Volume 30—Number 12 December 2013

Roanoke Valley Astronomical

Society Amateur Astronomy News and Views

In Southwestern Virginia

RVAS NL— December 2013— Pg 1 of 10

The fear of Public speaking, glossophobia, seems to rank

even higher than the fear of Death itself in most of the

populace. That fear clearly conflicts with one of our

club's mission goals, that of outreach to the public.

There is nothing proprietary in knowing about this fear.

Therefore, it was not out of the realm of possibilities

that NASA had already considered this and was provid-

ing incredible resources to those of us who wish to be

part of outreach, but hesitate due to, not only the

above, but also feeling confused as to "what do I say,"

"how do I say it" and "I really could use some help in

mining the topic for gems to share with interested par-

ties.”

John and Genevieve Goss are always skilled, interesting

and engaging presenters. Our featured speakers this

meeting night, they shared with us resources available

to the RVAS through the Night Sky Network (NSN), a

public education program of NASA’s Jet Propulsion La-

boratory. The RVAS is a member of this network, as

are many other recognized astronomy clubs. Therefore,

we are eligible to receive a series of outreach kits on a

variety of subjects (detailed by John elsewhere in this

issue) for use in programs for up to thirty participants.

John and Genevieve are our club’s NSN coordinators

and report on public activities in which our members use

these kits. The Night Sky team monitors our efforts

and rewards us with—more kits!!!

John demonstrated “The Magnetic Sun,” one of the kits

that they had brought with them, complete with a ban-

ner showing sunspots on illustrations of the sun’s photo-

sphere, chromosphere, and inner corona. Not sure what

those are? Not to worry. The planning for uninitiated

(Meeting Continued on page 4)

John Goss explains the use of the Night Sky Network’s

“Our Magnetic Sun” banner for public outreach.

Photo by Carolyn Baratta

RVAS November Meeting Notes

Fear of What???

by Rick Rader, RVAS Secretary

The Roanoke Valley Astronomical Society is a membership organization of amateur astronomers dedicated to the pursuit of observational and

photographic astronomical activities. Meetings are held at 7:30 p.m. on the third Monday of each month. See calendar on last page of news-

letter for location. Meetings are open to the public. Observing sessions are held one or two weekends a month at a dark-sky site. Yearly dues

are: Individual, $20.00; Senior Individual, $18.00; Family, $25.00; Senior Family, $22.00; Student, $10.00. Articles, quotes, etc. published in the

newsletter do not necessarily reflect the views of the RVAS or its editor.

Officers/Executive Committee/Editor/Webmaster Frank Baratta, President (president@rvasclub.org )

Sharon Stinnette, Vice President (vicepresident@rvasclub.org)

Rick Rader, Secretary (secretary@rvasclub.org)

Jeff Suhr, Treasurer (treasurer@rvasclub.org)

Carol Mesimer, Member at Large (memberatlarge@rvasclub.org)

Michael Good, Immediate Past President (immediatepastpresident@rvasclub.org)

Paul Caffrey, Past President (pastpresident@rvasclub.org)

David E. Thomas, RVAS Newsletter Editor (editor@rvasclub.org)

Roger Pommerenke & David E. Thomas, Webmaster (webmaster@rvasclub.org)

RVAS web page: http://rvasclub.org

RVAS NL— December 2013— Pg 2 of 10

Happy Holidays, all. As I face the laptop’s screen, it’s a

frosty but clear and sunny Friday, November 29th,

morning – “Black Friday,” as our consumer economy now

knows it. Once again I’m sitting at the dining room ta-

ble, coffee mug in hand. At this hour, I’m pondering the

roller coaster ride of Comet ISON’s perihelion passage.

Like many of you, I followed the comet’s activity yes-

terday, Thanksgiving Day. As the afternoon wore on, I

resigned myself to the apparent demise of ISON,

broiled away into the coronal regions of the solar infer-

no. Oh, well, I guess that resolves the question of when and where to hold any club and public viewings, I

thought. Scant compensation for the hopes of grand

and memorable display. I prepared to compose a Presi-dent’s Message with a lead-in alluding to Marlon Bran-

do’s famous “I coulda been a contender . . . “ scene from

the 1954 film, On the Waterfront.

