Vol. 21, No. 4 Two-Time Winner of the Astronomical League’s Mabel Sterns Award ☼ 2006 & 2009 April 2013

In This Issue PANSTARRS

CCAS Original Astrophotography ...... 1, 3 CCAS Spring 2013 Events ...... 2 March 2013 Meeting Minutes ...... 2 Nicholas’s Humor Corner ...... 2 April 2013 Speaker ...... 3 The Sky Over Chester County: April 2013 ...... 4 April 2013 Observing Highlights ...... 5 NASA’s Space Place ...... 6 CCAS Directions: Brandywine Valley Association ...... 7 Through the Eyepiece: Nu Draconis, the Dragon’s eyes, or the Cat’s Eyes ...... 8 Membership Renewals ...... 10 New Member Welcome ...... 10 CCAS Directions: WCU Map ...... 10 Treasurer’s Report ...... 10 Comet PANSTARRS by CCAS members Rafael Gonzalez and Leticia Vence. Taken on March 14th. Nikon D5000, Exposure 7seconds, telephoto 300mm, F/5.6 ISO 3200. CCAS Information Directory . 11-12

Important April 2013 Dates CCAS Upcoming Nights Out

Membership Renewals Due CCAS has several “nights out” scheduled 3rd • Last Quarter , 12:37 a.m. over the next few months. Members are encouraged to help out during these events 10th • New Moon, 5:36 a.m. 04/2013 Bower any way they can. See below for more in- Imburgia 18th • First Quarter Moon, 8:32 a.m. formation. Richter 22nd • Lyrid Meteor Shower Peaks ☼ Saturday, April 12, 2013. CCAS Spe- 05/2013 Cline & Family cial Observing Session, Springton Man- 25th• Full Moon, 3:58 p.m. Long, Vic, Jr. or Farm. The observing session is Weiss & Family scheduled for 8:00 PM to 9:30 PM.

06/2013 Hebding ☼ Saturday, April 20, 2013. CCAS Spe- Kovacs cial Observing Session, Anson Nixon Siskind Park, Kennett Square. The observing session is scheduled for 8:00 PM to 9:30 PM.

April 2013 • Chester County Astronomical Society www.ccas.us Observations • 1 Spring 2013 Minutes from the March 12, 2013 CCAS Monthly Meeting Society Events by Ann Miller, CCAS Secretary

April 2013  President Roger Taylor welcomed 19 members and guests to our

3rd • PA Outdoor Lighting Council monthly meeting, March meeting. He asked for volunteers to form a Nominating 1438 Shaner Drive, Pottstown, PA 19465, starting at 7:30 p.m. For more information and directions, visit the Committee for upcoming club officer elections. He also reminded PA Outdoor Lighting Council website. club members of the upcoming parties at Hoopes Park, Buck- 5th • West Chester University Planetarium Show: toe Preserve, Springton Manor and Anson Nixon Park in March "Other Earths," in the Schmucker Science Building. The show starts at 7 p.m. For more information and reserva- and April. tions, visit the WCU Public Planetarium Shows webpage.

8th • CCAS Monthly Observing Session, Myrick Con-  Don Knabb, observing chair, gave us a sky tour on Sky Safari Pro servancy Center, BVA (inclement weather date March of Caroline's Rose in honor of our evening's presentation. Comet 9th). The observing session starts at sunset. Panstarrs will be visible from now until March 24 in the western 9th • CCAS Monthly Meeting, Room 113, Merion Science Center (former Boucher Building), West Ches- horizon after sunset. He also used the Stellarium software to pre- ter University. Meet & Greet over coffee and refresh- ments from 7:00 to 7:30 p.m. The meeting starts imme- sent the night sky in London 1783 as a prelude to our evening diately after at 7:30 p.m. Guest Speaker: Paul Halpern, PhD, will discuss his new book "The Edge of the Uni- presentation. verse," current state of Cosmology.

11th • The von Kármán Lecture Series: Regenerative  David Hockenberry, program chair, introduced Lynn King who Fuel Cells, Energy Storage Systems for Space Applica- tions, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. gave the evening presentation, a reenactment of Caroline Her- Live stream of free lecture presented by NASA & Caltech. schel. Ms. Herschel was the first salaried female scientist and is

12th • Reservations start for the May 3rd planetarium credited with discovering 8 herself. Caroline reorganized show at the WCU Planetarium. the Flamsted's Catalog of and together with her 12th • CCAS Special Observing Session, Springton Manor Farm. The observing session is scheduled for brother William added 2000 new objects. 8:00 PM to 9:30 PM.

