We had a full schedule, as people who missed giving presentations at January’s meeting were ready this month, combined with what was already scheduled.
 After some e-mail discussion with James Morgan about the merits of greeting new members, Leonard White has offered to volunteer and start a program for
Delmarva Stargazers to better infiltrate new members into the organization.  I’ve offered to help Leonard in any capacity he requires for this worth while
endeavor.
 
The Mirror Making Team gave an update of their progress. Glass is in and other supplies are being purchased. We still have room, so if you want to try
your hand at grinding your own mirror for building your own telescope this is your chance.The event is March 4th to the 6th, see the web page for
more information.
We’re also gearing up for Stargaze XI on April 8, 9 and 10th. Joe Cain will be accepting registrations for this year’s event. We’ll be at the Equestrian Center
again as we were for No Frills in the fall of last year. Check out the web site for information and registration.
Keith Lohmeyer started a discussing with the membership about the objects that are viewable this month, Orion and it’s many features, Saturn and
Titan and of course the comet Machholz. We all took turns commenting on our recent viewing experiences.
 Keith normally gives a presentation of “What’s Up”   for the month, this month we all contributed.
Greg Lee told us an interesting story (history lesson) of Johannes Kepler and his development of the Rudolphine Tables. Tycho Brahe, Kepler
and Galileo all lived around the same time period.
 
 Tim Milligan gave us ways to be more comfortable at the eyepiece. Tim presented many ideas based on years of experience on equipment required
, types of clothing, food and many other items for making viewing through the eye piece more of a pleasure.

I (Jerry Truitt) gave a presentation of Isaac Newton’s first telescope. This little 2” metal mirror 6” long reflector is the scope that started the revolution in
astronomical telescope design. Chances are if you have a large aperture scope, it’s a newt.

I also presented the monthly NASA update, sharing images from the Cassini web site as well as a one-year celebration salute video from the
Mars Rover Team. We examined images of Saturn’s moon Iapetus, a real odd ball if there every was one.
There were also some stunning images of the ring system and moons that interact with it.

  Steve Long ended the night with a Pros and Cons of digital imaging. Steve shared his experiences, frustrations and rewards of doing digital
photography  through a telescope.

We’re looking for someone to cover telescope design for next month’s meeting, any one interested in giving a presentation on this subject
 please let Don or me know.
 
Doug Norton will cover History of Astronomy in Early USA - 7/76,  Doug also would like to share his experiences viewing double stars.
 Doug has some great pictures and weather permitting we’re planning on having telescopes set up to actually view some double stars directly after the meeting.
I will be doing Community Out reach   I’ll start with how to contact people and subjects you should cover when presenting the idea of doing a
community type event to non-astronomical enlightened people. I’ll cover ways to organize yourself to minimize the chaos of an event.
I’ll relate some questions you can expect to get and how to answer them.

We also would like an experienced observer give details on How to Succeed in the Messier Marathon.  Anyone who has a subject they would like to
cover please let Don or me know.
Clear Skies (Please)  Jerry Truitt

 Additional Details from  Presentations 
  Steve Long’s Digital Astrophotography
  Benefits:
Instant Gratification, Relatively inexpensive at low end, No film reciprocity (although other things occur when pushing exposure)
No processing costs (Throw away mistakes), Camera use not restricted soley to astronomy, Ability to apply your own creative vision.
Problems:
Best quality equipment can be expensive, Digital imaging during long exposures, which can result in hot pixels producing bright spots and fake stars.
Digital Noise- graininess in flat toned areas at high ISO settings, Good results can be labor intensive when manipulating images.
Recommended Camera Features:
Manual aperture and shutter controls, Exposure times of at least 30 seconds' ISO settings of 100, 200, 400, Optical zoom 3X to 10X
Threaded front lens for T adapter, Timer or remote control to prevent movement, Megapixels as high as you can afford
Noise reduction software (if you can’t stack photos).
 
