June - Fort Worth Astronomical Society
Transcription
June - Fort Worth Astronomical Society
Contact information: Info Officer (General Info) – [email protected] Website Administrator – [email protected] Postal Address: Fort Worth Astronomical Society c/o Matt McCullar 5801 Trail Lake Drive Fort Worth, TX 76133 Web Site: http://www.fortworthastro.org (or .com) Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/3eutb22 Twitter: http://twitter.com/ftwastro Yahoo! eGroup (members only): http://tinyurl.com/7qu5vkn Officers (2015-2016): President – Bruce Cowles, [email protected] Vice President – Si Simonson, [email protected] Sec/Tres – Michelle Theisen, [email protected] Board Members: 2014-2016 Mike Langohr Tree Oppermann 2015-2017 Matt Reed Phil Stage Cover Photo: The Milky way as seen from the backyard of FWAS member Manny Lois in Ft Worth, Tx on 5-13-2016. Observing Site Reminders: Be careful with fire, mind all local burn bans! Dark Site Usage Requirements (ALL MEMBERS): Maintain Dark-Sky Etiquette (http://tinyurl.com/75hjajy) Turn out your headlights at the gate! Sign the logbook (in camo-painted storage shed. Inside the door on the lefthand side) Log club equipment problems (please contact a FWAS board member to inform them of any problems) Put equipment back neatly when finished Last person out: Check all doors – secured, but NOT locked Make sure nothing is left out The Fort Worth Astronomical Society (FWAS) was founded in 1949 and is a non-profit 501(c)3 scientific educational organization, and incorporated in the state of Texas. This publication may be copied and distributed for free only. This publication cannot be uploaded or distributed into any media unless it is in its original, full, unaltered, published form. All rights reserved by FWAS. PAGE 2 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY In s id e th is is s u e: Page June Club Calendar 3 FWAS Elections Reminder 4 Young Astronomer News 5 Celestial Events 6 Interesting Objects 7 Abbreviations/Classifications 7 Cloudy Night Library 8 Constellation of the Month 10 Constellation Mythology 11 Monthly AL Observing Club 12 ISS Visible Passes for DFW 13 Monthly Planet Visibility 13 Monthly Sky Chart 14 Moon Phase Calendar 15 1st/Last Crescent/Ephem 16 Conjunctions:Lunar/Planet 7 Mercury/Venus Data 18 Visible Minor Planets 19-21 Jupiter Data 22 Saturn Data 23 Visible Comets 24/25 June Meeting Minutes 26/27 Fundraising/Donation Info 28 That’s A Fact 29 Full Moon Name 29 FW AS 30 FWAS Fotos Editor: Shawn Kirchdorfer Issue Contributors: Matt McCullar Kelly Beebe Mike Jones Manny Lois JUNE 2016 J U N E 2 01 6 Sun Mon Tue Wed 1 Thu 2 50th Anniversary (1966), Surveyor 1, Moon Landing Fri 3 50th Anniversary (1966), Gemini 9 Launch (Thomas Stafford & Eugene Cernan) Sat 4 NM 70th Anniversary (1946), Great Eruptive Prominence of 1946 SATURN @ OPPOSITION Moon Perigee: 361125.8 km 5 6 7 8 9 FWAS APSIG Meeting Contact Jerry Gardner for times Antonin Becvar's 115th Birthday (1901) Joe Veverka's 75th Birthday (1941) 12 FQ 13 14 15 Oliver Lodge's 165th Birthday (1851) Moon — Golden Handle visible Hermann Ganswindt's James Maxwell's 185th 160th Birthday (1856) Birthday (1831) 19 20 Yanga Fernandez's 45th Birthday (1971) 16 17 FM 21 22 Robert Burnham, Jr.'s 23 40th Anniversary (1976), Salyut 5 Launch (USSR Space Station) LQ 28 10th Anniversary (2006), Scott Sheppard et al's Discovery of Saturn Moons Surtur, Jarnsaxa, Greip & Loge 15th Anniversary 5th Anniversary (2011), Mark (2001), DiscovShowalter's et al's ery of SAU 060 Discovery of Pluto Meteorite (Mars Moon Kerberos Meteorite) 29 Elon Musk's 45th Birthday (1971) 18 Young Astronomers Meeting Starts @ 7pm-9pm Allan Sandage's 90th Birthday (1926) 24 25 Robert Sharp's 105th Birthday (1911) Herbert Friedman's Birthday (1916) 27 15th Anniversary (2001), Google Earth Released 135th Anniversary (1881), William Huggins Makes 1st Photographic Spectrum of a Comet (1881 III) Strawberry Moon 100th 26 11 Denison Olmstead's 225th Birthday (1791) Moon Apogee: 405056.6 km 85th Birthday (1931) FWAS Monthly Meeting Starts @ 7pm 40th Anniversary (1976), Viking 1, Mars Orbit Insertion 10 John Dollond's 310th Birthday (1706) 30 45th Anniversary (1971), Death of 3 Cosmonauts in Soyuz 11 Ludmila Pajdusakova's 100th Birthday (1916) Click calendar icons above to see details of bright ISS passes this month. See our full FWAS Event Calendar at: http://www.fortworthastro.com/meetings.html for the latest updates on what our club has scheduled JUNE 2016 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY PAGE 3 PAGE 4 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY JUNE 2016 Our moon has Young Crescents, Libration effects, and many other surface