East Coast Imaging Conference LOS ANGELES ...However, for visual observing, both telescopes give excellent images of the Sun in hydrogen-alpha, so tremendous amounts of detail can

Page 16 LAAS BulletinLAAS Bulletin

East Coast Imaging Conference The East Coast Conference on Astronomical Imaging (ECCAI) will be held on August 11-13, 2006, in Philadelphia, PA.

In case you have not yet signed up for this conference, but are still planning to come, please complete the necessary paperwork ASAP -- everything can be done online at the interactive website:

www.pennastroimaging.com/eccai

A total of 17.5 hours of lectures and/or workshops beginning on Friday afternoon and going through Sunday afternoon, not including additional time for vendor exhibits, etc. Topics will be discussed that should be of interest for all experience levels, from the beginning to the advanced imager.

August 11th may seem like it's far away, but register early as the event may be closed out

For more information, contact the ECCAI Board members:

Jim Misti, Bob Benamati, & Steve Mazlin

At their website at:


The Los Angeles Astronomical Society would like to acknowledge ORION TELESCOPES and

FIREFLY BOOKS for their generous support and donations for 2006 !!!

http://www.fireflybooks.com/

http://www.telescope.com/jump.jsp?itemID=0&itemType=HOME_PAGE

Inside this issue

Griffith Public Star Party Report (David Nakamoto) ··········· 1,4-8 Contact Information ····························································· 2 Editor’s Message (David Nakamoto) ··································· 2 IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS ································ 3 This Month in History (Mary Brown) ··································· 3 President’s Message (David Sovereign) ································ 4 RTMC Pictures (PJ Goldfinger) ············································ 8,9 Astro-images ········································································ 10,11 Outreach Program Images (Herbert Kraus) ·························· 12 Monterey Park Observatory Map ········································· 12 Mt Wilson 60-inch Telescope Nights ··································· 13 Loaner Corner (David Sovereign) ········································ 14 Events Calendar ··································································· 15 Membership Information ····················································· 15 East Coast Imaging Conference ··········································· 16 Ads ······················································································ 16

Notes, corrections, questions, ideas, articles? All are welcome at: [email protected].

LOS ANGELES ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY

BULLETIN volume 80, issue 7 July 2006


Griffith June 3rd Public Star PartyGriffith June 3rd Public Star Party By David NakamotoBy David NakamotoBy David Nakamoto

During the June 3rd public star party at the Griffith Observatory satellite, the seeing was bad due to the triple digit temperatures during the day, and the subsequent cool down at night to the 70s. Other than this the skies were pretty good: no clouds, very little haze, and practically no wind.

During the day, David Pinsky and Herman Meyerdierks gave the crowd views through dedicated solar telescopes equipped with hydrogen-alpha filters. Dave used

(Continued on page 4)

OUR 80th YEAR OF ASTRONOMY IN LOS ANGELES Los Angeles Astronomical Society

Griffith Observatory Satellite 4800 Western Heritage Way

Los Angeles, CA 90027 (213) 673-7355

Change of Address, Membership: Peter De Hoff, LAAS Acting

Secretary (626) 791-2740

LAAS Officers: President . . . . . . . . . . . . David Sovereign

(626) 794-0646 Vice President . . . . . . . . . . . Mary Brown

[email protected] Treasurer . . . . . . . . . . . . . Darrell Dooley

[email protected] Secretary (acting) . . . . . . . .Peter De Hoff

[email protected] Recording Secretary . . . . . PJ Goldfinger

(323) 953-6869 Volunteers: Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mary Brown

[email protected] Outreach . . . . . . . . . . . . . Don DeGregori

[email protected] [email protected]

Loaner Scopes . . . . . . . . Dave Sovereign (626) 794-0646

Messier Program . . . . . . . . Norm Vargas (626) 288-4397

New Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TBA Speakers Bureau . . . . . . . Tim Thompson

[email protected] Youth Liaison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .TBD LAAS Bulletin Editor . . David Nakamoto

[email protected] Bulletin Printers and Web Site Managers

Peter De Hoff & Minghua Nie [email protected]

Contributing Editors . . . . . . .Mary Brown [email protected]

Don DeGregori [email protected]

David Sovereign (626) 794-0646


E d i t o r ’ s Message

R TMC was a success for the LAAS, both financially and increasing awareness for our

organization. I’ve received only brief reports from individuals, both members and non-members, as we went to press.

The summer months mean shorter nights and more problems with seeing due to the high temperatures and sometimes high humidity, but despite the bad seeing at the June 3rd public star party at Griffith I got a good image sequence on Jupiter, Great Red Spot, Red Spot Jr. and Europa’s shadow included. Please see my report for more details.