Additional Details from Greg’s Kepler program
Die hard fans of ancient mathematics will be interested in the section of Greg Lee’s Kepler presentation  which dealt with Kepler’s Mysterium
Cosmographicum.  This was where Kepler fitted the 5 planets’ orbits into 5 different polyhedra.
The 5 polyhedra were the Cube, Tetrahedron, Dodecahedron, Icosahedron, and Octahedron.
Kepler’s Cosmic Secret begins with a cube inscribed into a sphere inside the Saturn orbit.  This cube snugly holds  the Jupiter orbit.
A tetrahedron is then inscribed inside the Jupiter orbit into which Mars orbit fits nicely.    Next, a dodecahedron is inscribed inside the Mars orbit,
and thus provides a home for an earth orbit.  An icosahedron is inscribed in the earth orbit  and makes space for the Venus orbit.
Finally an octahedron  inscribed in the  Venus orbit provides a home for Mercury’s orbit.
 This “magic” arrangement is related  to material found in Euclid ‘s Elements and is amazingly accurate,
varying less that 10%  from later calculations by Copernicus.
 
From the President’s Desk...
 February 12, 2005
My, how time flies!  The Winter of 2005 is fast approaching it’s more flamboyant sibling, Spring.  Our snow covered flower beds will soon burst
with daffodils, crocus (crocuses or croci?), and tulips.  Robins have already arrived in Delaware.  When we observe during the new moon of March
we will hear the spring peepers singing in the swamps. I like Spring because it is a time of renewal and promises of new growth.
We are all the product of Ol Sol’s billions of years of  wonderful white light radiation and all life on Earth responds to Spring’s increases of it.
 Bring on Spring!
 
Last night I experienced one of the better moments of amateur astronomy.  An exchange student from Peru and a ten year old Dover boy came to my house
 to “see some telescopes and look at some objects”.  Doug Norton also stopped by and we set up a 10” dob on the driveway.  Orion and Saturn were the
 night’s best choices and WOWED the kids.  We also showed them the Pleiades, Comet Macholz, and Gamma Andromeda.  And the 10 year old  counted
the bright stars in the Pleiades from my  light-polluted backyard – we should all have eyes like that.   
 
Over the years I guess the most rewarding aspect of astronomy has been related to making the universe available to other people. 
The Halloween scopes for Trick or Treaters, setting up scopes for Girl & Boy Scouts, scopes for viewing Mars during the 2002 apparition…these were all
 very rewarding experiences.  During the 2002 Mars apparition Doug Norton and I set up scopes for public viewing at Smyrna Elementary School. 
Hundreds of people came to see but there was one person Doug and I will remember forever.  He was a quadriplegic in a motorized wheelchair.
 With some effort he and Doug maneuvered the chair up to the eyepiece and this young man actually got a live view of the crescent moon and then Mars
thru Doug’s scope. 
This young man was lying on his back with the eyepiece turned down so he could look up into it because he could not raise his head.  I remember his “Wow”
and noted that this young man had experienced something a hospital does not provide – excitement and joy!  Yes, I do believe the best part of amateur astronomy is showing the universe to others.
 
Update on Star Gazer Dave Wells: Dave has been experiencing difficulties related to his heart and is scheduled for open heart surgery March 1 at University of PA hospital.  Let’s all wish Dave a speedy and complete recovery.  Dave, get well soon, and we will share a single malt scotch and a fine cigar while we wait for the optics to cool.
 
Our Mirror Making weekend is shaping up very well.  Thanks to all who are working to put this together.  Please stop by and see for yourself how fine
telescope mirrors are made – the old fashion way.  You will definitely learn about glass pushing and you may even catch the GP bug.  It will be held at the                  St Jones Reserve (just off Rt 9 below the Dover Airbase) from March 4 thru the 6th. Now is the time for members who want to become more active in Delmarva Star Gazers future direction to let your fellow Gazers know about your desires.  We have just the March and April meetings before nominations for 2005-2006        leaders are taken in May.  This organization is successful because of your efforts, cooperation, vision, and all-round hard work to create and complete projects. 
Thanks to you we have a fine organization that is healthy and very friendly. Let’s continue the tradition.
 
