the event horizon

A Websurfer's Guide To the Universe

Richard Heuermann of Washington University, will be featured at the July 16 meeting of the Saint Louis Astronomical Society. . The internet has made spectacular views of stars, planets, and galaxies accessible, often al-most as soon as they are produced. It has published results of the latest professional research and provided amateur astronomers with customized star charts and other tools for observing the heavens. If you know where on the Web to look. This program will be an introduction to some of the websites that chart the skies, publish the pictures, and report the research - all delivered free of charge to your computer screen. Rich Heuermann is the Outreach Program Coordinator of the NASA Missouri Space Grant Con-sortium at Washington University. A Webster Groves resident, he is also an amateur astronomer and long-time member of the Saint Louis Astronomical Society.

Mid-State Regional Convention by Steve Sands

attendance. Present from St. Louis were Jim Small, Mark Jones, Jerry Kelly, Cook Feldman, Wayne & Nancy Clark and Steve Sands. Additionally, Lee Paul attended representing RBAS and ASEM. Lincoln is the capitol of Nebraska with a beautiful and historic capitol building which we toured. Also, there is a historic area called Haymarket which is similar to St. Louis’ Lacledes Landing without the river.

The event began on Friday evening with a star-b-que at the Hyde Memorial Observatory in Holmes Park. This is a roll-off roof ob-servatory housing several instruments. Additionally there is an attached lecture hall for presentations. There were plentiful solar scopes set up for participants to view the sun in hydrogen alpha until the sun set into the cloudy western horizon. The late after-noon was quite hot and humid, but that did not stop people from enjoying PAC’s facility and hospitality. The food was delicious and bountiful, with one of their members cooking up the excellent smoked pulled pork.

Hyde Memorial Observatory is owned by the city of Lincoln and maintained by the Parks and Recreation Department. The facility is operated by volunteers who are available to answer questions about the night sky, explain how the equipment works and inter-pret special astronomical events. Equipment purchases, capital improvements and programs are funded solely by donations. The observatory was conceived in 1974 by a group of interested citi-zens led by Carroll Moore. It was made possible by a generous donation from Mrs. Leicaster Hyde in memory of her late husband,

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ST. LOUIS ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY Devoted to the Interest and Advancement

of the Science of Astronomy

THE EVENT HORIZON

Inside this issue: President’s Corner 2

ALCON 4

Gateway to the Stars 5

Nametags/NSN 6

Dark Skies! 7

Board Meetings 8-9

Volume 20, Issue 7 July, 2010

The Prairie Astronomy Club (PAC) of Lincoln, Ne-braska hosted the 2010 annual MSRAL Regional Con-vention this year on the campus of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. The event was held June 4th – June 6th with several members representing SLAS in

June was a great month for amateur astronomy. The Mid-States Region of the Astronomical League conference the first weekend of June in Lincoln, Nebraska was a big success. We can only look forward to the next meeting in Arkansas next year. The meeting in Lincoln had terrific speakers, a good program and some good participation from the St. Louis area. ALCON, be-lieve it or not, pretty much blew away the MSRAL conference! It was the same quality, just lots more of it! But then, it’s hard to beat it when the meet-ing is held in such an astronomy Mecca as Tuscon, AZ. The speakers were great, the tours of Kitt Peak Ob-servatory, Mt Lemmon, David Levy’s home and Observatory, Lunt Solar Factory and even the Mirror Lab at Ari-zona University were all amazing. I also stayed late and participated in a public night observing program at Kitt Peak. Fabulous sunset, good descrip-tions of the telescopes at the observa-tory and a worthwhile look through the 20” RC telescope in the dome at the visitors center. Too bad the Moon had to come up so soon! It’s not often you can see the Milky Way an hour after sunset! Talk to Steve Sands and Lee Paul about the Mt Lemmon tour and the Lunt Solar System tour. Talk to Jim and Ann Trull about the Steward Mirror Lab tour. You can talk to all of us about the tour of Kitt Peak Observa-tory. But the best tour was likely the tour of David Levy’s house and obser-vatory! I’ve never seen so many tele-scopes under a single roll off observa-tory! Talk to Steve, Lee or myself about that one. The other fun tour was walk-ing into the Stellar Vision shop. Yikes! I felt like Tim Allen walking into a Sears Hardware Store! TONS of telescopes! I bought a William Optics binoviewer with two eyepieces, but Jim Trull bought a Meade LX-200 10” ! (he had to have it shipped… they brought too much stuff to bring it home!) If you

President’s Corner by Jim Small

“The

Star-B-Q

has been

moved to

Saturday,

September

4th”

THE EVENT HORIZON

Volunteers are needed to help SLAS fulfill its mission

Thank you to those who submitted articles to use in this month’s Event Horizon. Please send articles and/or photographs to: newsletter at slasonline.org The deadline for articles is 5 pm the Friday after the Board Meetings.

need anything fixed or have equipment ques-tions, call Stellar Vision and ask for Frank. I was impressed by his knowledge of equip-ment in his store. Jim and Ann also did a scouting trip for next years ALCON at Bryce Canyon. Ask them about observing there!

See other articles in this month’s newsletter about MSRAL and ALCON.

The Star-B-Q has been moved to Saturday, September 4th. I’m looking forward to an-other fine event at Babler State Park. It was a great time last year and I can’t wait to enjoy the day with everyone on that weekend! Someone step up and take charge of clear skies for the evening!

