The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society P.O. Box 50581, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87181-0581 www.TAAS.org S ince 1959 The speaker for Astronomy 101, preceding the June 22 nd TAAS General Meeting, will be TAAS member John Laning. His topic: “Finding Galaxies with Red-Dot Finder and Push-To Mount.” John’s talk will cover finding galaxies in the Messier Catalog, which number 40. He will use a table with sizes and distances, and explain the use of charts from the Sky6 to locate each galaxy, and images he has taken of these Messier galaxies. The Sky6 is a planetarium program using sky charts in which objects can be selected by mouse and information provided. It is a little like SkySafari on your tablet or smart phone. If you have the correct driver software for your mount, you can also control where your mount points. —Lynne Olson TAAS GENERAL MEETING Saturday, June 22 - 7:00 PM Speaker: Dr. Tom Prettyman, Planetary Science Institute UNM SCIENCE AND MATH LEARNING CENTER FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC Dr. Tom Prettyman is our speaker for the June 22 TAAS Gen- eral Meeting. His topic: “Exploring the Main Asteroid Belt: Ce- res, Vesta and Visions of Psyche.” Prettyman has spoken to TAAS several times in the past, as NASA’s Dawn mission targeted Vesta and Ceres. Dawn, now retired, was launched in September 2007 to study these two most massive bodies in the asteroid belt. Operations ended in November of 2018, and the spacecraft is currently in a stable orbit around Ceres. Prettyman will bring us up to date on discoveries made during Dawn’s final mission phase, in which the spacecraft was placed INSIDE 2....... President’s Message, NMScience Fiesta Expo 3....... Nightscape: Milky Way Over Chaco Canyon 4....... Under the Dome, Telescope Loan Update 5....... Chaco Canyon Star Party 6.......La Vida Llena, Bachechi Star Party 7 ....... TAAS Baseball Outing June 12 8....... Astrophoto: Eagle Nebula (M16) 9........ TAAS Reports & Notices 10....... TAAS Directors & Staff continued on page 2 . . . General Meeting News New Moon Observing GNTO Sat., July 6 June 2019 O ur 60 th A nniverSAry Observe—Educate—Have Fun TAAS Astronomy101 Saturday, June 22, 6:00 PM Speaker: John Laning Science and Math Learning Center, UNM Campus Free and Open to the Public The Sidereal Times Public Star Party Oak Flat Picnic Area Sat., July 13 Dwarf planet Ceres. False-color rendering reveals variations in surface materials. Photo: NASA Photo by John Laning – Taken at Rocky Mtn. Star Stare in Gardner CO, June 2016. Explore Scientific ED127CF scope on iOpron CEM60 mount; Celestron 11” Edge on Losmandy G-11. TAAS Fabulous 50 Summer Viewing Session All Saints of North America Orthodox Church Fri., July 19
Transcript
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical SocietyPO Box 50581 Albuquerque New Mexico 87181-0581 wwwTAASorg
S i n c e 1959
The speaker for Astronomy 101 preceding the June 22nd TAAS General Meeting will be TAAS member John Laning His topic ldquoFinding Galaxies with Red-Dot Finder and Push-To Mountrdquo
Johnrsquos talk will cover finding galaxies in the Messier Catalog which number 40 He will use a table with sizes and distances and explain the use of charts from the Sky6 to locate each galaxy and images he has taken of these Messier galaxies
The Sky6 is a planetarium program using sky charts in which objects can be selected by mouse and information provided It is a little like SkySafari on your tablet or smart phone If you have the correct driver software for your mount you can also control where your mount points
mdashLynne Olson
TAAS GENERAL MEETING Saturday June 22 - 700 PM
Speaker Dr Tom Prettyman Planetary Science Institute UNM SCIENCE AND MATH LEARNING CENTER
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLICDr Tom Prettyman is our speaker for the June 22 TAAS Gen-eral Meeting His topic ldquoExploring the Main Asteroid Belt Ce-res Vesta and Visions of Psycherdquo
Prettyman has spoken to TAAS several times in the past as NASArsquos Dawn mission targeted Vesta and Ceres Dawn now retired was launched in September 2007 to study these two most massive bodies in the asteroid belt Operations ended in November of 2018 and the spacecraft is currently in a stable orbit around Ceres
Prettyman will bring us up to date on discoveries made during Dawnrsquos final mission phase in which the spacecraft was placed
I N S I D E2 Presidentrsquos Message NMScience Fiesta Expo3 Nightscape Milky Way Over Chaco Canyon4 Under the Dome Telescope Loan Update
5 Chaco Canyon Star Party 6La Vida Llena Bachechi Star Party 7 TAAS Baseball Outing June 12
Science and Math Learning Center UNM CampusFree and Open to the Public
The Sidereal Times
Public Star PartyOak Flat Picnic AreaSat July 13
Dwarf planet Ceres False-color rendering reveals variations in surface materials Photo NASA
Photo by John Laning ndash Taken at Rocky Mtn Star Stare in Gardner CO June 2016 Explore Scientific ED127CF scope on iOpron CEM60 mount Celestron 11rdquo Edge on Losmandy G-11
TAAS Fabulous 50Summer Viewing SessionAll Saints of North America Orthodox ChurchFri July 19
Page 2
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
2020 ALCON Approved
On May 24 amp 25 we hosted Astronomical League President Ron Kramer and AL VP and Convention Coordinator Carroll Iorg for meetings concerning the 2020 Astro-nomical League Convention (ALCON) here in Albuquerque
We have established a very good relation-ship with the AL and now have a com-pleted agreement for the ALCON The AL has also approved our recommendation to hold the convention at the Embassy Suites hotel and they have signed a contract for the event
We are on our way to hosting an important astronomical event here in Albuquerque and having a great opportunity to show off our Enchanted Skies to amateur astrono-mers from around the country
Ron Kramer addressed the club at our General Meeting on May 25 He provided an excellent presentation on the ALrsquos many programs and activities If you are not an AL member you should consider it The cost is $750 per year and offers many benefits including a wide range of excellent observing programs
Help us Plan the 2020 ALCON
The 2020 ALCON will be held on July 16-18 of next year The planning committee needs your help and assistance Please consider joining the 2020 ALCON Commit-tee
Co-Registrar The committee needs someone to serve as Co-Registrar The Co-Registrar will assist the Registrar (David Downs) in setting up and running the ef-fort to register conference participants
Publicity The committee needs someone to help us publicize the conference The Astronomical League provides a lot of sup-port for this effort We need you to work with them to provide the inputs they need
Treasurer The committee needs some-one to create and maintain the financial records for the conference The Treasurer will work closely with the ALCON Commit-tee and the Astronomical League to ensure we have an accurate record of our finances
Please contact me if you are interested in filling one of these important positions
P r e s i d e n t rsquo s M e s s a g e Jim Fordice
in a highly eccentric orbit around Ceres The data provide new views of the dwarf planetrsquos surface with unprecedented detail
He will also describe plans for a mission to Psyche one of the ten most massive as-teroids at more than 120 miles in diameter thought to be the iron and nickel core simi-lar to Vesta whose crust and mantle were removed by impacts Psyche is scheduled to launch in 2022 arriving in 2026
Large bodies in the main asteroid belt are thought to represent the building blocks of the terrestrial planets As such they pro-vide a record of the earliest epoch of solar system evolution
Prettyman received his PhD in Nuclear Engineering in 1991 from North Carolina State University and joined PSI in 2007 af-ter 14 years as a member of the Technical Staff of Los Alamos National Laboratory
Minor Planet 24994 Prettyman is named for him
mdashLynne Olson
G e n e r a l M e e t i n g N e w s c o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 1
Observe ndash Educate ndash Have Fun
RemembeR to notify TAAS when your mailing address e-mail address phone numbers etc change Send updates to Doug LeGrand treasurerTAASorg or to Bob Anderson membershipTAASorg
The NM Science Fiesta is a week-long cel-ebration of science for children and adults Events invite you to explore science tech-nology engineering art and math and the vital roles they play in our everyday lives Free to the public open to adults families and children of all ages and interests
The EXPO inspires curiosity creativity and innovation with more than 70 interactive booths mind-blowing demos and perfor-mances Meet scientists engineers artists and other STEM professionals
TAAS is invited to bring solar telescopes to the event on Saturday June 22 TAAS will be partnered with the New Mexico Mu-seum of Natural history and Science Plan-etarium display and will set up telescopes outside of the Manuel Lujan Building
Questions Contact Dee Friesen at taas-deecomcastnet
NM Science Fiesta Expo
Page 3
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
The Milky Way over Chaco Canyon June 2nd Here is my attempt to capture the panorama of the scene at the Visitors Center during the TAAS star party on Saturday night and Sunday morning (See article p 5) It was a marvelous experience for me since it has been 39 years since I last visited Chaco and since then I have developed a much deeper appreciation for the dark sky
The sky conditions for wide and medium field astrophotography were good until first light There were widely scattered clouds near the horizon until after 1 AM but overhead the sky was mostly clear of clouds
Other TAAS members were set up in the employee parking lot shown at the left in the picture I was near the center of the picture close to the corner of the visitors center (at the yellow lit chair) so I could get a
good perspective of Fajada Butte on the right side
The picture was made from seven vertical panels using a 14mm lens on a Nikon D810 Each panel was a 25 sec exposure at F28 and the camera gain was set to ISO 6400 The panorama was generated in Lightroom and the resulting image was adjusted in Photoshop using luminosity masks to bring up the foreground scene and add a bit of contrast to the sky No noise reduction or sharpening has been applied to the image
There was considerable airglow earlier in the night (in my experience an indicator of a really dark site)
Since no sky tracking was used in this panorama the stars are streaked and even distorted from the panorama merging process - so no pixel peeping please - LOL
mdashBobFugate
Page 4
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
June 1 - 3rd Quarter Moon ObservingPete Eschman was the opener He report-ed Following the GNTO committee meet-ing at GNTO Vance Ley Tom Liles and Pete Eschman stayed on-site After the inter-mittent rain stopped we proceeded to rid parts of the observing field of weeds
As time passed the clouds began to clear but there was a bit of wind out of the east that persisted into the first few observing hours Around twilight we were joined by John Wheeler Edgar Fischer Bethany and Ben Burnett and Viola Sanchez
Conditions continued to improve as the winds dropped and clouds departed By about 3 am Pete Vance and Viola called it quits with Pete departing while the others decided to get some rest and load up in the morning By the time we quit observing
conditions were quite good and we wished we were not too tired to continue to enjoy the sky I believe that Vance said that things went quite well with the GNTO laptop motor-ized imaging dome and Losmandy mount The new USB cable to the camera seemed to remove the connection issues that had plagued him in the past and the new mount motor worked well I believe he said he fine-tuned the mountrsquos polar alignment as well Viola brought a very nice new scope to GNTO for the first time and after some col-limation tweaking it gave some very nice images Pete worked with his new C925 Evo scope ldquoPetersquos Follyrdquo under darker skies forthe
Under the DomeNotes from and about GNTO Jim Fordice
first time and found that the scope per-formed well in GoTos driven from the iPad Sky Safari app and gave good views with the f63 focal reducer attached
All in all it was an enjoyable evening at GNTO
Upcoming Events bull June 29 3rd Quarter Moon Ob-
serving
bull July 6 New Moon Observing
bull July 27 3rd Quarter Moon Observ-ing
bull August 3 GNTO Picnic amp New Moon Observing
Donrsquot forget that the GNTO Observing Field is available for use by TAAS members anytime Check the TAAS website for the procedure to follow Contact me if you have any questions
As always check TAAS_Talk and the TAAS website for last-minute changes and up-dates GNTO events are open to all TAAS members and their guests
GNTO Director GNTOTAASorg or 505-803-3640
Telescope Loan Program UpdateBy Rick Vergas Telescope Loan Program Coordinator
There are no loaner telescopes currently available I am taking inventory of sur-plus equipment and taking photos in preparation for an auction probably in the early Summer Items and details will be provided later Currently 37 scopes are on loan and the remaining two are reserved for pickup later in the week How-ever scopes currently on loan can be reserved for the future If you are interested in a particular scope let me know
Loan Program Statistics
of Scopes on Loan Available
on Loan
39 39 0 100 Type Reflectors Refractors Catadioptrics
23 7 12
Size Large (gt8rdquo) Medium (5rdquo-8rdquo) Small (lt5rdquo) 12 17 13
Tracking Manual Push-To Go-To Tracking 26 5 7 11 As of 6119
Page 5
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
Chaco Canyon Star PartyMay 30ndashJune 2 Chaco Culture National Historical Park
By Boris Venet TAAS Chaco Canyon Events Coordinator
From Friday evening to Sunday morning May 30ndashJune 2 TAAS members and guests gathered at the Chaco Culture National His-torical Park (aka Chaco Canyon) for a combined public and private star party
Weather conditions were generally favorable for observing with fairly typical Chaco conditions mornings clear and afternoons with considerable cumulus with some strong-wind episodes But before sunset the clouds and major winds departed Transparency and seeing were not the greatest but overall the night skies were clear dark and beautiful
Nina Iniarte reported ldquoTruly Chaco is a mystical place especially for the night sky gazers The silence of the night has a rhythm with the stars creating a spectacular show for anyonersquos delightrdquo
TAAS attendance was very strong including several new members just getting acquainted with our group as well as a couple of guest observers and photographers
Much of our group was present both nights with others coming for just Friday or Saturday night TAAS members attending includ-ed Kurt Brockmann Fernando Torres Jim Kaminski Nena Iriarte Paul Pulaski John Purnell Susan Carter Susan Evans Michael Zay Liang Ming David Zuehlke Eric Toops Dan Llewellyn Brigitte de Saint Phalle Jim Roucis Bob Fugate and myself
In my personal Chaco experience this constituted a record TAAS crowd
And they witnessed something new in the sky As Brigitte de Saint Phalle puts it ldquotodayrsquos astrophotography version of insects Star-Link Fireflies arrived on the scene and started a transit of Scor-piusrdquo The straight line of the SpaceX ldquofirefliesrdquo can be seen in two of the accompanying photos
As usual one the Chaco park rangers started the evening with a public lecture after which the visitors were treated to some ob-serving Roughly an hour later most of the public visitors retired to their campsites and the TAAS group continued observing and photographing until stamina or batteries were exhausted
Thanks to everyone who attended for providing a weekend of good fellowship observing and some public education
I think the triad of TAAS goals -- observing educating and having fun -- was well and truly accomplished
Photos by Brigitte de Saint Phalle and Clara Iriate
Chaco Fajada
Chaco Parallel Planes
Chaco Starlink
Page 6
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
Bachechi Star Party May 18
