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IN THIS ISSUE: Event Calendar, News Notes Minutes: September meeting MVAS Reminder: RAFFLE! Observer’s Notes: LHIRES III SPECTROGRAPH Almanac Alert: Oct - Nov 2008 MVAS Homework: The Andromeda Galaxy Homework Charts: variable Mira, asteroid (4) Vesta Constellation of the Month: Andromeda November 2008 Sky Almanac Gallery: Meteorite Editor: Phil Plante 1982 Mathews Rd. #2 Youngstown OH 44514 OCTOBER 2008 OCTOBER 2008 NEWS NOTES Newsletter of the Mahoning Valley Astronomical Society, Inc. MVAS CALENDAR OCT 18 MVAS meeting at MVCO. 8:00 PM. OCT 25 Halloween Party at MVCO. 7:00 PM NOV New Moon weekend. Star party at MVCO 1 NOV 15 MVAS meeting at YSU. 8:00 PM. DEC Christmas Party, officer elections, raffle. 6 NATIONAL & REGIONAL EVENTS OCT 16 - 19 97th Annual AAVSO Meeting, Nantucket, MA http://www.aavso.org/ OCT 24-NOV 2 Chiefland Star Party, Chiefland Astr. Village, Chiefland, FL http://www.chiefland.org/ OCT 24 - 26 New Jersey StarQuest, Hope, NJ http://www.princetonastronomy.org/ OCT 24 - 26 Stella Della Valley Star Party, Ottsville, PA http://www.bma2.org/ YSU WARD BEECHER PLANETARIUM OCT 17/18 OCT 24/25, 31 8 PM. Geology on a Roll 8 PM. Nightlights (Halloween show) CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY NOV. 13 8 PM. Jets From Black Holes in Quasars By Dr. Alan Marscher, Boston University MVAS BOARD OF TRUSTEES President Vice President Treasurer Secretary Trustee (Appointed) Trustee (Appointed) Trustee (Membership) Sam DiRocco Harry Harker Steve Bartos Phil Plante Greg Higgins Mike Boyer Fred Boyer OBSERVATORY STAFF Observatory Director Librarian Greg Higgins Rosemary Chomos PUBLICATIONS STAFF Meteorite Editor Assistant Editor MVAS Webmaster Phil Plante Steve Bartos Harry Harker MVAS REPRESENTATIVES OTAA Representative Harry Harker MVCO, 1076 SR 534 NW, NEWTON FALLS, OH 44444 MVAS Homepage- http://mvobservatory.com OCTOBER 2008 Tiny Dancers. NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has photographed several dust devils dancing across the arctic plain the week of Sep 8. It had also sensed a dip in air pressure as one passed near the lander. These dusty whirlwinds had been expected but none had been seen until now. A total of 29 images were taken at the time and at least six dust devils were recorded. They ranged in size from 7 foot in diameter to 16 foot. The swirling winds pose no threat to the lander as it is very rigid and the solar panels, once deployed, became a tension structure. These artic dust devils are much smaller than those spotted by MER Spirit which is closer to the Martian equator. Spotting a cycle? This past September 22, a new sunspot was seen breaking out on the sun. It was a fast-growing active region with two dark cores, each larger than Earth. The magnetic polarity of the sunspot identifies it as a member of the new Sunspot Cycle 24. Because 2008 had so many blank suns, some observers wondered if the Sun would ever climb out of the deep solar minimum that seemed to continue well beyond expected time frames. The new sunspot was a good sign that the 11-year solar cycle is indeed progressing, albeit slowly. Earlier, on January 4, 2008, the first reverse polarity sunspot (AR10981) was seen- indicating the start of Cycle 24. But things have been quiet since then. Cycle 24 is expected to reach Solar Max sometime in 2011 or 2012. Rays from the hey-days. Gamma-ray bursts are the most luminous explosions in the universe. Most occur when a massive star runs out of nuclear fuel and their core collapses into a black hole or neutron star. Gas jets, punch through the star and blast into space where they strike gas previously shed by the star. It heats up generating a bright afterglow. At 1:47 a.m. EDT on Sept. 13, 2008, NASA’s Swift satellite found the most distant gamma-ray burst ever detected. The blast, designated GRB 080913, arose from an exploding star 12.8 billion light-years away in the constellation Eridanis. Within 2 minutes, Swift sent an alert to ground based observers using the 2.2-meter telescope at the European Southern Observatory in La Silla, Chile. A group led by Jochen Greiner at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching, Germany, captured the bursts fading