San Diego Astronomy Association

Transcription

San Diego
Astronomy Association
Celebrating Over 40 Years of Astronomical Outreach
Observatory (619) 766-9118
http://www.sdaa.org
A Non-Profit Educational Association
P.O. Box 23215, San Diego, CA 92193-3215
SDAA Business Meeting
Next meeting will be held at:
3838 Camino del Rio North
Suite 300
San Diego, CA 92108
January 8th at 7pm
January 2013
SDAA Annual Banquet
See old friends and make new ones; eat great food at a wonderful venue; win incredible door prizes and bid on quality astronomy gear; and perhaps best of all, listen to
a great speaker. Sound interesting? Please join us on Saturday evening January 26that
the Handlery Hotel and Resort for our annual SDAA banquet. To sign up, send in the
form in this newsletter, or visit the SDAA.org website. The event coincides with the full
moon, so you have no reason to miss this. You must reserve your ticket by January 22nd.
There will be no ticket sales at the event.
Next Program Meeting
January 26, 2013 at 7pm
Annual Banquet
Handlery Hotel & Resort
CONTENTS
January 2013, Vol LI, Issue 1
Published Monthly by the
$2.50 an issue/$30.00 year
Incorporated in California in 1963
Annual Banquet..............................1
December Minutes.........................2
2013 TDS Schedule...................3
Annual Banquet....................4
January Calendar............................5
S DA A C o n t a c t s. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
ASIG Galler y..............................7
We b O n l y - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Of Anvils and Aspirations......................9
Partnering to Solve Saturn’s Mysteries..10
Planet Formation: More Questions Than
Answers...............................................11
Clear and Dark Skies............................12
Newsletter Deadline
The deadline to submit articles
for publication is the
15th of each month.
William (Bill) Welsh, Associate Professor of Astronomy at San Diego State University, will talk on the Kepler Mission. Bill grew up in Staten Island, NY, and obtained
his undergraduate BS degree in physics and astronomy from SUNY Stony Brook. He
earned his PhD from the Ohio State University in 1993, doing his thesis research at the
Space Telescope Science Institute. He did his postdoctoral work at Keele University in
England, then at the University of Texas, where he became a Research Scientist. His
early research was focused on cataclysmic variables and AGN reverberation mapping,
but since becoming a faculty member at San Diego State University in 2000 his work
has been primarily on transiting extrasolar planets. His role in the Mission is to carry out
detailed modeling of the short-period planets that Kepler discovers in order to very accurately measure the physical characteristics of the planets and stars, including variations
in the times of transits that would indicate the presence of an unseen second planet or
moon.
SDAA Board of Directors Monthly Business Meeting Minutes
December 11, 2012-Unapproved and Subject to Revision
1. Call to order. The meeting was called to order at 7pm with the following board members in attendance: Michael Vander Vorst, President; Mike Chasin, Vice President; Ed Rumsey, Treasurer; Jeff Herman, Corresponding Secretary; Brian McFarland, Recording Secretary;
Kin Searcy, Director; Mike Finch, Director; Paul “Moose” Poutney, Director; David Woods, Director. Member in attendance – Mark
Smith.
2. Approval of Last Meeting Minutes. Approved.
3. Priority / Member Business. Official installation of Mike Chasin as VP complete with a unanimous vote of the Board.
4. Standard Reports.
Treasurer’s Report. Report approved.
Membership Report. Current membership is 514 members.
Site Maintenance Report. Nothing to report.
Observatory Report. The Board approved $250 for the purchase of a focusing mask for the club scope.
Private Pad Report .
• We currently have 2 pads available and nobody on the active waiting list. I expect that Pad 16 will probably be returned to the
club in February.
• I’m working on the year end usage reports and hope to have them to the BOD in time for the January meeting.
• I’m working on cleaning up the records for approved structures on the Private Pads. So far I have 2 of the 3 and am working on
the 3rd. Updating the Private Pad Sharer’s list will be my next task.
• There are several people on the waiting list who have been on the list for years, but never take an available pad. They cause a delay
in the selection process, but it’s not a problem big enough to do anything about right now.
• It appears that there are several people who won’t meet the minimum required 4/year usage requirement for 2012.
• We need to update the pad lease agreements to accommodate small observatories
• We need to update the pad lease agreements to accommodate battery usage/charging, and solar power on pads.