features than just craters. Young Astronomers J une we will be focusing on the Moon! Join our YA group this month to learn about these and many other aspects of observing this fascinating object. e This is one of the easiest yet often forgotten celestial object to observe. Our moon has much more to offer in observing than just phases and eclipses. With an elliptical, inclined orbit, and a synchronized rotation, there are many other phenomena to observe. Check out the Young Astronomers Web Page at: http:// www.fortworthastro.com/young_astronomers.html Meet Your New Acting FWAS Secretary: Kelly Beebe Y ou can now direct all of your questions about joining, renewing, or general FWAS club information, to Kelly Beebe, instead of current Treasurer Michelle Theisen. Michelle will still be performing the duties of Treasurer for FWAS, however the Board has decided that the duties of both Secretary and Treasurer have become great enough to require two people for those duties. So, as in the past, the two duties will be split among two individuals. This will require a change to the wording of the club’s official By-Laws, which are currently in the process of being rewritten to reflect this new change. As per the By-Law requirements, the wording changes will be submitted to the general membership soon at an upcoming meeting to be discussed, then voted on for acceptance. Once accepted, the position changes will officially take place in the next election cycle next year. Until then Kelly will be Acting-Secretary under the elected Treasurer, as appointed by the Board. Notices will also be given via email to the egroup. We appreciate and thank Kelly for stepping up and volunteering for this club duty! e JUNE 2016 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY PAGE 5 CELESTIAL EVENTS THIS MONTH Jun 01 We --:-- Venus: 1.5° W Jun 03 Fr 00:43 Saturn Opposition Jun 03 Fr 04:47 Moon/Mercury: 0.7° Jun 03 Fr 05:55 Moon 361100 Jun 04 Sa 22:00 New Jun 05 Su 03:59 Mercury Jun 06 Mo 04:13 Moon Jun 06 Mo 16:34 Venus Jun 10 Fr 09:47 Moon/Regulus: 2.2° N Jun 11 Sa 14:35 Moon/Jupiter: 1.6° N Jun 11 Sa 17:20 Moon Jun 12 Su 03:10 First Jun 13 Mo 05:06 Mercury/Pleiades: Jun 15 We 07:00 Moon Jun 18 Sa 19:40 Moon/Saturn: Jun 18 Sa 22:39 Mercury/Aldebaran: Jun 20 Mo 06:02 Full Moon Jun 20 Mo 13:52 Moon South Jun 20 Mo 17:35 Summer Jun 26 Su 00:28 Moon Descending Jun 27 Mo 13:19 Last Quarter Perigee: km Moon Elongation: North Dec.: Superior 24.2° 18.6° W N Conj. Ascending Node Quarter Apogee: 6.8° 405000 3.6° Dec.: S km S 3.8° 18.6° N S Solstice Data Source: NASA SKYCAL - SKY EVENTS CALENDAR PAGE 6 N FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY Node (* Times are Local) JUNE 2016 INTERESTING OBJECTS Deep Sky* - (C77) Centaurus A-S0p, (C80) Omega Centauri-GC, (M3) Globular Cluster, (M5) Globular Cluster, (M13) Great GC in Hercules, (M44) Beehive Cluster-OC, (M51) Whirlpool Galaxy-Sc, (M57) Ring Nebula-PN, (M81) Bodes Galaxy-Sb Double/Multiple Stars** - Pi Bootis, Gamma Leonis, Zeta Ursa Majoris, Herschel 2682 (UMi) Constellations* - Boötes, Centaurus, Leo, Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Virgo Asterisms*** - Kangaroo (Boo), Sickle (Leo), Eiffel Tower (UMa), Engagement Ring (UMi), Summer Triangle Lunar Features**** - Schröter's Valley (R18), Mare Serenitatis dark edges (R24), Alpine Valley (R4) JUNE 2016 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY PAGE 7 Media Reviews but talks across to the reader instead of down. There is just enough humor involved Don't Know Much About the Universe: to keep the reader's interest. (Example: “Aristotle himself was a great philosopher Everything You Need to Know About but a pretty lousy astronomer.”) And there Outer Space But Never Learned is plenty of astronomical trivia scattered by Kenneth C. Davis throughout. This is on't Know not a book to plow Much About through in a day; the Universe is there is too much ina very good introducformation for that. tion to astronomy for As Davis himself puts someone who is it, “Learning works getting started in the best when we toss hobby. But this is not out the old way of a stellar atlas, and it teaching – one subwon't help you find ject at a time, all displanets or constellaconnected from each tions in your backyard other – and bring tonight. It won't exdifferent ideas and plain how to use a teldisciplines together... escope or how to build And you can't truly one. But it does exunderstand or appreplain a great deal ciate astronomy and about how astronomy the physics of space works and how we without understandhave learned what we ing mythology, reliknow so far. I would gion, ancient history, call it a breezier verand the history of idesion of