THE OBSERVER OF THE TWIN CITY AMATEUR ASTRONOMERS Volume 43, Number 7 July 2018 INSIDE THIS ISSUE: 1«Editor’s Choice: July Image – The Milky Way 2«President’s Note 3«Calendar of Celestial Events – July 2018 3«New & Renewing Members/Dues Blues/E-Mail List 4«This Month’s Phases of the Moon 4«This Month’s Solar Phenomena 4«TCAA Summer Potluck Picnic Reviewed 5«AstroBits – News from Around the TCAA 7«Mars at Opposition Highlights the July Sky 9«Profiles in Amateur Astronomy: Bryce Heiniger 10«A Son’s Note to His Dad for Father’s Day 10«TCAA Photo Gallery 13«TCAA Guide #8 Now Available 13«Mars at Opposition / Closest Approach 14«Education & Public Outreach for June 2018 14«Just How Bright are Astronomers? 14«Remaining Public Viewing Sessions for 2018 15«TCAA Calendar of Events for 2018 15«Messier Memories 16«HowTimeFlies 16«TCAA Treasurer’s Report as of June 29, 2018 The TCAA is an affiliate of the Astronomical League. For more information about the TCAA, be certain to visit our club website. EDITOR’S CHOICE: IMAGE OF THE MONTH – THE MILKY WAY Taken by Tim Stone recently from Waynesville Observatory. Copyright © 2018 TCAA 1 All rights reserved. Vol. 43, No. 7 The OBSERVER of the Twin City Amateur Astronomers July 2018 PRESIDENT’S NOTE The OBSERVER is the monthly electronic newsletter of Twin Well, it seems we’ve gone from cool and City Amateur Astronomers, Inc., a cloudy starless nights to blazing hot and humid registered 501(c)(3) non-profit educational relatively clear nights, all in the last month. Our organization of amateur astronomers June Public Viewing Session was our first of the interested in studying astronomy and year with clear skies, and the public showed up sharing their hobby with the public. in force. I personally enjoyed setting up my 80mm refractor and giving a tour of the June TCAA OFFICERS & CHAIRPERSONS sky to several late-stayers. We looked at President, Director, & Property Manager Antares, and Albireo, to discuss star colors and Tim Stone 309-531-2401 temperatures. We followed Albireo with a view [email protected] of Mizar, a triple star system, and Epsilon Lyrae, TCAA President Tim Stone Vice President & Director/Membership Coord. the famous Double-Double. Each of the two Tom Willmitch 309-846-2423 doubles were nicely split, even with my little refractor. From there, we looked at [email protected] the Ring and Dumbbell nebulae, both examples of what will eventually happen to Antares. We then ventured to the outskirts of our galaxy with M13, and beyond to Treasurer & Director/Registered Agent Dave Osenga 309-287-0789 M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy. It’s so much fun to introduce people to the heavens like [email protected] that, and to talk to them about the age of the light they’re seeing with their own eyes. If you haven’t been to a PVS recently, that’s what we do there, and I’m sure Secretary & Director/Historian/Editor Carl J. Wenning 309-830-4085 you’d enjoy it as much as the rest of us do! I hope you’ll join us, if you haven’t [email protected] already. Observing on these hot nights can certainly be more comfortable than long, Director/Technology Coordinator cold winter nights, but there are additional things to keep in mind. Aside from the Justin Meyer 630-649-0611 [email protected] potential for dew and the need for heaters to keep our optics clear, there’s the ever-present danger of mosquitoes, dehydration, and hyperthermia. According to Astronomical League Correspondent the McLean County Health Department, there are three mosquito-borne illnesses Robert Finnigan 309-846-9533 present in Illinois: West Nile Virus, Zika Virus, and Chikungunya. West Nile can be [email protected] fatal, and the other two can be quite severe. In the case of Zika, there have been a Webmaster handful of cases reported in Illinois, but not (yet) any known cases of transmission Lee Green 309-454-7349 in this state. Nonetheless, with reported cases, it could already be out in the wild. [email protected] We all know how to protect ourselves against mosquito-borne illnesses: use DEET Lighting Educ. & AL Observing Club Coordinator insect repellent, stay indoors in the hour after dusk, when mosquitos are most Lisa Wentzel unlisted number active, and – though it can be uncomfortable – wear long pants and long-sleeved [email protected] shirts to keep most of your skin covered. Keep moving to make landing on you Publicist more difficult for mosquitoes, and when one bites, brush