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August 2011 Volume 18 Number 02 Page 1
Star Gazer News
Newsletter of the Delmarva Stargazers wwwdelmarvastargazersorg
Prez commentshellip During the evening of July 5 the officers of the Delmarva Stargazers met In this newsletter we have included some of discussions and the committees that were established In October we plan to meet to discuss some of the committeersquos suggestions and will defi-nitely discuss whether our objectives for the No-Frills star party were achieved See page 2 for the committees that were established We need help at our club events By our meeting in September a list of duties that need to be done during each the star party will be available along with a signndashup sheet Hopefully we can get some more members to assist in the clubs activities Again if a member works at the star party your registration fee will be paid Please look over the list of duties in the next newsletter and Sign-Up The fall program is falling into order In September we have a presentation on the Bats of Delmarva Peninsula then discuss next yearrsquos programs and what assistance is needed for the No-Frills star party from our membership In October Joe Morris will do a presentation on his experience in building an observatory Joe will do a viewing ses-sion from Arizona at his home in February In November Lee Clarke will do a presentation on radio astronomy Leelsquos background is that of amateur researcher In early 1999 he began researching Solar Storm radio physics from the laypersons level and joined the American Geophysical Union to gain access to publish papers and to delve deeper into the related topics This should be a very interesting presentation If the members in atten-dance enjoy the presentation we will try to set up for at least another program with Lee The officers decided to change our ldquoConstellation of the Monthrdquo to ldquoObjects of the Monthrdquo Each month we will learn about nebulas open clusters globular clusters andor planetary nebulas that are visible during the month On July 29 2011 at the ball field at Tuckahoe State Park the club is sponsoring an observing session starting at 830pm to 1030pm We have invited the Parkrsquos campers to join us I will work with the Park Ranger about extending our observing session and set up the rain date for July 30Th We may even have some ldquolow-calorie snacksrdquo So bring your scopes and enjoy the night sky If turnout is good we will try to have one in Au-gust
Upcoming Events No Meeting This Month Observing Aug 26th Dusk Eq Cntr amp BBF
are pleased to announce the No Frills XVI Star Party
When Thurs Sept 29 through Sun Oct 2 2011 Where Tuckahoe State Parks Equestrian Center near Queen Anne MD The registration fee includes the following Camping fee for the observing area (campers are permitted to
park by their telescopes) mdash Star Gazer Coffee continuously mdash- Soup or chili on Thursday and Friday nights mdash Fish fry on Saturday afternoon mdash- Sodas and hot dogs will be available at minimal cost For more info httpwwwdelmarvastargazersorgarchiveNoFrills2011indexhtml
August 2011 Volume 18 Number 02 Page 2
Your 2011-2012 Officers Office Officer Phone email President Lyle Jones 302-736-9842 worm1647comcastnet President-elect Chuck Jennings Secretary Michael Lecuyer 302-284-3734 Treasurer Kathy Sheldon 302-422-4695 Past President Jerry Truitt 410-885-3327
The committees established by the Executive Board were Finance This committee will discuss signature policy on club checks purchase and selling procedures for club assets do we need to become non-profit and should we be offer stipends for travel expenses of some of our speakers Members are Jerry Truitt Chuck Jennings Patty Truitt and Kathy Sheldon Dark Site Committee Assess longevity of Tuckahoe State Park and do we need to find some alternative sites Do we want to invest in Tuckahoe We have worked on this in the past but need to revisit Committee members are Lyle Jones Chuck Jennings Doug Norton and Don Surles Club Assets Work on clubrsquos lendable items Is there a way to get lendables into club members hands for their use and not just store them Do we need to consolidate our assets No club members are assigned at pre-sent Do we have any volunteers Executive Board The Executive Board as per Constitution of Delmarva Stargazers approves actions of the above committees The Executive Board members are the Club Officers ( see bottom of page) Tim Milligan and two more members to be appointed by the President You will notice that the Club Officers modified star party registration fees for the No-Frills We tried to simplify them and reduce some costs We also decided to allow new club members attending their first star party to be on us
Have you seen this The Ink Spot ( see pgs 6amp7)
Have you seen this also Tom Thumb Cluster ( see pgs 6amp7)
August 2011 Volume 18 Number 02 Page 3
New GOES-R to Give More Tornado Warning Time by Dauna Coulter and Dr Tony Phillips
So far this spring more than 1400 tornadoes have struck the US Some of them have cut jaw-dropping trails of destruc-tion across the countryside and tragically across inhabited communities too Hundreds of lives have been lost in the onslaught Throughout the season the National Weather Service has routinely issued tornado alerts In the case of the Alabama tornadoes of April 27th forecasters warned of severe weather five full days before the twisters struck Because they couldnrsquot say precisely where the twisters would strike however many of their warnings went unheeded ldquoIf people get a hurricane warning they often evacuate the areardquo notes NOAAs Steve Goodman ldquoBut we react differently to tornado warningsrdquo Perhaps itrsquos because tornadoes are smaller than hurricanes and the odds of a di-rect hit seem so remote Recent pictures from Tuscaloosa Alabama and Joplin Missouri however show the perils of playing those odds Goodman believes that more precise warn-ings could save lives To fine-tune tornado warnings NOAA will soon launch the first in a series of next-generation weather satellites ndash GOES-R (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satel-lites-R series) The spacecraft is brimming with advanced sensors for measuring key in-gredients of severe weather including winds cloud growth and lightning ldquoGOES-R will be the first geostationary spacecraft to carry a lightning sensorrdquo says Goodman the GOES-R Program Senior Scientist ldquoStudies show that sudden changes in the total lightning activity correlate with storm intensitymdashand with tornadoesrdquo
The lightning mapper will detect and map not only cloud-to-ground lightning but also bolts within and between clouds The kind of cloud-to-ground lightning we see from our front yards accounts for only 15-20 percent of total lightning To get a clear idea of a storms intensity meteorologists need to know about all the lightningmdasha view GOES-R can provide
All by itself the lightning mapper will provide 7 minutes more lead time in tor-nado warnings according to Goodman GOES-Rrsquos state-of-the-art instruments will also im-prove long-range forecasts ldquoThe satellites Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) for instance will provide a much clearer picture of cloudsrdquo says NOAA research meteorologist Tim Schmit Compared to lesser instruments already in orbit ABI can better detect super-cold ldquoovershooting topsrdquo evidence of enormous energy and upward velocity that correlate with subsequent se-vere weather ldquoAccurate advanced notice of high-risk tornadic conditions can cue officials to close schools and businesses even before tornadoes are actually detectedrdquo says Schmit Forecasters doubt tornadoes can ever be predicted with 100 accuracy The twisters are just too capricious GOES-R however is a step in the right direction
Find out more about GOES-Rrsquos un-precedented capabilities at httpwwwgoes-rgov Young people can learn more about tornadoes and all kinds of other weather at httpscijinksgov This article was provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology under a con-tract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration This GOES image shows the storms that spurred the intense April 27 tor-nado outbreak in the southern US Animation showing the development of weather can be seen at httpearthobservatorynasagovNaturalHazardsviewphpid=50347
