san diego astronomy association · audience is treated to the featured presentation. at the close...

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

February 2016

Next SDAA Business MeetingFebruary 9th at 7:00pm

7270 Trade StreetSan Diego, CA 92121

Next Program Meeting February 17, 2016 at 7:00pmMission Trails Regional Park

Visitor and Interpretive Center1 Father Junipero Serra Trail

CONTENTSFebruary 2016, Vol LIV, Issue 2Published Monthly by the San Diego Astronomy AssociationIncorporated in California in 1963February Program Meeting. . . . . . . . .1J a n u a r y M i n u t e s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Astronomy Research Seminar. . . . . .4O S I G. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Fe b r u a r y C a l e n d a r . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6S DA A C o n t a c t s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 0 1 6 T D S S ch e d u l e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Space Place Par tners Ar t ic le. . . . .9As t ronomy Ca r toons. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1

Newsletter DeadlineThe deadline to submit articles

for publication is the15th of each month.

February Program MeetingDate: February 17, 2016Speaker: Dr. Grant TeplyTopic: Observing gravitational waves from the beginning of the universe to the present day

Dr. Grant Teply is a postdoctoral scholar at the UCSD Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences. Specializing in observational cosmology, he earned his PhD from Caltech in 2015 for his work on the BICEP2 and Keck Array microwave telescopes, which are located at the South Pole. He continues to work on microwave tele-scopes including POLARBEAR in the Chilean Andes and its successor, the Simons Array. These telescopes observe the cosmic microwave background to study the gravitational history of the early universe.

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 7pm. 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.

OSIG is Looking Up!

http://www.sdaa.org

San Diego Astronomy Association

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San Diego Astronomy Association Board of Directors Meeting-January 12, 2016

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: Greg Farrell, Vice President; Nick Andrews, Corresponding Secretary; Ed Rumsey, Treasurer; Dave Decker, Director; Dave Wood, Director; Brian McFarland, Director; Michael Vander Vorst, Director; and SDAA member (and incoming SDAA Treasurer) Gene Burch.

2. Approval of Last Meeting Minutes

The minutes of the December meeting were approved. 3. Priority / Member Business

None. 4. Treasurer’s & Membership Report

a. The treasurer’s report was approved. b. The club is at 518 members. c. Need to budget for the 10’ X 20’ donated observatory.

5. Standard Reports

a. Site Maintenance – nothing to report. b. Observatory Report – No erosion damage to the new pad for the 10 X 20 observatory last weekend. Looked good, no run

off just compacting. c. Private Pad Report – The TDS Usage Analysis for 2015 was provided. In 2015 we leased three pads and ended the year

with 10 pads available for lease (we began the year with seven pads available for lease). A spreadsheet was provided that lists the pad usage for all current lessees. Pads with different usage requirements or use waivers are annotated. A summary of pad use for the year:

• 31 Pads met their minimum use requirement (either four uses or the prorated annual use due to a new lease starting midyear). Of these, two were grandfathered pads.

• Eight members used their pads three times. One of these has had his 2015 use limit waived and two were grandfathered pads.

• Four members used their pads two times. Of these, two were grandfathered pads and one has had his 2015 use waived.

• Two members used their pad one time (both are grandfathered pads). • 10 pads were unused this year. Of these, there is one use waiver pending and four are grandfathered pads. • One item of note is that we have 12 grandfathered (nonpaying) pads left. Of these, 10 of them were not used four

or more times last year and eight of them were used two or less. d. Program Report

• Still looking for a speaker for February. e. AISIG Report

• Ken Crawford will be this month’s presenter for the AISIG meeting; it will be a remote session. Tony Hallis and SBIG will present at future meetings.

• Need to touch bases with MTRP to make sure have the room for 2016. f. Newsletter Report – Impressive work by Andrea K as always.


