MEETING NOTICE :

The regular meeting of the BARNARD ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY will be held Thursday, May 10th at Jones Observatory on Brainerd Rd. The business meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. followed by the program at 8:30. Refreshments will be served.

PROGRAM:

“My Visit to The Great Meteor Crater in Arizona.” Presented by BAS Member Robert Coulter.

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

OFFICERS

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

April Minutes

The April meeting of the Barnard Astronomical Society (BAS) was called to order by president Tom Adkins at 7:58 PM. There were 12 members present. The minutes of the March meeting were read and accepted as read.

Treasurer's Report

As of March 30 the Society has $573.07 in the checking account. The only outstanding debt is the annual fee to the Tennessee Department of Revenue for our non-profit status corporate charter.

Old Business

Soddy Daisy Star Party: So far there has been no response to notes sent inquiring about the spring star party for the elementary school (new principal). If there is one it will probably be in May.

Astronomy sessions for the school system: Jack Pitkin is very enthusiastic about setting up some nights other than Sunday Evenings for the school system at the Jones Observatory. This would necessitate the participation of the BAS to help with programs, viewing, etc.

Appointment of nominating committee:

George Bell
Steve Ramey
Bruce Coulter

Winners of the BAS Award at the Science Fair: Announced in the April Star. David Trayer was one of the Judges determining the recipients of the BAS award.

New Business

George Bell announced the Radio Astronomy Star party at Greenbank, W.V. One of the speakers will be our very own David McAllister.

There was some discussion of whether or not to continue the book raffle or just set a price on the items. The general consensus was to continue the raffle.

The Rhyme N' Chat event at the John A. Patten center in Tiftonia was a success. The BAS had five telescopes there and there were about 25-30 members of the poetry group there. They presented their original poetry about things celestial against a backdrop of projected images of nebulas, star clusters and other celestial objects. A large number of the attendees viewed through the telescopes and were very enthusiastic.

Program :

Our Trip to Lowell Observatory by Robert Bruce Coulter. Bruce will present the second part, a trip to Meteor Crater at the May meeting.

Bruce presented a video journal of the trip highlighting the telescopes used by Percival Lowell and others. The blink comparator used to discover Pluto was demonstrated. He stated there seem to be a great deal of concern about lightening during his tour as the guide hurried them through the domes that were relatively high. Apparently most of the observing is done from a remote site and the facilities are mostly offices and workshops now.

A very interesting tour. Thank uou Bruce. Looking forward to Meteor Crater.

Respectfully submitted
Gary Caldwell, Secretary

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, June 6th. The following media are acceptable: hard copy, disk (IBM), video tape (VHS), prints, or e-mail to bas@chattanooga.net or stramey@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

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

May Program

Thursday, May 10, 2007 at The Jones Observatory; 7:30 P.M. –Business Meeting and Social. Refreshments will be served. 8:30 P.M. –Program: “My Visit to The Great Meteor Crater in Arizona.” Presented by BAS Member Robert Coulter. A very interesting video will be shown.

Looking Ahead

Thursday, June 14, 2007. “My Experiences While Working in The Space Shuttle Program.” Presented by BAS Member Kevin Richardson. Slides will be shown.

Thursday, July 12, 2007. “Science in Science Fiction.” Presented by BAS Member Tom Adkins.

BAS Asserts National Presence in the NASA/JPL Night Sky Network Outreach

by John C. Mannone

Thanks to BAS efforts, us “little guys” are making a big impression in astronomy outreach. Though I have aggressively pursued logging NSN events, much of our success is because of you all who continue to bring about creative programs, support outreach activities, make visitors feel welcomed, and teach them that astronomy is fun as well as educational.

Because of our club’s enthusiasm and diligence, we have won two quarterly drawings, participated in the formation of an NSN kit on cosmic explosions, achieved a distinguished standing with NSN in logging numerous events (in the top ten in the nation). And all of this in the relatively short time we have been NSN members.

NSN kindly posted a nice note on the Featured News. I’ll quote part of it here:

“Congratulations to the dedicated clubs who won the quarterly award this month! These five clubs [Barnard Astronomical Society, Clemson Area Amateur Astronomers, The Santa Barbara Astronomical Unit, Warren Rupp Observatory, and Westminster Astronomical Society, Inc.] will each receive a copy of The Universe at Your Fingertips, an activity-filled book with lots of ideas for teaching astronomy in the classroom. It has dozens of fun, hands-on activities designed for use in the schools. Hear about all of the outreach that these clubs did to earn these well-deserved prizes.

The Barnard Astronomical Society in Tennessee had a Wilderness Astronomy Night in February. The Chattanooga Hiking Club was treated to a tour of the their observatory and a lecture by poet/physicist John Mannone. He spoke on astronomy basics, celestial navigation and folklore, including a piece on astronomy's importance in the Underground Railroad: ‘This was a system of safe houses to help runaway slaves get to freedom. Through a memorized song, Follow The Drinking Gourd, they would use the clues to enable their escape to the north. The Drinking Gourd is from an African asterism that we call The Big Dipper, which we know whose two dipper stars point to Polaris. I thought this to be a relevant anecdote since February was Black History Month.’

