Charlotte Amateur Astronomers Club www.charlotteastronomers.org

CAAC October 2019 Meeting

Next Meeting: Friday October 18th, 2019 Place: Myers Park Baptist Church Time: 7:00 PM Education Building – Shalom Hall (Basement) Address: 1900 Queens Road Charlotte, NC 28207

The Herschels

Following a very successful career as a musician, William Herschel with the help of his brother Alex, and sister Caroline, became the first and probably the greatest amateur astronomer and telescope maker of all time. He taught himself the art of the telescope making and sold them throughout Europe during the turn of the 19th century. He was the first to make a search for double , finding hundreds of them in the northern sky. He was the first to make a systematic search for what we call deep sky objects. He most likely was the first to see the objects that we enjoy seeing with our own modern telescopes. Herschel’s favorite telescope is now on display at the Smithsonian in Washington. Photos of it will be used to show what was “state of the art” telescope making 240 ago.

1 - William and Caroline Herschel polishing a telescope lens (probably a mirror); 1896 Speaker Bio: lithograph

Gayle Riggsbee is a native of Charlotte and a retired machine design engineer. He has been an avid amateur astronomer since joining the Charlotte Astronomers Club in 1960. He has served as both President and Vice President of the Charlotte club and for many years was the club’s observatory director and telescope maker. Gayle founded the Southern Astronomical Convention, the popular annual astronomy lecture weekend at Wildacres Retreat in the North Carolina mountains. He enjoys lecturing on the history of astronomy and has built telescopes ranging up to 24 inches in diameter. His telescopes have won national awards, including first place at Stellafane. The Charlotte club has honored Gayle with a lifetime membership and their club observatory is named after him.

CAAC Treasurer's Report as of 9/30/2019

Part 1 of 2 Operating Fund Purpose: Enable the CAAC to pursue our non-profit goals, maintain our facilities, and run our programs:  Funds are acquired through ongoing receipts of dues, fees, and annual net Southern Star income (or expense).  Funds are expended to meet operating obligations of the club.

1 Operating Fund Balance: 8-31-2019 $8860.87 2 Income Dues & Fees 360.00

Expenses

GHRO Utilities 488.08 3 Fees for Credit Card Service 3.34 Meeting Expense 314.93 Administrative 41.12 Sproles Equipment (793.08) 4 Operating Fund Balance: 9-30-2019 $9166.48

Part 2 of 2 Non-Operating Funds Purpose: Administer gifts and donations for designated use. 1 Balance 8/31/2019: Non-Operating Funds Scholarship Fund 3989.36 Contingency Fund 28,038.32 Long-Term Fund 10,247.86 2 Income Donation: 0.00 Interest 1.04

Expenses or Transfer 3 Correction to Report to agree with Bank 96.57 4 Balance 9/30/2019: Non-Operating Funds Scholarship Fund 3989.36 Contingency Fund 27,942.79 Long-Term Fund 10,247.86

Endowment Fund balance $1240.06

DUES and FEES ARE DUE NOW Club Dues and GHRO fees totaling $60 are now due for our fiscal October 2019 through September 2020. You can pay them using your credit card at the CAAC website www.charlotteastronomers.org or by cash or check at the meeting. For those of you who have private pads, don’t forget to include your pad fee for the year. Thanks

-Benton Kesler CAAC Treasurer

CAAC Outreach Updates

Davidson Space Day is an annual, day-long astronomy fair being held at Davidson College and if the weather permits, it concludes with a nighttime stargazing session on the campus lawn. CAAC have been involved over the past few years and have once again been invited to participate in the stargazing portion of the event, which takes place from 8-10pm.

Prior events have seen attendance of 100+. So, we need some members to volunteer their time and telescopes to assist.

If you would like to help, please let us know by emailing [email protected] or RSVP to the Night Sky Network Event here: https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/event-view.cfm?Event_ID=105454

Look forward to seeing you out there.

