FORT BEND ASTRONOMY CLUB P.O. BOX 942 STAFFORD, TEXAS 77497-0942

VOLUME 17, ISSUE 10 The FBAC Observer OCTOBER, 2003

INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Aperture Fever: Building The Dobsonian Of A Lifetime Calendar Of Events 2 By Dennis Borgman Galactic Coordinates 4 The beginning been prompt with my be a better way. East Dome Schedule 5 decision to purchase. Aperture fever had Wheel-barrow handles Book Review 6 been getting stronger My intentions for some and loading ramps to by the day. My chance time had been to pur- ease the pain of trans- Chasing An Eclipse 7 to pacify this desire chase the optics and porting were only the Astro Bits 8 came about quite sud- build the mount, but beginning. denly in that of course, would Club Officers 9 “The whole scope Decem- have meant completing Personal background wasn’t quite ready ber 1992 construction before I Building and fixing Meeting Notices 9 for the one ton club, when Ed had a useable instru- things has been a pas- Editorial 9 but it was close.” Sczce- ment. Here, for little sion of mine for many panski, a more than the cost of years. In fact home prolific buyer, builder the optics, I had a use- shop machining was and seller of telescopes able scope and could my primary hobby be- in Houston, put his build my own mount at fore I became interested home built 20" DOB up a leisurely pace. Ed's in Astronomy, so I have for sale. Upon inform- home-built scopes are a well equipped home ing me of it's availabil- seldom light-weights shop and the basic ity, I immediately asked and this one was no ex- skills to use the tools. I him to consider it sold ception. The upper am a computer techni- IN THIS ISSUE and advertise no fur- cage alone weighed in cian by trade and a self • In this issue, Dennis ther. I soon found out at over 40 pounds! taught hobby machinist Borgman shows us how that my speedy reply Nothing wimpy here! and woodworker. to build a premium Dob- was indeed fortunate, The whole scope wasn't sonian telescope. for several Houston quite ready for the one- The design • FBAC has a new arrival amateurs had heard ton club, but it was I used Generic CADD through the grapevine close. I sprained my software to do most of • Joe Dellinger chases the that it was for sale and back the first time I my design work. Solar eclipse of 1999 would surely have loaded it in the truck, (Continued on page 3) • Astronomers are at odds snatched it up had I not and decided there must with the media Leonard Pattillo Retires As Observer Editor After more than challenge of gathering keeping things simple is 8 years and over 100 is- and editing articles for the best way to go”, said sues, Leonard Pattillo is the newsletter but be- Leonard. stepping down as editor lieves that, due to health He also heads up of the FBAC Observer. concerns, he should let the Astronomy On Leonard, who someone else take the Wheels program for was one of the charter job. FBAC and will continue members of the Fort “I’ve tried lots to administer that public Bend Astronomy Club, of different formats over outreach arm of FBAC. said he has enjoyed the the years but found that -Wes Whiddon PAGE 2 V OLUME 17, ISSUE 10

Astronomy Day, 2003 This annual event is held in October at the George Observatory in Brazos Bend State Park. This year’s affair is on Saturday, Oc- tober 4. Astronomy Day brings the four Houston area clubs together in a combined effort to present the science of astronomy to the local public. Outdoor and indoor dis- plays show all aspects of astronomy and talks on observing will be presented by club member volunteers. The highlight, of course is the actual observing through one of the three domed telescopes or one of the host of “deck” scopes provided by various club members. Admission to the park is $3/ person and there is a charge to observe through the 36” research telescope.

