The June 2009 Sidereal Times The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society P.O. Box 50581, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87181-0581 www.taas.org 505/254-TAAS (8227) Oak Flat Star-Party Season Blasts Off Larry Cash, Events Coordinator Battery—Fully charged and a spare for your camera. We won’t have power, so bring your own camera juice. WE WIll BEGIN our Oak Flat Star Parties series soon. The first star party of the season will be held at the Memory—Bring plenty of memory for your camera, or film if you Juniper Picnic Area May 30, 2009. For directions, you may are using a film camera. go to our TAAS Web site or use the link below. All those who wish to participate, please be there before dusk to Remote—If you have a remote shutter release for your camera, bring set up. If you need information for the telescopes setup it too. you may call Bruce Levin at 505-286-1387. He will be the owner of this event. Dark shirt—Wear dark clothing to lessen reflecting light from your LCD screen on the rear of your cam- Directions to Oak Flat: era back out into the viewing area. http://www.cotse.net/users/kor/taas/Oak_ Jacket—A jacket or sweater; it gets chilly after dark Flat_Map.pdf at Oak Flat. Red light flashlight—For reading your camera set- Get Ready for Photo Boot Camp at tings in the dark. Oak Flat: Latest Update Other notes— Becky Ramotowski, Astrophotographer FIguRe ouT how to disable or turn off your cam- era flash before coming. This is important! (Other IF yOu plan to attenD the Astrophotography astronomers will be at Oak Flat doing public astron- Boot Camp, (May 30, June 27, and July 25) and are omy, and we don’t want to disturb them by firing our wondering what to bring, here’s the scoop. flashes at night. Besides, the flash is only good for six feet and space is farther away than that!) Camera—Whatever type you have, bring it. Whether it’s a digital point-and-shoot, digital SLR, film, home- Bring your fire-in-the-belly “I want to master my made contraption only a mother could love photon- digital camera” attitude and let’s have some fun! gathering box—if it collects light, it’s eligible. We have a very bright international space station pass at 8:35 p.m., Tripod—If you have one, or a lampshade harp with a 1/4-20 thread. and the Moon will be near Saturn, so they will be our prime targets Dunno what a lampshade harp is, that’s okay. You’ll see one in ac- for the evening. We also have a minus 7 Iridium satellite flare that tion at Boot Camp. night at 10:31 p.m. just east of Vega. INSIDE 2....President’s Message, 4....Meeting Minutes 6....Astronomical League Dues General Meeting, Events 5....TAAS Reports & Notices 10....Advertisers, Help Wanted 3....GNTO News & Views 6....Calendars 11....TAAS Directors/Staff The Sidereal Times June 2009 President’s Message Dee Friesen General Meeting News 15 West 61 North Rock and Roll to the Moon: Saturn V Memories For seVenTeen months, I have faithfully Dick Fate, Vice President and general Meeting Coordinator performed one of the most difficult duties of STeVe Welch will present a talk at our June 6 General Meet- being president of this illustrious organization. I ing titled “Rock and Roll to the Moon: Saturn V Memories.” He always, at the very last minute, create a “President’s has assembled a 45-minute music video of all nine of the Sat- Message” for the Sidereal Times. urn V launches he witnessed, using the music he was listen- ing to at the time of each launch. The music lifts off with Jimi Hendrix’s “All Along the Watchtower,” which was on the I am presently over the middle of the Atlantic charts in December 1968 during Apollo 8. This should be a Ocean on my way to germany for vacation. It is fun talk, both for the eyes and for the ears! Please come and 0200 Zulu time, and we are at 15 W and 61 n. relive history in the making. This is my astronomical equivalent of “gone Earthrise - Apollo 8 fishing.” The Earth as seen by Apollo 8 when it rounded Auf Wiedersehen. the Moon after the lunar orbit insertion burn De- cember 29, 1968. Often OBSeRVe – eDuCATe – HAVe FUN presented horizontally, the image appears here dee in its original orientation. NASA/courtesy nasaimages.org HAMs to Join Stargazers for July Star Party On the Event Horizon Bill Firth, Membership Chairman Oak Flat Public Star Party Saturday, May 30 THe OAk Flat Star Party on July 25 will be a very special Astrophotography Boot