Stories Wanted: Gemini is written entirely by our members, for our members! Gemini needs your stories… how you first became interested in astronomy, how your interest has evolved over the years, equipment you use, star parties and events you’ve attended here and elsewhere, how you’ve encouraged others — especially young people — to get involved in this fascinating hobby. Submit your stories to: padrebrown1934@gmail.com

E-mail Update: If your e-mail address has recently changed, chances are your address used for MAS email distribu-tion lists is not current. Please inform Bob Brose of your new e-mail address at bob@qbjnet.com

June 2016Volume 41 Number 3a publication of the Minnesota Astronomical Society

In the pages of the Gemini

How to Get Out of Shoveling Snow

by Gary “Pablo” RushAbout three years ago, after turning 60, I developed an aversion to cold and

an interest in not having to shovel snow. However, I also knew that I am most happy when helping others. Doing cruise ships or sitting on the beach was of little interest to me. So I reconnected with a project in Antigua, Guatemala; they invited me to return as a short-term volunteer for a couple months starting in March of 2014. I had volunteered with this project in the 1990s up through 1999.

As one of my goals was still cold weather avoidance, spending January and February of 2014 waiting for my March start date was not acceptable. Since I had recently started bicycle-riding again and had met individuals who had ridden their bicycles across the USA, I decided to return to Guatemala via ten-speed bicycle.

Near the Mexican/Guatemalan border I met wonderful families and friends; one of them rode his bicycle with me from Playa Linda, Mexico, into Guatemala. The next year, when I was again invited to return for a couple of months of volunteering in Antigua, I drove my old 1990 Ford Ranger and reconnected with my friends in Playa Linda.

Somehow they knew of my arrival date from Guatemala in June of 2015 and prepared an outdoor barbecue in my honor. When they saw my old rusty 1990 Ford Ranger, they flagged me down before I could even check into the hotel. I ate my first barbecue-banana dessert and again experienced the warm hugs and friendship that made me want to spend more time in the future near Tapachula, Chiapas. One of my friends offered to spend the next day guiding me from one nonprofit to another. However, by the end of the day it became obvious that there were only paid employee positions—no place for someone to donate his time. He told me to come back anyway, stay at his uncle’s beachfront two-story home with pool, and perhaps develop my own program offering.

So this year I looked for a volunteer opportunity which would get me out of the snowy Minnesota winter. I am writing this from Mission Mexico, a children’s refuge in Tapachula,.

Lots of Things Have Been Happening By Merle Hiltnerr…Page 3

Messier Marathon 2016: Bold and ColdBy Jerry Jones, MAS observing chair…Page 5

Thank You for Astronomy Day By Clayton Lindsey…Page 6

Transit of Mercury Photographs By Bill Glass…Page 6

Combining Lawn-Mowing with Astrophotography

By Michael Regouski…Page 8

Perfect Timing By Steve Baranski…Page 8

MAS Patron Members…Page 9Directions to Star Party

Locations…Page 10

MAS Board Minutes for March and April

By Jerry Jones, secretary…Page 10

MAS 2016 Star Party Schedule…Page 11

Minnesota Astronomical Society

GEMINI INFOEditorsBrian Litecky and Eugene Brown

WebmasterMAS Web Committee, chair Merle Hiltner, webteam@lists.mnastro.org

Forums AdministratorRuss Durkee

E-mail List AdministratorBob Brose

Monthly Meeting Presenter CoordinatorLauren Nelson

Gemini is published 6 times annually by the Minnesota Astronomical Soci-ety.

Electronic submissions for Gemini may be sent to:blitecky@gmail.compadrebrown1934@gmail.com

Hardcopy items should be sent to:Minnesota Astronomical Society

Attn: Gemini P.O. Box 14931

Minneapolis, MN 55414

Send MAS membership dues, chang-es of address and S&T subscriptions to the MAS Membership Coordina-tor. Astronomy magazine subscrip-tions are available by contacting the MAS Treasurer.

MAS Board Members

President: Clayton Lindsey E-Mail: ClaytonLindsey@comcast.net Phone: 651-231-5619Vice President: Jim Harstad E-Mail: JamesLHarstad@gmail.com Phone: 218-410-1117Treasurer: Heather Birch

Secretary: Jerry Jones E-Mail: jjones7777@aol.com Phone: 651-439-1877

Board-Member at Large: Suresh Sreenivasan E-Mail: sureshks1@msn.com Phone: 612-671-3388Board-Member at Large: Valts Treibergs E-Mail: vtreibergs@gmail.com Phone: 651-762-8285

2GEMINI • www.mnastro.org

I learned about the refuge while doing a Google search for nonprofits. I am having a wonderful, very fulfilling time—better than anything I could have imagined. In addition, I still use the wonderful home in Playa Linda on Saturday nights after we share an evening of storytelling, dinner, and meeting some of the local residents. One night they insisted that I try to pedal a three-wheeled taxi through town with their poodle dog as my passenger! We usually sing songs with my guitar in English and Spanish under the street lamp until bedtime. I counted 16 kids and adults in our impromptu sing-along.

Some of my skills, like being a Minnesota-licensed substitute teacher for 16 years, came in handy a few days after my arrival, when home-school teacher Kim needed three-and-a-half-days of personal leave. The home school was started at the refuge for some of the children who were not learning in the public school system. It presently has six students ranging in age from five to 15. Many of these children have learning problems. Teaching different age groups in one room was a new challenge to me—one that you might find in our own rural one-room schoolhouses. Memories of “Little House on the Prairie” come to mind.

