San Diego Astronomy Association1 Father Junipero Serra Trail March 2010, Vol XLVIII, Issue 03...

San DiegoAstronomy AssociationCelebrating Over 40 Years of Astronomical Outreach

Office (619) 645-8940Observatory (619) 766-9118

http://www.sdaa.orgA Non-Profit Educational Association

P.O. Box 23215, San Diego, CA 92193-3215

March 2010

SDAA Business MeetingNext meeting will be held at:3838 Camino del Rio North

Suite 300San Diego, CA 92108

March 9th at 7 pmNext Program Meeting

March 17, 2009Mission Trails Regional Park

Visitor and Interpretive Center1 Father Junipero Serra Trail

March 2010, Vol XLVIII, Issue 03Published Monthly by the San Diego Astronomy Association75¢ /$8.00 yearIncorporated in California in 1963SDAA Messier Marathon.......................12010 Annual Banquet......................1March Program Meeting.....................3A New Member’s First Thoughts.................4Julian Starfest Needs Your Help..............5Sky Watch.......................................................6February Minutes....................................7Program Meeting Photos...........................8SDAA Contacts......................................9March Calendar.......................................10April Calendar ......................................11Almanac..........................................12Flipping the Lights on Cosmic Darkness.....13Project Astro..............................................14Solar Dynamics Observatory..................15AISIG Gallery...........................................19The Back Page...........................................20

CONTENTS

SDAA Messier Marathonby Kin Searcy

Every spring brings a special opportunity to observe all 110 of the Messier Objects in a single fun evening with great camaraderie. This year’s Messier Marathon will be held at Tierra del Sol on March 13th. We will have two events: first, the traditional all night event, and second, a special Cinderella Marathon for those who wish to discon-tinue the chase at midnight. As its title suggests the event is a race against the sun beginning as twilight fades and culminating with the rising of the last Messier object, M30 – a globular cluster, with the morning sun. This Messier Marathon itself dates back only to 1978 but is now an enjoyable and educational staple of active astronomy groups. While it is dif-ficult to complete the list in one evening, TDS offers sufficient darkness and unob-structed view to give our “competitors” a chance. (Note that a short drive from the site to a suitable vantage point may be necessary to bag M30.) SDAA’s rules for the Messier Marathon Certificate are traditional. Since the pur-pose of the marathon is to help observers navigate the night sky, all objects are to be located by star hopping. No computer aided devices, go-to systems, or setting circles are allowed. The SDAA hosts will provide a tracking sheet that participants use to log the objects found. It also provides a good search sequence as well as guide stars with sweep directions and angles. The hosts will pick up the sweep charts at midnight for the Cinderella event and in the morning for the full marathon. All participants will receive a treasured SDAA Messier Marathon Participation Certificate. While Messier purists debate the number of catalog items and sometimes even the objects them-selves – those identified on the sweep sheet will be accepted for this event. Some SDAA members have bagged 100 plus objects, but if you are a beginning observer, come out and give it your best. The hosts and other club members will help you. The Cinderella event is a great opportunity to enjoy the fun with a reasonable commitment. Be sure to bring warm clothes, extra batteries, and comfort items. SDAA will have a hosting station on the public pads near the restroom with warm drinks, cookies, sweep sheets, finder charts, sky atlas, etc. Come by and visit with SDAA hosts Bill Carlson, Moose Poutney, Ed Rumsey and Kin Searcy. For questions, please contact Bill, Moose, Ed or Kin at 425 736-8485, 619 465-7014, 858 780-0337 or 858 586-0974, respectively.

2010 Annual Banquet – A very special Occasion!by Dave Petit

This was only my second full year as a member of SDAA, and so January 30th was only my second opportunity to attend the annual SDAA Banquet and fundraiser at Crown Plaza. But I am in awe at how well our membership supports this event. We had 130 members and guests present at this year! And, by my way of looking at it, we all went away from this banquet as winners, many of which were literal winners of the raffle and auction prizes, and the rest of us just happy to be a part of the occasion. Oh, and by the way, the club had a net gain of $2821!

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San Diego Astronomy Association

Page 2 SAN DIEGO ASTRONOMY ASSOCIATION NEWS AND NOTES, MARCH 2010

A huge tip of the hat to Jean Naugle for her single handed feat of organizing the event and also a big thank-you to all of the SDAA team that helped her in the preparation, registra-tion, set up, decorations, merchandise sale, auction, prize raffle and cleanup. Maggie and Bob Roth came through with some really special table decorations, I can attest that the cookies in the centerpieces were really quite yummy. I don’t know all of the people that volunteered, but I would like to personally acknowledge those that I do: Alice Harvey, Duane Naugle, Michael Vander Vorst and his wife, Kin and Katie Searcy, Mike Brindell and his wife, Jose Magsaysay our outgoing treasurer, and a special thanks to Bob Austin our never tiring club presi-dent and extraordinary auctioneer. The banquet was really a great opportunity to make good use of a “full-moon” Saturday, by gathering with our SDAA comrades and really enjoying a different view of our hobby. My favorite part of the Banquet was the presentation by the featured speaker, Trina Ray, Co-Chair of the Cassini Titan Orbiter Science Team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Her presentation was called “Tale of Two Moons: Titan and Enceladus”. Now listening to Trina is really a treat, she gave one of the most entertaining presentations that I have ever seen, and the pictures from the mission were priceless. Now if you weren’t there, you may think that Saturn’s moons may be a little mundane subject matter. That’s just not so. She had the audience spellbound, and also at times in stitches laughing. You can take a look at some of the pictures from the Cassini project yourself at http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/. Thanks again to all of you SDAA members and guests that made the banquet / fundraiser a big success, and I look forward to seeing you all there again next year.

2010 SDAA Banquet Recap (revised) Income: Meal Tickets - Checks 2,295.00Meal Tickets - PayPal 3,353.97Raffle Tickets 825.00Auction Proceeds 1,300.00Silent Auction 461.00Merchandise Sales (donated honey) 50.00 Total Income 8,284.97 Expenses: Crowne Plaza - 1st Deposit 1,000.00Crowne Plaza - Balance 3,489.51Crowne Plaza - 1/30/10 last payment 98.64Refund - 1 Dinner no show 45.00Raffle Prizes - OPT 243.6925 Year Awards (4) 187.05Speaker Honorarium 300.00Decoration Expenses (B. Roth) 100.00 Total Expenses 5,463.89 Net Income $2,821.08

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Scenes from the Banquet. Bob Austin acts as the Master of Ceremonies and Chief Auctioneer and Dr. Trina Ray entertains the audience. Photos courtesy of Gene

Dolphin.


