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John Dobson – Possible Visit in May Sandy (studiousmom@sbcglobal.net) received word that John Dobson wants to return to Texas to do his cosmology lecture series. Mr. Dobson, as many are aware, is the creator of the Dobsonian mount, as well as cofounder of the Sidewalk Astronomers Organization. Mr. Dobson usually comes to Texas for the entire month of May. His lectures are usually twice weekly (in the evenings), totaling 8 ... each lecture being approx 90 minutes long. This is negotiable should we want a fewer number of longer lectures. If there is any interest in a mirror-grinding class, he would be willing to do that as well. There is a cost associated with his visit (air transportation, living expenses, etc.), with the cost being split among the participants. The more people who participate, the less the cost to the individual (participants can come from other astronomical groups in the area as well). In previous years, the cost worked out to $80 per participant for the entire series. For planning purposes, if you have an interest in attending the lecture series, please advise studiousmom@sbcglobal.net . A similar opportunity presented itself in a previous year; it was lost, how-ever, due to insufficient response.

January Meeting – New Venue Starting with the January 17, 2006 meeting, FWAS will have a new meeting location. The meeting will be in the UNT Health Science Center (3500 Camp Bowie Blvd; Fort Worth), Research & Education Bldg – Room 100. This new location is only about 0.4 mile from the Museum, so it should be easy to find. From the Museum ... • proceed ~ ¼ mile north on Montgomery St. to

the three-street intersection of Montgomery, Camp Bowie, and Lancaster streets

• proceed north-east on Camp Bowie to Clifton Street (it’s close) and turn left (north)

• Parking Lot A is on the left (the Research & Education Bldg is on the north side of this lot); use the East Parking Garage if Lot A is full.

Fire Hazard Members are reminded that burn bans and prohibitions against open flame are in effect across North Texas. Even under the best of circumstan-ces, caution must be exercised at our observing site; in the current drought conditions, activities involving flame or sparks should be deferred.

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December Meeting

Trista Oppermann with her bat kite, Juan Martinez with his Star Trek tie, and Loren Larsen with his Fish Paradise cup holder.

Trista demonstrates the wing span of her fighting bat kite.

The December meeting was FWAS’ annual get-together at Spring Creek BBQ in southwest Ft. Worth. In addition to the normal eating and socializing, the First Annual White Elephant Gift Exchange was held. Some of the many prizes are shown below ...

Detail of Juan’s new tie. Juan’s comment: “Now I shouldn’t have any problem picking up the ladies.”

Lenord Stage shows off the coveted clown-painted coconut. Trista confessed to being the donor of the coconut ... her comment: “I sure hope he'll bring it back next year...I'm gonna miss that little guy!”

Matt McCullar shows off his new beanie, complete with propeller.

Close-up of Lenord’s new coconut

Close-up of Matt’s new beanie.

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Astronomical League – 2006 Convention The 2006 Astronomical League Convention and Exhibits (ALCON/EXPO) will be held August 4-5, 2006 at the E.H. Hereford Center on the UTA Campus (Arlington, TX). The Convention will have speakers, trade shows, and exhibitions. For additional details, please see http://www.astroleague.org/al/alcons/alcon06/alcon06.htm for details.

In the Sky (mid-January thru end-February, 2006)

Mercury an “evening star;” greatest easterly elongation on February 23

rd

Venus a “morning star” Mars continues to fade and shrink ... by end-February, will be ~ mag +0.8 and 7 arc sec diameter Jupiter best viewed in morning hours ... will brighten to about mag –2.2 by end-February Saturn well-positioned for late-evening viewing; opposition on Jan 27 Uranus a difficult catch ... a 6

th magnitude object about 2½° southwest of Lambda-Aquarii (altitude ~

8° at end-February at sunset plus 1½ hours) Neptune unobservable ... still below the horizon at end-February at sunrise less 1½ hours Pluto a difficult catch ... a 14

th magnitude object a little less than 2° east of Xi-Serpentis (altitude ~

32° at end-February at sunrise less 1½ hours) Moon Jan 29: New Moon at 8:15 CST Feb 27: New Moon at 6:31pm CST

Canopus a.k.a. Alpha Carinae ... the second brightest star in the sky. At Declination = -52°42’, α-Car is only a few degrees above the horizon at transit. It transits ~22:07 CST on Jan 31, and ~20:18 CST on Feb 28.