We could still use a newsletter editor to as-semble the articles that people write to in-clude in the monthly Event Horizon. If you are interested, please contact me at newslet-ter at slasonline.org. We use Microsoft Pub-lisher to put it together and the templates are already in place. The program will be pro-vided to whomever decides to help put it to-gether. It is not necessary for the editor to do it all. In fact, different people can put together pages and send them to the editor to be placed in the program. For example, some-one can take charge in publisher and do just the events page. I hope to hear from you soon!

MSRAL a prominent Lincoln businessman and is supported to this day by contributions from organizations and individuals who love the stars. The observatory opened to the public in 1977 and has been in continuous operation ever since. On Saturday, all events were held in Morrill Hall on the campus of UNL. This building contains the state of Nebraska’s Natural History Museum and was a perfect venue for the event! In front of the museum stands a life-size statue of a bull elephant (that’s a lot of bull). Its extended foot was ideal for some creative photos! In between sessions participants were able to roam the floors and halls of the museum, exploring the exhibits. This building also houses a planetarium.

The lineup of speakers was fabulous: -Larry Stepp spoke on “A Brief History of Future Giant Telescopes”. Larry has hands-on involvement with many of today’s large observatories. -Dave Churilla presented “Why Do Outreach?” This is a topic near and dear to all astronomy clubs. YOU might be the one to light the flame of interest in a young person with a view of the moon or Saturn’s rings! - Erik Hubl presented “Working with Municipalities on Light Pollution” Erik provided his PowerPoint presentation to those who would like to give talks on this topic to other groups. -Rick Johnson presented “Imaging at minus 40F degrees”. Rick has an entertaining style to his presentation. He now lives up in Minnesota but does not let the frigid weather stop his imaging quests! He has made some significant discoveries with his facility which is an observatory attached to his home and remotely operated. -Dr. Peter Shultz gave an excellent presentation and demonstration entitled “Shooting the Moon: Results from the LCROSS Mission”. Dr. Shultz is a principal investigational scientist for that mission. A simulated lunar surface was set up and ob-jects dropped onto it, using various sizes of objects and velocities. These events were videotaped and shown in slow mo-tion so that attendees could see how features are formed. Additionally, Dr. Shultz presented find-ings from the LCROSS Mission. -Dave Knisely rounded off the day with his presentation “Observing the Sun in H-Alpha”. With the advent of reasonably priced hydrogen alpha filters and telescopes, solar observing is quickly becoming a popular activity with amateur astronomers. The increase in solar activity is also spur-ring interest.

On Saturday evening, a banquet was held at the Knolls Country Club with Rob Landis of the Johnson Space Center as the keynote speaker. His talk on “Human Missions to NEO’s” was infor-mative and well presented. The event continued on Sunday morning with the MSRAL business meeting and a planetarium show.

The dorm facilities were the best I have ever seen. They were modern, clean and well appointed. However, sharing a quad with Cook Feldman, Jim Small and Lee Paul will NOT be something that I’ll recover from or forget anytime soon. It was kind of a cross between “Animal House” and “The Odd Couple” (x2). Fortunately, no one fell off of the balcony or did anything requiring restitution to the university!

A round of applause and thanks go to the Lincoln group for their hard work and excellent event! Congratulations to them on celebrating their 50th anniversary this year!

If you have never attended a MSRAL convention, please consider going. I always look forward to meeting up with old friends, visiting new places and keeping current with astronomical activities. Next year’s event promises to be fun and a little different. It will be combined with a regional star party in Ar-kansas. Stay tuned for upcoming details.

(Continued from page 1)

“If you have never

attended a MSRAL

convention, please

consider going.”

VOLUME 20, ISSUE 7

Looking over the Hyde Observatory maintained by the Prairie Astronomy Club. Solar Observing and the Star-B-Q were the main event of the day.

VOLUME 20, ISSUE 7

request and gave a tour of his facility which he refers to as his temple. One can imagine being there during one of David’s many comet discover-ies!

On Friday Evening we headed up to Mount Lem-mon for a phenomenal program led by astronomer and astrophotographer Adam Block. After a brief lecture and dinner we headed out the the24” for some eyepiece time. The convention was held during a full moon, but we were still able to see many fascinating objects. Adam Block is a very dynamic speaker and incredible educator. I look forward to attending one of his 4 day astroimaging sessions in the future. I’d better start practicing sleep deprivation now.

On Saturday the meetings continued, along with Lunt’s solar viewing utilizing their state-of-the-art hydrogen alpha telescopes out on the Hilton patio. We also found some time to sneak out and visit both Starizona and Stellar Vision, two local astron-omy shops. Us Midwesterners don’t have the luxury of such places where we live! This is probably a GOOD thing! Stellar Vision is an ex-perience all to its own. When you walk into the 3,000 square foot showroom floor your geek me-ter hits its maximum reading!

The ALCON banquet was held on Saturday eve-ning. The speaker was Dr. Roger Angel , director of Steward Observatory Mirror Lab located on the University of Arizona campus. He spoke primarily on his startup company dealing with solar energy. I must say, that if there was a disappointing part to the entire trip, it was that Dr. Angel did not speak about the mirror lab or any of the huge mirrors currently being manufactured there. Additionally, there were no special tours of the lab, so most participants were not able to tour the facility. What a wasted opportunity!

