Vernal Equinox, 2006 Notes from the Editor
BY PHIL HOYLE
This is a very special issue of the Horizon. First, it is the first "regular" Horizon in the new all-electronic format, with the actual first being the Dick Emmons memorial issue. The new for- mat allows us to use color photos, costs the club less money, and is more flexible in terms of lay- out since we no longer have to make sure that the page count is evenly divisible by four. Second, this issue inaugurates the new "Dark Times" calendar. (See page 25, 26 and 27.) This calendar came about from my own need to know Inside Horizon when potentially good weekends for deep sky observing would be. I think it has become much more useful with the addition of the "Events" sec- A Look Back to 2005 ...... page 2 tion that Ken Schneller is helping me with. Check out what's in store for us on the evening Doin’ Figure Eights ...... page 4 of May 7th! Jupiter's Red Spot ...... page 10 Third, this issue by far has the most content since I have taken over as editor. It seems my Controlling Your LX200 ...... page 12 plea for articles after the Christmas break was heard after all! There's lots of stuff in here Comets for Early 2006 ...... page 15 meant to help and motivate you to observe. Check it out! Friedrich Georg Wilhem On a related note, look for the Beginner's Von Struve . . . .page 21 Corner in the next issue. I simply just didn't have enough time to do one and felt with the Scanning Distant Horizons . . . . .page 22 longer issue we have this time, it wouldn't hurt to skip an issue. Dark Times ...... page 25 Many thanks to Bill Castro, Phil Creed, Ralph Geschwind, Dave Gill, Matt Hawrysko and Ken Schneller for your submissions. (Matt, I'll get And More! your Texas vacation article in the next issue.) HORIZON 2 A Look Back: The Wilderness Center Astronomy Club 2005
age over 40 guests. We often have 2 or 3 planetar- BY BILL CASTRO ium shows to accommodate the crowd. If it is clear, we set up the Centers’ 4 telescopes and cam- The year 2005 was an exciting year for The era. With the camera connected to one of the tel- Wilderness Center Astronomy Club. The officers escopes, the public can see the objects live on large for this year are Bill Castro: President, Fred Jarka: displays in the observatory or planetarium and Vice President, Dave Ross: Treasurer and Brian then look for themselves in another telescope. Gray: Secretary. Club members also set up their own scopes in the There have been many additions and improve- parking lot. We often have 10 or more! Regular ments to the AEB thanks to very generous grants volunteers for Observatory events are Rick, Norma and enthusiastic volunteers. Dr. John Pleshinger and Josh Breehl, Jeff Brest, Bill Castro, Ken donated a 10-inch LX200 computerized telescope. Craddock, Phil Creed, Carl and Jordan Fritter, A generous grant from Jane W. Mahoney has Ralph Geschwind, Dave and Robin Gill, Brian allowed us to add a second projector to the plane- Gray, Fred Grosse, Matt Hawrysko, Philip Hoyle, tarium. This increases our seating capacity for Phil Hubek, Fred Jarka, Russ Meyers, Paul shows by allowing the presentations to be viewed Piotrowski, Jim Quinn, Gene Rickenbrode, Dave from anywhere in the room. Lockheed Martin Ross, Ken Schneller, Barb Vaughn, John Waechter, Corporation donated an astronomy camera that John Weiss, and others. allows us to display objects through the telescope onto a video monitor in the observatory and the PC projectors in the planetarium. This allows us to HORIZON is the quarterly newsletter of show details in objects to large groups and those The Wilderness Center Astronomy Club. who can’t reach the eyepiece. Thanks to Bill Castro, Brian Gray, Gerry Powell, Gene Editor: ...... Phil Hoyle Rickenbrode, Dave Ross, and John Waechter for obtaining and installing the equipment. Contributors: . . . . Bill Castro, Phil Creed, Observatory Coordinator Brian Gray coordi- ...... Ralph Geschwind, Dave Gill, nates the monthly Public Star Watches. We aver- ...... Matt Hawrysko, Ken Schneller Layout ...... John Waechter
WCAC Officers: President: ...... Bill Castro Vice President: ...... Fred Jarka Secretary: ...... Brian Gray Treasurer: ...... Dave Ross Planetarium Coordinator: . . . . Dave Ross Observatory Coordinator: . . . .Brian Gray Inreach: ...... Dave Gill Education Outreach: . . . . John Waechter WebMaster: ...... Bill Castro
WCAC Address: P.O. Box 202 Wilmot, Ohio 44689-0202 Brian Gray shows visitors in the observatory an Web Site: http://www.twcac.org image of the Moon from a video camera on the Resetar telescope. HORIZON 3
The Fred F. Silk Planetarium Coordinator Dave Ross organizes planetarium shows, maintains the equipment, and trains other Club members to give shows. Rick and Norma Breehl, Dave Gill, Jim Quinn, Dave Ross, Barb Vaughn, John Waechter, and others gave Planetarium Shows. Planetarium shows are given at Public Star Watches and on the fourth Sunday of the month (March through October). Dave Ross has volun- teered a considerable amount of time to get the Planetarium to the first class facility that it is today. John Waechter is the Club’s Outreach Coordinator. We showed the nighttime sky to over 600 adults and students of all ages at Bill Castro admires an image of M31 displayed on the Planetarium schools, camps, and parks. In dome from a video camera on the Resetar telescopes in the observatory. addition to this, there have been Boy Scout and Girl Scout units We have expanded the program coordination that earned astronomy related badges. Bill Castro function to include in-reach coordinating. Dave has signed up as the Night Sky Network Gill heads this to start up programs or activities for Coordinator. This network is run through NASA club members. We have also had some great JPL and supplies outreach toolkits to clubs observing nights for club members. John throughout the country. Outreach volunteers Waechter, Rick and Norma Breehl have maintained included Joann Ballbach, Rick and Norma Breehl, a call list for observing sessions at the Center or Jeff Brest, Bill Castro, Ken Craddock, Phil Creed, our Kensington site. Roving astronomers Phil Carl and Jordan Fritter, Ralph Geschwind, Dave Hoyle and Phil Creed led trips to far away sites in and Robin Gill, Brian Gray, Fred Grosse, Matt Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Texas. Hawrysko, Philip Hoyle, Phil Hubek, Fred Jarka, Tom and Saundra Kolar, Paul Piotrowski, Jim Our quarterly Club newsletter, The HORIZON, Quinn, Gene Rickenbrode, Dave Ross, Ken is now in electronic format available on the Club’s Schneller, Barb Vaughn, John Waechter, John web page. Printed copies are still available. It is Weiss, and others. edited by Phil Hoyle and published by John Waechter. It consists of articles by members. We helped in other TWC activities. During Webmaster Bill Castro keeps our web site up-to- Family Day, we held planetarium shows, led solar date. observing, and ran educational videos. For the Romantic Moonlight Serenade, we showed the The Club currently has 85 members. We meet Moon and Jupiter through the Centers’ scopes and on the last Friday of the month at 7:30 at TWC for on video displays. a program, refreshments, business meeting, and observing (if it’s clear). Public Star Watches are On a sad note, “A bright light has gone out in the first Friday of each month at 7:30 (8:30 in the the firmament”. Long-time member Professor summer). Please come and visit us! Richard Emmons passed away in June. Richard’s daughter, Jeanne Bishop, donated $2,000 to The Wilderness Center to set up the “Richard Emmons Scholarship Fund”. It is intended to be an annual $100 award to a local high school senior with inter- est in space or physical sciences. The Club will be responsible for selecting and making the award. HORIZON 4 Doin’ Figure Eights
BY DAVE GILL
