Highlights of the May Sky

- - - 2nd - - -

DAWN: A very thin waning crescent Moon is about 4.5° to the lower right of Venus.

- - - 4th - - - New Moon 6:46 pm EDT

- - - 6th - - - AM: Eta Aquarid meteor shower peaks before dawn.

PM: The Moon is 2° to the upper right of Aldebaran.

- - - 7th - - - PM: The Moon is less than ½° from Zeta Tauri, with Mars less than 4° to the upper right of the pairing.

- - - 10th - - - PM: The Moon is in the Beehive Cluster (M44).

- - - 11th - - - First Quarter Moon 9:12 pm EDT

- - - 12th - - -

PM: The Moon is 6° to the le of Regulus.

- - - 15th - - - PM: A waxing gibbous Moon is about 8.5° from Spica in Virgo.

- - - 18th - - - Full Moon 5:11 pm EDT

- - - 20th - - - PM: Jupiter and the Moon are 5° apart.

- - - 23rd - - - AM: The Moon and Saturn are 4° apart.

- - - 26th - - - Last Quarter Moon 12:34 pm EDT

- - - 28th - - - PM: Asteroid 1 Ceres is at opposi on.

KAS

General Meeting: Friday, May 3 @ 7:00 pm Kalamazoo Area Math & Science Center - See Page 10 for Details

Observing Session: Saturday, May 11 @ 9:00 pm

Moon & Double Stars - Kalamazoo Nature Center

Board Meeting: Sunday, May 19 @ 5:00 pm Sunnyside Church - 2800 Gull Road - All Members Welcome

Observing Session: Saturday, May 25 @ 9:00 pm

Grand Globular Clusters - Kalamazoo Nature Center

Inside the Newsletter. . . April Mee ng Minutes....................... p. 2 Board Mee ng Minutes..................... p. 3 Observa ons...................................... p. 3 NASA Night Sky Notes........................ p. 4 Exploring Amateur Astronomy.......... p. 4 First Image of a Black Hole................ p. 5 Membership of the KAS..................... p. 7 May Night Sky.................................... p. 8 KAS Board & Announcements............ p. 9 General Mee ng Preview.................. p. 10

May 2019

The general meeting of the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society was brought to order by President Richard Bell on Friday, April 12, 2019 at 7:05 pm EST. Approximately 36 members and guests were in attendance at the Kalamazoo Area Math & Science Center (KAMSC). Richard started his President’s Report with a brief review of the 2019 Northeast Astronomy Forum (NEAF). He reminded members about the first ever Remote Telescope Training Session on April 26th. The Meade 16-inch SCT OTA for Owl Observatory has been delivered and the Astro-Physics 1600GTO German equatorial mount is on order. A volunteer is needed to construct the new observatory pier (Josh Taylor-Lehman stepped forward). Scott Macfarlane and Roger Williams will be representing the KAS at the Green-A-Thon in Portage on April 13th. Richard concluded by passing out a volunteer sheet for the Rock & Mineral Show on May 4th and 5th at the Kalamazoo Expo Center. Dr. Lauren Woolsey, an Assistant Professor of Physical Sciences at Grand Rapids Community College, was the guest speaker for the April meeting. Her presentation was entitled Unlocking the Sun: Spectroscopy in the 1800s. Using thermometers, William Herschel measured the temperatures of all of the colors and of the space beyond the rainbow in 1800. This led to the discovery of infrared radiation. Dr. Woolsey then reviewed the entire electromagnetic spectrum. From shortest to longest wavelength (or highest to lowest energy) the order is gamma-rays, X-rays, ultraviolet, visible light, infrared, microwave, and radio waves. William Hyde Wollaston, in 1802, was the first to notice that sunlight actually has dark lines in it. He noted seven separate dark lines. This led to the review of the different types of spectrum. A continuous spectrum has no absorption or emission lines. An absorption spectrum results when radiation passes through a gas. Atoms in the gas absorb photons of certain wavelengths, which we see as dark lines. An emission spectrum is produced by photons emitted by an excited gas.