August 2011 Volume 18 Number 02 Page 4
My First Green Bank Star Quest Tony Mullen Around March or April a friend at the Harford County Astronomical Society told me about the Green Bank Star Quest in West Virginia I was quickly talked into registering On Wednesday June 29 I left Elkton Maryland for The National Radio Astronomical
Observatory and had a great time At most star parties there is plenty of time to fill when it is still light outside and there is only one star visible But not at Green Bank They had many scientists to speak in-cluding Pam Castro NASA IV and VRC speak-ing on getting to know the moon Dave Meisel spoke on ldquoA light-hearted look at Cosmology and our Place in the Universe Dr Michelle Shinn on ldquoBecoming Enlightened about the Darkrdquo Brent Maynard ldquoAstroimaging
Post Capture Processing Techniques Dr D J Pisano spoke on ldquoWhere do Galaxies get their Gasrdquo just to mention a few All in-doors and Air Conditioned Two of the nights had very good skies This area is known for the darkest skies east of the Mississippi River The belt of the Milky Way was amazing I had my eight inch intelliscope working and saw many of the great summer-time objects Saturday night was cloudy I went to bed early and showered and left Sunday morning I went to the Green Briar River Trail for a scenic bike ride I came home through Shennadoah National Park (Skyline Drive) I recommend it to others Next year (2012) it will be in June on the 20th or 21st
What lsquoabout this one Have you spotted it Itrsquos called NGC6383
(see pgs 6amp7)
August 2011 Volume 18 Number 02 Page 5
Hubble Discovers a New Moon Around Pluto July 20 2011 Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have discovered a fourth moon orbiting the icy dwarf planet Pluto The tiny new satellite ndash temporarily designated P4 -- popped up in a Hubble survey searching for rings around the dwarf planet The new moon is the smallest discovered around Pluto It has an estimated diameter of 8 to 21 miles (13 to 34 km) By comparison Charon Plutos largest moon is 648 miles (1043 km) across and the other moons Nix and Hydra are in the range of 20 to 70 miles
in diameter (32 to 113 km) I find it re-markable that Hub-bles cameras enabled us to see such a tiny object so clearly from a distance of more than 3 billion miles (5 billion km) said Mark Showalter of the SETI Institute in Mountain View Calif who led this observing pro-gram with Hubble The finding is a result of ongoing work to support NASAs New Horizons mission scheduled to fly through the Pluto
system in 2015 The mission is designed to provide new insights about worlds at the edge of our solar system Hubbles mapping of Plutos surface and discovery of its satellites have been invaluable to planning for New Horizons close encounter This is a fantastic discovery said New Horizonsrsquo principal investigator Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder Colo Now that we know theres an-other moon in the Pluto system we can plan close-up observations of it during our flyby The new moon is located between the orbits of Nix and Hydra which Hubble discov-ered in 2005 Charon was discovered in 1978 at the US Naval Observatory and first re-solved using Hubble in 1990 as a separate body from Pluto The dwarf planetrsquos entire moon system is believed to have formed by a collision between Pluto and another planet-sized body early in the history of the solar system The smashup flung material that coalesced into the family of satellites observed around Pluto Lunar rocks returned to Earth from the Apollo missions led to the theory that our moon was the result of a similar collision between Earth and a Mars-sized body 44 bil-lion years ago Scientists believe material blasted off Plutos moons by micrometeoroid impacts may form rings around the dwarf planet but the Hubble photographs have not de-tected any so far This surprising observation is a powerful reminder of Hubbles ability as a gen-eral purpose astronomical observatory to make astounding unintended discoveries said Jon Morse astrophysics division director at NASA Headquarters in Washington P4 was first seen in a photo taken with Hubbles Wide Field Camera 3 on June 28 It was confirmed in subsequent Hubble pictures taken on July 3 and July 18 The moon was not seen in earlier Hubble images because the exposure times were shorter There is a chance it appeared as a very faint smudge in 2006 images but was overlooked because it was ob-scured For images and more information about Hubble visit httpwwwnasagovhubble
Production editor Dr Tony Phillips | Credit httpsciencenasagov
August 2011 Volume 18 Number 02 Page 6
Name Common Name Description
B86 Ink Spot Just West of NGC 6520 is this dark spot Can you find it
M17 Omega Nebula Discovered by de Cheseaux in the spring og 1746 and by Messier in June of that year Rivals the Orion Nebula in splendor
M18 an irregular group of 40 stars M21 At 125x 70 main stars can be seen in this cluster M22 Nice cluster of stars similar to M13 M25 Nice open cluster M26 a rich patch of faint stars M28 At 125x shows a star halo around a core of stars
M54 Described by Messier as a bright nebula containing no stars It is actually a tight cluster of stars
M62 Another bright star cluster
M69 Discover in 1752 by Lacaille in the Cape of Good Hope who described it as a small nucleus of a comet
M7 Mentioned by Ptolemy along with M6 in the 2nd century AD aslittle clouds near the stinger of Scorpious
M70 M70 is the smallest and dimmest of the Messier objects along the base of the teapot
M9 One of the first 5 objects catalogued by Messier (but its no 9 ) If you find M9 you should also see Baynard 64 a dark nebula in the same field
ngc 6383 This faint group near M6 will show a main star with 2 blue companions at 100x
Antalova 2 Open cluster
M6 Butterfly Cluster Open cluster that if you inbibe might look like a butterfly
M8 Lagoon Nebula Best with O-III filter
Pluto Try looking for this planet has-been It may take young eyes or photogra-phy to bring it out Gonna need big glass Pluto got a new moon see pg 5
NGC6451 Tom Thumb Cluster
Two long and narrow groups of stars running south-north Each group is very concentrated part of which looks nebulous The western part is wide
A small group of stars north of the eastern part Interestingly there is a bright star attached to the southern part of each group
Trifid Nebula Visible in 10X50 binos as a N-S eclipse of haze it is a ecircecircecircecircecirc object - see Joes photo on pg 8
Last month this newsletter had a list of objects for members to find or rediscover The response was so overwhelming therersquos a new list this month
Some are bright some dim some need 100x or a filter to bring out the detail Are you game
If you easily find these there are TONS more objects in this area of the sky to keep you busy for the rest of the summer
August 2011 Volume 18 Number 02 Page 7
August 2011 Volume 18 Number 02 Page 8
How to Join the Delmarva Stargazers Anyone with an interest in any aspect of astronomy is welcome NAME________________________________________________________________________________________ ADDRESS_____________________________________________________________________________________ CITY STATE amp ZIP______________________________________________________________________________ E-MAIL ADDRESS (If any)_________________________________________________________________________ Do you need the newsletter snail mailed to you (YN)___________________________________________________ Please attach a check for $15 made payable to Delmarva Stargazers and mail to Kathy Sheldon 20985 Fleatown Rd Lincoln DE 19960 Call club President Don Surles at 302-653-9445 for more information
Astrophotos by Members and Friends