After subbing for three days, I offered to continue to do kindergarten work with five-year-old Chris so the regular teacher would be free to work with the older children. I had not read Green Eggs and Ham in decades, but I thoroughly enjoyed it—even in Spanish. I seem to learn as much as I teach, never having taught reading or math in Spanish before. Every week I am amazed at how my student learns a bit more and is beginning to recognize word patterns.

In the afternoons, after a 2:00 p.m. lunch, I have music classes in which I offer guitar, ukulele, recorder and piano lessons. (The Casio CTK-810 died during a piano lesson last week.) In addition, as I had been choir director in Long Prairie, Minnesota, from 2001 to 2008, I am teaching my favorite Spanish hymns, which are sung by Mexicans on either side of the border. With our upcoming Holy Week and Easter celebration, we want the children to re-enact Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter with these same songs, many of which are new to them.

Although I have two grown married kids, I have no grandchildren. Having the opportunity to work with this large family of over 30 children is addressing the need one has in older years of trying to pass on what one has learned and what one values.

The piano is out for repair, our amplifier needs fixing and the drums need new drumheads. If you might be able to send a few shekels my way, in the name of the children’s refuge on the Mexican/Guatemalan border, I know the cash would be well used. I include a site to make donations in cash from the USA using PayPal. If you could mention either my name or the music program, the donation will do good in the area where I have been volunteering and would be most appreciated. The site is: http://lovelifehope.com/donate/

If your economic circumstances prevent you from donating, just keep me in your prayers.

While volunteering in this warm climate, away from the snows of Minnesota, I have occasionally been able to indulge my hobby of astronomy. The stars, as I see them on a Saturday night when I am free to spend time with my friends in Playa Linda, look a lot like the ones at home, but they only come out when the air temperature drops—often not until 2:30 a.m. Up until then, imagine a hot pot of soup where the steam blocks visibility until some time after the heat source (the Sun) is removed.

Last night was such a night, after having dinner with my friends, swimming in the surf, soaking in their pool and taking a nap in my hammock. About 2:30 a.m., beginning with the constellations directly overhead and eventually spreading to within ten degrees of the horizon, I had views that made me wish I had brought at least

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binoculars along. However, those last ten degrees next to the horizon never opened up. No view of Triangulum Australe was possible.

The unobstructed view to the south and west was quite spectacular, while the Mexican Navy Base to the north and some security street lamps to the east washed out the sky above the Playa Linda city beach. I sat on a steep mound of sand made from the waves and high tide and barely moved for two hours while noting down my observations and listening to the surf. To begin with, Rigel Kentaurus and Hadar placed an imaginary marker to the south. The triangle formed by Spica, Antares and Arcturus was almost overhead. An imaginary line between Antares and Spica could be extended to include Jupiter.

I could easily view Shaula to the right of the cloud of stars and Nunki beneath and to the left of this cloud before again

seeing shore lights. In the north and northwest, due to newly reconnected street lamps—getting ready for the big party during Holy Week for those who decide to go to the beach instead of church—the first 20 degrees of sky were washed out. This still allowed me to see the Big Dipper handle and pointer stars. Polaris was not visible, nor was anything more than the top of the cup on the Little Dipper.

Even if I could have seen Polaris, it is very close to the horizon and probably useless for setting up a polar alignment. This is something to think about next year if I decide to pack any astrophotography tools. I would love to make a time-exposure of the surf and the stars, so I will need to understand a bit more about aligning in this latitude. I trust that the snow will be gone when I return to Minnesota.

Lots of Things Have Been Happening

By Merle HiltnerIt’s been a busy 2016 so far. Over the past six weeks there

have been a number of events of interest to MAS, its members and guests. The first event, on April 21, was the Kaufmanis Lecture Series presentation, “Supernovae and the Discovery of the Accelerating Universe,” by Nobel Laureate Adam Riess. This was an incredible presentation explaining the discovery of the accelerating universe from the man doing the math. There was a standing-room-only crowd that included several MAS members. I could elaborate further, but I’ll simply give you the online link,

via the discussion forum, for you to see for yourself: http://forums.mnastro.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8801#p42805

The following day, April 22, was the official groundbreaking for the new Bell Museum and Planetarium. Since the closing of the Minneapolis Planetarium in 2002, many of us have been waiting for this day. With all the pomp and circumstance a ceremonial turning of the earth can muster, it’s great to see this project finally get started. Several MAS members witnessed the kickoff event for what will undoubtedly be a state-of-the-art facility. Parke Kunkle invited several of us to an unofficial groundbreaking for the planetarium on May 1, where a little more

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dirt was turned and a few brews were hoisted in celebration. I was at the very last show on the very last day of the old planetarium. I can’t wait to be there on the first day of the new museum and planetarium in 2018.

It was brought to MAS members’ attention via the discussion forums that the International Space Station was to transit the Sun on May 4. The path was from the northwest to the southeast metro, from Osseo and Columbia Heights to St Paul and Woodbury. I found a park in Roseville on the centerline and was able to get three frames with the ISS in front of the Sun. I was at the exact location and got an image as the ISS passed between us and the Sun; the duration was less than one second. Several other MAS members also accomplished this. Their images are posted on the discussion forum at http://forums.mnastro.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=8891. Many thanks to Mark Connolly for bringing this to our attention.

