The Sidereal Times May 1999 - taas.org

Sidereal Times Sidereal Times Sidereal Times Sidereal Times Sidereal Times May1999

THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THE ALBUQUERQUE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETYP.O. BOX 50581, ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO 87181-0581

T h eT h eT h eT h eT h e

President’s Update page 2Board Meeting page 3Calendars page 4Trivia Contest page 5Observer’s Page - - - - - -Constellation TAAS page 8Star Myths - - - - - -

Ask the Experts page 8Campus Observatory page 8The Kids’ Corner page 9Chaco Canyon page 9Docent News page 11Classified Ads page 13Board Member Info page 13

Departments FeaturesMay 29 General Meeting page 2What’s Up for June page 4Oak Flat ‘99 page 4May 1 Meeting Recap page 6Enchanted Sky Star party page 6Astronomy Day ‘99 page 7ACHAYA page 9

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GNTO Hosts Mexican Engineersby Michael Pendley

Several agricultural engineers from Mexico visited Sandia National Laboratories between April26 -30 for hands-on training in photovoltaic (PV) systems technology—including PV arrays, batteries,charge controllers and inverters. The engineers work within Mexico’s Secretariat (department) ofAgriculture in an institution that provides direct technical assistance to cattle ranchers and small farm-ers. With help from Sandia, they are using PV water pumping for livestock watering.

So what does this have to dowith TAAS?

You may recall that TAAS justinstalled an off-grid PV system toprovide power to GNTO throughthe PNM Enchantment EnergyTrust program. Sandia learned ofthe facility through Energia Total,our Enchantment Energy Trust part-ner and the company that installedthe system. After a brief dialog be-tween John Strachan (Sandia), RonOrozco (Energia), Robert Ortega(GNTO Director) and I, arrange-ments were made for the engineersto visit the observatory in theevening of April 29th to inspect thePV system and use the Isengardtelescope. An internal Sandia publication stated: “. . . The highlight of the Mexican engineers’ visit will bethis evening’s tour of the photovoltaic system that provides stand-alone power at the General Nathan TwiningObservatory, the observatory operated by TAAS (The Albuquerque Astronomical Society).”

Continued on page 10

—The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society—

The Sidereal TimesThe Sidereal TimesThe Sidereal TimesThe Sidereal TimesThe Sidereal Times

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May 1999

PRESIDENT’S UPDATEPRESIDENT’S UPDATE

by David Nelson Blair

I’m the bad guy in this story.If you read the minutes of theApril 29 meeting on page 3,you’ll find out that, effectiveMay 15, TAAS’s Board of Direc-tors has raised membershipdues for the first time in manyyears. Full voting membershipin the Society will now run$30.00 a year.

You’ll also read that somebodywas arguing for $35.00. I’drather you didn’t find out whovia whispers hissed across theobserving fields of New Mexicoin the dark of the night. So I’llconfess: ’twas I. The good newsis that, in the most spiritedBoard discussion I’ve everheard, the moderates prevailed,and I don’t intend to take up thesubject again. Thirty bucks it isfor the foreseeable future.

I won’t play those pennies-a-day games and pretend $30.00isn’t real money. It is, and I ap-preciate the real support thatmembership from every one ofyou affords the society.

A new category of member-ship was also established. Ourold educator designation be-comes educator/full-time stu-dent, with annual dues of$15.00.

Meanwhile, our $3.00 familyrate (for additional members ofa voting member’s family) re-mains unchanged. Sam Lock-wood eloquently defended itagainst all attacks against fam-ily values.

He’s the good guy in thisstory.

* * *

Board member NancyDodge is assisting Mike Pend-ley with Astronomy Day publicrelations, but TAAS is still inneed of a capable volunteer tohandle public relations on a per-manent basis. Capable meansknowledgeable about local me-dia and able to write well.

Permanent means through1999, and with Astronomy Daywrapping up, duties will be rela-tively light for the rest of theyear. It’s a good time to try outthe position if it’s one you thinkyou can do with flair and maybe interested in pursuing in2000. The Society is doing in-teresting things, and the publicrelations volunteer can have apositive impact quickly. Pleasecontact me if you have an inter-est. I’ll consider any member, in-cluding a new one.

TAAS also has an open seaton the Board of Directors. Thereis no requirement to fill it thisyear, but I always welcome theopportunity to bring new bloodinto TAAS’s administration.This is an opportunity for an al-ready-active member to explorenew responsibilities and oppor-tunities with a commitment ofjust six or seven months.

If you’re interested yourself,I’d love to hear your ideas. Orfeel free to suggest a candidatefor nomination.

Starfire’sDr. Drummondto Speak in May

by David Blair

Asteroids, Comets,and Meteors

During TAAS’s recent tourof the Starfire Optical Range, Dr.Jack Drummond wowwedmembers with a fine program ofobservations from last year’s Le-onid meteor shower.

At our May 29 general meet-ing, he’ll be treating us again—this time covering many of thesmall bodies in the solar system,including prospects for the 1999Leonid show.

The address “Asteroids,Comets, and Meteors,” willbring us up to date on the stateof knowledge, which has ad-vanced substantially thanks tonew imaging technologies in the1980s and 1990s.

Dr. Drummond earned aPh.D. in Astronomy from NewMexico State in 1980. He fol-lowed with ten years at the Uni-versity of Arizona, specializingon the small bodies of the SolarSystem. Those were the bad olddays of speckle interferometry,which nonetheless advanced as-teroid research.

Since 1991, he has been atthe Starfire Optical Range onKirtland Air Force Base, usinganother high angular resolutiontechnique, adaptive optics, tofurther study asteroids.The program will begin at 7pmin Regener Hall.

—The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society—Page 3

The Sidereal TimesThe Sidereal TimesThe Sidereal TimesThe Sidereal TimesThe Sidereal TimesMay 1999

BOARD MEETINGby Sam Lockwood

The April 28, 1999 TAAS BoardMeeting was called to order at 7:08 byPresident David Blair. Attending wereRobert Williams, Sam Lockwood, Gor-don Pegue, Robert Ortega, AllanGreen, Kevin McKeown, NancyDodge, Katherine Blankenburg, CarlFrisch, and John Sefick. Observersincluded Tom Pannuti, Lisa Wood,Barry Gordon, and Jay Rowse.

