—FEBRUARY 1990 — THE ALACHUA ASTRONOMY CLUB MEETS THE SECOND TUESDAY OF EACH MONTH AT THE DOYLE CONNER BUILDING, S.W. 34th STREET & 20th AVENUE AT 7:30 PM. EVERYONE INTERESTED IN ASTRONOMY IS INVITED TO ATTEND. CALL ANDI' VANN-JENSEN AT 475-1014, FOR MORE INFORMATION ON MEETINGS AND OTHER ACTIVITIES.

ATTEND!I! ATTEND!!! ATTEND!!!! ATTEND!!i And bring a FRIEMDi

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THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE

THE FEBRUARY 13th PROGRAM by

DAN DURDA, UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

ASTRONOMY DEPARTMENT

FLASH! HAM RADIO SATELLITES HEARD IN GAINESVILLE! During the past tvo weeks, ham radio operators launched a handful of

satellites. At least one can be heard norning and night about 10:30 on 145.825MHZ. Initially, the satellite is broadcasting telemetry, but in the coming weeks it will transmit computer generated voice signals. The signals from this "bird" can be picked up on most pocket or desktop scanners as it passes overhead.

This satellite, named "DOVE-1" is one of six "aicrosats" launched at the saae tiae by a French rocket. The aicrosats were built by either individuals or groups world 'round, and reflect a new lov-cost approach to space exploration.

THE BEST COMET OF THE 20TH CENTURY???? Coaet AUSTIN 1989cl has been touted as the one to watch! Coae to the

meeting on February 13 and help plan the Club's "comet watch" for the coming aonth or so. See the article elsewhere for aore information.

CONTEST] 111 CONTEST! Ill CONTBSTM11 A year ago or so the AAC decided to produce a newsletter and your friendly

editor cobbled up the present LOGO/BANNER. Well, now it is time to present a better image!! So sharpen your pencils and give the CLUB a new IMAGE!!! Bring a sketch of your IDEAS to the meeting....A astro-related prize will be awarded!

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6HELP NEEDED....GIVE A CHILD THE STARS!!!! Our club has received a request from the Alachua County School Volunteer

Board to do a program. The school is Alachua Elementary, in Alachua. On either February 22, 23 or 26, from 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM. The topic can be on just about anything to do with Astronomy. I need help with this,and any one of these days will be fine with me. Let me know if you can help with this. Thanks, Andi' 475-1014.

SECOND ANNUAL CHIEFLAND STARPARTY MARCH 22-25 Plan on attending this event...one of the largest in the State!

Contact John Novak, 9890 82nd St. N. Largo, Fla., 34647. "Editors note: Chuck and Andi have attended previous Chiefland Starparties and say "this is the premier event of North Florida! Not only are there dozens of scopes at night, but many things to do during the day...don't miss this!!!

SUPER NEWSLETTERS...COME TO THE MEETING.... Because of the desperation of Astro-club newsletter editors, this Club

swaps newsletters with other groups, and some very fine articles cross the editor's desk each month... so come to the meeting February 13 and scan the Newsletters of other groups. If you want to take a Newsletter home, just take it!!!

STARPARTIES TRY ONE. YOU WILL LIKE IT111 First, don't forget Chiefland in March!

Then, try the TEXAS STARPARTY-MAY 20-28.. Prude Ranch near Ft. Davis...registration by per family member. See Chuck at the meeting

Or, try the SOUTHEREN STAR during April 27

the Twelfth Annual at the mail is $18.00 single plus $7.00 for brochure. 29th in the Blue Ridge Mountains!

David Levy, noted comet hunter will speak, as will others. For what it is worth, Chuck and Andi want to go, so join in and make this a weekend for the AAC in the mountains! Chuck at the meeting has brochure.

FROM THE GAINESVILLE SUN...

This comet may dazzle By CATHY DILLON SpteU to 1h$ Sun

What astronomers predict will be the brightest com-et in 19 years will become visible next month, a University of Florida astronomer says.

Comet Austin — expected to be about twice as clear as the legendary Bailey's — will be the brightest since Comet West in 1975, UF astronomer Billy Cooke said.

Although Comet Austin will be closest to Earth oh May 19 at a distance of 30 million miles, It will give Its best view around April 14, a Saturday.

"Florldlans will get one of the clearest views because it will be smack dab over our heads just before sunrise," Cooke said.

With an orbit at least 1,000 times the length of distant planet Pluto's, Comet Austin will not reappear for at least 75,000 years, he said.

Now visible only from the Southern Hemisphere, the comet will come Into view in the Northern Hemisphere in late March just after sunset Austin will disappear behind the sun during the first week of April and reappear a week later, he said.

"By mid-April, when the comet is at its peak, the best view will be in the morning sky — so people are going to have to get up early if they want to see it," Cooke said. |

Austin will appear to the unaided eye as a dim, fuzzy ball. The tail, pointed away from the sun, will be visible through binoculars or low-powered telescopes. The increased magnitude of high-powered tele-scopes makes the comet look dim-mer, he said.