afterglow as a fading, previously unknown X-ray source. “This is the most amazing burst Swift has seen," said the mission's lead scientist Neil Gehrels at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "It's coming to us from near the edge of the visible universe." GRB 080913's "look-back time" reveals that the burst occurred less than 825 million years after the universe began. PBS TV Reminder: THE JOURNEY TO PALOMAR. This is the story of American astronomer George Ellery Hale’s dramatic public and private struggle to build the four largest telescopes in the world. These scopes set the stage for astronomy and space exploration throughout the 20th century. More than five years in the making, the documentary traces Hale’s lifelong struggle to build these great instruments, culminating with the million-pound telescope on Palomar Mountain— the most famous telescope in the world. Show time: Mon. November 10, 2008, 10:00-11:30 p.m. ET THE METEORITE pg. 1 MINUTES OF THE SEPTEMBER MEETING SEPTEMBER 20, 2008 at the MVCO President Sam DiRocco called the meeting to order at 8:00 PM with members assembled in the 16” building. Roll Call was taken with 21 members giving the password. Two guests were on hand; Bill Pearce of Canfield and Bill Neff who saw our meeting posted on the website. The Bartos family and Dominic Mattuissi also joined in the activities. A call for the reading of the previous minutes (July and August) were suspended on a motion from Bill White and a second by Allen Heasley. These minutes were then accepted by a unanimous voice vote. TREASURER’S REPORT: Treasurer's Report was given by Steve Bartos. The report was accepted on a motion from Bill White and second from Allen Heasley. R. J Pandian noted that the amount of the out house pumping expense in the July report seemed to be in error. This was a typographic error with a misplaced decimal point. The actual cost was $170.00 and not $1700.00 as was published. Thanks to Pandian for spotting this. The MVAS ledger will/already reflect this correction. General Fund OPENING BALANCE: CLOSING BALANCE: AVAILABLE FUNDS: 7/1 thru 7/31 2008 $ 4,993.05 $ 5,415.28 $ 5,185.28 INCOME: OTAA REGISTRATION OTAA RAFFLE DONATION (G. HIGGINS) INTEREST TOTAL INCOME $ $ 275.00 1,082.00 3.06 1.18 1,361.24 EXPENSES: CK# 2660 OBERWERK 20X80 BINOCULAR $ 2670 MVCO RENT 2008-2009 (SPRAGUE) CASH RED LIGHTS CASH WEED AND GRASS (LAWN CARE) CASH PROPANE (*G. Higgins took $120 in raffle tickets for reimbursement) TOTAL EXPENSES $ 315.95 500.00 74.07* 36.99* 12.00* 939.01 Reserved Funds KEY DEPOSITS $ 230.00 CORRESPONDENCE: There was no outstanding mail received. Harry Harker noted a spike in interest in the MVAS via website contacts. About nine individuals expressed interest but most seemed that they would wait until we meet at YSU to attend a meeting. Greg reminded the membership that there is a forum on the MVAS website and hoped that members would start using it. This could provide more interaction and discussion amongst members. This led to a discussion on possibly using the forum to announce the PDF Meteorite. No changes are planned at this time. COMMITTEE/OFFICER REPORTS: OAD FUND: A report from Tony Mehle was given. The Wells Fargo Money Market Fund closed September 19 with a balance of $3,882.38. This is up $6.18 since the last report. Current 7 day yield was also up at 2.47%. There was a brief discussion on the security of this investment, due to the current economic failures and government bail-outs. It is presumed the investments are insured up to $100,000. OBSERVATORY DIRECTOR’S REPORT: Greg said there was nothing new to report other than the 50” mirror blank is on the OCTOBER 2008 “porch” next to the entrance to the 16” building. Persons should be aware of this as it is easy to trip over in the dark. OLD BUSINESS: Bill White asked if the MVAS would still consider a public event at Sam’s Club. He was given the ok to set up a date, sometime after the October meeting. This would be a daytime session. Bill will let us know when he has a confirmed date. Sam next thanked all those that helped get the 50” to the MVCO. These included Jodi, Roy, Allen, Mike, Fred, Harry and a special thanks to Bill for letting us use his trailer to haul it. The