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Home , 78 Pegasi, Catasterismi, Messier 30, Montes Spitzbergen, Naming of comets, NGC 6907

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Fort Worth Astronomical Society October 2010 Established 1949 Astronomical League Member

Club Calendar – 2 Skyportunities – 3

Armchair Astronomy – 5 How are Named - 6 Capriconus – 7

Stargazers’ Diary – 8

1 24.8% Crescent by Jim Murray

October 2010

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

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Top ten binocular deep-sky objects for October: M52, NGC 7209, NGC 7235, NGC 7243, NGC 7293, NGC 7510, NGC 7686, NGC 7789, NGC 7790, St12 Top ten deep-sky objects for October:

K12, M52, NGC 7209, NGC 7293, NGC 7331, NGC 7332, NGC 7339, NGC 7640, NGC 7662, NGC 7789

Club Pic-A-Nic Thomsen Found.

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Algol at Minima Moon at Perigee New Moon Make use of the New

3RF Party 8:32 pm - NW (223,355 miles) Moon Weekend for 1:44 pm

9 am better viewing at the

Dark Sky Site

Oct. Draconid

meteors peak

STS-41 Discovery Neils Bohr born New Moon New Moon launched 20 125 years ago Weekend Weekend ago.

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

New Moon First Qtr Moon Over

2:40 pm 4:27 pm Euless

Museum & Club

Challenge deep-sky object for October: event. Last Public

Very Large Array Jones 1 (PK104-29.1) () Star Party for 2010

dedicated 30 years Challenge for October: ago

78 Pegasi

Notable carbon star for October: New Moon Astronomy Day RZ Pegasi Weekend Autumn Columbus Day

17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Moon at Apogee Algol at Minima Full Moon Algol at Minima (251,921.miles) 1:21 am 10:14 pm 1 pm NE near zenith 8:36 pm Low in NE

Algol at Minima

4:36 am

NW near zenith

Zond 8 launched 40

years ago

FWAS Orionid STS-73 Columbia Meeting meteors launched 15 years peak

ago

24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Algol at Minima Last Qtr Moon 7:03 pm Last Day of The 7:46 am Absurd Challenge Great State Fair of Double Shadow Low in NE Texas Transit on Jupiter Sunset @ 6:43 11:17 pm High in South 31

STS-131 launch scheduled for November 1st

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Observing and Outreach Opportunities Weather permitting (FWAS contacts in parentheses)

October 2 – Annual Club Picnic at the pavilion & pads at the Thomsen Foundation. See the e-group for last minute details.

October 9 - Three Rivers Foundation (3RF) Star Party - 3RF invites you out to Comanche Springs near Crowell, Texas for a night under the stars. The dark skies of Big Ranch Country provide a spectacular view of the universe. The party starts with solar observing followed by a break. Evening activities begin with a short educational introduction to astronomy. The observatories and Star Field are then opened to the public to enjoy the use of many different kinds of astronomy instruments. For more information the day of a scheduled star party, please call 940-655-3384. (Russ Boatright and Doug Brown) (Panhandle Plains, where Oklahoma tucks into the Texas Panhandle)

October 16 – Stars Over Euless. This is the club’s annual Big Shindig in Euless at the Bob Eden Park 901 W Mid Cities Blvd. The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History's Noble Planetarium Director Linda Krouse will conduct a power point presentation on different elements in the nighttime sky. Members of the Fort Worth Astronomical Society will bring out powerful telescopes so kids can gaze into outer space and learn about the order and function of stars and planets in the sky. The City of Euless makes a contribution to the club’s scholarship fund in appreciation of the club’s support of this publicized event. Enter the park and go to the back of the parking lot (East end of the long skinny lot.) and we will set up on the large open field through the trees. There is a wide sidewalk leading to the field, but follow directions as to whether or not we can drive on it. Linda and Museum staff will be there with dollies, etc. to assist in getting equipment to and from the observing field. A waxing gibbous Moon rises at 3:30 pm. This will also be the club’s last public star party for 2010 and will resume again in the spring after the cold months are past. (Linda Krouse and Michele Martinez)

