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Stdt0903for Pub00.Pub Star Dust National Capital Astronomers, Inc. http://capitalastronomers.org Volume 62, Number 1 September 2003 ISSN 0898-7548 September Speaker: Dr. David E. Smith, The President’s “Update on Mars Research: What’s been Corner Discovered and Future Missions” Welcome to the 2003-2004 NCA Submitted by Jeff Guerber series of meetings. I hope people have been able to observe Mars Dr. David E. Smith will present the fea- Terrestrial Physics at NASA Goddard. He through the rain and clouds. tured talk for the September 6 meeting of was the Principal Investigator for the Mars the National Capital Astronomers. Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) instru- I’ve been interested in rejoining the Astronomical League and there are Dr. Smith will give us an update on Mars ment on Mars Global Surveyor, and is cur- “pro” and “con” paragraphs in this research: what's been discovered by the rently for the Mercury MESSENGER La- month’s issue of Star Dust on this. recent missions (Mars Global Surveyor ser Altimeter. He is also a member of the Please vote on this (once) at the Sep- and Mars Odyssey), and look ahead to the science team for the DAWN mission to as- upcoming ones. The meeting will be held tember meeting or by contacting teroids Ceres and Vesta. He received his Nancy Grace Roman. at 3:00 P.M. in the Bethesda-Chevy bachelor's and master's degrees from the Chase Regional Services Center of University of Durham, and his Ph.D. in Note that the October meeting will Montgomery County, 4805 Edgemoor satellite geodesy in 1966 from the Univer- be on the 11th rather than the 4th to Lane (Second Floor), Bethesda, MD. sity of London. He is a member of the avoid conflicting with the “Taste of Biography American Geophysical Union and the Bethesda.” Dr. David E. Smith is Chief of the Lab for Royal Astronomical Society. If you are interested in ordering a copy of the RASC Observer’s Hand- “Disks Around Stars” book, contact Nancy Byrd*. We are considering going to Green- A Talk by Alycia Weinberger bank to look at the new radio tele- Reviewed by Nancy Byrd scope and maybe do some observing At the June 7 meeting of National Capital red. Throughout her talk, she displayed at Blackwater Falls Park. If you’re Astronomers, Dr. Alycia Weinberger many images in both infrared and visible interested, contact Jeff Norman. treated members to a fascinating talk of light, inferring the information available Jay Miller, President disks around stars and the implications for from each and the comparison between stellar system evolution and the formation them. _______________ * If you are interested in ordering a of planets. Dr. Weinberger is a staff re- copy of the RASC Observer's Hand- searcher at the Department of Terrestrial Zodiacal Light To launch her discussion of young stellar book, contact Nancy Byrd at Magnetism of the Carnegie Institution of [email protected]. (If you don't have Washington. disks as sites of planetary formation, Dr. Weinberger showed us a composite photo email capability, sign up at the Septem- After a brief introduction to infrared (IR) of the IRAS sky scans taken in wave- ber meeting or call 703-978-3440.). basics, Dr. Weinberger compared the very lengths from 12 µm (colored blue) to 100 different kinds of information available µm (colored red). This photo showed the band is the Zodiacal dust, is also called the from the Great Nebula of Orion in infrared galactic plane, a horizontal swatch, cen- “Zodiacal Light.” It is the disk of our star. and visible light. She pointed out how the tered vertically, in yellow and red with a From this picture, we could see that the stars in the Trapezium heat their surround- wide blue S-shaped band, which corre- Zodiacal Dust (at about 300 Kelvin) is sig- ing dust from tens to hundreds of degrees sponds to the position of the Plane of the (Continued on page 4) Kelvin, causing it to reradiate in the infra- Ecliptic of our Solar System. This blue National Capital Astronomers, Inc. Page 1 NCA Events This Month NCA Mirror- and The Public is Welcome! NCA Home Page: http://capitalastronomers.org Telescope-Making Fridays, September 5, 12, 19, & 26, Saturday, September 6, 3:00 P.M. Class at 6:30 to 9:30 P.M., NCA mirror- NCA meeting in the Bethesda- Guy Brandenburg and telescope-making classes at the Chevy Chase Regional Services Chevy Chase Community Center, at Center of Montgomery County, the northeast corner of the intersection 4805 Edgemoor Lane, (Second Floor), of McKinley Street and Connecticut Bethesda, MD. Classes take place on Friday evenings Avenue, N.W. Contact instructor