DAVID'S ASTRO CORNER
By David Stine

Mars continues approaching the Earth and it is a really nice object in backyard telescopes now. The first few days in July there was a large dust storm going on in the Hellas Basin that was easily seen in a six-inch scope as an oval disk over the area. Since then the dust storm has subsided and the Hellas Basin is clear. The south polar cap has been melting and it changes in appearance every few days. The best time to view the planet is still between Midnight and dawn, but by the middle of August it should be up by 10p.m. It's not hard to locate as it is the brightest object in the sky now, close to -2 Mg. and it has an orange-red glow to it. On the morning of July 17, the planet came within 10 minutes of the moon, a beautiful view with both objects in the same telescopic view. This was a great photo opportunity and hopefully some of our members were able to get some great pictures from the event. The Astronomy Club of Tulsa will be holding a Mars Watch for the public on September 5 with a rain date of September 6th. This could be a huge event and we will need every member's scope available. Start making plans for this event. The location has not been determined as of this writing but the site committee has visited several good sites and hopefully details can be worked out soon.

Mars rise times for Tulsa through August 27:

July 29

Distance from earth-39 million miles Mg. -2.3 Rises-10:23p.m.

Aug 12

Distance from earth-36 million miles Mg. -2.6 Rises -9:27p.m.

Aug 27

Distance from earth-34 million miles Mg. -2.9 Rises -8:20p.m.

It will be in Aquarius.

The MSRAL/Summer ACT Observing Challenge list is now on the website. You have until the end of September to complete to qualify for the Observing Certificate. I also have a few copies of the list that have charts showing the location of each deep sky object that will be available at the next star party.

Congratulations to Tom McDonough who recently received his Double Star Club certificate. He was the 206th person to achieve the feat. There are several members that are working on various observing clubs. The newest club is the Comet Observers Club and the first recipient is actually the initiator of the club, Dr. Eric Fleischer from the Astronomical Society of Kansas City. I know this is one I will achieve eventually. How about you? Get out there and observe.

On a bleak note, my truck was broken into and my Orion 8x56 binoculars were stolen and my Sky Catalogue 2000 sky charts which were in a blue carrying case. If anyone tries to sell you these or you see them in a pawnshop please let me know.

I am also selling my 6-inch reflector with mount, solar filter, led sight finder, and 2 eyepieces and a Barlow lens, and collimator for $200.00 or best offer for any interested. I will have the scope at the star party. It makes a great sunspot scope as well as planets and deep sky viewing. The outside of the scope is worn but the optics are great.

Here is a little ditty to think about. It has something to do with astronomy:

"Star clusters and celestial volcanoes can race planets advancement backwards."

Hint: The first letter of each word represents something. Let me know if you can figure it out.

That's it for my corner this month. Mars is moving in closer, don't miss it

By Wayne Wyrick

INSTRUCTIONS

Select the letter of the correct astronomical entity next to the number of its identifying description.

Answers to Wayne Wyrick’s Astronomical Vocabulary Test

A-8, B-22, C-9, D-25, E-18, F-14, G-4, H-11, I-3, J-15, K-13, L-19,
M-21, N-7, O-20, P-24, Q-26, R-12, S-2, T-5, U-10, V-29, W-16,
X-6, Y-17, Z-27, AA-1, BB-23, CC-28

Hi Dad,

Guess what I got to do tonight? Edmund and the Friday night gang decided to take me up on an off-the-cuff offer and go see the telescopes at Dark-Sky observatory! We walked up and there were the 3 domes and the usual sprinkling of guys with scopes in the courtyard. I turned to my friends and said "Welcome to my world, this is how I grew up!"

They were awe struck. I walked into the general crowd, and then they caught up to me "what do we do, how does this work?"

Well I told them; you usually walk up to a telescope and get in line. So I demonstrated. "What do you have here? " and then the regular astronomer would say, "This is M15 it is a globular cluster, a grouping of stars. It doesn't look like much, mostly a fuzzy ball, but..." and then you look through. "ooohh, ahh", they all said. Edmund was impressed with "all those little twinkly things"

Me, I usually went to, "so is this a 6 inch? What kind of filter are you using"?

I got to go along because I speak fluent astronomer.

As we were heading up the hill I told them the little story of Messier and the "100 some fuzzy objects which are not comets" so they were prepared for M this and M that, and also for the idea that most things looked like fuzzy balls.

On their own they discovered, "if you go in this dome building and stand in a long line you can see something" Apparently the length of the line is proportional to the excitement of the destination. In this case it was the Ring Nebula. I let them go thru the line while I scouted out what else was on hand tonight. When they got out I asked them, "was it green or blue this time?"

"Uh gray" Tammy said.

So they asked me what other lines they should do, "well, that other dome has the moon..."

They were excited about that! Me, I like to save a nearly full moon for last, but hey, they liked it!

The third, new dome scope is a Cassegrain classic reflector. I have never seen such a wide, squatty telescope. It was interesting to me, odd looking though. I shall have to redo my telescope classifications.

Later we sat and just looked around. Tammy and Marianne saw what I think was one of those rolly satellites. It was faint, slow, and every so often it would "explode" with a bright flash and then fade to almost invisible. I remember seeing something like that once upon a time, and you telling me it was a satellite that had solar collectors or mirrors and was spinning so that the sunlight bounced off the mirror causing it to "flash". Tammy was thrilled and I looked intelligent, even if I may not have been correct. It seemed like a logical explanation considering I didn't even see it until it was almost gone.

Later I snuck a quick look at the Ring. It has always been one of my favorites, but I wanted to let those who'd never seen it go first.

As we waited to see Alberio in a 6-inch box reflector like you made Grandma, I told Tammy the ring was a tad green. Others didn't believe I could see color on some of these things. I just told them I had "astronomer eyes". Ed said he couldn't see the colors of Alberio, but he enjoyed the "sparkly things" just as well. Tammy says she could barely. It was rather tiny, but I could tell.

A fine time was had by all. I was amazed. You will be amazed and jealous that the road to the observatory is well paved. I thought of you.

It is almost odd how every gathering of astro-folks has the same kinds of people. Almost like a stereotype, or maybe an archetype/ astrotype. There are the "intelligential" astronomers who pursue their own stuff, while letting the public join in. The "regular" types who will show you anything and tell you all about it. The "out-there" ones like (notorious Astronomer deleted) or such that is just a bit odd or obsessed. This one also had another group. "Parrots" They were young folks who worked for Dark-Sky, and ran the 16-inch scope. They explained everything to the public, but they did not really "know" it. An astronomer would come and tell them "this is a ...globular cluster, it orbits off the galaxy ring and is made up of x number of stars. It is x number years old etc." Stuff the public would be interested to know but if you asked them the name of it, they couldn't tell you. "This is a double star, made up of ... whatever system" Which star? I asked. um.. He knows- pointing to the astronomer. They are maybe like pinochole- someday maybe they will grow up and be a real astronomer, but for now it is not "theirs" They are good for public parties though.

Janice