Page 3SAN DIEGO ASTRONOMY ASSOCIATION NEWS AND NOTES, MARCH 2010

Thank you for your Donations! The following gracious members donated items for the an-nual banquet. Thanks for helping make the banquet a success. Bret Akers Terry Arnold Alice Harvey Jeff Lunglhofer Jean and Duane Naugle Kin Searcy Brian Staples Charles Sten Deanne and Gary Turton Michael VanderVorst Joseph Vidovitch Michael Walker

March Program MeetingTom Murphy, UCSD

“Testing Gravity with Lasers to the Moon”by Michael Vander Vorst

Time: Wednesday, March 17th, 7 pm UCSD Physics Professor Tom Murphy will talk on how Lu-nar Laser Ranging (LLR) has for decades provided some of the most stringent tests of our understanding of gravity, using the solar system as a gravitational laboratory. A new effort called APOLLO uses the 3.5-meter telescope at Apache Point Observatory (the APO in APOLLO; the two Ls are part of LLR: will let you guess the rest) to push LLR precision to the one-millimeter regime. This enables a variety of tests of gravity to improve by a factor of ten. In the process, we have learned that the reflectors are dusty. We also employ a superconducting gravimeter at the site capable of discerning one-millimeter changes in the distance to the center of the earth--as well as all kinds of other neat effects. The talk will focus on the tech-niques and fun aspects of the research. Tom was born and raised in Chattanooga, TN, and a telescope-building amateur astronomer in high school. He went on to study physics at Georgia Tech, also working as a coop-erative education student at the Naval Research Laboratory. He went to graduate school at Caltech, building an infrared spectrograph for the Palomar 200-inch telescope and using it to study galaxy collisions. He began the APOLLO project as a post-doctoral student at the University of Washington in Se-attle in 2000, moving to UCSD in 2003. The APOLLO project remains his primary research endeavor.

On July 24, 2005, APOLLO shone its laser out of the telescope enclosure for the first time. You can see one of the aircraft spotters on the catwalk on the photo to the

right. Photos courtesy of UCSD and Gretchen van Doren.

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Please check http://www.sdaa.org/Program-Meeting for more information on the program meeting, including door prizes and upcoming speakers. Also feel free to con-tact Michael Vander Vorst at [email protected], or at 858.755.5846 if you have any comments or suggestions on the program meeting. San Diego Astronomy Association (SDAA) sponsors speak-ers on a wide range of astronomy topics on the third Wednes-day of every month at the Mission Trails Regional Park Visitors Center. The program meeting begins at 7:00pm. Each attendee receives one free door prize ticket. After announcements and a small amount of business, the audience is treated to the featured presentation. At the close of the meeting the door prizes are presented. The event is open to the public. The Mis-sion Trails Regional Park Visitors Center is at One Fr. Junipero Serra Trail, San Diego CA 92119. Call the park at 619-668-3281 for more information or visit http://www.mtrp.org.

Editor’s Note: The following was posted to the Yahoo Group and Bob Austin and I thought it would make a great addition to the newsletter. We don’t have a last name and the title is mine, but this is the reaction we hope to get out of everybody who attends a star party and every new member. To Dana - I would like to give you (and Damian) full credit for this article. Please send your full name to [email protected] (along with a picture if you dare) and I will run it next month. I hope that you will consider submitting more articles about your experiences in the future.

A New Member’s First Thoughtsby Dana

Hello: This is my first post [to the Yahoo! Group] and I wanted it to be a “thank you” to the SDAA for the star parties that really affected my son and me. It was so inspiring that we tell anybody we can about our experience and urge as many people as we can to go to one. We finally joined SDAA ourselves two weeks ago. Anyway, long post below to tell you about our first SDAA star party as attendees. My 7-year old son, Damian, and I attended our first star party last summer at Sycamore Canyon after reading about it in a Poway newspaper. We had no idea what to expect and thought it was a “bring your own telescope” type event so we brought out 3” dept store refractor. Even though we’d had it for years, we never really looked through it and I barely knew how to operate it. We got to the top of the hill after hiking about half a mile and shone the flashlight around. Huge mistake--everybody

started hollering at us. I quickly shut it off and noticed the red lights around us. D’oh! Now I understand...After upsetting everybody and with embarrassment we skulked into a corner so nobody would recognize us as the dynamic duo who just ruined everybody’s night vision. I set up the small refractor and as I was doing so I listened to somebody next to us with what sounded like some south-ern accent telling people about a cluster with a million stars. I looked up to see who this person was when much to my sur-prise I saw instead several people lined up next to us. I realized that they thought that I was with the SDAA and they wanted to look at what we found! Mild panic set in: I’d never used the telescope, I didn’t know my way around the night sky, my son was watching and expect-ing dad to come through, and I’ve embarrassed myself enough this evening already with the flashlight fiasco. My neighbor, the million-star-man, pointed out Antares to his audience and he mentioned red giants. I remembered a bit about red giants from when I was kid, so I figured I can say at least a couple of interesting things about them. I follow his green laser, tried to focus the useless finderscope, and eventually found the star. Damian took over talking about red giants--I had no idea he knew so much. I also had no idea that everything moves and within a few moments, lost Antares. The finderscope refused to help me and we had to give up. Just as I thought that I would have to disappoint my audience, the million-star-man mentioned that Jupiter is just coming over the horizon. My son and I were saved: we knew more about Jupiter than Antares! I swung the scope to Jupiter and noticed an optical blemish on the lens. I saw four small points of light in a straight diago-nal line though the planet. I tried cleaning the lens and refo-cused but those lights were still there. In the background I half heard the million-star-man saying something about Jupiter’s moons and realized that these were what I thought the blem-ish was. It blew my mind and I excitedly tell Damian what we found. His sense of awe and amazement was probably one of the most memorable parts of that night (or of the year, for that matter). Damian started waving anybody within hearing distance over like a barker at a circus inviting them to look through the dinky telescope: “Jupiter!” he shouted. “We’ve got Jupiter over here! Who wants to see Jupiter?” We started to steal the crowd away from our clustery neigh-bor which made me feel a bit bad since without him we would never have found the planet (or even knew what it was even if we did!). Damian told anybody looking through the scope and any innocent passers by as much as he knew about Jupiter--which meant more than me, apparently. The big red spot is a storm,




