The Night Sky Astronomy Club of Akron

Astronomy Club of Akron Akron, OH USA http://www.acaoh.org

The Night Sky APRIL 2004 Presidential Musings Physics at Kent State University, Membership Renewal Stark Branch. Many ACA mem- By Gregg Crenshaw bers may remember Bernie as he Now is the time to renew your has spoken at meetings in the membership in the Astronomy On Sunday, March 28 a group of past. His talk will be entitled Club of Akron. ACA members visited the Cleve- “Relativity, Is it Really Relative? land Museum of Natural History. Membership includes: Clyde Simpson, Coordinator of Come to the business meeting the Ralph Mueller Observatory and vote for the person of your • A one year subscription to at the museum took the group on choice for ACA officers for the the club's monthly newsletter a “behind the scenes” tour to year. • Discounts on subscriptions places many of us didn’t know for Sky & Telescope or As- existed. The group started out, tronomy magazines naturally, in the observatory. NEXT MEETING • Use of loaner telescopes Clyde pointed the 10.5” refractor • Access to the Portage Lakes at Venus. Everyone enjoyed Ve- State Park Observatory nus’s crescent shape on a rare • An open invitation to all club partly cloudy day. We also activities. looked at a good size sunspot April 23 group as Clyde projected the so- 8:00 PM Dues are $20.00 a year for lar image on a large white card. Adults (18 and over), $15.00 for We then visited many laborato- Kiwanis Hall. Juniors (12 to 17). Added mem- ries including the Paleontology bers (with an Adult Membership) lab. Clyde showed the group the $5.00. Family memberships museum’s large collection of Speaker: Bernie $30.00. animal and human bones. We Richards, professor also visited the “cold room,” a Annual memberships renew in large cooler where the museum of Physics at Kent the month of May. stores stuffed animals that are State University, used in exhibits. The group was A one year subscription to As- warned to not touch anything Stark Branch, will be tronomy Magazine is $29.00 or a due to some items being treated giving a talk entitled one year subscription to Sky & with arsenic. Hope everyone Telescope Magazine is $32.95. washed their hands before eating ”Relativity, Is it dinner. Everyone had an enjoy- Really Relative?” These rates apply to those ACA able afternoon. I emailed Clyde Members who purchase their to thank him for the an interest- Subscriptions through the Treas- ing time. He emailed back a “Hi” urer of the ACA. to everyone and that he was looking forward to speaking to Also, elections will Contact Gary Smith, ACA the group at the May meeting. be held for the ACA Treasurer, to renew your mem- bership and take advantage of The speaker for the ACA April officers. the special subscription rates. meeting, April 23, is Bernie Richards.APRIL 2004 Bernie is a professor of PAGE 1 The Night Sky Astronomy Club of Akron

The Night Sky The Night Sky is publish monthly and contains information on up- Editor / Layout Jeff Hudson coming meetings, observing sessions, and articles by members. Contributors Jay Svitko Submission Deadline Gregg Crenshaw May 14, 2004 Jeff Hudson

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An Astronomical Two-fer said, “I think I see a shadow Astronomy Gatherings transit!” The shadow was almost By Glenn R. Cameron directly over the equator and The following is a list of up about 80 percent of the way coming astronomy events. Ohio weather being what it is, across the face. We all watched it's sometimes a shock when we it for a while, creeping its way They are all well worth a visit to. have two nights in a row of clear toward the western limb, until it Attending any of these will in- skies. melted into the black back- crease your knowledge of astron- ground of space. I was tickled omy and give you a chance to The night of our February ACA pink. I've read about shadow th meet some very interesting business meeting, February 27 , transits and seen pictures, but speakers and attendees. Also the was one of those nights. It was this was my first visual observa- opportunity to look at some out- cold and clear. It's worth men- tion. standing telescopes. tioning again that it was cold. It was about 34 degrees. I didn't After the shadow passed, I no- Go to the web sites for all the de- actually get out my own tele- ticed a whitish circle on the tails. scope but I enjoyed some great north equatorial belt. “Hey views through a new ACA mem- guys,” I said, “I think I see the April 23 and 24 ber's 10 inch Dobsonian. Joe and moon that cast that shadow!” 18th Annual NIAGfest his son left the meeting a little Sure enough, we watched the North Webster, Indiana early and were set up already moon pass the last 20 percent or http://clubs.kconline.com/was/ when I got there at about 10:15 so of the Jovian face before it niag.htm PM. erupted from the western limb and became its own tiny disk. June 14 thru June 20 Joe was dressed in an insulated Laurel Highlands Star Cruise jumpsuit. I was jealous and only The temperature that night was Hazelton, West Virginia lasted about a half an hour in the about 38 degrees and I lasted http://www.lhstarcruise.org/ frigid night air. Jupiter and Sat- about three and a half hours be- urn were just a beautiful as I re- fore I had to pack it up and go June 11 and June 12 membered them and I thanked home. I was kicking myself for Apollo Rendezvous &Telescope Joe and son for braving the cold. not setting up my video camera Fair on the telescope and capturing Dayton, Ohio The next night was just as clear the transits on tape but then I http://www.mvas.org/ and the air was even steadier wouldn't have seen them with than the night before. The sec- my own eyes (well, eye). July 8 thru July 11 ond clear night was my first two- Green Bank Star Quest fer for the evening. I got to the Later on when I got home, I fired Green Bank, West Virginia. observatory at about 7:15 PM up my Starry Night Pro program www.caacwv.org or www. and set up my telescope. I was and it told me that the moon I KVAS.org happy to see several other ACA had been observing was the fleet members present. little Io. August 17 - 22 AstroBlast 2004 Jupiter and Saturn dominated All in all, it was a terrific night Oil City, Pennsylvania most of our eyepieces most of and it helped me climb a little bit http://www.oras.org the night and I caught another out of my Winter blahs. Come two-fer. While observing Jupiter, on Spring! I'm ready! I noticed a very sharp black dot on its surface. “Hey guys,” I

