{"id":1094,"date":"2016-07-23T09:26:02","date_gmt":"2016-07-23T13:26:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.asnh.org\/ShootingStar\/?p=1094"},"modified":"2019-01-17T08:03:07","modified_gmt":"2019-01-17T13:03:07","slug":"julaugsep2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.asnh.org\/ShootingStar\/2016\/07\/23\/julaugsep2016\/","title":{"rendered":"JulAugSep2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

April Monthly Meeting<\/strong><\/h1>\n

At the monthly ASNH meeting at Leitner Observatory, Al Washburn continued with his series of constellation posters made in years past by students in his astronomy classes. This month’s constellation was Gemini, the twins.<\/p>\n

Leo Taylor then presented information about the upcoming transit of Mercury across the face of the Sun, which was to occur on May 9.  Leo discussed the timing of the events, and he showed images of previous transits of Venus to give an idea of what would be seen. Plans were made for members to meet at Dave Johnson’s home to view the transit. (See page 3 for a description of the ASNH activities during the transit.)<\/p>\n

Bob Carruthers continued with another segment of Astronomy 101, on basic principles and techniques for amateur astronomers.  This month he discussed the use of planispheres, using an unusually large one.  ASNH has a supply of planispheres of more typical size, and during Bob’s presentation everyone in the audience got to try out one for themselves.<\/p>\n

\"Al

Al Washburn<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Leo

Leo Taylor<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Bob

Bob Carruthers<\/p><\/div>\n

New Haven Science Fair<\/strong><\/h1>\n

The annual New Haven Science Fair was held at Yale University in April. Several ASNH members served as judges for projects with astronomy themes.  They evaluated half a dozen projects across grades 3 through 8 that were actually more related to space travel than astronomy. There was a bit of discussion within the team about the criteria they were using and whether these projects were actually astronomy-based. Finally, the decision was to award a prize to a project that was more clearly on astronomy, by a group of students from a third grade class at the Davis School. Their project was entitled \u201cDistance makes the difference.\u201d They explored the Sun and tried to prove that the reason it appears so much larger than the other stars is its physical proximity to our planet. In the process of completing this project, the students learned quite a few exciting facts about the Sun\u2019s size (it could contain a million earths), its physical structure, and its various layers and temperatures. They used paper pie plates held by students at varying distances to display the differences in apparent size.<\/p>\n

\"NH\"NH<\/p>\n

Silver Sands State Park, June 10, 2016<\/strong><\/h1>\n

We held the event in the grassy area next to the parking lot this time. There were a few headlights, but it turned out to be a good idea. Since we arrived before it was dusk, there were still many people at Silver Sands that saw us and stayed to look through the telescopes. We had a consistent crowd throughout the night, keeping all the telescope operators busy. There were about a dozen scopes and binos set up by members, both us old timer and some new folks. We were able see the Moon, Jupiter, Mars, Saturn and a number of deep sky objects. We even were able to see the ISS crossing. Everyone was thrilled.<\/p>\n

Young\u2019s Pond Park, June 11, 2016<\/strong><\/h1>\n

The forecast was for thunderstorms so this event was officially cancelled.  It was looking nice so a few members went to Young\u2019s Pond Park anyway. It turned out that the thunderstorms missed us and it was clear. There were a few families there waiting to look at the planets. We were able to show them the Moon, and then Jupiter and Mars as they appeared. It was still too bright and hazy to see anything else. The mosquitoes got the best of everyone and we closed up before it was really dark.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Upcoming Public Events<\/strong><\/h1>\n

All of these events are free and open to the public. If the weather looks questionable for an observing event, check the ASNH website<\/a> before you leave home. There will be a scrolling message on the home page if an event has been cancelled.<\/p>\n

Friday, July 15, 8:00pm
\n<\/strong>Boulder Knoll Community Farm
\nPublic outreach event<\/p>\n

Friday, August 12, 8:00pm<\/strong>
\nAnsonia Nature Center, Ansonia, CT (map)<\/a>
\nPublic observing session<\/p>\n

Upcoming Events for ASNH Members<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Saturday, July 30, 8:00pm<\/strong>
\nTrumbull Nature & Arts Center, Trumbull CT
\nOutreach program: Members and telescopes are needed to help make this event a success.<\/p>\n

