January 2009 - Volume 38, Number 1
MEETING NOTICE: The regular meeting of the BARNARD ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY will NOT be held Thursday, January 8 th . Instead, there will be a special meeting on January 17 th at 2:00 p.m. at the North River Civic Center , 1009 Executive Drive in Hixson TN. (Located behind Northgate Mall).
PROGRAM: Professor Fritz Kleinhans, Resident Astronomer Emeritus of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis will speak on meteorites and show samples he has collected over the years..
The Barnard STAR is the official publication of the Barnard Astronomical Society.
Planned Activities to Enjoy The Wonders of Astronomy—
Celebrating Amateurs Who Are Professional in Knowledge
“Giving amateurs their due: The term ‘amateur' is often used negatively as a synonym for ‘unskilled.' Not here! In astronomy, the word remains true to its Latin root, amator, meaning ‘lover.' Amateur astronomers spend countless hours under the starry sky purely for the love of it. Many become as skilled at telescope observing or astrophotography as any professional—often more so.”
Discovering the Joy of Astronomy
“The joy of astronomy comes from finding your way around the starry sky and understanding what you see.” –The Editors, SKY AND TELESCOPE MAGAZINE
Mourning the Increasing Loss of Dark Night Skies in Our Cities
“There is no more important task for the modern amateur astronomer than to fight the steady growth of light pollution in urban areas. Already we are witnessing the tragedy of the first generation of city children who might never see the beauty of a dark night sky.”
--Director, Observatory, Houston Museum of Natural Science.
Note: BAS endorses outdoor lighting restriction efforts by the International Dark Sky Association (IDSA) and also by local organizations such as Save Roane Starry Skies (SRSS) at The Tamke-Allan Observatory, Roane State College, Harriman , TN.
Technical Areas of Specialization within BAS for Member Participation
Large Aperture/Dark Sky/Deep Space Optical Astronomy at Several Regional Dark Sky Sites
For more information, contact David Witt or Victor Rogers.
Astrophotography
For more information, contact David Hanon or Dr. Gary Caldwell
Radio Astronomy at a Fully Functional Radio Telescope Observatory Outside of Cleveland , TN
For more information, contact Bill and Melinda Lord, Bill Seymour, or John Mannone.
Sidewalk Astronomy—“Chattanooga Out of This World” Challenging Optical Viewing of The Earth's Moon and The Inner Planets for the General Public from Downtown Locations Surrounded By Bright City Lights
For more information, contact Tom Adkins or Joe D'Agostono
BAS December Meeting
The Barnard Astronomical Society annual Christmas party was held on Saturday December 6, 2008 at St. Peter's Episcopal School in Chattanooga . Over 35 members, family, and guests enjoyed plenty of good food and camaraderie.
President Gary Caldwell gave an overview of the star parties hosted by BAS over the past year. He presented Certificates of Appreciation to Victor Rogers for serving as Star Party Chairman for the past several years; Rod Ruch for serving as Webmaster the past nine years; Steve Ramey for his many years (or as he says- “life sentence”) as editor of the Barnard Star; and John Mannone for his excellent work as Outreach Coordinator.
The committee to select the Llewellyn Evans Award ( Tom Adkins , David Witt and Victor Rogers) surprised Gary with the award for his dedication to the club through his consistent attendance at star parties. As Tom said, Gary never fails to come to a star party bringing his telescope(s) and enthusiasm for the wonders of the night sky.
Tom was in charge of the drawings for the many door prizes. Tom graciously donated many books on a wide variety of topics, and Bill Lord donated an observing chair and some meteorites in displays. Once a name was drawn, the “winner” had the option of Tom asking them a question, or they could try to stump Tom with a question.
It was a lot of fun, and some of us even learned a few new things about astronomy. Everyone was a winner before the night was over. After the drawings some folks stayed to help with clean up and visited a while longer.
(Note that a business session was not conducted in December.)