Prime Focus Page 2

Joseph Fraunhofer created the first astronomical spectroscope in 1814 and looked at flames of different elements. For the Sun, he saw hundreds of lines. Like Wollaston, he labeled the sharpest lines with letters, starting with A on the red side of the visible spectrum. Comparing with known elements burned in the lab, he noticed that the D line doublet matched a bright line for sodium. Fraunhofer also used his new spectroscope on other objects like the Moon, Venus, Mars, and the stars Sirius, Pollux, Castor, Capella, Betelgeuse, and Procyon. Using Robert Bunsen’s newly improved laboratory burner, Gustav Kirchhoff set up an experiment in 1859 that allowed him to compare the dark line absorption spectrum from the Sun with the bright line emission spectra from different elements. In his publication, Kirchhoff noted that Fraunhofer’s lines “exist in consequence of the presence, in the incandescent atmosphere of the Sun, of those substances which in the spectrum of a flame produce bright lines at the same place.” This included Na, Fe, Ca, Mg, Cu, Zn, Ni and others, elements also found on Earth. Just as Robert Bunsen worked with Kirchhoff to set up his experiments, which many have called the foundations of astrophysics, he also was a mentor to Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe, who studied the spectra of many different astronomical objects in the 1860s. During this same period, Angelo Secchi built a catalog of over 4,000 stars using a series of spectroscopic instruments of his own invention. In 1868, J. Norman Lockyer commissioned a spectroscope that could study the outer layers of the Sun (the corona) without waiting for a solar eclipse. On October 20, 1868, he made an observation which noted a bright yellow/orange emission line that had never been seen before. The same day Lockyer presented his results to the Royal Society in England, the results from Pierre Janssen’s expedition to view the Aug. 18th eclipse in India reached the French Academy. He had seen this same new yellow/orange emission line. The year after Lockyer and Janssen discovered that new line, named Helium after the Greek word for Sun (Helios), William Harkness and Charles Augustus Young each independently observed an eclipse in the U.S. and found a bright green emission line. Even after Helium was discovered on Earth, the new bright green line (named coronium) remained a mystery. In 1939, Swedish spectroscopist Bengt Edlèn was able to identify the “coronium” line as a very high ionization state of iron: Fe-XIV a.k.a. Fe13+. This level of ionization requires a temperature of millions of degrees This identification wrapped up the mystery of the 1800s but created a new mystery that we are still solving today. During observing reports, Aaron Roman said he’s completed about 95% of the A.L. Messier program. The big news item discussed was the first ever image of a black hole (see page 5 for more). Israel’s Beresheet mission crashed on the Moon on April 11th. After discussing upcoming KAS activities, the meeting concluded at 9:07 pm.

April Meeting Minutes

Dr. Lauren Woolsey, an Assistant Professor at Grand Rapids Community College, was the guest speaker at our general meeting on April 12th.

May 2019 Prime Focus Page 3

In New Business, the Board set prices on several telescopes to be sold. This includes the 12-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope from Owl Observatory ($1,200), the Celestron 8-inch NexStar mentioned earlier ($800), and the 8-inch SCT on a Super Polaris EQ mount currently available for loan ($800). A donated Celestar 8-inch SCT will become a new loan telescope. On another topic, Richard suggested some preliminary plans for the “Quintuple Conjunction” gathering of area astronomy clubs in Kalamazoo on September 14th. In the Other category, Don reported that Kiwanis CraneFest will be on October 12th & 13th, and he would like to offer solar viewing for this event. He also mentioned that Kiwanis and Kingman Museum will be collaborating on an event with an astronomy theme. Some presentations may be desired. With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 7:15 pm. The next meeting was set for May 19th, with a caution from Jack that he might not be available on that date. Respectfully submitted by Roger Williams

