Highlights of the February Sky

- - - 1st - - - AM: Antares, Jupiter, Venus, a waning crescent Moon, and Saturn form a 35° arc stretching from southeast to the south-southeast.  

- - - 4th - - - New Moon 4:04 pm EST KAS - - - 10th - - - PM: Aer sunset, look halfway up in the south- General Meeting: Friday, February 1 @ 7:00 pm southwest to see a waxing crescent Moon hanging Kalamazoo Area Math & Science Center - See Page 12 for Details some 6° lower le of Mars.

- - - 12 - - - Observing: Saturday, February 2 @ 7:00 pm First Quarter Moon 5:26 pm EST February Freeze Out - Kalamazoo Nature Center

DUSK: Mercury reemerges from superior conjuncon - look toward the west- Board Meeting: Sunday, February 10 @ 5:00 pm southwest aer sunset. Sunnyside Church - 2800 Gull Road - All Members Welcome

- - - 13th - - - PM: The Moon is in the Hyades, 2° from .

- - - 17th 19th - - - Inside the Newsletter. . . AM: Venus and Saturn are 1° apart. Look toward the southeast before sunrise. January Meeng Minutes...... p. 2 Board Meeng Minutes...... p. 2 - - - 17 - - - PM: A waxing gibbous Recent Addion to KAS Library...... p. 3 Moon is in Cancer, next to Observaons...... p. 3 M44, the Beehive Cluster. Community Outreach in 2019...... p. 4 - - - 26 - - - KAS Member Lunar Eclipse Images.... p. 5 Last Quarter Moon 6:28 am EST Tele Vue 32mm Plössl...... p. 7 NASA Night Sky Notes...... p. 8 - - - 27th - - - DAWN: A waning crescent Star Pares in 2019...... p. 9 Moon is 2° to the upper February Night Sky...... p. 10 right of Jupiter. KAS Board & Announcements...... p. 11 - - - 27th - - - DAWN: The Moon is about General Meeng Preview...... p. 12 halfway between Jupiter and Saturn.   The general meeting of the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society The Kalamazoo Astronomical Society Board met on January was brought to order by President Richard Bell on Friday, 13, 2019 at Sunnyside Church. President Richard Bell called January 11, 2019 at 7:05 pm EDT. Approximately 36 the meeting to order at 5:15 pm. Board members present members and guests were in attendance at the Kalamazoo were Joe Comiskey, Jean DeMott, Scott Macfarlane, Jack Area Math & Science Center (KAMSC). Price, Don Stilwell, and Roger Williams.