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g. Website Report – Continuing to work with Jerry on the new site while maintaining the current site. I need updates for 2016, particularly any programs that have been scheduled.

h. Outreach Report • Jerry did have both of the High Tech High groups (San Marcos and Point Loma) out at TDS. Also did a star

party at San Marcos middle school before the holiday. • Sycamore Canyon is still on an alternating month basis. We had a good star party in November and the next one

will be in January. • There will be an outreach article in the February newsletter. • KQ Ranch is undecided for 2016.

i. Merchandise Report – The Merch website is fully stocked, and the 2016 calendar is up. We've sold hoodies, mugs, baseball

caps, calendars, etc. Hoodies are the most popular, followed by the calendar. Since Oct 29, members have purchased 19 items, and the club has earned $71 in commissions. (Again, CafePress costs the club nothing.) Commission payments should come as a payment to the club PayPal account every time we reach $100. Among the items received, both the Field bag and calendar came out great. The Field Bag itself seems like very good quality, and although it's just a screenprint, it's neat that it has an SDAA logo on it. The calendar is exceptional. Better than I thought. Heavy cardstock pages and clear images. We only had nine people submit photos, so I was forced to use two photos from several members. Next year it should be even better.

j. New Member Mentor Report –.No report. k. Rising Stars Report

• SDAA received some good press in Preuss School's biyearly glossy brochure that they send to their supporters. Jim Traweek and Ed Rumsey were the heroes who gave the great star show. Susi Kniel (Arnold) was also in attendance and appreciated what SDAA is doing. Our next event with Preuss is solar viewing at their science fair on January 30th, 1pm. Woody has agreed to be there with his rig. I'll post on Yahoo to get others to help.

• On my "to do" list is to take a publishable picture of the Lipp being used in outreach. j. TARO/Observatory C

• Several panels don’t fit together as advertised; bolt patterns don’t even match. Will require some drilling. • Need extra keys. • Dave W is has a lot of TARO equipment in his personal storage, at his own expense. Will move to TDS.

6. Old Business

a. Treasurer ad hoc committee – it’s going well and Gene managing the transition well. b. 2016 Banquet

• 69 tickets sold so far – need more and we need to provide the final numbers to the hotel by the 18th. • There will be six guests. • Nick received 5 donated items for the raffle so far – need to send the list to Jeff Stevens.

c. Call for any other Old Business – None. 7. New Business

Action for the February meeting – Nick to provide a tour of the SDAA Google Drive; who has access, folder/directory structure, etc., etc.

8. Adjournment – Adjourned at 8:07pm.


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TWO NEW PAPERS FROM THE ASTRONOMY RESEARCH SEMINAR

Last September, in the SDAA newsletter, we announced the fall session of the Astronomy Research Seminar, a college level course on astronomy taught as an extension of Cuesta College at Army Navy Academy and sponsored by Boyce Astro, the astronomy arm of Boyce Research Initiatives and Education Foundation (B.R.I.E.F.). Two SDAA members, Allen Priest and Bill Riley, teamed up with students from ANA to learn about techniques for imaging double stars, processing the data, and making measurements of the star positions. Combining these data with historical data from various double star databases maintained by the US Naval Observatory, these teams produced two astronomy research papers. These papers were submitted to the Journal of Double Star Observations and entered the review process in December. They are expected to be published online within the next few months with a hard copy book available in early 2017.

Additional research and papers produced by the student teams from the Fall 2014 and Spring 2015 semesters' astronomy research seminars and classes were published online in January. Click here to see them. A hard copy book from Collins Press with these papers will be available from Amazon in February.

