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MAY 2018

UPCOMING EVENTS

Wednesday, May 2 - Regular PAC meeting @ 6:30 PM in the Davis Learning Center, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Andrew Odell will present “Serendipity in Astronomy”. Andy will describe people finding things they had no intention of finding, often studying something very mundane, and making a major discovery.

Friday, May 4 - Camp Wamatochick @ 8:00 PM, star party for 80 7th and 8th graders from Camelback Kiwanis Club, Phoenix. Sign up at May 2 meeting.

Wednesday, May 9 - METASIG @ 5:00 PM at local restaurant. Sign up at May 2 meeting.

Saturday, May 12 - Starry Nights @ 8:30 PM at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Sign up at May 2 meeting.

Thursday, May 17 - Third Thursday Presentation @ 6:00 PM in the Founder's Suite, Prescott Public Library. Dr. Gerard van Belle, Lowell Observatory, will present “Observational Interferometry at Lowell”. What happens when light from a distant star or galaxy is captured by a reflecting or refracting telescope? Dr. van Belle will explore the manipulation of light that happens inside modern optical equipment. Increasing the sensitivity and resolution of next-generation telescopes will be explored, including the Navy Precision Optical Interferometer and the DSSI speckle camera on Lowell’s Discovery Channel Telescope. Initial results from these advanced devices will be presented, with a discussion of prospects for future discoveries.

Wednesday, May 23 - Board meeting @ 6:00 PM in the Elsea Conference Room at the Prescott Public Library.

2018 BUDGET & PAC PICNIC FUNDING APPROVAL

Both the PAC 2018 budget and a $500 funding request for the 2018 member picnic (to be held in September) will be presented to club members at the May 2 general club meeting. Both the

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budget and funding request require a vote of approval from club members at the meeting.

ASTRONOMICAL LEAGUE OUTREACH AWARDS

At the April 4 general meeting, ten club members were recognized for their contributions to the club’s public outreach and were awarded the Astronomical League’s certificate and pin for the Outreach Award. The individuals were:

John Baesmann Dennis Eaton

Kathleen Eaton Douglas Tilley

Patrick Birck Neil Stockton

David Viscio Jerry Shaw

Joel Cohen John Carter

FOR SALE TO CLUB MEMBERS - CELESTRON NEXSTAR 8-INCH SCT

The Prescott Astronomy Club is offering for sale a Celestron telescope. Members who wish to buy it will have until May 31 to submit a sealed bid to John Baesemann (7295 N. Viewscape

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Drive, Prescott Valley, 86315). When the bid period has ended, bids will be opened and the member submitting the highest bid will be able to purchase the scope for his/her bid price. If there are no successful bids the item will be offered to the public at a higher price. The following is a description of the scope and accessories.

Celestron Nexstar 8-inch aperture, f/10, Schmidt-Cassegrain catadioptric. This is the original Nexstar, which doesn’t have some of the features of later models. It is a go-to scope with tracking.

Optical tube and mount weigh 24 lbs.

Celestron tripod, red dot finder, and hand controller

Power required –12 volts; has Delta Electronics AC to 12-volt, 3 Amp converter

Celestron diagonal -- 1 1/4"

Eyepieces: all 1 1/4" in a padded Orion case

Celestron 40mm Plossl, Meade 26mm Super Plossl, University Optics 32mm Koning

Barlow – 2X Celestron

Filters 1 ¼-inch: Celestron LPR, Meade #58, 80A, 23A

Original Celestron manual and The NexStar User’s Guide, by Michael Swanson

The minimum bid price to members is $350. Anyone who is interested in seeing the telescope can contact Patrick Birck (pbirck@cableone.net) to arrange a mutually convenient time.

WHAT’S IT LIKE INSIDE MARS? By Jessica Stoller-Conrad

Mars is Earth’s neighbor in the solar system. NASA’s robotic explorers have visited our neighbor quite a few times. By orbiting, landing and roving on the Red Planet, we’ve learned so much about Martian canyons, volcanoes, rocks and soil. However, we still don’t know exactly what Mars is like on the inside. This information could give scientists some really important clues about how Mars and the rest of our solar system formed.

This spring, NASA is launching a new mission to study the inside of Mars. It’s called Mars InSight. InSight—short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat

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Transport—is a lander. When InSight lands on Mars later this year, it won’t drive around on the surface of Mars like a rover does. Instead, InSight will land, place instruments on the ground nearby and begin collecting information.

Just like a doctor uses instruments to understand what’s going on inside your body, InSight will use three science instruments to figure out what’s going on inside Mars.

