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Highlights of the March Sky. -- -- -- 2nd -- -- -- The Moon passes 4º southsouth of Jupiter, 8 pm. PPrime Focuss -- -- -- 3rd -- -- -- A Publication of the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society Mercury is at greatest western elongation (27º), 6 am. March 2008 -- -- -- 5th -- -- -- The Moon passes 0.2º south of Mercury, 9 am. ThisThis MonthsMonths KAS EventsEvents The Moon passes 0.2º north of Venus, 2 pm. General Meeting: Friday, March 7 @ 7:00 pm -- -- -- 6th -- -- -- Venus passes 0.6º southsouth ofof Kalamazoo Math & Science Center - See Page 16 for Details Neptune, 3 pm. Observing Session: Saturday, March 8 @ 7:00 pm th -- -- -- 7th -- -- -- New Moon Messier Marathon - Richland Township Park - See Page 13 for Map -- -- -- 10thth -- -- -- Special Lecture: Tuesday, March 25 @ 7:00 pm Mars 1.7º northnorth ofof M35.M35. WMU Main Campus, Rood Hall, Room 1104 - See Page 3 for Details th -- -- -- 14 -- -- -- First Quarter Moon First Quarter Moon Full Moon Theater: Saturday, March 29 @ 7:00 pm The Moon passes 1º northnorth WMU Main Campus, Rood Hall, Room 1110 - See Page 3 for Details of Mars near midnight. -- -- -- 19th -- -- -- The Moon passes 0.8º south of Regulus, 4 am. InsideInside thethe Newsletter.Newsletter. .. .. The Moon passes 3º southsouth February Meeting Minutes.................... p. 2 of Saturn, 11 am. Board Meeting Minutes......................... p. 2 -- -- -- 21st -- -- -- Full Moon Harlow Shapely Lecture........................p. 3 Full Moon Theater Preview................. p. 3 -- -- -- 23rd -- -- -- Mercury passes 1.0º southsouth Lunar Eclipse Captured......................... p. 4 of Venus, 6 am. Charles Messier...................................... p. 5 -- -- -- 27thth -- -- -- Guide to the Messier Marathon.......... p. 7 The Moon passes 0.5º Messier Marathon Search List............. p. 11 south of Antares, 6 a.m. NASA Space Place.................................. p. 12 -- -- -- 29thth -- -- -- Last Quarter Moon Messier Marathon Location Map........ p. 13 March Night Sky..................................... p. 14 -- -- -- 30thth -- -- -- The Moon passes 3º southsouth KAS Officers & Announcements........ p. 15 of Jupiter, 1 p.m. www.kasonline.org February Meeting Minutes Board Meeting Minutes The general meeting of the KAS was brought to order by The KAS Board met on February 17th at Sunnyside Church President Jack Price on February 1st at 7:15 pm EST. Thirty (following a one-week weather delay). President Jack Price members and guests were in attendance at the Kalamazoo brought the meeting to order at 5:15 pm. Other board mem- Area Math & Science Center (KAMSC). bers present include Richard Bell, Jean DeMott, Dan Morgan, Rich Mather, and Roger Williams. The guest speaker for the evening was fellow KAS member and Associate Professor of Astronomy at WMU, Dr. Kirk Rich delivered a treasurer’s report showing a current balance Korista. Kirk’s called his latest presentation Pluto - What’s in of $13,423.58. As directed by the board at the last meeting, a Name?. Kirk stated that our ancestors began naming objects Rich had invested much of the assets in certificates of deposit, in the heavens because it gave them a sense of power over $5,800 for the Land Acquisition Fund money and $5,000 for them. He then gave a brief history of the discovery of Pluto part of the cash balance. The CD’s will mature in one year, at by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930. Tombaugh was, in a sense, which time a decision can be made about reinvestment. hired by the ghost of Percival Lowell, who began the search for “Planet X” before his death in 1916. Events planned for March were summarized. The Messier Marathon is scheduled for March 8th at Richland Township Kirk then gave a detailed overview of the layout of the solar Park. Rich had not yet checked on the availability of the park, system and how Pluto fits in to it all. In short, Pluto lies in a but promised to do so immediately. After some discussion, region called the Kuiper Belt and Neptune marks the inner Full Moon Theater was set for March 29th, since the logical boundary of the Kuiper Belt swarm. Pluto’s eccentric orbit March 22nd date is on Easter weekend (see page 3). carries it between 30 - 49 AU from the Sun and actually crosses Neptune’s orbit on occasion. The two bodies will Old Business included the search for a display-table drape never collide due to Pluto’s 17º inclination and a 3:2 reso- printed with the KAS logo. Richard had contacted a number nance. In fact, due to this resonance, Pluto gets closer to Ura- of potential suppliers, finding that the first one contacted nus than it ever does to Neptune. Kirk then described some of quoted by far the lowest price of $150. The Board agreed that Pluto’s