{"id":2612,"date":"2021-12-23T11:02:53","date_gmt":"2021-12-23T16:02:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.asnh.org\/ShootingStar\/?p=2612"},"modified":"2021-12-23T11:02:54","modified_gmt":"2021-12-23T16:02:54","slug":"janfebmar2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.asnh.org\/ShootingStar\/2021\/12\/23\/janfebmar2022\/","title":{"rendered":"JanFebMar2022"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

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

October 26, 2021<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There was an event at the Sacred Heart Discovery Museum on Friday. It was just for astronomy clubs to show off their new planetarium. A few people from ASNH attended. There were pictures on display from Shannon Calvert, Jim Mazur and Elliot Severn. They have a model of Jupiter made up with 4 projectors. There is a touch screen that controls the projectors. It can show any of the planets or the Moon. You can zoom in and flip it all around. The images of Earth are real time. It uses Stellarium for the photographs of the other planets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have been in contact with two high school astronomy clubs. Al Washburn did a presentation of the meteorites for three members of the Cheshire Academy. They are very sharp young people. We are still waiting to see what the Hopkins School would like. Ivano DelPrete wants to do a presentation on extra-terrestrial life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shop Talk<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is all about the Moon and Jupiter right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andy Buynak said that on October 7 it was a very clear night and he had a very successful night observing. Bob Carruthers has been looking at the Moon, Jupiter, Saturn and sunspots. Jim Mazur has been taking pictures including some nebulas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We talked about the bears at CSP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bob has been in contact with Dr. Drew, the person who purchased the Bethany observatory. They discussed maybe setting up to do some radio astronomy. Bob could do a talk on radio astronomy for the club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On November 19 there will be an early morning eclipse of the Moon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fred Danowski is trying out his new telescope and eyepieces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We need to arrange to pick up the English Brother\u2019s equipment including eyepieces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris Predom just received his new telescope today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Moon looked huge this past week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There will be a morning comet in December, Comet Leonard. It will be very low but might be binocular object.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We might need help with presentations for the high school astronomy clubs. The Zoom meetings might need to be around 5pm. Bob offered to help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bob was glad to share that he tested cancer free a month ago. We are all very glad to hear this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

November 30, 2021<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

27 attendees<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Cheshire Academy, Ivano DelPrete did a Zoom presentation on the History of Extraterrestrial Life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al Washburn and Ray Kaville picked up the telescopes, tripods and accessories from the English Brother\u2019s collection at the New Haven Museum. They will be going back again on December 1 for some more stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have 84 members to date, including two new members: Neil Gundel (November) and Stephanie Dudding (October).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How many saw the lunar eclipse?
Andy Buynak \u2013 4am very good took pictures. Mike Amato \u2013 4am took photos \u2013 both sent photos for newsletter. Some others were able to catch pieces of the eclipse. Bob Carruthers saw it with some clouds that made it look very eerie. Marty Connor had clear skies in West Hartford to view the eclipse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mike Amato saw the Flaming Star Nebula for the first time and was very happy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bob and Gianne Jenkins were watching Venus goes through its phases as a crescent. Al also saw the crescent and said it was very impressive. Venus has a crescent phase because it is between the Sun and the Earth so we see the Sun light the planet in different phases, like the Moon. Mercury does the same thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We talked about Comet Leonard. A few people knew where it was going to be and how bright. It should be in the morning from Dec 5-9 and change to the evening a few days after that. It will be very low in the western sky in the evenings. It should be about mag 4.6. There are some reports that it broke up so that would be a bummer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris Predom was trying out his new Astro-Tech scope. He has spent a lot of time with it and thinks it is a really nice scope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jim Mazur had a few images displayed on the screen. The first was M15, a globular is Pegasus. Next there was the Cocoon Nebula. Then he showed Abell 41 which is a cluster of galaxies. All of the spots in the middle of the image were galaxies from 3 billion light years away. Then there was an enlarged image of the galaxy cluster with a few of them pointed out. There are about 150 galaxies in the area. He used a 2 \u00bd hour exposure with a clear filter and added half-hour exposures of red, green, and blue. All were very nice pictures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bob and Gianne were spiritually married on Halloween.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rich Cosgrove will be retiring after 48 years!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

