OAKLAND ASTRONOMY CLUB

NEWSLETTER

                                                                       May 2009

• Astronomy Day 2009 -  May 2 at Cranbrook.   Some Solar scope viewing was offered, despite scattered clouds with about 100 people in attendance.   The current 11-year sunspot cycle continues to be very quiet, so the viewing public did not get to see the sunspots or solar flares that are normally so impressive.
• 100 hours of Astronomy:    The Warren Club had another 100 folks gather at Wolcott Mill and about 300 were reported at the Metro Beach event.
• Walt Fielek was at Addison Oaks on April 22 and able to observe good views of M51, M81/82, M13 and M92.   Be sure to check out the OAC observing site on weekends near the new Moon and enjoy the astonishing resolution of the Club's 17.5" scope on globulars, galaxies and nebulae.

•  2009 Independence Oaks Star Parties dates, all on Saturdays at the Wint Nature Center.  Mark your calendar.      
  

• AN INVITATION has been extended to our club from the KALAMAZOO Astronomical Society (KAS) to join them on May 30 for their Astronomy Day event.    The program includes presentations by actor Michael Francis who will bring Galileo to life in his one man show The Starry Messenger.    Another highlight will be an appearance by Dr. Phil Plait who will have a book signing (Bad Astronomy and Death From the Skies) and a keynote presentation at the Kalamazoo Nature Center.   Click link for details:   http://astroday.kasonline.org/

• Michiana Star Party, (Click Link) May 29-31 at the Potawatomi Wildlife Park, Tippecanoe, Indiana. 
• GREAT LAKE STAR GAZE dates have been announced:      Sept 17 - 20. 
• ASTRONOMY-ON-THE-BEACH dates at Kensington Metropark are Sept 25 - 26.

 

MOON -                                                                           CALENDAR                   FM    Fri, May 8                                 4 May, Moon near Saturn                   LQ    Sun, May 17                              7 May, Moon near Spica                   NM  Sun, May 24                             15 May, Titan shadow transit on Saturn                   FQ    Sat,  May 30                            17 May, Moon near Jupiter in the morning                                                                              28 May, Jupiter SSE of Neptune    This month's moon is known as the "Planting" or "Milk" moon.                                                                                                                                                       METEORS:                 The Eta Aquarid meteor shower peaks the morning of May 6, radiant low in SE before dawn; they are debris from Comet Halley.                                                  PLANETS                   MERCURY   West NW at sunset.  Mag 2.5                    VENUS          Morning, East, Mag -4.6 two hours ahead of sunrise                           MARS           Morning, ESE, Mag 1.2 low at dawn                   JUPITER       Morning, SE, Mag -2.0 low at dawn                   SATURN       Visible most all night at Mag 0.8 in southern Leo under the hindquarters, stopping retrograde, rings only 4.0 degrees                                             from edge-on.   Look for moons.                   URANUS       Unviewable this month  in light of dawn                   NEPTUNE     Just SSE of Jupiter at Mag 7.9 by month's end              CONSTELLATION PICKS & HIGHLIGHTS:       URSA MAJOR - The Great Bear             Galaxy combo M101 & M102, mag 7.9 spirals             M51 - Whirlpool galaxy, Mag 8.4                        BOOTES -  The Herdsman, one of the most ancient constellations known             Arcturus (Alpha) is 4th brightest star, a red giant, distance 36.7LY             Home to many fine double stars for amateur scopes             Tau Bootes made history in 2007 as the first star observed to flip its magnetic field        COMA BERENICES - the wife of Ptolemy            Beta at Mag 4.8 is similar to our sun at 27 LY away.   The third in Messier objects containing 8 targets.       VIRGO -  The Maiden - The only Female figure in the Zodiac and the 2nd largest constellation in the sky             Spica (Alpha) is the 16th brightest star, mag 0.98, distance 262 LY             Home to the Virgo cluster of galaxies, 3000 of 'em, some over 50 million LY distant, our Local Group is part of this cluster             The Sun spends more time in Virgo than in any other constellation of the zodiac, entering on September 21 and not leaving until                              November 1.             Lots of good Messier targets in here (11) second only to Sagittarius (15)                                                                                                                                                                       VIRGO MAP                                                    Chart credit:  (Torsten Bronger at Wikimedia Commons,                                                  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Virgo_constellation_map.png, GNU Free Documentation license.)       DSO PICK:               M61 -  See Feature Below

Estimated to be similar to our own Milky Way with a diameter of 100,000 LY, this galaxy was discovered by Barnabus Oriani, May 5, 1779.    Messier had also seen it, but originally thought it was a comet. M61 is one of the bigger galaxies in the Virgo Cluster.   Larger apertures are required to see detail.  This image shows classic structure--a central bar, bright spiral arms and extensive dust lanes. Six supernovae have been discovered in M61, the latest in 1999, 2006 and 2008--all Type II. Right Ascension 12 : 21.9 (h:m) Declination +04 : 28 (deg:m) Distance 60000 (kly) Visual Brightness 9.7 (mag) Apparent Dimension 6x5.5 (arc min) More details - Click Link: http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/messier/m/m061.html

Image Credit:  Adam Block/NOAO/AURA/NSF, 20" RCT at f/8.4. BONUS:   For a larger, higher-resolution image click HERE.

Constellation:  VIRGO

 

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Cranbrook Presentation, Friday  5/15/09

Dr. Stephen Edberg of JPL/NASA was welcomed by over 100 local astronomy buffs at the Cranbrook Science auditorium to enjoy his presentation on "Exoplanets."     Using an innovative combination of slide graphics along with hand-held models to demonstrate Doppler and Center-of-Mass effects, Dr. Edberg was able to involve the audience to make his conceptual points. Of particular interest was the variety of ways "astrometric" astronomy techniques are able to identify and study extra-solar planets, including: Minute parallax measurements Doppler shifts in light curves Transit studies Spectral anomalies Masking/subtraction methods So far, about 340 exoplanets have been discovered.

