Volume 12 Issue 9, September 2000
| A GLANCE INSIDE
What's Up in September From the President A Look Back at August Membership Dues and Subscriptions From the Membership Help Needed for Public Observing From the Internet |
A GLANCE OUTSIDE
05 First quarter moon 06 Double shadow transit on Jupiter (2:37am) 08 Delta Aurigids meteor shower peak (6/hr) 13 Full moon (Harvest Moon) 20 Last quarter moon 22 Autumnal Equinox 27 New moon |
WHAT'S UP IN SEPTEMBER
SEPTEMBER 13TH MONTHLY MEETING
Please join us from 7:00 PM to 9:00PM at the Neville Public Museum. This months talk is Celestial Navigation" given by Alan Wentworth. Alan is an instructor with the Green Bay Sail and Power Squadron, a local boating organization. So come on out and learn about navigating by the stars.
Happy Joes to follow!
SEPTEMBER 22ND – 24TH ASTROFEST 2000
This is it – the big one! Venders, speakers, camping, observing, and a flea market await at Astrofest in Kankakee, Illinois. Hopefully you have sent in your registration form. Otherwise it will cost a $100.00 per person at the door.
Carpooling and other details will be discussed at the September club
meeting.
SEPTEMBER 29TH – 30TH POW #4
Dust off your binoculars and telescopes and join your fellow amateur astronomers for two nights (hopefully) of observing bliss. You can set up your own equipment in the field below the observatory or join Ron for views through his 30 inch telescope.
Summer doesn’t last long, so get out and observe while it’s still warm out!
FROM THE PRESIDENT
By Katrina DeWitt
Are you looking for an observing program that
will challenge your observing skills and your patience without having to
leave the city for a dark sky or having to wait until the moon is new?
Then the A.L. Planetary Observer's Club might just be what
you want to try. This club is designed to really introduce you to
the many different aspects of observing within our solar system.
This eleven-page list consists of twenty-seven
different observing projects. Some of these can be completed in one
night's time while others will take the course of a couple of weeks to
two months time to finish. What one gains from completing this endeavor
is knowing a great deal more of our solar system and better observing skills.
Not to mention the satisfaction of completing a lengthy observing program.
To give you an idea of what is involved, here
is a short, simplified list of just a few of the projects:
A LOOK BACK AT AUGUST
OBSERVING NIGHT AT CAMP WABANSI
By Raymond Nancoz
On Thursday, August 3, a group of NPMAS members
gathered at Camp Wabansi on the shores of Green Bay, north of Dykesville,
to introduce the kids at the camp to astronomy. From the NPMAS came Ron
Parmentier, George McCourt, Shaun Stamnes, Ray Nancoz, and a gaggle of
Wickers (Steve, Sue, & Tammy). There were about 50 to 70 kids raring
to get their first look through a telescope.
Unfortunately a promising day began to turn
into a hazy and cloudy evening. This left the crescent moon as the only
target. The moon shown through the haze fairly well and all the kids got
to look at it through at least some of the five scopes present. As twilight
turned into night the clouds finished their job and obliterated the sky,
dashing hopes for any quick looks at the bright objects (M57 & M13)
so near the zenith.
So the kids were shuffled off for a round
of sing-a-long and off to bed. Even with the less than perfect conditions
our audience was excited to see what they saw and the evening can be chalked
up as a success.
NORTHWOODS STARFEST AUGUST 4TH – 6TH
By Wayne Kuhn
The weather report wasn’t looking good for
the weekend but a large contingent of the NPMAS headed out to the Northwoods
Starfest anyway. The main car pool left around 9:00 AM on Friday morning.
It included Ray Nancoz riding with Ron Parmentier, Katrina DeWitt riding
with Dick Francini, and Beth Schultz and Don DeWitt riding with myself.
Other club members who left separately included Gary Baier, Gerry Kocken.
George McCourt, Tony Kroes, Steve & Sue Wicker, and Shaun & Deanne
Stamnes.
