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Mar 2019 OBSERVER THE OBSERVER OF THE TWIN CITY AMATEUR ASTRONOMERS Volume 44, Number 3 March 2019 INSIDE THIS ISSUE: 1«Editor’s Choice: Image of the Month – M42 2«President’s Note 3«Calendar of Celestial Events – March 2019 3«New & Renewing Members/Dues Blues/E-Mail List 4«This Month’s Phases of the Moon 4«This Month’s Solar Phenomena 4«Minutes of the February 9th Annual Meeting 5«AstroBits – News from Around the TCAA 7«Images from the 2019 Annual Meeting & Banquet 8«24” Moved to Dome on Saturday, February 16th 9«Prairie Sky Observatory Today 10«March 2019 with Jeffrey L. Hunt 13«NCRAL 2019 is Coming! 14«Public Viewing Sessions Schedule for 2019 14«TCAA Active on Facebook 15«TCAA Calendar of Events for 2019 15«HowTimeFlies 15«Renewing Your TCAA Membership 18«TCAA Treasurer’s Report as of February 28, 2019 EDITOR’S CHOICE: IMAGE OF THE MONTH – M42 This month’s Editor’s Choice is an image of the Great Orion nebula taken by Carl Wenning at Sugar Grove Observatory on February 27, 2012. Carl was aided in the capture of this image by Bob Finnigan and post-processing was conducted by Lee Green. According to Carl, “There’s not much to be impressed about with the quality of this image. It’s pretty much run of the mill, with much better work having been done by other club members in recent years. What is worthy of note, however, is how the club has the capacity to take out-of-this-world images using some of the most advanced astrophotographic equipment available to amateur astronomers anywhere on the planet. “I strongly encourage TCAA members to take advantage of the opportunity to learn how to do astrophotography under the tutelage of Bob Finnigan and others using the incredible telescopes, The TCAA is an affiliate of the Astronomical League. For cameras, and computers of our training site – Prairie Sky more information about the TCAA, be certain to visit the Observatory at Sugar Grove Nature Center. Also, don’t forget to TCAA website. Visit Astroleague.org for additional take advantage of the CPC 11” goto telescope under the dome of information about the League and its membership Sugar Grove Observatory. I can help visual observers with that. benefits. Contact me at [email protected].” Copyright © 2019 TCAA 1 All rights reserved. Vol. 44, No. 3 The OBSERVER of the Twin City Amateur Astronomers March 2019 PRESIDENT’S NOTE The OBSERVER Our 2019 Annual Banquet is is the monthly electronic newsletter of Twin behind us, and quite a banquet City Amateur Astronomers, Inc., a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit educational it was. We had good food, good organization of amateur astronomers inter- fellowship, a good (short) ested in studying astronomy and sharing business meeting, and a their hobby with the public. fabulous speaker. I was so happy to see everyone who 2018 TCAA OFFICERS & CHAIRPERSONS came, and if you weren't there, you were missed! President, Director, & Property Manager Tim Stone 309-531-2401 [email protected] Among other things, we elected a new board of Vice President & Director/Membership Coord. directors for 2019. The officer Tom Willmitch 309-846-2423 [email protected] roster remains unchanged except for one position. Justin Treasurer & Director/Registered Agent Meyer has been on the board TCAA President Tim Stone Dave Osenga 309-287-0789 [email protected] for a year and has contributed his time and efforts in that capacity. Scott Wade was elected in Justin's place. I Secretary & Director/Historian/Editor want to thank Justin for his tenure on the board, and welcome Scott. I'm grateful Carl J. Wenning 309-830-4085 [email protected] for the support of such quality people as we pursue our wonderful hobby and our club goals. Director/Technology Coordinator Justin Meyer 630-649-0611 The board will meet on Tuesday, March 12th, and at that meeting we will [email protected] determine who will hold which positions for the coming year. With that, we will Astronomical League Correspondent turn our attention to the year ahead. As always, you're welcome to attend these Robert Finnigan 309-846-9533 meetings and provide your input. We have a great time, keep it light, and end up [email protected] spending time just "shooting the breeze" with each other as we share what we've Webmaster been up to astronomically. Lee Green 309-454-7349 [email protected] While we don't have a Public Viewing Session in March this year, these are Lighting Educ. & AL Observing Club Coordinator quickly approaching. Sunil Chebolu will be leading off the series in April with a talk Lisa Wentzel unlisted number about how distant the stars