If you ‘re not familiar with the Ottewell Calendar, this may be a good way to get introduced to it. For those who are not faimiliar with this treasure, it’s a large (11 x 15 inches) paperbook compilation of information about sky events for the coming year.

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New board of directors and new officers: At the last regular meeting of the Richmond Astronomical Society, the board of directors for 2010 was elected.  Many thanks to Chris McCann and Jeff Pike for assembling the slate of board nominees for 2010.  Many thanks as well to the outgoing board for their outstanding service in 2009 and to the 2010 board members for volunteering to guide our organization through the next year.

We really could not have the fine organization we do without the directors who handle the administration, planning, accounting and budgeting for our club and without those who coordinate and staff our skywatches, keep our observatory in good shape, take care of our library, prepare our SCC documents, support Astronomy Day and much more.  Thanks also to Leslie Bochenski of the Science Museum for serving as our liaison with the museum, making sure we have the access and audio visual support needed for our meetings.

We simply do not say thank you often enough to those who give their time to the RAS.  So let’s be sure to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to all those who share their knowledge and skills with us and to all those who attend our meetings and support our events.

The new board of directors for 2010 is listed below.  The officers for 2010 were elected from the board of directors at the November board meeting in accordance with our by-laws.

John Barnett (Observatory Director)
Jim Blowers (Treasurer)
Jim Browder (President)
Gary Cowardin
Bill Jeffries
Chris McCann (Secretary)
David Medici (Vice President)
Jeff Pike
Prashant Reddy
Tim Streagle
Betty Wilson
Ken Wilson

Image of the Ragland Observatory Telescope in Action from the RAS Archives

Our 60^th anniversary celebration dinner will be held on Friday, December 4^th, starting at 6:00 PM at the Holiday Inn on Staples Mill Road (2000 Staples Mill Road, near the intersection of Staples Mill and Broad Street).  We will be reminiscing about our long distinguished history and enjoying a presentation by Jim Condon on “Weighing a Black Hole.”  Jim is with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory headquartered in Charlottesville.

The cost of the dinner is $30 per person.  This covers a 3-entrée dinner, cost of the meeting room and some wonderful door prizes that we will be giving away.  If you plan to attend, please send your money right away to Jim Blowers at the address below or pay by PayPal through our web site.  If paying by check, be sure to note with your payment that it is for the anniversary dinner and drop Jim an e-mail to let him know your check is on the way at treasurer@richastro.org.  We are required to provide an accurate count of the attendees to the hotel by November 30, so we need your payment right away if you plan to attend and we really hope you do!

Send payments ($30 per person) to:

Jim Blowers
4514 Foxwood Rd.
Chester, VA 23831-8011

(or send payments through PayPal)

Please join us if you can.  It will be a great event and a wonderful occasion to celebrate.  Note that this event will take the place of our regular December meeting.

Dues are due! This is the time of year when we renew our membership dues.  If paying by check, please make payable to RAS and send to Jim Blowers at the address above or by PayPal on our web site.   Standard membership is $30 for the year.  Information about magazine subscriptions and observatory memberships is on the web site.

The Cleveland County, North Carolina Astronomical Society will be hosting “BobFest” on January 23, 2010.  BobFest will be held at Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, NC which is west of Charlotte.  This year’s event will feature speakers, vendors, swap-tables, door prizes and an astrophotography/sketching contest.  More information about BobFest can be found here.

Ted Bethune has gone international! Earlier this year Ted Bethune visited the 40th anniversary celebration of the Apollo 11 moon landing which took place on July 20, 1969. The event was held in Washington, DC with a number of former astronauts attending. Ted was interviewed on Chinese television.  Images of the event are at this link.

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We have added a feature to our web site! Virginia Skylines, a public radio show / podcast is now available on our web site under the “Links” section on the main page of our web site or at this link.  Leslie Bochenski produces the show on a weekly basis to tell us what’s up in the sky.  Check it out when you get a chance – it’s very well done.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Jim Browder
Richmond Astronomical Society

RAS 60^th Anniversary dinner: Please mark your calendars for the evening of December 4.  We will be holding our 60^th anniversary dinner at the Holiday Inn on Staples Mill, near the intersection of Staples Mill and Broad St.  Please plan to attend and bring your spouse or significant other.  Bill Jeffries has invited Jim Condon with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Charlottesville to be our keynote speaker.