Saturday, August 13, 8:00pm<\/strong>
\nLong Wharf Nature Preserve
\nStargazing night
\n(Rain date: Saturday, August 20, 8:00pm)<\/p>\n

Friday, September 30 to Sunday, October 2<\/strong>
\nConnecticut Star Party
\nEdmund D. Strang Scout Reservation, Goshen CT
\nWatch for an announcement and registration forms that will be coming later in the summer!<\/p>\n

Features<\/strong><\/h1>\n

If you have not looked at the newsletter before, check out some of the regular features. There are four useful links in the menu at the top of this page:<\/p>\n

Calendar <\/b> This is a monthly calendar that includes all the scheduled events of ASNH, other regional events of interest, plus the dates and times of noteworthy events in the night sky.<\/p>\n

SkyMap <\/b> This page has a chart of the sky as it appears over the New Haven area at the present date and time. It is constantly updated, so you can go to this page on any clear night to see what is overhead.<\/p>\n

Space Place<\/strong> Read the monthly article from Space Place.<\/p>\n

Directions <\/b>This page gives directions to all the locations where regular activities of ASNH take place, including the monthly meeting, public observing sessions, and the annual Connecticut Star Party.<\/p>\n

Other regular features can be found within these pages:<\/p>\n

Upcoming Public Events <\/strong>Many ASNH events are free and open to the public. These include the monthly meetings, open houses at Bethany Observatory and public observing sessions at Young’s Pond Park in Branford. This section gives the dates, times, and descriptions of these events.<\/p>\n

Upcoming Events for ASNH Members <\/strong>These events are for ASNH members only. Some are private observing nights, and others are outreach events where volunteers are needed with the telescopes and equipment.<\/p>\n

Night Sky Highlights <\/strong> For those who are new to astronomy, this section lists some objects to observe in the sky during the next few months, whether you are using just your eyes, a pair of binoculars, or a telescope.<\/p>\n

Gallery <\/strong> This section will feature recent photographs of celestial targets taken by ASNH members and others. If you have a picture you want to share with us, please submit it to newsletter@asnh.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Mercury Transit across the Sun<\/strong>
\n Monday May 9, 2016<\/strong><\/h1>\n

By Ray Kaville<\/h3>\n

Skies started out cloudy with open spots and overcast – cleared late morning
\nTemps in the 40s and low fifties early on, upwards of 65 after noon
\nvisibility was decent with haze – no complaints about the occasional drifting clouds. Balmy breezes and plenty of sunshine. Beautiful location. All in all, a perfect day.
\nLots of Hawks and Buzzards and smaller birds including black flies and flying ants.
\nLocation: Marion Road, Cheshire CT<\/p>\n

After pre-loading my car on Sunday night, I jumped out of bed at 6am, grabbed a quick breakfast and beat it up to the north end of Cheshire arriving on scene at Dave J.’s new home around 7:10a.m. Already on scene were Bob C., Dave J. Cheryl and Greg B. As I frantically began setup I heard Dave announce “first contact!” I guess it was about 7:15 when I finally reached first light. Mercury was clearly visible as a tack sharp black spot just off the limb of Sol. Additionally there was a large sunspot with dark markings in the center of Sol and one that was just as large, but not as pronounced just above that. Greg and Cheryl were rolling and Andy P. was set up with his custom solar scope setup. A new member, John P. arrived shortly thereafter.<\/p>\n

Greg had his 40mm Coronado HA tweaked out and ready and Dave had his Coronado PFT HA scope setup with a nice solar blind. Bob C. and Gaianne were manning their salad bowl mounts using a projection setup onto an external surface. Cheryl had her 10″ reflector and big binocs both with white light filters. I had my 6″ Celestron with white light filter (eventually) and we all began announcing excellent views and shadow positions as the clouds came and went.<\/p>\n

The Coronados showed some excellent prominences, surface detailing and filaments all over the Sun. One filament was massive extending from the center of the dark sunspot to beyond its outer edge. It was exciting to view sunspots in white light, and then be able to jump over for some excellent HA views of the prominences and filaments that we would not normally be able to compare!<\/p>\n

Traffic passing by Dave and Gina’s new home was busy. Several police patrols passed by addressing traffic issues and an amazing number of school buses ran helter skelter back and forth. Most slowed out of curiosity. In fact, there were a lot more stops in front of Dave’s house than at the stop sign across the street. We had a few passers-by who Bob C. snagged and a few people stopping in specifically to check out the views. You know, as members of this club we impress a whole lot of people! The things we do as a club impact everyone that comes close to us.<\/p>\n