We had a first for MAS and the Eagle Lake Observatory as two of our members were married there. Lilah and Chris Blinkman exchanged vows to the backdrop of telescopes and uniformed MAS members at the Star-Trek-themed event. In the words of Lilah:

On May 7, Chris and I were married at Eagle Lake Observatory. The weather was gorgeous and the evening was just as beautiful. Ours was a small, private ceremony with immediate family and a few of our closest friends. We also had the help of five MAS members—Merle Hiltner, Dave Falkner, Clayton Lindsey, Roy Sarver and Bob Benson—whom we would like to thank. We cannot express how appreciative we are of their help and presence on our special day. They did much more than simply show up and run telescopes for our guests; we are truly grateful for them. In addition, we would like to thank the Minnesota Astronomical Society for allowing us to have our wedding at Eagle Lake Observatory and for being so supportive and kind throughout the last year and a half. We have met some great people, learned a lot, and become a part of something very special and dear to us. We hired a wonderful photographer for our special day, and we plan on sharing a lot of the photos when we get them printed and put into albums. In the meantime, watch for a few pictures, as well as a fuller article about our wedding, in the August issue of Gemini. Lilah and Chris Blinkman

Look for the feature article on this special event from Dave Falkner in the August issue of Gemini that will include more photos.

After the wedding, reception and star party, after the buildings were closed up and everyone else had left, I was making one last check before I would call it a night. That’s when I noticed very bright Northern Lights spanning from northwest to northeast, to an altitude of nearly 60 degrees. I stayed more than an hour taking as many pictures as I could before the Aurora began to fade. It was a memorable day topped off with nature’s fireworks.

The transit of Mercury was on May 9. The weather forecast was not favorable for our planned transit party at ELO; it was predicted to be raining all day. This dismal forecast prompted me to cancel the event, but thankfully not everyone got the message. Dave Falkner arrived at ELO before 6:00 a.m. with several visitors hoping to get a glimpse of the transit. The clouds were thin enough to get early views, and Dave got a few pictures before the clouds blocked any further sightings.

I woke to veiled sunshine and headed to ELO with hopes that there would be at least a chance to see the event through the telescopes. I took a few handheld pictures on my way to ELO, but my hopes faded as skies became completely overcast west of Savage. Despite being clouded out, those who made the trek to ELO were able to view the transit thanks to streaming websites, while others turned the transit into a work party to complete some finish work in the HotSpot classroom.

Other MAS members had better luck. Those at J. J. Casby were able to see the transit through the 10'' refractor, as could others who live on the east side of the Cities. The best location in Minnesota was along the North Shore, where Mark Connolly,

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M1 M110

Messier Marathon 2016: Bold and Cold

By Jerry Jones, MAS observing chairAs always, the first spring star party is a crap-shoot as to

whether it will actually happen. Our beloved weather can be so difficult to count on. Needless to say, the start of the 2016 observing season was no different. April 8 felt more like March 8; it even snowed in the morning. Both NOAA and the Canadian Clear Sky Chart agreed: after 9:00 p.m. it will clear and the winds will settle down. Since the winds were at least 15 mph when I arrived at CGO around 7:00 p.m., I was counting on that prediction. Those of us who were there early (Vic H., Steve E. and Dave V.) were not convinced being here was a good idea. But anytime the Americans and the Canadians agree it must be right—and it was. By 9:30 p.m. the winds had dropped significantly and the skies were really crisping up. By 10:30 the skies were turning into some of the best I had ever seen at CGO. It was, however, cold. More on that later.

There were quite a number of us brave, crazy ones—old, average, and a few younger astronomers as well. It’s always great to see the breath of life that finds fulfillment in looking up. All told, I would estimate about 20. Nine of us participated in the actual Messier Marathon. While the clouds did not clear out quickly enough to nab the early objects, and many people left early due to

the cold, the number of Messier objects logged was respectable. Some of us observed just enough to win a lanyard (you know who you are), while others really went for it. Our top Messier Marathoner was the newbie Rebecca Robinson with 51; she just edged out old-timer Dave Falkner, who left a bit too early with 50. In second place was Kris Setnes with 45, and third place went to first-timer Eric Robinson with 34. Due to the crazy weather at the beginning of the evening (I’ve never seen the warming house so crowded), the bulk of us just enjoyed being under the stars, marveling at the incredible transparency. Personally, I bagged 13 Herschel 400 objects, most of which were star-hopped. Even magnitude 12 galaxies were literally popping out with hardly any averted vision necessary. Nice. Brandon Hamil treated us to his down-and-dirty method of viewing Arcturus’s spectrum. It was tough to see at first, but it was so enthralling that everyone who looked for it gasped with delight when it was seen. All in all, everyone had a great time.

The last Mohicans left around 3:15 a.m. with the skies still positively brilliant. As will often happen when the last ones are the old, the temps got to us. Around 2:30 a.m., the frost descended and covered everything. Those smart old ones had our dew heaters ready but alas, the temps were just too much. Our car thermometers registered around 19º. Cold, but totally, totally worth it.

Mark Job and Steve Baranski made the trip to see the entire event. See Steve’s and Mark Connolly’s articles in this issue of Gemini.

Finally, Astronomy Day was on May 14 at ELO. The speakers were: Dave Falkner, “Update on New Horizons Spacecraft”; Nancy Rauschenberg, “The Moon—Our Nearest Neighbor”; Michael Kauper, “Astronomy—the Versatile Hobby”; Park Kunkle, “Planetarium Update”; and Jake Hairrell, “What’s up Tonight.” Thanks to everyone for their presentations. After the final presentation we held the door prize drawings. Once again we had an overflow crowd as those in attendance vied for the grand prize of an 8'' Dobsonian telescope and the first prize of Celestron binoculars. The binoculars were won by Jack Ulrich

and the telescope by Laura Carlson. Congratulations to every one of the door prize winners.