Everyone going knew that a star party is more
than observing – much more. Thus spirits were high as we journeyed to Fall
Creek. In our vehicle, Beth and I tortured Don by singing along with a
"Johnny Horton’s Greatest Hits" CD. After a quick lunch at a quaint roadside
stop and a little misguided adventure with the local roads, we arrived
at our destination.
The Northwoods Starfest site includes the
Hobbs Observatory, The Eau Claire County Youth Camp, and the Wise Nature
Center. This configuration is great for a star party because it provides
a place to observe, a place to sleep and a place for meetings and other
activities. Most of our group stayed in one of the youth camp cabins, which
was spacious and very clean (except for an unfortunate accident
with some peanut M&Ms).
The sky was smeary the first night but we
were able to get in some observing between the clouds. Saturday evening
brought rain so most scopes were taken down and packed away before nightfall.
Luckly we had a great program featuring John Dobson speaking on his ideas
on how the universe works. His talk was clever and humorous and was worth
the trip to Northwoods by itself! NPMAS club members also made a "killing"
by winning many of the door prizes that were given out. An all night movie-fest
ended the nights entertainment.
It was my first trip to Northwoods Starfest
and I was very impressed with the facilities. There is plenty to do from
hiking, speakers, a wonderful nature center, and two working observatories.
The accommodations were very clean and the group meals were not only a
great value but good eaten’ too. I would highly recommended it to other
NPMAS members.
MONTHLY MEETING AUGUST 9TH
Thirty-eight people met in the Neville’s auditorium for the August club meeting. Our speakers were club members Jeff & Jill Last, our resident weather experts. The topic, "Weather on other Planets", included a excellent power point presentation with lots of stats, graphics, and pictures. Well done, Jeff & Jill!
POW #2 AUGUST 25TH – 26TH
By Ron Parmentier
Saturday, August 26th was
the night that proved to be the night to come due to a cloudy Friday. It
was a great star party – the best in a long time. It was like a mini
Astrofest.
We had the first birthday party ever held
at the observatory for Terry Becker of NEWSTAR. It included a birthday
cake and gift giving. It was a complete surprise as we lured him
away from his observing. It was fun as any surprise like that always is.
I looked out from the observatory door at
the grounds. There were scopes, scopes, and more scopes! With
new and seasoned observers putting up with the usual summer dew problems.
They were busy observers showing newcomers the skies. About six members
represented NEWSTAR.
There were some at the site for the first
time, and even some new to telescopes. I had fun showing the sky
to some that were eager to look through the 30" observatory scope.
Mike Monfils and Ty Westbrook were helping me find some new objects.
One that stands out is a very remote globular cluster in Delphinus. I t
was Caldwell #47 – a remote GC.
And as usual I gave the group that not often
view of the Ring Nebula in Lyra at 1000 power plus! The central star was
seen. M15 and some double stars were also on the agenda.
At 3:00 AM the die-hards had stunning views
of Jupiter and Saturn with the binocular view attached to the scope.
It was one of those nights when the "seeing" was steady enough to show
all sorts of detail of Jupiter’s belts and the disks of the four Galelian
satellites. 350 power and higher was used.
A hot water pot was set up for hot chocolate
and there was plenty of popcorn and birthday cake to finish up the night.
I got home at 6:00 AM (the hot chocolate was a big help keeping me awake
until then). I sure had a great time with the enthusiasm of those
I talked to.
POW #2 (FROM A DIFFERENT POINT OF VIEW)
By Don DeWitt
I have been a member of the club for 12 years
now. While I have eaten a lot of popcorn in my day, this is the first
time I have observed in the middle of a cornfield. That's right,
if you are like me and haven't been out to Ron's observatory this year
you would have been just as surprised as I was to see 6 foot tall corn
surrounding the observing site. It does work well for shielding some
of the farm lights across the street and if we run out of microwave popcorn-no
problem, just go grab an ear or two.
While Ron Parmentier was showing the members
of NEWSTAR (and any NPMAS members who ventured up there) the night sky
through the 30", several people were busy below. Tony Kroes was cranking
out CCD images including a mosaic of M31. I haven't heard how it
turned out but maybe we will be seeing it at an upcoming meeting soon.
