THE OBSERVER OF THE TWIN CITY AMATEUR ASTRONOMERS Volume 44, Number 9 September 2019 INSIDE THIS ISSUE: 1«Editor’s Choice: Image of the Month – Milky Way 2«President’s Note 3«Calendar of Celestial Events – August 2019 3«New & Renewing Members/Dues Blues/E-Mail List 4«This Month’s Phases of the Moon 4«This Month’s Solar Phenomena 4«November 11, 2019 Transit of Mercury 5«September 2019 with Jeffrey L. Hunt 9«AstroBits – News from Around the TCAA 10«A Tale of Woe and a Cautionary Note 11«TCAA Image Gallery 14«E/PO Updates for August 2019 (partial listing) 14«Central Illinois Mini Conference September 21st 15«Intro. to Amateur Astronomy Course to Resume 15«Remaining Public Viewing Sessions for 2019 16«TCAA Calendar of Events for 2019 16«10” Telescope Declared “Unwanted Property” 16«A Note from the Editor 17«TCAA Treasurer’s Report as of August 27, 2019 17«TCAA Active on Facebook 17«Renewing Your TCAA Membership IMAGE OF THE MONTH: EDITOR’S CHOICE – MESSIER 57 The TCAA is an affiliate of the Astronomical League as well as its This month’s image is by Tim Stone who writes about “Bubbles North Central Region. For more in the Sky.” Tim notes: information about the TCAA, be The majority of stars don’t end in the brilliant explosion of a certain to visit the TCAA website at supernova. They end much more quietly and at a far older age. tcaa.us/ Most stars fade into cosmic cinders, objects that used to be stars but can no longer sustain nuclear fusion. First up in this death Visit Astroleague.org for additional process is the “white dwarf” stage. Nuclear fusion has largely ended information about the League and its and the star, not massive enough to go supernova, simply numerous membership benefits contracts. As it does so, it heats up until it is numbered amongst the including observing programs. hottest objects in the universe. Typical white dwarf temperatures are in the neighborhood of 200,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The collapse and resulting heating drives some of the star’s mass away, Also visit the NCRAL website at creating absolutely stunning “planetary” nebulae. ncral.wordpress.com for information M27 is one nearby example of a planetary nebula. It’s been about our North Central Region. Find very extensively studied because of its proximity, and for the same out about our next Regional reason, it’s a popular target with astrophotographers. In deep convention during May 2020. images such as mine, we can see the process unfold. Layer after layer, successively farther from the central star, document the phases of this stage of the star’s life. Planetary nebulae are Copyright © 2019 TCAA 1 All rights reserved. Vol. 44, No. 9 The OBSERVER of the Twin City Amateur Astronomers September 2019 characterized by copious amounts of oxygen emission, which is blue-cyan in color. The OBSERVER Hydrogen often accompanies the oxygen, as it does here, glowing its characteristic red color. There are two very sharp shock boundaries marked by intense hydrogen is the monthly electronic newsletter of Twin City Amateur Astronomers, Inc., a emission. They don’t encircle the star entirely, so gasses have an easier time registered 501(c)(3) non-profit educational moving outward where they don’t encounter this boundary. The shock front itself organization of amateur astronomers inter- seems to be clumpy, allowing streamers of expanding gasses to escape, and ested in studying astronomy and sharing creating the appearance of rays emanating from the central star. The same clumps their hobby with the public. of matter cast shadows into the exterior, making this one of the rare instances where these can be seen in images. The white dwarf itself is directly in the center TCAA OFFICERS & CHAIRPERSONS of the nebula, glowing blue-white with its intensifying heat. President, Director, & Property Manager Planetary nebulae are fleeting things. They will last a few tens of thousands of Tim Stone 309-531-2401 years, and then they, too, will fade away. M27 is estimated to be only 14,000 years [email protected] old! Vice President & Director/Membership Coord. Tom Willmitch 309-846-2423 RESIDENT S OTE [email protected] P ’ N Treasurer & Director/Registered Agent With the onset of the Autumn weather Dave Osenga 309-287-0789 pattern, it’s prime time for astronomy. [email protected] Personally, I’ve very much enjoyed some Secretary & Director/Historian/Editor beautifully clear nights in the last month. Carl J. Wenning 309-830-4085 I’ve had the opportunity to do some deep [email protected] sky photography