The ObjectiveView March 1996 Newsletter of the Northern Colorado Astronomical society Lee Youngblood, President 669-8321. Brad Jarvis, Vice President 686-5369 [email protected] David Chamness,Secretary 482-1794 [email protected] Mike McCarthy, Treasurer 493-6428 Dan Laszlo, TOV Editor 498-9226 [email protected] WWW Page: httpt/ /lamar.colostate.edu/-rmoench/ncasrdm.html Meetings first Thursday of each Month Next Meeting: March 7, 1996,7:30Pm Harold Porter, "Or6ital Mechanicsfor Everyone(bring your calculator!)" UpcomingEvents: February 1 Meeting: Comet Hale-Bopp, by Dr. Roger Don't Miss Comet HYakutake! CuIver Comet Hyakutake 1.996 82 is predicted to reach naked Dr. Culver haced the traditional association of bright eye visibility in late March-Aprll 1996. comets with dire events, citing the record of Halley's comet in the Bayeaux Tapestry, in its chronicle of the March 7 Meeting Directions invasion by William the Conqueror. Christian armies Aspen Medical Center, Building H' 2001 S Shields St were alarmed in 1456 by the aPPearance of comet which Fort Collins (near Rolland Moore Park) hung like a Turkish sword in the sky, but took heart when In Fort Collins, from the CSU campus go South on Shields the comet was excommunicated by the Pope. However, St about 0.5 mile past W Prospect Rd. Turn Right into comets continue to be perceived as ominous, evidenced by Spring Creek Medical Park. tracts published at the passage of Comet Kohoutek in From Loveland, take Taft Ave, North. From W Drake Rd L973, and Halley's Comet in 1985. Numerous dire events, in Fort Collins, go about 0.5 mile North and turn Left into such as World War II, have been unhearalded by comets, Spring Creek Medical Park. raising the question of coincidence versus a true In Spring Creek Medical Park, turn Left, then park in connection. Given that any conflict has two sides, comets front of the building with the Pharmary, Building H. might as easily be taken as a blessing by the winning Entrance is in the middle of the East side of the Building. side. The familiarity of Halley's Comet has lent a more Meet upstairs. An elevator is available. Call Dan benign image, illustrated by a namesake song in 191O Laszlo with questions, 498-9226. luxury cruises for viewing in 1985-6, and a capsule of Star Party March 9 or 16: Pawnee Grasslands viewing tips on a grocery bag. Matchbox Toys still As of February 1996, the Crow Valley Campground was managed to tap the tail of Halley's Comet as the home of projected to reopen about May 1, 1'996. Our alternative its evil Parasites. Comet unpredictability always makes site is about 8 miles west of Briggsdale. Take Colorado them potentially disappointing for public viewing. Highway 14 East from I-25. At 17 miles east of Aulf just Science can benefit in spite of an unspectacular Pass : after milepost 170, take Road 65 (dirt) north one mile to Comet Kohoutek provided an unprecedented opportunity 90 degree bend back to West and stop. There is a gate in for observation from the orbiting Skylab. Visually great the fence with a National Forest sign. Go through the comets remain uncommon. The last comet with a head the gate (no road), close gate and set up. If the weather is apparent size of the moon, with a tail stretching from bad on the 9th we will try at this location on March 16th. horizon to zenith was the Great Comet of 1881. Nothing approaching it has been seen since 1910. Relatively Call Gerry Reynolds with questions about the star party bright comets apPear about every 10-20 years- Comet site or date,226-0705, or Email [email protected]. Bennett in 1970, and 7976's Comet West were the last to provide a strong show to the public. Most comets look seldom brighter than NCAS Events, from Brad farrie, Vice President like periodic Comet Encke, April 4 Dorothy Pillmore, Mythology of Orion magnitude 7-10, lacking a spectacular tail. Cometary Longnront Astronomical Society Programs: astronomy essentially began with Edmund Halley's After 3rd Thu of Month, New Creation Church, 550 Coffman St analysis of comet paths to determine their orbits. Longmont Astronourical Society Star Parties centuries as objects of superstition, comets were recognized February 17 Deep Space Exploration Site as physical entities, which followed laws of nature. Dr. FRASC and Other Events Culver then summarized our current knowledge of comets. often they are Aprll27 Annual FRASC meeting, Jack Horkheimer Their dimensions extremely variable and May 18 Texas Star Party + Riverside CA Scope Makers enormous, with a coma extending a million miles or more and tail many millions of miles long. Yet June 15 Denver Astro Society MARS, Gore PassSite in diameter, August 10 CASWUS, Foxpark, CAS+NCAS astronomer Fred Whipple bills comets as: the closest to Sept 14 Pawnee or Deadman site, LAS + NCAS nothing that is still something. They have relatively Recent Events Northbound path low mass and are strucfurally weak. They are often Chart has daily ticks, eves 3/5 to 3131, Hyakutake will fragmented as they pass other solar system bodies. Most Discovered late in |anuary, Comet their best comet luminosity is due to reflected sunlight, with a likely give Northern Hemisphere observers the Earth and on to contribution from ionized gas or plasma' Comets often view as it passes about 0.1 AU from of March, since it is show trvo tails, a dust tail and an ion tail. Comet Hale- the Sun. It may not show a tail most away from the Bopp was discovered incidentally by observers scanning inbound, and any tail should project show as a 0.5 degree the globular clusters in the summer Milky Way. It was Earth. The comet should at least 1, moving many degrees subsequently located on prediscovery images dating to cloud, with total magnitude Remarkable motion 1993. Its orbital period is about 2500 years, changing daily in the last week of March. directly visible in telescopes' slightly on this pass due mainly to ]upiter's influence' lt against nearby stars may be should be well placed for Northern Hemisphere Best[,ooks observers in the morning from February through Marctl Moon Near Venus 3/22 in SE early in month 7997, and evenings in May 7997- Comet of the Century? Mercury: Dawn, Low eves Dr. Culver considers it too soon to tell, but he guarantees Venus: Brilliant in W, Sun it will continue to provoke interest from astronomers, plus Mars: Conjunction with 3/4 a lot of New Age-millenialist commentary. ]upiter: Low in SE, am 3/5 am Member Activitiee Last Month Occults Nu Sagittarii in SW at dusk, earlY in month Harold Porter had a tour of Kennedy Space Center, and Saturn: Very low SE, mornings enjoyed the spectacle of the scale of the manned space Uranus: ln Sagittarius, In Sagittarius,SE, mornings p.og.u*. |amie MacArthur, Lester Moore and Ken Neptune: magnitude bodowski hope to turn new scoPes on the skies this Pluto In Ophiuchus, 14th summer. Randy Moench has enhanced the NCAS Web Page graphics, and encouraged members to check it out' From: Steve Emmons is compiling information on nearby stars, c/o Dan Laszlo and meteorites. Fred Snyder and Jim Haneburg 2001S ShieldsSt commented on a brilliant, slow meteors seen about 2 weeks Fort Collins CO 80526 before the meeting. Brad |arvis has been catching uP on TO: reading recent cosmologY books. Club Telescope, lO" F/6 Newtonian Gene Schmidt Thom Peck has started figuring the mirror. We are 3L00Birmingham Dr. recruiting a volunteer to supervise construction of Fort Collins CO 80525 telescopemount and tube..