TAAS members and visitors had an enjoy-able time at the first public star party of the season at the Bachechi Open Space in the North Valley on May 18
It was the first really clear night in several days the wind died as darkness came and the County opened the space from 6-11 PM
Phil Fleming offered his Spring presenta-tion of the Fab 50 in the education building to a small but enthusiastic group
Outside TAAS members offered views of a quiet Sun and later views of celestial objects visible in a sky bleached by a full moon to about 25-30 appreciative visitors
Members attending included Steve S Jim K Jon S John L Ling M Jim R Sara W Bo-ris V Fernando T and Melissa K Most had scopes and Boris gave a demonstration of night sky photography including star trails
mdashRick Vergas
LA VIDA LLENA STAR PARTYMAY 14
By Lanie and John Dickel La Vida Llena
We all had a great time at the pizza and star party here at LVL on Tuesday May 14
Unfortunately the clouds obscured the Sun by the time LVL residents had finished their pizza however viewing through four telescopes and binoculars showed various aspects of the Moon overall and details of craters and Maria
We had about 35 people including TAAS LVL staff and residents during much of the evening plus a few more residents who showed up when true astronomical twi-light began
Not long after the Sun set (around 8 pm or so) we were able to glimpse the first stars and start to view the triple system Alcor and Mizar) and later once astronomical twilight began we could view a star clus-ter
Most of the planets were morning objects except Mars which was setting and too close to the horizon and behind clouds to see Some years wersquove been able to view Venus Jupiter and Saturn which are al-ways a big hit
Many stayed to view double stars and open star clusters between 9 and 930 pm when it was darker
We want to thank everyone who made this possible John Laning Ed Juddo and Jim Roucis with their TAAS scopes provided enthusiasm that was contagious and the residents were eager to view and to learn (The videoscope setups will be appreci-ated at the next event for those needing magnification and easy viewing)
Thanks to TAAS for making this a success-ful event
John Dickel starting setup
Ed Juddo with visitors
John Laning and visitorPhotos by Lanie Dickel
Page 7
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
Saturday June 22
Science and Math Learning Center UNM 700 pm
TAAS General Meeting
ldquoExploring the Main Asteroid BeltCeres Vesta and Visions of Psycherdquo
Dr Tom Prettyman Planetary Science Institute
600 pm Astronomy 101 ldquoFinding Galaxies with Red-Dot Finder and Push-To Mountrdquo
John LAning speAker
Join your fellow TAAS bASebAll fAnS at the ballpark for a fun session in the Jack Danielrsquos Old No 7 Club located down the third base line in the corner of the stadium which provides covered seating The Isotopes will take on the visiting Oklahoma City Dodgers
Seating is limited to the first 28 persons to sign up The cost of $3825 includes a ticket to the game and unlimited feasting at the banquet table
Food will include hot dogs hamburgers BBQ pulled pork sandwiches bone-in BBQ chicken baked beans pasta salad sliced cheese tortilla chips and salsa brownies and soft drinks Adult beverages may be purchased individually at the park
mdashDee Friesen
Questions Call text or email 505-681-6094 taasdeecomcastnet
TAAS Baseball Outing ndash Isotopes Park
Wednesday June 12 at 635 pm
Page 8
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
The Eagle Nebula M16 also known as NGC 6611 with the famous ldquoPillars of Creationrdquo captured on June 1st at GNTO using the C-14 Hyperstar instrument located in the imaging dome
30 x 2 min sub-frames were made using an SBIG STF8300 C camera f19 (675 mm) The mount was a Losmandy G11 The sub-frames were aligned and com-bined together with dark frames and flat field frames using PixInsight Further processing was performed using Photoshop CS2
The depth of this image which required only one hour to capture speaks to the speed of acquisition made possible by the Hyperstar system
We will conduct two training sessions in June and in either July or August The dome can accommodate up to three persons in addition to the instructor If yoursquore interested in making images like this in a relatively brief amount of time contact me
mdashVanceLey
Page 9
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
E x p l a n a t i o n o f D u e s a n d M e m b e r s h i p R e n e w a l D a t e
new memberShipS are registered immediately if you pay online If you pay by check your membership is registered when your check is re-ceived by the treasurer
Renewal notices will be sent out via e-mail beginning 60 days before your membership expires If your membership is renewed before it expires or with in 90 days after it ex-pires your new expiration date will be advanced one year from the previous expiration date and your membership will be continuous
If dues payment is received more than 90 days after the expiration date you will be reinstated as a mem-ber with an expiration date set as one year from the receipt of payment
D o n a t i o n s t o T A A S
The Albuquerque Astronomical Society is a 501(c)(3) organization Donations are deduct-ible as charitable contributions on the donorrsquos federal income tax return
Angie Richman
Turner Hunt
Maria Michels
Jerry Love
T A A S R e p o r t s amp N o t i c e s
E d i t o r rsquo s N o t e The deadline for the next issue of The Sidereal Times is Wednesday July 3 The newsletter editorsrsquo e-mail address is
editorTAASorg
W e l c o m e t o N e wo r R e t u r n i n g
T A A S M e m b e r s
Bethany BurnettCheryl Digman
Bud PoeAndrea WilkesFrank WilkesJohn Wilkes
Michael WilkesMike Zay
L o c a t i o n L o c a t i o n L o c a t i o nbull Chaco Canyonbull
6185rsquo elevation Latitude Longitude 36˚ 01rsquo 50rdquoN 107˚ 54rsquo 36rdquoW
3603˚ -10791˚ 36˚ 183rsquo -107˚ 5460rsquo
bull Oak Flatbull 7680rsquo elevation Latitude Longitude 34˚ 59rsquo 48rdquoN 106˚ 19rsquo 17rdquoW
bob Shipley Secretary secretaryTAASorgbobship10gmailcom505-872-8366
roberT AnderSon DirectorMembership CoordinatormembershipTAASorg505-275-1916
Jim fordice DirectorGNTO Director gntoTAASorg505-803-3640
mArk goodmAn DirectorEducation Outreach Directoreducation_coordTAASorg505-328-6157
bob hAvlen Directorrhavlenearthlinknet505-856-3306
cArl lArSon Directorvetenskopsmongmailcom408-623-4717
boriS veneT DirectorChaco Events Coordinator UNM Observatory Coordinator venetbsprintmailcom505-507-7838
rick vergAS DirectorTelescope Loan Coordinatortelescope_loansTAASorg505-620-2832
Astronomical League Coordinator Becky Ramotowski 505-286-8334 astrobeckgmailcom ATM Coordinator Ray Collins 505-344-9686 atmTAASorg Chaco Events Coordinator Boris Venet 505-507-7838 venetbsprintmailcom Education Outreach Mark Goodman 505-328-6157 education_coordTAASorg Explora Adult Night Coordinator Bob Hufnagel 505-890-8122 rhufnagel2comcastnet Fabulous Fifty Coordinator Phil Fleming 505-870-5604 wpflem2010gmailcom GNTO Director Jim Fordice 505-803-3640 gntoTAASorg Membership Chair Bob Anderson 505-275-1916 membershipTAASorg Newsletter Co-Editor Content Bruce Meyer 917-449-0700 editorTAASorg Newsletter Co-Editor Design Gary Cooper 505-227-3974 editorTAASorg Public Events Coordinator Steve Snider 505-249-4066 events_coordinatorTAASorg Publicity Coordinator Lynne Olson 505-856-2537 prTAASorg Scout Coordinator Chaz Jetty 505-350-7949 scout_coordinatorTAASorg Telescope Loan Coordinator Rick Vergas 505-620-2832 telescope_loansTAASorg UNM Observatory Coordinator Boris Venet 505-507-7838 venetbsprintmailcom Webmaster John Purnell 209-355-5166 webmasterTAASorg
2 0 1 9 T A A S B o a r d o f D i r e c t o r s S t a f f
TAAS was honored to receive an ldquoEditorrsquos Pick 2013 Best of the Cityrdquo award from Albuquerque Magazine
BEST PLACE TO STARGAZECELESTIAL EDITION
TAAS was honored to receive an ldquoOUT-OF-ThIS-WORLDrdquo AWARD 2011
from Astronomy Magazine for Outstanding Public Programming
MEMBERSHIP
You can join TAAS or renew your membership online Just go to wwwtaasorg and select ldquoJoin Usrdquo or ldquoRenew Your Membershiprdquo from the main menu on the left side Annual dues are $30 for a regular membership $15 for educators and active military and $5 for students Only regular members are eligible to vote in society matters Our new member information packet can be viewed or downloaded from the same location on the website You can pay your dues on line through PayPal by Visa MasterCard or American Express To pay by check mail your check to TAAS PO Box 50581 Albuquerque NM 87181-0581 or give it to the treasurer at one of our meetings
MAGAZINES
TAAS no longer offers magazine subscriptions
ARTICLESADVERTISEMENTS
Articles personal astronomical clas-sified advertisements and advertise-ments for businesses related to as-tronomy must be submitted by the deadline shown on the Society calen-dar (generally the Friday near the new Moon) Rates for commercial ads (per issue) are $120 per page $60 per half page $30 per quarter page $7 for business card size The newsletter edi-tor reserves the right to include andor edit any article or advertisement E-mail attachments in Microsoft Word or compatible word processor format ASCII and RTF are acceptable One space between paragraphs is pre-ferred One column is approximately 350 words Contact the Newsletter Editor at editorTAASorg for more in-formation
Note that the Sidereal Times is no longer mailed It is posted on the TAAS website wwwTAASorg
Send submissions or correspondence to editorTAASorg
The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
PO Box 50581Albuquerque NM 87181-0581
TAAS ONLINE
TAAS website httpwwwTAASorg
The TAAS website includes
bull Programs bull TAAS 200 bull TAAS Fabulous Fiftybull Educational Outreach School Star
Parties Solar Astronomy Outreachbull Equipment Trader bull Telescope Loaner Programbull Telescope Making and Maintenance And more
bull Online Sidereal Timesbull Calendar of TAAS Eventsbull Membersrsquo Guidebull Links to Astronomy Resources and
Membersrsquo Blogs
E-mail TAASTAASorg
Membersrsquo Google GroupTAAS_talkgooglegroupscom
Page 2
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
2020 ALCON Approved
On May 24 amp 25 we hosted Astronomical League President Ron Kramer and AL VP and Convention Coordinator Carroll Iorg for meetings concerning the 2020 Astro-nomical League Convention (ALCON) here in Albuquerque
We have established a very good relation-ship with the AL and now have a com-pleted agreement for the ALCON The AL has also approved our recommendation to hold the convention at the Embassy Suites hotel and they have signed a contract for the event
We are on our way to hosting an important astronomical event here in Albuquerque and having a great opportunity to show off our Enchanted Skies to amateur astrono-mers from around the country
Ron Kramer addressed the club at our General Meeting on May 25 He provided an excellent presentation on the ALrsquos many programs and activities If you are not an AL member you should consider it The cost is $750 per year and offers many benefits including a wide range of excellent observing programs
Help us Plan the 2020 ALCON
The 2020 ALCON will be held on July 16-18 of next year The planning committee needs your help and assistance Please consider joining the 2020 ALCON Commit-tee
Co-Registrar The committee needs someone to serve as Co-Registrar The Co-Registrar will assist the Registrar (David Downs) in setting up and running the ef-fort to register conference participants
Publicity The committee needs someone to help us publicize the conference The Astronomical League provides a lot of sup-port for this effort We need you to work with them to provide the inputs they need
Treasurer The committee needs some-one to create and maintain the financial records for the conference The Treasurer will work closely with the ALCON Commit-tee and the Astronomical League to ensure we have an accurate record of our finances
Please contact me if you are interested in filling one of these important positions
P r e s i d e n t rsquo s M e s s a g e Jim Fordice
in a highly eccentric orbit around Ceres The data provide new views of the dwarf planetrsquos surface with unprecedented detail
He will also describe plans for a mission to Psyche one of the ten most massive as-teroids at more than 120 miles in diameter thought to be the iron and nickel core simi-lar to Vesta whose crust and mantle were removed by impacts Psyche is scheduled to launch in 2022 arriving in 2026
Large bodies in the main asteroid belt are thought to represent the building blocks of the terrestrial planets As such they pro-vide a record of the earliest epoch of solar system evolution
Prettyman received his PhD in Nuclear Engineering in 1991 from North Carolina State University and joined PSI in 2007 af-ter 14 years as a member of the Technical Staff of Los Alamos National Laboratory
Minor Planet 24994 Prettyman is named for him
mdashLynne Olson
G e n e r a l M e e t i n g N e w s c o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 1
Observe ndash Educate ndash Have Fun
RemembeR to notify TAAS when your mailing address e-mail address phone numbers etc change Send updates to Doug LeGrand treasurerTAASorg or to Bob Anderson membershipTAASorg
The NM Science Fiesta is a week-long cel-ebration of science for children and adults Events invite you to explore science tech-nology engineering art and math and the vital roles they play in our everyday lives Free to the public open to adults families and children of all ages and interests
The EXPO inspires curiosity creativity and innovation with more than 70 interactive booths mind-blowing demos and perfor-mances Meet scientists engineers artists and other STEM professionals
TAAS is invited to bring solar telescopes to the event on Saturday June 22 TAAS will be partnered with the New Mexico Mu-seum of Natural history and Science Plan-etarium display and will set up telescopes outside of the Manuel Lujan Building
Questions Contact Dee Friesen at taas-deecomcastnet
NM Science Fiesta Expo
Page 3
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
The Milky Way over Chaco Canyon June 2nd Here is my attempt to capture the panorama of the scene at the Visitors Center during the TAAS star party on Saturday night and Sunday morning (See article p 5) It was a marvelous experience for me since it has been 39 years since I last visited Chaco and since then I have developed a much deeper appreciation for the dark sky
The sky conditions for wide and medium field astrophotography were good until first light There were widely scattered clouds near the horizon until after 1 AM but overhead the sky was mostly clear of clouds
Other TAAS members were set up in the employee parking lot shown at the left in the picture I was near the center of the picture close to the corner of the visitors center (at the yellow lit chair) so I could get a
good perspective of Fajada Butte on the right side
The picture was made from seven vertical panels using a 14mm lens on a Nikon D810 Each panel was a 25 sec exposure at F28 and the camera gain was set to ISO 6400 The panorama was generated in Lightroom and the resulting image was adjusted in Photoshop using luminosity masks to bring up the foreground scene and add a bit of contrast to the sky No noise reduction or sharpening has been applied to the image
There was considerable airglow earlier in the night (in my experience an indicator of a really dark site)
Since no sky tracking was used in this panorama the stars are streaked and even distorted from the panorama merging process - so no pixel peeping please - LOL
mdashBobFugate
Page 4
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
June 1 - 3rd Quarter Moon ObservingPete Eschman was the opener He report-ed Following the GNTO committee meet-ing at GNTO Vance Ley Tom Liles and Pete Eschman stayed on-site After the inter-mittent rain stopped we proceeded to rid parts of the observing field of weeds
As time passed the clouds began to clear but there was a bit of wind out of the east that persisted into the first few observing hours Around twilight we were joined by John Wheeler Edgar Fischer Bethany and Ben Burnett and Viola Sanchez