The Kalamazoo Astronomical Society Board met on April 14, 2019 at Sunnyside Church. Before the meeting was convened, the Board spent some time assembling and checking out an 8-inch Celestron NexStar telescope recently donated to KAS. The meeting was then called to order by President Richard Bell at 5:22 pm. Board members present were Joe Comiskey, Jean DeMott, Scott Macfarlane, Rich Mather, Jack Price, Don Stilwell, and Roger Williams. The Treasurer’s Report was still missing because of a problem with Rich’s computer. He said that the data were all present on the hard drive, but have yet to be recovered and used to generate the usual report format. A summary was provided of the amounts present in all of our Advia accounts, however. In discussion of the current state of treasury funds, concern was expressed about the amount of time elapsed since the last complete report (May, 2018) and about the method for backing up files. Don moved that he and Rich proceed to access the treasury files and to generate reports for January - April, 2019 (seconded by Joe). Jean offered an amendment to include June - December, 2018 in the time period to be reported. A deadline of May 19th was also set. All voted in favor of the amended motion. One aspect of this effort was understood to be copying the files to a thumb drive as soon as possible. For the future, Rich will e-mail Don and Richard treasury files for back-up on a monthly basis. One other item in this category (raised by Richard) was the Remote Telescope fee to be paid by those few granted lifetime membership status in KAS. After a brief discussion, there was consensus that the lifetime membership frees one from paying membership dues but that the Remote Telescope fee would be due the same as with other members. A very brief summary of April/May events included a Remote Telescope training session at KAMSC on April 26th (9:30 pm), Public Observing Sessions on April 27th and May 11th, and a general meeting on May 3rd. Richard was awaiting final confirmation that the May 3rd meeting would be by Skype, since the speaker could not come in person as planned. [Note added in proof: More recent information is that the planned speaker will not be able to keep this commitment, and Richard is looking for alternatives.] It appeared that the June 7th meeting would also use Skype. In the follow-up category Richard reported on further examination of cloud storage accounts for the Remote Telescope image files. The cost for this item will be significant. Concerning the Owl Observatory upgrade, things were proceeding swiftly for the telescope and mount replacement, and the pier had moved to a high priority. The Board agreed that a 10-inch diameter pier would be required. Plans were in place to cover the Rock & Mineral Show on May 4th & 5th, and alternatives were considered to obtain less expensive dry ice for comet-making.

We have yet to hold the first Public Observing Session of 2019. Skies were beautiful up until about sunset on April 7th, but then thin clouds moved it and spoiled our view of the heavens. I did see a nice halo around the Moon, so that was something! The session planned for April 27th was even worse as a light snowfall covered our lawns. Let’s hope the sessions on both May 11th and 25th coincide with clear skies and moderate temperatures. I’m anxious to once again share views of the nearby worlds of the solar system and distant deep sky objects of the Universe. If you’ve been keeping up with your reading of Prime Focus and/or perusing the pages of KAS Online, then you know our guest speaker was supposed to be Dr. Jim Ashley from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Dr. Ashley had planned to update us on the progress of the Mars InSight mission, for which he serves as the Deputy Science Operations Coordinator. Unfortunately, his responsibilities for the mission required him to stay in California. We had hoped for at least a Skype presentation, but now that’s impossible. Instead, Dave DeBruyn, from the Grand Rapids Amateur Astronomical Association, will present a travelogue of his recent excursion to dark skies of the Atacama Desert in Chile. Please join your fellow members at the meeting on May 3rd. The Owl Observatory Upgrade Project is coming right along. We now have the appropriate funds to purchase everything needed to adapt the 16-inch SCT OTA and the Astro-Physics 1600GTO equatorial mount. We still need to raise an additional $5,000. This will go toward the motor for the roll-off roof, the high-quality eyepieces, and filters. Please contribute and help make Owl Observatory one of the best equipped observatories in Michigan.

