March 2015 The Sidereal Times

Southeastern Iowa Astronomy Club A Member Society of the Astronomical League

Club Officers: Minutes February 19, 2015

ExecutiveCommittee President Jim Hilkin President Jim Hilkin the checking account is snow on the observatory Vice President Libby Snipes Treasurer Vicki Philabaum called the meeting to or- $1,895.92 which includes dome. Dave announced Secretary David Philabaum th th Chief Observer David Philabaum der at 6:30 pm with the $160.89 in grant funds. that a group of 4 and 5 Members-at-Large Claus Benninghoven following members in at- Vicki will send out dues grade Girl Scouts is Duane Gerling Blake Stumpf tendance: Judy Smithson, notices as they come due. scheduled to come to the rd BoardofDirectors Paul Sly, Claus Benning- Dave reported that he had observatory on March 3 . Chair Judy Hilkin Vice Chair Ray Reineke hoven, Duane Gerling, received some brochures Jim reported that the Secretary David Philabaum Members-at-Large Bill Stewart, Carl Snipes, about the 2015 Nebraska Witte Observatory will be Frank Libe Blake Stumpf and Dave Philabaum. Party. It will be held painted this spring. A Jim Wilt Three guests were also in July 12-17 at the Merritt grant has been submitted AuditCommittee Dean Moberg (2012) attendance. Jim ex- reservoir near Valentine, to Diamond Vogel for the JT Stumpf (2013) John Toney (2014) pressed condolences to Nebraska. Jim reported paint. In preparation for

Newsletter Carl on the recent death that a group of Girl Scouts this the bushes on the Karen Johnson of his mother. Dave pre- was at the observatory on north side of the class- sented the Treasurer's February 3 rd , but the only room will be removed. A report in Vicki's absence. viewing was through a couple of evergreens have Inside this issue: The current balance in portable scope because of already been cut back.

(Minutes continued on page 3) In The News 2

Mutual Events 2 Upcoming Dates

Convention Letter 3 ~ Dues are due in April ~ First Friday Public Viewing, April 3 (weather Minutes (cont.) 3 ~ Nominations for club permitting) Looking Back 4 officers in April ~ Deadline for the April ~ Election of officers in Treasurer’s Report 4 newsletter is Wednesday, May Observer’s Report 5-6 April 8, 2015 ~ The next meeting will ~ April meeting on the Calendar 7 be Thursday, March 19, at 17 th the Burlington Public Li- Sky Maps 8-9 brary, 6:30—7:30

Page 2 The Sidereal Times

In The News

The Maven spacecraft has served by the Hubble exposed them to ultravio- detected a high-altitude Space Telescope. It’s esti- let radiation, and have dust cloud and aurora in mated to be 60 miles thick produced uracil, cytosine, the atmosphere of Mars. and buried under an icy and thymine. All three crust 95 miles deep. are found in RNA and Amateur astronomers can DNA, showing that these now help discover new Four new spacecraft, the components of life can be asteroids by analyzing im- MMS, launched on March made non-biologically in a ages using a desktop soft- 12, will study magnetic lab under conditions ware application devel- reconnection, a process found in space. oped by NASA and Plane- where magnetic fields tary Resources, Inc. The connect and disconnect software is free and can be and reconnect in new con- Sources: downloaded at http:// figurations, converting http://www.nasa.gov/news/ topcoder.com/asteroids magnetic energy into ki- releases/latest/#.VQntQI7F_K1 netic energy, thermal en- On Friday, March 27, the ergy, and particle acceler- http://www.nasa.gov/topics/ first one-year crew will ation, resulting in bursts universe/ launch for the Interna- of energy. index.html#.VQop147F_K0 Did You Know? tional Space Station. Scientists at the Ames Re- Ganymede is only Evidence for an under- search Center in Califor- slightly smaller than ground saltwater ocean on nia have taken ice samples Ganymede has been ob- containing pyrimidine, Mars. Although Gali- leo called it Jupiter III, it was renamed in the mid-s. aer Gan- Deep Mutual Events of Jupiter's Moons ymede , a Trojan Begin End prince in Greek my- Date Type ∆m thology. (Local) (Local) 3/20/2015 0:39:59 0:44:44 1E2 0.6 3/24/2015 1:03:35 1:11:24 3E2 0.5 3/27/2015 2:53:22 2:58:18 1E2 0.6 4/11/2015 20:41:15 20:50:37 2E3 1.0 4/13/2015 20:28:20 20:33:36 1E2 0.6 4/17/2015 20:27:45 20:37:01 4O3 1.0