A little bit later Donna arrived to share some views, and shortly afterwards Leo arrived and set up his refractor with white light filter for picture taking. Don S stopped by primed to shoot some photos with his digital zoom camera and custom made Baader solar filter. After realizing he was missing a part to do that, Don mounted his digital camera onto my 6″ optical tube (to an accessory 1\/4″ mount I’d never tried before) and began shooting images through his telephoto lens.<\/p>\n

Greg and Cheryl spotted a slim crescent (3 day moon) moon following the sun which we all explored naked eye and through Cheryl’s 10″ reflector. Great views of a daytime object! We spent some time flipping between that and the sun and Castle Craig in Hubbard Park in Meriden which was very prominent far in the distance. Right around 14:00 we began to plan our exit strategy. The ink black shadow of Mercury was rapidly making its way to the exit limb and we were preparing for the final shadow transit into blackness. Something I found very interesting was that the white light filters displayed the blending of Mercury’s shadow with the edge and the final exit much earlier than the HA filtered devices. I estimate the white light filters showed the ending events about a minute before the HA filtered devices. Not sure why that is.<\/p>\n

A great big THANK YOU to Dave and Gina for their excellent hospitality and the large array of breakfast and lunch food, drinks and COFFEE! and of course the rest room facilities. This was an amazing event which we may not get to experience again, and a huge amount of fun!! A perfect day! We don’t get to say that a whole lot. This IS the world’s greatest hobby!<\/p>\n

It’s always a distinct pleasure sharing our hobby with everyone who stops by! ASNH has a superb bunch of people. We share that superb quality with the public, and they all walk away with a better feeling about astronomy.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A Visit to the US Naval Observatory <\/strong><\/h1>\n

By John Pancoast<\/h3>\n

Jo Allen and I had the opportunity to tour the US Naval Observatory on April 4th in Washington DC. We had originally been scheduled to do the tour in February, but that tour had been cancelled due to the \u201cSnowzilla\u201d storm that shut down the city for several days. Geoff Chester, the USNO’s public affairs officer and keen observatory enthusiast, sent us an email at the time offering to place all of us who had signed up the opportunity to come on the 4th.<\/p>\n

Being an antique telescope fan, I was hoping to see the 26-inch Clark refractor, commissioned by the Navy in 1873. This is the telescope that Asaph Hall used in 1877 to discover Phobos and Deimos, the moons of Mars. At that time, the Navy\u2019s observatory was located in Foggy Bottom, near the Kennedy Center. Because of the frequent fog in the original location, it was moved to the new US Naval Observatory site on Massachusetts Avenue before 1900. When it was built by the Clark firm, this was, briefly, the largest refractor in the world. It is now the 10th largest, the 40-inch Clark at Yerkes being the largest. I wonder where Yale\u2019s Clark stands on the list of largest Clark refractors?<\/p>\n

It was cloudy all afternoon on the 4th, but cleared right at sunset as we were heading over to Observatory Circle for the tour. We were early, of course, as we had anticipated this for two months and weren\u2019t going to show up late and miss it! We milled around the assembly area with exhibits of timekeeping milestones through the years while we waited. Over the walkie talkie that Geoff had, we heard something about switching telescopes for the tour. It turned out that the camera for the 26\u201d Clark was undergoing some maintenance, so the scope was available for visual observation. (They have another Clark, a 12\u201d refractor, with a mounting made by George Saegm\u00fcller, that was completed in 1895 that usually is used for tours, weather permitting.)<\/p>\n

The 26\u201d Clark scope is used full time for photographing and measuring double stars. Apparently the Navy uses stars to target nuclear missiles, since they know that electronic communications would be disabled in a major conflict. The Pentagon identifies the stars that they want to use in their programming and some – perhaps half – of their choices are actually double stars. The mapping of these as separate stars is important, because the missile could actually \u201csee\u201d each component of a multiple star system.<\/p>\n