May 2019 Prime Focus Page 4

Late spring brings warmer nights, making it more comforta-ble to observe a good showing of the Eta Aquarids meteor shower. Skywatchers can also look for the delicate Coma Star Cluster, and spot the Moon on the anniversary of Apollo 10’s “test run” prior to the Moon landing in 1969. The Eta Aquarids meteor shower should make a good showing this year, peaking the morning of May 6th. This me-teor shower has an unusual “soft peak,” meaning that many meteors can be spotted several days before and after the 6th; many may find it convenient to schedule meteor watching for the weekend, a night or two before the peak. You may be able to spot a couple dozen meteors an hour from areas with clear dark skies. Meteors can appear in any part of the sky and you don’t need any special equipment to view them; just find an area away from lights, lie down on a comfy lawn chair or blanket, relax, and patiently look up. These brief bright streaks are caused by Earth moving through the stream

of fine dust particles left by the passage of Comet Halley. While we have to wait anoth-er 43 years for the famous comet grace our skies once more, we are treated to this beautiful cosmic post-card every year. While you’re up mete-or watching, try to

find a delightful naked eye star cluster: the Coma Star Clus-ter (Melotte 111) in the small constellation of Coma Bereni-ces. It can be spotted after sunset in the east and for almost the entire night during the month of May. Look for it inside the area of the sky roughly framed between the constellations of Leo, Boötes, and Ursa Major. The cluster’s sparkly mem-bers are also known as “Berenice’s Hair” in honor of Egyp-tian Queen Berenices II’s sacrifice of her lovely tress-es. Binoculars will bring out even more stars in this large young cluster. May marks the 50th anniversary of the Lunar Module’s test run by the Apollo 10 mission! On May 22, 1969, NASA astronauts Thomas Safford and Eugene Cernan piloted the Lunar Module - nick-named “Snoopy” - on a test descent towards the lunar surface. Un-docking from “Charlie Brown” - the Com-mand Module, piloted by John Young – they descended to 47,400

Have you ever wanted to start and complete more of the As-tronomical League’s observing programs but just didn’t know how? Mike Hotka’s new book, Exploring Amateur Astronomy – Goal Oriented Observing, will not only help you start more observing programs, but will also share an observing methodology to help you get more out of your observing sessions. Mike is a Platinum Master Observer and has completed all but three of the currently existing observ-ing programs. In his book, he shares tips and tricks he learned throughout the years of how to overcome some of these pro-gram’s learning curves, so that you can start recording observa-tions sooner. He wrote this book because of his love of astronomy and his desire to share his knowledge of observ-ing celestial objects with others. Mike’s book explains the con-cept of setting SMART goals to ensure you observe on a regular basis. The book goes on to ex-plain a methodology that Mike has developed and refined over the years of how to plan an observing session, find the resources you will need in the field and the importance of keeping a good observing log of your observations. The remainder of the book contains a chapter for each of the observing programs that Mike has completed. These chapters describe how Mike approached each observing program and he shares the techniques that were effective in completing the observations for each program. With this knowledge, you will be able to start making observations from the very be-ginning for even the most difficult of observing programs. This book emphasizes learning and refining astronomical observing techniques. It is designed to aid the beginner as well as the experienced amateur astronomer to train their eye to see faint celestial objects. This book is dedicated to those that would like to start and complete more Astronomical League observing programs.

Watching the Late Spring Skies

by David Prosper

NASA Night Sky Notes...

Complete More Observing Programs

feet above the surface of the Moon before returning safely to the orbiting Command Module. Their success paved the way for the first humans to land on the Moon later that year with Apollo 11. Look for the Moon on the morning of May 22nd, before or after dawn, and contemplate what it must have felt like to hover mere miles above the lunar surface. You’ll also see the bright giant planets Saturn and Jupiter on either side of the Moon before sunrise. When will humans travel to those distant worlds? This article is distributed by NASA Night Sky Network. Visit nightsky.jpl.nasa.org to find local clubs, events, and more!

May 2019

An international collaboration presents paradigm-shifting observations of the gargantuan black hole at the heart of dis-tant galaxy Messier 87 The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) — a planet-scale array of eight ground-based radio telescopes forged through inter-national collaboration — was designed to capture images of a black hole. On April 10th, in coordinated press conferences across the globe, EHT researchers reveal that they have suc-ceeded, unveiling the first direct visual evidence of a super-massive black hole and its shadow. This breakthrough was announced in a series of six papers published in a special issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters. The image reveals the black hole at the center of Messier 87 [1], a supergiant elliptical galaxy in the nearby Virgo galaxy cluster. This black hole resides 55 million light-years from Earth and has a mass 6.5 billion times that of the Sun [2]. The EHT links telescopes around the globe to form an Earth-sized virtual telescope with unprecedented sensitivity and resolution [3]. The EHT is the result of years of international collaboration, and offers scientists a new way to study the