What’s Happening In October

Wednesday, October 1—15 minutes after sunset look early for Venus, very low in twilight. Visi- bility will improve as autumn progresses. Thursday, October 2—Jupiter and Mercury are visible in the east one hour before sunrise. The moon is just past first quarter. Friday, October 3—Saturn is high in the southeast. All clubs meeting at Houston Museum Of Natural Science—Herzstein Hall Saturday, October 4—Astronomy Day at the George Observatory 3-11 PM. Monday and Tuesday, October 6-7—Uranus at mag 6 is 3.6 degrees from Mars and 1.4 degrees north of Iota Aquarii. Thursday, October 9—Full moon. Sunday, October 12—The Pleiades high in the east 3 1/2 hours after sunset. Thursday, October 16—Northernmost Moon rises far north of east tonight within 4 hours after sunset from northern U.S. Saturn rises 6 degrees below Moon within 3/4 hour later. Friday, October 17—FBAC meeting, 7:15 PM, 3232 Austin Parkway, Sugar Land, TX. Tuesday, October 21-23—Predawn, best mornings for Orionid meteors from particles once part of Halley’s Comet. Saturday, October 25—New moon. Saturn begins retrograde motion in Gemini.

Highlight Of The Month—Mars will fade sharply from mag –2.1 to –1.2 as the distance from Earth grows from 42 million to 58 million miles. The disk will shrink from 21 to 15 arcseconds and become noticeably gibbous.

Other Highlights—Remember that there will be a lunar eclipse visible from Houston early in No- vember. In February of 2004, there will be simultaneous visibility of four of the five naked-eye planets in the evening sky. THE FBAC OBSERVER PAGE 3

Aperture Fever (Continued From Page 1)

CADD allows you to correct mis- secondary holder. ondary holders use a push-pull ad- takes before they are discovered af- justing/locking design that can be a ter hours of construction in the shop. The rebuild bear to adjust even in the daylight, I can't claim a lot of original ideas in First to be rebuilt was the upper Steve's design is based on a single my finished scope, but I have dili- cage assembly and serrurier truss socket head cap screw at each of gently scoured the pages of tele- system. Both cage rings are identi- three evenly spaced radial points, scope making publications and duti- cal octagonal segmented solid oak, with enough built in friction to fully observed the craftsmanship with biscuit joinery to insure eliminate secondary movement un- and ideas of others. Through this strength. After glue-up of all but der telescope use or transport. Bel- process I have gleaned the ideas that one of the eight joints, the inside ville spring washers hold the adjust- appealed to me most and attempted radius of the ring was formed by ment screws under constant tension to apply them wherever possible in fastening it to a one quarter inch to the mounting plate fastened to the my own design. So while there are thick backup panel to provide a cen- secondary support rod. Small many great ideas from others in my ter pivot and then band-sawing. Af- threaded brass balls between com- design, the overall finished product ter removing the ring from the band- pression plates allow for tilting of is my own. My primary desire was saw and the remaining backup the portion of the holder glued to the to build a DOB that was reasonably panel, the final joint was glued and secondary mirror with silicone adhe- easy to transport and assemble. clamped. The eight separating struts sive. This sounds complicated, but Telescopes that don't meet these cri- between the two cage rings are one it is in fact quite simple. The whole teria are seldom used, they just sit (1) inch diameter .062" wall alumi- design depends on friction forces and collect dust! Secondly, I num tubing with epoxied solid alu- applied after the whole unit is as- wanted a tracking telescope. Sev- minum filler pieces where cross sembled and works extremely well. eral years with a Celestron Ultima 8 holes or tapped fasteners needed to In practice, the screws are adjusted had spoiled me with the ability to be located. Recesses, matching the with a small hex wrench and are study star charts and return to the tube diameter, are milled .062" deep simply turned clockwise or counter- scope with the same star field still in into the oak cage rings to positively clockwise at each of the three ad- the eyepiece. (I seemed to spend an locate the tube struts. To provide justing points to align the secondary undue amount of time back at the fastening points for the spider vanes mirror WHILE you are looking charts determining how to star hop that were rotated 90° to the eyepiece through the focuser, alignment tube with those mirrored images!) After position, four cross bars were or autocollimator. Some nice pic- talking with Andy Saulietis about mounted horizontally between adja- tures of the holder may be seen in getting a copy of his 'Polar Roller' cent tube struts. Short .25T x .5W x Sky and Telescope magazine, Vol design, he informed me that there 1.5L bars fastened vertically at the 83, #1, January 1992, page 14. was something better and brand center of each of the four cross bars I use a JMI 2" NGF focuser new, a true alt-az drive system. This provided a pair of fastening holes mounted to a 3/16" aluminum plate system was a 'CADD' (Computer for the threaded ends of the spider fastened to adjacent cage struts. The Aided Dob Driver) system built by vanes. A standard 20" Novak spider TELRAD mounts to a 1/16" plate Tangent Systems and purchased was modified to handle a beefier fastened between the lower oak cage through Andy Saulietis of DTG secondary mount rod. The center ring and one of the horizontal spider (Danciger Telescope Group). He piece was replaced with one con- mount braces. The finder scope is machined a pair of 17" worm wheels taining a 5/8" x 20 TPI threaded an ORION Big Eye 11 x 80 with an and matching steel worms to com- hole. I machined the secondary illuminated reticule and a 45° amici plete the basic drive package. Fi- holder according to a Steve Watkins prism. A PULSE-GUIDE lights up nally, I wanted a scope that was designed "Easy Tilt" with a steel the reticule in short, medium inten- easy to maintain and align. Easy 5/8" x 20 TPI threaded shaft to sity bursts and along with the right- maintenance was accomplished by match the spider. side-up views provided by the amici rugged construction and easy align- Note: The "Easy Tilt", for prism, is extremely pleasant to use. ment would be augmented with those unfamiliar with it, provides a (Continued next month) electric collimation motors for the simplified means of adjusting the primary mirror and an "Easy Tilt" secondary mirror. While many sec- PAGE 4 VOLUME 17, ISSUE 10