Another Outstanding Year of Public Outreach for BAS in 2008
By December 4th, at least 31 events were logged,
Date: Event Name, Location
05 Jan: Multimedia in Light Pollution Outreach, Rockwood
05 Jan: Save Roane Starry Skies (SRSS), Rockwood
10 Jan: BAS Meeting: Orion Starshoot Color Imager & Light Pollution, Chattanooga
12 Jan: Jump Start, Sweetwater
15 Jan: Astronomy in The Classroom: A Teaching Strategy, Knoxville
19 Jan: To The Moon, Alice , To The Moon!, Rockwood
24 Jan: Moon and Stars: A Preliminary Experiment, Rockwood
25 Jan: Open Mic.: More Astronomy and Poetry, Chattanooga
28 Jan: First SRSS Award for Reduction in Light Pollution, Midtown
30 Jan: Light: Probe of The Universe, Oak Ridge
02 Feb: Orion Hits a Home Run, Rockwood
05 Feb: Globe at Night Preliminaries, Niota
06 Feb: Orion Club Meeting: Eclipse Lecture, Oak Ridge
08 Feb: Smoky Mountain Astronomical Society (SMAS) Meeting: Chromatic Aberration, Knoxville
09 Feb: Winter Heritage Festival, Townsend
09 Feb: Pancake Breakfast and Stars. Kingston
12 Feb: Geological Processes on Titan, Chattanooga
16 Feb: Saving The Night, Rockwood
16 Feb: Tamke-Allan Observatory (TAO) Advisory Committee Orientation, Rockwood
17 Feb: Phoenix : Ashes to Ashes, Kingston
20 Feb: The Total Eclipse of The Night, Knoxville
26 Feb: Cleveland and Composite Civil Air Patrol (CAP) Wing Meeting, Cleveland
13 Mar: Barnard Astronomical Society (BAS) Meeting, Chattanooga
12 June: BAS Meeting. Chattanooga
17 June: BAS Brochure and Website, Chattanooga
18 June: Cumberland Springs Bible Camp Star Party, Dayton
11 June: Girls Preparatory School (GPS) Star Party, Soddy Daisy
26 July: Astronomy Day in The Red Clay State Park , Cleveland
02 Aug: A Visual and Radio View of Jupiter , Cleveland
06 Nov: Boy Scout Troop 3019 Star Party, Soddy Daisy
08 Nov: Star Party for Mrs. Braswell's Classroom, Ooltewah
Thanks to all of the BAS members who made these events a success by giving presentations and /or bringing their telescopes and knowledge of the night sky.
Particular appreciation is expressed to Victor Rogers who is a NASA Night Sky Network (NSN) and also the BAS Star Party Chair; and to John Mannone who is both a NSN Coordinator and the BAS Outreach Coordinator.
The Basics
Absolute Magnitude: A Non-Mathematical Explanation
In the December BARNARD STAR, a description was given of the Apparent Visual Magnitude system for classifying the brightness of celestial objects. This concept is particularly useful to amateur astronomers who usually deal only with uncorrected observed brightness.
However, professional astronomers must consider brightness of celestial objects on a more complex basis. Differing brightness of stars, for example, may be due to intrinsic differences in energy output, that is, their luminosities. Stellar luminosities vary by large amounts. The brightest bluish-white stars in the sky are about 10 6 brighter than the Earth's Sun, while the Sun is 10 4 as luminous as the faintest red stars. Or, differences in magnitude may exist because the stars are at different distances from the observer. Still another consideration is that some light is absorbed on its way to the observer.
So, to take all of these factors into consideration, professional astronomers have established the brightness of a standard star, our Sun, at an arbitrary fixed distance of 10 parsecs (pc) from the observer. (It takes light about three years to travel one parsec.) That is, the Absolute Magnitude of our Sun is its brightness if it were placed 10 parsecs from us and if all of its light (including the invisible portion in the ultraviolet) were recorded.
Absolute Magnitude is obviously not of much significance to amateur astronomers. However, professionals find the following relationship to be very useful:
Once the spectral class to which a certain star belongs is known, the difference between its Apparent Magnitude and the Absolute Magnitude assigned to its class is a measure of its distance, in units of the 10 parsec standard that defines Absolute Magnitude.
Source: Modern Astronomy; Ludwig Oster
Bad Connection!
Geneva , 5 December 2008 . CERN today confirmed that the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will restart in 2009. This news forms part of an updated report, published today, on the status of the LHC following a malfunction on 19 September.
A malfunction was caused by a faulty electrical connection between two of the accelerator's magnets. This resulted in mechanical damage and release of helium from the magnet cold mass into the tunnel. Proper safety procedures were in force, the safety systems performed as expected, and no one was put at risk.
Detailed studies of the malfunction have allowed the LHC's engineers to identify means of preventing a similar incident from reoccurring in the future, and to design new protection systems for the machine. A total of 53 magnet units have to be removed from the tunnel for cleaning or repair, of these, 28 have already been brought to the surface and the first two replacement units have been installed in the tunnel. The current schedule foresees the final magnet being reinstalled by the end of March 2009, with the LHC being cold and ready for powering tests by the end of June 2009. "We have a lot of work to do over the coming months," said LHC project Leader Lyn Evans, "but we now have the roadmap, the time and the competence necessary to be ready for physics by summer. We are currently in a scheduled annual shutdown until May, so we're hopeful that not too much time will be lost."
