San DiegoAstronomy AssociationCelebrating Over 50 Years of Astronomical Outreach

http://www.sdaa.orgA Non-Profit Educational Association

P.O. Box 23215, San Diego, CA 92193-3215

April 2015

Next SDAA Business MeetingApril 14th at 7:00pm

3838 Camino del Rio NorthSuite 300

San Diego, CA 92108

Next Program Meeting April 15, 2015 at 7:00pm

Mission Trails Regional ParkVisitor and Interpretive Center1 Father Junipero Serra Trail

CONTENTSApril 2015, Vol LIII, Issue 4Published Monthly by the San Diego Astronomy AssociationIncorporated in California in 1963P r o g r a m M e e t i n g . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1T D S C l e a n u p & B B Q. . . . . . . . . . . 1M a r c h M i n u t e s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22015 TDS Schedu l e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4A p r i l C a l e n d a r . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5J u l i a n S t a r F e s t . . . . . . . . . . . . 6S DA A C o n t a c t s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Space Place Par tners Ar t ic le. . . . .8As t r onomy Ca r toon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 0

Newsletter DeadlineThe deadline to submit articles

for publication is the15th of each month.

April Program Meeting

Date: April 15, 2015Speaker: Dr. Eric Sandquist, SDSUTopic: Star Clusters

The age of the solar system and the age of the universe are now very precisely mea-sured quantities, but getting reliable ages for most other things in astronomy is a continu-ing challenge. Stars are natural timers: they consume fuel and tell us when they run out by changing dramatically. Stars also have lives that range from a few million years to longer than the age of the universe, so that they can date just about anything astronomical. High precision star ages are still difficult to come by though. Dr. Sandquist will talk about star clusters, and how they give us the opportunity to produce precise ages and map out the timeline of the Milky Way.

San Diego Astronomy Association (SDAA) sponsors speakers on a wide range of astronomy topics on the third Wednesday of every month at the Mission Trails Regional Park Visitors Center. The program meeting begins at 7pm. Each attendee receives one free door prize ticket. After announcements and a small amount of busi-ness, the audience is treated to the featured presentation. At the close of the meeting the door prizes are presented. The event is open to the public. The Mission Trails Re-gional Park Visitors Center is at One Fr. Junipero Serra Trail, San Diego CA 92119. Call the park at 619-668-3281 for more information or visit http://www.mtrp.org.

Save the Date

May 16th TDS Cleanup and BBQ.

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San Diego Astronomy Association (SDAA) Board of DirectorsMonthly Business Meeting Minutes, March 10, 2015

Unapproved and Subject to Revision 1. Call to Order. The meeting was called to order at 7:01pm by the President with the following board members in attendance: President

Mike Chasin, Vice President Greg Farrell; Dennis Ritz, Recording Secretary, Nick Andrews, Corresponding Secretary, Dave Wood, Director, Michael Vander Vorst, Director.

2. Approval of Last Meeting Minutes. Minutes of the February business meeting were approved as published in the February 2015 Newsletter.

3. Priority/Member Business. Ross Salinger, Private Pad 42, submitted improvements for an 8’x8’ PierTech observatory and has contacted neighboring

pad owners with the stick visual. Ross will be present at the April Business meeting to answer any questions. The Board will review the emailed data and continue until next month.

4. Approval of Treasurer's and Membership Report Membership=528 +5 from March Mike C presented the Treasurer’s Report as emailed to the Board. The pad in arrears difficulty was resolved with

documentation and the Banquet IOUs are almost paid up. The report was approved. 5. Standard Reports:

a. Site Maintenance Quackenbush Bill’s next planned visit is March 21. Dave W said there is a loose neutral wire in the private pad area to troubleshoot. b. Observatory Traweek All is well, but the star parties in March were clouded out. c. Private Pads Smith There are currently 6 open private pads available and no one on the list. Two sites need cleanup, abandoned trash. Spring Cleanup will have a dumpster and is scheduled for May 16, see New Business below. d. Program Meetings Farrell Greg reported his first Program meeting featuring Kin Searcy on activities at Palomar Observatory was very well received. This month is a presentation by Agent Robert Reid of the Department of Homeland Security Border Patrol. There are plans for additional lighting at the Pine Valley checkpoint (posted on Yahoo group). In April Dr Eric Sandquist of SDSU will speak on Star Clusters. Greg has volunteers for future meetings. f. TDS Network Wood Dead. g. AISIG Wood Woody’s talk was very well received. Dave W has been in contact with Allen Holmes of SBIG to give a talk on differential 2 star guiding and adaptive optics (AO) guiding. Jeff Stevens has asked for an updated list of speakers for the SDAA web site, presently showing AISIG events from 2013. h. Newsletter Kuhl The last paper edition of the SDAA newsletter was March. Starting in April, the newsletter will only be distributed electronically. The electronic version has many benefits: It usually has more information, it is in color, and is far easier and less costly to distribute. The SDAA Board of Directors is finding it increasingly difficult to find the time and volunteers to prepare and mail paper newsletters. Also, the costs of publishing and mailing are increasing. If you now receive the paper newsletter and are not getting a monthly electronic notice, please verify your email address by sending an email to membership@sdaa.org. If you have any questions or comments regarding this change in policy, please direct them to president@sdaa.org. i. Website Stevens Mike Chasin and Jeff Stevens are now the administrators of the SDAA Facebook page. If you haven’t ‘Liked’ SDAA on Facebook, check it out at: https://www.facebook.com/San.Diego.Astronomy.Association The AISIG page still has the schedule from 2013, Jeff needs the 2015 schedule. JSF website has been updated with preliminary information for 2015, and a new forwarding address 2015@julianstarfest.com has been created for this year’s committee. The email alias 2015@julianstarfest.com has been set up for this year's Julian StarFest. Please send any web updates needed for 2015.

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j. Outreach Searcy PDT is now in effect and school star parties will be slowing down. There are 12 of them left on the schedule. Member support is outstanding. Kin Searcy is conducting an astronomy merit badge class for boy scouts at MTRP on 15 March. There will be a 2.5 hour classroom session in the afternoon with an SDAA supported star party that evening. This helps the MTRP foundation and supports the cooperative agreement that gives us the meeting rooms at no cost. Nick is working on astronomy day at Balboa Park. The Astronomical League's formal day is not good for the park, so there will be an alternate date of 2 May. He will be asking the board for the park fee ($120), and we normally provide funds for food for the volunteers, since it is a long day with solar and night observing. We are back on for Sycamore Canyon in April - 17 April that is one night before the new moon. There should be an excellent turnout. Space Day in Balboa Park is 16 May. SDAA brings solar scopes from 10 am - 2 pm. Michael V reports 1st contact with the Preuss Charter School at UCSD. 6th Grade will have an on campus overnight March 23-27 with a star party March 26. Solar viewing at their science festival on Saturday, April 18th from 11:00am-1pm and visit by a busload of students to TDS on Friday, 15 May. k. Merchandise Harvey No report. l. New Member Mentor Kiser No report. m. JSF Status Griffith/Rumsey Application for permit pending SDAA Insurance information. Food vendors, security, and CERT are in place. New for this year is an additional fee to reserve one of the limited number of premium RV parking spots (additional RV parking available at no extra charge - level space not guaranteed). Also new this year is a higher camping fee for paying at the gate and not per-registered. We will be opening up registration shortly. If you would like to volunteer, email Hillary the JSF Committee Chair: info@julianstarfest.com n. Terry Arnold Remote Observatory-TARO Wood Concrete pad poured yesterday. Software licenses are being transferred and moving forward.

6. Old Business. a. Insurance Review. Brian McFarland and Carl Gismondi insurance review next month. b. Call for any other Old Business. None.

7. New Business. a. 2015 SDAA Goals. Mike C canvassed the Board for goals in 2015 and received a few suggestions. First, the Treasurer workload has been growing for many years and is a significant time drain and difficult position to fill. The Board discussed the possible use of a professional bookkeeping service. Dave W said the present use of Access database requires dual entries to the PayPal and Access databases, the Access database is old and overgrown. Data flows include PayPal to Quicken to Quick Books. Dennis calculated a bookkeeper 5 hours per week at $20 hour might be about $ 5,000 per year. Mike C suggested an ad hoc committee of knowledgeable persons including past and present Treasurers be convened to guide the Board in options. Mike C will contact individuals for the ad hoc committee. Also a call for a central repository of SDAA archives and Board of Director information was suggested. SDAA paper archives and electronic data should be placed into a central location. Dennis suggested Google for Nonprofits was a free solution, providing 15GB of free storage. It would replace the BOD Yahoo group email with Google Groups and could provide additional tools for the SDAA and Board. Dennis asked the more computer savvy members of the Board look at the use of Google for Nonprofits as a central repository for all SDAA records and documents. Dennis has about 1.5GB going back to the 1990s, he will send Google for Nonprofits links to the BOD for their consideration. The Board was in general agreement to use SDAA assets within the SDAA, including brainstorming for SDAA outreach and activities attracting new members, continuing development of Cruzen observatory Site ‘C’ and spending on popular member activities. Written leases for private observatories and pads was discussed. b. 2015 Spring BBQ and Cleanup May 16. The Board set May 16th for the TDS Spring BBQ and Cleanup. A dumpster will be provided and after a work party, a BBQ. Bring tools, sunscreen, gloves and hat, festivities commencing midmorning with BBQ before sunset. It is a new moon member night so bring your scopes and enjoy a spring evening at a clean Tierra del Sol. c. Call for any New Business. No other new business.

