Affiliated with ReflectionsReflections The Newsletter of the Popular Astronomy Club ESTABLISHED 1936 October 2020 President’s Corner October 2020 which there are many). You won’t Welcome to the want to miss this year’s virtual ban- Popular Astronomy quet. Watch your email for a reminder Club’s October and link to the Zoom meeting (October Page Topic th Newsletter. Octo- 24 , 7:00pm Moline Time). ber is significant for 1-2 Presidents I would also like to point out we al- PAC for a number of Corner ready have a number of speakers ten- reasons. First, this 2-4 Announcements Alan Sheidler tatively signed up to provide talks into 5-7 Contributions October marks the the New Year. November will feature a 8 You Tube Video Eighty-fourth year since the founding talk entitled “Exploring Pluto after New Links of the Popular Astronomy Club. 9 Mars 2020 Horizons: Oceans, Volcanism, and Hab- That’s a long time for any organiza- 10 12 different itability at the Edge of the Solar Sys- classifications of tion and is certainly worthy of cele- tem”, by Adeene Denton, PhD student Globular Clusters bration at our club “virtual banquet” from Purdue University. For Decem- 11-12 Astronomy in on October 24th. This year, the ban- Print ber, PAC member Roy Gustafson will quet will be conducted using Zoom, 13 Skyward by David provide the program “Year in Review”. so it will not be an in-person Levy January is tentatively planned to be 14 Upcoming Events meeting, and the banquet will fea- “Cosmic Horizons” by Chuck Allen, Vice 15 Sign Up Report ture a feast for the mind rather than 16 Astronomical President of the Astronomical League. the stomach. The featured guest Calendar of The rest of 2021 is shaping up too and speaker is Lisa Wells, Remote Ob- Events/ The you can see all of the proposed talks Planets server for the Canada-France-Hawaii here in this newsletter. While you are 14 Sky Views Telescope located on the summit of perusing this list, please consider sign- 15 Planetary Mauna Kea on the big island of Ha- Alignments/ ing up to do a newspaper article, a con- waii. Ms. Wells’ talk, “An Astrono- Double Stars stellation report or a smorgasbord top- 14 Deep Sky mer’s Life”, will highlight her career ic. These are great opportunities for Wonders in Astronomy from humble begin- you to do some research on a topic, 20-21 Astronomical nings in the Quad Cities to working at League write an article and/or do a talk for one several world class observatories. 22 Spotlight: Hyades of the club meetings. The next year This talk will be informative about 23-24 NASA Space Place will be a good one and with your help it 25-28 News Links her accomplishments and inspira- will be a great one! 29-37 Member tional for anyone inclined to pursue a Observations career in the science of astronomy. We are also in need of volunteers to be 38-41 Paul Castle In addition to this talk, there will also trained to use the newly refurbished Observations 42 PAC Monthly be a number of awards given out in Paul Castle Observatory. Rusty Case, Meeting recognition for club member accom- Terry Dufek, Dale Hachtel and I are ful- 43 Treasurers Report plishments and contributions (of ly trained and qualified to use the ob- 44 Membership Application (Continued in next column) (Continued on next page) 1 (Continued from previous page) ANNOUNCEMENTS / INFO Popular servatory and the new telescope. Astronomy This is an impressive facility but very NCRAL Club Officers easy to operate. Come out to one of Seasonal the observing sessions we will have Messier this fall and see one of us to get PRESIDENT - Alan Sheidler Marathon 3528 56th Street Court, Moline, trained on the operation of the ob- IL, 61265 servatory. If you haven’t done so Program Phone: (309) 797-3120 already, try doing the NCRAL Fall NCRAL’s Seasonal Messier Marathon VICE PRESIDENT – Dino Milani Messier Mini Marathon. Paul’s Ob- observing program is NOT designed servatory is the perfect tool to ob- to qualify observers for the Astro- 2317 29 1/2 Street, Rock Island, IL, 61201 serve all 28 objects in one evening. nomical League’s Messier Observing program; the two programs are unre- Phone: (309) 269-4735 There is an award for completion of lated and observing requirements are one of these Mini Marathons. It’s a quite different. In the NCRAL pro- SECRETARY - Terry Dufek gram, the main requirement is to 2812 W. 65th Street, Davenport, great excuse (if you need one) to get quickly observe and essentially check out under the stars and do some ob- IA, 52806 Phone: (563) 386-3509 off items from one of four seasonal serving. lists of Messier objects as noted in the section to follow. TREASURER – Dale Hachtel In addition to marking the end of 1617 Elm Shore Drive, Port Byron NCRAL recognition will consist a suit- IL, 61275 PAC’s fiscal year, October is also time able printed certificate and a 3⁄4-inch Phone: (614) 935-5748 to renew your