Richard began his President’s Report, as he often does, with A full Treasurer’s Report could not be presented as yet in the an update on the Remote Telescope. Much of what Richard absence of Rich Mather. Don had obtained a printout of all covered can be found in the Board Meeting Minutes to your the information available from Advia Credit Union, but more right. Another outreach activity, Science Night at Vicksburg details were needed from Rich to generate a full report. Don Middle School on March 13th, was announced. A list of all and Jack agreed to meet with Rich and to get the data re- our community outreach events to date is on page 4. quired for a full report, which was overdue. Don had con- Richard then discussed our next fund raiser, which officially firmed with Rich that Michigan Form 990 had been submit- begins in mid-February. This effort will see a serious ted with payment to maintain our tax exempt status. upgrade to Owl Observatory. Even though the fund raiser hasn’t started yet, we have already raised significant funds. Regarding the February meeting, Richard had previously About $6,200 was raised in Eclipse Shades sales in 2017. suggested a NOVA program on Pluto and Ultima Thule, but Richard also announced that an anonymous KAS member now he suggested a program that he had done previously on has donated $5,000 toward the upgrade! We hope to raise extrasolar planets. The Board felt that this would be a prefer- $35,000 for the first phase of the project. able alternative. Richard reported a major problem in setting up meeting programs, with an unprecedentedly low response Our feature presentation was the second-ever rate from potential speakers whom he had tried to contact. Open House. Three KAS members were invited to give 10 - Further possibilities were suggested, and Richard said that he 15 minute TED-style presentations. Richard began with an would continue to work on this. overview of Hubble’s Law, which says that a galaxy’s distance is directly proportional to its redshift (or recession In the follow-up category, Richard reported that the Remote velocity). A more distant galaxy recedes away from us faster Telescope Project was awaiting help on the problem of run- than a nearby galaxy. This is caused by the expansion of ning MaxIm DL under control of ACP Observatory Control space and was a significant pre-cursor to the Big Bang Software. He was trying to contact Bob Denny, the creator Theory. Joe Comiskey’s presentation was entitled Does of ACP. Richard also reported that the Owl Observatory Anybody Really Know What Time it Is? and dealt with Upgrade, while barely underway, had already received a sidereal time, which is time determined from the motion of a number of donations. He asked whether or not a keypad planet relative to the stars. This relates directly to the should be obtained for the Astro-Physics mount, but that the celestial coordinate system (Right Ascension and mount should only be run under computer control. He also declination), which was also covered. Mark Miller then mentioned that we need to update the license for the Soft- discussed Two New Planets for the New Year. First was New ware Bisque program TheSky. After a motion by Joe and Horizons’ encounter with Ultima Thule (officially 2014 second by Jean, the Board voted unanimously to make the MU69) on January 1st. Ultima Thule was revealed to be a purchase. contact binary object. Only modest resolution images have been returned thus far. Sharper views are coming, but it will The next follow-up item concerned what should be done be 20 months before all the data is downloaded from the with the donated telescopes still being held by the club, some spacecraft! Mark then reported on NASA’s OSIRIS-Rex of which are not being borrowed or are not in working order. mission to asteroid 101955 Bennu. OSIRIS arrived at Bennu After some discussion, it was decided that Jack would make on December 3rd and went into orbit on December 31st. Mark a current inventory of the instruments, after which the Board concluded by showing how samples will be collected in 2020 would decide what should be kept for loaners and what and returned to Earth in 2023. should be sold. Jean cautioned that we should be sure to clean up and test them as necessary before offering any for Several members shared observing reports after the snack sale. break. Bob & Barb Havira recently traveled to Iceland, but did not see any aurora. Joe Comiskey observed Comet 46P/ The final item in this category was a recap of a few of the Wirtanen. It was bright (for a comet), but not overly planned outreach activities. These included Science Night at impressive. In astronomical news, China’s Chang’e 4 landed Vicksburg Middle School on March 13th and Ransom Dis- on the farside of the Moon on January 3rd. Jack Price trict Library on June 24th from 2 - 4 pm. Richard reminded mentioned the 2019 dates for the Great Lakes Star Gaze (see everyone about how crowded the outreach schedule is and page 9 for this and many other dates). The about the number of members we need to carry out the pro- meeting concluded at 9:17 pm. gram.

Prime Focus Page 2 February 2019 In new business, the KAS had received an invitation to at- tend the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation grantee gathering on February 7th, and Jack volunteered to attend representing the KAS. Richard alerted the Board to the need for year 2019 Public Observing Session brochures. The consensus was that 1,500 should be ordered. Action was deferred until Don could check prices with an alternative supplier. Jack and Joe gave a brief report on their recent appearance at the Air Zoo, which had gone quite well. In a final item, Jean noted that The Lunar Eclipse Watch scheduled for January 20th at the Mike Sinclair had been spending much time watching the Nature Center turned out to be a successful failure. Dutton Street doors of KAMSC on general meeting nights. Amazingly, for January, skies were crystal clear, but we had She suggested that we organize a schedule that would take to cancel due to brutally low temperatures. During the the pressure off Mike. eclipse, the temperature ranged from 1° F to -3° F with a windchill around -11° F. My plan was to turn Owl With the conclusion of business, the meeting was adjourned Observatory into a warm room, but the fresh snowfall the at 6:56 pm. The next meeting was set for 5pm on February day before made access to the observatory problematic. 10th at Sunnyside. Fortunately, total lunar eclipses can be viewed safely with Respectfully submitted by Roger Williams unfiltered eyes, binoculars and telescopes so members and the public could observe the eclipse from home. It’s clear, from e-mail reports and member images beginning on page 5, that’s what many of you did. The Moon would be high enough above my tree line to image the entire eclipse from my backyard. So, I cleared out an area of my yard with a snow blower on Saturday and setup on Sunday, just in time New Addition to be interviewed by WWMT. This was preceded by an interview over the phone with WKZO on Monday. Always to the KAS Library good to get some publicity for the KAS!

