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Desert Sky Observer Volume 36 Antelope Valley Astronomy Club Newsletter December 2016 Up-Coming Events December 3: Christmas Party * Monthly meetings are held at the S.A.G.E. Planetarium in Palmdale, the second Friday of each month. The meeting location is at the northeast corner of Avenue R and 20th Street East. Meetings start at 7 p.m. and are open to the public. Please note that food and drink are not allowed in the planetarium President Frank Moore There are strange and mysterious sounds When the winds of winter blow, The long nights are crystal clear and cold, And the fields and meadows are covered with snow. The stars are frosty against the sky, And the wind's whistle is shrill, As the snow blows against the house And drifts against the hill. Yet, I like to see during the winter A white carpet on the ground, To plod aimlessly in the deep snow, where deer tracks abound. I like to feel the stillness Of a crisp winter's night, Watching a full moon rise over the horizon, Exposing a winter wonderland beautiful and bright. Winter Wonderland - Poem by Joseph T. Renaldi Season’s greetings members. This poem by Joseph T. Renaldi has always expressed my feelings towards winter, which is really my favorite time of year. As an amateur astronomer I find it really expresses the dichotomy of how it affects our hobby. On the one hand, “the long nights are crystal clear” which is conducive to wonderful observing, but they’re also COLD. “The stars are frosty against the sky,” but, as all of us in the Antelope Valley and up here in Tehachapi can relate, “the wind’s whistle is shrill.” Thus, while the night sky may be crystal clear, were often forced to take a pause from our observing due to the inclement weather. Such was the case on the weekend of November 26 when I canceled our monthly Dark Sky Star Party when weather shut down all of our regular observing sites. The desert sites were rendered inhospitable by high winds and rain, and the mountain sites were closed due to cold weather and snow. In fact, on the night of what might have been our star party, it was 14 degrees at the Chuchupate 2 Desert Sky Observer observing site and Lockwood Valley Road was closed from Frazier Mountain Park Road to Highway 33. Even if we’d gotten in, we might not have been able to get out till the snow melted. The weekend before that, on Saturday November 19, we had what was among the best viewing conditions I can remember for the Moon Walks at Prime Desert Woodland but it was cold and much of the public, chilled after the walk, left without even stopping at the telescopes. Still, for those that remained, the clear and moonless night made for some a real treat and exceptional views. Members with telescopes included Darrell Bennett, Rod and Donna Girard, Tom Hames and Rose and Frank Moore. On Saturday December 3 we had our annual Christmas Party at Domingo’s Mexican Restaurant in Lancaster. As I mentioned in a separate email, “It was crowded, it was hectic, it was a bit loud but I can’t remember having a better time at our annual holiday gathering.” Our apologies that the seating got a little tight and that the venue ran out of their ever popular “Fried Ice Cream”. We had 47 members at the party which is the most we have ever had since Rose and I began serving on the board. I think the cost to members and to the club, which was less than half of what we spent at prior venues, put the event within the reach of more members and contributed to the great turnout. Each time we try a new venue, we learn about details to which we will have to pay attention if we use that venue again and this was no exception. As is our custom, Rose distributed certificates for participation in various outreach events and we announced the recipients of our annual Keith Lawson and Holland Fountain awards. The Holland Fountain Award, which is awarded for “Infectious enthusiasm in astronomy and related sciences”, was awarded to Ellen Mahler. As I noted at the banquet, Ellen is always anxious to go to any event to which she can arrange a ride. This includes both public outreach events and star parties. She’s always well prepared, in fact certainly more prepared than me, with her planned observing list and information about the objects she hopes to find. Because she does not drive, Ellen has to go to the extra effort of arranging transportation and my thanks go out to those who help her in that regard. Congratulations Ellen and THANK YOU. This year the Keith Lawson Award, which is awarded, “In recognition of outstanding contributions to the Antelope Valley Astronomy Club and the exceptional pursuit of amateur astronomical knowledge”, was awarded to Tom Hames. Tom’s contributions to the club over the last few years have taken many forms. As the owner of High Desert Telescopes, he is constantly promoting the club to customers who come into the store in search of astronomy equipment and information. Tom comes to most of our public outreach events and often brings a telescope, for public viewing, to our monthly meetings at the SAGE Planetarium. Tom has been a speaker at our meetings, has assisted Jeremy Amarant with astronomy related education for youth including lessons in his “space art”, and has offered the same for AVAC members at several meetings. Some of Tom’s work can be seen on his Instruments of Light website. With a long history with the Antelope Valley Astronomy Club, and with astronomy related organizations in southern California, Tom is a veritable treasure trove of astronomical knowledge and especially on the history and development of amateur equipment. Finally, Tom has been more than generous in providing telescopes and other equipment for door prizes and raffles at our events. Congratulations Tom and THANK YOU. As the new year approaches, the board will be looking at the dates of various regional astronomy related events, dates for our own Dark Sky Star Parties, and for our own local outreach and readying our calendar for 2017. May you all have a blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year. www.avastronomyclub.org 3 Desert Sky Observer Secretary Rose Moore Thank you to all the members and their guests that attended the Christmas Party on Dec. 3rd. We had 47 attendees at the party, the largest group that I'm aware of at this time. When we were looking at different venues for the party, we certainly didn't think we would have this many attend! Thank you to all that donated prizes! Special thanks to those that helped out, and a special big thank you to Rod Girard, our new Treasurer, for handling the raffle tickets, auction sheets, and cash during the party! He has now been initiated as our new Treasurer! We were especially thankful to have several members attending who have been ill recently. Don Bryden will be leaving the area to join his family in South Carolina at the end of the month. He is leaving his job as an air traffic controller in just a few weeks and beginning retirement! Don has been the past AVAC president, and a huge asset to the club. His knowledge of astronomy, his expertise, and telescope making skills, will be very missed by the members. We will miss him at our club's star parties and public outreach! Good luck Don, and keep in touch! Our trip to SOFIA will be on Friday, Feb. 3rd. Right now our list is full, but if you would like to go on a standby list, please let me know. I need to know if you are a US citizen or a Resident Alien. **I need your driver's license number if you have not given it to me! I will be contacting those within the next 2 weeks that have not sent me the complete information. I must have your full name as it appears on your driver's license: first name, middle name, last name. They will not accept middle initials or nicknames. Guys, if married, your wife's name as it appears on the license is what they need. If she still uses her maiden name as her legal name, that is what they want. Another email with other trip information will be coming in a week or two. We do not know where we are meeting at this time. I would like to thank all those that have come out this year to participate in AVAC events and our meetings! We need your support! Questions, suggestions, comments? Please email me! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Happy Holidays! Space Place Dimming stars, erupting plasma, and beautiful nebulae By Marcus Woo Boasting intricate patterns and translucent colors, planetary nebulae are among the most beautiful sights in the universe. How they got their shapes is complicated, but astronomers think they've solved part of the mystery—with giant blobs of plasma shooting through space at half a million miles per hour. Planetary nebulae are shells of gas and dust blown off from a dying, giant star. Most nebulae aren't spherical, but can have multiple lobes extending from opposite sides—possibly generated by powerful jets erupting from the star. Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers discovered blobs of plasma that could form some of these lobes.
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