Conditions continued to improve as the winds dropped and clouds departed By about 3 am Pete Vance and Viola called it quits with Pete departing while the others decided to get some rest and load up in the morning By the time we quit observing
conditions were quite good and we wished we were not too tired to continue to enjoy the sky I believe that Vance said that things went quite well with the GNTO laptop motor-ized imaging dome and Losmandy mount The new USB cable to the camera seemed to remove the connection issues that had plagued him in the past and the new mount motor worked well I believe he said he fine-tuned the mountrsquos polar alignment as well Viola brought a very nice new scope to GNTO for the first time and after some col-limation tweaking it gave some very nice images Pete worked with his new C925 Evo scope ldquoPetersquos Follyrdquo under darker skies forthe
Under the DomeNotes from and about GNTO Jim Fordice
first time and found that the scope per-formed well in GoTos driven from the iPad Sky Safari app and gave good views with the f63 focal reducer attached
All in all it was an enjoyable evening at GNTO
Upcoming Events bull June 29 3rd Quarter Moon Ob-
serving
bull July 6 New Moon Observing
bull July 27 3rd Quarter Moon Observ-ing
bull August 3 GNTO Picnic amp New Moon Observing
Donrsquot forget that the GNTO Observing Field is available for use by TAAS members anytime Check the TAAS website for the procedure to follow Contact me if you have any questions
As always check TAAS_Talk and the TAAS website for last-minute changes and up-dates GNTO events are open to all TAAS members and their guests
GNTO Director GNTOTAASorg or 505-803-3640
Telescope Loan Program UpdateBy Rick Vergas Telescope Loan Program Coordinator
There are no loaner telescopes currently available I am taking inventory of sur-plus equipment and taking photos in preparation for an auction probably in the early Summer Items and details will be provided later Currently 37 scopes are on loan and the remaining two are reserved for pickup later in the week How-ever scopes currently on loan can be reserved for the future If you are interested in a particular scope let me know
Loan Program Statistics
of Scopes on Loan Available
on Loan
39 39 0 100 Type Reflectors Refractors Catadioptrics
23 7 12
Size Large (gt8rdquo) Medium (5rdquo-8rdquo) Small (lt5rdquo) 12 17 13
Tracking Manual Push-To Go-To Tracking 26 5 7 11 As of 6119
Page 5
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
Chaco Canyon Star PartyMay 30ndashJune 2 Chaco Culture National Historical Park
By Boris Venet TAAS Chaco Canyon Events Coordinator
From Friday evening to Sunday morning May 30ndashJune 2 TAAS members and guests gathered at the Chaco Culture National His-torical Park (aka Chaco Canyon) for a combined public and private star party
Weather conditions were generally favorable for observing with fairly typical Chaco conditions mornings clear and afternoons with considerable cumulus with some strong-wind episodes But before sunset the clouds and major winds departed Transparency and seeing were not the greatest but overall the night skies were clear dark and beautiful
Nina Iniarte reported ldquoTruly Chaco is a mystical place especially for the night sky gazers The silence of the night has a rhythm with the stars creating a spectacular show for anyonersquos delightrdquo
TAAS attendance was very strong including several new members just getting acquainted with our group as well as a couple of guest observers and photographers
Much of our group was present both nights with others coming for just Friday or Saturday night TAAS members attending includ-ed Kurt Brockmann Fernando Torres Jim Kaminski Nena Iriarte Paul Pulaski John Purnell Susan Carter Susan Evans Michael Zay Liang Ming David Zuehlke Eric Toops Dan Llewellyn Brigitte de Saint Phalle Jim Roucis Bob Fugate and myself
In my personal Chaco experience this constituted a record TAAS crowd
And they witnessed something new in the sky As Brigitte de Saint Phalle puts it ldquotodayrsquos astrophotography version of insects Star-Link Fireflies arrived on the scene and started a transit of Scor-piusrdquo The straight line of the SpaceX ldquofirefliesrdquo can be seen in two of the accompanying photos
As usual one the Chaco park rangers started the evening with a public lecture after which the visitors were treated to some ob-serving Roughly an hour later most of the public visitors retired to their campsites and the TAAS group continued observing and photographing until stamina or batteries were exhausted
Thanks to everyone who attended for providing a weekend of good fellowship observing and some public education
I think the triad of TAAS goals -- observing educating and having fun -- was well and truly accomplished
Photos by Brigitte de Saint Phalle and Clara Iriate
Chaco Fajada
Chaco Parallel Planes
Chaco Starlink
Page 6
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
Bachechi Star Party May 18
TAAS members and visitors had an enjoy-able time at the first public star party of the season at the Bachechi Open Space in the North Valley on May 18
It was the first really clear night in several days the wind died as darkness came and the County opened the space from 6-11 PM
Phil Fleming offered his Spring presenta-tion of the Fab 50 in the education building to a small but enthusiastic group
Outside TAAS members offered views of a quiet Sun and later views of celestial objects visible in a sky bleached by a full moon to about 25-30 appreciative visitors
Members attending included Steve S Jim K Jon S John L Ling M Jim R Sara W Bo-ris V Fernando T and Melissa K Most had scopes and Boris gave a demonstration of night sky photography including star trails
mdashRick Vergas
LA VIDA LLENA STAR PARTYMAY 14
By Lanie and John Dickel La Vida Llena
We all had a great time at the pizza and star party here at LVL on Tuesday May 14
Unfortunately the clouds obscured the Sun by the time LVL residents had finished their pizza however viewing through four telescopes and binoculars showed various aspects of the Moon overall and details of craters and Maria
We had about 35 people including TAAS LVL staff and residents during much of the evening plus a few more residents who showed up when true astronomical twi-light began
Not long after the Sun set (around 8 pm or so) we were able to glimpse the first stars and start to view the triple system Alcor and Mizar) and later once astronomical twilight began we could view a star clus-ter
Most of the planets were morning objects except Mars which was setting and too close to the horizon and behind clouds to see Some years wersquove been able to view Venus Jupiter and Saturn which are al-ways a big hit
Many stayed to view double stars and open star clusters between 9 and 930 pm when it was darker
We want to thank everyone who made this possible John Laning Ed Juddo and Jim Roucis with their TAAS scopes provided enthusiasm that was contagious and the residents were eager to view and to learn (The videoscope setups will be appreci-ated at the next event for those needing magnification and easy viewing)
Thanks to TAAS for making this a success-ful event
John Dickel starting setup
Ed Juddo with visitors
John Laning and visitorPhotos by Lanie Dickel
Page 7
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
Saturday June 22
Science and Math Learning Center UNM 700 pm
TAAS General Meeting
ldquoExploring the Main Asteroid BeltCeres Vesta and Visions of Psycherdquo
Dr Tom Prettyman Planetary Science Institute
600 pm Astronomy 101 ldquoFinding Galaxies with Red-Dot Finder and Push-To Mountrdquo
John LAning speAker
Join your fellow TAAS bASebAll fAnS at the ballpark for a fun session in the Jack Danielrsquos Old No 7 Club located down the third base line in the corner of the stadium which provides covered seating The Isotopes will take on the visiting Oklahoma City Dodgers
Seating is limited to the first 28 persons to sign up The cost of $3825 includes a ticket to the game and unlimited feasting at the banquet table
Food will include hot dogs hamburgers BBQ pulled pork sandwiches bone-in BBQ chicken baked beans pasta salad sliced cheese tortilla chips and salsa brownies and soft drinks Adult beverages may be purchased individually at the park
mdashDee Friesen
Questions Call text or email 505-681-6094 taasdeecomcastnet
TAAS Baseball Outing ndash Isotopes Park
Wednesday June 12 at 635 pm
Page 8
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
The Eagle Nebula M16 also known as NGC 6611 with the famous ldquoPillars of Creationrdquo captured on June 1st at GNTO using the C-14 Hyperstar instrument located in the imaging dome
30 x 2 min sub-frames were made using an SBIG STF8300 C camera f19 (675 mm) The mount was a Losmandy G11 The sub-frames were aligned and com-bined together with dark frames and flat field frames using PixInsight Further processing was performed using Photoshop CS2
The depth of this image which required only one hour to capture speaks to the speed of acquisition made possible by the Hyperstar system
We will conduct two training sessions in June and in either July or August The dome can accommodate up to three persons in addition to the instructor If yoursquore interested in making images like this in a relatively brief amount of time contact me
mdashVanceLey
Page 9
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
E x p l a n a t i o n o f D u e s a n d M e m b e r s h i p R e n e w a l D a t e
new memberShipS are registered immediately if you pay online If you pay by check your membership is registered when your check is re-ceived by the treasurer
Renewal notices will be sent out via e-mail beginning 60 days before your membership expires If your membership is renewed before it expires or with in 90 days after it ex-pires your new expiration date will be advanced one year from the previous expiration date and your membership will be continuous
If dues payment is received more than 90 days after the expiration date you will be reinstated as a mem-ber with an expiration date set as one year from the receipt of payment
D o n a t i o n s t o T A A S
The Albuquerque Astronomical Society is a 501(c)(3) organization Donations are deduct-ible as charitable contributions on the donorrsquos federal income tax return
Angie Richman
Turner Hunt
Maria Michels
Jerry Love
T A A S R e p o r t s amp N o t i c e s
E d i t o r rsquo s N o t e The deadline for the next issue of The Sidereal Times is Wednesday July 3 The newsletter editorsrsquo e-mail address is
editorTAASorg
W e l c o m e t o N e wo r R e t u r n i n g
T A A S M e m b e r s
Bethany BurnettCheryl Digman
Bud PoeAndrea WilkesFrank WilkesJohn Wilkes
Michael WilkesMike Zay
L o c a t i o n L o c a t i o n L o c a t i o nbull Chaco Canyonbull
6185rsquo elevation Latitude Longitude 36˚ 01rsquo 50rdquoN 107˚ 54rsquo 36rdquoW
3603˚ -10791˚ 36˚ 183rsquo -107˚ 5460rsquo
bull Oak Flatbull 7680rsquo elevation Latitude Longitude 34˚ 59rsquo 48rdquoN 106˚ 19rsquo 17rdquoW
bob Shipley Secretary secretaryTAASorgbobship10gmailcom505-872-8366
roberT AnderSon DirectorMembership CoordinatormembershipTAASorg505-275-1916
Jim fordice DirectorGNTO Director gntoTAASorg505-803-3640
mArk goodmAn DirectorEducation Outreach Directoreducation_coordTAASorg505-328-6157
bob hAvlen Directorrhavlenearthlinknet505-856-3306
cArl lArSon Directorvetenskopsmongmailcom408-623-4717
boriS veneT DirectorChaco Events Coordinator UNM Observatory Coordinator venetbsprintmailcom505-507-7838
rick vergAS DirectorTelescope Loan Coordinatortelescope_loansTAASorg505-620-2832
Astronomical League Coordinator Becky Ramotowski 505-286-8334 astrobeckgmailcom ATM Coordinator Ray Collins 505-344-9686 atmTAASorg Chaco Events Coordinator Boris Venet 505-507-7838 venetbsprintmailcom Education Outreach Mark Goodman 505-328-6157 education_coordTAASorg Explora Adult Night Coordinator Bob Hufnagel 505-890-8122 rhufnagel2comcastnet Fabulous Fifty Coordinator Phil Fleming 505-870-5604 wpflem2010gmailcom GNTO Director Jim Fordice 505-803-3640 gntoTAASorg Membership Chair Bob Anderson 505-275-1916 membershipTAASorg Newsletter Co-Editor Content Bruce Meyer 917-449-0700 editorTAASorg Newsletter Co-Editor Design Gary Cooper 505-227-3974 editorTAASorg Public Events Coordinator Steve Snider 505-249-4066 events_coordinatorTAASorg Publicity Coordinator Lynne Olson 505-856-2537 prTAASorg Scout Coordinator Chaz Jetty 505-350-7949 scout_coordinatorTAASorg Telescope Loan Coordinator Rick Vergas 505-620-2832 telescope_loansTAASorg UNM Observatory Coordinator Boris Venet 505-507-7838 venetbsprintmailcom Webmaster John Purnell 209-355-5166 webmasterTAASorg
2 0 1 9 T A A S B o a r d o f D i r e c t o r s S t a f f
TAAS was honored to receive an ldquoEditorrsquos Pick 2013 Best of the Cityrdquo award from Albuquerque Magazine
BEST PLACE TO STARGAZECELESTIAL EDITION
TAAS was honored to receive an ldquoOUT-OF-ThIS-WORLDrdquo AWARD 2011
from Astronomy Magazine for Outstanding Public Programming
MEMBERSHIP
You can join TAAS or renew your membership online Just go to wwwtaasorg and select ldquoJoin Usrdquo or ldquoRenew Your Membershiprdquo from the main menu on the left side Annual dues are $30 for a regular membership $15 for educators and active military and $5 for students Only regular members are eligible to vote in society matters Our new member information packet can be viewed or downloaded from the same location on the website You can pay your dues on line through PayPal by Visa MasterCard or American Express To pay by check mail your check to TAAS PO Box 50581 Albuquerque NM 87181-0581 or give it to the treasurer at one of our meetings
MAGAZINES
TAAS no longer offers magazine subscriptions
ARTICLESADVERTISEMENTS
Articles personal astronomical clas-sified advertisements and advertise-ments for businesses related to as-tronomy must be submitted by the deadline shown on the Society calen-dar (generally the Friday near the new Moon) Rates for commercial ads (per issue) are $120 per page $60 per half page $30 per quarter page $7 for business card size The newsletter edi-tor reserves the right to include andor edit any article or advertisement E-mail attachments in Microsoft Word or compatible word processor format ASCII and RTF are acceptable One space between paragraphs is pre-ferred One column is approximately 350 words Contact the Newsletter Editor at editorTAASorg for more in-formation
Note that the Sidereal Times is no longer mailed It is posted on the TAAS website wwwTAASorg
Send submissions or correspondence to editorTAASorg
The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
PO Box 50581Albuquerque NM 87181-0581
TAAS ONLINE
TAAS website httpwwwTAASorg
The TAAS website includes
bull Programs bull TAAS 200 bull TAAS Fabulous Fiftybull Educational Outreach School Star
Parties Solar Astronomy Outreachbull Equipment Trader bull Telescope Loaner Programbull Telescope Making and Maintenance And more
bull Online Sidereal Timesbull Calendar of TAAS Eventsbull Membersrsquo Guidebull Links to Astronomy Resources and
Membersrsquo Blogs
E-mail TAASTAASorg
Membersrsquo Google GroupTAAS_talkgooglegroupscom
Page 3
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
The Milky Way over Chaco Canyon June 2nd Here is my attempt to capture the panorama of the scene at the Visitors Center during the TAAS star party on Saturday night and Sunday morning (See article p 5) It was a marvelous experience for me since it has been 39 years since I last visited Chaco and since then I have developed a much deeper appreciation for the dark sky
The sky conditions for wide and medium field astrophotography were good until first light There were widely scattered clouds near the horizon until after 1 AM but overhead the sky was mostly clear of clouds
Other TAAS members were set up in the employee parking lot shown at the left in the picture I was near the center of the picture close to the corner of the visitors center (at the yellow lit chair) so I could get a
good perspective of Fajada Butte on the right side
The picture was made from seven vertical panels using a 14mm lens on a Nikon D810 Each panel was a 25 sec exposure at F28 and the camera gain was set to ISO 6400 The panorama was generated in Lightroom and the resulting image was adjusted in Photoshop using luminosity masks to bring up the foreground scene and add a bit of contrast to the sky No noise reduction or sharpening has been applied to the image