On Sunday we attended a couple of interesting talks that were part of the IDA’s Annual General Meeting. Dr. Tyler Nordgren spoke on astronomy in national parks and offered autograph opportuni-ties for his recent book “Stars Above, Earth Below: Astronomy in the National Parks”. Lee Paul was the lucky recipient of IDA’s TeleVue giveaway. Anyone who renewed or joined IDA by June 7th was placed into a drawing for a set of 6 TeleVue Ethos eyepieces (6mm, 8mm, 10mm, 13mm, 17mm and 21mm), a $3,600 value!! Lee was in-formed of his winnings when we arrived at the Hilton hotel to register on Thursday evening. That was an excellent way to begin our trip!

We caught a flight out of “Tucson International Airport” on Sunday afternoon, but not before we went to the Lunt Solar Systems facility for a 10 a.m. tour. Andy Lunt himself, along with Rikki Hocking and Alan Traino gave us a detailed step by step narration of their manufacturing process.

ALCON 2010 And … ASC And… IDA AGM! Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

by Steve Sands

“WOW!” doesn’t quite do justice for describing our experience at ALCON held in Tucson, Arizona this year! This is the first ALCON I have ever attended. The draw for me was the location and occur-rence of simultaneous events. The International Dark Sky Associa-tion (IDA) held their annual general meeting and Lunt Solar Systems held their Arizona Solar Conference (ASC) at the same venue and time. This made for an extremely busy four days! It was a big job juggling to see all of the sessions we were interested in and to at-tend all of the cool events during the evenings.

To me, Tucson is THE astronomy utopia. With Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), Mount Lemmon SkyCenter operated by the University of Arizona, Mount Grahm, Mount Hopkins, Steward Ob-servatory Mirror Lab, David Levy’s Jarnac Observatory and two tele-scope shops what’s not to love?? Add to that the scenic beauty of Arizona’s Sonoran Desert and Saguaro Cacti and you’ve got your-self utopia.

Great speakers were plentiful at this triple conference. From pho-tography and imaging talks by Wally Pacholka, Adam Block and Dean Salman to a 50 year Celestron company summary by CEO Joseph Lupica, Jr. From Richard Schmude, Jr of A.L.P.O. speaking on recent Jupiter events (2007-2010) to Kelly Beatty of Sky & Tele-scope and David Eicher, editor-in-chief of Astronomy Magazine. From Andy Lunt and Gary Palmer speaking on solar telescopes/ imaging news to a luncheon with David H. Levy who spoke on Dis-covering a Relation Between Literature and the Night Sky. Whew! And this is but a mere sampling of the presentations!

And if sitting in presentations and looking through phenomenal hy-drogen alpha telescopes out on the patio all day didn’t satisfy your cravings, there was plenty of extracurricular activity:

A large room at the Hilton was designated the Vendor Area. I was impressed with the quantity and variety of vendors who set up tables for this conference. In our “spare” time during the event we would roam the vendor hall and take in all of the products set up for us to see and meet the vendors.

Thursday offered some time to visit Kitt Peak National Observatory which is approximately 45 miles southwest of Tucson. We took a tour of the 4 Meter Mayall telescope, the McMath Solar Telescope and roamed the grounds of the complex. Of course we were obli-gated to heat up our Visa Cards in the gift shop which was very well stocked with unique items! I should say WAS well stocked. Our little group contributed greatly to the KPNO economy!

On Thursday evening 40 of us headed out to David Levy’s home and Jarnac Observatory in Vail, AZ. It should actually be called Jar-nac OBSERVATORIES as he has Jarnac 1, Jarnac2, Jarnac 3, Jar-nac 4 AND Jarnac 5!! The weather did not cooperate, but we did get to take in Venus and Saturn. The main roll off roof building has so many scopes on the floor that it looks like a showroom at OPT. David and Wendee were gracious hosts. David signed books upon

VOLUME 20, ISSUE 7

SLAS Volunteers Work First Star Party for National Park System by Cook Feldman

June 23rd was the first of 3 stargazing events for the National Park Service and the Gateway Arch. I am sure that the others who volunteered for the event would agree with me that it was a huge success. As a rough estimate, I would say we easily had at a minimum 250 people come through that night .

I would like to thank Dan Duffy (and friend Cathy), Don Ficken, Rich Jennings, Abby Gordon (Rich’s granddaughter) and Grant Martin. Without individuals such as these we would never be able to handle an activity as large as this one.

We all met at the parking lot for the Old Cathedral around 7:15 and just stood around and chatted. We were also watching a band of clouds heading east. Based on what we were seeing, we were resolved that we would just be talking about the equipment and showing views of the St. Louis Skyline. Around 8:00 PM, we headed over to Memorial Drive and Chestnut to go through the identification checks and vehicle searches to gain entrance to the Arch grounds. Dan and Grant acted as our walkers, urging people to get out of the way of 3 reckless drivers driving at a break neck speed of 5 MPH.

We set up on the side of the Arch facing the river. By that time the Moon had already risen and was about 40 degrees. Rich had set up his 6 inch Dob, Abby her 4.5” Starblast, Don had his 13” Coulter, Grant set up an AstroScan (pointed at the win-dows in the Arch), Dan brought a nice pair of binoculars plus helping with crowd control and I had my 8” Dob.