Katrina DeWitt bagged another 35 objects off of the Herschel 1 list.
Don DeWitt, George McCourt and Mike Monfils leisurely checked out some
Messiers and Caldwell objects along with 4 or 5 off of the Herschel II
list. Andy Wagner and Gary Baier were also out there quietly working
on their respective lists as well.
The most interesting part of the evening started
out innocently enough as Ray Nancoz was working on his Messier list with
the club scope. At the same time Steve Mofle's friend Julie was getting
a quick course on how to star hop from Steve. After showing her the
basics, Steve let her take over. Soon a battle between Julie and
Ray had begun with Messiers falling left and right. Julie finished
her first-ever observing experience bagging 13 Messier objects. While I
don't have a count on how many Ray got, he was quoted saying "I'll stay
all night if I have to, she won't out gun me".
Once midnight rolled around, we all started
getting the munchies. Many bags of popcorn were popped that night
and we also had the chance to help Terry Becker from NEWSTAR celebrate
his birthday as Tom Jorgenson brought cake out.
All in all, it was a very fun and well-attended
star party. We hope to see you at the next one!
Editor’s note: Ray reportedly observed 16 Messiers that night, barely edging out Julie.
DUES AND MAGAZINE RENEWALS REMINDER
The time has come once again to collect
dues and magazine renewals for the 2001 calendar year. You will be
seeing a post card or letter in the mail this week. It will state
what you owe for magazine renewals based on what you signed up for last
year. It will also have what you owe for dues as well. Finally,
there will be several blank spaces for you to order various yearly calendars
and publications that the club gets discounts on.
Please check off what you would like and return
the card along with a check made payable to NPMAS to Ron Parmentier, 161
Rosemont, Green Bay, WI 54301. You may also bring it to the next
club meeting. If mailing them in, please send your payments back
by October 15th, 2000.
FROM THE MEMBERSHIP
AURORA SURPRISE
By Anthony J. Kroes
I was out on the night of the 11-12th
working on gathering some more Herschel and Arp images because it was a
nice warm clear night. By chance this clear night fell on one of
the projected maximums of the Perseid meteor shower so I tried to keep
an eye on the sky when I wasn't glued to the laptop screen working with
my CCD camera. I only saw one meteor that I could say for sure was
a Perseid, but I did get a front-seat view to some great aurora!
They were very intense, rippling, pulsing
360 degrees around the horizon and all the way over the zenith down to
the south until they got lost in the sky-glow of Green Bay (I was viewing
from Howard, NW corner of Green Bay). The northern horizon was lit
by slowly moving bands or 'curtains' that were fairly short in height,
but had many moving 'spikes' and vertical streamers coming out of them.
The sky was constantly crossed by pulsing waves of energy moving toward
the zenith from all directions.
Where they met at the zenith
there was a constant display of green 'clouds' where the energy collided.
They faded and increased brightness back-and-forth slowly as they 'morphed'
into different shapes. Behind the scenes, the entire sky was flickering
with tiny moving patches of aurora that gave the impression of staring
into a flickering bonfire. The entire sky seemed to be covered with
green fire.
The moon was the only problem,
as the show would have been even more awesome (is that possible?) if the
moon hadn't hung around until 2:30 am. Even with a nearly full moon
I could already see aurora before midnight and it was in full swing by
1:00 a.m. but most of the intensity was lost in the moon-glow.
I had to adjust the positioning
of several of the CCD images I was trying to take as there were bright
aurora streaks and bands going through the area I was trying to shoot in!
ened to almost white while the area near the zenith stayed
a deeper fluorescent green. I saw no red display with this aurora but have
heard some reports that others did, and have seen many pictures posted
on the internet that show a lot of red.
The red is misleading in two
ways though - Film can pick up colors our eyes can't (as well) in a 15
or 30 second exposure, so photos of aurora (if exposed properly) can show
a much more extravagant show than we actually saw. Also, certain
films don't show the night sky with the right colors. I am sure we
have all seen astrophotos (many of my own included) that had a green, brown,
or magenta cast to the background sky. This is caused by the film
and processing and can throw off the colors of an auroral display (like
showing much more green or red than there really was to the unaided eye).