As Geoff detailed later, the telescope is usually equipped with a camera for speckle interferometry observations of double stars. “In 2005 we only had one such camera, and when we got telescope time at Cerro Tololo to make observations of southern hemisphere doubles, the camera went there for several months.  Now we have three cameras, one of which stays more or less permanently attached to the 26-inch.  It happens to be in the shop getting some upgrades right now…that’s why we have the eyepiece on it now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because of the full-time use in good weather, the large scope is not always on the tour. This time, however, not only was the telescope available but the weather was clear. Incredibly, we were the first public tour people to look through the telescope since 2005. Apparently, it was the first time since 2005 that any<\/em> eyepiece had been put in the tube for visual observing!<\/p>\n

\"USNO-1\"<\/p>\n

With Geoff and our two minders, both enthusiastic amateur astronomer volunteers, we made our way from the welcome area into the main observatory. This building has a moveable floor with counterweight mechanisms all around the periphery. It is adjusted vertically to compensate for the position of the eyepiece and the height of the observer. Once the group was all in, they cranked up the floor by about six feet.<\/p>\n

The telescope was, to my eyes, magnificent, with its shiny ivory paint and enormous wagon-wheel declination index.  Walking around the room, we saw another view of the Warner & Swasey mount.<\/p>\n

\"USNO-2\"<\/p>\n

Nobody needs to actually read these enormous scales, as there are indicators in the control booth.<\/p>\n

\"USNO-3\"<\/p>\n

(Continued next page)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A Visit to the US Naval Observatory, continued <\/strong><\/h2>\n

What did we see? Jupiter, natch! It looked wonderful in the low power eyepiece that delivered a field of view that just captured the four Galilean moons. After everyone had that view, the eyepiece was switched to a higher power, the field of view reduced to about 0.1 degree (estimated using Stellarium.) In this view, Callisto was beyond the field to the East, Ganymede was barely in to the West.<\/p>\n

\"USNO-4\"<\/p>\n

Because some cloudy weather had just moved off, the seeing wasn\u2019t great. Jupiter actually looked better at low power. Of course a superb refractor isn\u2019t put to its best use looking at planets in poor seeing, but it was a treat all the same.<\/p>\n

Leaving the observatory, we were brought to the main building. There, Geoff explained the use of transit telescopes in the 19th<\/sup> century to set the local time.<\/p>\n

Last stop was the astronomy library, a handsome formal circular room in the main building. Geoff showed us some of its treasures \u2013 first and second editions of books by Copernicus, Galileo, Huygens, Newton and others.<\/p>\n

\"USNO-5\"<\/p>\n

The library was originally designed by Richard Morris Hunt, who also designed the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Geoff is shown in the photo toward the end of our visit.<\/p>\n

So, what did Geoff do after the tour? He went home and made this picture himself \u2013 it was the one posted as of the time of writing on the USNO\u2019s site, Sky This Week. Some people just can\u2019t get enough of Jupiter.<\/p>\n

\"USNO-6\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Observing Report<\/strong><\/h1>\n

By Ray Kaville<\/h3>\n

Silver Sands State Park, Milford
\nApril 8,2016 @ 7:30p.m.
\nTemperature @ 45 with winds constant around 20mph
\nContrary to the Clear Sky Chart, skies were mostly cloudy with periodic “sucker holes”<\/p>\n

Jupiter was a beacon high in the southern sky, burning through the heavy clouds at points and opening up in gaps in the clouds at others. As the sun set in the west a red\/orange\/purpleish spire erupted brightening the horizon and progressing to a huge sun dog which ended up looking like a massive laser burning through the heavy clouds. This spire spread along lighting the horizon to the east and eventually fading.<\/p>\n

Around 8pm Laurie and Jim arrived from parts far to the east just about when the winds died down. Of the many people who were speeding in and out of the park for who knows what reason, we only had one or two people curious about why we were there. About 8:45 the skies were no better so Greg contacted the park ranger and cancelled the event. For those who’ve been there in these conditions you are aware of the kind of sky it was. It usually doesn’t get much better until after 9 or 10 pm anyway.<\/p>\n

After a stop for coffee and spending some time perusing my periodicals it was nice to re-check the latest list of sky objects in our most recent “Shooting Star” newsletter. For those who have not seen this page yet, this is a great tool for observing. It’s a fairly comprehensive listing of some very nice seasonal objects with tips on where to find them and how to view them. Many objects I never thought about. Very helpful, and a good tool for our public outreach events or just taking a quick look.<\/p>\n

