May 2008
Greetings!
Well, Hidden Hollow 2008 was
wet - but a success! I'd like to thank everyone who helped make the event
such a success. Although we had rain - food, friends and fun
were in abundant supply - and what could be better?
Barb Hubal
Previous Editions of the M111:
M111 Fall 07
M111 Late Fall 07
The Northern Lights Come South
RAS welcomes some new members. Ken and Kathy Varian, of Delaware, Ohio, were so impressed when they visited us during Hidden Hollow 2008, that they decided to join up! We want to welcome them.
Are you ready for spring observing? I am! And what's best for observing? As Spring heralds the coming of warmer weather, the Realm of the Galaxies comes into view. As the winter Milky Way sets in the west, the obscuring clouds of dust and gas set with it, giving us a relatively unobstructed view into deepest space. Here we find some of the finest and most difficult objects in the sky: galaxies. Galaxies require special techniques such as averted vision and shaking the telescope tube, to coax detail out of them. Patience and practice will reward the persistent observer with details unseen by more casual observers.
The Spring Constellations are Böötes, Canes Venatici, Corona Borealis, Coma Berenices, Corvus, Draco, Hercules, Libra, Ursa Major, Ursa Minor and Virgo and Leo.
Böötes contains the NGC objects 5248, 5466, 5660, 5676 and 5689. It also contains Epsilon Böötes, a very pretty double star, although rather tough to split. The primary is golden, and the companion in blue. Xi Böötes is easier to split, and a very pretty yellow and red-orange pair.
Canes Venatici contains a number of Messiers and NGC objects. M3 is a pretty globular cluster and handles magnification rather well. M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy, is probably the finest example of a face on spiral galaxy in the northern hemisphere. M63, the Sunflower Galaxy, M94 and M106 are also viewable. Ngc 4631 and NGC 4656 are also viewable.
There is little quarry for deep sky observers with average size telescopes in Corona Borealis. But there is R Corona Borealis It is the prototype of its class of variable stars. Sometimes called a "nova in reverse," this star can stay at a maximum magnitude of about 6 for years, and then suddenly plunge to the 12th magnitude. It is believed that the star builds up a cloud of soot around itself, which absorbs its light. As the cloud is blown away or re-absorbed, the star once again brightens.
Coma Berenices - or Berenices Hair -is a very distinctive looking constellation. It contains the globular cluster M53. It also contains 7 galaxies: M64, M85, M88, M91, M98, M99 and M100. Corvus is a small southern constellation with only 11 stars visible to the naked eye (brighter than magnitude 5.5). It contains no Messier objects, but the center of Corvus is home to the planetary nebula NGC 4361. The nebula itself resembles a small elliptical galaxy, but the magnitude 13 center star gives away its true nature.
Draco belongs to the few constellations which really resemble the object they were named after. It's quite an extended constellation, and it looks like it encircles Ursa Minor. Epsilon Dra is a good double to be observed with scopes at a moderate magnification. An outstanding binary is nu Dra. The two white stars (an A6V and an A4m) have magnitudes of 4.88 and 4.87. They are a good object for binoculars. A really impressive triple system is 39 Dra. Field glasses show a wide double; in larger scopes a third star close to the brighter one occurs. Another attractive triple is 16-17. In binoculars two blue-white stars of 5th mag are revealed. Viewing with a telescope shows another star of 7th mag close to one of the first two. The planetary nebula NGC 6543, one of the brightest in the sky, is also located in Draco.
Hercules was a great warrior in Greek mythology. From the northern hemisphere he can be seen kneeling in the sky during Spring. Four bright stars form what is known as the Keystone. Hercules' arms and legs extend from this central square. It contains M13, M92 and NGC 6210. It also contains Alpha Herculis. It is an easily split double star, a beautiful red and gold pair.