20th • CCAS Special Observing Session, Anson Nixon Park, Kennett Square. The observing session is sched- uled for 8:00 PM to 9:30 PM.

20th • Open call for articles and photographs for the Nicholas’s Humor Corner April 2013 edition of Observations. by Nicholas La Para 20th • Spring Day.

26th • Deadline for newsletter submissions for the May 2013 edition of Observations.

May 2013

1st • PA Outdoor Lighting Council monthly meeting, 1438 Shaner Drive, Pottstown, PA 19465, starting at 7:30 p.m. For more information and directions, visit the PA Outdoor Lighting Council website.

3rd • West Chester University Planetarium Show: "Spectacular Saturn," in the Schmucker Science Build- ing. The show starts at 7 p.m. For more information and reservations, visit the WCU Public Planetarium Shows webpage.

9th • The von Kármán Lecture Series: Radar Imaging of Near Earth , Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasa- dena, California. Live stream of free lecture presented by NASA & Caltech.

14th • CCAS Monthly Meeting, Room 113, Merion Science Center (former Boucher Building), West Ches- ter University. Meet & Greet over coffee and refresh- ments from 7:00 to 7:30 p.m. The meeting starts imme- diately after at 7:30 p.m. Meeting Program: Youth Night. TJ Picclo and Hunter Ralls will present their research projects.

17th • CCAS Monthly Observing Session, Myrick Conservancy Center, BVA (inclement weather date May18th). The observing session starts at sunset.

20th • Open call for articles and photographs for the June 2013 edition of Observations.

26th • Deadline for newsletter submissions for the June 2013 edition of Observations.

2 • Observations www.ccas.us Chester County Astronomical Society • April 2013 April 2013 Speaker by Dave Hockenberry, CCAS Program Chair

Our next meeting will be held on Library Journal, and Cosmic April 9, 2013, starting at 7:30 Wormholes was chosen as a p.m. The meeting will be held in main selection of the Astronomy Room 113, Merion Science Cen- and Natural Science Book Club. ter (former Boucher Building), He has appeared on many televi- West Chester University. Our sion and radio shows, including guest speaker is Dr. Paul Halpern the PBS series "Future Quest" from the University of the Sci- and the National Public Radio ences in Philadelphia. He will show "Radio Times." discuss his new book The Edge of the Universe. Please note that inclement weather or changes in speakers’ Dr. Halpern is the author of schedules may affect the pro- twelve books on subjects ranging gram. In the event there is a from the history of particle phys- change, CCAS members will be ics to the nature of time. Widely notified via e-mail with as much acclaimed popular science Paul Halpern, PhD advance notice as possible. University of the Sciences books, include Countdown to We are looking for presenters Apocalypse, The Quest for Alien ers Weekly, the San Francisco for our meetings this coming Planets, The Cyclical Serpent, Chronicle, Nature, Scientific autumn. If you are interested in The Structure of the Universe, American, Sky & Telescope and presenting, or know someone Cosmic Wormholes and Time New Scientist. The Cyclical Ser- who would like to participate, Journeys. He has received acco- pent was chosen as one of the please contact me at pro- lades and praise from numerous best Sci-Tech books of 1995 by [email protected]. publications, including Publish-

CCAS Original Astrophotography by Dave Hockeberrry

Galaxy NGC 4395, photo- graphed with a QSI 583 wsg camera through AstroTech AT8RC telescope at 1625 mm FL on an AP 1200 mount. Autoguided with an SX Lodestar camera off axis, SX Adaptive Optics Unit and Max- Im DL. Image capture with MaxIm DL. Color frames with AstroDon filters. 675 minutes Luminance (45 X 15 minute subexposures), 90 minutes each Red, Green and Blue frames (9 X 10 minute subexpo- (Continued on page 7)

April 2013 • Chester County Astronomical Society www.ccas.us Observations • 3 The Sky This Month The Sky Over Chester County April 15, 2013 at 9:00 p.m. ET Note: This screen capture is taken from Stellarium, the free planetarium software available for download at www.stellarium.org.

