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LAS OFFICEIIS I\ND tsOI\RD IVTETVI.BE}iS FOR L')82

President Joe Kamichitis

Secretrrry Diane lviusewiczIriernbers-at-large Scott Bailey/UoU

Vice Presid ent/H:.storian Jo-AnnFlucienniii

Treas urer John D. Sabiai'ialen in sky,/nf tt ivlecca

SI,,}N TO EXPLODE IN MARCH! I t

Now that Irve got )'our attentlon ' herers some l.flportart inforne.tionabout the Ma.rch neeting. Due (malnly) to time l-imitatlons and the posslbil-ity of bad neather ln novlng between buildlngs at the Unlverslty of Scra.n-ton, the Board ha-s elected to CANCEL the regular buslness meetlng that wasscheduled for it'iarch 2r:d. To repeat - the March buslness meeting has beencarceled.

,,Jhat r're rvill do lnstead ls go rlght to the 'rprogram" which ' as I ten-tloned at the l-ast meetiug, will be a talk by Dr. Wulff tieintz.

rjr. ,^Iulff Heintz, at the lnvltatlon of Dr. Frank i\iurray, physlcs pro-fessor at the U of S and fanous L.rlS member, will be ln town on plarch 2nd andlrd and vlil1 glve lectures on both days. Dr. rleintz is the ChaLrman of theDept. of Astroncmy at swarthmore College and ls known throughout the ,.stxo-noilcal wor1d. for his work on doubLe siars of whlch he has discovered 180new palrs during the course of hls research. He also h€rs flve books ' lnclud-lng a long-running chess manual, to hls credit. He has worked with tele-scopes for 28 years at places llke i"iount Stromlo ln Australla and Cerro'I o1o f o ln Chile.

For LAS meBbers (and the publlc ) on Tuesday, Ivlarch 2nd at B PIul in theaudltorlun of Jefferson HalL (the old YWCA building at Llnden and Jefferson)the talk wt1l be "Ste11ar Tles wlth Loose EndsB. Coffee and cookles willbe served for a1I after the talk behlnd. the audltorlun and you can meetDr. Heintz in person. Parklng for that nlght wl1I be avallable free ln enyU of S parking 1ot. Anyone who can nake themselves free on ,'lednesday norn-ing at 11:30 AM can hear Dr. Helntz for his second lecture, "the lilass Sca"l-eof Stars'r. Thls talk wl1f be ln room L10O ln Loyola H411.

,^lef 1, itts too bad Joe lIazzanella wlIl- mlss all- thls but you donrt ha"veto. Donrt pass up your chance to hear ahd meet one of the top obsexva-tionalas tronorners- in the world. See you at Jef f erson Ilall , Ivlarch 2nd at B PM.

Joe Kanlchltl sPres ident

As an aslde to the above artlcle: Swarthmore College ln Swarthmore, Pa..ls the home of the Sproul observatory whose main instrument ls the famous24 lnch f/l8 asttometric refractor. Iou can read about this telescope lnSky and Telescope for Aprtl 1!81, page 2)) and l4arch 1!82' page 104.

t^:/?'

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And, since the buslness meetlng has been canceled, we are prlntingsome of the things we were aII looking forward to hearing in person, forexample, the ,Ireasurerts -d.eport and the Up-conlng cvents ieport. see below.

ITiIIASUITBB i S dTPORT FOB MARCH

Previous tsank BalanceDues collected

DisbursementsDues liotices PostaeeObservatory BuIIetin Board250 Star charLs for newmenber packetsIo tal

New Balance

+i; 5 .205.00

25 "0O$7fi26

d,293,231Ll_.00W

:6.2At,i35B

" 03

John I)" Sabla

The February Secretaryrs mlnutes will not be publlshed " Instead youlri1l Just have to wait until they rre read at the April meetlng

"

MARCH IiOUND_UP

The wlnter Is finally over wlth the offlclal beglnning of sprlng onMarch 20, 5155 PM, 20:56 U"I " Another perlod of bad observing has p?stwhlle another one 1s startlng. ft seens that the weather never affords usenough tine to vier^r Gemlnl, orlon, Taurus ,lni\ otrher ceIestlal bodles of thewlnter. Ihe d.ays will be Setting longer untll- June, when we reach the sum-mer SoIstlce and head towards wlnter again.

