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In This Issue: HCAS General Notes...p.2 Outreach...p.3 Astrophotography...p.4 Observing Notes...p.7 Miscellaneous...p.10 HCAS General Notes We hope everyone had a good Christmas, and with the upcoming New Year, I hope everyone stays safe. We held our General Membership meeting on the 27th, two days after the big party and I guess everyone was still cleaning up or got lost on their way home from the party. ( That s a joke ) Anyway, we only had a few people show up for the meeting: Lucy, Tim, Mark, Dave, Bill and Arleen, and myself. So we basically just talked informally, since we could not conduct business. We did decide that at the upcoming Open House on Saturday, January 19 th, that we will be hosting Homestead Wakefield students, as well as the public. Mark had to cancel the Star Party at the school so we invited them to come to the Observatory. With that said we adjourned the meeting, turned out the lights and made a dash to the parking lot. Hope to see everyone at the Open House, the next general meeting will be on Thursday January 24th. Also, there will be a Board meeting prior to the general meeting. The Board meeting will start at 6pm, followed by the general meeting soon afterward. - Gary George HCAS President 2
Treasurers Report January 11, 2013 Current balance as of 1/11/2013 Main checking account: $3861.69 Second Checking account: $ 985.01 PayPal Account $ 341.39 Total $5188.09 There were no payments or income since my last report. There were no new members since my last report. Tim Kamel Outreach Open House December 22, 2012 For our last open house for 2012, we were blessed with clear skies that stayed clear for the duration of the event. This was so even though the forecast was for 35% clouds. Unfortunately, our turnout in both guests and members was quite low, probably because it was three days before Christmas and was the last shopping weekend. We had 5 members (myself, Dave, Mark, Karen and Bob). We had twelve guests two families of four, one couple and at least 2 singles. With the low participation, we had lots of time to look at stuff. We did the Moon, Jupiter, the Orion Nebula and then tried to hit some other objects. We had fairly good views, given the bright Moon, of the star clusters in Auriga. We struck out with Almach and Andromeda Galaxy because they were too high for the dome to open. We also struck out with M-1 because of the bright moon. We did get to see the headlight double, Castor. We stayed till about 9 PM and then closed up when the last guest left. Tim Kamel Please join us as we begin a new program of timely presentations at our general meetings. These programs will last about 30-45 minutes in addition to our regular discussions. We hope to have a speaker at each meeting. Anyone who would like to present a topic of interest to the HCAS membership is welcome. Please contact Lucy Albert at 410-679-7055 or ljalbert608@gmail.com to make arrangements to present. 3
Astrophotography November 17, 2012 The Case of the Lost Files On Saturday, 11/17, it was a clear night with a favorable moon and Jupiter was approaching opposition. Gary sent out a note for an astrophotography session at the observatory. The intent was for some shots of earth shine on the moon, and we would then do some shots of Jupiter, all using Planetary Imagers. Rick and I participated with Gary. Larry also came along but left early. First up was the moon, and Gary needed to get the moon shots soon before the moon set. He used his new Planetary Imager and Autoguider and got some shots of the moon. Jupiter was next, having climbed above the lower lid of the wind screen and could now be photographed. I had brought along my older Orion Planetary Imager but asked Gary if I could use his camera, being a newer generation and comparable to the QHY5 camera, to see how well it did. I started shooting but the software hung and Gary had to reboot his computer before I was able to resume and take 3 videos of Jupiter. Having accomplished this, I tried to get copies of the videos onto my flash drive but the videos could not be found. Apparently, when the computer was rebooted, we did not re-set the directory for the videos and they went off into a location held in close secrecy by the software, not to be seen that night. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. By now, Orion was also in view and Rick used his Canon camera and the C-14 to take some shots M-42. We then adjourned, a rather early night. Phase two of this story is six weeks later when Gary was finally able to locate my Jupiter video by doing a directory by directory search on his computer, and I was able to copy them onto a flash drive, all 10 Gigs of them. I have now spent almost 2 hours trying to get one decent photo out of the three videos, without any success. Not sure what happened poor seeing, Jupiter too low or just plain inexperience using the camera, but those videos should have remained in never-never land, never to be seen again. December 30, 2012 I was on vacation the week between Christmas and New Year s, as I have done for the last 35 years, and was watching the weather. Gary and I were exchanging e-mails and the forecast and Sunday, 12/30 was looking good. So, we put out a note, and Gary and I were joined by Alex, a new member, who came to see the AP session and to do some observing where possible. Gary wanted to shoot the moon again and I wanted another shot at Gary s new Planetary Imager. The day was mostly overcast but the forecast for the evening was for clear skies, and so it was when we arrived at the dome. It was cold and very windy, so we were not really expecting to get decent photos and were willing to do some viewing if needed. Within a few minutes of getting set up to shoot Jupiter, the clouds rolled in. We were able to get some short videos of Jupiter using Gary s Orion Planetary Imager and were careful to make sure they were in the correct directory for retrieval. No problems with that this time, though the videos are quite large, 18 Gigs for 3 videos of about 2,000 frames each. I have processed the most promising (brightest) of the videos and have attached a copy. I was able to capture two of Jupiter s moons in the process. While waiting for the moon to rise, we did some observing and I took a few shots of the Orion Nebula using my Canon DSLR. I have attached the best one. As the moon rose, the cloud cover became much more intense, and we were not able to get a decent shot of the moon. 4