“Using my telescope for star parties is a great way to reach out to the public and help bring understanding about the night sky, while pursuing astrophotography with my telescope is a real challenge that I find very enjoyable. However, for some time, I’ve been looking for a way to use my own equipment to participate in scientific research and contribute to the body of astronomical knowledge. This seminar course allowed me the opportunity to do just that. In the spring, I hope to learn additional techniques to be able to do more scientific research.” -Allen Priest, SDAA Member

Allen Priest, Stephen Priest, Faisal Al Zaben, Rex Qiu

Dewei Li, Junyao Li, Aren Dennis, Bill Riley


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If you want to learn more about the science of astronomy and try your hand at astronomy research, you should consider the Astronomy Research Seminar being offered again this spring in Carlsbad. Whether you take it for credit or not, the product of your work will be a published astronomical research paper with your name on it. Some of the amateurs in our small telescope research community have published dozens.

Perhaps you would be interested in teaching others using the astronomy knowledge you have acquired either formally or through many nights in the cold looking up. If so, we would like to talk to you about that as well. We are looking to expand the course offering and are looking for interested teachers or teaching assistants who would like to help mold young minds.

For more details about the seminar, go to www.boyce-astro.org/seminar. An orientation meeting is planned for February 11. If you are interested in registering for the class, becoming a teaching assistant or just have unanswered questions, please call Pat Boyce [619-227-9614] or send an email to [email protected].

OSIG is looking forward…

Those of you interested in Outreach may already know about our newest Special Interest Group, OSIG. You are members who may already participate in our public and school star parties and know how it feels to get out, look up, and share ideas and views with San Diegans. But, there are others of you who would also like to come out; others who have not yet connected, are unsure of our procedures, and are missing all the fun. OSIG is about communicating and coordinating with all SDAA members who are interested in outreach, regardless of your star party experience. So, prior to the February Program Meeting, there will be a 15 minute OSIG session to get you connected to the Outreach Cal-endar, to the Yahoo! Group email, and to introduce some new outreach materials. If you want to find out about these resources, and get connected to the OSIG program, just show up prior to the program meeting at the Mission Trails Visitors Center, on February 17, about 6:30. Don’t be shy, see you there.


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February 2016 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

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Vista Grande-El Cajon

3 Stars in the Park

4 Nye Elementary

King-Chavez Academy of Excellence

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6 TDS Member

Night

Cub Scout Pack 853

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8

New Moon

9 Curie Elementary

SDAA Business

Meeting

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Hickman

Elementary

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Stars at Mission Trails

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17 OSIG Intro

Meeting

SDAA Program Meeting

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Fuerte Elementary

19 Stars at

Sycamore Canyon

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Full Moon

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AISIG Meeting

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Wangenheim Science Night

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Alcott Elementary

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TDS Public Night

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SDAA ContactsClub Officers and Directors

President Mike Chasin [email protected] (858) 210-1454Vice President Greg Farrell [email protected] (858) 705-0065Recording Secretary Brian McFarland [email protected] (619) 462-4483Treasurer Gene Burch [email protected] (858) 926-9610 Corresponding Secretary Nick Andrews [email protected] (858) 215-0479Director Alpha Dave Decker [email protected] (619) 972-1003Director Beta Dennis Ritz [email protected] (619) 890-7480Director Gamma Michael Vander Vorst [email protected] (858) 755-5846Director 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 Jerry Hilburn [email protected] (858) 877-3103S. 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 Jerry Hilburn [email protected] (858) 877-3103K.Q. Ranch Coordinator Michael Vander Vorst [email protected] (858) 755-5846Newsletter Andrea Kuhl [email protected] (858) 547-9887New Member Mentor Dan Kiser Mentor @sdaa.org (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 Jerry Hilburn [email protected] (858) 877-3103Julian StarFest Hillary Griffith [email protected] (619) 890-5267Merchandising Rich Wilkinson [email protected] (858) 357-7404Publicity -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 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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2016 TDS SCHEDULE

