January 2011 Volume 17 Number 7 Page 1

Star Gazer News

Newsletter of the Delmarva Stargazers www.delmarvastargazers.org

Upcoming Events: Meeting ! Jan 4th 7 PM SHWC Observing ! Jan 7 & 8 Dusk Eq. Cntr. or Blackbird

From the Prez…

We’re now in the midst of the coldest part of the year, nights are long but observ-

ing is only for the hardy. The winter sky is spectacular and makes donning all the gear

worth the effort. I appreciate having a southern facing deck that looks down the Chesa-

peake Bay with dark skies and little light pollution this time of year. I can set the

telescope up and duck in for a warm drink and to thaw out for a while during these cold

nights.

I’m looking forward to our eleventh Mid-Atlantic Mirror Making event on March 11 –

13. This is always a fun time and a great way to wind down the winter and start thinking

about spring. After MMM#11 the Star Gaze Star party is just around the corner starting on

Thursday April 28th. Our fall No Frills will start on Thursday September 29th this year.

We still have some great guest speakers coming up. We’re starting the year starting

off this January with Dr. Howard Gordon who will speak of the Large Hadron Collider and

particularly the ATLAS experiment. The LHC is the largest machine ever built for science.

I guess I’m a particle groupie because I’m very excited about Dr. Gordon speaking to us.

I’m reading the book Massive which is about the LHC and the hunt for the Higgs, this is a

great story and as exciting as any mystery novel you’ll find. I’ve got some great hand

outs to go with the talk including DVDs, posters and brochures on ATLAS.

February we’ll have Dr. Dean Pesnell of the Solar Dynamics Observatory. We’ve all

been excited by the recent increased activity of the sun, our club now owns two Solar

scopes so we can watch this activity first hand. I’m very excited to have U of D alumni

Dr. Pesnell to speak to us about the observatory and the advances in understanding our

Sun.

Our friend and former Dover resident Ed Rezac will be with us in person for March

to speak about the Hubble Space Telescope. The Hubble is considered the most successful

science experiment in history and I look forward to Ed’s talk.

Don’t forget to take time to share our hobby with your friends, family, neighbors

or your local library. Any time you get a telescope out in a public setting you’ll at-

tract a crowd. It’s easy, fun and a rewarding experience so take the time to do a public

outreach.

Follow that outreach up by writing about it and submitting it to our newsletter.

Any time you observe, draw a picture of what you see, it will increase your observing

skills. Then submit the picture and a few words about what you saw that night to the news

editor.

Dress warm and clear skies, Jerry

With the New Year,

It’s time to send in your dues ! See pg. 2 for instructions on paying your dues, or better yet, come to the next meeting on Jan 4th

January 2011 Volume 17 Number 7 Page 2

How to Join the Delmarva Stargazers: Anyone with an interest in any aspect of astronomy is welcome NAME________________________________________________________________________________________ ADDRESS_____________________________________________________________________________________ CITY, STATE & ZIP______________________________________________________________________________ E-MAIL ADDRESS (If any)_________________________________________________________________________ Do you need the newsletter snail mailed to you (Y/N)?___________________________________________________ Please attach a check for $15 made payable to Delmarva Stargazers and mail to Kathy Sheldon, 20985 Fleatown Rd, Lincoln, DE 19960. Call club President Don Surles at 302-653-9445 for more information.

The Eclipse of Dec 21, 2010 Don Surles

Doug Norton and I decided to opt for the convenience on my backyard

vs Black Bird since only the two of us had expressed interest in going to

BB.

I am so glad we switched sites. It has been many years since I have

done any astro photography…other than trying out my new Canon T2i a couple

of months ago with some wide angle shots.

Have you heard about Murphy’s Law? Well, Brother Murphy made his

presence known last nite. First, I learned that a DSLR with an APS sized

sensor does not have the same FOV as a 35mm camera…the hard, cold way.

Actually, I have known about the 1.6X crop factor since day one…but “in my

mind” I knew the full moon would fit within the frame using an 8” F-10 SCT

at prime focus. How some ever, at 20F, 12:30AM, in the dark, is not such

a good time to be reminded that is true with 35mm film but not for a DSLR

with an APS sized sensor. So being resourceful, I decided to use an F6.3

focal reducer to increase the FOV…which meant using 1.25 inch diagonal vs

the 2” that is normally on the scope…several trips to the basement to find

the 1.25 inch visual back, the focal reducer, etc. And then, Bro Murphy

struck again…my scope would not come to focus using the focal reducer, di-

agonal and camera. So, I loane

dthe Focal Reducer to Doug since

he was not using a diagonal…yep

he had to lie on that frozen

ground and look up to focus…

better him than me…my neck does-

n’t work that way.