It was a great display and the
second 'Great Display' of the year. Hopefully if you missed one,
you caught the other. I guess I've been lucky (Aurora-wise) this
year as I got to see both. This one was a bit more widespread for
sky coverage than the one earlier this year, but both were great.
I have only seen one other 'show' that compared to these and that was in
1988 or 1989 when I was home on leave from the Army and staying at a friend's
house. We stayed up for three nights during a week period and each
display was as spectacular as this one!
THE PERSIEDS PLUS!
By Steve Wicker
In the wee hours of august 12th
I woke up and thought I would just take a peek outside. Without my
glasses on I looked and thought, yeah figures, cloudy again! But
at second glance (and with my glasses on) what I was seeing was a beautiful
aurora! I quickly woke my wife Sue up and told her we both got dressed
and went outside to view the show. It was beautiful, at one point
we saw a bright "spike" going from northwest all the way to the zenith.
We were also treated to about 8 meteors too. We kept saying to each other
gee it sure would be nice if we were out at a nice dark site, but we enjoyed
it just the same. Then nicely placed in the east were Jupiter and
Saturn and just above them the pleiades open cluster. What a treat
to see so many things just from the backyard. I guess that’s why
I love astronomy so much, there is so much to see out there and you never
know what you might find along the way.
Clear Skies, Steve W.
PS: Well I placed the orders for the T-shirts sweatshirts
etc.(with the help of my wife Sue). We should have them at the meeting
in September - just in time for Astrofest! Hope you enjoy your new
shirts etc. Thanks to everyone for your orders. And a big thanks
also to Wayne Kuhn for making out the order forms, that made things
a whole lot easier.
UNDER THE DOME
By Ty Westbrook of NEWSTAR
What a magnificent sight. I wonder
what the occasional passerby thinks when they see a full-fledged observatory
perched atop a solitary hill in the middle of a cornfield. I know
that as I approached Parmentier Observatory for the first time I acquired
a permanent grin. For two weekends in a row now I have been fortunate
enough to spend a couple of nights observing "under the dome" through the
30" Classical Cassegrain telescope at Parmentier Observatory and all I
can say is WOW!
The total experience is amazing
to me. It may sound strange but I feel a sense of reverence when
I’m under the dome at night. Maybe it starts downstairs where the
walls are covered with photos of the heavens and of astronomers and observatories
past and present. But when the lights go off and the observatory
shutters are cranked open letting in that ancient light I immediately feel
a connection to all astronomers throughout the ages.
Ever since I can remember I’ve
dreamt of having my own observatory so it’s easy to understand why I felt
like a ten-year-old for more than five hours or so. Just the process
of finding objects was a thrill. It is definitely a team effort locating
an object. With one person at the eyepiece, one at the circles, and
one reading the chart, the work of an observatory quickly becomes clear.
After about a 30 minute search for NGC 7814 (an 11th magnitude
galaxy in Pegasus) we finally put it in the eyepiece and what a thrill
it was. It’s enough to make you feel like an Edwin Hubble or Percival
Lowell. The views of Saturn and Jupiter were absolutely breathtaking.
I’m most grateful to Ron for
his generous and patient personality. For as much observing as he
has probably done through his scope, he seems just as excited and amazed
as any beginner. Although I get the feeling that he gets almost as
big a kick out of letting others see as he does seeing himself. If
for some reason you haven’t been out to the observatory, do yourself a
favor and spend a night under the dome. You will have a great time.
Editor’s Note: Ty does an excellent job describing one of the NPMAS’s greatest assets – Parmentier Observatory. If you have not taken advantage of this benefit of membership, please do. You will be delighted you did.
HELP NEEDED FOR PUBLIC OBSERVING
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9TH – SHIOCTON AIRPORT
From Katrina DeWitt
I received an email from Jeff
LaViolette, a member of the Wolf River Skydivers asking our club to help
out and hold an observing night for their group on Sat. Sept 9th at the
Shiocton Airport. Jeff was impressed with our astronomy day functions
and was excited to learn that our club was willing to do observing nights
for different groups.
