ALACHUA ASTRONOMY CLUB }

vW+wveas THE ALACIIUA ASTRONOMY CLUB MEETS THE 2ND TUESDAY OF EACH MONTH AT 7:30 P.M. AT THE DOYLE CONNER BUILDING ON S.W. 34TH ST. AND 20 TH AVE. EVERYONE US INVITED TO ATTEND MEETINGS, STARPARTIES, AND OTHER Ct UB ACTIVITIES. NO EQUIPMENT IS NEEDED. CALL A CLUB OFFICER FOR INFO.

President: Qilto&riBernardo 935-0340 Branford. Fl and DonLoHus 462-1227 Gainesville, Fl

Vice-President: Mark Cowan 375-2564 Gainesville, Fl Treasurer: Doug Richards 332-4317 Gainesvitie, Fl.

Publicity-: Pamela Mydock 495-9166 Archer, Fl Firstlight Editor: Chuck Broward 475-1014 Melrose, Fl

29 deg 38 min North 82 deg 21 min West (more or less)

MEETING TUESDAY JANUARY 10TH Gilbert Bernardo will share a vidio tape of Harvard

graduates sharing their knowledge of astronomy. We ne&d to select and elect club leaders for 1995. Hopefully the sky will be clear enough to do some sidewalk

astronomy.

STARPARTY ON THURSDAY JANUARY 12TH This party will be held at Camp Crystal which is located

on the entrance road to The Keystone Heights Airport which is a few miles west of Keystone Heights on Highway 100. Details at the meeting. Please note that tliis is the same week of the meeting.

JUPITER SPORTS NEW BAND? Don Loftus mentioned that there seems to be some

indication that the meteor impacts are blending together to produce a new band around Jupiter. Perhaps someone can provide more info at the meeting.

DEW CAPS.. POSSIBLE CLUB PROJECT? Come arid see how to make a $40 dewcap for much less!

If we cooperate..

Year Begins With No Moon! — by Howard L. Cohen

On the first day of 1995, an unusual event happened that went unnoticed by most people, the Moon's phase was New. This is a rare occurrence since New Moons do not usually happen on the first day of Gregorian calendar months, especially on the very first day of a new year! How rare?

Astronomical cycles control our time and dates. For example, the Gregorian Calendar operates by the Sim. Ancient observers noticed the Sun takes about 365.25 days to complete one circuit of the heavens. Today we call a 365 day period one year and base the modern Gregorian calendar on this solar period.

Historically, the Moon's cycle of phases also controlled the length of the month. It takes about 29.5 days from New Moon to New Moon. Thus, the original length of the month was either 29 or 30 days. Notice the similarity of the word moon and month (a month is a "moonlh")! A year of 12 such lunar months with alternating 29 and 30 day periods gives a lunar year of 355 days, or 11 days shorter than a solar year.

Since the modern Gregorian calendar uses months 30 or 31 days long (except February), months are no longer lunar in duration. Even if a New Moon occurred on the first day of the month in the Gregorian Calendar, the next New Moon would usually occur before the following month began. Consequently, the phases of the Moon are independent of the Gregorian Calendar. However, 1995 did begin with a New Moon (no Moon). When will this event happen again?

Simple arithmetic is enough to give the answer. If 235 lunar cycles of 29.5 days pass, then 235 x 29.5 days or 6932.5 days also pass. Dividing this latter number by 365.25 days in a solar year, shows that 18.98 years elapse, a period of almost exactly 19 years. This 19-year period, know as tiheMetonic Cycle," gives the answer we seek. Add 19 years to 1995 and you get 2014. Therefore, there will be no Moon (a New Moon) on 1 January of the year 2014 A.D.

Mark your 2014 calendars for this event in case you missed 1995's New Year's New Moon! #

'After Meton of ancient Athens who recognized this lunar-solar relation (c. 432 B.C.). Depending on the number of intervening leap-years, a shift of one day may occur when determining when the same phases repeat on the same days of the month.

•EDITOR1 S CORNER CHUCK BROWARD I tluiiiiik that the gods have decided that AAC members

:>lliiould never see the sky! Especially here in the lake area the sky v ill be clear one moment and fogged in the next. And even if the r-vty clears., tmy scope soon drips water. Even with a heat gun and dew cap it fe a loosing battle!