There was considerable airglow earlier in the night (in my experience an indicator of a really dark site)
Since no sky tracking was used in this panorama the stars are streaked and even distorted from the panorama merging process - so no pixel peeping please - LOL
mdashBobFugate
Page 4
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
June 1 - 3rd Quarter Moon ObservingPete Eschman was the opener He report-ed Following the GNTO committee meet-ing at GNTO Vance Ley Tom Liles and Pete Eschman stayed on-site After the inter-mittent rain stopped we proceeded to rid parts of the observing field of weeds
As time passed the clouds began to clear but there was a bit of wind out of the east that persisted into the first few observing hours Around twilight we were joined by John Wheeler Edgar Fischer Bethany and Ben Burnett and Viola Sanchez
Conditions continued to improve as the winds dropped and clouds departed By about 3 am Pete Vance and Viola called it quits with Pete departing while the others decided to get some rest and load up in the morning By the time we quit observing
conditions were quite good and we wished we were not too tired to continue to enjoy the sky I believe that Vance said that things went quite well with the GNTO laptop motor-ized imaging dome and Losmandy mount The new USB cable to the camera seemed to remove the connection issues that had plagued him in the past and the new mount motor worked well I believe he said he fine-tuned the mountrsquos polar alignment as well Viola brought a very nice new scope to GNTO for the first time and after some col-limation tweaking it gave some very nice images Pete worked with his new C925 Evo scope ldquoPetersquos Follyrdquo under darker skies forthe
Under the DomeNotes from and about GNTO Jim Fordice
first time and found that the scope per-formed well in GoTos driven from the iPad Sky Safari app and gave good views with the f63 focal reducer attached
All in all it was an enjoyable evening at GNTO
Upcoming Events bull June 29 3rd Quarter Moon Ob-
serving
bull July 6 New Moon Observing
bull July 27 3rd Quarter Moon Observ-ing
bull August 3 GNTO Picnic amp New Moon Observing
Donrsquot forget that the GNTO Observing Field is available for use by TAAS members anytime Check the TAAS website for the procedure to follow Contact me if you have any questions
As always check TAAS_Talk and the TAAS website for last-minute changes and up-dates GNTO events are open to all TAAS members and their guests
GNTO Director GNTOTAASorg or 505-803-3640
Telescope Loan Program UpdateBy Rick Vergas Telescope Loan Program Coordinator
There are no loaner telescopes currently available I am taking inventory of sur-plus equipment and taking photos in preparation for an auction probably in the early Summer Items and details will be provided later Currently 37 scopes are on loan and the remaining two are reserved for pickup later in the week How-ever scopes currently on loan can be reserved for the future If you are interested in a particular scope let me know
Loan Program Statistics
of Scopes on Loan Available
on Loan
39 39 0 100 Type Reflectors Refractors Catadioptrics
23 7 12
Size Large (gt8rdquo) Medium (5rdquo-8rdquo) Small (lt5rdquo) 12 17 13
Tracking Manual Push-To Go-To Tracking 26 5 7 11 As of 6119
Page 5
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
Chaco Canyon Star PartyMay 30ndashJune 2 Chaco Culture National Historical Park
By Boris Venet TAAS Chaco Canyon Events Coordinator
From Friday evening to Sunday morning May 30ndashJune 2 TAAS members and guests gathered at the Chaco Culture National His-torical Park (aka Chaco Canyon) for a combined public and private star party
Weather conditions were generally favorable for observing with fairly typical Chaco conditions mornings clear and afternoons with considerable cumulus with some strong-wind episodes But before sunset the clouds and major winds departed Transparency and seeing were not the greatest but overall the night skies were clear dark and beautiful
Nina Iniarte reported ldquoTruly Chaco is a mystical place especially for the night sky gazers The silence of the night has a rhythm with the stars creating a spectacular show for anyonersquos delightrdquo
TAAS attendance was very strong including several new members just getting acquainted with our group as well as a couple of guest observers and photographers
Much of our group was present both nights with others coming for just Friday or Saturday night TAAS members attending includ-ed Kurt Brockmann Fernando Torres Jim Kaminski Nena Iriarte Paul Pulaski John Purnell Susan Carter Susan Evans Michael Zay Liang Ming David Zuehlke Eric Toops Dan Llewellyn Brigitte de Saint Phalle Jim Roucis Bob Fugate and myself
In my personal Chaco experience this constituted a record TAAS crowd
And they witnessed something new in the sky As Brigitte de Saint Phalle puts it ldquotodayrsquos astrophotography version of insects Star-Link Fireflies arrived on the scene and started a transit of Scor-piusrdquo The straight line of the SpaceX ldquofirefliesrdquo can be seen in two of the accompanying photos
As usual one the Chaco park rangers started the evening with a public lecture after which the visitors were treated to some ob-serving Roughly an hour later most of the public visitors retired to their campsites and the TAAS group continued observing and photographing until stamina or batteries were exhausted
Thanks to everyone who attended for providing a weekend of good fellowship observing and some public education
I think the triad of TAAS goals -- observing educating and having fun -- was well and truly accomplished
Photos by Brigitte de Saint Phalle and Clara Iriate
Chaco Fajada
Chaco Parallel Planes
Chaco Starlink
Page 6
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
Bachechi Star Party May 18
TAAS members and visitors had an enjoy-able time at the first public star party of the season at the Bachechi Open Space in the North Valley on May 18
It was the first really clear night in several days the wind died as darkness came and the County opened the space from 6-11 PM
Phil Fleming offered his Spring presenta-tion of the Fab 50 in the education building to a small but enthusiastic group
Outside TAAS members offered views of a quiet Sun and later views of celestial objects visible in a sky bleached by a full moon to about 25-30 appreciative visitors
Members attending included Steve S Jim K Jon S John L Ling M Jim R Sara W Bo-ris V Fernando T and Melissa K Most had scopes and Boris gave a demonstration of night sky photography including star trails
mdashRick Vergas
LA VIDA LLENA STAR PARTYMAY 14
By Lanie and John Dickel La Vida Llena
We all had a great time at the pizza and star party here at LVL on Tuesday May 14
Unfortunately the clouds obscured the Sun by the time LVL residents had finished their pizza however viewing through four telescopes and binoculars showed various aspects of the Moon overall and details of craters and Maria
We had about 35 people including TAAS LVL staff and residents during much of the evening plus a few more residents who showed up when true astronomical twi-light began
Not long after the Sun set (around 8 pm or so) we were able to glimpse the first stars and start to view the triple system Alcor and Mizar) and later once astronomical twilight began we could view a star clus-ter
Most of the planets were morning objects except Mars which was setting and too close to the horizon and behind clouds to see Some years wersquove been able to view Venus Jupiter and Saturn which are al-ways a big hit
Many stayed to view double stars and open star clusters between 9 and 930 pm when it was darker
We want to thank everyone who made this possible John Laning Ed Juddo and Jim Roucis with their TAAS scopes provided enthusiasm that was contagious and the residents were eager to view and to learn (The videoscope setups will be appreci-ated at the next event for those needing magnification and easy viewing)
Thanks to TAAS for making this a success-ful event
John Dickel starting setup
Ed Juddo with visitors
John Laning and visitorPhotos by Lanie Dickel
Page 7
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
Saturday June 22
Science and Math Learning Center UNM 700 pm
TAAS General Meeting
ldquoExploring the Main Asteroid BeltCeres Vesta and Visions of Psycherdquo
Dr Tom Prettyman Planetary Science Institute
600 pm Astronomy 101 ldquoFinding Galaxies with Red-Dot Finder and Push-To Mountrdquo
John LAning speAker
Join your fellow TAAS bASebAll fAnS at the ballpark for a fun session in the Jack Danielrsquos Old No 7 Club located down the third base line in the corner of the stadium which provides covered seating The Isotopes will take on the visiting Oklahoma City Dodgers
Seating is limited to the first 28 persons to sign up The cost of $3825 includes a ticket to the game and unlimited feasting at the banquet table
Food will include hot dogs hamburgers BBQ pulled pork sandwiches bone-in BBQ chicken baked beans pasta salad sliced cheese tortilla chips and salsa brownies and soft drinks Adult beverages may be purchased individually at the park
mdashDee Friesen
Questions Call text or email 505-681-6094 taasdeecomcastnet
TAAS Baseball Outing ndash Isotopes Park
Wednesday June 12 at 635 pm
Page 8
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
The Eagle Nebula M16 also known as NGC 6611 with the famous ldquoPillars of Creationrdquo captured on June 1st at GNTO using the C-14 Hyperstar instrument located in the imaging dome
30 x 2 min sub-frames were made using an SBIG STF8300 C camera f19 (675 mm) The mount was a Losmandy G11 The sub-frames were aligned and com-bined together with dark frames and flat field frames using PixInsight Further processing was performed using Photoshop CS2
The depth of this image which required only one hour to capture speaks to the speed of acquisition made possible by the Hyperstar system
We will conduct two training sessions in June and in either July or August The dome can accommodate up to three persons in addition to the instructor If yoursquore interested in making images like this in a relatively brief amount of time contact me
mdashVanceLey
Page 9
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
E x p l a n a t i o n o f D u e s a n d M e m b e r s h i p R e n e w a l D a t e
new memberShipS are registered immediately if you pay online If you pay by check your membership is registered when your check is re-ceived by the treasurer
Renewal notices will be sent out via e-mail beginning 60 days before your membership expires If your membership is renewed before it expires or with in 90 days after it ex-pires your new expiration date will be advanced one year from the previous expiration date and your membership will be continuous
If dues payment is received more than 90 days after the expiration date you will be reinstated as a mem-ber with an expiration date set as one year from the receipt of payment
D o n a t i o n s t o T A A S
The Albuquerque Astronomical Society is a 501(c)(3) organization Donations are deduct-ible as charitable contributions on the donorrsquos federal income tax return
Angie Richman
Turner Hunt
Maria Michels
Jerry Love
T A A S R e p o r t s amp N o t i c e s
E d i t o r rsquo s N o t e The deadline for the next issue of The Sidereal Times is Wednesday July 3 The newsletter editorsrsquo e-mail address is
editorTAASorg
W e l c o m e t o N e wo r R e t u r n i n g
T A A S M e m b e r s
Bethany BurnettCheryl Digman
Bud PoeAndrea WilkesFrank WilkesJohn Wilkes
Michael WilkesMike Zay
L o c a t i o n L o c a t i o n L o c a t i o nbull Chaco Canyonbull
6185rsquo elevation Latitude Longitude 36˚ 01rsquo 50rdquoN 107˚ 54rsquo 36rdquoW
3603˚ -10791˚ 36˚ 183rsquo -107˚ 5460rsquo
bull Oak Flatbull 7680rsquo elevation Latitude Longitude 34˚ 59rsquo 48rdquoN 106˚ 19rsquo 17rdquoW
bob Shipley Secretary secretaryTAASorgbobship10gmailcom505-872-8366
roberT AnderSon DirectorMembership CoordinatormembershipTAASorg505-275-1916
Jim fordice DirectorGNTO Director gntoTAASorg505-803-3640
mArk goodmAn DirectorEducation Outreach Directoreducation_coordTAASorg505-328-6157
bob hAvlen Directorrhavlenearthlinknet505-856-3306
cArl lArSon Directorvetenskopsmongmailcom408-623-4717
boriS veneT DirectorChaco Events Coordinator UNM Observatory Coordinator venetbsprintmailcom505-507-7838
rick vergAS DirectorTelescope Loan Coordinatortelescope_loansTAASorg505-620-2832
Astronomical League Coordinator Becky Ramotowski 505-286-8334 astrobeckgmailcom ATM Coordinator Ray Collins 505-344-9686 atmTAASorg Chaco Events Coordinator Boris Venet 505-507-7838 venetbsprintmailcom Education Outreach Mark Goodman 505-328-6157 education_coordTAASorg Explora Adult Night Coordinator Bob Hufnagel 505-890-8122 rhufnagel2comcastnet Fabulous Fifty Coordinator Phil Fleming 505-870-5604 wpflem2010gmailcom GNTO Director Jim Fordice 505-803-3640 gntoTAASorg Membership Chair Bob Anderson 505-275-1916 membershipTAASorg Newsletter Co-Editor Content Bruce Meyer 917-449-0700 editorTAASorg Newsletter Co-Editor Design Gary Cooper 505-227-3974 editorTAASorg Public Events Coordinator Steve Snider 505-249-4066 events_coordinatorTAASorg Publicity Coordinator Lynne Olson 505-856-2537 prTAASorg Scout Coordinator Chaz Jetty 505-350-7949 scout_coordinatorTAASorg Telescope Loan Coordinator Rick Vergas 505-620-2832 telescope_loansTAASorg UNM Observatory Coordinator Boris Venet 505-507-7838 venetbsprintmailcom Webmaster John Purnell 209-355-5166 webmasterTAASorg
2 0 1 9 T A A S B o a r d o f D i r e c t o r s S t a f f
TAAS was honored to receive an ldquoEditorrsquos Pick 2013 Best of the Cityrdquo award from Albuquerque Magazine
BEST PLACE TO STARGAZECELESTIAL EDITION
TAAS was honored to receive an ldquoOUT-OF-ThIS-WORLDrdquo AWARD 2011
from Astronomy Magazine for Outstanding Public Programming
MEMBERSHIP
You can join TAAS or renew your membership online Just go to wwwtaasorg and select ldquoJoin Usrdquo or ldquoRenew Your Membershiprdquo from the main menu on the left side Annual dues are $30 for a regular membership $15 for educators and active military and $5 for students Only regular members are eligible to vote in society matters Our new member information packet can be viewed or downloaded from the same location on the website You can pay your dues on line through PayPal by Visa MasterCard or American Express To pay by check mail your check to TAAS PO Box 50581 Albuquerque NM 87181-0581 or give it to the treasurer at one of our meetings
MAGAZINES
TAAS no longer offers magazine subscriptions
ARTICLESADVERTISEMENTS
Articles personal astronomical clas-sified advertisements and advertise-ments for businesses related to as-tronomy must be submitted by the deadline shown on the Society calen-dar (generally the Friday near the new Moon) Rates for commercial ads (per issue) are $120 per page $60 per half page $30 per quarter page $7 for business card size The newsletter edi-tor reserves the right to include andor edit any article or advertisement E-mail attachments in Microsoft Word or compatible word processor format ASCII and RTF are acceptable One space between paragraphs is pre-ferred One column is approximately 350 words Contact the Newsletter Editor at editorTAASorg for more in-formation
Note that the Sidereal Times is no longer mailed It is posted on the TAAS website wwwTAASorg
Send submissions or correspondence to editorTAASorg
The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
PO Box 50581Albuquerque NM 87181-0581
TAAS ONLINE
TAAS website httpwwwTAASorg
The TAAS website includes
bull Programs bull TAAS 200 bull TAAS Fabulous Fiftybull Educational Outreach School Star
Parties Solar Astronomy Outreachbull Equipment Trader bull Telescope Loaner Programbull Telescope Making and Maintenance And more
bull Online Sidereal Timesbull Calendar of TAAS Eventsbull Membersrsquo Guidebull Links to Astronomy Resources and
Membersrsquo Blogs
E-mail TAASTAASorg
Membersrsquo Google GroupTAAS_talkgooglegroupscom
Page 4
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
June 1 - 3rd Quarter Moon ObservingPete Eschman was the opener He report-ed Following the GNTO committee meet-ing at GNTO Vance Ley Tom Liles and Pete Eschman stayed on-site After the inter-mittent rain stopped we proceeded to rid parts of the observing field of weeds
