NEBULA is the official newsletter of the Goddard Astronomy Club (GAC), an employee organization of the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771. GAC meets on the second Tuesday of each month.

WWW page: http://gac.gsfc.nasa.gov/

President: Cornelis DuToit, 301-286-1026.
Editor: Chuck Conner, 301-369-2800, X3060.

Cornelis duToit Presiding.

For those who have not paid their dues, please give $10 to Howard Dew.

"Gallileo" Telescopes will be available for $10 each.

Comet Lulin will be making its closest approach on February 24, 2009.

Goddard will continue to host star parties near the new moon weekends at the observatory on Springfield Road (see "Upcoming Events" below).

Peter Chen gave a very interesting talk on "Buliding Large Telescopes and Structures on the Moon." Dr. Chen discussed using moondust and carbon nanotubes to make "lunar cement." The "lunar cement" can be spin-cast to form mirrors.

If you attend a star party, we'd like a report (verbal or written).

The next New Moon is on February 25, 2009. Check out this site for new moon dates.

Astronomical Society of Greenbelt Meetings on the Last non-holiday Thursday of each month at the Owens Science Center at 7:30 P.M.

GAC Goddard Star Party February 23-24 (Monday-Tuesday) and February 26-27 (Thursday-Friday) at the observatory on Springfield Road. Please arrive shortly before sunset (~6:00 P.M.).

Caroline Furnace July 17-19 reserved by GAC.

A calendar of star parties can always be found at the Sky & Telescope's Calendar page

Comets, Meteors, and IYA 100 Hours of Astronomy - by G.W.Gliba

Lynne and I were at our cabin again on the night of January 23/24, 2009. We had partly cloudy conditions, but there were clear periods that allowed me to get in two hours of meteor observing from 6:11 to 8:11 UT. We were also able to do some observing with an 8-inch SCT Celestron, which included views of comet 144/P Kushida near the Hyades in Taurus, which was about 9th magnitude with a 11th magnitude stellar central condensation. Much later, just before dawn, I also observed comet Lulin N3 with 12x63 binoculars again. This time it was about 7th magnitude, and had a bright but none stellar central condensation. No ion tail was seen this time, but a small anti-tail may have been seen.

There was also fairly good meteor activity seen that morning. There was very good activity seen from the Antihelion source, with nine meteors being seen. The best meteor of the watch was a nice blue-green colored, magnitude -2 ANT with a two second train seen at 7:08 UT. It was beautiful, moving rather slowly being close to the radiant. Unfortunately, there were scattered clouds the whole time, which meant that I had to twist in my lounge chair to maintain maximum clear sky coverage, which averaged 85% for both hours, with a limiting magnitude of 6.4 or so. Also, while doing casual observing after meteor watching, and before comet Lulin rose, I saw two nice telescopic meteors with the 12x63 binoculars. Overall, it was a good night to stargaze.

Come Lulin N3 is now well place for observation. It reached it's closest approach to Earth on February 24th, when near the planet Saturn, whose ring system is now nearly edge-on. Look at spaceweather to see where the comet is located. It should continue to be well placed for the next couple of months. By early April it will be in the early evening sky in Gemini, but a telescope will be needed to observe it, as it will have faded considerably by then. So, now is the best time to look for it. Some sharp eyed observers have seen it with only the naked-eye in a dark sky as a faint tailless fuzzy spot. A tail should be visible in binoculars or a small telescope.

This is the International Year of Astronomy, and two star parties are being planned at the newly completed Public Observatory located at Northway Fields in old Greenbelt, Maryland. The two public star parties will be held jointly by the Astronomical Society of Greenbelt (ASG) and its sister organization, the Goddard Astronomy Club on April 4th and April 5th. These events will be held at the site of the Greenbelt Public Observatory located at the Northway Fields in Greenbelt, near the NASA/GSFC. More information can be found at the ASG website . Also, the NASA/GSFC Astrophysics Science Division is doing several other events for IYA 100 Hours of Astronomy.