fYl A? +D Klc/tns 06s e?r)fiTbRtt5

SOC]ETY,

5 epte:n'l-.er-Cct oJ:er t 988

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N el,'rsletter of' the l,ACli A'i{ANi,iA ASli'R0i{Oi,'.i CA cranton.,

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l:re s i d ent Di ane lt"u s e \*r tczS e cr e tary G}enn .rac oh sAt-i:, erg;e j'lembers Elaine ,o oTa1lDon I,'urra)/

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7 t 3C FI'T

7 z 3C F'l"i

9:0C Fh'lif' clear

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7 t 3C PIIT

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If'c1ear

B : J0 Piii

7 ,3C Pi'Tuesday Election of' of'ficers

The pubiic nights a-b l(e)istone Junior College Ctbservator;r start onSeptemher 7 anC are held every lVednesday until mj-d liovember. The startingtime is 7t3A PM f'or the lectureo followed by or,:serving if'clear.

0n all clgex official club nights, a keyhol-der to KJC/LASO will bepresent (either .rohn Sabia or Jo-Ailn Kamichiiis. ) Even on elub nights,iflrou. irlrst travel any great distance to get to 1tiC0, please call J. H.amichitisto be certain of the sky conditions anct availability of a keyholder. A1so,if'the weather is at all- if'fyo call first to make the arrangements definite.0n other clear v,,eekend nights, contact J. Kamichitis (31t3-4C06) to see ifthe place will be unlocked or r,vhether irou uril1 have to bring your own f scopesand u,arm up in ycur cer. ii.'i0 Cbservettoryrs phone number is 945-3665, butpeople are no-b always near to the phone to hear it.

\I'/ice Prbsiclent fr Tom lloleva

Steve Gerjrich

DATE ACT I ViIiY PI,ACE

Sept 6 i?.egular nonthly meeting; if ;"C/laSO, Fleetvilleiilu esd ay

Seot ? First of iiiC Fuh,lic I'lights t;lC/:,ASC, Fleetville!,/ednesday Every i'/ednesday til rnid November

Sept 1C 0f'ficiai Cl-uh Ohserving iiight l<;C/iaSC, Fleetvil]eSaturday

Sept 73 Board of' Directors rneeting horne of' D. i!',usev/iczTu.esday

Cet Li. Iiegular ;nonthly ineeting liJC/l,aSO, FleetvilleTlresd.ay

Cci B 0fficiai Cluh 0bserving liight il;Crlf,ASO, FleetvilleSa"tu.rrJay

Oct tI Board of Dj-rectors nreeting home of D. lrlusei,viczTuesday

ltrov 1 Regul.ar rncnthl.;r r,reeting,/ To be announced

ffivt"q'tffi-\

I,AS CiTTTC]II-],S

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PRESIDE]']T'S }IOTES

fhe Fromised LanC Star Par-by ivent even better than f had hoped. Therev/ere turo L3" 0dyssey reflectors, one 6" I,:.eacl ref'lector, thg club's RV5,ancl one 8"-Nevrtbnian telescope on hand, but no UHCFilters (;o-Ann forgotthern. ) Lasers who showed, up to man the scopes were Steve Gedrich, Tom Holeva,John liozek, Jo-Ann ancl ioe Kamichitis and me. We had clear skies and about100 enthusiastic public showed up. fhroughout the eveuing Jo-A.nn keptsa;,'ing,"That little smudge would looi< so rnuch better i{'I brought the UV

fi1teis." Despite this, there wa.s sti1l one little girl i,vho told her fathershe wanted" to ,oe the last one there. I even managed to see three veryoright meteors during the night. Here is a sampling of our rave reviewsfrom the Thank You note from the staf'f'at Prornised Land State Park,"

"The sl-ide show rn,as exce-lfent." "i\Ierve hac many positive commentson your progran. fhe aciults as well as the children enjoyed it very much."',Yoi;r wirole group f ieicled. cSrestions very well..." "Thank you verli muchfor a program t^1e11 done " "

The first cookoi,rt of'the summer v,/es very enjoyable. i^{e i,vere a sma1lbr-rt happy groupl Jo-Ann and Joe ilaniichitis, Steve and i'{ary Gedrich withtheir thiee chilclren an<l nne i,vith rny'three kicls. f actr-ra1ly started thegri1l fire myself'and it was ho-i; enou,gh to cooll v'rith i-n no time. (O\ay,5o I used hibh iech charcoal.) It seemed. like whatever supplies we forgot,ir-ary packed.. She was a"tnazing.

