{"id":2364,"date":"2021-03-24T07:52:30","date_gmt":"2021-03-24T11:52:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.asnh.org\/ShootingStar\/?p=2364"},"modified":"2021-03-24T07:52:32","modified_gmt":"2021-03-24T11:52:32","slug":"aprmayjun2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.asnh.org\/ShootingStar\/2021\/03\/24\/aprmayjun2021\/","title":{"rendered":"AprMayJun2021"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Monthly Meetings on Zoom<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

By Donna Pursley<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our ASNH general meetings are still being held via Zoom. The presentations are shared so all can see. There is also a dial-in number for those that are shy or are not using Zoom. This way everyone can join the meetings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\nis a short summary of the January and February meetings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

January 26, 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were 20 people in attendance on Zoom or dialed in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since\nthere are some new people in our group we decided that we will be having some\nAstronomy 101 type classes during the general meetings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All events have been cancelled. We are thinking of adding some events for the fall and see how it goes.  The Madison moon walk is on the calendar for October 17, 2021 and Massaro Farm will be sometime in early November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\nnow have 85 members with a new member of Addie Bali this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some topics that we would be discussing for our Astronomy 101 are:
-new scope for the holidays \u2013 questions
-where to buy, how to use
-where to start, how to collimate, astrophotography, cell phone astrophotography
-star hopping, when to use 2\u201d or 1 \u00bc\u201d eyepieces
-variable stars and how to start observing them<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\nhad discussions about comets this year, and observation reports from people who\nwere able to see the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in December 2020. Some\npictures were shared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jim\nMazur would like people to send him their pictures and he will put them in the\nonline version of the newsletter (not in the printed version because they don\u2019t\ncome out well).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dave\nNoble is in Arizona where they had 2 feet of snow. He showed very nice pictures\nof star trails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris\nPredom said there are YouTube courses in Astronomy such as PSCI1414.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nCarl Sagan program Violent Universe<\/em> is also on YouTube.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

February 23, 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

15 people joined us on Zoom or dialed in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We still have 85 members with a new member, Gary Davis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

March\u2019s\nAstronomy 101 talk will be on eyepieces and filters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This month\u2019s talk was by Al Washburn about the club\u2019s meteorites. We first got them in 2001 through the Cosmic Cultures program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\nis a meteorite?  A rock fragment that\nsurvived coming through the atmosphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3\nkinds \u2013 metal, metal\/stone, and stone<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Difference\nbetween Falls and Finds. Fall we see falling, Finds came down when no one was\nlooking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\nhave mostly irons in our collection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canyon Diablo \u2013 Arizona
Gibeon \u2013 S. Africa
Toluca \u2013 Mexico
Sikhote-Alin \u2013 Siberia \u2013 Fall \u2013 tumbled
Mundrabilla \u2013 W. Australia
Henbury \u2013 Australia \u2013 did not tumble
Allende \u2013 Mexico \u2013 carbon \u2013 pre-dates the solar system
Northwest Africa \u2013 some iron flecks \u2013 fusion crust
Esquel \u2013 metal\/stone \u2013 Palisite \u2013 iron\/peridot\/olivine \u2013 Argentina<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\nis a book Rocks From Outer Space<\/em> that mentions the two meteorites that\nfell in Weathersfield in 1971 and 1982.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\ntalked about Perseverance lander on Mars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al Washburn likes the eyepiece cellphone adaptor for his iPhone. He also said that the book The Last Stargazer<\/em> was very good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al\nSacharow has a former student who works at NASA. He said that the Webb\ntelescope is scheduled to be launched and the end of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Laurie\nAverill has been using her solar scope and was able to take some pictures of\nthe Sun. She is also using an app to adjust the exposure, FOV and white\nbalance. It is called Nightcap and has astrophotography modes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Telescope-Making Projects<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