Arriving home around 10:30 the unload began. As I was lugging all the heavy gear back into the house, the skies had cleared in Hamden to where they were pretty decent. Still overcast, but many of the lesser stars were visible along with the brightest. Of course there were so many questions popping up during the unloading process such as what that fuzzy spot was and what stars are missing in those blank areas that really should have had stars.<\/p>\n

Not being able to resist spending just a little time outside I broke out my recent CSP prize Orion binocs and panned around the tree lines working upward. Very close in was the Praesepe (Beehive) cluster. Always a wonderful surprise. Panning back towards the big dipper (standing on its end) right between Alkaid and Denebola in Leo, my gaze fell across as lovely an open cluster of stars as you could imagine. Right in the middle of Coma Berenicies. It was just so lovely and long that you were forced to pan across it several times, then come back later for another look. I grabbed a quick look at Pollux and I believe I did see the companion, but even with 10x binocs it could have been my shaky hands. Arcturus was brilliant. Sirius was in the trees, but still very bright. Jupiter with two or three of it’s moons visible (again shaky hands and too lazy to find a solid mount) was exciting as ever. Beginning to wane from exhaustion I called it a night around 11:05 and headed in.<\/p>\n

So went another short session where I remember how grateful I am for all my astro buddies and my astro hobby. It’s sad that some people have no idea what wonders lie in the evening skies, and gratifying that we can share these things with our friends and family to enrich all of our lives. I’m never bored in the dark (but I used to be!).<\/p>\n

Good night.<\/p>\n

Using Astronomical Filters<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Here is a link to an informative and useful resource on the use of different filters with your telescope, both for the planets and for deep-sky objects:<\/p>\n

Astro Shop – Guide to filters for Astronomy<\/a><\/p>\n

Ray Kaville<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Night Sky Highlights for July-September 2016<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Solar System<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Mercury
\n<\/strong>Your best chance to see Mercury this summer will be during the last few days of July and the first few days of August, when it will be low in the west after sunset.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Venus <\/strong>will start to become visible low in the western sky during July, and it will get somewhat higher in August and September. As usual, it will be the brightest object in the night sky other than the Moon.<\/p>\n

Mars<\/strong>
\nIn July, Mars will be in Libra during July, when it will still be fairly large, and certainly worth checking out with a telescope at medium or high magnification.  It will be visible all summer, but getting steadily smaller and dimmer.<\/p>\n

Jupiter
\n<\/strong>The beginning of the summer will also be the best time to view Jupiter, when it will be high in the sky during the evening.  It moves lower and further west during the summer, and by September it will be hard to observe in the glow of the evening twilight.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Saturn
\n<\/strong>Saturn is well placed for observing during the evenings throughout the summer.  From our perspective, its rings are open about as wide as they ever get, so this is a good chance to look for the Cassini division (a dark band separating the inner and outer portions of the rings).  Though a telescope of moderate size, several of its moons should also be visible.<\/p>\n

Perseid Meteor Shower<\/strong>
\nPeaking on the night of August 12-13<\/strong>
\nThis is always a good summertime meteor shower, but moonlight will be a bit of a problem this year.  On the peak night, a waxing gibbous Moon will be in the sky throughout the evening, so the best time to look will be in the early morning hours, after the Moon has set.  Some Perseids can be seen for many days before and after the peak, however, and it might be advantageous to look on the nights before August 12, when the Moon will be smaller and set sooner.<\/p>\n

Deep Sky Objects<\/b><\/h2>\n

On summer evenings, the brightest parts of the Milky Way stretch across the sky, from Perseus in the northeast to Sagittarius in the south. There are countless open clusters, globular clusters, and nebulae to be seen. Here are just a few of the sights worth exploring.<\/p>\n

Messier 4 and 80<\/strong>
\nGlobular clusters in Scorpius
\nThese two globulars have very different appearances in a telescope.  M4 is just about 1 degree to the west of first magnitude Antares, and it is very loosely structured. M80 is about 4 degrees northwest of Antares. It is smaller and very condensed, with a bright center and individual stars resolved around the edges.<\/p>\n

Messier 11, the Wild Duck Cluster
\n<\/b>Open cluster in Scutum
\nThis is one of the richest open clusters in the sky, and contains more than 1000 stars. Someone apparently thought it looked like a flock of wild ducks in flight, but not many who look at it through the eyepiece get that impression.  Still, it is a spectacular sight under dark skies.<\/p>\n

