Inside this Issue:
President’s Message 2 SPACE January Astronomical Events 3 November Field Report 3-4 St. Petersburg Astronomy Club Examiner Space Exploration 5
Geminids & Great Conjunction 6-7 December 2020 Editor – Guy Earle SPAC Astrophotography 8-10 The St. Petersburg Astronomy Club has been the center of NGC literature (part 1 of 2) 11-15 family astronomy in the Tampa Bay Area since 1927. Our 286 adult members are dedicated to promoting and sharing the wonders and Mirror Lab Report 16-18 science of astronomy. We host dark-sky and local star parties, Arecibo and Chang’e 5 18-19 telescope-making workshops, science lectures, astronomy lectures, educational outreach sessions and much more.
Astronomy Image of the Month
This outstanding image was done by SPAC member Omar Rahman, showing the Heart Nebula, IC 1805, with narrowband filters (H-alpha, Sii, and Oiii). Total 8 hours of exposure (90 frames). Taken Nov 1-3 from the back yard. ED102 with reducer (436mm), EQ6-R, ASI1600mm Pro. St. Petersburg Astronomy Club Examiner December 2020
President’s Message
As 2020 comes to a close, and we peer back at the year, you realize it’s better to look forward and not dwell on the past. The first couple of months were, for the most part, normal. OBS 2020 was a success, thanks to Mike Partain and our volunteers. Then, everything changed. All of our outreach activities had been put on hold. We moved our general meetings on-line, to avoid in person group meetings. The 2021 Annual Star Party was canceled and replaced with a New Moon Super Weekend. In spite of the pandemic, interest in astronomy and the club has grown. More people are showing up to the new moon weekends. On average, we are adding new members every month. As we move into 2021, and life begins to slowly move back to a sense of normality, the club will pick up the projects that were put on hold during 2020. Until then, from my family to yours, have a Safe and Happy Holidays! Clear skies. Brad Perryman
December General Meeting The club’s next New Moon observing weekend will be held December 11th-13th This month’s general meeting will take at Withlacoochee River Park. January’s place on Friday, December 18th at 8:00 observing weekend will be the 8th-10th. PM. The main program will be by Tom Field, who will be presenting, “Spectroscopy for Everyone with Rspec Software.”
This meeting will be held virtually with GoToMeeting.com.
New SPAC Members Please join from your computer, tablet or smartphone by clicking here. We would like to welcome Sandi & Timothy Croughn, Lee Jarvis, Alexie Velez & Yanira You can also dial in using your phone. Hernandez, Kathy & Bob Radler, Joe & Shirley United States: +1 (786) 535-3211 Litton, and Michael Musto to our family of Access Code: 192-720-429 members.
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January Astronomical Events First Quarter – January 20 Full Moon – January 28 STEVE ROBBINS
Saturday, January 2, the Earth is at perihelion, 0.9833 AU from the Sun. Sunday, January 3 is the Quadrantid Meteor Shower with a ZHR of about 120, that’s two per minute with a last quarter moon rising just before midnight. Saturday, January 9 the Moon is at perigee, 367400 km from Earth. Monday, January 11, Venus will be 1.5º north of the Moon.
Tuesday January 12, the moon is at lowest southern declination, -24.9º. Thursday, January 21, the moon will be at Field Report: New Moon Weekend, apogee, 404400 km from Earth. November 13-15, 2020 Saturday, January 23, Saturn is at conjunction on the far side of the Sun and KELLY ANDERSON Mercury is at greatest elongation 18.6º east of The November edition of the SPAC New the Sun. Moon Weekend was, like the October session, Tuesday, January 26, the Moon will be at enthusiastically attended with good company greatest northern declination, +24.9°. (safely distanced, of course) enough clear Thursday, January 28, Jupiter will be at skies to make the trip conjunction. Superior planets are always at well worth the effort. superior conjunction, never at inferior Nearly 30 people conjunction between Earth and the Sun. Now attended, along with you know the logic behind the designations of a group of Girl Scouts the two kinds of conjunction! who visited on Saturday night to see January’s full moon is unimaginably called what this astronomy the Full Cold Moon. thing was all about.