Basically, we gave up and left. I was home before nine, and noted that by the time I got home, the sky was again completely clear. There Ain t No Justice. Jupiter by Tim Kamel Orion Nebula (M42) by Tim Kamel 5
Jupiter, with transit of satellite Europa. Here's the image I captured of Jupiter and Europa on Dec 13 2012 at 10:12 PM. Note that a Europa shadow transit was in progress as I imaged the planet; Europa's shadow appears near the limb of the planet at the 4 o'clock position. The moon itself appears a short distance away from its shadow. For this image Jupiter was at an elevation of 68 degrees. I used a C11 with a 2.5x Televue Powermate amplifier working at F/25 together with a monochrome CCD webcam and color filter wheel. - Peter Nerbun 6
Observing Notes Rear View of my new 18 Obsession Reflector I am still working at balancing the front and rear sections of the scope, as well as configuring the optical plane between the primary and secondary mirrors. I've moved the ArgoNavis push-to system from my 12.5 scope to this one. - Roy Troxel Broad Creek Dec. 14, 2012 6:30pm "First Light" This night was the first light" for my new telescope. (See photo above.) After five happy years with my 12.5 Obsession, I succumbed to aperture fever and decided to upgrade to Obsession's Classic 18-inch model. (Actually, it was more like Galaxy Fever, which is where I plan to be aiming the scope over the coming months.) I even bought a new car to transport it! I could have purchased the 20" model, but then I would have had to purchase a ladder which I would then have to move every time I looked at a different object. No fun! The 18" model stands at 6 feet/ 6 inches, when aimed vertically toward the zenith, and that requires only a light two-step ladder, so I decided to go with it. The air on this night was chilly, but dry, and the 18" mirror cooled down nicely. (Large mirrors tend to hold warmth longer than smaller mirrors, which is why Obsession supplies a fan at the base of its telescopes, underneath the mirror.) This particular mirror, in fact, is one of the few remaining Pyrex mirrors that are available from Obsession and many other makers of scopes and optics. Corning Glass, the manufacturer of Pyrex glass, has discontinued this product. This might account for the increasing price in some optics, due to the manufacturers having to import their glass from Europe. In any case, it took two people to unload the mirror box from my VW wagon, and I had to stand on a step ladder to fasten the UTA onto the struts. I was assisted by Ken Kragh and Cathy Tingler, who had also brought their scopes. Cathy set up her new Orion SkyView Pro mounting, 7
while Ken set up his 10" Meade and was busy aligning it. In other words, this session was mostly about experimenting with new telescopes. I had not yet installed the Argo Navis star finder onto my scope, so I had to find objects the oldfashioned way, by star-hopping. Nonetheless, I was able to obtain some excellent views of Jupiter, the Double Cluster in Perseus, several of Cassiopeia's star clusters and the Pleiades. A thick haze developed after 7pm, and that meant that galaxies and nebulae would not be effective test objects. Even M42 (Orion Nebula) was dim. However, Andromeda was directly overhead, and this is a location that Dobsonian reflectors have a problem with, because it is difficult to move the scope in small increments when it is standing vertically. The galaxy M31 did appear very bright, however, especially the core, but poorly defined, due to the thick atmospheric haze. Its companion galaxy, M110, was clearly visible as well. Other objects found and observed were: M37 Open cluster in Auriga. Very bright and beautiful in the 35mm eyepiece. M35 open cluster and NGC2392 ("Eskimo" planetary nebula) in Gemini. By 8:45pm, the temperature was down into the 30s, and the haze obviously wasn't going to lift, so we decided to pack and go home. It had been a productive night in terms of testing new equipment. Roy Troxel Abingdon, MD Jan 3, 2013 6:00pm to 8:00pm Well, the sky cleared unexpectedly around 5:00pm, so I decided once again to test my new scope. I had spent about a week assembling the various parts of the scope, testing the collimation and attaching the ArgoNavis push-to system, so I wheeled the scope across my brightly-lit parking lot toward a small, dark patch of field behind the condominium. There was a reasonably clear view of the eastern sky, which included the constellations Taurus, Gemini, Auriga, Orion and the planet Jupiter. And then I bungled it. While star-aligning the ArgoNavis, I unwittingly snapped the tiny circuit board on the azimuth encoder which sits at the base of the rocker-box, underneath the mirror. This happened when the cable to the encoder became entangled with the rocker arm on the mirror box. When I aimed the scope upward, the cable became taut and eventually snapped off the circuit