Sam read the minutes from the 2/25 and 4/1 board meetings, whichwere accepted with 2 amendments.

Robert Williams read the April 29Treasurers Report

Education funds: $2389.61Observatory funds: $4547.28General funds : $1420.58Total fund: $8357.47

Committee ReportsAsset Committe: Sam reported

that several items had taken longerthan expected to compile for the inven-tory, and the report to the board wouldbe delayed until next month.

Observatory Committee: RobertOrtega reported that the previously re-quested eyepieces for GNTO had beenbought. 3 strongboxes have been builtfor $96, and are awaiting pickup. Theboxes were made by TAAS memberJim Cox, who donated the labor.

Robert has acquired and donatedapproximately $3000 of ties, posts andlumber for GNTO, but needs to rent alarge truck to get it on site. He has alsoacquired the use of a tractor, but needsto rent a trailer to get it on site.

Robert requested authority tospend GNTO funds on several items:

$ 120—The Sky Astro program$ 100—Repairs to Isengard drive$ 175—Transport donated lumber$ 150—Transport donated tractor$ 200—Upgrade GNTO PC’s$ 500—2 Truckloads of gravel$1245—Total request

After discussion, the board ap-proved spending for an amount not to

exceed $1300 from the GNTO Fund.Carl Frisch announced that the

NGC Max has new chips now, andworks great, and he has destroyed theremains of the old concrete bunkernear GNTO. Carl also announced thatTwinning Lane had been grated, andthe lit tower to the north of GNTO ap-pears to be gone.

Robert explained that according toTAAS member Cal Currier, Intel has a$5000 grant available and Cal wouldhelp us with the paperwork to applyfor this grant. Robert recommendsspending the grant on a CCD cameraand a laptop PC for use at school starparties.

TAAS Calendar

Carl has added the followingboard approved items:

1) TASS Picnic moved to July 10,2) Sevilleta Open house on Sept 11,3) Placitas Star Party on Nov. 13.

Lisa Wood asked that Tuesdays beleft open for School star parties, whichshe will have scheduled by Sept 1st.

Past Events

David noted that we have hadvery successful General Meetings, in-cluding the first of three student pre-sentations. Lisa noted that the schoolstar parties have had approx. 3000 at-tendees this year.

Future EventsGeneral Meetings: Tom Pannuti

noted that Marcus Price may be avail-able to give a lecture on cosmology ata future TAAS meeting. A student Sci-ence Fair demonstration is planned forthe June general meeting. KevinMcKeown suggested a “membersonly” meeting possibly for June, whichalthough still open to the public,would provide time for only TAASmembers to give their presentations.

Oak Flat—May 15: Robert Ortegawill have Astronomy Day fliers

printed. He also is working on ar-rangements to modify the entrancegate to Oak Flat, and give TAAS betteraccess.

Astronomy Day—May 22: RobertWilliams is having a work party on 5/8 to update the presentation boards.Nancy Dodge has made hotel arrange-ments for VIP’s from Alamogordo.Robert Williams is negotiating withRainbird to have astronomy Day T-shirts printed. The board approvedthis if they can be done without Rain-bird logos or advertising. David’s As-tronomy Day Posters are almost ready,but he requested $100 for printing,which the board approved. BillEisenhood will not be available for PR.Nancy volunteered to work with MikePendley on PR for Astronomy Day.

Old Business

Loaner Scope Eyepieces: RobertOrtega donated a 25mm Mead, AlanGreen donated a 17mm and a 12.5mmplossl, and Lisa Wood donated a 3xBarlow to the Loaner Scope program

Library Addition: Gordon Peguere-introduced a proposal to purchasea 10 tape video course entitled “Un-derstanding the Universe: An Intro-duction to Astronomy”, consisting of40, 45 minute lectures. Total cost, in-cluding making a duplicate set forlending purposes is $667.95. After dis-cussion, a proposal was made to spend$335 from the General Fund, and $335from the Education Fund to purchasethe course, which the board passed.There was also discussion on how thisexpensive coarse would be loaned out.David will meet with the library com-mittee to work out the details.

New BusinessStudent Membership: The board

passed amending the Educator Mem-bership, to include full time students.This will now be known as the Educa-

Continued on page 12



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May 1999

What’s Up For Juneby Kevin McKeown

Planetary observation picksup in June with a moderately fa-vorable evening apparition ofMercury, along with the ongoingfine apparitions of Venus andMars. Jupiter and Saturn are nowvisible just before dawn. Also,Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto canbe observed this month—why nottry for all eight planets in onenight around mid month? For thefirst ten days of June, Mars isnearly stationary at a point closeto the star Spica, and the moonand Venus have a fine close con-

junction on June 16th.On the June 21st solstice, the sun

rises farthest north of due east, andsets farthest north of due west, sothis is your chance to plot these twoimportant points on a calendarwheel!

Lastly, the June Lyrids are ac-tive for a day or two around themorning of the 16th. This weakmeteor shower always seems toproduce at least two or three bright,blue meteors in the course of anight. Also, despite the full moon,I recommend a vigil for the JuneBootids/Draconids be maintainedon the evenings of June 26-27. Willthis mysterious shower reoccuragain this year?

• FullMoon 3:37 pm

• Mercury @ Eelongation

• Latest sunset

June 1999

1 2 3 4 5

• GeneralMeeting, 7 pm,Regener Hall

• Messier born1730

• UNM?(call to confirm)

• Venus @ Eelongation

• Oak Flat

06/01/99 5:54/20:1506/15/99 5:52/20:2206/30/99 5:55/20:25

• GNTO• Chaco Canyon• Moon at perigee,

56.2 earth-radii@ 7 pm

• Saturn 3° fromMoon

• Venus is “halffull” as seenfrom Earth

• Board Mtg.(7pm @PandAbuilding)

Mercury 07:22 Uranus 23:32Venus 09:20 Neptune 22:48Mars 15:31 Pluto 18:32Jupiter 02:49Saturn 03:35 (All times MDT)

Planet Rise (6/15/1999)


• Moon at apogee,63.6 earth-radii@ 9 am

• UNM?(call toconfirm)

• Regulus 1°from Moon


• Uranus 0.5°from moon

• Jupiter 4° fromMoon

• GNTO Mtg.