This is a shot of M 20 that I made at Spruce Knob WV recently I used my home-built 16 Newtonian on an AP 1200 mount and QSI 583wsg camera Its an LRGB composite Quoting Wikipedia The Trifid Nebula (catalogued as Messier 20 or M20 and as NGC 6514) is an H II region located in Sagittarius Its name means divided into three lobes The object is an unusual combination of an open cluster of stars an emission nebula (the lower red portion) a reflection nebula (the upper blue por-tion) and a dark nebula (the apparent gaps within the emission nebula that cause the Trifid appearance these are also designated Barnard 85) Viewed through a small telescope the Trifid Nebula is a bright and colorful object and is thus a peren-nial favorite of amateur astronomers Joe Morris
August 2011 Volume 18 Number 02 Page 2
Your 2011-2012 Officers Office Officer Phone email President Lyle Jones 302-736-9842 worm1647comcastnet President-elect Chuck Jennings Secretary Michael Lecuyer 302-284-3734 Treasurer Kathy Sheldon 302-422-4695 Past President Jerry Truitt 410-885-3327
The committees established by the Executive Board were Finance This committee will discuss signature policy on club checks purchase and selling procedures for club assets do we need to become non-profit and should we be offer stipends for travel expenses of some of our speakers Members are Jerry Truitt Chuck Jennings Patty Truitt and Kathy Sheldon Dark Site Committee Assess longevity of Tuckahoe State Park and do we need to find some alternative sites Do we want to invest in Tuckahoe We have worked on this in the past but need to revisit Committee members are Lyle Jones Chuck Jennings Doug Norton and Don Surles Club Assets Work on clubrsquos lendable items Is there a way to get lendables into club members hands for their use and not just store them Do we need to consolidate our assets No club members are assigned at pre-sent Do we have any volunteers Executive Board The Executive Board as per Constitution of Delmarva Stargazers approves actions of the above committees The Executive Board members are the Club Officers ( see bottom of page) Tim Milligan and two more members to be appointed by the President You will notice that the Club Officers modified star party registration fees for the No-Frills We tried to simplify them and reduce some costs We also decided to allow new club members attending their first star party to be on us
Have you seen this The Ink Spot ( see pgs 6amp7)
Have you seen this also Tom Thumb Cluster ( see pgs 6amp7)
August 2011 Volume 18 Number 02 Page 3
New GOES-R to Give More Tornado Warning Time by Dauna Coulter and Dr Tony Phillips
So far this spring more than 1400 tornadoes have struck the US Some of them have cut jaw-dropping trails of destruc-tion across the countryside and tragically across inhabited communities too Hundreds of lives have been lost in the onslaught Throughout the season the National Weather Service has routinely issued tornado alerts In the case of the Alabama tornadoes of April 27th forecasters warned of severe weather five full days before the twisters struck Because they couldnrsquot say precisely where the twisters would strike however many of their warnings went unheeded ldquoIf people get a hurricane warning they often evacuate the areardquo notes NOAAs Steve Goodman ldquoBut we react differently to tornado warningsrdquo Perhaps itrsquos because tornadoes are smaller than hurricanes and the odds of a di-rect hit seem so remote Recent pictures from Tuscaloosa Alabama and Joplin Missouri however show the perils of playing those odds Goodman believes that more precise warn-ings could save lives To fine-tune tornado warnings NOAA will soon launch the first in a series of next-generation weather satellites ndash GOES-R (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satel-lites-R series) The spacecraft is brimming with advanced sensors for measuring key in-gredients of severe weather including winds cloud growth and lightning ldquoGOES-R will be the first geostationary spacecraft to carry a lightning sensorrdquo says Goodman the GOES-R Program Senior Scientist ldquoStudies show that sudden changes in the total lightning activity correlate with storm intensitymdashand with tornadoesrdquo
The lightning mapper will detect and map not only cloud-to-ground lightning but also bolts within and between clouds The kind of cloud-to-ground lightning we see from our front yards accounts for only 15-20 percent of total lightning To get a clear idea of a storms intensity meteorologists need to know about all the lightningmdasha view GOES-R can provide
All by itself the lightning mapper will provide 7 minutes more lead time in tor-nado warnings according to Goodman GOES-Rrsquos state-of-the-art instruments will also im-prove long-range forecasts ldquoThe satellites Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) for instance will provide a much clearer picture of cloudsrdquo says NOAA research meteorologist Tim Schmit Compared to lesser instruments already in orbit ABI can better detect super-cold ldquoovershooting topsrdquo evidence of enormous energy and upward velocity that correlate with subsequent se-vere weather ldquoAccurate advanced notice of high-risk tornadic conditions can cue officials to close schools and businesses even before tornadoes are actually detectedrdquo says Schmit Forecasters doubt tornadoes can ever be predicted with 100 accuracy The twisters are just too capricious GOES-R however is a step in the right direction
Find out more about GOES-Rrsquos un-precedented capabilities at httpwwwgoes-rgov Young people can learn more about tornadoes and all kinds of other weather at httpscijinksgov This article was provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology under a con-tract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration This GOES image shows the storms that spurred the intense April 27 tor-nado outbreak in the southern US Animation showing the development of weather can be seen at httpearthobservatorynasagovNaturalHazardsviewphpid=50347
August 2011 Volume 18 Number 02 Page 4
My First Green Bank Star Quest Tony Mullen Around March or April a friend at the Harford County Astronomical Society told me about the Green Bank Star Quest in West Virginia I was quickly talked into registering On Wednesday June 29 I left Elkton Maryland for The National Radio Astronomical
Observatory and had a great time At most star parties there is plenty of time to fill when it is still light outside and there is only one star visible But not at Green Bank They had many scientists to speak in-cluding Pam Castro NASA IV and VRC speak-ing on getting to know the moon Dave Meisel spoke on ldquoA light-hearted look at Cosmology and our Place in the Universe Dr Michelle Shinn on ldquoBecoming Enlightened about the Darkrdquo Brent Maynard ldquoAstroimaging
Post Capture Processing Techniques Dr D J Pisano spoke on ldquoWhere do Galaxies get their Gasrdquo just to mention a few All in-doors and Air Conditioned Two of the nights had very good skies This area is known for the darkest skies east of the Mississippi River The belt of the Milky Way was amazing I had my eight inch intelliscope working and saw many of the great summer-time objects Saturday night was cloudy I went to bed early and showered and left Sunday morning I went to the Green Briar River Trail for a scenic bike ride I came home through Shennadoah National Park (Skyline Drive) I recommend it to others Next year (2012) it will be in June on the 20th or 21st
What lsquoabout this one Have you spotted it Itrsquos called NGC6383
(see pgs 6amp7)
August 2011 Volume 18 Number 02 Page 5
Hubble Discovers a New Moon Around Pluto July 20 2011 Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have discovered a fourth moon orbiting the icy dwarf planet Pluto The tiny new satellite ndash temporarily designated P4 -- popped up in a Hubble survey searching for rings around the dwarf planet The new moon is the smallest discovered around Pluto It has an estimated diameter of 8 to 21 miles (13 to 34 km) By comparison Charon Plutos largest moon is 648 miles (1043 km) across and the other moons Nix and Hydra are in the range of 20 to 70 miles