October 16 — Purtis Creek State Park — Make a star wheel and learn how to use it, learn about the solar system and have an opportunity to view the night sky through a telescope. Weather permitting. Meet at the overflow camping parking lot. Accessible for the mobility impaired. . (903) 425-2332

Lunation 1086 at Age:

9 Days, 4 hours, 56 minutes *and everyone knows that the Moon is made out of green cheese.”

The picture to the left almost shows what the Moon will  th Mons Tenerife   look like at 6:40 pm on the evening of our October 16 2010 star party with the Museum at Stars Over Euless. Mons Piton  Montes Caucasus This image does not exactly represent what will be visible Montes Spitzbergen  along the limbs, because on that night the libration of the

Crater  Moon will be centered almost lunar SE & the Moon’s South Pole and Eastern Limb will appear to be tilted more Montes Apennisus towards us. The eastern limb will be most exposed by 7.5O on the 12th and the southern limb is most exposed by 6.6O on the 21st. At Moonrise, the Moon’s SW will be “down.” Let’s look at a few of the targets in which is bracketed north by the Crater Plato, northeast by mountains punctuated by the Vallis Alps (under the “Mons” of Mons Pico), east by the Montes Caucasus and to the southeast by the Montes Apennius. Mons is singular for Mount, and Montes is plural for Mountains. Vallis is Valley, and be sure to look for this knife slash through the mountains which perhaps is an ancient fault line that widened and was flooded with lava. Between the Craters Plato and Archimedes are various mounts that are peaks that peek out from the surrounding lava flood of Mare Imbrium. Take your time and explore the Montes Tenefife and the Mons Pico and Piton. Those should get your ready for the treat of the Montes Spitzbergen which runs north to south and due to the very high peaks here, creates a very nice saw tooth shadow pattern on the lava floor. Spitzbergen is best seen when the Moon is 7 – 9, and 22 – 23 days old. It is a very rewarding target near the 23 day old moon, as there is a very low and wrinkled ridge that runs parallel to Montes Spitzbergen and disappears into the lava near the Mons Pico. It is such a low ridge, that you need the sunset of the 23 day old moon to reveal the shadow. This ridge is maybe 50 to 100 feet high. Background image was borrowed from http://www.stargazing.net/david/moon/day09h4moon.html Do you see the Flagman on the Moon?

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The Sky This Month – Bob Eden Park, Euless Texas -- 9 pm local time, October 16th (from Heavens-Above.com)

Star Charts: Sky & Telescope Sky Maps http://tinyrul.com/5np8n http://www.skymaps.com Heavens Above International Space Station Transits http://www.heavens-above.com http://tinyrul.com/y8zk5c

Planets, Meteors, and Comets! Oh My!

Mercury: A Morning Star very early in October and is in superior conjunction on the 16th (8 pm). Venus: Western Evening Star this month. She flirts with Mars at the beginning of month, but that doesn’t last long. A meddlesome Crescent Moon passes between them on the 9th (3O @ 11 am) and after some hallway girl talk, Venus leaves in a huff as she abandons Mars and runs to be in inferior conjunction with Sol on the 28th (8 pm). There’s a word for that. Mars: Low in the early Western evening sky in . He started the month by chatting up the pretty Venus but then the Moon came by on the 9th and trash talked him to Venus, who then up and left him for Sol. Venus didn’t have to tell him how hot she thinks Sol was. Yeah, there’s a word for it. Mars gets all kinds of dejected and goes to sulk in the Scorpion’s sandbox by month’s end. Jupiter Low in the East at sunset and is up and visible most of the night. Dude’s just past opposition and is in retrograde motion as he hangs out near ’ house and hungry for some fish and chips; on the border of Aquarius and . Saturn: Was in conjunction the last of September, and comes out from the ’s glare into the dawn twilight in the last half of the month. Uranus: Also visible most of the night. Also just past opposition and also retrograding near the Pisces-Aquarius border and wondering why Jupiter won’t talk to her. Is he just not that into her? (This mythology stuff just writes itself.) Neptune: Well placed in the evening sky near the Aquarius – border Pluto: Mars thinks he’s dejected??? This little guy’s just hanging out above the teapot like he thinks it’s a Starbucks with free wi-fi.

