THE FEBRUARY MEETING The February meeting of the Ogden Astronomical Society will convene in the Layton P. Ott Planetarium this Thursday February 13, 1997 at 7:30 p.m. The Ott Planetarium is located next to the science lab building in the north east quarter of the Weber State University campus. Photography Of The Sky will be the topic of discussion at this meeting. O.A.S. member Jim Seargeant plans to talk on methods and techniques of film photography. Jim also recently purchased an ST-7 CCD system so he will likely touch on CCD photography too. Jim indicated that he will bring his LX 200 12-inch to the planetarium as a demonstration tool. There will be time after the general meeting for a rap session on any other topic as well, so members are encouraged to participate.

STAR PARTY UP DATE - FAIR GROUNDS EVENT TO FEATURE COMET In last month's Star Diagonal a list of O.A.S. star party events was presented. One additional planned star party, not included in that list, is identified below.

March 29, 1997 at the Weber County Fair Ground

This is planned as a comet Hale-Bopp, C/1995 O1, star party for the public. Telescopes will be assembled before dusk. Dr. John Sohl will be there too to discuss "Comets" for the people. The Antelope Island star party scheduled for April 5 will be a highlight event for comet Hale-Bopp too. The comet is expected to give us a good show early this spring.

LOOK FOR COMET HALE-BOPP You should be able to see the comet with your naked eye, given clear skies. Binoculars should reveal a faint tail. The magnitude is about 3.5. For the next few days, look in the early morning sky, say around 5:15 a.m., just above the eastern horizon. The comet should appear as a faint hazy spot between the first magnitude star Altair in Aquila and Albireo, Cygni, the popular double star. The comet is moving in a northerly direction a little each day.

THE O.A.S. WEB PAGE IS IMPROVED Dr. John Sohl and his wife Sheri have been working on our web page. Check out the improvements and new information at: www.weber.edu/physics/planet/astrclub.htm The page also contains updated information on star party schedules including the Antelope Island events. There are other link sites for the Hansen and Ott Planetariums. Portions of the Star Diagonal will be available through the O.A.S. web page too beginning with the January 1997 issue.

INFORMATION ON THE RIVERSIDE TELESCOPE CONFERENCE AND TEXAS STAR PARTIES IS AVAILABLE The club has received information on both the Riverside Telescope Makers Conference, RTMC, and the Texas Star Party. R.T.M.C. in Big Bear, California will be over Memorial weekend, as always, which will be between May 23 and 26, 1997. The Texas Star Party is held in the Hill County of Central Texas along the Frio River and amongst the trees and grasslands. The Texas event is scheduled this year from Sunday May 4 through 11. There was a conflict of dates last year between R.T.M.C. and Texas but for those planning to (wacky enough) attend both, that will not be a problem this year. Also, the Grand Canyon event will be approaching along with the summer skies. June 7 through 15 this year. Deloy and Karen Pierce should be the ones to talk to about this star party.

PLANS FOR THE 1998 TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE TRIP ARE COMING TOGETHER Dave Miller will be arranging for a representative of the travel company, planning the eclipse trip, to visit the O.A.S. in an upcoming meeting. Watch the Star Diagonal for the final date of this visit if you would like to arrange passage for the trip of your life.

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The following message was received from friend and former O.A.S. member Bob Jones via e-mail. For those seeking a swell deal on a telescopic mirror, this may be your opportunity.

Editor

As many of you members know, I (Bob Jones) have been sub-contracting all of Nova's 10" and 12.5" mirrors for over a year now. Doing these Newtonian mirrors has given me a lot of experience. All of these mirrors for Nova, as well as my own line, meet several criteria:

1. Cosmetically perfect (no chips, scratches, etc.) 2. Guaranteed l/4 P-V wavefront or better (for a Newtonian this is l/8 surface deviation max) from edge to edge 3. Precision ground flat backs for proper mounting and rounded bevels for chip prevention

To these contract mirrors, I have recently added my own line of complementing mirrors and mirror sets (see below for offerings and OAS pricing vs retail prices ). Since you OAS members have been good to me in the past, I feel that I can return the favor by giving any interested member(s) a significant discount on my line of optics. These prices are good for all of 1997, but afterwards will ONLY increase as much as my material costs increase.

Newtonian mirrors f/4-f/10 6" $100(89% coating) vs. $165 normal 8" $150(89% coating) vs. $250 normal 6"-16" refigure of existing mirror $20 + coating and shipping

Compound sets f/9-f/30 (matched with 89% primary coating and 96% secondary coating)

Dall-Kirkham (spherical secondary, ellipsoidal primary) 8" $400 vs. $600 normal 10" $500 vs. $800 normal 12.5" $700 vs. $1000 normal

Classical Cassegrain (paraboloidal primary, hyperboloidal secondary) 10" $700 vs. $1100 normal (for dual focus add $300 vs. $900) 12.5" $900 vs. $1300 normal (for dual focus add $300 vs. $900)

Ritchey-Cretien (hyperboloidal primary and secondary) 10" $800 vs. $1300 normal 12.5" $1000 vs. $1600 normal

I can also do matched compound sets to 15", in which case add $500 to the corresponding 12.5" price. Also, a savings of $100 to $300 (negotiable) can be realized if the interested member is extremely patient (up to 12 months) on delivery. All optics are fine annealed Pyrex and meet the same criteria as stated above for Nova. Also all optics will be serialized and will include a certification photograph(s) of the final Ronchi patterns.

You can contact me at any of the following (unless updated in the Star Diagonal):

Stellar Optical Subsystems Phone: 801-786-0997 (eves.) C/O Bob Jones 801-782-7937 (msg) 537 E. 750 N. Email: rajones@cc.weber.edu Ogden, UT 84404 through Nova Optical Systems

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