The Romans invented Libra and gave it importance as a constellation. The Romans choose a scale because when the zodiac was still in its infancy, some four thousand years ago, the sun passed through this constellation at the autumnal equinox (September 21). That is, day and night were of equal length, and the day would begin to lengthen from that day on. It is located on the ecliptic between Virgo and Scorpius. In the middle of the constellation is one deep-sky object of note. It is NGC 5897, a globular cluster shining at magnitude 8.6. This globular cluster is a bit more diffuse than the well-known globulars and more irregularly shaped. There are no bright galaxies in Libra, but there is one that is fairly easy to find if you have a large telescope. It lies just half degree from the brightest star, Zubeneschamali, and in the direction of the next brightest star, Zubenelgenubi. This galaxy is NGC 5885, an 11.7-magnitude barred spiral galaxy.
Ursa Major, of course, is often known for its asterism - the big dipper. Ursa Minor is often known as the Little Dipper. Of interest in the Big Dipper is Mizor and Alcor, or actually Mizor-A, Mizor-B and Alcor. The Little Dipper contains Polaris, our current Pole Star. Leo is fairly easy to find in the spring. Just follow Ursa Majors pointer stars in the opposite direction as you would when you are trying to find Polaris. They point right to Leo. Leo contains the double stars alpha Leo, beta Leo, tau Leo. It also contains the binaries gamma Leo, omega Leo, 54 Leo, a 7704 , the optical triple star zeta Leo, the variable star R Leo and the galaxies M65, M66, M95, M96, M105 and NGC 3628.
Virgo is the 2nd-largest constellation in the sky; only Draco is larger. It contains the bright star Spica. It contains the binary gamma Vir, the double stars theta Vir and tau Vir, the variable star S Vir, the supernova SN1997X and the following galaxies: spirals M58, M61, M90, M104 and elipticals M49, M59, M60, M84, M86, M87 and M89.
Now that you've read about the wealth of observing targets, go explore!
Well folks, Hidden Hollow 2008 was held the weekend of May 2-4th, and it was both watery and wonderful! Between the clouds & rain, there was only a limited amount of observing, but we made the best of it, getting a bit of viewing during both evenings. We also had some great speakers. Mike Abrams gave a great presentation about the trials & tribulations of building his dobsonian telescope. Mike Unsold gave a presentation on digital astro-imaging processing (using ImagesPlus, a great piece of software). Barbara Hubal's talk on "The Evolution of the Dob" was educational, and inspired some interesting conversation on "old" dobsonians with Ron Ravenberg and Ken Hubal. Phil Creed grave a terrific presentation on the weather and observing - especially the effects of haze. Ken Hubal also held a make-and-take solar filter workshop.
Phil was also in the center of ASTRONOMY BOWL!. Phil was the host of the astronomical trivia game, and while participants were a bit gun-shy at first, they soon loosened-up and had a ball. The contest was held in two segments, a qualifying round, and the final round. The winning team was Tammy Plotner & Victor DeCristoforo. Kudos to ALL of you who participated in the game!
And the door prizes...they were just awesome! Our vendors and many donors were very generous this year, as was everyone who purchased door prize tickets. Thanks to their generosity, Hidden Hollow was a financial success.
As both a worker & a participant in the fun of Hidden Hollow, I would like to give special thanks to a number of people who made Hidden Hollow the great success that it was.
First and foremost, I would like to thank Tammy Plotner, who has been a prime mover in planning for the event, and a tireless worker during the event. I'd like to also thank our speakers - Mike Abrams, Mike Unsold, myself (blush, blush), and Phil Creed. Special Kudos to Phil, who prepared the astronomy bowl event, and also pinch-hit by speaking in place of Tom Whiting, who was ill and could not attend HH08. I'd like to also thank Ken Hubal for helping to acquire some of our door prizes, and also ran our solar filter workshop.
Also important were the folks who physically helped run HH08, especially with setting-up and tearing-down. Included in these fine folk are Tammy, Barb & Ken Hubal, Terry McQuistion, John Boggs, Dan Everly, Charlie Cotterman, Keith Moore, John Neuman, Dan Wade, and Dave Hartsel.
And what would HH be without the door prize donors & vendors? Thanks to all of you!