GALACTIC COORDINATES stars where the Sagittarius arm of By Leonard Pattillo, FBAC the Milky Way joins the Cygnus Occasionally you will find some arm of our Galaxy. Next we pass celestial objects listed with Galac- Ever wonder just where the Galac- through Cepheus at 110º, Cassio- tic coordinates, such as planetary tic Equator, and the North Galactic peia at 130º and Perseus at 150º nebula, or galaxies that are listed and South Galactic Poles are? where it is joined by the Orion arm in the MCG catalog. In the case of of our Galaxy. At 180° we are planetary nebula, most have a ga- The North Galactic Pole is in now in Sculptor and Auriga, and at lactic coordinate such as PK215- Coma Berenices, between NGC our South Galactic Pole. Let’s 6.7. The PK is the name of the 4874 and NGC 4670, or 12h 51.4’ pause for a moment in Sculptor catalog, Perek & Kohoutek. The and +27º07.7’. The South Galactic and look north 100,000 light years order of listing is in 1º strips of Pole is in Sculptor, just south of to the North Galactic Pole. Hmm, galactic longitude and from the NGC 288, or 0h 51.4’ and -27º I wonder if there is a Santa at the north to the south galactic pole in- 07.7’. North Galactic Pole? Next at 190º side each strip. Thus 215 is near is Orion. While we are in Orion, galactic longitude 215º, the -6 in The Galactic Equator begins in let’s all sing “There’s no Place this case is - 6º in galactic latitude. Sagittarius. 0º is just north and Like Home”, for it is here that our The 7 is an assigned number of the west of the top star in the spout of solar system resides, about 1300 next free serial number in that par- the teapot. When you look in this light years from the outer edge of ticular strip. direction you are looking toward the Orion Arm. Traveling on, we the center of our Galaxy, The pass through Monoceros at 210º It is interesting to look at this Milky Way. and Canis Major at 230º then on to travel on a star chart that shows Puppis at 250º and Vela at 270º. the Galactic Equator. Sky Atlas Let’s begin our journey along the Our next stops are Carina at 290º, 2000 has the Galactic equator and Galactic Equator. Scutum at 20º Crux at 300º and then we hop over both the NGP and SGP plotted. lies in one arm of our Galaxy and to Centaurus at 310º. About here Uranometria 2000 has the poles is profusely populated by hun- we are getting close to our starting plotted, but not the equator. dreds of millions of stars. Aquila point...Norma at 330º and Scor- at 40º and Sagitta at 55º are also pius at 350º. We are now back My next research will be in the imbedded within this cloud of where we started. This journey quest of the Ecliptic poles. stars. Our next stop will be at took only a few moments to read, Let us know when you are ready Vulpecula at 60º and Cygnus at but would take countless millennia to leave on this journey, maybe we 80º still rich with the clouds of to accomplish in real time. can space-ship pool.

