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September 14Th 2019 August 2019 7:00Pm at the Herrett Center for Arts & Science College of Southern Idaho Snake River Skies The Newsletter of the Magic Valley Astronomical Society www.mvastro.org Membership Meeting MVAS President’s Message August 2019 Saturday, September 14th 2019 7:00pm at the Herrett Center for Arts & Science College of Southern Idaho. Colleagues, Public Star Party follows at the Yes, summer is starting to wind down, but there are still viewing opportunities out Centennial Observatory there. For some of you, however, the main challenge may be the task of hauling out a large telescope, or simply not having a large telescope. This month, our speaker Club Officers will help you get around that problem. Robert Mayer, President Bill Cook, who has published two books on binocular astronomy, will be our speaker [email protected] this month. We look forward to hearing from another MVAS member and his or her expertise, just as we heard in our August meeting from Jim Tubbs on spectroscopy. Gary Leavitt, Vice President In my own experience, too many of us ignore this valuable tool in astronomy. For [email protected] example, if you’re trying out the Astronomical League’s Messier Program, you can pull in several Messier objects with just a small pair of 7x35 binoculars at any dark Dr. Jay Hartwell, Secretary site, especially City of Rocks. While you may think the Andromeda galaxy, Lagoon Nebula, and the Pleiades come to mind, one of my favorite views and test of seeing Jim Tubbs, Treasurer / ALCOR conditions is pulling in M33, the Triangulum Galaxy, from my backyard in Rupert. [email protected] Join us Saturday, Sept. 14, at 7 p.m., in the Herrett Center to learn more. 208-404-2999 By then, we will have had a couple of viewing events completed. Tim Frazier has already come back from the Aug. 23rd Boise Astronomical Society’s star party at David Olsen, Newsletter Editor Stanley, part of the Idaho Dark Sky Preserve, and we as a group were looking into [email protected] going to Hagerman the last Saturday of August. We’ll get some reports on that as well. Rick Widmer, Webmaster [email protected] As for getting out in September, our original schedule had the Craters of the Moon Fall Star Party scheduled for Sept. 27 and 28, but it no longer appears on the Craters’ website. I have put in an inquiry to the staff there, but may still go up there no matter what I learn, and I’d love to have some of you along. Lastly, we’re getting close to the time of year where we hold elections for officers Magic Valley Astronomical Society is a and present the MVAS Year in Pictures. If you have any nominations or pictures, member of the Astronomical League please contact me. Clear views, Rob Mayer M-51 imaged by Rick Widmer & Ken Thomason Herrett Telescope Shotwell Camera Calendar September 2019 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Labor Day First Quarter Moon Visible: 54% ↑ Age: 7.73 days 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Full Moon 100% Visible MVAS Meeting at 7:00pm at the Herrett Center Public Star Party Centennial Obs. Corn Moon 9:45p - 12:00a 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Last Quarter Moon Visible: 46% ↓ Age: 22.54 days 29 30 Snake River Skies is the Newsletter of the Magic Valley Astronomical Society and is published electronically once a month. Snake River Skies © 2019 by David Olsen for the Magic Valley Astronomical Society, All Rights Reserved. Images used in this newsletter, unless otherwise noted, are in the public domain and are courtesy of NASA, Wikimedia, or from MVAS File Photos. Full Moon names follow the traditional Algonquin First Nation history. Be Careful – Be Safe – Get Out There – Explore Your Universe September Celestial Calendar by Dave Mitsky All times, unless otherwise noted, are UT (subtract six hours and, when appropriate, one calendar day for MDT) 9/1 The equation of time, which yields the difference between mean solar time and apparent solar time, equals 0 at 20:00 9/2 Mars is in conjunction with the Sun (2.675 astronomical units from Earth, latitude 1.7 degrees) at 11:00; the Moon is 7.1 degrees north-northeast of the first-magnitude star Spica (Alpha Virginis) at 15:00 9/3 Mercury (magnitude -1.8) is 0.6 degree north-northeast of Mars (magnitude +1.7) at 17:00 9/4 Mercury is in superior conjunction with the Sun (1.369 AU from Earth, latitude 6.5 degrees) at 1:00 9/5 The Moon is 7.6 degrees north-northeast of the first-magnitude star Antares (Alpha Scorpii) at 23:00 9/6 Asteroid 135 Hertha (magnitude +9.6) is at opposition in Aquarius at 6:00; the Moon is 2.3 degrees north-northeast of Jupiter at 8:00; the Lunar X, also known as the Werner or Purbach Cross, an X-shaped clair-obscur illumination effect involving various ridges and crater rims located between the craters La Caille, Blanchinus, and Purbach, is predicted to begin at 15:47 9/8 The Moon is 0.04 degree north of Saturn, Jupiter is at eastern quadrature (90 degrees from the Sun) at 15:00; the Moon is at the descending node (longitude 286.0 degrees) at 18:00 9/9 The Moon is 0.1 degree north of Pluto, 9/10 Neptune (magnitude +7.8, apparent size 2.4") is at opposition at 8:00 9/13 The Moon is at apogee, subtending 29' 24" from a distance of 406,377 kilometers (252,511 miles), at 1:32; Mercury is (magnitude -0.9) 0.3 degree south-southwest of Venus (magnitude -3.9) at 14:00; the Moon is 3.4 degrees southeast of Neptune at 21:00 9/17 The Sun enters Virgo, at longitude 174.2 degrees on the ecliptic, at 8:00; the Moon is 4.0 degrees south of Uranus 9/18 Saturn is stationary in right ascension, with prograde (direct) motion to commence, at 5:00; Saturn is stationary in longitude, with prograde (direct) motion to commence, at 7:00 9/19 The Moon is 7.6 degrees southeast the bright open cluster M45 (the Pleiades or Subaru) in Taurus at 23:00; Mars and Neptune are at heliocentric opposition (longitudes 167.4 degrees and 347.4 degrees) at 23:00 9/20 The Moon is 2.6 degrees north of the first-magnitude star Aldebaran (Alpha Tauri) at 16:00 9/22 The Moon is 2.0 degrees south of the bright open cluster M35 in Gemini at 9:00; the Curtiss Cross, an X-shaped illumination effect located between the craters Parry and Gambart, is predicted to be visible at 16:28; Mercury is at the descending node through the ecliptic plane at 21:00 9/23 The Moon is at the ascending node (longitude 104.4 degrees) at 7:00; the Sun is at a longitude of 180 degrees at 7:50; the autumnal equinox occurs in the northern hemisphere at 7:50; the Moon is 9.5 degrees south of the first- magnitude star Castor (Alpha Geminorum) at 19:00 9/24 The Moon is 5.9 degrees south of the first-magnitude star Pollux (Beta Geminorum) at 0:00; the Moon is 0.4 degree north of the bright open cluster M44 (the Beehive Cluster or Praesepe) in Cancer at 22:00 9/25 Asteroid 4 Vesta (magnitude +7.3) is stationary in Taurus at 5:00 9/26 The Moon is 3.2 degrees north-northeast of the first-magnitude star Regulus (Alpha Leonis) at 11:00 9/27 Saturn is at its southernmost declination (-22.5 degrees) at 21:00 9/28 The Moon is at perigee, subtending 33' 24" from a distance of 357,803 kilometers (222,328 miles), at 2:24; asteroid 21 Lutetia (magnitude +9.0) is at opposition in Capricornus at 4:00; New Moon (lunation 1197) occurs at 18:26 9/29 Mercury (magnitude -0.2) is 1.3 degree north-northeast of Spica at 9:00; the Moon is 4.0 degrees north-northeast of Venus at 16:00 9/30 The Moon is 7.0° north-northeast of Spica at 1:00; the Moon is 5.8 degrees north-northeast of Mercury at 3:00 Nicolas Louis de Lacaille and Johann Gottfried Galle were born this month. Jean-Dominique Maraldi discovered the globular cluster M15 on September 7, 1746. On September 11, 1746, Jean- Dominique Maraldi discovered the globular cluster M2. Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille discovered NGC 104 (47 Tucanae), the second largest and brightest globular cluster, on September 14th, 1751. William Herschel discovered the barred spiral galaxy NGC 7753 on September 12, 1784. William Herschel discovered the Saturnian satellite Mimas on September 17, 1789. Comet C/1793 S2 (Messier) was discovered by Charles Messier on September 27th, 1793. Karl Harding discovered asteroid 3 Juno on September 1, 1804. Neptune was discovered by Johann Gottfried Galle on September 23, 1846, using Urbain Le Verrier’s calculations of its position. On September 19, 1848, William Bond discovered Saturn’s fourteenth- magnitude satellite Hyperion, the first irregular moon to be discovered. On September 13, 1850, John Russell Hind discovered the asteroid 12 Victoria. E. E. Barnard discovered Jupiter’s fifth satellite, fourteenth-magnitude Amalthea, using the 36-inch refractor at the Lick Observatory, on September 9, 1892. Online data generators for various astronomical events are available at https://astronomynow.com/almanac/ and https://calsky.com/ The Sun, the Moon, & the Planets The Moon is 1.8 days old, subtends 33.3 arc minutes, is illuminated 3.8%, and is located in Virgo on September 1st at 0:00 UT.
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