Carl Sagan's Don't Know Much About the Universe: as.” And if you're a fan Everything You Need to Know About Outer Space But Never Cosmos. Learned of the works of James By: Matt McCullar, FWAS D by Kenneth C. Davis The author, Kenneth Published by Perennial -- 2002 0-06-093256-2 C. Davis, writes very ISBN 352 pages well. Most of the information within this book is in a Q & A format. Each topic is short and to the point, Burke (Connections and The Day the Universe Changed), you'll definitely enjoy Don't Know Much About (Continued on page 9) PAGE 8 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY JUNE 2016 (Book Review—Continued from page 8) the Universe. Davis adds, “Seeing how real people make a difference in history and understanding the connections between everyday life and historical events ultimately makes these subjects compelling and interesting.” Davis describes how the science of astronomy came to be – the history of “the First Science.” Every culture in the history of the world has looked up at the stars and wondered what they were, creating their own folk tales to explain what they saw. Each scientific discovery has rewritten the books and given stargazers pause. It's been a long, fascinating road. The invention of the telescope literally changed the world. It's an awesome task to explain everything in the sky, but this book does a good job of trying. It explains how the Sun works, why stars twinkle, what radio telescopes do, what meteorites are, the properties of each planet in the solar system, what comets are made of, how planets move in the sky, the sizes of craters (both up there and down here), why sunspots are important, how we discovered that the universe is expanding, how stars are identified and cataloged, what causes lunar and solar eclipses, what asteroids are, the different types of galaxies, what triggers a supernova, what may have caused mass extinctions in our planet's distant past, the pros and cons for the possibility of extraterrestrial life, etc. We get a good history of rockets, space flight and the Hubble Space Telescope. There's plenty of information about astronomers and scientists of the past, including Galileo, Newton, Brahe, Copernicus, Kepler and Einstein, making them all come alive in the reader's mind. What surprises me most about this book is the total lack of photographs. There is not one picture of anything in the sky here, not even Saturn. There are a few cartoons. I like the author's descriptions and histories of each constellation, but there are no maps or charts to show what they look like. Having so little visual material in a beginning astronomy book is a curious omission. There are a few typos, too. One glaring error: the author mistakenly states that Iapetus is a satellite of Jupiter; it isn't. (For five points: Which planet is it really a satellite of?) On the whole, however, Don't Know Much About the Universe is an interesting read that definitely causes one to think. My rating: Three out of five universes. Recommended for high-schoolers on up. If you have an idea for an article, have astronomical related photos or an astronomy project you’ve done, and you’d like to share or want to contribute to the newsletter in any other way, please contact the editor at [email protected] or through the club’s Yahoo! eGroup forum. JUNE 2016 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY PAGE 9 Constellation of The Month L LUPUS upus constellation lies in the southern hemisphere, between Centaurus and Scorpius. Its name means “the wolf” in Latin. It is one of the 88 modern constellations, although it was previously an asterism associated with the neighboring constellation Centaurus. Lupus was first catalogued by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the 2nd century. Even though it is an old constellation, Lupus is not associated with any myths. The constellation is home to several interesting stars and deep sky objects, including the historic supernova remnant SN 1006, the globular clusters NGC 5824 and NGC 5986, and the Retina Nebula (IC 4406). FACTS & LOCATION Lupus is the 46th constellation in size, occupying an area of 334 square degrees. It is located in the third quadrant of the southern hemisphere (SQ3) and can be seen at latitudes between +35° and -90°. The whole constellation is visible only to observers south of latitude 34°N. So observers in North Texas will only see the upper parts of the constellation. The neighboring constellations are Centaurus, Circinus, Hydra, Libra, Norma and Scorpius. Lupus contains two stars with known planets and no Messier objects. The brightest star in the constellation is Men, Alpha Lupi, with an apparent visual magnitude