Highlights of the January Sky. - - - 1st - - - Dawn: Waning Crescent PrimePrime FocusFocus Moon is 3.5° above Antares and 14° below A Publication of the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society Venus. Dawn: Mercury will be 10° above the SE horizon 30 January 2011 minutes before sunrise. Continues until the 11th. - - - 2nd - - - Dawn: Thin crescent Moon is 4.5°to lower right of Mercury low in SE. ThisThis MonthsMonths KAS EventsEvents PM: Uranus is within ½° of Jupiter between now and the 5th. Use binoculars or General Meeting: Friday, January 7 @ 7:00 pm a telescope. Kalamazoo Area Math & Science Center - See Page 10 for Details - - - 3rd - - - Earth is at perihelion, its closest point to the Sun. Board Meeting: Sunday, January 9 @ 5:00 pm - - - 4th - - - Sunnyside Church - 2800 Gull Road - All Members Welcome AM: Quadrantid meteor shower peaks. Full Moon Theater: Saturday, January 22 @ 7:00 pm New Moon WMU Main Campus, Rood Hall, Room 1110 - See Page 3 for Details - - - 9th - - - PM: Waxing Crescent Moon is about 8° to the right of Jupiter. - - - 10th - - - PM: The Moon is about 8.5° above Jupiter. Inside the Newsletter. Inside the Newsletter. - - - 12th - - - First Quarter Moon December Meeting Minutes................ p. 2 - - - 19th - - - Full Moon Theater Preview................. p. 3 Full Moon 2010: The “In-Between” Year............. p. 4 - - - 25th - - - AM: The Moon, Saturn, NASA Space Place.................................. p. 6 and Spica form a triangle. January Night Sky....................................p. 7 - - - 26th - - - Last Quarter Moon Membership Renewal Form................. p. 8 - - - 29th - - - Dawn: The Moon is ~9° to KAS Officers & Announcements........ p. 9 the right of Venus. General Meeting Preview..................... p. 10 - - - 30th - - - Dawn: The Moon is ~6° below Venus. www.kasonline.org DecemberDecember MeetingMeeting MinutesMinutes The KAS Annual Meeting, featuring our 12th Holiday Party, began at 6:30 pm EST on Friday, December 3, 2010. Approximately 40 members and guests were in attendance at the Kalamazoo Area Math & Science Center (KAMSC). Dinner was served at ~6:45 pm. Our potluck hors d'oeuvre and dessert extravaganza was as good as always. These include the traditional tasty meatballs and more desserts than one could possibly enjoy in a single evening. Our “hostess- with-the-mostess,” Jean DeMott, supplied the soft drinks and hot wassail again this year and did another terrific job with all the decorations. Thank you, Jean! Once dinner was complete and everyone had a chance to relax and chit chat we played four highly competitive rounds of BINGO. Here are the lucky winners: Molly Williams was one of our lucky BINGO winners! Fritz Seegers - The Backyard Astronomer’s Guide - Donated by Richard Bell No observing reports were forthcoming thanks to typical Michigan cloud cover. Jack did mention that he’s spotted Molly Williams - Solar System Lithograph Set brilliant Venus in the eastern sky before sunrise. There was - Donated by NASA Space Place also some discussion of the reappearance of Jupiter’s South Equatorial Belt and the Total Lunar Eclipse on the Winter Mike Patton - Story: The Way of the Water Solstice. (Naturally, we didn’t get to observe the latter of the - Donated by the KAS two thanks again to Michigan’s crappy weather.) Bob White - NightWatch by Terence Dickinson Jack then mentioned that the deadline for newsletter articles - Donated by the KAS SkyShop th is the 15 of every month. Richard Bell is always desperate Final nominations and elections for 2011 KAS Officers and to receive contributions to Prime Focus. Several members At-Large Board Members were then held once everyone are planning to attend the 2011 Winter Star Party in the reconvened in the presentation center. Thanks to Daniel Florida Keys. If you decide to go at the last minute be sure Flanagan and Mark Miller for counting the ballots. The to check Astromart for tickets. Several always pop up as election results appear on page 9. Members and guests in people’s plans change. attendance during the break and annual meeting enjoyed a year-in-review slide show assembled by Richard Bell. Jack We then held the door prize drawings. Unless noted Price then gave a brief president’s report. He mentioned otherwise, all prizes were donated by the KAS. Here are the some upcoming presentations at the Kalamazoo Valley and lucky winners (in order): Kingman museums. Roger Williams (KAS SkyCap); Ruth Price (KAS SkyCap); Jean DeMott (Story: The Way of the Water); Mike Sinclair (NightWatch by Terence Dickinson - Don’t say you NEVER win anything, Mike!); Molly Williams (KAS SkyCap); Rich Mather (KAS SkyCap); Scotty Macfarlane (Galileoscope); Mike Patton (Bad Astronomy by Phil Plait); Philip Wareham (Death from the Skies by Phil Plait); Frank Severance (Planisphere, donated by Richard Bell); Mike Dupuis (KAS SkyCap); Daniel Dupuis (Contact, donated