Stay Tuned, Happy New Year and Good Seeing!
DIRECTIONS TO ORION ACRES
FROM NORTH HAMILTON COUNTY :
From 27 (corridor J) take hwy. 111 to Dunlap, continue through the Sequatchie Valley up the next mountain ( Cagle Mountain ). When you reach the summit about 5 miles turn LEFT onto hwy. 399 (sign reads 'to Savage Gulf State Park ' Stay on 399 until it ends, which will be in Grundy Co. Now make a LEFT onto hwy. 108 South. This goes thru Palmer TN. Continue on 108 up to a higher elevation. When this levels off, turn RIGHT onto Palmer Fire Tower Rd. This is a large open area with possibly trucks loaded with timber for the paper mills. Orion Acres will be on the RIGHT about 8 tenths mile.
FROM INTERSTATE 24 (to Nashville ):
Go to the Dunlap/Whitwell exit (#155). This is hwy. 28. Exit right and keep on 28 for about 11 miles, passing Hardee's on your left. Continue through the stoplight and take the next LEFT on Hwy. 108 North. Continue another 11 or so miles. You will see ' Grundy County ' sign. Take the next left. This is Palmer Fire Tower Rd. Go 8 tenths of a mile and Orion Acres is on the RIGHT
Start Your Own Meteorite Collection
Through a special purchase arranged by the University of The South , BAS has obtained a large meteorite collection at an unusually low price per gram. These meteorites will be offered for sale to BAS members at the August 14th meeting as a fund-raiser for the Club treasury.
The unclassified North West Africa (NWA) EL3 meteorites have been individually bagged with the weight and magnetic strength noted for each one. There is a wide selection of sizes and the price will be very affordable.
Can 't make it to the meeting? You can place your order with Bill & Melinda Lord at ap_guardian@yahoo.com or 423-478-9043. The price is just 10 cents per gram, and add $5.00 for shipping and handling.
TELESCOPES WANTED
We want everyone in our club to have access to a great telescope. Our plan is to refurbish telescopes so that we can loan them to astronomers without scopes of their own. I f you have a telescope or accessories you are no longer using, please let us have it. We promise someone will use it and treat it with care and respect. Of course you can have a receipt for your tax write-off and every penny is welcome if you would like to donate money so we can buy or fix up a telescope.
Contact Gary Caldwell, Adam Krause or Bill Lord if you have a donation, we will happily come to your door to pick up your unwanted telescope. Sponsorship information will be posted on the web and in the Barnard Star.
BAS WEB SITE
http://bas.chattanooga.net
Officers
President……………………………………….... Gary Caldwell
Vice-President………………………………………….Bill Lord
Secretary…………………………………...………Bill Seymour
Treasurer………………………………………….Melinda Lord
STAR Editor……………………………………….Steve Ramey
Webmaster…………………………………………….Rod Ruch
Star Party Chairman…………………...…………...Victor Rogers
Outreach Coordinator………………...…………...John Mannone
Program Committee Co-Chairs…...... John Mannone and Bill Lord
Member-at Large………………..……………………David Witt
December Minutes
There was no regular business for December, since our regular meeting was pre-empted by the Christmas party.
REMINDER- Your annual BAS dues of are now due on the anniversary of your membership in accordance with the adopted amendment to the by-laws. The due date appears below your name on the address on the front of this newsletter. If your expiration date says “Overdue” or if you don't agree with the date shown, contact Melinda Lord to resolve discrepancies. The current dues rates are as follows: REGULAR $15.00, REGULAR ASSOCIATE $7.00, JUNIOR $8.00, JUNIOR ASSOCIATE $5.00. Your Sky & Telescope or Astronomy subscription will continue to be handled as in the past. When you receive your subscription reminder card, submit it to:
Melinda Lord
354 N West Cir NW
Cleveland , TN 37312-1011
Along with the group subscription rate of $32.95 for Sky and Telescope, or $34.00 for Astronomy. Note the increased rate for Astronomy. This was effective July 31, 2005
DEADLINE- All articles and other materials for publication in the next STAR are due no later than Wednesday, February 4 th . The following media are acceptable: hard copy, disk (IBM), video tape (VHS), prints, or e-mail to bas@chattanooga.net or s tramey@catt.com and attach a file or mail to:
Steve Ramey
109 Sioux Trail
Ringgold GA 30736
PHOTOGRAPHS ARE ALSO ACCEPTABLE.