But wait! Checking the Internet for more about ISON’s

fate, it seems the last rites may have been adminis-

tered prematurely! To their credit, many professionals

and amateurs stuck with it and kept reviewing the con-

tinuing images from the satellites trained on ISON.

And—lo and behold!—a curving streak of the comet was

clearly visible (to the upper left of the hidden Sun in

the image at right). So, perhaps, the appropriate allu-

sion should instead be to Mark Twain’s famous “Rumors

of my death have been greatly exaggerated!” quip. In

any event, we’ll have to wait a few days to learn how

much of the comet survived and whether scheduling any

club or public viewings is in order.

Be that as it may, what is in order is to alert you to

some of the great meeting activities we have in store

for everyone as we complete 2013 and enter the New

Year. Most immediately, our December 16th monthly

gathering will be devoted to our annual “Winter Solstice

Social.” It’s an evening of fun and the unexpected.

Along with the second annual slideshow of members

caught in the act at Astronomy Day, the picnic and else-

(Message Continued on page 3)

A coronagraph image taken by the NASA STEREO satellite af-

ter Comet ISON’s perihelion. Whatever remains of the comet is

seen to the upper left of the disk blocking the Sun.

NASA image.

President’s Message

A Cometary Roller Coaster

RVAS NL— December 2013— Pg 3 of 10

where, plus other activities planned, we’ll have “open

mike” time and you’re encouraged to bring a show-and-

tell, astrophotographs, a short video or other items or

objects to share with everyone. You’re also encouraged

(asked, really) to bring some munchies to share with the

group; the club will provided the beverages. Don’t for-

get that we’ll have the 2014 Ottewell Astronomical Cal-

endar for pick up by all who placed an order, so remem-

ber to bring your $18.95 payment (cash or check made

to “RVAS”) with you.

On January 20th we’re planning a first for a club meet-

ing (so far as I know)—a real-time webinar. Our guest

speaker will be Tom Field, a contributing editor for Sky & Telescope magazine and founder of Field Tested Sys-

tems, LLC. Originating from his Seattle location, Tom

will be talking with us interactively over the Internet on

the subject of spectroscopy—what it is, how amateurs

can become involved and the type of equipment and

software available to do so. His company works with

schools, groups and individuals to provide the needed

hardware and software. Tom’s offered his webinar to

such amateur groups as the Riverside Astronomical So-

ciety, the Amateur Telescope Makers of Boston and the

Astronomical Society of Southern Africa and received

high praise for the quality, content and humor he brings

to the subject. You don’t want to miss this unique meet-

ing!

Looking even farther ahead, for the following meeting

we’ve also scheduled a program featuring a guest speak-

er, Bruce Jones. Bruce is a former member of the

RVAS, and some of you will remember his presentation

on celestial navigation quite a few years ago now. En-

gaging, interesting and informative, Bruce will be repris-

ing his talk at our February 17th gathering. It’s a sub-

ject that brings a different perspective to our interest

in the skies that you’re sure to enjoy. So mark the date

and make plans to join us in February.

That’s a lot to look forward to. And, for a start, we’re

hoping to see you – and especially those of you we have-

n’t seen for a while – on December 16th!

Frank Baratta

(Message Continued from page 2)

Member Activities

An Event at Astronomical Dusk

by Dan “RES” Chrisman Jr.

Submitted for your approval: The date is November Sixth. You are driving alone and leave the main highway,

turning left at the International Parkway signpost. You barrel down a ribbon of asphalt, increasingly void of pho-

tons. Within minutes, darkness envelopes your forward vision. Suddenly your progress is halted by a plethora of

fields and a dearth of road. Disoriented, you exit your car and find yourself surrounded by three-foot human-

oids. They tug at your sleeves and lead you toward the silhouettes of Dobsonians and Schmidt-Cassegrains and

night-vision goggles. As murmurs of astonishment ripple through the crowd, towering shadows gently toss out

“Altair”, “Deneb”, “Vega”, “Andromeda”, “Pleiades”. A small voice asks you “where is the big ‘W’”? You kneel, dis-

play your iPad’s star chart and begin to make a difference, for you now realize that you have entered … “The Out-

reach Zone”.

