The Sidereal Times May 2004 The Offi cial Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society P.O. Box 50581, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87181-0581 www.taas.org 505/256-TAAS(8227) matters in the conference room with my boss. Ten minutes later On the NEWS ourour receptionistreceptionist knockedknocked atat thethe door.door. David Blair “Channel“Channel 7 fforor DDavid.”avid.” A momentmoment toto treasure.treasure. KOAT’s Ellen Goldberg tried some similar shots outside, but I went on a roll as an amateur scientist the week of March 14 wantedwanted mmore.ore. Alas,Alas, mymy belovedbeloved UranopanUranopan waswas 9 milesmiles away,away, butbut through 20, beveling a mirror blank in TAAS’s ATM workshop, wewe ddidid ssurprisinglyurprisingly wellwell pullingpulling upup somesome aastronomystronomy wwebeb ssitesites baggingbagging 6 ccelestialelestial ttrophies,rophies, aandnd wwinninginning 1155 mminutesinutes ooff ffame.ame. fromfrom mmyy ooffiffi c ece c ocomputer.mputer. T hThusus t hthee p hphraserase M iMinornor P lPlanetanet & &C oCometmet AllAll ofof whichwhich tiedtied directlydirectly toto a littlelittle obsessionobsession ofof mine:mine: thethe EphemerisEphemeris ServiceService waswas destineddestined ttoo fl aashsh oontonto AAlbuquerquelbuquerque pursuitpursuit ooff aasteroids.steroids. televisiontelevision forfor thethe fi rrstst ttime.ime. TheThe hunthunt inin progressprogress latelate onon thethe eveningevening ofof MondayMonday thethe “In terms of excitement, is this asteroid a 10 for you?” asked 15th15th waswas fairlyfairly typical.typical. InIn mymy backyardbackyard SkySky Kiva,Kiva, mymy trustytrusty Goldberg.Goldberg. UranopanUranopan stoodstood rrockock ssteadyteady iinn a llightight bbreezereeze aass I rretracedetraced mmyy “It“It wouldwould bebe ifif I couldcould seesee it,”it,” I replied.replied. stepssteps throughthrough a faintfaint starstar fi eeldld nnearear 6611 LLeonis.eonis. NotNot thethe answeranswer sshehe wwasas lookinglooking for,for, andand ontoonto thethe cuttingcutting roomroom ThereThere I reexaminedreexamined tthreehree ppointsoints ooff llightight fl oooror iitt wwent,ent, aalonglong wwithith iinspirednspired ccommentsomments oonn tthehe rresourceesource TwoTwo hourshours earlier,earlier, theythey hadhad formedformed a faintfaint triangletriangle withwith twotwo potentialpotential ofof asteroidsasteroids andand anyany mentionmention ofof mymy credentials.credentials. acuteacute anglesangles andand thethe thirdthird distinctlydistinctly obtuse.obtuse. I hadhad suspectedsuspected OnOn ChannelChannel 7 tthathat eevening,vening, I wwasas fl aaggedgged oonlynly a ass aamateurmateur thethe faintestfaintest ooff tthehe tthree—lesshree—less tthanhan ffourour ttimesimes aass bbrightright aass astronomer;astronomer; oonn CChannelshannels 2 aandnd 44,, iitt wwasas TThehe AAbqbq AAstronomersstronomers Pluto—wasPluto—was 204204 Kallisto,Kallisto, a 32-mile-wide32-mile-wide rockrock aboutabout 150150 millionmillion Society..SoSociety..So wewe havehave somesome workwork ttoo ddo.o. miles out, well beyond the orbit of Mars. I was confi dent of that OnOn thethe otherother hand,hand, KartalijaKartalija diddid useuse thethe phrasephrase lightlight pollutionpollution onon conclusion,conclusion, butbut nonethelessnonetheless I sstrictlytrictly ffollowollow tthehe fi rrstst rruleule o fof thethe air,air, andand GoldbergGoldberg usedused somesome fi llee ffootageootage ooff aa TTAASAAS eevent.vent. asteroiding:asteroiding: yyouou hhaven’taven’t sseeneen oneone uuntilntil you’veyou’ve seenseen itit move.move. SmallSmall victories—butvictories—but mostlymostly a lotlot ofof fun.fun. OnOn thethe follow-upfollow-up observation,observation, mymy threethree specsspecs nownow formedformed a AfterAfter ttapingaping tthehe nnews,ews, I rreturnedeturned ttoo tthehe ssolitudeolitude ooff tthehe SSkyky KKivaiva triangletriangle withwith twotwo acuteacute anglesangles andand a virtuallyvirtually perfectperfect rightright angle.angle. toto wrapwrap upup thethe week’sweek’s work.work. BByy 11:15:15 aa.m..m. tthathat Saturday,Saturday, mmyy KallistoKallisto waswas mine.mine. ItIt waswas oneone ofof threethree asteroidsasteroids I cconfionfi r mrmeded t hthatat conficonfi rrmedmed aasteroidsteroid c ocountunt hhadad rrisenisen ttoo 1156,56, bbutut mmostlyostly II wwasas sstilltill night, numbers 151, 152, and 153 in the personal collection I’ve thoroughlythoroughly enjoyingenjoying thethe afterglowafterglow ofof thethe oneone I nevernever ssaw.aw. gatheredgathered inin thethe pastpast 1010 years.years. I waswas pumped!pumped! AsAs iitt tturnedurned oout,ut, I wwasn’tasn’t tthehe onlyonly oneone onon a rrolloll tthathat night.night. A hundredhundred milesmiles toto thethe south,south, thethe LINEARLINEAR projectproject spottedspotted 20042004 FH,FH, a 30-meter30-meter asteroidasteroid onon a brushbrush withwith thethe Earth.Earth. Three days later it would pass just 4,000 miles above the level of synchronoussynchronous ssatellites.atellites. LLocalocal ttelevisionelevision pickedpicked upup onon thethe storystory andand focusedfocused onon tthehe ffactact thatthat FHFH hadhad beenbeen discovereddiscovered fromfrom NewNew Mexico. The Lodestar Astronomy Center got calls wondering if therethere mightmight bebe ssomeoneomeone aavailablevailable ttoo ccomment.omment. “Hmmmmm....