The early arrivals The Moon on Thursday were Joe Third Quarter – January 6 Canzoneri and your Guy Earle demonstrates New Moon – January 13 Intrepid Field Reporter. to our visitors
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On Saturday we welcomed Tom & Chris Spano, Annual Telescope Raffle Kelly McGrew, Doug Sliman, Jamie Kenas, Roy The St. Petersburg Astronomy & Elizabeth Wood, and Leeann Muszynski, Club mirror lab would like to bringing the crowd up to full strength. Great present our 2021 raffle scope to be levity ensued. Cloud cover was pretty much the awarded at our club’s 2021 New Moon Super same as Friday, with a couple of two-hour Weekend, February 10th through 14th, 2021. windows of clear skies, but humidity was way The raffle scope is a tradition here at SPAC down, visibility was up, and the temperature and this year’s telescope is a club refurbished was a bit lower. Overall a very comfortable 12-inch Meade Lightbridge. Tickets are $10 night, although we wouldn’t have complained donation/each or 3 for $25. All donations go had the openings had been a bit longer. Shortly to the St. Petersburg Astronomy Club. after dark we hosted a covey of Girl Scouts and The raffle will be their leaders. As usual, exclamations of conducted on February “Wow!” were heard as our young guests were 13th and the winner will treated to their first views of the heavens be announced via email through Guy’s telescope. Astronomy never to all participants. fails to impress. Apparently, neither does Guy. Online Raffle
OBS Cancellation MIKE PARTAIN
With a heavy heart I write this article to inform everyone that our 2021 OBS has been officially cancelled due to ongoing Western Veil Nebula – Joe Canzoneri pandemic. In lieu of the OBS star Party, we will Make sure you note on your calendar that have a club member only New Moon Super the next New Moon Weekend will be Weekend between February 10th and February December 11 – 13, conveniently not close to 14th. This event requires no pre-registration the Holidays. No doubt the skies will continue and is a first come first served basis subject to to become clearer as we approach the depth park regulations and fees. Please see the of Winter, such as it is in Florida. Be safe, stay club’s website for exact details. healthy, keep looking up! I also remind everyone that our 12” mirror lab raffle scope is currently open to purchase
Page 4 St. Petersburg Astronomy Club Examiner December 2020 tickets and will be raffled on Saturday https://www.livescience.com/fastest-all-sky- February 13th 2021. map-ever-askap.html In 300 hours just over a month ago, they mapped 83% of the known universe, 3 million galaxies, a million of which Space Exploration News were previously unknown in a mere 300 STEVE ROBBINS hours. Now they promise to take their time We’ve moved. We’re moving faster. and obtain much deeper results. We are NOT headed toward a black hole as CNN so imaginatively reported. Star Party Apparel https://scitechdaily.com/earth-16000-mph- faster-2000-light-years-closer-to- Star Party Apparel: We would like to take supermassive-black-hole-in-the-center-of- a moment to recognize Doug Sliman, who the-milky-way/ Breaking entirely new ground was the winner for the 2021 OBS logo design. Japan’s VERA, yes, an acronym, but this time We instituted a new process involving the an acronym containing an acronym, the V club membership to vote for a logo design. standing for VLBI, Very Long Baseline We will not be taking orders for the t-shirt Interferometry Exploration of Radio since the OBS is cancelled, however, Doug Astronometry, say that fast five times, has has provided us with a link to order a shirt for enough resolution to detect a penny on the those who nonetheless want this ultra-cool surface of the Moon. Mapping the locations design! and space motions of 99 deep space objects in version one of their catalog. This had the effect of replacing our old value of distance to Sagittarius A* from 27,700 ly to a closer 25,800 ly, and since we are closer to the galactic center than we thought our orbital velocity has been updated from 220 km/s to 227 km/s. This was not an emergency. You may resume your normal activities.