December 17, 2021, Solstice Dinner<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Solstice Dinner was held on Zoom again this year. We had 12 people attending. Most everyone has been able to get their booster shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al Washburn gave the 29th<\/sup> Edition of The Winter Solstice Party Quiz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were 12 multiple choice questions. No one was able to receive a 100% score.  Dave Johnson was the winner with the best score. He won the book \u2018The Night Sky Month by Month\u2019. There was a tie for second place with Leo Taylor, Bob Carruthers, Laurie Averill and Jim Mazur. They will all receive a copy of the \u2018Hubble Space Calendar\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We then had good conversation about astronomy books and any observing that members have done. We all have seen the planets Jupiter, Saturn and Venus in alignment. A few were able to see sun dogs. I don\u2019t believe anyone has been able to spot the comet Leonard yet. There was mention of another bright comet in the morning sky coming this way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We all ran out of stories, good cheer and well wishes were spread around and the meeting ended about 8:15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Dawn at CSP 2021, Camp Edmund Strang<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By Ray Kaville<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stepped out of the tent just as the Sun was rising and snapped off a few on my phone. Overall I think this was a great weekend regardless of the amenities. The feel was there and the skies were clear. Can’t ask for more than that. I wager anyone who attended would agree.

Thanks to the team, and our executive branch for all the hard work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

During the last two years, my brother Anthony and I have been observing the five naked eye planets among other objects mainly with our 5″ MAK. We tried to observe and photograph Mercury’s tail earlier this year but we failed so we observed what we could. The gibbous face of Mercury looked bare for the most part but further close observation did show faint albedo markings which a map showed this was the Colaris Basin. During our observations of Venus, we were able to see darker albedo marking in Venus’ cloudbank. Recently, when Venus was beginning to be a waning crescent, the terminator looked wavy. I read this means mountains underneath cause this. If this is true, that would mean we viewed Venus’ mountains indirectly. Last year, we observed Mars several times. When Mars was still months away from opposition, the southern ice cap really dominated the planet and I even saw it in my 10X50 binoculars. At opposition, we observed many albedo features easily along with some limb haze and the blue white north polar hood. Jupiter was very interesting. Along with its four moons, we could easily see both the North and South Equatorial and Temperate Belts easily with the North Equatorial being the brightest. Finally, Saturn showed us its North Equatorial Belt in addition to the Cassini Division. We also saw at least four moons. I love observing the planets!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On November 19, Anthony took this photo while the Moon was 97% covered during the lunar eclipse. While he did the picture taking, I used my binoculars to rate the eclipse brightness at L=2 on the Danjon Scale which meant the color of the Moon was deep red in my binoculars. We both had a great time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Anthony and I recently completed several nights of observing the Pleaides and Hyades open star clusters. Using a deep sky filter, we were able to observe the most nebulosity around Pleaides’ brightest stars Merope, Maia, Alcyone, Sterope and Taygeta. The nebula around Merope had structure and shape to it while the other four stars also had easy to see nebulosity around them also. Alcyone is a really fine quadruple star system within the cluster while Sterope and Taygeta are impressive double stars. In the Hyades, we were able to see some very tight & faint double stars when we upped the power. With a rich field reflector, the easy-to-see doubles were really enjoyable. I also noticed that when I scan the Hyades with my rich field reflector, it seems to me star groups within the Hyades cluster seem to be in the process of separating from each other. It seems like about four smaller groups of stars are organizing by themselves. We really enjoyed observing both objects. 
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zoom Meeting with Cheshire Academy<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

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

On Wednesday, October 13th, at 5 pm the ASNH carried out a zoom meeting, with students from Cheshire Academy, on the subject and nature of meteorites. This involved a Powerpoint put together and hosted by Greg Barker including photos of the club\u2019s meteorites and fact sheets about the different classifications of meteorites written by Al Washburn. During the presentation the meteorites were described and handled by Al to show many qualities of the samples that the static photographs could not reveal. The whole session, with questions and answers lasted 1 hour and fifteen minutes.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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