RVAS NL— December 2013— Pg 4 of 10

presenters is down to the detail of providing cords to

attach the banner to poles, fences, tables, etc. and Vel-

cro buttons to secure them—and they even provide you

with a cute little bag that contains needed compasses,

ultra violet beads and the representative solar storms

and prominences that are magnetic to be used on the

plastic, magnetized "Sun" which attaches to the banner!

Most importantly, a training DVD is supplied with each

kit to help prepare motivated club members. The detail

is so precise on this that, in this kit, NASA provides

fifteen cards with pictures of objects that consume

energy—coal, people, plants, etc.—all with arrows point-

ing to the source of that energy. On the back of each

card is an explanation of what is on the reverse side and

its importance. Think of it as an "off the grid" tele-

prompter and we know the ease with which one of those

can be read, do we not?

Genevieve next drew the group’s attention to the sec-

ond kit on hand, “Space Rocks,” a program meant to de-

velop understanding about asteroids and Earth impacts.

The particular segment of the kit she demonstrated

focused on how to identify meteorites. Among the con-

tents of this segment’s package were several rock sam-

ples that included some meteorites, a magnet and a spi-

ral-bound flip book with text and images to be stood

upright on a desk or table facing the group. Cleverly,

the back of the previous page, which faces the present-

er, contains an informational script about the page fac-

ing the group and activities using the rocks, magnet and

other materials provided. Again, NASA’s attention to

detail is certainly evident in this portion of the Space

Rocks outreach toolkit.

As you’ll note from the listing in this issue, the RVAS

has so far received 6 outreach toolkits from the NSN.

These are available for any member to request for use

in public outreach activities. And using the toolkits is

particularly important since, for the NSN’s purposes,

it’s only activities in which materials from toolkits are

used that count toward earning more kits.

But NASA’s NSN expertise and support isn’t limited to

the toolkits. A website, http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/,

has been created around enhancing and expanding public

consciousness of astronomy and space science. Visit

the site and, for example, click the Astronomy Activi-

(Meeting Continued from page 1)

(Meeting Continued on page 5)

Genevieve Goss demonstrates the meteorites segment of the

Night Sky Network’s “Space Rocks” outreach program kit.

Photo by Carolyn Baratta

RVAS President Frank Baratta updates the group about Comet

ISON and possible club and public viewing dates.

Photo by Carolyn Baratta

RVAS NL— December 2013— Pg 5 of 10

ties tab. You will find there a matrix for Keywords, Au-

dience Level, Venues and Educator types (that would be

you). Select a topic and then review the resources that

are noted. There’s quite a wealth of material that can

be downloaded to prepare even the most hesitant RVAS

member to interact with the public. See anything here

that interests you? If you do, but are not inclined to go

solo, let the RVAS know of any activity or resource that

you may wish to develop and we will work to connect you

with others who do outreach. A number of club mem-

bers have conducted activities at libraries, Cub Scouts,

elementary schools, civic groups, Earth Day and many

other venues, and “buddying up” is a great way to have

fun and overcome your glossophobia!

Our thanks to John and Genevieve for their talk and for

handling the club’s NSN coordinator duties, and to many

other members of the club who offer their time to

“take astronomy to the people”!

To close out the evening RVAS President, Frank

Baratta, provided a follow-up to his update last month

on Comet ISON’s status. At present, NASA reports

the comet remains intact and has undergone a dramatic

increase in brightness, currently bringing it to naked-

eye visibility under dark skies. The latest images taken

of ISON show that a beautiful tail about 8° in length

has developed. Still, no one knows how it will fare as it

streaks toward and reaches perihelion on Thanksgiving

Day, November 28th. This presents a bit of a challenge

in deciding whether and when to schedule dates for club

and public observing. Frank suggested setting up No-

vember 29th at sunset as a club option, in the event of a

grand show, with the 30th as a back-up, in case the

weather is uncooperative the day before. He also sug-

gested that pre-dawn sessions on December 7th and 14th

and an evening session on December 28th, all of which

are Saturdays, would be worth considering, including

inviting the public. John Goss commented that we

should know by December 1st whether ISON’s condition

merits advertising sessions to the public. We’ll continue

to monitor the comet in the coming days and keep mem-

bers advised via e-mail regarding any activities sched-

uled.

