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: George Gliba, 301-286-1119.
Cornelis duToit presiding.
GAC members were asked to help with a star party planned for the Cub Scouts on Tuesday,
November 30th from 7pm to 9pm EDT at the Bollman Elementary School in Savage, MD. GAC
member Armen Caroglanian will send directions out to the GAC membership list just before
this event. There will be about 40 4th and 5th grade students and parents attending. At
least a few telescope will be needed, so please consider being a volunteer.
A review of upcoming events for the month was given by GAC president Cornelis duToit, which
included celestial events and local star parties by our sister organization, the Astronomical
Society of Greenbelt.
Our special guest speaker was Gary Hand of Hands on Optics in Damascus, MD. He spoke about the
pros and cons of various mounting options for the GAC 7-inch MCT. After some discussion it was
decided to get the CG-5 mounting. GAC member Jeff Guerber will arrange to get this at the best
price from either Gary or another local dealer by the end of the month. After this Jeff gave a
short slide show of the Greenbank Star Quest star party in West Virginia last summer, which was
attended by a few GAC members, who were among the estimated 200 guests who attended.
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There will be a star party for the Cub Scouts on November 30th. Details be sent to the GAC membership list
just before the event. Armen Caroglanian is the contact for more details.
The next New Moon is on December 5, 2010. Check out this site for new moon dates.
GAC GGAO Observatory has two 12-inch Telescopes Again
Last month I mentioned that for the first time the GAC GGAO observatory has two 12-inch
telscopes, but this is not exactly correct. I meant to say that there are two 12-inch telescopes
again, from two different centuries, one with 20th century technology, and the other with 21st
century technology. As I mentioned in the July 2010 issue of Nebula, when the observatory
was originally built it 1961, about 50 years ago, it had two 12-inch telescopes. One was the
12-inch Goto Classical Cass. telescope from occupied Japan that was given to NASA by the USN.
It was eventually given to the newly formed GAC in the early days of the NASA/GSFC. That was the
first telescope mounted on the pier where the new 12-inch Meade SCT is now mounted. I just wanted
to be sure that this was clear.
Interestingly, the 12-inch Goto remained at the GGAO, and resided in two different domes on other
piers until finally leaving the GGAO in 2001 during my first term as the GAC president. That is when
longtime GAC member, and three time GAC president, Don Haxton retired from the NASA/GSFC. I remember
this because I helped move that bloody telescope three times between 1985 and 2001. Actually, it was a
good telescope and I remember observing many different objects with it, including several comets, a
few supernovae, several planets, and many deep sky objects.
A few mildly famous scientific observations were even made with that telescope. Former GAC member Tony
Mallama made PEP observations with it of eclipsing binary stars in the late 70s, and even had a light
curve of the star Algol published in the classic book: A Field Guide to Stars and Planets, (The Peterson
Field Guide Series) by Donald H. Menzel & Jay M. Pasachoff. Also, timing observations by GAC members Jeff
Guerber and Don Haxton of an occultation of a star by the asteroid 216 Kleopatra, helped determine its
size and nature when that telescope was located in the GGAO dome in Bldg. 210. The asteroid 216 Kleopatra
is now known to be a rare trinary main-belt asteroid.
Again, for historical interest, since 1985, when the 12-inch Goto classical Cass. was sold to then GAC
member Don Haxton, there has been two other scopes mounted on that pier. A surplus 8-inch USAF Wyle large
format camera was modified for visual use and mounted there. This telescope was equipped with a large Erfle
eyepiece from a war surplus WWII M71 Sherman Tank Telescope, which provided a large three degree field of
view. This RFT was used for visual observations of Halley's Comet, and gave spectacular views of other deep
sky objects as well. It remained there until 2002, when it was replaced by the 7-inch Questar. So, the
12-inch Meade SCT is the fourth telescope residing on the GAC GGAO pier, and the second 12-inch telescope.
The other telescope in the GAC observatory is a 12-inch F/5.8 Newtonian, that has always been where it is
now since the early 60s, when it was completed by GAC members. All the parts for that scope, except for the
eyepieces, where made by GAC members. One of the original officers of the GAC was Dr. Jaylee Mead, who has
been retired several years now, she told me that back in 1961 NASA thought astronomy was very important, even
though astronomical observations by NASA was still in its infancy. This is why the GAC was so popular when it
started nearly 50 years ago.
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GGAO Star Party for GAC members held November 12th - by Cornelis F. du Toit
Just a note that we had a very successful star party on Friday night November 12th. Several of our club members
as well as some from the photography club attended. The weather was absolutely perfect - clear skies with no wind.
The crispness of the skies allowed us to view several nebulae without any problem - the sky glow and oxygen III
filters helped, of course. It was about 1st quarter moon, which hindered deepsky viewing a little, but the moon itself
is always a good target at this stage in its phases. Jupiter and Uranus were some of the objects
to be seen. I must say, having two 12" scopes available for use (one being computerized), plus all the eyepieces and
filters, makes it an absolute pleasure to use the observatory. The Meade 12" LX200 manual is available for download/
browsing on our website, and
there is also an extra hard copy at the observatory. The observatory has a Tirion star atlas available, which is rather
detailed, but we plan to add some more basic observing aids soon. I want to thank everybody who has worked hard to get
the observatory to this stage, especially Howard, Armen and John Bichell.
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Early Leonids, Taurid Fireball, and Comet 103P/Hartley 2 - by G.W.Gliba
We were able to get to our cabin on South Branch Mountain at Mountain Meadows in Mathias, West Virginia to observe
comet 103P/Hartley 2 and also several meteors, including some early Leonids and a nice Fireball between
periods of clouds on the nights of November 13/14, and 14/15. Lynne and I also got some good looks at several nice open
star clusters, the moon, and comet 103P/Hartley 2 with our 5.3-inch F/8 Newtonian and 12x63 binoculars. I was also able
to get in a couple hours in of formal meteor observing after moonset the first night.
Comet 103P/Hartley 2 was seen on both nights through the broken clouds. Although we got a better view of it on the night
of November 13/14, I was able to see it through a sucker hole the next night and noticed its motion from the previous
night. It was about 6th magnitude. I tried, but couldn't see it with the naked-eye in Hydra either night. Although it was
smaller, it was still rather diffuse and about 5 arcminutes in extent, with a 1 arcminute moderately condensed central
condensation being seen with the 5.3-inch telescope.
Before midnight on the night of November 13/14, I was able to see a nice slow 2nd magnitude Andromedid meteor going north.
These meteors are considered fairly rare; so I felt lucky to see it. At 12:34 am EST, after looking at comet Hartley 2, I saw
a very nice Southern Taurid Fireball that was about -4 magnitude and low in the NNW near the star Gamma Cygni, also known as Sadr,
or Pitcher's Mound. It gave off sparks and had a yellow-green-blue color. Later, I was able to observe meteors from 1:55 am
EST until 3:55 am EST and saw 28 meteors, but only 4 were Leonids. Other than sporadics, most of the meteors were Taurids, with
5 seen from the Northern Taurids, and 2 seen from the Southern Taurids. The best meteor of the session was a nice -1 magnitude
yellow-green Northern Taurid seen at 2:38 am EST. The best of the four Leonids seen was a 0 magnitude yellow Leonid seen at
2:10 am EST that had a 2 second train. The observing conditions were only fair to good, with a limiting magnitude average of
6.0 with 5% clouds and some haze. Both nights were still not bad considering the conditions.
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