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Last Monday, July 13th, our club had visitors from Mississippi State University. It is a field trip where the teacher took students studying Earth Science to the Duluth area. AAS was the Astronomy Observing portion of their trip.
Eric met the group and led them to the Korrki observing field. While waiting for nightfall, he explained the site, the equipment, and told many observing stories. I arrived a little later and setup my scope.
Even though the sky was hazy with high cirrus clouds observing went well. The teacher would give his lectures while we observed. He would explain information about each object as we observed them. The students were very enthusiastic and even though some hadn't dressed properly for Duluth at night (shorts, tee shirt) they still had a good time. I was tempted to auction off my jacket...
I handed out a short writeup on objects in Cygnus, and pointed the scope at each object. This worked well even though some of the objects were skipped - sky conditions just weren't good enough for some. The highlight of the evening was looking at Jupiter. Even though it was very low, we could see the 4 moons and a glimpse of the bands.
It was a fun evening, and I hope to see the group next year. Here is a letter of thanks we received. As you can see, Eric did an outstanding job once again.
- Michael Sangster, AAS webmaster
Comments? Email me at: mjs604@mac.com
I have a few items for this month.
The first is we had a public viewing at Fredenburg Township. Second, AAS held the annual Spring Road Cleanup.
Also, I've finally been doing a little observing. Saturn for the most part. I really like the view with the rings almost parallel - it is a different look.
- Michael Sangster, AAS webmaster
Comments? Email me at: mjs604@mac.com
After much inactivity, I finally have some time to add to this blog.
I missed Astronomy Day at UMD, but it sounds like it was a success, as you can see:
Much like the blog inactivity, I'm getting back into astronomy. Tonight I'm helping Eric and Jim with a star party for Fredenberg Township. I shall post the results tomorrow.
- Michael Sangster, AAS webmaster
Comments? Email me at: mjs604@mac.com
September 9th, 2008: Latest news
All most 3 months since I last updated my blog. I've been too busy this summer, and very little had to do with Astronomy.
A few positive notes, though. I spent a lot of time at my cabin 40 minutes west of Duluth. The sky is very dark at this location. Most of my observing was just using my eyes, or sometimes a 10x50 binoculars. It is amazing how bright the Milky Way can be at a dark site.
September should be better for Astronomy, and I'll even add to this blog....
- Michael Sangster, AAS webmaster
Comments? Email me at: mjs604@mac.com
June 15th, 2008: Summer observing plan
After another night of more or less random observing at home, I decided I need a summer observing plan. Not a big detailed plan, but more of an overall plan on my observing direction for the summer.
I've decided to table astrophotography until September. There are several reasons for this decision. 1) It is not dark until late. This causes one to start late at night and stay up way too late (especially when I have to work the next day). 2) It is much warmer. Even with built in CCD cooling the chip just isn't as cold - more noise issues. 3) Finally, I need some star time, not computer time (way too much of that at work).
It is a wonderful thing being under the stars in the summer time. I just watched "Seeing in the Dark" by Timothy Ferris (also a book, I recommend it). This inspired me to do more visual observing.
My plan is simple, but adds a little structure to observing and what I would like to accomplish. Here it is:
We'll see how this works out - I'll document my progress on this blog page.
- Michael Sangster, AAS webmaster
Comments? Email me at: mjs604@mac.com
June 10th, 2008: June observing reflections
So far June has not been kind to amateur astronomers. Not only are there less night time hours, but it is almost always cloudy.
Still, I managed to get in a little observing time. Saturn has been my favorite. Even on nights when I don't have a lot of time, a quick peek at Saturn is always welcome. I usually use my 4" Tak refractor, but once or twice I used my 6" f5 dob.
The Moon is also a good target for a quick look. The Moon is often bypassed, but I recommend spending time observing the Moon. It is always a good view, even in the city or when the seeing isn't too great.
I also spent some time viewing M13. The seeing was bad to worse. Even though it was a bad idea, I tried high power on M13 (137x - 205x on a 4" refractor). Surprisingly, it was worth it. The bad seeing made the stars in M13 "twinkle" and move around with the seeing. Between moments of bad seeing, I could see chains of stars in the cluster. It was quite the site. Goes to show, get out and look through your scope, even if you don't have much time, seeing is bad, Moon is out, etc.