grinding machine it was on was disassembled (by a few non-members) and sold as scrap steel as it was just too big for storage at the MVCO. MVAS received $115 from this activity. There were also two vacuum chambers at Walter’s, one containing mercury. Bill took these assuming for his own purposes, assuming they were home-built and that the MVAS didn’t want them. Bill would’ve dealt with the mercury. However it turned out they were high grade commercial units, 12” to 16” chambers and they have been posted for sale. Sam sent a word of thanks to Walter Mackey for letting the team tear out part of a wall to load the mirror onto the trailer. This was rebuilt the next day. Mike Boyer moved, Bill White seconded, that Sam be reimbursed $73.95 for materials used in the rebuild. All were in favor, Sam will be paid. Greg reminded everyone that AstroBlast in Oil City, PA would start next week and that he would be leaving for there on Tuesday. He encouraged everyone to come up for a few days. Vendors and prizes would be part of the event. A 13mm Ethos ($660) eyepiece would be the grand prize. It was noted that we have our last Scenic Vista public night the next weekend. The long range weather outlook for the coming week looked promising for both AstroBlast and Scenic Vista. Sam reminded members to start getting serious about selling your Christmas raffle tickets as there are only a few months left. It was decided that we should try to sell tickets at the YSU planetarium on Friday night Oct. 17, the night before the next meeting. If we have permission, of course. NEW BUSINESS: Steve Bartos had order forms for the Astronomy Magazine 2009 calendar. As was planned, we will only order the amount needed to cover those expressing interest in buying one. Twenty members present requested one, therefore 20 will be ordered. Price to be set (~$7). No word yet on the RASC Handbooks. Steve will contact them. Again, MVAS will only purchase the number needed to fill demand. Please decide now, before the October meeting if you want one and be sure to relay this information to an officer or to better yet, directly to Steve. No price available as of this printing. Two new members have joined the ranks. Bob Danko nominated his daughter, Stacey. She is a college student in Florida and needed to join an astronomy club as part of her course work. She chose MVAS. Dues have been paid for the remainder of this year and 2009. Our guest Bill Pearce was nominated by Bill White and Greg Higgins for membership. Bill hails from Canfield and has been active in astro-imaging. Dues have been paid for 2008-09. Both candidates were accepted as members. Welcome to the MVAS, Stacey and Bill. Speaking of candidates, Dan Schneider reminded us that this is an election year for the four officers and we will need two trustee positions filled. Please consider one of these spots, toss your name in the ring, and let an officer know. (A nominating committee should be formed at the next meeting -sec). The Trustees decided to have the 2008 Christmas Party/meeting at Wrangler’s Restaurant as we have had since the mid 1990’s. THE METEORITE pg. 2 Same menu. There were no objections to this. Phil will contact them and make the reservations soon (lemon squares). GOOD OF THE SOCIETY: Don Durbin has donated a 2” Crayford focuser for use on the 12.5” scope or for what ever use the MVAS see fit. Thanks Don! Looks like a fine focuser. Rosemary spoke about the Kovac Planetarium she visited on a trip to Monico, Wisconsin. The planetarium was hand painted over five years providing a very realistic view of the night sky. She recommend that anyone going to that area be sure to stop. Well worth it. Rosemary noted the refrigerators will cleaned out and shut down after the Halloween Party. Take your stuff home. VISUAL REPORTS: Phil Plante had 8 vso’s so far. Chris Stephan in Florida had 162 vso’s. Rich Mattuissi and family had been looking at Sagittarius. Don Durbin used a new Baader 2” UHCs filter for imaging. Supposedly blocking all but the OIII and H-alpha band passes. Jodi and Roy made it to the Black River OTAA. It was a clear night but the legendary fog rolled in from the cemetery. Good food there; about 60 people showed up. ADJOURNMENT: Meeting adjourned