"Austin appears to be a very dirty and gassy comet, which gives us cause for optimism because dirty and gassy comets tend to be bright," Cooke said.

Comets can fool astronomers, though, as Comet Kohoutek did in

the early 1970s. "Kohoutek was pre-dicted to be bright enough to see in the daytime and it turned out to be the bomb of the century," he said. "It was barely visible to the naked eye. Many astronomers have since shut up about predicting the brightness of comets."

Austin was discovered by Rodney R.D. Austin, an amateur astronomer, in New Plymouth, New Zealand, on Dec. 6.

"For young kids and people who have never seen a comet, It might be a good way to introduce them to one," Cooke said.

Comets were thought by the an-cient Greeks and Romans to portend famine, floods, the death of kings and other disasters. "When Halley

Hashed across the sky in 1066, Wil-liam the Conqueror Invaded England and when Halley appeared in 1910, the king of England died," Cooke said.

Part of the fascination with comets is that they break the monotony of stargazing, Cooke believes.

"People tend to view the sky as Immutable," he said. "The sun al-ways rises in the east the moon goes through its passes and the stars ap-pear at night Comets are something new that catches people's attention."

STARGAZING ON THE WINTER HJT.KY WAY..A CLASS Dan Durda, Graduate student in Astromomy ath the University of Florida

will present a class at Gainesville High School Library on February 12, 7 to 9 P.M., and February 15, which will be a field trip. Bring binoculars! The class fee is $15, and can be paid at the door.

A NOVEL WAY TO TAKE ASTRO PHOTOS...AT LEAST OF THE SUN I

TELESCOPE OR BINOCULARS

SHIELD TO V BLOCK SKY

WHITE CARDBOARD

IMAGE OF SUN

CAMERA

AMATEUR ASTRONOMERS take pictures o f heavens Thanks t o G i l b e r t Bernardo for t h i s h i n t ! •*« with simpi. box Mm«o. son photo deft) wa,

taken with setup shown above. Image w a s projected through telescope onto cardboard and photographed

WANTED! WANTED! WANTED! Dal Niederriter needs 1.25 inch Orthoscopic or Plossl eyepieces and

a 2X Barlow lens for his new 8 inch...call Dale at 495-9677.

SIMPLE BASIC PROGRAM PROVIDES CALENDAR DATE The two subroutines give the computer

user either a day number or date. The conversions are accuarate for dates twix March 1, 1900 and Dec 31, 1999. E.G., the day number harks from 1900 and can be manipulated quite easily. Try it it works! This version from Bob Grappel, MIT Lincoln Labs, Lexington, Ma., where your friendly editor worked as a student years ago!!

the Editor uses a variation to dazzle the lab secretary when she wants to know how many days from now to her birthday!

COME TO THE MEETING AND PLAY WITH NEW HARDWARE...THE TELRAD FINDER Chuck and Andi's venerable C-8, by virtue of Santa Claus, now sports

a TELRAD finder gizmo! You can't call it a "finderscope" because it is not! But, what ever you call it, it is a interesting and useful method of finding your way around the sky! So, come to the meeting and try it out.

OR 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 130 190 200 210

DAY NUMBER

INPUT "MONTH " (M INPUT "DAY "jD INPUT "YEAR (of c t n t u r y ) " ;Y IF M<»2 GOTO 60 M=M-3i GOTO 70 M=M+9: Y=Y-1 K» INT( (1461*Y ) /4 ) + INT(<153*M+2)/3) PRINT "DAY NUMBER- ";K

INPUT "DAY NUMBER •;K K2=4*K-1 Y=INT(K2/1461) D=K2-(1461*Y) D= INT( (D+4) /4 ) M = I N T ( ( 5 * D - 3 ) / 1 5 3 ) D=5*D-3-153*M D=INT( (D+5) /5 ) IF M<10 GOTO 200 M-M-91 Y - Y + l l GOTO 210 M"M+3 PRINT "MONTH-DAY-YEAR" ";M,D,Y

FOR SALE!! FOR SALE!! FOR SALE!!! Chuck, 475-1014/392-1051 has two lens...one is a aerial caaeral lens

of short focal length, about f4. and the other is a fast telephoto made by Nikon. Either would make a good telescope!

Also available...gears, dc motors, and what have you...give a call if you need something! (above number)

Science Fair Project George Russell

Our club will participate, for the first time, in the Alachua Region Science/Eng ineering Fair to be held at the Oaks Mall, Friday, February 23rd, 1990, between 10 and 12 am. Dan Durda and Charlie Tarjan have previously agreed to act as judges for the projects which relate to astronomy and if you can make yourself available at that time, I'm sure your efforts will be appreciated to help them make the judgements re-quired in selecting winners.

The club agreed to provide two cash prizes of $25.00 each; one for the Junior and one for the Senior Division winners. The club will also provide certificates for each winner and also a certificate for the winners school.

Once again our club has an opportunity to provide a very worthwhile service to the community to help honor and encourage the next generation of scientists and eng-ineers .