For our next meeting on December 16th we’ll be holding

the annual RVAS “Winter Solstice Social.” It’s a fun

time when members are asked to bring their favorite

munchies to share with everyone. The club will provide

punch or other beverages. Among various activities on

tap for the evening, we’ll be showing the second annual

slideshow of images taken of members at various activi-

ties over the course of the year. We’ll also be distrib-

uting the 2014 Ottewell Astronomical Calendar to all

who reserved a copy. If you haven’t been to a meeting

lately, add this to your holiday engagement calendar and

plan to attend and get reacquainted with your friends

and fellow astrophiles!

See you on December 16th!

(Meeting Continued from page 4)

Welcome Mat

The RVAS bids a warm and cordial welcome to Karen Stretton, who joined the club with a family membership in

November, and who’s looking forward to connecting with other astrophiles. Karen grew up in West Chester, Penn-

sylvania, outside Philadelphia, and was a history major at Penn State. While an undergrad her interest in the night

sky was given a boost when she took an astronomy course, including visits to the University’s on-campus observa-

tory atop an eight-story building! This past April, Karen moved to Floyd County and worked at River Stone Organ-

ic Farm. She’s since moved to Roanoke and now is employed at the Roanoke Natural Foods Co-op. These moves

reflect her enjoyment of nature, including outdoor interests such as hiking and kayaking. Karen also enjoys cook-

ing, and prefers to use locally-grown and produced ingredients.

Karen, we’re glad to have you with us, but your love of naked-eye stargazing sure took a hit in moving from Floyd

County to the City! We look forward to you joining us for observing on the Parkway and elsewhere, as well as at

meetings and other activities.

RVAS NL— December 2013— Pg 6 of 10

Member Outreach Resources

Night Sky Network Toolkits

As mentioned in the November meeting notes, 6 kits are

available to members upon request for use at outreach

and other activities. They’re suitable for pre-observing

public sessions; public and club meetings; meetings with

youth older than 10 years of age. Here’s a listing of the

kits and a bit about their content and how they might

be used.

Space Rocks Outreach Toolkit

Asteroids: Discuss and show the variety of objects

found in solar system (planets, asteroids, comets,

etc.); show how much space there is between aster-

oids; show how to find asteroids by comparing star

fields.

Earth Impacts: Earth and Moon banner; how to identify

meteorites; Earth vs. lunar craters; what are mete-

or showers.

Glass and Mirrors Outreach Toolkit

Describe concave and convex lenses; describe mirrors;

describe magnification; how telescopes work

Life in the Universe Outreach Toolkit

Life on Earth timeline banner; sky locations of stars

with known planets; history of life on Earth, with

banner; the importance of water; how astronomers

are searching for life elsewhere; light and the keys

to the rainbow

Our Magnetic Sun

Magnetic sun banner; what sunspots, solar prominences,

and solar storms are; how the magnetic sun affects

Earth; how spacecraft study the sun; how to ob-

serve the sun

Planet Quest

Star maps showing where the distant worlds are; how

we find planets around other stars (wobble tech-

nique and transit method); Telescope Treasure Hunt

for showing the different types of objects seen

through the telescope; how stars and planets are

formed

Our Place in Our Galaxy

Why we put telescopes in space; build a quarter sized

solar system; build a North America sized Milky

Way; how far away other galaxies are

Mars Colonies: Vanity vs. Reality by Clark M. Thomas

©2013

Once again the bad drug trip fantasy of saving Earth-

lings by colonizing Mars has reappeared in the form of

an article entitled, What 11 Billion People Mean for

Space Travel. This essay was written by Mike Wall,

PhD, evolutionary biologist, who apparently does not

appreciate the Rev. Thomas Robert Malthus, who ex-

plained Wall's error in the late 18th century. See Mal-

thusianism

Wall's basic idea is that there will be plenty more ego-

centric billionaires by then wanting to set up colonies in

space. There is some precedent for his idea today.

