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The Sidereal Times April 2017 The Sidereal Times MINUTES MARCH 16, 2017 President John Toney called the meeting to order at the Bur- lington Public Library at 7 PM. Present were Jim and Judy Hil- kin, Jim Wilt, David and Vicki Philabaum, Jim Steer, and Carl and Libby Snipes. INSIDE THIS ISSUE Judy made a motion to approve the minutes as printed in the newsletter; Jim Hilkin 2nd. Minutes (cont.) 2 Treasurer’s Report 2 David presented the Treasurer's report. Jim Hilkin made a mo- Looking Back 3 tion to approve the report; Jim Wilt 2nd. Space Place Article 4-5 Groups and Visitors: David reported that group of Girl Scouts Observer’s Report 6-7 visited the observatory on March 7. Additional scheduled Calendar 8 Sky Maps 9-10 groups are Cub Scouts on Tuesday March 21, Burlington High School Wednesday March 29, and a church group on Wednes- day April 5. CLUB OFFICERS Executive Committee Old/New Business: Frances Owen is continuing to make ar- President John Toney Vice President Jim Hilkin rangements for a bus trip in August for the solar eclipse. Treasurer David Philabaum Secretary Vicki Philabaum Vicki made a motion for Jim Hilkin to purchase traffic cones Chief Observer David Philabaum Members-at-Large for use on public nights; John 2nd. The motion passed. Paul Sly Carl Snipes Jim Wilt (Continued on page 2) Board of Directors Chair Jim Wilt Vice Chair Judy Hilkin UPCOMING DATES Secretary Libby Snipes Members-at-Large ~ The next meeting will be Friday, April 21, 2017 at the John H. Witte, Jr. Duane Gerling Ray Reineke Observatory at 7 pm. Nomination of club officers. Bill Stewart Audit Committee ~ The deadline for the May newsletter is Friday, May 12, 2017. John Toney (2014) Bill Stewart (2015) ~ The May meeting will be Friday, May 19, 2017 at the John H. Witte Ob- Karen Johnson (2016) servatory at 7 pm. Election of club officers. Newsletter Karen Johnson TREASURER’S REPORT “For myself, I declare I don’t know anything about it. But the sight of the stars always makes me dream.” Vincent Van Gogh (July 1888) MINUTES (CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1) David is continuing to search for a suitable sound bar for the DID YOU KNOW? classroom. Judy announced the Youth Jamboree at Big Hollow will be In 1612 Monoceros Saturday May 13 from 8 AM to 2 PM. appeared for the John reminded everyone that nominations for officers will be first time on a held at the April meeting with elections at the May meeting. globe. It was Vicki reminded everyone that an audit needs to be done be- called Monoceros fore the elections. Unicornis. Later, Jim Steer thanked everyone for their work with the observato- in 1624, it was ry and pledged support from the County Conservation Board. first included in a Dave presented the Observer's report. star chart. Jim Hilkin presented the Constellation Corner on Monoceros. The meeting adjourned. Meetings will resume on third Fri- days at the observatory on April 21. Respectfully Submitted, Vicki Philabaum, Secretary 2 LOOKING BACK 30 YEARS—APRIL 1987 "We would like to extend the congratulations of The Sidereal Times to the following people, without whom, this structure would not have been built. To the best of our knowledge this is a complete list of everyone in S.I.A.C. who worked on the observatory. If you were accidently overlooked it is with our sincerest apology. As with any project good leadership is essential. Our special thanks there- fore goes to: Claus Benninghoven --- Mason Jim Hilkin --------------- Carpenter David Bachtell --------- Electrician Other S.I.A.C. members: Jim Wilt, Dick Wilt, Dean Moberg, Marion Bachtell, Jim Blair, Duane Gerling, Jeri Moberg, Larry DID YOU KNOW? Johnson, Karen Johnson, Jesse Munoz, Jerry Rigdon, Bill Graf, Adolf Gerst, Elinore Benninghoven, Alta Blair, Dan Carlson, According to Chelsea Carlson, Mike Campbell, Lois Rigdon, Tom Meyers, William Hausner, John Loots, Mark Roberts, Mike Newland, Dr. James Green, Warren Conner, Tony Oliver, Jerred Cook, Tony Bachtell, Robert Director of Moberg, Dave Philabaum." (The May issue added the following NASA’s Planetary names: Ted Upton, Robin Gerling, Doran Gerling, Craig Sours, Patrick Prickett.) Science Division, and Burlington The first logbook entry for the observatory was made on April 3, Native, the 4 1987. The observatory was opened at 20:15 with the following places in our people there: Claus Benninghoven, Bob Sullivan, Aaron Doan, Dean Moberg, Rob Moberg, Jim Wilt, and Dave Philabaum. The solar system most following objects were viewed: The Moon, M42 Betelgeuse, likely to have NGC2440, M67, M104, M13. life are Mars, Enceladus, LOOKING BACK 10 YEARS—APRIL 2007 Europa, and From the Observer's report: "Of the moons of Saturn, not only Titan. Enceladus seems to have interior activity which shows itself in geyser activity. Now there also are reports that the planet's satellite Dione seems to have active out gassings. And Tethys, another one of the Ringed Planet’s moons, shows volcanic flow patterns on its surface. (An April 14, 2017 article in Science magazine by J. Hunter Waite et al. claims that molecular hydrogen detected by the Cassini spacecraft in the geysers emanating from Enceladus is evi- dence of hydrothermal processes. The heat in Enceladus’s ocean exists because Saturn tidally wrenches the moon in the same way the Moon creates tides on Earth.) 