Prime Focus Page 5

most extreme objects in the Universe predicted by Einstein’s general relativity during the centennial year of the historic experiment that first confirmed the theory [4]. "We have taken the first picture of a black hole," said EHT project director Sheperd S. Doeleman of the Center for As-trophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. "This is an extraordi-nary scientific feat accomplished by a team of more than 200 researchers." Black holes are extraordinary cosmic objects with enormous masses but extremely compact sizes. The presence of these objects affects their environment in extreme ways, warping spacetime and super-heating any surrounding material. "If immersed in a bright region, like a disc of glowing gas, we expect a black hole to create a dark region similar to a shadow — something predicted by Einstein’s general relativ-ity that we’ve never seen before, explained chair of the EHT Science Council Heino Falcke of Radboud University, the Netherlands. "This shadow, caused by the gravitational bend-ing and capture of light by the event horizon, reveals a lot about the nature of these fascinating objects and allowed us to measure the enormous mass of M87’s black hole."

Multiple calibration and imaging methods have revealed a ring-like struc-ture with a dark central region — the black hole’s shadow — that persisted over multiple independent EHT observations. "Once we were sure we had imaged the shadow, we could compare our observations to extensive computer models that in-clude the physics of warped space, superheated matter and strong magnet-ic fields. Many of the fea-tures of the observed im-age match our theoretical understanding surprisingly well," remarks Paul T.P. Ho, EHT Board member

and Director of the East Asian Observatory [5]. "This makes us confident about the interpretation of our observations, including our estimation of the black hole’s mass." Creating the EHT was a formidable challenge which required upgrading and connecting a worldwide network of eight pre-existing telescopes deployed at a variety of challenging high-altitude sites. These locations included volcanoes in Hawai`i

Astronomers Capture First Image of a Black Hole

Scientists have obtained the first image of a black hole, using Event Horizon Telescope observations of the center of the galaxy M87. The image shows a bright ring formed as light bends in the intense gravity around a black hole that is 6.5 billion times more massive than the Sun. This long-sought image provides the strongest evidence to date for the existence of supermassive black holes and opens a new window onto the study of black holes, their event horizons, and gravity.

May 2019 Prime Focus Page 6

and Mexico, mountains in Arizona and the Spanish Sierra Nevada, the Chilean Atacama Desert, and Antarctica. The EHT observations use a technique called very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) which synchronizes tele-scope facilities around the world and exploits the rotation of our planet to form one huge, Earth-size telescope observing at a wavelength of 1.3 mm. VLBI allows the EHT to achieve an angular resolution of 20 micro-arcseconds — enough to read a newspaper in New York from a sidewalk café in Paris [6]. The telescopes contributing to this result were ALMA, APEX, the IRAM 30-meter telescope, the James Clerk Max-well Telescope, the Large Millimeter Telescope Alfonso Serrano, the Submillimeter Array, the Submillimeter Tele-scope, and the South Pole Telescope [7]. Petabytes of raw data from the telescopes were combined by highly special-ized supercomputers hosted by the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy and MIT Haystack Observatory. The construction of the EHT and the observations announced today represent the culmination of decades of observational, technical, and theoretical work. This example of global team-work required close collaboration by researchers from around the world. Thirteen partner institutions worked to-gether to create the EHT, using both pre-existing infrastruc-ture and support from a variety of agencies. Key funding was provided by the US National Science Foundation (NSF), the EU's European Research Council (ERC), and funding agen-cies in East Asia. "We have achieved something presumed to be impossible just a generation ago," concluded Doeleman. "Breakthroughs in technology, connections between the world's best radio observatories, and innovative algorithms all came together to open an entirely new window on black holes and the event horizon." Notes [1] The shadow of a black hole is the closest we can come to an image of the black hole itself, a completely dark object from which light cannot escape. The black hole’s boundary — the event horizon from which the EHT takes its name —