M o r e i m a g e s f r o m o u r astrophotographers, public outreach program, and a few from RTMC.

Please send all written correspondence, other than bulletin material, to:

LAAS

4800 Western Heritage Way

Los Angeles, CA 90027.

There will be one more change of address when Griffith Observatory re-opens.

The deadline for submitting bulletin material is the 10th of each month. Please submit electronically, if possible, to [email protected]. All other material may be sent to the above address, but timely reception and publication cannot be guaranteed

David Nakamoto

Membership Annual Dues: Youth $ 20.00 Regular (18-65) $ 35.00 Senior Citizen (65 and up) $ 20.00 Senior Family $ 30.00 Family $ 50.00 Group or Club $ 50.00 Life $ 500.00 Additional fees: Charter Star member $ 30.00 Star member, with pad $ 70.00 Star member, no pad $ 60.00 (Membership due date is indi-cated on the mailing label)

HANDY PHONE LIST LAAS Answering Machine ...... (213) 673-7355 Griffith Observatory Program .............................. (323) 664-1191 Offices ................................. (323) 664-1181 Sky Report .......................... (323) 663-8171 Lockwood Site ........................ (661) 245-2106 (not answered, arrange time with caller. Outgoing calls – collect or calling card) Mt. Wilson Institute ................. (626) 793-3100

LAAS Home Page: http://www.laas.org LAAS Bulletin Online: http://www.laas.org/bulletin.html

Page 15 Vol 80, issue 7

EVENTS CALENDAR Date Event Location or Information

July 1st (Sat) Public Star Party Griffith Observatory Satellite

July 10th (Mon) General Mtg Dr. Alan Rubin will talk about meteorites. His specialty is the

mineralogy & geology of meteorites.

July 21st (Fri) 60-inch Night Mt Wilson Observatories

July 22th (Sat) Dark Sky Night Lockwood Valley

July 29th (Sat) Public Star Party Griffith Observatory Satellite

Aug 14th (Mon) General Mtg Speaker not announced

Aug 18th (Fri) 60-inch Night Mt Wilson Observatories

Aug 26th(Sat) Dark Sky Night Lockwood Valley

NOTE that there are no public star party dates in August.


LAAS-4

LAAS-2

The summer triangle of Altair, Deneb, and Vega are beginning to appear in the eastern sky. Jupiter the king of planets is close to the meridian all night and always puts on a great show. Check out one of the LAAS loaner telescopes and take advantage of the warmer spring nights.

LAAS-2 - 4.5” f/8 Tasco reflector on a motorized Edmund equatorial mount. This telescope has been upgraded with 1.25” accessories, a 6x30 finder, and very solid wooden legs. It comes fully equipped with a set of three Kellner eyepieces and a collimation tool.

As can be seen from the previous short list of available telescopes there is only one left to be checked out at the present time. On the other hand several loaner telescopes are over due. These are LAAS 3, LAAS 5, and LAAS 6.

For further information concerning these loaner telescopes call: David Sovereign at (626) 794-0646.

LOANER CORNER

A reminder ― The board meeting is held on the Wednesday night prior to the general meeting, at Garvey Ranch Park. It starts at 8:00 pm

The Monday general meetings starts at 7:30 pm


This Month in History July 11, 1892 The United States Patent Office decided that Joseph Wilson Swan and not Thomas Edison was the inventor of the light bulb. Swan received a British patent for his device in 1878, a year before Edison. Swan reported his success to the Newcastle Chemical Society at a lecture and demonstration of his light bulb in Newcastle, England in February 1879.

July 11,1801 French astronomer Jean-Louis Pons discovers his first comet, in his lifetime he will discover or co-discover 37 comets. On July 12,1801 Charles Messier discovers the same comet they both receive recognition for the discovery. What I find interesting is that this was Pons first comet discover and Messier last.

July 17,1850 The first star to be photographed was Vega. With a magnitude of .03 it is the 5th brightest star in the sky. The photograph was taken by W. C. Bond the director of Harvard University and a Boston photographer by the name of J. A. Whipple . They did not use film but a daguerreotype, consisting of a copper base with a thin film of polished silver sensitized by iodine vapors to form a thin yellow layer of iodide. The entire process took several hours.

Mary Brown

Important Announcements We need both a Youth Liaison organizer and a new members chairperson.

These vacancies are long-standing. Please, if you’re interested in either position, contact one of the board members listed on the opposite page.


President’s Message Dave Sovereign

Like last two years, the LAAS had a booth where we can brag about our Society and sell various items to raise funds for Society activities. In support of the later function, several of our members took time to man the booth to brag about our Society and sell astronomical goodies. This latter function was very successful and brought in much needed funds to support LAAS functions.