If you were to observe the sundial at the AEB (figure 1), religiously, you could discover an inter- esting phenomenon. If you went out every sunny day (both of them) for a year, at the same time (compensating for daylight savings time) and marked where the tip of the gnomon’s shadow was at that time, you would see that it moves through- out the year. That is no big surprise–everybody knows that the Sun’s declination in the sky changes throughout the year. Shadows are short in the summer and long in the winter. So the tip of the shadow ought to oscillate back and forth in the course of the year. But you would notice that rather than tracing out a line, the shadow would Figure 1: The Sundial at TWC’s Astronomy Education trace out an asymmetric figure eight on the Building. ground. That enigmatic figure eight is called an analemma, and it is the subject of this article. fictitious construct called the “mean Sun”–that is the average position of the Sun, not the Sun that First, a little matter of pronunciation. When I gives you a sunburn. The EoT gives the correction first learned of the analemma, I figured it had to be between the mean Sun and the real Sun. pronounced “uh- NAL- uh – muh”. I said it that Sometimes the real Sun is “fast” sometimes it is way for a good 20 years until disabused of this “slow” compared to the mean Sun. The reason for notion by our friend Peter Lucke at Mount this is that the mean Sun is based on the assump- Union–and verified by Webster. The correct pro- tion that the Earth’s orbit around the Sun is a per- nunciation is “ANN – uh – LEM - uh”–with the pri- fect circle, and that the Earth is orbiting with its mary emphasis on the third syllable. Or you can axis perpendicular to its orbit. But we know that call it the “figure eight thingy”. Your call. the Earth’s orbit is actually an ellipse–a slightly The analemma demonstrates something called elongated circle. The Sun is not at the center of the Equation of Time (EoT). This is the graph that the ellipse, but rather at one of two geometric con- gives sundial corrections throughout the year. The EoT is basically the horizontal, or back and forth part of the analemma’s figure eight. What causes this? Our time is called Standard Time–and is based on the Sun for a particular longitude. Specifically, since the Earth turns on its axis with respect to the Sun in 24 hours, one hour is equal to 360 degrees divided by 24 hours, or 15 degrees per hour. So every integer multiple of 15 degrees marks the center of a time zone. Ours is the 5th one west of Greenwich, centered at 75 degrees. But our time is not based on the actual Sun. It is based on a Figure 2: HORIZON 5
Figure 5: The Equation of Time showing individual effects of eccentricity and obliquity, and the sum of the two. Law (figure 2). More precisely, an imaginary line joining the planet to the Sun will sweep out equal areas in equal periods of time. Most of us are famil- Figure 3: An example showing variation iar with this result. But what does it have to do caused by an elliptical orbit. with the EoT and the analemma? Recall that our clock time is based on a mean struction points called foci. As a result, our dis- Sun–the Sun that orbits in a circle. The mean Sun tance from the Sun varies throughout the year. has a perfect 24-hour rotation. If you went out at When Johannes Kepler figured this out 400 noon every day, the Sun would be exactly due years ago, he also discovered another interesting south, different declinations, but exactly due behavior. He didn’t understand the real reason. It south. Every day, the Earth rotates exactly enough took Newton’s mechanics to reveal the wherefore to align where you are with the Sun at the same of the behavior. But Kepler told us that planets time. But since the Earth speeds up and slows moved more slowly in their orbits when they are down in its orbit around the Sun, it does not far from the Sun and more rapidly when close. always point exactly where it would if the orbit was This has been known ever since as Kepler’s 2nd a circle (figure 3). Sometimes the Earth doesn’t turn quite far enough to put the Sun south at noon; sometimes it turns too far. A second correction has to be con- sidered in the EoT. The Earth is tilted 23.5 degrees with respect to its orbit. As a result, the Sun’s path through the sky is not a simple arc; it is a sinusoid. This means that the Sun’s movement through the sky is uneven, and would be even if its orbit were a circle. Its right ascension changes by differing amounts depending on what part of its orbit it is in (figure 4). This can be plotted as well. These two corrections can be calcu- lated and added together and are called the Equation of Time (figure 5). In fact, there is a tabular version of the EoT on the little brass plaque on the side of the Figure 4: Illustrating differences between an equatorial Sun and gnomon at the AEB. It tells you how the real Sun–differences caused by the obliquity of the ecliptic. HORIZON 6
Figure 6: The analemma showing corrections throughout the year. The date is plotted along the analemma itself. HORIZON 7 much you have to correct the dial (which records where the Earth is actually pointing) to get it to read the same as your watch. The graph shows how these two effects add up. When you combine the side-to-side gyrations of the EoT with the change in declination due to the Earth’s tilt, you get the analemma. By plotting it appropriately, you get the information of the EOT in a neat visual form (figure 6). In recent years, a few people have worked to capture the analemma on film–as a time exposure over the course of a year. It stands to reason if the shadow traces out the figure eight, that the Sun does as well. But it is a tricky problem for a pho- tographer, and requires a lot of work and dedica- tion. And luck. Dennis DiCicco of Sky and
Figure 8: Anthony Ayiomamitis’s afternoon analemma over the Temple of Zeus in ancient Nemea taken at 16:00.
Telescope was the first that I am aware of to cap- ture the analemma on a frame of film. But in recent years, the work of Greek amateur astronomer Anthony Ayiomamitis has combined the beauty of the analemma with the iconic back- grounds of Greek temple ruins. He also has cap- tured the analemma at different times of day, showing it at different tilts in the sky (figures 7 and 8). In particular, the analemma near sunrise is instructive. One question that is frequently asked, especially around the time of winter solstice, is why the solstice date does not coincide with the earliest sunset and latest sunrise. It is a question that can be answered by reference to the Earth’s Figure 7: Anthony Ayiomamitis’s analemma over the motions, etc. But an elegant and graphical expla- Parthenon at local noon (12:28) taken January nation springs from the analemma, and particular- through December 2002. This is the first photo ever ly Anthony Ayiomamitis’s works (figure 9). taken of a perfectly vertical analemma. HORIZON 8
At the solstice, the Sun is “rounding the bend” at the bottom of the analemma. Think of the analemma at sunrise–laying low to the horizon. Where the analemma sinks lowest below the hori- zon in the morning will be the time of the latest sunrise. Imagine you are trying to photograph the analemma like Anthony and you will better visual- ize it. Now swing it around to the western sky and you will see that the time of earliest sunset is on the opposite side of the solstice from the latest sun- rise–and neither is at the tip of the analemma (fig- ure 10). Can you see the elegance of this explana- tion? If you understand the significance of the analemma, you can understand the geometry that gives rise to the phenomenon. Now, go back and look at Anthony’s analemma near sunrise (figure 9) and see that the portion of the analemma that we identified as the latest sunrise in figure 10 is not yet above the horizon. Beautiful. Although Anthony Ayiomamitis has the nicest collection of analemmas, maybe the most unusual comes from elsewhere–from Mars (figure 11). Actually, it is a digital construction by astronomer Figure 9: Anthony Ayiomamitis’s analemma taken at Dennis Mammana rather than a real photograph 08:00 at Tholos, in ancient Delphi. Note that part of like Anthony’s. But it does raise the question–what the analemma is still below the local horizon. do analemmas look like from other planets?