“Hmmmmm.... wwonderedondered KKarenaren KKeese,eese, LLodestar’sodestar’s ooperationsperations directordirector andand a formerformer vicevice presidentpresident ofof TAAS.TAAS. CanCan I thinkthink ofof a talkingtalking headhead wellwell versedversed onon thethe subjectsubject ofof asteroids?”asteroids?” SheShe ddid,id, aandnd bblessless hher,er, sshehe bbriefedriefed mmee wwellell aandnd ssentent mmee aann ee-mail-mail link on the subject of FH, which was news to me when she fi rst called.called. Four hours later, literally as FH passed 26,500 miles above us, JessicaJessica KartalijaKartalija andand crewcrew arrivedarrived atat UniRac,UniRac, Inc.,Inc., lookinglooking forfor expertexpert commentarycommentary fromfrom DavidDavid Blair.Blair. WeWe werewere justjust westwest ooff thethe SunportSunport andand decideddecided toto shootshoot outside,outside, wherewhere volcanoesvolcanoes andand low-fllow-fl y yinging pplaneslanes ccouldould bbee ccomparedompared iinn sizesize toto thethe asteroid.asteroid. David Blair, a member and past president of TAAS, poses in his Soon Kartalija, who reports for both KOB Channel 4 and KASA backyard Sky Kiva with the Uranopan, a wide-field 6-inch Newtonian ChannelChannel 22,, wwasas oonn hherer wway,ay, andand I wentwent onon toto somesome UniRacUniRac he made during ATM workshops in 1998. I N S I D E 1....On the News 4....Calendars 9....Star Parties ✩ 2....President’s Message 6....Educational Outreach 10...Observer’s Page 2....General Meeting News 7....TAAS Reports & Notices 12...Minutes of the Board 3....GNTO News & Views 8....NASA Space Place 13...Classifi ed Ads 3....Color The Sidereal Times May 2004 The Sidereal Times May 2004 Dale Murray President’s Message I am by training an electrical engineer so I guess it the night but also stars and planets in the daylight. justjust followsfollows thatthat oneone ofof thethe aspectsaspects ofof astronomyastronomy thatthat SammySammy LockwoodLockwood usedused SpletzerSpletzer rulingsrulings toto showshow attractsattracts meme isis thethe equipment.equipment. TodayToday therethere seemsseems nono peoplepeople Jupiter,Jupiter, VenusVenus andand SiriusSirius inin brightbright sunlightsunlight endend toto thethe variationvariation onon typestypes ofof telescopes,telescopes, mountsmounts atat lastlast year’syear’s AstronomyAstronomy Day.Day. EveryoneEveryone waswas amazedamazed andand relatedrelated equipment,equipment, butbut whatwhat toto meme isis eveneven (except(except forfor thethe radioradio astronomersastronomers fromfrom thethe VLA,VLA, oneone moremore interestinginteresting isis thethe inventivenessinventiveness ofof amateuramateur ofof themthem said,said, “We“We dodo thatthat allall thethe time!”).time!”). SammySammy hashas astronomers.astronomers. ForFor everyevery modelmodel mademade byby TeleVue,TeleVue, eveneven advancedadvanced thethe statestate ofof thethe artart inin Alt-AzAlt-Az protractorprotractor Meade,Meade, CelestronCelestron andand thethe manymany otherother commercialcommercial technologytechnology byby aaddingdding a bbuilt-inuilt-in rreded LLEDED illuminatedilluminated telescopetelescope makersmakers therethere areare countlesscountless innovationsinnovations viewingviewing portport soso thethe rulingsrulings cancan bebe readread inin thethe dark.dark. concoctedconcocted inin thethe fertilefertile mindsminds ofof ourour intrepidintrepid familyfamily OfOf coursecourse oneone wouldwould expectexpect thethe amateuramateur telescopetelescope ofof stargazers.stargazers. makersmakers (ATM)(ATM) groupgroup toto comecome upup withwith somesome greatgreat InnovationsInnovations areare commonplacecommonplace inin amateuramateur astronomy.astronomy. innovations.innovations. RayRay Collins’Collins’ grindinggrinding standsstands areare thingsthings TheThe majormajor innovationinnovation ofof thethe lastlast couplecouple ofof decadesdecades ofof beauty.beauty. TubesTubes andand mountsmounts areare bbeingeing mademade fromfrom allall thatthat revivedrevived amateuramateur astronomyastronomy isis thethe DobsonianDobsonian sortssorts ofof materials.materials. DoDo notnot thinkthink thatthat thesethese telescopestelescopes telescopetelescope mount.mount. HowHow amazingamazing isis