san diego astronomy association - sdaa · scott obtained some exoplanet data – more to come. k....

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

November 2017

Next SDAA Business MeetingNovember 14th at 7:00pm

7270 Trade StreetSan Diego, CA 92121

Next Program Meeting November 15th at 7:00pm

Mission Trails Regional ParkVisitor and Interpretive Center1 Father Junipero Serra Trail

CONTENTSNovember 2017, Vol LV, Issue 11Published Monthly by the San Diego Astronomy AssociationIncorporated in California in 1963November Program Meeting. . . . . . .1O c t o b e r M i n u t e s . . . . . . . . . . . 2A n n u a l B a n q u e t . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Schuyler Smith Awards...............................5K u d o s & A c c o l a d e s . . . . 62 0 1 7 T D S S c h e d u l e . . . . . . . . . . . 6A n n u a l B B Q . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7N i g h t f a l l 2 0 1 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 0 November Calendar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11S DA A C o n t a c t s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2M e e t t h e M e m b e r s . . . . . . 1 3Space P l ace Pa r tne r s Ar t i c l e . 14A s t r o n o my C a r t o o n s. . . . . . . . . . . . 1 7Fo r S a l e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 7

Newsletter DeadlineThe deadline to submit articles

for publication is the15th of each month.

November Program MeetingDate: November 15, 2017Speaker: VariousTopic: Gadget night

Various members will demonstrate.

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.

http://www.sdaa.org

San Diego Astronomy Association

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San Diego Astronomy Association Board of Directors Meeting October 10, 2017- Unapproved and subject to revision

1. Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 7pm with the following board members in attendance: Kin Searcy, Vice President; Gene Burch, Treasurer; Scott Dixon, Corresponding Secretary; Brian McFarland, Recording Secretary; Pat Boyce, Director; Dave Decker, Director; Dave Wood, Director; Jeff Herman, Director. Members in attendance: John and Mary Todd, John Downing, and Dorothy Wood.

2. Approval of Last Meeting Minutes

The September meeting minutes were approved. 3. Priority / Member Business

John Downing presented his plan for the development of his private pad, and the Board approved.

4. Treasurer’s & Membership Report a. Gene presented the treasurer’s report; it was approved. b. Gene is still fine tuning the report format. c. Membership is up and Amazon donations are starting to trickle in. d. The property tax bill came in, which is essentially $0 thanks to the efforts of Dennis Ritz a few years ago.

5. Standard Reports a. Site Maintenance

1. Pad 69 is without power, as is half of the Lipp observatory. 2. The main electrical panel upgrade was completed, but we need a master knife switch that is lockable.

b. Observatory Report – The new focuser for the Lipp has been ordered. c. Private Pad Report – We currently have 3 free pads and one that is leased but the member will give it up if somebody

else wants it. We also have 3 people on the waiting list with at least 2 pads expected to be leased within a month. Gene B. and Mark S. have also identified pad holders who appear to have let their memberships lapse. They are working to verify that now, but we may have 2 additional pads available.

d. Program Report – Scott D. is reviewing the donor list for the banquet, and Jerry H. has agreed to emcee. e. AISIG Report – Hiro discussed CMOS cameras at the last meeting, and Michael V. will discuss his Milky Way mosaic

work at the next one. In February Ron Breecher, Inside Pix Insight author, will work with TARO data. f. Newsletter Report – Andrea continues to do stellar work. g. Website Report – Nothing to report. h. Outreach Report – This is a combined August and September report as everyone was gone in August.

1. August was, of course, a unique month for our members and for Outreach. Many of our volunteer staff were

traveling most of the month, and yet we supported three (3) venues for observing the Solar Eclipse. Those attendance numbers are way above our monthly average, but never the less, legitimate. There were three eclipse events with 600+ people at one, 2K to 4K at Balboa Park, and 50 to 60 at West Sycamore. The calendar for the rest of the year is full.

2. Our Outreach program continues to suffer because of two vacant coordinator positions. Technically, Jerry is still serving as the North Coordinator, in that he receives and processes requests by forwarding them to me, but he cannot usually attend the events. The South Coordinator position has been vacant for 2 years. Kin has kindly continued to coordinate those events he has traditionally managed.

