san diego astronomy association - sdaasan diego astronomy association celebrating over 40 years of...

San DiegoAstronomy AssociationCelebrating Over 40 Years of Astronomical Outreach

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

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

May 2014

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

Suite 300San Diego, CA 92108

May 13th at 7pmNext Program Meeting

May 21th, 2014 at 7pmMission Trails Regional Park

Visitor and Interpretive Center1 Father Junipero Serra Trail

CONTENTSMay 2014, Vol LII, Issue 5Published Monthly by the San Diego Astronomy Association$2.50 an issue/$30.00 yearIncorporated in California in 1963M ay P r o g r a m M e e t i n g. . . . . . . . . . . 1TDS Spr ing C leanup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Apr i l Minutes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2May Ca l enda r. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4TDS Real Estate Tax Exemption.....5SDAA Contac t s. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7T D S S c h e d u l e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8KQ Ranch & Heise Schedules.. . . .8We b O n l y - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -A I S I G G a l l e r y. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9C o n s t e l l a t i o n s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 0Space Place Partners’ Article........11

Newsletter DeadlineThe deadline to submit articles

for publication is the15th of each month.

May Program Meeting

Date: May 21th, 2014Speaker: Jerry HilburnTopic: New Horizons: Historic Pluto flyby

In 2006, NASA dispatched an ambassador to the planetary frontier: The New Horizons spacecraft, now more than halfway between Earth and Pluto, is on approach for a dramatic flight past the icy dwarf planet and its moons in July 2015. After 10 years and more than 3 billion miles, on a historic voyage that has already taken it over the storms and around the moons of Jupiter, New Horizons will shed light on new kinds of worlds on the outskirts of the solar system. Jerry Hilburn NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador will provide an update on the mission and discuss what to expect in coming months as New Horizons begins the active data acquisition phase of its mission.http://www.darksky.org/

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 busi-ness, 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.

Spring Cleanup at TDS on May 17by Michael Vander Vorst

It time for our annual spring cleaning at TDS. The annual workday and free barbe-cue is scheduled for Saturday, May 17th. We need your help for several small projects. About twenty members should be able to finish the jobs in roughly four hours. The projects include: cleaning the warming room and observatory, filling in the septic tank depression, repairing the south fence, weed whacking the roads, moving a little gravel, covering the conduit on the south fence, replacing the roof on the shower, and cleaning out the large storage container. The projects will be led by your fellow board members, so bring along your work gloves, shovels, rakes, hoes, weed whackers, hammers and any other tools you might need. The club is renting a large trash container to haul the accumulated garbage laying around. It will be a fun time and you will be treated to a free lunch of potato salad, chicken tenders, burgers, brats, beans, beverages, cookies and such; all cooked by master chef Dave Wood.

http://www.sdaa.org

San Diego Astronomy Association

SAN DIEGO ASTRONOMY ASSOCIATION NEWS AND NOTES, MAY 2014

SDAA Board of Director Business Meeting Minutes

April 8, 2014 - Unapproved and Subject to Revision

1. Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 7pm with the following Board members in attendance: Michael Vander Vorst, President; Mike Chasin, Vice President; Dave Wood, Treasurer; Dennis Ritz, Recording Secretary; Kin Searcy, Corresponding Secretary; Jim Traweek, Director Delta; Mike Finch, Director Gamma; and member Maxwell Palau.

2. Approval of Last Meeting Minutes. Approved.

3. Priority/Member Business. Mike Chasin introduced Maxwell Palau as a member interested in the SDAA Publicity chair. Maxwell has a

good internet presence and experience with social media. Discussed postings of activities, Google Hangout +, SDAA and JSF Facebook pages, star parties, but not club business, commercials, and keeping within our charitable non-profit status. The Board unanimously approved Maxwell as the Publicity chair and thanked him for his volunteering.

4. Approval of Treasurer’s and Membership Report

• Membership unchanged total of 506. • Dave was absent but emailed his Treasurer's report. Michael V reported Dave is very busy; the Treasurer's website evaluation is

reported under Old Business by Mike Finch. • Treasurer’s report was approved.