• Firstquarter 12:11 pm

• Father’s Day

• Mars 6° fromMoon

• NewMoon 1:03 pm.

• Equation oftime = 0 @ 12noon

• Neptune 0.7°from moon

• Mars stationaryin RA

• Last quarter10:20 pm

Elephant Butte

• Venus 2° fromMoon

• Summer Solstice1:49 pm

• Sun entersGemini

• Neptune 0.6°from Moon

• Mercury 4°from Moon

• Earliest sunrise

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16 17 18 19

20 21 22 23 24 25 26

27 28 29 30

Sunrise/Sunset(MDT, upper limb on horizon)

SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT

Oak Flat 99by Carl Frisch

This year TAAS will be do-ing only four star parties at OakFlat picnic ground. They will beon May 15, June 19, July 17, andAug 14. (The TAAS annual pic-nic will be held at GNTO thisyear by popular demand.) Butdon’t let that stop you from at-tending some of the best gettogethers of the summer. Thepicnic grounds will be open sev-eral hours before sunset forthose who would like to picnicor just set up early. If you’re newto the society or to observing this



NOTES:TAAS=The AlbuquerqueAstronomical Society

GNTO=General NathanTwining Observatory. CallGordon Pegue @ 332-2591 toconfirm.

UNM=University of NewMexico Observatory. Call theTAAS hotline @296-0549, orthe UNM hotline @ 277-1446to confirm.

ATM=Amateur TelescopeMaking. Call Michael Pendleyfor information @ 296-0549.

PandA=UNM Physics andAstronomy. Corner of Lomasand Yale.

• FullMoon 5:25 am.

July 1999

1 2 3

• GeneralMeeting, 7 pm,Regener Hall


• Oak Flat

07/01 5:56/20:2507/15 6:04/20:2107/31 6:15/20:11

• TAAS Picnic atGNTO

• Aldebaran 0.8°from Moon

• Saturn 3° fromMoon

• Board Mtg.(7pm @ PandAbuilding)

Mercury 07:30/21:00 Uranus 21:30/08:00Venus 09:15/22:15 Neptune 20:45/07:00Mars 14:15/01:00 Pluto 16:30/03:30Jupiter 01:00/14:15Saturn 01:45/15:15 (Approximate MDT times)

Planet Rise / Set (7/15/1999)


• Moon at apogee,63.5 earth-radii@ 12:01 am



• Jupiter 4° fromMoon

• GNTO Mtg.• Regulus 1.1°

from Moon• Venus 3° from

Moon

• Firstquarter 2:59 am

• Mars 7° fromMoon

• Sun enters Cancer

• Mercurystationary

• Moon atperigee, 56.7earth-radii @midnight

• Uranus 0.4°from Moon

• Last quarter5:57 am

• Earth at aphelion@ 2pm

• Mercury 3°from Moon

• Venus @greatestbrilliancy

• Neptune @opposition

• Jupiter at Wquadrature

• Mercury @inferior conj.

• Venus 1.5°from Regulus

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Sunrise/Sunset

SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT

• IndependenceDay

• New Moon10:24 pm.

• Juno stationary • Venusstationary

• Uranus 0.5°from Moon

• Delta AquaridMeteor Shower

is an excellent opportunity to getto know folks and see some nicescopes.

Co-sponsored by the SandiaForest District and the friends ofTijeras pueblo, this marks at leastthe sixth year of TAAS star par-ties at Oak Flat. To get there, takeI-40 about 10 miles east of Albu-querque to the Tijeras exit. Gosouth on Hy 337 (old S-14) forabout 8 miles and watch for theOak Flat sign. Turn left for abouta mile gets you to the entrance.Park in the Juniper Loop. If youhave any questions feel free tocall the Forest Service office at281-3304.

May TriviaContest

Each month, TAAS holds a triviacontest at its general meeting. Thismonth’s winner was Tara Ransom.Tara was awarded an “antique” as-tronomy book as a prize for answer-ing the following question correctly:

Several decades ago, this astrono-mer studied the motions of Barnard’sStar and concluded a planet 1.5 timesas massive as Jupiter orbited the starevery 24 years. Who was he? (answeron page 9)

a) E. E. Barnardb) S. W. Burnhamc) G. van Biesbroeckd) P. van de Kamp

(MDT)

• Marsbecomes > 1aufrom Earth



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May 1999

The Enchanted SkiesStar Party

October 7 - 10, 1999

A Weekend of AstronomicalExcitement and Old West Charm

From archaeoastronomy togamma-ray bursts, and from chuck-wagon beans to Earth-orbiting tacosauce, the 1999 Enchanted Skies StarParty in Socorro, New Mexico, willcombine astronomical excitement withdown-home, Southwestern hospitality.Set for October 7 - 10, the event in-cludes outstanding observing, enlight-ening tours, and lively lectures on top-

TAAS Dared toDiscover a Planet

on May 1by David Blair

The speaker at our May 1 generalmeeting surprised the Society with achallenge both startling and inspiring.He dared us to discover a planet be-yond our solar system.

Yeah, right.But UNM Professor Neb Duric

made a very convincing case:Astronomers have been surprised

to find that many of the planets dis-covered to date around other stars, alarge proportion have been very largeand very close to their primaries. Thusan effort to detect more such planetsmight be very fruitful.

Such a planet—I’m tempted to callit a STOJ, a super tight-orbit Jupiter—has two intriguing qualities. Firstly, it’smore likely to transit its star fromEarth’s perspective than a far-rangingplanet. Secondly, it’s large enough thatits transit could measurably dim thestarlight.