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Cloudy Night Library Media reviews by Matt J. McCullar, FWAS

Patrick Moore’s Armchair Astronomy by Patrick Moore Published 1984 by W. W. Norton & Co. 185 pages ISBN 0-393-02253-6 Patrick Moore is one of astronomy’s more prolific and popular writers. He writes for the serious hobbyist but even total amateurs can enjoy his writing. Patrick Moore’s Armchair Astronomy is a collection of 126 individual articles covering all kinds of astronomy-related subjects, both old and new. Each article is no more than three pages long, and each can be enjoyed unto itself, in sequence or out. For this reason I choose to call this a good astronomy “bathroom” book. A lifelong Britisher, Moore has enjoyed greater access to more interesting star-related anecdotes based in Europe, where telescopic astronomy started. (“Sir Christopher Wren was a professional astronomer before he turned to architecture,” Moore writes.) Many of these articles bring home the fact that astronomers, past and present, are also people – and people can and often do some strange things; or strange things do happen to them. One of the most infuriating occurrences described herein happened to W. H. Pickering, who looked for Percival Lowell’s “Planet X” long before Clyde Tombaugh found Pluto in 1930. Pickering’s calculations led to the Mount Wilson Observatory in California to search for “Planet X,” and actually recorded it – twice – on photographic plates. But no one realized it at the time, and Pluto was missed. Later, after Pluto was identified, Mount Wilson astronomers went back to their old plates to see where Pluto had been. In the first instance, Pluto’s image had been drowned out by the strong light of a nearby star; in the second instance, Pluto’s light just happened to fall upon a tiny flaw in the plate. Other infuriating incidents: “Perhaps the best was the report made by an earnest observer in the 1790s. Using a reflecting telescope, he reported that he had seen large creatures walking about on the surface of the Moon. Unfortunately, they turned out to be ants in his eyepiece.” An observatory in France reported finding the element potassium in the spectrums of several stars, which shouldn’t have been there; indeed, no other observatories in the world could duplicate their results. Detailed experiments soon demonstrated that the potassium came not from up there, but down here: an astronomer was using matches to light cigarettes while in the dome, and matches contain potassium. Moore has traveled extensively around the world, visiting observatories and other scientific points of interest. He writes about “the world’s oddest observatory,” a mile underneath South Dakota: it’s an old gold mine that has since been retrofitted to study atomic particles emitted by the Sun. “Why have no major observatories been set up at the Equator?” Moore asks. After all, astronomers would enjoy the benefit of observing most of the stars of both hemispheres. “The answer is that everything depends upon local conditions, not only meteorological but also political.” Moore reports that Galileo was not the first person to look at the Moon through a telescope, and provides details on the man who was. Old records indicate that some exceptionally keen-eyed people hundreds of years ago may have seen the big satellites of Jupiter, and the phases of Venus – with the unaided eye. All astronomers love planetariums, and Moore gives detailed accounts of the very first ones. The first modern planetarium began in Germany in 1923, but “ancestors” date back to the 1600s. Moore is not above telling tales about himself. To prove that astronomy can be a potentially dangerous vocation: “One episode, which I remember well, occurred in Northern Ireland in 1965. For a period of three years I was Director of the new Armagh Planetarium, and I used to make full use of the fine 10-inch refractor at the Observatory. The dome was, frankly, somewhat antiquated, and to open the slit one had to climb a pair of rickety steps and pull the slit back. This was more awkward for me than for most people, because during the war I had my right hand damaged and it lacks strength. Therefore I had to operate the slit with my left hand. At about 3 o’clock one morning, after an observing run, I mounted the steps, pulled hard – and shut myself in the slit; my head was protruding from the dome and my legs dangling in the air. Trying to release myself, I kicked the steps away. I must have been there for half an hour before, mercifully, someone heard me and came to the rescue.” Open this book to any page and enjoy articles such as Strange Telescopes… The That Never Was… How to Weigh a Black Hole… Jupiter Without Its … The Red-Hot … Solar Eclipses from Other Worlds… Astronomy and the Law (a gentleman from West Germany insisted that the Sun was cold rather than hot, and offered 25,000 German marks to anyone who could prove him wrong; a local astronomy club took him up on his offer, and won their case in court!)… News from Vega… The Cosmic Zebra… and how pigeon droppings helped lead to the discovery of the Big Bang! With photographs and illustrations on practically every page, Patrick Moore’s Armchair Astronomy is truly worth keeping in your Cloudy Night Library. 5