Figure 10: Analemmas in the morning and evening skies illustrating why extreme sunrise/set times don’t coincide with the solstices. HORIZON 9
As we discussed above, the analemma is a com- posite effect of the obliquity (tilt) effect and the speed-up/slow-down effects caused by eccentricity. A nifty little program is available from www.analemma.com. The Earth’s lovely figure eight is more of an exception than the rule. Several planetary analemmas are displayed below. Just as the geometry of Earth’s analemma is driven by three factors: - our tilt - our eccentricity - and our perihelion compared to our vernal equinox (which I didn’t mention this mostly con- trols the lopsidedness of our analemma) The analemmas of other planets are driven by the same three. Mars has a similar tilt, but it is Figure 12: Starry Night rendition of the analemma more eccentric. Jupiter is nearly vertical, but from Jupiter (from Analemma.com). between Earth and Mars in eccentricity. Above are calculated analemmas for Jupiter (figure 12) and Saturn (figure 13).
Note: Thank you to Anthony Ayiomamitis for permission to use his hard-earned photographs. Visit his delightful work at www.perseus.gr. I also used graphics from www.amalemma.com and http://members.aol.com/jwholtz/index.htm the web site of Pittsburgh-area amateur astronomer John Holtz.
Figure 13: Starry Night rendition of the analemma from Saturn (from Analemma.com).
Figure 11: Dennis Mammana’s simulation of the Martian analemma from Sagan Memorial Station. HORIZON 10 Jupiter's Red Spot May 16th through June
BY KEN SCHNELLER Table I Times Great Red Spot will be centered on The Red Spot is currently at longitude 100 15' Jupiter. Eastern Daylight Time. System II on Jupiter. With the longitude table in the 2006 Observer's Handbook and data on the rise Date Time Altitude and setting times of Jupiter, I've compiled a list of above horizon local times when the Red Spot will be visible. This Mar 3 6:17 AM 29º list is given below and will be expanded later to 4 2:06 AM 22º include later dates. 6 11:35 PM 0.5º Robert Hooke first saw the Great Red Spot in a 8 5:24 AM 31º telescope in 1664. It covered 30 degrees in longi- 9 5:39 AM 31º tude and has been shortening ever since, even 11 2:52 AM 30º though it has maintained the same extent in lati- 13 4:30 AM 33º tude. It now covers about 10 degrees in longitude. 16 1:59 AM 27º 18 3:38 AM 33º It is believed to be a solitary circulating spot 18 11:29 PM 8º (called a "soliton") and is presently 24 kilometers 21 1:18 AM 25º above the surrounding ammonia cloud terrain. All 23 2:45 AM 32º colors on Jupiter come from phosphines contain- 23 10:36 PM 3º ing sulfur at different temperatures. Blue colors 25 4:23 AM 32º are the lowest, warmer clouds; then comes brown, 26 12:14 AM 19º white and red (the coldest). The color comes 28 1:52 AM 31º mostly from sulfur at different temperatures. 30 3:30 AM 33º Presumably, the more intense UV radiation at April 1 5:08 AM 25º higher levels has disassociated the phosphine into 2 12:59 AM 28º phosphor and other elements. The red color of the 4 3:37 AM 34º Red Spot comes from pure phosphor. 4 11:28 PM 10º The Spot drifts in longitude erratically, though 6 5:15 AM 29º since 1930 it has continuously increased its posi- 7 1:06 AM 25º tion in longitude, drifting by a total of 1200 9 2:44 AM 33º degrees. 9 10:35 PM 9º 11 4:22 AM 31º The spot floats inside the high white ammonia 12 12:12 AM 21º clouds. As it sinks, it loses color and sometimes 13 5:59 AM 20º only its outline is visible. It was bright and color- 14 1:51 AM 32º ful in 1960, but has faded since then. It is now 16 3:29 AM 33º elliptical, 13,000 by 40,000 kilometers and rotates 16 11:20 PM 17º once on its axis every seven days. The Spot is an 18 5:07 AM 24º anti-cyclonic high-pressure system. 19 1:01 AM 30º The position of Jupiter in our sky varies from 20 6:45 AM 8º 14h49m -14 49' on May 2 to 14h28m -13 23' on 21 2:36 AM 34º June 28. It is bright at magnitude -2.4. 21 10:27 PM 12º 23 4:13 AM 28º Please note that if the Red Spot drifts in longi- 24 12:05 AM 27º tude, the times given in the tables will be off. Your 25 5:51 AM 14º best bet is to observe several minutes before the 26 1:43 AM 34º times listed. Because of Jupiter's rapid rotation 26 9:34 PM 8º rate, the Red Spot can only be seen for about 40 27 6:30 AM 6º minutes at a time. 28 6:30 AM 6º 28 11:24 PM 24º 30 4:58 AM 19º HORIZON 11
Table I (continued) Times Great Red Spot will be centered on Date Time Altitude above horizon Jupiter. Eastern Daylight Time. May15 1 12:502:20 AMAM 30 33º° 171 8:413:58 PMAM 17º2º Date Time Altitude 173 11:492:28 AMPM 33º35º above horizon 183 10:197:41 AM PM 20º5° May 1 12:50 AM 33º 205 1:274:06 AM 3322º° 1 8:41 PM 2º 205 11:579:19 PMPM 3222º° 3 2:28 AM 33º 227 5:443:05 AM 3421º° 3 10:19 PM 20º 228 10:571:35 AM PM 3533º° 5 4:06 AM 22º 238 9:264:43 PMAM 155º° 5 11:57 PM 32° 1025 12:353:13 AM AM 2735° 7 5:44 AM 34° 1025 11:048:26 PMPM 29º18º 8 1:35 AM 35° 1327 12:422:13 AMAM 3526º° 8 9:26 PM 15° 1327 10:049:33 PMPM 20º31º 10 3:13 AM 27° 1529 2:203:51 AM 3026º° 10 11:04 PM 29º 29 11:42 PM 35° 13 12:42 AM 35° 30 7:34 PM 13° 13 9:33 PM 20º June 1 1:20 AM 29º
Table II Rise, Setting and Transit time of Jupiter and Saturn Local (EST or EDT) times for the Wilderness Center Friday Evenings.
