The Valley SkyWatcher Magazine

A Publication of the Chagrin Valley Astronomical Society

P.O. Box 11 Chagrin Falls, Ohio 44022

December 2001 Edition

All members of CVAS and the OTAA are encouraged to contribute ideas, articles, images and observation reports for possible inclusion in future issues of this monthly update and in the quarterly editions of The Valley SkyWatcher.
 

December Meeting Summary:

No new members at the December meeting:

TREASURY:

Bank Account: $3527

Petty Cash: $93

Land Fund: CLOSED (All funds for the land purchase will go into the general fund and payments on the land contract will be taken from that fund)

Observatory Director:

Marty was not present but submitted the following information via email to Larry Boros;

Last Friday, the old power supplies and controller were removed and the new controller was mounted on the front of the pier. The 110 volt wiring was redone and 4 duplex outlets were added to the base of the pier. Two are line conditioned by a busk-boost transformer for use with voltage sensitive equipment like the scope controller.

The computer in the scope controller is connected to the other general purpose PC via an Ethernet connection. This permits the PC to act as the keyboard and monitor for the scope controller. That way the PC can issue commands directly to the scope controller and see the display output. There is also a comm port to comm port connection that will let the ECU or another program see the scope controller as a serially connected LX-200. This allows point and click goto operation and visual display of the scope position. ………  The scope controller will also accept a standard autoguider connection. I plan on adding an index switch to the RA worm. This will enable the permanent periodic error correction capability of the scope control software to be used.

…………..I made an executive decision as Obs. Direstor and removed the sides from the siege tower and stored the parts in the shed. It was working apart and becoming dangerous to use IMHO. There are better and easier to use alternatives to reach the eyepiece on the 16 inch.

Newsletter:

The newsletter editor is looking for any information on the history of the hill for a future edition of the quarterly. Members that have photographs, stories, history of the hill or the scope and how CVAS obtained it or anything else related to the history of IHO are asked to contact John at jsoltis@voyager.net.

The Winter quarterly of the SkyWatcher should be in every ones hands by now, if you have not received yours let me know and I will get one out to you.

Observations:

UPCOMING:

Mars remains due south but is only approximately 7 arc seconds in diameter now and is not particularly good viewing. It is approximately 40 degrees above the horizon.

Saturn is at Opposition and is due south at approximately midnight and rises to about 70 degrees above the horizon. Saturn itself is roughly 21 arc seconds and the rings are 47 arc seconds. This is a good opportunity to view five of Saturn’s moons.

Jupiter, as it has for a while now, is rising approximately 2 hours behind Saturn, approximately 7 PM.

Venus will have passed behind the Sun in about 2 more weeks and will be out of sight for some time.

We have a chance to view an interesting Solar eclipse on December 14th beginning at 4:11 Pm and until sunset. This eclipse should reach about 25% coverage of the Sun. Because this eclipse will occur so late in the day it may provide and interesting sight. As always, even though the Sun will be very low in the sky, be sure to wear adequate eye protection.

This solar eclipse will be followed my a lunar penumbral eclipse on the 31st at approximately 5:30 AM.

Comet Linear c2001WM1 now appears as 5th magnitude and is in Cetus and will soon be moving into Sculptor. It’s apparent motion is currently 2 to 3 degrees per day. S&T has finder charts in the magazine and at their website. It should reappear in the spring in Sag.

The Geminid meteor shower will be the night of December 13th and into the morning of the 14th. Look for a rate of approximately 30 per hour. Gemini is an early riser so a late night should not be necessary to get a good show.

RECENT:

In the last months the heavens have really provided us with spectacular sights. The Leonids were as special as predicted, if not more so. Reports of hourly counts in the hundreds were made by many of our members and elsewhere even higher counts were reported. If you missed this years Leonids do not despair, many of the same astronomers who predicted this years spectacle are now predicting a similar or better display next year on November 19th.

Not to be outdone by the meteors, the Sun gave us two excellent auroral displays this month. Jim Brownfield called the display on the 6th as the best he has ever seen (Bob Modic put it in his top 4). The best, that is, until the next display on the 24th. Images taken by several of our members of both these spectacular events can be found via links on the CVAS homepage.

Old Business:

On the light pollution front, John had some success getting a Lube Stop in Chesterland to reduce their outdoor lighting. After John spoke to the owner he put all his outdoor spotlights on a timer which turns them off at 9:30 each night.

Also on the subject of light pollution, Larry Boros had the following letter published in the Plain Dealer Sunday Magazine, December 2nd;

Carolyn Jack’s article on lighting was very educational [Let There Be Light, October 28].

There is a need for more science to be used in lighting installations because High Intensity Discharge (HID) lighting is becoming much more powerful. I became aware of this need as a lighting engineer, an amateur astronomer and a 57-year-old person whose vision is not what it used to be.

In 1999, I almost ran over a boy skateboarding down the middle of a street in my neighborhood. I would have seen him in plenty of time if it were not for the glare from the colonial-style streetlight that was positioned at the bend in the road. As a result, I helped persuade First Energy to offer full-cut-off lighting fixtures for residential streets and roadways as a no-cost option. Full-cut-off lighting also puts more light on the ground and wastes less energy into the sky, which causes light pollution. City ordinances were enacted in Mentor and South Euclid to improve the quality of life by reducing glare and light trespass.

For more information on this subject, contact the International Dark-Sky Association, 3225 North First Avenue, Tucson AZ 85719, 520-293-3198, or visit their website, www.darksky.org/~ida/.

                                                                                                                                    Lawrence A. Boros

                                                                                                                                                Mentor

New Business:

Art Stokes, former President of the AAVSO and original owner of the 16” scope at IHO has passed away. In addition to being an accomplished inventor and scientist Art was a good friend to CVAS and many of our members.

Larry has prepared a 49-point checklist, which he passed out at the meeting, of items that need to be accomplished by CVAS. The list is to provide a way for the membership to assign priorities for the next 3 years at CVAS. Obviously, not all the items on the list can be accomplished simultaneously so Larry wants the membership to assign priorities so that we can maximize our efforts in several areas and avoid wasting our efforts on items that later turn out to be of a low priority.

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Updated December 3, 2001