NOVA Official Newsletter of the Salt Lake Astronomical Society Volume 38 Number 1 January - February 2008 Discovery images of Asteroid 2007 VN8 SLAS Member Discovers Another Asteroid by Ann House Early on the morning of November 5, 2007 SLAS member Patrick Wiggins was taking a series of pictures of an asteroid known as (131) Vala when he noticed another object that didn't show up on his charts. Thinking the mystery object to be another known asteroid he dutifully measured its position and emailed those data to the Minor Planet Center. After going through the positions of the over 300,000 charted asteroids MPC reported back that the object was not in their database. This surprised Patrick. Years ago, amateurs routinely discovered asteroids. In fact, in November 1999 Patrick and his then wife Dr. Holly Phaneuf jointly discovered an asteroid and a few weeks later he made a solo discovery of a second. Amateur comet hunter, David Levy, has stated that many professional observatories have started looking for asteroids in earnest and finding so many that it's become next to impossible for amateurs to find new ones. Unfortunately, the rules state that a single night (known as ONS or One Night Stand) do not a discovery make so Patrick had to wait until he could get more data on the mystery object before he could report it officially. Fortunately the weather gods cooperated and Patrick was able to take additional pictures the following night. He then submitted both nights' data and soon received confirmation that his mystery object, now bearing the official temporary designation 2007 VN8 and measuring some 330 to 590 meters in diameter, was in fact a new discovery. Several have asked Patrick what he plans on naming his new find. Here again the rules preclude any instant gratification. To make sure that a new find is not an object that someone previously found and lost one usually has to wait for the object to make a couple of orbits around the Sun. Being that 2007 VN8 orbits beyond the orbit of Mars any naming opportunity will likely be 7 to 8 years down the road. And even once it becomes eligible for naming there are rules about that, too. For example, initially Patrick tried to name the find that Dr. Phaneuf and he made for her but it turns out asteroids can not be named for their discovers so he went with Elko, his hometown. He then gave naming rights for his solo find to Dr. Phaneuf. So, with many years to wait and so many rules to follow, Patrick's biding his time before coming up with any possible names and spending most clear nights in his observatory in pursuit of discovery #4. Best wishes, Patrick. You are our local celebrity and we are proud to have you in our midst. The Winter Solstice Festival By Ann House Another year has passed for Salt Lake Astronomers. Once again, society members gathered to celebrate the end of the year by holding our annual Winter Solstice Festival. Those in attendance found a room full of decorative suns. For the ancient Celts, the midwinter sun was believed to stand still for twelve days, and light and sun ornamentation were used to conquer the darkness. Though we astronomers love long dark nights, we are no fans of bitter cold (Dave Bernson excluded) and long for the return of the sun to warm the earth. The event was again held at the Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church. It is an accommodating venue and we are lucky to have hosting members, Josephine and Allen Grahn, who work hard each year to make the event fun and easy for the rest of us. Ann and Craig Blanchard, and Bill and Jacquie Kennedy decorated the hall in blues and golds. Rodger and Connie Fry with the help of strongman Scott Crosby set up tables and chairs. Ed Ericksen was again our official Festival welcomer, making everyone who came feel glad that they did. Of course, as we all know, Ed’s main job is to give each of us our tickets for our fabulous silent auction that seems to get better and better each year. The food was delicious, thanks to SLAS’s chicken cordon bleu, and to everyone who showed up with their favorite dish. Pot luck with our group is always a hit, with enough sides, salads, and deserts to please even the fussiest eater (Patrick, we missed you!). Rodger and Connie came with a new SLAS sensation, “Big Bango.” Based loosely on the popular game, Bingo, Rodger had the astronomical designations for the sky objects called out and the players were to put Lucky Charms on their card. The final lucky winner got the enviable Mickey Mouse telescope. Creed Haymond got it last year and the improvement (not that it needs improving) was digital imaging capabilities. Al