Jupiter is a gaseous giant, all gas planets have rings, and that if you looked closely, you could see 4 of Jupiter’s 63 moons. Huh--63 moons? I rolled my eyes a bit and let him go with it in his enthu-siasm, but by the 10th person who was amazed by and quite frankly, questioning the amount of moons Damian was telling them that Jupiter had, I began to feel a bit guilty of spreading misinformation at an SDAA event that people clearly thought we were part of. My “father sense” though told me that I first had to seek vindication through a higher power and I place a quick call via mobile phone to my wife: “Hey,” I whispered to her, covering up the light coming off my phone so I didn’t have another unfortunate white light incident. “Are you online?” “Yes,” she replies with suspicion. “This may sound like a strange question, but can you find out how many moons Jupiter has?” I hear fevered typing in the background, the muttered words “Jupiter, moons, blah blah blah,” and then: “OK, Wikipedia says Jupiter has 63 confirmed moons...” I didn’t know what was more unbelievable: that Jupiter had 63 confirmed moons or that my son knew this. I decided that to keep my dignity that I would not question Damian on astronomy again that evening. After a while, we wanted to look through the other scopes. The images were incredible and we’d never forget them. We learned about globular clusters, double-doubles, and summer triangles. Everybody was so friendly, never talked down to us, and seemed to really enjoy answering Damian’s unending bar-rage of questions. In what seemed only a few minutes, the star party was over, SDAA members were breaking down their gear, and we had to go home. We’ve gone to every Poway star party since and brought out that dinky little refractor to each one of them. We really enjoy the public outreach part of it even though we have little real

knowledge to pass along. With a planisphere and a pair of bin-oculars I’ve been slowly learning the night sky so when I’m out with my son or his Cub Scout troop I can help others learn the night sky. I was never taught the constellations but would like to pass this down to my children. In fact, I found Leo for the first time last night. After a ton of reading and research, last week my brother and I pooled our money together and picked up a 12” Sky-watcher collapsible Dob for the family--all our children turn a year older within 4 weeks of each other so it was good time to do it. It is clearly a lot of scope for a beginner like me but I like to buy above my skills so I can never blame the tool, just the tool using it. Anyway, once I get more confident with the scope Damian and I look forward to helping out with star parties so that maybe somebody else can receive the gift that we were given on that summer night. Thanks SDAA for sparking the fire and a big, big thanks to the million-star-man who unknowingly got us out of pickle that first night. And sorry for stealing your crowd. ;) --Dana

Julian Starfest Needs Your Helpby Brian V. Staples

We have been approached with an exciting opportunity for the SDAA, an opportunity be part of something big. Scott Baker, SDAA member, Julian resident, ardent astronomer, and all around good guy, started a little venture a few years ago called the Julian Starfest (JSF). Maybe you’ve heard of it? Maybe a few of you have attended??? Scott has organized and put on his event for the last two years. It’s a lot of work for one man, and because of changes in Scott’s work and life, he was

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Left: Crowds at walk down Vendor Row at last year’s Julian

Starfest.



SkyWatch Finalé, March, 2010by John Mood

[ Times PST ] [ * = 1 star = EZ ] [ ** = 2 stars = Moderate ] [ *** = 3 stars = Difficult ]2 degrees = Index finger held at arm’s length.

The pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Heraclitus thought change was fundamental to the cosmos. “You can’t step into the same river twice” is probably his most famous statement of that conviction. I agree with him, & so it is that continued changes in forms of electronic communications in the SDAA newsletter have led to my deciding to call it a day with “SkyWatch.” Actually, it’s more than a day, more like,,,,,omigawd…..20 years exactly! I had no idea. When I said “OK now’s probably a good time for me to resign”, Mark Smith suggested in his invariably kind way that I do one more final farewell “SkyWatch.” Thanks, Mark, very thoughtful of you!

So I looked up in my records when my 1st “SkyWatch” was, & discovered to my amazement, that it was March, 1990. My jaw dropped to the floor. What perfect timing, Mark!

It has been a gas. Lots of work. I would spend several hours or more on each column. But what fun. I started by suggesting more difficult celestial objects for members to view. But as they got more experienced, with more advanced technology, I gradu-ally shifted “SkyWatch” to reach new members, concentrating on the major starting points for any beginning amateur astronomer – the Moon, the planets, bright stars, double stars, significant clusters & nebulae & galaxies from the Messier list.

I got lots of feedback, each one of which I appreciated. So thanks to you all, members & officers alike. I leave you by emphasiz-ing the marvelous wonders available simply by observing the celestial universe, with naked eye, binocs or scopes, from yr home or away, in day (solar atmospheric phenomena) & night. & by recommending, one final time, what I consider still to be the best astronomy book ever written in any language, Robert Burnham, Burnham’s Celestial Handbook: An Observer’s Guide to the Universe Beyond the Solar System, in 3 volumes (1966, 1978), still extremely useful even for the most sophisticated amateur astronomer, especially those with Goto scopes. Check it out! And………. WATCH THE SKIES!!!!!

THE PLANETS (“The solar system gives us wisdom” ---- Beach Boys)EVENING:----MORNING:----{Pluto is no longer a planet. See my “SkyWatch for September, 2005” for why.}

OBSERVING HIGHLIGHTS: LAT = 32º 36’ 48” N ( ± 0.l” ), LONG = 116º 19’ 55” W ( ± 0.1” ), ELEV = 3710’ ( ± 5’ ), at the bathroom, as determined from USGS 7.5 min 1/24000 map. (See my essay on GPS at www.sdaa.org/tds. If you’re already online, go to home page & click on “MORE…” under “Tierra del Sol.”)

Send comments & questions to me by phone (619/225-9639), USPS (4538 Long Branch Av., San Diego, CA 92107) or my e-mail address ([email protected]).

¡HAPPY VIEWING!

