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San DiegoAstronomy AssociationCelebrating Over 50 Years of Astronomical Outreach

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

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

October 2019

Next SDAA Business MeetingOctober 8th at 7:00pm

7270 Trade StreetSan Diego, CA 92121

Next Program Meeting October 16th at 7:00pm

Mission Trails Regional ParkVisitor and Interpretive Center1 Father Junipero Serra Trail

CONTENTSOctober 2019, Vol LVII, Issue 10Published Monthly by the San Diego Astronomy AssociationIncorporated in California in 1963P r o g r a m M e e t i n g . . . . . . . . . . . 1S e p t e m b e r M i n u t e s . . . . . . . . . 2A n n u a l B a n q u e t . . . . . . . . . . . 4N i g h t F a l l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Late Summer Deep Sky Objects.6S D A A C o n t a c t s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9N A S A N i g h t S k y N o t e s . . . . . . 1 0A s t r o n o m y C a r t o o n . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2

Newsletter DeadlineThe deadline to submit articles

for publication is the15th of each month.

October Program Meeting

Date: October 16, 2019Speaker: Dr. Bill Welsh Topic: Circumbinary Exoplanets

San Diego Astronomy Association (SDAA) sponsors speakers on a wide range of astronomy topics on the third Wednesday 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 Mission 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

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=g-calendar@sdaa.org&ctz=America/Los_

Link to Outreach Calendar

William (Bill) Welsh is a Professor of Astronomy at San Diego State University, and a member of NASA’s Kepler Mission. He has been very involved in the study of circumbinary planets, and led the discovery of two planets, Kepler-34 and Kepler-35.

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San Diego Astronomy Association Board of Directors Meeting 10 September, 2019 – Unapproved and subject to revision

1. Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 7:00pm with the following board members in attendance: Dave Wood, President; Steve Hallman, Vice President; Brian McFarland, Recording Secretary; Gene Burch, Treasurer; Dave Decker, Director; Jeff Herman, Director. Member in attendance: Larry Godsey.

2. Approval of Last Meeting Minutes

August meeting minutes were approved.

3. Priority / Member Business a. None.

4. Treasurer’s & Membership Report

a. Taxes are finished and raffle forms and insurance renewal submitted. b. Up to 700+ members.

5. Standard Reports a. Site Maintenance Report – Deep ruts at entrance to observatory area; Brian M and others will tackle on

Thursday. b. Observatory/Loaner Scope Report – The Lipp scope continues to perform well. c. Private Pad Report

1. We have 3 unleased pads (1, 15, and 36) and 4 people on the waiting list (two are current pad holders looking to upgrade).

2. New ECD for the pad rules update is 10/1. d. Program Meetings Report

1. 18Sept - Dave Wood // TARO // Confirmed 2. 16Oct - Dr. Bill Welsh // Circumbinary Exoplanets // Confirmed, Nominating Com. Elect. 3. 20Nov - Rob Zellem // Exoplanets - TES & WFIRST // Confirmed, Board, Rec. Sect, Treasurer Elect. 4. Current Program Meeting Petty Cash (as of 21Aug19): est $418 (Previous Report $413 (20Aug19)). 5. Expenses Since Previous Report (as of 21Aug19): $30.00 Snacks & Coffee (Lost Receipt).

e. AISIG Report – Greg Crinklaw was the featured speaker and it was well attended. f. Newsletter Report – Andrea continues to do stellar work. g. Website Report – Added a graph provided by John Downing of seeing conditions at TDS to the SDAA

website. Currently it is about a day behind real time, but John is working on setting up a script to make it current.

h. Social Media Report – Nothing new to report for social media. i. Outreach Report – No cancellations again in August! Still to come for the Summer Program are the first of

four events at Dixon Lake, one at Mt. Helix, two more at KQ Ranch, and one at Green Valley Falls. All of these are in addition to our regular monthly events. Note: The Green Valley event scheduled for September 28, has been cancelled in support of the SDAA BBQ. Note: This month’s totals are considerably higher than usual, thanks to the great effort of our Julian StarFest Committee. JSF is many things, one of which is SDAA’s largest Outreach Event. And, we had many of our regular OSIG members on site to assist in sharing the sky with 1300 guests in one night. Also contributing to the large attendance was the SPIE Convention at the San Diego Convention Center. Thanks to all SDAA members who supported these two unusual events in August.

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Totals for August:

Totals for Month: Events Completed 11.0 Events Cancelled 0.0 Public Attendance 2265.0 Private Attendance 550.0 Total Attendance 2815.0 Mem Support: 98.0 Average: Mem/Event: 8.9

Year to Date since January 1

Completed Events since January 1: 79.0 Cancelled Events since January 1: 21.0 Events Scheduled since January 1: 100 Public Attendees since Jan 1: 5275.0 Private Attendees since Jan 1: 3611.0 Total Attendees since Jan 1: 8886.0

j. TARO Report

1. TARO is functional. We are prepping to release to the membership 22 hours of data on NGC 6914 and 14 hours of data on NGC 7129. Photometric data on 4 additional Exoplanet Transits are being analyzed by Scott Dixon in preparation for collection of TESS targets in the northern hemisphere.