Neil

If you are interested in getting more involved with CAAC Community Outreach please contact Neil Easden at [email protected]

News from GHRO

1. Thanks to all that were able to assist with the workday at GHRO last Saturday. The bridge to the tent camping area was reinforced and a new sidewalk was installed at the front door. Many thanks to Cub Scout Pack 195 from Mint Hill for collecting all of the debris and making a burn pile for us. 2. The October Star Party at GHRO will be October 26st, COSMIC CAMPOREE!! There’s a new moon. 3. The final telescope training for 2019 is November 2 beginning at 5 PM. 4. Cosmic Camporee is upon us and we’re looking forward to a great turnout and fun times for all. This year we will have burgers, hot dogs and drinks provided by the club, all side dishes and desserts will be pot luck for Saturday evening dinner. I’ll have a sign-up sheet with suggestions at the meeting on October 19. Model rockets, an unguided hike at 40 Acre Rock and great comradery will be the itinerary for the weekend. I encourage all to come down for the entire weekend, Sunday breakfast will be provided to all that care to stay. Remember that the RV sites are first come-first served. 5. Please remember that all requests for telescope pads and/or observatories need to be presented to the Observatory director for review. Once the director has reviewed the proposal and hashed out the details with the member, the proposal must be brought to the CAAC executive committee for approval prior to construction. 6. Finally, beginning with the November star party (November 23), motorized vehicles will not be allowed beyond the parking lot after dusk at CAAC star parties. A hand truck and cart will be available to assist in transporting equipment from the observing pads to the parking lots.

GHRO Information (see http://1drv.ms/1m2wPUn) GHRO is located at 1427 Bloomwood Drive, Lancaster, SC. (some GPS show city as Pageland). Gravel road leading to the observatory is located 5.22 miles east of the "522 Grill" on Taxahaw, Rd.

Facebook FAQ https://www.facebook.com/CharlotteAstronomers/ scroll down to NOTES, then Frequently Asked Questions page for more information about GHRO. Be sure to share your astronomy photos and observing tips.

Night Sky Network -- "Heading to GHRO" For updates on GHRO, be sure to join the https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm "Heading to GHRO" message group.

Jim Gaiser, Director GHRO.

As always, we care about the safety and security of all visitors to our observing facility, the GHRO. To keep us all mindful for the need to keep alert while visiting the observatory, we provide the following reminder. Please share this with your family and any visitors who may join you at the observatory. Thank you.

*** WARNING ***

This facility and adjoining area may contain uneven terrain, dangerous wildlife, low light conditions, and dangerous man-made obstacles.

By using this facility, users assume the risk of personal injury, and loss or damage to personal property. All persons should use extreme caution at all times.

Users of this facility agree to hold harmless the Charlotte Amateur Astronomers Club, its Directors, and its members for any and all injuries sustained while participating in club activities or using this facility.

Are you looking for something to discover in the night sky? Try these with a modest size telescope, with some patience and persistence! Or come down to the GHRO and get a really fine look! This month, a , a chain, and a .

M102, also known as the Spindle Galaxy, is an edge-on lenticular galaxy located in the northern Draco. The Spindle Galaxy lies at a distance of 50 million light years from Earth and has an of 10.7. It Draco is estimated to contain 100 billion stars. M102 is very difficult to see with binoculars, but easily visible in small telescopes, which show a thin, nebulous patch under good conditions. 4-inch telescopes show a bright elliptical nebulous patch with a brighter core, while 6-inch and 8- inch instruments reveal a halo of light and hints of the galaxy’s dark dust lane. Larger telescopes show the galaxy’s well-defined bright center and more details of its structure.