of 2.30. There are no meteor showers associated with the constellation. Lupus belongs to the Hercules family of constellations, along with Aquila, Ara, Centaurus, Corona Australis, Corvus, Crater, Crux, Cygnus, Hercules, Hydra, Lyra, Ophiuchus, Sagitta, Scutum, Sextans, Serpens, Triangulum Australe and Vulpecula. STAR(S) OF NOTE Alpha Lupi is an ageing blue giant star of spectral type B1.5 III that is 460 ± 10 light-years distant from Earth. It is a Beta Cephei variable, pulsating in brightness by 0.03 of a magnitude every 7 hours and 6 minutes. DEEP SKY OBJECTS Towards the north of the constellation are globular clusters NGC 5824 and NGC 5986, and close by the dark nebula B 228. To the south are two open clusters, NGC 5822 and NGC 5749, as well as globular cluster NGC 5927 on the eastern border with Norma. On the western border are two spiral galaxies and the Wolf-Rayet planetary nebula IC 4406, containing some of the hottest stars in existence. IC 4406, also called the Retina Nebula, is a cylindrical nebula at a distance of 5,000 light-years. It has dust lanes throughout its center. Another planetary nebula, NGC 5882, is towards the center of the constellation. The transiting exoplanet Lupus-TR-3b lies in this constellation. The historic supernova SN 1006 is described by various sources as appearing on April 30 to May 1, 1006, in the constellation of Lupus. ESO 274-1 is a spiral galaxy seen from edge-on that requires an amateur telescope with at least 12 inches of aperture to view. It can be found by using Lambda Lupi and Mu Lupi as markers, and can only be seen under very dark skies. It is 9 arcminutes by 0.7 arcminutes with a small, elliptical nucleus. Sources: http://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/lupus-constellation/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupus_(constellation) PAGE 10 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY e JUNE 2016 Lupus as depicted by Johannes Hevelius in his Firmamentum Sobiescianum sive Uranographia (1687). Source image provided by www.RareMaps.com — Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps Inc. T he stars that now form the constellation Lupus used to be part of Centaurus constellation. They represented a sacrificed animal impaled by the centaur, which was holding it toward the constellation Ara, the altar. The constellation was not associated with any animal in particular until the Renaissance times, when the Latin translation of Ptolemy’s work identified it with the wolf. The Greeks knew the constellation as Therium, a wild animal, and the Romans called it Bestia, the beast. In Greek times, the constellation was probably taken to represent a creature based on the Babylonian figure of the Mad Dog. The creature was a hybrid, with a human head and torso and legs and tail of a lion. The creature frequently associated with the sun god and Bisonman, which is another creature from myth, was called UR.IDIM, with UR referring to a large carnivore, which could have been a lion, wolf, or a dog. e Text Source: http://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/ JUNE 2016 Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urania%27s_Mirror FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY PAGE 11 Al Observing Club Highlight Of The Month The Constellation Hunter Program Observing Experience LEVEL Beginner The Constellation Hunter Program has two certifications and pins: The Northern Skies and the Southern Skies. The purpose of these programs is to provide an orientation to the sky for novice astronomers. They require no special equipment (other than a planisphere and a reference for the brighter star names), and no prior knowledge. The objective is to provide a forum for the novice observer to become more familiar with the constellations and brighter stars, to begin to learn to navigate among the stars, and to provide a solid foundation for moving on to other observation programs such as the Messier Program. To qualify for the AL's Constellation Hunter Certificates and pins, you need only be a member of the Astronomical League, either through an affiliated club or as a Member-at-Large, and observe and sketch all of the constellations on the included on the checklist that you are pursuing. No equipment is required other than a planisphere and reference information of the names of major stars and constellation boundaries. Binoculars, while not required, will give you a deeper look into the star fields that you sketch. You should not include these additional stars and objects on your sketches, but the view will give you an appreciation for all of the things that await you in the other Astronomical League Certification Programs. You