Carter - Video Observing - (928) 458-0570 OBSERVING LISTS Observing lists are available in PDF format on the PAC website to provide guidance and goals for visual and astrophotography programs. Astroleague Lunar 100 Bright Nebulae Dunlop 100 Binocular Showpieces Caldwell Face-On Spiral Galaxies Globular Clusters Herschel 400 Herschel II Messier Planet Maps Hidden Treasures Open Clusters Planetary Nebulae Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Finest NGC Saguaro Astronomy Club Best NGC S&T Lunar 100 14
Telescope Showpieces The Secret Deep PAC WEBSITE & YAHOO GROUPS Website: http://www.prescottastronomyclub.org E-mail: pacinfo@prescottastronomyclub.org Astrophotography special interest group: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/pacastrophotography/info BOARD OF DIRECTORS President: Jeff Stillman Vice President: John Carter Secretary: Doug Tilley Treasurer: John Baesemann At Large: Pat Bledsoe At Large: Dennis Eaton At Large: Adam England At Large: Joel Cohen PAC COORDINATORS Astronomical League Coordinator: Pat Birck Facebook: Adam England Highland Center Coordinator: David Viscio Hospitality: Cory Shaw Magazine Subscriptions: John Baesemann Membership: John Baesemann METASIG: Marilyn Unruh Newsletter: David Viscio PAC Affiliate Partner w/ NAU Space Grant Program Jerry & Cory Shaw PAC Store Sales: John & Laura Verderame Refreshments: Liz Dano Property Records: Doug Tilley Publicity: Adam England Schools & Camps Outreach: Pat Birck Starry Nights Coordinator: Pat Birck Third Thursday Coordinator: Cory Shaw & Pat Birck Webmaster: Russell Chappell 15
ASTRONOMY PICTURE OF THE DAY: July 18, 2018 DARK SLOPE STREAKS SPKLIT ON MARS Image Credit & Copyright: HiRISE, MRO, LPL (U. Arizona), NASA What is creating these dark streaks on Mars? No one is sure. Candidates include dust avalanches, evaporating dry ice sleds, and liquid water flows. What is clear is that the streaks occur through light surface dust and expose a deeper dark layer. Similar streaks have been photographed on Mars for years and are one of the few surface features that change their appearance seasonally. Particularly interesting here is that larger streaks split into smaller streaks further down the slope. The featured image was taken by the HiRISE camera on board the Mars-orbiting Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) several months ago. Currently, a global dust storm is encompassing much of Mars. 16
17 Watson Lake Map