at 8:59 PM. Thanks is given to Dan Schneider the great sandwich tray and soda. Thanks to Pandian for the very tasty lemon rice, and to Rosemary for the cookies we had for dessert. With clearing skies it was unusual that no observing was done. Members talked shop and enjoyed the food. Next meeting is at the MVCO on October 18, at 8:00 PM. Harry Harker is host. PASSWORD: A fall constellation and its brightest star. -minutes by P. Plante REMINDERS: MVAS Well gang, we have had raffle tickets out there since April. NOW….there is only a few months left until the drawing. In the past, we’ve always said that if you can’t participate at work sessions or at public events, this is one way you can contribute. Please sell your tickets. MVAS is counting on you! Observer‘s Notes..… LHIRES III SPECTROGRAPH Lhires III is a spectrograph optimized for high-resolution spectroscopy with amateur-sized telescopes. LHIRES is an acronym for Littrow High Resolution Spectrograph. A spectroscope is used to observe spectra. A spectrograph is used to image spectra. This spectrograph can be connected to popular SCT of 200mm to 300mm diameter. It can also be connected to most other standard types of telescopes, including refractors and Newtonians, provided that these instruments are slower than f/8, in order to collect enough light. It has grating with 2400 grooves per mm. A neon calibration lamp is also integrated in the spectrograph for reference emission line comparison. You can attach any type of imaging camera and a second guide camera. This sophisticated product is easy to use visually, when observing the spectra of the Sun. On a sunny day, I observed the thick dark Frauenhofer absorption lines of H-alpha in the red, sodium in the yellow and magnesium in the green portion of the solar spectrum. There were also hundreds of thin lines of different solar elements and additional elements in the atmosphere of the Earth. This summer, I shared my Lhires III spectrograph at several local northeast amateur astronomy star parties. There was an extremely positive response from the OCTOBER 2008 amateur astronomers, who observed the solar spectra through this product. Spectroscopy is like archeology or a criminal case study. With clues included in spectra, an astrophysicist tries to go back to the root of the phenomena. Before the discovery of spectroscopy, stars were just points of light. Almost all professional observations are done today in spectroscopy. Large telescopes are equipped with powerful spectrographs to analyze celestial objects. Now spectroscopy is evolving within the amateur astronomy community. High resolution spectroscopy, the message from the stars, is now accessible to you through a Lhires III Spectrograph. The Lhires III Spectrograph is used to take images of the spectra of stars and other celestial objects, with a camera. You can determine the chemical composition and metallicity of stars. Population I stars like the Sun are rich in metal (i.e. non hydrogen or helium atoms). Population II stars are poor in metal and very old. You can show evidence of the Doppler effect of red shift expansion movement, temperature, stellar density / pressure, spectral double stars, carbon stars and Wolf-rayet stars. When you take an image of a planet or star that rotates quickly, you will notice that the Frauenhofer lines are slanted instead of perpendicular. Several amateur astronomers held their digital cameras over the eyepiece and took images of the solar spectra. This is not your father’s spectrograph! I have owned several grating and prism spectroscopes since 1990. I started with a Fred Flintsone product and advanced to a Pebbles Flintsone, George Jetson and Elroy Jetson. The Lhires III is a Great Grandson of Elroy Jetson!!! Ralph Marantino and Chuck Higgins told me about a French astronomy club, who was selling a spectrograph kit several years ago. However, these kits were sold out, when Chuck decided to buy the kit. Last year, they told me that this Lhires III product was now being manufactured by Shelyak Instruments in France. I picked up my Lhires III Spectrograph at the NEAF Northeast Astronomy Forum 2008. NEAF is co sponsored by Sky and Telescope and the Rockland Astronomy Club (rocklandastronomy.com). NEAF