San Diego
Astronomy Association
Celebrating Over 50 Years of Astronomical Outreach
October 2015
http://www.sdaa.org
A Non-Profit Educational Association
P.O. Box 23215, San Diego, CA 92193-3215
Annual SDAA Picnic
Saturday, October 10th
Next SDAA Business Meeting
October 13th at 7:00pm
3838 Camino del Rio North
Suite 300
San Diego, CA 92108
Next Program Meeting
October 21, 2015 at 7:00pm
Mission Trails Regional Park
Visitor and Interpretive Center
1 Father Junipero Serra Trail
CONTENTS
October 2015, Vol LIII, Issue 10
Published Monthly by the
San Diego Astronomy Association
Incorporated in California in 1963
SDAA Fall BBQ........................1
TDS Schedule...............2
P r o g r a m M e e t i n g. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Tr e a s u r e r N e e d e d . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
S e p t e m b e r M i nu t e s. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Paso Picacho Campg round.........5
S e p t e m b e r C a l e n d a r. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
S DA A C o n t a c t s. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Space Place Par tners Ar ticle....10
Fo r S a l e. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1
A s t r o n o m y C a r t o o n s. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2
Newsletter Deadline
The deadline to submit articles
for publication is the
15th of each month.
Members and guests are invited to our annual picnic on Saturday, October 10th.
Master Chef Dave Woods will be cooking chicken strips, bratwurst, hamburgers,
vegi-burgers and beans. The club will also be providing condiments, potato salad,
cookies and chips. Feel free to bring a side dish or dessert to share. Come for
food and friends; stay for the stars. The events for the day are
•
•
•
•
2:00 pm: Solar viewing starts, bring your scope
3:30 and 4:30 pm: Tours of TDS led by Kin Searcy
4:00 pm: BBQ served
5:30 pm: Member training on using the Lipp Observatory by Jim
Traweek
We encourage all members to get trained on using the 22-inch Lipp telescope.
This is your opportunity. It is SDAA’s premier instrument, which has been
optically and mechanically refurbished over the past couple of years.
San Diego Astronomy Association
2015 TDS SCHEDULE
DATE
OCT. 3
10
NOV. 7
14
DEC. 5
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MOON DATA
R-11:20p 65%
S- 5:15p 6%
R- 3:22a 2%
S- 7:27p 7%
R- 2:07a 30%
S- 6:15p 1%
SUNSET
6:26p Public
6:17p
4:49p Public ST
4:44p
4:38p Public
4:40p
October Program Meeting
Date: October 21, 2015
Speaker: TBD
Topic: TBD
San Diego Astronomy Association (SDAA) sponsors speakers on a wide range of astronomy topics on the third Wednesday
of every month at the Mission Trails Regional Park Visitors Center. The program meeting begins at 7pm. Each attendee receives
one free door prize ticket. After announcements and a small amount of business, the audience is treated to the featured presentation. At the close of the meeting the door prizes are presented. The event is open to the public. The Mission Trails Regional Park
Visitors Center is at One Fr. Junipero Serra Trail, San Diego CA 92119. Call the park at 619-668-3281 for more information or
visit http://www.mtrp.org.
SDAA Needs You!
The nominating committee is seeking a Treasurer. This volunteer with take helm at a tansformative time. The SDAA is
evaluating moving to a Web-based membership and accounting system. This new more modern system will take considerably
less time for our next Treasurer. Experience with Quickbooks or book keeping is highly desirable. We will provide all needed
training. If interested, please contact Mike Chasin at president@sdaa.org by October 10th.
Notice
Combo to TDS will be
changing in November.
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San Diego Astronomy Association
San Diego Astronomy Association (SDAA) Board of Directors
Monthly Business Meeting Minutes - September 8, 2015
Unapproved and Subject to Revision
1. Call to order.
The meeting was called to order at 7pm with the following board members in attendance: Mike Chasin, President; Greg Farrell, Vice
President; Nick Andrews, Corresponding Secretary; Dave Decker, Director; Dave Wood, Director; Brian McFarland, Director;
Michael Vander Vorst, Director; and SDAA members Kin Searcy, John Ailshire, Jerry Hilburn, and Ben Grunbaum.