We quickly unloaded and set up for fear of the clouds that were still moving towards us. As we were showing the visitors views of the Moon, the clouds to the west had started to dissipate. As the clouds thinned Venus appeared and was promptly our next target. We had a lot of exclamations at the views of Venus.

As the twilight progressed, I was able show views of Saturn as it cleared the south leg of the Arch. The views were good considering our location and the visitors were quite thankful for being able to see Saturn. I really don’t know what the others were showing at what point in time during the evening cause each of us had a constant flow of people and the lines were long. Abby, who is a veteran of the Francis Park event, was a bit overwhelmed by the sheer number of people that had showed up. She held up fine though and I think she really enjoyed herself. We finally packed it up around 10:15 and head home.

The next event for the National Park Service is scheduled for July 22 and the volunteer list filled up fast for this one. We can always use more help with this event, but unfortunately we are limited to 4 vehicles being allowed to drive on the Arch grounds. What this would mean is that car pooling or consolidating equipment into 4 vehicles would need to be done prior entering the Arch grounds. So don’t feel you can’t come out and participate, just be prepared to do some jockeying around. The last event for the summer at the Arch is scheduled for August 19, I would suggest to RSVP on Night Sky Network early.

Editors Note: Many thanks to Cook for acting as liaison for SLAS with the National Park Service. Be sure to let him know if you’re interested in volunteering for future events. Chances are good we might be doing this star party into the Fall.

The next time someone asks me “why do these solar telescopes cost so much??!”, I can fill them in on the details! The attention to detail is amazing and the specialized equipment and knowledge required is impressive. We bid adieu to our Lunt friends and exhaustedly headed towards the airport to catch our flight. I rarely sleep on flights, but this trip was an exception. In fact, I am STILL trying to catch up on sleep! That means it must have been FUN!

Upper right: Solar Observing at the pool.

Left: Vendor area

Right: Lee Paul wins the best door prize EVER!

VOLUME 20, ISSUE 7

Membership Nametags for the Meetings by Grant Martin Starting this month, members will have custom nametags available at all SLAS gatherings. Our first names will be in large type with our last names below. Up in the right hand corner will be text indicating when we joined SLAS (some folks have been members so long, their dates will probably be in Roman numerals). Underneath this will be several possible endorsements. These endorsements will indicate special achievements, volunteerism and other items of interest to the membership. All board and committee members will have special ribbons identifying their position within SLAS. There will be President, Board member, Committee and Speaker ribbons. Non members attending the general meeting or other special SLAS events will get special beige colored IDs which will help us identify them as possible new members. These nametags will serve a number of purposes. —First and foremost, they will help each of us identify who we’ve been associ-ating with all these years! —When we attend outreach events, we can be readily identified as SLAS members. —Board members can be readily identified for subsequent Tar and Feathering. —Guests and visitors can easily distinguish us from other guests and visitors. Special thanks go to membership committee head Don Fricken for initiating this program, preparing & assembling the tags and following through to com-pletion of the project.

Changing Your Night Sky Network User Name and Password 1. Go to www.slasonline.org and click on the calendar link. This takes you directly to the Night Sky Network Page for SLAS. Click on the login in the upper left corner. You may also go to http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/

2. Enter your login information. If you don’t know your pass-word, click on the “forgot password and username” link below the login. It will automatically be sent to your email address after you enter it. The email address entered is the address you provided for SLAS. If you don’t know what email was

used, contact the president or treasurer, both of us have lists.

3. To change your password to one you prefer, click on “my profile”

4. When the new screen comes up, click on either change username or change password. It’s preferred that the user name remain the same so it’s a recognizable name for membership lists.

5. That’s it! Happy access!

VOLUME 20, ISSUE 7

have never been able to see that in my 8" before, but I could see it last night.

Next, I moved down to Scorpio and found M4. It ap-peared similar in size to M13, but not as densely pack with stars. Moving to the northwest in Scorpio I found the small globular M80. It had an almost stellar core but a circular shape with a brightness that tapered off quickly towards the edges.

I moved back towards Antares and searched the area just preceding the star. There I found just at the limit of my telescope's reach NGC6144, another small cluster. I seemed to be getting more out of the night than I'm used to getting.

Leaving Scorpio I moved north into Ophiuchus. Along the southwest branch of the constellation I found M107. I saw it as about the size of M4, but less defined.

Moving further north into the Healer, I swept up first M12 with a sprinkle of resolved stars across it and then moved slightly east to M10.

By now the turn of the Earth had taken us past midnight. I swung the scope towards the border of Scorpio and Sagit-tarius, just east of Antares. I located M19, a reasonably bright globular. Using that as a base I swung a bit eastward and found NGC6293. Back to M19 I moved a similar dis-tance to find NGC6284. Both of these globulars were faint and small. I could make out a few stars over their faces, but that was about all.

About this time clouds appeared to the west and I thought the evening done. I packed up which solved the problem for everyone else, the clouds went away! I stayed a while longer finally leaving for home around 1:40 AM. It was a rare and great evening for this occasional observer.

Again Mark, thanks for organizing these monthly evens, good job. John B.