Although it was windy it turned out to be a great day; we had clear skies and more solar scopes than I’ve seen at ELO since the transit of Venus in 2012. After sunset, the Moon and Jupiter dominated the evening sky, with Mars and Saturn appearing later. Thanks to everyone who attended and helped with a very successful event. Special thanks to those who gave presentations throughout the day and for the many keyholders who operated the telescopes during the night. For more on Astronomy Day, see Clayton Lindsey’s forum posting and his article in this Gemini. Photographs by Merle Hiltner

6GEMINI • www.mnastro.org

Transit of Mercury

Photographs by Bill Glass.

Thank You for Astronomy Day

By Clayton Lindsey, MAS presidentThanks to all the keyholders, speakers and volunteers for

making the recent Astronomy Day a success. The event was well attended by the public and MAS members alike. Several members brought out their personal telescopes and joined in outreach. With all the volunteers it was easy for our guests to get some one-on-one time with an astronomer, ask questions and be engaged. I am sure they had a wonderful experience and left with a greater appreciation and enthusiasm for astronomy.

Early in the day we had a nice row of solar telescopes along the southeast wall of Onan. Dave Olmstead was there with a TEC refractor, giving awesomely crisp views of the solar disk in white light. Multiple tiny sunspots were easily visible. The massive sunspot on the limb showed interesting and complex structure. Also sharing white-light views was Deane Clark with his TV-8, which proved that modest apertures can perform exceedingly well if fine optics are utilized. The views made me miss my TeleVue Pronto that I once owned. I did not get a chance to peek through Roy Sarver’s 6'' F9, but I should have. Comparing the views of a long-focal-length reflector with the refractors would have been interesting.

Mark Job and Kurt Casby brought out Lunt H-Alpha telescopes. Besides giving nice views of the Sun, it was fun seeing them comparing the images in the scopes. Mark’s slightly-larger-aperture scope made it easier to initially detect and see some of the wispy structures, but once seen they were visible in Kurt’s 90mm Lunt too. If you got a chance to look through one of these, you might want to look at the AL H-Alpha page to recognize some of the features you saw.

The strong wind that was a little annoying during the day mostly died down by evening. Jupiter and the eight-day-old Moon became the prime targets. They were approximately four degrees apart, so it was a nice visual. The clouds stayed away, and transparency was fairly good as the twilight faded. The Moon,

fairly high in the sky, proved again why it’s always such a crowd pleaser. The Straight Wall was very obvious in the telescopes. A guest even asked what it was without being prompted. More and more I see guests trying to capture photos with their smart phones. Several got a few nice keepers. Suresh Sreenivasan, Brandon Hamil and Rachel Hamil shared views along the plaza edge with multiple scopes and binoculars. They certainly come prepared. They kept a steady stream of visitors engaged late into the evening with their infectious enthusiasm. Steve and Bob ran the video rig while working to incorporate a HDTV video camera on loan. They were troubleshooting power problems, so I am not sure how far along they got with the task. However, I suspect we’ll be seeing some improved instrumentation deployed over the summer.

I saw Mark Connolly, Jim Cegla, Tim Biros, Rebecca and Eric Robinson running the various platforms. I think Eric as local expert has claimed the visual rig as his own turf. Lilah and Chris Blinkman, Merle Hiltner and Dave Falkner were there keeping things rolling, handing out door prizes, keeping the keyholders rotating and filling in where needed. Merle, Lilah and Ben Huset were everywhere with their cameras. Ben has posted many of his images on his Facebook page. Look for Lilah’s Instagram posts using mnastrosociety. Merle’s photos will likely be showing up in Gemini soon. Thanks to Dave, Michael, Jake, Nancy and Park for the time and effort put into preparing and giving presentations. It takes a lot of time and effort to put something together. Thanks for providing these key elements to our program. The classroom was well utilized. I did not get to see all the presentations, but I heard good comments from everyone.

I’m sure I am forgetting or have missed mentioning someone because the site is so big now that it’s easy to miss people. A final tip of the hat to the co-directors and ELO committee. A really nice job! Thank you for making this run so smoothly. It was another great Astronomy Day for MAS. Photographs by Merle Hiltner

6

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Road Trip to Duluth for Mercury Transit

By Mark ConnollyBecause of the poor weather predicted for the Twin Cities,

Steve Baranski suggested a road trip to Kitchi Gammi Park on the north end of Duluth. The bad weather was not predicted to hit that location until after the transit. Mark Job and I signed up for the trip. Mark drove up the night before and slept in his truck. Steve and I drove up the morning of the transit. Steve got there first and set to aligning his scope because the stars were still visible. We got there just as dawn obscured the stars. I aligned my scope on the Sun, as did Mark. Steve got great images of a fisherman and of the rising Sun just before the transit started. We were all set up and ready at 6:15 a.m. and were kept busy making sure our equipment was working properly.

I used a Nexstar 8 SE telescope on an Advanced VX mount and took photos through a Celestron .7 reducer. The camera was a Canon 7D MII controlled by my computer; I set it to take photos one a minute. I started with the Nexstar SE mount, but it froze because of what seemed to be a firmware glitch. I then quickly

switched the scope to my Advanced VX mount for the majority of the transit. I had intended to set it up with a second camera.

Mark Job had to leave at noon; Steve and I stayed for the entire event. We had several visitors because our location was on a popular walking route. One of the visitors took Steve’s photo and mentioned that he would submit it to the local paper. Another visitor took photos of our equipment . The weather was cool and windy, shaking our scopes because the small drop-off we were set up on seemed to funnel the brisk wind right at us. Winter clothing was required to stay warm. The transit was over at 1:40 p.m. We packed up and headed for home.