chip. As it turned out, this is no big deal. After posting a message on the ArgoNavis email group, I was contacted by Charlie Starks of Markless Astronomics who agreed to repair the encoder at a very reasonable price. (I had met Charlie a few years ago at Cherry Springs, and he has a very reliable company, which specializes in repairing scopes and scope equipment.) Again, I had to resort to star-hopping in order to find objects. To my surprise, I was able to locate several star clusters, including the double cluster, M52, M35 and M37. The Orion Nebula was low on the eastern horizon, but I was able to see five stars of the Trapezium. Jupiter was a major treat! It was about 45 degrees in the sky, and the Obsession revealed numerous belts and bands. Two of the planet's satellites appeared as disks! All things considered, it was a successful, if chilly, two hours of observing. Roy Troxel 8
Broad Creek Jan 7, 2013 5:30pm to 8:00pm The air was very clear and dry. Although the temperature eventually dropped to the upper 30s, there was no wind. Bill Gelston and I set up our scopes, and were joined by Cathy Tingler about an hour later. Both transparency and seeing were 4 out of 5, by BC standards. The Bel Air light dome appeared dimmer than usual, and low on the horizon. This was the 18-inch's second night at Broad Creek, and Bill and Cathy helped me to unload it from my car - and later reload it into the car. (The mirror box, with mirror, weighs in at 80 pounds.) With the azimuth encoder in the repair shop, I again had to find objects by star-hopping. Although the star clusters were easy to find, nebulae and galaxies took more time. The first object was Jupiter. The shadow of transiting satellite Europa was visible near the planet's southern polar region. Also saw The Great Red Spot nearby. The entire eastern sky was very clear on this night Other objects I viewed were: M1 Crab Nebula in Taurus Orion Nebula, viewed with a Nagler 12mm eyepiece. I could immediately see all six stars in the Trapezium. NGC7331 Elliptical galaxy in Pegasus. Used a Nagler 12mm eyepiece with a 2x Powermate barlow lens. Showed very bright core, with star clouds around it. This galaxy supposedly resembles the Milky Way, and photos of it appear in many astronomy textbooks as well as science-fiction films.. M35 open cluster in Gemini was brilliant and beautiful in the 35mm Panoptic eyepiece. You could see both the cluster and its distant companion, open cluster NGC2158. The Andromeda galaxy (M31) was unusually clear and bright, near the zenith. It was a nice sight in binoculars as well. We began packing up our equipment around 8:00 pm, with the sky still brilliant, but with the temperature dropping. - Roy Troxel The best times to observe at Broad Creek are between the last quarter and first quarter of the lunar cycle. The current period is: January 31 through February 12, 2013 Try to keep some of these nights open on your schedule! Because of the unpredictable weather conditions, we cannot set a specific date and time to observe. Sometimes the decision to go to BC is made within a few hours before sunset. In any case, all club members will be notified by email. 9
Miscellaneous The following list is the schedule for our Members Night / Open House / General Meetings for the year 2013 Members night Open House General Meeting Jan. 12 Jan. 19 @ 7 pm Jan. 24th / BOD Mtg. Feb. 9th Feb. 16 @ 7 pm Feb. 21st March 9th Mar. 16 @ 7 pm Mar. 21st / BOD Mtg. April 13th Apr. 20 @ 8 pm Apr. 25th May 11th May 18 @ 8 pm May 23rd / BOD Mtg. June 8th June 15 @ 8 pm June 20th July 6th July 13 @ 8 pm July 18th / BOD Mtg. Aug.10th August 17 @ 8 pm August 22nd Sept. 7th Sept. 14 @ 7 pm Sept. 19th / BOD Mtg Oct.5th Oct. 12 @ 7 pm Oct. 17th Nov.2nd Nov. 9 @ 7 pm Nov. 14th / BOD Mtg Dec. Dec.7 @ 7 pm Dec. 12th May 23rd meeting: Nominations for Officers and Board members June 20th meeting: election results 10
HCAS Mission Statement What is HCAS? HCAS is a group of people from varied backgrounds, of all ages, men and women, with a common bond a love for astronomy. HCAS is associated with the Harford County Community College and has use of the HCC observatory and meeting rooms. Our members are friendly, and welcome anyone with an interest in astronomy a beginner or an advanced observer and/or astro-photographer. HCAS is committed to the people of Harford County, to assist and augment learning and interest in Astronomy as well as providing strong, allvolunteer outreach programs to schools, clubs and other interested organizations. GOALS: Promote the interest and love of astronomy for the people of Harford County, Maryland. Advocate for dark skies and fight light pollution and light trespass. Engage with schools, churches, scouts and other groups to expand knowledge and interest in Astronomy. Establish and maintain an atmosphere at the observatory where everyone in included and invited to join and share astronomy by visual observing as well as astro-photography regardless of skill level or education. 11
This newsletter is the official publication of Harford County Astronomical Society P.O. Box 906, Bel Air, MD 21014. Items for the newsletter are due to the editor by the 13 th of the month of publication. Please send all contributions (electronic format is strongly encouraged) to: Roy Troxel at: rtroxel@comcast.net. Permission is not necessary for non-profit use of this material, although proper acknowledgment is required. Address changes should be brought to the attention of the editor at the address given above. And be sure to visit our Web Site: http://www.harfordastro.org Webmaster: Larry Hubble lkhubble@verizon.net...and our Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/harfordastro 12