and some spectrography, 5th Director/Assistant Property Manager along with just good-old-fashioned sitting Scott Wade 309-310-2464 outside under the stars and being amazed. [email protected] One of the deep sky results is the Editor’s Astronomical League Correspondent Photo of the Month in this issue. I’m proud Robert Finnigan 309-846-9533 of this image, but more than that, I’m proud [email protected] to be part of a club that enabled me to President Tim Stone Technology Coordinator create it. Justin Meyer 630-649-0611 [email protected] While results like mine take a lot of experience and practice, it doesn’t take all that to create a pleasing image. Have a Webmaster look at the images in this month’s TCAA Image Gallery. Many of them were created Lee Green 309-454-7349 [email protected] in a single night at our Prairie Sky Observatory, under the tutelage of our very own Bob Finnigan. He’ll be happy to help you learn to acquire images of deep sky Lighting Educ. & AL Observing Club Coordinator Lisa Wentzel unlisted number objects. We’d love to see our facilities used more than they are today. Won’t you [email protected] get involved in astrophotography? You won’t regret it! We have two more Public Viewing Sessions left in this season. It’s hard to The OBSERVER believe we’re at the end already. It seems like only yesterday we had that first 2019 Carl J. Wenning, Editor session, on a cold and blustery night in April. Turnout has been great this year, and I’d love to see us end the season with even more successful public outreach. I hope Submission deadline two days before you’ll come, bring your telescope and engage the very enthusiastic people who the end of each month. come to see what this astronomy thing is all about. MEMBERSHIP DUES One last thing before I sign off… Don’t forget the Sugar Grove Nature Center Autumn Festival is coming up October 26th. It’s another great opportunity to Individual Adult/Family $40 Full-time Student/Senior $25 promote our wonderful hobby. Now is the time to put it on your calendar and plan (Senior status equals ages 60+) to come out to help! To join, send your name, contact info and Tim Stone dues payment to Dave Osenga, TCAA TCAA President Treasurer, 1109 N. Linden St., Normal, IL 61761-1471. Copyright © 2019 TCAA 2 All rights reserved. Vol. 44, No. 9 The OBSERVER of the Twin City Amateur Astronomers September 2019 CALENDAR OF CELESTIAL EVENTS – SEPTEMBER 2019 NEW & RENEWING MEMBERS MORNING PLANETS (9/15): Mars and Uranus The following individuals have paid dues for new or renewed memberships as of August 27, 2019. (Others EVENING PLANETS (9/15): Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and who paid after that date will appear in the October 2019 Neptune issue of The OBSERVER.) The following table gives the date and time (24-hour clock) of Welcome! Welcome! Welcome! Welcome! Welcome! important astronomical events for this month. All events are given in Central Daylight Time. Robert Johnson gallery Day Time Event Welcome! Welcome! Welcome! Welcome! Welcome! 02 04 Mars in Conjunction with Sun DUES BLUES 03 19 Mercury at Superior Conj. If you have received a “your dues are due” 05 21:10 FIRST QUARTER MOON statement along with the email that brought you this issue of The OBSERVER, please remit your dues to Mr. 06 00:52 Jupiter 2.3°S of Moon Dave Osenga, TCAA Treasurer, 1109 N. Linden St., 08 07:53 Saturn 0.0°N of Moon: Occn. Normal, IL 61761-1471. Dues are currently $25 for seniors (60 years of age and over) and $40 regular. 08 11:35 Moon at Descending Node 10 00 Neptune at Opposition SUBSCRIBING TO THE TCAA EMAIL LIST 13 07:32 Moon at Apogee: 406378 km By subscribing to a group’s mailing list, you will 13 22:33 FULL MOON receive email messages from the group though you won’t have access to the group’s web features (like 20 10:14 Aldebaran 2.6°S of Moon photos, files, links, polls, calendar, etc.) unless members 21 20:41 LAST QUARTER MOON activate it later. The club has an open email listserv. It is known as the TCAA YahooGroups listserv. It will be used 23 00:30 Moon at Ascending Node to share announcements and reminders about 23 01:50 Autumnal Equinox astronomical and club events. To join this main listserv, you must do the following: 23 17:34 Pollux 5.9°N of Moon 1. To subscribe: Send a blank email to TCAA- 24 15:15 Beehive 0.4°S of Moon [email protected] Note: You’ll be sent a 26 02:30 Regulus 3.3°S of Moon confirmation email from the group. Reply to the confirmation email to activate your subscription. 27 20:27 Moon at Perigee: 357803 km 2.