One of these instruments is called a seismometer. On Earth, scientists use seismometers to study the vibrations that happen during earthquakes. InSight’s seismometer will measure the vibrations of earthquakes on Mars—known as marsquakes. We know that on Earth, different materials vibrate in different ways. By studying the vibrations from marsquakes, scientists hope to figure out what materials are found inside Mars.

InSight will also carry a heat probe that will take the temperature on Mars. The heat probe will dig almost 16 feet below Mars’ surface. After it burrows into the ground, the heat probe will measure the heat coming from the interior of Mars. These measurements can also help us understand where Mars’ heat comes from in the first place. This information will help scientists figure out how Mars formed and if it’s made from the same stuff as Earth and the Moon.

Scientists know that the very center of Mars, called the core, is made of iron. But what else is in there? InSight has an instrument called the Rotation and Interior Structure Experiment, or RISE, that will hopefully help us to find out.

Although the InSight lander stays in one spot on Mars, Mars wobbles around as it orbits the Sun. RISE will keep track of InSight’s location so that scientists will have a way to measure these wobbles. This information will help determine what materials are in Mars’ core and whether the core is liquid or solid.

InSight will collect tons of information about what Mars is like under the surface. One day, these new details from InSight will help us understand more about how planets like Mars—and our home, Earth—came to be.

For more information about earthquakes and marsquakes, visit: https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/earthquakes

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An artist's illustration showing a possible inner structure of Mars. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

LET'S PARTY FOR MAY Astronomical objects for public (and private) star parties. by Fulton Wright, Jr.

Flashy, deep-sky objects, visible in the middle of the month, at the end of astronomical twilight, 8:00 PM in March, (when it really gets dark). This list customized for Prescott, Arizona, should work well anywhere in the state, and be usable anywhere in the old 48 states.

Double Stars (2 or 3 stars, close together)

Alpha Geminorum (Castor, SAO 60198, bright) Mag: 1.6 & 3.0, Sep: 5 arc-sec R.A.: 7hr 35min, Dec.: +31deg 53'

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Gamma Virginis (Porimma, SAO 138917) Mag: 3.5 & 3.5, Sep: 3 arc-sec R.A.: 12hr 42min, Dec.: -1deg 27' Gamma Leonis (Algiba, SAO 81298) Mag: 2.2 & 3.6, Sep: 5 arc-sec R.A.: 10hr 20min, Dec.: +19deg 51'

Open Clusters (about 50 bright stars)

M 48 (NGC 2548) Mag: 5.8, Size: 30 arc-min R.A.: 8hr 14min, Dec.: -5deg 45' M 67 (NGC 2682) Mag: 6.9, Size: 25 arc-min R.A.: 8hrs 51min, Dec.: 11deg 48' M 44 (Beehive Cluster, Praesepe, NGC 2632, binocular object) Mag: 3.1, Size: 70 arc-min R.A.: 8hr 40min, Dec.: +19deg 40'

Globular Clusters (about 200,000 dim stars) (this is not a good season for globulars.)

M 3 (NGC 5272) Mag: 6.2, Size: 18 arc-min R.A.: 13hrs 42min, Dec.: +28deg 23' M 53 (NGC 5024) Mag: 7.6, Size: 13 arc-min R.A.: 13hr 13min, Dec.: +18deg 10' M 13 (Hercules Cluster, NGC 6205) Mag: 5.8, Size: 20 arc-min R.A.: 16hrs 42min, Dec.: +36deg 28'

Galaxies (about 200,000,000 very dim and distant stars)

M 82 and M 81 (Bode's nebula, NGC 3031 and NGC 3034) Mag: 6.8 and 8.1, Size: 21 x 11, 11 x 5 arc-min, 37 arc-min apart R.A.: 9hrs 55min, Dec.: +69deg 55'

M 104 (Sombrero Galaxy, NGC 4594) Mag: 8.2, Size: 8 arc-minutes R.A.: 12hrs 40min, Dec.: -11deg 37'

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M 51 (Whirlpool Galaxy, NGC 5194, low but rising) Mag: 8.0, Size: 14 x 12 arc-min R.A.: 13hrs 30min, Dec.: +47deg 12' M 65, M 66, NGC 3628 (trio of galaxies), (NGC 3623, NGC 3627, ----) Mag: 9.2, 9.0, 9.2, Sizes: 8 x 2, 10 x 5, 11 x 3 arc-min, (in a field of 40 arc-min) R.A.: 11hr 20min, Dec.: +13deg 20'

Diffuse Nebulae (Gas and dust lit by a nearby star. This is not the season for nebulae.)

none available Planetary Nebulae (gas shell from exploding star, looks like Uranus in telescope)