• The Board approved the continued use of the two pads that are currently operating battery and solar power systems until official
guidance can be created.
• Mark Smith will draft new lease agreements.
Program Report.
• We have a speaker for the February Program Meeting.
• We need an auctioneer for the banquet.
• 25-year members will be acknowledged at the banquet with a group photo and a free one-year membership in lieu of the “somewhat” traditional plaque.
• The Board approved $250 for the purchase of meteorites for use as prizes at the banquet.
• Michael V will author a newsletter article about the upcoming banquet.
Outreach Committee Report. There is one more star party scheduled for this year.
AISIG Report. No meetings until 2013.
Page 2
SAN DIEGO ASTRONOMY ASSOCIATION NEWS AND NOTES, JANUARY 2013
Governing Documents. A club member has agreed to take control of this effort.
NASA/Roboscope. Nothing to report.
TDS Network. Nothing to report.
Newsletter Report. Nothing to report.
Website.
•Added a link to the weather report from an adjacent (to TDS) weather site operated by Mike Chasin, since SDAA’s weather site
has been down.
• Added Dan Kiser as new member mentor to the website.
• Removed Bill Carlson from his contact links on the website.
• An issue arose with the use of two Google Calendars. The Calendar on the website is for public information only and is linked
to [email protected]. The second one is linked to [email protected]. That one includes non-public event information and is maintained by Kin Searcy. Please be sure to let the webmaster know if there are new events or changes to events that should be on the
public website.
Merchandise Report. We have about $2,500.00 in inventory.
Site Master Plan. Nothing to report.
Safety Documents. Nothing to report.
5. Old Business. None.
6. New Business. None.
DATE
7. Adjournment. 8:34 pm.
JUN. 1 R- 1:50A 43% 7:49P PUBLIC
8 S- 8:01P 1% 7:52P
29 R-12:29A 58% 7:57P PUBLIC
2013 TDS SCHEDULE
DATE
MOON DATA
SUNSET
JUL. 6
MOON DATA
S- 6:45P 3%
SUNSET
7:57P
JAN. 5 R- 1:14A 35% 4:55P
12 S- 6:27P 1% 5:00P
PUBLIC
AUG. 3 S- 5:26P 11% 7:42P PUBLIC
10 S- 9:37P 12% 7:35P
31 R- 2:54A 23% 7:11P PUBLIC
FEB. 2 R-12:09A 62% 5:20P
9 S- 5:12P 1% 5:26P
PUBLIC
SEP. 7 S- 8:15P 4%
28 R- 1:42A 38%
MAR. 2 R-11:07P 76% 5:44P
9 S- 4:00P 7% 5:49P
PUBLIC
OCT. 5 S- 6:52P 0% 6:24P
26 R-12:22A 55% 6:00P PUBLIC
APR. 6 S- 3:53P 17% 7:08P
13 S-10:33P 9% 7:14P
MAY. 4 R- 3:13A 29% 7:30P
11 S- 9:17P 2% 7:35P
PUBLIC
PUBLIC
7:02P
6:34P
PUBLIC
NOV. 2 S- 5:27P 2% 5:53P
23 R-10:06P 71% 4:41P PUBLIC
30 R- 4:56A 3% 4:39P
DEC.31
S- 5:28P 1%
4:50P
NEW YEARS EVE
Page 3
You are cordially invited to
The San Diego Astronomy Association’s
Annual Banquet
On
Saturday, January 26, 2013, 5:30 – 11:00 pm
Handlery Hotel & Resort- 950 Hotel Circle North, San Diego, CA 92108
____________________________________________________________
Speaker: Dr. William Welsh, Associate Professor of Astronomy at San Diego State
University will present on the Kepler Mission. His role is to carry out detailed
modeling of the short-period planets that Kepler discovers in order to very
accurately measure the physical characteristics of the planets and stars, including
variations in the times of transits that would indicate the presence of an unseen
second planet or moon.
Cocktail hour is from 5:30 to 6:45 and dinner 7:00.
