ASTRONOMY CLUB OF TULSAOBSERVER May 2002 ACT, Inc. has been meeting continuously since 1937 and was incorporated in 1986. It is a nonprofit; tax deductible organization dedicated to promoting, to the public, the art of viewing and the scientific aspect of astronomy. WhatThe Astronomy Club of Tulsa Club Professor David Lien Professor of Astronomy and Physics Oklahoma State University WhenFriday, May 24, 2002 at 7:30 PM WhereRoom M1 inside Keplinger Hall, the Science & Engineering Building at TU. Enter the parking lot on the East Side of Keplinger Hall from Harvard and 5th Street. This will take you directly toward the staircase to enter the building. Room M1 is the first room on the left.
President’s Message Denny MishlerProfessor David Lien, visiting Professor of Astronomy and Physics at Oklahoma State University will be our featured speaker at May's meeting. Professor Lien's research interests are Comets, Interstellar medium, Archeoastronomy and Meteorological optics. His topic at our meeting will be COMETS; a very timely subject since one of the best comets in the past decade, Ikeya-Zhang, is still a naked eye comet gracing our late night skies. Several other comets are increasing in brightness. If the solid nucleuses of all comets are thought to be essentially the same, then why does the appearance of every comet seem to be different? Can we model comets here on Earth to explain the variations that we see? Can Asteroids have tails? These and other questions will be explored and answered by Professor Lien during his presentation and since he has a wide range of research and interests in Astronomy, club members should feel free to ask questions in all aspects of Astronomy. Professor Lien will be our final speaker until September, as we will be going to our monthly star party meetings at the observatory during the summer months. Our attendance has been 56 to 77 people during the past four months. This is historically good attendance, but it can still increase some more. If you haven't been to a meeting in recent months visit us during our May meeting when we will have an excellent speaker. I like to conduct fast moving meetings with announcements and only essential business. Within a half hour of our meeting's start we present our speaker, and at the end of the meeting we come forward to enjoy refreshments and socialize. I hope to see you there.
New Members by John Land The astronomy club would like to welcome our new members through April this year. We hope to learn more about you during our summer observing activities. Most are new to the club but a few are welcomed past members returning to the club. (The list does not contain regular renewals) Jan 2002 Joseph Gagliardi, James Kerr, Patricia Lyons, Don Sanders, Darrell Swank Feb 2002 Ed Fillinger, Jeannie Reyckert, Jay Rickerts, Cesilie & Erica Torneo Mar 2002 Don Kimberling, Carl Getman, David McGill Apr 2002 Tomoyo Muraki, Stella Caughell, Ruth Simmons, Kent Allingham, Blake Champlin, Rich Chillingworth, Dave Muret, Michelle Lawmaster, Jacob Shirley, Donald L. Cole, Randy Northcutt
Ad Astra International Astronomy Convention June 27-30, 2002 Speakers include Chris Ray, Antique Telescope Society (celestial mechanic) Will Gilliland, State of Kansas (planetary geology) Bruce Twarog, University of Kansas (astrophysicist) Graham Bell, Northeast Kansas Amateur Astronomers' League (comet co-discoverer) More Information at: www.washburn.edu/cas/physics/crane/index.html
Mid-States Regional Astronomical League Convention Time is running out to register for the Mid-States convention in June. Since Siloam Springs is so close to Tulsa, It may be possible to drive over for the main day on Saturday. Let us know if you are going and perhaps some of you can get together and carpool there. We'd like to get all of us together there and get a picture. The 2002 Mid-States Regional Convention will be hosted by the Christian Association of Stellar Explorers and will be held June 7-9, 2002 in Siloam Springs, Arkansas on the campus of John Brown University. The club's observing site at New Life Ranch will be open for evening observing sessions at the convention. MSRAL 2002 is proud to welcome Dr. Derek Sears of the Arkansas-Oklahoma Center for Space and Planetary Sciences as our keynote speaker at dinner on Saturday. Dr. Sears will be speaking on "Hera and Andromeda: New Insights Into the Formation and Evolution of the Solar System." Dr. Sears is also a professor in the Cosmochemistry Group at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Their web site is http://www.msral.org/ It contains more details on the convention and registration forms. Several of our members went to the MidStates convention in 2001. Our club is hosting the convention for 2003 and this will be a great opportunity to get ideas to make our convention a success. You can also find a link to the national Astronomical League convention in Salt Lake City on July 31 to Aug 3. See details at National Convention of the Astronomical League, University of Utah ALCon 2002
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS EVENTS AT RMCC OBSERVATORY: MAY JUN JUL AUG EVENTS AWAY FROM RMCC: MAY
