Prime Focus Year Continues Through November 7Th

Highlights of the November Sky. . .

- - - 1st - - - DAWN: Mercury’s best morning apparition of the Prime Focus year continues through November 7th. Look 5º A Publication of the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society above the eastern horizon an hour before sunrise. November 20142013 - - - 2nd - - - Daylight Saving Time ends at 2:00 am.

PM: Algol is at minimum brightness for roughly two ThisThis MonthsMonths KAS EventsEvents hours centered on 7:07 pm EST.

General Meeting: Friday, November 7 @ 7:00 pm - - - 5thth - - - PM: Algol is at minimum Kalamazoo Area Math & Science Center - See Page 10 for Details brightness for roughly two hours centered on 6:56 pm

EST. Board Meeting: Sunday, November 9 @ 5:00 pm

- - - 6thth - - - Sunnyside Church - 2800 Gull Road - All Members Welcome Full Moon 5:23 pm EST Field Trip: Saturday, November 22 @ 5:00 pm - - - 14thth - - - Abrams Planetarium - See Page 5 for Details DAWN: Jupiter is ~13º to the upper left of the Moon.

Laster Quarter Moon 10:16 am EST

- - - 18thth - - - Inside the Newsletter. . . AM: Leonid meteor shower Inside the Newsletter. . . peaks, expect about 20 meteors per hour. October Meeting Minutes...... p. 2

- - - 22nd - - - Board Meeting Minutes...... p. 2 New Moon 7:32 am EST Astrophotography Night Highlights... p. 3

PM: Algol is at minimum brightness for roughly two Observations...... p. 5 hours centered on 11:50 pm EST. Field Trip to Abrams Planetarium...... p. 5

- - - 25thth - - - Lunar Eclipse Pictures...... p. 6 DUSK: Mars is ~7º to the left of a Waxing Crescent NASA Space Place in a Snap...... p. 7 Moon.

PM: Algol is at minimum November Night Sky...... p. 8 brightness for roughly two hours centered on 8:39 pm KAS Board & Announcements...... p. 9 EST. General Meeting Preview...... p. 10 - - - 29thth - - - First Quarter Moon 5:06 am EST www.kasonline.org