Guy Dr. David E. Smith will present the fea- Brandenburg at 202-635-1860 or from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Chevy tured talk: “Update on Mars Research: Chase Community Center (CCCC), in the email him at gfbrandenburg @yahoo. What’s been Discovered and Future basement woodworking shop. The CCCC com. Also, see article at right. Missions”. is located on the northeast corner of the Saturday, September 6, and Saturday, September 6, following the intersection of McKinley Street and Con- Fridays, September 12, 19, & 26, at meeting, dinner with the speaker and necticut Avenue, NW, a few blocks in 9:30 P.M. Open nights with NCA’s NCA members at a restaurant in from the Maryland line. There is parking 14-inch telescope at Ridgeview Ob- Bethesda. off of McKinley Street. servatory near Alexandria, Virginia. Saturday, September 27, 8:00 P.M. This September, classes will be on the For more information, see article Exploring the Sky at Rock Creek 5th, 12th, 19th, and 26th of the month below. Park. See article below. (Fridays). You can start or finish your mirror at any time. We only charge for materials, which Observing with the NCA C-14 are more inexpensive through us than Bob Bolster what you would pay at a commercial supplier such as Newport, Cassaro, or even Willmann-Bell. Thus, a 6" mirror kit All at Mars MARS Other Prime costs $75, and one for an 8" mirror costs 9:30 p.m. Observable Culminates Objects $110. Both of those are good sizes to start Sat. Sept. 6 21:45 00:40 Gibbous Moon your first telescope with. We also have a Fri. Sept. 12 21:30 00:10 vacuum chamber where we can aluminize Fri. Sept. 19 21:00 23:30 {Uranus, Neptune, your mirror for a small extra fee. Fri. Sept. 26 20:50 23:05 M13, M57} It is not hard to build a much better tele- At Ridgeview Observatory in Bob Bolster’s backyard, 6007 Ridge View Drive, Fran- conia, Virginia (off Franconia Rd. between Telegraph Rd. and Rose Hill Dr.). scope than you can buy for three times as Call Bob at 703-960-9126 before 6:00 p.m., to let him know you are coming. much money. Honestly! And when you are done, you will have learned a lot more Come See the Stars! about optics and astronomy than you would have if you just purchased a tele- by Joe Morris scope at a store or via mail order. We are always in need of the following Exploring the Sky 2002-2003 Schedule items, as long as they are clean: newspa- Date Time Notes pers, toothbrushes, plastic squeeze bottles. 9/27 8:00 P.M. Rock Creek Park Visitor Day 10/18 7:30 P.M. For more information, look at the follow- 11/15 7:00 P.M. Leonid meteor shower 11/14-11/21 ing website: http://home.earthlink.net/ ~gfbranden/GFB_Home_Page.html or Exploring the Sky is an informal program sunset. We meet in the field just south of the call the class leader, Guy Brandenburg, at that for nearly fifty years has offered intersection of Military and Glover Roads 202-262-4274, or email him at monthly opportunities for anyone in the NW, near the Nature Center. A parking lot Washington area to see the stars and planets is located immediately next to the field. [email protected]. through telescopes from a location within (202) 426-6829 or the District of Columbia. Beginners (including children) and experi- enced stargazers are all welcome—and it’s check the Internet sites: Sessions are held in Rock Creek Park once free! http://www.nps.gov/rocr/planetarium each month on a Saturday night from April or through November, starting shortly after Questions? Call the Nature Center at http://www.capitalastronomers.org Page 2 National Capital Astronomers, Inc. ASTRONOMICAL LEAGUE REFERENDUM This page contains columns with arguments for rejoining or not rejoining the Astronomical League. Following these columns are instructions for casting your vote on this topic. Finally, the last item is a ballot to be used to cast your vote. PLEASE VOTE FOR REJOINING THE PLEASE VOTE AGAINST REJOINING ASTRONOMICAL LEAGUE THE ASTRONOMICAL LEAGUE by Jay Miller by Jeffrey Norman The Astronomical League is THE organization of amateur as- The cost of rejoining the Astronomical League (AL) will be tronomers in the U.S. with over 240 clubs and “members at approximately $560. AL charges $3.50 per member plus large” for a total of about 20,000 members. NCA was an active $10 for the organization as a whole; and National Capital member for many years and, in fact, several of the awards the Astronomers (NCA) currently has 157 members. In order AL presents are named for NCA members. Its purpose is to for an organization like NCA to get AL’s discount price of promote astronomy.
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