N

E W

S

Civil Twilight Civil Twilight Date Sunrise Sunset Length of Day Begins Ends 4/01/2013 6:18 a.m. EST 6:45 a.m. EST 7:25 p.m. EST 7:52 p.m. EST 12h 40m 09s 4/15/2013 5:55 a.m. EDT 6:23 a.m. EDT 7:39 p.m. EDT 8:07 p.m. EDT 13h 16m 06s 4/30/2013 5:33 a.m. EDT 6:02 a.m. EDT 7:54 p.m. EDT 8:24 p.m. EDT 13h 52m 09s

Moon Phases

Last Quarter 4/03/2013 12:37 a.m. EDT First Quarter 4/18/2013 8:32 a.m. EDT New Moon 4/10/2013 5:36 a.m. EDT Full Moon 4/25/2013 3:58 p.m. EDT

4 • Observations www.ccas.us Chester County Astronomical Society • April 2013 April 2013 Observing Highlights by Don Knabb, CCAS Treasurer & Observing Chair

3 Last Quarter Moon rises at sunset and sets at sunrise and is highest in the sky around midnight. The ringed beauty will be 10 New Moon with us all summer and I look forward to gazing 12 Springton Manor Farm star party into the eyepiece at this incredible planet, over and over again. I never tire of sharing the view of Saturn Look for a thin crescent Moon be- 13 at star parties. Do you remember the first time you tween Aldebaran and the Pleiades saw Saturn in a telescope? I do!

14 The Moon is near Uranus and Neptune: The opportunity to observe 17 The Lunar X is visible these distant gas giants is behind us until late in 2013. 18 The Lunar Straight Wall is visible The Moon: Full moon is on April 25th. Native 18 First-quarter Moon Americans called this the Full Pink Moon. This 20 Anson Nixon Park star party name came from the herb moss pink, or wild ground phlox, which is one of the earliest flowers of the 20 International Astronomy Day spring. Other names for this full Moon are the Full 22 The Lyrid meteor shower peaks Sprouting Grass Moon and among coastal tribes the Full Fish Moon because this was the time that the 25 Full Moon shad swam upstream to spawn.

28 Saturn is at opposition Constellations: Goodbye , hello ! Ah, spring is here and the snow has melted. This is The best sights this month: As Jupiter sinks lower a great time of the to stare at the bright points into the western sky, Saturn enters at stage left! We of light in the sky and wonder what early Man can enjoy both the king of the planets and the ringed thought as he gazed into the night. It’s not so cold beauty in April but they inhabit opposite sides of the now and the humidity of summer is not affecting sky. our view of the sky. It takes some careful looking with binoculars, but it is worth the effort to find the Mercury: Mercury is not easily observed during dim constellation the Crab with its beautiful April. Beehive Cluster. Leo the Lion fills our gaze around Venus: At month’s end Venus just barely begins to 9 p.m. and if you stay out a bit you’ll see the North- be visible in the glow of the sunset. ern Crown, the constellation rising with Hercules the Hunter not far behind. Mars: The red planet passes through conjunction with the on April 18th and cannot be observed Messier/deep sky: April is a good month to go gal- during this month. Although Mars will appear in the axy hunting. Look for M64 in Berenices, early morning hours later this year it will not be an M51, M81 and M82 in Ursa Major and M104 near evening object until 2014. bright Spica in . Of course, you will need to go hunting on a night with no bright Moon since the Jupiter: The king of the planets is still a bright ob- moonlight will wash away any hope of seeing a ject in the evening sky during the first half of April, faint . but by month’s end it is sinking toward the horizon. Enjoy the sight of this beautiful planet now before it Comets: Comet PanSTARRS has not quite lived up falls into the glow of the sunset later this spring. to expectations, but there will be an opportunity to see this fuzz ball pass very close to M31, the An- Saturn: Saturn is rising earlier as we go through April and reaches opposition on April 28th, so it (Continued on page 10)