2. Approval of Last Meeting Minutes. Minutes of the July meeting approved (no August meeting).
3. Priority/Member Business.
4. Approval of Treasurer's and Membership Report
Treasurer’s report accepted.
5. Standard Reports:
Quackenbush
a. Site Maintenance
Need to determine locations for East and South gates before barbed wire can be strung.
b. Observatory
Nothing to report.
Traweek.
c. Private Pads
Smith
We leased one pad (17) but I believe we had a pad returned. Still at 7 free pads. I have two people who are trying to decide if they
want to lease pads or not. Don't think we have a decision from Magro about whether he will keep his father's pad or not.
d. Programs
$78 last month. Cosmology talk next month.
Farrell
e. AISIG
Wood
Tim Puckett’s talk went well with about 15 members in attendance. Bob Denny from DC3 Dreams software (ACP) in September, and
a QSI rep in October.
f. Newsletter
Excellent as usual.
Kuhl
g. Website
Phishing attacks lately so removed unused emails and weblinks.
Stevens
h. Outreach
Searcy
Outreach policy draft. For consideration:
• Establishes that outreach is important and will follow all laws and regulations
• Says that they are free unless the board approves a different policy for a specific venue
• Provides rules and limits for star party coordinators and sets policy limits on multiple events
• Directs an event coordinator to hold muster of members and report to the board.
• Supports an Outreach Special Interest Group.
Not much the SDAA can do about the person selling astronomy-related junk adjacent to our monthly Stars in the Park outreach
effort.
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San Diego Astronomy Association
i. Merchandise
We need a volunteer.
Vacant
j. New Member Mentor
No report.
Kiser
k. JSF Status
Griffith
Hillary has once again managed an entirely successful Julian StarFest event. As usual a host of issues to deal with and a surprise record
heat wave to boot. The heat significantly ate into profits.
1. Attendee Response – seemed very positive in spite of the heat.
2. Membership – seven new members directly attributable to the event – applications processed on the grounds. Unknown how
many more posted on PayPal or snail mail.
3. Outreach – the Saturday star party was a huge success. Cool, dry, evening and some nice Persieds. Roughly 1,000 visitors. Most
seemed enthralled with the night sky. For many it was the first sighting of the Milky Way. This seems to have become a standard
versus a trend. An added outreach event was the Solar Party for 40 fifth-graders on Friday. Lasted about two hours with a variety of
stations providing differing content.
4. Safety/Liability – only one minor incident recorded – a child got sunscreen in her eye. Rinsing with water seemed to resolve.
5. Management – as experience accumulates, the amount of effort expended on setup and teardown continues to decrease.
6. Sponsorship – while not a trend yet, experience seems to have improved sponsorship significantly. This year’s raffle donations
included six (6) items worth in excess of $300. None of the prizes exceeded the two tests triggering reporting requirements to the IRS.
7. Presales – continued the trend of increasing year over year.
8. New Partners – OPT’s imaging sessions on Friday were well received. Well known presenters. Meade representatives seemed
very pleased (blown away) with the Star Party crowd. Celestron is expected to attend next year.
9. Fiscal – while gate receipts were significantly down, this event continued the trend of being SDAA’s single largest revenue
generating event. I am still working the numbers with the committee and will have a full report for the next board meeting. In the
interim, I will pass that the event significantly exceeded the projections presented to the board. It would be appropriate for the board
to consider privately some recognition of Hillary and to a lesser extent the JSF Committee.
l. Rising Stars
About 30-35 students at Preuss; would like to get them out to TDS in October. They are planning an after school astronomy club that
the SDAA will be involved in.
Wood
m. Terry Arnold Remote Observatory TARO
Both observatories expected to ship by the end of September. The pier has shipped and electronic testing will start in a week or two.
We need someone to take the lead on the permit process.
6. Old Business.
Treasurer position – will switch to a paid service through Wild Apricot to reduce the workload of the volunteer treasurer; expect it to
cost about $2K per year. Motion passed for Jeff Stevens and Jerry Hilburn to create the prototype in Liquid Web, transition the
current databases, and go live in a month, at which time Jerry will provide a full report.
7. New Business.
• Mike Chasin will lead the nominating committee for the upcoming elections.
• Daphne Zay will once again organize the banquet; the date is 23 January.