DATE MOON DATA SUNSET ASTRO TWILIGHT

Feb. 6 S- 3:45p 6% 5:22p 6:46p

27 R-10:16p 80% 5:41p 7:02p PUBLIC

Mar. 5 R- 4:16a 16% 5:46p 7:08p

12 S-10:15p 17% 5:51p 7:13p PUBLIC

Apr. 2 R- 3:51a 21% 7:06p 8:31p DST

30 R- 2:28a 35% 7:26p 8:57p PUBLIC

May 7 S- 8:47p 1% 7:32p 9:04p

28 R- 1:08a 50% 7:46p 9:25p PUBLIC

Jun. 4 S- 7:31p 1% 7:50p 9:30p

25 R-11:49p 74% 7:57p 9:38p PUBLIC

Jul. 2 S- 7:17p 5% 7:57p 9:37p

9 S-11:33p 26% 7:55p 9:35p PUBLIC

30 S- 5:06p 14% 7:44p 9:17p

Aug. 27 R- 2:42a 16% 7:14p 8:20p PUBLIC

Sep. 3 S- 8:37p 4% 7:06p 8:30p

24 R- 1:39a 28% 6:37p 7:59p PUBLIC

Oct. 1 S- 7:10p 0% 6:28p 7:50p

22 R-12:28p 43% 6:03p 7:25p PUBLIC

29 S- 5:45p 1% 5:56p 7:19p

Nov. 19 R-10:17p 69% 4:41p 6:07p PUBLIC PST

26 R- 4:41a 3% 4:39p 6:06p

Dec. 17 R- 9:02p 84% 4:42p 6:10p PUBLIC


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NASA Space Place Astronomy Club Article January 2015

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!

The Loneliest Galaxy In The Universe

By Ethan Siegel

Our greatest, largest-scale surveys of the universe have given us an unprecedented view of cosmic structure extending for tens of billions of light years. With the combined effects of normal matter, dark matter, dark energy, neutrinos and radiation all affecting how matter clumps, collapses and separates over time, the great cosmic web we see is in tremendous agreement with our best theories: the Big Bang and General Relativity. Yet this understanding was only possible because of the pioneering work of Edwin Hubble, who identified a large number of galaxies outside of our own, correctly measured their distance (following the work of Vesto Slipher's work measuring their redshifts), and discovered the expanding universe. But what if the Milky Way weren't located in one of the "strands" of the great cosmic web, where galaxies are plentiful and ubiquitous in many different directions? What if, instead, we were located in one of the great "voids" separating the vast majority of galaxies? It would've taken telescopes and imaging technology far more advanced than Hubble had at his disposal to even detect a single galaxy beyond our own, much less dozens, hundreds or millions, like we have today. While the nearest galaxies to us are only a few million light years distant, there are voids so large that a galaxy located at the center of one might not see another for a hundred times that distance. While we've readily learned about our place in the universe from observing what's around us, not everyone is as fortunate. In particular, the galaxy MCG+01-02-015 has not a single known galaxy around it for a hundred million light years in all directions. Were you to draw a sphere around the Milky Way with a radius of 100 million light years, we'd find hundreds of thousands of galaxies. But not MCG+01-02-015; it's the loneliest galaxy ever discovered. Our Milky Way, like most galaxies, has been built up by mergers and accretions of many other galaxies over billions of years, having acquired stars and gas from a slew of our former neighbors. But an isolated galaxy like this one has only the matter it was born with to call its own. Edwin Hubble made his universe-changing discovery using telescope technology from 1917, yet he would have found absolutely zero other galaxies at all were we situated at MCG+01-02-015's location. The first visible galaxy wouldn't have shown up until we had 1960s-level technology, and who knows if we'd have continued looking? If we were such a lonely galaxy, would we have given up the search, and concluded that our galaxy encompassed all of existence? Or would we have continued peering deeper into the void,


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NASA Space Place Astronomy Club Article January 2015

eventually discovering our unusual location in a vast, expanding universe? For the inhabitants of the loneliest galaxy, we can only hope that they didn't give up the search, and discovered the entire universe.

Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA and N. Gorin (STScI); Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt, of the loneliest void galaxy in the known: MCG+01-02-015.


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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.