in diameter (32 to 113 km) I find it re-markable that Hub-bles cameras enabled us to see such a tiny object so clearly from a distance of more than 3 billion miles (5 billion km) said Mark Showalter of the SETI Institute in Mountain View Calif who led this observing pro-gram with Hubble The finding is a result of ongoing work to support NASAs New Horizons mission scheduled to fly through the Pluto
system in 2015 The mission is designed to provide new insights about worlds at the edge of our solar system Hubbles mapping of Plutos surface and discovery of its satellites have been invaluable to planning for New Horizons close encounter This is a fantastic discovery said New Horizonsrsquo principal investigator Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder Colo Now that we know theres an-other moon in the Pluto system we can plan close-up observations of it during our flyby The new moon is located between the orbits of Nix and Hydra which Hubble discov-ered in 2005 Charon was discovered in 1978 at the US Naval Observatory and first re-solved using Hubble in 1990 as a separate body from Pluto The dwarf planetrsquos entire moon system is believed to have formed by a collision between Pluto and another planet-sized body early in the history of the solar system The smashup flung material that coalesced into the family of satellites observed around Pluto Lunar rocks returned to Earth from the Apollo missions led to the theory that our moon was the result of a similar collision between Earth and a Mars-sized body 44 bil-lion years ago Scientists believe material blasted off Plutos moons by micrometeoroid impacts may form rings around the dwarf planet but the Hubble photographs have not de-tected any so far This surprising observation is a powerful reminder of Hubbles ability as a gen-eral purpose astronomical observatory to make astounding unintended discoveries said Jon Morse astrophysics division director at NASA Headquarters in Washington P4 was first seen in a photo taken with Hubbles Wide Field Camera 3 on June 28 It was confirmed in subsequent Hubble pictures taken on July 3 and July 18 The moon was not seen in earlier Hubble images because the exposure times were shorter There is a chance it appeared as a very faint smudge in 2006 images but was overlooked because it was ob-scured For images and more information about Hubble visit httpwwwnasagovhubble
Production editor Dr Tony Phillips | Credit httpsciencenasagov
August 2011 Volume 18 Number 02 Page 6
Name Common Name Description
B86 Ink Spot Just West of NGC 6520 is this dark spot Can you find it
M17 Omega Nebula Discovered by de Cheseaux in the spring og 1746 and by Messier in June of that year Rivals the Orion Nebula in splendor
M18 an irregular group of 40 stars M21 At 125x 70 main stars can be seen in this cluster M22 Nice cluster of stars similar to M13 M25 Nice open cluster M26 a rich patch of faint stars M28 At 125x shows a star halo around a core of stars
M54 Described by Messier as a bright nebula containing no stars It is actually a tight cluster of stars
M62 Another bright star cluster
M69 Discover in 1752 by Lacaille in the Cape of Good Hope who described it as a small nucleus of a comet
M7 Mentioned by Ptolemy along with M6 in the 2nd century AD aslittle clouds near the stinger of Scorpious
M70 M70 is the smallest and dimmest of the Messier objects along the base of the teapot
M9 One of the first 5 objects catalogued by Messier (but its no 9 ) If you find M9 you should also see Baynard 64 a dark nebula in the same field
ngc 6383 This faint group near M6 will show a main star with 2 blue companions at 100x
Antalova 2 Open cluster
M6 Butterfly Cluster Open cluster that if you inbibe might look like a butterfly
M8 Lagoon Nebula Best with O-III filter
Pluto Try looking for this planet has-been It may take young eyes or photogra-phy to bring it out Gonna need big glass Pluto got a new moon see pg 5
NGC6451 Tom Thumb Cluster
Two long and narrow groups of stars running south-north Each group is very concentrated part of which looks nebulous The western part is wide
A small group of stars north of the eastern part Interestingly there is a bright star attached to the southern part of each group
Trifid Nebula Visible in 10X50 binos as a N-S eclipse of haze it is a ecircecircecircecircecirc object - see Joes photo on pg 8
Last month this newsletter had a list of objects for members to find or rediscover The response was so overwhelming therersquos a new list this month
Some are bright some dim some need 100x or a filter to bring out the detail Are you game
If you easily find these there are TONS more objects in this area of the sky to keep you busy for the rest of the summer
August 2011 Volume 18 Number 02 Page 7
August 2011 Volume 18 Number 02 Page 8
How to Join the Delmarva Stargazers Anyone with an interest in any aspect of astronomy is welcome NAME________________________________________________________________________________________ ADDRESS_____________________________________________________________________________________ CITY STATE amp ZIP______________________________________________________________________________ E-MAIL ADDRESS (If any)_________________________________________________________________________ Do you need the newsletter snail mailed to you (YN)___________________________________________________ Please attach a check for $15 made payable to Delmarva Stargazers and mail to Kathy Sheldon 20985 Fleatown Rd Lincoln DE 19960 Call club President Don Surles at 302-653-9445 for more information
Astrophotos by Members and Friends
This is a shot of M 20 that I made at Spruce Knob WV recently I used my home-built 16 Newtonian on an AP 1200 mount and QSI 583wsg camera Its an LRGB composite Quoting Wikipedia The Trifid Nebula (catalogued as Messier 20 or M20 and as NGC 6514) is an H II region located in Sagittarius Its name means divided into three lobes The object is an unusual combination of an open cluster of stars an emission nebula (the lower red portion) a reflection nebula (the upper blue por-tion) and a dark nebula (the apparent gaps within the emission nebula that cause the Trifid appearance these are also designated Barnard 85) Viewed through a small telescope the Trifid Nebula is a bright and colorful object and is thus a peren-nial favorite of amateur astronomers Joe Morris
August 2011 Volume 18 Number 02 Page 3
New GOES-R to Give More Tornado Warning Time by Dauna Coulter and Dr Tony Phillips
So far this spring more than 1400 tornadoes have struck the US Some of them have cut jaw-dropping trails of destruc-tion across the countryside and tragically across inhabited communities too Hundreds of lives have been lost in the onslaught Throughout the season the National Weather Service has routinely issued tornado alerts In the case of the Alabama tornadoes of April 27th forecasters warned of severe weather five full days before the twisters struck Because they couldnrsquot say precisely where the twisters would strike however many of their warnings went unheeded ldquoIf people get a hurricane warning they often evacuate the areardquo notes NOAAs Steve Goodman ldquoBut we react differently to tornado warningsrdquo Perhaps itrsquos because tornadoes are smaller than hurricanes and the odds of a di-rect hit seem so remote Recent pictures from Tuscaloosa Alabama and Joplin Missouri however show the perils of playing those odds Goodman believes that more precise warn-ings could save lives To fine-tune tornado warnings NOAA will soon launch the first in a series of next-generation weather satellites ndash GOES-R (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satel-lites-R series) The spacecraft is brimming with advanced sensors for measuring key in-gredients of severe weather including winds cloud growth and lightning ldquoGOES-R will be the first geostationary spacecraft to carry a lightning sensorrdquo says Goodman the GOES-R Program Senior Scientist ldquoStudies show that sudden changes in the total lightning activity correlate with storm intensitymdashand with tornadoesrdquo
The lightning mapper will detect and map not only cloud-to-ground lightning but also bolts within and between clouds The kind of cloud-to-ground lightning we see from our front yards accounts for only 15-20 percent of total lightning To get a clear idea of a storms intensity meteorologists need to know about all the lightningmdasha view GOES-R can provide