Menu
Choice of Entrees:
Steak
Chicken
Vegetarian
SDAA Banquet Order Form
Use this form or order online at http://sdaa.org/banquet.htm
Name______________________________________________________
Address____________________________________________________
City, State, Zip______________________________________________
Telephone__________________________________________________
Email______________________________________________________
Dinner Selections (Enter number of each)
Steak____ Chicken ____
Vegetarian ____
Check here if requiring
sugar free dessert____
Number Attending ____ @ $45 each
Total Payment included $ _________
*Make checks payable to SDAA
Orders must be received no later than 01/22/2012
NO TICKETS WILL BE SOLD AT THE DOOR
Page 4
Mail to:
P.O. Box 23215
San Diego, CA 92193-3215
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
1
6
13
20
7
14
21
January 2013
8
SDAA Business
Meeting
Earl Warren
Middle School
15
22
Wednesday
Thursday
2
3
4
5
9
10
11
12
Stars in the Park
High Tech High
PT Loma
16
23
AISIG Meeting
Sherman
Academy
17
La Jolla
Elementary
Hickman
Elementary
Tierrasanta
Elementary
24
Hannalei
Elementary
27
Full Moon
28
29
Dingemann
Elementary
Friday
Saturday
Public Star Party
TDS
Stars at Mission
Trails
New Moon
18
Stars At
Sycamore
Canyon
Member Night
TDS
19
Cub Scout Pack
Anza Borrego
25
26
Phoenix House
Annual Banquet
30
Page 5
SDAA Contacts
Club Officers and Directors
PresidentMichael
Vander Vorst
[email protected]
Vice-President
Mike Chasin
[email protected]
Recording Secretary
Brian McFarland [email protected]
Treasurer
Ed Rumsey
[email protected]
Corresponding Secretary Jeff Herman [email protected]
Director Alpha
Dave Wood
[email protected]
Director Beta
Paul “Moose” Pountney [email protected]
Director Gamma
Michael Finch [email protected]
Director Delta
Kin Searcy
[email protected]
(858) 755-5846
(858) 210-1454
(619) 462-4483
(858) 722-3846
(619) 846-4898
(858) 735-8808
(619) 201-5311
(760) 440-9650
(858) 586-0974
Committees
Site Maintenance
Bill Quackenbush Observatory Director Jim Traweek Private Pads
Mark Smith
Outreach
Kin Searcy
N. County Star Parties
Doug McFarland S. County Star Parties
Benjamin Flores E. County Star Parties
Dave Decker
Central County Star Parties
Kin Searcy
Camp with the Stars
Doug McFarland K.Q. Ranch Coordinator
MichaelVander Vorst
Newsletter
Andrea Kuhl
New Member Mentor
Dan Kiser Webmaster
Jeff Stevens
AISIG
Kin Searcy
Site Acquisition
-Vacant-
Field Trips
-Vacant-
Grants/Fund Raising
-Vacant- Merchandising
Paul “Moose” Pountney
Publicity-Vacant- Roboscope Director
-Vacant- Governing Documents
TBD
TDS Network
Dave Wood
Amateur Telescope Making
Peter De Baan
SDAA Editorial Staff
Editor - Andrea Kuhl
[email protected]
Assistant Editor: Rick Imbra
Contributing Writers
Diane K. Fisher
B. Biever
Trudy E. Bell
Page 6
[email protected](858) 395-1007
[email protected]
(619) 207-7542
[email protected]
(858) 586-0974
[email protected]
(760) 583-5436
[email protected]
(619) 885-1291
[email protected]
(619) 972-1003
[email protected]
(858) 586-0974
[email protected]
(760) 583-5436
[email protected]
(858) 547-9887
[email protected] (858) 922-0592
[email protected]
(858) 566-2261
[email protected]
[email protected]
(425) 736-8485
[email protected]
[email protected]
(619)-201-5311
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
(858) 735-8808
(760) 745-0925
Have a great new piece of gear? Read an astronomy-related book that you think
others should know about? How about a photograph of an SDAA Member in
action? Or are you simply tired of seeing these Boxes in the Newsletter rather
than something, well, interesting?
Join the campaign to rid the Newsletter of little boxes by sharing them with the
membership. In return for your efforts, you will get your very own by line or photograph credit in addition to the undying gratitude of the Newsletter Editor. Just
send your article or picture to [email protected].
AISIG Gallery
Jerry Hilburn’s image of M42 is special in that it is one of the first images taken through SDAA’s James Lipp Observatory 22-inch
Ritchey-Chretien telescope after optical refiguring and much work by Jim Traweek, Brian McFarland, Bill Griffith, and Ed Rumsey.
This is a single, unguided 20 second image at ISO 800 with a modified Canon 5D.
