The Objective View October 2010 Newsletter of the Northern Colorado Astronomical Society Robert Michael, President Other Events pres@ 970 482 3615 Dan Laszlo, VP and Newsletter Editor Chamberlin Observatory Open House, 7 to 10 pm objview@ Office 970 498 9226 Oct 16, Nov 13, Dec 11 303 871 5172 http://www.du.edu/~rstencel/Chamberlin/ Chad Moore, Secretary sec@ Cheyenne Astronomical Society 7 pm Oct 15 Space Shuttle Jon Caldwell, Treasurer Cheyenne Botanical Gardens treas@ http://home.bresnan.net/~curranm/ Greg Halac, Web Editor and Outreach Coordinator web-edit@ 970 223 7210 CSU Madison Macdonald Observatory Public Nights On East Drive, north of Pitkin Street Dave Chamness, AL Correspondent 970 482 1794 Tuesdays after dusk if clear, when class is in session add ncastro.org to complete email address Estes Park Memorial Observatory. 7 pm Oct 28 Next Meeting: October 7 7:30 pm http://www.angelsabove.org/ Telescopes + Rockets: Bigger and Better Little Thompson Observatory, Berthoud 7 pm Oct 15 http://www.starkids.org Astronomy from Space Longmont Astronomical Society 7 pm Oct 14 at IHOP, 2040 By Dr. Paul Lightsey, Ball Aerospace Ken Pratt Blvd. http://www.longmontastro.org/ Club Business at 7:15 pm Sept 2 Program: Design and Construction of a Backyard Fort Collins Museum, 200 Mathews St Domed Observatory, by Craig Betzina Fort Collins CO Craig’s home observatories started with his house in Seattle. http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/club-view-directions.cfm?Adress_ID=2810 In his day job, he was a Boeing engineer and enjoyed working on military and space projects, some flight testing and worked on airliners from the 747 to 777 airliner. He needed a place NCAS Programs for his telescope that gave quick access but protected it from the elements. His first observatory took a year, and in the Nov 4 Robert Arn Astrophotography course of trying to do everything himself, it was shaped by Dec 2 Bill Tschumy Escape from Plato’s Cave: The lots of mistakes. An observatory should start with a usage MW Galactic Coordinate System plan. Will it be used for group outreach, or just solo? What are the extremes of winter and summer weather? What is the NCAS Public Starwatch at Fossil Creek Reservoir telescope type and size? Reflectors, refractors, and SCTs have different requirements for space and comfortable use. The site Oct 2, Nov 12, Dec 20 will bring constraints of the useful horizon, ambient light, and the soil type. Future relocation should be factored in for http://www.co.larimer.co.us/naturalresources/fossil_creek.htm many. One example was a structure held up on 8 wood posts. It was sturdy but could be freed with 5 minutes and a chain City of Fort Collins Natural Area Program at Sunset saw. Each roof style has tradeoffs. Roll-off roofs offer unlimited sky views and readily scale up for additional scopes. Bobcat Ridge: Oct 14 The vistas come with a lack of protection from wind and ambient light. The Sky Pod is an opening half-dome. Views, http://www.fcgov.com/naturalareas/finder/bobcat sky access and wind protection are intermediate between full exposure and full domes. It’s size is limited, tight for a 14 inch SCT, and it has poor zenith access. A full dome gives Dark Site Observing Dates best weather and ambient light protection. Since it is a dedicated piece, the dome provides design flexibility for the October 8, 9 Keota, RMNP or other dark site, ask FRAC rest of the building. A dome is also and aesthetic bonus, for most of us astronomers anyway. The construction material is critical. Fiberglass disintegrates in hail, and UV weakens it in a few years. Exploradomes are made of ¼ inch polyethylene, Great Nights at Independence Mountain Sept 3-5 From: Greg Halac Friday night at Independence Mountain was outstanding! No clouds, virtually no bugs, temperature only dropped to mid- 40's, and we only had occasional very light breezes before ~3am. We were advised by some campers that bear(s) were definitely in the area, though. 1 truck drove through after dark on the adjacent rim road, but no problems from ATVs or campfires this night. Group consisted of Dan Laszlo (with his Obsession 25), Dave Dunn, Tim Antonsen, Robert Grover, and myself. We set up Installation Oct 2006, from www.explora-dome.com on the south side of the mountain overlooking North Park. Some lights visible in the valley below us, but the only light- which is tough, relatively lightweight, reflective, and can polluted skies were the 5-10degrees high "dome" in the ESE ultimately be recycled. The 8 foot size is $1800. They are from the front range. starting to produce a 12 foot model intended for scopes up to 20 inch RCs. One of the domes in Craig’s yard was blown