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Local High School Teacher win Wallace College. which is essential to the continu- Honored for ing growth and prosperity of our Academic Excellence She is a member of the Ameri- nation." can Association of Physics Teachers, Astronomy Club of The National Teacher Awards Lynn Laux is among 110 educa- Akron and the Cuyahoga Astro- program is funded by Ra- tors nationwide receiving cash nomical Association. dioShack Corporation. The pro- awards from RadioShack Corpo- gram is open to all accredited ration Laux is one of two high school public and private high schools. educators in Ohio who received Award recipients are selected Fort Worth, Texas - April 12, a 2004 RadioShack National from a nationwide competitive 2004 - RadioShack Corporation Teacher Award. The other hon- call for applications. The selec- has presented a 2004 Ra- oree is Ann Brokaw, a science tion process includes judging ap- dioShack National Teacher teacher at Rocky River High plicants on their commitment to Award to Lynn Laux, a science School in Rocky River. Brokaw education and their implementa- teacher at Midpark High School also received a $3,000 cash tion of innovative classroom in Middleburg Heights, Ohio. award. teaching methods. A panel of distinguished educators selects Laux is among 110 educators re- "The cash awards go directly to the honorees. ceiving RadioShack National the teachers," said Laura Moore, Teacher Awards this year for senior vice president and chief For more information about the demonstrating a commitment to communications officer of Ra- RadioShack National Teacher academic excellence in mathe- dioShack Corporation. "This Awards, visit the program's Web matics, science or technology. truly is a personal reward for a site at http://education. She receives a $3,000 cash job well-done." RadioShack.com/ award. TeacherAwards. RadioShack has awarded cash "I am so excited about winning and prizes to 1,550 individuals RadioShack Corporation is this award," said Laux. "It for their commitment, excellence based in Fort Worth, Texas- proves that teaching with tech- and innovation in the classroom based RadioShack Corporation nology has its advantages." since the RadioShack National (NYSE: RSH) and has retail lo- Teacher Awards program began cations all over the United Laux, who has taught for 11 in 1988. States. For more information on years, teaches physics, honors the company, visit the Ra- physics, chemistry, and earth/ "The RadioShack National dioShack Corporation Web site space science. Teacher Awards program is Ra- at www.RadioShackCorporation. dioShack's multi-year corporate com. "My classroom secret is to be citizenship effort to improve open to new ideas -- especially math, science and technology technology -- and make students education," said Leonard Rob- your partners in the learning erts, chairman and chief execu- process," said Laux. tive officer of RadioShack Cor- The next time you see Lynn con- poration. "By investing in teach- gratulate her on her well de- Laux earned a bachelor of sci- ers, RadioShack is strengthening served award and the on-going ence degree in biology/chemistry communities and ensuring that commitment she has to teaching. in 1979 from Ohio State Univer- more American youth prosper. sity, and a master of arts degree We are committed to rewarding in education in 1993 from Bald- and retaining quality teachers,

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Sciencecraft it may be too late to tell the probe to mother goddess. She was also Ishtar take a closer look. of the Sumerian-Chaldean civilisa- by Patrick L. Barry and Tony Phillips tions, or "Inanna", meaning Queen Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California But how can a probe's computer brain of Heaven. Inanna is described by Institute of Technology possibly decide what's "interesting" Kramer (The Sumerians) as an am- to scientists and what's not? bitious, aggressive, and demanding Probes that can distinguish between goddess of love. "interesting" things and "boring" "What you really want is a probe that things are vital for deep space explo- can identify changes or unique fea- The Romans had simply adopted an ration, say JPL scientists. tures and focus on those things on its earlier Greek goddess, Demeter.