Our next meeting will be March 1st.  Topics covered will be telescope designs, community outreach, the history of astronomy in early USA, how to succeed
in the Messier Marathon, and the “what’s up” monthly sky chart.  In addition, there will be an update on the Mirror Making Weekend, our spring Delmarva Star Gaze #11 scheduled for April 8-10, current events, Cassini, etc.  I am sure you will find something interesting – please plan to attend.     We meet at First Presbyterian Church at 7:00 PM and the “gates open at 6:30 pm”.  See you there!
 
Here is an invitation for all members to contribute to our newsletter and also to our Yahoogroups chatter.  If you have a topic you would like to share with us
please jot down a few comments and send them to Frank Sheldon or Paul Riley for inclusion in the newsletter or post them to www.delmarvastargazers@yahoogroups.com.
Remember this is a sharing organization and when you learn something related to astronomy please share it with others so that they may learn
also, ie, the “learn-teach-learn” cycle.
 I have a learning to share with you.  Many years ago I purchased a Swift Optical 20X80 binocular.  It has been a wonderful instrument for all these
years.  But on Christmas Eve I placed it in a precarious position and the bino fell four feet to my garage floor.  Although it was in its case and box, the focusing mechanism was broken!  So, I Googled for the Swift Repair Shop and sent the bino in for repair.  The contact there was pleasant and INTERESTED in me as a customer.  They returned it Friday, February 11, in like new condition.  The focuser was replaced, they re-cemented the prisms, cleaned, lubed and
collimated the instrument.  Bottom line, this is the type of service we need  and I am pleased to recommend Swift Optical to my fellow Star Gazers.
Enuf for now – don’t drop your bino.   Will see you at the meeting....
Don…
 
 
***************
 
The Sky in March
The night sky in March is dominated by the planets Jupiter in Virgo and Saturn in Gemini.    Mercury appears as a  magnitude ( -1.4 ) evening star at  the
beginning of the  month, fading to -magnitude 0.4 by the middle of the month.. Venus is too close to the rising Sun to be visible in March, and by the end
of the month will go into superior conjunction with the sun.   Mars rises shortly after  4.a.m. and remains low  in the southeast at magnitude +0.9.  Uranus and Neptune are  too close to the sun for decent viewing in March. Pluto will rise after midniight but will not be high enough for the best viewing.
Another event in March will be the occultation of the moon by the red giant star Antares. This will occur on March 5th. For us on the east coast, the
reappearance will occur after sunrise at12:30 UT. ( That is 7:00a.m. Eastern Standard Time.)   

As my previous deep sky articles have been geared towards objects visible in small telescopes I thought it might be interesting to write an article for those club members in possession of large telescopes, or perhaps for those who like to image obscure objects using small-to-moderate instruments. Actually, some of the objects described here can be even be viewed in telescopes as small as 10” but others will require more aperture.
In February 2001 some few friends of mine met me at Clark's Creek, a great observing site about 50 miles south of Nags Head, NC. It turned out to be one of the darkest skies in the VA/NC area, and might be one of the darkest along the entire East Coast. Once we had secured permission to use the desolate property we were on our way. As a limiting naked-eye magnitude test from this wonderful location we sighted the 7th magnitude naked-eye star SAO 28038 below the bowl of the Big Dipper. My primary goal was to look for faint galaxies under this superb sky but first I also wanted to look at faint and difficult planetary nebulae and globular clusters as well.