Not to be outdone by upstarts, such as GAIA or VERA, the Australians have their own T-Shirts must be ordered by Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder January 4th (ASKAP) radio telescope, 36 radio telescope Click on this link to order: Apparel Order array in Western Australia’s outback.
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The Geminids Meteor Shower & the Great Conjunction
GUY EARLE
I made a mention in last month’s newsletter of both the Geminids Meteor Shower and the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. First, let’s talk a bit more about the Geminids, which will likely be the best meteor shower of 2020. And let’s face it, something positive out of 2020 is something to be very, VERY happy about. The meteor shower takes place from December 4th to the 16th, with the peak viewing being on the night of the 13th, which happens to be Sunday night. So, if you’re at Withlacoochee River Park on the 12th, you’ll likely have a good show. You see, there’s never a celestial guarantee that you won’t have a big, bright Moon to totally wash out a meteor shower, and as it happens the Geminids will be right around New Moon, so that’s optimal viewing. Being the most active meteor shower, on a good night you can see up to 75 meteors per hour, starting when the constellation Gemini is in the eastern sky (hence the name of the meteor shower, because it looks like the meteors are radiating from that constellation), peaking around 2 AM and continuing until dawn. I’ve seen two spectacular meteor showers since I started in this hobby—many okay showers, but not spectacular; the first was in the mid-90’s at the old Hill in Brooksville, our original dark sky sight and another in Chiefland, a few years later. This has all the possibility of being that good. Now, on to the Great Conjunction! Well, some are calling it the “double planet,” others, the “Christmas star” (that’s a whole other historical-astronomical tale). Every 19.6 years Jupiter, being closer to the Sun that Saturn, does a lap inside Saturn’s orbit. So, to those looking up from Earth it appears that in that particular year, Jupiter and Saturn get very close in the sky just after sunset in the west. This is year they just don’t get close, they appear to merge into one bright dot (less than 0.1 degrees—by comparison the Moon is .5 degrees). It’s so close, with a low-power eyepiece in most telescopes you’ll easily be able to see both planets! That’s no small astronomical event, since it not only happens every 19.6 years, but this particular conjunction has them so close that the last time these two massive planets appeared (bear in mind, it’s only perspective from the Earth, not in space) the year was 1623.
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Think about that. The last time these two planets appeared this close in the night sky Galileo had only invented his first telescope 14 years before. But even in 1623 the planets, being so close to the setting Sun at that time, were likely not observed. The last time this event was seen to the naked eye was very likely in 1226 AD. Take the time to find a view of the southwestern horizon from now until the night of December 21st, because Jupiter and Saturn will not be this close again in our lifetime. This is the way.
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SPAC Astrophotography
Here are some fantastic astrophotography highlights from our fellow SPAC members. Anyone who would like to share his or her work, I encourage you to email the editor to submit for future newsletters or share them on our SPAC Facebook page.
Top: Melotte 15 & IC 1795 Dates: 2020-10-30, 2020-11-04 Location: My house, St Pete OTA: Celestron RASA 11 Mount: Celestron CGX Camera: ZWO ASI 1600MM
Exposures: HA: 180s x 85, OIII: 180s x41
Filters: Baader Highspeed HA, OIII
by Jamie Kenas ------Right: IC 443 Jellyfish Nebula Took a couple nights to get data for this one, this about 5 hrs worth of 180s exposures by Todd Vogt
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Left: The Pacman Nebula taken from my
home in zephyrhills last night with a Vixen 80mm refractor 30sec exp for 45minute by Joe Canz
Below: Anderson Astronomical Observatory (my back yard). It's the Orion Nebula, AKA Messier 41. This image consists of 36 two-minute exposures with a Canon 70D DSLR mounted on a 127 mm (5 inch) apochromatic (translation: expensive) refractor. Processed in PixInsight. For what it's worth, I also used 10 darks, 10
biases, and 20 flat exposures for
calibration by Kelly Anderson.