Type - type of the event is given in the form "nEm" or "nOm" where n is the number of eclips- ing or occulting satellite, m is the number of eclipsed or occulted one. "E" denotes an eclipse and "O" denotes an occultation. 1=Io, 2=Europa, 3=Ganymede, 4=Callisto

∆m- expected maximum drop of the combined magnitude. MarchNovember 2015 2013 Page 3

NCRAL Convention Cancelled

"We of the Fargo-Moorhead Astronomy Club regret to inform you that we are unable to host the NCRAL 2015 convention, and the June 5-6 event in Fargo is cancelled. We apologize for any disappointment or inconvenience this causes you. Our club has had a trying with a series of setbacks. Economic circumstances have affected our university partners and mem- bership; half of our core members are gone due to job relocations out of our metro area, the state, and even the country. The remaining members have been discussing what the future of the FMAC will be. We wish your clubs the best for the future, and that they may live long and prosper. Sincerely, Scarlet Gray Bernard President, Fargo-Moorhead Astronomy Club"

Did You Know?

The bright in Gemini are Castor and Minutes (continued from page 1) Pollux, which are also the names of the Jim said he has postponed sending some photos and then gave a presentation brothers in the movie working on the panels for posters. She reported that on the Gemi- “Face/Off.” the south end of the Prugh the Rand Foundation ni. After his presentation -Carver Observatory until would like to sponsor a Jim said that former mem- warmer weather returns. talk by Dr. Stone, possibly ber Terry Durbin was sell- Jim reported that he and this fall, and asked if the ing his 18" Obsession tele- Dave met with Kent Rector SIAC would like to help. scope and passed around to go over the cooperative She told them that we pictures of it. Carl passed agreement with the Con- would. Jim reported that around a binder of pic- servation Board to see if Dr. Steven Spangler of the tures that Libby Snipes there are any issues that University of Iowa would has recently taken for the need be addressed. No like to come sometime and members to look at. Libby changes were made. The look through the Clark. He wasn't able to be at the Conservation Board ap- would also be available to meeting. With no further proved and signed the give a talk. He is from the business to discuss, Duane agreement, but Partner's Houghton, IA area. Jim moved to adjourn, Bill se- for Conservation did not went over the list of up- conded, and the meeting sign. Jim reminded every- coming dates noting that was adjourned. one that nominations for the next meeting will also Respectfully submitted, club officers will take place be at the Burlington Public Dave Philabaum in April and elections will Library on March 19 th at be in May. Judy reported 06:30 pm. Dave gave the that Dr. Stone will be Observer's report. Jim Page 4 The Sidereal Times

Looking Back in the Sidereal Times 25 Ago—March 1990

The March 1990 Sky & was four megapixels and as and a 50 megapixel Telescope magazine had a most observatories were astronomical CCD cam- picture of the largest CCD using one megapixel im- era is available to ama- made. It was a 16 mega- agers. A spokesperson for teurs. The Large Synoptic pixel chip made by Ford JPL said that the new Survey Telescope (LSST) Aerospace. It took over 11 chip is "too new and too will contain a 3.2 gi- minutes to read out the big for serious considera- gapixel camera made data from the chip and tion at this time". (Today up of an array of CCD took up 32 megabytes of it is not unusual to find chips. It will begin sur- storage. At that time the 20 megapixel chips in veying the heavens from largest astronomical CCD consumer digital camer- Chile in 2022.)