5. Standard Committee Reports

a. Site Maintenance Report -Bill Quackenbush -Nothing to report b. Observatory Report -Jim Traweek reported he rebalanced the Lipp and adjusted the finder, looking good. c. Private Pad Report -Mark Smith has some new pads ready for leasing, some discussion about the site plot so he can map. Mike Finch

has a plot cad/cam electronic version available. d. Program Report -Mike Chasin reports the April Mission Trails program meeting will present our two SDAA Science Fair awardees,

they will be given $100 and $75 awards and honorary associate memberships. Program presentation will be International Dark Sky Association with Dave, Lisa and Jim. Expecting an Arizona grad student for August and presentation on spectroscopy in September, to be confirmed. Mike also reported he has the dark sky meter working on his observatory and displayed on the SDAA website at: http://www.sdaa.org/sqm.htm. It gives us a baseline for supporting dark sky efforts at TDS and IDA efforts around the world. There are 26 sites worldwide accessible from the SDAA SQM page.

e. Roboscope -Michael Vander Vorst will review the BRIEF Roboscope agreement, in progress, but the Army Navy Academy may want more than the SDAA can provide.

f. TDS Network -Tachyon may give us a new part for satellite connection. Until Tachyon up, Michael Vander Vorst offered to open up

his satellite internet with the same password. g. AISIG Report -AISIG meeting had a Google Hangouts presentation by SkyTools www.skyhound.com Greg Cricklaw. Mike Chasin is

coordinating a big group discount for purchasing SkyTools, details on the AISIG Yahoo group.

i. Newsletter Report -Deadline for articles is the 15th of the month to Andrea. j. Website Report -Jeff Stevens working hard and has updated SDAA and JSF websites. Michael Vander Vorst will get the AISIG images

and discuss at the AISIG meeting. k. Outreach Report – Kin called for volunteers for star party coordinators, North and South County are in need. Please contact

Kin if you can help at [email protected] !!

• Kin has had inquiries about the total lunar eclipse, but totality starts at midnight on a school/work night. Dennis and others will be at TDS that night and open and close for anyone who wants to go to TDS.

• Kin has lots! 9 school star parties left and a Scout Fair end of month. May 10, Astronomy Day at Balboa Park. Vince has permit, it is near the Fleet ‘cascade’. May 23 is Space Day at the Air and Space museum, and May 18th hosts High Tech High at TDS.



• Still looking for a South County Star Party coordinator. Email Kin if you can help. • Mark Lane, former SDAA Board member and professor of astronomy at Palomar College requested some trifold SDAA

brochures for the beautiful new Palomar planetarium, now open on Friday nights: http://www.palomar.edu/planetarium/PUBSHOWS/PublicShows.htm

l. Merchandise Report -No report, vacant. We need a new merchandise chairperson. Volunteers? m. New Member Mentor Report -Dan Kiser is sending out new member packets.

n. Julian Star Fest - Mike V reports Julian Star Fest committee has formed and JSF web site is updated with JSF dates of August 21-23,

2014. The JSF committee is: Hillary Griffith Chairman Bill Griffith Site Coordinator Dan Kiser Co-coordinator/vendor coordinator Alice Harvey Merchandise Jim Traweek Speakers Kin Searcy Palomar Observatory coordinator Scott Baker Facebook Michael Vander Vorst Publicity

6. Old Business

a. Spring Clean-up is May 17, dumpster will arrive 10 days before and stay until 3 days after. Ed Rumsey will put a note in the

Newsletter. Dave Wood is the master chef, Mike V will budget and get about $400 for food, to include some chicken. b. Treasurer’s website evaluation -In progress, to be continued…. c. North Pad Replacement -Jim reports the commercial contact did not pan out, he will be renting a backhoe and dump truck. d. TDS Solar Farm -Nothing heard yet after the time for comments expired. e. Property Tax Exemption - Dennis reported he has about 120 votes, has been attending meetings, and generally pestering people with

email. US mail next week and more emails, meetings, but about 1/2 way there in 30 days, so seems on track. f. Call for other Old Business - none

7. New Business a. Science Fair Winners- Michael V reported a good science fair with two winners who will be presented with awards at the program

meeting, as reported above 4d. b. Julian StarFest trademarks- The Board discussed whether to trademark Julian StarFest and resolved to have Dennis Ritz the