The three brlght planets ln Virgo (l'iars, Saturn and Jupiter) are start-ing to rise remarkably ear1y. This should keep people who hate to get up

".r1y hrppy for the next several nonths. Mars pops up over the hotlzon at

B:04- pm on'tntarcfr l1th and ls over the horlzon at l:LO by l[arch 21st. I{arsw111 also reaoh opposition on llarch l1st. Thls means the planet wlII beabove the horlzon att nrght. saturn ls next 1n line rislng at 10:22 pm onthe 11th and at !:10 on the 21st oT March. The rlngs are ln a rather nlcean81e for observing and r,rriI1 continue to lmprove for qulte some tlxxe.Juptter ls last rn trre planetary llne rlsing at 10:0J on March l1th and atfrT on M.-rrch 21st. It w1I1 still take Jupiter and the other planets a goodg0 nlnutes to 2 hours after rislng, to clear the murky skies around our ho-rlzon. AIl thincs consldered, 11100 pm ls sti1l not that late to vlew agreat planet l1ke Juplter, Venus ls easy to spot in the morning sky risingat 4225 on the l1th and at 4t03 by the end of the month" The dlsc of Venusls not as thln as llas vislble in early February but lt is stlll far fronful-L. I{ercury ls stl1I rather 1ow to the horlzon for viewlng ln l{arch.

The lvloon Is at flrst quarter on l{arch 2nd and ls full on March 9th.Ihe noon witf Ue wlthln a few degrees of Mars on the l-lth' then it wll-Lrnove to be in conjunctlon wlth saturn on the lzth of March. The noon willonl_y be 4 degrees north of Uranus on the 1Jth. The moon will- occuLt Neptuneon the 17, st. Patrickrs Day, but thls wonrt be vlslble ln North Anerlcafbut Neptune wil"1 be a scant O.7o south of the moon at around mag. B. Themoon makes a close pass by Venus on the morning of the 21st and by I{eTcuryon the norning of the 2lrd " New Moon for March ls on the ZJth"

Sprlng is here on the evenlng of the 20th. This ls when the Sun entersthe flrst point of Axies. The Verna1 Equlnox takes place when the sun crossesthe Celesttal eiluator 1n Irlld i{arch and the Autumnal Cqulnox takes place whenthe sun crosses the Celesti"f ,lquator ln I'1ld September. 0n the 20th thesun ls at e deQflnatlon of .05'S rnd on the 21st bhe declinatign has ir-Ii"""Ja-i.-.i86-N:- oi s'"!o pi or the 20th the declinatlon ls oo.

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Ilarch 10th ls a dreaded day of mlsfortune for earthllngsr as foretoldby authors Gribbln and Plageman ln thelr book Ihe Jupit?f gff"g!. The pri*mary cause is the allgnment of all nine planets within 100" of arc on oneslde of the sun. The authors say that the planets w111 somehow infLuencethe sun to produce a large number of sunspots whlch w111 severely alterweather patterns on Earth. i^I I thin the past week, I have notlced a l'1rgespot group on the sun, but I donrt thlnk we should worry about lt. Ihls isthe closest -r,o a straight l1ne the planets w111 ever come, and lt will nothappen for another J00 years. The last tine thls line-up occurred was In1803. Ih3 only major events were two mlnor earthquakes ln J,'-maic", a. largeflre ln i3ombay, and 0h1o was granted statehood. Thls is for the entlre yearof 1803t

Just ln case we donrt make lt through Iviarch 10th, lt was nlce knowlngyou!

Scott Bailey

DUES!! DUES! ! DUES!!