2002 Calendar of events
DEEP DEEP SKY OBSERVER You know you are a DEEP DEEP SKY OBSERVER when............ 1. You believe that M13 ruins your dark adaptation. 2. Your ideal site requires oxygen. 3. You dilate your eyes to pupil openings of 10mm before observing. 4. Your principal finder scope is a C-8. 5. You wear red sunglasses all day in preparation for viewing that night. 6. You paint the dome light in your car red. 7. You have elective surgery to replace your eye's natural lenses with f/.8 apochromatic triplet objectives. 8. You can be understood talking with a red flashlight in your mouth. 9. You can understand someone talking with a red flashlight in their mouth. 10. You believe that anyone that leaks white light during your observing should be quartered. 11. You refer to your Cheerios breakfast as "a bowl full of M57's". 12. You start searching for the central star in one of your Cheerios. 13. ...........and you find it! These quips are donated by the Hawaiian Astronomical Society and Denny Mishler
Spectacular Sunset Solar Eclipse By John Land
June 10, 2002 If the skies are clear, this years eclipse promises to be spectacular. As always you must not look at the sun directly during a solar eclipse. The safest method is to project the sun's image onto a white card using a small pinhole in a sheet of aluminum foil taped to a larger card. Try several sizes of pinholes spaced an inch or so apart. As sunset approaches you will be able to see the moon's silhouette covering about half the sun. You can look at the sun during the last few minutes before sunset with dark glasses. BUT DO NOT STARE AT IT FOR A PROLONGED TIME. NEVER use binoculars or telescopes on to look at the sun without using fully tested Full Spectrum Front Surface solar filters. Full coverage of the eclipse story and safety tips can be found at http://skyandtelescope.com/printable/observing/objects/eclipses/article_583.asp If its cloudy on eclipse day you'll be able to see lots of images the next day on www.spaceweather.com Check out this site a few days ahead of time for more tips on observing the eclipse. The show doesn't stop at sunset. Jupiter and Venus are still close together in the evening sky. Venus is the brighter of the two. They have their closest approach on the evenings of June 3rd and 4th. You can keep up with the summer astronomy events and maybe even join local astronomy enthusiasts from the Astronomy Club of Tulsa. Check out our website: www.AstroTulsa.com
Comet Iyeka-Zhang
By Gerald R. Miller While trying out my new SBIG ST10XME for the first time, I had just finished imaging the Sunflower Galaxy (M63) and noticed that Comet Iyeka-Zhang was in a good position to image. So I took 120 unguided exposures of 30 seconds each using my 10" LX200 F. 6.3 scope in Clear, Red, Green and Blue. I then combined them in MaximDL, and processed them in Photoshop to bring out the core. This shot is a mono version of the color shot, that can be found at http://www.tuvaclub.org . It took about an hour to capture the images.
Astronomy Club of Tulsa Membership Application / Renewal Form Name: ________________________ Phone: ( ) ____ _______ Address: ___________________________________________________ City / State / Zip____________________/____________/_____________ ________________________________________________________ E-mail address - print clearly Check Lines below for YES ____ I would prefer to receive E-mail notification when club newsletter is posted to the web. ____ I choose to receive my newsletter by E-mail ONLY instead of postal mail. (Usually 3 or 4 days earlier * Must have web access ) ____ Notify me by E-mail of late breaking Astronomy Events Please check all that apply: ___ New Membership ($25) ___ Student Membership ($15) ___ Membership Renewal ($25) ___ Student Member Renewal ($15) ___ Sky & Telescope Subscription ($30) / year also includes 10% discount on most Sky & Tel products ___ Astronomy Subscription ($29) / year ($55) / two years * Magazine rates may change / prices available with membership only. Please bring this application along with a check for the total amount made out to the Astronomy Club of Tulsa to the next meeting or mail the payment and application to: Astronomy Club of Tulsa / 25209 E. 62nd St / Broken Arrow, OK 74014 For questions contact John Land How did you hear of the Astronomy Club of Tulsa? ___________________________________________________________ How long have you been interested or active in astronomy? ___________ Do you have a telescope? _______ Type __________________________ Have you been a member of other astronomy clubs? ____ Where / when ________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ What astronomy club activities would you like to participate in? ____________________________________________________________
Astronomy Club of Tulsa, 918.688.MARS President: Dennis Mishler Vice President: Teresa Kincannon Treasurer: Nick Pottorf Assistant Treasurer: John Land Secretary:Aaron Coyner RMCC Observatory Manager: Gerry Andries Observing Chairman: David Stine Web Master: Tom McDonough New Membership: Dennis Mishler |
