OAKLAND ASTRONOMY CLUB

NEWSLETTER

                                                        JANUARY 2008                                                        

Bill  MacIntosh,  Editor

• There were no scheduled events during the past month .  

                                         
Observations & Presentations

There were few observation opportunities recently due to weather.

• Mark Jeffery reported a Mars observation, seeing surface details and a single polar ice cap.  The planet appeared almost fully illuminated.  Additionally, he was able to pick out 5 or 6 stars in the Trapezium of M42.  Mark also showed a cling-type insulating material that can be used with dew-heaters to minimize power drain due to heat loss.
• Dave Holt had a chance to observe a few Quadrantid meteors one morning during the peak.
• Bob Berta gave a slide-show presentation on his laptop covering the history and missions of the Lick Observatory and its telescopes.  Over 100 years ago,  Lick astronomers pioneered astrophotography of the MilkyWay using glass plates, and they also employed the Crosley Reflector to discover many comets and asteroids.   Today, its large aperture scopes are involved in the search for extra-solar planets. 

• Bill MacIntosh brought and circulated historical Astronomy items he'd recently found stored in his garage, including a March 1959 issue of Sky-and-Telescope magazine (published only in black-and-white back then) and an age-worn copy of the  Skalnate Pleso Atlas of the Heavens, epoch 1950.    This large format 18 x 25 inch series of charts covers the entire sky in 16 separate pages with stars down to mag 7.75 in both Northern and Southern hemispheres and denotes DSOs for all NGC and IC objects.   Although coordinates are off slightly due to precession, the charts are still good for star hopping.
• Bill Girardin handed out SkyMaps for January and gave the following presentation:

• 2008 Independence Oaks Star Parties

• Dave Holt reported that dates for the Great Lake Star Gaze this year are the last week in September.

Easy to locate just 4o south of Sirius, this cluster offers bright colorful stars in a wide field EP.   Readily picked up in binos and finderscopes, M41 is comprised of about 100 stars, including several red giants, extending over a diameter of 25 LY. Discovered by Giovanni Batista Hodiena about 1654, it may have been known to Aristotle in  325 BC.     Estimated to be moving away from us at 23 km/s,  its age is thought to be between 190 and 240  million years old. RA       06h   46.0m DEC    -20     46' Apparent Mag    4.5 Apparent Size   38 ' (Source:  Wikipedia)

Image Credit:  2MASS/ NASA

Constellation:   CANIS MAJOR

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COMETS IN THE WINTER SKY



On January 22, Comet HOLMES is expected to engulf ALGOL   

Here's an image of the comet approaching the star taken January 11






Image Credit:
http://spaceweather3.com/comets/holmes/11jan08/Thorsten-Boeckel1.jpg

How FAST are  you moving when you're STANDING STILL ??
Here are some interesting speeds to consider whenever you're feeling dizzy---or can't get your tripod level.


EARTH ROTATION SPEED (at Equator):     1,000 miles per hour

EARTH ORBITAL SPEED AROUND THE SUN:   66,000  miles per hour

SOLAR SYSTEM IS MOVING:  43,000 miles per hour roughly in the direction of Vega in Lyra

MILKY WAY GALAXY IS ROTATING AT:   483,000 miles per hour

OUR MILKY WAY GALAXY IS MOVING IN THE DIRECTION OF LEO/VIRGO AT:   1.3 million miles per hour

 Excerpted from an article by Andrew Fraknoi, Astronomical Society of the Pacific
The Universe in the Classroom, No. 71 - Spring 2007
www.astrosociety.org/uitc
 

 

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PERSPECTIVES

 

 

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FUNZIES

   

                                                                                ©Jim Bertram 2007 Used with persmission from the artist

 

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CLUB MEMBER ASTROPHOTO OF THE MONTH


It's Winter and ORION season once again, so here's shot of everyone's favorite DSO in that constellation.  
 

 

  M 42  The Orion Nebula                                                                                                       Distance =  1,700  LY

 

Image Credit:    Bill Barsuhn

Notes:   Imaged from my driveway in Sterling Heights on 9/21/07 using Orion Starblast 113mm f/4 scope on an LXD55 mount.
It is a result of stacking 22 images each of 30 second duration for the outer details and 41 images of 1 second for the core.  Image stacking was done in Envisage and additional processing was done in PixInsight LE.   Camera:   DSI PRO CCD  

 

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CLUB DUES FOR 2008

Membership fees ($35) become due in January each year.
If you are unable to make the next meeting and wish to support OAC
with your 2008 dues, you can mail your check payable to

OAKLAND ASTRONOMY CLUB
600 Shelley Dr
Rochester Hills, MI  48307-4237

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NEXT MEETING:   February 10,  2008       7:30 PM

           
                                                                        

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ASTRONOMY TECHNOLOGY TODAY

Astronomy Technology Today  - A new startup magazine for equipment geeks features reviews, specs and images from both users and distributers.   They are offering subscriptions for $18 per year.  
Details on their website:   www.astronomytechnologytoday.com

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2007 NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE

http://oaklandastronomy.ulmb.com/oacnews0607.html    OAC Newsletter June 2007 http://oaklandastronomy.ulmb.com/oacnews0707.html    OAC Newsletter July 2007 http://oaklandastronomy.ulmb.com/oacnews0807.html    OAC Newsletter Aug 2007 http://oaklandastronomy.ulmb.com/oacnews0907.html    OAC Newsletter Sep 2007 http://oaklandastronomy.ulmb.com/oacnews1007.html    OAC Newsletter Oct 2007  http://oaklandastronomy.ulmb.com/oacnews1107.html    OAC Newsletter Nov 2007  http://oaklandastronomy.ulmb.com/oacnews1207.html    OAC Newsletter Dec 2007

Oakland Astronomy Club Newsletters are on the Web as Public Domain and may be freely accessed, linked-to or referenced by anyone.
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