membership. A mem- enameled star pin (a different color for each season). There will be no bership form is included here in this ALCOR – Roy E. Gustafson direct cost to the membership for 11 Deer Run Road, Orion, IL, newsletter, so don’t delay in filling it participating in the award program; the cost of the program (pins, certifi- 61273 out and sending it in to Dale Hachtel, cates, mailers, postage) will be borne Phone: (309)526-3592 your club Treasurer. Your club has by the Region as a benefit of affilia- tion. Relevant program documents DIRECTOR OF OBSERVATORIES - much to offer. Keep looking up! Al. are linked below Rusty Case 2123 W. 16th Street, Davenport, NCRAL Seasonal Messier Marathon Pro- IA, 52804 gram Rules Phone: (563) 349-2444 NCRAL WINTER Seasonal Messier List PAST PRESIDENT - Wayland Bauer NCRAL SPRING Seasonal Messier List 3256 Pleasant Drive, Bettendorf, IA., 52722 NCRAL SUMMER Seasonal Messier List Phone: (563) 332-4032 NCRAL AUTUMN Seasonal Messier List NEWSLETTER EDITOR - Terry Dufek 2812 W. 65th Street, Davenport, IA, 52806 Phone: (563) 386-3509 Contact for Information or questions here: popularastronomy- [email protected] Photo JPL/ NASA 2 ANNOUNCEMENTS / INFO READY FOR MEMBERSHIP OR TO RENEW? LOOKING FOR Thank you for OLDERLOOKING ISSUES FOR OF OLDER For PAC Documents Use REFLECTIONSISSUES OF REFLECTIONS Renewing“Enrollment Form Your” NEWSLETTER?NEWSLETTER? Click HERE Membership! HISTORY OF PAC? HISTORY OFClick PAC? HERE ElizabethSUBMISSIONS Robinson If you have an article or photos to submit or Brad Smith Popular Astronomy Club items of interest, we encourage you to send on Facebook? them inMark by the 25th Pershing of the month. Links to Popular Astronomy Club on Facebook?Click HERE stories are welcome also. Thank you! Astronomical League Observing Programs The Astronomical League provides many different Observing Programs. These Observing Programs are designed to provide a direction for your obser- vations and to provide a goal. The Observing Pro- grams have certificates and pins to recognize the observers’ accomplishments and for demon- stratingstrating their their observingobserving skills skills withwith a avarie- variety of in- ty of instrumentsstruments and and objects objects Check out the Astronomical Click Here League ONLINE! Check out the North Central Region of the Astronomical League (NCRAL) online 3 ANNOUNCEMENTS / INFO September 18, 2020 Invitation to Attend 2020/2021 Season of “Online Viewing Sessions” Dear Members of the Popular Astronomy Club: Sharing the night sky with the public through outdoor observing has been a long-standing tradition for both of our organizations. However, persistent cloud cover and frigid temperatures make sharing the sky quite challenging during the winter months. The KAS is pleased to announce that beginning on November 7th we will be introducing “Online Viewing Sessions” that will run through February of 2021. The monthly sessions will be held on the video conferencing service Zoom. We would like to extend an invitation to all of your members to join us during one or more of the sessions. Those interested in attending should contact us through our website for the Zoom meeting ID and password. We would also be happy to add them to a mail- ing list, so we can send them the Zoom info before each session. Please see the table below for start times. Admission is free. If weather conditions necessitate a cancellation there will be a second “cloud date” scheduled the following Saturday. Postponement or cancellation information will be posted on the KAS website and social media platforms. Online Viewing Sessions utilize our premiere facility, the KAS Remote Telescope, located under the dark de- sert skies of Arizona Sky Village in Portal, AZ. The Remote Telescope consists of a 4-inch Takahashi refracting telescope mounted on a 20-inch PlaneWave CDK telescope, both equipped with identical full-frame CCD cameras. Session participants will view images of deep-sky objects captured on the CCD cameras in Arizona, transmitted to participant’s computer, tablet, and smart phone screens. Once the session has concluded, attendees will be provided with a link to download the images captured that night to share with friends and keep as mementos. Participants will also be able to view live streaming video of the telescope in operation through our website. The Remote Telescope Project involved a 7-year fundraising effort that included contributions from KAS members, corporations and foundations, raising over $122,000. Dates and times for the 2020/2021 season are as follows: Primary Date Cloud Date Time (EST) November 7th November 14th 8:30 – 10:30 pm December 5th December 12th 8:30 – 10:30 pm January 9th January 16th 9:00 – 11:00 pm February 6th February 13th 9:00 – 11:00 pm For more details and to view images of the Remote Telescope, please our website at kasonline.org.