I think everyone had a good time Saturday. Clouds came and went quickly enough to allow continuous observing, transparency always rebounded. Incredibly there was no dew all night amazing for July. The at-mosphere was surprisingly steady all night providing clear views of Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, even Uranus and Neptune showed their disks. The ISS made an appearance and the Veil (east and west portions) was stunning in Jim Twellman's 16" with a OIII filter. In a re-enactment of the Civil War, the dob owners set on on the south edge of the lot and the coffee grind-ers on the north side. The battle waged all night as Messiers, Herschells and Caldwells were dispatched. In the end, victory was claimed by the North as 2 cof-fee grinders remained on the field until 4am when approaching clouds and twilight forced us to pack up and head home.

Decent Dark Skies in Missouri! Finally! by John Beaury and Mark Jones

Thanks to Mark Jones for a great evening on July 10 at Danville. You attracted a good crowd and some reasonably dark skies for the event. I enjoyed it. While my report on this event is a little lengthy, I hope others will share their experience with the group as well.

I haven't had much opportunity to get out to Danville in the past year and was not to sure about going last night. I'm glad I did. The clouds broke at sunset and except for the temporary late in the day heatwaves, the sky cleared nicely, until about midnight. Things got nicely dark. I was able to see dim things I usually have not been able to see in my 8" dob.

As the sunset I notice an atmospheric phenomenon I have never seen before. Just after sunset, through breaks in the horizon tree line I could see the Earth's shadow starting to climb into the sky. this wedge of darkness tapers upwards from points north and south of an observer to a increasing high point in the east, opposite the Sun's position below the western horizon.

I've seen this many times, but what caught my attention was a bright pink/red spire of light that interrupted the dark shadow down to the eastern horizon and upwards across the zenith and back towards the Sun's position. I have also seen Sun pillars reaching up from the Sun's position, but this was apparently an anti-reflection of sunlight off of atmospheric dust or moisture to the east. It gave an impressive display of color contrasts in the eastern sky. In the few minutes that twilight progressed, the Earth's shadow climbed higher the pink spire dimmed, and finally was consumed by the night. Great while it lasted.

I started the evening by picking up Venus early in the twilight. At this point the air still had a lot of heatwaves so the image was not as steady as I would have liked it, but I managed some decent im-ages of the near quarter phase of the planet at 150X.

I went to Mars as twilight wore on but at 1.8 AU it was just round and orange. There is not enough power capability in my 8" F4.5 to begin to show surface details. I moved on to Saturn.

Saturn was higher in the western sky and the sky was darker by this time. The air was much steadier and I was getting some great views of the ringed planet. I could make out the ring shadow and northern cloud belts on the planet's cloud tops. I spotted two possi-bly three moons preceding the planet. I bumped the power from 150X to 270X and the view was still a good one. At that power a little limb darkening gave Saturn almost a 3-dimensional appear-ance.

It was finally dark about 10:00 PM. The Milky Way stood out starkly from Cygnus southward to Sagittarius. The Great Rift plainly visible. Following my planet hopping I decided on a night of doing Globular Clusters. I started in Hercules with M13. In Dobson's Hole and right at zenith I had a bit of trouble aligning my scope and tracking the cluster. At 75X the view though was worth it. I was able to resolve a lot more stars than I can normally see in the object.

Just to the southeast of M13 is a nebulous galaxy NGC6207. I

VOLUME 20, ISSUE 7

SAINT LOUIS ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY - MINUTES OF BOARD MEETING - May 6, 2010

ATTENDING: John Beaury, Bill Breeden, Cook Feldman, Don Ficken, Ken Gianino, Rich Heuermann, Grant Martin, Joe McHugh, John Newcomer, David Ritchey, Annette Rolls, Jim Small, Jim Trull

I. Call to Order John called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m. The minutes of the April 8 meeting were approved as submitted.

II. President’s Report – John Newcomer John reported that he had been contacted about SLAS participating in the Sharing the Universe program. This group is surveying astronomy clubs regarding their outreach programs. They intend to compile the results as a guide to things that have worked and things that have not worked well in conducting outreach programs. This group may also want to hold some interviews. After brief discussion, the Board agreed that SLAS should participate as requested. There was a brief discussion about SLAS’s tax-free status. Don confirmed that the IRS Form 990-N has been filed as required, to maintain the Society’s tax ex-empt status.

III. Vice-President’s Report - This position is now vacant due to resignation. Regarding the schedule for speakers for upcoming meetings:

May– possibly Dr. Michael Bland on Ganymede and its ice-covered ocean. Else Rich can talk about “The Message of Starlight” June – Dr. Edward Guin-ness on the Geology of Mars September – Dr. Michael Friedlander on the archaeoastronomy of Cahokia’s Woodhenge

IV. Treasurer’s Report – Don Ficken No problems to report regarding the budget of the SLAS financial assets.

V. Secretary’s Report – Rich Heuermann Brad Jolliff, the April speaker, has been sent a letter of appreciation.

VI. Committee and Activity Reports A. Regarding Dialogs – John Beaury

John had circulated the Dialogs report of April activity by e-mail. The activity level for Dialogs was good. Joe asked whether an interactive site could be established with activities, pictures, and links to trigger information about them. Participants could view the content and comment on it. John B. explained that Dialogs does not have this capability, but there is the STL Astronomy Yahoo group that might be usable for this purpose. The question was also raised as to whether Word Press blogging software could be used to convert the slasonline.org site to an interactive format. Jim Small pointed out that he can assign sections of the site to whoever wishes to manage them. A manager would be needed. B. Membership and Hospitality - Annette Rolls There were no specific actions or activity to report. Membership levels continue to hold at or near 152. C. Newsletter, Library and Website Jim continues to serve as interim newsletter editor, while still managing the website and supervising the library. A permanent newsletter editor still needs to be found.