Editor’s Note: I’m sad to see John go. He has been one of the newsletter’s most consistant contributors month after month. John has promised to continue to submit pieces on observing and other aspects of astronomy from time to time. For those who miss John’s monthly rundown on the planets, see the expanded Almanac. The data there is dry and without John’s flair, but it will help you track down our nearest neighbors.



San Diego Astronomy AssociationBoard of Directors Meeting Minutes

February 9, 2010 - Unapproved and Subject to Revision

1. Call to Order. The meeting was called to order at 7pm with the following board members in attendance: Bob Austin, President; Michael Vander Vorst, Vice President; Kin Searcy, Correspondence Secretary; Ed Rumsey, Treasurer; Brian Mc-Farland, Recording Secretary; Bill Carlson, Director; David Petit, Director; Brian Staples, Director; Paul Pountney, Director. Members in attendance were Terry Arnold and Chuck Sten.

2. Approval of Last Meeting Minutes. The minutes of the January 2010 board meeting were reviewed and approved.

3. Priority / Member Business. Two private pad owners addressed the Board regarding failure to meet the minimum required number of pad usage days for 2009. Reasons were due to personal and professional extenuating circumstances, and the Board voted to permit their lease renewals.

4. Standard Reports a. Treasurer’s Report. The current treasurer’s report was not received by the Board due to email server issues; it will be reviewed for approval at the next Board meeting. The Board is re-evaluating our insurance policy to ensure TDS and club activities are properly covered. b. Membership Report. Membership increased by four from 583 to 587. c. Site Maintenance Report. The hot water heater is installed, but not yet connected electrically, and its water supply is off. There is a small leak in one of the fittings, and because the new water heater’s dimensions are slightly different than the old, the existing electrical conduit was too short. These two issues will be resolved as soon as possible. The next TDS work party is scheduled for Saturday, 8 May 2010. Erosion control, brush clearing, leaking warming room roof, etc., are on the agenda. d. Observatory Report. Nothing to report. e. Private Pad Report. Nothing to report. f. Star Party/Outreach Report. There have been a lot of star party cancellations due to weather recently. We are still looking for a South Region Star Party Coordinator, and also looking for volunteers to help with an Indian Princess star party – a request for help will be posted on Yahoo. The Star Party Committee will be combined with the Library and Education Committees into one Outreach Committee chaired by Kin Searcy. g. Library Report. The Library Committee will be combined with the Education and Star Party committees into one Outreach Committee chaired by Kin Searcy. h. Education Report. Terry Arnold will stand in for Michael Vander Vorst as judge at the Science Fair. The Educa-tion Committee will be combined with the Library and Star Party committees into one Outreach Committee chaired by Kin Searcy. i. Program Report. February and March meetings are set. The April meeting will be the TDS development plan presen-tation. Possible trip to JPL for a tour the weekend of May 15 & 16. j. NASA Robotic Observatory. Plans are in the works to house the control electronics in a permanent small structure. k. AISIG Report. The Lightbuckets Project is progressing very well. Normal AISIG meetings to resume at MTRP in April. l. Governing Documents Report. Brian Staples to take over for Mark Smith. Need to arrange for a transfer of documen-tation. m. Newsletter Report. In order to meet the minimum requirements for bulk mailing discount rates, we will add a few newsletters to the printer order; they will be made available to local college observatories, Palomar, etc. n. Website Report. We will purchase Vimeo Plus for $59.95/yr to facilitate the upload of videos to our website. o. Banquet Committee Report. Banquet Committee was dissolved by motion and approval of the Board.

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p. Site Master Plan Committee Report. In work.

5. Old Business. a. Radio Telescope. Plan to ask Jim Brown to present the telescope status to the Board. b. Starfest. In evaluation by Brian Staples. c. Call for any other old business. None

6. New Business. a. Call for new business. Looking for new volunteers to host the Messier Marathon. Bill Carlson and Paul Pountney will step in to help out this year.

7. Adjournment. There was no further business, and the meeting was adjourned at 9pm.


February Program Meeting Pictures

Images from the February Program Meeting. Clockwise from Top Left: Jean Naugle receives an appreciation gift for her work on the Banquet. Dr. Marc Rayman

gives a presentation on the Dawn Mission. Dr. Rayman answers questions. Dr. Rayman makes a

point. Photos Courtesy of John Restivo.



SDAA ContactsClub Officers and Directors

President Bob Austin [email protected] (760) 787-1174Vice-President Michael [email protected] (858) 755-5846 Vander VorstRecording Secretary Brian McFarland [email protected] (619) 462-4483Treasurer Ed Rumsey [email protected] (858) 722-3846Corresponding Secretary Kin Searcy [email protected] (858) 586-0974Director Alpha Bill Carlson [email protected] (425) 736-8485Director Beta Brian Staples [email protected] (858) 560-6094Director Gamma Paul Pountney [email protected] (619) 465-7014Director Delta David Petit [email protected] (858) 395-9593

CommitteesSite Maintenance Bill Quackenbush [email protected] (858) 395-1007Observatory Director Jim Traweek [email protected] (619) 477-7279Private Pads Alice Harvey [email protected] (858) 622-1481Outreach Kin Searcy [email protected] (858) 586-0974N. County Star Parties Bob Nanz [email protected] (760) 751-3992S. County Star Parties Bob Austin [email protected] (760) 787-1174E. County Star Parties Bob Affeldt [email protected] (619) 328-2487Central Area Star Parties Kin Searcy [email protected] (858) 586-0974Camp with the Stars Mike Dietz [email protected] Mark Smith [email protected] (858) 484-0540Membership Bill Carlson [email protected] (425) 736-8485New Member Mentor Bill Carlson (425) 736-8485Webmaster Bob Austin [email protected] (760) 787-1174AISIG Kin Searcy [email protected] (858) 586-0974Site Acquisition Jerry Hilburn [email protected] (858) 565-4059Field Trips Michael [email protected] (858) 755-5846 Vander VorstGrants/Fund Raising Jerry Hilburn [email protected] (858) 565-4059Merchandising Mike Brindell [email protected] (619) 644-5420Publicity Jerry Hilburn [email protected] (858) 565-4059Roboscope Director Kent Richardson [email protected] (858) 268-9943Governing Documents Mark Smith [email protected] (858) 484-0540TDS Network Bill Carlson [email protected] (425) 736-8485Amateur Telescope Making Peter DeBaan [email protected] (760) 745-0925

Have a great new piece of gear? Read an astronomy-related book that you think others should know about? How about a photograph of an SDAA Member in action? Or are you simply tired of seeing these Boxes in the Newsletter rather than something, well, interesting?