3 NOAA’S JOINT POLAR SATELLITE SYSTEM (JPSS) TO MONITOR EARTH AS NEVER BEFORE BY ETHAN SIEGEL Later this year, an ambitious new Earth-monitoring satellite will launch into a polar orbit around our planet. The new satellite— called JPSS-1—is a collaboration between NASA and NOAA. It is part of a mission called the Joint Polar Satellite System, or JPSS. At a destination altitude of only 824 km, it will complete an orbit around Earth in just 101 minutes, collecting extraordinarily high- resolution imagery of our surface, oceans and atmosphere. It will obtain full-planet coverage every 12 hours using five separate, independent instruments. This approach enables near-continuous monitoring of a huge variety of weather and climate phenomena. “JPSS-1 will Improve the JPSS-1 will improve the prediction of severe weather events and will help advance early warning systems. It will also be indispen- prediction of sable for long-term climate monitoring, as it will track global rainfall, drought conditions and ocean properties. severe weather events and will The five independent instruments on board are the main assets of this mission: help advance · The Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) will detail the at- early warning mosphere’s 3D structure, measuring water vapor and temper- ature in over 1,000 infrared spectral channels. It will enable systems.” accurate weather forecasting up to seven days in advance of any major weather events. · The Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) adds 22 microwave channels to CrIS’s measurements, im- proving temperature and moisture readings. · Taking visible and infrared images of Earth’s surface at 750 meter resolution, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument will enable monitoring of weather patterns, fires, sea temperatures, light pollution, and ocean color observations at unprecedented resolutions. · The Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) will measure how ozone concentration varies with altitude and in time over every location on Earth's surface. This can help us understand how UV light penetrates the various layers of Earth’s atmos- phere. · The Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant System (CERES) instru- ment will quantify the effect of clouds on Earth’s energy bal- ance, measuring solar reflectance and Earth’s radiance. It will (Continued on page 5) 4 NOAA’S JOINT POLAR ... (CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4) greatly reduce one of the largest sources of uncertainty in cli- mate modeling. The information from this satellite will be important for emergen- cy responders, airline pilots, cargo ships, farmers and coastal resi- dents, and many others. Long and short term weather monitoring will be greatly enhanced by JPSS-1 and the rest of the upcoming satellites in the JPSS system. Want to teach kids about polar and geostationary orbits? Go to the DID YOU KNOW? NASA Space Place: https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/geo-orbits/ NOAA Satellites has its own Twitter page at: twitter.com/ noaasatellites It also has its own Facebook page at: facebook.com/ noaanesdis Caption: Ball and Raytheon technicians integrate the VIIRS Optical and Electrical Modules onto the JPSS-1 spacecraft in 2015. The spacecraft will be ready for launch later this year. Image Credit: Ball Aerospace & Technol- ogies Corp. This article is provided by NASA Space Place. With articles, activities, crafts, games, and lesson plans, NASA Space Place encourages everyone to get excited about science and technology. Visit spaceplace.nasa.gov to explore space and Earth science! 5 OBSERVER’S REPORT FOR APRIL/MAY 2017 Mars is in Taurus moving east and on April 20-22 it passes about 3° to the east of the Pleiades. By mid-May it is located between the horns of the Bull. It sets about two hours after the Sun in mid-April and by mid-May it is setting about 30 minutes earlier. In another month or so it will be lost in the glow of evening twilight. Mars shines at magni- tude +1.6 in mid-April and dims a bit to +1.7 by mid-May. Jupiter is moving west in Virgo and on April 15th it is about halfway between Spica and magnitude 2.7 Porrima (Gamma Virginis), a close double star. Although Jupiter is past opposition, good views are still possible. Jupiter shines at magnitude -2.4 on May 1st and transits a little before midnight 44° above the southern horizon.
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