San Diego Astronomy Association Celebrating Over 40 Years of Astronomical Outreach Office (619) 645-8940 October 2004 Observatory (619) 766-9118 http://www.sdaa.org Changes to the TDS Site Rules A Non-Profit Educational Association P.O. Box 23215, San Diego, CA 92193-3215 by Scott Baker Vice President SDAA Business Meeting Next meeting will be held at: In the past few months two rules have either been modified or added SKF Condition Monitoring 5271 Viewridge Court to the "Rules for the Tierra Del Sol Observing Site" document. The San Diego, CA 92123 most recent change, made at the September Business Meeting was to October 12 at 7:00pm rule four (4.) which now reads. "4. Members and guests shall use only the minimum light necessary Program Meeting for safety, and light should be red or masked in red to preserve night October 20th Rich Strobel, SDAA Star Party Chair vision. Lights shall be kept pointing towards the ground whenever possible. The use of laser pointers is prohibited at all times. Laptop November 17th computers should use a red filter and be masked or shielded so that no Annual Board Nominations stray light escapes the sides of the display. Check and be sure it is clear to use lights before proceeding in or out of any area. Be considerate Mission Trails Regional Park of others and their night vision and photography efforts." Visitor and Interpretive Center (continued page 5) 1 Father Junipero Serra Trail CONTENTS Clean Up TDS & Bar-b-que! Jerry Hilburn, The Trash Guy! October 2004 Vol XL, Issue 10 Published Monthly by the San Diego Astronomy Association Ladies and Gentlemen its time to break out the shovels and rakes, 75¢ /$8.00 year wheel the barrels and get busy cleaning. On October 9th and October Incorporated in California in 1963 16th we will be cleaning up TDS. The fun starts at 10AM on both days and the goal is to get as many pieces of junk off the property as TDS Site Rules.............................................1 Astronomy 101............................................2 possible, do some scraping and painting, and clean the warming room Treasurer’s Report.......................................5 and storage containers. We will be leasing a 40ft trash container to Program Meeting.........................................5 haul away the junk and we need your help. Sky Watch.....................................................6 AISIG Update..............................................7 If you can come out and pitch in we plan to feed you at the close of Board Meeting Minutes..............................8 Space Technology......................................10 each days work (~ 4pm). So we are planning a bar-b-que for the Border Lights...........................................11 workers that come to help! We need you to volunteer. In order to The Back Page...........................................12 plan the meal please send a confirmation to Jerry Hilburn at: [email protected] or call (858) 565-4059. SanSan DiegoDiego AstronomyAstronomy AssociationAssociation back of one. The dolphin, with The Constellation Delphinus, Arion on it’s back, raced towards lying at the Eastern edge of the Corinth, leaving the ship and Milky Way, is surrounded by the By Scott Baker crew, in bewilderment. When larger, more famous constellations Delphinus, the Dolphin Arion arrived in Corinth, he went of Pegasus, Aquarius and Aquila. According to the Greek historian straight to King Periander and But it’s also abuts the smaller Herodotus of Halicarnassus (440 told him of his ordeal. When the Sagitta, Vulpecula and Equuleus. BC), there once was a famous ship arrived in Corinth, Periander Although small, it has a great deal musician named Arion who was was waiting for it on the docks. of interesting objects for the the greatest singer who ever The crew explained to the King amateur astronomer. The four existed. Arion worked as the that Arion had decided to stay in main stars of the constellation court musician and singer for form a rectangular asterism called King Periander of Corinth. “Job’s Coffin”. This name is sort Arion, anxious to share is abilities of a mystery, but may linger from with the rest of the known world, when this part of the sky was decided to travel to Sicily and sing seen as a whale, instead of a to the people there. He wasn’t dolphin. In the Bible, Job was long in Sicily before he became never swallowed by a whale like quite wealthy from his abilities. Jonah, so why “Job’s Coffin”? Rich and famous, he decided to Know one knows. Two of the return to his beloved Corinth. stars that form the asterism are Arion booked passage on a ship, Alpha and Beta Delphini, also not knowing that the crew knew known as