own, rather than just taking images This goddess of agriculture was of Along with his colleagues in NASA's indiscriminately," says Arthur the highest birth: born to Cronus Space Technology 6 Project (ST6), Chmielewski, one of Chien's col- and Rhea, she was the sister of JPL's Steven Chien is working to de- leagues at JPL. Zeus. As evidence of her antiquity velop an artificial intelligence tech- nology that does just that. They call Indeed, that's what Chien's software in Greek lore, her name has been it the Autonomous Sciencecraft Ex- does. It looks for things that change. found on a tablet from Pylos dating periment, and it's one of many next- A mission to Jupiter's icy moon Eu- to the thirteenth century B.C. generation satellite technologies ropa, for instance, might zero in on Demeter was said by Homer to emerging from NASA's New Millen- newly-formed cracks in the ice. Us- have "lain with Iasion in a thrice- nium Program. ing artificial intelligence to set priori- plowed field", the result of which ties, the probe could capture a com- was the birth of Plutus, whose name As humanity expands its exploration plete movie of growing fractures translates as "riches from the of the outer solar system-or even rather than a single haphazard snap- soil" (perhaps "cornucopia" would neighboring solar systems!-the shot. be an appropriate description). probes we send suffer from two un-

avoidable handicaps. First, com- Until scientists can actually travel to mands radioed by mission scientists deep space and explore distant worlds The goddess was depicted then, as on Earth take a long time to reach the in person, they'll need spacecraft "out now, as carrying a sheaf of wheat. probe: six hours for the planned New there" that can do some of the think- But her influence carried not only Horizons mission to Pluto, for exam- ing for them. Sciencecraft is leading to cereal crops, but to all kinds of ple. the way. food crops. Not surprisingly, per- haps, she was also the goddess of Second, the great distance also means Learn more about Sciencecraft at health, and of births and marriages. that data beamed back by the probe nmp.nasa.gov/st6 . trickles to Earth at a lower band- A ceremony held in her honour in width-often much less than an old ancient Greece was called Proark- 28.8 kbps modem. Waiting for hun- Constellation of the Month touria, which possibly indicates that dreds or thousands of multi-megabyte the festivities were held just before scientific images to download could By Jay Svitko the rising of Arcturus. However the take weeks. And often many of name may instead make reference those images will be "boring," that is, Virgo is the second largest constel- to the constellation Virgo, which in they won't contain anything new or lation (after #1 Hydra). As a mem- fact rises just before the star Arctu- important for scientists to puzzle rus. over. That's certainly not the most ber of the Zodiac, Virgo has a num- efficient way of using a multi-million ber of ancient myths and tales. The Sun passes through Virgo in mid- Virgo is unique in that it is the only dollar probe. constellation containing all the September, and is therefore the con- Bayer stars with no additional su- Even worse, what if one of those im- stellation that announces the har- perscript letters or numbers: just the ages showed something extremely vest. "interesting"-a rare event like a vol- Greek alphabet from alpha to canic eruption or an unexpected fea- Virgo is often represented as a omega. ture like glaciers of methane ice? By "maiden" (as its name indicates). In the time scientists see the images, antiquity, she may have been Isis, hours or days would have passed, and the Egyptian protectress of the liv- ing and the dead and the principal APRIL 2004 PAGE 5 The Night Sky Astronomy Club of Akron Constellation of the Month Virgo

Star Name Greek Letter Magnitude Mean Distance Between Right Hand Vindemiatrix Epsilon Virginis 2.84 Belly Auva Delta Virginis 3.37 Left Thigh Heze Zeta Virginis 3.36 Right Knee Tau Virginis 4.21 < 10 arcseconds Tau Virginis 9.50 109 Virginis 3.71 Tip of her Staff Kappa Virginis 4.15 Left Hand Spica Alpha Virginis 0.96 Theta Virginis 4.37 < 10 arcseconds Theta Virginis 9.00 Left Breast Porrima Gamma Virginis 3.60 < 10 arcseconds Gamma Virginis 3.70 Neck Zaniah Eta Virginis 3.87 Top of Head Zavijava Beta Virginis 3.56 Name Also Known As.. Magnitude Object Type M5 NGC 5904 7.00 Globular Cluster M49 NGC 4472 10.00 Galaxy M53 NGC 5024 8.50 Globular Cluster It takes a bit of M58 NGC 4579 11.00 Galaxy imagination to see M60 NGC 4649 10.50 Galaxy a woman standing M61 NGC 4303 10.50 Galaxy and holding a M64 Blackeye Galaxy 9.00 Galaxy staff pointed down in her M84 NGC 4374 11.00 Galaxy left hand while M85 NGC 4382 10.50 Galaxy holding a M86 NGC 4406 11.00 Galaxy sheaf of wheat M87 Virgo A 11.00 Galaxy in her right hand M88 NGC 4501 10.50 Galaxy M90 NGC 4569 11.00 Galaxy M98 NGC 4192 11.00 Galaxy M99 Pinwheel Galaxy 10.50 Galaxy Limting Star Magnitude M100 NGC 4321 10.50 Galaxy of Constellation Map M104 Sombrero Galaxy 9.50 Galaxy (-6.5)

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