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April Meeting with Jack Szelka & Dave Huestis the vol. 37 no. 4 April Skyscraper 2010 Amateur Astronomical Society of Rhode Island 47 Peeptoad Road North Scituate, Rhode Island 02857 www.theSkyscrapers.org Seagrave Memorial Observatory is open April Meeting to the public weather permitting with Jack Szelka & Dave Huestis Saturdays 8pm - 10pm Please note that the observatory may be inac- Friday, April 2, 7:30pm cessible for several weeks following a winter North Scituate Community Center storm. See web site for updates. The Skyscrapers' Monthly Meeting on April 2, 2010 at the Scituate Community Center will feature two talks by Skyscrapers' members Dave Huestis and Jack Szelka. North Scituate Community Center Yerkes Observatory and Adler Planetarium by Jack Szelka All of our winter meetings (Dec-April) are held at the Community Center. From Seagrave Member Jack Szelka will present a Also presented, a tour of the Yerkes Observatory, the Community Center is the first Powerpoint presentation highlighting a visit Observatory including highlights of the building on the right side going south on Rt. to the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, Illinois buildings, equipment and history of the 116 after the intersection of Rt. 6 Bypass (also and Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, many great astronomers who have worked Rt. 101) and Rt. 116. Parking is across the street. Wisconsin. there. The main feature is the worlds largest He will cover some of the astronomical refractor, the 40-inch Alvan Clark lens and a exhibits at the Adler; the Telescope display, night of viewing with this scope. Atwood Sphere and the other astronomy In this issue… related displays. 2 President’s Message The Sesquicentennial Birthday of Frank Evans Seagrave (1860-1934) by Dave Huestis 2 Sirius Dave Huestis, a Skyscrapers member Skyscrapers purchased Frank’s observa- 3 Sesquicentennial Birthday of since 1975 and the society’s historian for tory and 8¼-inch Alvan Clark refractor Frank Evans Seagrave many years, will be presenting a talk to on Peeptoad Road back in 1936. Dave will 3 March 29, 2010, by Dave commemorate the sesquicentennial birthday reveal some important facts that he has Huestis (March 29, 2010) of Frank Evans Seagrave uncovered from his continued research into (1860-1934). Frank Seagrave’s life and achievements. He 4 April Lyrids Meteor Shower also promises a few surprises. & Other Events Worth Watching 5 March Reports 6 A Message from Presidential Phases Nominee Tom Thibault of the Moon 6 A Message from Presidential Nominee Dolores Rinaldi 6 14 21 28 7 Proposed Budget 2010-2011 Other nOtable events: The Moon is near Antares on the morning of the 3rd. Mercury is at greatest eastern elongation on the 8th. The Moon is 1.5° north of Mercury on the 15th. 8 Deadly Planets Mars is 3° north of M44 on the 15th. The Moon is between Venus and the Pleiades on the 9 2010-11 Elections Ballot 16th. April Lyrids peak on the 22rd. Venus is 4° south of the Pleiades on the 24th & 25th. Mercury is at inferior conjunction on the 28th. 10 Membership Renewal 2 The Skyscraper April 2010 President’s Bob Horton Message The Annual meeting of Skyscrapers will listing of all expenditures, such as the new be held at the North Scituate Community roof we had installed on the meeting hall House on Friday, April 2nd at 7:30pm. April last fall, and approved by the membership The Skyscraper is published monthly is a busy month for Skyscrapers. We will be as a separate motion, can be found in our by Skyscrapers, Inc. Meetings are usually held on the first Friday of the electing new officers for our society, voting yearly, audited financial report, which will month. Public observing is usually on an operating budget for the coming fiscal be reported to the membership this month held every Saturday night at Seagrave year, and collecting membership dues. under New Business. Memorial Observatory, weather per- In this issue of the Skyscraper you will April also marks the time to renew mitting. find a copy of the ballot. Any member in our membership dues. Please fill out the good standing and at least 18 years of age enclosed form so that we will have your President may vote. You may either mail this ballot to most current contact information. You may Bob Horton [email protected] the address provided, or deliver it in person mail in your membership renewal or you 1st Vice President at the April meeting. Please make your selec- may renew at any monthly meeting. If you Bob Napier [email protected] tions, and then place your ballot in an enve- joined Skyscrapers recently, this past January lope, and write “ballot” and your name on through March, you will not have to renew 2nd Vice President the outside of the envelope. If you plan to your membership until April 2011. Your Steve Hubbard [email protected] attend the meeting, please hand your ballot continued