8. Adjournment. Adjournment 8:10pm was Approved.

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2015 TDS SCHEDULE

DATE MOON DATA SUNSET

APR. 11 R- 1:54a 58% 7:12p Public 18 S- 7:31p 0% 7:17p

MAY 9 R-12:37a 72% 7:33p Public 16 S- 6:17p 4% 7:38p

JUN. 6 R-11:21p 83% 7:51p Public 13 S- 5:08p 12% 7:54p

JUL. 4 R-10:03p 93% 7:56p Public 11 R- 2:58a 22% 7:55p

AUG. 8 R-12:59a 31% 7:38p Public 15 S- 8:08p 1% 7:31p JSF

SEP. 5 R-12:34a 50% 7:04p Public 12 S- 6:41p 1% 6:55p

OCT. 3 R-11:20p 65% 6:26p Public 10 S- 5:15p 6% 6:17p

NOV. 7 R- 3:22a 2% 4:49p Public ST 14 S- 7:27p 7% 4:44p

DEC. 5 R- 2:07a 30% 4:38p Public 12 S- 6:15p 1% 4:40p

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April 2015 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

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Stars in the Park

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4

Full Moon

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Ocean Beach Elementary

10 Clairemont Mesa

Educational Foundation

Stars at Mission Trails

11 Public Star Party

TDS

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14

SDAA Business Meeting

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SDAA Program Meeting

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17 Stars at

Sycamore Canyon

18 Member Night

TDS Preuss Science

Fair-Solar Scout Fair

New Moon Event @ Cabrillo Monument

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Julian Charter School

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AISIG Meeting

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24 Clairemont High

School

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30

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Fletcher Elementary

2 Astronomy Day

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SDAA's Julian StarFest, August 13-15, 2015

Mark your calendars for SDAA's biggest event ever. The 2015 Julian StarFest will be at Menghini Winery in Julian on August 13-15th. Three days and nights of astronomical fun: camping under the summer Milky Way, interesting speakers, informative workshops, yummy meals and snacks, great deals from on-site vendors, and fun activities for kids. All culminating in the largest, free, public star party in Southern California on Saturday night. Volunteer opportunities will abound. Right now we looking to fill two important positions.

Volunteer Coordinator. Your job is to assign volunteers to specific duties, times, and places and to coordinate them during the event. Volunteers typically help with signing in, campground parking assistance, selling raffle tickets, selling SDAA merchandise, and helping with red lights at the star party.

Sponsor Coordinator. Your job is to help find sponsors for the event and solicit raffle prizes. You would begin from a list of past sponsors.

If you would like to volunteer, email Hillary Griffith, the JSF Committee Chair at info@julianstarfest.com.

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SDAA ContactsClub Officers and Directors

President Mike Chasin President@sdaa.org (858) 210-1454Vice President Greg Farrell VicePresident@sdaa.org (858) 705-0065Recording Secretary Dennis Ritz Recording@sdaa.org (619) 890-7480Treasurer Ed Rumsey Treasurer@sdaa.org (858) 722-3846Corresponding Secretary Nick Andrews Corresponding@sdaa.org (858) 215-0479Director Alpha Dave Decker DirectorDelta@sdaa.org (619) 972-1003Director Beta Brian McFarland DirectorBeta@sdaa.org (619) 462-4483Director Gamma Michael Vander Vorst DirectorGamma@sdaa.org (858) 755-5846Director Delta Dave Wood DirectorAlpha@sdaa.org (858) 735-8808