lllhe second cooliout d.idn't f'a.re as r,vell. We caneelled" it because therev,/ere thunderstorms fron about l+:OC FLll orlo iihey were so bad some placesdidn't have power f'or -Lhree hours. I guess t}lree sucessf'uI LAS activitiesin a. rcw rqoulcl, be too rni-;.ch -to hope f'or"

Coming in September, besid"es the start of' school, we have the PuhlicI{ights at iT.fC O'oserva.tory" Once aga.in every l{ednesd.ay until rnid $lovember,no-matter v,rha.t the l',reather, the pr"rblic r,vill be given the opportunity tosee and hear lectu"res by f'amous LASers, Jo-Ann l(amichitis and Ji:hn Sabia.Not only that, if the ecnditions are f'avorable, they will be treated toa gocd dark night sky"

Tjre Septernber meeting will have Ril-l Speare giving a tallt on LickObservatory. Those of us-rrho rrrill not get out vrest and travel the r,r,indingroad- r.rp the mountainrvrill get to see ser:ond-hanC the vari-ous scopes locatedthere.

October vriil bring a. prelirninary report on ltrhc had agreed to run foroff icers i:r the l(ovember election. there usually are no debates schecluled.by the presic'l-entia-1 candiclates and there is no irig budget needed for anycanipain-ing. See the next issu.e of the "Ecliptic" for a brief descriptionof' the caredicLates for each office.

Errjoy the crisp Autrinn weather anC see your at the meetings!

Diane lluselviczPresident

CBSERVER ' S 1ICTEBOC}i

The rnonths of' ju1;i anc'i Ar,tgr-rst sr"lpplied a great deal- of good observingnights. With that I vras abJ.e to continr.re photographic ef'forts with thegb'1 refractcr and- the LZ:b" refl-ector. In one night no less than LZ globr-r1arclr.rsters were captured on t'l'-AX*3200 film taken v'iith the Clark refractorvrorhing at f /4, The results were shown at the Aug.rst meeting. 'fforkingr,vith the t7b" is inuch tncre deiaanding, Ihe slightest amount of a breezewill vibrate the scope cau.sing traileci i-ma.ges.

Upon my retllrn f'roiir Stellafane, i have been observing lJrars more f're-qu-ently. i{ow approaching opposition the planetf s diarilieter is largg enoughto render a si.litahle iinage on film" The eveni.ng of Augurst 2!, 1988 UT

',,!'as a. rare night of excepticnal seeing. Cne of'thcse tinies that magnifica-ticns over jOdx are useful! Since the central meridian was at 2?0o, tfrefea.tr-lres of'syrtis liiajor anci Hell-as were visible, and in tvro hours tirnetfue darl< linar Sa-ba.euls.Siiru.s::ota.ted. aroLil'Ici the lirnb. fhe use of ye1-Iowa"ncl recl filters aicl.ed in oirse.r'ving the pla-netary details. 0n that night

"3-

I ccuid not rnalte or.it any dust clou.ds in the Hellas region, The whole of'the li;artian clisk appeared free of' clouds, 0f cou.rse loy now the South PolarCap is ver)r evicl"ent e.nci qu.ite small, At 6:J0 Ulil I noiiced a detached por-tion of the Cap at near longitude 2800. idunrerous franres of film wereexposed that night using a 9nim ocuilar and yellow filters. I usually use{;he TZrnn ocr,llar, br:t i,,;ith sr"ich a steady atniosphere the higher magnificationIi?as pcssible. i\ftertvards a dra,.ving of the planet's markings was made.

For tirose memhers who can observe the Sun vrith the proper filtrationI suggest lrolr" monitor the solar disli f'or suirspot activity. While atSte1.1a.f'ane, i observecl three large sunspot grollps. Just bef ore they ro-taierl around the liiutr a pirotograph rva.s n:ad.e at prime f'ocus with the ClarJr.As ther, \,?ere moving off'another large spot rotated on the visible surface.-L r,,,ra.icireri this cleve1o1: f'or three days with a lJ." t'/t5 ref'ra.ctor and tooka f'evi prii:re focr"rs photos l,,rith that instrr-rme;rt. ilhese are the largest spotsinve seer:r in a iong tinie.