Jupiter Saturn Date Rise Transit Set Rise Transit Set Mar. 3 11:45 PM 4:49 AM 2:57 PM 10:15 PM 5:28 AM 10 11:17 PM 4:21 AM 2:28 PM 9:46 PM 5:00 AM 17 10:48 PM 3:53 AM 2:00 PM 9:17 PM 4:31 AM 24 10:19 PM 3:24 AM 8:49 PM 4:03 AM 31 9:49 PM 2:55 AM 8:21 PM 3:35 AM Apr. 7 10:18 PM 3:25 AM 8:53 PM 4:08 AM 14 9:47 PM 2:54 AM 8:26 PM 3:41 AM 21 9:15 PM 2:24 AM 7:55 PM 3:14 AM 28 8:43 PM 1:53 AM 7:29 PM 2:47 AM May 5 8:11 PM 1:22 AM 7:03 PM 2:20 AM 12 7:35 PM 12:51 AM 6:02 AM 6:37 PM 1:54 AM 19 7:04 PM 12:20 AM 5:32 AM 6:11 PM 1:28 AM 26 6:32 PM 11:49 PM 5:02 AM 5:46 PM 1:02 AM June 2 11:19 PM 4:32 AM 10:09 AM 5:21 PM 12:37 AM
HORIZON 12 Controlling Your LX200 with The Sky 6™ a 25-pin port open, a 25-pin to 9-pin adapter can BY MATT HAWRYSKO be purchased fairly inexpensively. Most newer lap- tops lack an RS-232 port, so it will be necessary to Introduction purchase either a USB to RS-232 converter or a This article highlights how to connect a Meade PCMCIA RS-232 card. The card is preferred, LX200 telescope to a computer running The Sky because it won’t draw down battery power, but you 6™ software as an observing tool. need to be cautious of what kind of PCMCIA card you purchase. Most add-on cards try to give you more value by adding a second or third serial port. Some of the less expensive cards are not wired to RS-232 standards and therefore will not pass communications from your computer to your telescope. I am using a Keyspan USB to RS- 232 connector with my IBM ThinkPad T-43 laptop. I originally chose the ThinkPad because of its 7-hour standard battery life. When I am using the USB to RS- 232 adapter, my bat- tery life drops to about 4 1/2 to 5 hours. (Most standard laptops have an average battery LX200 setup life of 2 1/2 to 3 hours). I made one cable and purchased one cable for Getting Started comparison. I purchased my RS-232 cable from To control your telescope remotely you will Astronomics.com for $24.95 and it came with a 25’ need a laptop or desktop computer with at least phone line and an RJ-11 to 9-Pin RS-232 adapter. one RS-232 9-pin port open. If your machine has If you are more industrious, you can also make your own cable using standard Radio Shack 9-posi- tion female crimp D-sub connector for $1.59 each. In the homemade version, one RJ-11 end (stan- dard phone line end) is cut off to expose the wires then soldered or crimped into the D-sub connec- tor. For the one I made, I used a diagram, shown below. (http://obs.nineplanets.org/meade/cable.html). Keyspan USB to Serial Adapter Part# USA-19HS HORIZON 13
Radio Shack 9-position female crimp D-sub connector. Model: 276-1428 Catalog #: 276-1428 (You supply the phone line)
It is preferred to make all your hardware and RS-232 cable from www.astronomics.com. wire connections before turning on the telescope Product #: 1560-225 or computer. This is dependent on your particular computer hardware. Older computers don’t scan The Sky 6 also has cabling and pin-out diagrams ports as the newer ones do. I have ‘hot plugged’ my in their help menu that can be easily printed. LX200 to my computer and calibrated live without any problems. Making the Connection To open the controlling software, using The Sky Before you start, make sure you synchronize 6 with a Windows computer: your computer clock with an atomic clock, such as On the top menu bar NIST, so your computer time is calibrated and veri- Click the “Telescope” item to expand it, then, fy that you have chosen the correct Time Zone. Select “Link” then, Windows XP, MacOS and Linux make provisions for Click “Establish” – if you are cabled correctly time clock calibration in their Date/Time settings. your computer will now be communicating with your telescope.
Pin-out diagram. HORIZON 14
Aligning and Slewing I do a 1 star alignment with the 9.7mm eyepiece. Go through the aligning process with your telescope then find the object on your computer screen and left click it one time. Make sure the object you are synching on is the correct one in the information box. Look under the “Telescope” tab of the object and click on the “Sync” button. This tells the software where you are aimed and sets up the coor- dinates for future slewing and tracking. To go to a new object, right click on the object and select Slew from the menu. After you reply to the confirmation screen, your telescope will begin slewing to the new loca- tion. Summary The Sky 6, as do most other observatory-class astronomy software pack- ages, offers Night Vision Mode, which is basically a “reddened-out” desktop theme to help preserve your night vision. I enjoy using the software to hunt for objects, instead of reading Connections to LX200 control panel. complex star charts in the dark. When I can’t remem- your home and a CCD or video imaging system, ber the names and locations of most of the objects you can set your scope up outside and sit in the in the sky, this helps. Even when I was using my nice warm house and slew around. small Meade Newtonian scope, I had the aid of some type of software to find objects to target. References and Resources: If you connect your controlling computer to the LX200 RS232 Port Connections. 28 Feb 2002. 11 Internet, you can download the latest satellite, Dec 2005: meteor and comet data and go on a real hunting
Moon will significantly impair viewing. The comet DATE R.A. Dec. Est. Mag. will be at its brightest in late February, but the view 2006 02 24 20 15.64 -19 21.4 5.5 improves as the comet gains altitude with each passing morning. If the comet is a decent binocu- 2006 02 27 20 20.80 -11 46.3 5.5 lar object, a neat photographic opportunity pres- 2006 02 28 20 22.95 -09 07.9 5.5 ents itself the last few days of February, as the 2006 03 01 20 25.32 -06 27.3 5.6 comet passes less than 10 degrees east of Venus on 2006 03 02 20 27.88 -03 45.3 5.6 the mornings of February 27 and 28. Nestled between Alpha and Beta Capricornus, this should 2006 03 03 20 30.64 -01 02.7 5.7 be an easy comet to locate. 2006 03 04 20 33.59 +01 39.7 5.7 During the first ten days of March, the comet 2006 03 05 20 36.71 +04 20.9 5.8 can be found simply by sweeping between Alpha 2006 03 06 20 40.00 +07 00.3 5.8 Capricornus and Delphinus, with the comet nes- tled closely amongst the stars of Delphinus on 2006 03 07 20 43.45 +09 37.1 5.9 March 10. The viewing geometry of the comet will 2006 03 08 20 47.06 +12 10.6 6.0 be favorable, with a phase angle (Sun-comet-Earth 2006 03 09 20 50.80 +14 40.3 6.1 angle, as opposed to the Sun-Earth-comet angle, a.k.a. elongation) of over 90 degrees in early 2006 03 10 20 54.67 +17 05.7 6.2 March. If a decent tail develops, the large phase 2006 03 11 20 58.66 +19 26.4 6.3 angle will help augment its angular length. By the 2006 03 12 21 02.77 +21 42.0 6.3 time the Moon exits the sky in the last week of March, the comet may have faded below 7th-mag- 2006 03 15 21 15.65 +27 56.9 6.7 nitude, and the phase angle will have dropped to 2006 03 18 21 29.22 +33 23.2 7.0 60 degrees. 2006 03 21 21 43.26 +38 03.4 7.3 As of January 23, the comet had just started to 2006 03 24 21 57.57 +42 02.3 7.6 develop an ion tail and had shown an increase in 2006 03 27 22 12.00 +45 25.2 7.9 the degree of condensation in the coma. Hopefully this bodes well in the coming weeks. A 2006 03 30 22 26.41 +48 17.6 8.2 special word of note: comets do not need to be very 2006 04 02 22 40.67 +50 44.5 8.5 bright to be glorious binocular objects! In April 2006 04 05 22 54.71 +52 50.1 8.8 2004, I saw a 6-degree tail on Comet Bradfield even while estimating the comet’s brightness at magni- 2006 04 08 23 08.44 +54 38.1 9.1 tude 4.8. This comet’s perihelion distance (0.55 2006 04 11 23 21.81 +56 11.3 9.3 A.U.) will help in the development of a tail. Due to 2006 04 14 23 34.80 +57 32.5 9.6 the largely diffuse appearance of comets, it is imperative that you do your observing from a dark 2006 04 17 23 47.37 +58 43.7 9.8 sky site, especially one with a good east-southeast 2006 04 20 23 59.51 +59 46.5 10.0 horizon. 