by Richard Bell); Karen Sinclair (Solar System Lithograph Set, donated by NASA Space Place), Jason Hanflik (Moon Phase Calendar, donated by Molly Williams); Erin Dupuis (Death from the Skies by Phil Plait). The meeting concluded at 8:54 pm. Thanks to the volunteers that helped with clean-up and putting everything away. Prime Focus Page 2 January 2011 KalamazooKalamazoo AstronomicalAstronomical SocietySociety presentspresents FullFull MoonMoon TheaterTheater Saturday,Saturday, JanuaryJanuary 2222 @@ 7:007:00 pmpm WMU Main Campus - Rood Hall - Room 1110 ince its discovery in 1930, Pluto has held a warm place in the public imagination. So, when the American Museum of Natural History's Hayden Planetarium stopped calling Pluto a planet, director Neil deGrasse Tyson SS found himself at the center of a firestorm led by angry, Pluto‐loving elementary school students. But what is it about this cold, distant rock that captures so many hearts? NOVA joins Tyson as he follows the amazing story of its discovery and the captivating science that surrounds this former planet, including the possibility of finding more Pluto‐like planets in the mysterious Kuiper Belt, an area of icy rocks at the edge of the solar system. From the scientists trying to classify Pluto to die‐hard Pluto‐philes, Tyson meets a fascinating cast of characters with just one thing in common: Strong opinions about Pluto. Based on Tyson's book of the same name, The Pluto Files is an exciting and entertaining look at the solar system's best‐loved non‐planet. Directions to Rood Hall Head north up the Howard Street hill from the intersection of Howard and Stadium Drive. Turn right onto W. Michigan Ave. and then go left at the round‐a‐bout. Turn right into the parking lot. Parking in the employee/ student lot is perfectly safe and free all day on Saturday. Rood Hall is located just past Everett Tower. Admission isis FREE! The KAS will provide the popcorn and soft drinks. You justjust need to show up and have a great time! For more information and directions to Rood Hall, please visit our web site: www.kasonline.org In 2009, the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society celebrated the Will Millar was one of our favorite guest speakers, but now International Year of Astronomy in grand fashion. In 2011, he’s a KAS member. That of course means we can look we hope to celebrate the 75th anniversary of our esteemed forward to more presentations from Will and we don’t have organization in equally grand (or grander) fashion. That to pay him! (Sorry, Will, couldn’t help myself.) Will’s talk makes 2010 kind of an “in-between” year. That’s not to say at the April 9th meeting was entitled The Death of Stars, The 2010 wasn’t a great year all by itself. It was. In fact, it was Stuff of Life. another one for the record books. Our first guest speaker of the year was our old friend Robert Many of our members have become accustomed to quality Miller. Robert’s given many excellent presentations for us presentations at our general meetings. The past year was no over the years. His latest talk was called Advances in White exception and we have several of our own people to thank Dwarf Star Research and was given on May 7th. Dr. Richard for it. Bill Nigg started the year off right with his Frazin came to us from the University of Michigan on June presentation Mars is Coming...Again at the January 8th 4th. His presentation was called 3D Imaging of the Sun’s meeting. I gave the feature presentation at the February 5th Corona. Dr. Heather Jacobson was our latest guest presenter meeting, which was called Orion Always Comes Up from Michigan State University. The title of her Sideways. Hopefully those that attended enjoyed my talk, presentation, given on September 10th, was Our Dusty but that’s not what we’ll remember the February meeting for. Universe. Finally, veteran astrophotographer Clay Kessler February 5th is also the day we held the award ceremony for paid us a visit at Astrophotography Night on October 1st. His the Galileo Writing Contest winners. In a way, this was our presentation was called Simple Astrophotography for big finale for the International Year of Astronomy. We’ve Everyone. I was sorry to miss that one. Thanks to all our never seen the presentation center at KAMSC so packed. members and guest presenters. Naturally, we’ve got some Every available seat was taken and many people had to sit or very special general meeting presentations planned for our stand in the aisle. Michael Francis’ address as Galileo made 75th anniversary. the award ceremony all the more special. I know at least a couple of the winners brought their Galileoscopes to some Another thing we’ve become accustomed to is mixed success Public Observing Sessions. with the weather. Our clear sky rate for the Public Observing Sessions at the Nature Center was again around Mike Sinclair discussed Astronomy Before Copernicus: The 50%.