OAKLAND ASTRONOMY CLUB

NEWSLETTER

                                                      JULY 2008                                                        

Bill  MacIntosh,  Editor

•  2008 Independence Oaks Star Parties

•  Great Lakes Star Gaze:  September 25-28th, Thursday evening through Sunday morning.   GLSG now has its own  web site----http://www.greatlakesstargaze.com/
•  Astronomy on the Beach, Kensington MetroPark

Using the H-R diagram, he explained these stars fall just below the main sequence.    They tend to be old Population 2 stars that are hotter and bluer .  

 

MOON                          NM    Wed,  July 2                     FQ      Thurs, July 10                     FM     Fri, July 18                     LQ      Fri, July 25 PLANETS                   MERCURY   Dawn, ESE                   VENUS          Very low in NW evening sky starting July 7                           MARS           Dusk,  W                       JUPITER       Evening, S    At opposition on 7/9 and visible all night long                   SATURN       Evening, SW    Within 1/4 degree of Mars on the 9th and 10th    This impressive Celestial Alignment of Saturn (top) Mars (middle) and Regulus (bottom) with the Moon formed a straight line in the sky on July 5th.    Credit:  Richard McCoy,  Universetoday.com METEORS -  The Delta Aquarid meteor shower is strongest from 7/24-31, very early before morning twilight. THE " SUMMER TRIANGLE" of Altair, Deneb and Vega is ascendant               CONSTELLATION PICKS: Southern beauties in Sagittarius now swing into viewing opportunities SERPENS - The only two-part constellation is split into Serpens Caput (head of the serpent) on the West and Serpens Cauda (tail of the serpent) on the East.    Giant Opiuchus, the Serpent Bearer, lies beetween them. DSO PICK:    M5 Globular Cluster, a very pretty glob in Serpens Cauda  ( See feature below)

Resembling a comet in binos, it was originally spotted by Gottfried Kirch on May 5, 1702.   Later independenly logged by Messier on May 23, 1764, it was first resolved into stars by William Herschel in 1791. M5 is thought to be among the oldest globs known with a computed age of 13 billion years.    Interestingly, it contains over 100 known RR Lyrae variables.     And strangely, the cluster itself is "variable" ranging between mag 10.6 and 12.1 every four weeks. RA         15 : 18.6 (h:m) DEC     +02 : 05 (deg:m) Visual Brightness:    Mag 5.6 Apparent Dimension:   23.0  arc min More details:  http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m005.html

Image Credit:   See link for imaging equipment and details  Donald Waid,  http://www.waid-observatory.com/m005-2006-04-17.html

Constellation:  SERPENS CAUDA

EARTH was at aphelion, its farthest from the Sun (94,513,144 miles) on July 4th.      We're then 3% farther from the Sun than at perihelion in January.   (Sky & Telescope, July 08, P 59)     DOES THE SUN LOOK SMALLER TO YOU???                                                              
                                                                          

Planetary Orbits Planet Eccentricity Perihelion Distance closest point to the Sun (AU) Aphelion Distance farthest point from the Sun (AU)   Mercury   0.206   0.31   0.47   Venus   0.007   0.718   0.728   Earth   0.017   0.98   1.02   Mars   0.093   1.38   1.67   Jupiter   0.048   4.95   5.45   Saturn   0.056   9.02   10.0   Uranus   0.047   18.3   20.1   Neptune   0.009   30.0   30.3   Pluto   0.248   29.7   49.9 Notes : 1 AU, the average distance from the Earth to the Sun, equals 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers. The eccentricity of a planet's orbit measures how much it departs from a perfect circle. Orbits with zero eccentricity (e = 0) are circular; orbits with eccentricities close to 1 (e ~ 1) are long and skinny. Planetary orbits tend to be almost circular while comets and many asteroids follow more eccentric paths.

Image and data credit:   http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast04jan_1.htm

 

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PERSPECTIVES

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

• Nope, it doesn't have a Messier number                   
• Or an NGC number                                                 
• It's not an alien moving to devour the Enterprise    
• HINT:   It's not even in our Galaxy                         
• Click HERE for the answer                                     
  

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FUNZIES




Credit:  Jack Kramer, Lake County Astronomy Society

 

   

     

                                                                 

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CLUB MEMBER A STROPHOTO OF THE MONTH

 

It's Summer and Teapot Season Again

Here's a glorious shot of the TRIFID Nebula in Sagittarius




Image Credit:   Bob Berta
11" Celestron SCT w/Hyperstar





 

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CLUB DUES FOR 2008

Membership is $35 annually
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:  August  10th,  2008       7:30 PM

           
                                                                        

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 Links to other club sites:

Warren Astronomical Society (WAS)
Seven Ponds Astronomy Club
Ford Astronomy Club

GLAAC

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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

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