As time passed the clouds began to clear but there was a bit of wind out of the east that persisted into the first few observing hours Around twilight we were joined by John Wheeler Edgar Fischer Bethany and Ben Burnett and Viola Sanchez
Conditions continued to improve as the winds dropped and clouds departed By about 3 am Pete Vance and Viola called it quits with Pete departing while the others decided to get some rest and load up in the morning By the time we quit observing
conditions were quite good and we wished we were not too tired to continue to enjoy the sky I believe that Vance said that things went quite well with the GNTO laptop motor-ized imaging dome and Losmandy mount The new USB cable to the camera seemed to remove the connection issues that had plagued him in the past and the new mount motor worked well I believe he said he fine-tuned the mountrsquos polar alignment as well Viola brought a very nice new scope to GNTO for the first time and after some col-limation tweaking it gave some very nice images Pete worked with his new C925 Evo scope ldquoPetersquos Follyrdquo under darker skies forthe
Under the DomeNotes from and about GNTO Jim Fordice
first time and found that the scope per-formed well in GoTos driven from the iPad Sky Safari app and gave good views with the f63 focal reducer attached
All in all it was an enjoyable evening at GNTO
Upcoming Events bull June 29 3rd Quarter Moon Ob-
serving
bull July 6 New Moon Observing
bull July 27 3rd Quarter Moon Observ-ing
bull August 3 GNTO Picnic amp New Moon Observing
Donrsquot forget that the GNTO Observing Field is available for use by TAAS members anytime Check the TAAS website for the procedure to follow Contact me if you have any questions
As always check TAAS_Talk and the TAAS website for last-minute changes and up-dates GNTO events are open to all TAAS members and their guests
GNTO Director GNTOTAASorg or 505-803-3640
Telescope Loan Program UpdateBy Rick Vergas Telescope Loan Program Coordinator
There are no loaner telescopes currently available I am taking inventory of sur-plus equipment and taking photos in preparation for an auction probably in the early Summer Items and details will be provided later Currently 37 scopes are on loan and the remaining two are reserved for pickup later in the week How-ever scopes currently on loan can be reserved for the future If you are interested in a particular scope let me know
Loan Program Statistics
of Scopes on Loan Available
on Loan
39 39 0 100 Type Reflectors Refractors Catadioptrics
23 7 12
Size Large (gt8rdquo) Medium (5rdquo-8rdquo) Small (lt5rdquo) 12 17 13
Tracking Manual Push-To Go-To Tracking 26 5 7 11 As of 6119
Page 5
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
Chaco Canyon Star PartyMay 30ndashJune 2 Chaco Culture National Historical Park
By Boris Venet TAAS Chaco Canyon Events Coordinator
From Friday evening to Sunday morning May 30ndashJune 2 TAAS members and guests gathered at the Chaco Culture National His-torical Park (aka Chaco Canyon) for a combined public and private star party
Weather conditions were generally favorable for observing with fairly typical Chaco conditions mornings clear and afternoons with considerable cumulus with some strong-wind episodes But before sunset the clouds and major winds departed Transparency and seeing were not the greatest but overall the night skies were clear dark and beautiful
Nina Iniarte reported ldquoTruly Chaco is a mystical place especially for the night sky gazers The silence of the night has a rhythm with the stars creating a spectacular show for anyonersquos delightrdquo
TAAS attendance was very strong including several new members just getting acquainted with our group as well as a couple of guest observers and photographers
Much of our group was present both nights with others coming for just Friday or Saturday night TAAS members attending includ-ed Kurt Brockmann Fernando Torres Jim Kaminski Nena Iriarte Paul Pulaski John Purnell Susan Carter Susan Evans Michael Zay Liang Ming David Zuehlke Eric Toops Dan Llewellyn Brigitte de Saint Phalle Jim Roucis Bob Fugate and myself
In my personal Chaco experience this constituted a record TAAS crowd
And they witnessed something new in the sky As Brigitte de Saint Phalle puts it ldquotodayrsquos astrophotography version of insects Star-Link Fireflies arrived on the scene and started a transit of Scor-piusrdquo The straight line of the SpaceX ldquofirefliesrdquo can be seen in two of the accompanying photos
As usual one the Chaco park rangers started the evening with a public lecture after which the visitors were treated to some ob-serving Roughly an hour later most of the public visitors retired to their campsites and the TAAS group continued observing and photographing until stamina or batteries were exhausted
Thanks to everyone who attended for providing a weekend of good fellowship observing and some public education
I think the triad of TAAS goals -- observing educating and having fun -- was well and truly accomplished
Photos by Brigitte de Saint Phalle and Clara Iriate
Chaco Fajada
Chaco Parallel Planes
Chaco Starlink
Page 6
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
Bachechi Star Party May 18
TAAS members and visitors had an enjoy-able time at the first public star party of the season at the Bachechi Open Space in the North Valley on May 18
It was the first really clear night in several days the wind died as darkness came and the County opened the space from 6-11 PM
Phil Fleming offered his Spring presenta-tion of the Fab 50 in the education building to a small but enthusiastic group
Outside TAAS members offered views of a quiet Sun and later views of celestial objects visible in a sky bleached by a full moon to about 25-30 appreciative visitors
Members attending included Steve S Jim K Jon S John L Ling M Jim R Sara W Bo-ris V Fernando T and Melissa K Most had scopes and Boris gave a demonstration of night sky photography including star trails
mdashRick Vergas
LA VIDA LLENA STAR PARTYMAY 14
By Lanie and John Dickel La Vida Llena
We all had a great time at the pizza and star party here at LVL on Tuesday May 14
Unfortunately the clouds obscured the Sun by the time LVL residents had finished their pizza however viewing through four telescopes and binoculars showed various aspects of the Moon overall and details of craters and Maria
We had about 35 people including TAAS LVL staff and residents during much of the evening plus a few more residents who showed up when true astronomical twi-light began
Not long after the Sun set (around 8 pm or so) we were able to glimpse the first stars and start to view the triple system Alcor and Mizar) and later once astronomical twilight began we could view a star clus-ter
Most of the planets were morning objects except Mars which was setting and too close to the horizon and behind clouds to see Some years wersquove been able to view Venus Jupiter and Saturn which are al-ways a big hit
Many stayed to view double stars and open star clusters between 9 and 930 pm when it was darker
We want to thank everyone who made this possible John Laning Ed Juddo and Jim Roucis with their TAAS scopes provided enthusiasm that was contagious and the residents were eager to view and to learn (The videoscope setups will be appreci-ated at the next event for those needing magnification and easy viewing)
Thanks to TAAS for making this a success-ful event
John Dickel starting setup
Ed Juddo with visitors
John Laning and visitorPhotos by Lanie Dickel
Page 7
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
Saturday June 22
Science and Math Learning Center UNM 700 pm
TAAS General Meeting
ldquoExploring the Main Asteroid BeltCeres Vesta and Visions of Psycherdquo
Dr Tom Prettyman Planetary Science Institute
600 pm Astronomy 101 ldquoFinding Galaxies with Red-Dot Finder and Push-To Mountrdquo
John LAning speAker
Join your fellow TAAS bASebAll fAnS at the ballpark for a fun session in the Jack Danielrsquos Old No 7 Club located down the third base line in the corner of the stadium which provides covered seating The Isotopes will take on the visiting Oklahoma City Dodgers
Seating is limited to the first 28 persons to sign up The cost of $3825 includes a ticket to the game and unlimited feasting at the banquet table
Food will include hot dogs hamburgers BBQ pulled pork sandwiches bone-in BBQ chicken baked beans pasta salad sliced cheese tortilla chips and salsa brownies and soft drinks Adult beverages may be purchased individually at the park
mdashDee Friesen
Questions Call text or email 505-681-6094 taasdeecomcastnet
TAAS Baseball Outing ndash Isotopes Park
Wednesday June 12 at 635 pm
Page 8
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
The Eagle Nebula M16 also known as NGC 6611 with the famous ldquoPillars of Creationrdquo captured on June 1st at GNTO using the C-14 Hyperstar instrument located in the imaging dome
30 x 2 min sub-frames were made using an SBIG STF8300 C camera f19 (675 mm) The mount was a Losmandy G11 The sub-frames were aligned and com-bined together with dark frames and flat field frames using PixInsight Further processing was performed using Photoshop CS2
The depth of this image which required only one hour to capture speaks to the speed of acquisition made possible by the Hyperstar system
We will conduct two training sessions in June and in either July or August The dome can accommodate up to three persons in addition to the instructor If yoursquore interested in making images like this in a relatively brief amount of time contact me
mdashVanceLey
Page 9
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
E x p l a n a t i o n o f D u e s a n d M e m b e r s h i p R e n e w a l D a t e
new memberShipS are registered immediately if you pay online If you pay by check your membership is registered when your check is re-ceived by the treasurer
Renewal notices will be sent out via e-mail beginning 60 days before your membership expires If your membership is renewed before it expires or with in 90 days after it ex-pires your new expiration date will be advanced one year from the previous expiration date and your membership will be continuous
If dues payment is received more than 90 days after the expiration date you will be reinstated as a mem-ber with an expiration date set as one year from the receipt of payment
D o n a t i o n s t o T A A S
The Albuquerque Astronomical Society is a 501(c)(3) organization Donations are deduct-ible as charitable contributions on the donorrsquos federal income tax return
Angie Richman
Turner Hunt
Maria Michels
Jerry Love
T A A S R e p o r t s amp N o t i c e s
E d i t o r rsquo s N o t e The deadline for the next issue of The Sidereal Times is Wednesday July 3 The newsletter editorsrsquo e-mail address is
editorTAASorg
W e l c o m e t o N e wo r R e t u r n i n g
T A A S M e m b e r s
Bethany BurnettCheryl Digman
Bud PoeAndrea WilkesFrank WilkesJohn Wilkes
Michael WilkesMike Zay
L o c a t i o n L o c a t i o n L o c a t i o nbull Chaco Canyonbull
6185rsquo elevation Latitude Longitude 36˚ 01rsquo 50rdquoN 107˚ 54rsquo 36rdquoW
3603˚ -10791˚ 36˚ 183rsquo -107˚ 5460rsquo
bull Oak Flatbull 7680rsquo elevation Latitude Longitude 34˚ 59rsquo 48rdquoN 106˚ 19rsquo 17rdquoW
bob Shipley Secretary secretaryTAASorgbobship10gmailcom505-872-8366
roberT AnderSon DirectorMembership CoordinatormembershipTAASorg505-275-1916
Jim fordice DirectorGNTO Director gntoTAASorg505-803-3640
mArk goodmAn DirectorEducation Outreach Directoreducation_coordTAASorg505-328-6157
bob hAvlen Directorrhavlenearthlinknet505-856-3306
cArl lArSon Directorvetenskopsmongmailcom408-623-4717
boriS veneT DirectorChaco Events Coordinator UNM Observatory Coordinator venetbsprintmailcom505-507-7838
rick vergAS DirectorTelescope Loan Coordinatortelescope_loansTAASorg505-620-2832
Astronomical League Coordinator Becky Ramotowski 505-286-8334 astrobeckgmailcom ATM Coordinator Ray Collins 505-344-9686 atmTAASorg Chaco Events Coordinator Boris Venet 505-507-7838 venetbsprintmailcom Education Outreach Mark Goodman 505-328-6157 education_coordTAASorg Explora Adult Night Coordinator Bob Hufnagel 505-890-8122 rhufnagel2comcastnet Fabulous Fifty Coordinator Phil Fleming 505-870-5604 wpflem2010gmailcom GNTO Director Jim Fordice 505-803-3640 gntoTAASorg Membership Chair Bob Anderson 505-275-1916 membershipTAASorg Newsletter Co-Editor Content Bruce Meyer 917-449-0700 editorTAASorg Newsletter Co-Editor Design Gary Cooper 505-227-3974 editorTAASorg Public Events Coordinator Steve Snider 505-249-4066 events_coordinatorTAASorg Publicity Coordinator Lynne Olson 505-856-2537 prTAASorg Scout Coordinator Chaz Jetty 505-350-7949 scout_coordinatorTAASorg Telescope Loan Coordinator Rick Vergas 505-620-2832 telescope_loansTAASorg UNM Observatory Coordinator Boris Venet 505-507-7838 venetbsprintmailcom Webmaster John Purnell 209-355-5166 webmasterTAASorg
2 0 1 9 T A A S B o a r d o f D i r e c t o r s S t a f f
TAAS was honored to receive an ldquoEditorrsquos Pick 2013 Best of the Cityrdquo award from Albuquerque Magazine
BEST PLACE TO STARGAZECELESTIAL EDITION
TAAS was honored to receive an ldquoOUT-OF-ThIS-WORLDrdquo AWARD 2011
from Astronomy Magazine for Outstanding Public Programming
MEMBERSHIP
You can join TAAS or renew your membership online Just go to wwwtaasorg and select ldquoJoin Usrdquo or ldquoRenew Your Membershiprdquo from the main menu on the left side Annual dues are $30 for a regular membership $15 for educators and active military and $5 for students Only regular members are eligible to vote in society matters Our new member information packet can be viewed or downloaded from the same location on the website You can pay your dues on line through PayPal by Visa MasterCard or American Express To pay by check mail your check to TAAS PO Box 50581 Albuquerque NM 87181-0581 or give it to the treasurer at one of our meetings
MAGAZINES
TAAS no longer offers magazine subscriptions
ARTICLESADVERTISEMENTS
Articles personal astronomical clas-sified advertisements and advertise-ments for businesses related to as-tronomy must be submitted by the deadline shown on the Society calen-dar (generally the Friday near the new Moon) Rates for commercial ads (per issue) are $120 per page $60 per half page $30 per quarter page $7 for business card size The newsletter edi-tor reserves the right to include andor edit any article or advertisement E-mail attachments in Microsoft Word or compatible word processor format ASCII and RTF are acceptable One space between paragraphs is pre-ferred One column is approximately 350 words Contact the Newsletter Editor at editorTAASorg for more in-formation
Note that the Sidereal Times is no longer mailed It is posted on the TAAS website wwwTAASorg
Send submissions or correspondence to editorTAASorg
The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
PO Box 50581Albuquerque NM 87181-0581
TAAS ONLINE
TAAS website httpwwwTAASorg
The TAAS website includes
bull Programs bull TAAS 200 bull TAAS Fabulous Fiftybull Educational Outreach School Star
Parties Solar Astronomy Outreachbull Equipment Trader bull Telescope Loaner Programbull Telescope Making and Maintenance And more
bull Online Sidereal Timesbull Calendar of TAAS Eventsbull Membersrsquo Guidebull Links to Astronomy Resources and
Membersrsquo Blogs
E-mail TAASTAASorg
Membersrsquo Google GroupTAAS_talkgooglegroupscom
Page 5
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
Chaco Canyon Star PartyMay 30ndashJune 2 Chaco Culture National Historical Park
By Boris Venet TAAS Chaco Canyon Events Coordinator
From Friday evening to Sunday morning May 30ndashJune 2 TAAS members and guests gathered at the Chaco Culture National His-torical Park (aka Chaco Canyon) for a combined public and private star party
Weather conditions were generally favorable for observing with fairly typical Chaco conditions mornings clear and afternoons with considerable cumulus with some strong-wind episodes But before sunset the clouds and major winds departed Transparency and seeing were not the greatest but overall the night skies were clear dark and beautiful
Nina Iniarte reported ldquoTruly Chaco is a mystical place especially for the night sky gazers The silence of the night has a rhythm with the stars creating a spectacular show for anyonersquos delightrdquo