I know what yourre th1nklng, I'money agaln?,rr so It11 keep 1t short.*le sent out dues notLces to those people who had not pald thelr dues as ofthe January lleeting, this was to keep our expenses (especlally postage) down.Malnly due to postage expenses, too, thls wll-l be the last pg!!g[!g werIlbe abte to send you, if you're not pald up by our next prlntlng. i,.le knowyou all want to i<eep getting the Ec1lptlc, and to be lncluded on our 1!82rnenbership IIst in the April-May rssue, Eo John w111 be eagerly t^ralting a.th1s nailbox, at Lhe address b,e1ow for your dues. The catagorles are:95.00 Junlor (under 1B years o1d), $8.00 adult, tr12.00 marrled couples,'1f20.00 contributing member.

Send yourmoney to our trustworthy treasurer, today, before you throw itaway on food, fuel", or snow shovels.

John D. dabia1112 Fairview BoadClarks Sunmlt, PA 18411

I,IE$TING SCHilllULE

?gglar lvieetisgs 7 230 pm at the .[verhart lviuseum, Scranton,Twe,/er, Tr. r,rJulf f Helntzt s lecture ls aL B -.p* sharp , dt

i{a}I of t}re U of S.

i3oard. of Dire_c lors I me etlngs B : 00 pm at the home of Jo-Ann

-Any

ffi iffiEffia,y at,tend. contacL Jo-Ann to beclate'and" directions .

(note t ime and 5 & 6

PA " In i{arch ,Je fferscn

PIuc iennik.sure of Lhe

L5

Club Ntshts - at KJC/LI\S observatorles, F1eetv11Ie, PA. Contact Joe l(arxlchltisTfr6:rt562), Jo-Ann Pluclennlk ()46-)268), or John sabla (586-0?89) tosee about the aval1abi1lty of equipment and facllltles on any cl-e=.rFrlday or Saturday nlght. Scheduted dates are the I,reekend after lhereg'r1rr meeting.

I't on th i?egular lvleetings CIub N ights .Board ;"ie e t ing s

Feb

lviarc h

Aprilplec_9 elane-el, - 9 & 10 ZO

5&6 L6

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CA,TE AND CLBANING OF 1ST SUI1F/\C!] ALUIVIINIZED OPIICS

rLeferences : Coul-ter Optlcs Care Sheet

Necessary tvlaterials : .L Ib. liurgical or r:,ngravers Cotton1 pt, Isopropyl Alcohol-

Llquld Dishwashing SoaP

A varlety of nethods have been suggested over the years for the propercleanlng of telescope mlrrors wlthout damage to the reflectlve coatlng. Thefollowing method, suppl-led by Coulter Optlcs of Callfornia ' has proven tobe gentle enough to clean even soft classlcal silver deposlted nirrors.

1. Pl-ace mixror face up on a towel in a slnk and dlrect a spray of coolwater on lts surface to remove dust and llght partlcles of dlrt.

2. Dtp a wad of cotton ln a n1l-d soap solutlon (* tsp. soap/L pt. water)3. Gently swab entlre surface wlth soap solutlon then dlrect ,arater over

mfrror to rinse thoroughly, Note: Keep complete surface of nlrrorwet at all tines. Fa-llure to do thts will result ln water spots.

4. When thoroughly rlnsed, dlp another wad of cotton ln alcohol andturn water off, as you place wad of cotton on the mlrrorrs surface,

J. Swab entire surface of mirror. Cautlon: Do not turn wad of cottonover or skints ol1s and aclds wlFdffislt on ni-rrorrs surface.

5, Immediately wipe gently wlth a dry ball of cotton. l"eep changlngcotton wads untll surface ls totally dry.

P;iuVr-NTAf I fLr IvIAINTANITNCE

A. Do not touch mlmor wlth hands or other objects unless cleanlng.ts. Always use dust covers on telescope when not In use. Store wlth

tube ln horizontaL posltlon.C. Do not use Lens cl-eaners or lens tissues to clean mlrror surfaces.D. If dusty, use natural- taper camel hair brush to c1ean. Cut bristle

style wiIl scratch.lobert I-11en lns .1.y

cditorrs note: Bob 1s consl"de"ed to be a speciali-qt in "classical- observing,rtuslng a 4" Newtonian reflector wlth a sllvered, not aluminized, ml"ror. Bunorhas lt he has plans for a speculum netal- mirror next.