it away, don’t swat it. Rick Lasher 309-530-2678 Of course, when we are outside at night, it can still be hot, and the relative [email protected] humidity rises as the night air cools. This makes us much more likely to sweat, but much less likely to realize we are dehydrating. Keep a bottle of water with you, and The OBSERVER drink from it often. If you stop sweating on a night like that, but it hasn’t really Carl J. Wenning, Editor in Chief gotten any cooler, that means you’re probably dehydrating and you need to drink Submission deadline two days before water! If you find yourself hot to the point of discomfort, it might be time to cool the end of each month. down. While finding that one last globular might seem like it’s worth the extra minutes outside, it might just be time to wrap it up and go in to lower your core MEMBERSHIP DUES temperature. Remember that you may have to load up all your gear, and that could Individual Adult/Family $40 be strenuous and make you even hotter. Leave yourself some time to get packed Full-time Student/Senior $25 up, and get in the car with the air conditioning, or go back in the house. (Senior status equals ages 60+) Hyperthermia can be devastating. Don’t mess around with it! To join, send your name, contact info and Summer is a great time to observe the heavens. Let’s do it, and let’s do it dues payment to Dave Osenga, TCAA safely! Treasurer, 1109 N. Linden St., Normal, IL Hope to see you soon. 61761-1471. Tim Stone, President Copyright © 2018 TCAA 2 All rights reserved. Vol. 43, No. 7 The OBSERVER of the Twin City Amateur Astronomers July 2018 ALENDAR OF ELESTIAL VENTS ULY EW ENEWING EMBERS C C E – J 2018 N & R M The following individuals have paid dues for new or MORNING PLANETS (7/15): Mars, Uranus, & Neptune th renewed memberships as of June 29 , 2018. (Others EVENING PLANETS (7/15): Mercury, Venus, Jupiter & Saturn. who paid after that date will appear in the August 2018 issue of The OBSERVER.) The following table gives the date and time (24-hour clock) of important astronomical events for this month. All times are Central Daylight Time. Tom Willmitch Day Time Event DUES BLUES 04 00:39 Mercury 0.6°S of Beehive 06 02:51 LAST QUARTER MOON If you have received a “your dues are due” 06 12 Earth at Aphelion: 1.01670 AU statement along with the email that brought you this 09 18:34 Venus 0.9°N of Regulus issue of The OBSERVER, please remit your dues to Mr. Dave Osenga, TCAA Treasurer, 1109 N. Linden St., 10 04:30 Aldebaran 1.1°S of Moon Normal, IL 61761-1471. Dues are currently $25 for 12 00 Mercury at GEE, 26.4° from sun seniors (60 years of age and over) and $40 regular. 12 21:48 NEW MOON 12 22:01 Partial Solar Eclipse; mag=0.337 SUBSCRIBING TO THE TCAA LISTSERV 13 03:28 Moon at Perigee: 357432 km By subscribing to a group’s mailing list, you will 13 21:50 Moon at Ascending Node receive email messages from the group though you 14 17:04 Mercury 2.2°S of Moon won’t have access to the group’s web features (like 15 11:14 Regulus 1.7°S of Moon photos, files, links, polls, calendar, etc.) unless members 15 22:31 Venus 1.6°S of Moon activate it later. The club has an open email listserv. It is 19 14:52 FIRST QUARTER MOON known as the TCAA YahooGroups listserv. It will be used 20 05 Mercury at Aphelion to share announcements and reminders about astronomical and club events. To join this main listserv, 20 18:57 Jupiter 4.4°S of Moon you must do the following: 24 11:49 Mercury 1.2°S of Regulus 25 01:10 Saturn 2.0°S of Moon 1. Subscribe: Send a blank email to TCAA- 27 00:44 Moon at Apogee: 406223 km [email protected] Note: You’ll be sent a 27 01 Mars at Opposition confirmation email from the group. Reply to the 27 15:20 FULL MOON confirmation email to activate your subscription. 27 15:22 Total Lunar Eclipse; mag=1.609 2. Unsubscribe: [email protected] 3. To post a message: [email protected] 27 17:40 Moon at Descending Node 28 04 Delta-Aquarid Meteor Shower http://www.astropixels.com/ephemeris/astrocal/astrocal2018cst.html EVENING SKY MAP Click on the icon found here to access a current evening sky map along with a more detailed celestial events calendar. Copyright © 2018 TCAA 3 All rights reserved. Vol. 43, No. 7 The OBSERVER of the Twin City Amateur Astronomers July 2018 THIS MONTH’S PHASES OF THE MOON Last Quarter New Moon First Quarter Full Moon Friday, July 6 Thursday, July 12 Thursday, July 19 Friday, July 27 All moon phase dates are Central Daylight Time.