TAAS attendance was very strong including several new members just getting acquainted with our group as well as a couple of guest observers and photographers
Much of our group was present both nights with others coming for just Friday or Saturday night TAAS members attending includ-ed Kurt Brockmann Fernando Torres Jim Kaminski Nena Iriarte Paul Pulaski John Purnell Susan Carter Susan Evans Michael Zay Liang Ming David Zuehlke Eric Toops Dan Llewellyn Brigitte de Saint Phalle Jim Roucis Bob Fugate and myself
In my personal Chaco experience this constituted a record TAAS crowd
And they witnessed something new in the sky As Brigitte de Saint Phalle puts it ldquotodayrsquos astrophotography version of insects Star-Link Fireflies arrived on the scene and started a transit of Scor-piusrdquo The straight line of the SpaceX ldquofirefliesrdquo can be seen in two of the accompanying photos
As usual one the Chaco park rangers started the evening with a public lecture after which the visitors were treated to some ob-serving Roughly an hour later most of the public visitors retired to their campsites and the TAAS group continued observing and photographing until stamina or batteries were exhausted
Thanks to everyone who attended for providing a weekend of good fellowship observing and some public education
I think the triad of TAAS goals -- observing educating and having fun -- was well and truly accomplished
Photos by Brigitte de Saint Phalle and Clara Iriate
Chaco Fajada
Chaco Parallel Planes
Chaco Starlink
Page 6
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
Bachechi Star Party May 18
TAAS members and visitors had an enjoy-able time at the first public star party of the season at the Bachechi Open Space in the North Valley on May 18
It was the first really clear night in several days the wind died as darkness came and the County opened the space from 6-11 PM
Phil Fleming offered his Spring presenta-tion of the Fab 50 in the education building to a small but enthusiastic group
Outside TAAS members offered views of a quiet Sun and later views of celestial objects visible in a sky bleached by a full moon to about 25-30 appreciative visitors
Members attending included Steve S Jim K Jon S John L Ling M Jim R Sara W Bo-ris V Fernando T and Melissa K Most had scopes and Boris gave a demonstration of night sky photography including star trails
mdashRick Vergas
LA VIDA LLENA STAR PARTYMAY 14
By Lanie and John Dickel La Vida Llena
We all had a great time at the pizza and star party here at LVL on Tuesday May 14
Unfortunately the clouds obscured the Sun by the time LVL residents had finished their pizza however viewing through four telescopes and binoculars showed various aspects of the Moon overall and details of craters and Maria
We had about 35 people including TAAS LVL staff and residents during much of the evening plus a few more residents who showed up when true astronomical twi-light began
Not long after the Sun set (around 8 pm or so) we were able to glimpse the first stars and start to view the triple system Alcor and Mizar) and later once astronomical twilight began we could view a star clus-ter
Most of the planets were morning objects except Mars which was setting and too close to the horizon and behind clouds to see Some years wersquove been able to view Venus Jupiter and Saturn which are al-ways a big hit
Many stayed to view double stars and open star clusters between 9 and 930 pm when it was darker
We want to thank everyone who made this possible John Laning Ed Juddo and Jim Roucis with their TAAS scopes provided enthusiasm that was contagious and the residents were eager to view and to learn (The videoscope setups will be appreci-ated at the next event for those needing magnification and easy viewing)
Thanks to TAAS for making this a success-ful event
John Dickel starting setup
Ed Juddo with visitors
John Laning and visitorPhotos by Lanie Dickel
Page 7
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
Saturday June 22
Science and Math Learning Center UNM 700 pm
TAAS General Meeting
ldquoExploring the Main Asteroid BeltCeres Vesta and Visions of Psycherdquo
Dr Tom Prettyman Planetary Science Institute
600 pm Astronomy 101 ldquoFinding Galaxies with Red-Dot Finder and Push-To Mountrdquo
John LAning speAker
Join your fellow TAAS bASebAll fAnS at the ballpark for a fun session in the Jack Danielrsquos Old No 7 Club located down the third base line in the corner of the stadium which provides covered seating The Isotopes will take on the visiting Oklahoma City Dodgers
Seating is limited to the first 28 persons to sign up The cost of $3825 includes a ticket to the game and unlimited feasting at the banquet table
Food will include hot dogs hamburgers BBQ pulled pork sandwiches bone-in BBQ chicken baked beans pasta salad sliced cheese tortilla chips and salsa brownies and soft drinks Adult beverages may be purchased individually at the park
mdashDee Friesen
Questions Call text or email 505-681-6094 taasdeecomcastnet
TAAS Baseball Outing ndash Isotopes Park
Wednesday June 12 at 635 pm
Page 8
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
The Eagle Nebula M16 also known as NGC 6611 with the famous ldquoPillars of Creationrdquo captured on June 1st at GNTO using the C-14 Hyperstar instrument located in the imaging dome
30 x 2 min sub-frames were made using an SBIG STF8300 C camera f19 (675 mm) The mount was a Losmandy G11 The sub-frames were aligned and com-bined together with dark frames and flat field frames using PixInsight Further processing was performed using Photoshop CS2
The depth of this image which required only one hour to capture speaks to the speed of acquisition made possible by the Hyperstar system
We will conduct two training sessions in June and in either July or August The dome can accommodate up to three persons in addition to the instructor If yoursquore interested in making images like this in a relatively brief amount of time contact me
mdashVanceLey
Page 9
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
E x p l a n a t i o n o f D u e s a n d M e m b e r s h i p R e n e w a l D a t e
new memberShipS are registered immediately if you pay online If you pay by check your membership is registered when your check is re-ceived by the treasurer
Renewal notices will be sent out via e-mail beginning 60 days before your membership expires If your membership is renewed before it expires or with in 90 days after it ex-pires your new expiration date will be advanced one year from the previous expiration date and your membership will be continuous
If dues payment is received more than 90 days after the expiration date you will be reinstated as a mem-ber with an expiration date set as one year from the receipt of payment
D o n a t i o n s t o T A A S
The Albuquerque Astronomical Society is a 501(c)(3) organization Donations are deduct-ible as charitable contributions on the donorrsquos federal income tax return
Angie Richman
Turner Hunt
Maria Michels
Jerry Love
T A A S R e p o r t s amp N o t i c e s
E d i t o r rsquo s N o t e The deadline for the next issue of The Sidereal Times is Wednesday July 3 The newsletter editorsrsquo e-mail address is
editorTAASorg
W e l c o m e t o N e wo r R e t u r n i n g
T A A S M e m b e r s
Bethany BurnettCheryl Digman
Bud PoeAndrea WilkesFrank WilkesJohn Wilkes
Michael WilkesMike Zay
L o c a t i o n L o c a t i o n L o c a t i o nbull Chaco Canyonbull
6185rsquo elevation Latitude Longitude 36˚ 01rsquo 50rdquoN 107˚ 54rsquo 36rdquoW
3603˚ -10791˚ 36˚ 183rsquo -107˚ 5460rsquo
bull Oak Flatbull 7680rsquo elevation Latitude Longitude 34˚ 59rsquo 48rdquoN 106˚ 19rsquo 17rdquoW
bob Shipley Secretary secretaryTAASorgbobship10gmailcom505-872-8366
roberT AnderSon DirectorMembership CoordinatormembershipTAASorg505-275-1916
Jim fordice DirectorGNTO Director gntoTAASorg505-803-3640
mArk goodmAn DirectorEducation Outreach Directoreducation_coordTAASorg505-328-6157
bob hAvlen Directorrhavlenearthlinknet505-856-3306
cArl lArSon Directorvetenskopsmongmailcom408-623-4717
boriS veneT DirectorChaco Events Coordinator UNM Observatory Coordinator venetbsprintmailcom505-507-7838
rick vergAS DirectorTelescope Loan Coordinatortelescope_loansTAASorg505-620-2832
Astronomical League Coordinator Becky Ramotowski 505-286-8334 astrobeckgmailcom ATM Coordinator Ray Collins 505-344-9686 atmTAASorg Chaco Events Coordinator Boris Venet 505-507-7838 venetbsprintmailcom Education Outreach Mark Goodman 505-328-6157 education_coordTAASorg Explora Adult Night Coordinator Bob Hufnagel 505-890-8122 rhufnagel2comcastnet Fabulous Fifty Coordinator Phil Fleming 505-870-5604 wpflem2010gmailcom GNTO Director Jim Fordice 505-803-3640 gntoTAASorg Membership Chair Bob Anderson 505-275-1916 membershipTAASorg Newsletter Co-Editor Content Bruce Meyer 917-449-0700 editorTAASorg Newsletter Co-Editor Design Gary Cooper 505-227-3974 editorTAASorg Public Events Coordinator Steve Snider 505-249-4066 events_coordinatorTAASorg Publicity Coordinator Lynne Olson 505-856-2537 prTAASorg Scout Coordinator Chaz Jetty 505-350-7949 scout_coordinatorTAASorg Telescope Loan Coordinator Rick Vergas 505-620-2832 telescope_loansTAASorg UNM Observatory Coordinator Boris Venet 505-507-7838 venetbsprintmailcom Webmaster John Purnell 209-355-5166 webmasterTAASorg
2 0 1 9 T A A S B o a r d o f D i r e c t o r s S t a f f
TAAS was honored to receive an ldquoEditorrsquos Pick 2013 Best of the Cityrdquo award from Albuquerque Magazine
BEST PLACE TO STARGAZECELESTIAL EDITION
TAAS was honored to receive an ldquoOUT-OF-ThIS-WORLDrdquo AWARD 2011
from Astronomy Magazine for Outstanding Public Programming
MEMBERSHIP
You can join TAAS or renew your membership online Just go to wwwtaasorg and select ldquoJoin Usrdquo or ldquoRenew Your Membershiprdquo from the main menu on the left side Annual dues are $30 for a regular membership $15 for educators and active military and $5 for students Only regular members are eligible to vote in society matters Our new member information packet can be viewed or downloaded from the same location on the website You can pay your dues on line through PayPal by Visa MasterCard or American Express To pay by check mail your check to TAAS PO Box 50581 Albuquerque NM 87181-0581 or give it to the treasurer at one of our meetings
MAGAZINES
TAAS no longer offers magazine subscriptions
ARTICLESADVERTISEMENTS
Articles personal astronomical clas-sified advertisements and advertise-ments for businesses related to as-tronomy must be submitted by the deadline shown on the Society calen-dar (generally the Friday near the new Moon) Rates for commercial ads (per issue) are $120 per page $60 per half page $30 per quarter page $7 for business card size The newsletter edi-tor reserves the right to include andor edit any article or advertisement E-mail attachments in Microsoft Word or compatible word processor format ASCII and RTF are acceptable One space between paragraphs is pre-ferred One column is approximately 350 words Contact the Newsletter Editor at editorTAASorg for more in-formation
Note that the Sidereal Times is no longer mailed It is posted on the TAAS website wwwTAASorg
Send submissions or correspondence to editorTAASorg
The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
PO Box 50581Albuquerque NM 87181-0581
TAAS ONLINE
TAAS website httpwwwTAASorg
The TAAS website includes
bull Programs bull TAAS 200 bull TAAS Fabulous Fiftybull Educational Outreach School Star
Parties Solar Astronomy Outreachbull Equipment Trader bull Telescope Loaner Programbull Telescope Making and Maintenance And more
bull Online Sidereal Timesbull Calendar of TAAS Eventsbull Membersrsquo Guidebull Links to Astronomy Resources and
Membersrsquo Blogs
E-mail TAASTAASorg
Membersrsquo Google GroupTAAS_talkgooglegroupscom
Page 6
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
Bachechi Star Party May 18
TAAS members and visitors had an enjoy-able time at the first public star party of the season at the Bachechi Open Space in the North Valley on May 18
It was the first really clear night in several days the wind died as darkness came and the County opened the space from 6-11 PM
Phil Fleming offered his Spring presenta-tion of the Fab 50 in the education building to a small but enthusiastic group
Outside TAAS members offered views of a quiet Sun and later views of celestial objects visible in a sky bleached by a full moon to about 25-30 appreciative visitors
Members attending included Steve S Jim K Jon S John L Ling M Jim R Sara W Bo-ris V Fernando T and Melissa K Most had scopes and Boris gave a demonstration of night sky photography including star trails
mdashRick Vergas
LA VIDA LLENA STAR PARTYMAY 14
By Lanie and John Dickel La Vida Llena
We all had a great time at the pizza and star party here at LVL on Tuesday May 14
Unfortunately the clouds obscured the Sun by the time LVL residents had finished their pizza however viewing through four telescopes and binoculars showed various aspects of the Moon overall and details of craters and Maria
We had about 35 people including TAAS LVL staff and residents during much of the evening plus a few more residents who showed up when true astronomical twi-light began
Not long after the Sun set (around 8 pm or so) we were able to glimpse the first stars and start to view the triple system Alcor and Mizar) and later once astronomical twilight began we could view a star clus-ter
Most of the planets were morning objects except Mars which was setting and too close to the horizon and behind clouds to see Some years wersquove been able to view Venus Jupiter and Saturn which are al-ways a big hit
Many stayed to view double stars and open star clusters between 9 and 930 pm when it was darker
We want to thank everyone who made this possible John Laning Ed Juddo and Jim Roucis with their TAAS scopes provided enthusiasm that was contagious and the residents were eager to view and to learn (The videoscope setups will be appreci-ated at the next event for those needing magnification and easy viewing)
Thanks to TAAS for making this a success-ful event
John Dickel starting setup
Ed Juddo with visitors
John Laning and visitorPhotos by Lanie Dickel
Page 7
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
Saturday June 22
Science and Math Learning Center UNM 700 pm
TAAS General Meeting
ldquoExploring the Main Asteroid BeltCeres Vesta and Visions of Psycherdquo
Dr Tom Prettyman Planetary Science Institute
600 pm Astronomy 101 ldquoFinding Galaxies with Red-Dot Finder and Push-To Mountrdquo
John LAning speAker
Join your fellow TAAS bASebAll fAnS at the ballpark for a fun session in the Jack Danielrsquos Old No 7 Club located down the third base line in the corner of the stadium which provides covered seating The Isotopes will take on the visiting Oklahoma City Dodgers
Seating is limited to the first 28 persons to sign up The cost of $3825 includes a ticket to the game and unlimited feasting at the banquet table
Food will include hot dogs hamburgers BBQ pulled pork sandwiches bone-in BBQ chicken baked beans pasta salad sliced cheese tortilla chips and salsa brownies and soft drinks Adult beverages may be purchased individually at the park
mdashDee Friesen
Questions Call text or email 505-681-6094 taasdeecomcastnet
TAAS Baseball Outing ndash Isotopes Park
Wednesday June 12 at 635 pm
Page 8
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
The Eagle Nebula M16 also known as NGC 6611 with the famous ldquoPillars of Creationrdquo captured on June 1st at GNTO using the C-14 Hyperstar instrument located in the imaging dome
30 x 2 min sub-frames were made using an SBIG STF8300 C camera f19 (675 mm) The mount was a Losmandy G11 The sub-frames were aligned and com-bined together with dark frames and flat field frames using PixInsight Further processing was performed using Photoshop CS2
The depth of this image which required only one hour to capture speaks to the speed of acquisition made possible by the Hyperstar system
We will conduct two training sessions in June and in either July or August The dome can accommodate up to three persons in addition to the instructor If yoursquore interested in making images like this in a relatively brief amount of time contact me
mdashVanceLey
Page 9
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