Recording Secretary make application for the name Julian StarFest. San Diego Astronomy Association is our corporation name and has corporate name rights similar to a person.

c. Jim Traweek suggested we make an award plaque for presentation to Peter De Baan in recognition of his long and great leadership in

telescope making. The Board unanimously authorized an award be made for presentation at the next Banquet. Call for other New Business – None

8. Adjournment at 8:15pm.



May 2014 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1

Bay Park Elementary

2

3 Lake Morena

Space Day

4

5

6

7 Stars in the Park

8

9 Stars at Mission

Trails

10

Astronomy Day

11

12

13

SDAA Business Meeting

14

Full Moon

15

16

Stars at Sycamore Canyon

17

TDS Spring Cleanup

18

19

20 Sequoia

Elementary

21

SDAA Program Meeting

22

23 Endeavor Academy

24 KQ Ranch

Public Star Party

TDS 25

26

27

28

AISIG Meeting New Moon

29

30

31

Member Night TDS



San Diego Astronomy Association Real Estate Tax Exemption Approval for Amendment to Article X(a)

Date: March 11, 2014

From: The Board of the San Diego Astronomy Association

The San Diego Astronomy Association was incorporated as an educational and charitable non-profit California corporation in 1963. In March of 1963 the SDAA received exemption from California franchise tax and Federal income tax as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. In 1975 the Association purchased and filed the grant deed to the Tierra del Sol property. In April 1989 the SDAA amended the SDAA Articles of Incorporation X(a), which was designed to meet the requirements, at the time, for the California Organizational Clearance Certificate (OCC). The OCC is necessary to obtain tax exemption from real estate taxes on the Tierra del Sol property. SDAA articles and bylaws are available on the SDAA website and in Yahoo! Group Documents. Search Google or contact [email protected] for PDFs of the tax rules and regulations, including BOE Rule 143, Revenue and Taxation Code 214, and Assessors Handbook 267. In early 2008, upon approval by the SDAA Board, we filed the OCC application and received their response; Article X(a) does not meet the current rules. In 2006 the BOE issued Property Tax Rule 143, which makes small but important changes to the irrevocable dedication (ID) and dissolution clause (DC) contained in Article X(a). Particularly is the word ‘scientific’, which for Rule 143 purposes is an ‘organization chartered by Congress’ or ‘for medical research’. As the SDAA is neither, this creates a problem in our Articles. If we change Article X(a) to meet the 2006 requirements, we have an assurance from the BOE we will be issued the OCC. This is a big step toward obtaining property tax exemption for TDS.

Obtaining the OCC does not, by itself, exempt TDS from real estate tax. Application must be made, including the OCC, to the San Diego County Assessor who will make an on-site inspection to verify the property is used exclusively for tax exempt purposes. So, while the OCC is necessary, the final determination is up to the SD County Assessor. Real estate taxes on TDS cost $ 1,700 annually, money which can be used for worthy SDAA projects. The SDAA Board resolved to present to the membership an amendment meeting Rule 143 and recommends members approve it. It takes written assent by a majority of the members to approve an amendment per the SDAA articles.

PLEASE VOTE BY RETURNING THE BALLOT ON THE NEXT PAGE!

San Diego Astronomy Association Article X(a) Amendment 2014 Page 1



Here is an image of the existing SDAA X(a) article:

Here is the amended Article X(a) as written by Mr. Jelsma, Esq, meeting the present requirements for tax exempt Organizational Clearance. The changes are few but important.

“All property currently owned, or hereafter acquired by the corporation, is irrevocably dedicated to charitable and educational purposes meeting the requirements of Revenue and Taxation Code section 214. No part of the net earnings of this corporation shall inure to the benefit of any of its directors, trustees, officers, private shareholders or members, or to individuals. Upon liquidation, dissolution, or abandonment of the corporate property by the corporation, the corporation’s remaining assets after payment or provision of payment of all debts and liabilities of this corporation, will not inure to the benefit of any private person, and shall be distributed to such organization (or organizations) organized and operated exclusively for charitable and educational purposes which has established its tax-exempt status under Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3)(or corresponding provisions of any future federal internal revenue law) and which has established its tax-exempt status under Revenue and Taxation Code section 23701d (or the corresponding section of any future California revenue and tax law) and which satisfies the requirements of California Revenue and Taxation Code section 214.”

