June 2020 the Monthly Newsletter of the Bays Mountain Astronomy Club
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June 2020 The Monthly Newsletter of the Bays Mountain Astronomy Club More on Edited by Adam Thanz this image. See FN1 Chapter 1 Cosmic Reflections William Troxel - BMAC Chair More on this image. See FN2 William Troxel More on Cosmic Reflections this image. See FN3 Greetings fellow BMACers! I want to encourage you to get your show 'n tell items ready because we have another show 'n tell segment for the June First I want to thank Tom Rutherford and his students for sharing meeting. their projects with us last meeting. I also want to thank Adam for suggesting the use of Zoom to have our meeting. I thank Robin Let's talk about some of the business items that we will be for letting us use her account to have the first meeting. And a big covering at this meeting. June is the month for election for thank you to everyone for attending the meeting. June’s meeting Chairman of the club for the next year. I will be placing my name will be using Zoom again. I will be sending out the meeting for your consideration to serve as your club chairman again. If invitation to BMACers the week of the 5th of June. you are interested in placing your name in for consideration, I encourage you to contact Adam as soon as possible. Jonathan Peters will be the primary speaker for the meeting. He will be showing us an update of his personal home observatory. I am working on an idea for the July meeting, normally the annual He has in the past shown us some tantalizing pictures of the picnic, which is usually a really fun time. This year, of course, we preparation and the construction phases of his project. Now he can not meet. More details will be forth coming…. wants to give us a live tour! He will be focusing on how he plans I want to continue to encourage you to get out with your to use the observatory in his observational astronomy interests. I equipment and enjoy the night sky. Try your hand at taking want to thank him for his willingness to share his project with the pictures with your smart phones or DSLRs and get the shot of club. I want to encourage you to share your projects with the the Moon through the eyepiece. Another option could be club, too. Just let me know and I will put you on the schedule for attaching your smart phone or camera to binoculars, I know one our meetings. I hope you will be able to attend online. Look some of you enjoy that as your primary way to look at the night for the invitation e-mail, it will be coming from me. sky. I would also encourage you to mix up the picture a little and Bays Mountain Astronomy Club Newsletter June 2020 3 add different filters to your eyepiece, see what differences beyond color change, if any, you see. I reminded everyone in attendance at the May meeting about using this time to get caught up on your reading, repairs and just practice with the equipment you have. These are very unusual times. No one knows when we will be able to be at the Park doing what we enjoy of sharing this hobby with the public and amongst ourselves. Until next time, please stay safe! We are in this together and we are going to get through this! Clear Skies…. 4 Bays Mountain Astronomy Club Newsletter June 2020 Chapter 2 BMAC Notes More on this image. See FN4 More on BMAC News this image. See FN3 BMACers Take First Step into Virtual World BMAC Members enjoyed their first online meeting on May 8, 2020. Not to let a pandemic hold them back, they attended the meeting through Zoom, a computer interface that allowed them a way to share their video and audio feeds with each other. As William describes in his article, we included all the normal parts of our meeting. We had a key speaker(s), club business, and show and tell! Here are a few pictures from that meeting. Bays Mountain Astronomy Club Newsletter June 2020 6 Just a sampling of BMACers who attended the first online BMAC meeting. 7 Bays Mountain Astronomy Club Newsletter June 2020 One student’s project where she made a robotic arm. 8 Bays Mountain Astronomy Club Newsletter June 2020 We learned about what happens to fruit flies when launched into high orbit. 9 Bays Mountain Astronomy Club Newsletter June 2020 Some images from the balloon launch. 10 Bays Mountain Astronomy Club Newsletter June 2020 Some students couldn’t present in person, so lead educator Tom Rutherford presented for them. 11 Bays Mountain Astronomy Club Newsletter June 2020 Astronomical League Observing Programs • Download a listing of the requirements for each The following information is from the AL website in order to help program in a grid format (pdf). you understand some of the benefits you, as a current BMAC • Listing of programs showing observer level (beginner, member, enjoy. The AL dues are paid by the Park Association. intermediate, advanced). Adam Thanz is the ALCOR (Astronomical League Coordinator) for the club and is the person that accepts observing logs. He is • Listing of programs showing equipment needed required to grade certain observing programs and passes on the (naked-eye, binocular, telescope). pass/fail onto the AL. Any certificates/pins will come from the AL. Observing Programs offer a certificate based upon achieving He will pass on the more advanced programs to the correct certain observing goals and completion is recognized with a person for evaluation of completion. beautiful pin. You are required to observe a specific number of The AL also has a host of other benefits and services for objects from a list or of a specific type (meteors, comets, members. Please visit https://www.astroleague.org for all etc.) with a specific type of instrument (eyes, binoculars, information. telescope). Some Observing Programs have multiple levels of accomplishment within, and some permit observations of Introduction different types (manual vs. go-to, visual vs. imaging) and note this The Astronomical League provides many different Observing on your certificate. There is no time limit for completing the Programs. These Observing Programs are designed to provide a required observing (except for the Planetary Transit Special direction for your observations and to provide a goal. The Awards and the NASA Observing Challenges), but good record Observing Programs have certificates and pins to recognize the keeping is required. observers’ accomplishments and for demonstrating their observing skills with a variety of instruments and objects. The Observing Programs are designed to be individual effort. Each observer must perform all the requirements of each As a quick reference, you can compare the programs in these Observing Program themselves and not rely on other people to lists: locate the objects. This is called "piggy-backing" and is not • Observing Programs (listed alphabetically). acceptable for logging objects for any of the Observing Programs. You are allowed to look through another observer’s 12 Bays Mountain Astronomy Club Newsletter June 2020 telescope to see what the object looks like, but you still need to certificates for partial levels, completion of the Observing locate and observe the object on your own. Program will have a certificate and a pin. When you reach the requisite number of objects, your observing 2 Observing Awards: These usually have a certificate logs are examined by an appropriate authority and you will and a pin upon completion, but usually do not count towards the receive a certificate and pin to proclaim to all that you have Master Observer Award. reached your goal. Many local astronomical societies even post 3 Special Observing Awards: These usually have a lists of those who have obtained their certificates as does the certificate and a pin upon completion, but do not count towards Astronomical League. the Master Observer Progression. They are for very specific one- When you complete an Observing Program by yourself, you time events, and usually require significant effort by the observer. should feel a sense of pride and great accomplishment for what 4 Observing Certificates: These are certificates only and you have just completed. Each Observing Program is designed are given to those who complete the requirements. An example not only to show you a variety of objects in the sky and to learn would be the NASA Observing Challenges. These do not count some science related to those objects, but to also familiarize you towards the Master Observer Progression. with your telescope and how to use it, night-sky navigation (the ability to find the objects in the vastness of space) and to learn 5 Self-Service Certificates: These are certificates only some observing techniques that will enhance your viewing of the and are available on the website for download. An example objects in the programs. would be a Messier Marathon certificate. Types of Certifications Terms of Common Usage in Astronomical League The Astronomical League offers different types of certifications to Observing Programs recognize different levels of accomplishment. There are some terms that will be used throughout Astronomical League Observing Programs. To avoid any confusion due to 1 Observing Programs: These usually require about 100 different definitions, these terms are defined here. observations, may take a year to complete, and often focus on specific objects or techniques. Although there may be Seeing and Transparency 13 Bays Mountain Astronomy Club Newsletter June 2020 Many of the Astronomical League's Observing Programs require lets you set your observing Latitude and Longitude as well as the the inclusion of information on Seeing and Transparency.