by Karen Woodworth, Ph.D. I was planning to setup my computer outside and have it control the camera during the eclipse (just like I did for the Eight DVDs. Nine books. 96 half-hour lectures for a total of Great American Eclipse on August 21st). Fortunately, my 48 hours. There's a lot of fascinating information in a recent Canon 6D DSLR camera has wireless capability, so I addition to the KAS Library. Thanks to the KAS member decided to control it from the inside. That way I wouldn’t who donated the complete set of "Understanding the Uni- have to make multiple trips in and out to check things over. verse: An Introduction to Astronomy, 2nd Edition" from The It also occurred to me that I would be able to share images of Great Courses. In this course, Professor Alex Filippenko of the eclipse fresh off my camera with our Twitter followers. the University of California, Berkeley, presents a look at the universe from basic information to discussion of advanced My plan was to take images every 15 seconds and create a concepts. He divides the lectures into three sections: time-lapse movie sometime down the road. (I STILL haven’t "Observing the Heavens," "Contents of the Universe," and had the time to create a time-lapse movie from my solar "Cosmology: The Universe as a Whole." The set was re- eclipse images.) Things seemed to be working fine at first, leased in 2007. but then I noticed several failures to take images and then I lost the connection with my camera. The wireless connection Although the video presentations can stand alone, each DVD was just too slow to download 19MB RAW files every 15 has an accompanying printed volume. These pale-colored seconds. I unsuccessfully tried 30 seconds, but then settled books include the scope (summary) and outline for each lec- on 1-minute gaps. Plus, my polar alignment wasn’t as spot ture, along with a printed transcript, suggested reading, and on as I had hoped and/or it was just too cold for my mount to questions for you to consider or discuss at the end. The tran- track properly. The Moon never left the field-of-view of the scripts help to compensate for the lack of closed captions on camera, but aligning the images for a time-lapse movie the DVDs. You could just read the transcripts, but you would be very time consuming. Oh well, I’ll make another would miss out on the visual illustrations that aid in under- attempt on May 16, 2022. standing the information. Each volume also includes time- lines of the universe and the , a glossary, bio- My lunar eclipse tweets were somewhat popular with our graphical notes, and a bibliography. The green "Course 308 followers. Then I decided to tweet one of the totality Guidebook" brings together all the information from printed images at a past guest speaker, the “Bad ” Phil volumes one through eight except for the transcripts, which Plait. He liked it enough to comment on it, which went to his are not included. Looking through the guidebook could be a 613,000 followers. One of those followers was Elon Musk, good way to decide which DVD you'd like to watch. who then shared it with his 24.4 million followers! Things then went crazy from there. To date, Elon’s tweet showing Each DVD and printed volume has its own card. You can one of my images has been retweeted over 15,000 times and check them out individually from the KAS library. Write like nearly 136,000 times. Our followers skyrocketed and your name and date on the back of the card and place it in the currently stand at 2,080! CNET even wrote a brief story card box. Each will be due at the next meeting. about it. What a great night!

Prime Focus Page 3 February 2019 The mission of the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society is to promote the exchange of information among those with a common interest in all areas of astronomy, to educate the public about astronomical discoveries and events and to cooperate with other amateur and professional astronomical organizations. To realize this goal, we participate in several events throughout the southwest Michigan community every year.

This year will be especially active since the 2019 Summer Reading Program at Michigan libraries is “A Universe of Stories.” Below are some of the events we’ve agreed to participate in thus far. More will certainly be added. For this to be a success, we will need new volunteers. You do not need any special knowledge in astronomy to volunteer, so contact us today and sign up!

Candlelight Trails Under the Wolf Moon Summer Reading Program When: Saturday, January 19, 7 – 9pm When: Monday, June 24, 2 – 4pm Where: Pierce Cedar Creek Institute Where: Ransom District Library 701 W. Cloverdale Rd. 180 S Sherwood Ave. Hastings, MI 49058 Plainwell, MI 49080 http://www.cedarcreekinstitute.org/ https://www.ransomlibrary.org/ Activities: Lunar observing if clear Activities: Presentation, hands-on and solar observing

Family Science Night Kindleberger Festival When: Wednesday, February 20, 6 – 8pm When: Saturday, July 13, 9am – 3pm Where: Hastings Public Library Where: Kindleberger Park 227 E State St. 401 S Riverview Dr. (library) Hastings, MI 49058 Parchment, MI 49004 https://www.hastingspubliclibrary.org/ https://www.kindlebergerarts.org/ Activities: Display, hands-on, and observing (if clear) Activities: Displays, hands-on and solar observing