2006 04 23 00 11.23 +60 42.6 10.2 Based on the brightness at this time, I have 2006 04 26 00 22.51 +61 32.9 10.4 generated a brightness estimate for the comet below, along with R.A. and Declination, courtesy of 2006 04 29 00 33.36 +62 18.6 10.6 the Minor Planet Center. These positions are for 7 PM EST or 8 PM EDT when daylight savings time is Figures 1 through 3 show the comet at the start in effect. This assumes the comet holds an n=3 of morning twilight (about 5:30 AM EST) on the curve. If n=4, the comet will peak around magni- mornings of February 28, March 5, and March 10. tude 5.0 or perhaps a tad brighter. Perhaps coin- But as soon as Comet Pojmanski fades from its cidentally, several observers on the Yahoo! (hopefully) decent apparition, another cosmic Comets-ML group have noted this comet’s eerie snowball is already inbound, 73P/Schwassman- reminiscence of Comet Bennett in its orbit. A Wachmann-3. Unlike Pojmanski, this comet has a repeat of Comet Bennett in terms of brightness is well established light-curve and with a period of highly unlikely. about 5-1/2 years, has offered plenty of apparitions to take away some of the surprises...but not all of HORIZON 17 them. During its 1995 return, SW-3 unexpectedly This comet has an “n” coefficient of about 7, had a 6-magnitude outburst—an increase in and as of late January, has pretty much held to pre- brightness by a factor of 250! The reason soon dictions. If all goes well, the period between late became clear. The comet broke into 3 large com- April and mid-May should be very interesting. ponents. The largest of which, component C, is With few exceptions, periodic comets tend to be scheduled to reach perihelion on June 7, 2006. intrinsically faint, and SW-3 is no exception. The More tantalizing is the closest approach to Earth close approach to Earth will mitigate these cir- on May 13, just 0.078 A.U. away, or about 30 cumstances. How bright the comet will get is any- Earth-Moon distances. one’s guess. Renowned comet expert Seiichi Yoshida estimates a 3.5-mag peak, while the Minor Planet Center ephemeris is predict- ing a 6.5-mag peak. Based on early reports, it’s on track to be closer to Yoshida’s esti- mate, but stay tuned. The phase angle is quite favor- able at closest approach, but SW-3 is not known for remarkable tail length or detail. The main attraction with SW-3 will be the opportunity to observe a comet at a clos- er range than any comet since 1983 IRAS-Araki- Alcock. At its closest approach, the comet will be moving about 6.3 degrees per day. Centering the Figure 1: Position of comet Pojmanski on object in an LX200 at 100X February 28th. would result in SW-3 drifting out of view in less than an hour, unless the scope was slewed to a new position periodically. Figures 4 through 7 shows positions of this comet. The first is for the evening of April 30, as the comet is just starting to enter Hercules. The second is for just 5 days later as the comet is on its way to south- ern Lyra. The third is for May 10 with the comet nes- tled in southern Cygnus. For predawn observers, the last chart is for the morning of May 20, with the comet in Pisces! Because of its path across the northern Milky Figure 2: Position of comet Pojmanski on March 5th. HORIZON 18
After May 10, the comet is essentially above the hori- zon only when the Moon is up! In fact, on the morning of May 22, the waning cres- cent Moon will be within 5 degrees of the comet. By the time the Moon exits the predawn sky, the comet has sunk far enough to the south that it is mired in low alti- tude for the remainder of the summer. For CCD imagers, the ability to par- tially compensate for sky glow and moon glow should nevertheless result in some spectacular opportunities, especially the Ring Nebula encounter. Figure 3: Position of Pojmanski on March 10th. Below is an ephemeris, c/o data from the Minor Planet Center, for 7 PM EST Way, there are a lot of interesting rendezvous with or 8 PM EDT when daylight savings time is in deep-sky objects. The coup-de-grace is on the effect. The magnitude estimates are my best evening of May 7, when the comet comes within guesses, though. 10’ of the Ring Nebula. The year 2005 turned out to be a dud for comet Comets suffer greatly from light pollution, and observers, with the exception of Comet Macholtz in the case of SW-3, it’s the Moon that poses the at the start of the year. With Pojmanski and biggest hassle. The two new Moon and full Moon Schwassman-Wachmann-3, prospects are already dates surrounding the comet’s apparition are on looking much rosier. The waiting game has thus April 27, May 13, and May 27. The comet unfor- commenced. But to get your money’s worth, be tunately “follows” the Moon from the evening sky prepared to lose some zzzzzz’s. to the morning sky. Before 1st quarter (May 5), moonlight should not be too much of a problem. The comet is above the horizon essentially all night around May 10, but the waxing Moon requires later observing times. Moonset times from Canton, OH, are as follows:
Night Moonset May 3/4 2:33 A.M. EDT May 4/5 3:02 A.M. EDT May 5/6 3:27 A.M. EDT May 6/7 3:48 A.M. EDT May 7/8 4:07 A.M. EDT May 8/9 4:25 A.M. EDT May 9/10 4:44 A.M. EDT HORIZON 19
DATE R.A. Dec. Est. Mag. DATE R.A. Dec. Est. Mag. 2006 02 28 13 57.52 +12 54.6 12.6 2006 05 13 21 26.83 +22 27.4 4.5 2006 03 06 14 05.38 +13 50.1 12.1 2006 05 14 21 49.81 +19 43.4 4.5 2006 03 12 14 13.28 +14 55.6 11.6 2006 05 15 22 10.84 +16 58.8 4.6 2006 03 18 14 21.35 +16 11.6 11.1 2006 05 16 22 29.86 +14 19.0 4.6 2006 03 24 14 29.80 +17 38.7 10.5 2006 05 17 22 46.94 +11 47.8 4.7 2006 03 30 14 38.98 +19 17.4 9.9 2006 05 18 23 02.24 +09 27.5 4.8 2006 04 02 14 44.04 +20 11.3 9.6 2006 05 19 23 15.92 +07 19.2 4.9 2006 04 05 14 49.56 +21 08.3 9.3 2006 05 20 23 28.16 +05 22.9 5.0 2006 04 08 14 55.71 +22 08.8 8.9 2006 05 21 23 39.14 +03 38.1 5.1 2006 04 11 15 02.72 +23 13.3 8.6 2006 05 22 23 49.01 +02 04.1 5.2 2006 04 14 15 10.90 +24 22.2 8.2 2006 05 23 23 57.93 +00 39.9 5.3 2006 04 17 15 20.68 +25 36.5 7.9 2006 05 24 00 06.01 -00 35.4 5.4 2006 04 20 15 32.69 +26 57.1 7.5 2006 05 25 00 13.37 -01 42.9 5.4 2006 04 21 15 37.35 +27 25.5 7.3 2006 05 26 00 20.09 -02 43.3 5.5 2006 04 22 15 42.40 +27 54.7 7.2 2006 05 27 00 26.26 -03 37.5 5.6 2006 04 23 15 47.91 +28 24.7 7.1 2006 05 28 00 31.95 -04 26.1 5.7 2006 04 24 15 53.93 +28 55.6 6.9 2006 05 29 00 37.22 -05 09.8 5.8 2006 04 25 16 00.54 +29 27.1 6.8 2006 05 30 00 42.11 -05 49.2 5.9 2006 04 26 16 07.83 +29 59.2 6.6 2006 06 02 00 54.97 -07 25.4 6.1 2006 04 27 16 15.89 +30 31.8 6.5 2006 06 05 01 05.73 -08 36.3 6.3 2006 04 28 16 24.83 +31 04.5 6.3 2006 06 08 01 14.99 -09 28.6 6.6 2006 04 29 16 34.81 +31 37.0 6.2 2006 06 11 01 23.14 -10 07.0 6.8 2006 04 30 16 45.95 +32 08.5 6.0 2006 06 14 01 30.44 -10 35.2 7.0 2006 05 01 16 58.44 +32 38.2 5.9 2006 06 17 01 37.06 -10 55.6 7.2 2006 05 02 17 12.44 +33 04.8 5.7 2006 06 20 01 43.13 -11 10.2 7.4 2006 05 03 17 28.14 +33 26.5 5.5 2006 06 23 01 48.73 -11 20.7 7.6 2006 05 04 17 45.71 +33 41.0 5.4 2006 06 28 01 57.10 -11 32.1 7.9 2006 05 05 18 05.27 +33 45.3 5.2 2006 07 03 02 04.42 -11 39.1 8.3 2006 05 06 18 26.86 +33 35.9 5.1 2006 07 10 02 10.73 -11 44.7 8.6 2006 05 07 18 50.39 +33 08.9 4.9 2006 07 13 02 16.06 -11 51.0 8.9 2006 05 08 19 15.60 +32 20.4 4.8 2006 07 18 02 20.36 -11 59.7 9.2 2006 05 09 19 42.02 +31 07.6 4.7 2006 07 23 02 23.56 -12 11.9 9.6 2006 05 10 20 09.05 +29 29.2 4.6 2006 07 28 02 25.59 -12 28.2 9.9 2006 05 11 20 35.96 +27 26.8 4.6 2006 08 02 02 26.38 -12 48.7 10.1 2006 05 12 21 02.08 +25 04.2 4.5 2006 08 07 02 25.87 -13 13.2 10.4 2006 08 12 02 24.03 -13 41.2 10.7 HORIZON 20
Figure 4: Position of 73P/Schwassman-Wachmann-3 Figure 6: Position of 73P/Schwassman-Wachmann-3 around midnight on April 30th. on May 10th.