Amateur Telescope Making—Fine Grinding George Russell

"Graduating" from rough grinding with #80 grit to fine grinding apparently is that period of time when the curve in the mirror you're grinding is rather close to its proper depth. Measuring that depth means the use of the template in conjunc-tion with measurements of the center of curvature of the mirror. The latter proved to be quite problematical and required quick analysis since the mirrors surface had a tendency to dry off and I would lose the reflection of my light source rather quickly. At this stage of grinding, the reflection of the light source isn't all that great.

What I finally did was to try to reflect the image of the sun on a vertical surface and in my case it was a tree; late in the afternoon when the sun's rays were perhaps 15 to 20 degrees above the horizon. I focused the sun's image to it's smal-lest diameter. The distance between the mirror and the image was just one half that of the length of the center of curvature or the mirror's focal point. My target was 60-inches and I must have been within an inch. What luck!

In addition to the start of fine grinding, I now found myself in need of a Foucault tester. This month's (February) issue of Sky and Tel, page 214, "Mirror Testing for Non-Opticians" by Roger W. Sinnott, describes and interesting design which I put together and will bring to the club meeting. What is interesting about this design is that is has a device which allows you to move a pointer arm along the edge of a ruler scale and the knife edge moves only one-tenth as much. Thus a C l -inch movement of the knife is magnified to 1-inch travel of the pointer, making read-ings more accurate. Do I need this kind of accuracy? We shall see!

SCIENCE OR A BIT MORE Bob Talios. Stardust Acres. Chiefland, Fl Bob sent some comments concerning a recent book review. Some of his

comments are recorded here for your your thought and perhaps future comment. Bob states "of particular interest was the effort to unravel the mystery

of the creation of the universe, and that man is dispensable, and would not be missed..."

So... Sir Issac Newton—"the universe exists-an impossible fact, which postulates

an infinite God." Dr. Frost, Yerkes Obs.—"better instruments enhance our respect for the

Creator." Bob also states..."my primary interest in observing the night sky is to

see and share with others the stark and subtle beauty that is free to all with just a investment of time and willingness."

...food for thought.' We are, your editor thinks, special, and perhaps special in the universe! So observe accordingly!!

NEARBY CLUBS...DO WE WANT TO GET TOGETHER???? Each month your Editor receives several newsletters from Clubs in

St. Augustine, Orlando, Atlanta, and Tampa. I think the St. Augustine group meets on the first Friday of the month, the Orlando group meets the second Wednesday...So, do we want to attempt to attend one of the "other" group's meetings?

Regardless, check out the various newsletters at the next Club meeting!

CHECK THIS OUT THIS MONTH! This from the Orlando Newsletter.

p o l l u *

Object of the Month: Planetary Nebula in Gemini

by Preston Starr

The Eskimo Nebula, NGC-2392, is a small, bright planetary nebula in Gemini. Shining at about 8th magnitude, it is one of the few planetaries that show any k ind of deta i l in the ave rage backyard telescope.

Try locat ing NGC-2392 f irst by sweeping with low power in a moderate size telescope midway between Kappa and Lambda G e m i n o r u m . Once

located, it will appear as an out of focus star (40"), with a bluish-green tint. Use high powers to observe NGC-2392. With a 4-inch scope, you should be able to see the bluish-white central star shining at 10th magnitude. Using a 6 i nch s c o p e w i t h n i g h t s of g o o d t ransparency, will show faint outer nebulosity arcing around a bright circle. This arcing glow is what gives this unique object its name.

NGC-2392 is located at R.A. 7.29, and Dec. +20.55 (epoch 2000).

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GEAM N»

• ' H&C-llIZ

IT IS TIME FOR HELP!!! AND THANX TO THOSE WHO DID!!! This FIRSTLIGHT is a product of amateur astronomers around the state!

If it is to continue...YOU must send in or give your editor material to print! So, help make your club something special...and help all of us, the club members with a bit of your knowledge and skill! Make this your paper!

COMPANY SEZ THEY ARE LIQUIDATING...FOR WHAT IT IS WORTH!!

Effective February 1,1990 we will maintain inventory only on those items featured in our print advertising. The remainder is being liquidated at considerable savings to you and your club members.

LIQUIDATING INVENTORY! Major dealer has restructured operations and is disposing of inventory at greatly reduced prices. Send SASE for listing and details. No phone calls, please. Liquidation, P.O. Box 2001, Ardmore, OK 73402

101 WEST MAIN • P.O. BOX 2001 ARDMORE. OKLAHOMA 73402

405/226-3074

AND ANOTHER FROM KALMBACH PUBLISHING Kalmbach, who produces "ASTRONOMY,""TELESCOPE MAKING," and others sez that

we get two dollars for every subscription that the Club is responsible for. That is not a lot of money, but it would provide your editor with mailing

lables or ribbons for a few issues....so scan the information at the February meeting and decide.

SUMMER HELP!!!!! HELP THE EDITOR AND PROGRAM CHAIR PERSON!!! later this summer the above persons are going away! No FIRSTLIGHT and

no program. If you want such stuff this summer..say "I will HELP!" otherwise don't complain! Call Chuck or Andi at 475-1014 to help.

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