3. We continue to have good member support for our regular, monthly, public events.


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4. Below is a summary of our August activity: Totals for month: Events completed: 11 Events cancelled: 2 Attendance: 4,435 Mem Support: 67 Averages: Mem/event: 6.1 Attendees/scope: 66.2 Year-to-date since January 1: Completed events since January 1: 74 Attendees since January 1: 12,236

i. Merchandise Report – Nothing to report. j. TARO

1. Up and running, although the main CPU is a bit unstable. We’ll install a stand-alone computer dedicated to imaging.

2. Scott obtained some exoplanet data – more to come. k. Cruzen Observatory – No recent development due to excessive heat. Will restart the project soon. l. Social Media – Nothing new to report for Social Media. User engagement is steady and all of our Star Party invites are

publishing to social media and are receiving typical traffic. Public events are broadcasting as scheduled across our social media platforms and we are receiving consistent feedback and outreach with each event post. Below is an insight report for the last 28 days. Don’t be fooled by the red arrows pointing down. We had record outreach surrounding the eclipse in August, so of course our numbers are going to be down compared to that. We are still rocking and rolling on social media.

6. Old Business a. Fall BBQ will be October 14; Dave W. will be head chef and Ben G. will use the opportunity to try and enlist help to fill

the trench for the electrical upgrade. b. Banquet – We have a location and a speaker; the cost went up slightly.


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7. New Business a. Nominating Committee – Mike C. agreed to chair. Everyone agreed to serve again. b. Dorothy W. proposed the SDAA assist in hosting the AL two years from now, and Mary Todd volunteered to take on

the position of AL Coordinator.

8. Adjournment – Adjourned at 8:46pm.

SDAA Annual Banquet How often do you get to attend a lecture presented by the Executive Director of a project that produced three Nobel Prize Winners? The answer is next year - if you attend the annual SDAA Banquet.

David Reitze, Professor of physics at the University of Florida, will be our guest speaker. Professor Reitze is currently at Caltech as the Executive Director of LIGO, the Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. The 2017 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to three scientists working on the LIGO project.

Einstein predicted that massive accelerating objects such as colliding black holes or neutron stars would cause the very fabric of space-time to ripple, sending waves across space. However, he thought they would be so tiny as to be undetectable.

But in February last year, Professor Reitze announced that LIGO had detected the undetectable, and a new branch of astronomy was born.

According to Professor Reitze - "It was a technological tour de force and proved Einstein right, but that's not why it was important," he said.

"It's important because it opens a whole new window on the universe. We are now going to be able to look at the universe in gravitational-wave emissions, a completely different kind of information carrier."

Most astronomy up to now – from X-rays through visual light to radio waves – has been in the electromagnetic spectrum. Gravitational waves are a new kind of source and its great promise is to unlock some of the deepest secrets of the universe.

"One of the holy grails of this field would be to see the gravitational-wave residue of the Big Bang," Professor Reitze said.

After Professor Reitze’s presentation, we will hold an auction of astronomy related gear donated by our members. We will also raffle off the many great items that have been donated by our corporate sponsors - watch www.sdaa.org for an up-to-date list. Our Master of Ceremonies will be SDAA’s very own Jerry Hilburn.

During the year, we remodeled our bathrooms and completed phase 1 of our electrical upgrade. The Cruzen Observatory is still a work in progress, but we hope to have it in operation by mid-year. The 20’ x 10’ observatory will contain two telescopes, a 14.5” DK Cassegrain and a Takahashi TOA 130, and may be reserved for use by Contributing members who complete a mandatory training program.

