The May SiderealSidereal TimesTimes 1997 THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THE ALBUQUERQUE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY P.O. BOX 54072, ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO 87153-4072 13,500 Attend Be-Bop! April Meeting Preview The Albuquerque Astronomi- handled by Bill Eisenhood, Mike Because of this year’s schedule, cal Society can pat itself on the and Ruth Pendley, Elinor Gates, the Regular TAAS meeting for back for presenting the largest and myself. We had good cov- April will be incorporated into star party in the United States erage by all three TV stations Astronomy Day, at Coronado (World?) The “official” atten- and two radio talk shows, not Mall, on Saturday, April 19th, dance for Be-Bopp was put at to mention great write-ups in the 6:30 pm in an empty store (#59, 13,500 by The Rio Rancho Police Albuquerque Journal and Rio see page 11). We are very fortu- Dept. and nate to have, once again, TAAS the Parks member Great Bear (“G. B.”) and recre- Cornucopia as the guest ation staff. speaker! G. B. is a Park Ranger The Explorer at Chaco Canyon, and he will scouts talk about Chaco, its archeology parked over and archeoastronomy. The talk 5,200 cars for us. (By the 6:30. way, the at Mall Coronado at troop leader estimated held be will Meeting 16,000 folks) General 19 April The Any follow up newslet- The famous “Robinians”. ter article All Be-Bop photos by Bill Tondreau must sound will be for both the Public, and like a long thank you note to the Rancho Observer. the Society. I personally get to- Society members for a job well The next order of business is tally riveted to G. B.’s lectures, done. It would probably be ap- getting people in and out of the they are so fascinating! We will propriate here to print the Soci- balloon field. The Rio Rancho probably tend to club business ety roster and say well done to Department of Safety and the just after G. B.’s talk, and the all. There are however, several Park and Recreation crew did a usual social hour might be best groups of people that stand out. great job, considering the re- left to the UNM Campus star For any public event to be suc- stricted road net that leads to the party afterwards (if we need cessful, the public must be made one!). aware of the event. This task was Continued on page 12 - Kevin McKeown ○ ○ ○ ○○○○○○○○○ Departments Features Presidents Update page 2 School Star Parties page 8 March Recap page 2 Board Meeting page 3 Kids Corner page 9 Starfire Tour page 9 Calendars page 4 Observatory Report page 10 El Malpais page 9 Observers Page page 6 Internet Info page 13 Messier Marathon Recap page 10 Deep Sky Waldo page 8 Classified Ads page 13 Open Space Star Party page 10 Campus Observatory page 8 Board Member Info page 13 Astronomy Day page 11 The Sidereal Times May Issue 1997 PRESIDENT’S UPDATE March Meeting Recap Newsletter Glitches: The first but the preliminary results indicate topic for this month is the status of that 13,500 visitors (in 5200 cars) The March meeting featured newsletter. You have already no- looked through 77 telescopes and Dr. John McGraw from the UNM ticed that the format has changed 16 tripod mounted binoculars. All Dept. of Physics and Astronomy. from a tri-fold to a half-fold. This I can say is WOW! Everyone asso- He is also the Director of the UNM was done to reduce folding costs ciated with the event should feel Institute for Astrophysics and at the printer. I was very pleased very very proud. This was truly a LodeStar. Dr. McGraw presented with the quality of the newsletter historic event. a summary of LodeStar and a cur- last month but very disappointed In addition to local coverage, rent update of the project’s status. in the mailing process. The news- TAAS was mentioned in the New LodeStar is a multifaceted letter was delivered to the printer York Times (although they called project focusing on astronomy re- in electronic format on March 11. us the Albuquerque Observers So- search and education in New The following Saturday I was ciety) and Astronomy magazine is Mexico. There are three major sites called by an embarrassed printer interested in running a piece on the associated with the project: stating that our newsletters had event. The Rio Rancho City Coun- Edscorn Observatory on the New been sent to a local marshal arts or- cil has also invited representatives Mexico Tech campus, a museum ganization by mistake. Ellie and I from TAAS to attend the April 9 addition and theater at the New redelivered the