In anticipaticrr cf' tlr.e upcoining partial lurra-r' eclipse, I've beent,.:nin.g,.lil m)r 4" ref'ractor inouurt. the simple cork slip clr-rtch had. deterioatedand was::ep1a.cec1". T've rebalanced the tu.he for use vrith a solar filterancl ntlr Very heav3, ;l'iilton camera..

fir. the l-ast issl:.e cf ';ite ''rr-c1i.L:rtic" f rue:r:-l;ionecl the pi.os1:ec'bs of'piro'rog;r:aphing3 d.eep sky or:;jects wi-bh the 72b" ref'lector and. -bhe-p$" refractor.So,cn after that, ilod"ak lli.':Ax 32i) l:-"I-acl,l and vrhite fi}n became available onthe rtarltet. this.,,r-oul-cl 1,:e a;.;reat filrn to test the phctographic abilitiesof bo-bh scopes. At the 1,1ay'::neetirrg I oispla.yecl tv,'o color prints from the!*" i'efractor.'of'the gaiax;r tiGCli565 a"nd" gloi:ulai'clr-,.ster i',',1J using the t'14coilipressor lens. There u'as a.lso a 7J jrnrr, telephoto photo of the i.:orth Amerj-eannebula on -i;he I(onica 32C0 col-or fil-n'.,.

i:r ir-tne I r.lsed the 72b" scope a-ncl Ti'r,AX 3200 film to film the glolrularciuster 112 and Vlane-bar;,- nebula i'57. Since these v/ere only s test ofthe equil.rment ancj. test exposures, I did not guicl-e the scope. lhe exposuresranger1 f'rom JC second"s to 2 ni-nutes. An ima.ge was recorc'l.ed" oi1 each f'rame.One ruj.nit'ce via.s enor,igh ,co capt,:re the riiig. Even the shortest exposuresdo not sho,,',, star trails. Over a lrrinute trailing begins, but a 2 minutee)iposure of i.:.!2 ls sharp, i1o trailing at all.

Tire ne>ct phase is -i;o re-po1ar aIign, sinee it was laovec out by sorne5a 1ry accident. Once it is set to our satisfa.ction, i,i,e will put a setscrew on tire system. LoiT6er exposnres r,vill be inaCe and attempts rnade togi,ride rn:i'Lh tire off'-axis 6"rider a.nd a" tZtylt recticle eyepiece

"

Any user cf the LZb", please note " The scope has been balaneed for acamera sys-bein. A coul"iterl^reight has been ad"oed to the f'ront end of theseope r,vhen r;sed- f or visual observa'cions.

;-oht:r D, ,5a"bia

liEiEER Cll ?i-[E ii:CYE

n"rL' r'ra1'nin.sir;r, failous .r,AS riieml:er a.nd foriner cl'"rb officer and. board"I-r \./ i-' j 'O, J :7.i

titem'l:e::, has Jrelpe,i in ti're constructic'n of' the observatory building forthe L2" and l:uil'r: the preseut Dobsonian mount tha.t the LC" sits on. j3obis a-Lso a, crach auito iriechanic, and a.f'ter severai years of r'.rorlting for variousgara.ges in the atea, he iras recently struck out on kris olvn and opened"Sprint Au.to Servj-ce"" l:iob's garage is located at the rear of tLL3 JacksonStreet, jr-rst a half' blocir of'f ilain Avenue.

At lioJ:'s, not onl;r wil)- 1r6s get qualit}r service on your car, you don'tha.re to tall< politics or sports or girls rvith the ilechanic. You can tatkoptics, 'scopes anC observingl Bob is curuently grinding his own B" niirrorright in his garage, so he can "push glass" in his s1a"ck-rnoments. So then.ext tiine your car needs work, take it to Sprint Ar-r.to Service, talk to Boba.nci -;ake a f'eir,i turns arour-rd the barre]-

"

J oe liarnic]litis

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STELLAFAI{E RAi,'}LIiiGS

;\f'ter traveling for si-x hours, the very first'bhing I did tvas to come

dor,,rn r,vith a 24.hour stomach virus. This put a. damper on my usu.al- vibrantmood cn Saturday" I a.lso iiiissecl the entire Saturday night evetrts 9r. torilr illness. I"loi,yever, Friday evening vr,r&s flot a tcta"l ]-oss. Since it l',ras

tlie pea.li of the Persairl rneteor shourer, l stayed.outside the tent and lvatehedover a cozen satellites a'nci meteors pass ahove in the sk;r" somehovr the,ntalks" or should. I say audio/virleo produciions could not hold ny attention.Some were ideas in the-'cack of'someone's mind that shou.ld- have staysd there.