PLAY ING TI{E N UI{BEIIS

these parts, pard"ner? Is the Pope ,,@ er. o nThink itts cloudy inPolish? ! Pulling out mywhich go all the way backsults.

Cas 1o end perus ing my extens ive weather recorclsto Jan o 1 , 1"982, I ccme up with Lhe f ollowing re-

Out of l1 nights ln January I recorded 75 or 48fi as cloudy, 5 or I6ftas partfy cloudy, and 11 or 35'fr as clear. (Yes, I know that doesnrt add upto tOOfi - dontt bother me wlth deterils") February wonit make Leo Henzl orrion iliorales move here e lther. On 1t days into lrhe nonth I have 72 nlghtsor 631 as cloudy and I or )7ft as clear. Fufl moon nLghts were elther partlycloudy or cloudy. The new moon for January was c1ear.

Speaklng of percenta.ges, the results of the LAS questionnalre are in.(You do reilember the questlonnalre?...sent out to nembers last f411, supposedto be returned by the end of the year, results Lo be used 1n planning LASactlvitles, etc...? Yeah, that one.) Out of 60 distriuuted, a granct totalof ) or LJA were returned. Or optlmtstlcally maybe 20il since I already knowthe oplnlons and ldeas of the J or 6 die-hard observers f see frequentl-y.Ird l1ke to thank those nlne menbers who returned the forn. '/hat trend orpattern can be derlved from a L5f, reLvrrr? - probabl;r none. fn fa.ct, the onlyresponses that show up nore than once or twlce lndlcate that inost menberslearned about the club from other members rather than, say, a rad-io announce-ment, and that the meetings are pretty well balanced as far as materlaf cov-ered. Of course, lsol-ated suggestions are always heLpful and some were al-ready ln bhe works 1lke star charts for new members and a club history. TheBoardofDirectors1sstay1ngup1ate1ntotheday@ffit- er " . .analyslng the results .

On a f lna.I note, that par:t of ny life not ruled by Sk.r and TeleseQIC

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ls run by Country Journal- and here are sone lnteresting flgures about ilroon-f f afrt t fra t-fEll-6 d-?roni the Feb. 1982 lssue . ,{e all kr.ow that the nag-nilude of the moon 1s - 12.7" thatrs only 0.000216 as brlght as the sun -pretty small but still 2,lOO times as bright as Venus qnd'-33 '000 times asLrlqhi as Jirtus. ff the entlre sky were filled wlth f ull" moons ' lt wouldonly give { as nuch light as the sun. I'lountalnous areas reflect nore lighttfran ilare ireas and Slnce we See nore mountalns durlng first quarter, tha.tphase is brlghter than last quarter" And. lf you tnlnk that. first quarter'when the noon's face ls llghted, glves L/2 ( or perhaps L/4) as nuch lightas the full moon, yourre wiong, t-its a mete l/l1.in. Only about 2.4 days be-fore full ,!oon doei the llght reach L/2 the brl8htness of the fu1l moon.

Joe rramlclritis

LOG]CAI,LY OJ3SEdVING OPON CLUSTURS

Lately because of poor sky condltlons at my house, and their ]telatlveabundance, I have been 6bservtng a lot of open clusters. These flrst seenedborlng objects to ne. l3ut the nore I compared my observatlons with thoseof thE clJssical observers, the nnore I feII ln love wlth them. Llowever' Isonetines have a probl-em encountered. by many beglnning astronomers. 'Ihlsis not being able to see thero. Ivlost of the tlme you scan ri8ht over themitougl., I It seems that many people expect them to ire very compact; t.1ls is,

"ot !o. So regardless of wtr.ti,er youtre on the rlght area of the sky, yourreonly golng to see what yourre looking for.