D. Observing Sessions and Other Events Upcoming events were noted. Bill reminded the Board of the Francis Park events scheduled for May 19 and June 16 at the location near Tamm and Itaska. Tele-scope operators are invited to assist. Cook reminded the Board that the MidStates Region of the Astronomical League (MSRAL) meets June 4. Registration should be done, if not already. The inex-pensive lodgings are limited in number. Jim Trull will attend ALCON in Tucson in June.

VII. Other Business A. Additional Activities 1. Saint Louis Science Center David Ritchey presented an overview of upcoming Science Center activities. June 4 will be Boy Scout Jamboree night. The regular first-Friday public telescope viewing sessions are planned to be held. SLSC will also participate in the Arch telescope viewing sessions, perhaps supplying a speaker. 2. Astronomy 101 May – Joe McHugh continues the Art and Astronomy series with a segment on Phoenicians and ancient Egyptians. 3. YMCA Astronomy/Observing Collaboration Don has maintained contact with the YMCA staff. They are now ready to meet with SLAS members to discuss schedules and specifics. That is the next step in the project for the Society to develop a training program for the Trout Lodge facility.

4. Collaboration with the Gateway Arch National Monument Plans are proceeding to hold public observing sessions at the Gateway Arch during this summer. The tentative schedule would be Thursday evenings June 24, July 22, and August 19, to get favorable Moon phases. Those who are able to operate telescopes will need to be registered with the Park service to gain vehicle access to the grounds.

5. Election slate Elections will occur at the May meeting. There are now two candidates for Treasurer, but none yet for Membership and Hospitality. Grant volunteered to run as Chair, if he could get help to handle the membership duties. He will cover the hospitality function. Don volunteered to be on the committee and to cover many of the membership duties. This slate will be printed in the May Event Horizon. Nominations can be made from the floor, as long as the nominee has consented. The slate so far: President: Jim Small Vice President: Rich Heuermann Treasurer: Brent Buch or Ken Gianino Secretary: Joe McHugh Membership & Hospitality: Grant Martin Board Member at Large: Jim Trull

6. Space Museum event June 26 in Bonne Terre, MO. SLAS will participate. A full day of speakers, exhibits, and vendor booth displays is planned.

7. Galileoscopes Grant and Rich have discussed a plan to use the G-scopes as part of a second phase of a Washington U. – St. Louis City schools – University City schools project to produce educator workshops and circulate an in-class materials and activities kit. The first phase is under development and should launch during the 2010-11 school year. The G-scopes would follow as part of a second phase of activities and materials. Jim Small volunteered to coordinate the educators’ workshop seg-ment. Joe McHugh suggested that PST kits could also be included in the project, perhaps in a future phase.

Added as an amendment, from June 10 Board meeting: Joe also suggested that hydrogen alpha filters be included for the G-scopes, to make safe solar observing easier. However, it was felt that the cost for purchasing either a PST or an H-alpha filter for each kit would be prohibitively high.

VIII. Next Meeting

The meeting was adjourned at 8:27 p.m. The next Board meeting is planned for Thursday, June 10, at 7 p.m., at Wired Coffee, 3860 South Lindbergh, near Watson and Lindbergh in Sunset Hills.

Respectfully Submitted,

Rich Heuermann, Secretary

VOLUME 20, ISSUE 7

SLAS Logo Merchandise! The SLAS store will be open at the next general meeting. There will be several SLAS logo'd items for sale at insanely reduced prices! Why are we doing this? Simple, we're overstocked and that means big savings for you! Swing by and pick up a deal or two or three - We don't care - We're craaaazzzzy!

SAINT LOUIS ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY MINUTES OF BOARD MEETING - June 10, 2010

ATTENDING: John Beaury, Bill Breeden, Brent Buch, Cook Feldman, Don Ficken, Rich Heuermann, Joe McHugh, John Newcomer, Jim Small, Jim Trull

Call to Order

John Newcomer called the meeting to order at 7:06 p.m. An amendment to the May minutes of item VII. 7. was requested and approved. The last sen-tence should be followed by: “Joe also suggested that hydrogen alpha filters be included for the G-scopes, to make safe solar observing easier. However, it was felt that the cost for purchasing either a PST or an H-alpha filter for each kit would be prohibitively high.” The minutes of the May 6 meeting were then approved as amended. The minutes for the May 21 members’ business meeting, which included election results, were approved as submitted.

II. President’s Report – John Newcomer John congratulated the incoming officers and thanked those leaving office for their service to SLAS. He also reported, from SLASBucks data, that 195 persons attended the May observing sessions, including two new volunteer telescope operators.

