October 2019
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the vol. 46 no. 10 Skyscraper October 2019 AMATEUR ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF RHODE ISLAND 47 PEEPTOAD ROAD NORTH SCITUATE, RHODE ISLAND 02857 WWW.THESKYSCRAPERS.ORG In This Issue: AstroAssembly: Saturday, October 5 2 October Meteor Showers 3 Francine Jackson Receives Saturday Program Award from Middle Atlantic Planetarium Society All day at Seagrave Memorial Observatory Poster Session, Swap Table (please bring your own table), 4 Update on Finding HMS Endeavour Solar Viewing, Astrophotography Contest, Homemade Tele- scopes (bring yours), and the Famous Astro Bake-off Contest. 5 Higher Orbits Go for Launch 6 NASA Night Sky Notes: 10:30am - Southern Skies: A trip below the equator to see an eclipse, the southern Milky Way and even a llama or two by Steve 6 Find Strange Uranus in Aries Hubbard 7 Spiral Galaxy in Pegasus: NGC 7448 11:15am - The Next Generation of Amateur Telescope Making by Zane Landers 9 The Sun, Moon & Planets in October 12:00pm - Lunch at the Skyscrapers Grill 1:15pm - Stars Through the Araucanias: Mapuche-Pewenche Ethno- astronomy by Roger Fu Seagrave Memorial 2:30pm - Chile 2017-2018 Astronomical Trip by Ed Ting Observatory 3:45pm - We Have Always Had Our Eyes Turned Skyward - Art, Open Nights Culture and Inclusion in the Democratization of Space by Prathima Muniyappa Saturdays st 7:00 pm weather & conditions permitting Saturday Evening Program At North Scituate Baptist Church, 619 W Greenville Rd (Route 116), North Scituate, RI 02857 Phases of the Moon First Quarter Moon 5:30pm - Evening Banquet – Italian-style Buffet Dinner catered by October 6 03:10 Quik Stop Deli (pre-registration required) Full Hunters Moon October 14 04:33 6:45pm - Words of Welcome, Gerry Dyck Tribute, Awards, Raffle Drawing Last Quarter Moon October 22 02:41 7:30pm - What Will Mars 2020 Tell Us About the Planets? by John New Moon Mustard October 28 18:26 9:00pm - Observing at Seagrave Observatory October Meteor Showers by Dave Huestis If recent events during the last few associated with a particular meteor shower. per asterism handle. This shower of parti- months are any indicator, Chicken Little Two meteor showers were in progress at the cles is debris shed by periodic Comet 21 P/ may have been right. The sky is falling. time of the fireball reports. Many folks were Giacobini-Zinner. As the night progresses The sky is falling. Back on July 24 at ap- lucky to view such a “fiery” display. watch the northern sky rotate around Po- proximately 2:44 a.m. EDT, a soccer ball- While bright fireballs are chance sight- laris. By morning twilight, Draco’s head will sized meteor entered the Earth’s atmo- ings, you can improve your odds at seeing be sitting due north about 20 degrees above sphere above Lake Ontario and became shooting stars if you can observe a meteor the horizon. a bright fireball as it disintegrated. Click shower from a dark sky location when the The major meteor shower of the month on this link: http://spaceweather.com/ar- event is at its peak activity. During October is the Orionids on the night of October chive.php?view=1&day=25&month=07&- we are fortunate to have both a minor and a 21-22 when the Earth passes through the year=2019. Fragments of this “space invad- major meteor shower to try our luck. remnants of Halley’s Comet. While the Ori- er” most likely reached the ground. That First up on the night of October 8-9 is onids are generally a decent shooting star same day, at around 11:04 p.m. a similar the minor display of shooting stars called display producing a peak rate of about 20 object was sighted along the east coast from the Draconids. This shower currently only or so yellow and green meteors per hour Virginia to Maine. But wait! There’s more. produces ten or less yellowish slow-moving between midnight and dawn’s early light, The very next day a previously unknown meteors per hour. A waxing crescent Moon a bright last quarter Moon residing in the asteroid estimated to be 187-427 feet across (First Quarter on the 5th) will brighten the nearby constellation of Cancer will certain- zipped past the Earth at 11:22 a.m., trav- sky somewhat and unfortunately won’t set ly reduce that forecast number. Moon rise elling around 45,000 miles per hour. Talk until about 2:30 a.m. on the 9th. is at about 11:00 p.m. on the 21st, so it will about close encounters! That one would However, unlike most shooting star dis- be overshadowing all but the brightest of have wreaked havoc had it collided with plays, the Draconids are best observed be- the meteors, though a few can be observed the Earth. tween sunset and midnight when the con- before the moon rises. As an added