However, in this case a change in quantity leads to a

change in quality. It is one thing to send small cargos to

the International Space Station. It is something quite

different to send multiple fleets to distant Mars to

(Mars Continued on page 7)

RVAS NL— December 2013— Pg 7 of 10

seed that hostile environment.

At 11 billion population, with an annual growth rate of

just one percent, an additional 110 million people will be

added to the top of the pile of human flesh every year.

That's about 300,000 new hungry bellies every DAY. If

the plan is to construct "Eden #2" for 80,000 in an oth-

erwise deadly-to-humans world, what will be the oppor-

tunity cost here on Earth? How can anybody justify

hundreds of billions of dollars shot into space that oth-

erwise could be better used for improving the ecology

of Earth, and for real birth control, and for care of the

elderly. Do the math: vanity cannot conquer reality.

Don't get me started on the mining-in-space-creates-

wealth-on-Earth fantasy, along with the making-steel-in

-our-little-trailer dream.

There is one very low probability justification for a re-

mote colony of humans. That would be the Earth annihi-

lation hypothesis. The most likely event would be from

global thermonuclear war, something that is less likely

over time, despite proliferation. Even with a nuclear

holocaust, there could be more than 80,000 survivalists

left after the nuclear winter. Life on Earth will reset

and move forward, hopefully wiser.

Other scenarios involve natural doom. Most relate to

such things as giant asteroids, an increasingly unlikely

problem due to deflection strategies already under de-

velopment. Even less likely in human time would be such

things as gamma ray bursts, an eventual horror, but sta-

tistically not likely within the next billion years. Volca-

noes can cause havoc, especially super volcanoes such as

Yellowstone. None of these will cause the extinction of

our species. A sustained event, such as the great vol-

canic eruptions in India before the asteroid impact of

65 million years ago, is highly unlikely within the next

several million years.

That leads us to space alien invasions. Our Mars colony

money might be better spent on ideas for repelling un-

known invaders. In any case, future evil invaders could

arrive within the next several thousand years. If they

can find and kill life on Earth, they surely can find and

kill any life on Mars. However, this scenario is highly

unlikely, as there would be little or no reason to kill us

off, even for access to resources. They could simply

reprogram humans. More likely, any visitors will come in

peace, almost as angels, because they will already be far

more ethically advanced than our killer ape species.

Only the comphumans among us will be at their ethical

level.

<There is a fundamental danger in expecting futuristic

technology to save us from ourselves. In doing so, we

are at risk for delaying and minimizing our efforts to

act now on realistic and affordable ways to optimize our

lives on Spaceship Earth. We have already screwed up

the global environment through denial and inaction.

Let's not compound that error with a seductive Mars

fantasy.

(Mars Continued from page 6)

Wanted Observing reports or articles from members about astronomy activities in which they may be involved

E-mail any material you would like to submit for publication to: editor@rvasclub.org

RVAS NL— December 2013— Pg 8 of 10

Recently, RVAS members received an email from our

President announcing that an auction including a number

of astronomical items on the block would be held in

Winchester on Sunday, November 10th. Back in my

younger days in New Orleans, my wife and I routinely

attended auctions and thoroughly enjoyed the exciting

atmosphere, but we hadn't attended an auctions in some

time.

I clicked on the links in the email and my mouth watered

with the goodies up for auction, especially the Nagler

eyepieces. Would this be my chance to snag one or

more of these venerable eyepieces at a reasonable

price?

Sunday arrived and we decided to rouse ourselves out

of bed and hit the road to Winchester, about a 2.5 hour

drive from Lynchburg. We tanked up with biscuits and

coffee from the McDonalds in Lovingston and enjoyed

the drive up 81.