Astro Babe Of The Month Michael Robert Rivich THE FBAC OBSERVER PAGE 5

EAST DOME SCHEDULING KEITH RIVICH

The FBAC owns and operates an 18”, fork mounted newtonian telescope which is housed at the George Observatory in Brazos Bend State Park. As part of our agreement with the Observatory we are responsible for supplying volunteers during nights of public use, which includes all Saturday nights and some Fridays. In return we are allowed full access to the scope for personal use. Included with the scope are a full set of Televue eyepieces and filters, several sets of star-charts and reference books, a computer with charting programs and a CCD camera. To have access to this equipment you MUST go through a short training program AND volunteer at least once each quarter. The training can take place on the same night that you volunteer. During the dark-moon period, which runs from several days prior to third-quarter moon to several days past new-moon, use of the scope is scheduled due to demand. At all other times the scope is available on a first come basis. If you volunteer for a public night, even during the dark-moon period, then the scope is yours for the remainder of the night. To schedule a dark moon night I must be contacted no later then the full-moon prior to the next observing runs. Each month I will publish the current East-dome volunteer schedule, observing schedule, and research team schedule.

OCTOBER SATURDAY NIGHT SCHEDULE

OCT 4 ASTRONOMY DAY OCT 11 OPEN / OPEN / OPEN OCT 18 OPEN / OPEN / OPEN OCT 25 ELLIS / WEAVER / OPEN

See http://users3.ev1.net/~keithrivich/astronomy/eastdome/calender.html for up- dates

DARK MOON OBSERVING SCHEDULE

This part of the schedule will be continually updated and posted at http://users3.ev1. net/~keithrivich/astronomy/eastdome/calender.html For more information on how to schedule dark-moon nights call me at any of the numbers posted below.

Also available are the clubs 8” dobsonian reflector and the Solaris scope (for viewing sun w/ H Alpha filter).

The clubs Meade 8” and 10” LX-200 loaner scopes are available for use. For an update on availabil- ity please call me or go to http://users3.ev1.net/~keithrivich/astronomy/eastdome/page3.html

For more information or to sign up as a volunteer please contact me at: HM 281-468-8491 or WK 713-771-6944 or e-mail at [email protected] PAGE 6 V OLUME 17, ISSUE 10