• The club acquired a Shaffer AT10 mount with encoders and DSCs for use with the club’s 14.5” F18 DK Cassegrain. Brian and
Jim are restoring it.
8. Adjournment. Adjournment 8:50pm.
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San Diego Astronomy Association
This is as Good as It Gets at Paso Picacho Campground
By Dennis Ammann
On Saturday, August 8th, 2015, a few of us responded to a request from Ben Grunbaum, SDAA Outreach Coordinator for Cuyamaca
State Park to set up our scopes in parking lot number two. This was my first time visiting a State Park, Paso Picacho Campground with
SDAA, and right from the start I knew it was going to be a wonderful night!
As my wife and I pulled up to the park entrance, the Ranger at the gate saw my SDAA hat, walked over to my car, thanked me for
coming (I had to look around to see if she was really talking to me), and affixed a sticker on my windshield and pointed to parking lot
number two. We arrived about one hour before sunset and Ben came right over and warmly welcomed us… I felt like a movie star. As
we were all setting up, Ranger Michelle Hernandez also stopped by and thanked everyone for attending. She told us that the campers at
the adjacent campground to Paso Picacho were also walking in.
As darkness fell and the stars started coming out one by one, the campers were starting to form lines next to our telescopes. We were
all aiming at Saturn before it set too low in the western glow of the San Diego city lights. Saturn is such a popular planet with the public; I
like to use my eyepiece which enlarges it 100X. All five of the largest Saturn moons are visible in the dark, clear Cuyamaca sky.
When Ranger Hernandez stopped by my 10” Dobsonian, I looked at her Smokey Bear hat and asked her if I could use her as a
planetary training device. She looked at me with a puzzled face, and I explained all she needed to do was just stand there. As the people
waited in line to view Saturn, I used Michelle’s head (hat top) as Saturn and her wide brim as the rings. She was the perfect training device
as I moved her head up and down explaining how the rings tilt through the years, currently at about 24 degrees. I also showed them the
five brightest moons are not hidden behind Michelle’s head or should I say Saturn because of this tilt. Michelle was a great sport and
excellent astronomical tool.
Soon we were switching to other targets such as star clusters and nebulae in Sagittarius, Scorpio, etc. The Ring Nebulae high above
was a real crowd pleaser too. The campers were all commenting about how bright the Milky Way was; all we could do is smile and agree
with them. The SDAA members were mobbed that night and very busy explaining what they were looking at. Later that evening Ben told
us about 150 campers filed through parking lot number 2 that evening!
As the evening hours approached midnight, most of the campers were turning in for the night. We finally received a break to take
note of the excellent sky conditions and enjoy the starry view we so rarely see. By then the Milky Way was in the western ‘muck’ of the
glow and the autumn constellations were starting to climb high in the east, making their presence known through the tall pine trees.
As I recall, the SDAA members present were:
Ben Grunbaum (our excellent SDAA host)
Cassianoa Carromeu (a gifted astroimager)
Larry Marshall (a long time member and very experienced at outreach)
Nick Marilao (a walking talking ‘Go To’ expert, who knows where every nebula and star cluster is, just this side of the Virgo Super
Cluster)
Jose Magsaysay (another long time ‘Go To’ expert and excellent teacher of the heavens)
Zahir Valimahomed (brought a classic 1950s Questar 3.5” Maksutov-Cassegrain in mint condition complete with original eyepieces, case,
and instruction book; read about it in Astronomy Magazine, Oct 2015 issue, page 55)
Kevin Kasner (accompanied by his two supernova teenagers who could find, locate, and recite nebulae ID designators and Messier
numbers!)
There were about two or three others that I neglected to remember their names; my sincere apology to them.
That night went by like the New Horizons fly-by of Pluto! Only after I packed my telescope into my car at about 1:00 a.m. did I really
get a look at the starry night sky and savior all that I experienced that night. Stars in the Park, Kumeyaay Campground, TDS, etc., are all
great fun sharing the heavens with the public, but standing in that open parking lot, with pine trees on either side, reaching toward the
stars, with the Milky Way high overhead, cannot be compared to any other place in San Diego County, with the exception of Observatory
Campground on Palomar Mt.
So check the SDAA website, outreach calendar, and make a point to attend the next school event, Stars in the Park, etc. Don’t have a
telescope, attend anyways, just bring your knowledge of Astronomy with you. You’ll never forget the great experience sharing the
universe with your fellow Earthlings.