Galaxy UGC 3789 (Credit: STScI)

Jim will be speaking on “Weighing a Black Hole.”  More about his work can be found here and in this news release about a study to which he contributed regarding direct, geometric measurement of the distance to a galaxy using the very appropriately named Very Long Baseline Array.  The observation made as part of this study is a key element of a major effort to measure the expansion rate of the universe, known as the Hubble Constant, with greatly improved precision. This effort will help cosmologists narrow down possible explanations for the nature of Dark Energy.

The cost of the anniversary dinner will be about $30 per person and we will need to know in advance if you are planning to attend.  As the date of the event approaches, we will send out more specific information; however, if you wish to make reservations now, please feel free to send me an e-mail at president@richastro.org and I will add your name to the list.

November meeting: Our next meeting will be held on November 10 in the Eureka Theater of the Science Museum of Virginia at 7:30 PM.  Jeff Pike will be presenting.  Among Jeff’s astronomical interests are solar observing techniques.  The title of his presentation will be “Amateur Solar Astronomy. “   More tools than ever before are available for astronomy enthusiasts to view and study the sun and we are looking forward to hearing about Jeff’s experience in this area.  Please join us at the meeting and for dinner before the meeting at Arby’s across the street from the museum.

Mini-star party: We are planning another mini-star party for November 13^th at the Heart of Virginia Scout Reservation in Goochland.  Directions to the camp are here.  After passing through the main entrance to the camp, turn right, travel about 0.1 mile and turn right at the sign with a picture of a telescope on it.  For GPS users, the address is 1723 Maidens Rd. in Goochland (observing site coordinates N 37.678986, W 77.8708).  If there is another event at the camp which will have lights that may interfere with observing, Tim Streagle will move us to another location.  If this is the case, signs will indicate the new location.

SMV skywatch: The November Skywatch and LiveSky events at the Science Museum have been cancelled due to a large  event at the museum on the same evening which will make it difficult to have a good skywatch.

Matoaca High School skywatch: We we be hosting a skywatch at Matoaca High School on November 25.  Please contact John Raymond at al_nath2007@yahoo.com if you can bring a telescope.  As always, we very much appreciate all of the time and effort on the part of our members who support outreach events like this one.  We receive many compliments and thanks from participants at these events who find them informative and rewarding.

Regards,

Jim Browder
Richmond Astronomical Society

Terry at the helm in Bryan Park

Bryan Park Skywatch: I understand that the latest Bryan Park skywatch went well.  There were about 50 visitors at the park. Tim Streagle, John Barnett, Terry Barker, and John Raymond brought scopes with Tim and John Barnett bringing their homemade scopes.  One of the attendees commented to me that they really enjoyed seeing the homemade scopes and understanding what could be done with some patience and skill.

Starfire Refractor at the Bryan Park skywatch

The weather was not optimal for the event, but allowed enough time to have a reasonable viewing session.  The sky cleared after sunset for a good hour before the clouds returned.  Visitors and park staff were very complimentary.  Due to the success of this and previous events at Bryan Park, John Raymond is planning more events in other Richmond Parks locations.

Camera Concepts Display at the East Coast Star Party

East Coast Star Party: The weather did not cooperate with Kent Blackwell’s East Coast Star Party that he hosts in Coinjock, North Carolina a couple times a year.  This event is one of my personal favorite star parties.  The location is good, the sky is dark and the people that attend the star party are great.  Camera Concepts from New York (Jeff and Greta for those that know them) try to make the trip to Coinjock every chance they get and to set up their mobile astronomy shop at the East Coast Star Party.  We appreciate all the effort that it takes to set up a mobile shop like that.  They have saved more than one of my observing sessions by having just the right part that is needed in the field.

We will hope for clearer weather at the next East Coast Star Party.  If you are interested in receiving updates about the next event, send an e-mail to kent@exis.net.

November SMV skywatch cancelled: I have received word that the November skywatch and Live Sky show at the Science Museum of Virginia has been cancelled because of a black-tie event with valet parking at the museum on the evening of the skywatch.  Probably best to cancel the skywatch and Live Sky show rather than have the two together because of the lights and automobile traffic that would not be conducive to a pleasant skywatch experience.