April 2013 • Chester County Astronomical Society www.ccas.us Observations • 5 Your Daily Dose of Astonishment by Diane K. Fisher As a person vitally interested in Dr. Nemiroff has since moved to astronomy, you probably have Michigan Technological Univer- the Astronomy Picture of the sity in Houghton, Michigan, Day website at apod.nasa.gov set where he is professor of astro- as favorite link. APOD has been physics, both teaching and doing around since practically the be- research. Dr. Bonnell is still ginning of the web. The first with NASA, an astrophysicist APOD appeared unannounced with the Compton Gamma Ray on June 16, 1995. It got 15 hits. Observatory Science Support The next picture appeared June apod.nasa.gov/apod/ Center at Goddard. APOD is on- 20, 1995, and the site has not archivepix.html. Dr. Nemiroff ly a very small part of their re- taken a day off since. Now daily also maintains a discussion web- sponsibilities. They do not col- traffic is more like one million site at http://asterisk.apod.com/. laborate, but rather divide up the hits. calendar, and each picks the im- But how does it get done? Do age, writes the description, and Obviously, someone is responsi- these guys even have day jobs? includes the links for the days on ble for picking, posting, and his own list. The files are queued writing the detailed descriptions (Continued on page 7) for these images. Is it a whole team of people? No. Surprising- ly, it is only two men, the same ones who started it and have been doing it ever since.

Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bon- nell shared an office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in the early-90s, when the term “World Wide Web” was un- known, but a software program called Mosaic could connect to and display specially coded con- tent on other computers. The of- fice mates thought “we should do something with this.”

Thus was conceived the Astron- omy Picture of the Day. Now, in addition to the wildly popular English version, over 25 mirror websites in other languages are maintained independently by volunteers. (See http:// The January 20, 2013, Astronomy Picture of the Day is one that might fall apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/ into the “quirky” category. The object was found at the bottom of the sea about_apod.html for links). An aboard a Greek ship that sank in 80 BCE. It is an Antikythera mechanism, archive of every APOD ever a mechanical computer of an accuracy thought impossible for that era. Its published is at http:// wheels and gears create a portable orrery of the sky that predicts star and planet locations as well as lunar and solar eclipses.

6 • Observations www.ccas.us Chester County Astronomical Society • April 2013 Space Place (cont’d) NGC 4395 (Cont’d)

(Continued from page 6) they publish on APOD. But, as (Continued from page 3) up for posting by a “robot” each Dr. Nemiroff emphasizes, being sures). Images calibrated, day. picked or not picked is no reflec- stacked, Lum deconvolution and tion on the value of the image. They use the same tools they RGB creation in CCD- Some of the selections are used at the beginning: Raw Stack. Lum-RGB merge and picked for their quirkiness. Some HTML code written using the vi further adjustments in Pho- are videos instead of images. text editor in Linux. This simple toshop CS5. Background noise Some have nothing to do with format has now become such a reduction with Noise Ninja and astronomy at all, like the aston- part of the brand that they would Gradient Xterminator. FITS ishing August 21, 2012, video of upset all the people and websites Liberator courtesy of ESA. a replicating DNA molecule. and mobile apps that link to their NGC 4395 is a Seyfert 1 galaxy feed if they were to change any- Among the many mobile apps in the constellation canes Venat- thing at this point. taking advantage of the APOD ici, and lies about 26 million feed is Space Place Prime, a Where do they find the images? light from Earth. It is one NASA magazine that updates Candidates are volunteered from of the "flattest" spiral daily with the best of NASA. It’s large and small observatories, known and has no central available free (in iOS only at this space telescopes (like the Hub- bulge. It also sports one of the time) at the Apple Store. ble and Spitzer), and independ- "smallest" galactic supermassive ent astronomers and astro- This article was provided by the Jet Propulsion black holes ever measured at Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, photographers. The good doctors under a contract with the National Aeronautics about 3-400,000 solar masses. receive ten images for every one and Space Administration.

CCAS Directions Brandywine Valley Association

The monthly observing sessions (held February through ) are held at the Myrick Conservation Center of the Brandywine Valley Association.

To get to the Myrick Conservation Cen- ter from West Chester, go south on High Street in West Chester past the Courthouse. At the next traffic light, turn right on Miner Street, which is also PA Rt. 842. Follow Rt. 842 for about 6 miles. To get to the observing site at the BVA property, turn left off Route 842 into the parking lot by the office: look for the signs to the office along Route 842. From that parking lot, go left through the gate and drive up the farm lane about 800 feet to the top of the hill. The observing area is on the right.