Clear Skies!
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San Diego Astronomy Association
M22
Images by José Magsaysay
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San Diego Astronomy Association
M16
M31
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San Diego Astronomy Association
Sunday
Monday
October 2015
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
1
Friday
2
Birney
Elementary
4
5
6
7
RH Fleet
Outreach
11
12
13
Stars in the Park
14
SDAA Business
Meeting
19
Tentative MB
Class MTRP
White House
Astronomy Night
25
26
20
21
15
Full Moon
28
16
Stars at
Sycamore Canyon
22
23
29
30
SDAA Program
Meeting
27
9
Stars at Mission
Trails
Franklin
Elementary
New Moon
18
8
Public Library
Event
Saturday
3
Public Star Party
TDS
10
Member Night
TDS
17
KQ Ranch
Mission Trails
Tentative
Pack 766
Campout
24
Japanese
American
Citizens League
Moon Viewing
31
AISIG Meeting
8
San Diego Astronomy Association
SDAA Contacts
President
Vice President
Recording Secretary
Treasurer
Corresponding Secretary Director Alpha
Director Beta
Director Gamma
Director Delta
Club Officers and Directors
Mike Chasin Greg Farrell
Dennis Ritz
Ed Rumsey
Nick Andrews Dave Decker
Brian McFarland Michael Vander Vorst Dave Wood President@sdaa.org
VicePresident@sdaa.org
Recording@sdaa.org
Treasurer@sdaa.org
Corresponding@sdaa.org
DirectorDelta@sdaa.org
DirectorBeta@sdaa.org
DirectorGamma@sdaa.org DirectorAlpha@sdaa.org
(858) 210-1454
(858) 705-0065
(619) 890-7480
(858) 722-3846
(858) 215-0479
(619) 972-1003
(619) 462-4483
(858) 755-5846
(858) 735-8808
Committees
Site Maintenance
Bill Quackenbush TDS@sdaa.org(858) 395-1007
Observatory Director Jim Traweek Observatory@sdaa.org
(619) 207-7542
Private Pads
Mark Smith
Pads@sdaa.org(858) 484-0540
Outreach
Kin Searcy
Outreach@sdaa.org
(858) 586-0974
N. County Star Parties
Jerry Hilburn
NorthStarParty@sdaa.org
(858) 877-3103
S. County Star Parties
-Vacant-
SouthStarParty@sdaa.org
E. County Star Parties
Dave Decker
EastStarParty@sdaa.org
(619) 972-1003
Central County Star Parties
Kin Searcy
CentralStarParty@sdaa.org
(858) 586-0974
Camp with the Stars
Jerry Hilburn
CampWiththeStars@sdaa.org
(858) 877-3103
K.Q. Ranch Coordinator
MichaelVander Vorst
KQ@sdaa.org(858) 755-5846
Newsletter
Andrea Kuhl
Newsletter@sdaa.org
(858) 547-9887
New Member Mentor
Dan Kiser Mentor @sdaa.org (858) 922-0592
Webmaster
Jeff Stevens
Webmaster@sdaa.org
(858) 566-2261
AISIGDave Wood
AISIG@sdaa.org (858) 735-8808
Site Acquisition
-Vacant-
SecondSite@sdaa.org
Field Trips
-Vacant-
FieldTrips@sdaa.org
Grants/Fund Raising
Jerry Hilburn
Grants@sdaa.org(858) 877-3103
Julian StarFest Hillary Griffith
info@julianstarfest.com
(619) 890-5267
Merchandising
Alice Harvey Merchandising@sdaa.org
(858) 622-1481
Publicity-Vacant- Publicity@sdaa.org
Loaner ScopesEd Rumsey
(858) 722-3846
Governing Documents
TBD
TDS Network
Dave Wood
TDSNet@sdaa.org
(858) 735-8808
Amateur Telescope Making
Peter De Baan
pdebaan@hotmail.com
(760) 745-0925
SDAA Editorial Staff
Editor - Andrea Kuhl
newsletter@sdaa.org
Assistant Editor: Craig Ewing
Have a great new piece of gear? Read an astronomy-related book that you think
others should know about? How about a photograph of an SDAA Member in
action? Or are you simply tired of seeing these Boxes in the Newsletter rather
than something, well, interesting?