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Above: IC 405 The Flaming Star
Nebula
Dates: 2020-12-01 Location: My house, St Pete OTA: Celestron RASA 11 Mount: Celestron CGX Camera: ZWO ASI 2600MC Exposures: 180s x120 Filters: Optolong L'enhance by Jamie Kenas Left: 15-day Full Moon 11/29/2020 Meade 60mm ETX and Neximage 10 by the editor
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A Review of NGC Books and Catalogues
by SPAC member Kelly McGrew
This review covers books describing • Wolfgang Steinicke, Observing and and illustrating objects from the New General Cataloging Nebula and Star Catalog of John Louis Emil Dreyer. A new set Clusters; From Herschel to Dreyer’s of four volumes was recently published, so I New General Cluster, New York: thought a perspective of the lay resources for Cambridge University Press, 2010, these objects will be helpful. This review 648pp ISBN 978-0-521-19267-5 covers five books on the topic and several (hardback, out of print), ISBN 978- books are mentioned altogether. The review is 1316644188 (paper) $66.99. split into two sections to better fit into our • Roger W. Sinnott, editor. NGC 2000.0; monthly newsletter. The New General Catalogue and Index Catalogues of Nebular and Books Mentioned Star Clusters by J.L.E. Dreyer, New The following books are mentioned or York: Cambridge University Press & reviewed in this article: Cambridge, MA: Sky Publishing Corporation, 1988, 273 pp. ISBN 0- • Richard H. Allen, Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning, New York: Dover 933346-51-4. Out of print, but listed on Publications, Inc., 2019, 563 pp., ISBN Amazon used starting at $49.95. 978-0-486-21079-7, $17.86. • Shigemi Numazawa and Nanayo Wakiya, NGC-IC Photographic
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Catalog, Seibundo Shinkosha compiling a long list of objects first from the Publishing co., ltd, 720pp, ISBN 978-4- Northern Hemisphere and later from the 416-209926-4. Yen 12,600 (approx. Southern Hemisphere. John Herschel $120). published the “General Catalogue of Nebulae” • Ronald Stoyan and Stephan Schurig, in 1864 and listed a total of 5,079 entries. interstellarum Deep Sky Atlas, Field Later John Louis Emil Dreyer would collate Edition, Erlangen: Oculum-Verlag & those and several other lists into, first, the New Cambridge: Cambridge University General Catalogue with 7,840 entries. He Press, 2014, 264 pp., ISBN 978-1-107- followed that with two supplements, the 503397, $149.95 “Index Catalogue” and the “Second Index • Ronald Stoyan and Uwe Glahn, Catalogue” which combined had 5,386 entries, Interstellarum Deep Sky Guide, Field bringing the total of the three lists to 12,919. Edition, Erlangen: Oculum & Subsequent additions and revisions have Cambridge: Cambridge University brought the total to 13,226. Press, 2018, 264 pp., ISBN 978-1-108- Steinicke 453854. $215.00 Wolfgang Steinicke has written a lucid and Introduction interesting history of the making of lists of The cataloging of heavenly objects no heavenly objects in his masterful Observing doubt extends well into pre-history. and Cataloging Nebula and Star Clusters; Constellations have been named by every From Herschel to Dreyer’s New General culture on every inhabited continent. Richard Cluster. His book covers the work of several H. Allen’s Star Names: Their Lore and of the observers who cataloged objects. Dr. Meaning, focuses on the common names of Steinicke provides a plethora of photographs, stars from a wide variety of cultures, including charts, drawings, and tables to further explain Mesopotamian (Sumerian, Akkadian, and and illustrate the subjects on which he writes. Babylonian), Hindu, Chinese, Greek, Roman, His book has frequent short biographies of the and Arabic. None of these cultures had an researchers and compilers who built the lists extensive list of celestial objects such as the which were eventually compiled into the NGC. Messier list, let alone an exhaustive list such as Dreyer’s New General Catalog and his two Index Catalogues. The book was originally published in 1899 and this is a Dover reprint. The first organized list of objects published is the Messier list, published in 1781. Several astronomers followed Messier in recording objects, with the Herschel family