Sh2-216 Perseus, (p.65 Uranometria 1st edition p.42R 2nd edition) PN. The skies at Clark’s Creek are darker than Coinjock NC, a location where I had viewed Sh2-216 a few nights before. Even in these terrific skies this is a faint object. It’s odd this planetary is a bit easier without a filter, but nevertheless I tried all my deep-sky filters. The Lumicon OIII was best, second best was an Orion Ultra-Block, and the least of the three was the Lumicon UHC. Once Sh2-216 is sighted scan your telescope back and forth and follow a large arc of nebulosity.
Wein 30 Perseus, (p.65 Uranometria 1st edition, p.42R 2nd edition) Galaxy. 4h 33m + 45 29' - Near SH2-216 lies an extremely faint and small 16.5 magnitude galaxy. At 200x I could only see it with averted vision, but at 360x I was able to see it with direct vision.

Pal 4 Ursa Major (p.106 Uranometria 1st edition, p.72R 2nd edition) Globular. 11h 29m + 28 58' – Pal 4 is certainly an object to test one’s observing skill. At 14.4 magnitude one would think it would be a relatively easy target but I found it to be quite faint, with very low surface brightness. It lies WSW of a 13.9 magnitude star. Before leaving this area try sighting a few other faint galaxies in the region.

MCG+5-27-81 Ursa Major (p.106 Uranometria 1st edition, p.72R 2nd edition) Galaxy. 11h 31m + 29 18'. A pretty faint, pretty small galaxy, elongated E & W, with a bright core.

KUG 1128+297 Ursa Major (p.106 Uranometria 1st edition, p.72R 2nd edition) Galaxy. 11h 31m + 29 26'. This is not so easy, being 17th magnitude. Even in the 25” it appeared very very faint, fairly small and elongated. Has anyone observed this illusive galaxy?
Since I was observing very faint objects I thought it would be an excellent night to try an object I’ve heard about but never seen before.

QSO 0957+561 - Ursa Major - 10h 01m + 55 53' (not plotted in Uranometria 1st edition, p.25L 2nd edition) Quasar. Nicknamed the Double Quasar, also Twin Quasar and Dual Quasar, this gravitational lensing quasar is certainly the most distant object an amateur will ever observe at an whopping distance of 5 billion light years! It’s light is bent into two images, mirage like, by the gravitational field of a large foreground galaxy. The lens’s components shine around 17th magnitude and are separated by only 5 arc seconds. This object was only discovered on photographic plates in 1979. It's hardly an easy task seeing it, but a few guide stars make it fairly easy to locate. I found it a bit easier to see at 215x than 400x but seeing just wasn't good enough to warrant such high power. It's a great object, if you have a 18" or larger by all means go for it. Some have seen it with a 15" scope, while some fail to see it in a 30". Brian Skiff of Lowell Observatory claims to have seen it in a 7” f/9.6 Astrophysics Starfire refractor! What you'll see are two very close companions looking a bit fuzzier than the surrounding faint stars. A great guidepost to locating it is the 11.5 magnitude edge-on galaxy NGC 3079. The quasar is about ½ degree to the NW of it. Fascinating object. Has anyone seen it?

After these faint deep-sky objects I felt I needed a break, so slewed the 25” to M 51. It was the best I have ever seen it. Rarely have I detected so much minute, fine detail in the spiral arms, particularly the faint arm extending southward. It was just simply stunning. I wish I had tried to locate galaxies IC 4277 & IC 4278 shown on page 151 of Vicker's CCD Atlas North (I highly recommend this photo atlas no longer available in printed form, but available on CD ROM) which are in the same field of view, but just didn't think to do so. Next on the show objects list were M 3 and M 13, each displaying their magnificent structure better than ever before. Each looked more like open clusters than globulars.