Photographs by Mark Connolly

Photograph by David A. SchultzTaken with a Nikon digital camera directly attached to my

8'' Meade LX 200. I had a solar filter on the telescope and the exposure was 1/100 second.

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Perfect Timing

By Steve BaranskiThe transit of Mercury was timed perfectly for visibility

from the Twin Cities. The transit would occur just after sunrise on May 9. It would be a great event at Eagle Lake Observatory. We planned to have HD video capability to show it in the classroom. This would be a wonderful event, similar to the transit of Venus a few years ago.

That was the plan. We would have great viewing of the transit. I checked the site lines for the transit time on http://app.photoephemeris.com/, the Photographer’s Ephemeris, to verify where the Sun would rise. This application allows you to select a location anywhere on the globe, using Google maps complete with satellite imagery to see where the Sun and Moon will rise and set.

This showed me that setting up on the plaza would give a clear view to the horizon, avoiding some of the taller trees in the park. I had my solar filter prepped, and I had the day off from work. This should be a wonderful outing. But then bad weather started to move in. One week out it looked questionable, and it just got worse.

On Sunday morning, with the 24-hour weather outlook, things looked bleak for the outing at ELO. No fair! I have my equipment ready and time off from work. Where do I have to go to get a clear view of the transit? Checking with the National Weather Service and confirming it with the Clear Sky Clock, it looked like north was the direction to head, but where? In what location could I set up my equipment and not have issues with access? Where can I find a clear horizon?

Lake Superior would definitely be the answer for a good northeastern horizon, and Duluth seemed far enough north to get clear skies. Again to the Photographer’s Ephemeris to check imagery of the area for good locations. Canal Park looked like

Combining Lawn-mowing with Astrophotography

By Michael RegouskiI was mowing the lawn the morning of the transit of Mercury

when I noticed that the sky wasn’t completely covered in clouds and I could see some blue areas. Fortunately, our yard is quite small, so I finished the job and decided to pull my scope out of the garage to see if I could take a few photographs before the clouds moved in for real. My setup is a Celestron 11 Edge HD on a CGE Pro mount, side by side with a Stellarvue 70mm APO Tri on top of a Televue 85mm. The whole rig is on JMI’s medium heavy-duty Wheelie Bars with the big tires, so I am able to pull my scope out of the garage and line it up with one of the cuts in the concrete of my driveway. The driveway cuts lie very close to true north and south, kind of like my own personal meridian strip.

I put my solar filters on the front of the scopes, turned the system on and did an alignment using the Sun. It was a pretty good alignment; I could see the Sun in the Televue 85 right off. I put the camera on the Televue, focused as best as I could, and started a video capture. The first video went well, as there were very few clouds visible in the preview window. It was a 60-second exposure and the clouds stayed away for most of it. I did three 60-second videos; the first was the best, since the clouds kept getting thicker with each video.

The rest of the work was in the processing. I took my laptop inside, transferred the folder of material to my main computer, and loaded the first video into RegiStax 6. After a few adjustments in the program, I came up with the accompanying photo. It was taken with a Televue 85 with a Thousand Oaks Type II glass solar filter and ZWO ASI174mc camera with an Astronomic Pro Planet 642 BP 2'' filter. The image was created from a stack

of the best 100 frames out of 1979 frames, using RegiStax 6. Gain and exposure on the camera were adjusted accordingly. The videos were taken in my driveway at our home in Minneapolis.

I am happy with the results, considering all the things that could have gone wrong. Mr. Murphy did not come to call on me that day. And my wife was very happy with the wonderful job I did on the lawn. Photograph by Michael Regouski

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MAS Patron Members

Patron memberships are available to those who wish to contribute a little extra to support MAS activities. Patron memberships are established by constitution at 2-1/2 times the Regular membership rate—currently $65 annually for a patron membership. The $39 additional contribution is tax deductible. Patron memberships help fund equipment acquisitions, facility improvements, outreach activities and more. We would like to thank the following patron members as of April 24. Tom and Arlene AlmScott AndersonStephen AnthonyJack AtkinsSteve BaranskiGreg BarilBradley BeiselChip BerniardScott BilleadeauWayne BolineKen BolvinRev. Eugene BrownJonathan BurkhardtJeff BurrowsWilliam BynumKen CarlsonJoshua CarlyleKurt CasbyStuart ChastainDeane Clark, Jr.Mark ConnollyKelda CutlerMike DanielsPaul and Jolie DavisMary Beth Smith & Ted DeMattiesJohn DonoghueBrogan Duffy

Russell DurkeeScott DutcherJim ElmquistSteven EmertDennis FaithDavid FalknerRobert FarrellAllan FerberJoseph FisherPatricia FlugaurRobert FoucaultAndrew FraserPaul GadePaul GarvieDon GazdikJim GerrityErik GisselquistWilliam GlassMartin GormansonSteve GrabarkiewiczLawrence GrayMatt GrossJere Gwin-LenthJake HairrellBrandon HamilGreg HaubrichThomas HawkinsonMichael Haydock

Jonathan HaymanJohn HealeyVictor HeinerAngela Heins FamilyJohn HillMerle HiltnerLauren HoenErik HonkanenMichael HopfenspirgerGeorge HulmeAnton Jachim, PhDH. Richard JacobsonGale JallenLen JannuschBen JarvisMark JobChelen JohnsonJulie A. Y. JohnsonKurt JohnsonMichael JohnsonJerry JonesDeepak KamathMichael KauperColin KilbaneJim KnudsenDavid KockenParke KunkleMary Lahr