All by itself the lightning mapper will provide 7 minutes more lead time in tor-nado warnings according to Goodman GOES-Rrsquos state-of-the-art instruments will also im-prove long-range forecasts ldquoThe satellites Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) for instance will provide a much clearer picture of cloudsrdquo says NOAA research meteorologist Tim Schmit Compared to lesser instruments already in orbit ABI can better detect super-cold ldquoovershooting topsrdquo evidence of enormous energy and upward velocity that correlate with subsequent se-vere weather ldquoAccurate advanced notice of high-risk tornadic conditions can cue officials to close schools and businesses even before tornadoes are actually detectedrdquo says Schmit Forecasters doubt tornadoes can ever be predicted with 100 accuracy The twisters are just too capricious GOES-R however is a step in the right direction
Find out more about GOES-Rrsquos un-precedented capabilities at httpwwwgoes-rgov Young people can learn more about tornadoes and all kinds of other weather at httpscijinksgov This article was provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology under a con-tract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration This GOES image shows the storms that spurred the intense April 27 tor-nado outbreak in the southern US Animation showing the development of weather can be seen at httpearthobservatorynasagovNaturalHazardsviewphpid=50347
August 2011 Volume 18 Number 02 Page 4
My First Green Bank Star Quest Tony Mullen Around March or April a friend at the Harford County Astronomical Society told me about the Green Bank Star Quest in West Virginia I was quickly talked into registering On Wednesday June 29 I left Elkton Maryland for The National Radio Astronomical
Observatory and had a great time At most star parties there is plenty of time to fill when it is still light outside and there is only one star visible But not at Green Bank They had many scientists to speak in-cluding Pam Castro NASA IV and VRC speak-ing on getting to know the moon Dave Meisel spoke on ldquoA light-hearted look at Cosmology and our Place in the Universe Dr Michelle Shinn on ldquoBecoming Enlightened about the Darkrdquo Brent Maynard ldquoAstroimaging
Post Capture Processing Techniques Dr D J Pisano spoke on ldquoWhere do Galaxies get their Gasrdquo just to mention a few All in-doors and Air Conditioned Two of the nights had very good skies This area is known for the darkest skies east of the Mississippi River The belt of the Milky Way was amazing I had my eight inch intelliscope working and saw many of the great summer-time objects Saturday night was cloudy I went to bed early and showered and left Sunday morning I went to the Green Briar River Trail for a scenic bike ride I came home through Shennadoah National Park (Skyline Drive) I recommend it to others Next year (2012) it will be in June on the 20th or 21st
What lsquoabout this one Have you spotted it Itrsquos called NGC6383
(see pgs 6amp7)
August 2011 Volume 18 Number 02 Page 5
Hubble Discovers a New Moon Around Pluto July 20 2011 Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have discovered a fourth moon orbiting the icy dwarf planet Pluto The tiny new satellite ndash temporarily designated P4 -- popped up in a Hubble survey searching for rings around the dwarf planet The new moon is the smallest discovered around Pluto It has an estimated diameter of 8 to 21 miles (13 to 34 km) By comparison Charon Plutos largest moon is 648 miles (1043 km) across and the other moons Nix and Hydra are in the range of 20 to 70 miles
in diameter (32 to 113 km) I find it re-markable that Hub-bles cameras enabled us to see such a tiny object so clearly from a distance of more than 3 billion miles (5 billion km) said Mark Showalter of the SETI Institute in Mountain View Calif who led this observing pro-gram with Hubble The finding is a result of ongoing work to support NASAs New Horizons mission scheduled to fly through the Pluto
system in 2015 The mission is designed to provide new insights about worlds at the edge of our solar system Hubbles mapping of Plutos surface and discovery of its satellites have been invaluable to planning for New Horizons close encounter This is a fantastic discovery said New Horizonsrsquo principal investigator Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder Colo Now that we know theres an-other moon in the Pluto system we can plan close-up observations of it during our flyby The new moon is located between the orbits of Nix and Hydra which Hubble discov-ered in 2005 Charon was discovered in 1978 at the US Naval Observatory and first re-solved using Hubble in 1990 as a separate body from Pluto The dwarf planetrsquos entire moon system is believed to have formed by a collision between Pluto and another planet-sized body early in the history of the solar system The smashup flung material that coalesced into the family of satellites observed around Pluto Lunar rocks returned to Earth from the Apollo missions led to the theory that our moon was the result of a similar collision between Earth and a Mars-sized body 44 bil-lion years ago Scientists believe material blasted off Plutos moons by micrometeoroid impacts may form rings around the dwarf planet but the Hubble photographs have not de-tected any so far This surprising observation is a powerful reminder of Hubbles ability as a gen-eral purpose astronomical observatory to make astounding unintended discoveries said Jon Morse astrophysics division director at NASA Headquarters in Washington P4 was first seen in a photo taken with Hubbles Wide Field Camera 3 on June 28 It was confirmed in subsequent Hubble pictures taken on July 3 and July 18 The moon was not seen in earlier Hubble images because the exposure times were shorter There is a chance it appeared as a very faint smudge in 2006 images but was overlooked because it was ob-scured For images and more information about Hubble visit httpwwwnasagovhubble
Production editor Dr Tony Phillips | Credit httpsciencenasagov
August 2011 Volume 18 Number 02 Page 6
Name Common Name Description
B86 Ink Spot Just West of NGC 6520 is this dark spot Can you find it
M17 Omega Nebula Discovered by de Cheseaux in the spring og 1746 and by Messier in June of that year Rivals the Orion Nebula in splendor
M18 an irregular group of 40 stars M21 At 125x 70 main stars can be seen in this cluster M22 Nice cluster of stars similar to M13 M25 Nice open cluster M26 a rich patch of faint stars M28 At 125x shows a star halo around a core of stars
M54 Described by Messier as a bright nebula containing no stars It is actually a tight cluster of stars
M62 Another bright star cluster
M69 Discover in 1752 by Lacaille in the Cape of Good Hope who described it as a small nucleus of a comet
M7 Mentioned by Ptolemy along with M6 in the 2nd century AD aslittle clouds near the stinger of Scorpious
M70 M70 is the smallest and dimmest of the Messier objects along the base of the teapot
M9 One of the first 5 objects catalogued by Messier (but its no 9 ) If you find M9 you should also see Baynard 64 a dark nebula in the same field
ngc 6383 This faint group near M6 will show a main star with 2 blue companions at 100x
Antalova 2 Open cluster
M6 Butterfly Cluster Open cluster that if you inbibe might look like a butterfly
M8 Lagoon Nebula Best with O-III filter
Pluto Try looking for this planet has-been It may take young eyes or photogra-phy to bring it out Gonna need big glass Pluto got a new moon see pg 5
NGC6451 Tom Thumb Cluster
Two long and narrow groups of stars running south-north Each group is very concentrated part of which looks nebulous The western part is wide
A small group of stars north of the eastern part Interestingly there is a bright star attached to the southern part of each group
Trifid Nebula Visible in 10X50 binos as a N-S eclipse of haze it is a ecircecircecircecircecirc object - see Joes photo on pg 8
Last month this newsletter had a list of objects for members to find or rediscover The response was so overwhelming therersquos a new list this month