Figure 5: Position of 73P/Schwassman-Wachmann-3 Figure 7: Position of 73P/Schwassman-Wachmann-3 on May 5th. on May 20th at about 4:00 AM.. HORIZON 21 Friedrich Georg Wilhem Von Struve and Double Stars
Since most double stars are true binary stars, BY RALPH GESCHWIND rather than mere optical doubles (as William He was born in Altona, Germany, the son of Herschel had been the first to discover), they orbit Jacob Struve (1755-1841) and was the first of the around one another and slowly change positions entire family of astronomers through four genera- over the years. Struve made micrometric meas- tions. He was the great-grandfather of Otto urements of 2714 double stars from 1824-1837 and Wilhem Von Struve. published them in his “Stellarium Duplicium El Multiplicium Mensurae Miscrometricae.” In 1808, he entered the University of Tartu, where he first studied Philology, but soon turned Struve was the first to measure the parallax of his attention to Astronomy. From 1813 to 1820 he the star Vega, although Friederich Bessel had been taught at the University and observed at Dorpat the first to measure the parallax of the star 61 Observatory in Tartu and in 1820 became a full Cygni. time professor and director of the observatory. He was honored in 1826 with Gold Metal from At Tartu, Friedrich Georg Wilhem Von Struve the Royal Astronomical Society. The asteroid # was occupied with research on Double Stars and 768 Struvana was named jointly in his honor and Geodesy until 1839, when he founded and became that of Otto Wilhem Von Struve and Karl Hermann the director of the new Pulkovo Observatory near Struve. St. Petersburg, Russia. He retired in 1861 due to There is a list of Struve’s Double Stars (a little failing health and died in St. Petersburg on over 3100) that I am currently working on. November 23, 1864. Here are 10 Struve’s Double Stars in the con- Struve’s name is best known for his observa- stellation of Andromeda. tions and measurements of double stars, which he carried on for many years. Double stars had been studied earlier by William Herschel, John Herschel and Sir James South; Struve outdid these Have Fun observers. He discovered a very large number of Best of Seeing double stars (over 3100) and in 1827 published his own catalogue.
Name Right Declination magnitude Separation Position Ascension distance angle STF 3064 00h 07.38 +40 08.52 7,10 24.8" 3 3 00h 10.03 +46 23.27 7.5,8.5 5" 83 19 00h 16.43 +36 37.47 7,9.5 2.3" 139 24 00h 18.30 +26 08.21 7,8 5.2" 240 33 00h 31.03 +34 06.15 8.7,8.8 2.7" 209 40 00h 35.08 +36 50.03 7,9 11.9" 312 47 00h 40.19 +24 03.14 7.5,8 16.6" 205 72 00h 54.37 +39 09.47 8,9 23.9" 178 79 01h 00.03 +44 42.40 6,7 7.8" 193 108 01h 18.47 +37 23.19 7,10 6.0" 62
HORIZON 22 Scanning Distant Horizons: Early 1986
BY DAVE GILL grammable dissolve controller. The whole pro- gram would be coded on one of the tracks of the Usually when I write these “Scanning Distant cassette tape that had our sound track. A pro- Horizons” pieces, I look back 5, 10, 15 and 20 grammable dissolve unit would control the years through the pages of HORIZON to give you changing of the slides and the dissolve effects. a glimpse of what we were doing back then, All we needed then were a couple carousels, ancient history for some of you, fond memories a cassette player with speakers and a program- for others. But this time, I want to concentrate mable dissolve. One itsy bitsy problem, we did- on what was going on 20 years ago in the late n’t have this equipment… or money. We winter/spring of 1986. This was a very busy time approached Gordon Maupin, TWC’s director, for the club and one where we showed our real with our idea. We envisioned offering this pro- potential gram as a traveling show that could be taken to This was the time of the return of Comet schools and other groups. Gordon saw the pos- Halley in its 76-year orbit around the Sun. The sibilities, and helped get the money. We got the most fabled of comets was coming back, and this equipment, Kent produced the program, and we time we were the generation to see it. The 1986 presented it widely. TWC’s staff also presented it return was not a spectacular one. When the widely. We used it frequently when we had comet was close, it was very low in the morning scheduled comet watches as a good intro piece, sky. The public was interested, but would need and as a cloud pacifier. I don’t know how many our help because Halley in ’86 was subtle, and times we showed that program, but it was many definitely not obvious. dozens. And in the end, it paid for the equip- ment investment–equipment that we continued So, the Club was gearing up. We had a rela- to use almost to the present (it has now largely tively new planetarium, the TSA instrument been replaced by simpler PC-based PowerPoint built by Dick and Tom Emmons. Dave Ross programs in most instances.) wrote a planetarium show discussing some of the history of the comet for our Sunday visitors. Another major acquisition at about this time Drew Miller saw an advertisement that the was the 6” AstroPhysics f/8 Apochromatic American Chemical Society was underwriting a Refractor. Donated essentially out of the blue by professionally produced planetarium program Norman Giust of Canton in memory of several called “Comet Halley: Once in a Lifetime”, and family members, this telescope has been a foun- was distributing it for free to qualified institu- dation instrument for us. It got us thinking tions. We applied and got a copy. about permanent housings and observatories. And since the AEB opened, the Giust Refractor We had a vision, not using this program as a has been a favorite visual instrument for planetarium show, but using it as an educational lunar/planetary views. tool and showing it widely. Here is where some important pieces started coming together. We As part of the Comet run-up, we scheduled had the idea (I don’t recall the exact origin) that teacher workshops and public viewings. These the program could be adapted for simpler media. were well attended, and I recall some very nice Kent Rothermel had extensive experience in crowds, over 100 one warm January evening, audio-visual equipment and production. He real- with Halley a binocular object in Pisces. The ized that we could produce this program to work closest approach of Halley was to be in March, with two carousel slide projectors and a pro- with the comet in southern Sagittarius in the wee hours. To get a good look, Dean Wilson, HORIZON 23