Nevertheless, all 12 technologies cleus of Comet Borrelly. "We

Careful Planning and Quick Im- worked; the mission was a big suc- thought the spacecraft might be pul- provisation Succeed in Space Biz cess. verized," Rayman recalls, but once by Dr. Tony Phillips again DS1 defied the odds. It cap- Indeed, DS1 worked so well that in tured the best-ever view of a 1999 NASA approved an extended comet's heart and emerged intact. On December 18, 2001, ground mission, which Rayman and col- controllers at JPL commanded leagues had dreamed up long before By that time, DS1 had been operat- NASA's Deep Space 1 (DS1) space- DS1 left Earth—a visit to a comet. ing three times longer than planned, craft to go to sleep. "It was a bitter- "We were thrilled," says Rayman. and it had nearly exhausted its sup- sweet moment," recalls Marc Ray- ply of thruster-gas used to keep so- man, the DS1 project manager. And that's when disaster struck. lar arrays pointed toward the Sun. Everyone was exhausted, including DS1's orientation system failed. The Controllers had no choice but to Deep Space 1, which for three years spacecraft couldn't navigate! deactivate the spacecraft, which had taken Rayman and his team on remains in orbit between Earth and the ride of their lives. What do you do when a spacecraft Mars. breaks and it is 200 million miles DS1 blasted off atop a Delta rocket away? "Improvise," says Rayman. Rayman has moved on to a new in 1998. Most spacecraft are built project—Dawn, an ion-propelled from tried-and-true technology— Ironically, the device that broke, the spacecraft that will visit two enor- otherwise mission controllers won't 'Star Tracker,' was old technology. mous asteroids, Ceres and Vesta, in let them off the ground. But Deep The DS1 team decided to use one of 2010 and 2014. "Dawn is based on Space 1 was different. Its mission the 12 experimental devices—a technologies that DS1 pioneered," was to test 12 advanced technolo- miniature camera called MICAS— he says. Even asleep, DS1 contin- gies. Among them: an experimental as a substitute. With Comet Bor- ues to amaze. ion engine, a solar array that fo- relly receding fast, they repro- cused sunlight for extra power, and grammed the spacecraft and taught Find out more about DS1 at http:// an autopilot with artificial intelli- it to use MICAS for navigation, fin- nmp.jpl.nasa.gov/ds1 ... For kids, gence. "There was a good chance ishing barely in time to catch the go to http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/ DS1 wouldn't work at all; there comet. "It was a very close shave." ds1dots.htm to do an interactive were so many untried systems," re- dot-to-dot drawing of Deep Space calls Rayman. In September 2001, DS1 swooped 1. past the furiously evaporating nu-

Monthly Book Review tion encapsulates what is now als. He focuses on our Milky Way

“If the Universe Is Teeming with known as the Fermi paradox. Webb, Galaxy, which to date has yielded no Aliens... Where Is Everybody? Fifty lecturer in physics at the Open Uni- objects or signals that indicate the Solutions to Fermi's Paradox and versity in England, presents 49 solu- existence of alien beings with intelli- the Problem of Extraterrestrial Life” tions that have been proposed for the gence and technology. His compre- … by Stephen Webb paradox, grouping them according to hensive analysis covers topics rang- whether they hold that intelligent ing from the Drake equation and Scientific American Review extraterrestrials are here, exist but Dyson spheres to the panspermia On the way to lunch at Los Alamos have not communicated, or do not hypothesis and anthropic arguments. Scientific Laboratory one day in exist. He makes a splendid and Of special interest are the discus- 1950, Enrico Fermi and three other enlightening story of it, concluding sions on the DNA molecule, the ori- physicists--Emil Konopinski, Ed- with his own solution, the 50th: "We gin of life on Earth, and the threats ward Teller and Herbert York-- are alone." to organic evolution on this planet chatted about flying saucers. At (including mass extinctions). Webb lunch, when the talk had turned to Library Journal Review himself concludes that the "great other matters, Fermi suddenly said, In response to Enrico Fermi's fa- silence" in nature probably results "Where is everybody?" His compan- mous 1950 question concerning the from humankind's being the only ions realized that the talk of flying existence of advanced civilizations civilization now in this galaxy, if not saucers had turned his mind to the elsewhere, physicist Webb critically in the entire universe. This richly possibility that there is intelligent examines 50 resolutions to explain informative and very engaging book life elsewhere in the universe and the total absence of empirical evi- is recommended for most academic that he was asking why, if there is, dence for probes, starships, and and public library science collec- we have seen no sign of it. The ques- communications from extraterrestri- tions. THE FBAC OBSERVER PAGE 7