Sualocin and Rotanev. how wealthy Arion was and had Have you ever heard about the plans to take his wealth and his companies that will “name” a star life. Once far from land, the crew for you for a fee? Most are a took Arion on deck and were scam, however, one astronomer about to kill him when Arion did get his name in the stars, his beseeched them for one last Sicily, with his great wealth, but name was Nicolaus Venator. In request. The request, to sing one when they saw Arion step out 1814 he was the assistant director more song, was honored by the from the crowd, they confessed of the Palermo Observatory and crew and Arion began the most their plot. The King, infuriated helped create a star catalog where beautiful song he had ever sung. by their lies and deceit, had the these names first appeared, The song so enraptured the crew put to death. The God Sualocin and Rotanev, his name creatures of the sea, that they Apollo, so impressed by the good spelled backwards. Sly dog. The formed a circle around the ship, dolphin’s deed, in saving Arion, names remain today in modern including a school of dolphin. decided to honor all dolphins by catalogs. Arion, seeing the dolphin and placing them in the stars forever. how they so enjoyed his song, that And thus, the constellation of Another interesting asterism is just before it ended, he jumped Delphinus was formed. “The Dolphin’s Diamonds”. into the sea and landed on the Really an open cluster of about 13 Page 2 SAN DIEGO ASTRONOMY ASSOCIATION NEWS AND NOTES, OCTOBER 2004 San Diego Astronomy Association stars, best at about 250x, forms a in the same field of view as globulars in the Milky Way. It’s sort of toadstool shape. If your gamma Delphini. about 185,0000 light years from field is wide enough, you can Earth and 150,000 light years catch a glimpse of NGC7025 an For the deep sky enthusiast, from galactic center. It’s located extremely small lenticular galaxy Delphinus is full of faint fuzzes; about 3.5 degrees East of gamma at the edge of the cluster (see we’ll start with a couple of Delphini and is only 3 arc minutes below). globulars. NGC6934 is a small in diameter. The cluster is very globular cluster, about 7 degrees dense with a compact center. For the double star observer, two south of “Jobs Coffin”. The Don’t even attempt this globular are worth a look in Delphinus. cluster has a diameter of 6 arc with anything less the 6". The first, Gamma Delphini, is a minutes and is about 9th magni- wide double, which can be re- tude. It can be seen with binocu- For the planetary nebula fan, take solved by binoculars. The two lars, with an almost stellar like in a look at NGC6905, otherwise stars shine at magnitudes of 4.5 appearance, but small scopes will known as the “Blue Flash and 5.5. The second double, show it as a fuzzy “nebular” Nebula”. This is splendid little harder to resolve, is Struve 2725. looking ball. The other globular, planetary, similar in appearance to The two stars are of 7th and 8th NGC7006, has the distinction of the “Blue Snowball” in Androm- magnitude. This double lies nearly being one of the most distant eda, but without quite so much color. Small scopes will see it as a round ball, and with good condi- tions, a hint of color. Larger scopes are required to see the central star and the nebulous lobes that under high magnifica- tion, make it appear like the Saturn Nebula. Give this gem a look. Another planetary, not nearly as impressive as the “Blue Flash”, is NGC6891. This small round object is often overlooked because of its near stellar appear- ance and it’s position amongst a field of Milky Way stars. The surface brightness is high and easy to observe, but difficult to find at low power due to its small size. For the galaxy fan, there are many, most requiring large objectives and dark skies to glimpse, but two to test your scope on are NGC SAN DIEGO ASTRONOMY ASSOCIATION NEWS AND NOTES, OCTOBER 2004 Page 3 San Diego Astronomy Association 7025 and NGC 6988. NGC The Dolphin’s Diamonds 7025, mentioned earlier, at the Description: Modern telescopic NGC 6972 edge of the “Dolphins Dia- asterism within Delphinus. Other description: Round galaxy. monds” is a 14th magnitude RA: 21h 07m 02.0s Dec: Dreyer description: Faint, small, galaxy appears as elliptical +16°16’35" (Epoch 2000) round. smudge, nearly stellar, close to a Magnitude: 14.0 9.2 magnitude star. The other NGC 6891 RA: 20h 50m 00.0s Dec: galaxy, NGC 6988, is another to Other description: Planetary +09°54’00" (Epoch 2000) test yourself and your equipment. nebula disc. Size: 1.0' x 0.5' NGC 6988 at 15th magnitude, Dreyer description: Planetary will give the appearance of a nebula, stellar = 9.5th magnitude.