should proceed constellation by constellation. For each constellation, you need to provide this data: e Local date and time. Latitude and Longitude of observation. Constellation name. Sky conditions: transparency, and seeing. A sketch of all stars that were visible to the unaided eye, out to the limits of the constellation's boundary. Named stars should be identified on the sketch. The sketch should include other objects that are visible within the boundaries of the constellation, including but not limited to: galaxies, open clusters, globular clusters, and nebulas. There are 39 constellations in the Northern Program and 57 constellations in the Southern Program. This is a perfect introduction to the AL Observing programs, and a nice one to do on the warm summer, and cold winter nights. e PAGE 12 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY JUNE 2016 Times and Data are for Fort Worth, Texas Locations Only Data Source: Heavens Above Date Brigh tness 08 Jun (mag) -0.3 Time 23:32:42 Alt. 10° N Time 23:33:39 Alt. 14° N Time 23:33:39 Alt. 14° N visible 10 Jun -0.8 23:22:45 10° NNW 23:24:12 21° NNW 23:24:12 21° NNW visible 11 Jun -1.3 22:30:23 10° NNW 22:32:49 19° NE 22:33:13 19° NE visible 12 Jun -0.6 21:38:37 10° N 21:39:43 11° NNE 21:40:51 10° NE visible 12 Jun -1.2 23:13:16 10° NW 23:14:54 27° NW 23:14:54 27° NW visible 13 Jun -2.7 22:20:31 10° NNW 22:23:40 44° NE 22:24:01 42° ENE visible 14 Jun -1.5 21:28:03 10° NNW 21:30:42 22° NE 21:33:12 11° E visible 14 Jun -1.0 23:04:20 10° WNW 23:05:48 20° W 23:05:48 20° W visible 15 Jun -3.1 22:11:07 10° NW 22:14:21 61° SW 22:15:02 46° S visible 16 Jun -3.0 21:18:16 10° NW 21:21:29 55° NE 21:24:19 12° ESE visible 17 Jun -1.3 22:02:19 10° WNW 22:04:50 21° SW 22:06:18 15° SSW visible 18 Jun -2.6 21:08:56 10° WNW 21:12:04 47° SW 21:15:12 10° SSE visible Start Highest point Az. End Az. Pass type Az. NOTE: NO bright ISS passes visible in the DFW area, for dates not listed. Chart created using: Cartes du Ciel Mercury Venus Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune The planets appear in their correct relative size as seen from Earth on the 15th of the month. JUNE 2016 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY PAGE 13 June Sky Chart Fort Worth, TX (32.7555°N, 97.3308°W) Chart displayed is for June 15, 2016 @ 21:00 Local Time PAGE 14 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY JUNE 2016 Wednesday 15 June 2016 @ 4.3pm—Golden Handle visible on the Moon from 4.3pm - 6.4pm (sun rises on the Jura mountains, while Sinus Iridum is still in shadow). JUNE 2016 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY PAGE 15 First and Last Lunar Crescent Visibility Friday 3 June 2016 5.9am Lunar Crescent visible, 39.6 hours before new moon Elongation: 23.2°, 4.3% illuminated, Position angle of crescent (from Zenith to East): 120.7° - crescent points to the lower left, Width of the crescent: 1.35', Length of the crescent: 144°, Moon rises at 5:19am, 62 minutes before the Sun (Azimuth: 74°/ENE) The Yallop (1998) criteria additionally states for this event with q=+0.902 Sunday 5 June 2016 8.9pm Lunar Crescent visible, only 22.9 hours after new moon Elongation: 13.4°, 1.5% illuminated, Position angle of crescent (from Zenith to East): 235.9° - crescent points to the lower right, Width of the crescent: 0.45', Length of the crescent: 69°, Moon lower limb relative to sunset point at sunset: dalt=6.8° daz=-10.8° (i.e. eastward), Altitude of moon center at listed time: 3.6°, Azimuth: 289.3°/WNW, Altitude of Sun: -4.1°, Moon sets at 9:15pm, 40 minutes after the Sun (Azimuth: 292°/WNW) The Yallop (1998) criteria additionally states for this event with q=-0.042: Telescope required to find crescent. Monday 6 June 2016 9.3pm Lunar Crescent visible, 47.3 hours after new moon Elongation: 26.4°, 5.5% illuminated, Position angle of crescent (from Zenith to East): 226.8° - crescent points to the lower right, Width of the crescent: 1.69', Length of the crescent: 159°, Moon sets at 10:13pm, 97 minutes after the Sun (Azimuth: 292°/WNW) The Yallop (1998) criteria additionally states for this event with q=+1.710 Data source: http://astropixels.com/ephemeris/moon/moon2015.html PAGE 16 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY JUNE 2016 Lunar Occultations & Conjunctions of Planets Wednesday 1 June 2016 5.9am Close to Uranus, 5.9mag, Separation=3.73°, Limb separation=3.45° =6.27 lunar dia., Position angle=18.5° N, Azimuth az=96.4°, Altitude h=25.4°, RA= 1h26.7m Dec= +8° 27.4', Moon phase=18.7%, Sun altitude hsun=-6.0° 11.7am Close to Uranus, 5.9mag, Separation=2.67°, Limb separation=2.39° =4.30 lunar dia., Position angle=335.24° NW, Azimuth az=223.9°, Altitude h=58.68°, RA= 