Comet Code: Understanding How Comets are Named By Tom Koonce

Two hundred years ago, the discoverer of a prominent comet usually had their name incorporated into the official name of the object, but not always. The first named comet was Halley’s Comet, named after Sir Edmund Halley who had calculated its and made the discovery that it was a regular visible visitor to the inner solar system. The comet is now officially known as Comet Halley. The name credit for the comet 2P/Encke, discovered in 1786 by Pierre Méchain, was given to the man who calculated its orbit, Johann Franz Encke. If the comet was exceptionally bright and non-periodic, they were known as “The of…” followed by the in which they were observed. The naming of comets became standardized in the early twentieth century, retaining the names of up to the first three independent discoverers. Comet White-Ortiz-Bolelli (formal designation C/1970 K1) was named for its discoverers amateur astronomer Graeme White, Air France Pilot Emilio Ortiz, and professional astronomer Carlos Bolelli. More recently, comets have been discovered by robotic space-borne instruments, and the instrument’s name is included like Comet IRAS-Araki-Alcock (C/1983 H1), discovered by a team of scientists using the Astronomical Satellite (IRAS), and two amateur astronomers, George Alcock and Genichi Araki. Woodcut thought to The “Old Style” of naming comets gave them a provisional designation of the year of their represent Halley's Comet discovery followed by a lower case letter indicating its order of discovery in that year. Comet dated 684 A.D. Bennett is designated Comet 1969i, the 9th comet discovered in 1969. This worked well until 1987 when more than 26 comets were discovered in a single year. The alphabet was used again with a "1" subscript (Comet Skorichenko-George, 1989e1). In 1989, the count got as high as 1989h1 with 34 comets discovered that year. Once the orbit had been established, the comet was given a permanent designation in order of time of closest approach to the Sun, consisting of the year followed by a Roman numeral. For example, (1969i) became 1970 II. More and more comets began to be discovered and the naming procedure became unwieldy, so in 1994 the International Astronomical Union (IAU) approved a new naming system called the "New Style". Using the New Style, comets are designated by the year of their discovery followed by a letter indicating the half-month of the discovery. “A” denotes the first half of January, “B” denotes the second half of January, “C” denotes the first half of February, “D” denotes the second half of February, etc., and a number indicating the order of discovery. As an example, the third comet discovered in the second half of October 2010 would be designated 2010 U3. "I" and "Z" are not used when describing the half of a particular month the comet was discovered Photo of C/2009 R1, (Comet McNaught, discovered because they can be easily confused as the numbers 1 and 2 September 9, 2009 by Robert H. McNaught) respectively. Photo Credit: Ria Novosti Prefixes are also added to indicate the nature of the comet, with” P/” indicating a periodic comet, “C/” indicating a non-periodic comet, “X/” indicating a comet for which no reliable orbit could be calculated (typically comets described in historical chronicles), “D/” indicating a comet which has broken up or been lost, and “A/” indicating an object at first thought to be a comet but later reclassified as an asteroid. Periodic comets also have a number indicating the order of their discovery. Thus Halley's Comet, the first comet to be identified as periodic, has the systematic name 1P/1682 Q1. Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 was the ninth periodic comet jointly discovered by Carolyn and Eugene Shoemaker, and David Levy but its systematic name is D/1993 F2. It was discovered in 1993 and the prefix "D/" is applied, since it was observed to break up and crash into Jupiter. (Ref Photo of C/1995 O1, (Comet Hale-Bopp, discovered http://wapedia.mobi/en/Astronomical_naming_conventions?t=8.) July 23, 1995) Now you can decode the name designations of comets. Stars are another story altogether… For example, Betelgeuse = Alpha Orionis = HR 2061 = BD +7 1055 = HD 39801 = SAO 113271 = PPM 149643, whose coordinates in the sky are RA 05:55:10.306, Dec +07:24:25.35 (2000.0), the bright red supergiant in . There is a system determined by the IAU for naming all astronomical objects. It just takes some time and study to make sense of it.

