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October 2018 BRAS Newsletter

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October 2018 BRAS Newsletter Monthly Meeting Monday, October 8th at 7PM at HRPO (Monthly meetings are on 2nd Mondays, Highland Road Park Observatory). Presenter: Stephen Tilley on “Comet and Asteroid Observing Using Internet Telescopes” What's In This Issue? President’s Message Secretary's Summary Outreach Report Astrophotography Group Light Pollution Committee Report “Free The Milky Way” Campaign Recent Forum Entries Messages from the HRPO Friday Night Lecture Series Globe at Night 12th Annual Spooky Spectrum Natural Sky Conference Observing Notes – Norma – The Rule & Mythology Like this newsletter? See PAST ISSUES online back to 2009 Visit us on Facebook – Baton Rouge Astronomical Society Newsletter of the Baton Rouge Astronomical Society October 2018 © 2018 President’s Message We are now moving into fall and longer nights. As we move towards winter and the end of the year, we can look forward with "guarded" optimism to Comet 46P/Wirtanen. The University of Maryland's Comet Wirtanen Campaign webpage (http://wirtanen.astro.umd.edu/46P/4 6P_status.shtml ) reports visual observations of the comet are following Yoshida's prediction suggests that the comet "may" reach naked eye brightness in December. REMINDERS: We plan to have a picnic at LIGO on Science Saturday, November 17, 2018. I hope to see you there. The BRAS Business Meeting will be Wednesday October 3, HRPO at 7 PM. The BRAS Monthly Meeting will be Monday October 8, HRPO at 7 PM. I will give a talk on Comet and Asteroid Observing using internet telescopes. If you have not reserved your member pin yet, please come to a meeting to pick one up. Please check with Ben Toman if you are willing to help with our Outreach Requests. Remember, Outreach to our community is a lot of what we do. Our astrophotographers (or members wishing to learn) should check with Scott Louque about BRAG (our new acronym stands for BRAS Astrophotography Group.) TELESCOPE RAFFLE: A vintage (c. 2001) Meade ETX 90EC with hard case. 90 Maksutov-Cassegrain reflector, 1250mm focal length (f13.8) on an electronic fork mount with built-in flip-mirror diagonal, additional right angle diagonal, and 8x21 finderscope. It includes two Meade super Plossl eyepieces (26mm &f 9.6mm), Yellow, Blue, Orange, and Neutral Density planetary filters, an ETX Autostar Controller for electronic alignment and goto positioning. It has built-in battery power from 8 AA batteries and a connector for an external power source. It is capable of tracking if it is set into polar alignment mode which requires an additional purchase of a field tripod or tabletop accessory. At this time, everything has been checked out on the scope EXCEPT the GOTO function. (It's been too cloudy to get outside for a good test run.) We are assuming that it works, but just know that the scope is being raffled AS IS. This is a great opportunity to get your hands on a great little scope with accessories. You'll be able to take a look at it at the meetings." Tickets are $5 each. Non members are eligible, and you need not be present to win. NOTICE: Thank you Krista Dison, for resuming her position as Secretary for the remainder of 2018. Clear Skies Steven M. Tilley, President Newsletter of the Baton Rouge Astronomical Society October 2018 © 2018 Secretary's Summary of September Meeting President Steven Tilley calls the meeting to order at 7:08PM. 28 members in attendance. Steven gives the floor to Vice President, Scott Louque, to introduce the guest speaker. -Scott introduces, Dr. Robert Hynes of LSU’s Department of Physics and Astronomy as the guest speaker. Dr. Hynes gives a lecture on Binary X-Rays, their discovery, and his work in studying black holes and neutron stars. Dr. Hynes answered questions after his lecture, and also invited those in attendance to Astronomy on Tap at the Varsity Theater on Wednesday, September 12th. Steven asked the new members in attendance to introduce themselves. Deep South Regional Star gaze representative, Barry Simon, updated the club on the new location at White Horse Christian Retreat Center near Sandy Hook, MS. He also gave out information on how to sign up and provided pictures of the facility. Scott Cadwallader showed the club this year’s raffle telescope, a Meade ETX 90EC Maksutov- Cassegrain reflector. He explained the current state of the telescope. Steven gave Dr. Hynes a pin for being a guest speaker. Don Weinell announced that the Rockefeller Star Gaze will take place the first weekend of February. HRPO manager, Chris Kersey, asked for volunteers for upcoming observatory events. He also mentioned there will be some upcoming city council meetings he will attend to discuss light pollution. Coy Wagoner talked about his recent receipt of the Master Observer award from the Astronomical League. 