is around 2.5 times smaller than the shadow it casts and measures just under 40 billion km across. [2] Supermassive black holes are relatively tiny astronomical objects — which has made them impossible to directly ob-serve until now. As a black hole’s size is proportional to its mass, the more massive a black hole, the larger the shadow. Thanks to its enormous mass and relative proximity, M87’s black hole was predicted to be one of the largest viewable from Earth — making it a perfect target for the EHT. [3] Although the telescopes are not physically connected, they are able to synchronize their recorded data with atomic clocks — hydrogen masers — which precisely time their observations. These observations were collected at a wave-length of 1.3 mm during a 2017 global campaign. Each tele-scope of the EHT produced enormous amounts of data — roughly 350 terabytes per day — which was stored on high-performance helium-filled hard drives. These data were flown to highly specialized supercomputers — known as correlators — at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astrono-my and MIT Haystack Observatory to be combined. They were then painstakingly converted into an image using novel computational tools developed by the collaboration. [4] 100 years ago, two expeditions set out for the island of Príncipe off the coast of Africa and Sobral in Brazil to ob-serve the 1919 solar eclipse, with the goal of testing general relativity by seeing if starlight would be bent around the limb of the Sun, as predicted by Einstein. In an echo of those ob-servations, the EHT has sent team members to some of the world's highest and isolated radio facilities to once again test our understanding of gravity. [5] The East Asian Observatory (EAO) partner on the EHT project represents the participation of many regions in Asia, including China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, India and Indonesia. [6] Future EHT observations will see substantially increased sensitivity with the participation of the IRAM NOEMA Ob-servatory, the Greenland Telescope and the Kitt Peak Tele-scope. [7] ALMA is a partnership of the European Southern Obser-vatory (ESO; Europe, representing its member states), the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), and the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan, together with the National Research Council (Canada), the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST; Taiwan), Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ASIAA; Taiwan), and Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI; Republic of Korea), in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. APEX is operated by ESO, the 30-meter telescope is operated by IRAM (the IRAM Partner Organizations are MPG (Germany), CNRS (France) and IGN (Spain)), the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope is operated by the EAO, the Large Millimeter Telescope Alfonso Serrano is operated by INAOE and UMass, the Submillimeter Array is operated by SAO and ASIAA and the Submillimeter Telescope is operat-ed by the Arizona Radio Observatory (ARO). The South Pole Telescope is operated by the University of Chicago with specialized EHT instrumentation provided by the University of Arizona.