are and how we know. I hope you're already planning [email protected] on being at as many of these as you can. They're a load of fun, and the public is Publicist always so appreciative. Kids and adults alike enjoy the views of the heavens Rick Lasher 309-825-2768 through our telescopes, and pepper us with questions of all kinds. For the regulars [email protected] (you know who you are), thank you so much for your ongoing support of our public The OBSERVER outreach efforts. For those who don't often come, won't you plan to help with Carl J. Wenning, Editor in Chief these this year? I promise you'll have a great time! Submission deadline two days before the end of each month. Hoping and praying for clear skies, MEMBERSHIP DUES Tim Stone Individual Adult/Family $40 TCAA President Full-time Student/Senior $25 (Senior status equals ages 60+) To join, send your name, contact info and dues payment to Dave Osenga, TCAA Treasurer, 1109 N. Linden St., Normal, IL 61761-1471. Copyright © 2019 TCAA 2 All rights reserved. Vol. 44, No. 3 The OBSERVER of the Twin City Amateur Astronomers March 2019 CALENDAR OF CELESTIAL EVENTS – MARCH 2019 NEW & RENEWING MEMBERS MORNING PLANETS (3/15): Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, & Neptune The following individuals have paid dues for new or renewed memberships as of February 28, 2019. (Others EVENING PLANETS (3/15): Mars & Uranus (NB. Mercury near who paid after that date will appear in the April 2019 conjunction with and south of sun. Currently not visible.) issue of The OBSERVER.) The following table gives the date and time (24-hour clock) of important astronomical events for this month. All times are Central Time. Brian Barling, Bryce Heiniger, Lee Green, Dave Osenga Mark Boulware, Sharon MacDonald, and Vivian Hoette Day Time Event 01 12:40 Saturn 0.3°S of Moon DUES BLUES 02 05:03 Moon at Descending Node If you have received a “your dues are due” 02 15:28 Venus 1.2°N of Moon statement along with the email that brought you this 04 05:25 Moon at Apogee: 406391 km issue of The OBSERVER, please remit your dues to Mr. 06 10:04 NEW MOON Dave Osenga, TCAA Treasurer, 1109 N. Linden St., Normal, IL 61761-1471. Dues are currently $25 for 06 19 Neptune in Conjunction with Sun seniors (60 years of age and over) and $40 regular. 10 02:00 Daylight Saving Time Begins 11 07:09 Mars 5.8°N of Moon SUBSCRIBING TO THE TCAA EMAIL LIST 13 05:13 Aldebaran 1.9°S of Moon 14 05:27 FIRST QUARTER MOON By subscribing to a group’s mailing list, you will receive email messages from the group though you 14 21 Mercury at Inferior Conjunction won’t have access to the group’s web features (like 16 11:22 Moon at Ascending Node photos, files, links, polls, calendar, etc.) unless members 17 08:01 Beehive 0.5°N of Moon activate it later. The club has an open email listserv. It is 18 18:59 Regulus 2.6°S of Moon known as the TCAA YahooGroups listserv. It will be used 19 14:47 Moon at Perigee: 359381 km to share announcements and reminders about 20 16:58 March Equinox – Spring Begins astronomical and club events. To join this main listserv, you must do the following: 20 20:43 FULL MOON 26 21:28 Jupiter 1.9°S of Moon 1. To subscribe: Send a blank email to TCAA- 28 00:10 LAST QUARTER MOON [email protected] Note: You’ll be sent a 28 24:11 Saturn 0.1°N of Moon confirmation email from the group. Reply to the 29 08:08 Moon at Descending Node confirmation email to activate your subscription. 30 22:06 Mars 3.1°S of Pleiades 2. To post a message: [email protected] 3. To unsubscribe: [email protected] 31 19:14 Moon at Apogee: 405577 km http://www.astropixels.com/ephemeris/astrocal/astrocal2019cst.html EVENING SKY MAP Click on the icon found here to access a current evening sky map along with a more detailed celestial events calendar. Copyright © 2019 TCAA 3 All rights reserved. Vol. 44, No. 3 The OBSERVER of the Twin City Amateur Astronomers March 2019 THIS MONTH’S PHASES OF THE MOON New Moon First Quarter Full Moon Last Quarter Wednesday, March 6 Thursday, March 14 Wednesday, March 20 Thursday, March 28 All moon phase dates are Central Time. Additional moon phases for the 2019 calendar year can be found by clicking here. Images provided by J. K. Howell of the Champaign-Urbana Astronomical Society & used with permission. THIS MONTH’S SOLAR PHENOMENA In the table below, you will find times of sunrise and sunset along with rising and setting azimuths (Az), length of day including change from previous day, start and end times of astronomical twilight, and the time of solar noon along with the elevation (El) of the midday sun.
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