Jonathan LarsonThomas LarsonChristine LaughlinLouis LeichterRodney LiebegPaul LiederPamela LiggettClayton LindseyWalid MaalouliJohn MarchettiBruce McDonaldBrian McEnaneyRon McLaughlinJavier MedranoAndrew MengesMatt & Jessica MeyerBeverly MillerScott MorganBrian NelsonAlan NootDouglas OinesThor OlsonChristopher PaolaKen PedersonMike PittelkoKirby RichterStephen RiendlEric & Rebecca

RobinsonJack SandbergRoy Cameron SarverPaul SchalegerDean SchantzenJames SchenzLoren SchoenzeitDavid SchultzLilah Schurstein-HannerDan Siers, Sr.David SiskindDavid SjogrenCindy and Al SmithGerald SmyserDavid SwymelerDavid TostesonValts TreibergsDavid TruchotEarl TrussSteve UlrichSteven Vander LouwBob VangenDavid VennePaul WalkerFred WallJohn ZimitschNeal Zimmerman

a good location in downtown Duluth, but that could get rather crowded, and setting up right off the tailgate may be difficult, as it is more of a standard parking lot. Along the shore to the east there is a nice park, but there is a sand dune berm with trees and bushes that would complicate viewing. I remembered that there was a park on the north side of Duluth, and when I looked at it on Google Maps satellite images I noticed that there were a number of places in the park that would allow setting up right next to the tailgate and give a clear view.

I decided that was the answer, and I figured that it would be much more fun to do this with others, so I posted this trip on the Road Trip forum for MAS and sent out an invitation to the MAS e-mail list to see if others would be interested. Mark Connolly and Mark Job were both up to the trip. Mark Job headed up there the night before and slept in his truck. Mark Connolly and I headed up early the next morning.

The drive up was uneventful, and we were able to arrive at the park about 4:30 a.m., allowing me to get a polar alignment before the stars disappeared from sight. It was a cool morning but the wind was still, so it was very tolerable. As the Sun rose over Lake Superior, I put my camera on my telescope and started to adjust the focus on the water near the horizon, close to the rising Sun. And what do I see as I am adjusting the focus? A man standing on his boat, fishing—probably four miles away. I could not see him naked eye, but the telescope found him, and I was able to capture an image of him.

All of us have been visited by Murphy in one way or another as we encountered difficulties with our mounts, laptops or power

supplies. This was not a fairy-tale outing, but we were able to get some nice photographs of the transit. Several members of the public stopped to see what we were up to and took a look at the transit with us. They took some photos of us and said they would likely share them with the meteorologist on the local news, as he often featured these types of things before the weather forecast.

As the day wore on the wind picked up, becoming gusty and blowing the telescopes around a fair amount. Luckily for us our photos were short exposures by then, 1/1000 of a second or so, keeping the images sharp. I was able to make a time-lapse of the transit, with frames about every minute—and four frames missing toward the end as my scope did a meridian flip. The video is available on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rfDHCnmZls

10GEMINI • www.mnastro.org

Directions to the Star Party LocationsFor maps and further details about the sites, please go to our website at www.mnastro.org/facilities.

Baylor Regional Park and Eagle Lake ObservatoryTo reach Baylor Regional Park, head west on Minnesota Highway 5, through Chanhassen and Waconia, to the town of Norwood-Young America. Turn right onto Carver County Road 33 and continue approximately two miles north. Baylor Regional Park is on the right side of the road, marked with a prominent sign. When entering the park, stay to the right and follow the road approx 1/4 mile.

When visiting the Baylor Regional Park, MAS members are requested NOT TO PARK OR DRIVE on the grass. There is a drive up to the observatory which can be used for loading or unloading or handicapped parking only. For an alternate route from the southern suburbs, take U.S. Highway 212 west to Norwood-Young America. Turn right at the second traffic light onto Carver County Road 33. Continue two miles north to the park entrance.

Cherry GroveCherry Grove is located south of the Twin Cities,in Goodhue County, about 20 miles south of Cannon Falls. To reach Cherry Grove, head south on Highway 52. On 52 about six miles south of Cannon Falls, and just past the Edgewood Inn, is a large green highway sign for Goodhue County Rd. 1 “WEST”. Turn right, and follow County 1 straight south for about sixteen miles until you arrive at a “T” intersection with County A. The observatory is immediately at your right, nestled in the shoulder of the “T”. Parking is permitted on the site, or along the road, preferably County A.

MetcalfHead east from St. Paul along Hwy. 94. Exit at Manning Avenue ( exit #253) Turn south (right turn) and then almost immediately turn left onto the frontage road (Hudson Road S). Continue east on the frontage road for about 1.5 miles. Turn right onto Indian Trail, checking the odometer as you turn. Follow Indian Trail south for just about 1.1 miles, where you’ll see an unmarked chain-link gate on the right, opening onto a dirt driveway with slight up-slope. This is the entrance to Metcalf.

Belwin/Joseph J Casby ObservatoryHead east from St. Paul along Hwy. 94. Exit at Manning Avenue ( exit #253). Turn south (right turn) and then almost immediately turn left onto the frontage road (Hudson Road S). Continue east on the frontage road about 3.4 miles until Stagecoach Trail South, then turn right onto Stagecoach Trail and go east about 2 miles until reaching Belwin Conservancy on your left at 1553 Stagecoach Trail South. From the Belwin driveway entrance, y travel about 500 feet and turn left at the gate. Travel about 1/4 mile through the woods until you emerge at the parking area near the classroom building and the Joseph Casby Observatory.