Science Night Barry County Builds When: Saturday, March 13, 6 – 8pm When: Wednesday, September 18, 6 – 8pm Where: Vicksburg Middle School Where: Hastings Public Library 348 E. Prairie St. 227 E State St. Vicksburg, MI 49097 Hastings, MI 49058 http://www.vicksburgcommunityschools.org/ https://www.hastingspubliclibrary.org/ Activities: Displays, hands-on, and observing (if clear) Activities: Display and hands-on

Barry County Science Festival Crane Festival When: Saturday, March 23, 10am – 3pm When: October 12 & October 13, 12 – 7pm Where: Pierce Cedar Creek Institute Where: Kiwanis Youth Conservation Area 701 W. Cloverdale Rd. 22300 15 Mile Rd. Hastings, MI 49058 Bellevue, MI 49021 http://www.cedarcreekinstitute.org/ https://www.michiganaudubon.org/ Activities: Hands-on or demonstration, and solar observing Activities: Display and solar observing

Family Science Night Spooky Science Saturday When: Wednesday, June 19, 6 – 8pm When: Saturday, October 12, 11am – 3pm Where: Pierce Cedar Creek Institute Where: Kingman Museum 701 W. Cloverdale Rd. 175 Limit St. Hastings, MI 49058 Battle Creek, MI 49037 http://www.cedarcreekinstitute.org/ http://www.kingmanmuseum.org/ Activities: Hands-on and solar observing Activities: Hands-on and/or solar observing

Summer Park Party Kick-Off WMU Youth Day When: Friday, June 21, 1:30 – 4:30 pm When: TBA (Usually mid-October or early November) Where: Richland Community Library Where: Seelye Center 8951 Park St. 1903 W Michigan Ave. Richland, MI 49083 Kalamazoo, MI 49008 https://www.richlandlibrary.org/ https://wmubroncos.com/ Activities: Display, hands-on, and solar observing Activities: Displays

Prime Focus Page 4 February 2019 Richard Bell Taken with a Stellarvue 130mm f/7 refractor and Canon 6D DSLR camera on an Astro-Physics Mach1GTO German equatorial mount. It is a 6- second exposure at ISO 200. Cropped from the original and processed with Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop.

Dave Garten Taken with an EON 120mm f/7.5 refractor and Canon 60D DSLR camera on a Losmandy G- 11 German equatorial mount. It is a 4-second exposure at ISO 200.

Tim Kurtz Taken with a Canon XTi DSLR camera and 100 - 300mm telephoto lens set at 300mm and f/5.6. It is a 0.5-second exposure at ISO 1600 on a stationary tripod. Cropped from the original.

January 20/21, 2019 Arya Jayatilaka Taken with a Canon 60D DSLR camera and 70 - 400mm telephoto lens set at 400 mm (with a 2× extender) and f/7.1. It is a 1-second exposure at ISO 3200 on a stationary tripod. Cropped from the original.

Eric Schreur Taken with a Canon 60Da camera and Sigma 70 - 300 mm lens set at 300mm riding piggyback on a Celestron CPC Deluxe 925 SCT. Images taken at 30 second intervals with totality shots removed except for mid-eclipse. This reveals the outline of Earth’s umbra. Processed with Startrails and Adobe Photoshop.

Joshua Taylor-Lehman Taken with a ZWO ASI294MC Pro CMOS camera and Explore Scientific f/7.5 127mm refractor (with Hotech Field Flattener and Celestron UHC filter) on a Celestron CGEM II German equatorial mount. It is a 30-second exposure.