support is greatly appreciated. Secretary to one of the members of the Nominating Clear Skies, Bob Horton Jim Crawford [email protected] Committee – Kathy Siok, Rick Arnold or Bob Napier. The Nominating Committee Treasurer will also have extra ballots available should Membership Renewals Lloyd Merrill [email protected] anyone forget theirs at home. are due in April Members at Large Our operating budget for the coming Membership renewal form on Tom Thibault [email protected] fiscal year, which was introduced at our last page 10 Roger Forsythe [email protected] meeting under New Business, will be voted on this month under Old Business. After Trustees some discussion, we will vote on the motion Executive Committee Jim Brenek [email protected] Steve Siok [email protected] to accept or reject the budget as presented to Meeting Tom Barbish [email protected] the membership last month. This proposed Wednesday, March 31st at 7pm budget, which is published in this newslet- at Seagrave Observatory Star Party Coordinator ter, is only an operating budget so that we Bob Forgiel [email protected] can pay our recurring expenses. A complete All members are welcome to attend. Librarian Bruce Merrill [email protected] Historian Dave Huestis [email protected] Glenn Chaple’s Editor Sky Object of the Month Sirius Jim Hendrickson [email protected] An unwritten law in astronomy states beholder, no matter whether viewed with Directions that you should avoid observing any sky unaided eye, binocular, or telescope. Directions to Seagrave Memorial object when it’s near the horizon. First of Sirius is now on the wane, setting soon Observatory are located on the back all, incoming light has to pass through a after sunset. As it nears the horizon, some- page of this newsletter. greater amount of earth’s atmosphere when thing magical happens. That same atmo- Submissions approaching from a low altitude. Secondly, spheric turbulence that wreaks havoc on sky Submissions to The Skyscraper are ripples from escaping ground heat create objects refracts the light from Sirius, causing always welcome. Please submit items turbulence that’s most troublesome near the it to sparkle in a dazzling array of gemlike for the newsletter no later than April horizon. hues. Its diamond like radiance is inter- 23 to Jim Hendrickson, 1 Sunflower However, if you want to experience one rupted by flashes of ruby red and emerald Circle, North Providence, RI 02911 or of the night sky’s loveliest treats, ignore that green - a visually entrancing sight. e-mail to [email protected]. law and look at Sirius when it’s low in the Next time you set out to do some “seri- sky. When the night sky’s brightest star is ous” astronomy, try a moment to make a E-mail subscriptions To receive The Skyscraper by e-mail, situated high above the southern horizon “Sirius” observation. You’ll be delighted you send e-mail with your name and ad- as it is after sunset on February and March did. dress to [email protected]. Note evenings, it’s a magnificent sight. A gleam- Your comments on this column are wel- that you will no longer receive the ing, sparkling diamond, Sirius captivates the come. E-mail me at [email protected] newsletter by postal mail. www.theSkyscrapers.org The Skyscraper April 2010 3 Celebrating the Sesquicentennial Birthday of Frank Evans Seagrave (1860–1934) March 29, 2010; by Dave Huestis Frank Evans Seagrave was born March During the ensuing years Frank Seagrave ceived canals on the planet, presumably con- 29, 1860, son of Mary Greene (Evans) observed a myriad of objects, including structed by intelligent beings trying to irri- and George Augustus Seagrave. George the sun, variable stars, comets, novae, as- gate the arid planet’s equatorial regions with was a wealthy owner of a textile mill lo- teroids, and of course the planets. And he water from its polar caps. In 1905 Lowell had cated just outside of Providence, as well as fastidiously calculated the orbits of asteroids also begun a search for a planet calculated to a Providence bank president. Young Frank and comets and sent them along to E.C. orbit beyond Neptune. Though Lowell died went to a private school run by the Reverend Pickering (1846-1919), Director of Harvard in November 1916, not having found elusive Wheeler of Providence, whose school was College Observatory from 1877-1919, and “planet X” as it was dubbed, Seagrave told a noted for preparing young men for universi- others. reporter that “it was Percival Lowell’s wish, ty, particularly Brown, and it was there that Of particular note concerning the plan- that when his planet “X” was discovered, his he acquired a knack for mathematics. On ets, in 1901 and 1902 Frank made microm- friend Frank Seagrave would compute its October 26, 1874, at the age of 14, Frank’s eter measurements of the planet Saturn and orbit.” interest in astronomy was awakened by an his ring system.
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