Messier 29 and 39
\n<\/b>Open clusters in Cygnus
\nThese two open clusters are quite different in size and shape.  M29 is a small but distinct cluster of about a dozen stars, approximately 12′ across.  M39 contains many more stars and is much larger, at least 30′ across.<\/p>\n

Messier 8, the Lagoon Nebula
\n<\/strong>Diffuse nebula in Sagittarius
\nM8 is one of the few nebulae visible to the naked eye, a small hazy patch above the spout of the Sagittarius “teapot” shape.  It is a fine object to view through binoculars, and very impressive through a telescope. It includes the open star cluster NGC 6630.<\/p>\n

Messier 16, the Eagle Nebula<\/strong>
\nDiffuse nebula in Serpens
\nLike the Lagoon Nebula, this object also consists of an emission nebula and an open cluster. Compared to the Lagoon, however, the nebulosity is dimmer and harder to see unless you have a good dark sky. It looks better though larger telescopes, and if you ever have the chance to observe it through a big Dobsonian scope, be sure to take a good long look.<\/p>\n

Messier 17, the Swan Nebula<\/strong>
\nDiffuse nebula in Sagittarius
\nM17 is a very bright emission nebula that can be seen quite easily in binoculars.  Through a telescope, it has the shape of a swan in profile.  However, the exact shape varies with one’s telescope, viewing conditions, and imagination, and this nebula has also been called the Omega Nebula, the Horseshoe Nebula, and the Check-Mark Nebula.  Take your pick.<\/p>\n

Messier 27, the Dumbbell Nebula<\/strong>
\nPlanetary nebula in Vulpecula
\nOne of the biggest and brightest examples of a planetary nebula, the Dumbbell’s shape can easily be seen in even a small telescope.  In a large telescope with high magnification, it is an amazing sight, with many dim stars scattered across the surface of the nebula.<\/p>\n

NGC 7000, the North America Nebula<\/strong>
\nDiffuse nebula in Cygnus
\nIn photographs, this nebula has the shape of the North American continent, and many of its features can be seen visually through a rich-field telescope with careful observation.  This nebula and the many stars in its vicinity fill a large area of sky, and it can be seen with the naked eye, just a few degrees to the east of first-magnitude Deneb.<\/p>\n

Harrington 10
\n<\/b>Dark nebula in Cygnus
\nThis dark nebula is strictly a naked-eye or binocular object.  It appears as a long dark finger intruding into the Milky Way, about 7 degrees to the north-northeast of Deneb.  Phil Harrington estimates that it is a full 10 degrees long and 3 degrees wide. Look for it on a clear dark summer night when the Milky Way is high overhead.
\n<\/p>\n

Gallery
\n<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Springtime galaxies.<\/strong>  Jim Mazur captured these three large galaxies with a Meade 14-inch LX850 telescope and an SBIG ST-8300M imager.<\/p>\n

Messier 87.<\/strong>  This is a very large elliptical galaxy in the Virgo Cluster.  At its center is a black hole that is ejecting a large “jet” of material, which can be barely seen to the right of the galaxy’s bright nucleus.  Other galaxies, near and far, can also be seen.<\/p>\n

\"Messier87-900\"<\/strong><\/p>\n


\nNGC 4565, the Needle Galaxy.<\/strong>  This edge-on galaxy in Coma Berenices, with its prominent dust lane, offers a striking view through amateur telescopes. It has an apparent size of 16′, and it can stretch across the entire field of view with a medium-to-high power eyepiece.<\/p>\n

\"NGC4565\"<\/p>\n

Messier 94.<\/strong>  This face-on galaxy can be found in the constellation Canes Venatici.  It has a high surface brightness which makes it well suited for viewing in even small telescopes.<\/p>\n

\"Messier94\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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April Monthly Meeting At the monthly ASNH meeting at Leitner Observatory, Al Washburn continued with his series of constellation posters made in years past by students in his astronomy classes. This month’s constellation was Gemini, the twins. Leo Taylor then … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-14"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asnh.org\/ShootingStar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asnh.org\/ShootingStar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asnh.org\/ShootingStar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asnh.org\/ShootingStar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asnh.org\/ShootingStar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1094"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/www.asnh.org\/ShootingStar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1094\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1888,"href":"https:\/\/www.asnh.org\/ShootingStar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1094\/revisions\/1888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asnh.org\/ShootingStar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asnh.org\/ShootingStar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asnh.org\/ShootingStar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}