Some are bright some dim some need 100x or a filter to bring out the detail Are you game
If you easily find these there are TONS more objects in this area of the sky to keep you busy for the rest of the summer
August 2011 Volume 18 Number 02 Page 7
August 2011 Volume 18 Number 02 Page 8
How to Join the Delmarva Stargazers Anyone with an interest in any aspect of astronomy is welcome NAME________________________________________________________________________________________ ADDRESS_____________________________________________________________________________________ CITY STATE amp ZIP______________________________________________________________________________ E-MAIL ADDRESS (If any)_________________________________________________________________________ Do you need the newsletter snail mailed to you (YN)___________________________________________________ Please attach a check for $15 made payable to Delmarva Stargazers and mail to Kathy Sheldon 20985 Fleatown Rd Lincoln DE 19960 Call club President Don Surles at 302-653-9445 for more information
Astrophotos by Members and Friends
This is a shot of M 20 that I made at Spruce Knob WV recently I used my home-built 16 Newtonian on an AP 1200 mount and QSI 583wsg camera Its an LRGB composite Quoting Wikipedia The Trifid Nebula (catalogued as Messier 20 or M20 and as NGC 6514) is an H II region located in Sagittarius Its name means divided into three lobes The object is an unusual combination of an open cluster of stars an emission nebula (the lower red portion) a reflection nebula (the upper blue por-tion) and a dark nebula (the apparent gaps within the emission nebula that cause the Trifid appearance these are also designated Barnard 85) Viewed through a small telescope the Trifid Nebula is a bright and colorful object and is thus a peren-nial favorite of amateur astronomers Joe Morris
August 2011 Volume 18 Number 02 Page 4
My First Green Bank Star Quest Tony Mullen Around March or April a friend at the Harford County Astronomical Society told me about the Green Bank Star Quest in West Virginia I was quickly talked into registering On Wednesday June 29 I left Elkton Maryland for The National Radio Astronomical
Observatory and had a great time At most star parties there is plenty of time to fill when it is still light outside and there is only one star visible But not at Green Bank They had many scientists to speak in-cluding Pam Castro NASA IV and VRC speak-ing on getting to know the moon Dave Meisel spoke on ldquoA light-hearted look at Cosmology and our Place in the Universe Dr Michelle Shinn on ldquoBecoming Enlightened about the Darkrdquo Brent Maynard ldquoAstroimaging
Post Capture Processing Techniques Dr D J Pisano spoke on ldquoWhere do Galaxies get their Gasrdquo just to mention a few All in-doors and Air Conditioned Two of the nights had very good skies This area is known for the darkest skies east of the Mississippi River The belt of the Milky Way was amazing I had my eight inch intelliscope working and saw many of the great summer-time objects Saturday night was cloudy I went to bed early and showered and left Sunday morning I went to the Green Briar River Trail for a scenic bike ride I came home through Shennadoah National Park (Skyline Drive) I recommend it to others Next year (2012) it will be in June on the 20th or 21st
What lsquoabout this one Have you spotted it Itrsquos called NGC6383
(see pgs 6amp7)
August 2011 Volume 18 Number 02 Page 5
Hubble Discovers a New Moon Around Pluto July 20 2011 Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have discovered a fourth moon orbiting the icy dwarf planet Pluto The tiny new satellite ndash temporarily designated P4 -- popped up in a Hubble survey searching for rings around the dwarf planet The new moon is the smallest discovered around Pluto It has an estimated diameter of 8 to 21 miles (13 to 34 km) By comparison Charon Plutos largest moon is 648 miles (1043 km) across and the other moons Nix and Hydra are in the range of 20 to 70 miles
in diameter (32 to 113 km) I find it re-markable that Hub-bles cameras enabled us to see such a tiny object so clearly from a distance of more than 3 billion miles (5 billion km) said Mark Showalter of the SETI Institute in Mountain View Calif who led this observing pro-gram with Hubble The finding is a result of ongoing work to support NASAs New Horizons mission scheduled to fly through the Pluto
system in 2015 The mission is designed to provide new insights about worlds at the edge of our solar system Hubbles mapping of Plutos surface and discovery of its satellites have been invaluable to planning for New Horizons close encounter This is a fantastic discovery said New Horizonsrsquo principal investigator Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder Colo Now that we know theres an-other moon in the Pluto system we can plan close-up observations of it during our flyby The new moon is located between the orbits of Nix and Hydra which Hubble discov-ered in 2005 Charon was discovered in 1978 at the US Naval Observatory and first re-solved using Hubble in 1990 as a separate body from Pluto The dwarf planetrsquos entire moon system is believed to have formed by a collision between Pluto and another planet-sized body early in the history of the solar system The smashup flung material that coalesced into the family of satellites observed around Pluto Lunar rocks returned to Earth from the Apollo missions led to the theory that our moon was the result of a similar collision between Earth and a Mars-sized body 44 bil-lion years ago Scientists believe material blasted off Plutos moons by micrometeoroid impacts may form rings around the dwarf planet but the Hubble photographs have not de-tected any so far This surprising observation is a powerful reminder of Hubbles ability as a gen-eral purpose astronomical observatory to make astounding unintended discoveries said Jon Morse astrophysics division director at NASA Headquarters in Washington P4 was first seen in a photo taken with Hubbles Wide Field Camera 3 on June 28 It was confirmed in subsequent Hubble pictures taken on July 3 and July 18 The moon was not seen in earlier Hubble images because the exposure times were shorter There is a chance it appeared as a very faint smudge in 2006 images but was overlooked because it was ob-scured For images and more information about Hubble visit httpwwwnasagovhubble
Production editor Dr Tony Phillips | Credit httpsciencenasagov
August 2011 Volume 18 Number 02 Page 6
Name Common Name Description
B86 Ink Spot Just West of NGC 6520 is this dark spot Can you find it
M17 Omega Nebula Discovered by de Cheseaux in the spring og 1746 and by Messier in June of that year Rivals the Orion Nebula in splendor
M18 an irregular group of 40 stars M21 At 125x 70 main stars can be seen in this cluster M22 Nice cluster of stars similar to M13 M25 Nice open cluster M26 a rich patch of faint stars M28 At 125x shows a star halo around a core of stars
M54 Described by Messier as a bright nebula containing no stars It is actually a tight cluster of stars
M62 Another bright star cluster
M69 Discover in 1752 by Lacaille in the Cape of Good Hope who described it as a small nucleus of a comet
M7 Mentioned by Ptolemy along with M6 in the 2nd century AD aslittle clouds near the stinger of Scorpious
M70 M70 is the smallest and dimmest of the Messier objects along the base of the teapot
M9 One of the first 5 objects catalogued by Messier (but its no 9 ) If you find M9 you should also see Baynard 64 a dark nebula in the same field
ngc 6383 This faint group near M6 will show a main star with 2 blue companions at 100x
Antalova 2 Open cluster
M6 Butterfly Cluster Open cluster that if you inbibe might look like a butterfly
M8 Lagoon Nebula Best with O-III filter
Pluto Try looking for this planet has-been It may take young eyes or photogra-phy to bring it out Gonna need big glass Pluto got a new moon see pg 5
NGC6451 Tom Thumb Cluster
Two long and narrow groups of stars running south-north Each group is very concentrated part of which looks nebulous The western part is wide