Page 7
Vince Bert posted a highly detailed monochromatic image of IC454, the Horse Head Nebula, taken with a Alta U16M CCD through
a Planewave CDK 17. This image is constructed from 12 1800 seconds of Hydrogen Alpha images (6 hours).
Permanent Observatory at TDS for Sale
The building has running water, plenty of power outlets, a nice pier in the dead center of the space, and a roll off roof that works well.
The building is solely owned, there are no partners. Price to be negotiated privately. For more information, please contact Jerry Hilburn
at: Email: [email protected] Phone: 858-254-4151
MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION
Send dues and renewals to P.O. Box 23215, San Diego, CA 92193-3215. Include any renewal cards from Sky & Telescope or Astronomy magazine in which you wish to
continue your subscription. The expiration date shown on your newsletter’s mailing label is the only notice that your membership in SDAA will expire. Dues are $60 for
Contributing Memberships; $35 for Basic Membership; $60.00 for Private Pads; $5 for each Family membership. In addition to the club dues the annual rates for magazines available at the club discount are: Sky & Telescope $32.95 and Astronomy $34. Make checks payable to S.D. Astronomy Assn. PLEASE DO NOT send renewals
directly to Sky Publishing. They return them to us for processing.
Page 8
Of Anvils and Aspirations....
By B. Biever
People have dreams and aspirations. Some want to be movie stars, instead of being stuck in a Warner Brothers cartoon. Some
want to win the lottery.
To tell the truth, I wouldn't mind any of these things myself. However, since I look like something someone pulled out of a
laundry bag after a six-month deployment, and since I'm too scared of the IRS getting into my finances, email, associations,
etcetera, well....looks like Dreams One and Two ain't a-gonna happen.
So what does Wile E. Coyote pull out of the Yellow Pages next? If it comes with dynamite and a timer attached, why not the
anvil-resembling, typical varmint alternative of trying to win the Astronomical League's Master Observer Award?
A few years ago, once I satisfied myself that the IRS wasn't interested in taxing anything I won from the Astronomical League,
I decided to give some of their programs a chance to become acquainted with me. To date, seven of their awards have actually
decided to come home with me. All seven have even petitioned me for adoption. Being the obliging type, and basically philanthropic when the IRS isn’t around, I readily consented.
Just one problem, though. To get the Master Observer's Award, Wile has to adopt ten of the programs.
This became apparent when my eternal-seeming Herschel 400 program developed bald spots in the form of seasons that were
all hunted out, leaving me with no choice but to traumatize myself by going over the cliff and acquiring--flailing in midair--an
astrophotography rig to facilitate the Lunar II program.... Or I could stick with Coyote's trusty and gloriously cheaper 12-inch
Meade Truss-Tube Dobsonian for a drooling run at the Planetary Observers Program. Since you now have a more complete
personality profile on me than the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI, can you have any doubt what I did?
Of course I stuck with the Dob. But being ever-mindful of advances in technology, I rounded out the Dob's capabilities by
adding the fun Orion 127 Starmax Maksutov-Cassegrain (OTA only), as well as the 180mm version of the same scope (OTA
only). After all, I told myself, the money I was saving by not investing in an astrophotography rig could provide me with the
focal length firepower I needed to pick up planetary detail I might not see quite as crisply with the Dob. Also, by purchasing
OTAs only, and using Scientific's Twilight-II Heavy-Duty Altazimuth tripod, I could refrain from succumbing to automation,
which I've feared would atrophy all my hard-won knowledge of the skies--the reason I took up Astronomy in the first place.
Automation and astrophotography can wait until after I earn the Master Observer's Award the good old-fashioned way--just my
tube and me, in the wilderness, under dark, clear skies, pursuing elusive prey with all the other varmints.
Page 9
Partnering to Solve Saturn’s Mysteries
By Diane K. Fisher
From December 2010 through mid-summer 2011, a giant storm raged in Saturn’s northern hemisphere. It was clearly visible not
only to NASA’s Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn, but also astronomers here on Earth—even those watching from their back yards. The
storm came as a surprise, since it was about 10 years earlier in Saturn’s seasonal cycle than expected from observations of similar storms
in the past. Saturn’s year is about 30 Earth years. Saturn is tilted on its axis (about 27° to Earth’s 23°), causing it to have seasons as Earth
does.
But even more surprising than the unseasonal storm was the related event that followed.