Diary Of An Eclipse Chaser By Joe Dellinger

August 10, 1999 if we had PERMISSION to go to the Most of the easily obtainable rocks had Well our local contacts had quarry before telling us how to get there. already been in the air and rain too long, warned us that they had been having a hot My friend replied that since I had been told and could easily be crumbled to dirt in clear spell for too long (about 3 weeks) about the quarry by a German geologist, he your hand, superman style. I took pictures and it couldn't possibly last. And sure assumed I must have known about the ne- of the quarry worker's giant scoop as they enough, August 10, the day before the cessity of getting permission first, and pre- trundled it off the trailer, narrowly past our eclipse, the weather turned cold and rainy. sumably had already taken care of that. parked cars, and got ready to start scraping Fine, I thought: if the rain was a cold front, He got the directions. on the then we could have a nice crisp clear day It was the first I had heard about quarry walls. As soon as they stopped for the eclipse! It was just there to wash needing permission. The German geologist blocking the exit we left (after all, at any away the heat haze! fellow indicated you just went there and moment their bosses might arrive to check That day a group of us (myself, helped yourself... up on how their workers were progressing, my sister who was traveling with me, and The directions were of the type and they might have a less relaxed attitude some friends from Stanford days also in "after a gentle turn to the left look towards our presence). We went back the area for the eclipse) planned to visit the for a big grove of trees on the right. Turn to the museum in Noerdlingen (it was still Ries impact crater. I had seen the place right onto a dirt road. Look for a busy, but it was possible to enter now) and described in a museum during a previous small stream. Turn left." etc. He empha- looked at the exhibits. The scientific direc- visit to Germany and had resolved to try to sized that the roads would be bad and the tor was still there. I presented him with a visit it the next time I came. Looking at a quarry would be muddy with all the rain. very nice book on the geology of impact large-scale map of Bavaria the Ries crater We were highly dubious these instructions craters I'd bought from NASA in Houston is not an immediately striking feature. would work, but they did. And even the (for a dollar!). He was quite pleased to re- Driving across the middle of it, though, it's worst German back-country dirt roads are ceive it. (He'd just ordered the museum a clear that this is an unusual place: a nearly easily negotiable by standard passenger copy the day before, he said!) So what perfectly circular ring of hills surrounding cars. The mud in the quarry pit was no were the workers quarrying the rocks for? a broad, flat central plain. Somewhat off worse than you would find all the time in To be ground up for making special highly center on the plain sits Houston, should you give in to the urge to porous cement! We also found out that the the perfect medieval town of Noerdlingen. attempt to play pedestrian. And sure large medieval church in the center of On "Gene Shoemaker Strasse", within the enough, in the quarry pit there were town was made out of blocks of suevite! old city walls, sits the Ries Impact Crater chunks of suevite all over the place. And Geez, that crumbly stuff? Who'd be stupid museum. The entrance exhibit tells you (in some German geologists were already enough to make a building out of that! German) that the Ries valley, at only 15 there, collecting samples. They didn't have We went to see this church, million years old, is "The best preserved permission either. which was already closed for the day. The giant impact crater on Earth". There were some signs in Ger- 300-foot-tall tower of the church, however, I had been told by a German ge- man probably telling us we couldn't go was open. It was entirely made out of ologist friend at Amoco that if I asked there, but fortunately we couldn't under- blocks of suevite. We all climbed up. They nicely, the head researcher at the museum stand them. were repairing the staircases; in many would tell me where to go find outcrops of The others left and our group was places you had to cross planks of wood "suevite", a very rare kind of "high pres- there alone helping ourselves to rocks. Af- with handrails instead. My sister carefully sure, low temperature" metamorphic rock ter a few minutes a large truck with flash- waited for me to cross these first, before that only occurs in impact craters. Basi- ing lights on top drove up and parked so as crossing herself. At the top there was a cally suevite is what you get if you take a to entirely block the qurry entrance. Uh little room, with an exhibit showing how bunch of random rock, run it through a oh... Since I spoke the most German and the tower miraculously remained standing blender, half melt it, and then quench it. was the instigator, I sheepishly went up to despite bombs in WW II that partially de- Disjointed fragments of shattered rock meet them. Maybe we could talk our way stroyed the adjoining church. There was a from formations wildly varying in age, all out of this one. At this point I was wonder- door leading out to a balcony that ringed deformed and jumbled together, mixed ing whether I'd be spending eclipse day in the top of the tower. Outside, the evening with chunks of glass, and shot through a German jail... sun was shining in a deep blue sky dotted with porosity. Cool. I wanted some! It turned out to be workers arriv- with puffy white clouds. The rain had So we went to the museum look- ing with earth-moving machinery to quarry cleared the air, and the view was simply ing for this fellow. Oops. It was the day some rock. They seemed unsurprised to incredible. A tall tower with a 360-degree before the eclipse and the museum was find us there. Evidently this sort of thing view, in the middle of a small city (with a absolutely stuffed with visitors. I couldn't happened all the time. They indicated we perfectly circular medieval wall around it), even wiggle through the huge mob filling should just keep out of their way and other in the middle of a perfectly circular impact the front entrance. And they were just than that couldn't care less. Since we were crater! Wow!!!! What an enchanted place! about to close for lunch! Fortunately my now stuck there, I went back to looking at (Continued next month) Stanford friend, being much smaller and rocks. This suevite stuff was highly po- wirier, managed to squeeze through and rous, and rapidly decomposed into crum- found the guy... Who who wanted to know bly yellow-green goo upon exposure to air. PAGE 8 V OLUME 17, ISSUE 10