Next, I checked to see if

the 12.5” Orion Dob I had setup

for viewing would come to focus

with my camera…and it did not.

BTW…the dob would blind you with

images of the full moon…our at-

mosphere must be very clear be-

cause after a peek thru that

scope I couldn’t see anything

with the blinded eye for at

least 15 minutes.

So, I dropped back and

punted the Celestron 8” F-10

scope off its tripod and attempted to replace it with a Meade 8” F6.3 that

has lived in my basement for many years. Did you know a Meade SCT will

not fit a Celestron wedge? Thank you, Meade and Celestron engineers for

January 2011 Volume 17 Number 7 Page 3

not collaborating on the hole placement of your wedge and scope base. So

another trip to the basement for the Meade tripod and wedge. Finally, I

had a scope and camera combo that would come to focus and put the entire

moon in the FOV. And by now, my hands were pretty much numb so I broke

out the chemical hand warmers.

By this time the moon was beginning to slide into Earth’s shadow…the

light part or penumbra. For the next 2.5 hours Doug and I would observe,

photograph, cool off, try different combinations of scopes, cameras,

lenses, and mainly enjoy the

views. Oh, there was NO DEW –

one of the few times I have used

an SCT scope without “dewing

up”. That NW breeze coming

around the garage at 20F was

certainly stimulating.

Some other observations

made during the eclipse:

• Camera batteries don’t last

very long using live view at 20F

• My LL Bean down vest and

Carhart insulated coveralls did

a great job of keeping the Sur-

les boy un-frozen…not overly

warm – just unfrozen

• Chemical Hand Warmers are a

must for cold weather photogra-

phy

• I wish I had DOWN gloves and boots

• It was too cold for me to break down all the equipment I had setup

• The muted light of an eclipse is almost mystical vs the harsh light of

the full moon

• E’ry time you touch a camera or telescope at 20F they are very COLD

Doug and I had a good time with this eclipse…I hope you did too. Here is

a link to some pics I took…I chose to use ASA and shutter speed, ie, no

motor drives to capture the event…so you may notice some grain in my im-

ages. Digital cameras are amazing. You don’t know how many rolls of film

I have wasted to get a couple of good lunar eclipse shots.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/77683595@N00/sets/72157625646411198/

See you at the next meeting. Don…

Photo by Doug Norton

Your 2010-2011 Officers Office Officer Phone email President Jerry Truitt 410-885-3327 President-elect Lyle Jones 302-736-9842 Secretary Michael Lecuyer 302-284-3734 Treasurer Kathy Sheldon 302-422-4695 Past President Don Surles 302-653-9445

January 2011 Volume 17 Number 7 Page 4

Astronomers Stumble onto Huge Space Molecules

By Trudy E. Bell and Tony Phillips Deep in interstellar space, in a the swirling gaseous envelope of a planetary nebula, hosts of carbon atoms have joined together to form large three-dimensional molecules of a special type previously seen only on Earth. Astronomers discovered them almost accidentally using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. “They are the largest molecules known in space,” declared Jan Cami of the University of Western On-tario, lead author of a paper with three colleagues published in Science online on July 22, 2010, and in print on September 3. Not only are the molecules big: they are of a special class of carbon molecules known as “fullerenes” be-cause their structure resembles the geodesic domes popularized by architect Buckminster Fuller. Spitzer found evidence of two types of fullerenes. The smaller type, nicknamed the “buckyball,” is chemical formula C60, made of 60 carbon atoms joined in a series of hexagons and pentagons to form a spherical closed cage exactly like a black-and-white soccer ball. Spitzer also found a larger fullerene, chemical formula C70, consist-ing of 70 carbon atoms in an elongated closed cage more resembling an oval rugby ball. Neither type of fullerene is rigid; instead, their carbon atoms vibrate in and out, rather like the surface of a large soap bubble changes shape as it floats through the air. “Those vibrations correspond to wave-lengths of infrared light emitted or absorbed—and that infrared emission is what Spitzer recorded,” Cami ex-plained. Although fullerenes have been sought in space for the last 25 years, ever since they were first identi-fied in the laboratory, the astronomers practically stumbled into the discovery. Co-author Jeronimo Bernard-Salas of Cornell University, an expert in gas and dust in planetary nebulae, was doing routine research with Spitzer's infrared observations of planetary nebulae with its spectroscopy instrument. When he studied the spectrum (infrared signature) of a dim planetary nebula called Tc 1 in the southern-hemisphere constellation of Ara, he noticed several clear peaks he had not seen before in the spectra of other planetary nebulae. “When he came to me,” recounted Cami, an astrophysicist who specializes in molecular chemistry, “I immediately and intuitively knew it I was looking at buckyballs in space. I've never been that excited!” The au-thors confirmed his hunch by carefully comparing the Tc 1 spectrum to laboratory experiments described in the literature. “This discovery shows that it is possible—even easy—for complex carbonaceous molecules to form spontaneously in space,” Cami said. “Now that we know fullerenes are out there, we can figure out their roles in the physics and chemistry of deep space. Who knows what other complex chemical compounds exist—maybe even some relevant to the formation of life in the universe!” Stay tuned! Learn more about this discovery at http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu. For kids, there are lots of beautiful Spitzer images to match up in the Spitzer Concentration game at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/spitzer/concentration. This article was provided by the Jet

Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of

Technology, under a contract with the Na-

tional Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Superimposed on a Spitzer infrared photo of the Small Magellanic Cloud is an artist's illus-tration depicting a magnified view of a plane-tary nebula and an even further magnified view of buckyballs, which consist of 60 carbon atoms arranged like soccer balls.

January 2011 Volume 17 Number 7 Page 5

Magazine Subscriptions As a paid member of DMSG, you can sign up/renew your S&T or Astronomy mags through the club for a discount over private rate. S&T, reg. $42.95, is $32.95 thru DMSG, Astronomy, reg. $44, is $34. See Michael Lecuyer for details.

Musings on a Cold December Day

…with threats of more snow from Mother Nature Don Surles

By the time you read this collection of interesting facts the total

lunar eclipse of Dec 21 and Christmas 2010 will be history. I hope you

enjoyed both and that you are now re-invigorated to embrace the astronomi-

cal opportunities of 2011.

In 2011 I hope we have many bright comets…I hope that Saturn and

Jupiter put on their best shows…I hope you acquire the scope of your

dreams and a box full of Naglers and Ethos eyepieces…and I hope that you

and I use those scopes for some serious observing and the astronomical ca-

maraderie that comes with observing.

I tried to look at what has happened in January that is significant to as-

tronomy. Apparently January is not a particularly interesting month for

astro-related history…but here are a few of the happenings that may inter-

est you.

Ceres… Ceres was found in the gap between Mars and Jupiter where a

planet was expected to reside, based on the spacing of the known planets

in the solar system. Known as the Titius-Bode Law, this prediction was

named for the astronomers who had noticed in the 1760s and 1770s that the

relative distances of the six known planets from the Sun fit a mathemati-

cal relationship. Although it is called a "law," it has no basis in phys-

ics. Ceres is named after the Roman goddess of the harvest, of growing

plants, and motherly love. It is the smallest of the dwarf planets, a new

category of astronomical bodies created by the International Astronomical

Union in 2006. Ceres was discovered on January 1, 1801 by astronomer

Giuseppe Piazzi, a monk in Sicily, and the founding director of the Pal-

ermo Astronomical Observatory.

On January 4, 1643, Issac Newton was born in Woolsthorpe, Lincoln-

shire, England; and in 1958 Sputnik I re-entered Earth’s atmosphere and

disintegrated.

On January 9, 1843, Caroline Herschel died at age 98.

January 16, 1989…Here is bit of history that has not resulted in world

changing events…the USSR announced a plan for a 2-year manned mission to

Mars. No mention of the liftoff date…

January 17,1997 - Clyde William Tombaugh died. Tombaugh was an

American astronomer who discovered the dwarf planet Pluto while searching

for Percival Lowell’s and William Pickering's Planet X that would explain

the orbit of Neptune. He also discovered 14 asteroids. Tombaugh claimed he

observed lights near Las Cruces, New Mexico he claimed were UFOs.

Growing tired of searching for astronomical happenings in January I

decided to find out why all of our Solar System members except the Sun,

Moon, and Earth have Greek or Roman god names. Here goes…try to stay fo-

cused…

SUN

"Sun" is a very old word. This is because people have always needed a

January 2011 Volume 17 Number 7 Page 6

word to describe that big, fiery thing that appears to move across the

sky.