I could go on with superlatives about this particular night but I'll spare boring you with all the details, however I was just too excited not to share at least some of the views with others. If you observe, or image, any of these objects please let me know.    Kent Blackwell kent@exis.net

                                            

     Moondark for March: Algebra of Easter

The Sunday after the Full Moon following the Spring Equinox is Easter. Of civil and Christian holidays observed in this country, this is the most movable. In 2005, Easter will be Sunday, March 27th. And although this simple explanation works for this year, it isn’t the whole story In 1582, the Pope instituted calendar reforms resulting in the eponymous Gregorian calendar, the system used around the world today. Ten days were deleted, October 15th followed the 4th, restoring the vernal equinox to about March 21st. To better match the Earth's revolution, century years (multiples of 100) were no longer leap years unless evenly divisible by 400 (which, incidentally, is why 2000 was a leap year). In addition, new tables of the Full Moon were adopted for the calculation of Easter. Accordingly, Easter is defined to be the Sunday following the ecclesiastical Full Moon that falls on or next after March 21st. The 21st is defined as the vernal equinox, even though it does not necessarily fall on that date. The ecclesiastical (or Paschal) Full Moon may differ from the astronomical as well, although adopted reforms henceforth keep calendars and astrophysics roughly in synchronization. Importantly, rules allowed Easter to be determined simply for practical purposes long before orbits were known to sufficient accuracy.  The earliest possible date is March 22nd, and the latest is April 25th, and April 19th is the most common date over the long term, although March 31st, April 15th and 20th occur most frequently (five times each) in this century. Astronomical and ecclesiastical rules yield different dates only 18 times in 1900-2100, most recently in 1981 and not again until 2038. And because adopted rules and astronomical phenomena can differ, full moons can occur on Easter Sunday, as happened most recently in 1998. Easter Sunday's Full Moon can even be eclipsed, and this will next occur on April 5th, 2015. Amazingly, the cycle of Gregorian Easter dates takes 5.7 million years to repeat. In Greece, Easter will be celebrated five weeks later on May 1st, 2005. The 1582 calendar reforms were rejected by the Eastern Orthodox churches, and they have continued to use the Julian calendar and traditional lunar tables to calculate Easter. In this century, the Julian Calendar is 13 days behind the Gregorian, and Easters can coincide or differ by one, four or five weeks. Differences between these calendars are still accruing, and starting in 2437 the two Easter dates can differ by as much as six weeks, and they can no longer fall on the same date after 2698. Calculation of Julian Easter is algorithmically somewhat simpler, and the cycle of dates is much less complicated, repeating every 532 years. Of course the dates of Easter so far off into the future are of little practical importance and only computable if churches maintain their current practices. One alternative fixes the date as the second Sunday in April, i.e., between the 8th and 14th. Another proposal uses the astronomical  equinoxes and full moons at the Jerusalem meridian. While advocates argued this be initiated for the new millennium, no church has adopted this proposal. Whenever Easter falls, things are sure to be looking up for star gazers. While the days grow rapidly longer and the nights shorter, low temperatures are no longer bone-chilling. Winter’s familiar bright stars—Aldebaran, Rigel, Betelgeuse, Sirius and Procyon—are fading into the western twilight. The sky overhead seems empty in comparison. But those with telescopes know to wait patiently for the dark of the Moon and look more deeply. The spring sky is filled with enough galaxies to last until our home, the Milky Way, returns with summer’s hazy nights. A Google.com search will yield innumerable pages related to dates of Easter, calculator applets and calendrical systems in general. In hardcopy, good sources include the Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac (1992), and any of the books by astro-calc-guru Jean Meeus: Astronomical Algorithms (1991) Chapter 8, Mathematical Astronomy Morsels (1997) Chapters 59 and 60, and More Mathematical Astronomy Morsels (2002) Chapter 25, all published by Willmann-Bell. Moondark is written by Doug Miller, published online, and printed in the Delmarva Star Gazers' Star Gazer News. Last revised on 20 Feb 2005. Text and images copyright © 2005 by Douglas C. Miller, All Rights Reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without prior permission

The full moon will rise just two days before Easter Sunday this year... .

                   

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