Measurably?Yes, argued Dr. Duric, perhaps by

1 percent or more. And if the parentstar is, say, magnitude 12, then TAAS’s16-inch Isengard fitted with a CCDcamera—perhaps even some of oursmaller personal scopes—could detectthe 1 percent dip. Exciting!

Of course there’s a catch.If successful STOJ stalking were

easy, Dr. Duric might have skipped thejawboning session with TAAS that Sat-urday night and rushed to a telescopehimself.

Trouble is, he explained, manythousands of observations will likelybe necessary to catch a transit. Andthat’s where Society astronomers havethe advantage over professionals—alarge, organized group has the capac-ity to conduct a serious vigil.

Stress organized.Organization is really the chal-

lenge here. Acceptable instrumenta-tion is all but in our hands already.Technique, software, and analysis areareas Dr. Duric expressed a willingness

to help us with.Data collecting—that is, making the

observations—is up to us, and the keyto success is involving enough indi-viduals to share the burden of a longvigil. (My pledge to volunteers has al-ways been that I’ll graciously acceptthe limits they set for participation.)

If the discovery of planets is notincentive enough, a strong, daringmission for the Isengard might gener-ate the interest and funding for a re-search-grade mount—not to mentionother improvements for GeneralNathan Twining Observatory.

Many who heard the talk (and sev-eral who didn’t) are already brain-storming. My e-mail and phone are inthe back if anyone else would like tojoin the dialogue.

Multi-Planet SystemDiscovered

Dave Finley forwarded the followingNSF Press Release to me. —ed

* * * * * *Astronomy Teams Find First

Multi-Planet System, Other ThanOur Own, Orbiting Star

The first believed multiple planetsystem orbiting around a sun-like starhas been found by independent teamsof astronomers, including National Sci-ence Foundation (NSF)-supported re-searchers from San Francisco StateUniversity and from the Anglo-Austra-lian Observatory.

In 1996 San Francisco State’sGeoffrey Marcy and R. Paul Butler ofthe Anglo-Australian Observatory de-tected a near Jupiter-sized planet or-biting the star Upsilon Andromedae.

Recently, the scientists, after ana-lyzing 11 years of telescopic observa-tions at Lick Observatory near SanJose, Calif., picked up signals of whatappears to be two additional planetswithin the same system based onnewly gathered data. The new dataindicates there are at least a trio of plan-ets orbiting this star, making the Upsi-lon Andromedae grouping the firstsolar system ever found that mimics

our own.These newly discovered planets

are more distant from its star than theone discovered three years earlier. Themiddle planet is estimated at twice thesize of Jupiter, and the outermostplanet, four times Jupiter’s mass. Bothorbit its star in elliptical patterns, as inpreviously known discoveries ofextrasolar planets.

Meanwhile, a second team of as-tronomers from the HarvardSmithsonian Center for Astrophysics(CfA) in Cambridge, Mass., and fromthe NSF-supported High Altitude Ob-servatory (HAO) in Boulder, Colo.found independent evidence of thetwo new planets using theSmithsonian’s Whipple Observatorynear Tuscon, Ariz.

Butler is the lead author of a pa-per that describes the trio of planets forthe Astrophysical Journal. Contribut-ing colleagues include Marcy, DebraFischer of San Francisco State, RobertNoyes, Sylvain Korzennik, PeterNisenson and Adam Contos, all of theCfA, and Timothy Brown of HAO.

“These planets are giants,” JamesP. Wright, who heads special programsin astronomy for NSF’s Division ofAstronomical Sciences, said. “It’s im-pressive that these results have beenindependently corroborated by theseteams.”

For images, see: http://w w w. p h y s i c s . s f s u . e d u / ~ /planetsearch/upsand.html



ics ranging from beginning astronomyto the frontiers of current astrophys-ics.

The Sixth Annual Enchanted SkiesStar Party will start with a behind-the-scenes tour of the National ScienceFoundation’s Very Large Array radiotelescope, made famous in the 1997movie “Contact,” and a series of talksaimed at beginning amateur astrono-mers. This year’s keynote speaker,former Space Shuttle Commander SidGutierrez, will tell about life in orbit,while other speakers will cover topicsas basic as identifying constellationsand as new as optical detection ofgamma-ray bursts and studies of su-pernova remnants.

Participants will enjoy our legend-ary Saturday-night chuck-wagon din-ner, Indian dancers and campfire cof-fee at the dark-dark-sky observing site,where Socorro County’s Pound Fam-ily hosts us on their ranch, southwestof town. You can drive the dirt road tothe ranch or take one of our shuttles tothe ranch and then back to town.Whatever way you get there, youwon’t want to miss the authentic pit-cooked barbeque with all the trim-mings.

After dinner, a twilight talk onSouthwestern astronomy as it wasknown a thousand years ago will putyou in the mood for taking advantageof our high-elevation, velvet-blackskies for a night of outstanding observ-ing.

Astronomical vendors will be onhand to show you everything frombinoculars and books to observatorydomes. There will be door prizesaplenty, and friendly competitions forattractive prizes.

Check out our Web site, write,send email or phone now to find outmore about the premier astronomicalevent of the Fall — the Enchanted SkiesStar Party. Oh, about that taco sauce— you’ll have to come hear our key-note speaker.

For more information:The Enchanted Skies Star Party

P.O. Box 743 Socorro, NM 87801 (505)835-0424 [email protected],www.socorro-nm.com/starparty.html

State of New Mexico Executive OfficeSanta Fe, New Mexico

Proclamation

WHEREAS, Astronomy is one of the oldest and most inspiring of the sciencesand has been part of New Mexico’s history and culture since ancient times; and

WHEREAS, With its prestigious observatories, universities and laboratories,New Mexico is internationally renowned as a center of professional astronomi-cal research; and

WHEREAS, New Mexico’s clear, dark skies encourage the pursuit of astronomyas an educational hobby and bring amateur astronomers from around the worldas visitors; and

WHEREAS, Astronomy represents an important part of New Mexico’s high-technology economy and a valuable resource for science education throughoutour state; and

WHEREAS, New Mexico’s astronomical community, both amateur and profes-sional, will dedicate the 22nd of May, 1999, to providing numerous programsacross the state bringing the excitement of astronomical discoveries to NewMexico citizens;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Gary E. Johnson, Governor of the State of New Mexico,do hereby proclaim the 22nd Day of May, 1999 as

“Astronomy Day”

throughout the State of New Mexico.