E x p l a n a t i o n o f D u e s a n d M e m b e r s h i p R e n e w a l D a t e
new memberShipS are registered immediately if you pay online If you pay by check your membership is registered when your check is re-ceived by the treasurer
Renewal notices will be sent out via e-mail beginning 60 days before your membership expires If your membership is renewed before it expires or with in 90 days after it ex-pires your new expiration date will be advanced one year from the previous expiration date and your membership will be continuous
If dues payment is received more than 90 days after the expiration date you will be reinstated as a mem-ber with an expiration date set as one year from the receipt of payment
D o n a t i o n s t o T A A S
The Albuquerque Astronomical Society is a 501(c)(3) organization Donations are deduct-ible as charitable contributions on the donorrsquos federal income tax return
Angie Richman
Turner Hunt
Maria Michels
Jerry Love
T A A S R e p o r t s amp N o t i c e s
E d i t o r rsquo s N o t e The deadline for the next issue of The Sidereal Times is Wednesday July 3 The newsletter editorsrsquo e-mail address is
editorTAASorg
W e l c o m e t o N e wo r R e t u r n i n g
T A A S M e m b e r s
Bethany BurnettCheryl Digman
Bud PoeAndrea WilkesFrank WilkesJohn Wilkes
Michael WilkesMike Zay
L o c a t i o n L o c a t i o n L o c a t i o nbull Chaco Canyonbull
6185rsquo elevation Latitude Longitude 36˚ 01rsquo 50rdquoN 107˚ 54rsquo 36rdquoW
3603˚ -10791˚ 36˚ 183rsquo -107˚ 5460rsquo
bull Oak Flatbull 7680rsquo elevation Latitude Longitude 34˚ 59rsquo 48rdquoN 106˚ 19rsquo 17rdquoW
bob Shipley Secretary secretaryTAASorgbobship10gmailcom505-872-8366
roberT AnderSon DirectorMembership CoordinatormembershipTAASorg505-275-1916
Jim fordice DirectorGNTO Director gntoTAASorg505-803-3640
mArk goodmAn DirectorEducation Outreach Directoreducation_coordTAASorg505-328-6157
bob hAvlen Directorrhavlenearthlinknet505-856-3306
cArl lArSon Directorvetenskopsmongmailcom408-623-4717
boriS veneT DirectorChaco Events Coordinator UNM Observatory Coordinator venetbsprintmailcom505-507-7838
rick vergAS DirectorTelescope Loan Coordinatortelescope_loansTAASorg505-620-2832
Astronomical League Coordinator Becky Ramotowski 505-286-8334 astrobeckgmailcom ATM Coordinator Ray Collins 505-344-9686 atmTAASorg Chaco Events Coordinator Boris Venet 505-507-7838 venetbsprintmailcom Education Outreach Mark Goodman 505-328-6157 education_coordTAASorg Explora Adult Night Coordinator Bob Hufnagel 505-890-8122 rhufnagel2comcastnet Fabulous Fifty Coordinator Phil Fleming 505-870-5604 wpflem2010gmailcom GNTO Director Jim Fordice 505-803-3640 gntoTAASorg Membership Chair Bob Anderson 505-275-1916 membershipTAASorg Newsletter Co-Editor Content Bruce Meyer 917-449-0700 editorTAASorg Newsletter Co-Editor Design Gary Cooper 505-227-3974 editorTAASorg Public Events Coordinator Steve Snider 505-249-4066 events_coordinatorTAASorg Publicity Coordinator Lynne Olson 505-856-2537 prTAASorg Scout Coordinator Chaz Jetty 505-350-7949 scout_coordinatorTAASorg Telescope Loan Coordinator Rick Vergas 505-620-2832 telescope_loansTAASorg UNM Observatory Coordinator Boris Venet 505-507-7838 venetbsprintmailcom Webmaster John Purnell 209-355-5166 webmasterTAASorg
2 0 1 9 T A A S B o a r d o f D i r e c t o r s S t a f f
TAAS was honored to receive an ldquoEditorrsquos Pick 2013 Best of the Cityrdquo award from Albuquerque Magazine
BEST PLACE TO STARGAZECELESTIAL EDITION
TAAS was honored to receive an ldquoOUT-OF-ThIS-WORLDrdquo AWARD 2011
from Astronomy Magazine for Outstanding Public Programming
MEMBERSHIP
You can join TAAS or renew your membership online Just go to wwwtaasorg and select ldquoJoin Usrdquo or ldquoRenew Your Membershiprdquo from the main menu on the left side Annual dues are $30 for a regular membership $15 for educators and active military and $5 for students Only regular members are eligible to vote in society matters Our new member information packet can be viewed or downloaded from the same location on the website You can pay your dues on line through PayPal by Visa MasterCard or American Express To pay by check mail your check to TAAS PO Box 50581 Albuquerque NM 87181-0581 or give it to the treasurer at one of our meetings
MAGAZINES
TAAS no longer offers magazine subscriptions
ARTICLESADVERTISEMENTS
Articles personal astronomical clas-sified advertisements and advertise-ments for businesses related to as-tronomy must be submitted by the deadline shown on the Society calen-dar (generally the Friday near the new Moon) Rates for commercial ads (per issue) are $120 per page $60 per half page $30 per quarter page $7 for business card size The newsletter edi-tor reserves the right to include andor edit any article or advertisement E-mail attachments in Microsoft Word or compatible word processor format ASCII and RTF are acceptable One space between paragraphs is pre-ferred One column is approximately 350 words Contact the Newsletter Editor at editorTAASorg for more in-formation
Note that the Sidereal Times is no longer mailed It is posted on the TAAS website wwwTAASorg
Send submissions or correspondence to editorTAASorg
The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
PO Box 50581Albuquerque NM 87181-0581
TAAS ONLINE
TAAS website httpwwwTAASorg
The TAAS website includes
bull Programs bull TAAS 200 bull TAAS Fabulous Fiftybull Educational Outreach School Star
Parties Solar Astronomy Outreachbull Equipment Trader bull Telescope Loaner Programbull Telescope Making and Maintenance And more
bull Online Sidereal Timesbull Calendar of TAAS Eventsbull Membersrsquo Guidebull Links to Astronomy Resources and
Membersrsquo Blogs
E-mail TAASTAASorg
Membersrsquo Google GroupTAAS_talkgooglegroupscom
Page 7
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
Saturday June 22
Science and Math Learning Center UNM 700 pm
TAAS General Meeting
ldquoExploring the Main Asteroid BeltCeres Vesta and Visions of Psycherdquo
Dr Tom Prettyman Planetary Science Institute
600 pm Astronomy 101 ldquoFinding Galaxies with Red-Dot Finder and Push-To Mountrdquo
John LAning speAker
Join your fellow TAAS bASebAll fAnS at the ballpark for a fun session in the Jack Danielrsquos Old No 7 Club located down the third base line in the corner of the stadium which provides covered seating The Isotopes will take on the visiting Oklahoma City Dodgers
Seating is limited to the first 28 persons to sign up The cost of $3825 includes a ticket to the game and unlimited feasting at the banquet table
Food will include hot dogs hamburgers BBQ pulled pork sandwiches bone-in BBQ chicken baked beans pasta salad sliced cheese tortilla chips and salsa brownies and soft drinks Adult beverages may be purchased individually at the park
mdashDee Friesen
Questions Call text or email 505-681-6094 taasdeecomcastnet
TAAS Baseball Outing ndash Isotopes Park
Wednesday June 12 at 635 pm
Page 8
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
The Eagle Nebula M16 also known as NGC 6611 with the famous ldquoPillars of Creationrdquo captured on June 1st at GNTO using the C-14 Hyperstar instrument located in the imaging dome
30 x 2 min sub-frames were made using an SBIG STF8300 C camera f19 (675 mm) The mount was a Losmandy G11 The sub-frames were aligned and com-bined together with dark frames and flat field frames using PixInsight Further processing was performed using Photoshop CS2
The depth of this image which required only one hour to capture speaks to the speed of acquisition made possible by the Hyperstar system
We will conduct two training sessions in June and in either July or August The dome can accommodate up to three persons in addition to the instructor If yoursquore interested in making images like this in a relatively brief amount of time contact me
mdashVanceLey
Page 9
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
E x p l a n a t i o n o f D u e s a n d M e m b e r s h i p R e n e w a l D a t e
new memberShipS are registered immediately if you pay online If you pay by check your membership is registered when your check is re-ceived by the treasurer
Renewal notices will be sent out via e-mail beginning 60 days before your membership expires If your membership is renewed before it expires or with in 90 days after it ex-pires your new expiration date will be advanced one year from the previous expiration date and your membership will be continuous
If dues payment is received more than 90 days after the expiration date you will be reinstated as a mem-ber with an expiration date set as one year from the receipt of payment
D o n a t i o n s t o T A A S
The Albuquerque Astronomical Society is a 501(c)(3) organization Donations are deduct-ible as charitable contributions on the donorrsquos federal income tax return
Angie Richman
Turner Hunt
Maria Michels
Jerry Love
T A A S R e p o r t s amp N o t i c e s
E d i t o r rsquo s N o t e The deadline for the next issue of The Sidereal Times is Wednesday July 3 The newsletter editorsrsquo e-mail address is
editorTAASorg
W e l c o m e t o N e wo r R e t u r n i n g
T A A S M e m b e r s
Bethany BurnettCheryl Digman
Bud PoeAndrea WilkesFrank WilkesJohn Wilkes
Michael WilkesMike Zay
L o c a t i o n L o c a t i o n L o c a t i o nbull Chaco Canyonbull
6185rsquo elevation Latitude Longitude 36˚ 01rsquo 50rdquoN 107˚ 54rsquo 36rdquoW
3603˚ -10791˚ 36˚ 183rsquo -107˚ 5460rsquo
bull Oak Flatbull 7680rsquo elevation Latitude Longitude 34˚ 59rsquo 48rdquoN 106˚ 19rsquo 17rdquoW
bob Shipley Secretary secretaryTAASorgbobship10gmailcom505-872-8366
roberT AnderSon DirectorMembership CoordinatormembershipTAASorg505-275-1916
Jim fordice DirectorGNTO Director gntoTAASorg505-803-3640
mArk goodmAn DirectorEducation Outreach Directoreducation_coordTAASorg505-328-6157
bob hAvlen Directorrhavlenearthlinknet505-856-3306
cArl lArSon Directorvetenskopsmongmailcom408-623-4717
boriS veneT DirectorChaco Events Coordinator UNM Observatory Coordinator venetbsprintmailcom505-507-7838
rick vergAS DirectorTelescope Loan Coordinatortelescope_loansTAASorg505-620-2832
Astronomical League Coordinator Becky Ramotowski 505-286-8334 astrobeckgmailcom ATM Coordinator Ray Collins 505-344-9686 atmTAASorg Chaco Events Coordinator Boris Venet 505-507-7838 venetbsprintmailcom Education Outreach Mark Goodman 505-328-6157 education_coordTAASorg Explora Adult Night Coordinator Bob Hufnagel 505-890-8122 rhufnagel2comcastnet Fabulous Fifty Coordinator Phil Fleming 505-870-5604 wpflem2010gmailcom GNTO Director Jim Fordice 505-803-3640 gntoTAASorg Membership Chair Bob Anderson 505-275-1916 membershipTAASorg Newsletter Co-Editor Content Bruce Meyer 917-449-0700 editorTAASorg Newsletter Co-Editor Design Gary Cooper 505-227-3974 editorTAASorg Public Events Coordinator Steve Snider 505-249-4066 events_coordinatorTAASorg Publicity Coordinator Lynne Olson 505-856-2537 prTAASorg Scout Coordinator Chaz Jetty 505-350-7949 scout_coordinatorTAASorg Telescope Loan Coordinator Rick Vergas 505-620-2832 telescope_loansTAASorg UNM Observatory Coordinator Boris Venet 505-507-7838 venetbsprintmailcom Webmaster John Purnell 209-355-5166 webmasterTAASorg
2 0 1 9 T A A S B o a r d o f D i r e c t o r s S t a f f
TAAS was honored to receive an ldquoEditorrsquos Pick 2013 Best of the Cityrdquo award from Albuquerque Magazine
BEST PLACE TO STARGAZECELESTIAL EDITION
TAAS was honored to receive an ldquoOUT-OF-ThIS-WORLDrdquo AWARD 2011
from Astronomy Magazine for Outstanding Public Programming
MEMBERSHIP
You can join TAAS or renew your membership online Just go to wwwtaasorg and select ldquoJoin Usrdquo or ldquoRenew Your Membershiprdquo from the main menu on the left side Annual dues are $30 for a regular membership $15 for educators and active military and $5 for students Only regular members are eligible to vote in society matters Our new member information packet can be viewed or downloaded from the same location on the website You can pay your dues on line through PayPal by Visa MasterCard or American Express To pay by check mail your check to TAAS PO Box 50581 Albuquerque NM 87181-0581 or give it to the treasurer at one of our meetings
MAGAZINES
TAAS no longer offers magazine subscriptions
ARTICLESADVERTISEMENTS
Articles personal astronomical clas-sified advertisements and advertise-ments for businesses related to as-tronomy must be submitted by the deadline shown on the Society calen-dar (generally the Friday near the new Moon) Rates for commercial ads (per issue) are $120 per page $60 per half page $30 per quarter page $7 for business card size The newsletter edi-tor reserves the right to include andor edit any article or advertisement E-mail attachments in Microsoft Word or compatible word processor format ASCII and RTF are acceptable One space between paragraphs is pre-ferred One column is approximately 350 words Contact the Newsletter Editor at editorTAASorg for more in-formation
Note that the Sidereal Times is no longer mailed It is posted on the TAAS website wwwTAASorg
Send submissions or correspondence to editorTAASorg
The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
PO Box 50581Albuquerque NM 87181-0581
TAAS ONLINE
TAAS website httpwwwTAASorg
The TAAS website includes
bull Programs bull TAAS 200 bull TAAS Fabulous Fiftybull Educational Outreach School Star
Parties Solar Astronomy Outreachbull Equipment Trader bull Telescope Loaner Programbull Telescope Making and Maintenance And more
bull Online Sidereal Timesbull Calendar of TAAS Eventsbull Membersrsquo Guidebull Links to Astronomy Resources and
Membersrsquo Blogs
E-mail TAASTAASorg
Membersrsquo Google GroupTAAS_talkgooglegroupscom
Page 8
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
The Eagle Nebula M16 also known as NGC 6611 with the famous ldquoPillars of Creationrdquo captured on June 1st at GNTO using the C-14 Hyperstar instrument located in the imaging dome
30 x 2 min sub-frames were made using an SBIG STF8300 C camera f19 (675 mm) The mount was a Losmandy G11 The sub-frames were aligned and com-bined together with dark frames and flat field frames using PixInsight Further processing was performed using Photoshop CS2
The depth of this image which required only one hour to capture speaks to the speed of acquisition made possible by the Hyperstar system
We will conduct two training sessions in June and in either July or August The dome can accommodate up to three persons in addition to the instructor If yoursquore interested in making images like this in a relatively brief amount of time contact me
mdashVanceLey
Page 9
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
E x p l a n a t i o n o f D u e s a n d M e m b e r s h i p R e n e w a l D a t e
new memberShipS are registered immediately if you pay online If you pay by check your membership is registered when your check is re-ceived by the treasurer
Renewal notices will be sent out via e-mail beginning 60 days before your membership expires If your membership is renewed before it expires or with in 90 days after it ex-pires your new expiration date will be advanced one year from the previous expiration date and your membership will be continuous
If dues payment is received more than 90 days after the expiration date you will be reinstated as a mem-ber with an expiration date set as one year from the receipt of payment
D o n a t i o n s t o T A A S
The Albuquerque Astronomical Society is a 501(c)(3) organization Donations are deduct-ible as charitable contributions on the donorrsquos federal income tax return
Angie Richman
Turner Hunt
Maria Michels
Jerry Love
T A A S R e p o r t s amp N o t i c e s
E d i t o r rsquo s N o t e The deadline for the next issue of The Sidereal Times is Wednesday July 3 The newsletter editorsrsquo e-mail address is
editorTAASorg
W e l c o m e t o N e wo r R e t u r n i n g
T A A S M e m b e r s
Bethany BurnettCheryl Digman
Bud PoeAndrea WilkesFrank WilkesJohn Wilkes
Michael WilkesMike Zay
L o c a t i o n L o c a t i o n L o c a t i o nbull Chaco Canyonbull
6185rsquo elevation Latitude Longitude 36˚ 01rsquo 50rdquoN 107˚ 54rsquo 36rdquoW
3603˚ -10791˚ 36˚ 183rsquo -107˚ 5460rsquo
bull Oak Flatbull 7680rsquo elevation Latitude Longitude 34˚ 59rsquo 48rdquoN 106˚ 19rsquo 17rdquoW
bob Shipley Secretary secretaryTAASorgbobship10gmailcom505-872-8366
roberT AnderSon DirectorMembership CoordinatormembershipTAASorg505-275-1916
