Observe—Educate—Have Fun The August 2011 Sidereal Times The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society P.O. Box 50581, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87181-0581 www.taas.org since 1959 505/254-TAAS (8227) General Meeting News David Blair TAAS General Meeting Program for August 13 Hélène Dickel adjunct professor of physics and astronomy, unm Molecules in Interstellar Space IN 1963, the hydroxyl radical has become well placed during the last month for view- became the first molecule discov- JUPITER ing in the pre-dawn sky. This year it will be higher in the northern hemisphere than it has been since 2003. Jupiter is currently 40 arc ered in interstellar space. Since seconds across but will be nearly 50 in late October. then, more than 140 different mol- ecules—one containing 13 atoms— The Clear Sky Chart website forecast for the morning of July 28 was for excellent have been detected using radio seeing, a rare enough event to get me up at 3 a.m. to image the gas giant. techniques. Professor Dickel will The left side of the image shows Jupiter’s moon Europa beginning to transit across discuss this interstellar medium, its chemistry and role in star forma- continued on page 4 . tion, and the instrumentation that has revealed it. Next Astronomy 101 Topic: Variable Stars Dave Pitonzo She will examine the dense cores of giant molecular clouds from WITH the advent of robotic and computerized telescopic surveys, it seems as which massive stars form and though there are fewer arenas in which amateur astronomers can contribute to the interactions of these newly- the science of astronomy. Most supernovae and many comets are now found formed stars and attendant H II robotically, before they become visible to amateurs. One area, though, where (ionized hydrogen) regions on amateurs still contribute is in the systematic observation of variable stars. Our own the remaining molecular gas. Tom Grzybowski has been pursuing this aspect of our hobby for the past several years and has agreed to share his experiences and methods with us. So please join us for the August 13 edition of Astronomy 101 at 6:00 p.m. in Regener Hall—Observing Variable Stars—and learn how you can contribute to astronomical discovery! continued on page 4 . INSIDE 2.......Cosmic Carnival 2011 Poster 4–5...Calendars 9......TAAS Reports & Notices 3.......GNTO News & Views, 6.......The Quest 10......Meeting Minutes Event Horizon 7.......Photos: NGC6960, Explora 11......TAAS Directors, Staff The Sidereal Times August 2011 Page 2 The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society The Sidereal Times August 2011 GNTO News & Views Steve Welch I’M WRITING this month’s column while at GNTO on our July 30 New Moon observing night while waiting for a It looked like Carl Frish had taken advantage of the moisture clearing in the clouds so Kevin McKeown and Sandra Lynn to groom “our” road as it was in excellent shape—thanks (two of TAAS’s most excellent meteor observers) can make so much, Carl! In other hardware news, before sunset, I got some counts of the Delta Aquarid meteor shower, which HAL back up and connected after last month’s hardware happens to reach its maximum tonight. failure. HAL is our observatory computer that logs and communicates the weather station information to our Web We’ve had a great turnout tonight, considering that just about site. With it back up, you can conveniently check the current everyone who came drove through rain showers to get here. GNTO weather and weather history from the GNTO page on We’ve had over 20 people (several first time visitors again) the TAAS site. and at least 8 scopes, including the Isengard (thanks, Lisa!) and the small dome CCD camera setup on the 11” SCT where I am in charge of GNTO’s CCD imaging program. I had I gave an abbreviated CCD training/demo (more on that several people contact me this month to ask for training on later). With plenty of good conversation and company, we’ve the GNTO CCD equipment so I held a training/demo session all had a good time, in spite of the typical monsoon weather. tonight. We had some equipment glitches (well, that never happens, does it?), so we Here’s Lisa’s report from were a bit late getting the Isengard: started. By that time “…went well despite On the Event Horizon the weather had cleared, the clouds. TAAS there was a big sucker newbies Ronald and ATM SIG Meeting ...................................... Wed., August 3 hole to the south, and Mike received prizes, GNTO Committee ...................................... Thu., August 4 we had 8 people in the one prize being a new Open Space Star Party ................................Sat., August 6 small dome (that’s the Astronomy magazine most we’ve ever had, TAAS Board Meeting .............................. Thu., August 11 and the other a pair of with one person sitting socks depicting Draco’s Astronomy 101 ............................................Sat., August 13 in the doorway.) I think destruction of the Golden TAAS General Meeting ..............................Sat., August 13 everyone got a good Gate bridge (more likely introduction to the Solar Sunday ...............................................Sun., August 14 it was Godzilla but who’s process and the various to say?). The Isengard ATM SIG Meeting .................................... Wed., August 17 (sometimes balky) was busy much of the Oak Flat Star Party ....................................Sat., August 20 equipment, computers, night—visitors were Sidereal Times Deadline ..............................Fri., August 26 and software. Of course, very curious. Our best we only covered the UNM Campus Observatory .......................Fri., August 26 view was M10, a glob in first part of the digital Ophiuchus that appeared GNTO New Moon ......................................Sat., August 27 astro-imaging process— in glorious contrast to the Oak Flat Star Party ............................... Sat., September 3 there’s that whole image surrounding darkness. processing thing to do Kevin McKeown lent a after you’ve captured the hand when objects were bits. Maybe we should elusive.” have a TAAS meeting or an Astronomy 101 class devoted to that subject? If you For the rest of this year, the substantial meteor showers are all have those skills (I don’t!), contact David Blair and get on the happening near full moons, so it will be 2012 before we get schedule! another chance for a good meteor display in these parts. continued on page 8. Page 3 The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society The Sidereal Times August 2011 August 2011 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 2 3 4 5 6 Vesta Fiesta ATM SIG GNTO Abq. Open Meeting Committee Space Meeting Star Party 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 TAAS Board Astronomy 101, of Directors TAAS Meeting General Meeting 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Solar Sunday, ATM SIG Oak Flat Museum of Meeting Star Party Natural History 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Sidereal Times GNTO NM deadline, UNM Observatory Open Observing 28 29 30 31 . J u p i t e r . General Meeting News continued from page 1 continued from page 1 the southern hemisphere of Jupiter (north is up) at the same time that the Great Red Spot (GRS) is rotating into view just above Eu- ropa. On the right, taken 50 minutes later, the GRS is approaching Her presentation will also focus on radio as- the central meridian, and Europa, with approximately the same tronomy, particularly the Long Wavelength surface brightness as the background cloud bands, is lost to view. Array, a low-frequency radio telescope un- This image was taken 30 minutes before sunrise, when Jupiter der construction in central New Mexico. had climbed to an altitude of 60 degrees in steady air. Professor Dickel is currently involved at UNM The images were taken with an Imaging Source DBK-21AU04-AS in the development of the Long Wavelength color planetary video camera on an Orion 180 mm f/15 Maksu- Array. She has served as a noted speaker for tov-Cassegrain scope, mounted on an Orion Atlas mount. The the American Astronomical Society, American small Orion scope is my current favorite for planetary imaging , Chemical Society, American Physical Society, having tried a C-11 and a long-focus 10” Newtonian during the and other organizations. last decade. A Meade adjustable Barlow lens was used at ~2.5x. For each image, 800 frames were rated, registered, stacked, and wavelet-processed with Registax freeware. Final composition Saturday, August 13, at Regener Hall at 7:00 was done with The GIMP (freeware, Linux OS). p.m. See the map on the last page of this issue. —James (Skip) Dearing Page 4 The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society The Sidereal Times August 2011 September 2011 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 2 3 Oak Flat Star Party 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ATM SIG TAAS Board TAAS Meeting of Directors General Meeting Meeting 11 12 13 Edward 14 15 16 17 Gonzales GNTO Elementary Open House/ School Equinox Picnic Star Party 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Cosmic ATM SIG GNTO Sidereal Times Carnival, Meeting Committee deadline, Balloon Meeting Explora Museum Adult Night 25 26 27 28 29 30 N o t e s TAAS = The Albuquerque Astronomical Society. TAAS General Meeting Hotline 254-TAAS (8227). GNTO = General Nathan Twining Observatory GNTO Training = GNTO Observing and Training Saturday, August 13, 2011, 7:00 P.M. GNTO NM = New Moon Premium Observing Night Regener Hall UNM = University of New Mexico Observatory. University of New Mexico Call the TAAS hotline @254-8227, or the (See map, back page) UNM hotline @ 277-1446 to confirm, or [email protected]. Molecules in Interstellar Space ATM = Amateur Telescope Making.