2. We need a permanent addition to the newsletter describing how the membership can access the TARO data.

k. Merchandise Report – No report. l. Cruzen Report – No report. m. Astronomical League Report – No report.

6. Old Business

a. Electrical Upgrade – Still in progress. b. BBQ – 28 September. c. Other old business – None.

7. New Business

a. Banquet Planning – Jan 18. b. Call for new business – None.

8. Adjournment Adjourned at 8:06pm.

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Reserve the Date

The SDAA annual banquet is scheduled to be at the Natural History Museum on Saturday, January 18th from 5:30 to 9:30 and more info will be coming soon.

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http://nightfallstarparty.com/general-information/

Nightfall Star Party & Imaging Conference 2019 When & WhereOctober 24th – 27thPalm Canyon Hotel & RV Resort221 Palm Canyon Dr.Borrego Springs, CA 92004(760) 767-5341(800) 242-0044

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Late Summer Deep Sky Objects By Hunter Harling

Pictured above is the Triangulum Galaxy, a well-known object of late summer/fall. Credit: Hunter Harling With the coming of fall, new deep sky objects become visible in the east. As Earth’s orbit shifts the milky way out of view, we look deeper into space where more galaxies are visible. Some fall galaxies are great targets for observing and imaging, such as the Triangulum Galaxy seen above, and the Andromeda galaxy.

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Here is a sky map showing the placement of some galaxies rising in the east:

Credit: Stellarium software

Although the Autumn galaxies are some of the best galaxies to image in the night sky, there are also a few galaxies closer to the Milky Way which are great to photograph due to background integrated flux nebulae. The Fireworks Galaxy is a good example of those:

NGC 6960, the Fireworks Galaxy with background integrated flux nebula. Credit: Hunter Harling.

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As well as galaxies, there are many great nebulae to image this time of year. Below is an image of the Wizard Nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia captured through narrowband filters:

The Wizard Nebula captured through the filters Sulpher II, Hydrogen α, and Oxygen III. Credit: Hunter Harling Here are some great nebulae to photograph at this time of year:

● The Heart and Soul Nebulae, IC 1805 and IC 1848. Sizes: 1° 20’. Constellation: Cassiopeia.

● The Pacman Nebula, NGC 281. Size: 23’. Constellation: ● The Little Dumbbell Nebula, NGC 651. Size: ~3’. Constellation: Perseus. ● 𝛄𝛄 Cassiopeiae Nebula, IC 63. Size: 10’. Constellation: Cassiopeia.

From the many galaxies in Perseus and Andromeda to the vibrant nebulae of Cassiopeia, the Fall night sky is truly beautiful to see and photograph.

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SDAA ContactsClub Officers and Directors

President Dave Wood President@sdaa.org (858) 735-8808Vice President Steve Hallman VicePresident@sdaa.org Recording Secretary Brian McFarland Recording@sdaa.org (619) 462-4483Treasurer Gene Burch Treasurer@sdaa.org (858) 926-9610 Corresponding Secretary Bill Nguyen Corresponding@sdaa.org (619) 751-6621Director Alpha Dave Decker DirectorAlpha@sdaa.org (619) 972-1003Director Beta Jeff Herman DirectorBeta@sdaa.org (619) 846-4898Director Gamma Pat Boyce DirectorGamma@sdaa.org (619) 227-9614Director Delta Mike Chasin DirectorDelta@sdaa.org (858) 210-1454

CommitteesSite Maintenance Bill Quackenbush TDS@sdaa.org (858) 395-1007Observatory Director Ed Rumsey Observatory@sdaa.org (858) 722-3846Private Pads Mark Smith Pads@sdaa.org (858) 484-0540Outreach Dave Decker Outreach@sdaa.org (619) 972-1003N. County Star Parties -Vacant- NorthStarParty@sdaa.org S. County Star Parties -Vacant- SouthStarParty@sdaa.org E. County Star Parties Dave Decker EastStarParty@sdaa.org (619) 972-1003Central County Star Parties Dennis Ammann CentralStarParty@sdaa.org (619) 247-2457Camp with the Stars -Vacant- CampWiththeStars@sdaa.org K.Q. Ranch Coordinator Dennis Ammann KQ@sdaa.org (619) 247-2457Newsletter Andrea Kuhl Newsletter@sdaa.org (858) 547-9887New Member Mentor Dan Kiser Mentor@sdaa.org (858) 922-0592Webmaster Jeff Stevens Webmaster@sdaa.org (858) 566-2261AISIG Scott Dixon AISIG@sdaa.org (858) 673-9588 Site Acquisition -Vacant- SecondSite@sdaa.org Field Trips -Vacant- FieldTrips@sdaa.org Grants/Fund Raising -Vacant- Grants@sdaa.org Julian StarFest -Vacant- info@julianstarfest.com Merchandising -Vacant- Merchandising@sdaa.org Publicity Jeff Flynn Publicity@sdaa.org (619) 806-6505Loaner Scopes Ed Rumsey loanerscopes@sdaa.org (858) 722-3846 Governing Documents TBDTDS Network Dave Wood TDSNet@sdaa.org (858) 735-8808Amateur Telescope Making -Vacant- ALCOR (Astronomical League Correspondent) Mary Todd ALCOR@sdaa.org (858) 560-2052