People who spoke Indo-European six thousand (6000) years ago might

have used a couple of different words for "Sun". Even then, language had

changed enough in different places where Indo-European was spoken that we

can't find just one word for "Sun"! Some people might have said something

like "suen", while other people said something like "sáwel".

Other Germanic languages descended from those used by Germanic speak-

ers who said "sunnón". Mostly West Germanic languages have words for

"Sun" which look a lot like the English word "Sun":

Dutch: zon Afrikaans: son Low German: sunne

High German: Sonne Gothic: sunnô Icelandic: sól

Danish: sol Norwegian: sol Swedish: sol

Latin: sol Spanish: sol Portugese: sol

Italian: sole French: soleil Occitan: solèlh

Today we usually think of the sun as an "it". Sometimes people might

refer to the sun as if it was a person, and often they will speak of it as

if it was male. However, people thought of the Sun as "she" for a very

long time--up until the 1500s.

MOON

The Moon may have been called a moon because it was the only satel-

lite ancient people knew about. The real answer is that the word "moon" is

derived from the Germanic word "me-" as in measurement. In its Latin form

the word is "lunar". Some people say "lunar" is from lunatic, from the

myth that some people go crazy on a night of the full moon.

EARTH

The word "earth" can be used to mean a number of different things. It

can simply mean "dirt". Perhaps, people came to think of the whole area

they were standing on as "dirt" or" earth". By the time people were speak-

ing Old English, about one thousand years ago, "earth" could already mean

the world on which people live. It took longer for "earth" to come to

mean "Planet Earth" - - - actually it was the time of Copernicus (1473-

1543)– that time when Earth was moved from the center of the Universe and

replaced by the Sun (see On the Revolutions of the Celestial Sphere, pub-

lished just before his death in 1543). That was the first time Earth be-

came a planet as well as the dirt under our feet.

Question of the day…Should we re-name Planet “Earth” to have a

Greek or Roman god name? How about Planet “Zeus”…the chief god of Mt

Olympus?

The source if this astronomical data is various Wiki’s from the

Internet.

See you at the January 4, 2011 meeting. Don…

January 2011 Volume 17 Number 7 Page 7

Looking for a skymap ? Goto: www.skymaps.com

Multitasking Observing

Pj Riley

Stargazing is one of a few hobbies that bucks tradition by having you

awake and outside during the night when everyone else is in bed asleep.

In the early morning hours of Tuesday December 21, 2010, there was an

event that occurs infrequently: a total lunar eclipse occurring on the

winter solstice.

This eclipse was a full moon, high-in-the-sky event taking several

hours from start to finish.

But what do you do if you need to get up and go to work in the

mornin’? If you are in your twenties, no problem. It never was a problem

for me way back then, either.

Now adays, since I’m over the 50+ mark, it is hard to stay up half

the night, let alone go to work in the AM.

So, how do you observe the eclipse, stay warm, and get your rest, and

still get to work on-time at the same time? It’s easy.

I know from months and years past that the full moon loves to shine

in the bedroom window at home. This window is just above the headboard.

Blinds usually block Luna’s light.

I opened the blinds to the correct angle

so that Luna would be easily visible, and

climbed into bed, and took a short nap.

I first awoke after 2AM and Luna was

starting to dim. I could tell this without

stopping to put my eyeglasses on first. Luna

was blurry, but dim. To really observe, all I

needed to do was put on my glasses. No need to

go out in the cold. No need to get outta that

warm bed. I was snug as a bug in the rug.

I again looked at Luna near 2:30AM and

just a small part of Luna was bright. After a

few minutes observing, it was time again for a

short snooze.

This pattern continued throughout the night until Luna was mostly out

of the shadows.

In the morning, when the alarm went off, I had accomplished all my

tasks: observing the Lunar eclipse, stayed warm, and got enuf rest so I

could function the rest of the day.

January 2011 Volume 17 Number 7 Page 8

Astrophotos by Members and Friends

This was shot at the dark skies of Arizona Sky Village. Good thing since it's really a

dim object. This was taken with a AP 130mm refractor using a QSI 830 CCD camera. It's a

LRGB with total exposure time of 6.3 hrs. taken over three nights. This description was

taken from APOD June 5, 2010 -- " Known as a Wolf-Rayet star, the central star is an ex-

tremely hot giant thought to be in a brief, pre-supernova stage of evolution. Cataloged

as NGC 2359, the nebula is located about 15,000 light-years away in the constellation

Canis Major.

Joe Morris