San Diego Astronomy Association Article X(a) Amendment 2014 Page 2

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please vote and sign, cut here, place in an envelope, stamp and mail your ballot to:

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

Or scan or photograph and email to [email protected]

In order to obtain written majority consent, this ballot will be circulated with mailings to the membership, new members, at meetings and on the internet. Please check the box indicating approval or disapproval, sign and return by mail to: SDAA PO Box 23215, San Diego, CA 92193-3215 or scan or photograph and email to [email protected]

I approve [ ] I do not approve (check one box) this amendment to SDAA Article X(a).

_________________________________ ________________________________ _________ SDAA Member Signature Print Name Date



SDAA ContactsClub Officers and Directors

President Michael Vander Vorst [email protected] (858) 755-5846Vice President Mike Chasin [email protected] (858) 210-1454Recording Secretary Dennis Ritz [email protected] (619) 890-7480Treasurer Dave Wood [email protected] (858) 735-8808Corresponding Secretary Kin Searcy [email protected] (858) 586-0974Director Alpha Ed Rumsey [email protected] (858) 735-8808 Director Beta Brian McFarland [email protected] (619) 462-4483Director Gamma Michael Finch [email protected] (760) 440-9650Director Delta Jim Traweek [email protected] (619) 207-7542

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 Doug McFarland [email protected] (760) 583-5436S. County Star Parties Benjamin Flores [email protected] (619) 885-1291E. County Star Parties Dave Decker [email protected] (619) 972-1003Central County Star Parties Kin Searcy [email protected] (858) 586-0974Camp with the Stars Doug McFarland [email protected] (760) 583-5436K.Q. Ranch Coordinator Michael Vander Vorst [email protected] (858) 755-5846Newsletter 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] Merchandising -Vacant- [email protected] Loaner Scopes Ed Rumsey (858) 722-3846 Governing Documents TBDTDS Network Dave Wood [email protected] (858) 735-8808Amateur Telescope Making Peter De Baan [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].

SDAA Editorial StaffEditor - Andrea [email protected]

Assistant Editor: Craig Ewing

mailto://[email protected]












mailto:[email protected]









[email protected]




mailto:// [email protected]





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.

KQ and Heise Star Party 2014 Schedule

KQ Ranch Heise

5/246/21 6/77/19 7/58/16 8/29/20 8/3010/18 10/4

FOR SALEBrand new in the box mirror set consisting of a Zambuto 11” f/6 1 3/16” thick fast cool down primary and a ProtoStar 1.83” quartz sec-ondary and Astrosystems secondary holder. Comes with certifications. Retail cost $1800 asking $1300. John Kuhl, 858-547-9887.

1.25 inch format Celestron 8 inch, f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain with equatorial wedge, 1977. I purchased it used in 1980 & it has served me well ever since. Excellent optics & with use you’ll find the sweet spot in the mirror where the image jumps out. It has an over-sized 10x 40 viewfinder. In 1995, I couldn’t find as many deep sky objects as I wanted by star-hopping so I had installed a JMI “Mini-Max” passive computer system with 2 encoders on the scope & a guide; punch in NGC-2158 & numbers will appear. Move the scope ‘til it’s all zeroes & there your open cluster will be. With Kellner 40mm & 25mm lenses. All instruction booklets included. Priced to move @ $349.00! (List price scope $1100.00, Mini-Max c. $500.) [By the way, the wedge has 2 marks on it which if lined up to the 2 marks on the pier at SDAA Tierra del Sol pad # 35 will give precise polar alignment to the scope.] Full aperture solar filter for the C-8 (& most other 8”scopes). $49.00. Eyepieces: Celestron Ortho 12mm for $19.00. Orion Sirius Plössl 10mm for $29.00. TeleVue Plössl 7.4mm for $49.00 (list $95). Nebula filter: Lumicon UHC for $69 (list $120). Planetary filters: Red Parks Lumicon) #25 for $19.00. Light blue Parks (Lumicon) #82A for $19.00. Radio Shack 350W Power Inverter; converts car DC electricity to AC, for anything, including telescope clock drives. $29 (list $65). I’m retired & available most any time to show what I have. JOHN MOOD [email protected] 619-225-9639