Upon our arrival at the auction, I immediately scouted

out the items of interest. At least 3 telescopes and 15

or more Televue eyepieces were on display and host of

miscellaneous items (e.g. filters, cases, books). The es-

tate of the gentleman who had passed away said a lot

about the man. Besides the plethora of astronomy

goodies, there was a load of ham radio gear. A gaggle

of folks from near and far was present to get a steal on

the radio goods, and the prices fetched were in the

thousands for some items as they were auctioned.

The first astronomy item up for bids was a disassem-

bled Dobsonian telescope. It was being auctioned in

advance of the originally scheduled start time for the

astronomy gear due to its size. The Dob appeared to be

15 inch or so, but was completely disassembled, so a

thorough inspection was not possible. I did not recog-

nize the manufacturer. The price was bid up to $375.

Not bad, but that was my first indication that there

were more than rank amateur astronomers in the audi-

ence.

Tick, tick, tick, and at 3pm the astronomy auction start-

ed in full force as scheduled. By the looks of the inter-

ested parties, I was the only amateur present, the oth-

er parties bidding seemed to be owners of astronomy

shops from other states. One of the vendors with

whom I struck up a conversation said he was from Mar-

yland.

Long story short, I did walk away with a 22mm Nagler

for a reasonable $290. The dozen or so other Televue

eyepieces went for from $100 to $360 each, all bought

by the vendors in attendance. Other items purchased

included telescopes, filters, cases, binoculars, star

charts, and books, all bought by the vendors for resale

at their shops. Thousands of dollars changed hands.

In summary, mission accomplished. I went expecting to

purchase a Nagler and walked away with a 22mm in al-

most new condition. The late owner of the estate I was

told owned a large plot of land nearby and the skies

were very dark. He was obviously serious about the

hobby given the amount and condition of his treasures.

We headed for home with not only the Nagler, but oth-

er sundries which caught our eye and that we were able

to get on the cheap. Van packed, we stopped for dinner

at a hometown favorite of ours, Popeye's Chicken, which

we passed by in Winchester. Two hours later we were

home, time enough to see the Saints play the Cowboys

on Sunday night NFL.

Can't wait to try out the new eyepiece next clear night!

The 22mm Televue Nagler eyepiece acquired by Vince St.

Angelo at the November 10th auction in Winchester.

Member Activities

Netting an Eyepiece in Winchester by Vince St. Angelo

In science failure can be a success. Finding what

doesn't fit an hypothesis can be movement in the right

direction, by reducing the number of possible variables.

Of course, such "progress" assumes your hypothesis is

where truth exists.

In other words, getting closer to being really lost is not

always better than simply being lost. Ultimately, as Soc-

rates said: "The only thing I know is that I do not

know."

Modern scientific technology assumes that somewhere

out there an experiment, or experiments, can prove or

disprove every physical thesis. Whereas this may be so

within the range of our ability to measure and verify

through multiple ways, what if the elusive answer is be-

yond our measuring technology?

The most interesting stuff in cosmology starts with the

word "dark." Be it dark energy or dark matter, that

"stuff" is far more abundant than the baryonic matter

we can see. It is assumed incorrectly that dark matter

is not the same as dark energy, and that dark energy is

a greater part of our universe than dark matter.

What's left seems almost incidental, except that this

visible universe is what we call home.

Physics involves the equation of matter and energy, and

their mutual interchange. We can measure down to nano

dimensions, but not nearly far enough down to get to

the essential components of dark matter/energy. This

leads to such detours as defining Higgs bosons and

WIMPS as fundamental particles, when they are not.

We cannot honestly fit all things measurable into our

measuring machines. Therefore, that which is beyond

measurement appears to be metaphysical, not physical.

Much of today's cutting-edge physics was yesterday's

metaphysics. And tomorrow? Some of today's physics

will join tomorrow's metaphysics. After stripping away

false hubris, we can learn to live with higher quality

metaphysical theses, combining honest philosophy and

advanced technology.