This first way to solve this problem ls to famil-latlze yourself wltheasy to find. clusters that have large populatlons and are away from the I'ii1kylay'. At f lrst, searchlng f or clusters 1n the lt[llky 'i\ra y coul-d lead to thep"6Uf", of flnding 50,0OO clusters you are not lookin1 for. But before youirx. tt," scope ofi the porch, f 1nc1 out the diameter of the cfuster anC itspopulation. Tnis way you know the slze and concentration of the obiect.

one way to remellber angular slze ls to flnd one of your favcrite deep skl'ob.iects ln the eyeplece you plan to use for open clusters, tlck one '^rith afi;Id of at leasi 4O' (tne noon is about l0r). Ihis 1s usuall"rr an eyeplece,itf, " focal length of about l3mm-l2mm dependlng on your telescope. (I- usea Z5nn whlch gives 52.51 1n ny 8,, f/6). Now study thts object to renenberhoi,r it f l1ls your f ieLd.

!,lhen you haVe Cornpleted your own 'tsel-f Study CcurSerr tnd have an ldeaof what ,,4b stars , 5, x B | " neans , yorr are ready to hlt some real1y ni"ceclusters in the ullky i.lay. TXke my advlce and practice thls beca.use ltrsvery frustrating r,rhen itls 12"F outsid.e, crystal cl-ear, and you cannot find

"orlthir.g that Bobert Burnhan says ls 'reasl1y found by someone without eyesll

or somet[lng to that effect. Now that you have made 1t to the l'Il1ky 6ay re-menber that the background wlIL be pretty rlch. As long as you keep diameterand populatlon in nind though, you shouldntt have too many problems.

cygnus 1s a nice area for cl-uslers, but Irm sure one area a lot of peo-p1e ovlrlock ls Casslopela. There are at least 12 easy to ftnd clusters thereln fact, one of the nlcest In the sky, NGC ?789 (200 stars l0r) ls locatedhrlfway between Rho and Slgna"

Thls system also works for other deep sky obiects, !o9. Just rereliberthat the nuirbers and symbols wrltten al-I over "Astro Cards", "Nortonrs'r, andthe "Skalnate pleso', aie there to help you. I'Jlnety percent of the tlme theyare needlessly overlooked though" Astronony beccmes much morcenioyable whenyou start to use rea"dIJ-y avallable information you used to overlook.

Scott tsailey

r'{

iii roakiof LO/5/75 he

l\ D0 UIJLd- COi'i rTi!ER

i,roui had. never d iscovered a new comet bef cre, l3ut on the nightbecrrme the f irst person ever Lo discover two in e single nl-ght,

4ccordlnA to the SAO.'I s Brlan G, Iviarsden. Conet 197 5J was seen at tagnltude11 in thE c ons tellariTtyd ra by Mori and two others, whlle 1)?5K, at magnltude B

or ) , r^tas s potted in Ursanutes separated his dual d

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Irtajor by four observersiscoverl es !'

bes ides lvlori , Only 70 rnl*

SCITNCE NE!(S 0ctober: 11, L97 5

STAAGAZdiIS OiT TJiJ .,^IORLI] UNII,E

Becently ln the 'rSclence Newsrr someone wrote ln protesttng the use ofthe term rra.ma.teur astrononer'r in desCrlbing Someone, Claiming "an anateu-rastronomer was one who does trlvial astronomy Uslng obsolete instrunents,rlThls naturelty resulted ln a deluge of letters from lrate arnateur astrono-mers who pointed out that the amateur astrononer of yesterda,y was equi't'?lentto the prifessionals, and that even today such amateur Sroups as tlrVSQ (varl-able strr cbservers), Ir\UPP (photoelectrlc photometrv) ar'd I0TA (occnlatlontlnrers) are maklng a reaJ. contrlbution to the sclence, bv accumulatlng thesort of d,ata the blg observatories cannot afford to clevote telescope timeto.

I have to admlt to beln8 indlgnant nyself about th:rt descrlption hutthe responses dld not hlt the polnt I felt most strongly about. leople whodo not lo ,'serlousrr observlng should not be made to feel inferlor to thosewho do. Astronomy as a. hobby shou.d nake the hobbytst happy and enrich hiscr her 1ife. Theie is enough i.n astronony to acccmnodate several catagoriesof enthus lasts.