Attest: Done at the Executive Office this10th Day of May, 1999.

Rebecca Vigil-Giron Witness my hand and the GreatSecretary of State Seal of the State of New Mexico

Gary E. JohnsonGovernor

Astronomy Day Updateby Michael Pendley

Astronomy Day, which is on May 22 this year, couldn’t have fallen on aworse day with respect to the newsletter publishing schedule. Most TAASmembers will receive the May issue of The Sidereal Times on Friday May 21 orSaturday May 22—hardly time to make plans if this is the first you have heardof the event. As we announced last month, this year’s Astronomy Day eventwill be held at Coronado Mall all day on Saturday May 22. Look for a completerecap with photos next month.

This year TAAS member and past TAAS President Dave Finley workedwith Santa Fe to have the following proclamation issued. Way to go Dave!



Page 8

May 1999

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Constellation

TAASby David Blair

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To keep TAAS members up to date onwhat is happening with OUR Stars.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

★★★★★

★★★★★

Beth Fernandez, who gave a goodshort program at our May 1 generalmeeting, is racking up more honors—this time at the State Science Fair.Here’s the list of her accomplishmentsthere.

• First place, Earth Science & Spacecategory.

• First place, National RadioObservatory award.

• First place, New Mexico Net-work for Women in Science &Engineering.

• Book scholarship, New MexicoTech.

• Alternate Grand Award winner,Physical Sciences.

That last honor will entitle her toa trip to the International Science Fairin Philadelphia as an alternate. Con-gratulations, Beth.

Beth will enter her freshman yearat New Mexico Tech this fall and tellsme she’ll be remaining active in TAAS.

New MembersPlease give a warm TAAS wel-

come to our newest members:

Lisa BearlyLewis O. Campbell

Rosie CambellTerry Dunbar

Jeffrey S. GoldmeerDeborah M. O’Laughlin

I encourage all members to makenew members welcome wherever theyappear, general meetings, campusnights, and other activities.

Random Acts of KindnessThanks to Jim Cox for donating his

labor to make three excellent strong-boxes for General Nathan TwiningObservatory.

Thanks to Bill Tondreau for sup-plying replacement motors for theIsengard telescope.

Thanks to Robert Ortega for dona-tions of lumber that will be used tomark roads and parking areas aroundthe observatory.

Thanks to Allan Green for donat-ing five excellent eyepieces to the tele-scope loaner program.

Thanks to the individuals and or-ganizations that have made cash do-nations so far this year:

Grant Middle School PTARobert RosenburgKenneth D. LuedekeS.Y. Jackson Elem.SchoolUnited Way of Central NMJames MooreJeff BenderPete EichmanDan RicheyErnie VillescasMike PendleyJoe HarrisHoward B. AustinPaul W. KandelMonty WoodsCarl FrischMarie Hughes Elem. PTA

A very special thanks to the fam-ily of S. Brett Coningham, who listedThe Albuquerque Astronomical Soci-ety as one of two organizations for me-morial donations. Mr. Coninghampassed away April 28. On behalf ofTAAS, may the love of family and thesupport of friends sustain you.

Which Staris the Brightest?

There are two ways to interpret thisquestion: (1) Which star appears to bethe brightest and (2) Which star is ac-tually the brightest. This month’s Askthe Experts will focus on the first in-terpretation of the question.

Other than the sun, the brighteststar that we can see is Sirius. Sirius is8.7 light years distant, has an appar-ent magnitude of -1.46, and is brilliantwhite in color.

When comparing brightness ofstars in this manner, we are evaluat-ing stars by their observed or relativebrightness rather than absolute bright-ness. Absolute brightness is the intrin-sic (actual) luminosity where the dis-tance of stars is normalized at 10 par-secs (32.6 light years). Other stars fusemuch hotter and brighter than Sirius,however, Sirius appears much brighterbecause of its relatively close distance.

If Sirius were where our sun is, theearth would be too hot to support life.The star Proxima Centauri of the Al-pha Centauri star group is the closeststar to us at a distance of just more than4 light years yet is a much smaller,lower temperature and lower lumi-nous star than Sirius. Sirius is locatedin the constellation Canus Major—justto the east and a shade south of theconstellation Orion.

References:

Pasachoff, Jay M. (Editor), A Field Guideto the Stars and Planets, 2nd Edition,Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston,MA 1983.

Ridpath, Ian, Universe Guide to Starsand Planets, Universe Books, New York,1985.

Ask the ExpertsAsk the ExpertsAsk the ExpertsAsk the ExpertsAsk the Experts

by Bruce Levin

UNM CampusObservatory

Friday night weather has been ab-solutely miserable. UNM was cloudedout from March 26 - April 29. Theclouds cleared on May 7 allowing ap-proximately 30 visitors to observe anassortment of celestial objects. Atten-dance was up a bit (~40) on May 14.

May docents were Jay Harden,Brock Parker, Robert Ortega, KatherineBlankenburg, Jeff Bender, and DeeFriesen.



The Kids’ Corner

by Barry Wood

Chaco CanyonUpdateby John Sefick

TASS and Chacogo to Washington

On April 21, 1999, G.B. Cornu-copia and I attended a special din-ner at the White House Visitor Cen-ter. The occasion was the presenta-tion of awards for partnerships be-tween the National Park Serviceand organizations that have madesignificant contributions to thePark Service. The Secretary of theInterior and a host of corporatesponsors all thanked the individu-als representing partnerships fortheir hard work and unselfish con-tributions to national parks acrossthe country. These partnershipsranged from schools who traintroubled teenagers to work in thenational parks to our project whichis a cooperative effort betweenTAAS and Chaco to establish anobservatory.