NGC 2392 (Eskimo Nebula) Mag: 9.2, Size: 0.8 arc-min R.A.: 7hrs 29min, Dec.: +20deg 55' NGC 3242 (Ghost of Jupiter Nebula, Caldwell 59) Mag: 7.3, Size: 0.7 arc-min R.A.: 10hr 25min, Dec.: -18deg 39' NGC 6543 (Cat's Eye Nebula, Caldwell 6) Mag: 8.1, Size: 0.4 arc-min R.A.: 17hrs 59min, Dec.: +66deg 38'

NEED TO KNOW - ASK A MEMBER

A new 15-minute segment is being added to the regular general meetings where members can have their ‘burning’ questions answered by other knowledgeable members. If you have an astronomy related question you would like explained, submit the question to Jeff Stillman (jstillman50@cableone.net). You can also bring up the question at the meeting.

BOOKS AND MAGAZINES

Over the years astronomy books have been donated to PAC. Boxes of these books will be available at the regular meetings. For a donation to PAC of $1 per book, anyone can have a book. Books that are not purchased at a regular meeting will be available at the following Third Thursday programs. Any remaining unsold books will be donated to the

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Friends of the Prescott Public Library. We also have copies of past Sky and Telescope magazine. These will be available to any member wishing to take them. Unclaimed magazines will be recycled.

FOR SALE

Please visit the Classified Ads section of the club website to view the items posted there for sale:

http://prescottastronomyclub.org/classified-ads/

New items are added now and then, so don’t miss out on something that you would like to get for yourself...or a friend.

PAC MENTORS

If you need advice on the purchase of astronomy equipment, setting up equipment, astrophotography, etc., contact a PAC mentor.

Jeff Stillman - Astrophotography - (928) 379-7088

David Viscio - General - (928) 775-2918

Greg Lutes - Visual Observing - (928) 445-4430

Joel Cohen - Beginner’s Astronomy: Selecting & Using a Telescope - (856) 889-6496

Bill McDonald - Video Observing

John Carter - Video Observing - (928) 458-0570

OBSERVING LISTS

Observing lists are available in PDF format on the PAC website to provide guidance and goals for visual and astrophotography programs.

Astroleague Lunar 100 Binocular Showpieces

Bright Nebulae Caldwell

Dunlop 100 Face-On Spiral Galaxies

Globular Clusters Herschel 400

Herschel II Hidden Treasures

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Messier Open Clusters

Planet Maps Planetary Nebulae

Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Finest NGC

Saguaro Astronomy Club Best NGC S&T Lunar 100

Telescope Showpieces The Secret Deep

PAC WEBSITE & YAHOO GROUPS

Website: http://www.prescottastronomyclub.org

E-mail: mailto:pacinfo@prescottastronomyclub.org

Astrophotography special interest group:

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/pacastrophotography/info

BOARD OF DIRECTORS President: Jeff Stillman At Large: Pat Bledsoe Vice President: John Carter At Large: Dennis Eaton Secretary: Doug Tilley At Large: Adam England Treasurer: John Baesemann At Large: Joel Cohen

PAC COORDINATORS Astronomical League Coordinator: Pat Birck Facebook: Adam England Highland Center Coordinator: David Viscio Hospitality: Cory Shaw Magazine Subscriptions: John Baesemann Membership: John Baesemann METASIG: Marilyn Unruh Newsletter: David Viscio PAC Affiliate Partner w/ NAU Space Grant Program – Jerry & Cory Shaw PAC Store Sales: John & Laura Verderame Refreshments: Liz Dano Property Records: Doug Tilley Publicity: Adam England

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Schools & Camps Outreach: Pat Birck Starry Nights Coordinator: Pat Birck Third Thursday Coordinator: Cory Shaw & Pat Birck Webmaster: Russell Chappell

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ASTRONOMY PICTURE OF THE DAY: April 22, 2018

METEOR OVER CRATER LAKE

Image Credit & Copyright: Brad Goldpaint (Goldpaint Photography)

Did you see it? One of the more common questions during a meteor shower occurs because the time it takes for a meteor to flash is typically less than the time it takes for a head to turn. Possibly, though, the glory of seeing bright meteors shoot across and knowing that they were once small granules on another world might make it all worthwhile, even if your observing partner(s) could not share in every particular experience. The Lyrids meteor shower exhibits as many as 20 visible meteors per hour from some locations. In the featured composite of nine exposures taken during the 2012 shower, a bright Lyrid meteor streaks above picturesque Crater Lake in Oregon, USA. Snow covers the foreground, while the majestic central band of our home galaxy arches well behind the serene lake. Other meteor showers this year -- and every year -- include the Perseids in mid-August and the Leonids in mid-November