There will be approximately
75-150 skydivers and their families camping at the airport during the weekend.
Many have not looked through a telescope and are unaware of what the sky
has to offer. This is a great opportunity to publicize our club and share
our wonder of the night sky to others.
I need as many members as possible
to help make this event go smoothly. The date is Saturday, Sept.
9th at the Shiocton Airport from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.. If you could
help out I would greatly appreciate it. Maybe we could get some carpooling
or caravaning as well as go out for pizza afterwards.
If you are able to help, please
call me at home (920-405-8534) ASAP! Thanks for helping out.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 2ND – RED SMITH SCHOOL
From Ron Parmentier
We need some volunteers with
scopes to show the kids from Red Smith Elementary School the night sky.
Red Smith is located just down the hill from Victoria’s Supper Club.
The program will run from 6:30
PM to 8:30 PM and will be held in the school parking lot (if it is clear).
The moon will be near first quarter so there should be plenty to look at.
Please contact Ron at 920-336-5878 if you can help out.
FROM THE INTERNET
FROM SUE AND KEN ROSE (ASTRO-OFFICERS)
The AL (Astronomical League) has been working behind the scenes with Boeing and NASA to develop an amateur telescope in space and they got it approved. The 14" SCT will be placed on the ISS (International Space Station) and administered by the AL. If you ever needed a reason to join the AL, you have it now! They need the support of the entire amateur astronomical community to make this work. It won't be cheap, but the rewards can be incredible. Just think of it. Our own telescope in space!
MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICER NEEDED
The Astronomical League has
an immediate need for a volunteer with professional experience in the areas
of public and/or media relations.
As announced at Astrocon 2000,
the League has been asked by Boeing and NASA to take a leadership role
in the design, development and operation of an amateur telescope aboard
the International Space Station (the "ISS-AT"). The ISS-AT is scheduled
for implementation in approximately 2006.
As this project is made known
to the wider public, there will be considerable media interest. The
League is looking for a League member to serve as ISS-AT Media Relations
Officer to handle telephone, electronic, mail and live inquiries regarding
the project and the League's role in ISS-AT development. Applicants
should have prior experience in public and media relations and should be
relatively comfortable fielding technical questions in the areas of optics,
space-based telescope design, space science, and astronomy. Applicants
will need access to e-mail during the day and in the evenings. Applicants
should be prepared to field a substantial number of telephone calls regarding
the project and to mail press packages or materials as necessary.
Applicants may be called on to participate in live radio, television and/or
on-line interviews.
Please make this opportunity
known to your members. Interested persons should send an e-mail to
League President, Chuck Allen, at cea@compuserve.com
outlining prior experience in media relations.
NEWSLETTER PHOTO CREDITS
Kids at Camp Wabansi (photo by Raymond Nancoz)
Northwoods Starfest Group (photo by Wayne Kuhn)
August 12th aurora (photo by Paul Greenhalgh)
|
The Monthly Publication of the Neville Public Museum Astronomical Society The Eyepiece is mailed directly to each member who requests it as a benefit of membership. Please submit comments, articles, and other material to: Editor
Written and graphic material from this publication may be reprinted only for non-profit use, provided credit is given to the writer(s) and The Eyepiece. Any other use of material is subject to the express permission of the author or the editor. |
NPMAS OFFICERS AND BOARD MEMBERS
PRESIDENT: Katrina DeWitt, kdewitt@venomtech.com VICE PRESIDENT: Gary Baier, gbaier@netnet.net SECRETARY: Steve Wicker, wickster@gbonline.com TREASURER: Ron Parmentier BOARD MEMBER: Ted Kordes, tkordes@gbonline.com BOARD MEMBER: Tony Kroes, akroes@venomtech.com BOARD MEMBER: Wayne Kuhn: waylin98@gbonline.com BOARD MEMBER: Jill Last, jill.last@noaa.gov BOARD MEMBER: George McCourt, mccourtga@prodigy.net |