We salute all of your ongoing efforts to bring astronomy to wider audiences.”

For your enjoyment, I have reproduced the anecdotal section of the winning log. (Receiving positive feedback from BAS membership is always a welcomed thing. (There are so many of you that I have not heard from. My desire is to teach and to entertain. Therefore, your feedback is important to me and to the program.)

NSN Event Log Monday February 5, 2007

Chattanooga Hiking Club: Wilderness Astronomy

In yet another successful joint venture, BAS hosted the Chattanooga Hiking Club at the Clarence T. Jones Observatory. One of our members, David Witt, treasurer for BAS, is also a member of that club; he had organized this “hospitality” meeting.

After their short business meeting, a standing room only crowd of around 60 nature lovers (maybe more) were treated to a facilities tour and planetarium program by UTC's Jack Pitkins.

As I set up my equipment for the lecture, I reflected on my hour drive south to Chattanooga. The skies were mostly clear with high, scattered stratus with Venus gleaming in the western twilight. But the celestial curtains were drawn by the time it darkened. The only stars the hikers were going to see tonight would be the kinetic illusions of "distant" city lights. Nevertheless, my lecture on Wilderness Astronomy got them excited about celestial things.

The 45-minute lecture took them through astronomy basics and topics such as celestial navigation, chart making, folklore and more.

For example, we discussed the challenges that Odysseus (Hollywood's Sinbad the Sailor) had faced in Homer's The Odyssey, in particular, the celestial navigation directions (Malta to Ithaca) that were given to him by the goddess Calypso in a time where there was no pole star, no northerly bearing fix. This was contrasted with more modern times with Polaris providing a northerly fix. The charting of the St. Lawrence River by James Cook and the explorations of Lewis & Clark, as tasked by President Jefferson, showed the importance of wilderness astronomy.

Also, a fascinating piece of folklore concerns the covert activities of the Underground Railroad. This was a system of safe houses to help runaway slaves get to freedom. Through a memorized song, Follow The Drinking Gourd, they would use the clues to enable their escape to the north. I posted the 20-line song and we read parts of it with fascination (I wish I knew the tune). "The Drinking Gourd" is from an African asterism that we call "The Big Dipper," which we know whose two dipper stars point to Polaris. I thought this to be a relevant anecdote since February is Black History Month.

I was encouraged to have seen a fellow poet in the audience from Rhyme N Chatt and was flattered by David's introduction of me as a poet (as well as a Professor of Physics). And as had been hoped, I delivered one newly written poem fitting for wilderness skies- the ones that were once free from light pollution.

Of course, the Night Sky Network and all its good work were promoted during the lecture.

Gravity Probe B Update

Gravity Probe B the orbiting observatory devoted to testing the general theory of relativity, has measured the geodetic effect-the warping of spacetime in the vicinity of and caused by Earth-with a precision of 1%. The basic approach to studying this subtle effect is to monitor the precession of gyroscopes onboard the craft in a polar orbit around the Earth. The observed precession rate, 6.6 arc-seconds per year, is close to that predicted by general relativity.

The geodetic effect can be measured in several ways, including the use of clocks, the deflection of light, and the perturbative influence of massive bodies on nearby gyroscopes. GP-B is of the latter type, and its current precision is as good as or better than previous measurements. And once certain unanticipated torques on the gyroscopes are better understood, GP-B scientists expect the precision of their geodetic measurement to improve to a level of 0.01%. These first GP-B results were reported at the APS meeting by Francis Everitt (Stanford).

The idea for using gyroscopes to observe the warping of spacetime was proposed almost 50 years ago, and Everitt has been an active proponent and then scientific overseer of the project for much of that subsequent time. A second major goal of GP-B is to measure frame dragging, a phenomenon which arises from the fact that space is, in the context of general relativity, a viscous fluid rather than the rigid scaffolding Isaac Newton took it to be. When the Earth rotates it partly takes spacetime around with it, and this imposes an additional torque on the gyroscopes.

Thus an extra precession, perpendicular to and 170 times weaker than for the geodetic effect, should be observed. Everitt said that GP-B saw “glimpses” of frame dragging in this early analysis of the data and expects to report an actual detection with a precision at the 1% level by the time of the final presentation of the data, now scheduled for December 2007. (An indirect measurement of frame dragging at the 10-15% uncertainty level was made earlier by the LAGEOS satellite.) Some of the GP-B equipment is unprecedented.

The onboard telescope used to orient the gyroscopes (by sighting toward a specific star) provided a star-tracking ability better by a factor of 1000 than previous telescopes. The gyroscopes themselves-four of them for redundancy-are the most nearly spherical things ever made: The ping-pong-ball-sized objects are out of round by no more than 10 nm. They are electrostatically held in a small case, spun up to speeds of 4000 rpm by puffs of gas. The gas is then removed, creating a vacuum of 10^-12 torr. Covered with niobium and reposing at a temperature of a few Kelvin, the balls are rotating superconductors, and as such they develop a tiny magnetic signature which can be read out to fix the sphere’s instantaneous orientation.

Good Seeing!