Join the campaign to rid the Newsletter of little boxes by sharing them with the membership. In return for your efforts, you will get your very own by line or pho-tograph credit in addition to the undying gratitude of the Newsletter Editor. Just send your article or picture to [email protected] or [email protected].

SDAA Editorial StaffEditor - Mark [email protected]

Assistant Editor: Craig EwingContributing Writers

Alice Harvey John Mood Kin Searcy Brian Staples John Restivo Mark Smith Dana Dr. Tony Phillips Dave Petit Michael Vander Vorst



March 2010SDAA Monthly Planner

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1 2 3Stars in the Park

4GrapevineElementary

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7 8Park VillageElementary

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12Stars at Mission

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14 15New Moon

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17ProgramMeeting

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19CoronadoHospital

Foundation

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21 22Skyline

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5 6 7Stars in the Park

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11 12 13BusinessMeeting

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15 16Pheonix House

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Astronomical Almanac

Date Sun Rise Sun Set Moon Rise Moon SetMar 1, 2010 6:12 17:42 19:19 6:33Mar 2, 2010 6:11 17:43 20:27 7:07Mar 3, 2010 6:10 17:44 21:35 7:43Mar 4, 2010 6:09 17:45 22:41 8:22Mar 5, 2010 – Fri 6:08 17:45 23:44 9:04Mar 6, 2010 – Sat 6:06 17:46 9:50Mar 7, 2010 –Last 6:05 17:47 0:43 10:41Mar 8, 2010 6:04 17:48 1:35 11:35Mar 9, 2010 6:03 17:48 2:22 12:31Mar 10, 2010 6:01 17:49 3:03 13:28Mar 11, 2010 6:00 17:50 3:38 14:24Mar 12, 2010 – Fri 5:59 17:51 4:10 15:19Mar 13, 2010 – Sat 5:58 17:51 4:39 16:14Mar 14, 2010 – DST Starts 6:56 18:52 6:06 18:09Mar 15, 2010 – New 6:55 18:53 6:33 19:04Mar 16, 2010 6:54 18:54 7:01 20:00Mar 17, 2010 6:52 18:54 7:29 20:57Mar 18, 2010 6:51 18:55 8:01 21:57Mar 19, 2010 – Fri 6:50 18:56 8:37 22:58Mar 20, 2010 – Sat 6:49 18:56 9:19 Mar 21, 2010 6:47 18:57 10:08 0:00Mar 22, 2010 6:46 18:58 11:04 1:00Mar 23, 2010 – 1st 6:45 18:59 12:07 1:57Mar 24, 2010 6:43 18:59 13:14 2:48Mar 25, 2010 6:42 19:00 14:24 3:34Mar 26, 2010 – Fri 6:41 19:01 15:35 4:14Mar 27, 2010 – Sat 6:39 19:01 16:45 4:52Mar 28, 2010 6:38 19:02 17:54 5:27Mar 29, 2010- Full 6:37 19:03 19:03 6:01Mar 30, 2010 6:35 19:04 20:12 6:36Mar 31, 2010 6:34 19:04 21:20 7:14

Mar 3-17: Zodiacal Light visible in West after evening twilight.Mar 17: Uranus in conjunction with Sun.Mar 14: Mercury at superior conjunction with Sun.Mar 20: Equinox at 1032 PDT.Mar 22: Saturn at Opposition.

Date Sun Rise Sun Set Moon Rise Moon SetApr 1, 2010 6:33 19:05 22:26 7:55Apr 2, 2010 – Fri 6:32 19:06 23:29 8:41Apr 3, 2010 – Sat 6:30 19:06 9:31Apr 4, 2010 – Easter 6:29 19:07 0:25 10:25Apr 5, 2010 6:28 19:08 1:15 11:22Apr 6, 2010 – Last 6:26 19:08 1:59 12:19Apr 7, 2010 6:25 19:09 2:37 13:16Apr 8, 2010 6:24 19:10 3:10 14:11Apr 9, 2010 – Fri 6:23 19:11 3:40 15:06Apr 10, 2010 – Sat 6:21 19:11 4:08 16:01Apr 11, 2010 6:20 19:12 4:35 16:56Apr 12, 2010 6:19 19:13 5:03 17:52Apr 13, 2010 6:18 19:13 5:31 18:50Apr 14, 2010 – New 6:17 19:14 6:03 19:49Apr 15, 2010 6:15 19:15 6:38 20:51Apr 16, 2010 – Fri 6:14 19:16 7:19 21:54Apr 17, 2010 – Sat 6:13 19:16 8:06 22:55Apr 18, 2010 6:12 19:17 9:00 23:53Apr 19, 2010 6:11 19:18 10:01 Apr 20, 2010 6:10 19:18 11:06 0:45Apr 21, 2010 – 1st 6:08 19:19 12:14 1:31Apr 22, 2010 6:07 19:20 13:22 2:12Apr 23, 2010 – Fri 6:06 19:21 14:30 2:49Apr 24, 2010 – Sat 6:05 19:21 15:37 3:24Apr 25, 2010 6:04 19:22 16:44 3:57Apr 26, 2010 6:03 19:23 17:51 4:31Apr 27, 2010 6:02 19:23 18:59 5:08Apr 28, 2010 – Full 6:01 19:24 20:06 5:47Apr 29, 2010 6:00 19:25 21:11 6:31Apr 30, 2010 - Fri 5:59 19:26 22:11 7:20

Apr 15-18: Mars near Beehive Cluster.Apr 22: April Lyrids Peak.Apr 28: Mercury at inferior conjunction with Sun.

Planetary DataMarch April

Constellation Distance Magnitude Size Constellation Distance Magnitude SizeSun Pisces 0.993 + 32’12” Pisces 1.002 - 31’55” Mercury Pisces 1.37 + -1.5 4.9” Aries 0.83 + 0.4 8.1”Venus Pisces 1.65 + -3.9 10.1” Aries 1.55 + -3.9 10.8”Mars Cancer 0.84 - -0.4 11.1” Cancer 1.10 - -0.4 8.5”Jupiter Aquarius 5.97 + -2.0 33.0” Aquarius 5.81 + -2.1 33.9”Saturn Virgo 8.52 + 0.6 19.5” Virgo 8.57 - 0.6 19.4”Uranus Pisces 21.08 - 5.9 3.3” Pisces 21.01 + 5.9 3.3”Neptune Capricorn 30.93 + 8.0 2.2” Aquarius 30.61 + 7.9 2.2”

All data for mid-month. Distance is in AU. The +/- after the distance indicates whether the body is getting closer (+) or farther (-) throughout the month.