Astro Bits: Notes From The Editor

We May Need That Umbrella After All As I was finishing an editorial (you can read it on page 9) this story came across on Space.com. It’s interest- ing to note that not one major U.S. news organization picked up on this...at least as of this writing.

BHUBANESHWAR, India (AP) _ Hundreds of people fled their homes when a meteor struck their village in eastern India, injuring three people and destroying two houses, a state minister said Sunday. The fireball hit the village of Sudusudia in Orissa state on Saturday evening, said B. B. Harichandan, the state reve- nue minister. "One person has sustained burn injuries and two houses have been burned down. The injured has been hospitalized,'' the minister said. Another two were hospitalized after falling unconscious, apparently from shock, local newspaper Dharitri reported. "The light was so bright that for a few seconds it appeared to be daylight,'' said Sanatan Sahu, a villager. Meteors, pulled by gravity toward earth, usually burn out in the planet's atmosphere and disintegrate before making an impact. "Though incidents of this kind are a rare phenomenon in this region, such celestial occurrences are com- mon in space,'' said J. Kar of the Pathani Samanta Planetarium in the state capital Bhubaneshwar. -- Associated Press

Tales From Late Arrival Seems that club members haven’t been making much use of our “unofficial” gathering spot lately. All the attention nowadays is on the George Observatory and educating the public about Mars. And there are some in FBAC who think we should be getting together more often for corporate observing sessions. So, some of us did just that. After a little urging by Jim Ellis, D.J. McCracken and yours truly joined Jim at late arrival for an outstanding night of observing. While a whole host of Bendonites were further down the road getting pestered by rug rats and teenagers, we were looking at incredible views of Mars, M31, and what’s left to observe in Sagittarius. Well, incredi- ble may be a little over the top considering the seeing was marginal but, what the heck, it was the first really good night in weeks so who’s to complain. A bunch of foreigners also showed up to observe in our private spot but we, in the typical FBAC good host way, let them stay. I glad to report that we were only blinded once by a lost “looper” looking for the gate into the park.

Speaking of Mr. Ellis, the East Dome is the recipient of a new CD burner donated by Jim. Looks like the data files are getting too big to copy over to zip disk. Thanks, Jim, for your generosity.

Hal Coward reports that the Clearwater trip was pretty much a literal washout. Here’s what he had to say: IMHO, Clearwater was pretty bad, because of the generally lousy weather. Thursday was solid clouds and rain, it rained all day Friday, and then cleared for about thirty minutes after sundown before clouding up again and shutting everyone down. I didn't bother to set up until Saturday night. We got in about I.5 hours of good observing with some really exceptionally steady seeing after sundown and then here came the clouds again. We tried waiting them out but it never really cleared up again. From an observing standpoint it was not really worth the effort. The fa- cilities are convenient, however, and from what I saw after sundown on Saturday the site is really very dark. Maybe the October trip will be better. Mike Newtson was taking some video of Mars which, given the seeing, may have turned out pretty well. Keith Larson then got the bug but by the time he got his stuff set up, the clouds had come in. There was apparently a wet line just west of San Antonio and you guys had much better weather than we did. Wish I had better news to report, but there it is.