characteristics such as its small size (seven moons are Richard should be authorized to buy one of the drapes, pro- larger in diameter) and Pluto’s own family of three moons. vided that inspection of a sample showed the quality to be acceptable. Jean agreed to assist with quality control. The decision of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in August 2006 was then discussed and Kirk covered the fall- In other old business, the general meeting schedule was out and controversy, including comments made by Alan Stern firmed up, with Mark Miller speaking on large telescopes on (director of the New Horizons mission to Pluto). Kirk then March 7th, Dan Morgan describing telescope construction on went into the physics of what makes a body round and what it April 4th, and Dr. Arunav Kundu of MSU speaking about means to for an object to “clear its neighborhood”. Kirk dis- comet tails on June 6th. September and November have yet to played a graph that was in a paper written in 2002 written by be determined. Astronomy Day is set for April 19th at KNC. Alan Stern and Harold Levison. It showed a body of mass M The topics this year will be the Sun and Mercury. versus the mean distance of the Sun, with the lines of constant gravitational scattering parameter, lambda (Λ). All the eight In new business, the Vicksburg Middle School science night major planets were above the Λ = 1000 line, while ALL other appearance is scheduled again on Wednesday, March 12th. bodies were below the Λ = 0.003 line. Kirk then explained Dr. Christine Jones will speak on March 25th at 7 pm as part that Pluto may ultimately help tell us how the solar system of the Harlow Shapley visiting lecture program, jointly spon- formed 4.5 billion years ago and how it evolved over time. sored by KAS and WMU (see page 3 for program details). So, Pluto may no longer be considered a planet (as Mike Regarding the KAS web site, Richard reported having been Sinclair FINALLY admitted in public), but it may turn out to thinking for some time about how it could be improved be one of the most important bodies in the solar system. through redesign and having recently found a template design that already contains most of the desired features. The tem- After the snack break, we discussed the limited opportunities plate can be purchased for $140, and the redesign could be for observing as of late due to persistent cloud cover and bitter completed when time allows. The Board voted to authorize cold. The 5th anniversary of the Columbia diaster was buying the template. mentioned along with the 50th anniversary of the launch of Explorer I. The new images of Mercury by the MESSENGER The meeting was adjourned at 6:55 pm. The next meeting spacecraft were mentioned. Jean DeMott presented an $1,100 was set for March 9th, same time and place. check to President Jack Price. This brings the land acquisition fund to $8,000 now! The meeting concluded at 9:21 pm. Respectfully submitted by Roger Williams Prime Focus Page 2 March 2008 American Astronomical Society Harlow Shapley Visiting Lecture Program Join us for our next Full Moon Theater Reflections from Outbursts of Supermassive Friday, March 29 @ 7:00 pm Black Holes at the Centers of Galaxies WMU Main Campus - Rood Hall - Room 1110 Presented by Dr. Christine Jones Center for Astrophysics, Harvard University Are you a bored astronomer? Answer: of course you are, but what did you expect? It’s too cold and cloudy this time of year to observe. Not to mention that big, bright nasty Moon is in the way (Yes, it’s only a Waxing Gibbous Moon Galaxies don't like to be alone. Their gravitational pull — on March 15th, but that’s just a technicality). So, if you can’t even across the vast distances of space — causes galaxies to observe and you’re tired of watching the same old drivel on form clusters that can contain hundreds or even thousands of T.V., then join us for the next Full Moon Theater. The KAS individual galaxies. Clusters of galaxies are, in fact, the will provide the popcorn and all the soft drinks. You just largest structures in the Universe that are held together by need to show up and have a great time! gravity. Because of their immense size and mass, galaxy clusters are extremely useful as tools to probe a variety of Our feature presentation... questions about the Universe, including how much mass is luminous matter and how much is dark matter. In addition to being massive, clusters are so luminous that they can be observed back to when the Universe was only half its present age. Comparing the properties of distant clusters with nearby ones allows us to see both how clusters grow over time as smaller clusters fall into them, and also lets us constrain In the Shadow of the Moon important cosmological parameters.
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