Calendar<\/strong> 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\n\n\n

SkyMap<\/strong> 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\n\n\n

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

Directions <\/strong>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\n\n\n

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

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

Night Sky Highlights <\/strong>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\n\n\n

Gallery<\/strong> This section features 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\n\n\n

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

Tuesday, January 25, 7:00 pm
Tuesday, February 22, 7:00 pm
Tuesday, March 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

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

From Ray Kaville:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An interesting series of articles on different topics of astrophysics:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.secretsofuniverse.in\/basics-of-astrophysics-sou\/?fbclid=IwAR3xbV0C1kbOR2ftIPt9g0py2yXXPRdPo-_lLfVAazVtQF2GEoeXtE3nOhc<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NASA:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Giving and Receiving: A Mission Tradition \u2013 NASA Solar System Exploration<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Atlas of the Universe: An expanding scale model of the universe:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

http:\/\/www.atlasoftheuniverse.com\/index.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Night Sky Highlights for January-March 2022<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

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

Quadrantid Meteor Shower
Peaking on the morning of January 4<\/strong>
At its best, this shower produces up to 40 meteors an hour, and this year the view should be favorable with a crescent Moon setting early in the evening on the peak night. The radiant for this shower is in Bootes, which is highest in the sky during the hours before dawn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mercury<\/strong>
Mercury makes a nice appearance in early January, when it can be seen low in the southwest shortly after sunset. It will be farthest from the Sun on January 7<\/strong>. A week later, Mercury (magnitude 0.6) will be just a few degrees to the lower right of Saturn (magnitude 0.7) for a few days around January 13. Although the twilight sky will still be bright, this should be an interesting conjunction to observe with the naked eye, binoculars, or telescope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Venus<\/strong>
After passing near the Sun at the beginning of the year, Venus emerges in the eastern sky before dawn in late January. It will remain as the brightest object in the predawn sky through the rest of the winter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mars<\/strong>
The red planet will be low in the southeast just before dawn throughout the winter months. It will be far from Earth and will appear as a small disk through a telescope, only 4 or 5 arcseconds in diameter. <\/strong> During February and March, it will hover slightly below the much brighter Venus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jupiter<\/strong>
If you want to observe Jupiter with its four Galilean moons this winter, do so in the early evening in January. It will be the brightest object in the southwestern sky after sunset. In February and March it will be too close to the Sun to observe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saturn<\/strong>
Saturn can still be seen immediately after sunset in early January, but it will be very low in the sky and difficult to observe well. After passing behind the Sun in February, it reappears in the eastern sky before dawn in March, joining Venus and Mars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uranus<\/strong>
Uranus is in Aries, and it will visible in the evening sky throughout the winter, but it will be getting closer to the Sun as spring approaches. At about magnitude 5.7, this planet is easy to spot with binoculars if you know exactly where to look. See the link below Neptune for a finder chart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neptune<\/strong>
Neptune is in Aquarius, and in January it will be high enough in the the evening sky after sunset to observe with a telescope. In February and March it will be too close to the Sun to observe. To find Neptune, you will need a go-to scope or a finder chart such as the one in this article from the Sky & Telescope<\/em> website:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

www.skyandtelescope.com\/observing\/planets\/ice-giants-neptune-and-uranus\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

