Vol. 29 No. 1 October 1999 http://physics.weber.edu/oas/oas.html


THE OCTOBER MEETING The October meeting of the Ogden Astronomical Society will come to order on Thursday October 14, 1999 at 7:30 p.m. in the Ott Planetarium on the Weber State University campus.

The meeting will be the now famous "Show and Tell " format. Among the features this month will be Doug Say and his weird off-axis binoculars and Jim Seargent with some more CCD imaging techniques. Everyone is invited to bring anything they think will be of interest to this meeting.

THE LAST ANTELOPE ISLAND

STAR PARTY FOR 1999

The final public Antelope Island star party this year will be held on the island at White Rock Bay this Saturday October 9, 1999. Saturday will also be the peak of the Draconid Meteor shower. The planets Mars, Jupiter and Saturn will be in good viewing position most of the night too.

Reports from last month would lead one to believe that people who have been putting off coming to a star party are finally deciding to attend these last events. There were a couple of hundred people who attended in September and large numbers are anticipated for the Oct. 9 star party. We could use everyone's help.

Follow the signs to the set-up area. As before events begin at dusk. Please try to be set up before dark.

CLUB DUES ARE DUE

All OAS members who wish to continue their membership and remain on the mailing list should send their $12.00 to our club Treasurer, Doug Say, by no later than the end of October. This issue of The Star Diagonal will be the final one for members who have not renewed by November 1, 1999.

Doug's address is: Doug Say, Treasurer

2060 West 1025 North

Farr West, UT 84404

ORDERS FOR "SPACE" DESK CALENDARS TO BE TAKEN

OAS member Alan Jensen will be taking orders for the Space Desk Calendar at the October 14 meeting. The more people who sign up makes the individual price less and less. It looks like we can save about 50% this year making the individual cost to members around $10.00. See Alan after the meeting.

HALLOWEEN IS A FUN TIME TO

SET UP THE 'SCOPES

If the weather cooperates for observers this year, October 31st is one of the most enjoyable opportunities to draw young and old viewers to the eyepiece. In years past, there have been amazing and humorous stories told by OAS members who have set up their telescope in the front yard for Trick-or-Treaters.

The moon will only be visible for the most tenacious 'Trickers' due to it's late 3rd Quarter rising but with Mars, Jupiter and Saturn burning brightly overhead, there will be plenty of ooooh's and aaaaaah's to go around.

For those who have never taken a telescope out on Halloween, you should give it a try. You will find it one of the most entertaining star parties you will ever have.

It's a "Boo"-tiful opportunity to share the hobby. Don't forget to hand out the Mars Bars, Milky Ways and Starburst candies.

THE PRESIDENT'S PARSEC

Greetings Earthlings;

Talk about pulling a Homer; A couple of Saturdays ago the Prez and first lady had a star party in our new neighborhood to get aquatinted with everyone. Flyers had been circulated a couple days before and that night most of them showed up with kids, snacks, and expectations.

The moon was not quite half-full so we had the 16 and 10 inch poised on old Luna to start the evening. After about 30 minutes or so of being mooned I was anxious to show off the other stellar goodies. {Side note here: It turns out that the night sky from my new backyard is quite good. The Milky Way is readily apparent and all nebulas report for duty when an eyepiece beckons. } Anyway, I spent most of the evening apologizing for the moon washing out everything. The neighbors were all impressed nonetheless.

Now the Homer part; we had left the moon filters in the eyepieces when we went to the deep sky objects. That's right, the man you elected Prez was offering up dim smudges for M-13 and M-31 and a smattering of faint twinklers where the Double Cluster resides

Fortunately there were still a few neighbors left in my yard by the time I discovered the travesty so I was able to re-introduce them to these objects again. Once more they were duly impressed by the views.

This reminds me of an incident at Monte Cristo a couple years ago when I had a women waiting for me to find the Lagoon Nebula. In the dark I didn't realize the eyepiece cover was still on the Panoptic I had just put in. So just for a second I'm trying to find something through the eyepiece cover when she asks, "did you find anything yet"? By then I was aware of why the view was so black, so I responded, "Yeah, a black hole", not expecting to be taken seriously. "Oh

let me see" she said excitedly. Not wanting ruin her moment I stepped aside and said, " Take a look it's really neat". For about the next 10 seconds this women is thoroughly enraptured as she stares at the elusive "black hole". After several ooh's and aah's she finally notices she is staring at the cupped cover of the Panoptic. "Why you..." she says. Then we both burst into the biggest laughing fit.

When we had almost calmed down a friend of hers came over to the scope and she wanted to know what we were looking at. " A black hole " my victim replied. "Take a look, it's really neat". Again the " black hole " framed in the eyepiece garnered several more ooh's and aah's while at the other end of the scope we have another laughing fit. It was by far the funniest moment I've had at a star party.

The proceeding stories lead me to the following "observation" (hey, if the pun fits wear it): When people first come to a star party the experience is so "other" than what they expect that our coaching at the eyepiece has a great deal to do with what they see.

A good approach in a nutshell is to tell them the name of the object and one or two details to look for and then respond to any questions they may ask.

Now as the Black Hole episode illustrates, there is one thing better than a trained eye at the eyepiece and that is an active imagination.

the PREZ