1h26.8m Dec= +8°27.6', Moon phase=16.5%, Sun altitude hsun=63.9°, in daylight, elongation from sun: 47.9° Friday 3 June 2016 5.7am Close to Mercury, 0.7mag, Separation=1.82°, Limb separation=1.54° =2.79 lunar dia., Position angle=309.4° NW, Azimuth az=77.1°, Altitude h=6.1°, RA= 3h12.3m Dec=+14°02.3', Moon phase=4.3%, Sun altitude hsun=-7.5° Saturday 11 June 2016 8.6pm Close to Jupiter, -2.0mag, Separation=3.89°, Limb separation=3.63° =7.16 lunar dia., Position angle=317.1° NW, Azimuth az=222.3°, Altitude h=57.6°, RA=11h06.3m Dec= +7°06.4', Moon phase=47.5%, Sun altitude hsun=-0.2° Saturday 18 June 2016 7.4pm Close to Saturn, 0.1mag, Separation=2.82°, Limb separation=2.57° =5.16 lunar dia., Position angle=196.29° S, Azimuth az=115.3°, Altitude h=1.39°, RA=16h42.9m Dec= -20° 27.5', Moon phase=97.8%, Sun altitude hsun=14.1°, in daylight, elongation from sun: 162.7° 8.7pm Close to Saturn, 0.1mag, Separation=2.88°, Limb separation=2.63° =5.26 lunar dia., Position angle=207.8° SW, Azimuth az=127.1°, Altitude h=15.1°, RA=16h42.9m Dec= 20°27.5', Moon phase=97.9%, Sun altitude hsun=-0.2° Sunday 26 June 2016 12.9am Close to Neptune, 7.9mag, Separation=4.02°, Limb separation=3.77° =7.11 lunar dia., Position angle=247.3° SW, Azimuth az=103.3°, Altitude h=6.1°, RA=22h54.9m Dec= -7°50.6', Moon phase=66.9%, Sun altitude hsun=-33.2° Data Source: http://www.calsky.com/ JUNE 2016 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY PAGE 17 M e r c u r y JUN 01 JUN 15 LOCAL SUNRISE V E JUL 1 LOCAL SUNSET N U S JUN 01 JUN 15 Data and Image Sources: www.calsky.com PAGE 18 LOCAL SUNSET FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY JUL 1 JUNE 2016 Minor Planets This Month (3) Juno (6) Hebe JUNE 2016 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY PAGE 19 Minor Planets This Month (7) Iris (8) Flora PAGE 20 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY JUNE 2016 Minor Planets This Month (10) Hygiea (23) Thalia JUNE 2016 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY PAGE 21 J U P I T E R 1 3:57.5am 1:53.3pm 11:49.0pm 2 9:44.8am 7:40.5pm 3 5:36.3am 3:32.0pm 4 1:27.8am 11:23.5am 9:19.3pm 5 7:15.0am 5:10.8pm 6 3:06.5am 1:02.3pm 7 8:53.8am 6:49.6pm 8 4:45.3am 2:41.1pm 10:58.0pm 9 12:36.8am 10:32.6am 8:28.4pm 10 6:24.1am 4:19.9pm 11 2:15.7am 12:11.4pm 10:07.2pm 12 8:03.0am 5:58.7pm 13 3:54.5am 1:50.3pm 14 9:41.8am 7:37.6pm 15 5:33.4am 3:29.2pm 16 1:24.9am 11:20.7am 9:16.5pm 17 7:12.3am 5:08.1pm 18 3:03.8am 12:59.6pm 10:55.4pm 19 8:51.2am 6:47.0pm 20 4:42.8am 2:38.6pm 11:46.1pm 21 12:34.3am 10:30.1am 8:25.9pm Chart source: JupSat Pro Software PAGE 22 Great Red Spot Transits Jovian Moon Position Chart 22 6:21.7am 4:17.5pm 23 2:13.3am 12:09.1pm 10:04.9pm 24 8:00.7am 5:56.5pm 25 3:52.3am 1:48.1pm 26 9:39.7am 7:35.5pm 27 5:31.3am 3:27.1pm 28 1:22.9am 11:18.7am 9:14.5pm 29 7:10.3am 5:06.1pm 30 3:01.9am 12:57.7pm 10:53.6pm 31 8:49.4am 6:45.2pm 11:43.9pm Data Source: http://www.calsky.com/ FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY JUNE 2016 Saturn Tilt as it will appear on the 15th of the month. S A T U R N Chart Source: http://www.calsky.com/ JUNE 2016 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY PAGE 23 Visible Comets This Month C/252P (LINEAR) PAGE 24 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY JUNE 2016 Visible Comets This Month C/2013 X1 (Pan-STARRS) JUNE 2016 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY PAGE 25 Club Meeting Minutes— May 17, 2016 Kelly Beebe, Acting-Secretary Note: Prior to opening dues were collected, telescope donations received, and personal Information forms collected. May 19 an outreach table was requested to be setup at the Wilkerson-Grimes Center 6:00 to 6:45 FWAS President will be attending. Meeting Attendance: 58 FWAS members Recognitions: For attendance at 5 or more Star Parties club T-Shirt President Opening Remarks: Bruce Cowles welcomed everyone and introduced himself and the attending current board members. Recognized….Si Simonson, Larry Barker, Patrick McMahon, Shawn Kirchdorfer, and Brian Wortham (not present) Visitors were recognized and asked to stand and introduce themselves and tell a little about themselves and how they found FWAS. Large Donation Recognitions: (help, land, money) Mike Jones who donated Fort Davis property and has helped extensively with the 19 inch telescope refurbishment, was given a 5 year complementary membership to FWAS free of charge in recognition Bruce gave a short speech about the upcoming June of his contributions. club elections. Positions that have will have to be Bob Wilbers (not present at meeting) was recogfilled due to mandatory term limits are President nized once again for his prior $10,000 cash donation and 2 