Join the campaign to rid the Newsletter of little boxes by sharing them with the
membership. In return for your efforts, you will get your very own by line or photograph credit in addition to the undying gratitude of the Newsletter Editor. Just
send your article or picture to Newsletter@SDAA.Org.
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San Diego Astronomy Association
Astronomy Club Article September 2015 Measure the moon's size and distance during the next lunar eclipse By Ethan Siegel The moon represents perhaps the first great paradox of the night sky in all of human history. While its angular size is easy to measure with the unaided eye from any location on Earth, ranging from 29.38 arc-­‐minutes (0.4897°) to 33.53 arc-­‐minutes (0.5588°) as it orbits our world in an ellipse, that doesn't tell us its physical size. From its angular size alone, the moon could just as easily be close and small as it could be distant and enormous. But we know a few other things, even relying only on naked-­‐eye observations. We know its phases are caused by its geometric configuration with the sun and Earth. We know that the sun must be farther away (and hence, larger) than the moon from the phenomenon of solar eclipses, where the moon passes in front of the sun, blocking its disk as seen from Earth. And we know it undergoes lunar eclipses, where the sun's light is blocked from the moon by Earth. Lunar eclipses provided the first evidence that Earth was round; the shape of the portion of the shadow that falls on the moon during its partial phase is an arc of a circle. In fact, once we measured the radius of Earth (first accomplished in the 3rd century B.C.E.), now known to be 6,371 km, all it takes is one assumption—that the physical size of Earth's shadow as it falls on the moon is approximately the physical size of Earth—and we can use lunar eclipses to measure both the size of and the distance to the moon! Simply by knowing Earth's physical size and measuring the ratios of the angular size of its shadow and the angular size of the moon, we can determine the moon's physical size relative to Earth. During a lunar eclipse, Earth's shadow is about 3.5 times larger than the moon, with some slight variations dependent on the moon's point in its orbit. Simply divide Earth's radius by your measurement to figure out the moon's radius! Even with this primitive method, it's straightforward to get a measurement for the moon's radius that's accurate to within 15% of the actual value: 1,738 km. Now that you've determined its physical size and its angular size, geometry alone enables you to determine how far away it is from Earth. A lunar eclipse is coming up on September 28th, and this supermoon eclipse will last for hours. Use the partial phases to measure the size of and distance to the moon, and see how close you can get! 10
San Diego Astronomy Association
Astronomy Club Article September 2015 Image credit: Daniel Munizaga (NOAO South/CTIO EPO), using the Cerro Tololo Inter-­‐
American Observatory, of an eight-­‐image sequence of the partial phase of a total lunar eclipse. For Sale:
Eyepieces – all are in excellent condition and come with original boxes and caps:
TeleVue Radians – 18mm, 14mm, 12mm, 10mm, 8mm, 6mm, 5mm, 4mm, 3mm - $100 each
TeleVue Naglers Type 1 – 9mm, 7mm - $100 each. 4.8mm - $50.
TeleVue Naglers Type 2 – 20mm - $200, 16mm - $125, 12mm - $125
Meade 4000 Series Superwides, made in Japan – 40mm - $125, 32mm - $100, 24.5mm - $75, 18mm - $50
Meade 4000 Series Ultrawides, made in Japan – 14mm - $200, 8.8mm - $125
TeleVue Plossl – 55mm - $75
TeleVue Panoptics – 27mm - $150, 22mm -$125
John Kuhl - (858)547-9887 or 2kuhl@san.rr.com
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San Diego Astronomy Association
MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION
Send dues and renewals to P.O. Box 23215, San Diego, CA 92193-3215. Include any renewal cards from Sky & Telescope or Astronomy magazine in which you wish to
continue your subscription. The expiration date shown on your newsletter’s mailing label is the only notice that your membership in SDAA will expire. Dues are $60 for
Contributing Memberships; $35 for Basic Membership; $60.00 for Private Pads; $5 for each Family membership. In addition to the club dues the annual rates for magazines
available at the club discount are: Sky & Telescope $32.95 and Astronomy $34. Make checks payable to S.D. Astronomy Assn. PLEASE DO NOT send renewals directly to
Sky Publishing. They return them to us for processing.
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