the vol. 37 no. 9 September Skyscraper 2010 Amateur Astronomical Society of Rhode Island 47 Peeptoad Road North Scituate, Rhode Island 02857 www.theSkyscrapers.org Seagrave Memorial Observatory is open September Meeting with Ken Slater to the public weather permitting Friday, September 10, 7:30pm Saturdays 8pm - 10pm Please note that the observatory may be inac- Seagrave Memorial Observatory cessible for after extended periods of heavy rain. See web site for updates. “Stellafane Then & Now”, a talk by Ken Slater about The Springfield Telescope In this issue… Makers and Stellafane, will cover both his- tory and current events, and provide some 2 Get Ready to Observe insight into what the club is involved in Jupiter besides presenting the well known Stellafane Convention every year. 2 President’s Message Ken Slater is a recently retired Electrical & Software Engineer who has lived in 3 An Opportunity to Easily a log home in Chester, VT since retire- Locate Uranus ment (Chester right next to Stellafane!). A member of the Springfield Telescope Makers 4 A Star-Hop that Finally since 1998, he is currently a Trustee of the Worked! club, the Stellafane Webmaster, and a Mirror Class instructor. He also enjoys hiking and 5 backpacking, and is working to finish hiking Stella-this & Stella-that the Appalachian Trail in New Hampshire this year. 6 The “Little Big Dipper” 7 Sky Notes 8 The Milky Way 9 August Reports Phases of the Moon 1 8 15 23 Other nOtable events: Mercury is at inferior conjunction on the 3rd. Mercury is at great- est western elongation (18deg) on the 19th. Jupiter & Uranus are at opposition on the 21st and are less than 1 degree apart. Autumnal Equinox is on the 22nd. Venus is at maximum illumination on the 23rd. The Moon is 1.1deg S of the Pleiades on the 28th. 2 The Skyscraper September 2010 President’s Tom Thibault Message I hope everyone has been taking advan- assist. More details to come. tage of the incredible weather we have been Stellafane has come and gone, and I enjoying this summer. We have not had a hope that many of our members were able The Skyscraper is published monthly streak of warm temperatures and clear skies to attend. John Briggs and Dan Lorraine by Skyscrapers, Inc. Meetings are usually held on the first Friday of the like this summer during the last couple of teamed up and organized a pre-Stellafane month. Public observing is usually previous years. I personally have enjoyed one day Moon Morphology Workshop to held every Saturday night at Seagrave some great views and urge all to get out and kick off the activities. I was unable to attend, Memorial Observatory, weather per- take in the sights while the good weather and hope those that did will share their ex- mitting. lasts. We in New England are a hardy bunch periences with our members and me during and will continue to view the heavens even the upcoming months. Gerry Dyck has President on the coldest of nights, but nothing beats written a whimsical poem on Stellafane and Tom Thibault [email protected] taking in the starry sky in the warmth of the is featured on our Web Site. It will certainly 1st Vice President summer and early fall. bring a smile to those that take the time to John Briggs [email protected] We have begun the repairs and restora- give it a good read. tion of the Alvan Clark refractor under the Well, it has finally arrived. The King of 2nd Vice President leadership of Al Hall and anticipate it’s com- Planets, Jupiter, is rising early enough for Steve Hubbard [email protected] pletion for 2010’s AstroAssembly in October. all to enjoy. I have been rising in the early Secretary I extend the memberships appreciation to morning for the last couple of months to Ed Haskel [email protected] Al Hall and all those who have volunteered enjoy its view, which can be tough. I’m look- in this effort. Steve Hubbard’s continued ing forward to spending many an evening in Treasurer hard work in securing guest speakers has September with Jupiter in my eyepiece and Jim Crawford [email protected] provided a great line-up and efforts to date hope all of you take advantage as well. Members at Large of all the volunteers are coming together for We are still accepting membership dues Mercedes Rivero [email protected] a successful upcoming AstroAssembly. We for 2010. If you have not yet renewed, please Gene Kusmierz [email protected] will be looking for volunteers to assist in the remit to our Treasurer, Jim Crawford. Your preparations leading up to as well as during continued support is greatly appreciated and