January 20/21, 2019 We often spend our observing sessions finding a target and zooming in to greater and greater magnifications until seeing Specifications obscures the image into a shimmering blur. But just for a Barrel Size: 1.25" moment, let’s take a wider perspective and discuss an eye- piece that I find very interesting. In almost any given view- Focal Length: 32 mm ing situation I would select a different ocular than the Tele Apparent Field-of-View (AFOV): 50° Vue 32mm Plössl. And yet, despite this, I have never left on a night excursion without the TV32P in my bag. In this arti- Number of Lens Elements: 4 cle I would like to discuss the various advantages that en- sures this tool stays close at hand. While reading along, feel Eye Relief: 22 mm free to compare it to your own collection and see how it Field Stop: 27 mm fares. Weight: 6.2 oz. Field of View With the long focal length of 32mm, this eyepiece is always quick swap with a lightweight TV32P gets me 30% wider going to be a low magnification, wide field-of-view tool. If view and those few extra stars makes all the difference when you have the capability of utilizing a 2-inch barrel you might I am navigating to a new target. be inclined to grab something different than the smaller Plössl. And I would say that is exactly what you should do if Exit Pupil you are looking for those long, slow strolls through the sum- mer Milky Way laden sky. With its limited 50° apparent If you consider that exit pupil (the size of the light cone en- field-of-view (AFOV) and short field stop, any 82° 2-inch tering your eye) is equal to the eyepiece focal length over the eyepiece will beat out the TV32P. But those eyepieces are f/ratio of the scope you see that the TV32P will have a larger heavy, expensive, often have overly high exit pupil for the exit pupil than any other eyepiece in your collection making conditions and require a bit more commitment to finding a the view brighter. Unfortunately, in light polluted areas this truly dark site. Putting it means unwanted light also appears brighter. An expensive more realistically, I live in eyepiece’s potential is wasted in these conditions. I don’t and observe around Kala- think you will see Our Fearless Leader, Richard, pulling out mazoo, MI. Those other his Tele Vue 31mm Nagler Type 5 eyepiece at the Nature eyepieces are going to be Center. That particular ocular will not start to really shine completely underutilized until it is used at a truly dark site. I’m not saying that the during my typical observ- Plössl doesn’t suffer this same ailment, but at ¼ of the cost ing session. As an observ- and a fraction of the weight it might be just the right tool for er I am looking for some- the job in less than ideal conditions. Being the lightest eye- thing a little different piece in my collection, the TV32P is easy to store, carry and when close to home. swap into the focuser at any time during a viewing session.

Compared to the ridicu- Cost and Quality lously heavy 82° ES-30 New, this eyepiece is $150. On the classifieds you could pick the TV32 Plössl is svelte it up for around 120 bucks. With the exception of Takahashi, and easily transportable. I every other Plössl may cost less…but the price is really at may not use it most nights the focuser. Results of lower quality equivalents are black- out but it is an eyepiece outs, limited AFOV and edge aberrations, including astigma- that is always in my grab tism. And please don’t get me started on quality control. A and go kit. There is no real quick search shows that there is really no equivalents at 1.25- commitment made by carrying it along and it very often en- inch barrel size and 32mm focal length. riches the viewing experience by giving perspective to the star field around nebulas and open clusters. For example the 62° Explore Scientific 26mm is a slightly different design but gives a similar view except with a higher Any given night I usually use my 17.5mm, 72° eyepiece to magnification. The edge of view quality and weight are not start a search for a planet, open cluster or hunt down a deep as favorable in this other eyepiece but it is also slightly less sky object. A little star-hopping with the view finder leaves expensive and has a shorter eye relief so subsequently, po- me a bit lost though. Because the stars are just too dim in the tentially easier eye placement. finder and the eyepiece may not have enough stars in a spars- er viewing area I have trouble finding the next star group. A For those of you interested in doing your own research, find

Prime Focus Page 7 February 2019 NASA Night Sky Notes... Hexagon at Night, Quartet in the Morning