Camp, event. In addition to the activities we usually have, High Oak Flat Saturday, May 30 Desert Amateur Radio Club will be joining us. Many of the HDARC members have expressed an interest in this shared ATM Meeting Wednesday, June 3 event and the chance to look through some telescopes. Some of our TAAS members are also Amateur Radio Operators, TAAS Board Meeting Thursday, June 4 HAMs, so this is a merging of similar interests and a chance to TAAS General Meeting Saturday, June 6 see how we can communicate with the rest of the world. Who knows? Maybe both clubs will attract some new members. GNTO Training Saturday, June 13 ATM Meeting Wednesday, June 17 GNTO New Moon Observing Saturday, June 20 True Identity Revealed GNTO Committee Meeting Thursday, June 25 The person identified as “Carol Miller” in Oak Flat Public Star Party Saturday, June 27 the May issue–in the list of Cosmic Carnival Summer Solstice Picnic, Oak Flat Saturday, June 27 volunteers on page 1 and a photo caption on Astrophotography Boot Camp, page 9–is actually Carol Mitchell. Oak Flat Saturday, June 27 Photo: Dee Friesen. Carol Mitchell Page 2 The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society The Sidereal Times June 2009 GNTO News & Views Peter Eschman STeVe Welch opened gnTO for our April 25 observing Trailer available for coffee, hot chocolate, and any snacks you event, with Lance Hurt as backup. Steve tested a new uSB might want to share. We’ve got a bunch of great equipment adapter for our Losmandy Gemini mount for CCD imaging. waiting for you at GNTO, so plan your trip to GNTO soon. He also dropped off a new nebula filter for the GNTO loaner Why wait? telescopes. Early winds calmed down around 10 p.m., and there were no clouds after sunset. nine relative newcomers GNTO committee meetings are open to any TAAS members arrived before sunset, including two guests from California. and provide a great way to get more involved with your Bill Wallace served as host for the Isengard telescope, which observatory. We meet every other month at 6:30 p.m. at JB’s offered viewing sheltered from wind gusts. Bill shut down the Restaurant on Eubank just north of I-40. Our next committee Isengard around 10:30 p.m., and all but Steve left for home. meeting is June 25. If you have questions about GNTO, please Five more viewers then showed up, for a nearly complete contact me (Peter eschman, [email protected], phone 873-1517). change in participants. Shortly after midnight, a brilliant bolide lit up the sky and split in two, exploding just above I hope to see you soon at your observatory. the northeast horizon. By the time Steve wrapped things up at 1:30 a.m. there had been a total of 16 people attending and five telescopes in operation. Have You Thought about Car-Pooling to GNTO? Conditions were more challenging for our May 16 event. Have you ever decided to not attend a TAAS function at GNTO Melissa Kirk opened the facility, with Lance Hurt as backup. because you did not want to make the drive to the observatory? Dee Friesen was available to host the Isengard telescope; If your answer to this question is yes, you may be interested however, wind and clouds prevented viewing. Seven people in the idea of car-pooling to GNTO. The GNTO committee visited GNTO. Melissa and Lance closed up around 11 p.m. evaluates the interest in and options for a car-pool program to Those who attended had an enjoyable time socializing in the the observatory. comfort of the Robert Ortega Building. The purpose of the program would be to make GNTO more accessible to TAAS members who otherwise are unable to I got a call from Bob Norton on Friday evening prior to the attend functions at the observatory. GNTO is a wonderful asset May 16 event reporting damage to the GNTO. Many thanks that all TAAS members should be able to utilize and enjoy. We to Bob for reporting the problem, and to Steve Welch for jury- all need to decide if a car-pool program would help accomplish rigging a clever repair. With Steve’s work, the facility is again this goal. secure. Your assistance is needed in determining if there is a sufficient June eVenTS include training and observing on June 13 and interest in this effort to continue with the idea. We would also a New Moon observing chance on June 20. Sunset is at 8:21 like to get your ideas on how a car-pooling program should be p.m. on June 13, so we will begin our “Introduction to GNTO conducted.