It’s impossible to gauge the effort that Leonard Pattillo has put forth as editor of the Observer for so many years. I know this because I just finished editing my very first one. So, Leonard, thanks for all your hard work. I hope I’m able to fill your shoes. —Wes Whiddon THE FBAC OBSERVER PAGE 9

The Fort Bend Astronomy Club meets on the third Friday of every Fort Bend Astronomy Club month except for those months when special meetings are called. The P.O. Box 942 next meeting will be at 7:15 PM on October 17, 2003 at the First Col- Stafford, Texas 77497-0942 ony Conference Center, 3232 Austin Parkway, Sugar Land, TX. Dues are $30/year for the first member, $5 per additional household mem- FBAC Officers and Phone Numbers ber. Student dues are $15/year. President: Derek Newton 281-313-1765 Vice-Pres: Cynthia Gustava 281-239-3644 Secretary: Joe Dellinger 281-531-5417 The Houston Astronomical Society meets the first Friday of the Treasurer: Terry Hiserodt 281-495-4012 month in room 117 of the University of Houston Research Building. Alcor: Tracy Knauss 409-798-7917 The novice program begins at 7:00 PM and main meeting at 8:00 PM. East Dome Coordinator: Keith Rivich 281-468-8491 For the Johnson Space Center Club, refer to the JSCAS web site for NL Editor: Wes Whiddon 281-265-7614 meeting times and sites. There is a link on the FBAC web site. Librarian: Alex Cruz 713-702-9069 George Observatory: North Houston Astronomy Club meets on the 4th Friday of the 281-242-3055 Loaner Scopes-Keith Rivich: month at Kingwood College. The meeting starts at 6:45 PM, main 281-468-8491 meeting at 7:30 PM.

We’re on the web Http://www.fbac.org An Expression Of Editorial Opinion

Astronomical False No asteroid has ever data are in hand. Alarms reached beyond a rating Even waiting a few The scale by which of one on the scale— months to rate mar- astronomers rate poten- about the same chance ginal asteroids is bet- tial asteroid threats is as a random impact. ter than generating being modified because But despite that, the me- another scare. Both of the latest sensational dia continue to do their Brian Marsden and press scares. The most usual thing i.e. exagger- Rick Binzel have ex- recent furor involved ate, misquote, and dis- pressed their dismay asteroid QQ47, which tort. Doomsday seems at current events with early on had a one-in-a- to be everywhere and Marsden going so far million chance of strik- the sky is always falling. as to say the scale ing Earth eleven years Not even Chicken Little should be gotten rid from now. could surpass the Bad of. The benchmark that News Bears of our mod- But despite astronomers use (called ern media outlets. “crying wolf” too the Torino scale), was On the other hand, many times, Rest In Peace developed in 1999 by astronomers have his- astronomers as a Galileo Space Probe Rick Binzel of MIT. torically been part of the whole think keeping October 18, 1989 Used to inform the pub- problem. Presently any any asteroid data September 21, 2003 lic of potential impacts, suspicious new “threats” secret is not an option. it rates an asteroid’s are rated high on the Maybe, like Chicken threat on a scale of zero scale until better orbits Little, we should all to ten, based on its are determined. Ratings get ourselves an speed, size, and prob- should not be given to umbrella. ability of impact. any asteroid until good FORT BEND ASTRONOMY CLUB P.O. BOX 942 STAFFORD, TX 77497-0942

A NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION DEDICATED TO ASTRONOMY BY TEACHING, SHARING, AND OBSERVING