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OAKLAND ASTRONOMY CLUB

NEWSLETTER

JUNE 2007

 Bill  MacIntosh,  Editor  



CLUB PRESIDENT:     Dave Holt  (248-674-1950)                                                              WEBSITES:   www.oaklandastronomy.org                  
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Oakland Astronomy Club Monthly Meeting Minutes
June 10, 2007
M. Jeffery, Secretary

Opening
President Dave Holt called the meeting to order at 7:35 PM.  Formal agenda supplied.
14 people in attendance:  13 members.

Visitors
1 visitor: Walter, owner of several scopes.

The Sky-at-a-Glance
Bill Gerardin gave presentation .    June SKYMAPS distributed.
Moon:  New on 6/15, 1st quarter on 6/22, Full on 6/30, Last quarter on 7/7.
The Summer Triangle is ascendant (Vega, Altair, Deneb),  Venus and Saturn prominent on Western horizon.
Unusual DSO suggested target for the month:   NGC 5466, an interesting globular cluster in Bootes discovered by William Herschel in 1784. Located 51,000 LY from Earth, it is about mag 9, visible in amateur scopes and thought to be the source of a stellar stream discovered in 2006.  ( See image below.)

Observations & Presentations
Pre-meeting in Parking Lot:  Solar Viewing.  We saw a few solar flares, but no sunspots.

Short Presentation on Oxford, MI Craters. Tom Hagen & Dave Bailey (working in conjunction with an Oregon professor) have been examining circular formations in Oxford, trying to determine if the craters are the result of astronomical or tectonic events.

While viewing the Sun this month, Bob Berta reported a detailed silhouette of an artificial satellite.  As the satellite crossed the Sun, Bob was able to see the satellites solar array, using his Hydrogen Alpha filter on a TeleVue 85.

Dave Bailey reported on his once-every-eight-year-post-midnight (EDT) viewing of Venus.  This year, he was able to detect Venus until 12:20 am clock time, establishing a new personal record.

Bob Berta showed a large format framed picture of the Rosette Nebula that was created from Bobs emission exposures and a California collaborators standard exposures.  Bob, are you going to sell copies?  (See Bob's image below.)

Bob Berta also presented a focal reducer for large SCTs for which he had machined an adaptor so it would fit his 6 refractor.  Bob did the machining on his own spiffy Smithy lathe.  Nice work.

Bill Macintosh provided a handout & talk on 61 Cygni, a double star which intrigued him.  It is the first star whose distance was measured by trig parallax (in 1838, by Bessel).  It also exhibits very large proper motion.  ( More info below)

Club Activities

 Past
1.    Delta Kelly Solar Event:  Have to reschedule for next fall.
2.    Spring Independence Oaks Star Party:  May 12th, 9-11 PM 4 members, 3 scopes.  Good viewing.  Phil was there.
3.    Boy Scouts Adult Training at D-bar-A, May 18th, Eric Behrmann 734-934-0621 3 members (Bailey, Holt, Maintosh).  Good            training, offered viewing of  Saturn and some DSOs with two scopes present..                                                                      
4.    Great Stars Over Clarkston, Warren Astronomy Club, May 19th , 4 scopes, more than a score Warren members.  Good                music, good time, bad sky.                                                
5.    OC Parks Farmington Hills, Heritage Park, June 9th, 9-10:30pm No confirmation, no contact.  Trip to Addison Oaks instead,          with about 10 folks.                                            
       Good, but wet, viewing (lots of dew formation after sunset).    Beautiful hi-res views of globulars M3 & M4 in the 17.5" Dob.      
                 
Future
1.    Apollo Rendezvous and Telescope Fair, Dayton, June 15 & 16
2.    Wild Adventures Camp, Independence Oaks, July 26th, Rachel Cox 248-858-1486
3.    Summer Independence Oaks Star Party:  August 11th, 9-11 pm
4.    Great Lakes Star Gaze, September 13th-16th (Thursday through Sunday)
5.    Astronomy on the Beach, Kensington, September 21-22
6.    Fall Independence Oaks Star Party:  November 3rd, 8-10 PM
7.    Hugger Elementary, November 15th
    
JULY Observing Night Contacts

Contact for July 6-7:          Tom Hagen,  248-650-8951
Contact for July 13-14:       Dave Holt,    248-674-1950

Business Meeting:

Financial Report:: Bill Gerardin presented report. The Club cash-flow is a bit below budget for the year.

Adjournment:   9:12 PM

Next Meeting:   July 8th,  7:30 PM

MEMORIAM

Our sympathies to Dave Bailey on the passing of his wife Margaret recently.  
Dave is one of our most prolific and dedicated club members and we wish
him our warmest thoughts in coping with such a deeply personal loss.



DSO OF THE MONTH
 From Sky-at-a-Glance

        NGC 5466 in Bootes                                                                     Photo by Jim Thommes  (jthommes.com/astro/ngc5466.htm
 
 
  ngc5466 


Here's the stunning framed large format Rosette image Bob Berta displayed at the last Club meeting.   Dunno how he did it, but it's doubtful the Hubble scope could do much better !
rosette
  Image by Bob Berta and Norman Mahan
Composite from two different scopes in Michigan and California


ASTRO-FACTOID OF THE MONTH

DID YOU KNOW?   (A Famous Star With No Name)

Double star 61 Cygni was the first star to have its distance calculated by trigonometric parallax, performed by Friedrich Bessel in 1838, and determined to be only 11.4 LY from Earth.     Yet it has no name, only a Flamsteed number.      The stars are hoofing along at an amazing 108 kilometers per second, over 5 times faster than the Sun moves relative to its neighbors, one of the highest proper motions on record and designated the "Flying Star" by Giuseppe Piazzi in 1792 for it observable speed across the sky.  
Details:
RA   21:08:52     Dec  +38:56:51  (ICRS 2000.0)
Separation 24"    Components are 86 AUs apart, more than twice Pluto's orbital distance.
Binary Orbital Period:  650 years
Mags:    A:  5.2      B:  6.1
Equipment needed:     Any scope, even binos

FUNZIES:     For more info and to see an actual photographic animation of this pair moving across the sky,click or paste this link into your browser:      http://www.solstation.com/stars/61cygni2.htm
ADVERTORIAL (CLUB PROMOTION)

Woven patches with the Club logo are available for only $3 bucks in two styles, button loop and stitch/iron on.
   See DAVE HOLT to get 'em.

CLUB ASTRO-PHOTO OF THE MONTH

M51
Taken June 22, 2007 at the Club Addison Oaks Observing Site
(No Supernova At This Time ! )

  m51
 
 
Image by Bill Barsuhn
Meade DSI Pro on StarBlast OTA
36 fits files (15 sec each) stacked in Registax
  
GLSG5  2007

This year's GREAT LAKES STAR GAZE in Gladwin will be hosted on three nights, Thursday 9-13 thru Sunday 9-16.   Details and registration forms can be obtained here:      http://www.boonhill.net/sunset/SASGLSG.htm
Register before 8-24 to avoid a late fee.





Submit Club news, astro-photos, equipment sale/trades to the editor:

Bill MacIntosh
nightwinger2004@yahoo.com
Document made with Nvu