Looking Back in the Sidereal Times 10 Years Ago—March 2005

In the Observer's Report Titan’s atmosphere and Huygens probe descend- it was noted that the Cas- 35 hydrocarbon lakes ed through Titan's at- sini Space Probe had and seas have been mosphere and landed on Did You Know? made its fourth flyby of named . The surface tem- the surface. The mission Saturn's moon Titan, fly- perature on Titan is - has been extended until According to Greek ing within 982 miles of its 290 °F and the surface 2017 which will include mythology, the surface. (Since then Cas- pressure is almost 50% over 50 more flybys of sini-Huygens mission has Titan.) Olympians overthrew more than on Earth. In identified 17 molecules in addition to flying by, the the elder gods that ruled the earth. Those elders, brothers of Saturn, were called Treasurer’s Report Titans. Most of Saturn’s moons are SIAC Treasurer's Report February 2015 named for them. 1/31/2015 Beginning Balance $1,865.92

Deposits

2/18/2015 Dues $30.00

Total Deposits $30.00

Expenses

Check Payee

2/24/2015 461 MTC Technologies $30.94

Total Expenses $30.94

2/28/2015 Ending Balance $1,864.98

General Fund $1,704.09 Grants $160.89 Total in Checking Account $1,864.98 March 2015 Page 5

Observer’s Report for March/April

Uranus is very low is the 23:00. Jupiter remains in 14 at 21:13, also look for west in mid-March, set- Cancer moving slowly Ganymede's shadow ting a little over an hour westward until April 8 th transiting between 20:01 after the Sun. It is in con- when it is stationary, then and 23:38. The number of junction with the Sun on begins moving east. Be- mutual events of Jupiter's April 6 th and then moves tween mid-March and moons is declining be- into the morning sky, but mid-April it stays within cause the plane of the remains too low to see. an area of 0.5 °. In mid- moon's orbit is becoming Mars is also low in the March it transits about less edge on. The number west and sets just over 90 22:00 and shines at mag- of prominent events drops minutes after the Sun in nitude -2.4. By mid-April by 67% from March to mid-March. During the it is transiting before the April. See a table of these next month it drops lower sky is fully dark and its events elsewhere in the into the sunset setting 30 magnitude has dropped to newsletter. Saturn re- minutes earlier by mid- -2.2 . On April 3 rd only mains in Scorpius and on April. Its disk is only 4" Europa and Callisto are March 26 th it is 0.5 ° due Note: wide and at magnitude visible from 21:35 until north of Nu Scorpii mov- +1.4 binoculars will prob- 23:48. There are two 6 th ing west among the stars. e e ably be needed to see it, magnitude stars to the It rises at 00:30 in mid- especially in April. Look west of Jupiter that could March and transits in a th report are for Mars about 1 ° to the be mistaken for moons, fully dark sky at 05:30. right of the two-day-old but they lie farther away By mid-April Saturn is CST u a Moon on March 21 st . On from the planet than the rising two hours earlier. April 1 st it is 18 ° below moons ever get. On April Saturn brightens from 24-hour cock Venus. Venus is in Aries, 11 th once again only Eu- magnitude 0.35 to 0.18 shining at magnitude -4 in ropa and Callisto are visi- between the middle of mid-March and shows a ble for about 30 minutes March and the middle of 13" disk. It is 25 ° up 30 beginning at 01:18. Some April. With the rings tilt- minutes after sunset in dates when the Red Spot ed almost to their maxi- mid-March. On March is centered on Jupiter's mum now is a good time 22 nd it is just over 2 ° to disk include: 3-21 at to view Saturn. Look for the right of the three-day- 21:13 with a shadow Saturn's brightest moon, old Moon. Venus is mov- transit of Europa begin- Titan, west of Saturn on ing rapidly to the east and ning at 22:07; 3 -26 at March 28 th and April 13 th . on April 7th enters Tau- 20:21 followed by an Io On the 13 th look for Rhea, rus. During April Venus shadow transit beginning Dione, and Tethys in a passes the Pleiades, the at 22:15; 4 -2 at 21:08; 4 -2 line on the east side. It , and Aldebaran. at 21:08; 4 -4 at 22:46; 4 - will be east of the planet On April 13th it is a quar- 11 at 23:33, earlier look on March 21 st with a mag- ter of the way from the for Europa to eclipse Gan- nitude 11 star very near it. Pleiades toward Aldeba- ymede from 20:41 until It is also to the east on ran. By mid-April its size 20:50 and Io's shadow April 6 th with the moons has grown to 15" and transits across Jupiter be- Tethys, Dione, and Rhea doesn't set until after tween 20:33 and 22:50; 4 - in a line on the west side.