The evenir-rg 6ega.n lvitir the tragic ne\'/s of the passing of_Dotig.l'icGregor.Doitg, who appeaied f,o Ue in his 30's,lvas kitled'btt,o weeks earlier in a carcra[tt. I'or-the p;rst number of ;rears Dcug wa"s the master of'eere:rony of thef'o::riLal and inforinal talks. lle ivas ahle to arouse the spirit of' comaraderyrniithin r-is as he s-i;eppe<i. into the tent to lvelcome us to'uhe convention.ii lras jris iira-b-tey'*o-fl:t'a"ct speaking at the previous tr,vo conventions thatn*:p*,l -blie Springf ield iet elcope ilakers raise the rnoney.needeci t? luy ??_aer-es of 1a.r:,ii. now jrirown ers Stell-af'a:r:e E:.st. l"lis enthr-lsj-e;stic spirit vril-l-be ntissed '1::y

a-.1--l-"

Solne ne,,v coi:ltac-Ls v;ith other clu'bs from the east were ilaci-e. I v'rasp:reetec'i l)-,r th.e of'ficers of -i,ire !,r'oome Courrt;r Astronci"nical Society (3inghanlton,fiy)

""CL ,rV tiie Delav{a.re Val1ey Amate:-"rr AstrbnomicaL societ;i (fiiitaCLelphia

area). il-o'i:5 are ea6er to havb a joint observing rrree-bi-ng in September.The DYAA,S hoids a. c5.npi::rg triir to Lalte i{allenpai;pak on Septe:nber 1C. Iexterrcied. an invita.tioi to rri-sit tlie observa-bory that weekencl. The BCAS

has al-l new faces and are quite aetive in "high tech" antateur astronomy.illrey vrere i.isplaying a vicieo tape of the large sunspot Srpup prominentthai vreeli. I-knbr,v Bruce Hogg lvou]d be interesteC in talking to some ofthese people.

-.Tchn D " Sal:ia.

first I ha.vti: to aill:i-L tcanC 0IiI f i l.ters, l::rlt itic'{ii;rc'r:j s erv j-i'l

rS .

i:aving el"Llertitre f'e\rer u anci t o Ior,'irlg Iny Ui.{C

I t ni al-s o a. f'rea,l:r f'or nalted eye and bii'IccuiElr

Several tinies in the past, T'./'e described hovr iinpressed I've beenwith -bhe viei;s thror-rgh ny pair of L4x7O I'ujis, 'r:ut that isn't rea11y thet;irpe of'glass a nev,,ccrner to a.stronorny r,ould, ir-nvest in. I thot-tght I'd tryubing srnSl-l jrinocr.r.lai's tc enjoy the deep slty, and'bo have a.n idea of whata- t:efiinneprrould have a chance at seeing. f chose tire sma.]-lest pair of'irinodillars I own, 9x25 iiil.rons, that '!- t-tse f'or bird- vratc):ing. I lvas ania.zedat 'the objec'l;s I coul<l easily find and notice.

The glchl:lar clusters l.ilC and iil12 in Ophiuchus l'\iere_easil1'.found.,?oy ! i reriember how mueh aggravaticn 'bhese gave me in 196? or '68 vrhenDrl:r"e and I v,re::.e hunting tfiem'down in rey RV5 in or-lr backyarci in Scranton.Particr:.1ari1;,, galling vras t}:.e f'ac-b that she'11 f'ounii thern first in my tel e*scopel Yet itrere they were, tvro bright little fuzzies 'bogether in thesatne t,,ride f ie-"a of' r/i-e','l

"

t'R *ha T-,agoon llelri;la in Sag;ittarius 'ruas not a surl:rise since it ist ) 2 ujrv

a naireo eye oi:j6ct at li.JCO, 11lo fiaO il1l., iny favorite oilen cluster (exceptf'or the Pleiades) i onllr [s.6i to airn at the obvior"ts Scututit star cloud.Ai:roir-i; Es easy i//ere i 23,- i.:25 and Ii18, all open clus-bers in Sagittarius.i!i16, the Eagie nei:ii1a., and. 1':!7, the Sr,van nehu.la, \iiere plainly.Feel,thoughnot cietaile[. f:,2?, the Du"rribell was d.etectahle. i""zlt, the Sagittarir"rs starcl-o116, r,',/as real-l-y in:pressive. il,6 a"n<i i1f , those ad jacent opgn clusters in-bhe -bail of' Scoriiir.s- sho..,,;ecl their strihing tlif'ferences. 'i!,22, irill', li)L3, ii3,f'olr.r glol:ula.r cliirsters scattered- across tfie siry frotn ScorpiYs- ]o Canss Venetici,ai1 s,{owecl. lr.p well. l-he nicest views,of'course, vlere of bright extendedoh jects such as -bhe "Coat liairger" cluste::, the Doub]"e Cluster in Perseus, aniii:'31 , the And.rornecia gal,axy. A beau.tif'u't. nightl