Page 13SAN DIEGO ASTRONOMY ASSOCIATION NEWS AND NOTES, MARCH 2010Continued on Page 14

to consider allowing groups such as the Kiwanis/Lions/ Scouts to come in, serve food, sell drinks and snacks, and retain the proceeds as fundraising for themselves. The Concession Coor-dinator will work with these groups in making the appropriate arrangements. So, we are looking for three or four people to step up and help us make JSF a memorable and ongoing event. If you can help, or want to offer other services you think may be of value, please call Brian at (858)560-9064 or e-mail him at [email protected].

Flipping the Lights on Cosmic DarknessNASA’s Space Place

Exploring the universe is a bit like groping around a dark room. Aside from the occasional pinprick of starlight, most objects lurk in pitch darkness. But with the recent launch of the largest-ever infrared space telescope, it’s like someone walked into the room and flipped on the lights. Suddenly, those dark spaces between stars don’t appear quite so empty. Reflected in the Herschel Space Observatory’s 3.5-me-ter primary mirror, astronomers can now see colder, darker celestial objects than ever before—from the faint outer arms of distant galaxies to the stealthy “dark asteroids” of our own solar system. Many celestial objects are too cold to emit visible light, but they do shine at much longer infrared wavelengths. And Her-schel can observe much longer infrared wavelengths than any space telescope before (up to 672 microns). Herschel also has 16 times the collecting area, and hence 16 times better resolu-tion, than previous infrared space telescopes. That lets it resolve details with unprecedented clarity. Together, these abilities open a new window onto the universe. ”The sky looks much more crowded when you look in infrared wavelengths,” says George Helou, director of the NASA Her-schel Science Center at Caltech. “We can’t observe the infra-red universe from the ground because our atmosphere blocks infrared light, and emits infrared itself. Once you get above the atmosphere, all of this goes away and suddenly you can look without obstruction.” Herschel launched in May from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana aboard a European Space Agency Ariane 5 rocket. Since then, it has expanded the number of distant galax-ies observed at far infrared wavelengths from a few hundred to more than 28,000. And with the instrument testing and system check-out phases finally completed, the discoveries are only now beginning.

unsure if he could continue putting on JSF. So he approached the SDAA to see if he could get some assistance with some of the key needs of JSF. After Board discussions, we have agreed to work with Scott, to help ensure that this up and coming prominent astronomy gathering continues. JSF is quickly on its way to becoming the next big Astronomy Expo not only in Southern California, but for the nation, and more. And with the SDAA collaborating with JSF, we will further our status as a world class astronomy organization. We have need of people to help with a few key functions, as outlined below. I would like to see SDAA members volunteer for these vital positions, but if no one steps forward we will recruit from the ranks and may look elsewhere, if necessary. After discussions on what it takes to put on an event like JSF, the work was broken down into functional areas, and our thinking is that someone volunteering for any one position would not be overwhelmed by the tasks needed to complete that functional area. First and foremost, we need someone to act as Web Master for the JSF Web site. The Web Master will update the current JSP website, and keep it update throughout the event. Initially you will work with us to get the look and feel of the pages right, and as you get feeds from other section coordinators, up-date the website as needed. Since the Web site is the first point of contact for attendees, the Web site function needs to be launched immediately. If you have web development skills and can contribute to this need, please call Brian Staples at (858) 560-9064 or e-mail him at [email protected]. We will need a Vendor Coordinator, someone responsible for dealing with event vendors, from contacting them to see if they will attend; need a booth for the Vendor Alley; if they can they donate door prize(s); getting their presence to the Web Master for inclusion on the Web site; coordinating any addition-al needs, such as trade show setups, and being available from set up to tear down for any issues that arise during the event. We will need an Activities Coordinator, someone responsi-ble for securing speakers and other presentations for the event, and to arrange a possible tour to Palomar. In 2009, JSP had seven speaker presentations, a raffle, and a Palomar Tour. The coordinator will line up speakers, assisting speakers with their presentation needs, and work with the Vendor Coordinator and others in gathering raffle prizes and conducting the raffle. We will need a Concessions Coordinator, someone respon-sible for arranging for food and drinks and other concessions during the event. We will not be serving any alcohol, which has been done in the past. We opted for this to keep this func-tional area basic. We do want to increase food, snack, and drink availability during the event for the attendees, and would like





Beyond simply imaging these dark objects, Herschel can identify the presence of chemicals such as carbon monoxide and water based on their spectral fingerprints. “We will be able to decipher the chemistry of what’s going on during the beginnings of star formation, in the discs of dust and gas that form planets, and in the lingering aftermath of stellar explosions,” Helou says. And those are just the expected things. Who knows what unex-pected discoveries may come from “flipping on the lights?” Helou says “We can’t wait to find out.” Herschel is a European Space Agency mission, with science instruments provided by a consortium of European-led institutes and with important participation by NASA. See the ESA Herschel site at sci.esa.int/science-e/www/area/index.cfm?fareaid=16. Also, see the NASA sites at herschel.jpl.nasa.gov, www.herschel.caltech.edu, and www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/herschel. Kids can learn about infrared light by browsing through the Infrared Photo Album at The Space Place, spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/sirtf1/sirtf_ac-tion.shtml. This article was provided courtesy of the Jet Propulsion Labora-tory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Project Astro – The 3rd Time is a Charm? by Mark Smith