is the world’s largest trade show of amateur astronomy products. At NEAF 2008, I talked to Olivier Thizy ([email protected]), of Shelyak Instruments (http:www.shelyak.com). Shelyak instruments also manufacturers the Lhires Lite spectroscope. This is a less expensive, sturdy educational spectrograph, for safely observing the solar absorption spectra. Educators can also use this product to observe the emission spectra of street lights and Geisler tubes filled with various gas elements. You could attach a video camera or other imaging camera to the Lhires Lite. You can purchase the Lhires III for $3,295.00, or the Lhires Lite for $1,395.00, from Adirondack Astronomy www.astrovid.com Toll Free: 1 877 348 8433 Info Line: 1 518 747 4141 FAX Line: 1 518 747 4422. The Lhires III Spectrograph was designed to image spectra of stars. I observed the bright emission spectra of street lights. Unfortunately, I have not yet observed the spectra of a star at night through this product. I was unable to find any amateur astronomer, who would allow me to attach this product to their SCT. A photon-deprived amateur astronomer, who travels long distances to attend a star party at a dark site, usually has an observing plan. If I visit Hawaii, I will bring my Lhires III to the Keck Telescopes and ask the professional astronomers if I can attach this ultimate spectrograph to their ultimate telescope. - Barlow Bob, NY (From Barlow Bob’s Corner) THE METEORITE pg. 3 ALMANAC ALERT The Orionid meteor shower peaks on Oct. 21 but a last quarter moon will hinder observations. Still you could give it a try around midnight with Orion low in the east. Look for a nice grouping of the crescent moon, Venus and Antares in the SW sky after sunset on Halloween Night, Oct. 31. The night before, Vesta reaches opposition which means you can start following it and Mira a few hours after sunset. On the evening of November 2nd, look for Jupiter 2.5° north of a fat crescent moon. Around this date you should also find chi Cyg near maximum light of 5.2 magnitude. These are the last good weeks of comfortable weather to hunt down Neptune and Uranus, low in the south in Capricornus and Aquarius, respectively. try for the brightest-- go for G1. Also known as Mayall II or Andromeda's Globular, it was discovered in 1953 by the astronomers Nicholas Mayall and Olin J. Eggen. G1 consists of 300,000 to 1 million old stars. It lies about 130,000 light years away from its home galaxy M31. From our perspective this globular cluster appears to lie outside M31. Its angular distance is 2.5 degrees away from the central core. It has an apparent magnitude of 13.7 making it is the brightest known globular cluster outside of the Milky Way. It has an absolute magnitude of -10.9 magnitude which is approximately twice as bright as Omega Centauri (NGC 5139). G1 looks like a very faint, small fuzz ball forming a triangle with two nearby star. A note for those wishing to plot their own star chart: G1 is listed in the Hubble Guide Star Catalogue as a non-stellar object with the designation GSC 2788:2139. MVAS Homework: The Andromeda Galaxy The Andromeda Galaxy is a naked eye object under dark skies, appearing as a smudge of misty light. In Ohio, it will pass overhead (exactly for the MVCO area) as it crosses the meridian. Binoculars help render its oval shape much better. Switch to a telescope and the oval shape becomes apparent. With bigger (8” and over) scopes, you should be able to see the two dark dust lanes cutting across the length of the galaxy. They are on the opposite side of the core from M32 (see below). The soft glow seems to make an abrupt drop in brightness along the dust lane edge. This is your clue that it is there. The inner lane is the easier to detect but can be seen in scopes as small as 6”. These lanes are probably the easiest visual feature to make out in M31, outside of the bright core. Two satellite galaxies attend Andromeda- M32 and M110. A 3” scope can easily spot M32 but M110 may need bigger glass and darker skies. What do you find with your scope? Check the constellation chart in this issue or use your own favorite atlas to find their locations relative to the core of M31. Deep images show M31 extending just over 3 degrees