OCTOBER BOARD Meeting Minutes Meeting Minutes

The general meeting of the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society The KAS officers and at-large board members assembled for was brought to order by President Richard Bell on Friday, a meeting on Sunday, October 19, 2014 at Sunnyside October 3, 2014 at 7:15 pm EDT. Approximately 28 Church. President Richard Bell brought the meeting to order members and guests were in attendance at the Kalamazoo at 5:10 pm. Other board members in attendance were Joe Area Math & Science Center (KAMSC). Comiskey, Scott Macfarlane, Rich Mather, Jack Price, and Don Stilwell. KAS tradition says that the October meeting shall be devoted to the art of astrophotography. Amazingly, nine people Rich Mather started the meeting off with the treasurer’s brought astrophotos to share this year. Richard Bell started report. Total liabilities and equity totaled over $90,000, with things off by showing some images of the Moon he took over $77,000 in the Robotic Telescope Project account with a Celestron 9.25” EdgeHD SCT and Imaging Source (recall that about $14,000 has already been spent on the 21AU618.AS camera. He then shared several images of the Paramount ME II). The only significant spending as of late Northern Lights he took while on vacation at Dinosaur was $87.72 toward educational expenses and $102.45 on Provincial Park in Alberta, Canada. food for the Perseid Potluck Picnic. Richard mentioned that we recently picked up our 150th membership. Arya Jayatilaka showed some constellation images he took with a fish-eye lens from his backyard. He also captured the The Board reviewed upcoming events. Preparations were International Space Station passing overhead. Jim Kurtz made for the Partial Solar Eclipse Watch at Warren Dunes showed the CCD images he took from his backyard and at State Park on October 23rd. Dr. Adrienne Erickcek, a former North Fulton Cemetery. Mike Cook was able to participate student of Mike Sinclair, agreed to give a presentation via in Astrophotography Night for the first time this year. He Skype at the meeting on November 7th. Mike would ensure shared a variety of images including solar system shots with there would be no technical difficulties, although the two a simple webcam and deep sky images taken with his 8” f/4 previous Skype talks went perfectly. Richard suggested Newtonian. Kevin Jung is a member of both the Grand taking a field trip to Abrams Planetarium on November 22nd. Rapids Amateur Astronomical Association (GRAAA) and The KAS will purchase tickets for its members only as it has KAS. He also shared his images at Astrophotography Night in the past. (See page 5 for the itinerary.) for the first time. Kevin has been taking sky pictures at GRAAA’s Veen Observatory for many years. Kevin also There were no significant developments in the Robotic enjoys taking scenic astronomical images across the West Telescope Project since the last board meeting (see page 5 Michigan area. Roger Williams once again shared many for an update). We then discussed the disabled Owl impressive CCD images taken with his HyperStar-equipped Observatory Telescope. Members that attended the Great Celestron 14” EdgeHD SCT and Paramount MX equatorial Lakes Star Gaze in September met Jay McGill. Mr. McGill mount. specializes in the repair and refurbishment of classic LX200’s. Richard volunteered to contact him and get a Our traditional October meeting snacks of apple cider and quote to repair and refurbish our LX200. donuts were once again provided by Jean DeMott. Thank you, Jean! Long time KAS member and astrophotographer Several community outreach opportunities have become Dave Garten shared his astrophotos after the break. Dave available. One of these include setting up displays at the takes most of his images from his backyard observatory in Gull Lake Science & Engineering Festival at Gull Lake High Portage. Next up was former KAS member Pete Mumbower. School from 9am - 4pm on November 8th. Another is the Pete now lives in Grand Rapids and has built an observatory annual WMU Education Day at the Seelye Center from 12 - in his backyard. He recently invested a lot of time and effort 1:30 pm on November 15th. We have also been invited to into automating his observatory. Pete says he can now sleep return to the Rock & Mineral Show in May 2015. while collecting photons from deep sky objects during most clear nights. Last up was KAS Vice President Jack Price. The Board then spent some time reviewing the proposed Jack took some afocal images of the Sun through the KAS 2015 general meeting and public observing session Coronado PST. He also shared some regular photos taken at schedules. There were no objections toward any of the dates, the Great Lakes Star Gaze (which was mostly clouded out). but ultimate approval is from KAMSC and KNC. We’ll Highlights from Astrophotography Night appear on the next begin looking for guest speakers once the schedule is two pages, but please also click on the person’s name above finalized. Other activities, such as a Full Moon Theater on to see more of their amazing images of the universe. The January 31st and Lunar Eclipse Watch on September 27th, meeting concluded at 9:45 pm. were also discussed. The meeting concluded at 6:45 pm.

Prime Focus Page 2 November 2014 Astrophotography Night Highlights

The Lagoon Nebula (M8) Jim Kurtz

This emission nebula is located 4,100 light‐years away in the constellaon Sagiarius. It has an angular size of 90’ x 40’ which translates to actual dimension of 110 x 50 light‐years. Details: Tele Vue NP101 Nagler‐Petzval apochromac refractor with an SBIG ST‐2000XCM CCD camera on an Astro‐Physics Mach1GTO German equatorial mount. It is a 57 minute total exposure from North Fulton Cemetery.

The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) Mike Cook

At 2.5 million light‐years, the Andromeda Galaxy is the nearest big galaxy to the Milky Way. Also shown in this image are M31’s two satellite ellipcal galaxies. M110 is at the top with M32 visible to the lower right of Andromeda’s nuclear bulge. Details: 8‐inch f/4 Star Hoc Newtonian reflector with a Canon 350D DSLR camera on a Celestron CG‐5 German equatorial mount. Total exposure me is 14 minutes and 40 seconds.