The next function on the LAAS calendar will be the new member pot luck and star party to be held at the Monterey Park facility. This may be a little late this year, but stay tuned for details. It is a fun and worth while event.

Good Seeing and we hope to see you at the new member pot luck.

a Coronado PST and Herman a 40 mm aperture SolarMax. There seems to be a consensus that the PST won’t come to focus for web cameras, since these cameras do not normally employ eyepiece projection to image objects, and the PST was not designed for prime focus imaging, the usual way that web cameras take images. However, for visual observing, both telescopes give excellent images of the Sun in hydrogen-alpha, so tremendous amounts of detail can be see on the disk and around the limb.

As night fell, there were four planetary targets up in the sky, but would soon become apparent, only two of them were worth looking at, due to the bad seeing caused by the rising heat currents.

Mars is now, for all practical purposes, gone. It presents a disk that is less than 5 arc-seconds wide, and its low position near the horizon makes the view too degraded to see any features, even when one uses imaging equipment. Saturn was only a little higher, and suffered from the heat currents running off the asphalt parking lot. I didn’t try and image either one. The Moon was the highest target, and had the advantage that it was large enough that it presented good views at relatively low magnifications that mitigated the effects of the heat currents to some degree, but high powers here were out of the question.

That left Jupiter as the main attraction that night. Fortunately it rose above a set of tall trees. Plants in general give off less heat than concrete or asphalt as things cool down at night, and therefore the seeing above them is better. I got reports that the two temperate zone belts were visible, as well as the Great Red Spot, and some dark features in the normally white equatorial zone. However, a few observers, Dave Sovereign among them, asked if I knew where the fourth moon



The Mount Wilson 60” nights are back! The dates for the nights are as follows:

Only LAAS members are allowed to sign up. If there is still room two (2) weeks prior to the date, paying guests will be permitted. Be sure to let Darrell Dooley know the names of your guests as he is keeping a waiting list. (First Come, First Serve)

Any LAAS member who has not been to a 60 inch night at Mount Wilson should consider it as an opportunity to visit astronomy history. To see the location and equipment used by giants such as Wilson and Hubble, will add to your appreciation of their contributions.

It should be understood that the scope belongs to LAAS the entire night. We

mutually agree upon which objects to view. Often, a member is the operator, so it is a very comfortable environment. (Do bring a coat, however) The viewing is without a doubt the best your are likely to see in your lifetime.

We already have reservations for that night, so don't delay and miss a unique opportunity to socialize with other members and view objects you only see in publications.

Send your check payable to LAAS, for $60 per person per night, $35 for the Sept 1st night, to

Darrell Dooley, 1815 Avalon Street, Los Angeles 90026.

You can also email [email protected] to let him know that your check is in the mail. Please specify the names of attendees.

Mt Wilson 60” Nights

July 21st. This night is SOLD OUT (2 days after email notice).

Aug 18th. All nighter, and a dark sky night. Sep 1st. Half nighter, also 1st quarter

moon, limiting the targets.

Your Opinion is Needed! The LAAS is looking to sign up for more nights on the 60” scope and needs to know if you would be interested. But we need the information quickly as the available nights are being snapped up by other clubs. Email [email protected] with your interest and general time frame that you might want to go. We will try to set up dates around those times.


10 Freeway

Valley Blvd

Garvey Ave

Graves Ave

Gar

field

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ambr

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New

A

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Del

Mar

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ntic

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Garvey RanchPark Observatory

Ora

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Ave

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(The place to build your telescope)(The place to build your telescope)(The place to build your telescope) Map to Monterey Park Observatory

The LAAS Outreach program supported the event at Park School in Alhambra on June 6th. At left, Regie Flores is all set and ready to show the attendees the heavens. Image courtesy of Herbert Kraus.


of Jupiter was. No evidence of it existed in the raw video images I collected, so it was with some astonishment that, after stacking several hundred images and examining the results, I saw the black spot of a moon shadow clearly on all the processed images! After checking with Starry Night Pro, I soon identified the spot as the shadow of Europa, which was transiting the disk of Jupiter during the time of the star party. In fact, it was preparing to exit off the disk when we all had to stop and pack away our equipment. It shows how bad the seeing was that night; I received no reports from anyone that they spotted the shadow, but then both Io and Europa cast small shadows, and it’s easy to miss them if the seeing is bad.