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In the introduction to his book Dr. If you like the history of astronomical Steinicke explains the need for his book: discoveries, you’ll enjoy this book. The “Studying the Messier catalogue, with 103 hardcover edition is no longer in print, but a objects and a moderate number of discoverers softcover edition is available. (23), is a manageable task-but the NGC with Sinnott 7840 entries and more than 100 discovers, is Roger W. Sinnott of Sky Publishing not! This is the reason why there have been Company (Sky & Telescope) worked with a many publications on the history of the team of people to update the Revised New Messier catalogue, but hitherto none about the General Catalogue (RNGC) and present the NGC claiming to be comprehensive. The results for the amateur astronomer in NGC present work is the first.” 2000.0; The New General Catalogue and The book contains 12 chapters: 1. Index Catalogues of Nebular and Star Introduction; 2. William Herschel’s Clusters by J.L.E. Dreyer. As he explains in observations and parallel activities; 3. John his preface why this work was written: Herschel’s Slough observations; 4. Discoveries In 1953 the Royal Astronomical Society made in parallel with John Herschel’s Slough reprinted the NGC and IC in a single volume, observations; 5. John Herschel at the Cape of using the Replika process. Then in 1973 the Good Hope; 6. The time after Herschel’s University of Arizona’s Revised New General observations until Auwers’ list of new nebulae; Catalogue (RNGC) appeared, omitting the IC 7. Compiling the General Catalogue; 8. objects but including modern brightness, Dreyer’s first catalogue: the supplement to descriptions, and types for most of those in the Herschel’s General Catalogue; 9. Compilation NGC itself. However, neither work gives of the New General Catalogue; 10. The New positions with respect to a standard modern General Catalogue: publication, analysis and reference time frame (equinox 1950.0 or effects; 11. Special topics; 12. Summary. 2000.0), so their use today is awkward at best. Dr. Steinicke is an academic and his book The bulk of the book is a list of NGC is replete with footnotes and sidebars as well objects, listed by right ascension, and includes as the visuals mentioned previously. There are the following columns: extensive appendixes, an exhaustive NGC bibliography, and indexes. What there is not is Type a listing of the NGC entries. This is a book on α2000 (right ascension) the history of the development of that list but δ2000 (declination) not the list itself. Dr. Steinicke does have a Constellation website where he posts the current (2019) list Size of the NGC and IC entries at the following site: Magnitude http://www.klima-luft.de/steinicke/index_e.htm Description
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This volume was needed in its time, but is Serious amateur astronomy is a small now replaced by the spreadsheet available world, and so it was to Dr. Steinicke that Mr. from Dr. Steinicke’s website. Numazawa turned for an up-to-date list of the
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Other names for the object. This book starts with a minimalist four The book contains 26 images of large pages of front matter excluding the title page: objects following the photos of all of the NGC Preface and Acknowledgements on one page, and IC objects. There is no discussion or how to use the Guide in two pages, and a description other than the up to 11 items listed fourth page with a list of abbreviations of the with each entry. There is no index, different catalogs used. bibliography, or appendices. The page numbers of the iDSG are the Given the cost of the book, Yen 12,600 same as the page numbers of the iDSA with (approximately $120), and its construction, I one major difference: if the illustrations of the would not take my copy to the field. The book objects on a page in the iDSA will not fit on a includes a slipcase and is available from single double-page spread, additional pages Skywatch in Japan at the following website: are included with each being differentiated http://skywatch.jp/ngc/. Be forewarned: The from the others with a lower-case letter (e.g. site is predominantly in Japanese. 38a, 38b). There are nine pages of indexes at Stoyan & Glahn the end of the iDSG, with a couple inches in In 2015 Oculum-Verlag and Cambridge one column providing errata for the iDSA. University Press published interstellarum Each page in the iDSG may have Deep Sky Atlas (iDSA) (homepage), a new photographs—again, from the DSS—and or and innovative atlas printed on plastic ‘paper’, drawings of the objects. Unlike both Mr. making it dew-proof and ideal for use next to Numazawa’s and Mr. Parekh’s works, this one’s telescope. The authors, Ronald Stoyan does not have photographs of all Messier and Stephan Schurig, worked to craft an atlas objects let alone all or nearly all of the NGC which distinguished objects visible in 4-, 8-, objects. Still, it is a useful reference for those and 12-inch telescopes. The atlas has plastic who have not yet seen all 2,362 objects covers and a wire coil binding. The book illustrated in this volume. reviewed here, interstellarum Deep Sky Guide (iDSG), has Ronald Stoyan teaming up Next Month with Uwe Glahn to produce a work similar to Next month this review will cover a new that of Mr. Numazawa for 2,362 interesting four-volume photographic field guide to the objects. NGC objects. A summary of the books in this Both the iDSA and the iDSG are available month’s column and next month’s book will in a field edition—printed on plastic paper— conclude the two—part review. Until and a desk edition printed on paper and then…Clear Skies! available at a considerably lower price than the
