Fort Worth Astronomical Society (Est. 1949) - May 2010 : Astronomical League Member Society Club Calendar – 2 Club Reports & Skyportunities – 3 Planetarium Software Reviews – 6 Thor’s Helmut – 6 SETI Pioneers – 8 STS-131 – 9 1 Stargazers’ Diary – 10 Awakening by Patrick McMahon May 2010 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Mercury: Morning Star the last three weeks of the month, and is “easiest” to spot on the 25th 1 1 th Venus: Emerges as an Evening Object, low in the west at sunset. A crescent Moon is nearby on the 16 . Mars: High in the south at sunset. Gibbous Mars is now half the angular size he was in February, and he continues to dim. The Moon passes by on the 19th. Jupiter: A Morning Star with a waning crescent Moon low on the 9th. Near the Pisces-Aquarius border. Saturn: Continues to be well-placed high in the southwest at sunset. North side of ring plane tilted 1.7O Uranus: Eastern morning sky in Pisces. Neptune: In the eastern morning sky near the Aquarius-Capricornus border. Pluto: Begins to cross Sagittarius Star Cloud (M24), which is “above” the teapot. May 6 – 24: rises 2am. The Eta-Aquarids continue from their April start and peak the morning of the 6th. Look for occasional smoke trails from these fast screachers which are the debris from Halley’s Comet. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Moon at Apogee Third Qtr Moon (251,180 miles) 11:15 pm 5:00 pm Eta-Aquarids peak NASA announced that Canada would build the shuttle robotic arm Cinco de Mayo 35 years aog Space Day 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 New Moon 8:04 pm 3RF Star Party Notable carbon star for May: SS Virginis Challenge deep-sky object for May : 3C 273 (Virgo) New Moon New Moon Mother’s Day Weekend Weekend 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 First Qtr Moon 3RF Lunar Party 6:43 am Moon at Perigee Museum (167,604 miles) Star Party Make use of the New 4 am Moon Weekend for better viewing at the FWAS Dark Sky Site Meeting STS-101 Atlantis New Moon launched Weekend 10 years ago 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 Full Moon 6:07 pm 30 31 Top ten deep-sky objects for May: M3, M51, M63, M64, M83, M87, M104, M106, NGC 4449, NGC 4565 Top ten deep-sky binocular objects for May: M3, M51, M63, M64, M84, M86, M87, M104, M106, Mel 111 Memorial Day 2 The Sky This Month – Thomsen Foundation -- 9 pm local time, May 15 (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 May Meeting Reports President’s Report: Steve Tuttle reported that with April being an even month, there was no Executive Board meeting in April. Upcoming in June will the annual election for President, Vice-President, Secretary-Treasurer and for two of the four Directors seats on the Executive Committee. The Officers are for one-year terms, and the Directors seats are for two-year terms. The slate of candidates for nomination should be set for presentation at the May meeting so if you are interested in running, please send Steve or another Officer or Director your interest off-list. For a listing of duties, please consult the club’s Yahoo! pages in the <FILES> section. (FILES > FWAS Bylaws > FWAS_Bylaws_v1_0.doc) Secretary-Treasurer Report: Trista Oppermann was unable to be at the meeting, but Steve reported that there were no expenditures from last month so the combined balances of checking and savings would be about $14,000, plus what was generated at the meeting raffle. 3 Observing and Outreach Opportunities Weather permitting (FWAS contacts in parentheses) May 1 - Government Canyon State Natural Area - Explore the Night Sky - Explore the night sky with the San Antonio Astronomical Association. View our Milky Way, Venus, Mars, Saturn, nebulae, star clusters and a few distant galaxies. You can also learn the basics of telescope operation. Open to ages 12 or older. Bring a telescope (or use one of the SAAA's), or binoculars, water, a snack if you like and a flashlight with a red lens cover. 