Another feature everyone was trying to see was Red Spot Jr., the companion to the Great Red Spot that has an interesting history behind it. Prior to 1998 or so junior was actually three or more white spots, two of which had been in existence and tracked by amateurs for 90 years, and the third having been tracked since 1939. Over a span of three years the storms collided and combined to form a white spot about half the size of the Great Red. Then since about the beginning of 2006, the spot quickly got pinker, until its color rivaled the Great Red’s. Unfortunately, I had misjudged the position, thinking it was still in the position relative to the Great Red as it appeared in a Hubble image from April, but it had actually moved closer to the Great Red until it was practically right underneath it. I found it in my stacked images once I corrected for my position error.

I took video of Jupiter from around 8:40 pm to 9:45 pm. The first image shown above is the result from stacking the images from one of the first videos. It shows Europa’s shadow, Red Jr., and the Great Red Spot, as well as the



tremendous amount of activity in the equatorial region. This image is at the same scale as the raw videos used to generate them, but with far more clarity of detail and contrast. The image on this page was generated from video taken towards the end of the evening. It has been re-sampled to twice the original’s size to help discern details. It is annotated to identify some of the features. Both images are rotated to have north at the top and are non-mirror image, and were the result of stacking several hundred images from video files, then processing through wavelet filters. The camera was operating at the focus point of a 127 mm Maksutov with an equivalent focal ratio of f/25 or so. Compare the colors for The Great Red and Red Jr. Europa is visible in the second image as a thin crescent at the edge of Jupiter’s disk. It is easier to perceive such white objects when they reach the limb of Jupiter due to the phenomenon called limb darkening. Also, an examination of two images taken at slightly different times shows a thin crescent at the correct position to be Europa, so it is unlikely to be an artifact of image processing, although it might still be a atmospheric feature. Notice the large number of dark features in the equatorial region. Normally this region is mostly white with some festoons crisscrossing it, but all throughout that night I wondered at the many features visible in that region even in the raw images. The stacked and processed images show everything much clearer and more distinctly of course.

The Moon was fine for imaging if the magnifications were kept low. This image is the result of stacking several hundred images from a video, with the camera at the prime focus of my 127 mm f/12.1 Maksutov. It has been rotated with north at the top and is non-mirror imaged. The main feature in the center of the image is



author, David Nakamoto. The individual images are stacks of hundreds taken with a Creative Pro eX web camera shooting through a 127mm f/12.1 Orion Maksutov. Then they were stitched together using Paint Shop Pro. Matching lighting levels is perhaps the hardest part of this process, which I got lazy and decided to leave alone. The advantage of using a web camera and stacking software over a DSLR is that you can safely process out seeing effects and noise and use images that although are medium resolution (640 x 480), are as sharp as can be achieved.

I mentioned David Pinsky and his Coronado PST hydrogen-alpha telescope in my report of the June 3rd public star party. Here is an image through that telescope taken by Dave using a Digital SLR held up to the eyepiece of the PST. This technique is known as eyepiece projection, and works very well for short (less than a second) exposures, since all it requires is that you hold the camera lens right up to the eyepiece and very steadily.

Details on the Sun are dependent on the bandwidth of the filter. Prominances are best seen with a wider bandwidth, surface details with narrower bandwidths.


The advantage of digital image processing is that it’s much easier to achieve lots of effects that, in the past, would have required steady hands, scissors and paste, or even a darkroom. Take this mosaic of web camera images generated by the



Mare Nectaris. A possible remnant of an outer rim for this feature is visible in the lower left portion of the image. The small crater with the V-shaped ray system leading away to the north is not Messier A/B, but the crater Rosse. Note that Rosse and two other craters running south by southwest to north by northeast are lined up, are slightly elongated, and at least one other has a V-shaped ray system that lines up with Rosse’s. This implies that they are part of a sequence of bodies



impacting along similar trajectories on the lunar surface, and they may be either ejecta material from a large impact in the opposite direction from the V-shaped rays, or an event similar to comet Shoemaker-Levy impacting on Jupiter, the product of a comet breakup where the fragments are all traveling on similar paths through space.

These public events are not only helps to raise public awareness for Griffith Observatory and the LAAS, but they offer another, different way to do astronomy, one that can be just as satisfying as observing in private. And you don’t need to bring equipment. Often another knowledgeable person explaining the sights through a telescope, or simply to relieve someone from time to time, is a wonderful assistance. Come by the next time we hold a public star party and enjoy another way to converse and interact with other astronomy enthusiasts and interested novices.

At this year’s Riverside Telescope Makers Conference (RTMC) up at Big Bear Lake, the LAAS continued it’s long-standing presence at the event and combined that with a celebration of its 80th year of existence.

The above is the cake for the celebration.


Above is the LAAS banner at this year’s RTMC.