Field Edition.
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SPAC Mirror Lab Report
MICHAEL DAVIS
The Mirror Lab folks are all looking forward to when the Covid vaccine is finally available and we can collaborate closely again. All we’ll need then is a place to meet up and store our stuff. In the meantime, we have all been working on our own, doing what we can, on our own, in our own little home workshops. I’ve visited the homes of a few fellow Mirror Lab members lately (masks and proper social distancing of course) and have seen them working on some very interesting projects. I’m hoping I’ll be able to convince them to do some write- ups on what they are doing for future Mirror Lab articles. No pressure guys. One project that has been happening is Mike Partain and Ralph Craig working on Mike’s new scope. They were trying to figure out if their calculated focal length is correct before cutting the truss tubes to length. You don’t want to get that wrong. It’s especially bad if you cut them too short. So they “Franken-Scoped the optical system together with pipe clamps, bungee straps and ratchet straps. That way they were able to check the actual position of the focal plane and get the perfect length for the truss tubes. It looks strange, but it is a necessary step when building a truss tube telescope.
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On another subject, the 12-inch Meade Lightbridge OBS raffle scope is working great! The freshly re-aluminized mirrors have been installed. I’ve had it out a couple of times for testing. The images are great. I got really nice views of Jupiter, Saturn and even saw some decent detail on Mars, even though it is well past opposition and getting smaller by the day. It’s going to be a great scope for the lucky raffle winner. It also looks darn good during the day.
Here’s a subject we don’t discuss much at the Mirror Lab: Refractors. A few years back I bought an old, beat-up, home-made, 4.5-inch refractor at one of SPAC’s surplus equipment auctions. I bought it mainly just to help out the club. I didn’t really have high hopes for it. It looked totally home- made, though the workmanship was excellent. As it was, it wasn’t really usable. It had seen better days and was dirty and missing some bits. I put it away in my garage and forgot about it for a few years. Cleaning out the garage one day, I found the old refractor. It was now even dirtier and uglier than when I bought it. I debated whether I should just toss it out, or try to make something out of it. I took a close look at it. It looked to be made from a piece of aluminum irrigation pipe with sheet brass baffling inside, a custom-made lens cell at one end, and a lathe-cut PVC pipe fitting at the other acting as a focuser. I was impressed with the workmanship of the metal lens cell. There was absolutely nothing on the lens or cell to tell me if the lenses were home-ground or commercially
Page 17 St. Petersburg Astronomy Club Examiner December 2020 made. If it was actually any good, then maybe it would make a good finder scope or guide scope for one of my other scopes. I tinkered with it enough to actually be able to look through it and check out the image. I was surprised at just how crisp and clear it was. At that point I decided to go ahead and rebuild it and try to make something out of it. I cleaned it up, mounted a proper focuser on the back end, fabricated a dew shield and a lens cap for it. I also made a set of wooden rings for it and mounted a dovetail plate on the bottom so it could mount on my Losmandy G11 mount. I also put a red dot finder on it. The result is a pretty decent wide-field refractor. It could also do duty as a finder scope one of my larger scopes, or as a guide scope for photography. I’m very happy with this scope. I wish I knew something about the original builder. It would be nice to sit down with him and hear the story of how he built it. That’s all for this month. You can follow all the goings on at The Mirror Lab at http://telescopelab.com/. You can follow what I am doing on my blog at http://www.mdpub.com. If you know of a mirror making or telescope making story that you think should be showcased here, email me at [email protected]. Put “Mirror Lab Submission” in the title so it will stand out.
