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December 1998 Vol. 25, No. 12

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December 1998 Vol. 25, No. 12 NEWSLETTER OF THE ORANGE COUNTY ASTRONOMERS See our web site at http://www.chapman.edu/oca/ December 1998 Free to members, subscriptions $12 for 12 issues Vol. 25, No. 12 Paul Curnow, Chris McGill, and Russ Sipe pose here for a photo in front of Palomar Observatory’s 200-inch Hale Tele- scope. Volunteers with the Explore the Stars program (see link from OCA website) in which many OCA members par- ticipate, were treated in September to a personal tour of the observatory by Jean Mueller, the well-known astronomer. CHAPMAN MEETINGS STAR PARTIES COMING UP The next meeting of the OCA is on The SIlverado site will be open for ob- The Geminid meteor shower takes Friday, December 11, at 7:30pm in the serving on Saturday, December 12. place this month between December Science Hall of Chapman University in The Anza site and Observatory will be 7 and 17th. The peak period will occur Orange. The free and open meeting will open December 19. Both events are during the evening of the 13th. feature Dr. William Ailor, who will talk on open to members and their guests, not “Meteoroids, Space Debris, and Related the general public. Come prepared for See our Outreach column in this Space Hazards,” as well as a “What’s cold weather -- dress warmly (layers), newsletter for information on coming Up?” presentation by Chris Butler, plus a and if in doubt, check the satellite activities. Members with telescopes weather pictures before leaving town are needed and welcome! raffle and open slides/videos. or call the observatory. Sirius Astronomer page 1 The President’s Message by Wayne P. Johnson (aka Mr. Galaxy) The holidays are closing in fast and I want to take this opportunity to wish everyone happy holidays. I will not make it to the December meeting, but I know all will go well! We were fortunate to have Jay Glowacki locate a very timely speaker for us in the person of Ed Tagliaf- erri, who gave a great presentation on the Leonid meteors. The November meeting was one of the best- attended meetings in a long time. It was standing room only! Jay will again introduce another of his "finds" from the Aerospace Corporation in the person of Bill Ailor, who will speak on a topic of current interest: space debris. There is a more thorough description of our upcoming speaker and his talk in the OCA's premier website run by Russ Sipe for those of you who need to be enticed to come to a meeting! I want to welcome and congratulate our new Sirius Astronomer Editor, Chris McGill, and Assistant Edi- tor, Aaron Imaoka. It's a lot of hard work to put out a quality newsletter as John Sanford has done for many years. I would like those of you who find (or better yet, write) items of interest to submit them to the Editor so that club members can read about what others are doing. We have a huge membership and a lot of potential for great stories, fact and fiction. A couple weekends ago---thanks to several volunteers---we were able to pour a 14' x 14' concrete pad with an isolated pier for the OCA's latest club telescope, now affectionately known as “MOCAT” (Mul- tifunctional OCA Telescope). The pad is located west of the Anza House. We are planning to move the 12-inch cassegrain and 8-inch newtonian telescope combination that will become MOCAT during the day of the November 21st Star Party. If we have enough people we will attempt to move the dome onto the pad and perhaps put the mount for the telescope inside. The telescope will not be mounted until the building is secure. We are finalizing the Anza House regulations. The primary rule for users is to leave the place in better shape than it was found. The second rule is that a very reasonable $5 per person per night usage fee will be requested. Signup sheets are available in the house for those who want to use the bedrooms on a “first-come, first-served” basis. Roy Weinberger (949-768-5205) is heading up the committee which is responsible for running the house. Feel free to contact him if you have questions on its use. I hope that he will write an article in the near future for both the Sirius Astronomer and the webpage discussing the house in general and the rules for its use (profusely illustrated, of course)! We have curtains that need to be installed and some windows that need to be blocked. I got yelled at for turning on the bath- room lights (which I didn't even think had windows) early in the evening while dropping off compo- nents for the MOCAT. When using the Anza House facilities be careful and considerate of others who are trying to