1. Thomas Abraham Senior 2020 2. Jan Andersen Senior 2019 3. Paul Asmus Senior 2019 4. Harold Ballen Senior 2019 5. Richard Bell Life me n/a 6. Jonathan Berndt Senior 2019 7. Karen & Peter Berzins Senior Family 2019 8. Charles Bibart Senior Family 2020 9. Be y Bledsoe Senior 2019 10. Jack & Lorrie Bley Family 2019 11. Joseph & Pa Borrello Family 2019 12. Ma hew Borton Regular 2019 13. Tommy Brown Regular 2019 14. Jason Burke Regular 2019 15. Phyllis Buskirk Life me n/a 16. Michael Bussey Senior 2019 17. Beverly Byle Senior 2020 18. Joseph Cain Family 2019 19. Dale A. Campbell Family 2020 20. David Carpenter Family 2019 21. Adam Castle Regular 2020 22. Bonnie Covert & Mike Chaffee Family 2020 23. Tonya Chase Regular 2019 24. Joe & Ellen Comiskey Family 2019 25. Roark Consola Senior 2019 26. Michael Cook Family 2019 27. Harry Co erill Senior Family 2019 28. Greg Cowles Family 2019 29. Brian Cri endon Regular 2019 30. John Dillworth & Dorilee Crown Family 2020 31. Sco & Lisa Crummel Family 2019 32. Kalman & Becky Csia Senior Family 2020 33. Jean DeMo Senior 2020 34. Sue DeNise Regular 2019 35. Ma hew DePriest Family 2020 36. Srinivas Dhara Family 2019 37. Richard Dirrenberger Senior 2020 38. Kris & Steve Durbin Family 2019 39. Fred E. Du on Senior 2019 40. James Dyer Senior Family 2020 41. Cli on E. Ealy Jr. Regular 2020 42. Fred Espenak Honorary n/a 43. Joseph Evankovich Regular 2019 44. Bill Finger Regular 2019 45. Bradley Franks Student 2019 46. Dave Garten Family 2020 47. Ma Garten Regular 2020 48. Brendan & Dee Gauthier Senior Family 2019 49. Kalina Angell & Rob Gauthier Family 2020 50. Tom George Regular 2019 51. Jaimy Gordon Senior 2019 52. Tony Gurczynski Senior 2019 53. Alexander Hanchar Senior 2019 54. Robert & Barbara Havira Senior Family 2020 55. David Heinrich Family 2019 56. Geoffrey Hickok Senior Family 2020 57. Christopher & Lydia Hodshire Family 2019 58. Lydia Hoff Regular 2019 59. Nicholas & Nancy Hotra Senior Family 2020 60. Arya Jaya laka Family 2021 61. Eric Jeska Regular 2019 62. Dean Johnson Senior 2020 63. Kevin Jung Regular 2020 64. Daniel Keto Regular 2019 65. Rodney & Marlene Kinne Senior Family 2019 66. Mark Kinsey Family 2019 67. Melissa Kohler Family 2019 68. Kirk & Angela Korista Family 2019

69. Srinivasa Kota Family 2020 70. Zosha Kuiper Student 2019 71. Jim Kurtz Regular 2020 72. Tim Kurtz Regular 2020 73. Cal & Jean Lamoreaux Senior Family 2020 74. John Lee Family 2020 75. Nancy Wood & Dale Lighthizer Senior Family 2020 76. Teresa Lindsey-Houston Family 2019 77. Keith Longjohn Senior 2019 78. Andrew Loveless Family 2020 79. Gary & Phyllis Lubbert Family 2019 80. Chuck Lund Senior 2020 81. Sco Macfarlane Family 2019 82. Dale E. Mais Senior 2020 83. Phillip & Linda Marshall Senior Family 2020 84. Jon Towne & Bobbi Mar ndale Family 2019 85. Richard Mather Senior 2020 86. Randy & Michelle Matson Family 2020 87. Joe McJilton Regular 2019 88. Paul McKinley Senior 2019 89. Michael J. Melwiki Regular 2019 90. Chris Miller Regular 2020 91. John Miller Regular 2019 92. Mark & Ninah Miller Family 2020 93. Dave & Carol Mitchell Senior Family 2019 94. Ka e Morgan Regular 2019 95. David Murphy Family 2019 96. Bill Nigg Life me n/a 97. Richard Olsen Regular 2019 98. Jim & Christene Oorbeck Family 2020 99. Amy Ohrstrom Regular 2019 100. Charles Overberger Regular 2020 101. Mike Pa on Senior 2020 102. Thomas M. Peters Regular 2019 103. Jack & Ruth Price Family 2019 104. Sam & Tina Qualls Family 2020 105. Michael Quinn Senior Family 2019 106. Jonathan Reck Regular 2020 107. Christopher Roberts Regular 2019 108. Andrew C. Robins Regular 2019 109. Aaron & McKenzie Roman Family 2019 110. Eric Schreur Senior 2020 111. Robert Secor Regular 2020 112. Frank & Susan Severance Senior Family 2020 113. Diane Schear Regular 2021 114. Rick Shields Senior 2019 115. Lloyd Simons Family 2019 116. Michael & Karen Sinclair Family 2020 117. Greg Sirna Regular 2019 118. Don S lwell Family 2019 119. Stephanie Stra on Regular 2019 120. Brian & Terri Swisher Family 2019 121. Renée Szostek Regular 2019 122. David Taylor Regular 2019 123. Josh Taylor-Lehman Family 2019 124. Gary & Karen Theisen Family 2020 125. Henry & Martha Upjohn Family 2019 126. Michael Vandeveer Senior 2019 127. Patricia Villalobos Family 2019 128. Jim Vukelich Senior 2019 129. Robert Wade Suppor ng 2019 130. Brian Walesh Family 2019 131. Ka e & Duane Weller Family 2019 132. Bob White Senior 2019 133. Roger & Molly Williams Family 2020 134. Ma hew Wimsa Family 2020 135. Klay & Karen Woodworth Family 2019 136. David Woolf Family 2020

Membership of the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society. . .