If you l-lke archeology, you can 8o study Sbonehenge and the medicinecircles. Geology, your bag? Therers meteorltlcs and ancient craters.tliythotogy? Study the constellatlons. liistory? Look back to Tycho or onlyas far bact< as Barnard. Phllosophlcal? Ponder the meanlns of it all ;nclthe ldeas of ccsl c).cgy. Llke the exotlc? Bead about blackholes and neuironstars. Love the outdoors? Just stargaze wlth the naked eye or sllall- blno-cul-ars and becone sensltlve to the shlft of the sky with the se2scns znl a.wateof the movements of the sol-ar system bodles. Photography ycur thin.3? IY;;to outdo rne big observatories; the:'e rs a wealth of equlprient available.Love to travel a.nd neet people? Go to the numerous amateur conventions andmeetlngs. About the only thlng I thought you couldnrt do with astronor:y wascpen a booth In a flea market, and it turns out lim wrong about that. t heartitere was Someone at the Clrcle Drlve-In, se11lng vlews of the sun (properlyfiltered,of course) for 251 .

variety ln ]1fe should not be dlscouraged, or merely tolerated; it shoufdbe cherlshed. You can make a contrlbution to astronomy vla AAVSo oI l0TA'but you dcnrt have !o,and you shouldnr t be made to feel 8ui1ty because youdon,t. 6if7-ifr'-f6tFonomy do I flnd this attltude" l{ost rockhounds I knoware not trying to identlfy new varletles of mlnerals; most birdei's I knowere not pretenaine to be ornithologlsts and donrt feel a bit bad about that.iilkers and backpackers are not under tne illuslon that they nust explore nernr

1,rnd s .

r,Jhat makes thls supercillous attitude t o \honserl ous" ob" erve rs so hardto und.erstand 1s the nature of the hobby. I can see where professlonalpaleontologlsls or mlneraloglsts or archeolo8lsts m18ht have a gripe if aiare flnd is hacked up and destroyed by some thoughtless, careless or lgno-rant beglnners, but the sky isntt harmed by a casual glance" 'Ihe stars donot get worn out by people who are iust looklng f or pJ-easui:e. 'Ihe snu'-'l"g;'galailes dontt become erased. by too nany people looktnq then ovel', even i'rl- thstreirtry out-of-focus or out-of-allgnnent e.lulpnent. so why shoul-rl anyonecritislze the cssual observer?

Stand up for your rlght to enioy your hobby ,.s you choose and to grow-irlt 4t your own pace. Benind yourself that most people are attTlcte'j. toastronbray by L;he mystery and beauty of the ntght sky, not by any afflnltyfor physics and technology. Even the most hl8h-achlevlng, serlous observeris stiit rooved by the glory of a good dark sky. Conslder thls exce:rpt fronD, I)5? Lifetr fia"Bazine article by Louden i'lelnwrl8ht, about George Alcccl<tsdlscovery of Novi De1ph1nl 1967.

t' u,Ihen asked why he spends so muoh time 100king at the stars, Alcook lsnot able to provide nuch In the way of self-illumlnation. ",\ dlrect and a"ctiveman, he is uncoiafortabl-e with lntrospection and seems enbarrassed wlth a

-7-

it,).:l r".i-:lt fof 'feii:r,)ils. rlItlS not A bOfinq ttf ing. aL e]-lr" hg -L

i:1;,:51i-ri;l-, ti::e C::,.:f.i'l El.i\r,'t Tl'lo"- h;: .:-dd"e:i; trlhe st'l,rs slrtner,;, ,r b:ir-.ccl:l-,..',-?a,ti . rt In .r. hurst of surld"en lauzhter he r,vent cn:"f l:i,.- l-1,. i:' , )t ,tt Sat-C1 . ftldo man If :l-S evef f OUn.C ttVO Of thOSe hlf