To the left is the LAAS’ unofficial mascot, making sure nothing funny is happening.


impacting along similar trajectories on the lunar surface, and they may be either ejecta material from a large impact in the opposite direction from the V-shaped rays, or an event similar to comet Shoemaker-Levy impacting on Jupiter, the product of a comet breakup where the fragments are all traveling on similar paths through space.

These public events are not only helps to raise public awareness for Griffith Observatory and the LAAS, but they offer another, different way to do astronomy, one that can be just as satisfying as observing in private. And you don’t need to bring equipment. Often another knowledgeable person explaining the sights through a telescope, or simply to relieve someone from time to time, is a wonderful assistance. Come by the next time we hold a public star party and enjoy another way to converse and interact with other astronomy enthusiasts and interested novices.

At this year’s Riverside Telescope Makers Conference (RTMC) up at Big Bear Lake, the LAAS continued it’s long-standing presence at the event and combined that with a celebration of its 80th year of existence.

The above is the cake for the celebration.


Above is the LAAS banner at this year’s RTMC.

To the left is the LAAS’ unofficial mascot, making sure nothing funny is happening.


The advantage of digital image processing is that it’s much easier to achieve lots of effects that, in the past, would have required steady hands, scissors and paste, or even a darkroom. Take this mosaic of web camera images generated by the



Mare Nectaris. A possible remnant of an outer rim for this feature is visible in the lower left portion of the image. The small crater with the V-shaped ray system leading away to the north is not Messier A/B, but the crater Rosse. Note that Rosse and two other craters running south by southwest to north by northeast are lined up, are slightly elongated, and at least one other has a V-shaped ray system that lines up with Rosse’s. This implies that they are part of a sequence of bodies



tremendous amount of activity in the equatorial region. This image is at the same scale as the raw videos used to generate them, but with far more clarity of detail and contrast. The image on this page was generated from video taken towards the end of the evening. It has been re-sampled to twice the original’s size to help discern details. It is annotated to identify some of the features. Both images are rotated to have north at the top and are non-mirror image, and were the result of stacking several hundred images from video files, then processing through wavelet filters. The camera was operating at the focus point of a 127 mm Maksutov with an equivalent focal ratio of f/25 or so. Compare the colors for The Great Red and Red Jr. Europa is visible in the second image as a thin crescent at the edge of Jupiter’s disk. It is easier to perceive such white objects when they reach the limb of Jupiter due to the phenomenon called limb darkening. Also, an examination of two images taken at slightly different times shows a thin crescent at the correct position to be Europa, so it is unlikely to be an artifact of image processing, although it might still be a atmospheric feature. Notice the large number of dark features in the equatorial region. Normally this region is mostly white with some festoons crisscrossing it, but all throughout that night I wondered at the many features visible in that region even in the raw images. The stacked and processed images show everything much clearer and more distinctly of course.

The Moon was fine for imaging if the magnifications were kept low. This image is the result of stacking several hundred images from a video, with the camera at the prime focus of my 127 mm f/12.1 Maksutov. It has been rotated with north at the top and is non-mirror imaged. The main feature in the center of the image is



author, David Nakamoto. The individual images are stacks of hundreds taken with a Creative Pro eX web camera shooting through a 127mm f/12.1 Orion Maksutov. Then they were stitched together using Paint Shop Pro. Matching lighting levels is perhaps the hardest part of this process, which I got lazy and decided to leave alone. The advantage of using a web camera and stacking software over a DSLR is that you can safely process out seeing effects and noise and use images that although are medium resolution (640 x 480), are as sharp as can be achieved.

I mentioned David Pinsky and his Coronado PST hydrogen-alpha telescope in my report of the June 3rd public star party. Here is an image through that telescope taken by Dave using a Digital SLR held up to the eyepiece of the PST. This technique is known as eyepiece projection, and works very well for short (less than a second) exposures, since all it requires is that you hold the camera lens right up to the eyepiece and very steadily.

Details on the Sun are dependent on the bandwidth of the filter. Prominances are best seen with a wider bandwidth, surface details with narrower bandwidths.


10 Freeway

Valley Blvd

Garvey Ave

Graves Ave

Gar

field

A

ve

Alh

ambr

a A

ve

New

A

ve

Del

Mar

A

ve

San

Gab

riel

Blv

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Atla

ntic

B

lvd

Garvey RanchPark Observatory

Ora

nge

Ave

N

(The place to build your telescope)(The place to build your telescope)(The place to build your telescope) Map to Monterey Park Observatory

The LAAS Outreach program supported the event at Park School in Alhambra on June 6th. At left, Regie Flores is all set and ready to show the attendees the heavens. Image courtesy of Herbert Kraus.


of Jupiter was. No evidence of it existed in the raw video images I collected, so it was with some astonishment that, after stacking several hundred images and examining the results, I saw the black spot of a moon shadow clearly on all the processed images! After checking with Starry Night Pro, I soon identified the spot as the shadow of Europa, which was transiting the disk of Jupiter during the time of the star party. In fact, it was preparing to exit off the disk when we all had to stop and pack away our equipment. It shows how bad the seeing was that night; I received no reports from anyone that they spotted the shadow, but then both Io and Europa cast small shadows, and it’s easy to miss them if the seeing is bad.