Alberta Aurora Panorama Richard Bell

Three images were combined to create this panoramic view of Northern Lights acvity captured on August 28, 2014 from Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta, Canada. Details: Canon 550D with a Tokina 11‐16mm lens set at 11mm (f/3.5). Each image was a 20 second exposure at ISO 1600. Astrophotography Night Highlights

Supermoon Kevin Jung

Some people have taken to calling this Full Moon a "Supermoon" due to its closeness to Earth at this me. While it has been the closest in the past 18 years, there's nothing really "super" about it. In fact, it's only about 0.7% closer than the previous Full Moon in February. Details: Takahashi 4‐inch apochromac refractor with a Canon 40D DSLR camera. It is a 1/10‐second exposure at ISO 400 from Veen Observatory in Lowell, Michigan.

California Nebula (NGC 1499) Roger Williams

This emission nebula is located 1,000 light‐years away and spans 2.5° of sky in the constellaon Perseus. Xi Persei, an O7 type star shown at the lower right, is responsible for illuminang the hydrogen beta line in this object that bares a striking resemblance to the most western of the 48 conguous states. Details: Celestron 14‐inch EdgeHD Schmidt‐Cassegrain telescope equipped with Starizona’s HyperStar system and SBIG ST‐8300C CCD camera, all mounted on a Soware Bisque Paramount MX roboc mount. It is a stack of 16 1‐minute exposures.

Great Globular Cluster (M13) Dave Garten

This massive cluster contains approximately 1 million stars in all. It’s located 25,000 light‐years away in the constellaon of Hercules. It is viewed at every public observing session during the summer. Details: Orion 120mm EON refractor, 2× Barlow lens and Canon 60Da DSLR camera on a Losmandy G‐11 German equatorial mount. It’s a 24 minute total exposure from Dave’s backyard observatory in Portage.

Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888) Pete Mumbower

This emission nebula is located about 4,700 light‐years away in the constellaon Cygnus. It’s referred to as the Crescent Nebula because the brightest porons resemble a young Moon. Details: Celestron 9.25‐inch Schmidt‐Cassegrain (f/6.3) and SBIG ST‐ 2000XM CCD camera on a Celestron CGE Pro German equatorial mount. This image was taken over three nights using 132 images with a total exposure me of 7.5 hours. LRGB and hydrogen alpha filters were used to create this image in Pete’s automated observatory near heavily light polluted Grand Rapids.

ObservationsObservations FieldField TripTrip by Richard S. Bell ToTo EastEast LansingLansing

Bad news for the Robotic Telescope Project. Our grant On November 22nd, KAS members will take another field request to the Harold & Grace Upjohn Foundation has been trip to Abrams Planetarium, located on the campus of rejected. We won’t know the fate of our proposal to the Michigan State University in East Lansing. We’ll enjoy a Herbert H. & Grace A. Dow Foundation until December. I show featuring their new state-of-the-art Digistar 5 projector. must admit I am not hopeful they will support the project. Our itinerary will include: There are some other possibilities for funding, but we are now on a deadline. 1. Meet in State Systems Radio parking lot for carpooling between 4:45 - 4:55 pm. The Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, the only organization to State Systems Radio is located at 5066 Sprinkle Road, support the project thus far, will ask for a final report in located just south of Kilgore Road on the west side of October 2015. That means we need to get the equipment Sprinkle. installed and fully operational before that time. July and August are monsoon season in Arizona, so it makes sense to 2. Depart for East Lansing at 5:00 pm. have everything up and running by June at the latest. A 3. Stop for dinner at Turkeyville at 6:00 pm. tentative plan is in place for a KAS crew to travel to Arizona Sky Village and install everything during the week of March 4. Arrive at Abrams Planetarium at ~7:30 pm. 9, 2015. 5. Abrams Planetarium show at 8:00 pm. Admission paid by the KAS (members only). If additional funding can’t be found then we’ll have to scale back on our goals. We do have enough money right now to Preview: Hello, Universe: A Live Tour of the Cosmos purchase some top quality equipment (recall that we have Allow us to take you on a wonderful tour of the already purchased the mount for whatever telescope we end cosmos through this 1 hour long completely live show. up getting). The part of the project that would have to be cut We will use our new Digistar 5 projection system to first are the research goals. We had hoped to let students use immerse you in the experience of flying through space. the telescope equipped with a high-grade spectrometer. That We will start on our home, the Earth to see what will would have to be eliminated if we can’t reach our full goal. be in the night sky. Then we will fly out into space and visit planets, nebulae, star clusters, supernova We also planned to hire PlaneWave Services to development remnants, galaxies, and even discover how everything the software that would allow multiple KAS members to log groups together to make large scale structures. Join on and use the telescope from home. Mike Patton already us and say hello to the universe! plans to hire them to automate his observatory. At minimum, I think we’d need to raise another $15,000 to fully 5. Depart for Kalamazoo at ~9:30 pm realize our goals. There are still several members that have 6. Arrive in Kalamazoo at ~10:30 pm. yet to contribute to the Robotic Telescope Project. It’s still not too late! Send your tax deductible donation to the return For last minute details please attend the general meeting on address on the back page of the newsletter today! November 7th. If you are unable to attend the meeting but