TeleView, Oberwerk, TAURUS Technologies, Dan Holden, Camera Concepts & Telescope Solutions, 20/20 Telescopes & Binoculars, Dan Hodges, OPT, Ken Hubal. If I've missed anyone, please forgive me, and let me know - I'll amend the article.
And remember North Star Concessions - the purveyor of provisions! Many thanks to them for feeding us.
by Charlie Cotterman The Last Saturday night of March 2008. The NCAA is down to the Final Four. Opening Day for the Reds is Monday. And it's Messier Marathon night for the Richland Astronomical Society. It'd been awhile since I went somewhere to have a little fun, so me'n'little gold Chebby headed north for a night of starlight and skyglow. A scout troop was at the Warren Rupp Observatory for a Solar System show'n'tell -- they just didn't know it would be done by candlelight. Earth Hour was being celebrated, and tea candles were scattered all over (luckily, a couple of LED flashlights were pressed into service as impromptu spotlights). After the scouts were done, we were all sitting in the clubhouse, warming up a bit wit sloppy joes and tater tots (that there President Tammy lady sure do cook good). The door opened, a head poked in, and we were told that we REALLY ought to come outside. To the south, there were faint spikes shooting from the horizon. Depending on how good your eyes, they were either plainly obvious or they were "Where? I don't see them." I was in the latter category until the 9x63 binoculars came out. By now, it was reaching for 11 pm. Other phenomena began making themselves noticeable. Bands resembling parallel contrails would appear, fade, and then come back. More bands appeared in various parts of the sky -- at one time sets were running north-south above both the eastern and western horizons. The west set cut right across Orion's shoulders, and would pulse. While viewing these through binos, a pulse raced across them, drawing the comment that "...a radioactive mosquito just went by...". Around the edges of the sky, aurora built steadily, until we had lights solid around over 180 degrees of horizon, and in places banding from horizon to horizon overhead. There were solid bands, and wispy ones resembling horsetail cirrus clouds. I had to keep reminding myself that these weren't clouds -- the stars shone through them easily with no halos around the stars. Occasionally, tinges of color showed. Generally things were a grayish-blue, but red and green would pop out in places for a minute. Over the years in various places (Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota), I've seen aurora in red, blue, white, and green, ranging from spikes like a spotlight to silk curtains rippling across the sky. Only once before have I seen aurora this far south, and NEVER with coverage of the sky as this night. The only bad thing was that no one had a camera that would take some short time exposures. I have no physical evidence -- you'll just have to take my word for it about that night's stunning beauty of the sky. NOTE -- this item has been submitted to the MVAS and RAS newsletters, and posted on a couple of web boards frequented by the author.
How many of you folks know anything about the history of the mirror that our Big Blue Beast (the 31" mirror) contains? Not really? Well, yours truly has done a bit of historical research and has tracked down some interesting information. Let me tell you...
It all started with Norm Oberle in the late 1960s. Remember the times: a HUGE amateur telescope was maybe a 6-inch, f/8 Newtonian reflector - on a German equatorial mount, or possibly a home-made pipe-joint mount. Ever hear of a pipe-joint mount? Well, that's what they had - this was pre-Dobsonian. And before the age of thin mirrors. That meant mirrors were "full thickness" (1:6 ratio - for a 6" mirror, the mirror would be 1" at the edges). Thick and, consequently, very heavy. And usually they were ground and polished by the amateur astronomer - not store-bought.
Norm wanted to get large-aperture scopes in the hands of amateurs - especially ones who would provide public outreach. Around 1968 Norm Oberle managed to obtain a few mirror blanks from General Electric. They were test blanks for the McMath Solar Telescope at Kitt Peak. They were rejected for imperfections in the casting and ended up in the backyard of amateur astronomer Norm Oberle. One mirror was 25-inches in diameter; another was 44-inches; the third was 31-inchs (yep, that one's our mirror). The two big mirrors, at least, were made from fused silica.