2014 TDS SCHEDULE

DATE MOON DATA SUNSET

May 24 S- 3:59P 20% 7:44P PUBLIC31 S-10:15P 7% 7:48P

JUN 21 R- 2:18A 23% 7:56P PUBLIC28 S- 8:53P 1% 7:57P

JUL 19 R- 1:00A 36% 7:52 PUBLIC26 R- 6:42A 0% 7:48P

AUG 16 R-11:42P 61% 7:29P PUBLIC23 R- 5:30A 1% 7:21P

SEP 20 S- 4:44P 1% 6:44P PUBLIC27 S- 8:51P 10% 6:35P

OCT 18 R- 3:03A 18% 6:08P PUBLIC25 S- 7:33P 3% 6:01P

NOV 15 R-12:46A 33% 4:44P PUBLIC22 S- 5:15A 0% 4:41P

DEC 13 R-11:28P 60% 4:41P PUBLIC20 S- 3:55P 3% 4:44P



Rosette Nebula. It is 16.5 hours of narrowband images in a modified SHO (Hubble Palette). It was imaged remotely from TDS by Mike Chasin.

AISIG Gallery



Space Place partner’s article April 2014

The Power of the Sun's Engines

By Dr. Ethan Siegel Here on Earth, the sun provides us with the vast majority of our energy, striking the top of the atmosphere with up to 1,000 Watts of power per square meter, albeit highly dependent on the sunlight's angle-of-incidence. But remember that the sun is a whopping 150 million kilometers away, and sends an equal amount of radiation in all directions; the Earth-facing direction is nothing special. Even considering sunspots, solar flares, and long-and-short term variations in solar irradiance, the sun's energy output is always constant to about one-part-in-1,000. All told, our parent star consistently outputs an estimated 4 × 1026 Watts of power; one second of the sun's emissions could power all the world's energy needs for over 700,000 years. That's a literally astronomical amount of energy, and it comes about thanks to the hugeness of the sun. With a radius of 700,000 kilometers, it would take 109 Earths, lined up from end-to-end, just to go across the diameter of the sun once. Unlike our Earth, however, the sun is made up of around 70% hydrogen by mass, and it's the individual protons — or the nuclei of hydrogen atoms — that fuse together, eventually becoming helium-4 and releasing a tremendous amount of energy. All told, for every four protons that wind up becoming helium-4, a tiny bit of mass — just 0.7% of the original amount — gets converted into energy by E=mc2, and that's where the sun's power originates. You'd be correct in thinking that fusing ~4 × 1038 protons-per-second gives off a tremendous amount of energy, but remember that nuclear fusion occurs in a huge region of the sun: about the innermost quarter (in radius) is where 99% of it is actively taking place. So there might be 4 × 1026 Watts of power put out, but that's spread out over 2.2 × 1025 cubic meters, meaning the sun's energy output per-unit-volume is just 18 W / m3. Compare this to the average human being, whose basal metabolic rate is equivalent to around 100 Watts, yet takes up just 0.06 cubic meters of space. In other words, you emit 100 times as much energy-per-unit-volume as the sun! It's only because the sun is so large and massive that its power is so great. It's this slow process, releasing huge amounts of energy per reaction over an incredibly large volume, that has powered life on our world throughout its entire history. It may not appear so impressive if you look at just a tiny region, but — at least for our sun — that huge size really adds up! Check out these “10 Need-to-Know Things About the Sun”: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Sun. Kids can learn more about an intriguing solar mystery at NASA’s Space Place: http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/sun-corona.



Space Place partner’s article April 2014

Image credit: composite of 25 images of the sun, showing solar outburst/activity over a 365 day period; NASA / Solar Dynamics Observatory / Atmospheric Imaging Assembly / S. Wiessinger; post-processing by E. Siegel. Editors download photo here: http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/review/partners/2014-04/sun_sharp.jpg