l.lorri ic reall}, check or-lt the u.sef'ulness of'even the srna"llest opticala.iti, I plannea to' checls. out tlie sklr on 'irlra.t passes for a Sood' night atiiilrmother''s hoLrse. Tiie cr:i1,, probieiri has l:een tha,t I cannot seein to force

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g:, to tha-l ligirb po.1-1uiec1 a.rea when the skies in inyr:r,-lcii better, ani the trip to 1{JC0 is so s}rort.

l-,ut it occll"T:redhaC to contend

nifiht, anC poor

Al,l_ cf.' ^fliese olse::t,atj-cns i:y the rva;,r vyere d.one on 'rr/er1nesda;i, Ju.ly l),4"1''uer a ll,i00 pui:li-c ni6;ir-t" Tha-i; aiso was the night l're gave liathi Van Verbine ioa;"ier 5", ?ire ,rexi; Cay tjre d.rcu.ght v:as brolten r-:;; h.eavy rains that,,tarked. ihe sta.rt of'a;'aiir;, pe::i-oc-that prodi,icecr.4,'. inches of'rainfall.'';e l:ra...'e',;c re;r)eir,l)er i':ot

"ci -l-e'b ;,a.'thi t,orrot'tl1e 6" r-ln-til- i',a,rs shrinks d"otvn

to ncthir:,g,!

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/ "^, .- -l-'1.., "l li (? S e C1 C:r a t e ,:l lr-,;\. .,'V r..,.I;. L!.1 .1.\-; L-: \.,; \-;'\.,Il..l.(i, U V,._ rtt

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ill:e f'o11oi',ring lrooirs accotTipa-i1;; ti:e 5' ioaner -bei-escope;

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i"i ctii tc IIseAd1lr"j]'Ld iA{-l5

.Joirn D S e't:ri a.

CI] :JIi-\'A? C]IY A ii ]D]IS

l/ai-'cing; f'o.r si;rliner 1,a..lres f'orevei" and. iheir tire seasoll, g;oes l:). in afl-ash" As i siar;,, i:'t i;he 3e.v''[ocil "Ca.].rrin 3c ]'i.chbs" this past Sunday, "YoltiiLoV€r have enoug,h tii'ne to dc all the nothing.,ror..rt v,ra.rit"r' r/hich, of'course,explair:s -rhy' r;;gri's CnCe 6";r.aj.:r scr-irrJiinfj tO r,rake an "ECliptic" dead.line.,'ie llirl. jtarie a. gooC. seasc:i i,ii';l'i a. goocl. iri6;hi for the "?romised. Land StarPa.r''r;;" E:.n,.'l gccl c:.cr,,'/c-r-.s at a--l-l the 1:util,ic nrght-s ( except f'or orre night ofl:,.or::j-bLe lrea.'[]'ler j:]rar-'; l;nccked ci"iz. attencl.ence tloivn f'::orn the usnal 36-60pecple to onl; j clr so. ) ii't,e11a.fane l'ra3 sonle i.?.r'j.r.lsi.l&l- eqiiipinent featureCii,re'l-1.. sltoiv tlie nigirlights c-[' th.a-b to ti:e meinl".ersirip iyi October. Therer,'ia.s tlie i.rsua-'. ia.rge LAS cor,ti.*gernt there" Ed anC Charicltte Sidorski; lliil,.'r.r::'en an.C ii-"1-1.,,,'er:ca; ..iohn, i-relores a.ncl- l-i-t-bl-e iolLn Sa.l,ria-i ancl .joe and LThe i'ro-Eeo::s 1,,.Ie:re vei:)r ilood on ilric1a;, night, amd observj-nE; froni the "PLaj-nCetle'uar;r" J)y' the cainpgi.ouLd- aJcieci. an ungsr,:.4.1 -'rC,*ich tc "bhe event. li,ieetingCJ-yd:e liotni:a.ugh a,t ^-e'1af;a.ne arici getti:rg to irea"s' hiirL spea"l-; abor"rt his C.is-ccver]/ cf the p'lane.b P"lur'1.c irL i!JC r^,ras-; f'a.scinating Ci1,Ce may look frai]at :12, 1-'r'r,''-b ire is shai"p ri.il('i. f'r,rl-" of'counc'.-l-ess etrer[;," ile's bben Lnairi-ngtlie rounds of' aL;;a-l;eulr" as"Srcnorirers' ,nee'cings this sull:nilier on behalf of hisscltoi-a::ship flr:rd' f'or pcst C^octcr'al i,iorl< in astr.oilorrl)/, ancl is gung ho toci:serrre the :;p.*ccrii.rlg cppositicn of i'"ars"