Meadow Glen skywatch: John Raymond has scheduled a skywatch at Meadow Glen on October 27^th.  If you are interested in attending or bringing a telescope, please contact John at al_nath2007@yahoo.com.

Astronomy road trip: Some of our members are planning a trip to Hands-on Optics in Maryland on October 31.  Check out the Yahoo Group for messages regarding who is going where and with whom.  An excerpt from the invitation from Gary Hand of Hands-on Optics is below.

Regards,

Jim Browder
Richmond Astronomical Society

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Invitation from Hands-on Optics:

“You and your club members are invited the 6th annual Eastern Telescope Show at Hands on Optics. The EAS will feature the largest and most exciting names from the telescope industry. Demonstrations and speakers & Mirror Making Class.

Go to www.handsonoptics.com for a full brochure.

Questions call 1-866-726-7371

There will be a FREE Hot Dogs and Drinks, and FREE giveaway raffle prizes every half hour all day long! You must be present to win. Everything is FREE. No we are not charging you for food and no reservation required.

There will also be a “One-Day Only” sale with special pricing on many exciting products, so call or stop by the store. The demo, blems, open box specials start at 8:00am.

Generous Donations from:

Celestron – NexStar 6SE Telescope – Grand Prize Stellarvue – SV70 Raptor Telescope, Takahashi – 5mm and 10mm Takahashi eyepieces Vernonscope – 50th Anniversary Brandon Gold eyepiece.

Donations from Meade, AstroTelescope, Lunt Solar, Antares, Lumicon, 1000 Oaks Optical, JMI, Kendrick, Farpoint and Others. Over 15 prizes, chances are exceptionally good that you will walk away with an amazing prize. Entry is completely free… no strings attached. You must be present to win the Door prizes.”

I post stuff periodically on the club’s Twitter site, richastrova. Up to this point, you had to have a Twitter account to see those postings, but now we’ve made those “tweets” available from the club’s web page. If you go to the web site, and page down, looking in the right hand column, you’ll see them, under the title “Twitter feed.” (more…)

Many, many thanks to Anne Verbiscer for fascinating us at our meeting on October 13 with the story of the discovery of Saturn’s largest ring by her, Michael Skrutskie (UVA) and Douglas Hamilton (University of Maryland)!

In February of this year, Anne and her colleagues used Spitzer’s infrared camera, called the multiband imaging photometer, to examine a patch of sky far from Saturn and just inside the orbit of Phoebe, one of Saturn’s moons, at a distance of approximately 215 Saturn radii from the planet. The astronomers thought that Phoebe might be orbiting within a belt of dust that had been ejected over millions of years from its minor collisions with comets and micrometeoroids — a process similar to that around stars with dusty disks of planetary debris. When Anne and the team reviewed their images collected with the Spitzer telescope, just such a band of dust appeared in the images as they expected.

The reason the ring has not been spotted until now is that it neither scatters nor reflects visible light to any significant degree. The particles within the ring are composed of ice and dust and are extremely diffuse. The unique ability of the Spitzer Space Telescope to see deep into the infrared part of the spectrum unobscured by Earth’s atmosphere was required to detect the faint infrared glow from the ring.

NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

The discovery may help solve a long-standing mystery associated with Iapetus, another of Saturn’s moons. Iapetus has a strange appearance — one side is bright and the other is quite dark. It is logical to conclude, given that we now know of the existence this newly discovered ring, that particles from the ring have bombarded Iapetus over many millennia, impacting the leading face of the tidally-locked moon with particles from the ring, leaving a darkened region. This region is referred to as “Cassini Regio,” named for Giovanni Cassini, who first observed Iapetus in 1671.

Anne described for us the process of submitting a proposal for the telescope time and the need to obtain the data before Spitzer consumed all of its cryogenic coolant which was used to keep the telescope’s detectors at a temperature only a few degrees above absolute zero. This amount of cooling is required to minimize thermal noise in the infrared detectors and thus increase the telescope’s ability to detect faint infrared light from distant sources.  Fortunately for Anne and her team, the data was collected prior to the end of Spitzer’s coolant supply in May of 2009.  Spitzer has since that time been operating in a warmer mode — still able to peer into the infrared and collect useful data, but with less sensitivity and at shorter wavelengths.