Meteor Various dates: 9 “minor” meteors showers (“minor” meaning less than 10 meteors per hour Showers at maximum rate).

Please see http://comets.amsmeteors.org/meteors/calendar.html for a complete listing.

2006 Publications Royal Canadian Handbook: FWAS’ bulk order is $17.00 this year (US$24.95 retail, + S&H + taxes). 2006 Guy Otwell Astronomical Calendar: received; will be available in January meeting; FWAS price is $20.00 (retail is $25.00 plus shipping). 2006 Deep Space Mysteries Calendars: received; $6.00 to members ($12.95 retail). Please see Tres Ross if interested in these publications.

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Star Parties (2006) Jan 27-Jan 28: Death Valley, CA

• Furnace Creek Inn and Ranch Resort • sponsored by Las Vegas Astro. Society • for info: http://www.ccsn.nevada.edu/LVAS

Feb 4: Girl Scout Camp (near Glen Rose, TX)

• for the benefit of the Girl Scout Campership Fund

• for info: studiousmom@sbcglobal.com Feb 9 (Th): Summerglen Library (Ft. Worth)

• public star party (Outreach Event) • for info: fwasoutreach@yahoo.com

Feb 11: Diamond Hill / Jarvis Branch Library (Ft. Worth)

• solar viewing party (Outreach Event) • note: solar viewing equipment needed

• for info: fwasoutreach@yahoo.com Feb 20-Feb 25: Winter Star Party

• In the Florida Keys (Key West) • sponsored by Southern Cross Astronomical

Society of Miami • for details, see: http://www.scas.org

Feb 22-Feb 26: Deep South Star Gaze

• Escondido Ranch; Freer, Texas (approx 80 miles west of Corpus Christi, Texas)

• http://www.geocities.com/kingsville_astronomical_society/dsts.htm for details

Mar 2 (Th): Bob Duncan Center in Arlington, TX

• 1st of 2 Star Parties affiliated with Arlington Public Library

• for info: studiousmom@sbcglobal.com Mar 4: Ft. Worth Museum of Science & History Mar 27 (Mo): Northeast Branch Library (Arlington)

• 2nd of 2 Star Parties affiliated with Arlington Public Library

• for info: studiousmom@sbcglobal.com Apr 8: Ft. Worth Museum of Science & History Apr 23-Apr 30: Texas Star Party

• Prude Ranch, near Ft. Davis, Texas • for info: http://www.texasstarparty.org

May 6: Ft. Worth Museum of Science & History (Astronomy Day)

On This Day Jan 27: 1967: The Apollo 1 crew ... Virgil “Gus”

Grissom, Roger Chaffee, and Edward White ... were killed by a fire on the launch pad during a launch simulation.

Jan 28: 1986: the Shuttle Challenger exploded

shortly after liftoff, killing all seven astronauts aboard; it would be replaced in 1992 by the Endeavor 1611: born: Johannes Hevelius; he is best remembered for his lunar maps, observations of the phases of mercury, and depiction of seven new constellations

Jan 31: 1958: launch of Explorer 1, the first

USA-launched earth-orbiting satellite; its payload discovered the magnetic radiation belts around the Earth.

Feb 1: 2003: catastrophic failure of the Shuttle

Columbia during reentry; all seven astronauts were killed. The shuttle would not fly again until Discovery was launched in late-July, 2005.

Feb 3: 1966: Luna 9 becomes first craft to

soft-land on Moon. Feb 5: 1971: Apollo 14 landed on the moon in

the Fra Mauro highlands with Alan B. Shepard and Edgar D. Mitchell.