Board Members. To be a board member the only prerequisite is that you have been a club mem- to FWAS. ber for 1 year at the time of election. Term limits for Young Astronomers Club report: all Executive positions are 2 years max consecutive. Brian Wortham will run next YA presentation on Each is a one year term. Board members are two Mars at the May meeting year terms. Treasurer is a max of 5 years term limit, and comes up for election each year. Also noted, is that the combined positions of Treasurer/Secretary Main Program Report: is being split into two separate positions. The bySpeaker Dennis Webb gave an overview presentalaws will have to be rewritten to make this official. tion about his new collaborative book series Annals of the Deep Sky Volumes 1-3. This book series is a sort-of modern equivalent to the Burnham’s CelesOutreach Update: -Patrick McMahon tial Handbook series, with lots of information and Star Party May 18 which will probably be canceled details in a readable format, divided by constelladue to weather tion name, in alphabetical order. The first three volEnd of month at Bob Jones Nature Center (details to umes cover the constellations Andromeda through be sent out) Canis Major with many more volumes to come. PAGE 26 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY JUNE 2016 Club Meeting Minutes— April 19, 2016 Michelle Theisen, Secretary-Treasurer A 15 minute break was taken before raffle and busi- Concern that Yahoo Inc. will eventually no longer be ness meeting: viable to host our egroup as a club resource is growing. There have been discussions with Scott Sumner, 5 books were raffled off…the winners were Elizabeth Copeland, Michelle Theisen, Keith Frost, James one of our member-liaisons with the Nobel Planetarium, and our current social media and website Roe, and an unknown individual (apologies). administrator, Shawn Kirchdorfer, about creating a new online discussion forum that would allow FWAS to host our own website and (egroup-type) Business Meeting: forum autonomously. 19” Telescope / Starr Ranch / Fort Davis - Report: Concrete pad has been poured at Star Ranch for the 19’ telescope. Next project is to move the 19” telescope from Thompson to Starr, mount it, and check it out. Will need help moving the telescope and build deck around it. Also, move two each of the 10” and 12” Dobbs in the FWAS inventory to Starr Ranch. Soon there will be 16” telescope available for Starr ranch. Also, Composting toilet must be hooked up and an overflow pipe installed. Will need help with that. Please contact a board member to volunteer. Camping at tree/ brush fringe of Starr Ranch must be cleared especially rocks. Should be ideal for tent camping and privacy. There will eventually be general purpose mounting plates made for the existing telescope piers at Starr, for astrophotography use. Next Month’s Program Brandon Hamill will discuss his Star party Travels July meeting will discuss next year’s Total Solar Eclipse directly over the central US. Bruce Cowles will be discussing its path, planning observing events, and the best cities from which to observe it. Suggestion was brought up: An annual club directory with pictures of members made available on our web site or printed. One suggestion was to use Facebook. Club leadership said this had been discussed before but that there were privacy issues but would be discussed further again. Total Donations for the recently purchased teleFort Davis property communicated to the Dallas and scope came to $1310.00. Austin clubs with no response. So, it has been listed with Davis Mountain Real Estate. It is 7.82 acres with 1 ½ acre flat. There is a Davis Mountain HOA. It has been listed offering of $27,500.00. The access road is gravel but should not require 4 wheel drive and would be fine for pickup or SUV. General Club Business JUNE 2016 e FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY PAGE 27 FWAS Club Fundraiser FWAS is still asking for donations to raise the $3000 to cover the costs of purchasing our new Lunt LS60THa solar telescope and an iOptron ZEQ25 GT mount. We have already used this at some outreach and educational events, and it was a hit! Donations are tax deductible. We are a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to educating and sparking the interest in Astronomy and Space in the public. If you would like to help us recoup this expense, it’s still not too late. You can still donate. Please click the button below or go to the URL shown at the bottom. Any amount is welcome and greatly appreciated. AmazonSmile is a website operated by Amazon that lets customers enjoy the same wide selection of products, low prices, and convenient shopping