Jim fordice DirectorGNTO Director gntoTAASorg505-803-3640
mArk goodmAn DirectorEducation Outreach Directoreducation_coordTAASorg505-328-6157
bob hAvlen Directorrhavlenearthlinknet505-856-3306
cArl lArSon Directorvetenskopsmongmailcom408-623-4717
boriS veneT DirectorChaco Events Coordinator UNM Observatory Coordinator venetbsprintmailcom505-507-7838
rick vergAS DirectorTelescope Loan Coordinatortelescope_loansTAASorg505-620-2832
Astronomical League Coordinator Becky Ramotowski 505-286-8334 astrobeckgmailcom ATM Coordinator Ray Collins 505-344-9686 atmTAASorg Chaco Events Coordinator Boris Venet 505-507-7838 venetbsprintmailcom Education Outreach Mark Goodman 505-328-6157 education_coordTAASorg Explora Adult Night Coordinator Bob Hufnagel 505-890-8122 rhufnagel2comcastnet Fabulous Fifty Coordinator Phil Fleming 505-870-5604 wpflem2010gmailcom GNTO Director Jim Fordice 505-803-3640 gntoTAASorg Membership Chair Bob Anderson 505-275-1916 membershipTAASorg Newsletter Co-Editor Content Bruce Meyer 917-449-0700 editorTAASorg Newsletter Co-Editor Design Gary Cooper 505-227-3974 editorTAASorg Public Events Coordinator Steve Snider 505-249-4066 events_coordinatorTAASorg Publicity Coordinator Lynne Olson 505-856-2537 prTAASorg Scout Coordinator Chaz Jetty 505-350-7949 scout_coordinatorTAASorg Telescope Loan Coordinator Rick Vergas 505-620-2832 telescope_loansTAASorg UNM Observatory Coordinator Boris Venet 505-507-7838 venetbsprintmailcom Webmaster John Purnell 209-355-5166 webmasterTAASorg
2 0 1 9 T A A S B o a r d o f D i r e c t o r s S t a f f
TAAS was honored to receive an ldquoEditorrsquos Pick 2013 Best of the Cityrdquo award from Albuquerque Magazine
BEST PLACE TO STARGAZECELESTIAL EDITION
TAAS was honored to receive an ldquoOUT-OF-ThIS-WORLDrdquo AWARD 2011
from Astronomy Magazine for Outstanding Public Programming
MEMBERSHIP
You can join TAAS or renew your membership online Just go to wwwtaasorg and select ldquoJoin Usrdquo or ldquoRenew Your Membershiprdquo from the main menu on the left side Annual dues are $30 for a regular membership $15 for educators and active military and $5 for students Only regular members are eligible to vote in society matters Our new member information packet can be viewed or downloaded from the same location on the website You can pay your dues on line through PayPal by Visa MasterCard or American Express To pay by check mail your check to TAAS PO Box 50581 Albuquerque NM 87181-0581 or give it to the treasurer at one of our meetings
MAGAZINES
TAAS no longer offers magazine subscriptions
ARTICLESADVERTISEMENTS
Articles personal astronomical clas-sified advertisements and advertise-ments for businesses related to as-tronomy must be submitted by the deadline shown on the Society calen-dar (generally the Friday near the new Moon) Rates for commercial ads (per issue) are $120 per page $60 per half page $30 per quarter page $7 for business card size The newsletter edi-tor reserves the right to include andor edit any article or advertisement E-mail attachments in Microsoft Word or compatible word processor format ASCII and RTF are acceptable One space between paragraphs is pre-ferred One column is approximately 350 words Contact the Newsletter Editor at editorTAASorg for more in-formation
Note that the Sidereal Times is no longer mailed It is posted on the TAAS website wwwTAASorg
Send submissions or correspondence to editorTAASorg
The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
PO Box 50581Albuquerque NM 87181-0581
TAAS ONLINE
TAAS website httpwwwTAASorg
The TAAS website includes
bull Programs bull TAAS 200 bull TAAS Fabulous Fiftybull Educational Outreach School Star
Parties Solar Astronomy Outreachbull Equipment Trader bull Telescope Loaner Programbull Telescope Making and Maintenance And more
bull Online Sidereal Timesbull Calendar of TAAS Eventsbull Membersrsquo Guidebull Links to Astronomy Resources and
Membersrsquo Blogs
E-mail TAASTAASorg
Membersrsquo Google GroupTAAS_talkgooglegroupscom
Page 9
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
E x p l a n a t i o n o f D u e s a n d M e m b e r s h i p R e n e w a l D a t e
new memberShipS are registered immediately if you pay online If you pay by check your membership is registered when your check is re-ceived by the treasurer
Renewal notices will be sent out via e-mail beginning 60 days before your membership expires If your membership is renewed before it expires or with in 90 days after it ex-pires your new expiration date will be advanced one year from the previous expiration date and your membership will be continuous
If dues payment is received more than 90 days after the expiration date you will be reinstated as a mem-ber with an expiration date set as one year from the receipt of payment
D o n a t i o n s t o T A A S
The Albuquerque Astronomical Society is a 501(c)(3) organization Donations are deduct-ible as charitable contributions on the donorrsquos federal income tax return
Angie Richman
Turner Hunt
Maria Michels
Jerry Love
T A A S R e p o r t s amp N o t i c e s
E d i t o r rsquo s N o t e The deadline for the next issue of The Sidereal Times is Wednesday July 3 The newsletter editorsrsquo e-mail address is
editorTAASorg
W e l c o m e t o N e wo r R e t u r n i n g
T A A S M e m b e r s
Bethany BurnettCheryl Digman
Bud PoeAndrea WilkesFrank WilkesJohn Wilkes
Michael WilkesMike Zay
L o c a t i o n L o c a t i o n L o c a t i o nbull Chaco Canyonbull
6185rsquo elevation Latitude Longitude 36˚ 01rsquo 50rdquoN 107˚ 54rsquo 36rdquoW
3603˚ -10791˚ 36˚ 183rsquo -107˚ 5460rsquo
bull Oak Flatbull 7680rsquo elevation Latitude Longitude 34˚ 59rsquo 48rdquoN 106˚ 19rsquo 17rdquoW
bob Shipley Secretary secretaryTAASorgbobship10gmailcom505-872-8366
roberT AnderSon DirectorMembership CoordinatormembershipTAASorg505-275-1916
Jim fordice DirectorGNTO Director gntoTAASorg505-803-3640
mArk goodmAn DirectorEducation Outreach Directoreducation_coordTAASorg505-328-6157
bob hAvlen Directorrhavlenearthlinknet505-856-3306
cArl lArSon Directorvetenskopsmongmailcom408-623-4717
boriS veneT DirectorChaco Events Coordinator UNM Observatory Coordinator venetbsprintmailcom505-507-7838
rick vergAS DirectorTelescope Loan Coordinatortelescope_loansTAASorg505-620-2832
Astronomical League Coordinator Becky Ramotowski 505-286-8334 astrobeckgmailcom ATM Coordinator Ray Collins 505-344-9686 atmTAASorg Chaco Events Coordinator Boris Venet 505-507-7838 venetbsprintmailcom Education Outreach Mark Goodman 505-328-6157 education_coordTAASorg Explora Adult Night Coordinator Bob Hufnagel 505-890-8122 rhufnagel2comcastnet Fabulous Fifty Coordinator Phil Fleming 505-870-5604 wpflem2010gmailcom GNTO Director Jim Fordice 505-803-3640 gntoTAASorg Membership Chair Bob Anderson 505-275-1916 membershipTAASorg Newsletter Co-Editor Content Bruce Meyer 917-449-0700 editorTAASorg Newsletter Co-Editor Design Gary Cooper 505-227-3974 editorTAASorg Public Events Coordinator Steve Snider 505-249-4066 events_coordinatorTAASorg Publicity Coordinator Lynne Olson 505-856-2537 prTAASorg Scout Coordinator Chaz Jetty 505-350-7949 scout_coordinatorTAASorg Telescope Loan Coordinator Rick Vergas 505-620-2832 telescope_loansTAASorg UNM Observatory Coordinator Boris Venet 505-507-7838 venetbsprintmailcom Webmaster John Purnell 209-355-5166 webmasterTAASorg
2 0 1 9 T A A S B o a r d o f D i r e c t o r s S t a f f
TAAS was honored to receive an ldquoEditorrsquos Pick 2013 Best of the Cityrdquo award from Albuquerque Magazine
BEST PLACE TO STARGAZECELESTIAL EDITION
TAAS was honored to receive an ldquoOUT-OF-ThIS-WORLDrdquo AWARD 2011
from Astronomy Magazine for Outstanding Public Programming
MEMBERSHIP
You can join TAAS or renew your membership online Just go to wwwtaasorg and select ldquoJoin Usrdquo or ldquoRenew Your Membershiprdquo from the main menu on the left side Annual dues are $30 for a regular membership $15 for educators and active military and $5 for students Only regular members are eligible to vote in society matters Our new member information packet can be viewed or downloaded from the same location on the website You can pay your dues on line through PayPal by Visa MasterCard or American Express To pay by check mail your check to TAAS PO Box 50581 Albuquerque NM 87181-0581 or give it to the treasurer at one of our meetings
MAGAZINES
TAAS no longer offers magazine subscriptions
ARTICLESADVERTISEMENTS
Articles personal astronomical clas-sified advertisements and advertise-ments for businesses related to as-tronomy must be submitted by the deadline shown on the Society calen-dar (generally the Friday near the new Moon) Rates for commercial ads (per issue) are $120 per page $60 per half page $30 per quarter page $7 for business card size The newsletter edi-tor reserves the right to include andor edit any article or advertisement E-mail attachments in Microsoft Word or compatible word processor format ASCII and RTF are acceptable One space between paragraphs is pre-ferred One column is approximately 350 words Contact the Newsletter Editor at editorTAASorg for more in-formation
Note that the Sidereal Times is no longer mailed It is posted on the TAAS website wwwTAASorg
Send submissions or correspondence to editorTAASorg
The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
PO Box 50581Albuquerque NM 87181-0581
TAAS ONLINE
TAAS website httpwwwTAASorg
The TAAS website includes
bull Programs bull TAAS 200 bull TAAS Fabulous Fiftybull Educational Outreach School Star
Parties Solar Astronomy Outreachbull Equipment Trader bull Telescope Loaner Programbull Telescope Making and Maintenance And more
bull Online Sidereal Timesbull Calendar of TAAS Eventsbull Membersrsquo Guidebull Links to Astronomy Resources and
Membersrsquo Blogs
E-mail TAASTAASorg
Membersrsquo Google GroupTAAS_talkgooglegroupscom
Page 10
The Sidereal Times June 2019
The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
bob Shipley Secretary secretaryTAASorgbobship10gmailcom505-872-8366
roberT AnderSon DirectorMembership CoordinatormembershipTAASorg505-275-1916
Jim fordice DirectorGNTO Director gntoTAASorg505-803-3640
mArk goodmAn DirectorEducation Outreach Directoreducation_coordTAASorg505-328-6157
bob hAvlen Directorrhavlenearthlinknet505-856-3306
cArl lArSon Directorvetenskopsmongmailcom408-623-4717
boriS veneT DirectorChaco Events Coordinator UNM Observatory Coordinator venetbsprintmailcom505-507-7838
rick vergAS DirectorTelescope Loan Coordinatortelescope_loansTAASorg505-620-2832
Astronomical League Coordinator Becky Ramotowski 505-286-8334 astrobeckgmailcom ATM Coordinator Ray Collins 505-344-9686 atmTAASorg Chaco Events Coordinator Boris Venet 505-507-7838 venetbsprintmailcom Education Outreach Mark Goodman 505-328-6157 education_coordTAASorg Explora Adult Night Coordinator Bob Hufnagel 505-890-8122 rhufnagel2comcastnet Fabulous Fifty Coordinator Phil Fleming 505-870-5604 wpflem2010gmailcom GNTO Director Jim Fordice 505-803-3640 gntoTAASorg Membership Chair Bob Anderson 505-275-1916 membershipTAASorg Newsletter Co-Editor Content Bruce Meyer 917-449-0700 editorTAASorg Newsletter Co-Editor Design Gary Cooper 505-227-3974 editorTAASorg Public Events Coordinator Steve Snider 505-249-4066 events_coordinatorTAASorg Publicity Coordinator Lynne Olson 505-856-2537 prTAASorg Scout Coordinator Chaz Jetty 505-350-7949 scout_coordinatorTAASorg Telescope Loan Coordinator Rick Vergas 505-620-2832 telescope_loansTAASorg UNM Observatory Coordinator Boris Venet 505-507-7838 venetbsprintmailcom Webmaster John Purnell 209-355-5166 webmasterTAASorg
2 0 1 9 T A A S B o a r d o f D i r e c t o r s S t a f f
TAAS was honored to receive an ldquoEditorrsquos Pick 2013 Best of the Cityrdquo award from Albuquerque Magazine
BEST PLACE TO STARGAZECELESTIAL EDITION
TAAS was honored to receive an ldquoOUT-OF-ThIS-WORLDrdquo AWARD 2011
from Astronomy Magazine for Outstanding Public Programming
MEMBERSHIP
You can join TAAS or renew your membership online Just go to wwwtaasorg and select ldquoJoin Usrdquo or ldquoRenew Your Membershiprdquo from the main menu on the left side Annual dues are $30 for a regular membership $15 for educators and active military and $5 for students Only regular members are eligible to vote in society matters Our new member information packet can be viewed or downloaded from the same location on the website You can pay your dues on line through PayPal by Visa MasterCard or American Express To pay by check mail your check to TAAS PO Box 50581 Albuquerque NM 87181-0581 or give it to the treasurer at one of our meetings
MAGAZINES
TAAS no longer offers magazine subscriptions
ARTICLESADVERTISEMENTS
Articles personal astronomical clas-sified advertisements and advertise-ments for businesses related to as-tronomy must be submitted by the deadline shown on the Society calen-dar (generally the Friday near the new Moon) Rates for commercial ads (per issue) are $120 per page $60 per half page $30 per quarter page $7 for business card size The newsletter edi-tor reserves the right to include andor edit any article or advertisement E-mail attachments in Microsoft Word or compatible word processor format ASCII and RTF are acceptable One space between paragraphs is pre-ferred One column is approximately 350 words Contact the Newsletter Editor at editorTAASorg for more in-formation
Note that the Sidereal Times is no longer mailed It is posted on the TAAS website wwwTAASorg
Send submissions or correspondence to editorTAASorg
The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
PO Box 50581Albuquerque NM 87181-0581
TAAS ONLINE
TAAS website httpwwwTAASorg
The TAAS website includes
bull Programs bull TAAS 200 bull TAAS Fabulous Fiftybull Educational Outreach School Star
Parties Solar Astronomy Outreachbull Equipment Trader bull Telescope Loaner Programbull Telescope Making and Maintenance And more
bull Online Sidereal Timesbull Calendar of TAAS Eventsbull Membersrsquo Guidebull Links to Astronomy Resources and
Membersrsquo Blogs
E-mail TAASTAASorg
Membersrsquo Google GroupTAAS_talkgooglegroupscom
TAAS was honored to receive an ldquoEditorrsquos Pick 2013 Best of the Cityrdquo award from Albuquerque Magazine
BEST PLACE TO STARGAZECELESTIAL EDITION
TAAS was honored to receive an ldquoOUT-OF-ThIS-WORLDrdquo AWARD 2011
from Astronomy Magazine for Outstanding Public Programming
MEMBERSHIP
You can join TAAS or renew your membership online Just go to wwwtaasorg and select ldquoJoin Usrdquo or ldquoRenew Your Membershiprdquo from the main menu on the left side Annual dues are $30 for a regular membership $15 for educators and active military and $5 for students Only regular members are eligible to vote in society matters Our new member information packet can be viewed or downloaded from the same location on the website You can pay your dues on line through PayPal by Visa MasterCard or American Express To pay by check mail your check to TAAS PO Box 50581 Albuquerque NM 87181-0581 or give it to the treasurer at one of our meetings
MAGAZINES
TAAS no longer offers magazine subscriptions
ARTICLESADVERTISEMENTS
Articles personal astronomical clas-sified advertisements and advertise-ments for businesses related to as-tronomy must be submitted by the deadline shown on the Society calen-dar (generally the Friday near the new Moon) Rates for commercial ads (per issue) are $120 per page $60 per half page $30 per quarter page $7 for business card size The newsletter edi-tor reserves the right to include andor edit any article or advertisement E-mail attachments in Microsoft Word or compatible word processor format ASCII and RTF are acceptable One space between paragraphs is pre-ferred One column is approximately 350 words Contact the Newsletter Editor at editorTAASorg for more in-formation
Note that the Sidereal Times is no longer mailed It is posted on the TAAS website wwwTAASorg
Send submissions or correspondence to editorTAASorg
The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
PO Box 50581Albuquerque NM 87181-0581
TAAS ONLINE
TAAS website httpwwwTAASorg
The TAAS website includes
bull Programs bull TAAS 200 bull TAAS Fabulous Fiftybull Educational Outreach School Star
Parties Solar Astronomy Outreachbull Equipment Trader bull Telescope Loaner Programbull Telescope Making and Maintenance And more
bull Online Sidereal Timesbull Calendar of TAAS Eventsbull Membersrsquo Guidebull Links to Astronomy Resources and