observe at the site. Clear skies, Wayne (aka Mr. Galaxy) Sirius Astronomer page 2 Celestial “Talons” by Paul Curnow Aquila the Eagle is one of the few constellations of which a definite shape can clearly be seen. Now viewed in the nighttime skies, Aquila is one of a number of celestial birds that our ancestors have past down to us. The constellation dates from at least 1200 b.c., where it was recorded on an Eurphatean stone tablet. In mythology, it was known as the bird who was the companion of the Roman god Jupiter, and often carried his thunderbolt. In Germany it is called "Adler", in France "Aigle"; to the Spanish, it is known as "Aguila", and to the Russians it is known as "Awryell ". Its brightest star Altair (alpha Aquilae) is only 16 light-years away, making it one of our sun’s nearest neighbours. Altair is a white star with an extremely rapid rotation; in fact, Altair spins so rapidly that it's motion must tremendously distort this star's shape. The name Altair is derived from an Arabic name meaning “flying eagle”. There are a total of 47 stars above magnitude 5.5 within the constellation, and portions of this constellation are visible worldwide. It is the 22nd largest constellation and ranks 41st in overall brightness. On either side of Altair there are two stars sitting like sentinels guarding their king. To the north, there’s the yellow giant star Tarazed (gamma Aquilae), and to the south, the yellow star Alshain (beta Aquilae). Both names for these stars are derived from the constellations’ Persian name "Shahin Tara zed,” which means “star- striking falcon.” This celestial “bird of prey” was so revered by our ancestors that some of its stars even appeared on Roman coins dating from 94BC. To the ancient people of India, the three stars in a row were a representation of the footsteps of the deity Vishnu. The Hindu people be- lieved Vishnu was the preserver of the world, Shiva was the destroyer of the world, and Brahma was the creator of the world. The three stars were known to the ancient Chinese as "Ho Koo", a river drum. The three Sirius Astronomer page 3 stars also act as useful pointers as well. If we follow them north they point down to the bright star Vega in Lyra, and then if we follow the line south they point into the constella- tion of Capricorn. Aquila is also an abundant area for novae, with one of the most fa- mous novae in recent times appearing near the star lambda Aquilae in June, 1918. It was the brightest nova to appear since Kepler's nova in the year 1604. In 389 BC. another nova appeared near Altair, and was said to have equaled the planet Venus in brightness and to have been visible for a period of three weeks. The constellation contains the star eta Aquilae, one of the brightest Cepheid variables in the sky, ranging in brightness from magnitude 4.1 to magnitude 5.3 every 7.2 days. Aquila does not contain any Messier objects, but it does have a number of faint NGC ob- jects that the amateur can aim for. There are three globular clusters within Aquila's bor- ders, NGC 6760 being the most easily seen. The star Altair (along with the star Vega from the constellation Lyra) features in another star legend which is prominent in the Orient. In Japan, Altair is often called “Kengyu Boshi”, which means “Puller of Cows Star”, and Vega is known as “Orihime Boshi”, which means “Princess of the Weaving Star”. “Orihime” and “Kengyu” were once mar- ried, but they were later forced to separate by Orihime's emperor father. The two stars are separated by the Milky Way, which represents a celestial river. Only on one night of the year would the emperor permit his daughter to meet Kengyu, on the 7th day of the 7th month. Even today the Japanese still celebrate “Tanabata Matsuri” (the Tanabata festival) on the 7th day of the 7th month of each year. In English, Tanabata means “a machine for weaving”, and the festival celebrates technical skill and ability. Thus, to the delight of astronomers and ornithologists alike, the mighty celestial eagle flies on for another night. Paul Curnow, Adelaide, Australia References 1. Allen, Richard Hinckley, Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning, Dover Publications, 1963. 2. Bakich, Michael, The Cambridge Guide to the Constellations, Cambridge University Press, 1995. 3. Ridpath, Ian, & Triton, Wil, Collins’ Guide to the Stars and Planets, Collins, 1988. 4. Malin, David, & Frew, David J., Hartung's Astronomical Objects for Southern Telescopes, Melbourne University Press, 1995. 5. Staal, Julius. D.W., The New Patterns in the Sky: Myths and Legends of the Stars, McDonald & Woodward Publishing Company, 1988.
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