by David Prosper

The stars that make up the Winter Hexagon are some of the brightest in the night sky and February evenings are a great time to enjoy their sparkly splendor. The Winter Hexagon is so large in size that the six stars that make up its points are also the brightest members of six different constellations, making the Hexagon a great starting point for learning the winter sky. Find the Hexagon by looking southeast after sunset and finding the bright red star that forms the “left shoulder” of the constellation Orion: The author poses with his wife, McKenzie, and 10-inch . You can think of Betelgeuse as the center of a Dobsonian at the 2018 Messier Marathon, held at th large irregular clock, with the Winter Hexagon stars as the Richland Township Park on March 17 . clock’s hour numbers. Move diagonally across Orion to spot its “right foot,” the bright star . Now move clockwise a good write up such as the following: chuckhawks.com. A from Rigel to the brightest star in the night sky: in few simple equations can really help in understanding an . Continue ticking along clockwise to in eyepiece. (And for those of you who are clever and are con- and then towards Pollux, the brighter of the sidering the TV 40mm Plössl, just remember that the 1.25” twins. Keep moving around the circuit to find barrel size is always going to limit the field stop to around in , and finish at orange Aldebaran, the “eye” 27mm in this design. That means that the field-of-view is not of the V-shaped face of the Bull. going to appear larger, rather a vignette due to the edge of the barrel. This may result in a more forgiving eye place- Two naked-eye planets are visible in the evening sky this ment…but I digress). month. As red Mars moves across Pisces, NASA’s InSight Mission is readying its suite of geological instruments Experience designed to study the Martian interior. InSight and the rest of humanity’s robotic Martian emissaries will soon be joined by In my 90mm Celestron f/10 refractor the eyepiece is a great the Mars 2020 rover. The SUV-sized robot is slated to performer. Wide field of view, sharp contrast, pleasant color launch next year on a mission to study the possibility of past rendition and long eye relief makes using this eyepiece en- life on the red planet. A conjunction between Mars and joyable. Most frequently with this scope, I use the TV32P for Uranus on February 13th will be a treat for telescopic solar observations. observers. Mars will pass a little over a degree away from Uranus and larger magnifications will allow comparisons Where this eyepiece really shines is in my 10-inch f/5 Dob- between the small red disc of dusty Mars with the smaller sonian. The Earth’s shadow during last month’s spectacular and much more distant blue-green disc of ice giant Uranus. eclipse of the Moon was perfectly rendered in the Tele Vue 32mm Plössl. At a magnification of 39×, it encompassed, in Speedy Mercury has a good showing this month and makes its entirety, the ruddy oranges of central seas and contrasting its highest appearance in the evening on February 27th; spot it mountains jutting into above the western horizon at sunset. An unobstructed space around the lunar western view and binoculars will greatly help in catching edge in a single frame. Mercury against the glow of evening twilight. And that same evening it just captured the nearby The morning planets put on quite a show in February. Look M44 Beehive Cluster in for the bright planets Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn above the tight view (as depicted on eastern horizon all month, at times forming a neat lineup. A the left). Even without a crescent Moon makes a stunning addition on the mornings of coma corrector stars to the February 1st – 2nd, and again on the 28th. Watch over the edge remain pleasant. course of the month as Venus travels from its position above Jupiter to below dimmer Saturn. Venus and Saturn will be in And finally, the way I like close conjunction on the 18th; see if you can fit both planets to end any introduction for into the same telescopic field of view. A telescope reveals a newcomer to the night sky is to turn to the Pleiades. An the brilliant thin crescent phase of Venus waxing into a wide excellently framed bright open cluster always inspires. The gibbous phase as the planet passes around the other side of only eyepiece I use for this is the Tele Vue 32mm Plössl. our . The Night Sky Network has a simple activity on its Easy, bright, perfect. website that helps explain the nature of both Venus and Mercury’s phases. Aaron Roman first joined the KAS in December 2017 and is becoming a frequent presence at our general meetings and You can catch up on all of NASA’s current and future observing sessions. missions at nasa.gov.

Prime Focus Page 8 February 2019 Star Parties in 2019 Pack your bags, collimate your scope, and clean those eyepieces! It’s time to hit the road and attend a star party (or two). Listed below are some the major star parties that have already announced their dates for 2019. Registration deadlines for each star party may be different (or even passed), so please visit their websites for the latest information.

If you plan to attend any of the events listed (or not listed) here then let us know. Maybe other KAS members would like to attend. Plus, if you do attend any star parties this year, please consider writing a report for Prime Focus. Clear Skies!

Winter Star Party Table Mountain Star Party February 4 – 10 July 30 – August 3 http://www.scas.org/Home/winterStarParty http://www.tmspa.com/

Staunton River Star Party Stellafane March 4 – 10 August 1 – 4 http://www.chaosastro.com/starparty/ http://stellafane.org/

Northeast Astronomy Forum & Telescope Show Starfest April 6 – 7 August 22 – 25 http://www.rocklandastronomy.com/neaf.html http://www.nyaa.ca/

Texas Star Party Saskatchewan Summer Star Party April 28 – May 5 August 28 – September 2 http://www.texasstarparty.org/ https://sssp.saskatoon.rasc.ca/

Bootleg Spring Star Party Almost Heaven Star Party May 30 – June 2 August 30 – September 3 http://www.bootlegastronomy.com/ http://www.ahsp.org/

Cherry Springs Star Party RTMC Astronomy Expo May 30 – June 2 September 19 – 22 http://www.cherrysprings.org/ http://www.rtmcastronomyexpo.org/

Michiana Star Party Okie-Tex Star Party May 31 – June 2 September 21 – 29 http://www.michiana-astro.org/ http://www.okie-tex.com/