By Zane Landers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve recently completed my 24″ f\/3.5 homemade Dobsonian telescope.  The whole scope can be set up by one person in about 25 minutes and fits in the back of my minivan easily. I had to learn how to weld and work with metal to build it, as it uses a homemade mirror cell and significantly more metal parts than anything I’ve built previously. As of the time of submitting this, I’ve gotten the scope out 3 times and had great views even under partial cloud cover and without a light shroud, which was delivered this week and should significantly improve contrast. The Orion Nebula is, in fact, pink under dark-ish skies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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However, I’ve not been content to stop there, so in the last month I’ve begun preliminary work on pair of slumped primary mirrors – a 16″ f\/3 as practice and a 36″ f\/4, both of which are thin plate glass meniscii (basically shaped like a contact lens with a concave front and convex back). You can read more about how those work here<\/a> – meniscus mirrors are a relatively established concept in the amateur telescope making community these days. I can barely lift the 36″ blank, otherwise I would’ve sprung for a 42″ instead. The 36″ will probably be a multi-year project due to the infrastructure and effort required. The finished scope will stand about 13 feet tall and require a trailer, assuming I even finish it in the first place. I am not expecting fabulous optical quality due to my mediocre skills but if the scope can handle 30x per inch that’s all I really need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lastly, I’ve begun to teach more people the seemingly-forgotten art of making telescopes. With the shortage of new equipment due to pandemic-induced supply chain issues and the all-time high demand for telescopes, making your own is an increasingly viable and worthwhile option. This week I flew to visit my friend Jordanne who is currently working on a 17.5″ Dob, and we finished the mirror cell together. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can follow her work\nhere: https:\/\/www.cloudynights.com\/topic\/746807-175-f45-truss-tube-dobsonian-build-first-build\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have another\nhalf-dozen students working on scopes at the moment – half are even grinding\ntheir own mirrors!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clear skies and cheers to a\ngood 2021!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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ASNH To Participate in the Great Give on May 4-5, 2021<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

ASNH is participating in the Great Give again this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Great Give\u00ae is an annual 36-hour online fundraising event that unites donors with charitable organizations serving Greater New Haven. It will begin at 8:00 am on May 4 and conclude at 8:00 pm on May 5. Created by The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, they provide more than $205,000 in matching funds and prizes that are up-for-grabs for participating nonprofits. Over $13.5 Million has been distributed to charitable organizations serving Greater New Haven because of The Great Give\u00ae.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We thank all that donated last year and would like you to consider donating this year. Here is the link for donations:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.thegreatgive.org\/organizations\/the-astronomical-society-of-new-haven<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Upcoming Monthly Meetings on Zoom<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Tuesday, April 27, 7:00 pm
Tuesday, May 25, 7:00 pm
Tuesday, June 29, 7:00 pm<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We will continue to use this format for monthly meetings until it is safe to meet in person again. A week or two before each meeting, members will receive an email announcement with a link that will allow them to connect to the online meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just click the link or copy and paste in your browser and that will connect you to the meeting. You can do this on any device that has an internet connection and a browser.  You can do this on a smart phone. You can display yourself if you like with your selfie camera on your device. If you don’t that’s okay, don’t feel you have to.

You can also dial in to the meeting. The number and password will be given in the announcement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cancellation of Public Events <\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Because of COVID-19, all of our public observing events have been cancelled until further notice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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

By Michael Amato<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On December 21, 2020, there was a 15 minute gap in the clouds for my brother Anthony to photograph “The Christmas Star”. I missed this because I  was in the hospital with COVID-19. After I recovered we both started viewing with our computerized 5″ MAK at Sandy Point in West Haven. We observed several galaxies including M51, NGC 5195, M81 and M82. M51 was our favorite galaxy because we were able to see the spiral effect coming out of M51’s core. M51’s companion galaxy NGC 5195’s core also was bright. M82 seemed brighter and easier to see than M81 but both looked nice in the scope. Other galaxies we viewed were M94, M100, M65, M96, M105, M108 and M109. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for planetary nebulas, The Eskimo Nebula really showed up nice. Other planetaries were the Little Dumbbell, NGC 3242 and NGC 6543. We also observed both open and globular clusters, with M35 and M44 really impressing us. By increasing the power, I was also able to look deeply into M45, the Pleiades. Also, M46, 47 and 48 were impressive to look at. We enjoyed looking at globulars M3 and M79 but the night viewing grand finale was seeing three asteroids, Vesta, Eunomia and Amphtrite. Finally, during the day, my views of the Sun were okay with a few sunspots popping up. Our first three months of astronomy have been rewarding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anthony and I enjoyed the close encounter of Mars and the Pleiades during March 2-4. He took this photo of the close encounter on March 3rd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Astronomy Links<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

2020 Review and the James Webb Space Telescope. This video has some amazing deep-sky images:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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