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Capricorn – Oh yeah, that one. Capricorn Mythology in ancient Sumeria was associated with the planet Saturn and the Mesopotamian god Enki. The goat- fish is a representation of Enki, seen on Babylonian monuments. Enki was a god in Mesopotamian legend. In the ancient Babylonian legend Capricorn was described as the "deity Ea", who was fishtailed, and who brought culture out of the sea for humans. Ea was the “Antelope of the Sea”. This constellation is sometimes identified as , the goat that suckled the infant Zeus after his mother Rhea saved him from being devoured by his father Cronos (in ). The goat's broken horn was transformed into the cornucopia or horn of plenty. Some ancient sources claim that this derives from the sun "taking nourishment" while in the constellation, in preparation for its climb back northward. However, the constellation is more often depicted as a goat with a fish's tail. One myth says that when the goat-god Pan was attacked by the monster Typhon, he dove into the Nile; the parts above the water remained a goat, but those under the water transformed into a fish.

According to of Cyrene (284 - 202 B.C.; see his Catasterismi) this constellation represents the son of Aegipan. He lived with Zeus on the Mountain Ida on Crete. He accompanied Zeus against the Titans. He found the horns of the sea, Conchas, and tought his companions how to use them. When they faced their enenmies, the Titans, the blew on these horns instead of using the trumpets. Hearing this the Titans flew. To honor him Zeus placed him under the stars in a way that he was part goat part fish, as a sign that he found the horn of the sea. Hygenus (lived in the times of Augustus) tells us in his poeticum astronomicum II.c.28 a different story. He is of the opinion that this constellation represents Pan. When Pan fled from Thyphaon to Egypt, he changed himself to this animal and hide in the river Nile. Zeus liked this idea so much that he made a place on the sky to remind in it. Capricorn has several and clusters. is a located 1 degree south of the group NGC 7103. The constellation also harbors the wide NGC 6907.

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Stargazers’ Diary – Russ Boatright and Doug Brown

Ft Comanche Springs Astronomy Campus September 10 & 11, 2010 Fair Skies It was nice to experience the 30” Night Queen out at 3RF once again. The weather has kept us from the big reflector for the last few months, so we were certainly happy to finally make it out there. All the bells and whistles ( and Servo Cat) were functional on the big scope, and dozens of observers were willing. We also had some exceptional glass for eyepieces. 3RF volunteer John Bozeman brought out his collection of Explore Scientific wide field EPs; a 9mm, 14mm and a 20mm. These are a slightly more economical alternative to the TeleVue Ethos line that delivers the same 100 degree apparent field of view. They are also heavier than the TeleVue line and perhaps the view is a bit softer, but they’re still a lot of bang for the buck. This is good because they’re still a lot of bucks. The 20mm in particular offers great views coupled with the 30” telescope. The sky was clear enough, but suffering from transparency problems amidst good seeing. Hence, these weren’t going to be great galaxy nights. Galactic DSOs would have to make the observing menu, so we dialed up just about all the globular star clusters and planetary nebulae we could think of and they didn’t disappoint. Just about every Messier glob is a crowd pleaser, the trick being to make sure it shows in context while applying enough power to resolve some stars. The cluster’s limits must show in the field of view least the viewer just perceives looking into a starry field. A dense, fuzzy core of stars that can’t be resolved is the icing on the visual cake. M2, 3, 5, 13, 15, and 22 all fill the bill for just about any telescope under medium power. And they’re all bright enough to cut through a marginal viewing atmosphere. These celestial sparklers are usually the meat and potatoes of star parties. It’s probably no surprise that there are only four planetary nebulae in the Messier catalogue. The few are spectacular and worthy of nicknames; M57 the Ring , M97 the , M27 the , and M76 the (well, sorta), while the many are kind of ordinary. The best known non Messier planetary nebulae are often less than spectacular through most modest telescopes as well. The problem is that although bright, most are tiny, and the only path to revealing detail is power, which the atmosphere and optics may or may not allow. This is where having a 30” telescope can be a real plus; as we discovered when we visited NGC 7662 the Blue Snowball in , and NGC 7009 the , along with NGC 7293 the , both in Aquarius. The Blue Snowball reveals cat’s eye type rings at its core with aperture, darkness and power. But without them, it’s just a snowball. The Saturn Nebula does look like its namesake, a slightly out of focus Saturn. Lots of juice reveals nothing more. It is hard to explain the shape, though. The Helix is very big but very faint. Using a wide field EP and a narrow band filter, the big hoop would just fit into a single FOV. Fibrous aspects of the ring were clear, and only color was missing from its resemblance to famous photographs. So what’s the downside of using a 30” telescope? It spoils you for just about anything smaller. But we’ll try to muster through until hopefully next month when we can once again surf the darkness with the Night Queen.