coue o pae Page 6 The Sidereal Times

Observer’s Report (continued from page 5)

On April 10 th Saturn is full moon on the 4 th . The March 22 - 25 it is less inside an isosceles trian- Moon travels just inside than 1 ° from NGC559, a gle formed by Dione, the northern edge of the 9.5 magnitude open clus- Rhea, and Tethys with umbra. For us the partial ter. From April 4 - 9 it is Titan below Rhea. Pluto phase begins at 05:15, less than 1 ° from 4.7 mag- is in Sagittarius fairly low about the start of morning nitude Psi Cassiopeiae. It in the southeast as morn- twilight. The partial phase is only 0.15 ° from the star ing twilight dawns and is viewed during increas- on April 7 th . On March not well place for view- ingly bright twilight and 6th the Dawn spacecraft ing. It is stationary in the Moon sets at 06:49, entered orbit around right ascension on April five minutes before total dwarf planet Ceres. The 17 th . Mercury is at supe- eclipse begins. Viewers first science orbit will be rior conjunction with the on the west coast will be in late April 2015, and the Sun on April 10 th and then able to see all of totality prime science phase will moves quickly up into the in a dark sky higher up. end in June 2016. Dawn evening sky. It may be On March 24 th the five- will survey the dwarf visible in binoculars day-old crescent Moon is planet from four different shortly after the middle of in the Hyades cluster and orbital heights ranging the month very low in the comes within 1.5 ° of Al- from 8,400 miles down to west northwest shining at debaran before setting. 230 miles. Dawn is the magnitude -1.3. On April The Moon occults Aldeb- first spacecraft to orbit th Did You Know? 19 look for Mercury aran for viewers in Alaska two bodies beyond earth. about 5 ° to the right and and northwestern Canada. It also has the largest down a little from the On March 30 th the 10-day change in speed under its Ceres is the largest very young crescent -old Moon passes less own power than any other object in the asteroid Moon. A low western than 1 ° from M67. On spacecraft, about 23,000 horizon will be needed to April 10 th the waning gib- mph. Currently Ceres is belt. It is also the see them. Neptune has bous Moon passes in front located in Sagittarius less moved into the morning of M23 during daylight than 1.5 ° northeast of 52 smallest and closest of sky but is very low in the for us, but in Hawaii it Sagittarii. the dwarf planets. east and rises just before passes through the north- the start of morning twi- ern half in a dark sky. light in mid-April. It will Comet Lovejoy (C/2014 be a couple of months un- Q2) was about magnitude til a decent view of Nep- 5.8 as of the first week in tune is possible. The March. It is not dimming Moon phases are: FQ 3- as much as it should be as 27 at 02:43; Full 4 -4 at it moves away from the 07:06; LQ 4 -11 at 22:44 earth and Sun and is ap- and New on 4-18 at parently becoming more 13:57. A very short total active. It was easy to see lunar eclipse lasting only in 7x50 binoculars on about 12 minutes, accord- March 7 th . The comet is ing to the US Naval Ob- traveling north through servatory, occurs at the Cassiopeia, and from March 2015 Page 7