th would like to go on the field trip then please contact us It was cold during the early morning hours of October 8 , ASAP. If the weather is really bad (heavy rain or snow, but at least it was clear. Several members reported observing severe thunderstorms, etc.) we will notify everyone that has the total lunar eclipse. Many members photographed the signed up of a cancellation. eclipsed Moon and you can see their results on page 6 of this month’s Prime Focus. The weather wasn’t as kind for the partial solar eclipse on October 23rd. I decided to cancel our eclipse watch at Warren Dunes State Park, but a few members made the trip anyway. They got very brief or dare I say partial glimpses at the partial eclipse. Mike Cook, Rich & Donna Mather, Don Stilwell, and I all drove to Lake Hudson State Park (near Clayton) for nothing. They also got a brief glimpse, but I never saw a thing. Other members didn’t seem to have much luck either. Some members sent me images, but I’ve decided not to share them here. I’d prefer to forget the entire day ever happened!

Prime Focus Page 5 November 2014 KAS Members Capture the October 8th Total Lunar Eclipse

Arya Jayalaka

Arya used a Canon 60D DSLR camera , EF 70‐ 200mm zoom lens (set at 200mm), and EF 2x Tele‐extender to capture these images. The le image, taken at 5:50 am EDT, is a 1/320 second exposure at ISO 200 (f/10). The right image, taken at 6:35 am EDT, is a 1/2 second exposure at ISO 800 (f/8).

Mike Cook

Mike captured all his images with a Canon 350D and 300mm lens on a staonary tripod from Richland Township Park.

Richard Bell

Richard took this image with a TMB‐92SS apochromac triplet refractor, Tele Vue 2x Powermate, Orion 2‐inch Precision Centering Extension Adapter, and Canon 550D DSLR camera on a Celestron CGEM German Equatorial mount. It is a 10 second exposure at ISO 400 from Richland Township Park. National Aeronautics and Where does the sun’s energy come from? Space Administration Every 1.5 millionths of a second, the sun releases more energy than all humans consume in an entire year. Its heat influences the environments of all the planets, dwarf planets, moons, asteroids, and comets in our solar system.

And that light travels far out into the cosmos—just one star among billions and billions.

Create a ‘solar wind’ that pushes against the fabric of interstellar space billions of miles away.

Allows gases and liquids to exist on many planets and moons, and causes icy comets to form fiery halos.

Powers the chemical reactions that make life possible on Earth.

That Heat...

Convective Zone

Sunspots

Photosphere

Chromosphere The energy travels outward through a large area called the convective zone. Then it travels onward to the photosphere, where it emits heat, charged How does a particles, and light. big ball of hydrogen create all that heat? The short answer is that it is big. If it were smaller, it would be just be a sphere of hydrogen, like Jupiter. But the sun is much bigger than Jupiter. It would take 433,333 Jupiters to fill it up!