NGC 6871 (Star Chain) is a small, young in the constellation of . The cluster has less than 50 members, most of which are blue and white stars. It is located 5135 light-years from Earth. The cluster is dominated by a pair of double star systems comprised of SAO 69402 (mag 6.77) and SAO 69403 (mag 7.36) for the northern pair and SAO 69405 (mag 7.86) and SAO 69404 (mag Cygnus 8.86) which make up the southern pair. NGC 6871 was discovered by Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve (1793-1864) in 1825. The (a.k.a NGC 6888, Caldwell 27, Sharpless 105) is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, about 5,000 light-years away from Earth. It was discovered by William Herschel in 1792. It is formed by the fast from the Wolf-Rayet star WR 136 (HD 192163) colliding with and energizing the slower moving wind ejected by the star when it became a red giant around 250,000 to 400,000 years ago. The result of the collision is a shell and two shock waves, one moving outward and one moving inward. It is a rather faint object located about 2 degrees SW of Sadr. For most telescopes it requires a UHC or OIII filter to see. Under favorable circumstances a telescope as small as 8 cm [3-inch] (with filter) can see its nebulosity. Acknowledgements: Messier-Objects.com, Wikipedia, and Astronomy Magazine for excerpts. Mag Star 7 Star Atlas Project © 2005 Andrew L. Johnson for star maps (clipped) Edited by Mark Hoecker

What’s Up in the Sky?

Highly Recommended Download and print a good FREE star map (including interesting objects to look for) monthly from:

Skymap http://www.skymaps.com/downloads.html

You’ll also find a good monthly sky map in each issue of Sky & Telescope or Astronomy magazines.

New to the Night Sky?

Are you puzzled by folks in the club who point up in the sky and say “There’s Gemini... and you can see Leo rising over there...and doesn’t Regulus look clear tonight”? Are you trying to figure out where those darn are? Those large star atlases are pretty intimidating… confusing… and expensive.

A good starting point could be called, My First Star Atlas…. but in reality it is 4 simple but very helpful FREE star chart pages from the Stephen F. Austin State University – called SFA Star Charts. Pages 2 & 3 show you about 90% of everything you need to get started. There are even a couple pages that explain how to use a start chart. Clear and straight-forward.

Go to this link and print out the pdf file on the largest paper you have available, though standard letter paper is fine:

http://observe.phy.sfasu.edu/SFAStarCharts/SFAStarChartsAll.pdf

While these charts do not show the myriad of deep sky objects, they DO show the constellations and brightest stars – a good introduction to the night sky! Happy Observing!

An ENHANCED Star Atlas – FREE!

Our CAAC member, Mark Hoecker, has used the Mag 7 Star Atlas – Color Milky Way version (available on the internet) and added some enhancements including:  A star map index to quickly identify the individual star chart you are looking for.  Blue directional arrows at the edge of each chart guiding you to the adjacent chart. Also large page numerals were added in the lower right corner, helpful when thumbing through the charts.  Finally, he manually added common star names and a selection of deep sky object names to the star charts, helpful in finding your way around the sky.

Such enhancements are allowed under the Creative Commons License by Andrew L. Johnson, author of the original charts.

SUGGESTION: While printing at the largest paper size you have available is helpful, a great alternative if you have a “letter size” color printer with a manual auxiliary feed slot, is to print on “legal size” (8½ x 14- inch) heavy paper or even “card stock”. You could also punch holes and place in a legal-size report cover available at office supply stores. You would then have a wonderful star atlas to help you through the night skies!

If you have access to a color printer that can print on 11 x 17-inch paper (or card stock), you can print a magnificent copy whose readability will rival that of very nice, commercially available atlases.

To download your Mag-7 Star Atlas Milky Way version – ENHANCED, go to the CAAC website and scroll down the left column to “Mag 7 Star Atlas” and follow the link. Happy Observing!

CAAC CONTACTS

President Ken Steiner [email protected] Vice President Tommy Megremis [email protected] Treasurer Benton Kesler [email protected] Secretary Nazim Mohamed [email protected] Observatory Director Jim Gaiser [email protected] Public Outreach Coordinator Neil Easden [email protected]