The banquet is our major fundraiser, so please join us and consider making a donation to keep SDAA moving forward! Wishing you clear skies, SDAA Board of Directors


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Astronomical League's Jack Horkheimer/O'Meara Youth Journalism Award Winner

SDAA member Schuyler Smith was announced as the First Place winner of the Astronomical League's Jack Horkheimer/O'Meara Youth Journalism Award at ASTROCON 2017 in Casper, WY on Aug 19, 2017. The Horkheimer/O'Meara Journalism Award, named in honor of photojournalist and vulcanologist Donna O'Meara, requires a person who is 8 to 14 years of age to compose a 300 to 500 word essay on any science related topic. The young author should take a factual scientific event and write an accurate story that is so exciting and informative that it engages the reader. Schuyler was awarded a beautiful plaque and a check for $1000. Her essay "Double the Stars, Double the Fun" will appear in a future issue of "Reflector," the Astronomical League magazine. While an SDAA member Schuyler was also a 2nd place winner in the Physics & Astronomy Junior Division of the 2016 Cali-fornia State Science Fair, has been author or lead author of two papers published in the Journal of Double Star Observing ("CCD Astrometric Measurements of Double Stars BAL 746, BPM 342, KU 92, and STF 897" and "CCD Measurements of Common Proper Motion Pair CBL 125"), and has been an SDAA volunteer at over 40 school star parties. She is currently a freshman at San Diego High School of International Studies.


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KUDOS AND ACCOLADES FOR SDAA MEMBERS

The October 1, 2017 issue of the Journal of Double Star Observations published a cornucopia of SDAA member papers. Kent Smith and Allen Priest jointly authored CCD Measurement of STT 547AB. Both Kent and Allen have been teaching high school students how to do astronomical science and decided to do a paper on their own. Kent mentored three student teams at Mount Everest Academy in astrometry and their three papers were also published in the October 1 issue:

CCD Astrometry of the AB and AC Components of WDS 00052+4514

CCD Measurements of Common Proper Motion Pair CBL 125

Double Star Systems WDS 00026+1841 SHY 378AB and WDS 00002-2519 COO 273: An Investigation

Allen is starting a new class at The Cambridge Academy this fall. The Boyce-Astro Miramar College team lead by Dr. Jae Calanog published Astrometric Observations and Analysis of the Physical Binary Pair STF 296AB in the same JDSO issue.

2017 TDS SCHEDULE

DATE MOON DATA SUNSET ASTRO TWILIGHT

Nov. 11 R-12:38a 33% 4:46p 6:10p Public PST

18 S- 5:18p 0% 4:42p 6:07p

Dec. 9 R-11:50p 57% 4:39p 6:07p Public

16 S- 3:57p 3% 4:41p 6:09p


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Annual BBQ at TDS Saturday, October 14th

The annual BBQ started out with a work party filling in the trench from previous utility work. Many thanks to those that helped out that day and to those who worked the previous days on this project.


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Nightfall 2017 at the Palm Canyon Resort in Borrego Springs

Some of us SDAA members enjoyed the annual Nightfall event hosted by the Riverside Astronomical Society.

Saturday morning after a night of high winds.

Saturday night was clear and beautiful!


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November 2017 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

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Stars in the Park

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MTRP Terrace

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Full Moon

Montessori STEM

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Florence Elementary

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Stars at Mission Trails

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Public Star Party

TDS

Oak Oasis Star Party

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SDAA Business Meeting

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SDAA Program Meeting

16 Solana Sante Fe

Elementary

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Stars at Sycamore

Canyon

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New Moon

Member Night TDS

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AISIG Meeting

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24 West Sycamore

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28 Ellen Browning

Scripps

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SDAA ContactsClub Officers and Directors

President Mike Chasin [email protected] (858) 210-1454Vice President Kin Searcy [email protected] (858) 586-0974Recording Secretary Brian McFarland [email protected] (619) 462-4483Treasurer Gene Burch [email protected] (858) 926-9610 Corresponding Secretary Scott Dixon [email protected] Director Alpha Dave Decker [email protected] (619) 972-1003Director Beta Jeff Herman [email protected] Director Gamma Pat Boyce [email protected] (619) 227-9614Director Delta Dave Wood [email protected] (858) 735-8808