If y o u have any solutions to the dewing problem come M!!nare then, with oilier club members.

There is a fellow near my home that is rebuilding a Criterion reflector. l i e needs addresses for companies that can lresilver muirrors, provide cleaning materials, etc.

W e need to infuse tliis club with a dose of go-juice. Please bring yourself and your ideas to the meeting. So far, no one wants to opt for leadership positions within the AAC. How come? How do we gather new members, how do we put together activities that •Ml of us can. enjoy, how can we better advertise astronomy and the AAC to the community and the university.

Fox years, a few have done most of the work with the club. It is becoming evident that those few are getting tired and would like to hand the reins to others. Perhaps you, or you, or you could provide the leadership to take the AAC in exciting new directions. It's your climb.

F O R SALE O R TRADE

CELESTRON C-8, (MID 80'S) includes: Camera adapter Barlow 5 eyepieces extender tubes counterweights, wedge and drive tripod case

$500 firm 1-904-825-2854 ask for Marty Scott.

NIKON F and 85 mm lens. Probably one of the best cameras and lens ever made. S150 392-1051/475-1014 Chuck

The CCD Cookbook Camera-The Power Supply. Although I have completed the final tests on my pow-

er supply, I think that it is important to note that a few changes were made from the original design. These changes were intended to cut down on the parts count and still provide adequate power to the system.

For transformers Tl and T2, both primary windings and the secondary windings were connected in parallel to drive a single heavy duty bridge rectifier. The trans-formers were readily available from Radio Shack; their part number:273-1511. The bridge rectifier is similar to Radio Shack's part numbar: 276-1185. I also mounted the bridge rectifier on a heat sink made from aluminum, l/8"-3"-5".

One of the critical tests that I ran on the finish-ed power supply was to determine the amount of residual d-c ripple that might appear on the d-c output voltages. In all cases, the ripple as shown on an oscilloscope was less than 5 millivolts;considerably below the specifications indicated in the "Cookbook".

We can now proceed to other aspects of the Camera. Although I have received my printed circuit boards from Willmann Bell, I have not received the finished aluminum castings from University Optics. Hopefully, the latter should arrive within the next couple of weeks. We shall see! _, ^z^c-t^s- X^i^-^izL— ,

The CCD Camera Cookbook.

As I move along in the construction of this most interest-ing project, I have noticed that University Optics has made available several additional components to help bring the camera to an earlier completion date. These components were not available at the time I placed my original order for the aluminum castings required for the CCD heat exchanger or cam-era head.

For instance, an automotive windshield washer pump, 30-feet of plastic tubing, a coil of copper tubing, and a few plumb-ing parts are now available to help build the coolant system. I was able to provide the rest of the parts for the coolant system from my junk box and should have this aspect of the project finished in the next couple of days. Delivery of these parts took only a week whereas the aluminum castings took at least 6 weeks.

In addition to the foregoing, University Optics also offers most of the electrical components that you will need to build the CCD camera. These parts were also not available when I placed my original order with them. I would suggest that you write or call University Optics to get their latest ad-vertising literature that they have prepared to help build the CCD camera.

I was kind of surprised that the CCD Camera Cookbook did not provide some of the construction details for the coolant sys-tem. I am particularly referring to the manner in which the coil of copper tubing and how it is suspended in the 3 to 5 gallon water bucket. I must have thought about at least a half dozen ways on how this could be done and the sketch shown herein shows my final design.

With regard to the sketch, my first step was to cut a disk of wood that was two-inches wider than the diameter of the water bucket. Four cleats were added to the bottom of the disk to help center it over the bucket. A one-inch wide slot was cut from the outside of the disk to the center. A simple 90-degree angled bracket was made from scrap steel and fastened to the bottom of the disk as seen in the sketch. Note how a couple of additional brackets were used to fasten the copper coil to the main bracket. >^-c«-t*i*—

CfeAls(y) l*Joo J&N Df5K ^

Brfictei i

: -r?Z i X W V, krm'i Cof>p&\ % ^ A ' Coi £ 3 1*5 cifrl/0H bucket i U»-t s ysteyvy PefcAi l f tv ceo lAN.