newsletter and council meeting to receive an Mexico Museum of Natural His- member database to the printer award (that is after we go to press tory, and Enchanted Skies Park on and he got the next batch out in so more next month). Horace Mesa near Grants, NM. All short order. Things were very busy on the of these sites will feature as- The printer was very apologetic, 29th so we don’t have a good list tronomy and use astronomy as a ate the cost of the misdirected of all those that helped. However, means to educate the public about newsletters and gave us a substan- radio station KRZN, the sister sta- all fields of science. LodeStar also tial discount on the newsletters ac- tion of KOOL-102 , has provided includes teacher training programs tually sent to TAAS members. This me with gifts for the TAAS mem- to help them teach science to New is not the end of the story though. bers that helped on Saturday night. Mexico children. After a week I still not received Call the hotline and leave your The Enchanted Skies Park is my newsletter. I obtained a copy name and I will see that you get planned to have both research tele- of the address list used to mail the your gift and be recognized in next scopes and telescopes for use by the newsletter and compared it to the month’s newsletter. public and by school children via master TAAS list. Out of the 300+ We were able to run some of the the Internet. Possibilities for TAAS names on the list, I discovered 24 wonderful photos Bill Tondreau members to be docents for public (including mine) that had no ZIP took at the event but black and star parties at the Park were also codes. I provided a corrected list white does not do them justice. The mentioned. A visitors center, res- to the printer and they made an ad- WEB version of the newsletter will taurant, and tram for access to the ditional run and mailing (at their have color photos and we hope to top of Horace Mesa and the re- expense) to those on the list. As of show them off at Astronomy Day search facilities are also in the the first of April, I believe every- (April 19). plans. one but about three people had re- Astronomy Day: Speaking of After fielding many questions ceived their newsletter. If you did Astronomy Day - The only day the about LodeStar and TAAS involve- not received your’s, please give the mall was available in April was also ment in the future of the project, Dr. hotline a call and I will see that you the same day as our general meet- McGraw explained the current do. By the way, we discovered ing. Therefore, our April meet- funding crisis for LodeStar. Be- why the list of 24 lost their ZIP ing will be at Coronado Mall cause the Capital Appropriations codes and have corrected the prob- at 6:30. Please see the April Meet- Bill in the legislature was not voted lem. ing Preview for more information. on, LodeStar stands to lose not Be-Bop: We will not have the fi- only money promised the project nal numbers on Be-Bop for a while —Mike Pendley Page 2 —The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society— May Issue 1997 The Sidereal Times by the state, but also the matching funds from the Air Force Office of OARD EETING Scientific Research. He hopes that B M a special session of the legislature will be called so that this issue will be voted on. Otherwise this ambi- The March Board of Directors vatory Fund to cover costs associ- tious and unique education and meeting was called to order at 7:00 ated with the site work. research project and facilities will by President Mike Pendley. Board Mike presented a request by a cease to exist and it is the children members present were Kevin non-TAAS organization that of this state who stand to lose the McKeown, Alan Green, Ellie Gates, wanted to use GNTO for a non as- most in terms of science and tech- Brock Parker, Bruce Levin, Carl tronomical purpose. The general nology education. Frish, Gordon Pegue, Jay Harden, feeling was that this was not in the After Dr. McGraw’s presenta- Karina Running Horse, and Ruth best interest of the society. tion slides of the comet taken by Pendley. Observers included Brad Membership Committee: No TAAS members were shown. All Hamlin, Barry Gordon, and Dee formal report. Current member- were impressive and I’m sure in- Friesen. ship stands at 301. 204 regular, 84 spired others to attempt taking Past Minutes: Steve Snider was Family, 10 Educational, 3 Honorary. photos of their own. The meeting not present so reading the Febru- Calendar: Carl went over the cal- concluded with a lively social hour.