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THE OBSERVER OF THE TWIN CITY AMATEUR ASTRONOMERS Volume 44, Number 12 December 2019 INSIDE THIS ISSUE: 1«Editor’s Choice: Image of the Month – NGC 7331 2«President’s Note 3«Calendar of Celestial Events – December 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«TCAA Calendar of Events for 2019-2020 5«MinUtes of the November 5th BoD Meeting 6«AstroBits – News from AroUnd the TCAA 8«TCAA Loses Another Benefactor – Ernie Finnigan 9«Make Plans Now to Attend TCAA AnnUal Meeting 9«December 2019 with Jeffrey Hunt 15«TCAA Active on Facebook 15«Renewing YoUr TCAA Membership 16«E/PO Updates for November 2019 16«Did YoU Know? 17«Public Viewing Sessions for 2020 18«TCAA Image Gallery IMAGE OF THE MONTH: EDITOR’S CHOICE – NGC 7331 « 19 TCAA Treasurer’s Report as of November 26, 2019 This month’s image of NGC 7331 and the sUrroUnding area was taken by Bob Finnigan and Scott Wade on the evenings of November 22 and 23 Using the 14” telescope and new fUll-frame The TCAA is an affiliate of the QHY 367 color camera at PSO. The image shown here consists of Astronomical LeagUe as well as its thirteen 600-second and nine 900-second subs. The image was North Central Region. For more processed by Scott using Pixinsight and Photoshop. information about the TCAA, be NGC 7331 is a spiral galaxy aboUt 40 million light-years away in certain to visit the TCAA website at the constellation of PegasUs. It was discovered by William Herschel tcaa.Us/ in 1784. NGC 7331 is the brightest member of the NGC 7331 GroUp of galaxies which is seen in the backgroUnd. This region of Visit AstroleagUe.org for additional space is jUst loaded with galaxies. Barely oUt the field of view to information aboUt the LeagUe and its the lower right is Stephan’s QUintet. numerous membership benefits Stephan's QUintet is a visual including observing programs. grouping of five galaxies of which four form the first compact galaxy groUp ever discovered. The groUp was Also visit the NCRAL website at discovered by Édouard Stephan in ncral.wordpress.com for information 1877 at the Marseille Observatory. about our North Central Region. Find The group is the most studied of all out about our next Regional the compact galaxy groUps. Perhaps convention during May 2020. next time we’ll see an image of these. Copyright © 2019 TCAA 1 All rights reserved. Vol. 44, No. 12 The OBSERVER of the Twin City Amateur Astronomers December 2019 PRESIDENT’S NOTE The OBSERVER It was with great sadness we received is the monthly electronic newsletter of Twin the news of the passing of Ernie Finnigan, City Amateur Astronomers, Inc., a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit educational brother of longtime member Bob Finnigan. organization of amateur astronomers inter- Ernie was a great friend to the clUb. He ested in stUdying astronomy and sharing provided the land which we leased from him their hobby with the pUblic. for the pUrpose of constrUcting the Waynesville Observatory. TCAA OFFICERS & CHAIRPERSONS Apart from Bob, I had the most PresIdent, DIrector, & Property Manager opportunity to interact with Ernie. I would Tim Stone 309-531-2401 hear his John Deere Gator coming down the [email protected] driveway, and knew I was going to have a Vice President & DIrector/MembershIp Coord. visit. Sometimes he would inform us of President Tim Stone Tom Willmitch 309-846-2423 business that needed to be attended to, but [email protected] most of the time he was jUst down there to Treasurer & DIrector/Registered Agent talk for a while and see how things were going. Dave Osenga 309-287-0789 He helped the clUb in many ways, from providing temporary storage for [email protected] arriving equipment to mowing the grass on the observatory groUnds. Most Secretary & DIrector/HIstorian/EdItor recently, he helped plant a set of trees on the north and east side of our property Carl J. Wenning 309-830-4085 to provide some privacy and windbreak. He thoUghtfUlly chose a species of tree [email protected] that doesn’t get too tall and made sure everything woUld work for the observatory. 