Kent and I took a trip to the Florida Keys in mid- donated money for “Trees of Life” in the names March. It was the first of several trips we took of the seven Challenger astronauts. We all together–and we did get some nice views of the remember where we were when we heard the comet. Plus we got to sit in a hot tub and stare news; I was sitting in my office at work trying to up at Orion, great sacrifices we made for science call WHBC. I had been doing a weekly radio spot that year. Meanwhile, Robin took on the public about Halley, and usually checked in around star watches at TWC in the wee hours; I believe noon on Fridays so the announcer and I could we had several hundred people one weekend plan what we would talk about. When someone morning. They were even cranking up the finally answered the phone, she hurriedly asked Halley slide show at 4:00 AM for our guests. if they could call me back because they were try- But Halley was not the only thing on our ing to get on the air with a live feed because the minds. We had done our first “Astronomy Day” Challenger had just had an accident. This was in late 1985, featuring the Comet. For 1986, we before Internet, so I spent a lot of time trying to came up with something bigger. Again, I don’t get my radio to pick up some news. recall where the inspiration came from, but Early 1986 was a very busy time for us. We Robin showed her organizational skills by pulling showed that we could dream big and execute. off an astronaut visit. We got Dr. Karl Henize, an We showed that we could reach a hungry public astronomer-astronaut, as our guest. We with our love of the stars. We showed that we arranged a public event in Canton at the Palace had many talented individuals that worked well Theatre–which was not very well attended. And as a team. We developed friendships that would we had a talk at TWC. Dr. Henize was a very gra- last many years. These things we showed in cious guest. 1986 are the same qualities that still serve us Of course January, 1986 is also famous for well today as we make our dreams for the AEB the Challenger accident. People as gung-ho come to life and bring our love for the stars to about space exploration as the WCAC were the public. And we still cherish the friendships greatly saddened by the loss of the crew, and we we make under the stars. HORIZON 24 Science/Space Mission of the Year: My Pick
primitive debris from the solar system’s distant and BY MATT HAWRYSKO coldest regions that formed 4.5 billion years ago.” It’s difficult to say that just one Astronomy Scientific study of the debris and crater, which Science event is better than another, but after is still ongoing, may be able to help Scientists looking over the Year in Astronomy: 2005 I decid- unravel the mystery of the evolution of our Solar ed which event was my personal favorite. My pick System. If not, then we at least will be one step for the most spectacular scientific event goes to the closer to understanding it a little better. Deep Impact Mission. The objectives of the Deep Impact Mission I think it was pretty cool that NASA sent a were: rocket traveling through space to intercept a “1. Observe how the crater forms. Comet, also traveling through space, more than 2. Measure the crater’s depth and diameter. 260 million miles from Earth, and released an impactor that blasted a small crater in the surface 3. Measure the composition of the interior of of the Comet, because as NASA Deep Impact the crater and its ejecta. Scientists say: 4. Determine the changes in natural outgassing “Comets are time capsules that hold clues produced by the impact.” about the formation and evolution of the Solar I think it was pretty darn successful. You guys System. They are composed of ice, gas and dust, at NASA ROCK! No pun intended.
Image sequence of the Deep Impact. Image credit: NASA/JPL/UMD HORIZON 25
6 83P/Russell 13h15m -26º26’ alt 19º at 4 AM. Events 0 0 2
+47º19’ alt. 64º at 10:00 PM; transits at 12:28 AM h c b.) 10h24.7m -18º38’ alt. 29º at 10 PM. r a M s e m Saturn transits at 10:23 PM, alt. 65º in Cancer. at 10:23 PM, Saturn transits Mercury at greatest northern latitude at 23h40m 1º36’ alt. 3º at 7:00 PM, sets 7:25 PM First quarter Moon at 4:16 PM. Sidereal time 6:31 8:00 Sunrise on crater Aristarcus at 3:27 AM. Moon transits at 10:46 PM alt. 67º. Comet C/2006 A1 (Pojmanski) 21h4.6m +22º36’ alt. 13º at 4 AM, rises 2:41 AM. M67 (open cluster) 8h51m +11º49’ alt. 61º at 10:00 PM. NGC3242 (planetary ne 13º at 8:00 PM sets 9:24 PM. Comet c/2005 E2 1h47.2m +21º40’ alt. M94 (galaxy mag. 9) 12h51m +41º07’ alt.57º at 10:00 PM i T Fr Fr Sunrise on Bullialdus at 1:47 AM. Fr Fr M87 (galaxy mag. 10) 12h 31m +12º23’ alt. 43º at 10:00 PM Fr Th Th Tu Th Tu Th Jupiter transits 3:57 AM. Tu M81 (galaxy, mag. 8) 9h55m +69º04’ alt. 62º at 10:00 PM Th 53º at 10:00 PM; M95 (galaxy mag. transits at 11:12 PM alt. 61º 11) 10h44m +11º42’ alt. Tu M106 (galaxy mag. 9) 12h19m Th Sa M50 (cluster) alt. 38º at 10:00 PM 7h03m -8º23’ Sa Libra. Jupiter transits Sidereal time is 8:47 at 10:00 PM. at 4:17 AM alt. 33º in Sa Comet c/2005 E2 1h18.9m +18º21’ alt. 12º at 8:00 PM mag. 9.3 sets 9:17 PM. Sa M66 (galaxy mag. 10) 11h20m +12º59’ alt. 62º at midnight. Sa We Sunrise on Copernicus at 9:08 PM. We Moon rises in penumbral eclipse at 7:25; Comet We M48 (open cluster) 8h14m –5º45’ alt. 40º at 10:00 PM We Moon 5:16 AM. New
AM Day k AM r Date a 529 2 528 3 526 4 Su 525 5 Mo 523 6 522 7 520 8 518 9 517 10 Su 449 26 Mo 447 27 445 28 443 29 441 30 439 31 437 1 D Begins Twilight
AM S 27 R 55 458 21 Moon S 138 S 243 S 339 S 426 S 503 R 200 R 259 456 R 349 454 22 R 430 452 23 450 24 25