BARGAIN BOOKS If you are traveling north on either I 95 or 1-75 plan on stopping at the Book

Warehouse in one of the outlet malls near Valdosta or Savannah. I think there may be several other Book Warehouses around Both stores have proven to be a goldmine of astronomy book, usually at half-price or better.

THANKS TO GEORGE AND HOWARD As you read the material in this issue of Flrstlightconsider that

Howard Cohen and George Russell took the time to sit down and generate the articles you are reading.

GOT A COMPUTER? WANT TO WORK WITH INTERNET? It is time that the AAC made if s presence known on Alachua

County's Freenet. I understand that it is not difficult to set up a interest area on the freenet.

Want to experiment with freenet? Set your computer's communication software to the following: phone number 334-0200, baud rate 1200 to 14.4 kbs, 8-n-l, and echo off.. If you are logging on for the first time you will be tagged as a visitor, but in a few days you will get your own account.

I am willing to generate the needed files to get Firstlight on montlily, but someone will have to set up and handle the computer end.

NOTHING ELSE....

The Internet and Astronomy — by Howard L. Cohen

Astronomy traditionally remains at the forefront of new technologies. Using the interact to exchange information is no exception. Although the astronomical community is small, the number of internet sites is literally "astronomical." A recent article by H. Andcrnach, R.J. Hanisch and F. Murtagh in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (PASP 106, 1994 Nov. pp. 1190-1216) notes over 1,000 astronomically related URLs (Unifonn Resource Locators) arc available! This paper is an excellent source of infonnation about e-mail, listscrvcrs, FTP sites, on-line catalogs, data bases, the World Wide Web (WWW), URLs, and much more. The Andernach article includes many astronomically related internet addresses.

The intent of this column is to provide a few astronomical internet starting addresses (URLs) for those who have WWW access through browsers such as Mosaic or Netscape. The above PASP article by Andernach el al. is a good starling point and indispensable for an electronic connection to the heavens. Indeed, the authors write, "Tliis paper may be the last of its kind published on paper." Therefore, the first URL listed here gives access to an updated electronic version of the Andemach paper as Hypertext! Look at their appendix to find nearly 20 more URLs. Other URLs given below provide links that help point to many others.

Network Resources for Astronomers: The Andcrnach et al. PASP paper — must sec. http://www.hq.cso.org/online-rcsourccs-paper/imhtml

American Astronomical Society: Home page for the AAS. http://blackhole.aas.org/AAS-homepage.html

Astronomical Society of the Pacific: Home page of the ASP. http://www-pasp. stsci.edu/PASP-top. html

AstroWeb: Categorizes most astronomy internet resources — another must see. http://fits.cv.nrao.edu/www/astronomy.html

Dept. of Astronomy, UF: Gives links to resources/neat things on the Web. http://www.astro.ufl.edu/

Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Home page of JPL. http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

NASA: Home page of NASA — Leads to numerous NASA WWW sites. http://hypatia.gsfc.nasa.gov/NASA_homepage.html

News Groups: A link to "somewhat" astronomy-related groups and people. http://fits.cv.nrao.edU/www/yp_people.html#newsgroup

Planetary Data System. Given by Andernach but address wrong — many images. http://stardusl.jpl.nasa.gov/pds_home.html

WebStars: Extensive guide to space science and astronomy on the Web. http://guinan.gsfc.nasa.gov/WcbStars.htmI

I encourage you to bring interesting, astronomical internet sites to the attention of other club members. <*

JANUARY 1995CALENDAR Sun 1st New Moon Tues 3rd Quadrautid meteor shower Thur 5th Saturn 7 d S of Moon Tues 10th Meeting 7:30 pm Thur 12th Camp Crystal Starparty Sat 14th Venus 3 d N of Jupiter (09 hours) Mon loth Full Moon Thur 19th Mertiuy at greatest elongation MOD 23rd Moou-Spica occultation (11 hours) Tues 24th Last Quarter Moon Fri 27t« Venus .2 d S of Moon (12 hours) Mon 30(h New Moon

P>£ as!