in length but visually you may only see half that. On some charts M32 seems imbedded in the galaxy- but at the eyepiece it seems very well separated from the main body of M31. This just illustrates how dim and feathered-out the stars get near the edge of M31. Just be warned (especially newbie’s) that the chart outline of the galaxy will be bigger than what you see in the sky. Can you follow the dim glow of these edge stars out to where your atlas plots the edge of M31? Can you spot a few very faint specklelike stars embedded in the galaxy’s glow? There is a madness to this method. It’s time to explore another galaxy! M31 has its own collection of clusters, nebula and dust lanes. Trouble is they are 2.36 million light years away with the rest of the galaxy. Therefore they appear tiny in the eyepiece and very dim. But a couple can be seen in moderately sized telescopessay a 10 incher or bigger. Let’s try for a few, shall we? Observers with medium-sized scopes can try locating NGC 206. This is the brightest star cluster within M31. It is located about 40’ southwest of the core of the galaxy. NGC 206 contains very hot OB stars of about 20 million years of age. This star cluster appears as a faint glow within the body of M31. Try using averted vision while placing the nucleus of M31 outside the field of the eyepiece. This may help make NGC206 more visible against the galaxy glow. Use as high a magnification as you can. With large telescopes, you may even be able to pick out the faint dust lanes in its vicinity. For those that have access to scopes 12” and up, here is a good challenge. M31 has many globular clusters around it. Let’s OCTOBER 2008 THE METEORITE The top chart shows the core of M31 related to M32 and the variable star EG. The bright star above M32 is at 7th mag. Look for NGC 206, then 32 And. It will be your reference to get to G1. Stars are shown to 13.4 mag. on the G1 map. It forms a triangle with 2 13th mag stars. G1 shines at 13.7 magnitude. Several stars are labeled with their magnitude. The 8.6 mag star is about 1.5° west of 32 Andromedae. pg. 4 HOMEWORK CHARTS HOMEWORK - DUE NOVEMBER 2008 Variable star of the month: omicron Ceti (Mira). While you are looking for Vesta in the head of Cetus, scan down to find Mira. In early September it was around 9th magnitude. It is headed for a maximum light in January. It should come into binocular range by mid October. Watch it get brighter these next months as you follow Vesta. Imagers have a nice project by documenting this change with an image every week or so. OBSERVER_________________________________ Use the circle below to represent the eyepiece field of view. Please sketch (a pencil smudge) the approximate shape of M31 that you see in the eyepiece. Draw any stars you see as dots, placing them as accurately as you can. You may photocopy any homework sheet for use at the telescope. Be sure to turn these in to the OD as they apply as credit towards the Observer of the Year Award. Also, try to use some MVCO scopes for your homework. Andromeda Galaxy Observation: Date:___________ Time(EDT)________ Scope (x) ______ _____x Mira magnitude estimates: Date: Asteroid of the month: (4) Vesta. Once again we spy on 330 mile wide Vesta as it hovers near 7th magnitude. This is as bright as any asteroid gets this year. An easy spot in binoculars or finder scope as it moves out of the head of Cetus. Check it as often as you can. We will follow it until January 2009. NASA’s Dawn spacecraft is headed there right now. It will go into orbit around Vesta in August 2011. Time: estimate: Instrument: _________ ________ ________ ________ _________ ________ ________ ________ (4) Vesta Observations: Date: Time: Instrument: magnification: ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ Other Objects Andromeda observe Object Date Scope Object Date M-32 _______ ______ π AND _______ ______ Y/N N-891 _______ ______ γ _______ ______ Y/N N- 7662 _______ ______ AND Σ 3048 Scope Split? _______ ______ Y / N Lunar Occultations (see Sky Almanac): Date (UT): OCTOBER 2008 Time(UT): Scope/magx Phenom (circle) _________ ________ _________ _____x R D _________ ________ _________ _____x R D _________ ________ _________ THE METEORITE _____x R D pg. 5 OCTOBER 