8:30 PM-10:00 PM, please arrive by 7:45 PM; reservations required and will be accepted beginning April 1, 2010 and ending at noon April 30, 2010. For reservations and more information, e-mail [email protected] and include name, e-mail address and telephone number for each reservation. Program is subject to cancellation due to weather conditions, so check the Web site to confirm. (210) 688-9055, ext. 291. (Outside San Antonio) May 8 - Purtis Creek State Park - Stargazing & Take a Walk Through the Solar System - Take a walk through the solar system and view the night sky through a telescope. Then make your own star wheel and learn how to use it. Meet at the overflow camping parking lot. Accessible for the mobility impaired. 7:30 p.m. (903) 425-2332. May 8 - Dinosaur Valley State Park — Stargazing — Meet Dr. Ray Benge, Associate Professor at Tarrant County College and occasional speaker at our FWAS meetings, who will give a presentation. Then you can view the starry skies through telescopes. Telescopes will be provided or bring your own. Some binoculars are available to be checked out or bring your own. 8-9 PM. Call to confirm and for more information, (254) 897-4588. May 15 (DSO) & 22 (Lunar) - Three Rivers Foundation (“3RF”) - 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) May 22 – FWAS & Noble Planetarium Star Party – Come one; come all to the star party at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. These star parties provide a great opportunity to bring your children and give them a chance to look though a number of different telescopes. And for new members it is a good time to see a number of different telescopes and talk to other club members about them. And of course, we need members with telescopes and binoculars that enjoy sharing the sky with Museum guests. We meet in the parking lot to the south of the museum on the corner of Montgomery and Harley. Time: dusk (sunset is about 7:40 so give yourself some time to set up) until 10:30. Michele will bring brownies and Linda will provide drinks. (Linda Krouse & Michele Martinez) Lunation 1081 at Age: 9 Days, 2 hours, 56 minutes *and everyone knows that the Moon is made out of green cheese.” Plato Crater Vallis Alps The picture to the left almost shows what the Moon will look like Mons Piton O at 11:52 pm on the night of our May 22, 2010 Museum star party. This image does not exactly represent what will be visible along the limbs, because on that night the libration of the Moon will be almost lunar NNE. The Moon’s North Pole will appear to be tilted Eratosthenes Crater more towards us. The northern limb will be most exposed by 6.7O Copernicus Crater on the 24th. At Moonrise, the Moon’s SW will be “down.” Let’s look at a few of the terminator targets. Travel from Plato to the Vallis Alps and below their arc find Mons Piton and notice that the light/shadow is opposite from the surrounding craters and mountains. That is because it is a mound; as opposed to an O Gould & Wolf Craters (ghost craters) Almond Joy. Look to the northeast of Bullialdus Crater (It would Bullialdus Crater be Bullialdus’ label’s apostrophe; I couldn’t get an arrow to work right). Here you will find the flooded remnants of the craters Gould (find the crater rims) and Wolf (a totally lava-flooded crater), you’ll need a 6 to 12 inch scope to resolve them. Farther south along the terminator towards the South Pole is Clavius Tyco Crater Crater, and you’ll want to see Tom Koonce’s article on it in the Longomontarus Crater February 2009 Prime Focus. Another point of interest is the Clavius Crater faint crater Fra Mauro to the south of Copernicus. Apollo 14 (Feb. 2009 Prime Focus) landed just north of this crater on January 31st, 1971. Background image was borrowed from http://www.pa.msu.edu/people/frenchj/moon/moon-9day-1869.jpg 4 Star Party Reports Museum & FWAS Star Party: We had an absolutely beautiful evening for star gazing at the Museum of Science and History April 24th. After so many cloudy nights, the wind died down and the stars were bright and clear. We had a wonderful crowd, I estimate about 300 people came out. Neil Wallace was teaching the kids about binary stars. I really enjoy walking around and listening in on the different discussions, I learn a lot that way. Danny Arthur had an awesome high powered view of Saturn and the moon. And LaVerne Biser was back again with his cool wooden scope.