Goodbye, Arecibo & Hello, Moon
GUY EARLE
like some weird parallel of the James Bond Two other important events took place movie, Goldeneye, the central 900-ton receiver recently, one of which got a lot of press platform crashed down through the dish coverage while the other hardly any at all. With below. Don’t worry, Sean Bean is still alive. all the talk recently of the pandemic vaccine That movie, back in 1995, came out when I was rollout and lingering political news, the sheer two years into the hobby, and captured my drama of the collapse of the famous 57-year- attention. Arecibo’s discoveries were old Arecibo Radio Telescope in Puerto Rico, frequently discussed in astronomy articles, the largest in the world, at the start of this while it could be seen on film and television of month dominated headlines—for a day or two. the 90’s, being the main set location of the The telescope had already been damaged movie Contact and an episode of X-Files. when an auxiliary cable snapped in August and From the Associated Press: then a main cable in November. Caught on film
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The telescope was built in the 1960s with them to Earth for study. Only the USSR (Luna money from the Defense Department amid a 24 probe in 1976) and US have previously push to develop anti-ballistic missile done this, with China planting their flag on defenses. It had endured hurricanes, tropical the Moon. The last country to do this was the humidity and a recent string of earthquakes in United States during the Apollo missions. its 57 years of operation. The telescope has been used to track asteroids on a path to Earth, conduct research that led to a Nobel Prize and determine if a planet is potentially habitable. It also served as a training ground for graduate students and drew about 90,000 visitors a year.
The Chang’e 5 landed on the Moon on December 1st in Oceanus Procellarum, and lifted off on December 3rd with the samples. It docked with the orbiter; six hours later the ascent vehicle was jettisoned back to crash into the Moon. It will begin it’s return trip on Saturday, waiting in orbit for a favorable trans- Earth injection route, before arriving at the landing zone in Inner Mongolia. Another topic could be seen online, but it was not one that I saw on any evening news channel—China landing on the Moon.
China’s unmanned Chang’e 5 spacecraft landed on the Moon on a 23-day mission to land, gather lunar rock samples, and return
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Valentino Hernandez Patron SPAC Business Meeting Charlie & Linda Hoffman Patron Our next business meeting is Wednesday, Scott & Beth Irwin Patron Matt Labadie Patron January 13th, at 8:00 PM via conference call; details Laura Lanier Patron upon request. Corey Lynch Patron All interested members are invited to attend. All Robert Myers Patron club business decisions are made at the business Stephen Oros Patron meeting so as not to encumber the general meeting. Antonio Paris Patron Brad & Lisa Perryman Patron Officers & Directors Alan Polansky Patron President Brad Perryman 727 420-1957 John & Abbie Redmond Patron Vice Pres. Paul Krahmer 727 535-5827 David & Rusty Richmond Patron Secretary Shirley Vuille 727 864-2624 Anthony Staiano Patron Treasurer Jim Hunter 813 507-8415 Wally & Ramona Vazquez Patron Dir.-at-Large Kyle Brinkman 727 455-6931 Dir.-at-Large Steven Gaber 727 215-0464 Examiner Staff Dir.