Speaking of Globular Clusters, William has some new images to look at, check it out!
- Michael Sangster, AAS webmaster
Comments? Email the Club: mjs604@mac.com
You may have noticed, that there are now banners and advertisements on the AAS website.
This was due to an offer from Orion Telescopes to promote their website and two others: Starry Night Store, and LiveScience Store. These banners and ads will not put anybody on a spam list or track personal information. If someone buys anything using these links, the club gets a small commission. This will let us expand our community astronomy activities.
I'm not sure how this will work out, but if it doesn't work, we can end the program at any time.
Here are example links for the 3 stores..
1. Orion: Mailorder telescope vendor, FREE ORION CATALOG! Request our colorful award-winning catalog, featuring our high quality products.
2. Starry Night Store: Computer software for astronomy, Shop the Starry Night Store for the world's most realistic software and DVDs.
3. LiveScience Store: Science store, Enjoy Nature & the Outdoors with exciting products. Let your spirit of exploration take flight only at LiveScience Store.com
- AAS Club
Comments? Email the Club: duluthaas@mac.com
May 21st, First Planetarium Show
For the first time, I finally did a Planetarium show.
Our club does one show a month for the UMD Planetarium. It is the same night as our club meeting. I've been a member for 10 years, and finally did one.
My subject was Saturn, since Saturn is in the night sky. Of course the Planetarium was full, I was kind of hoping no one would show.
The Saturn part of the show went well, and I used NASA photos from the Cassini site.
When it was time to use the star machine for the remainder of the program, it didn't go as well. I had no idea how to operate it, but Eric promised to run the star machine for me. It started ok, I showed everybody the Big Dipper and where to find Saturn (in Leo). Then I asked, "Is there any questions?". Of course there were questions on where to find Constellations. Some were easy (Orion), others were not. My excuse is that the Planetarium sky looks much different than the real sky - the constellations look distorted (That's my story, and I'm sticking with it). While trying to find a constellation, Eric would whisper, "a little to the left, no farther up" and so on. When the audience heard this, of course they asked me to find more constellations. Finally, Eric turned up the Sun (sunrise simulation), and I said "Looks like morning. Sorry, no more constellation questions." They thought this was funny.
Anyway, I liked doing the program, I'll have to try again.
During the meeting, William Wiethoff announced that some of his images were used in a scientific paper on supernova (Click here for link, click on PDF for complete paper). Congratulations, William!!
- Michael Sangster, AAS webmaster
Comments? Email the Club: mjs604@mac.com
April 27th, 2008: Astronomy Day results
It was a cold and snowy(!) day for our 2008 Astronomy Day. The turnout was not as good as last year, but I believe at least 300 people attended.
This year, the Planetarium had a projection system for the star shows. It was an amazing device. It was like traveling through space first hand. Howard Mooers is attempting to purchase one for the Planetarium. It would be a great tool for the Planetarium shows.
I took a few pictures during Astronomy day. click here for Astronomy Day photos.
- Michael Sangster, AAS webmaster
Comments? Email the Club: mjs604@mac.com
April 23rd, 2008: Delayed blog
It has been too busy of a year so far, I haven't updated this blog in awhile. Unfortunately, not a whole lot of time for Astronomy.
I did have a little time to do some more CCD imaging, though. I'll add my comments to a new section dedicated to imaging in a week or two.
Of course, the big event of the year is Astronomy Day. This year should be even bigger and better than last year. Eric will have the show, "Killer Asteroid, Mission to Save Planet Earth!", and Space Comedy by club member Dr. Donovan. Also, a new projector is being rented for the Planetarium shows. I will be doing some NASA Night Sky activities in the lobby, and if weather permits, there will be solar observing.
Don't miss it!
- AAS Club
Comments? Email the Club: duluthaas@mac.com
February 11, 2008: NASA Night Sky Network
It's official, our club is a member of the NASA Night Sky Network. Below is our offical press release.