Calendar for March/April

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

15 (March) 16 17 18 19 20 21

St. Patrick’s Day Neptune 4° south SIAC meeting at Spring Equinox Uranus 0.1° south of Moon Burlington Li- of Moon New Moon brary, Room B, Mars 2° north of 6:30—7:30 pm Total solar eclipse Moon Moon at perigee Public Viewing

22 23 24 25 26 27 28

Venus 3° north of First Quarter Moon Moon

29 30 31 1 (April) 2 3 4

Jupiter 6° north April Fool’s Day First Friday Public Full Moon of Moon Viewing Moon at Total lunar eclipse apogee

5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Easter Sunday Uranus in conjunc- Saturn 2° south of Mercury in superi- Last Quarter tion with Sun Moon or conjunction Moon

Jupiter appears stationary

12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Yuri’s Night Neptune 4° south SIAC meeting 7pm New Moon of Moon Moon at perigee

Pluto appears sta- tionary

19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Venus 7° north of Lyrid meteor Astronomy Day Moon shower First Quarter Moon Crab (M1) 8

h 6 α Lyn

h h 0 1

M37 Leo Minor tic 3 ip Elnath 0° cl E

θ Aur M36 Lynx M38 Auriga Tania Australis Talitha

Hassaleh Menkalinan

θ UMa

Hoedus II

ψ UMa Capella Almaaz

Ursa Major 4 h

Merak Owl Nebula (M97) NGC 2403 M108 ε Per

Dubhe Phecda M106 M109

4 Bode's (M81) 5 ° Cigar Galaxy (M82) Perseus δ Per Camelopardalis

Winnecke 4 (M40)

Algol Mirfak

Alioth

γ Per

M34 Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) Mizar

Alkaid Perseus (NGC 884) Perseus Double Cluster (NGC 869)

Pinwheel Galaxy (M101) NorthPolaris Celestial Pole Almach

2h Ursa Minor Kochab (M76) M103 Ruchbah Pherkad Owl Cluster (NGC 457) Cassiopeia Er Rai γ Cas Spindle Galaxy (M102)

Schedar

Caph Cepheus Andromeda Aldhibain M32 Andromeda Galaxy (M31) NGC 7789 Nodus I M110 The Scorpion (M52) Alfirk

Draco Altais

Alderamin

NGC 6946 Rastaban Blue Snowball (NGC 7662) ian rid Me al sti ele C Eltanin

Lacerta M92 Hercules Cluster (M13)

NW M39

Blinking Planetary (NGC 6826)

π Her N Deneb North American Nebula (NGC 7000) Scheat Cygnus δ Cyg NGC 7027 Matar Hercules

Vega

Sadr

M29 Lyra

Gienah Pegasus Ring Nebula (M57) Viewing from Burlington, United States Long: -91° 08' 07" Lat: 40° 48' 52" 2015/3/20 9:00:00 PM (Local) Looking: north (40° above horizon) FOV: 100° Limiting Magnitude: 7.1 6

h h h

8 0

1

Auriga

θ Aur M38

Hassaleh Leo Minor M36

M37 30°

Castor Castor

Elnath

Pollux

Mebsuta M35 Ras Elased Australis Gemini Ecliptic Tejat Posterior Crab Nebula (M1) ζ Tau NGC 2903 Cancer Algieba , Clown Nebula (NGC 2392) (M44)

Leo Jupiter

Alhena 15°

M105 M96 Regulus King Cobra (M67) M95

Christmas Tree Cluster (NGC 2264)