All of which brings us to massively funded Snipe Hunt

#2: the search for WIMPS, weakly interacting massive

particles, possibly the essence of dark matter. (Snipe

Hunt #1 is the hunt for another non-fundamental parti-

cle, the Higgs boson.) The famous LUX (Large Under-

ground Xenon Detector) experiment has totally failed

to find WIMPS, but there is hope that a souped up ver-

sion of this experiment might reveal something. Nor has

any other experiment found any verifiable WIMP activi-

ty. Mind you, this is for something that is supposedly

far more common than ordinary matter. Gee, could it be

that the basic hypothesis is wrong? Not to worry, there

appear to be millions, even billions, of dollars ready to

pour down both snipe holes.

Plain and simple, these experiments are not looking at

the real fundamental component of dark matter, and

even dark energy: gravitons. Most people think gravity

is the weakest of the four fundamental forces. Howev-

er, gravity can be the strongest force. It is also the

fundamental force, so that there is a GUT, or grand

unified theory, to be built around gravitons.

The thing about gravitons is that they are smaller than

any way to directly measure them individually. They are

in the size realm of hypothetical strings, and far small-

er than any pseudo fundamental particle. We're talking

10 to the minus 37th power meters. Indeed, other so-

called fundamental particles are much larger and com-

posed of myriads of gravitons in ways we don't yet fully

understand.

An understanding of curved space, and of the simple law

of gravity (both taken to the smallest dimensions), gives

us conceptual tools to see mentally what we cannot veri-

fy physically.

On the other hand, the neat thing about dark matter on

a macro scale is how it measurably interacts with mas-

sive structures that we can see. From these verifiable

observations we can begin to build an hypothesis worthy

of respect.

WIMPS are Wimpy by Clark M. Thomas

©2013

RVAS NL— December 2013— Pg 9 of 10

RVAS NL— December 2013— Pg 10 of 10

Monthly Calendar

MONTHLY MEETING: “Winter Solstice Social,” December 16th, 7:30 p.m., Center on Church, Downtown

Roanoke. Join us for our annual winter bash, an eclectic evening of food, friends and fun! We’ll have the second

RVAS year’s-end slideshow, “open mike” time for anyone who cares to share something astronomical with the

group and a variety of other activities. We’ll also be distributing the 2014 Ottewell Astronomical Calendar to all

who placed orders.

RVAS WEEKEND OBSERVING OPPORTUNITIES: Unless otherwise indicated, observing is held at Cahas

Mountain Overlook, milepost 139 on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

-- Friday and Saturday, December 27th and 28th. Sunset is at 5:10 p.m. Astronomical twilight ends at

6:44 p.m. The Moon sets at 1:15 p.m. and 1:57 p.m., respectively.

-- Future Sessions: January 24th and 25th; January 31st and February 1st.

RVAS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING: To be determined. Call 540-774-5651 for information.

ROANOKE CITY PARKS and RECREATION PUBLIC STARGAZE: Saturday, December 28th, 5:45 p.m.,

Cahas Overlook, Milepost 139 Blue Ridge Parkway. Nonmembers must register with Parks & Rec. at 540-853-

2236. Members can call 540-774-5651 for information. (Next session: January 25th, 6:15 p.m., Cahas Over-

look.)

Astro-Quiz

Of the 88 recognized constellations only three contain more than one first magnitude star (i.e. brighter than

magnitude 1.50). Name the constellations and the stars.

Answer to Last Month’s Astro-Quiz: Using 37° 16' North as Roanoke’s latitude, first consider that your lati-

tude on Earth’s surface projects spaceward through you to the point directly over your head. Next consider that

it’s a 90° angle from that overhead point down to the south point on your horizon. If you trace southward 37°

16' from the overhead point and you’ll arrive at the height of the celestial equator (Earth’s equator projected

onto the sky) above the south horizon point. That’s 52° 44' above your south horizon point (the remainder of the

90° angle). The Sun is 23° 26' below celestial equator on the winter solstice and 23° 26' above it on summer sol-

stice. So, the Sun is 29° 18' above the south horizon point (52° 44' minus 23° 26') on the winter solstice and 76°

10' above the south horizon point (52° 44' plus 23° 26') on the summer solstice. (Kudos to Dan Chrisman for cor-

rectly answering the Astro-Quiz! Good job, Dan!)