Arrowhead Astronomical Society been selected by NASA to be a member of the Night Sky Network, a nationwide coalition of amateur astronomy societies committed to sharing their time, their telescopes, and their enthusiasm for astronomy with their local communities. AAS recently received their first Outreach ToolKit from NASA. Entitled "PlanetQuest", the kit is designed to help amateur astronomers answer questions about how scientists hope to find Earth-like planets circling other stars. Club members will use the Outreach ToolKit at public astronomy nights, during classroom visits, at youth group events, and at other public events catering to students of all ages.
Membership in the Night Sky Network includes training for club members, special opportunities for working with NASA scientists and educators, access to a dedicated website for communicating with other Night Sky Network participants, and public recognition by NASA for their outreach activities.
"NASA is very excited to be working closely with the amateur astronomy community," said Michael Greene, head of public engagement for NASA's Navigator Program based at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "Amateur astronomers want more people to look at the sky and understand astronomy, and so do we. We have a strong commitment to inspiring the next generation of explorers. Lending support to the energy that the amateur astronomy community brings to students and the public will allow NASA to reach many more people."
For more information go to NASA Night Sky Network.
- AAS Club
Comments? Email the Club: duluthaas@mac.com
January 9th, 2008: CCD Attempt #1
Christmas was over, and I had a little time to try the old ST-7E CCD camera. It is a 752x510 cooled CCD camera with an autoguider chip.
I wanted to start out slow, so I used my Tak FS-60 refractor, a 2.5" f5.9 scope. The camera fits where a 1 1/4" eyepiece would go. This was my first problem. It was easy enough to take out the diagonal and put in the camera. But it was another mater all together to get it to focus! The FS-60 only has 30mm of focus range, and the focus plane of the camera is 31mm farther in than the eyepiece.
After searching my junk box for adapters and spacers (Tak's are difficult to figure out adapters, spacers, etc when hooking up cameras). I thought I had a combination that would focus with an eyepiece and also the camera.
Time for my first image! I decided M42 would be a good first target.
Brought all the equipment outside (mount, scope, battery, camera, laptop...) and did a polar alignment (very easy with the EM-10 mount). Setup the laptop and got ready to image.
I put in an eyepiece and aimed at some bright stars (so I could focus the camera easier). So far, so good. Took the eyepiece out and put in the camera. Oh, oh - it wouldn't focus!
The camera needed to be farther away from the scope, but the focuser was at the end of its travel. Not knowing what else to do, I loosened the eyepiece holder and backed it out as far as I dared - about 1/2". I tried focusing again. This time it would focus! Focusing a CCD camera is harder than it looks - it doesn't update very fast on the PC (parallel interface). My focuser was not fine enough for exact focus, either.
After struggling awhile, I got the focus pretty close. Time to find M42 and image. Next problem. I hadn't aligned the finder scope (yes, the scope the size of a finder scope has a finder scope - 5x24). I did not want to take out the camera and put in an eyepiece. So I aimed the camera at M42 by guessing (this CCD chip is small - hard to aim).
Not even close. Oh well. It was cold out and I decided to image the random star field anyway. The picture in this article is my first CCD image - "random star field somewhere in Orion"
Actually, even with all the problems, I thought it turned out pretty good. Next session, I'll figure out the adapters and align the finder scope...
- Michael Sangster, AAS webmaster
Comments? Email the Author: mjs604@mac.com
The year of 2007 saw the Arrowhead Astronomical Society take on many new challenges. To begin with was our involvement in planning and bringing to fruition the events of Astronomy Day. This began in January and we had weekly meetings with Howard Mooers and the planetarium staff until the event was held on April 21st. We worked well with the team from Telescopes.com and the UMD Astronomy club. One week before Astronomy Day saw many of our members join in the building of the Mars spacecraft cockpit and the outdoor Mars setting. Finally the day of the event saw over 800 people pass through the door. This was a huge success.
In May, Mike and I went up to Grand Marais and talked to the students at Great Expectations School. This educational outreach brought our knowledge of astronomy to the students. We observed with them and combined our interest and their desire to learn the wonders of astronomy. It was a very successful outreach.
In June I spoke to the Freethinkers about my astronomy related hypothesis of misunderstood astronomy. I still talk to people who are amazed at this information.