CommitteesSite Maintenance Bill Quackenbush TDS@sdaa.org (858) 395-1007Observatory Director Jim Traweek Observatory@sdaa.org (619) 207-7542Private Pads Mark Smith Pads@sdaa.org (858) 484-0540Outreach Kin Searcy Outreach@sdaa.org (858) 586-0974N. County Star Parties Jerry Hilburn NorthStarParty@sdaa.org (858) 877-3103S. County Star Parties -Vacant- SouthStarParty@sdaa.org E. County Star Parties Dave Decker EastStarParty@sdaa.org (619) 972-1003Central County Star Parties Kin Searcy CentralStarParty@sdaa.org (858) 586-0974Camp with the Stars Jerry Hilburn CampWiththeStars@sdaa.org (858) 877-3103K.Q. Ranch Coordinator Michael Vander Vorst KQ@sdaa.org (858) 755-5846Newsletter Andrea Kuhl Newsletter@sdaa.org (858) 547-9887New Member Mentor Dan Kiser Mentor @sdaa.org (858) 922-0592Webmaster Jeff Stevens Webmaster@sdaa.org (858) 566-2261AISIG Dave Wood AISIG@sdaa.org (858) 735-8808Site Acquisition -Vacant- SecondSite@sdaa.org Field Trips -Vacant- FieldTrips@sdaa.org Grants/Fund Raising Jerry Hilburn Grants@sdaa.org (858) 877-3103Julian StarFest Hilary Griffith info@julianstarfest.com (619) 890-5267Merchandising Alice Harvey Merchandising@sdaa.org (858) 622-1481Publicity -Vacant- Publicity@sdaa.org Loaner Scopes Ed Rumsey (858) 722-3846 Governing Documents TBDTDS Network Dave Wood TDSNet@sdaa.org (858) 735-8808Amateur Telescope Making Peter De Baan pdebaan@hotmail.com (760) 745-0925

Have a great new piece of gear? Read an astronomy-related book that you think others should know about? How about a photograph of an SDAA Member in action? Or are you simply tired of seeing these Boxes in the Newsletter rather than something, well, interesting?

Join the campaign to rid the Newsletter of little boxes by sharing them with the membership. In return for your efforts, you will get your very own by line or pho-tograph credit in addition to the undying gratitude of the Newsletter Editor. Just send your article or picture to Newsletter@SDAA.Org.

SDAA Editorial StaffEditor - Andrea Kuhlnewsletter@sdaa.org

Assistant Editor: Craig Ewing

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Astronomy Club Article March 2015

The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway By Ethan Siegel

For those of us in the northern hemisphere, winter brings long, cold nights, which are often excellent for sky watchers (so long as there's a way to keep warm!) But there's often an added bonus that comes along when conditions are just right: the polar lights, or the Aurora Borealis around the North Pole. Here on our world, a brilliant green light often appears for observers at high northern latitudes, with occasional, dimmer reds and even blues lighting up a clear night.

We had always assumed that there was some connection between particles emitted from the Sun and the aurorae, as particularly intense displays were observed around three days after a solar storm occurred in the direction of Earth. Presumably, particles originating from the Sun—ionized electrons and atomic nuclei like protons and alpha particles—make up the vast majority of the solar wind and get funneled by the Earth's magnetic field into a circle around its magnetic poles. They're energetic enough to knock electrons off atoms and molecules at various layers in the upper atmosphere—particles like molecular nitrogen, oxygen and atomic hydrogen. And when the electrons fall back either onto the atoms or to lower energy levels, they emit light of varying but particular wavelengths—oxygen producing the most common green signature, with less common states of oxygen and hydrogen producing red and the occasional blue from nitrogen.

But it wasn't until the 2000s that this picture was directly confirmed! NASA's Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE) satellite (which ceased operations in December 2005) was able to find out how the magnetosphere responded to solar wind changes, how the plasmas were energized, transported and (in some cases) lost, and many more properties of our magnetosphere. Planets without significant magnetic fields such as Venus and Mars have much smaller, weaker aurorae than we do, and gas giant planets like Saturn have aurorae that primarily shine in the ultraviolet rather than the visible. Nevertheless, the aurorae are a spectacular sight in the evening, particularly for observers in Alaska, Canada and the Scandinavian countries. But when a solar storm comes our way, keep your eyes towards the north at night; the views will be well worth braving the cold!

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Astronomy Club Article March 2015

Auroral overlays from the IMAGE spacecraft.

Image credit: NASA Earth Observatory (Goddard Space Flight Center) / Blue Marble team.

Editors: Download this image from http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/partners/2015-13/ 2014_12_NASA_IMAGE_Earth_Obs.jpg .

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MEMBERSHIP INFORMATIONSend dues and renewals to P.O. Box 23215, San Diego, CA 92193-3215. Include any renewal cards from Sky & Telescope or Astronomy magazine in which you wish to continue your subscription. The expiration date shown on your newsletter’s mailing label is the only notice that your membership in SDAA will expire. Dues are $60 for Contributing Memberships; $35 for Basic Membership; $60.00 for Private Pads; $5 for each Family membership. In addition to the club dues the annual rates for magazines available at the club discount are: Sky & Telescope $32.95 and Astronomy $34. Make checks payable to S.D. Astronomy Assn. PLEASE DO NOT send renewals directly to Sky Publishing. They return them to us for processing.