Another feature everyone was trying to see was Red Spot Jr., the companion to the Great Red Spot that has an interesting history behind it. Prior to 1998 or so junior was actually three or more white spots, two of which had been in existence and tracked by amateurs for 90 years, and the third having been tracked since 1939. Over a span of three years the storms collided and combined to form a white spot about half the size of the Great Red. Then since about the beginning of 2006, the spot quickly got pinker, until its color rivaled the Great Red’s. Unfortunately, I had misjudged the position, thinking it was still in the position relative to the Great Red as it appeared in a Hubble image from April, but it had actually moved closer to the Great Red until it was practically right underneath it. I found it in my stacked images once I corrected for my position error.

I took video of Jupiter from around 8:40 pm to 9:45 pm. The first image shown above is the result from stacking the images from one of the first videos. It shows Europa’s shadow, Red Jr., and the Great Red Spot, as well as the



President’s Message Dave Sovereign

Like last two years, the LAAS had a booth where we can brag about our Society and sell various items to raise funds for Society activities. In support of the later function, several of our members took time to man the booth to brag about our Society and sell astronomical goodies. This latter function was very successful and brought in much needed funds to support LAAS functions.

The next function on the LAAS calendar will be the new member pot luck and star party to be held at the Monterey Park facility. This may be a little late this year, but stay tuned for details. It is a fun and worth while event.

Good Seeing and we hope to see you at the new member pot luck.

a Coronado PST and Herman a 40 mm aperture SolarMax. There seems to be a consensus that the PST won’t come to focus for web cameras, since these cameras do not normally employ eyepiece projection to image objects, and the PST was not designed for prime focus imaging, the usual way that web cameras take images. However, for visual observing, both telescopes give excellent images of the Sun in hydrogen-alpha, so tremendous amounts of detail can be see on the disk and around the limb.

As night fell, there were four planetary targets up in the sky, but would soon become apparent, only two of them were worth looking at, due to the bad seeing caused by the rising heat currents.

Mars is now, for all practical purposes, gone. It presents a disk that is less than 5 arc-seconds wide, and its low position near the horizon makes the view too degraded to see any features, even when one uses imaging equipment. Saturn was only a little higher, and suffered from the heat currents running off the asphalt parking lot. I didn’t try and image either one. The Moon was the highest target, and had the advantage that it was large enough that it presented good views at relatively low magnifications that mitigated the effects of the heat currents to some degree, but high powers here were out of the question.

That left Jupiter as the main attraction that night. Fortunately it rose above a set of tall trees. Plants in general give off less heat than concrete or asphalt as things cool down at night, and therefore the seeing above them is better. I got reports that the two temperate zone belts were visible, as well as the Great Red Spot, and some dark features in the normally white equatorial zone. However, a few observers, Dave Sovereign among them, asked if I knew where the fourth moon



The Mount Wilson 60” nights are back! The dates for the nights are as follows:

Only LAAS members are allowed to sign up. If there is still room two (2) weeks prior to the date, paying guests will be permitted. Be sure to let Darrell Dooley know the names of your guests as he is keeping a waiting list. (First Come, First Serve)

Any LAAS member who has not been to a 60 inch night at Mount Wilson should consider it as an opportunity to visit astronomy history. To see the location and equipment used by giants such as Wilson and Hubble, will add to your appreciation of their contributions.

It should be understood that the scope belongs to LAAS the entire night. We

mutually agree upon which objects to view. Often, a member is the operator, so it is a very comfortable environment. (Do bring a coat, however) The viewing is without a doubt the best your are likely to see in your lifetime.

We already have reservations for that night, so don't delay and miss a unique opportunity to socialize with other members and view objects you only see in publications.

Send your check payable to LAAS, for $60 per person per night, $35 for the Sept 1st night, to

Darrell Dooley, 1815 Avalon Street, Los Angeles 90026.

You can also email [email protected] to let him know that your check is in the mail. Please specify the names of attendees.

Mt Wilson 60” Nights

July 21st. This night is SOLD OUT (2 days after email notice).