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,1 : I.,r 'li r.r -l ii e'i' cl 1-T' '-.' e -l- e s c o' e

,: "i er A 1; ias

. T.,vc )iea.ts ago, we hari €i"ncther goo.i ila.rs opposition,in :lidslliirler ,so i ars rra-s real)-y lov,-iri tire sky^- lfe alsowitli tl:u"niierstffrris, ,*a;is of haze that beca.ii.ie overcast a'b

Jo -"Aitil J::e j:: rirnicir:--lJis )

-6-

seeing on thcse nights that were clear. i{e only had one or two "PercivalLov,rel-l Qu.ality" nights that Iet you see ita.rs as if it was one of' Lov,iell'sd"rawings, Cne those nights nany r:f' the public had no id-ea of urhat to lookf'or a.nd so they missed the details v/e were "c1.rooIing" over, Lucltilyrwecaught on v,iith some of' them and ha-c1 'Lhern go hack vrhile we described evenmore caref'ully v,,rhat to look for" If that happens on good nights, naturall;rthe p,;.blic is reaily disappointed on nights of poor seeing or lvhen a duststorm starts up on i,ars. Tl-ris is why I get uneas),' when I read nelvsletterstalliing a.bcut sclred-,.1ing "i-a.rs i,',ania." o-bserving sessions. i'cJ hate -bo havei:lars oversoki -bhe r,vay lialley's Comet was, arnd. then have tc shorr,'them af'eatr:-rejess hlob thatrs not even recl , hut is more of'a pale to rie<jium o::ange.lilTe r:iho1e thing smacl,(ii of' rna.icing each cel-es'tia"i iroC;;'ofa.incr.ts f'or 15 mini;-tesi'

oirj-s ho'tby ira.s to r,,'a-bch that it doesnrt l:er:cine toc trendy, with equ.ipment'l-.ecoining "or:sc1ete" ovei:night" i ap,orove of'the use of'rJll0 and LFR filters,althoilgfi it's sad tha.t the night s]i;r enviromrrent has become so light pollutecl .

Ttns nct as if'the o1d equipment is no longer usef'uI" Advertising maltes itsounii. as if';r6u. r,ru.st have the Latest shiny toy a.ccessorJ? even if it doescost $3,COC"oC, b,-lt at least these new hi*tech f'eatures are useful too,especially in solne applications" YoLr'11- know they've gone too f'ar whenthey advertise telescopes in your choi-ce of'colcrs -'- hot pink, hot turquoiseand hot purple . this year -- maLlve, dusty rose and dusty blue ,,f ive yearsf'roin nuwranci rnaybe even some clayr-avocado and poppy!

People still have to go out on their ov'rn and strtrggle v,rith the equipmentand he persistent" Even the CAf's donrt do ever;ithing for you or make

)iori an expe::t on astronoiriy over,ri.65ht, If you t'rant a little company as youbtruggle, join us up here at Ir,JC/LASC. iVe've got several atlases at diff'erentlevels of difficulty , anc). several types of instruments for ;161;1 to becomefaniliar with. We can't Co it for;rou and lve \,ion't shangirai you and dragyou u,p here (ins,"rrance anci lega1 f'ebs are prohibitive), but we do encourage],,ou to eome on up"

.To *Ann i(arni c hi t i s

The EgliptiS is the bimonthly ner^;sletter of the Lacls.awanna AstronomicalSociet;r. A suhscriptiori to the Eeliptjs is one of the benefits of rnember-ship in the "LAS " lio permission is needecl for nonprofit use of' any materialpublished. in the Ecliptic provi-ded. it is properly credited.

Articles, carboons, ne\,'/s iterns, Inay be sent to r

,.Io*-Anr1 i;ami chitis, Editor!CL:r? i chai,,rlt SireetScranton, FA tii5Ofi

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