A small group of stars north of the eastern part Interestingly there is a bright star attached to the southern part of each group
Trifid Nebula Visible in 10X50 binos as a N-S eclipse of haze it is a ecircecircecircecircecirc object - see Joes photo on pg 8
Last month this newsletter had a list of objects for members to find or rediscover The response was so overwhelming therersquos a new list this month
Some are bright some dim some need 100x or a filter to bring out the detail Are you game
If you easily find these there are TONS more objects in this area of the sky to keep you busy for the rest of the summer
August 2011 Volume 18 Number 02 Page 7
August 2011 Volume 18 Number 02 Page 8
How to Join the Delmarva Stargazers Anyone with an interest in any aspect of astronomy is welcome NAME________________________________________________________________________________________ ADDRESS_____________________________________________________________________________________ CITY STATE amp ZIP______________________________________________________________________________ E-MAIL ADDRESS (If any)_________________________________________________________________________ Do you need the newsletter snail mailed to you (YN)___________________________________________________ Please attach a check for $15 made payable to Delmarva Stargazers and mail to Kathy Sheldon 20985 Fleatown Rd Lincoln DE 19960 Call club President Don Surles at 302-653-9445 for more information
Astrophotos by Members and Friends
This is a shot of M 20 that I made at Spruce Knob WV recently I used my home-built 16 Newtonian on an AP 1200 mount and QSI 583wsg camera Its an LRGB composite Quoting Wikipedia The Trifid Nebula (catalogued as Messier 20 or M20 and as NGC 6514) is an H II region located in Sagittarius Its name means divided into three lobes The object is an unusual combination of an open cluster of stars an emission nebula (the lower red portion) a reflection nebula (the upper blue por-tion) and a dark nebula (the apparent gaps within the emission nebula that cause the Trifid appearance these are also designated Barnard 85) Viewed through a small telescope the Trifid Nebula is a bright and colorful object and is thus a peren-nial favorite of amateur astronomers Joe Morris
August 2011 Volume 18 Number 02 Page 5
Hubble Discovers a New Moon Around Pluto July 20 2011 Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have discovered a fourth moon orbiting the icy dwarf planet Pluto The tiny new satellite ndash temporarily designated P4 -- popped up in a Hubble survey searching for rings around the dwarf planet The new moon is the smallest discovered around Pluto It has an estimated diameter of 8 to 21 miles (13 to 34 km) By comparison Charon Plutos largest moon is 648 miles (1043 km) across and the other moons Nix and Hydra are in the range of 20 to 70 miles
in diameter (32 to 113 km) I find it re-markable that Hub-bles cameras enabled us to see such a tiny object so clearly from a distance of more than 3 billion miles (5 billion km) said Mark Showalter of the SETI Institute in Mountain View Calif who led this observing pro-gram with Hubble The finding is a result of ongoing work to support NASAs New Horizons mission scheduled to fly through the Pluto
system in 2015 The mission is designed to provide new insights about worlds at the edge of our solar system Hubbles mapping of Plutos surface and discovery of its satellites have been invaluable to planning for New Horizons close encounter This is a fantastic discovery said New Horizonsrsquo principal investigator Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder Colo Now that we know theres an-other moon in the Pluto system we can plan close-up observations of it during our flyby The new moon is located between the orbits of Nix and Hydra which Hubble discov-ered in 2005 Charon was discovered in 1978 at the US Naval Observatory and first re-solved using Hubble in 1990 as a separate body from Pluto The dwarf planetrsquos entire moon system is believed to have formed by a collision between Pluto and another planet-sized body early in the history of the solar system The smashup flung material that coalesced into the family of satellites observed around Pluto Lunar rocks returned to Earth from the Apollo missions led to the theory that our moon was the result of a similar collision between Earth and a Mars-sized body 44 bil-lion years ago Scientists believe material blasted off Plutos moons by micrometeoroid impacts may form rings around the dwarf planet but the Hubble photographs have not de-tected any so far This surprising observation is a powerful reminder of Hubbles ability as a gen-eral purpose astronomical observatory to make astounding unintended discoveries said Jon Morse astrophysics division director at NASA Headquarters in Washington P4 was first seen in a photo taken with Hubbles Wide Field Camera 3 on June 28 It was confirmed in subsequent Hubble pictures taken on July 3 and July 18 The moon was not seen in earlier Hubble images because the exposure times were shorter There is a chance it appeared as a very faint smudge in 2006 images but was overlooked because it was ob-scured For images and more information about Hubble visit httpwwwnasagovhubble
Production editor Dr Tony Phillips | Credit httpsciencenasagov
August 2011 Volume 18 Number 02 Page 6
Name Common Name Description
B86 Ink Spot Just West of NGC 6520 is this dark spot Can you find it
M17 Omega Nebula Discovered by de Cheseaux in the spring og 1746 and by Messier in June of that year Rivals the Orion Nebula in splendor
M18 an irregular group of 40 stars M21 At 125x 70 main stars can be seen in this cluster M22 Nice cluster of stars similar to M13 M25 Nice open cluster M26 a rich patch of faint stars M28 At 125x shows a star halo around a core of stars
M54 Described by Messier as a bright nebula containing no stars It is actually a tight cluster of stars
M62 Another bright star cluster
M69 Discover in 1752 by Lacaille in the Cape of Good Hope who described it as a small nucleus of a comet
M7 Mentioned by Ptolemy along with M6 in the 2nd century AD aslittle clouds near the stinger of Scorpious
M70 M70 is the smallest and dimmest of the Messier objects along the base of the teapot
M9 One of the first 5 objects catalogued by Messier (but its no 9 ) If you find M9 you should also see Baynard 64 a dark nebula in the same field
ngc 6383 This faint group near M6 will show a main star with 2 blue companions at 100x
Antalova 2 Open cluster
M6 Butterfly Cluster Open cluster that if you inbibe might look like a butterfly
M8 Lagoon Nebula Best with O-III filter
Pluto Try looking for this planet has-been It may take young eyes or photogra-phy to bring it out Gonna need big glass Pluto got a new moon see pg 5
NGC6451 Tom Thumb Cluster
Two long and narrow groups of stars running south-north Each group is very concentrated part of which looks nebulous The western part is wide
A small group of stars north of the eastern part Interestingly there is a bright star attached to the southern part of each group
Trifid Nebula Visible in 10X50 binos as a N-S eclipse of haze it is a ecircecircecircecircecirc object - see Joes photo on pg 8
Last month this newsletter had a list of objects for members to find or rediscover The response was so overwhelming therersquos a new list this month
Some are bright some dim some need 100x or a filter to bring out the detail Are you game
If you easily find these there are TONS more objects in this area of the sky to keep you busy for the rest of the summer
August 2011 Volume 18 Number 02 Page 7
August 2011 Volume 18 Number 02 Page 8
How to Join the Delmarva Stargazers Anyone with an interest in any aspect of astronomy is welcome NAME________________________________________________________________________________________ ADDRESS_____________________________________________________________________________________ CITY STATE amp ZIP______________________________________________________________________________ E-MAIL ADDRESS (If any)_________________________________________________________________________ Do you need the newsletter snail mailed to you (YN)___________________________________________________ Please attach a check for $15 made payable to Delmarva Stargazers and mail to Kathy Sheldon 20985 Fleatown Rd Lincoln DE 19960 Call club President Don Surles at 302-653-9445 for more information
