ISSN-0039-2502 Journal of the Association of Lunar & Planetary Observers The Strolling Astronomer Volume 51, Number 4, Autumn 2009 Now in Portable Document Format (PDF) for Macintosh and PC-compatible computers Online and in COLOR at http://www.alpo-astronomy.org Inside this issue . • ALPO board meeting report • Update on the LCROSS mission and observing alert for ALPO observers • A look back at Apollo 11 • Apparition report: Jupiter in 2005-2006 . plus reports about your ALPO section activities and much, much more “Bird Strike” impact in Jupiter’s South Polar Region (SP) as imaged by Anthony Wesley, Murrumbateman, Australia, July 19, 2009, 13:30 UT CMI = 200°, CMII = 210° and CMIII = 301°. Equipment: homemade Newtonian on Losmandy Titan GEM; 14.5", f/5 Royce conical primary mirror, 1/30 wave Antares Optics secondary mirror, Televue 5x powermate working at 7.7x; Point Grey Research Dragonfly2 mono camera, ICX424al; Astrodon I-Series RGB filters; Capture details, 60 seconds in each filter @ 47fps; Capture software, Coriander; Operating System: Linux (Fedora 10 x86); Processing software, Ninox for crop and presort, Registax for alignment and stacking, Astra Image for deconvolution and RGB align, The Gimp for cleanup and captioning; Seeing conditions not available in ALPO scale but described as initially “reasonable”, but then deteriorating as time passed. (source: http://jupiter.samba.org/) WWW.BUYTELESCOPES.COM 800-850-2001 Secure online ordering 24 hours a day! Call or Visit us Online For quality products, competitive pricing and professional service you can rely on again and again! FREE SHIPPING! NEW! 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Optimized for DSLR TEC 140 Meade LightBridge Borg DG125SD APO Refractor – $5,200 10" — Truss-Tube Dobsonian Digiscoping Scope Set ANACORTES TELESCOPE & Wild Bird 1(800) 850-2001 | Info: (360) 588-9000 | Fax: (360) 588-9100 The Strolling Astronomer Journal of the In This Issue: Association of Lunar & Inside the ALPO Point of View: ALPO 2009 ..........................................3 News of General Interest Planetary Observers E-mail address update ...........................................4 ALPO Board announces staff membership news ..4 The Strolling Astronomer Join/ renew your ALPO membership online ...........4 Galilean Nights: Global Astronomy Event Invites Volume 51, No. 4, Autumn 2009 the World to Discover Our Universe .....................5 This issue published in October 2009 for distribution in both portable ALPO Interest Section Reports ..................................4 document format (pdf) and also hardcopy format. ALPO Observing Section Reports ..............................4 Product Showcase This publication is the official journal of the Association of Lunar & Orion® StarShoot™ Planetary Imager Planetary Observers (ALPO). & AutoGuider ..........................................................17 Mars Globe from Sky & Telescope ...........................17 The purpose of this journal is to share observation reports, opinions, and other news from ALPO members with other members and the professional astronomical community. Feature Stories © 2009, Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers (ALPO). The ALPO Board Meeting Minutes, August 7, 2009 ALPO hereby grants permission to educators, academic libraries and Long Island, New York ............................................18 the professional astronomical community to photocopy material for Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite educational or research purposes as required. There is no charge for (LCROSS) Searches for Lunar Water ....................22 these uses provided that credit is given to The Strolling Astronomer, Apollo 11 in Brief ......................................................29 the “JALPO” or the ALPO itself, as appropriate. All others must Jupiter Observations During the request permission from the ALPO. 2005 - 2006 Apparition ...........................................31 For membership or general information about the ALPO, contact: ALPO Resources Matthew Will ALPO Membership Secretary/Treasurer Board of Directors ....................................................51 P.O. Box 13456 Publications Staff .....................................................51 Springfield, Illinois 62791-3456 Interest Sections ......................................................51 Observing Sections ..................................................51 E-mail to: [email protected] ALPO Publications ...................................................52 The Monograph Series ........................................52 ALPO Staff E-mail Directory .................................53 Visit the ALPO online at: ALPO Observing Section Publications .................54 http://www.alpo-astronomy.org Other ALPO Publications .....................................55 Ordering Back Issues of The Strolling Astronomer ....................................55 Our Advertisers Anacortes Telescope & Wild Bird...... 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Will, ALPO membership secretary Executive Director (Chair); Richard W. Schmude, Jr. Associate Director; Julius L. Benton, Jr. It's not very often that I get to talk about the Member of the Board; Sanjay Limaye ALPO membership and how the ALPO is Member of the Board; Donald C. Parker surviving as an organization in the pages in the Journal. Last summer's convention was the first Member of the Board; Ken Poshedly one in 16 years that I couldn't attend for personal Member of the Board; Michael D. Reynolds reasons. So this gives me a chance to speak to Member of the Board; John E. Westfall all the membership and not just those who made it to the convention. Member of the Board & Secretary/Treasurer; Matthew Will The good news is that the ALPO seems to be Founder/Director Emeritus; Walter H. Haas remarkably stable in terms of finances and size in membership despite the past recession. With the release of last summer's issue of the Journal Publications (JALPO51-3), we topped out at 446 members. In Editor & Publisher, Ken Poshedly some areas, we have experienced actual growth. For example, the number of international members has actually increased, making up 19.3% of our membership. This is close Primary Observing Section & to the 1-to-5 ratio in international members that we had in the 1980s. I encourage our readers to review the minutes of our August ALPO Interest Section Staff Board meeting in this issue of your Journal. (See full listing in ALPO Resources) Lunar& Planetary Training Section: But the ALPO is not stagnating on the business and administrative end. Timothy J. Robertson Thanks to our editor Ken Poshedly, a new printer for the ALPO has been found that produces the hard copy of our Journal in a more Solar Section: Kim Hay economical manner with the same quality. And Larry Owens, our Mercury Section: Frank Melillo webmaster, has improved the ALPO website to include blogs for Venus Section: Julius L. Benton, Jr. various sections. This secretary is now getting help with the many responsibilities of managing the business end of the ALPO. Mercury/Venus Transit Section: John E. Westfall Lunar Section: There are plans to expand of the ALPO's outreach with amateur Lunar Transient Phenomena; Anthony Cook astronomers, astronomy clubs, and educational institutions. Many of our ALPO staff members are already doing talks at various public Lunar Meteoritic Impact Search; Brian Cudnik