Venus actually looked quite decent early, with stable skies 200 feet by a tornado and survived. That one now belongs to revealing a crisply defined crescent. Saturn didn't really Wayne Green Craig decided on a 10x16 foot room to allow "rainbow" until it was down to about 3deg elevation. After space for visitors. The telescope pier is secured in concrete, dark, the night was filled looking at the old favorite DSOs ... and the pier should extend below the frost line. He has seen especially with a clear, dark southern horizon. I noticed ~10- piers made of tree trunks and steel columns. A 24 inch drain 15 nice meteors during the evening. Planetaries and galaxies culvert can be scavenged and filled with concrete for a cost- seemed to be the objects of choice. The "dark nebulae" in the effective pier. There should be a provision for fine adjustment Milky Way stood out nicely ... I think all of us spent time of polar alignment since settling is expected. An offset from scanning with binoculars. center may be needed for a fork mount. German equatorials are stable, but watch your head around the counterweights. Moonrise at 1:45a lit up the valley landscape somewhat, but Wall height needs to be adequate for comfort, and appropriate our "windbreak" grove of trees kept us in the shadows until to the useful horizon. The ultimate eyepiece height is better ~3am. Seeing varied during the night, but a couple dark- too high than too low. Basic cables are for power, data, and adaptation ruining looks at Jupiter gave nice views of the GRS control. Ideally they run in the pier. A shielded cable is mid-evening and an Io shadow transit around 3am. needed for power, since RF can bleed out and interfere with data. Craig is set up for observing and got a Mallincam VSS. The 3 second frames captured from video are amazing for the sensitivity of the camera, showing structure in bright planetary nebulae and M51. Members are invited to contact him for a visit in Strasburg, CO. Email to llamaboy at isp.com http://www.explora-dome.com/ September 2 NCAS Club Business NCAS returned to the Fort Collins Museum for the September meeting. Treasurer Jon Caldwell opened with his report. The club account stands at $797.86 plus $100 petty cash. He announced Astronomy Magazine calendars for 2011. Greg Halac brought a copy of the RASC Calendar and Observers Dave Dunn and Greg Halac take in H-alpha solar views Handbook. He is collecting orders for these. Greg announced public outreach events for the month. Summer of 2010 had an exceptional success rate. Only two events had to be cancelled for weather at Carter Lake, and for firefighter support in Dan set up his H-alpha scope for some fine views this Rocky Mountain National Park. morning. When I left about 10:30 this morning, Dave, Tim, 2 and Robert (and maybe Dan) were planning to stay at least detail around midnight. It was worth some retinal photon tonight and hoping for repeat conditions. abuse. If you are scoring the sites: Hope the night at Keota was rewarding for those of you who Gunshots heard? About 8 at our site Sat morning, we think ended up there. Greg Halac the elk hunters warming up. Bonfires: 0. ATVs: about a dozen in daytime, and several visitors rode over to see the Sun with H alpha scopes. Longest time at observing site, Rob Grover or Tim Antonsen? Greatest Temp Extreme? Not sure on that. Fri-Sat was pretty mild. Greatest wind extreme, 0 to ~30 mph. Longest spacetime quest to observing nirvana with a unifying vector, Deadman and Independence Mtn, Dave Dunn. Longest spacetime quest to observing nirvana, ultimate division, Keota site then Independence Mtn, Robert Arn. Low tech, noisiest astrophoto, hand driven barn door mount, Dan Laszlo. Attached. You can estimate our south horizon with it. Site limiting magnitude: SQM reading 21.81 to 21.83 midnight Aug 3 to 4. Tim Antonsen, Dave Dunn and Rob Grover, Indep. Mtn. Congrats to all who found some dark skies to enjoy! Dan From Dan Laszlo: Laszlo, NCAS, Ft Collins What a weekend. Surprisingly little holiday traffic and some From Rob Grover: Amazing weekend! great views. We were lining up showpieces for 2 nights. I was the last to roll in Friday night just as it was getting good Left the mountaintop around 2:30PM on Sunday. Was and dark. Setting up in a highly exposed point was not an wavering on staying Sunday night, but was just feeling too issue until midmorning Saturday. We wrapped Sat am worn out from the two wonderful nights and all the wind on observing with M42 and Jupiter. We think the Saturday wind Saturday. Friday night, I managed to see all 5 members of forecast was overly conservative, Sat afternoon felt more like Stephan’s Quintet in my 13.1” Telekit.