Thanks again to Anne for sharing the story of her discovery with us.  Congratulations to Anne, Michael Skrutskie and Douglas Hamilton on their marvelous discovery of Saturn’s largest ring with the Spitzer Space Telescope, a mere 400 years after Galileo first aimed his modest telescope at the sky and observed the planets.

Regards,
Jim Browder
Richmond Astronomical Society

We understand that the Masonic Home and Meadow Glen skywatches went smoothly this past week.  John Raymond reports that the attendance was good and the weather allowed for enough viewing time at each event, although some clouds rolled in and abbreviated one viewing session.  Thanks very much to John, Tim Streagle, John Barnett and Prashant Reddy for helping out with these events.

Ice Geyser Formation on Saturn's moon Enceladus

Please plan to attend the next RAS meeting on October 13.  Anne Verbiscer with the University of Virginia will be presenting at the meeting.  Dr. Verbiscer does some very interesting work studying icy surfaces in the outer solar system.  We very much look forward to hearing about her latest investigations.  The meeting will be at the Science Museum of Virginia at 7:30 PM on Tuesday, October 13.  A number of us will also be gathering for dinner at Arby’s across the street from the museum before the meeting.  Please join us for the meeting and for the pre-meeting dinner if you can.

John Barnett will be hosting an open house at the RAS observatory on October 24, starting at 7:00 PM.  John will have the telescope aimed at the moon, Jupiter and other objects in the Autumn sky.  The observatory is located behind the shopping center at the corner of Robious Road and Midlothian Turnpike in a small gated field.  Please feel free to join John at the observatory for the open house on the 24th.  More information about the observatory can be found on the Richastro web site or you can contact John at jmbart2@verizon.net.

There is a transit of the red spot across Jupiter’s face tonight along with an occultation of the moon Io by Jupiter.  If you are interested in seeing this event for yourself with your telescope (assuming the clouds allow), there is more information available at Sky and Telescope.   See the entries for October 4 and 5.

Kent Blackwell will be hosting his East Coast Star Party at the Hampton Lodge Campground in Coinjock, North Carolina on October 23 and 24.  Admission is $15.00 and no advance registration is required.  If you haven’t been to this star party, it’s a great event at a great location.  If you would like more information, please let me know (president@richastro.org).  I have some images from a past event on my web site.

We have added a weather page to the Richastro web site.  Please have a look and make suggestions as to how we should refine it.

Regards,
Jim Browder
Richmond Astronomical Society

Mini-star party: Last night’s (Saturday, September 19) mini-star party at the Heart of Virginia Scout Reservation went quite well.  Early in the evening the skies were looking very cloudy without much prospect for clearing.  Fortunately, however, they gradually cleared to a usable degree.  Throughout the night we had patches of high thin clouds move through the area, but the eight astronomers and two visitors at the event were treated to some nice periods of clarity during which we were able to get stable views of Jupiter, the Dumbell Nebula, a number of globular clusters, double stars and Neptune.

Jupiter gave us a particularly good show with one moon moving away from the limb during the evening along with a moon shadow moving across the planet’s face.  I think I had my scope aimed at Pluto for a while as well, but you couldn’t prove it by me.  The last holdouts of the evening put away their equipment as the Pleiades cluster was rising over the tree line to the east.  Before ending the evening’s observing, several of us raided the refreshment supply of another event that was going on at the scout camp.  Don’t tell anybody!

Bryan Park skywatch: Our Outreach Coordinator, John Raymond reports that the skywatch at Bryan Park in late August went well.  A good crowd showed up for the event and the number of telescopes was adequate to provide some nice views for the guests.  Thanks very much to all those who helped with the event.  The next skywatch at Bryan Park is scheduled for September 24.  Please let John or me (president@richastro.org) know if you can bring a telescope and your expertise.  More information is available on the Friends of Bryan Park web site at this link.

John also has skywatch events scheduled at the Masonic Home and Meadow Glen for September 29 and 30, respectively.  Please let John or me know if you can help out.