^,-i I

ii

lrlrernlaJs the best answer is found In hls own 10gbook. Th: neat, 3taadirrnC,:;:ltin3 as he recorded the tlr,re an<I place of the nova t s appearanoe doe s

r:6f ;1nr;3;;-the e:lcitement he must ha.ve f e1t at the tlme. Yet a Libtle 'f t.rt': eron 'r,e aCdl,l another sentence , anci lt Sives him away. 'rThe Star Was ni rlnierecognized e_s a sira::ger,,' he wrote, and even for fools whc ne'ier locI upuntil tre raln strikei th"tr faces, these slmple words carry wlUh thelt 301n3-

i''rir',g of ihe tr:,:iei:d.ous Surge of joy Afcock knew in this r?"r3 ll'r'eeting of :ia:lt.:rd '--r.nc the r riorlil in tne nlght sky.'l

Jc-;\nn rIuciennil<

IIil], Li\.S HI'JTOdY;I"ISODd I: 'Itss I'irSIY Br,Gll{t(Ii!GJ

)u::rini ihe early years of the race lnto space, one br?.nch of sclenceh::r1 a r;rrked increa-se in populiLrtty anong the pub1lc. As tz'ono3l;" enthu-riasts.v,:ere brnd inS, together every!'rhere and Scranton was no ex:e-t.tLon '

The f irst club to sprlng up was staxted by Danle1 Dllvis, a sclence ::.i': c,.oonra-i-rhlr tee-cher at Wesi Scrtnton High School. It beqan as t iQ-'rreeli en-t:ichnent" cclr.use. Dubbed the Sverhart lviuseum Astrononl. Cl j'b, the f lrs t .Tlflet*1nq r\ias held" Ncve,riber 1-), 1956, sponsored b;, the }luserirn ]\ssoci. tl"on of j.f i-L-ton. In all, 2C people met regularly every two weeks at the r:llser.i'l . -iirll:is knor,rn of tiris inf tia:- group except that after Feb. zl , t';57, tllelr c3.:ieitr nee t.

)rrring the lrinter ot L)58, .lhris Bay, then sclsnce cur'rtor 'rt the -,-rei:-hnrt l,ir;seu:il, *nncLlncecl tnat in adult astronony class was to be held rl ilie--r:qe!rr- - .\,rori-ent1,, this toc WaS to be sponsored br tire iii.r.,-iel.:--i.\S3aa'."'' a::.rrrj iti lile pie rrio":s year", a $1.00 fee was re.1ui.red. Onl;r i2 indivii i'-, -'i-, :i,-

=pcnaee but, unl-lke- the firit group, thr:1r lnterest ln astronoly persi"siedevei: a"fter ihe class ran lts fO weet course. The pertlcip"nts assocLl;.tzdoutside rh? ;ouseufl cl-ass time, and, with the encourageroent of i'lr" 11.;." f'::- '.'.

:he nodern L*.cxalvanna Astronomical society, r^rhich was to neet errery l-, t'ro ;,-'1::r,r ';

aL lte museuil on 'Iuesday nights.

ri'o be con'Dr-nued next issue)

Jchn I) . Sl bia

ASTRO\]O}IY ' O THE f,I]SCUE

Anse I rl,dans, Anerica r s legendary landscape photoqrapher ' cou-1c1 tic l;, r.ie *

spite nLlrer.u-s req.uests, retiember Just when he took one of his nost f ::r1]o1:,3

!',1:Otogro.phs, ";,'iOonriSe, Hernandez, NeW I{ex1CO'r . DaVld Ef nor3, a 'rtiil'tl ''l 'iolc.,:,rcic-,..stronone r, calculaf.ed the f ull- moon coordinates wlth th€ .i:.'1. )f tcoi:uut-or :rr]d. cieternineci th'rt the pictui'e was taken betl^le en Li','lC anl'L ;+; l: !L

.-,r 6ctober 3i, 1',+!.( Frcn Po pular Pho to",ii? Plr

-," u

1:- ,.;