Brandywine Valley Association BVA was founded in 1945 and is com- If you arrive after dark, please turn off 1760 Unionville Wawaset Rd mitted to promoting and protecting the your headlights and just use parking West Chester, PA 19382 natural resources of the Brandywine lights as you come up the hill (so you (610) 793-1090 Valley through educational programs http://brandywinewatershed.org/ don’t ruin other observers’ night vi- and demonstrations for all ages. sion).

April 2013 • Chester County Astronomical Society www.ccas.us Observations • 7 Through the Eyepiece: Nu Draconis, the Dragon’s eyes, or the Cat’s Eyes by Don Knabb, CCAS Treasurer & Observing Chair

Although I have written about 1/30th the apparent diameter of a one Nu-2. Individually of the planets, galaxies and clusters of full moon). fifth magnitude, they combine to all sorts, I have never written produce a naked-eye star of about double . So what bet- The proper name "Kuma" is of magnitude four. ter one to choose then a beauti- obscure meaning, one source ful binocular or telescopic dou- suggesting "at last," but why is My favorite way to view the ble in the Dragon, who is anybody's guess. The star is far eyes of the dragon is in summer, rising in the east during April? better known by its Greek letter lying far back on a reclining This double is often called “the name Nu Draconis, the western (Continued on page 9) eyes of the dragon” but I like one of the pair Nu-1, the eastern Terence Dickinson’s description when he says they look “like cat’s eyes in a small scope”. I am referring to the star Nu Draconis.

While most folks are familiar with the Big Dipper and Little Dipper, in the same region of the sky is a long, winding group of stars which portrays the mytho- logical creature of a dragon named Draco. Its name is Latin for dragon. Draco is circumpolar (that is, never setting) for many observers in the northern hemi- sphere. It was one of the 48 con- stellations listed by the 2nd cen- tury astronomer Ptolemy, and remains one of the 88 modern constellations today.

Nu Draconis is named Kuma. It is the faintest star that makes the skewed box of Draco's head and is one of the favorite, and most- easily seen, double stars of the northern sky. Even steadily-held binoculars will split it into two nearly identical white stars. The two stars are practically the same brightness, both appearing just a trifle brighter than fifth magnitude and separated by just over one arc minute (or about

8 • Observations www.ccas.us Chester County Astronomical Society • April 2013 Eyepiece (Cont’d)

(Continued from page 8) sent the dragon Tiamat. Later the lation: an irregular quadrangle deck chair with a pair of binocu- constellation became one of the in the night sky not quite half lars held straight up. The two creatures that Hercules killed. the size of the Big Dipper’s stars really do look like a pair of bowl. The brightest star is cat’s eyes reflecting back at you One of Draco’s tasks was to Eltanin, a second magnitude in a dark room. I did not include guard the garden of Hesperides star, shining with an orange col- an image of the stars with this and its golden apples that Hercu- or. article since the only way to real- les was supposed to retrieve. In ly enjoy this beautiful double is the stars, Draco coils around Po- Information sources: Sky Safari Pro planetarium software under the starry sky. laris and we now see Hercules Dickinson, Terence 2006. Nightwatch: a practi- standing on Draco’s head. cal guide to viewing the universe. Buffalo, NY. Firefly Books Draco is a very ancient star http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/kuma.html grouping. The earliest Sumerians The Dragon’s head is the most http://www.space.com/16399-double-stars-july- night-sky.html considered these stars to repre- conspicuous part of the constel-

April 2013 • Chester County Astronomical Society www.ccas.us Observations • 9 CCAS Directions

West Chester University Campus The monthly meetings (September through May) are held in Room 113 in Merion Science Center (formerly the Boucher Build- ing), attached to the Schmucker Science Center. The Schmucker Science Center is located at the corner of S. Church St & W. Rosedale Ave. Parking is generally available across Rosedale in the Sykes Student Union parking lot (Lot K).