In talking to the President of theCoca-Cola Foundation he thoughtthe establishing of an observatoryon an old archeoastronomy sitewas quite a creative idea. G.B. hascontacted the Coca-Cola Founda-tion and presented a proposal tofund scholarships for Navajo stu-dents who attend a technical col-lege near Crown Point. CrownPoint is a small community locatedabout an hour from the observa-tory. The school is very interestedin this funding. The studentswould contribute time at the obser-vatory either teaching or doing re-search projects for the scholarships.Both G.B. and I believe involve-ment of Native-American studentsin our program will assure futurestaffing at the observatory and pro-vide much needed financial re-sources for needy students.

Sleepover at GNTO

Last night I slept over night at the observatory. Therewere lots of people there. It was a warm night and thestars were very pretty. My mom and I went into the bigdome and looked through the Isengard telescope. The lad-der to get up to look was jiggly. I had to rotate the domeby pulling on a hand crank. I saw Mars. It was very red.Later I looked through Jeff Bender's telescope and lookedat a globular cluster. It looked like all the stars were gluedtogether. When I went to bed in the truck I could see theLittle Dipper hanging in the sky through the window.Camping at the GNTO was fun!

Asociacion Chilena deAstronomia y Astronautica - ACHAYATAAS members Alejandra

Valderrama and Gordon Pegue areworking to develop a relationshipbetween TAAS and the ChilieanAstronomical Society—AsociacionChilena de Astronomia yAstronautica (ACHAYA). Gordonrecently e-mailed me their web siteaddress along with a “two thumbsup” rating by Alejandra.

Their (Spanish only) web site,located at http://www.achaya.cl/and maintained by Ricardo Serpell,is very attractive and contains in-formation about ACHAYA, localamateur telescope making activi-ties, astro photos by ACHAYAmembers, and more.

Trivia Contest Answerd) P. van de Kamp



Page 10

May 1999

Continued from page 1

GNTO - Engineers

The engineers and representa-tives from Sandia, UNM, and En-ergia arrived at GNTO at 6:30. Theskies were clear but there was astrong wind from the south. Afterthe visitors inspected the PV sys-tem and learned about the historyand future plans of GNTO wecircled the cars (to form a wind-break) and ate a picnic dinner whilewatching a beautiful sunset.

As mentioned above, we hopedthat the visitors would be able toobserve through the Isengard tele-scope after sunset but the strongwinds made this difficult. Wecracked the slit just a little andpointed the dome north (awayfrom the wind) and observed thelow northern sky—the worst partof the sky from GNTO. Outside Icould hear one of the engineersplaying guitar and singing Mexi-can folk songs. After an hour, thewind showed no sign of letting upso we all packed up and headedhome.

The night was quite successfuldespite the wind. The engineershad the chance to see a practical useof PV technology, many of the visi-tors looked through a telescope forthe first time, and I believe wegained a new member.

Above: Two of the visitors using theIsengard Telescope.

Right: Ron Orozco (right of center)discusses the GNTO PV system.

photos by Mike Pendley



DOCENT NEWSby Lisa Wood

Real Live AstronomersVisit Local Schools!

I wish members of our Societycould hear all the wonderful com-ments I hear about the star parties webring to local schools. Years ago, asschool teacher, our school often en-countered various non-profit groupswishing to give the school a “hand” inthe educational process. This wouldusually result in a 10 page packet ofword finds, crossword puzzles anddata sheets relating to dental care, petcare, Earth Day, or whatever. Afteryears of being inundated with thiskind of “help”, I began to wonder whywe couldn’t have some real actualPEOPLE show up and share some-thing of their passion with us. Wherewere all the dentists, vets, and environ-mentalists? Informational packetswere certainly better than nothing, butalso required the teacher to instantlyacquire an expertise that wasn’t pos-sible.

TAAS is different. Our Society, foryears before I joined up, has beenbringing equipment and knowledge toschool children in a way no othergroup in the state does. Our star par-ties now consist of four areas sure tokeep people busy on even the cloudi-est of nights. These activities are: Star-lab, Slide Shows, Outdoor TelescopeViewing, Science Demonstrations. Ichallenge anyone to show me a pro-gram run by a non-profit organizationthat compares with ours!

Here are some exerts from letterssent to us from students from Queenof Heaven, where we recently stageda star party. I especially hope the do-cents will read these; they have givenso much to New Mexico kids this year!

Hello. My name is Jennifer S. andI am an eighth grader at Queen ofHeaven School. I would like to saythank you for coming to my school. Iloved looking through the telescopes.I remember long ago when my dad

was still alive, my dad and I used tolook at the stars. He would show meall kinds of constellations, and once,we saw a shooting star and made awish together. I would like to thankyou because looking through that tele-scope brought back the good memo-ries of my dad.

Thank you for coming to ourschool. The Starlab was amazing. Ididn’t know how to use one of the tele-scopes, and one of your members wasreally kind and helpful in helping meto use one. —Josephine K.

I think I liked the demonstrationsthe best. I was really amazed with thegas colors when electrified. That wasgreat. —Catarine F.

The telescopes were the best. I re-ally felt close to my galaxy and whatwas happening up there. —StephanieR.

Those telescopes were the biggesttelescopes I have ever seen in my en-tire life. That was the first time I haveseen the moon like that... —John L.

The slide show had lots of infor-mation. It had some great pictures. —John P.

My favorite thing which I attendedwas the demonstration of the buildingof a comet. This taught me what com-ets are formed out of and the looks ofthe comet. —Marisela V.

I learned from the slide show howmany other planets there may bewithin our own galaxy. It was veryinteresting to learn about how Saturnhas rings that are the sizes of pebblesto cars, and that Saturn will probablylose its rings because they will eitherbe drawn to the planet surface or away.— Emily S.

I loved the whole entire StarLab.It was a great experience for me andmy classmates. The whole thing waswondrous. —Brian M.

I really liked the telescopes. I

thought that the telescopes brought awhole new imagination to my mind.—Jeanna C.

That’s the closest I’ve been to themoon! —Marc M.

Three cheers for TAAS Docents!

