MEETING NOTICE: The regular meeting of the BARNARD ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY will be held Thursday, February 14 th at Jones Observatory on Brainerd Rd . Refreshments and social hour begin at 7:00 p.m. The business meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. followed by the program at 8:30 .

PROGRAM: UTC Senior and Geology Major Emily Hassler will present a program on the topic, “Cassini-Huygens Mission to Titan.”

The Barnard STAR is the official publication of the Barnard Astronomical Society.

Planned Activities to Enjoy The Wonders of Astronomy—

“The joy of astronomy comes from finding your way around the starry sky and understanding what you see.” –The Editors, SKY AND TELESCOPE MAGAZINE

 

JANUARY REGULAR MEETING PROGRAM

Dr. Gary Caldwell gave a program on,”The Orion Starshoot II Autoimaging System.” Gary is a member of the Imaging Group at BAS, which also includes David Hanon, Victor Rogers, and Adam Krause.

Why does an amateur astronomer take photographs of objects in the sky? The general public misconception is that it is simply to have a picture to record and to enjoy what was seen.

In actuality, there are two much more complicated reasons: 1) To obtain a better image--For images that are generally too faint to be enjoyed with amateur telescopes, modern charge coupled device detectors (CCD's) and computer image processing software provide the sensitivity, through stacking of multiple time exposures, for amateurs to greatly intensify and improve their recorded images of celestial objects, and 2) To create art--As Gary pointed out, there is definitely an artistic challenge using the multitude of available detector/computer combinations to create an image that is “a thing of beauty.”

It became immediately apparent during this presentation that patience and time are two essential requirements for an aspiring astrophotographer. Beginning with the necessity of steadily tracking a fixed celestial object over a long period from our moving platform (earth) in order to obtain the necessary exposure time-- to the detailed manipulation of the software to create a final image, there can be hours invested by the photographer in producing just one image. This definitely has to be a labor of love!

Gary discussed some of the details of the Orion II System, such as the thermoelectric cooling system, the 752 X 582 array of pixels on the ½ inch color chip with a bare matrix (red-green-blue) over each pixel (initial images are heavily weighted toward blue-green, with stored images to be color-corrected later).

Gary also discussed some of the basics of good astrophotography for those persons who might not be familiar with the work of those persons in the BAS Imaging Group:

--Finding the sky fog limit by making a dark frame for that exposure.
--Finding the “cutoff time” (e.g. 1 minute or 2 minutes) where the sky glow (from city lights) spoils a time exposure.
--Minimizing “vignetting” around the edges of images.
--The use of filters.
--Recognizing false images on pixels from heating in the camera
--Obtaining better results by color-adjusting each frame before combining stacked images.

Comparisons were made among the Orion II and the Nikon D50 and DSI Pro stand-alone digital cameras and the Starshoot DSI II, as well as among various software brands such as Photoshop and Maxim DL.

Gary showed a series of actual images of sky objects such as the Flame Nebula and the Walking Man Nebula to illustrate various techniques for the amateur astrophotographer to manipulate the computer software to achieve various results.

Thank you, Gary , for giving the BAS audience a glimpse into astrophotography, this esoteric branch of amateur astronomy.

FEBRUARY REGULAR MEETING PROGRAM

At the Jones Observatory on Thursday, February 14, 2008 UTC Senior and Geology Major Emily Hassler will present a program on the topic, “Cassini-Huygens Mission to Titan.” This will be an extremely interesting interdisciplinary discussion of astronomy and geology (exo-geology) involving not only Titan (Saturn's largest moon) but also the rapidly growing body of knowledge concerning the geology of the planet Mars and of earth's moon.

BAS tries to present several programs of an interdisciplinary nature each year at its monthly meetings to broaden the knowledge of its members. MAKE PLANS TO ATTEND THIS UNUSUAL PRESENTATION!

Meeting Format

7:00 P.M. —Observatory Opens for Refreshments and Social
7:30 P.M. ---Business Meeting Begins
8:10 P.M. ---Break
8:30 P.M. ---Program Begins

LOOKING AHEAD

On Thursday, March 13th, a NASA video titled, ”STARGAZE--Hubble's View of The Universe” will be shown. STARGAZE comes direct from the Hubble Space Telescope with over an hour of the most incredible images of the universe that you will ever see. Captions and “out-of this-world” music from the music group “2002” accompany the visual images.

On Thursday, April 10th, there will be a field trip to the Astronomy Laboratory at the Cordell-Lorenz Observatory at the University of The South in Sewanee , TN. Car pools will depart from the Jones Observatory parking lot at 6:00 P.M. and return by 11:00 P.M. Dinner will be at Monteagle on the way.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO JOIN ONE OF THE SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS AT BAS?