Feb 7: 1984: Bruce McCandless becomes first

astronaut to perform an untethered space walk

Feb 8: 1971: safe splashdown of Apollo 14 Feb 13: 1923: born: Chuck Yeager, American

test pilot. Yeager is best remembered as the test pilot for the Bell X-1 rocket plane, in which he broke the sound barrier in October, 1947 (and earning the moniker “The Right Stuff”). He also served as commander of the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School ... 37 of its graduates joined NASA, of which 26 would fly on Gemini, Apollo, and STS programs.

(cont’d on P.5)

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FWAS MEMBERSHIP INFO FWAS Officers: Trista Oppermann – President

John Dowell – Vice President Tres Ross – Secretary / Treasurer

president@fortworthastro.com vicepresident@fortworthastro.com

secretary@fortworthastro.com FWAS Meetings – FWAS meets at 7:00 PM on the third Tuesday of the month at the UNT Health Science Center – Research & Education Building, Room 100; 3500 Camp Bowie Blvd; Ft. Worth. Guests and visitors are always welcome. FWAS Web Site – http://www.fortworthastro.com FWAS E-Group (members only) – send a blank e-mail to fwas-subscribe@yahoogroups.com to subscribe. Post messages to the group by sending e-mail to fwas@yahoogroups.com . Any message sent to fwas@yahoogroups.com will be automatically sent to all members on the list. Outreach – items concerning FWAS Outreach activities should be addressed to FWAS’ Public Outreach Coordinator at fwasoutreach@yahoo.com Prime Focus – The FWAS newsletter is published monthly. Letters to the editor, articles for publication, photos, or just about anything you would like to have included should be sent to: primefocus@fortworthastro.com . FWAS Annual Dues - $40 for adults / families, $20.00 for students; checks payable to Ft. Worth Astronomical Society; payments can be mailed to P.O. Box 471162, Ft. Worth, TX 76147 or in-person at the next indoor meeting. Membership runs July 1 through June 30. Discount Subscriptions Available – Sky & Telescope ($32.95), and Astronomy (1 year for $34.00; 2 years for $60.00). A Sky & Telescope subscription through FWAS entitles you to 10% off purchases at Sky & Telescope’s on-line store Astronomical League Membership – Your FWAS membership also enrolls you in the Astronomical League. This makes you eligible for various observing certificates and you get their quarterly magazine, The Reflector .

Feb 18: 1930: Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto Feb 19: 1473: born: Nicolas Copernicus; he is

best known for his theory of a helio- centric solar system, with the earth rotating around the sun.

Feb 20: 1962: John Glenn becomes first

American to orbit the Earth; it was the third flight of NASA’s “Mercury” series

Feb 21: 1972: Luna 20 (USSR) landed in the

Apollonius highlands; it would collect approximately 30 grams of lunar material and return the material to Earth.

Feb 23: 1987: explosion of Supernova 1987A Feb 24: 1968: discovery of first pulsar

(announcement)

On This Day (cont’d from P. 4) Feb 14: 1950: died: Karl Guthe Jansky,

American physicist and radio engineer. While researching static, Jansky identified the radio “hiss” emanating from the Milky Way. Although he did not follow-up, he is generally credited as being the “inventor” of radio astronomy

Feb 15: 1564: born: Galileo Galilei; Galileo

would improve early telescopes to 8x-9x, and become the first to report: • mountains on the moon • the faint stars of the Milky Way • four moons orbiting Jupiter • “lobes” on Saturn (unable to

resolve the ring system) • phases of Venus (supported the

heliocentric Copernican system) Feb 16: 1948: Gerard Kuiper discovers Miranda

(moon of Uranus)

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Observing Site Reminders

Ft. Worth Astronomical Society P.O. Box 471162 Ft. Worth, TX 76147

Place Stamp Here

All members … • Be careful with fire • Sign the logbook in the clubhouse • Put equipment back neatly when finished • Leave a log note if there is a club

equipment problem; in addition, please contact an FWAS Trustee to let them know.

• Turn out the bathroom light and close the door tightly – do NOT lock; leave the thermostat alone.

• Maintain Dark-Sky etiquette • Turn out your headlights at the gate !!

Last person out, please …

• Turn off lights • Check all doors – closed, but not locked • Make sure nothing is left out • Chain the gate when departing site.