Observing (Cont’d) CCAS Membership Information and Society Financials Treasurer’s Report Membership Renewals (Continued from page 5) by Don Knabb dromeda Galaxy, during the first March 2013 Financial Summary You can renew your CCAS week of April. There is a sky Beginning Balance $1,484 membership by writing a check chart in the April issue of As- Deposits $1,098 payable to “Chester County As- tronomy magazine that plots the Disbursements $814 tronomical Society” and sending nightly position of the comet Ending Balance $1,768 it to our Treasurer: among the background stars. Don Knabb Meteor showers: The Lyrid New Member Welcome! 988 Meadowview Lane meteor shower is active from West Chester PA 19382 April 16th to the 25th. This is Welcome back CCAS member not an especially active shower Charles Armored of West Ches- with a maximum rate of be- ter, PA. The current dues amounts are tween 15 and 25 meteors per listed in the CCAS Information hour. But, meteor showers are We’re glad you decided to join Directory. Consult the table of unpredictable so take a look us under the stars! Clear skies to contents for the directory’s page during the predicted peak in the you! number in this month’s edition pre- hours of April 22. of the newsletter.

10 • Observations www.ccas.us Chester County Astronomical Society • April 2013 CCAS Information Directory Join the Fight for Dark Skies! Good Outdoor Lighting Websites Local Astronomy-Related Stores

You can help fight light pollution, con- One of the biggest problems we face in Listing retail sites in this newsletter serve energy, and save the night sky for trying to reduce light pollution from does not imply endorsement of any everyone to use and enjoy. Join the poorly designed light fixtures is easy kind by our organization. This infor- nonprofit International Dark-Sky Asso- access to good ones. When you con- mation is provided as a service to our ciation (IDA) today. Individual mem- vince someone, a neighbor or even members and the public only. berships start at $30.00 for one year. yourself, to replace bad fixtures, where Send to: do you go for good lighting fixtures? Check out these sites and pass this in- International Dark-Sky Association formation on to others. Help reclaim 3225 North First Avenue the stars! And save energy at the same Tucson, AZ 85719 time! Phone: 520-293-3198 Fax: 520-293-3192 Skies Unlimited is a retailer of tele- E-mail: [email protected] scopes, binoculars, eyepieces and tele- scope accessories from Meade, Celes- tron, Televue, Orion, Stellarvue, For more information, including links Takahashi, Vixen, Losmandy and to helpful information sheets, visit the Light pollution from poor quality out- door lighting wastes billions of dollars more. IDA web site at: and vast quantities of valuable natural http://www.darksky.org resources annually. It also robs us of Skies Unlimited our heritage of star-filled skies. Starry Suburbia Shopping Center Note that our CCAS Webmaster John Night Lights is committed to fighting Hepler has a link to the IDA home page light pollution. The company offers the 52 Glocker Way set up on our Society’s home page at widest selection of ordinance compli- Pottstown, PA 19465 http://www.ccas.us. ant, night sky friendly and neighbor Dark-Sky Website for PA friendly outdoor lighting for your home or business. Starry Night Lights is lo- Phone: 610-327-3500 or 888-947-2673 The Pennsylvania Outdoor Lighting cated in Park City, Utah. Fax: 610-327-3553 Council has lots of good information http://www.skiesunlimited.net on safe, efficient outdoor security Phone: 877-604-7377 lights at their web site: Fax: 877-313-2889 http://www.POLCouncil.org http://www.starrynightlights.com  Find out about Lyme Disease!

Anyone who spends much time out-  doors, whether you’re stargazing, or gardening, or whatever, needs to know Located in Manayunk, Spectrum Scien- about Lyme Disease and how to pre- tifics educates and entertains customers vent it. You can learn about it at: with an array of telescopes, micro- scopes, binoculars, science toys, mag- http://www.LymePA.org Green Earth Lighting is a dedicated nets, labware, scales, science instru- Take the time to learn about this health lifetime corporate member of the Inter- ments, chemistry sets, and much more. threat and how to protect yourself and national Dark-Sky Association. GEL's your family. It is truly “time well products are designed to reduce or 4403 Main Street spent”! eliminate the negative effects outdoor Philadelphia, PA 19127 lighting can have while still providing CCAS Event Information the light you need at night. Phone: 215-667-8309 Fax: 215-965-1524 Green Earth Lighting LLC We’ve set up a special phone number Hours: you can dial to find out if our monthly 620 Onion Creek Ranch Rd Driftwood, Texas 78619 Tuesday thru Saturday: 10AM to 6PM observing session and other scheduled Sunday and Monday: 11AM to 5PM events will be held or postponed. Call Phone: 512-944-7354 610-436-0829 after 5 PM ET to hear a http://www.spectrum-scientifics.com recording to find out the latest news. http://www.greenearthlighting.com