May 2019 Prime Focus Page 7

— May Night Sky —

NORTH

EAST W

EST

L ook toward the east just before sunrise on May 2nd and you’ll have no difficulty spotting Venus,

the brilliant Morning Star. If both air and horizon are clear you might be able to spot a thin waning crescent Moon 4.5° to Venus’ lower right. The Moon, now in a thin waxing crescent

phase, moves to within 2° of Aldebaran, Taurus the Bull’s orange-red eye, at dusk on May 6th. The Moon, now one day short of first quarter, buzzes through the Beehive Cluster (M44) in Cancer on the evening of May 10th. You’ll need binoculars to spot the stars of the Beehive.

The Moon, a day past full, forms a wide triangle with planet Jupiter and supergiant star Antares, in Scorpius, on the night of May 19th - 20th. Jupiter and the Moon will come within 5° of one another on the morning of May 20th. Asteroid 1 Ceres will be at opposition on May 28th. It’s easy to spot in binoculars.

SOUTH

This star map is property of the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society. However, you may make as many copies as you wish free-of-charge, so long as it is for non-profit educa onal purposes and full credit is given to the KAS. www.kasonline.org

• Late April 12 am

• Early May 11 pm

• Late May 10 pm

• Early June Dusk

This map represents the sky at the following local mes:

PRESIDENT

Richard S. Bell

VICE PRESIDENT

Jack Price

TREASURER

Rich Mather

SECRETARY/ALCOR

Roger Williams

PUBLICITY MANAGER

Joe Comiskey

MEMBERS-AT-LARGE

Jean De Mo

Sco Macfarlane

Don S lwell

E-MAIL a BOARD MEMBER

May 2019 Page 9

NEW ITEMS IN

ORDER ONLINE AT : skyshop .kasonl ine .org

KAS Lapel Pin $5.00

Miller Planisphere $13.00

KAS Embroidered Caps $20.00 each

Volunteers Needed @ The KAS has been invited to par cipate in the Kalamazoo Geological & Mineral Society’s 60th annual Rock, Gem, Fossil and Mineral Show at the Kalamazoo County Expo Center. We’ll par cipate on May 4th (10am - 6pm) and May 5th (10am - 5pm). We need at least two volunteers inside and one solar observer outside (from 12 - 4pm, weather permi ng). Please contact us if you’d like to volunteer for one or more dates.

Public Observing Sessions

Kalamazoo Nature Center ─ 7000 N. Westnedge Ave. ─

Saturday, May 11th

Saturday, May 25th

© May 2019, Stargazer Productions

Kalamazoo Astronomical Society c/o KAMSC 600 West Vine, Suite 400 Kalamazoo, MI 49008

STAMP

General Meeting Preview

Dave has just returned from a "bucket list" trip that he has been an cipa ng for decades. With several long me stargazing buddies, he traveled to the Atacama Desert of northern Chile, to observe under ideal condi ons features of the sky that never rise over Michigan. These included the fabled Magellanic Clouds, Tarantula Nebula, magnificent Omega Centauri cluster, and other sky wonders. At an eleva on of close to 10,000 feet, and absence of any serious urban light pollu on, the Atacama has become the place for both amateur and professional astronomy. The group used a 22-inch Dobsonian telescope over four amazingly dark nights, and Dave will show representa ve images from this adventure of a life me during the presenta on.

Friday, May 3 @ 7:00 pm Kalamazoo Area Math & Science Center

600 West Vine, Suite 400 • Use Dutton St. Entrance

─ Dutton Entrance Locked by 7:10 pm ─