PM Moon S 2040 S 2157 S 2313 S 2046 S 2203 R 2029 R 2029 R 2133 R 2238 R 2346 505 503 17 501 18 459 19 Su 20 Mo 2007 2008 2009 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2017 2018 2019 2020 2022 2023 Ends Twilight PM Date PM Day 1 Wednesday 1950 1952 1951 2 Thursday Friday 3 1953 1954 Saturday 4 Sunday 5 1956 11 Monday 6 1957 Tuesday 7 515 8 Wednesday 1958 2000 1959 Mo 9 Thursday Friday 10 13 2001 Su 2002 Saturday 11 512 12 14 513 Sunday 12 2004 510 Monday 13 2005 15 Tuesday 14 508 15 Wednesday 2006 16 Thursday Friday 17 Saturday 18 Sunday 19 506 Monday 20 16 Tuesday 21 22 Wednesday 23 Thursday Friday 24 Saturday 25 Sunday 26 Monday 27 Tuesday 28 29 Wednesday 2026 2024 30 Thursday Friday 31 HORIZON 26
neb. mag. 9) 10h25m -18º38’ alt. 31º at 10:00 PM 6 Events 3m +27º40’ alt. 30º at 10:00 PM, 63º 1:00 AM. 0 0 2 l i r p A s e m i Daylight Savings occults time begins Alcyoneat 2:00 AM. Moon at 7:47-7:49 PM alt. 35º Comet Russell13h09.8m -23º35’. AM alt. 26º at transits at 1:51 R Leonis (var. star) at max mag. 5.8 9h47.5m +11º26’; transits 9:40 PM alt. 54º. 48 Cancri (double star) , mag. 4.2 and 6.7, sep 30.7” 8h46.7m +28º46’ alt. 69º at 10:00 PM. peaks. meteor shower Lyrid Comet Russell 13h02m -18º36’ alt. 30º at 11:45 PM. M68 (globular cluster mag. 7) 12h39m -26º44’ transits at 11:38 alt. 22º M86 (galaxy mag. 10) 12h36m +12º56’ transits at 11:21 alt. 62º. T
Fr Mercury at greatest elongation at 23h30m -5º19’. west Fr Full Moon at 12:41 PM. Fr Comet 73P/Schwassman-Wachmann-3 at 15h2 Fr Moon New at 3:44 PM k Tu Double star 65 Cancri 8h58m29s +11º51’28” mag. 4.3, 11.8 sep. 10.7”; alt. 66º at 10:00 PM. Th Moon first quarter at 8:01 AM. Tu Th Tu Comet Russell 13h4m +20º10’ alt. 18º at 10 PM Th Comet c/2005 E2 (McNaught)+25º50’ alt. 15º at 9:00 PM, mag. 9.9 3h06m sets at 10:41 PM. Tu M53 (globular cluster mag. 8) 13h 10m +17º32’ alt. 51º at 10:00 PM, 66º midnight. Th M3 (globular cluster) 13h41m +28º04’ alt. 74º at midnight Sa Sa Sa Jupiter at 14h54m -15º11’, alt. 25º 11:30 PM Sa Jupiter’s Red Spot transits at 2:21 AM, alt. 34º We Moon high in the early evening. Maurolycus near terminator, Moon alt. 68º at 8:00 PM. We Comet Pojmanski at 23h23.6m +56º18’ alt. 23º 4:00 AM We Sidereal time is 10h21m at 10:00 PM, NGC3242 (pl. We10, alt. 15º at 10:00 PM, sets midnight. Comet c/2005 E2 at 3h29m +30º23’, mag. AM Day r a AM Date D 535 2 Su 535 2 Mo 534 3 532 4 530 5 528 6 526 7 524 8 Mo 454 24 452 25 450 26 448 27 446 28 445 29 Su 443 30 Mo 441 1 Begins
AM Twilight S 15 R 53 505 18 S 129 S 231 S 322 S 403 S 436 S 503 R 154 503 R 246 501 R 328 19 459 R 403 20 458 R 432 21 456 22 23 Su
PM S 19 Moon S 2307 R 2237 R 2237 R 2346 509 507 16 Su 17 Mo 2146 2147 2149 2150 2152 2153 2155 2156 2158 2159 2201 2202 2204 2205 Ends Twilight Date PM Day PM 2027 2128 Saturday 1 Sunday 2 2129 Monday 3 2131 Tuesday 4 Mo 5 Wednesday 2132 2135 2133 10 6 Thursday Su 520 Friday 7 9 2136 522 2138 Saturday 8 11 Sunday 9 2139 518 15 Monday 10 2140 12 511 516 Tuesday 11 12 Wednesday 2142 2144 2143 13 Thursday 14 513 Friday 14 Saturday 15 Sunday 16 515 13 Monday 17 Tuesday 18 19 Wednesday 20 Thursday Friday 21 Saturday 22 Sunday 23 Monday 24 Tuesday 25 26 Wednesday 27 Thursday Friday 28 2207 2208 Saturday 29 Sunday 30 Dark Times May 2006
PM Day PM Twilight PM AM Twilight AM AM Events Date Ends Moon Begins Date Day Monday 1 2210 S 112 439 2 Tu Tuesday 2 2211 S 159 439 3 We Wednesday 3 2213 S 235 437 4 Th Sidereal time at midnight 13h17m Thursday 4 2214 S 305 436 5 Fr Jupiter at opposition. Friday 5 2216 S 329 434 6 Sa First quarter Moon 1:14 AM, Asteroid Pulcova (mag. 13.2) occults 11.9 mag star at 5:24 AM. Saturday 6 2218 S 350 432 7 Su Venus 0h19m +0º21’ alt. 15º at 6:00 AM, mag. –4.1 Sunday 7 2219 S 409 431 8 Mo Comet 73P/Schwassman-Wachmann-3 comes within 10’ of M57, the Ring Nebula. Monday 8 2221 S 427 429 9 Tu Tuesday 9 2222 427 10 We Comet 71P/Clark 18h50m -27º0’, alt. 21º at 4:00 AM Wednesday 10 2224 426 11 Th Thursday 11 2225 424 12 Fr Friday 12 2227 422 13 Sa Full Moon 2:52 AM
Saturday 13 2229 421 14 Su Comet Russell 13h0m -13º42’ alt 29º at 9:00 PM (in twilight) HORIZON Sunday 14 2230 R 2244 419 15 Mo Comet 41P 8h02m +25º25’ alt. 38º at 10:00 PM Monday 15 2232 R 2348 418 16 Tu Saturn 8h33m +19º34’ alt. 40º at 10:00 PM Tuesday 16 2233 R 43 416 17 We Sidereal time is 12h11m at 10:00 PM Wednesday 17 2235 R 128 415 18 Th Variable star S Ursa Major 12h43m +61º09’ at max. mag. 7.1 Alt. 69º at 10:00 PM Thursday 18 2236 R 205 413 19 Fr Friday 19 2238 R 235 412 20 Sa Saturday 20 2239 R 300 410 21 Su Comet Russell 13h01m -12º26’ transits at 10:42 PM alt. 37º in Virgo Sunday 21 2241 R 324 409 22 Mo Monday 22 2242 R 347 408 23 Tu Tuesday 23 2244 406 24 We Wednesday 24 2245 405 25 Th M51 (galaxy mag. 9) 13h30m +47º12’ transits at 10:50 PM alt. 83º Thursday 25 2246 404 26 Fr M83 (galaxy mag. 8) 13h37m -29º52’ transits at 10:53 PM alt. 20º Friday 26 2248 403 27 Sa Saturday 27 2249 402 28 Su New Moon Sunday 28 2250 S 2259 401 29 Mo Monday 29 2252 S 2350 400 30 Tu Tuesday 30 2253 S 31 359 31 We Wednesday 31 2254 S 104 358 1 Th 27 HORIZON 28
The Event Horizon
February 2006 April 2006 24th: WCAC Meeting - 7:30 PM TWC-IB 7th: Planetarium Show & Public Viewing Night Program: John Waechter - 7:30 PM at TWC – Clear or Cloudy! Night Sky Network - "Telescopes: Eyes on the Universe” 28th: WCAC Meeting - 7:30 PM Refreshments: Jeff Brest and TWC PLANETARIUM Ken Craddock Program:TBD Refreshments: TBD
March 2006 3rd: Planetarium Show & Public Viewing Night May 2006 7:30 PM at TWC – Clear or Cloudy! 5th: Planetarium Show & Public Viewing Night 8:30 PM at TWC – Clear or Cloudy! 8th: Planning Committee Meeting 7:00 PM at John Waechter’s Home 10th: Planning Meeting – 7:00 PM at John Waechter’s house 11th: Family Astronomy: Spring Skies - 2 PM at TWC Planetarium 23rd: Outreach - Black River Middle School, 9:30 PM at Camp Wanake 23rd: Outreach - Dundee Elementary School, 7:30 PM at Dundee Elem. School. Cloud date May 24th. Cloud date - Mar 30. 26th: WCAC Meeting - 7:30 PM TWC-IB 28th: Star Watch for Navarre Garden Club - Program: By Gordon Maupin 7:30 PM at TWC AEB Extinction of Experience, or How to Create a Conservationist 31st: WCAC Meeting - 7:30 PM TWC-IB Program: Dave Gill - Refreshments: TBD Goldilocks and the 3 Planets Refreshments: Dave & Robin Gill