There are so many fascinating objects to observe through binoculars or a telescope on clear winter nights. It takes a bit of determination to brave the cold, but one advantage of this time of year is that darkness comes so soon that we can observe in the early evening, or even before dinner. Here are a few targets worth going out to look for. Each object has a link to a star-hop chart to help you find it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Messier 1 (Crab Nebula)<\/strong>
Supernova remnant in Taurus
Messier’s list starts off with a bang–literally. M1 is a remnant of a star that exploded as a supernova in the year 1054, when it became so bright is was visible in the daytime for several weeks. The nebula is now much dimmer (magnitude 8.4) and through a telescope its surface brightness is pretty low, but when you look at it, think about the incredible energy that was released from that star almost 1000 years ago. Star-hop chart<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Messier 35 and NGC 2158
<\/strong>Open clusters in Gemini
These two clusters at very different distances provide a unique 3-dimensional perspective. Messier 35 is about 2800 light years away and it is a great sight through any telescope. NGC 2158 appears as a faint patch of light about 1\/4 degree to the west of M35. It is about 5 times farther away and easy to overlook. With a large scope and high magnification, NGC 2158 can be resolved into faint pinpoints of light. Star-hop chart<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Messier 36, 37, and 38<\/strong>
Open clusters in Auriga
These three bright open clusters are within a few degrees of each other, and they are all bright enough to spot with binoculars. Through a telescope at low power, these clusters present a nice variety. Messier 36 is a small group of about 60 blue-white stars. Messier 37 appears about twice as large and has many more stars, densely packed. Messier 38 is about the same size as M37, but its stars are more widely spaced. Star-hop chart<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Messier 78<\/strong>
Reflection nebula in Orion
About 1600 light years away, this nebula appears as a dim oval surrounding two magnitude 10 stars. At magnitude 8.3, the nebula is not hard to observe through almost any telescope. Once you find it, try to spot a smaller and dimmer reflection nebula, NGC 2071, just about 1\/4 degree north of M78. Star-hop chart<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Messier 79<\/strong>
Globular cluster in Lepus
This globular cluster is small but bright. Through a small telescope, the outer sections can be resolved into individual stars, and large scopes will show individual stars close to the dense nucleus. Strings of stars around the periphery give the cluster a star-like shape. Star-hop chart<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NGC 2477 (Caldwell 71)<\/strong>
Open cluster in Puppis
Messier 72 is a distant globular cluster, about 55,000 light years away. It is bright enough to be seen as a hazy ball in small scopes, but a large aperture is needed to resolve any individual stars. About 1.5 degrees east of M72 is M73. This object is definitely not a spectacular sight, but we can give it four stars because that is exactly what it is, a small asterism of four stars in a Y shape. Messier included it in his catalog because he thought the group was engulfed in a faint nebulosity (it is not). Star-hop chart<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gamma Andromedae (Almach) <\/strong>
Double star in Andromeda
Almach is a very pretty double star with contrasting colors similar to those of Albireo in the summer sky. The brighter star (magnitude 2.2) is yellow and the dimmer star (magnitude 5.0) is blue. The two stars are separated by 9.8 arcseconds (compared to 34 arcseconds for Albireo). The pair is about 390 light years away. Star-h<\/a>op chart<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beta Monoceros
<\/strong>Triple star in Monoceros
This star system is easy to see with the naked eye (magnitude 3.8). Through a telescope at medium to high power, it can be resolved into three blue-white stars, approximately equal in brightness. The separation between the A and B components is 7.4 arcseconds, and the separation between the B and C components is only 2.8 arcseconds. The group is about 680 light years away. Star-hop chart<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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

Al Johnson sent this excellent image of NGC 6960, the Witch’s Broom Nebula. It is mono taken through a 12nm Oiii filter with his FS102 refractor. Nine exposures at 10 minutes each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jim Mazur captured this image of the Iris Nebula (NGC 7023, or Caldwell 4) with his 14-inch Meade telescope and SBIG imager. The blue color is typical of reflection nebulae. The bright central region is surrounded on several sides by dark nebulae that show up as areas with few stars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Andy Buynak took these two pictures I took of the lunar eclipse on November 19, 2021.  He used his cell phone attached to a 4.5 Orion telescope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Monthly Meetings on Zoom By Donna Pursley October 26, 2021 There was an event at the Sacred Heart Discovery Museum on Friday. It was just for astronomy clubs to show off their new planetarium. A few people from ASNH attended. … 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":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-19"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asnh.org\/ShootingStar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2612","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=2612"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/www.asnh.org\/ShootingStar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2653,"href":"https:\/\/www.asnh.org\/ShootingStar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2612\/revisions\/2653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asnh.org\/ShootingStar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asnh.org\/ShootingStar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asnh.org\/ShootingStar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}