Aug 18th. All nighter, and a dark sky night. Sep 1st. Half nighter, also 1st quarter

moon, limiting the targets.

Your Opinion is Needed! The LAAS is looking to sign up for more nights on the 60” scope and needs to know if you would be interested. But we need the information quickly as the available nights are being snapped up by other clubs. Email [email protected] with your interest and general time frame that you might want to go. We will try to set up dates around those times.


LAAS-4

LAAS-2

The summer triangle of Altair, Deneb, and Vega are beginning to appear in the eastern sky. Jupiter the king of planets is close to the meridian all night and always puts on a great show. Check out one of the LAAS loaner telescopes and take advantage of the warmer spring nights.

LAAS-2 - 4.5” f/8 Tasco reflector on a motorized Edmund equatorial mount. This telescope has been upgraded with 1.25” accessories, a 6x30 finder, and very solid wooden legs. It comes fully equipped with a set of three Kellner eyepieces and a collimation tool.

As can be seen from the previous short list of available telescopes there is only one left to be checked out at the present time. On the other hand several loaner telescopes are over due. These are LAAS 3, LAAS 5, and LAAS 6.

For further information concerning these loaner telescopes call: David Sovereign at (626) 794-0646.

LOANER CORNER

A reminder ― The board meeting is held on the Wednesday night prior to the general meeting, at Garvey Ranch Park. It starts at 8:00 pm

The Monday general meetings starts at 7:30 pm


This Month in History July 11, 1892 The United States Patent Office decided that Joseph Wilson Swan and not Thomas Edison was the inventor of the light bulb. Swan received a British patent for his device in 1878, a year before Edison. Swan reported his success to the Newcastle Chemical Society at a lecture and demonstration of his light bulb in Newcastle, England in February 1879.

July 11,1801 French astronomer Jean-Louis Pons discovers his first comet, in his lifetime he will discover or co-discover 37 comets. On July 12,1801 Charles Messier discovers the same comet they both receive recognition for the discovery. What I find interesting is that this was Pons first comet discover and Messier last.

July 17,1850 The first star to be photographed was Vega. With a magnitude of .03 it is the 5th brightest star in the sky. The photograph was taken by W. C. Bond the director of Harvard University and a Boston photographer by the name of J. A. Whipple . They did not use film but a daguerreotype, consisting of a copper base with a thin film of polished silver sensitized by iodine vapors to form a thin yellow layer of iodide. The entire process took several hours.

Mary Brown

Important Announcements We need both a Youth Liaison organizer and a new members chairperson.

These vacancies are long-standing. Please, if you’re interested in either position, contact one of the board members listed on the opposite page.

OUR 80th YEAR OF ASTRONOMY IN LOS ANGELES Los Angeles Astronomical Society

Griffith Observatory Satellite 4800 Western Heritage Way

Los Angeles, CA 90027 (213) 673-7355

Change of Address, Membership: Peter De Hoff, LAAS Acting

Secretary (626) 791-2740

LAAS Officers: President . . . . . . . . . . . . David Sovereign

(626) 794-0646 Vice President . . . . . . . . . . . Mary Brown

[email protected] Treasurer . . . . . . . . . . . . . Darrell Dooley

[email protected] Secretary (acting) . . . . . . . .Peter De Hoff

[email protected] Recording Secretary . . . . . PJ Goldfinger

(323) 953-6869 Volunteers: Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mary Brown

[email protected] Outreach . . . . . . . . . . . . . Don DeGregori

[email protected] [email protected]

Loaner Scopes . . . . . . . . Dave Sovereign (626) 794-0646

Messier Program . . . . . . . . Norm Vargas (626) 288-4397

New Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TBA Speakers Bureau . . . . . . . Tim Thompson

[email protected] Youth Liaison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .TBD LAAS Bulletin Editor . . David Nakamoto

[email protected] Bulletin Printers and Web Site Managers

Peter De Hoff & Minghua Nie [email protected]

Contributing Editors . . . . . . .Mary Brown [email protected]

Don DeGregori [email protected]

David Sovereign (626) 794-0646


E d i t o r ’ s Message

R TMC was a success for the LAAS, both financially and increasing awareness for our

organization. I’ve received only brief reports from individuals, both members and non-members, as we went to press.

The summer months mean shorter nights and more problems with seeing due to the high temperatures and sometimes high humidity, but despite the bad seeing at the June 3rd public star party at Griffith I got a good image sequence on Jupiter, Great Red Spot, Red Spot Jr. and Europa’s shadow included. Please see my report for more details.

M o r e i m a g e s f r o m o u r astrophotographers, public outreach program, and a few from RTMC.