April 2013 • Chester County Astronomical Society www.ccas.us Observations • 11 CCAS Information Directory CCAS Lending Telescopes CCAS Purpose CCAS Membership Information Contact Don Knabb to make arrange- The Chester County Astronomical So- The present membership rates are as ments to borrow one of the Society's ciety was formed in September 1993, follows: with the cooperation of West Chester lending telescopes. CCAS members REGULAR MEMBER……$25/year University, as a non-profit organization can borrow a lending telescope for a SENIOR MEMBER……….$10/year dedicated to the education and enjoy- month at a time; longer if no one else STUDENT MEMBER……..$ 5/year ment of astronomy for the general pub- wants to borrow it after you. Don's JUNIOR MEMBER………..$ 5/year lic. The Society holds meetings (with phone number is 610-436-5702. FAMILY MEMBER……….$35/year speakers) and observing sessions once CCAS Lending Library a month. Anyone who is interested in Membership Renewals astronomy or would like to learn about Contact our Librarian, Barb Knabb, to astronomy is welcome to attend meet- Check the Membership Renewals on make arrangements to borrow one of ings and become a member of the Soci- the front of each issue of Observations the books in the CCAS lending library. ety. The Society also provides tele- to see if it is time to renew. If you need Copies of the catalog are available at scopes and expertise for “nights out” to renew, you can mail your check, CCAS meetings, and on the CCAS for school, scout, and other civic made out to “Chester County Astro- website. Barb's phone number is 610- groups. nomical Society,” to: 436-5702. CCAS Executive Committee Don Knabb Contributing to Observations 988 Meadowview Lane For further information on membership West Chester PA 19382-2178 Contributions of articles relating to or society activities you may call: Phone: 610-436-5702 astronomy and space exploration are e-mail: [email protected] always welcome. If you have a comput- President: Roger Taylor er, and an Internet connection, you can 610-430-7768 Sky & Telescope Magazine Group Rates attach the file to an e-mail message and Vice President: Liz Smith send it to: [email protected] 610-842-1719 Subscriptions to this excellent periodi- Or mail the contribution, typed or ALCor, Don Knabb cal are available through the CCAS at a handwritten, to: Observing, and 610-436-5702 reduced price of $32.95, much less than the newsstand price of $66.00, and also John Hepler Treasurer: cheaper than individual subscriptions 2115 Lazor St. ($42.95)! Buying a subscription this Apt. 227 Secretary: Ann Miller 610-558-4248 way also gets you a 10% discount on Indiana, PA 15701 other Sky Publishing merchandise. Librarian: Barb Knabb To start a new subscription, make sure CCAS Newsletters via E-mail 610-436-5702 you make out the check to the Chester You can receive the monthly newsletter Program: Dave Hockenberry County Astronomical Society, note (in full color!) via e-mail. All you need 610-558-4248 that it's for Sky & Telescope, and mail it is a PC or Mac with an Internet e-mail to Don Knabb. connection. To get more information Education: Kathy Buczynski about how this works, send an e-mail 610-436-0821 To renew your “club subscription” contact Sky Publishing directly. Their request to John Hepler, the newsletter Webmaster and John Hepler editor, at: [email protected]. phone number and address are in the Newsletter: 724-349-5981 magazine and on their renewal remind-

CCAS Website ers. If you have any questions call Don Public Relations: Deb Goldader first at 610-436-5702. John Hepler is the Society’s Webmas- 610-304-5303 ter. You can check out our Website at: Astronomy Magazine http://www.ccas.us Group Rates John welcomes any additions to the site Subscriptions to this excellent periodi- by Society members. The contributions cal are available through the CCAS at a can be of any astronomy subject or reduced price of $34.00 which is much object, or can be related to space explo- less than the individual subscription ration. The only requirement is that it is price of $42.95 (or $60.00 for two your own work; no copyrighted materi- years). If you want to participate in this al! Give your contributions to John special Society discount offer, contact Hepler at (724) 801-8789 or e-mail to our Treasurer Don Knabb. [email protected]

12 • Observations www.ccas.us Chester County Astronomical Society • April 2013