2008 THE METEORITE pg. 6 NOVEMBER SKY ALMANAC 2008 PLANET WATCH Solar and Lunar (EST). Date 1 5 9 13 17 21 25 29 Sunset 6 5 5 5 5 5 4 4 : : : : : : : : 20 15 11 07 03 00 58 56 Uranus Transits Saturn Rises 26p 8:10 PM 27p EST 7:12 PM 45a 7:17 PM 49a 7:22PM 57a 7:27 PM 47p 7:34 PM 23p 7:41 PM 15p 7:49 PM 9:58 PM 8:42 PM 8:26 PM 8:10 PM 7:54 PM 7:38 PM 7:23 PM 7:07 PM 3:37 AM 2:23 AM 2:09 AM 1:55 AM 1:40 AM 1:26 AM 1:12 AM 12:57 AM Moonrise Moonset 11 1 2 5 9 1 5 9 8 11 2 7 11 1 3 6 : : : : : : : : 43a 18p 53p 07p 43p 16a 34a 27a : : : : : : : : November Venus Sets S M T 2008 W T F S 1 2 EST 9 3 4 5 10 11 12 16 17 18 23 24 25 19 e 26 6 d 13 { 20 27 z 7 8 14 15 21 22 28 29 30 Asteroid for November 2008 Date Rises 1 5 9 13 17 21 25 29 6 6 5 4 4 4 3 3 : : : : : : : : 52 33 14 55 37 18 59 41 pm pm pm pm pm pm pm pm RA hr. min 2 : 30.7 2 : 26.7 2 : 22.8 2 : 19.1 2 : 15.6 2 : 12.4 2 : 09.5 2 : 07.1 (at 11 pm) Dec. deg. + 03.5 + 03.3 EST + 03.1 + 03.0 + 02.9 + 02.9 + 02.9 + 02.9 Variable Star of the Month: omi CET LUNAR OCCULTATIONS FOR UT Civil (24hr) date 17 17 20 22 5 6 9 12 12 14 14 hr 6 7 4 6 22 22 24 1 21 5 22 : : : : : : : : : : : min 57 04 40 11 08 51 37 26 00 55 23 : : : : : : : : : : : sec 51 14 57 28 38 29 54 20 15 16 39 date hr 10 17 11 17 08 20 10 22 02 6 02 7 04 10 06 12 01 13 10 14 02 15 : : : : : : : : : : : min 57 04 40 11 08 51 37 26 00 55 23 : : : : : : : : : : : (4) VESTA Date UT hr Alt. Azm Magnitude 42º 133º 6.5 45º 139º 6.5 51 167º 6.6 52º 175º 6.6 52º 183º 6.7 51º 190º 6.8 50º 198º 6.9 49º 204º 7.0 (all above for 11 pm) 3.4 - 9.3 mag. OCT-NOV sec Ph 51 Oct D 14 R 57 R 28 R 38 Nov D 29 D 54 D 20 D 15 D 16 R 39 R Moon % illum. 9191623949+ 59+ 87+ 98+ 100+ 9895- 332 day period 00 00 04 04 09 04 07 10 22 12 00 3 3 4 6 8 12 13 18 19 27 30 Celestial Highlights Jupiter 2.5º N. of Moon chi Cyg near 5.2 max. mag. Metis at opposition FIRST QUARTER MOON Saturn 0.5 S. of Amphitrite N.Taurid meteors peak FULL MOON Moon 1.5º S. of Beehive LAST QUARTER MOON NEW MOON Venus 2º N. of Jupiter 2008 Moon alt 43º 42 64 54 20 24 43 52 37 30 32 Moon azimuth 266º 268 119 123 222 225 230 243 93 279 82 Star name Maia Celaeno 37 Gem X Cnc ZC 3071 ZC 3196 ZC 29 ZC 311 epsilon Ari chi Tau ZC 780 Star event Mag. PA 3.9 131º 5.5 196º 5.7 283º 6.0v 232º 6.1 048º 6.3 105º 7.0 026º 6.6 048º 4.7 113º 5.4 239º 7.6 252º db l./ sep. .003" .100" NA NA 0.43" NA NA .030" 1.40" 19.6" .050" D= disappearance. Good occultation event. d= disappearance, the star’s magnitude approaches the observing limits of 200mm objective R= reappearance. Good occultation event r= reappearance, the star’s magnitude approaches the observing limits of 200mm objective All disappearances (D) occur on the eastern limb (left side in the sky). Reappearances (R) alw ays occur on the w estern limb. Position Angle (PA): tells w ere along the w est limb to w atch for a reappearance. PA is referenced to celestial north: North=0º East=90º South=180º West=270º Occultations computed using Occult v3.6 (I.O.T.A.) OCTOBER 2008 THE METEORITE pg. 7 GALLERY….. A string of clear nights this past September provided the MVAS Imaging Group with ample opportunity to take a few pictures. They wasted no time as witnessed below. Most of these were sent to the e-mail list but it is nice to compare them side by side in the Gallery. ENJOY! Using his new camera, Don captured the Dumbbell Nebula above. He also tried the Ring Nebula. The image below is cropped from the original for better placement on the page. Don Durbin captured NGC7000 (above) while trying a new Baader Light Pollution filter. He got a nice shot of Jupiter (below) - notice the Great Red Spot. Phil Plante caught the “Lunar Nebula” while experimenting with a 135mm telephoto and a 3x teleconverter. OCTOBER 2008 THE METEORITE pg. 8 Lou DiNardo aimed his photo gear at the great Hercules Cluste M-13 as shown at top left. Lou shot a wide field image of the Dumbbell Nebula, M27. This image was rotated 90 degees clockwise for a better fit to the page. Greg Higgins’ Andromeda Galaxy taken at AstroBlast 2008 using an 80mm refratctor. Greg’s Veil Nebula NGC 6992-95 is below. OCTOBER 2008 Greg also imaged the western Veil Nebula component, NGC 6960. Both Veil images taken at Astroblast. THE METEORITE pg. 9