Trustees AstroAssembly and welcome all those who will insure Skyscrapers will maintain and Jim Brenek [email protected] Tom Barbish [email protected] would like to help. Feel free to speak to any improve our facilities during the upcoming Pat Landers [email protected] member of the E-Board if you would like to year. Star Party Coordinator Bob Forgiel [email protected] Get Ready to Observe Librarian Amber Lesperance Dave Huestis Historian Jupiter Dave Huestis [email protected] In my July column I reported that one from viewing Jupiter from my home in Editor of the main features of Jupiter, the South Pascoag at a reasonable hour.) The missing Jim Hendrickson [email protected] Equatorial Belt (SEB), was missing. For belt was quite apparent. those of you not familiar with the morphol- While some of my colleagues have been Directions ogy of Jupiter, this missing cloud belt is the observing and imaging Jupiter since January, Directions to Seagrave Memorial one in which the Great Red Spot partially until recently they had to do so during the Observatory are located on the back “resides” (it actually sits in the light-colored early morning hours. I know many of you page of this newsletter. South Tropical Zone and “notches” into the too need to wait for Jupiter to show itself at Submissions brownish South Equatorial Belt north of it). a more reasonable hour of the evening. Well, Submissions to The Skyscraper are The Spot continues unabated, but the view now’s the time to drag your telescopes out of always welcome. Please submit is quite strange compared to our “normal” the closet/garage/basement (or visit one of items for the newsletter no later than view. It now appears to float within and the local observatories) and focus in on the September 17 to Jim Hendrickson, 1 above a deck of white ammonia clouds. largest planet in our solar system. Sunflower Circle, North Providence, RI This phenomenon has occurred in the Before taking a first-hand look at how 02911 or e-mail to jim@distantgalaxy. past, and the SEB eventually returned. Jupiter currently appears, you may wish to com. Through an Internet service called Project refresh your memory on how prominent E-mail subscriptions Slooh, I recently (August 2) captured an his cloud features looked before the SEB To receive The Skyscraper by e-mail, image of Jupiter with the aid of a robotic disappeared. Here is a web site you can send e-mail with your name and ad- telescope atop a mountain in the Canary access: http://science.nasa.gov/media/medi- dress to [email protected]. Note Islands. (My tree-line has prevented me alibrary/2010/05/19/loststripe_strip.jpg that you will no longer receive the newsletter by postal mail. www.theSkyscrapers.org The Skyscraper September 2010 3 If you do visit an observatory, the volunteers there will find Jupiter for you. An Opportunity to However, if you have a telescope of any size, you most definitely will want to locate and Easily Locate view Jupiter on your own. On September 1, Jupiter will rise above the due east horizon around 8:08 pm here Uranus in southern New England. Most of us do not have a “dead” horizon, so you must Jim Hendrickson wait some time for the planet to rise higher Have you ever observed Uranus? If you into the sky. By 10:00 pm Jupiter will be 20 have, when is the last time you looked at it? degrees above the horizon. You can’t miss it. The seventh planet is usually not the first It will be the brightest object in the sky. The one that comes to mind when planetary higher it rises, the better it will look through observation is the topic of discussion. In a telescope, as long as the air is clear and all likelihood, very few observers who fre- steady. will either blink out or reappear. Also, it’s quently observe the five naked-eye planets Each night Jupiter will rise earlier and fun to watch all four moons line up on one telescopically make the effort to track down earlier, so by the 15th of September it will rise side of the planet. I love to watch Jupiter Uranus at least once a year. just after 7:00 pm, and by 10:00 pm it will over an extended period of time during the This month’s opposition of Jupiter be 30 degrees above the horizon. Plan your course of one evening because the view is provides an excellent opportunity to spot observing schedule using these dates and dynamically changing as you watch. Uranus, as both planets reach opposition on times. Next it’s time to look at Jupiter’s disk, the same day and are about 1 degree apart Jupiter is a very beautiful planet to ob- the ball of the planet.