A TAAS “First”Have you ever noticed how all the

events we run are terrific, stupendous,and really grand? Well, just to addsome balance to the picture, I actuallyhosted a school star party that didn’tgo—well . . . didn’t go well. To ourcredit, it’s the first really skunky onewe’ve had all year. Here’s what hap-pened: sprinklers were not turned off,so that one docent with a very fine re-fractor was forced to leave, anotherhad to relocate. A gate that was sup-posed to be unlocked was not, so onedocent (see relocater above) had tocarry a rather large scope some dis-tance to set up. (In the friendly spiritof typical TAAS docent, he said it wasOK—it just demonstrated how excep-tionally portable and alignable hisscope was). I gave so few comet dem-onstrations that I had enough left overdry ice to form another Oort cloud, andthe worst part was that I think theschool forgot to mention the event tothe students, so attendance was quitelow. Ah well . . . which school was it?The docents can tell you. It begins withthe letter “A”.

A Moon Pie PartyOn a happier note, our last star

party was at Algodones (5/12). Thingscame together fine and we had a won-derful time under very dark skies.Since this was the last school of thisschool season, we all celebrate with aRousing Round of Moon Pies in honorof that which has been our favorite tar-get this year!

Curious CommentsI was asked just today (by an

adult) if the Summer Triangle and theBermuda Triangle have ever been inalignment. Needless to say, this onehad me stumped!



Page 12

May 1999

Free Telescope OfferWhat’s that? Did you say Free? That’s right FREE!

Any TAAS member can use this coupon to borrow a TAAStelescope. Call Dee Friesen at 856-1593 or Jason Vargas at 899-9755

and receive a loaner telescope absolutely free. You can choose from scopeswith apertures ranging from 6” to 13”. Call soon because they’ll be going fast!

Some restrictions apply. Offer valid for current TAAS members.Offer is first come first served. Late comers will be put on a waiting list.

Neither TAAS nor the telescope curators will be held liable for any lost sleep or otherproblems arising from the use of TAAS scopes. Borrowers are required to enjoy the telescopes.

★★★★★

★★★★★

★★★★★

To the members of TAAS,

I would like to thank all of TheAlbuquerque Astronomical Society forawarding me with the First Place sci-ence fair award in the senior divisionfor my project “Active Galaxies in thePerseus Supercluster.” I have trulyenjoyed my membership in the societyfor the last three years. I have been ableto expand my horizons in astronomyby so much. I want to thank everyonewho has helped me along in this mea-sure.

As a senior in high school, this wasmy last science fair, however I will becontinuing my pursuit of the sciencesat New Mexico Tech by majoring inphysics/astrophysics. My experiencesin the science fairs and at The Albu-querque Astronomical Society has en-couraged me in this endeavor. Thanksfor all you have done and thank youfor supporting me and the other stu-dents who have participated in sciencefairs.

I also want to thank TAAS and es-pecially Dee Friesen for the telescopeloaner program. It enabled me to bor-row a telescope to do the observationsI needed to help me to win the NationalYoung Astronomer Award. Because ofthat, I now have my very own tele-scope!

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Fernandez

LETTERSContinued from page 3

Board

tor/ Student Membership.Dues Increase: Robert Williams

explained that each $12 annual Edu-cator (/Student) Membership actuallycosts the society about $15 in news-letter costs. Furthermore with a $20annual Full Membership, $5 goes tothe GNTO fund and the remaining $15is spent on newsletter costs, leavingnothing for the treasury. The addi-tional family member dues of $3 isused entirely by the treasury. A pro-posal was made to raise the dues.

There was lengthy discussion onthe new amounts. New full memberdues proposals ranged from $25 - $35.$25 was considered too low, becauseit would have to be raised againwithin 6 months, as newsletter andgeneral expenses increased. It wasthought that $35 might cause TAAS tolose members. A consensus of $30eventually carried.

There was lengthy and sometimesemotional discussion on raising theadditional family member rate from$3 to $5.

Finally, the board passed new an-nual dues of: Full Membership: $30,Educator/Student: $15, AdditionalFamily Member: $3

The new dues will be in effect onMay 15, 1999

Starlab Insurance: Robert Will-iams explained that should the newStarlab be damaged or destroyed in a

car or home accident, we would not becovered under his home/auto insur-ance. He suggested that we look into a“floater’ insurance policy to ensure ad-equate coverage. His initial estimateshave been “well under $250” per year,and he will have more firm figuressoon.

ATM SIG: David distributed aproposal from Mike Pendley to forman Amateur Telescope Makers SpecialInterest Group within TAAS. Theboard tabled the proposal until every-one could read Mike’s material, and hecould explain the idea to the board inperson.

Educator Docent Recognition:Lisa Wood asked for authority to spend$100 from the Educators Fund to rec-ognize the Docents that had helped outat this year’s school parties. The boardpassed the request unanimously.

Misc.: Carl asked for donations of3.5” floppies and Zip disks for use atGNTO.

Newsletter Assignments weremade, and the meeting adjourned at9:26pm

These minutes will not be official un-til the BOD makes any needed correctionsand accepts them on May 27—ed.

Robert Williams works on the TAASdisplay for Astronomy Day while StevePendley looks on. Photo by Mike Pendley



TAAS Hot Line Phone Number is 296-0549

NEW MEXICO ASTRONOMICALNEW MEXICO ASTRONOMICALCELESTRON • MEADE • TELEVUE

PARKS OPTICAL • UNITRON • HOME DOMETelescopes • Eyepieces • Mounts • Accessories

Observatory FabricationOn-Site Observatory • Regular Star Parties

Come to the Country Telescope Store and TestEquipment Under Dark Skies!

834 N. Gabaldon Rd.Belen, NM 87002(505) 864-2953

Mark A. NagrodskyOwner

Hours: by appointment and ...Wednesday : 7-930 pmFriday : 7-930 pmSaturday: 12-430 pm

CLASSIFIED ADS

For Sale: Meade 8” LX-50, equa-torial mount, metal tripod, Meade off-axis guider, focal length reducer, cam-era adapter, illuminated reticle,counter weights, 25mm eyepiece,barlow, and right angle adapter. Oneyear old but only used a few times.Make offer. Mike Smiel, 505-293-2117.