-at-Large Jack Fritz 727 692-9831 Editor Guy Earle 813 785-1972 SPACE Editor Guy Earle 813 785-1972 Reporter Kelly Anderson 813 672-2751 Public Relations John O'Neill 727 637-5945 In the News Steve Robbins 386 736-9123 Membership Chair Shirley Vuille 727 864-2624 Mirror Lab Ralph Craig 727 384-2086 Mirror Lab Chair Paul McNabb 727-345-5713 Outreach Chair Jim Hunter 813 507-8415 Star Party Chair Mike Partain 859 339-0828 Withlacoochee New Moon Weekends Librarian Ralph Craig 727 384-2086 There’s no need for reservations. However, Club Webmaster Jack Fritz 813 508-5680 the park closes at sundown, so you will need to Dark Sky Chair Leeann Muszynski 813-601-0986 arrive before then. The park rangers will give you the Click on the name to send email gate-code once you’re inside the park. Please do not Recognition of Patrons & Benefactors: call for the gate code as they are not allowed to give it out over the phone. Clifford B. Benham Benefactor Reservations are not necessary. Please print Lakeisha & Stephen Black Benefactor and display our Friends-Of-The-Park Pass on your Walter Brinkman Benefactor dashboard. Andy Demartini Benefactor Jack & Roni Fritz Benefactor Please join us! All astronomy enthusiasts are Hosn, Ricky & Hala Benefactor welcome. You do not need to be a club member to David Knowlton Benefactor attend. Please refer to our Club Calendar for details Tod Markin Benefactor and scheduled dates. David & Tara Pearson Benefactor Rath, Damon & Jean Futch Benefactor Doug & Teri Sliman Benefactor Todd Vogt & Brittany MacDonald Benefactor Bruce Berger Patron Tim Cannedy Patron Michael Coate Patron Ralph & Christine Craig Patron Peter & Jaclynn Dimmit Patron Joseph & Pamela Faubion Patron Steve & Cindy Fredlund Patron Steve Gaber & Karen Sell Patron Richard & Mary Garner Patron Timothy & Mary Ann Harris Patron Withlacoochee River Park – Dade City, FL Page 20 St. Petersburg Astronomy Club Examiner December 2020
St. Petersburg Astronomy Club Membership Form
Membership in St. Petersburg Astronomy Club, Inc. (SPAC) is open to anyone, regardless of age, who is interested in astronomy. Benefits of membership include a monthly subscription to the SPAC Examiner newsletter, reduced camping rates and use of the club’s bunkhouse at our dark sky site at Withlacoochee River Park, the ability to serve on the SPAC board and voting privileges. Dues are considered donations and are non-refundable. Membership options are available as listed below.
You are now able to choose how you wish to join or renew your membership:
• Preferred On-line Website Option: New instructions as our website has been updated. Go to https://www.stpeteastronomyclub.org/Sign_In.php on the SPAC website where you can join, view and update your membership profile, provide payment, and print your membership card.
• US Mail Option: Takes more time to process manually because we are all volunteers. Complete the attached membership form and send it along with your payment to: Jim Hunter 17316 Oak Ledge Drive Lutz, FL 33549. (Checks should be made payable to SPAC, Inc.)
Adult 1: ______Adult 2: ______Street: ______City, State, Zip: ______Home Phone: ______Cell Phone: ______Email Address: ______Number of Children under 18: ______
Memberships: Single: [ ] $ 30.00/YR. Includes one adult, minor children, the “SPACE” newsletter, and all the rights and privileges of membership. Family: [ ] $ 35.00/YR. Includes two adults, minor children and the above rights and privileges. Patron: [ ] $ 50.00/YR. A Patron member is entitled to the above rights and privileges. Benefactor: [ ] $100.00/YR. A Benefactor member is entitled to the above rights and privileges. Student: [ ] FREE. SPAC offers free membership to full time high school and college students.
Expected date of graduation: ______Total Submitted: $______
Your SPAC Membership Card is required for reduced fees at the campground.
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