Gomeisa Betelgeuse Canis Minor Bellatrix Procyon

Orion

M78 Mintaka Alnilam NGC 3521 Celestial Equator Alnitak Monoceros Orion B (NGC 2024) Sextans M48 NGC 1977 de Mairan’s Nebula (M43) Orion Nebula (M42) Cursa Nair al Saif

M50

Alphard Rigel Saiph

M47 M46

Sirius NGC 2440 Mirzam

Arneb -15° Little Beehive (M41) Ghost of Jupiter, Eye Nebula (NGC 3242) Canis Major Lepus Nihal M93 ο2 CMa Hydra ρ Pup

Wesen M79

Aludra Adhara

Pyxis Furud

Puppis

Phaet π Pup NGC 2451 -3 Antlia NGC 2477 Columba 0°

Naos

Caelum NGC 1851 Al Suhail

Suhail al Muhlif

NGC 2547

NGC 3201 Vela S τ Pup

Canopus

δ µ Vel Vel Pictor κ Vel - 45 C ° e le s t ia l M e r Avior id ia n Aspidiske NGC 2516 NGC 3293 NGC 3114 -6 0° Viewing from Burlington, United States Long: -91° 08' 07" Lat: 40° 48' 52" 2015/3/20 9:00:00 PM (Local) Looking: south (40° above horizon) FOV: 100° Limiting Magnitude: 7.1 A Brief History

The idea for the observatory was conceived by the members of the Southeastern Io- wa Astronomy Club. Through a cooperative agreement between the Des Moines County Conservation Board, The Burlington Community School System, and the Southeastern Iowa Astronomy Club, the idea became a reality. A substantial grant from the John H. Witte, Jr. Foundation provided the funding for materials, with nearly all the construction being done by members of the club. Work began in the Southeastern Iowa spring of 1985 and the observatory was dedicated in May 1987. In the years since Astronomy Club the dedication, thousands of people have climbed the ladder to peer through the Astronomy Club eyepiece of the beautiful 1937 Alvan-Clark brass refractor.

P.O. Box 14 In 1996 a second observatory, the Prugh-Carver Observatory, was added through a West Burlington, IA 52655 grant from the Carver Foundation. Dedicated to Burton Prugh, a Burlington busi- nessman, it stands as a reminder of his devotion and support to the Southeastern Iowa Astronomy Club. It houses Mr. Witte’s personal telescope—an 8” Fecker re- fractor, as well as several smaller scopes. W E ’ R E O N T H E W E B Dedicated on September 17, 2004, the new Stone-Kelly Observatory houses the 16” H TTP :// Cassegrain that was formerly on Burlington High School off Roosevelt Avenue. WWW . DMCOUNTY . CO M Volunteer club members, after passing a training and apprenticeship program, op- / INDE X . ASP X ? N ID =516 erate the observatory for public and private groups. The observatory complex is open to the public on the first and third Fridays of every Dues month, weather permitting. $20 Individual $30 Family

About Southeastern Iowa Astronomy Club

The Southeastern Iowa As- come to share in the meet- tronomy Club meets on the ings, and they are followed third Friday of each month by a public viewing session at the Witte Observatory at 7 (weather permitting). pm. Additional benefits to mem- The purpose of the club is to bers include our monthly provide astronomy opportu- newsletter, The Sidereal nities to the local area, Times, voting rights for club mainly through the use of activities, and membership the facilities at the John H. in the national Astronomical Witte, Jr. Observatory. Dur- League. The Astronomical ing monthly meetings, infor- League membership pro- mation is provided about vides a quarterly newsletter, upcoming events and items discounts on certain astron- of interest locally, nationally, omy-related products, spe- and worldwide. The meet- cial training/skill building Travel directions to the Witte Observatory Complex. ings allow members to share programs, and other great The observatory complex is located at 18832 152nd Ave- their experiences and exper- benefits. nue, Sperry, Iowa in Big Hollow Creek Recreation Area tise with each other, as well approximately 12 miles north of Burlington, Iowa. as providing a forum for questions. The public is wel-