5th Director/AssIstant Property Manager Before that he planted grass on the grounds, which had been little more than a Scott Wade 309-310-2464 mud flat, and bermed oUr bUildings with rock to eliminate rUnoff seeping in and [email protected] puddling on our floors. AstronomIcal League Correspondent We will miss Ernie. Our thoUghts and prayers are for his friends and family in Robert Finnigan 309-846-9533 this difficUlt time of transition. [email protected] On a happier note, Diann and I will host the TCAA Holiday Party again this year Technology Coordinator at our home on December 19th starting at 6:30 PM. Food will be potluck, so please Justin Meyer 630-649-0611 [email protected] bring a dish to share. If you’d let me know what you plan to bring, that would be great, so we can be sUre we don’t too mUch of the same thing. Our address is: Webmaster Lee Green 309-454-7349 [email protected] 920 S Summit St. Bloomington, IL 61701 LightIng Educ. & AL ObservIng Club CoordInator Lisa Wentzel unlisted number [email protected] We have a great time at this event. I do hope you can attend! The OBSERVER Tim Stone, President Carl J. Wenning, Editor Submission deadline two days before the end of each month. MEMBERSHIP DUES IndividUal AdUlt/Family $40 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. 12 The OBSERVER of the Twin City Amateur Astronomers December 2019 CALENDAR OF CELESTIAL EVENTS – DECEMBER 2019 NEW & RENEWING MEMBERS MORNING PLANETS (12/15): MercUry ( ☿ ) and Mars (♂) The following individuals have paid dues for new or renewed memberships as of November 26, 2019. (Others EVENING PLANETS (12/15): Venus (♀), Jupiter ( ♃ ), who paid after that date will appear in the JanUary 2020 SatUrn (♄), UranUs ( ♅ ), and NeptUne ( ♆ ) issUe of The OBSERVER.) The following table gives the date and time (24-hour clock) of Welcome! Welcome! Welcome! Welcome! Welcome! important astronomical events for this month. All events are given in Central Daylight Time. New: Renewing: Lisa Wentzel, Anthony Cellini, and Day Time Event John Gahm (to Dec. 2021) 04 00:58 FIRST QUARTER MOON Welcome! Welcome! Welcome! Welcome! Welcome! 04 22:09 Moon at Apogee: 404447 km UES LUES 11 05:40 Aldebaran 3.0°S of Moon D B 11 23:12 FULL MOON If yoU have received a “your dues are due” statement along with the email that broUght yoU this 13 08:15 Moon at Ascending Node issUe of The OBSERVER, please remit yoUr dUes to Mr. 14 11:51 Pollux 5.3°N of Moon Dave Osenga, TCAA TreasUrer, 1109 N. Linden St., 14 12 Geminid Meteor Shower Normal, IL 61761-1471. DUes are cUrrently $25 for seniors (60 years of age and over) and $40 regUlar. 15 09:54 Beehive 1.0°S of Moon 16 22:41 Regulus 3.8°S of Moon SUBSCRIBING TO THE NEW TCAA EMAIL LIST 18 14:30 Moon at Perigee: 370260 km The old TCAA Yahoo.groups email list is going away – 18 22:57 LAST QUARTER MOON at least as far as the TCAA leadership is concerned. Used 21 22:19 Winter Solstice by the TCAA for many years, Yahoo is no longer supporting the distribUtion system for anything other 22 19:49 Mars 3.5°S of Moon than email without attachments. They are also making it 22 21 Ursid Meteor Shower much harder to Use. For instance, individUals mUst now be invited and then approved by a moderator to enroll in 25 23:13 NEW MOON this service. Gone will be the days when anyone coUld 25 23:18 Annular Solar Eclipse; mag=0.97 subscribe whenever they wished. 26 07:01 Moon at Descending Node You may still Use the existing TCAA Yahoo.groups email system to address most of the clUb members (not 27 12 Jupiter in Conjunction with Sun all subscribe), but forget about including anything other 28 19:32 Venus 1.0°N of Moon: Occn. than text. Efforts are now underway to replace Yahoo.groups with groUps.io. Devanand Chatrathi will be 29 23 Mercury at Aphelion setting Up the groUp for us. There will be no attempt at “migrating” Yahoo.groups subscribers to groups.io; http://www.astropixels.com/ephemeris/astrocal/astrocal2020cst.html members will be provided instrUctions shortly in how to EVENING SKY MAP subscribe to this new service. 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. 11 The OBSERVER of the Twin City Amateur Astronomers NoVember 2019 THIS MONTH’S PHASES OF THE MOON First Quarter Full Moon Last Quarter New Moon Wednesday, December 4 Wednesday, December 11 Wednesday, December 18 Wednesday, December 25 All moon phase dates are Central Standard Time. Moon phases for the 2020 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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