That’s a lot of hydrogen. That means it’s held together by a whole lot of gravity. And THAT means there is a whole lot of pressure inside of it. There is so much pressure that the hydrogen atoms collide with enough force that they literally meld into a new element—helium. This process—called nuclear fusion—releases energy while creating a chain reaction that allows it to occur over and over and over again. That energy builds up. It gets as Sub-atomic Energy hot as 15 million degrees particles Fahrenheit in the sun’s core. Nuclear Fusion www.nasa.gov For more articles, games, and activities, visit spaceplace.nasa.gov NovemberNovember NightNight Sky...... Sky......

This star map is property of the This map represents the sky at the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society. NORTH following local standard times: However you may make as many  Early October 11 pm copies as you wish free-of-charge, so long as it is for non-profit  Late October 10 pm educational purposes and full  Early November 8 pm credit is given to the KAS.  Late November 7 pm www.kasonline.org EAST WEST

SOUTH

ercury is the most elusive of sunrise between October 28th and Earth crosses through a stream of the solar system’s eight November 7th. It reaches greatest western particles left by Comet Tempel-Tuttle MM planets. It never strays more elongation (19º) on November 1st. between November 16th & 19th. This than 28º from the Sun as seen from Earth. brings the annual Leonid meteor shower, You’ll have a chance to spot this little- Jupiter, shining at magnitude -2, will be which should peak during the early seen world during the first week of about 13º to the upper left of the Last morning hours of November 18th. November. Mercury will be more than 5º Quarter Moon during the early morning Leonids can be swift, but expect only 20 above the eastern horizon an hour before hours of November 14th. meteors per hour at its best. KAS BOARD November 2014 Page 9 PRESIDENT

Richard S. Bell 373-8942 VolunteersVolunteers NeededNeeded @@ ScienceScience FestivalFestival VICE PRESIDENT

Jack Price The KAS will parcipate in the Gull Lake Science & 343-3193 Engineering Fesval at Gull Lake High School on th TREASURER November 8 . Members are needed to help setup

Rich Mather and take down displays, run a hands‐on acvity, 629-5312 hand out KAS literature, and answer quesons from students and parents. Members are also SECRETARY/ALCOR needed to setup telescopes outside for solar

Roger Williams observing if skies are clear. Please contact us if 375-4867 you’d like to lend a helping hand.

MEMBERS-AT-LARGE th Joe Comiskey Saturday, November 8 , 9am - 4pm | Gull Lake High School 329-4251

Mike Dupuis 668-6373

Scott Macfarlane 679-2865

Don Stilwell Opening nominations for 2015 KAS 963-5856 Officers and At-Large Board Members will take place at the E-MAIL a BOARD MEMBER November General Meeting. Please send us your nominations if you are unable to attend the meeting. Ask not what the KAS can do for you, but what you can do for the KAS!

minimum donation

$2.00each

No longer sold in U.S. stores, but we’ll have’em at the November meeting! Proceeds go toward the Robotic Telescope Project General Meeting Preview The View from Early Time

presented via Skype by Dr. Adrienne Erickcek

Dr. Adrienne Erickcek, Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina, will give an online Skype presentaon on early‐Universe cosmology (with a "lile" discussion of the recent BICEP2 results and the subsequent dust controversy). Dr. Erickcek is a graduate of Loy Norrix High School and the Kalamazoo Area Math & Science Center (and a former student of KAS member Mike Sinclair), earned a baccalaureate degree at Princeton and her Ph.D. in Physics at the California Instute of Technology. She completed a post‐doc as a joint fellow at the Perimeter Instute and the University of Toronto before joining the faculty at UNC. Friday, November 7 @ 7:00 pm Kalamazoo Area Math & Science Center 600 West Vine, Suite 400 • Use Dutton St. Entrance

Orion Nebula by Jim Kurtz ‐ Dutton Entrance Locked by 7:10 pm ‐

Kalamazoo Astronomical Society c/o KAMSC STAMP 600 West Vine, Suite 400 Kalamazoo, MI 49008

© November 2014, Stargazer Productions