VAAS 2009: The Virginia Association of Astronomical Societies had its annual conference in Charlottesville on September 12.  This year the Charlottesville Astronomical Society hosted the meeting and treated us to a great set of speakers at a very comfortable facility – the National Radio Astronomy Observatory on the campus of the University of Virginia.  I counted about 40 attendees total.  The Richmond Astronomical Society was very well represented by 11 of the 40:  Daryl Douglas, Laura Graham, Bill Jeffries, Preston Kirby, Cal Pletcher, John Raymond, Prashant Reddy, Randy Tatum, Betty and Ken Wilson and I.

After the presentations, the group proceeded to McCormick Observatory for a view of the observatory exhibits and the 26-inch Clark refractor telescope along with a barbecue dinner prepared by Richard Drumm, president of the Charlottesville club.  Unfortunately, the skies were not cooperative, but that’s the way astronomy goes as we all know.  The event was well organized and we very much appreciate all the work on the part of Richard, the other Charlottesville club members, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, all the speakers who presented at the meeting and thanks to all who attended.  Also, my personal thanks to the RAS members for making such a good showing at the meeting and supporting the VAAS.

Solar Eclipse of July: At a recent meeting, Betty and Ken Wilson gave a great presentation on their trip to Asia to view the total solar eclipse.  Ken passed along some of the beautiful images they took.  Feast your eyes on this one of the solar chromosphere – pretty cool (I guess “pretty hot” would be a better description – sorry, couldn’t resist that one).

Regards,
Jim Browder
Richmond Astronomical Society

The RAS startedin 1949 October as a group of local astronomers wanting to set up a group. The society, with a great deal of cooperative effort and some ingenious designs, constructed a 7-inch refracting telescope in the Bon Air vicinity of the Richmond area; this telescope is still usable today despite light pollution. The club has hosted a number of events, especially Virginia Association of Astronomical Societies (VAAS) meetings, and has worked closely with the Science Museum of Virginia to sponsor such things as regular and special sky watches and Astronomy Day programs.

A meteor image captured in 2002

At our August meeting we had several visitors who were interested in the Perseid meteor shower. A number of us were hoping to see some Perseids after the meeting, but it wasn’t to be.  Clouds obscured the view.  Maybe we will have an opportunity to see some stragglers on a following night.

John Raymond presented our short talk at the meeting. As many of you know, John has been kind enough to become our Outreach Coordinator and has arranged for a number of skywatch events in the late summer and fall.  These include events at Bryan Park, Meadow Glen and the Masonic Home.  As the events come up, John will be soliciting volunteers to deploy telescopes at the events.  Please help him as you are available.  The calendar on our test web site provides the dates.

For those of you that could not be at the meeting on Tuesday, you missed some great pictures of Betty and Ken Wilson’s recent trip to Asia to see July’s total solar eclipse. They have each seen a number of total eclipses.  Judging from their pictures and stories this one did not disappoint.  Betty showed us pictures of sights in China eclipse along with some wide field images of the eclipse itself.

Ken showed us some close-up images taken at various moments during totality, a video of the eclipse and a very cool composite image made from several individual images taken at various exposures during totality.  Using this compositing technique, Ken was able to combine the images to bring out detail in the prominences at the sun’s surface along with detail in the corona.  The video of the eclipse was particularly interesting in that it showed the motion of the ship as people were trying to image the event.

Betty explained that the captain was quite accommodating to the eclipse-chasing passengers by navigating the ship along the path of totality to extend the few minutes of the total eclipse by a few seconds.  If you travel that far to see an eclipse, a few seconds extra eclipse time is worth the effort.

Betty also announced that an asteroid has been named for Ken. Its designation is “84951 Kenwilson.”  Congratulations to Ken on this honor.  It is not an “earth-crosser” and so is not a potentially hazardous object, but, when Ken says that there is an asteroid out there with his name on it – he’s right.

Don’t forget about the mini star party on Friday, August 14 at the Heart of Virginia Scout Reservation.  Directions to the camp are here.  After passing through the main entrance, turn right, travel about 0.1 mile and turn right at the sign with a picture of a telescope on it.  For GPS users, the address is 1723 Maidens Rd. in Goochland (observing site coordinates N 37.678986, W 77.8708).  If there is another event at the camp which will have lights that may interfere with observing, Tim Streagle will move us to another location.  If this is the case, signs will indicate the new location.

Regards,
Jim Browder
Richmond Astronomical Society