For Sale: Tripod and ATM stuff.New, never used, tripod from a 4.5 inchCelestron telescope. New 8” f/5 mir-ror. Miscellaneous new parts to builda telescope including tube, mirror cell,focuser, and more. Make offer. CallHelen Moncure at 505-856-7129 afterMay 27th.

For Sale: Digital setting circles.Losmandy (Sky Commander) digitalsetting circle (DSC) computer. It has a9000+ object database with NGC, IC,and Messier catalogues, planets andup to 59 of your favorites. It has a back-

lit LCD screen which is heated. Runsoff a 12V power supply and is compat-ible with most encoders systems (asfrom JMI etc., 4000 to 32000+ resolu-tion). Has RS 232 serial port output.Includes computer, manuals, andcables. Price: $300.00 OBO. ContactDan Richey at [email protected]

Glass Wanted: Having wet my ap-petite on a 10" Dob, I am now lookingfor glass to build my next Telescopemirror. So dust of those shelf's andgimme a call. Sammy Lockwood, (505)275-0258, [email protected]

Archivist Jaclyn Fuller Lane 296-4980 (H)Telescope Curator Dee Friesen 856-1593 (H) [email protected] Curator Jason Vargas 452-9098 (H) [email protected] Liaison, Librarian Lisa Wood 344-8308 (H) [email protected] Master, Newsletter Editor Michael Pendley 296-0549 (H) [email protected]

President David Nelson Blair 296-9632 (H) [email protected] President George S. Pellegrino 821-8516 (H) [email protected] Sam Lockwood 275-0258 (H) [email protected], Database Manager, and Starlab Chair Robert Williams 323-0172 (H) [email protected] Katherine Blankenburg 224-3384 (W) [email protected] Nancy Dodge 275-0007 (H) [email protected], Event Coordinator Carl FrischDirector Allan Green 281-6651 (H) [email protected] Bruce Levin 299-0891 (H)Director Kevin McKeown 254-9117 (H) [email protected], Observatory Director Robert Ortega 891-7847 (H) [email protected] Gordon Pegue 332-2591 (H) [email protected] John Sefick [email protected] or

[email protected]

—SOCIETY STAFF—Board of Directors Phone E-mail Address

Non-Board Members

Ask about the TAASmember discount

1.25” Eyepiece Wanted: I am newto astronomy and just received a usedtelescope from my brother—less eye-pieces. I am looking for used goodquality 1.25 inch eyepieces in the12mm-20mm range. Give me a call ifyou have extras you would like to sell.Barry King, 505-836-6044,[email protected]

For Sale: Realistic time andweather dual receiver. Audibletime hacks every second or latestweather forecast. Powered by stan-dard 9-volt battery. $25. Richard Rast,505-821-6759, [email protected].

MEMBERSHIP: You may request a member-ship application by calling the Hotline or bysending e-mail to the Database Manager (seeprevious page). Applications may also bedownloaded from the Web site. Annual duesto The Albuquerque Astronomical Society are$30/year for a full membership and $15/yearfor an educator or full time student member-ship. Additional family members may join for$3/each (educator, student, and family mem-berships are not eligible to vote on society mat-ters). New member information packets areavailable for $3.50 (free copies are available fromthe Web site). You may send your dues by mailto our newsletter return address with yourcheck written out to The Albuquerque Astro-nomical Society or give your check to the Trea-surer (see previous page ) at the next meeting.

MAGAZINES: Discount magazine subscrip-tions to Sky and Telescope ($29.95/12 issues) andAstronomy ($29/12 issues) as well as discountson books from Sky Publishing Corporation areavailable when purchased by TAAS membersthrough our society. Include any of the abovemagazine renewal mailers and subscriptionpayments as part of your renewal check (We rec-ommend you renew 1-2 months early to ensureuninterrupted magazine subscriptions.).

NEWSLETTER ARTICLES/ADVERTISE-MENTS: Articles, personal astronomical clas-sified advertisements and business card size ad-vertisements for businesses related to as-tronomy must be submitted by the deadlineshown on the Society calendar (generally theSaturday near the new Moon) Rates for busi-ness card size ads are $10/ad/issue or $7/ad/issue for 6 consecutive issues or $5/ad/issue

for 12 consecutive issues. The newsletter edi-tor reserves the right to include and/or edit anyarticle or advertisement. E-mail attachmentsin Microsoft Word, 10 point Palatino, justified,.25 inch indent at paragraph beginning, nospaces between paragraphs is preferred. ASCIIand RTF are acceptable. One column is approxi-mately 350 words. Contact the Newsletter Edi-tor (see previous page ) for more information.

CHANGE OF ADDRESS: Note that The Si-The Si-The Si-The Si-The Si-dereal Timesdereal Timesdereal Timesdereal Timesdereal Times is mailed at a nonprofit organiza-tion bulk mail rate. As a result, the newsletterwill NOT be forwarded to your new addressshould you move!! Please provide the DatabaseManager with your new mailing address to en-sure that you receive your newsletter.

NONPROFIT ORG.U.S. POSTAGE

PAIDALBUQUERQUE, NM

PERMIT NO. 352

The Albuquerque Astronomical Society

P. O. Box 50581Albuquerque, NM 87181-0581

Address Service Requested

Map to Regener Hall(not to scale)

MLK Dr.

Central

Yal

e

Uni

vers

ity

RegenerHall

Par

king

PopejoyHall

TAAS LIBRARY: Please contact the Librarian(Lisa Wood) to check out a book or make a con-tribution.

TAAS on the World Wide Web:

http://www.taas.orghttp://www.taas.org/download

ftp://astro.phys.unm.edu/pub/taas

[email protected]

TAAS Hotline: (505) 296-0549

Physics & Astronomy(PANDA) Building

Map to UNM Campus Observatory(not to scale)

Lomas

Uni

vers

ity

Yale

Observatory

To Santa Fe

To LosLunas

Par

king

Par

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I-40

I-25

Documents

The Sidereal Times May 1999 - taas.org