If you would like to learn more about astrophotography, contact Dr. Gary Caldwell or Victor Rogers.

If radio astronomy might appeal to you, get in touch with Bill and Melinda Lord.

Many BAS members have ongoing activities either at their homes or at dark sky sites apart from the Jones Observatory scheduled monthly club meetings.

PRESTIGIOUS APPOINTMENT FOR BAS MEMBER DR. JOHN MANNONE

John was recently notified by the NASA Night Sky Network (NSN) that he is in a group of only 4-6 persons from across the entire United States who have been selected for the newly created NSN Planning and Advisory Team, "Sharing the Universe". John is to be commended for receiving this honor. It is much deserved because of his many efforts on behalf of NSN and BAS.

BAS OUTREACH TO NORTH GEORGIA

There will be an Astronomy Night in Dade County , Georgia on Saturday night, March 8th (near the new moon). This event is being organized by BAS members Joe D'Agostino and Dr. John Mannone. Volunteers are needed to bring telescopes to this special public star party. An indoor lecture by Dr. Mannone, including an update on the Cassini Mission to Saturn as well as a general discussion on astronomy topics, will be extended in case of inclement weather.

The indoor portion of the program will be held at Dade Middle School at 7:00 P.M. The outdoor star party will be held immediately following the indoor presentation and will be at 13257 Hwy 136 on Lookout Mountain (on the North side of Hwy.136, eight tenths of a mile East of the blinker light at the Hwy 189 intersection).

Directions: 

To Dade Middle School from downtown Chattanooga ;
Take I-24 West and then I-59 South to Exit 11 ( Trenton ). Turn right off of exit ramp to first traffic light. ( Pace Drive ). Turn right on Pace Drive . School is one-fourth mile on right.

To Dark Sky Observing Site near Cloudland Canyon State Park ;
Take I-24 West and then I-59 South to Exit 11 ( Trenton ). Turn left off of the exit ramp on Hwy 136 East. Travel to 2nd traffic light and turn right, and then to the 1st traffic light and turn left, staying on Hwy 136. Go up Lookout Mountain . On top, pass the entrance to Cloudland Canyon State Park . After traveling one-half mile, there will be a blinker light at the intersection of Hwy 136 and Hwy 189. The observing site for the star party is eight tenths of a mile beyond the blinker light. Watch for astronomy sign on left.

THE BASICS

Measuring the Universe

Because of the vastness of astronomical distances, scientists seldom use small units like kilometers to describe them. Instead, they have their own units:

Astronomical Unit (AU)

The average distance between the earth and sun—92,955,807 miles (149,597,871 km.). It is used to measure distances in the solar system, or inside other star systems. The most distant planet, Neptune , is approximately 30 AU away from Earth.

Light-Year

The distance that light travels in a vacuum in one year—approximately 5.88 trillion miles (9.46 trillion km.), or 63,240 AU. The nearest star system, Alpha Centauri, is 4.3 light-years away.

Parsec

Astronomers prefer parsecs to light-years. Parsec means “parallax-second,” and defines an object's apparent motion against the more distant stars as Earth moves in its orbit. One parsec is 3.26 light years, so Alpha Centauri is 1.3 parsecs away from Earth. For especially long distances, astronomers use kilo parsecs or mega parsecs (thousands or millions of parsecs).

(Source: STARDATE; A Publication of The University of Texas McDonald Observatory; January/February, 2008)

 

Large Hedron Collider Update

Geneva , 12 November 2007 . One of the most fragile detectors for the Large Hadron Collider beauty (LHCb) experiment has been successfully installed in its final position. LHCb is one of four large experiments at

CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC), expected to start up in 2008. For the LHCb collaboration, installing the Vertex Locator (VELO) detector into its final location in the underground experimental cavern at CERN has been a challenging task.

This milestone marks the fruition of the construction phase of the VELO project. “It was a very delicate operation”, said Paula Collins, LHCb-VELO project leader, “With its successful completion, the VELO is now in place and ready for physics.”

The VELO is a precise particle-tracking detector that surrounds the proton-proton collision point inside the LHCb experiment. At its heart are 84 half-moon shaped silicon sensors, each one connected to its electronics via a delicate system of more than 5000 bond wires. These sensors will be located very close to the collision point, where they will play a crucial role in detecting b quarks, to help in understanding tiny but crucial differences in the behavior of matter and antimatter.