III. Vice-President’s Report - This position is vacant through June 18 due to resignation. Regarding the schedule for speakers for upcoming meetings:

June – Dr. Edward Guinness on the Geology of Mars July – Rich Heuer-mann will present a sampling of internet astronomy sites. Jim Small may add a short segment on astronomy applications for smart phones. September – Dr. Michael Friedlander on the archaeoastronomy of Cahokia’s Woodhenge (tentative)

IV. Treasurer’s Report – Don Ficken No problems to report regarding the budget of the SLAS financial assets.

V. Secretary’s Report – Rich Heuermann No items to report.

VI. Committee and Activity Reports

A. Regarding Dialogs – John Beaury John had circulated the Dialogs report of May activity by e-mail. The activity level for Dialogs was good; post-ings for the calendar year to date are above the average number for prior years. John raised the issue of the suitability of astronomy-related topics of political or philosophical nature. It was generally agreed that these topics should be acceptable, provided that there is an astronomy connection and that courtesy and civility are observed.

B. Membership and Hospitality - Annette Rolls Annette was unable to attend. Incoming Treasurer Brent Buch reported that there are currently 149 SLAS members. There was some discussion about the mechanism for joining the Society. It was noted that the Night Sky Network could be the starting point for joining, but it is not the ending point.

C. Newsletter, Library and Website Jim continues to serve as interim newsletter editor, while still managing the website and supervising the library. A permanent newsletter editor still needs to be found. Jim reported that there were 25,000 visits to the website in May.

D. Observing Sessions and Other Events Upcoming events were noted. Bill Breeden explained that the last Francis Park event held was in February, since March, April, and May were all clouded out. The next Francis Park event is scheduled for June 16 at the location near Tamm and Itaska. Telescope op-erators are invited to assist. Joe M. suggested that Bill be named as the Fran-cis Park observing coordinator. It was noted, with thanks to Bill, that he already is the coordinator in practice.

Cook reported that the June 4 meeting of the MidStates Region of the Astro-nomical League (MSRAL) went well. There was an excellent program of speakers and good viewing conditions. Cook also commented about the decision to hold ALCON on July 4, 2011 at Bryce National Park. That location actually conflicts with a 2004 resolution mandating a rotation of ALCON among the regions. The Astronomical League officers are considering the problem. Other MSRAL news items: There is a signifi-cant backlog in reviewing proposals for the various observing awards. There was only one nomination for Amateur Astronomer of the Year from the 20 member groups. There is a new MSRAL treasurer. Next year’s meeting will be in Arkansas. Organizers are trying for a collabora-tion with an annual regional star party to boost attendance. Jim Trull will attend ALCON in Tucson in June.

VII. Other Business A. Additional Activities

1. Saint Louis Science Center David Ritchey was unable to attend due to the premiere of the new OmniMax Hubble show. He sent thanks to the telescope operators who supported the June 4 Boy Scout Jamboree night. The next regular first-Friday public telescope viewing session is planned to be held July 2.

2. Astronomy 101 June – Rick Menendez will talk about how stars produce energy.

3. YMCA Astronomy/Observing Collaboration Don has maintained contact with the YMCA staff. A group of SLAS members will join Don and the YMCA staff for a planning session, to be held at Trout Lodge near Potosi on July 23. Jim Trull is compiling a list by month of objects for the YMCA staff to learn to use for their programs. Cook has some PowerPoint presentations for beginners that may be of use.

4. Collaboration with the Gateway Arch National Monument Plans are pro-ceeding to hold public observing sessions at the Gateway Arch during this summer. The first session has been moved up a day to June 23 to avoid con-flict with the Eagles concert at Busch Stadium. Other sessions are tentatively scheduled for Thursday evenings July 22 and August 19, to get favorable Moon phases. Those who are able to operate telescopes will need to be registered with the National Park Service to gain vehicle access to the grounds. Registra-tion may be done via the Night Sky Network; it must be done by June 11 for the June 23 event.

5. Donated star parties There was a discussion about the advisability of donating star parties to auctions and contests held by other not-for-profit or-ganizations. SLAS would benefit by increased visibility. There were concerns about liability and about honoring the commitment once made. It was pointed out that these concerns could be addressed by defining the terms of the dona-tion carefully. Liability would be the responsibility of the bidder, not SLAS. Location and dates would need to be by mutual agreement, with cloud-out date arrangements stipulated. Don commented that such donations should be se-lected so as to maximize visibility for SLAS. It was clear that a policy statement should be drawn up. Jim T. volunteered to draft one, which Cook could then review before presentation to the Board for comment and adoption.

6. Space Museum event June 26 in Bonne Terre, MO. SLAS will participate. A full day of speakers, exhibits, and vendor booth displays is planned. Rich will attend, representing Washington U. and the NASA Missouri Space Grant Con-sortium. He will have SLAS brochures available to attendees. Rick Menendez plans to attend; Rick will set up a PST for solar observing, weather permitting.

7. 2010-2011 Board meeting dates It was agreed, until future notice of change, that the monthly Board meetings would continue to be scheduled for Thursdays, 7 p.m., at Wired Coffee in Sunset Hills. Meetings would usually be the first Thursday of the month, unless that date is the first, second, or third of the month. In that case, the meeting would occur instead on the second Thurs-day, to give Board members time to compile reports for prior month activity. However, it was agreed that the next Board meeting would be on Wednesday, July 7, due to a schedule conflict for Jim Small. John N. will send by e-mail confirmation the planned schedule of meetings, July 2010 through June 2011.