2018 Officers: Scott L invited the club to the next astrophotography meeting at Chelsea Wall’s home on Friday, September 14th. President: Steven M. Tilley Chris K asked for volunteers for the upcoming BRAS outreaches. Vice-President: Scott Louque Raffle was held. Secretary: Krista Dison--- Meeting adjourns at 8:45PM. Treasurer: Trey Anding BRAS Liaison for BREC: Chris Kersey BRAS Liaison for LSU: Greg Guzik Submitted by Krista Dison, BRAS Secretary Committees/Coordinators: Light Pollution: John Nagle Newsletter: Michele Fry Observing Notes: John Nagle Outreach: Ben Toman Webmaster: Frederick Barnett Newsletter of the Baton Rouge Astronomical Society October 2018 © 2018 BRAS Outreach Report Hi Everyone, We had a pretty nice September and now we're moving into a busy October. Our outing at the Mid City Maker's Market Mid City Maker's Market was a lot of fun. We even bumped into Dr. Boyajian with her a few pics by Ben Tomen kids on a nice evening out. Unfortunately, our 1st outing at Perkins Rowe for Sidewalk Astronomy ended early due to poor weather. Until then, we were getting a good amount of people talking to us and even got to see the Moon for a few minutes. This month's thanks go to: Chris K., Scott L., Scott C., John N., Krista D., Ashley T., Ben T., Russell P. and Craig B. We couldn't do these events without our volunteers! A big thank you to Scott C., as well, for representing BRAS in a series of live webinar workshops put on by the Night Sky Network over the course of the next few weeks. He will be learning a lot about telescopes and optics and should get some great ideas on how we can do some more educational outreach in the community. Also, by being selected to participate in this workshop, BRAS will receive 25 Galileo Scopes to use in our outreach endeavors. We still need (and are kind of desperate for) some help this Scott C. with his scope showing the Sun to some coming Saturday, October 6th. If we don't get more of Dr. Boyajian's kids volunteers for the Maker Faire, we may not be able to participate. Please take a look at the events below and let me know ASAP if you can come help out. Upcoming Events Saturday, October 6th 10am-5pm Mini Maker Faire (Baton Rouge Main Library) info booth, demos, solar observing 6-8 volunteers or more needed Saturday, October 6th 8:30-? Boy Scout Campout (Lamar Dixon Center, Gonzales) Krista D., staffing the demo/info table telescope viewing 3 volunteers needed Friday, October 12th 7pm-8:30 Girl Scout Campout (Sorrento) telescope viewing 1-2 volunteers needed Ben Toman,Outreach Coordinator Newsletter of the Baton Rouge Astronomical Society October 2018 © 2018 BRAS Light Pollution Committee Report This committee meets at 6:15, same day as the 7:00 BRAS Business Meeting (which normally takes place on the Wednesday before the Monthly Meeting) Everyone is welcome to join in. First, please check out the Member’s Corner for an invitation from Thomas Halligan. The Light Pollution Committee discussed the Louisiana House Concurrent Resolution N0. 72 – This resolution is to form a task force to study and make recommendations relative to the observance of daylight savings time, whether or not to keep it or, like two other states, to go to standard time all year. The LPC Committee has drafted and approved a letter to the House task force stating the position of BRAS on this subject. Here is the letter, as approved: Dear Sir or Madam, We the members of the Baton Rouge Astronomical Society would like to express our opinion in favor of the elimination of the biannual time change, with the express purpose of the removal of Daylight Saving Time and the adoption, year-round, of Standard Time. Due to the length of the days during the summer, astronomers have severely restricted time to access to the evening sky. The implementation of Daylight Saving Time further restricts our evening observing time by an hour. The restoration of Standard Time would be beneficial to us by allowing us to have more time in the evening for our personal observations as well as increasing our ability to serve the public through educational outreach. Thank you for your consideration. (I was not personally able to attend the meeting. These notes were gathered by talking to other members.) John Nagle, Chairman P.S. Every year BRAS presents a Good Lighting Award to a company that uses BEST outdoor lighting practices. If you notice a business in EBRP that uses Full Cutoff lighting fixtures, please jot down and send their Business name, address, date and description to me at [email protected]. This would be much appreciated. The Progression from Bad to Best Lighting Fixtures that decrease Light Pollution No Cutoff - BAD Partial Cutoff - BETTER Full Cutoff - BEST Newsletter of the Baton Rouge Astronomical Society October 2018 © 2018 BRAS Astrophotography Group ( BRAG) - August Meeting The September meeting of BRAG was held at Chelsea Lavigne Wall’s house in Ponchatoula on the 14th, with Chelsea, Krista Dison, Scott Cadwallader, Chris Desselles, John Nagle, and Merrill Hess.
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