In July we met at Korkki with the Graduate Students and teachers of Mississippi State University and showed them the night sky. It was a very enjoyable get together. We lucked out with the weather and showed them a few sights such as the moons of Jupiter, M13 and M31 as well as the Milky Way. Thanks Mike for arranging this successful exchange.
In August several of our members made it to the Chippewa Valley Astronomy Gathering, near Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
In September, I spoke at the Harvest Moon gathering in Two Harbors and around 200 people came. Then again in December I spoke at the Winter Solstice festival and gave three slide presentations and a campfire talk to around 200 people.
In December Mike, Aaron and I presented topics to the students at Northern Lights Elementary school in Superior. We also gathered outside and observed with them under very light polluted skies.
Our observing sessions throughout the year of 2007 were held nearly every month of the year. We started the year off in January with a very warm night to observe the winters skies, including Orion, the Crimson Star and other objects.
In February the students from UMD Astro. Club joined us for an exceptional cold evening.
We held so many great gatherings down at Canal Park this past year. Each one was unique, the people were delightful, the nights enchanting and we showed people celestial sights through a telescope, and reached out and informed the public of the grandeur of the universe.
In March, April, May and June we had so many wonderful evenings this past year and so many fantastic objects we saw that it would be too long to mention. From springtime galaxy clusters, to the summer star studded Milky Way, to Septembers many globular clusters and comets, it has been a rich and rewarding year of observing with so many loyal observers. Even Brian joined us one night at Korkki.
We did the road cleanup twice this past year. The first occasion in the spring was extremely blustery. The second occasion was loads of fun, a fine BBQ, as it was a nice night and we were joined for observing with the Superior Trail Maintenance crew.
Our meetings have seen new faces visiting and some willing to drive long distances to partake in our excitement to learn and share about astronomy. Thank you William, Jim and Tina.
Each month a member would give a presentation to the public on a topic of their choice. What a wonderful platform we have been afforded. Can you believe it? Where else could one get free rent, free use of the facility, with the option of presenting to the entire public our views on the universe? We should be extremely thankful to the University of Minnesota, Duluth for this golden opportunity. It should show you how open a format this college allows, how giving is its mission. Thank you UMD.
I want to thank Mike for enhancing the website, Brian for keeping the numbers correct, Will, for his movie making skills, Jim Schaff for his telescope wizardry, Bob for his many fine programs, Jack for greeting so warmly, Jim and Tina adding up so many frequent flier miles, Dave for inviting us to Oklahoma, Dawn for the best banana creme pie, Steve for his refractor, Ed for the 17-inch, Lou for the mall, Ted for the hat, Aaron for the party, Jake for the helmet, all of the planetarium staff, Howard, and everyone else so valued but not mentioned. Thanks.
I think some of the things we should pursue this coming year are a 40-inch reflector, our own private observing site, foreign exchanges with other countries to observe, a scholarship fund, a $1000 balance in our treasury, 25 new members, more visits to schools, more imaginary journeys, and our club in with the NASA registry. But really, we are only volunteers and can do only so much. Just seeing each of you show up at the meeting is great and showing up to observe is equally so.
There have been many novel thought experiments we have gone on this year. First it was Orbit Cafe, then our journey to M13, and to the center of our galaxy. We also experienced going to Mars and Earth riding. All of these were designed to help you better visualize yourself as citizens of the universe in which we are a part. They were invented to help you see our planets place in the solar system, our connection to it, its smallness and its fragility. This is what an Astronomical Society can do.
Mostly, we are better defining ourselves as an Astronomical Society. Society is much bigger than a club. It is pulling together all of the loose ends and uniting. We are considered by some to be the pillars of society We should take pride in this unofficial title. We can help reach out to the public and invite them in to learn about this tremendous topic. It is our challenge, to inform and to be bold, to step up and let the public know the truths that we understand and seek to share with others about this topic. Though it may not always be popular, nor easily understood, we at The Arrowhead Astronomical Society can do our best to describe our knowledge of astronomy to the masses. We can lay it on the line, astronomy is our mission, it is what we know, and they, as well as us and all of the planet earth, shall be all the richer for this.
- Eric Norland, AAS Moderator
Comments? Email the Author: enorland@msn.com