In Memoriam Mr. Thomsen, an early principal of Texas Instruments, and with his wife, founder of The Thomsen Foundation passed away in late September. The Fort Worth Astronomical Society extends its condolences and kind thoughts to his wife and family and associates. The Thomsen Foundation was established by Mr. & Mrs. Thomsen. The Thomsen Foundation is the primary benefactor of the Fort Worth Astronomical Society by their invitation and hosting of the club’s dark sky site.

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The Fine Print

FWAS Contact information Fort Worth Museum of Science & History See the Museum’s http://www.fortworthastro.com website for schedules: http://tinyurl.com/3jkn5j (Linda Krouse)

Officers: Steve Tuttle – President Shawn Kirchdorfer – Vice President John Dowell – Treasurer Dean Crabtree - – Secretary Meetings – FWAS meets at 7:00 PM on the third Tuesday of the month at the UNT Health Science Center – Research & Education Building, Room 100; 3500 Camp Bowie Blvd; Ft. Worth. Guests and visitors are always welcome. (Steve Tuttle) Web Site – http://www.fortworthastro.com E-Group (members only) – You may post messages to the group by sending e-mail to [email protected]. Any message sent to [email protected] will be automatically sent to all members on the list. To subscribe, send a blank e-mail to [email protected] Include your real name. Outreach – items concerning FWAS Outreach activities should be addressed to [email protected] (John Dowell) Prime Focus – The FWAS newsletter is published monthly. Letters to the editor, articles for publication, photos, or just about anything you would like to have included in the newsletter should be sent to: [email protected]. Mable Sterns Award Finalist, Steve Gray (2002) & Dean Crabtree (2008, 2009) Batting .273 Observing Site Reminders FWAS Annual Dues - $40 for adults / families, $20.00 for students Be careful with fire, ban in effect (half-price Jan 1 thru June 30); checks payable to the Fort Worth Astronomical Society; payments can be mailed to 6045 Worrell All members … Dr. Fort Worth, TX 76133, or in-person at the next indoor Email John Dowell that you are going. meeting. Membership runs July 1 through June 30. (Floyd May) Sign the logbook in the clubhouse Discount Subscriptions Available – Sky & Telescope ($32.95), and Put equipment back neatly when finished Astronomy (1 year for $34.00; 2 years for $60.00). A Sky & Leave a log note if there is a club equipment problem; also, Telescope subscription through FWAS entitles you to 10% off please contact a FWAS Trustee to let them know purchases at Sky and Telescope’s on-line store. (Floyd May) Maintain Dark-Sky etiquette Astronomical League Membership – Your FWAS membership also Turn out your headlights at the gate! enrolls you in the Astronomical League. This makes you eligible Last person out, please … for various observing certificates and you get their quarterly Make sure nothing is left out magazine, Reflector. League Observing clubs: Lock the gate. http://tinyurl.com/3vjh4fl (Tres Ross)

Credits Navigate the Newsletter When reading the electronic newsletter while on-line, if your cursor Cover Image: 24.8% Crescent Moon “changes” as you roll over an image or blue text, you can click on that Jim Murray web link to be taken to further information of the subject at hand. Observing Data RCAS 2009 Observers’ Handbook

Historical Data The Year in Space: 2010 Planetary Society Yogi & Boo-Boo & Pic-A-Nic Basket Hanna-Barbera Productions Sky Chart www.heavens-above.com Capricorn seds.org lindahall.org serendipity-astrolovers.com

If Jeremiah was a bull frog, what’s the deal with a Capricorn?

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