Rowe is the lucky recipient of the scope this year. As stated earlier, the silent auction is getting better as the years go by. Big hits this year were Ann Blanchard’s sun items (especially her sun-motif vests), large picture books, a Smithsonian astronaut bear, and a Sky and Telescope Monopoly game. Many thanks to Ann, President Bob, and Steve Dodds for the auction items. As Snoopy would say, it was a dark and stormy night. We had a bitterly cold wind blow in with snow and ice that perhaps kept many away from the party. Street lights were out along the way. The Tooele crowd wisely didn’t make the long drive. We are relieved that the many who did venture out were kept safe. All in all, about 85 were in attendance. The clean-up crew experienced about 15 minutes of a black-out. Fortunately, the Astronomical Society was prepared with flashlights and head lamps. Gene Marshall and Mark Bloomenthal stayed late to help the Kennedys, the Frys, the Blanchards, the Grahns, Ed, and Scott clean up. Many, many thanks to all who helped make the 2007 Winter Solstice Festival a memorable one! Please Welcome The Newest SLAS Members! Conway, Lisa - Layton, UT Elkington, Brian - Salt Lake City, UT Peck, Brad - Salt Lake City, UT Pond, Aaron - Taylorsville, UT SLAS Receives Donated Telescope SLAS president Bob Moore recently received an email from Sarah Klingenstein of Park City offering the donation of a Celestron 8 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. A few days later SLAS member Dan Syroid picked up the telescope and then delivered it to SLAS at the November general meeting where it was gratefully received. The very generous donation has been added to SLAS's growing collection of telescopes available for loan to SLAS members. Minutes of the Salt Lake Astronomical Society Board Meeting, 15 November 2007 SLAS President Bob Moore called the meeting to order in the Denny's restaurant located at 250 West 500 South in SLC at 7:03 p.m. Others in attendance were SLAS board members Ann House, Erik Hansen, Bill Kennedy, Rodger Fry, Nova editor Patrick Wiggins and members Siegfried Jachmann and Eugene Marshall. Rodger offered to take over the telescope operator vest project from Ann. Ann agreed. The venue for this year's transitional board meeting was changed to Bob's home. (Editor's note: The venue was later changed back to the Denny's restaurant on 250 W 500 S as originally scheduled when it was found proper notification of the change of venue could not be made in time.) The locations of next year's Harmons star parties were set. February at Brickyard. April at Seventh Street. May at District and Taylorsville. June at Cougar. July at Seventh Street. August at Brickyard. September at District. October at Seventh Street. Siegfried announced that Harmons has agreed to donate two telescopes to be given away during SLAS's Astronomy Day eve star parties at their District and Taylorsville stores in May." Bob will coordinate getting the 2008 star party brochures printed. Ann will be emailing the ZAP grant application to this and next year's boards so that spending priorities can be set at the transitional board meeting. Rodger Fry will chair the committee organizing next month's Solstice Festival. Ann reported SLAS had received a $50 donation for a star party the club recently conducted for a 4H group. Bob arranged with Patrick to pick up half of the promotional brochures (currently stored at SPOC). Bob will store them at his home. Bob is seeking suggestions for speakers at next year's general meetings. Bob will meet with SLAS member Rob Ratkowski next month to talk about the proposed SLAS sponsored trip to Hawaii. Ann will be meeting with a friend who is a travel agent about costs for the trip. The meeting was adjourned at 8:21 p.m. General Meeting, 20 November 2007 SLAS President Bob Moore called the meeting to order in room 104 of the University of Utah's Engineering/Mines building at about 7:30 p.m. Approximately 53 people attended the meeting. Following the usual introductions of SLAS board members and first time attendees, Bob introduced the evening's guest speaker, Dr. Benjamin C. Bromley from the U of U's Department of Physics. He spoke about the life and discoveries of Albert Einstein. Following Dr. Bromley's talk and a break Secretary Treasurer Erik Hansen displayed the treasurer's report. It showed: General Fund $10,387.47 Postage & Printing 275.27 Entertainment 419.93 Publicity 44.00 Astronomical League 210.00 SPOC 3,185.30 H-Alpha 64.50 Insurance 716.50 Total $15,302.97 Vice President Ann House reported on the continuing preparations for next month's SLAS Solstice Festival.