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COOL LINK THIS MONTH:

EXOPLANET CATALOG
 
Following up on the Cranbrook presentation, this link from
The Planetary Society will allow you to investigate these discoveries in greater detail.

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                                                                                           Source:  Astronomy.com Messier Catalog

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PERSPECTIVES

Beautiful..............uh...........what is it  ?

                                                                          If you guessed Planetary Nebula - you're WRONG !
                                                           Nope, it's not a Supernova remnant either
                                                           Not a Messier object by a long shot
                                                           It's only 4,200 LY away - but you can't see it from Michigan
                                                           Click HERE for the answer
  

                                                                 

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FUNZIES

Credit:  Jack Kramer
Lake County Astronomical Society

                

                                                                 

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CLUB MEMBER ASTROPHOTO OF THE MONTH

m27-L-Ha-RGB by Robert Berta The Dumbell Nebula or M-27. While visually and in shorter duration photos it does look like a dumbell (redish part), a longer exposure makes the faint nebula fill in and to me it looks more like a football. This was taken with my 11" SCT and Lumicon f6.3 focal reducer (from their Giant Off Axis Guider. It is excellent and much better than the Meade and Celestron 6.3 reducers as it can cover big chip camera. This image was cropped from the full frame. << Back to Robert Berta's photo gallery   © 2009 Robert Berta

Snagged from the Warren Club site - THANKS BOB - terrif image as usual !!

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FOR SALE:

From Michigan Astronomy @ Yahoo Groups

I have a Meade LX200 16" with the field tripod and a 26mm
SuperPlossl eyepiece for sale.  New, these are currently running at $14,999
I will sell this one for $10,000
It is in perfect working order and excellent condition.
It has only been used 3x.   If interested, please let me know.
John  -  drifter17536@yahoo.com

Items forwarded from the Warren Club Newsletter

FOR SALE:  This is a 8 or 9 year old Celestron Starhopper 6" Dob. I've used it up at our cottage for years and its given me many years of enjoyment. I am including a 25mm plossl eyepiece and a Red dot laser star spotter. I am the original owner and am selling it because I recently upgraded to a bigger scope. I am asking $300 but will take any reasonable offer. Call John 586-726-0741

WANTED: Spidervane for 6" Criterion Dynascope. My name is Gary Klein, I am a former member of WAS. I am getting back into observing and photographing Celestial objects. On dusting off my 6" Criterion Dynascope, I found some damage to the tube. I began disassembling the finder scope and secondary mirror and spider. I ended up twisting off one of the mounting studs for the spider. It is beyond repair. I have unsuccessfully been on a search for a direct replacement of the spider. The secondary mirror is fine. It is a straight 4 legged spider. Contact Gary at: (586) 247- 2460 Thanks. Gary K.

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Members are encouraged to join the Club's Yahoo Group
for messages, photo posting and more.

Click to join OaklandAstronomy

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CLUB DUES 

Membership is $35 annually
If you are unable to make the next meeting and wish to support OAC
with your 2009 dues, you can mail your check payable to

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

2009 Officers

                                                                             President          Dave Holt           dave_holt@yahoo.com

                                                                             Vice President  Bob Berta           biker123@att.net

                                                                             Treasurer         Bill Girardin        bggirardin@sbcglobal.net

                                                                             Secretary         Mark Jeffery      jefamily@wowway.com

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NEXT MEETING:    June 14th,  2009       7:30 PM

           
                                                                        

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Links to other club sites:

Astronomy in Michigan  NEW
Warren Astronomical Society (WAS)
Seven Ponds Astronomy Club
Ford Astronomy Club

GLAAC

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2009 NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE

http://www.oaklandastronomy.ulmb.com/oacnews0109.html       OAC Newsletter Jan 2009                   http://www.oaklandastronomy.ulmb.com/oacnews0209.html       OAC Newsletter Feb 2009                   http://www.oaklandastronomy.ulmb.com/oacnews0309.html       OAC Newsletter Mar 2009                   http://www.oaklandastronomy.ulmb.com/oacnews0409.html       OAC Newsletter Apr 2009

2008 NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE

http://www.oaklandastronomy.ulmb.com/oacnews0108.html    OAC Newsletter Jan 2008                       http://www.oaklandastronomy.ulmb.com/oacnews0208.html    OAC Newsletter Feb 2008                     http://www.oaklandastronomy.ulmb.com/oacnews0308.html    OAC Newsletter Mar 2008    http://www.oaklandastronomy.ulmb.com/oacnews0408.html    OAC Newsletter Apr 2008     http://www.oaklandastronomy.ulmb.com/oacnews0508.html    OAC Newsletter May 2008     http://www.oaklandastronomy.ulmb.com/oacnews0608.html    OAC Newsletter June 2008     http://www.oaklandastronomy.ulmb.com/oacnews0708.html    OAC Newsletter July 2008    http://www.oaklandastronomy.ulmb.com/oacnews0808.html    OAC Newsletter Aug 2008                     http://www.oaklandastronomy.ulmb.com/oacnews0908.html    OAC Newsletter Sept 2008                     http://www.oaklandastronomy.ulmb.com/oacnews1008.html    OAC Newsletter Oct 2008                     http://www.oaklandastronomy.ulmb.com/oacnews1108.html    OAC Newsletter Nov 2008                     http://www.oaklandastronomy.ulmb.com/oacnews1208.html    OAC Newsletter Dec 2008

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

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