First, a giant bubble of very warm material broke through the clouds in the region of the now-abated storm, suddenly raising the
temperature of Saturn’s stratosphere over 150 °F. Accompanying this enormous “burp” was a sudden increase in ethylene gas. It took
Cassini’s Composite Infrared Spectrometer instrument to detect it.
According to Dr. Scott Edgington, Deputy Project Scientist for Cassini, “Ethylene [C2H4] is normally present in only very low
concentrations in Saturn’s atmosphere and has been very difficult to detect. Although it is a transitional product of the thermochemical
processes that normally occur in Saturn’s atmosphere, the concentrations detected concurrent with the big ‘burp’ were 100 times what
we would expect.”
So what was going on?
Chemical reaction rates vary greatly with the energy available for the process. Saturn’s seasonal changes are exaggerated due to the
effect of the rings acting as venetian blinds, throwing the northern hemisphere into shade during winter. So when the Sun again reaches
the northern hemisphere, the photochemical reactions that take place in the atmosphere can speed up quickly. If not for its rings, Saturn’s seasons would vary as predictably as Earth’s.
But there may be another cycle going on besides the seasonal one. Computer models are based on expected reaction rates for the
temperatures and pressures in Saturn’s atmosphere, explains Edgington. However, it is very difficult to validate those models here on
Earth. Setting up a lab to replicate conditions on Saturn is not easy!
Also contributing to the apparent mystery is the fact that haze on Saturn often obscures the view of storms below. Only once in a
while do storms punch through the hazes. Astronomers may have previously missed large storms, thus failing to notice any non-seasonal
patterns.
As for atmospheric events that are visible to Earth-bound telescopes, Edgington is particularly grateful for non-professional astronomers. While these astronomers are free to watch a planet continuously over long periods and record their finding in photographs, Cassini
and its several science instruments must be shared with other scientists. Observation time on Cassini is planned more than six months in
advance, making it difficult to immediately train it on the unexpected.
That’s where the volunteer astronomers come in, keeping a continuous watch on the changes taking place on Saturn.
Edgington says, “Astronomy is one of those fields of study
where amateurs can contribute as much as professionals.”
Go to http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/ to read about the latest Cassini
discoveries. For kids, The space Place has lots of ways to explore
Saturn at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/search/cassini/.
This article was provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration.
This false-colored Cassini image of Saturn was taken in
near-infrared light on January 12, 2011. Red and orange
show clouds deep in the atmosphere. Yellow and green are
intermediate clouds. White and blue are high clouds and
haze. The rings appear as a thin, blue horizontal line.
Page 10
AstroShort
Planet Formation: More Questions Than Answers
847 and counting: that’s the number of planets confirmed
as existing around 642 stars within several hundred lightyears of our Sun. And more than 2,000 additional detections
are awaiting confirmation by follow-up observations. By
far, the most potential exoplanets have been found by the
NASA spacecraft Kepler (launched in 2009), whose mission is to find Earthlike planets in a habitable zone around
other stars, by staring at 150,000 stars and recording minuscule dips in brightness.
So far, Kepler hasn’t yet found an identical twin to
Earth: a rocky body of similar mass, sweet with liquid water, in the “Goldilocks zone” for temperatures just right for
life as we know it to evolve. In fact, Kepler hasn’t yet found
even an exoplanetary system resembling our Solar System,
with rocky planets on the inside, gas giants in the outer
reaches, and orbital periods ranging from months to centuries. Instead, most exoplanetary systems are—by the standards of our Solar System—so bizarre they are challenging
astronomers and computational astrophysicists to reexamine
long-held models of how planets form
Constrained by the data
“With many observations, theorists have less freedom to
speculate how planets form,” explains Brad M. S. Hansen,
associate professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California, Los Angeles. “Any theoretical or computational models have to explain what we actually find.”
One big early surprise (1995) was the ground-based discovery of “hot Jupiters:” gas giants the size of Jupiter in
The first Earth-sized planets were found in December 2011 by
NASA’s Kepler mission around a sun-like star Kepler-20. Kepler20e is slightly smaller than Venus with a radius 0.87 that of Earth;
Kepler-20f is a bit larger than Earth at 1.03 times the radius of
Earth. Both are rocky but with scorching temperatures, as their
“years” (orbital periods) are only 6.1 and 19.6 days, respectively.
Three larger, likely gaseous, planets also circle Kepler-20.