VIII. Adjournment and Notice of Next Meeting The June meeting was ad-journed at 8:24 p.m. The next Board meeting is planned for Wednesday, July 7, at 7 p.m., at Wired Coffee, 3860 South Lindbergh, near Watson and Lindbergh in Sunset Hills.

Respectfully Submitted, Rich Heuermann, Secretary

THE EVENT HORIZON

Upcoming Star Parties and Other Events

SLAS Regular Meeting Date: Friday, 3/19/2010 Time: 7:30 PM - 9:00 PM Location: Room 162 McDonnell Hall, Washington University, Saint Louis, MO

For details on these and other upcoming events, check out the Night Sky Network Calendar linked on the Home Page for SLAS at http://www.slasonline.org

Observing 2010

Dark Sky Observing Dates (all are Saturdays)

Jul 10 Aug 14

Sep 4 (Star-B-Q Babler State Park note: date was changed)

Oct 9 Nov 6

2010 is a fairly bland year for astronomical events. Besides the usual planetary opposi-tions and meteor showers, only a few rare events occur. Of particular note will be the Par-tial Lunar eclipse on June 26 and the Total Lu-nar eclipse on Dec 21.

June 26 - Partial Lunar Eclipse. Start=4:20AM Alt=2deg Moonset=4:31AM

December 21 - Total Lunar Eclipse. start=12:34AM Alt=72deg Totality Start=1:41AM Alt=63deg Totality end=2:52AM Alt=50deg Eclipse End=3:59AM Alt=37deg

July 22, 2010 Thursday

Stargazing at the Arch (must have registered with Cook Feldman two weeks in advance)

August 19, 2010 Thursday

Stargazing at the Arch (must have registered with Cook Feldman two weeks in advance)

Future Francis Park Events: 8/18/10

9/15/10

10/13/10

11/10/10

12/15/10

Future SLSC Public Telescope Viewing Events 8/6/10

9/3/10

10/1/10

11/5/10

12/3/10

SLAS Executive Board Meetings August 12

September 9

SLAS Regular Meetings August 20 - Kelsi Singer - Icy Moons With Oceans

September 17 - Dr. Michael Freidlander Archeoastronomy - Woodhenge

SLAS Star-B-Q - September 4th at Babler State Park!

Future Star Parties

Oct. 14, 2010 Thursday Bristol Elementary

Oct. 19, 2010 Tuesday Daniel Boone Branch Library

LET US KNOW YOU ARE COMING! To RSVP for any of these events log in to the Night Sky Network and sub-mit your RSVP. If the event is canceled, you will be notified immediately according to the preferences you have selected. For more information about events, such as Moon phase, clear sky clock, weather report or a map of what’s up, see the calendar online.

VOLUME 20, ISSUE 7

SLAS OFFICERS President Jim Small 314-307-0692 president at slasonline.org

Vice President Rich Heuermann 314-962-9231 vicepresident at slasonline.org

Secretary Joe McHugh 314-363-8169 secretary at slasonline.org

Treasurer Brent Buch 636-225-0269 treasurer at slasonline.org

Hospitality Grant Martin 636-634-6607 hospitality at slasonline.org

Board Members at Large: Cook Feldman 314-984-0868 board11 at slasonline.org Bill Breeden 314-276-3613 board12 at slasonline.org

Jim Trull 314-842-6165 board13 at slasonline.org

ALCOR Astronomical League Representative Brent Buch

COMMITTEE CHAIRS Telescope Making Bill Davis, Jim Melka 314-469-3061 telescope at slasonline.org Membership Don Ficken 636-225-0269 membership at slasonline.org

Publicity—Rich Heuermann 314-962-9231 publicity at slasonline.org Dark Site Coordinator Mark Jones 636-394-2342 darksite at slasonline.org Observing Programs Mark Jones 636-394-2342 observing at slasonline.org Librarian Jim Small 314-909-7211 librarian at slasonline.org Loaner Scopes Linda and John Follis 636-583-3485 loaner at slasonine.org Merchandise Grant Martin 636-634-6607 merchandise at slasonline.org SLASdialogs Moderator John Beaury 314-965-9094 dialogsmoderator at yahoo.com Star Party Coordinator Mike Malolepszy 314-781-4701 vicepresident at slasonline.org Webmaster Jim Small 314-909-7211 webmaster at slasonline.org Newsletter Editor WE NEED A NEW EDITOR!! newsletter at slasonline.org

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Publications with discount available with your SLAS membership:

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(S&T may also be renewed at their website: http://www.skyandtelescope.com)

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ST. LOUIS ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY

Devoted to the Interest and Advancement of the Science of Astronomy

St. Louis Astronomical Society

Jim Small 13128 Cozyhill Drive St. Louis, MO 63122

Who We Are and What We Do St. Louis Astronomical Society is a not-for-profit organization established in 1936. SLAS is devoted to the interest and advancement of the science of astronomy. Our mission is to promote an understanding of the science of astronomy to our members and to the public. Membership is open to any-one with an interest in astronomy. For more information contact any SLAS officer or visit our website listed above. SLAS is affiliated with the Astronomical League, Night Sky Network and the Mid-States Region of the Astronomical League. Meetings are held the 3rd Friday of each month at McDonnell Hall at Washington University. See the map to the right for directions.

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the event horizon

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