OBS;ilVr\I0lY /\S IDES

..jinter observing brinSs a nunber of frustlations. Ihe E'ate locks {':,::tier.it,; the shu-.Lter on the done doesnrt want to open; the dor':re wonrt rct:.bs b+-ciuse Lhe trzct< hz:s lce on tt; and your body keeps lnslstinP; on spenJ.i-ii., r.': ':'r'-

indoors huddleal :rrcund a hot Cup cf cocoa, rether tho'n outside j-t: ihe :,' ':1.-,1:ck1n;i i,rilh r^;.lte.til18, e;r3s a.t an oc'llar your breath kee;rs fogging ur-'. .i';i.ls:;..-l- " in orher lrorcls. i{owever, each wlnter does have 1"ts unlque a;pecl;s..1r;t 1.,ear it rp,.s hrving to haul up your own crlnklng water for coffee i; l'Lel,

the pipes a,11 frcze up. This year itrs been the ch.ince tc rea.l)-;r 'r::r:lirn,:::.:"r'i.:(l

o

+ha rrintaa lt

Last year the road was generally snow-free but thls year there t beenso lnuch sntw (and such persistent snow) that most of the ti:ne werve h?'d tcw3lk In, after Joe 1,. and hls assistants heve dug through the snow plol^r pilein froni of the gate and dug out a place to park the cars inslde the gate.

The view of the sky you see when you first leave the c-ir ls worth the, hour of Eetting ciressed in enough layers to survlve the cold. :\11 that*nrte, the lacy i:.atterns of l-eafless trees, the dome and buildlngs sllhou-etted (unfortunately against the gliLre of Scranton) wlth Orlon, Canls i':aJo:'and the other winter brllllants blazlng ln the sky" Just excitlng.

Then therets the snow ltself. One time 1t's fluffy in blg mlca-likeftakes; next time iiis so cold. therers frost on everything ' even just float-inq; through the alr, causlng 1ce pl}1ars above every light source, llke theo.rJs *" siw tn r,linnlpeg ln F-ebruary of '79. Another time the snow ls grlttyand crunchy drifteci up In spots so you slnk through to your knees. 1'henagain, ltr! Ice-crusted and you sklm over the top. lIo wonder the eskLmoshave 11 words to descrlbe snow conditlons t

On the way ba.ck ltrs easy to lose track of where ' and when ' you a're'especlally lf ltrs snowln8. Looking for the cow fence so you can Judge whereyo;rre heading, you can readlly ftnaglne yourself ln a white-out in Antarcticai\" you try to walk on the more solld snow, you can thlnk yourre ba-ck in tlmeon ihe frozen tundra of Pleistocene Slberla (is ttrat shadow a bush' a cow,or a woo17 mar,i:xoth?). I wlll adm1t, however, to f lndlng lt hard to enioythe walk back fron a sunday afternoon work sesslon, on lcy slush 1n sleetmlxed r,rl th drLzzle .

i/e havenrt just observed snow, thouEh. Sorle of the observlng of the skyhas been good, too. We rve seen detall- on Saturn, Juplter nd l/lars , znd a"tleast 2 ,-uroras. !1ilth the 9r' belng balky, I used my .RV-6 antl have gotten arenewed appreciatlon of the performance of a 5', f/B Newtonlan. Getting touse B11I i'{eccars large bincculars has been a treat too.

Besldes how can you onlt an entlre season when lt has such wonders asM,42, tau C:|nis Maiors, the Plelades and the AurlSa-Perseus iriilky "rlay toenjoy. That should be enough to entlce you.

Jo -l\nn PI uc l enn lk

The ggff-p,!& ls the offlcial publlcatlon of the Lackawann',r Astrononloa"lSoclety. -/ scriptlon to the Ecliptic ls one of the beneflts of membershipln the Lacka-wanna Astrononlcaf S No permlsslon ls needed fo]' properlycredlted non-proflt use of any materlal publlshed here'

M:rntr thanks to all our contributers for thelr great res"--)onse ri.uring ourflrst year of the nel,rsletterrs revlvaf.

,:\f'ticles, cr-Ttoons, ne;'vs lLems; m,ry be sent to:

Jo-/tnn Pluciennik, Editor3L3 East blm StreetS c t:,rnton , Fa L8 50 5

Staff: Diane jvlus ewi czJoe rir-rmichitis