Long Lake Conservation CenterFrom Western Twin citiesTake I-94 west to Rogers/MN 101. Go north/right on MN 101 through Elk River, where MN 101 becomes USA 169. Continue north on US 169 approximately 90 miles to Aitkin. At stoplight in Aitkin, turn east/right onto US 169/MN 210 and go out of town eight miles. Then turn east/right, following MN 210 toward Duluth. Proceed seven miles. A large green highway sign marks the turn off 210 to Long Lake Conservation Center. Turn north/left on County Rd. 5. After three miles, turn east/right on gravel County Rd. 88. It is approximately one mile to the LLCC gate. Follow signs to parking and unloading areas.

From Eastern Twin citiesGo north on I-35 to Finlayson/Exit 195. Turn west/left and go one mile to County Rd. 61 and MN 18. At stop sign turn right/north and go two miles. Follow MN 18 west/left and continue 19 miles to MN 65. Turn north/right on MN 65 and proceed 30 miles to McGregor. Intersect with MN 210 and follow 210 west/left (through McGregor) for seven miles. A large green highway sign marks the turn off MN 210 to Long Lake Conservation Center. Turn north/right on County Rd. 5. After three miles, turn east/right on gravel County Rd. 88. It is approximately one mile to the LLCC gate. Follow signs to parking and unloading areas.

MAS Board Minutes for March and April

By Jerry Jones, secretaryMarch

Open Board Meeting: Quite a number of people took up Clayton’s offer of the open board meeting. Besides the usual suspects, Mark Job, Greg Haubrich, Lauren Nelson, Merle Hiltner, Rebecca Robinson, Ron Schmit, Andy Frasier and Roy and Annie Sarvor-Bodon were in attendance. Site Reports: The removal of trees at the Metcalf field has been approved and will occur sometime this summer/fall. Once the trees are gone, the site-lines will be similar to where they were in 1973. Many thanks to Andy Fraiser and others for making this happen. We now have a new Instagram account, thanks to Rebecca Robinson. It will focus primarily on the goings-on at ELO. Also, look for the ELO key-holder training from Merle. The BAD 24'' mirror at CGO has been recoated and will be installed in the scope within the next month. Regarding the new AP controllers for JJC, SAC and CGO, they should be installed within a month or so. Guest: The next portion of the meeting was focused on our primary visitor, Annie Sarver-Bodon, who is the president

for advancement advisor, LLC. She shared with us her 25 years of experience working with nonprofit organizations regarding vision, fund raising, programs, staffing and communications. Annie has already been in contact with the steering committee for our upcoming ALCON 2018 in regard to developing opportunities with corporate sponsorship and communications. The time spent was tremendously beneficial in helping the board and the members in attendance get a sense of our potential future in fund raising and having a greater impact on our state. Brainstorming: The final portion of the meeting focused on some Clayton-organized brainstorming to help determine the potential future of MAS around these two questions: What is the definition of success for MAS, and how do we serve outreach and amateur astronomers? Many suggestions were offered and wlll no doubt filter through our meetings in the coming months.April

We were back to our regular board meeting and attendees. After such a lively discussion, it seemed rather quiet. Site Reports: Metcalf: It seems clear that the tree removal won’t happen until the fall. J. J. Casby: A training opportunity will occur on May 21, and our new keyless locks will be forthcoming. LLCC: Online

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11 June 2016

Minnesota Astronomical Society 2016 Star Party Schedule

First Last Twilight Completely dark Duration of Moonrise Moon % Night Night Sunset: at: from: to: Dark* Moon-rise Moon-set Next Day Illuminated Location & Notes Jun 03 Jun 04 20:54 21:30 23:19 03:02 03:43 04:43 19:12 05:28 5% LLCC/CGO

Jun 10 Jun 11 20:59 21:36 00:32 02:56 02:24 11:29 00:32 12:31 30% LLCC/CGO

Jun 11 21:02 01:34 48% ELO Public Star Party - All Weather

Jun 25 21:06 12:26 68% ELO Public Star Party - All Weather

Jul 01 Jul 02 21:03 21:41 23:34 03:01 03:27 03:20 18:03 04:07 14% LLCC/CGO

Jul 08 Jul 09 21:01 21:38 23:33 03:11 03:38 10:51 23:33 11:17 16% LLCC/CGO

Jul 09 21:02 12:04 32% ELO Public Star Party - All Weather

Jul 23 20:51 23:02 81% ELO Public Star Party - All Weather

Jul 29 Jul 30 20:44 21:18 22:52 02:52 04:00 02:03 16:57 02:52 25% LLCC/CGO

Aug 05 Aug 06 20:35 21:08 22:37 04:03 05:26 09:02 22:03 10:04 6% CGO

Aug 05 Aug 07 20:35 22:05 11% ELO Camping with the Stars

Aug 20 20:13 21:37 91% ELO Public Star Party - All Weather

Aug 26 Aug 27 20:02 20:33 21:50 01:41 03:51 12:49 15:52 01:41 38% LLCC/CGO

Aug 27 20:01 01:44 20% ELO Public Star Party - All Weather

LLCC/CGO Aug 31 Sep 03 19:49 20:19 21:34 04:53 07:19 07:51 20:32 08:51 1% Northern Nights Star Fest @ LLCC

Sep 10 19:35 01:13 65% ELO Public Star Party - All Weather

Sep 24 19:08 12:36 33% ELO Public Star Party - All Weather

LLCC/CGO Sep 30 Oct 01 18:56 19:25 20:34 05:33 08:59 06:42 19:02 07:42 1% Mini Messier Marathon at CGO