The sensors are grouped in pairs to make a total of 42 modules, arranged in two halves around the beam line in the VELO vacuum tank. An aluminum sheet just 0.3 mm thick provides a shield between the silicon modules and the primary beam vacuum, with no more than 1 mm of leeway to the silicon modules. Custom-made bellows enable the VELO to retract from its normal position of just 5 mm from the beam line, to a distance of 35 mm. This flexibility is crucial during the commissioning of the beam as it travels around the 27-km ring of the LHC.

It would seem Leon Lederman's "God Particle" might be a few steps closer to discovery!

Good Seeing!

BAS members and astronomy friends, 

Here is advance notice of a star party that the Boy Scouts are requesting for this spring, in April 2008 at Camp Columbus . They will most likely ask for us to be there on Friday or Saturday night, April 11th or 12th. I will let everyone know later on when we have more details.

They usually have several hundred Boy Scouts at these Camporee events, so this is an opportunity to introduce a lot of young people to astronomy and the night sky. We gave them a very successful star party at their last Camp Columbus Camporee last winter, and it made a very good impression on them, and it is great that they want us back. I will send more details later on when they become available.

David Witt.

OFFICERS

President………………………………………...…. Tom Adkins
Vice-President…………………………………… Gary Caldwell
Secretary…………………………………....………Bill Seymour
Treasurer………………………………….…………. David Witt
STAR Editor…………………………….………….Steve Ramey
Webmaster………………………………...…………. Rod Ruch
Star Party Chairman………………………...……...Victor Rogers
Outreach Coordinator…………………....………...John Mannone

January Minutes

Vice-President Gary Caldwell called the meeting to order. Due to the absence of David Witt , a treasurer's report was not given.

Old Business

Several corrections/modifications need to be made to the BAS Web Site. John Mannone needs to be added as the Outreach Coordinator, ensuring that his name is spelled correctly. A web link to the NSN needs to be added. Also, the list of club officers needs to be updated. Victor Rogers and Gary Caldwell said that they will contact Webmaster Rod Ruch about these changes.

New Business

A NSN Telecon about Light Conservation will be held on Tuesday February 5th. A separate e-mail with the details is being forwarded via e-mail to BAS members on the global distribution list maintained by Victor Rogers. (Note: Keep the NSN e-mail addresses in your records so that you can follow their programs and activities nightskyinfo@astrosociety.org ; and nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov

Respectfully submitted.

REMINDER - Your annual BAS dues of are now due on the anniversary of your membership in accordance with the adopted amendment to the by-laws. The due date appears below your name on the address on the front of this newsletter. If your expiration date says “Overdue” or if you don't agree with the date shown, contact David Witt to resolve discrepancies. The current dues rates are as follows: REGULAR $15.00, REGULAR ASSOCIATE $7.00, JUNIOR $8.00, JUNIOR ASSOCIATE $5.00. Your Sky & Telescope or Astronomy subscription will continue to be handled as in the past. When you receive your subscription reminder card, submit it to:

David Witt
4503 Cove Lane
Chattanooga , TN 37415-2306

Along with the group subscription rate of $32.95 for Sky and Telescope, or $34.00 for Astronomy. Note the increased rate for Astronomy. This was effective July 31, 2005

 

DEADLINE - All articles and other materials for publication in the next STAR are due no later than Wednesday, March 5 th . The following media are acceptable: hard copy, disk (IBM), video tape (VHS), prints, or e-mail to bas@chattanooga.net or s tramey@catt.com and attach a file or mail to:

Steve Ramey
109 Sioux Trail
Ringgold GA 30736

PHOTOGRAPHS ARE ALSO ACCEPTABLE.

 

DIRECTIONS TO ORION ACRES

FROM NORTH HAMILTON COUNTY :

From 27 (corridor J) take hwy. 111 to Dunlap, continue through the Sequatchie Valley up the next mountain ( Cagle Mountain ). When you reach the summit about 5 miles turn LEFT onto hwy. 399 (sign reads 'to Savage Gulf State Park ' Stay on 399 until it ends, which will be in Grundy Co. Now make a LEFT onto hwy. 108 South. This goes thru Palmer TN. Continue on 108 up to a higher elevation. When this levels off, turn RIGHT onto Palmer Fire Tower Rd. This is a large open area with possibly trucks loaded with timber for the paper mills. Orion Acres will be on the RIGHT about 8 tenths mile.

 FROM INTERSTATE 24 (to Nashville ):

Go to the Dunlap/Whitwell exit (#155). This is hwy. 28. Exit right and keep on 28 for about 11 miles, passing Hardee's on your left. Continue through the stoplight and take the next LEFT on Hwy. 108 North. Continue another 11 or so miles. You will see ' Grundy County ' sign. Take the next left. This is Palmer Fire Tower Rd. Go 8 tenths of a mile and Orion Acres is on the RIGHT