Please send all written correspondence, other than bulletin material, to:

LAAS

4800 Western Heritage Way

Los Angeles, CA 90027.

There will be one more change of address when Griffith Observatory re-opens.

The deadline for submitting bulletin material is the 10th of each month. Please submit electronically, if possible, to [email protected]. All other material may be sent to the above address, but timely reception and publication cannot be guaranteed

David Nakamoto

Membership Annual Dues: Youth $ 20.00 Regular (18-65) $ 35.00 Senior Citizen (65 and up) $ 20.00 Senior Family $ 30.00 Family $ 50.00 Group or Club $ 50.00 Life $ 500.00 Additional fees: Charter Star member $ 30.00 Star member, with pad $ 70.00 Star member, no pad $ 60.00 (Membership due date is indi-cated on the mailing label)

HANDY PHONE LIST LAAS Answering Machine ...... (213) 673-7355 Griffith Observatory Program .............................. (323) 664-1191 Offices ................................. (323) 664-1181 Sky Report .......................... (323) 663-8171 Lockwood Site ........................ (661) 245-2106 (not answered, arrange time with caller. Outgoing calls – collect or calling card) Mt. Wilson Institute ................. (626) 793-3100

LAAS Home Page: http://www.laas.org LAAS Bulletin Online: http://www.laas.org/bulletin.html


EVENTS CALENDAR Date Event Location or Information

July 1st (Sat) Public Star Party Griffith Observatory Satellite

July 10th (Mon) General Mtg Dr. Alan Rubin will talk about meteorites. His specialty is the

mineralogy & geology of meteorites.

July 21st (Fri) 60-inch Night Mt Wilson Observatories

July 22th (Sat) Dark Sky Night Lockwood Valley

July 29th (Sat) Public Star Party Griffith Observatory Satellite

Aug 14th (Mon) General Mtg Speaker not announced

Aug 18th (Fri) 60-inch Night Mt Wilson Observatories

Aug 26th(Sat) Dark Sky Night Lockwood Valley

NOTE that there are no public star party dates in August.


East Coast Imaging Conference The East Coast Conference on Astronomical Imaging (ECCAI) will be held on August 11-13, 2006, in Philadelphia, PA.

In case you have not yet signed up for this conference, but are still planning to come, please complete the necessary paperwork ASAP -- everything can be done online at the interactive website:


A total of 17.5 hours of lectures and/or workshops beginning on Friday afternoon and going through Sunday afternoon, not including additional time for vendor exhibits, etc. Topics will be discussed that should be of interest for all experience levels, from the beginning to the advanced imager.

August 11th may seem like it's far away, but register early as the event may be closed out

For more information, contact the ECCAI Board members:

Jim Misti, Bob Benamati, & Steve Mazlin

At their website at:


The Los Angeles Astronomical Society would like to acknowledge ORION TELESCOPES and

FIREFLY BOOKS for their generous support and donations for 2006 !!!

http://www.fireflybooks.com/

http://www.telescope.com/jump.jsp?itemID=0&itemType=HOME_PAGE

Inside this issue

Griffith Public Star Party Report (David Nakamoto) ··········· 1,4-8 Contact Information ····························································· 2 Editor’s Message (David Nakamoto) ··································· 2 IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS ································ 3 This Month in History (Mary Brown) ··································· 3 President’s Message (David Sovereign) ································ 4 RTMC Pictures (PJ Goldfinger) ············································ 8,9 Astro-images ········································································ 10,11 Outreach Program Images (Herbert Kraus) ·························· 12 Monterey Park Observatory Map ········································· 12 Mt Wilson 60-inch Telescope Nights ··································· 13 Loaner Corner (David Sovereign) ········································ 14 Events Calendar ··································································· 15 Membership Information ····················································· 15 East Coast Imaging Conference ··········································· 16 Ads ······················································································ 16

Notes, corrections, questions, ideas, articles? All are welcome at: [email protected].

LOS ANGELES ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY

BULLETIN volume 80, issue 7 July 2006


Griffith June 3rd Public Star PartyGriffith June 3rd Public Star Party By David NakamotoBy David NakamotoBy David Nakamoto

During the June 3rd public star party at the Griffith Observatory satellite, the seeing was bad due to the triple digit temperatures during the day, and the subsequent cool down at night to the 70s. Other than this the skies were pretty good: no clouds, very little haze, and practically no wind.

During the day, David Pinsky and Herman Meyerdierks gave the crowd views through dedicated solar telescopes equipped with hydrogen-alpha filters. Dave used


Documents

East Coast Imaging Conference LOS ANGELES ...However, for visual observing, both telescopes give excellent images of the Sun in hydrogen-alpha, so tremendous amounts of detail can