Oct 07 Oct 08 18:43 19:13 23:02 05:42 06:40 13:20 23:02 14:10 32% LLCC/CGO

Oct 08 18:42 23:55 48% ELO Fall Astronomy Day

Oct 22 18:18 23:28 48% ELO Public Star Party - All Weather

Oct 28 Oct 29 18:08 18:38 19:46 06:09 10:23 05:35 17:33 06:34 6% LLCC/CGO

Nov 04 Nov 05 17:58 18:29 21:46 06:17 08:31 12:06 21:46 12:52 18% LLCC/CGO

Nov 05 17:58 20:42 32% ELO Public Star Party - All Weather

Nov 19 16:43 21:17 65% ELO Public Star Party - All Weather

Another group on campus: Use Red Filters on Path Lights. Yellow highlight means the moon is shortening the duration of the darkest period between astronomical twilights

Friday night is always the primary star party night at CGO with Saturday night being the alternate. LLCC may permit additional days during the week. * Time between evening and morning Astronomical Twilight (true dark, when the sun is 18 degrees or more below the hori-zon)

LLCC nights indicated with an “*” instead of an “X” means we will be sharing the facility with other groups. Not all of the lights will be extinguished.

This schedule is subject to change. Please check the MAS online calendar at www.mnastro.org for a complete schedule of all MAS events. Cherry Grove Star Parties are held on Friday nights, with Saturday reserved as the backup night if Friday is cloudy. LLCC Star parties are held on both Friday and Saturday night. Eagle Lake Public nights are held on Saturday nights only.

The Casby Observatory at Belwin is available to MAS members who have completed the Belwin Orientation and training to use at any time. We will not have scheduled star parties at Casby. To reserve the observatory for yourself, please post your request on the Casby Observatory Keyholders discussion forum.

The Metcalf Observing Site is available to MAS members at any time. We do not have organized, scheduled star parties at Metcalf. Feel free to head out there whenever you wish.

The Eagle Lake Observatory holds regularly scheduled pubic nights. You are welcome and encouraged to bring your own observing equipment to these events. All other nights the observatory is available for trained members use. To reserve the observatory, go to the Onan reservation calendar at http://www.mnastro.org.onankey/reservations/reserve.php Before heading out, Please check the Onan reservation calendar to verify if there is a outreach event scheduled.

registration is now available for the Northern Nights Star Fest. All members are requested to use this form. Another interesting addition to NNSF is the possible Tower-Sudan mine tour to see the experiments there before they are concluded. Also, we will be looking for people to be part of the LLCC steering committee. If you are interested, contact Wayne Boline. CGO: Volunteers will be needed for producing manuals and training on the scopes. ELO: There will be upcoming work parties, as there are a few remaining construction items. The ELO committee had asked for funds for a portable toilet to be available for the entire observing season, as well as funds for a wood sculpture to be placed next to the new ELO signage. The board did not feel the purchases were

appropriate at this time, but it did feel that the full-time portable toilet should be considered for inclusion as a standard budgetary item. More discussion on this will be necessary. The board also considered looking into the permanent toilet structure to be placed near the ELO campus. Other items included discussing fund-raising opportunities for the ALCON 2018 and MAS, the policy for what to do with donated scopes that are not included in our loaner fleet, and some appropriate changes to our Hartford insurance to make certain all of our assets are covered. We were unable to spend as much time as we would have liked unpacking the great information we received from last month’s meeting.

Continued from page 10

How to pay your dues June 2016 Volume 41 Number 3Your MAS membership expires at the beginning of the month shown on your membership card. You will be notified of your renewal

by e-mail two months prior to expiration and by USPS mail the month of your expiration. You may renew by mail or online using PayPal. By mail: Send your payment to the MAS membership coordinator at: Minnesota Astronomical Society, Attn. Membership coordinator, P.O. Box 14931, Minneapolis, MN 55414. Make checks payable to MAS. Current annual membership rates when paying by check are: $26 regular, $13 student, and $65 for patron memberships. You may renew for one year or for two years at a time. Online using PayPal: PayPal charges a fee, so MAS includes a voluntary contribution in the PayPal membership rates to offset that fee. Membership rates using PayPal are $27.50 regular, $13.75 student and $67.25 patron. The membership form and the procedure for joining or renewing using PayPal may be found at www.mnastro.org/members/join/. The bimonthly Gemini newsletter is included with your membership online as a downloadable .pdf file. Printed copies of Gemini are available as an optional subscription, priced at $9 per year ($9.50 when using PayPal).

To Renew Your Sky and Telescope Subscription

MAS members are offered subscriptions to these magazines at a club discount. The S&T discount subscription is $32.95 per year ($34.25 when using PayPal). Astronomy magazine discount subscriptions are $34 for one year or $60 for two years ($35.50 and $62.25 when using PayPal). New subscriptions to S&T at the member discount must be sent to MAS for processing. Send new subscriptions or renewals with your MAS membership to the P.O. box listed above. You may if you wish perform subsequent subscription renewals directly with S&T by mail or by phone with Sky Publishing at 1-800-253-0245. This method is especially beneficial if you wait until your subscription is about to expire to avoid missing any issues. Astronomy magazine renewals at the club discount must go through MAS. Renewal information may be found at the same membership links listed above.

How to Subscribe to MAS e-mail Distribution Lists

MAS uses Web discussion forums and e-mail distribution lists for timely communications. We highly recommend that you subscribe to both the Web forums and the MAS general distribution e-mail list.

To subscribe to the MAS e-mail list visit: lists.mnastro.org/mnastro/listinfo, click on the MAS list link and follow the subscription instructions. There is a general list (MAS), an outreach list and lists for other special purposes.

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