Grand Canyon Star Party Great Lakes Star Gaze June 22 – 29 September 26 – 29 http://tucsonastronomy.org/ http://www.greatlakesstargaze.com/

Rocky Mountain Star Stare Black Forest Star Party June 26 – 30 September 27 – 29 http://www.rmss.org/ http://www.bfsp.org/

Golden State Star Party Connecticut Star Party June 29 – July 3 September 27 –29 http://www.goldenstatestarparty.org/ http://asnh.org/

Nebraska Star Party Peach State Star Gaze July 28 – August 2 October 20 – 27 http://www.nebraskastarparty.org/ http://atlantaastronomy.org/pssg/

Oregon Star Party Eldorado Star Party July 30 – August 4 October 21 – 26 http://www.oregonstarparty.org/ http://www.eldoradostarparty.org/

Prime Focus Page 9 February 2019 — February Night Sky —

This star map is property of the This map represents the sky at the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society. NORTH following local standard mes: However you may make as many • Late January 10 pm copies as you wish free-of- • Early February 9 pm charge, so long as it is for non- profit educaonal purposes and • Late February 8 pm full credit is given to the KAS. • Early March 7 pm www.kasonline.org EAST WEST

SOUTH

he Moon, one day past first quarter, phase, will pass below the famous From February 17th - 19th, the two worlds T will spend the evening of February Beehive Cluster (M44) on the evening of will appear to be at least 1.5° apart (1° on 13th in the Hyades cluster in Taurus. The February 17th. Glare from the Moon will the 18th). Look low in the southeastern Moon will be 2° from Aldebaran, but is make it difficult to see the cluster, so use sky before sunrise. not a physical member of the Hyades. binoculars or a wide-field telescope. This celestial scene will look splendid in A waning crescent Moon will be 2° to the 7×50 binoculars! Venus, currently acting as the brilliant upper right of Jupiter before dawn on Morning Star, spends the month coming February 27th, and between Jupiter and The Moon, now in a waxing gibbous ever closer to the ringed planet Saturn. Saturn on the 28th. February 2019 Page 11 PRESIDENT Richard S. Bell

VICE PRESIDENT Jack Price Winter nights can be ideal for observing. When it's actually TREASURER clear during a winter night in Michigan, the sky can be unbelievably transparent. So why don't amateur Rich Mather turn out in droves to winter observing sessions? It's because it gets REALLY, REALLY COLD on a SECRETARY/ALCOR clear winter night! Now comes the time of year when the hardcore members of the KAS brave the frigid Roger Williams temperatures to enjoy the deep sky delights that most people probably miss because of the frigid conditions. PUBLICITY MANAGER Saturday, February 2 @ 7:00 pm Joe Comiskey Kalamazoo Nature Center MEMBERS-AT-LARGE

Jean De Mo Sco Macfarlane NEW ITEMS IN Don Slwell

E-MAIL a BOARD MEMBER

KAS Lapel Pin Miller Planisphere KAS Embroidered Caps $5.00 $13.00 $20.00 each ORDER ONLINE AT: skyshop.kasonline.org Volunteers Needed @

The KAS has been invited to parcipate in the third annual Family Science Night at Hasngs Public Library (located at 227 East State St.). Members are needed to help setup and take down a display, help with a hands-on acvity, pass out KAS literature, and answer quesons from students and parents. A member is also needed to setup a telescope outside if skies are clear. Please contact us if you’d like to lend a helping hand.

| General Meeting Preview

The existence of planets around other stars is the biggest foregone conclusion in the history of science. Many astronomers, ancient philosophers, and science ficon writers had no doubt that the Sun’s family of planets was not unique and that the universe must be liered with an infinite number of worlds. Centuries of speculaon became proof in the waning years of the 20th century when the first extrasolar planets were finally discovered. Today we know of nearly 4,000 planets orbing other stars. Richard Bell, President of the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society, takes us on a tour of some of these alien worlds and will outline the various methods of detecon. Plus, we’ll get a preview of past, present and future extrasolar planet discovery missions. Friday, February 1 @ 7:00 pm Kalamazoo Area Math & Science Center

600 West Vine, Suite 400 • Use Dutton St. Entrance ─ Dutton Entrance Locked by 7:10 pm ─

Kalamazoo Astronomical Society c/o KAMSC STAMP 600 West Vine, Suite 400 Kalamazoo, MI 49008

© February 2019, Stargazer Productions