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 byline or pho-tograph credit in addition to the undying gratitude of the Newsletter Editor. Just send your article or picture to Newsletter@SDAA.Org.

SDAA Editorial StaffEditor - Andrea Kuhlnewsletter@sdaa.org

Assistant Editor: Craig Ewing

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NASA Night Sky Notes October 2019

This article is distributed by NASA Night Sky Network The Night Sky Network program supports astronomy clubs across the USA dedicated to astronomy outreach. Visit nightsky.jpl.nasa.org to find local clubs, events, and more!

Find Strange Uranus in Aries

David Prosper Most of the planets in our solar system are bright and easily spotted in our night skies. The exceptions are the ice giant planets: Uranus and Neptune. These worlds are so distant and dim that binoculars or telescopes are almost always needed to see them. A great time to search for Uranus is during its opposition on October 28, since the planet is up almost the entire night and at its brightest for the year. Search for Uranus in the space beneath the stars of Aries the Ram and above Cetus the Whale. These constellations are found west of more prominent Taurus the Bull and Pleiades star cluster. You can also use the Moon as a guide! Uranus will be just a few degrees north of the Moon the night of October 14, close enough to fit both objects into the same binocular field of view. However, it will be much easier to see dim Uranus by moving the bright Moon just out of sight. If you’re using a telescope, zoom in as much as possible once you find Uranus; 100x magnification and greater will reveal its small greenish disc, while background stars will remain points. Try this observing trick from a dark sky location. Find Uranus with your telescope or binoculars, then look with your unaided eyes at the patch of sky where your equipment is aimed. Do you see a faint star where Uranus should be? That’s not a star; you’re actually seeing Uranus with your naked eye! The ice giant is just bright enough near opposition - magnitude 5.7 - to be visible to observers under clear dark skies. It’s easier to see this ghostly planet unaided after first using an instrument to spot it, sort of like “training wheels” for your eyes. Try this technique with other objects as you observe, and you’ll be amazed at what your eyes can pick out. By the way, you’ve spotted the first planet discovered in the modern era! William Herschel discovered Uranus via telescope in 1781, and Johan Bode confirmed its status as a planet two years later. NASA’s Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to visit this strange world, with a brief flyby in 1986. It revealed a strange, severely tilted planetary system possessing faint dark rings, dozens of moons, and eerily featureless cloud tops. Subsequent observations of Uranus from powerful telescopes like Hubble and Keck showed its blank face was temporary, as powerful storms were spotted, caused by dramatic seasonal changes during its 84-year orbit. Uranus’s wildly variable seasons result from a massive collision billions of years ago that tipped the planet to its side. Discover more about NASA’s current and future missions of exploration of the distant solar system and beyond at nasa.gov

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NASA Night Sky Notes October 2019

Caption: The path of Uranus in October is indicated by an arrow; its position on October 14 is circled. The wide dashed circle approximates the field of view from binoculars or a finderscope. Image created

with assistance from Stellarium.

Caption: Composite images taken of Uranus in 2012 and 2014 by the Hubble Space Telescope,

showcasing its rings and auroras. More at bit.ly/uranusauroras Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, L. Lamy / Observatoire de Paris

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MEMBERSHIP INFORMATIONSend dues and renewals to P.O. Box 23215, San Diego, CA 92193-3215. Include any renewal cards from Sky & Telescope or Astronomy magazine in which you wish to continue your subscription. The expiration date shown on your newsletter’s mailing label is the only notice that your membership in SDAA will expire. Dues are $60 for Contributing Memberships; $35 for Basic Membership; $60.00 for Private Pads; $5 for each Family membership. In addition to the club dues the annual rates for magazines available at the club discount are: Sky & Telescope $32.95 and Astronomy $34. Make checks payable to S.D. Astronomy Assn. PLEASE DO NOT send renewals directly to Sky Publishing. They return them to us for processing.