CommitteesSite Maintenance Bill Quackenbush [email protected] (858) 395-1007Observatory Director Jim Traweek [email protected] (619) 207-7542Private Pads Mark Smith [email protected] (858) 484-0540Outreach Kin Searcy [email protected] (858) 586-0974N. County Star Parties -Vacant- [email protected] S. County Star Parties -Vacant- [email protected] E. County Star Parties Dave Decker [email protected] (619) 972-1003Central County Star Parties Kin Searcy [email protected] (858) 586-0974Camp with the Stars -Vacant- [email protected] K.Q. Ranch Coordinator Dennis Ammann [email protected] (619) 247-2457Newsletter Andrea Kuhl [email protected] (858) 547-9887New Member Mentor Dan Kiser [email protected] (858) 922-0592Webmaster Jeff Stevens [email protected] (858) 566-2261AISIG Dave Wood [email protected] (858) 735-8808Site Acquisition -Vacant- [email protected] Field Trips -Vacant- [email protected] Grants/Fund Raising -Vacant- [email protected] Julian StarFest -Vacant- [email protected] Merchandising -Vacant- [email protected] Publicity Jeff Flynn [email protected] Loaner Scopes Ed Rumsey [email protected] (858) 722-3846 Governing Documents TBDTDS Network Dave Wood [email protected] (858) 735-8808Amateur Telescope Making -Vacant-

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 [email protected].

SDAA Editorial StaffEditor - Andrea [email protected]

Assistant Editor: Craig Ewing

mailto://[email protected]




















mailto:[email protected]


[email protected]






mailto:// [email protected]




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Meet the Members

Jay Price with his fully loaded 18” Obsession Dobsonian on the public pads at TDS. Jay had been imaging on his private pad for the last 12 years, but wanted to get back into visual observing and the camaraderie that we have on the public pads.


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NASASpacePlacePartnerArticle October2017

This article is provided by NASA Space Place. With articles, activities, crafts, games, and lesson plans, NASA Space Place encourages everyone to get excited about science and technology. Visit spaceplace.nasa.gov to explore space and Earth science!

Spooky in Space: NASA Images for Halloween By Linda Hermans-Killiam

Have you ever seen a cloud that looks sort of like a rabbit? Or maybe a rock formation that looks a bit like an elephant? Although you know that a cloud isn’t really a giant rabbit in the sky, it’s still fun to look for patterns in images from nature. Can you spot some familiar spooky sites in the space images below?

Credit:NASA/GSFC/SDO

This might look like the grinning face of a jack-o’-lantern, but it’s actually a picture of our Sun! In this image, taken by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, the glowing eyes, nose and mouth are some of the Sun’s active regions. These regions give off lots of light and energy. This causes them to appear brighter against the rest of the Sun. Active regions are constantly changing locations on the Sun. On the day this image was captured, they just happened to look like a face!


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Credit:NASA/ESA/A.Simon(GoddardSpaceFlightCenter)

This is a Hubble Space Telescope image of Jupiter. Do you notice something that looks like a big eye peeking back at you? That’s actually the shadow of Jupiter's moon Ganymede as it passed in front of the planet’s Great Red Spot. Jupiter's Great Red Spot is a gigantic, oval shaped storm that is larger than Earth and is shrinking. It has been on Jupiter for several hundred years, and its winds can swirl up to 400 miles per hour!

Credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech

Can you see the profile of a witch in this image? This image, from NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer, shows the Witch Head nebula. The nebula is made up of clouds of dust heated by starlight. These dust clouds are where new stars are born. Here, the dust clouds happen to be in the shape of an open mouth, long nose and pointy chin.


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Credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ.ofWisc.

The Black Widow Nebula looks like a giant spider in space. It is a huge cloud of gas and dust containing massive young stars. Radiation and winds from these stars push the dust and gas around, creating a spider-like shape. This image is from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.

Credit:NASA/JPL-CALTECH/MSSS

Did a skeleton lose one of its leg bones on Mars? Nope! It’s just an image of a Martian rock. NASA's Curiosity rover captured this image. The rock was probably shaped to look this way over time by wind or water. If life ever existed on Mars, scientists expect that it would be small organisms called microbes. So, it isn’t likely that we’ll ever find a large fossil on Mars!


To learn some fun planet facts and make a planet mask, check out NASA Space Place: https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/planet-masks


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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.

For Sale: Meade LX200 10 inch scope, excellent condition with extra's: JMI hard-case, Eye opener II, Bob's knobs, plus more. Contact [email protected].