What happened to those mirrors? Well, the 31-inch mirror was ground and polished by Norm (approximately 2,000 hours of work) and his friend Jim Thomas. It was initially intended to be in a telescope located at the old Lake Erie Astronomical Project (LEAP) on New London Eastern Road in Median County. But that was not to be. Instead, it eventually ended up at the Warren Rupp Observatory.
What happened to the other two? Well, the 25-inch mirror was also ground by Norm. Norm built a telescope around it. Eventually his widow donated it to the Geauga Parks System, who had to use a crane to remove it from Norm's observatory in North Royalton. The telescope is currently being refurbished; it will eventually be placed in a new Nature Center in Huntsburg, Ohio.
Most people have occasionally wondered what happened to the larger mirror. Some have speculated that it might have been left at the old LEAP site. No one seemed to know...so I checked out the internet. I checked the internet for any reference to "Norm Oberle" and bingo! There it was.
Norm's 44-inch quartz mirror blank (a 900 lb behemoth) was purchased by the Spectrashift Extrasolar Planet Search Project in 2003. Spectrashift.com is a collaborative effort of amateur astronomers from around the world. Their goal is to construct a 1.1 meter telescope and spectrograph to discover extrasolar planets using radial velocities.
For thirty years the 44-inch mirror had waited to be Norm's retirement project; sadly, he died of cancer before he could start it. Spectrashift intends to turn Norm's "retirement project" into a fast Cassegrain telescope (an f/2). As of last November the mirror had been ground and polished.. The secondary mirror and corrector lenses were ordered from Tucson Optical Research and were to have been received in January of this year.
The final elescope design is for a 1.1 meter F8 telescope on an alt/az style mount, with the entire telescope rotating on the base. There will be three moving axes, two for altitude and azimuth and a third to rotate the instrument package to maintain star alignment. Total height will be just under twelve feet and its estimated to weigh almost two tons.
Optically there will be the F2 primary feeding a 10" diameter spherical secondary, then through two corrector lenses to the instruments. The design on paper is diffraction limited across the CCD's field of view. The system will be fully automated using a combination of ASCOM compliant software, Labview and scripting. The telescope's primary job will be spectroscopy with imaging as a secondary goal. Hence the design has been optimized with this in mind.
As of Feb 2008, the group had received a commitment for full funding of the observatory to house the 1.1 meter. It will consist of an 18' Ash dome and attached instrumentation room. Construction is to begin this September.
Information about the 44-inch telescope was found at
http://www.spectrashift.com/.
Information about the 25-inch mirror was acquired from Dan Rothstein, of the
Chagrin Valley Astronomical Society, who is currently working with the Geauga
Parks System on the telescope project.
It was a
beautiful spring-like day, singing birds, peeping frogs, clear blue sky, and
sun shine. The not yet full moon on the rise, and a temperature of 66 degrees.
My large 16 inch Meade telescope, named "KITT", had been having problems with
her mount, ever since I got her in 2005. These problems have gotten so bad, I
can no longer use her and feel comfortable. After a few calls and a couple of
e-mails to my friends (of whom I will only list as "ASTRO GEEKS" ) we gathered
around 6:30 pm, just a little south of Galion, and put our heads together on the
problem. It will take some more time to get the problem solved, but we are on
the way to getting it accomplished. It was a work night, so not everyone stayed
late. The sky hazed and the moon became encircled in a perfect ring, you know
the one that promises rain. The temperature had dropped to 54 and the wind was
picking up. The
fire-pit was warm as we sat around cooking hot-dogs, as astronomers often do,
just waiting on a sign. The constellations were still there with us, Saturn in
Leo, Mars in Gemini. Then at 1:36 am it appeared! A huge giant green flash,
irregular in shape, with yellow on top, exploded twice and lit a trail at least
40 degrees long. It started in Saturn and continued clear down below the
horizon. A "BOLIDE" - Greek for missile, common name fire-ball. WOW! That's
astronomy my friends, never really knowing what the night holds, just loving
what it provides.
Thanks ~ all of you.
Kim Balliett
last update: 6-May-2008 by BDH