features as on Amazon.com. The difference is that when customers shop on AmazonSmile at smile.amazon.com, the AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the price of eligible purchases to the charitable organizations selected by customers. To participate, visit AmazonSmile and select Fort Worth Astronomical Society as your charity upon log-in. For more information visit org.amazon.com. The site will remember your charity automatically when you visit AmazonSmile to shop. If you are already an Amazon.com user, you can use the same account to log-in to AmazonSmile to shop. You must sign-in to AmazonSmile each time you shop in order for your purchases to count towards a donation to your charitable organization. If you do not have an Amazon account, signing up is free! http://www.fortworthastro.com/donate.html PAGE 28 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY JUNE 2016 Newsletter: The FWAS newsletter, Prime Focus, is published monthly. Letters to the editor, articles for publication, photos you’ve taken, personal equipment reviews, or just about anything you would like to have included in the newsletter that is astronomy related should be sent to: [email protected] Meetings: FWAS meets at 7:00 PM on the third Tuesday of the month at the UNT Health Science Center – Research & Education Building, Room 100; 3500 Camp Bowie Blvd; Ft. Worth. Guests and visitors are always welcome. Outreach: Items regarding FWAS Outreach activities, or requests for FWAS to attend an event, should be sent to: [email protected] Young Astronomers: FWAS’ youth activities (known as YA!) meet on the 3rd Saturday of every month between 7pm and 9pm (check our calendar for time changes throughout the year - determined by seasonal sunset times). This group meets for one hour at the Parkwood Hill HOA Club House - 5573 Eastwedge Dr., Fort Worth, TX 76137. YA! Coordinators: [email protected] FWAS Annual Dues: $40 for adults / families & households $20.00 for students (half-price Dec 1 thru May 31); Membership runs June 1st through May 31st. Please make checks payable to: Fort Worth Astronomical Society See our Secretary/Treasurer for more info: [email protected] That’s a Fact! The exposed land area on Earth (i.e. not the part covered in water), is roughly equal to the entire surface area of Mars. Source Seen a Fireball Lately? Report it to the American Meteor Society (AMS) Just go to their website at http://www.amsmeteors.org/ and hover your cursor on the Fireball menu item at the top of the page and you will see the link to report a fireball. They will ask you several questions in a web questionnaire and your observations will be added to the other witnesses for the same event. These will be compiled and analyzed to determine the location and direction from which the object entered the atmosphere. FULL MOON NAME Cash and checks should be paid in-person at the next indoor meeting, or checks can be mailed in the traditional way. Members should check the eGroup for the latest postal mailing address listed by the Secretary/Treasurer. Ju ne Credit card payments (for existing membership renewals only) can be made through our PayPal link (private link is on the club’s Yahoo eGroup – no PayPal account required). “Strawberry Moon” Strawberrypicking season reaches its peak during this time. This is one of the few names that was universal to all Algonquin e tribes. Discount Magazine Subscriptions: Sky & Telescope, Astronomy, and StarDate (McDonald Observatory) magazines are available for discounted subscription rates Source: OId Farmer’s Almanac through our association with the NASA Night Sky Network and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. The link can be found on the club’s Yahoo eGroup. (Members Only) Astronomical League Membership: Your FWAS membership gives you associate membership in the Astronomical League. This gives you access to earn various observing certificates through the AL observing clubs. You also receive their quarterly magazine, Reflector. AL Observing clubs: http://tinyurl.com/7pyr8qg JUNE 2016 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY PAGE 29 Lightning over Corgi Trails Observatory taken 5-26-2016 by FWAS member Mike Jones Lightning over houses—taken by FWAS member Manny Lois on 5-26-2016 Have an interesting photo you’ve taken of the sky? Discovered a technique and want to show the results to fellow FWAS members? Submit your photos to [email protected] or send them in the Yahoo! eGroup to the attention of the newsletter editor. Your participation in showing off your personal astrophotography is greatly appreciated by all FWAS members. PAGE 30 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY JUNE 2016