Astrophotos by Members and Friends
This is a shot of M 20 that I made at Spruce Knob WV recently I used my home-built 16 Newtonian on an AP 1200 mount and QSI 583wsg camera Its an LRGB composite Quoting Wikipedia The Trifid Nebula (catalogued as Messier 20 or M20 and as NGC 6514) is an H II region located in Sagittarius Its name means divided into three lobes The object is an unusual combination of an open cluster of stars an emission nebula (the lower red portion) a reflection nebula (the upper blue por-tion) and a dark nebula (the apparent gaps within the emission nebula that cause the Trifid appearance these are also designated Barnard 85) Viewed through a small telescope the Trifid Nebula is a bright and colorful object and is thus a peren-nial favorite of amateur astronomers Joe Morris
August 2011 Volume 18 Number 02 Page 6
Name Common Name Description
B86 Ink Spot Just West of NGC 6520 is this dark spot Can you find it
M17 Omega Nebula Discovered by de Cheseaux in the spring og 1746 and by Messier in June of that year Rivals the Orion Nebula in splendor
M18 an irregular group of 40 stars M21 At 125x 70 main stars can be seen in this cluster M22 Nice cluster of stars similar to M13 M25 Nice open cluster M26 a rich patch of faint stars M28 At 125x shows a star halo around a core of stars
M54 Described by Messier as a bright nebula containing no stars It is actually a tight cluster of stars
M62 Another bright star cluster
M69 Discover in 1752 by Lacaille in the Cape of Good Hope who described it as a small nucleus of a comet
M7 Mentioned by Ptolemy along with M6 in the 2nd century AD aslittle clouds near the stinger of Scorpious
M70 M70 is the smallest and dimmest of the Messier objects along the base of the teapot
M9 One of the first 5 objects catalogued by Messier (but its no 9 ) If you find M9 you should also see Baynard 64 a dark nebula in the same field
ngc 6383 This faint group near M6 will show a main star with 2 blue companions at 100x
Antalova 2 Open cluster
M6 Butterfly Cluster Open cluster that if you inbibe might look like a butterfly
M8 Lagoon Nebula Best with O-III filter
Pluto Try looking for this planet has-been It may take young eyes or photogra-phy to bring it out Gonna need big glass Pluto got a new moon see pg 5
NGC6451 Tom Thumb Cluster
Two long and narrow groups of stars running south-north Each group is very concentrated part of which looks nebulous The western part is wide
A small group of stars north of the eastern part Interestingly there is a bright star attached to the southern part of each group
Trifid Nebula Visible in 10X50 binos as a N-S eclipse of haze it is a ecircecircecircecircecirc object - see Joes photo on pg 8
Last month this newsletter had a list of objects for members to find or rediscover The response was so overwhelming therersquos a new list this month
Some are bright some dim some need 100x or a filter to bring out the detail Are you game
If you easily find these there are TONS more objects in this area of the sky to keep you busy for the rest of the summer
August 2011 Volume 18 Number 02 Page 7
August 2011 Volume 18 Number 02 Page 8
How to Join the Delmarva Stargazers Anyone with an interest in any aspect of astronomy is welcome NAME________________________________________________________________________________________ ADDRESS_____________________________________________________________________________________ CITY STATE amp ZIP______________________________________________________________________________ E-MAIL ADDRESS (If any)_________________________________________________________________________ Do you need the newsletter snail mailed to you (YN)___________________________________________________ Please attach a check for $15 made payable to Delmarva Stargazers and mail to Kathy Sheldon 20985 Fleatown Rd Lincoln DE 19960 Call club President Don Surles at 302-653-9445 for more information
Astrophotos by Members and Friends
This is a shot of M 20 that I made at Spruce Knob WV recently I used my home-built 16 Newtonian on an AP 1200 mount and QSI 583wsg camera Its an LRGB composite Quoting Wikipedia The Trifid Nebula (catalogued as Messier 20 or M20 and as NGC 6514) is an H II region located in Sagittarius Its name means divided into three lobes The object is an unusual combination of an open cluster of stars an emission nebula (the lower red portion) a reflection nebula (the upper blue por-tion) and a dark nebula (the apparent gaps within the emission nebula that cause the Trifid appearance these are also designated Barnard 85) Viewed through a small telescope the Trifid Nebula is a bright and colorful object and is thus a peren-nial favorite of amateur astronomers Joe Morris
August 2011 Volume 18 Number 02 Page 7
August 2011 Volume 18 Number 02 Page 8
How to Join the Delmarva Stargazers Anyone with an interest in any aspect of astronomy is welcome NAME________________________________________________________________________________________ ADDRESS_____________________________________________________________________________________ CITY STATE amp ZIP______________________________________________________________________________ E-MAIL ADDRESS (If any)_________________________________________________________________________ Do you need the newsletter snail mailed to you (YN)___________________________________________________ Please attach a check for $15 made payable to Delmarva Stargazers and mail to Kathy Sheldon 20985 Fleatown Rd Lincoln DE 19960 Call club President Don Surles at 302-653-9445 for more information
Astrophotos by Members and Friends
This is a shot of M 20 that I made at Spruce Knob WV recently I used my home-built 16 Newtonian on an AP 1200 mount and QSI 583wsg camera Its an LRGB composite Quoting Wikipedia The Trifid Nebula (catalogued as Messier 20 or M20 and as NGC 6514) is an H II region located in Sagittarius Its name means divided into three lobes The object is an unusual combination of an open cluster of stars an emission nebula (the lower red portion) a reflection nebula (the upper blue por-tion) and a dark nebula (the apparent gaps within the emission nebula that cause the Trifid appearance these are also designated Barnard 85) Viewed through a small telescope the Trifid Nebula is a bright and colorful object and is thus a peren-nial favorite of amateur astronomers Joe Morris
August 2011 Volume 18 Number 02 Page 8
How to Join the Delmarva Stargazers Anyone with an interest in any aspect of astronomy is welcome NAME________________________________________________________________________________________ ADDRESS_____________________________________________________________________________________ CITY STATE amp ZIP______________________________________________________________________________ E-MAIL ADDRESS (If any)_________________________________________________________________________ Do you need the newsletter snail mailed to you (YN)___________________________________________________ Please attach a check for $15 made payable to Delmarva Stargazers and mail to Kathy Sheldon 20985 Fleatown Rd Lincoln DE 19960 Call club President Don Surles at 302-653-9445 for more information
Astrophotos by Members and Friends
This is a shot of M 20 that I made at Spruce Knob WV recently I used my home-built 16 Newtonian on an AP 1200 mount and QSI 583wsg camera Its an LRGB composite Quoting Wikipedia The Trifid Nebula (catalogued as Messier 20 or M20 and as NGC 6514) is an H II region located in Sagittarius Its name means divided into three lobes The object is an unusual combination of an open cluster of stars an emission nebula (the lower red portion) a reflection nebula (the upper blue por-tion) and a dark nebula (the apparent gaps within the emission nebula that cause the Trifid appearance these are also designated Barnard 85) Viewed through a small telescope the Trifid Nebula is a bright and colorful object and is thus a peren-nial favorite of amateur astronomers Joe Morris