bo- There’s a lot of space debris that the Earth stellation Draco is highest in the northern nus, please notice the cluster of stars to the passes through on its journey around the sky. All you have to do is find Ursa Major Moon’s upper right—it’s the Beehive Clus- Sun. The vast majority are harmless rem- (the Big Dipper asterism). Draco will be ter. Use binoculars for an enhanced view. nants of comets or small pieces of asteroids. above it. While the meteors will emanate The meteors appear to radiate out of Everyday the Earth is bombarded with this from this region of the sky, scan east and the sky just above Orion’s head (hence material, and with greater frequency secu- west up to zenith (directly overhead). These the name of the shower) and not far from rity cameras are recording the demise of particles are fairly slow moving, hitting our the bright red super giant star Betelgeuse, the brightest of these visitors to our planet. atmosphere at only 12.5 miles per second. which marks his right shoulder. The Orion- After careful examination of eyewitness ac- Draco stretches between Ursa Major and id meteors disintegrate in our atmosphere counts, astronomers can determine the or- Polaris, the pole star, which is the end star around 41.6 miles per second, and they are bit of these bodies and determine if they are in Ursa Minor (Little Bear), the Little Dip- also noted for producing fireballs that cre- The Skyscraper is published President Outreach Chairperson monthly by Skyscrapers, Inc. Steve Hubbard [email protected] Linda Bergemann [email protected] Meetings are held monthly, usually on the first or second 1st Vice President Observatory Committee Chairperson Friday or Saturday of the month. Jim Hendrickson [email protected] Jeff Padell [email protected] Seagrave Memorial Observatory is open every Saturday night, 2nd Vice President New Member Steward weather permitting. Bob Horton [email protected] Tracy Prell [email protected] Directions Secretary Librarian Directions to Seagrave Memorial Observatory are Kathy Siok [email protected] Dave Huestis [email protected] located on the back page of this newsletter. Treasurer Assistant Librarian Submissions Submissions to The Skyscraper are always welcome. Matt Ouellette [email protected] Weston Ambrose Please submit items for the newsletter no later than October 15 to Jim Hendrickson, 1 Sunflower Circle, Members at Large Historian North Providence, RI 02911 or e-mail to jim@ Bob Janus [email protected] Dave Huestis [email protected] distantgalaxy.com. Lloyd Merrill [email protected] Editor E-mail subscriptions Trustees Jim Hendrickson [email protected] To receive The Skyscraper by e-mail, send e-mail Jeff Padell [email protected] with your name and address to jim@distantgalaxy. Astronomical League Correspondent (ALCor) com. Note that you will no longer receive the news- Jim Crawford [email protected] Jeff Padell [email protected] letter by postal mail. Conrad Cardano [email protected] 2 The Skyscraper October 2019 ate persistent dust trains as they blaze across if you can. Also try to block the Moon from location well away from light pollution. the sky. This redeeming attribute could mit- view as well. Get comfortable in a chaise Don’t forget to visit the local Rhode Is- igate the Moon’s interference somewhat. lounge chair. Settle in for a couple of hours land observatories to get great views of the While Orion is an easy star pattern to iden- of observing. Hopefully there will be a few heavens. Jupiter and Saturn will still be tify, at 3:00 a.m. this giant constellation will bright fireballs to keep you from falling visible in October. Seagrave Memorial Ob- be found high in the southeast sky. asleep! All you’ll have to do to maximize servatory (http://www.theskyscrapers.org) Try to observe from a dark-sky location your viewing experience is to find a suitable in North Scituate is open every clear Sat- urday night. (Note: Seagrave will be closed on Saturday, October 5.) Ladd Observato- ry (http://www.brown.edu/Departments/ Physics/Ladd/) in Providence is open every Tuesday night. The Margaret M. Jacoby Observatory at the CCRI Knight Campus in Warwick (http://www.ccri.edu/phys- ics/observatory.htm) is open every clear Wednesday night. Frosty Drew Observato- ry (http://frostydrew.org) in Charlestown is open every clear Friday night. Be sure to check their respective websites for public observing schedules and closures, espe- cially since the EEE virus threat may cancel outdoor observing sessions.. Let’s hope Mother Nature will cooperate to provide us with clear skies for all of our observing adventures. Dave Huestis is Skyscrapers Historian and has been contribut- ing monthly columns to local newspapers for nearly 40 years.