As promised, I am continuing to write updates about my Project Astro experiences with Lisa Dunitz’ 8th grade science class at Palm Middle School. After some abortive scheduling attempts, I finally made my 3rd class visit on February 18th. After what I had learned during the first two visits, and considering the success of the last visit, I was hoping for a smooth, productive astronomy hour. Well, sometimes the 3rd time is not a charm, but the students appeared to enjoy a somewhat muddled lesson anyway. At the end of my last visit, Lisa and I let the students choose the subject of this visit. Stars seemed to be of great interest to the class so we decided that a star lesson would be appropriate. Project Astro provides some good exercises on stars so I combined two, along with some Night Sky Network material, in an attempt to teach something about the size, evolution, and classification of stars. Un-fortunately, I was literally trapped by the scale of the lesson. As usual, I did some serious planning ahead of time and showed up with all of the materials I needed for the lesson, in this case some worksheets, 14 sets of “star cards”, a baseball (the sun), a softball, a marble, peppercorn, grain of salt, and 150 feet of neatly coiled rope marked out with scaled orbits of the planets out to Ju-piter and the scaled diameters of stars up to Betelgeuse (VY Canis Majoris would have required too much rope). The class is divided

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into 9 groups that each sits at their own table and the plan was to have each group work together to put together a graph of star properties and then to go outside and construct a scale of stars and orbits using the baseball (I even found a yellow one) as the scaled sun. Lisa had some errands to run that morning so I met her in the office about 15 minutes before class was supposed to start. When we got to the classroom, she did her morning set-up while I laid the materials out on the tables. When the students started arriving, I was very gratified that they were all excited to have me back. Many were asking questions right off the bat. Of course, I immediately saw that leaving the materials on the tables was probably a mistake as the students started going through them as soon as they walked in the door. Once everybody got settled, I gave some preliminary in-formation on the lesson and got the students started with the graphing. On the worksheet, I had given them a blank graph and 5 parameters that they could choose to plot (Luminosity, Color, Temperature, Diameter, and Absolute Magnitude), leav-ing each group to decide which two to use. The theory was that there would be a variety of choices made and we could then compare as a group whether there was a relationship between each pair or not. Of course, I didn’t plan on every group using color as one of their parameters. I also didn’t plan for the vast difference in mathematical understanding in the class. Some of the groups had no trouble at all labeling, scaling, and plotting their stars while others had to be lead step by step through the process. Unfortunately, that left Lisa and I scrambling through the class working with a few tables and completely ignoring others. Still, we ended up being able to establish some basic relationships between color, temperature, size, and luminosity. Next it was time to go outside and explore the size of stars. Part of this worked well. A baseball sized sun means a softball sized Sirius and a bit over a 2 foot diameter Capella with Alde-baran about 7 and a half feet in diameter and the orbit of Mer-cury at about 9 and a half feet. Things went well to that stage, but then rope tangle issues started to be a problem around the diameter of Rigel (13 and a half feet) and Alnitak (18 and a half feet), I had trouble finding salt grains for Venus and the Earth at 18 and 25 feet, and the distances got unworkable on a loud playground by the time I had the students in an oval (I ran out of room in one direction) representing Betelgeuse’s 128 foot diameter (VY Canis Majoris is about 450 feet in diameter at this scale). Still, when we got back to the classroom, it was apparent that most of the students got something out of the exercise. We had a couple of minutes for questions and all of the ones asked related in some way to the concepts we were trying to teach. There were a few giggles, but only a few, when I got to OBAFGKM (Oh Be A Fine Girl/Guy Kiss Me) and

we were able to do a creditable job of explaining how the clas-sification of the star related to color, size, and temperature. All in all, not the best lesson, but the concept was good. I already have a plan for how to present the lesson next year. All of the stars we used were in Orion, Lepus, Canis Major, Canis Minor, Taurus, Gemini, and Auriga so I think that next time I could combine a “oh by the way, here is how to find these stars tonight” with the classification lesson. Lisa and I are planning one more classroom visit and a Star Party for April, so watch the calendar. I am eager to share real views of some of things we have been studying. Stay tuned. There is more to follow.

Solar Dynamics Observatory: The ‘Variable Sun’ Mission

by Dr. Tony PhillipsScience@NASA

For some years now, an unorthodox idea has been gaining favor among astronomers. It contradicts old teachings and unsettles thoughtful observers, especially climatologists. “The sun,” explains Lika Guhathakurta of NASA head-quarters in Washington DC, “is a variable star.” But it looks so constant... That’s only a limitation of the human eye. Modern tele-scopes and spacecraft have penetrated the sun’s blinding glare and found a maelstrom of unpredictable turmoil. Solar flares explode with the power of a billion atomic bombs. Clouds of magnetized gas (CMEs) big enough to swallow planets break away from the stellar surface. Holes in the sun’s atmosphere spew million mile-per-hour gusts of solar wind.

Continued on Page 16



And those are the things that can happen in just one day. Over longer periods of decades to centuries, solar activ-ity waxes and wanes with a complex rhythm that researchers are still sorting out. The most famous “beat” is the 11-year sunspot cycle, described in many texts as a regular, clockwork process. In fact, it seems to have a mind of its own. “It’s not even 11 years,” says Guhathakurtha. “The cycle ranges in length from 9 to 12 years. Some cycles are intense, with many sunspots and solar flares; others are mild, with rela-tively little solar activity. In the 17th century, during a period called the ‘Maunder Minimum,’ the cycle appeared to stop altogether for about 70 years and no one knows why.” There is no need to go so far back in time, however, to find an example of the cycle’s unpredictability. Right now the sun is climbing out of a century-class solar minimum that almost no one anticipated. “The depth of the solar minimum in 2008-2009 really took us by surprise,” says sunspot expert David Hathaway of the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “It high-lights how far we still have to go to successfully forecast solar activity.” That’s a problem, because human society is increasingly vulnerable to solar flare ups. Modern people depend on a network of interconnected high-tech systems for the basics of daily life. Smart power grids, GPS navigation, air travel, finan-cial services, emergency radio communications—they can all be knocked out by intense solar activity. According to a 2008 study by the National Academy of Sciences, a century-class solar storm could cause twenty times more economic damage than Hurricane Katrina.