Image credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech
orbits around their parent stars much closer than Venus—or
even Mercury—is to the Sun. How does something that
massive form so close to a parent star? Would there have
been enough material for such a big body to form in place,
without being ripped apart by tidal forces? Or might it accrete from dust and rocks farther out in its planetary system
and later migrate inward toward its parent star?
Later, lower mass, rocky planets—“super-Earths” only a
few times the mass of Earth—were identified from Kepler
data. “Now there also is an intermediate class of ‘hot Neptunes’ midway between the super-Earths and the hot Jupiters,” Hansen continues. In a paper published in June 2012,
he and coauthor Norm Murray describe an analysis of their
formation from a set of numerical simulations based on a
purely gravitational calculation of planetary scattering, collision and assembly.
Meantime, in December 2011, confirmation was announced of two rocky Earth-sized planets in the Kepler-20
system. They are two of five planets orbiting a G-type star a
little smaller and cooler than our Sun. But the entire planetary system could almost fit inside the orbit of Mercury;
both Earth-sized planets zoom around their star in less than
three weeks; the three other planets are slightly smaller than
Neptune; and the sequence of planets from star outward
neatly alternates large-small-large-small-large.
Working models
So what do the observations and calculations tell astrophysicists about how planetary systems form?
One key is the relative distribution of mass among planets in a system. “Higher mass systems seem consistent with
planets assembling in place,” Hansen says. “That is somewhat unsettling because the mass required for in situ formation is a hundred times what we see in our own Solar System.” One possibility is that the mass still moved radially
inward, but early when it was smaller chunks like gravel,
boulders, or asteroids.
That still leaves an important question: what processes in
a whirling solar nebula allow smaller chunks to stick together to accrete larger objects and eventually planets? Especially, notes Hansen, “the dust-to-pebbles step is poorly
understood.”
One possibility is very cold temperatures. “At 100K,
small objects may be covered with water ice, dry ice, and
other ices,” Hansen says, “so when objects collide, they
stick together. My money is on another possibility suggested by fluid-dynamics simulations: turbulence in the
collapsing solar nebula causing some fluid wavelike behavior in local areas of the gravitational collapse that triggers a
jump from dust to boulders.”
Stay tuned!
–Trudy E. Bell, M.A.
Further reading: Hansen, Brad M.S., and Norm Murray,
“Migration then assembly: Formation of Neptune mass planets
inside 1 AU,” Astrophysical Journal 751 (2): 158–174 (06/2012)
http://iopscience.iop.org/0004-637X/751/2/158/ .
The University of California High-Performance AstroComputing Center (UC-HIPACC), based at
the University of California, Santa Cruz, is a consortium of nine University of California campuses and three Department of Energy laboratories (Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Lawrence
Livermore Laboratory, and Los Alamos National Laboratory). UC-HiPACC fosters collaborations among researchers at the various sites by sponsoring an annual advanced International
Summer School on AstroComputing (ISSAC), offering travel and other grants, co-sponsoring
conferences, and drawing attention to the world-class resources for computational astronomy
within the University of California system. More information appears at http://hipacc.ucsc.edu .
Page 11
Clear and Dark Skies
By IDA
As astronomers, we all have utilized the above valediction at the close of a letter or email. We are wishing the recipient the gift of exceptional skies for observing. While we exercise no control over the seeing,
man does have the ability to influence the sky-glow. There is an organization, International Dark-Sky
Association, whose mission is; “…to preserve and protect the nighttime environment and our heritage of
dark skies through environmentally responsible outdoor lighting.” This non-profit organization is the international leader in combating light pollution. In 2013 they will be celebrating their 25th anniversary of
education and advocacy that has changed the way that the lighting industry thinks about outdoor lighting.
As a 501(c)(3) corporation, the IDA is entirely dependent upon tax contributions. Recently, IDA lost its
most generous benefactor and experienced a 25% reduction in operating funds. Accordingly, IDA has
had to reduce staff and close their DC office. These reductions come at the time of a rising awareness
of the importance regarding stewardship of the nighttime environment and the many benefits that come
with it. This would be a horrible opportunity for astronomers to miss. A strong and vigorous IDA is
required to increase public awareness and champion a change in outdoor lighting.
Please consider making a tax deductable donation to the International Dark-Sky Association. The IDA’S
activities, accomplishments, and how to contribute can be found at www.darksky.org.
Page 12

San Diego Astronomy Association

Transcription

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