Continued from Page 15 “Understanding solar variability is crucial,” says space scientist Judith Lean of the Naval Research Lab in Washington DC. “Our modern way of life depends upon it.” Enter the Solar Dynamics Observatory—”SDO” for short—slated to launch on Feb. 9, 2010, from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. SDO is designed to probe solar variability unlike any other mission in NASA history. It will observe the sun faster, deeper, and in greater detail than previous observatories, breaking bar-riers of time-scale and clarity that have long blocked progress in solar physics. Guhathakurta believes that “SDO is going to revolutionize our view of the sun.” The revolution begins with high-speed photography. SDO will record IMAX-quality images of the sun every 10 seconds using a bank of multi-wavelength telescopes called the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA). For comparison, previous observato-ries have taken pictures at best every few minutes with resolu-tions akin to what you see on the web, not at a movie theatre. Researchers believe that SDO’s rapid-fire cadence could have the same transformative effect on solar physics that the invention of high-speed photography had on many sciences in the 19th century. SDO doesn’t stop at the stellar surface. SDO’s Helioseismic Magnetic Imager (HMI) can actually look inside the sun at the solar dynamo itself. The solar dynamo is a network of deep plasma currents that generates the sun’s tangled and sometimes explosive magnetic field. It regulates all forms of solar activity from the lightning-fast eruptions of solar flares to the slow decadal undulations of the sunspot cycle. “Understanding the inner workings of the solar dynamo has long been a ‘holy grail’ of solar physics,” says Dean Pesnell of the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “HMI could finally deliver this to us.” The dynamo is hidden from view by about 140,000 miles of overlying hot gas. SDO penetrates the veil using a technique fa-miliar to geologists—seismology. Just as geologists probe Earth’s interior using waves generated by earthquakes, solar physicists can probe the sun’s interior using acoustic waves generated by the sun’s own boiling turbulence. HMI detects the waves, which researchers on Earth can transform into fairly clear pictures. “It’s a little like taking an ultrasound of a pregnant mother,” Pesnell explains. “We can see ‘the baby’ right through the skin.” Finally – and of most immediate relevance for Earth--SDO will observe the sun at wavelengths where the sun is most vari-able, the extreme ultraviolet (EUV). EUV photons are high-ener-gy cousins of regular UV rays that cause sunburns. Fortunately, our atmosphere blocks solar EUV; otherwise a day at the beach

Areas of the USA vulnerable to power system collapse in response to an extreme geomagnetic storm. Source: National Academy of Sciences.



could be fatal. In space, solar EUV emission is easy to detect and arguably the most sensitive indicator of solar activity. “If human eyes could see EUV wavelengths, no one would doubt that the sun is a variable star,” says Tom Woods of the University of Colorado in Boulder. During a solar flare, the sun’s extreme ultraviolet output can vary by factors of hundreds to thousands in a matter of sec-onds. Surges of EUV photons heat Earth’s upper atmosphere, causing the atmosphere to “puff up” and drag down low-orbit-ing satellites. EUV rays also break apart atoms and molecules, creating a layer of ions in the upper atmosphere that can severely disturb radio signals. According to Judith Lean, “EUV controls Earth’s environment throughout the entire atmosphere above about 100 km.” “EUV is where the action is,” agrees Woods. That’s why Woods and colleagues built an extreme ultra-violet sensor for SDO called the EUV Variability Experiment (“EVE”). “EVE gives us the highest time resolution (10 sec) and the highest spectral resolution (< 0.1 nm) that we’ve ever had for measuring the sun, and we’ll have it 24/7,” he says. “This is a huge improvement over past missions.” Woods expects EVE to reveal how fast the sun can change—”we really don’t know,” he points out—and to surprise astrono-mers with the size of the outbursts. EVE, AIA, HMI. For the next five years, the Solar Dynam-

ics Observatory will use these instruments to redefine our star and its potential for variability. What unorthodox ideas will they beam back? Old teachings beware!

Sidebar: ‘Solar Constant’ is an Oxymoron Astronomers were once so convinced of the sun’s constancy, they called the irradiance of the sun “the solar constant,” and they set out to measure it as they would any constant of Nature. By definition, the solar constant is the amount of solar energy deposited at the top of Earth’s atmosphere in units of watts per meter-squared. All wavelengths of radiation are included—radio, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, x-rays and so on. The approximate value of the solar constant is 1361 W/m2. Clouds, atmospheric absorption and other factors compli-cate measurements from Earth’s surface, so NASA has taken the measuring devices to space. Today, VIRGO, ACRIM and SORCE are making measurements with precisions approaching 10 parts per million per year. Future instruments scheduled for flight on NASA’s Glory and NOAA’s NPOESS spacecraft aim for even higher precisions. To the amazement of many researchers, the solar constant has turned out to be not constant. “’Solar constant’ is an oxymoron,” says Judith Lean of the Naval Research Lab. “Satellite data show that the sun’s total irradiance rises and falls with the sunspot cycle by a significant amount.”

At solar maximum, the sun is about 0.1% brighter than it is at solar minimum. That may not sound like much, but consider the following: A 0.1% change in 1361 W/m2 equals 1.4 Watts/m2. Averaging this number over the spherical Earth and correcting for Earth’s reflectivity yields 0.24 Watts for every square meter of our planet. “Add it all up and you get a lot of energy,” says Lean. “How this might affect weather and climate is a matter of—at times passionate—debate.” Because SDO specializes in extreme ultraviolet wave-lengths, it won’t be making direct measurements of the total solar irradiance, which requires sensitivity across the entire electromagnetic spectrum. Nevertheless, a combina-tion of data from SDO and other spacecraft could shed new light on this important topic—and perhaps reveal other oxymorons as well.

Left: Measurements from the SORCE mission indicate that the variability of total solar irradiance has decreased over the past six

years.





AISIG Gallery Jim Thommes posted an image (Page 18) of IC 405 (Flaming Star Nebula) and IC 410 (Tadpole Nebula) that he captured from Blair Valley with an Artemis285 camera on a Sigma APO MACRO 150 mm F2.8 camera lens on a Celestron ASGT. Mars is a popular object for star parties this month, and Peter Morrison captured another great image (below) from his back yard in early January. He used a Philips ToUcam Pro II Webcam on his Meade 8 inch ACF mounted on an Astro Physics Mach 1GTO mount. This image combines 180 seconds of video images.

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For Sale

I am selling a $99 Bisque Software gift certificate for $50. If you would like to know what they offer, their Web site is: www.bisque.com. You can reach me by telephone at 760-743-6227 and ask for Gregg. You may also email me at greggmoraros.sbcglobal.net.

I am selling an almost new Coronado PST (Personal Solar Telescope) which I paid $500 for $380. It shows solar prominences. The new solar cycle has started. I can demonstrate the scope. Call 760 482 9313 and ask for Laird.

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