Highlights of the April Sky

- - - 1st - - -

First Quarter Moon 6:21 am EDT DAWN: Saturn and Mars are 1° apart, with Jupiter about 6° to the upper right.

- - - 3rd - - - PM: Venus is in the Pleiades. The brilliant planet will not be closer to the Seven Sisters un l April 2028.

- - - 7th - - - Full Moon 10:35 pm EDT

- - - 14th - - - DAWN: The Moon, Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars form an arc that spans 20° above the south-southeastern horizon. Last Quarter Moon 6:56 pm EDT

- - - 15th - - - DAWN: The Moon is 3° below Saturn, with Jupiter and Mars flanking the pair.

- - - 16th - - - DAWN: The Moon is nearly 4° to lower right of Mars.

- - - 22nd - - - AM: Lyrid meteor shower peaks (10 - 20 meteors/hr.). New Moon 10:26 pm EDT

- - - 25th - - - DUSK: A thin waxing crescent Moon is 3.5° right of Aldebaran.

- - - 26th - - - DUSK: The Moon is 4° to the lower right of Zeta Tauri (Taurus’ southern horn), Venus is 7° to Moon’s le .

- - - 30th - - - First Quarter Moon 4:38 pm EDT

A Publication of the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society

KAS

General Meeting: Friday, April 3 @ 7:00 pm

Observing Session: Saturday, April 11 @ 8:00 pm

Observing Session: Saturday, April 25 @ 8:00 pm

― ALL CANCELED DUE TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ―

Inside the Newsletter. . . March Mee ng Minutes.................... p. 2

Board Mee ng Minutes..................... p. 4

KAS Library Update............................ p. 4

Observa ons...................................... p. 5

Messier Marathon Report..................p. 7

NASA Night Sky Notes........................ p. 8

Membership of the KAS..................... p. 9

April Night Sky................................... p. 10

KAS Board & Announcements............ p. 11

Miller Planisphere.............................. p. 12

April 2020

The general meeting of the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society was brought to order by President Richard Bell on Friday, March 6, 2020 at 7:09 pm EST. Approximately 63 members and guests were in attendance at the Kalamazoo Area Math & Science Center (KAMSC). In his President’s Report, Richard started with an update on Jeff Goldblum and National Geographic shooting footage for the Disney+ series The World According to Jeff Goldblum at Arizona Sky Village (ASV). The crew was due to arrive at 7pm on March 1st, but arrived 3 hours late. They were planning to record scenes from inside Rick Beno’s observatory, but never made it in there (much to Rick’s dismay). Instead, they asked some ASV residents to stage a mock observing session (as it was totally overcast) on Rick’s cement pad and this is where all the recording took place. After a few chaotic hours, the crew packed up their gear and left at 1am. Mike Patton said it wasn't worth all the effort. Hopefully the footage shot will survive editing and be released later this year or early 2021. Mike & Kathy did get a nice photo with Mr. Goldblum (see below), so that was something! Richard thanked all those members that recently volunteered their time with community outreach. Dave Garten, Scott Macfarlane, and Don Stilwell passed out KAS literature at the Nature Center’s new "Club Connection" event on February 8th. Arya Jayatilaka and his daughter Akila joined Don at Family Science Night on February 19th at Hastings Public Library. Don also setup a table on February 29th when the Battle Creek Symphony performed The Planets. Richard then covered upcoming outreach, including Vicksburg Middle School’s annual Science Night on March 11th (volunteers for this event included Dave Garten, Arya, Thenuka, and Akila Jayatilaka, Jack Price, Don Stilwell, and Dave Woolf). Greg Sirna (unable to attend due to a non-coronavirus illness) e-mailed Richard some pictures of the new cabinet for Owl Observatory. This cabinet will secure eyepieces, filters, cameras, etc. when not in use. The dedication of the

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Leonard James Ashby Telescope will [hopefully] be held on Saturday, May 30th at 6pm. All KAS members are strongly encouraged to attend. Please! Richard ended his report with an announcement. He will not be seeking another term on the KAS Board at the end of the year. Richard said that this is his 26th year as a KAS member and 25 of those have been spent serving on the Board (15 as president). He feels he’s accomplished all he can and it’s time to step aside. Therefore, he made the announcement so soon in the year to give other members time to step forward and serve. Richard said he still plans to act as Newsletter Editor and Webmaster as well as serve as Program and Membership Chair. Much of his effort will also go into promoting and encouraging use of Owl Observatory and the Remote Telescope. The evening’s guest speaker, Dr. Elias Aydi, is a Research Associate in the Physics & Astronomy Department at Michigan State University. He graduated from the University of Cape Town with a PhD in astronomy and got his Masters at Notre Dame University in Beirut. His research interests involve working on eruptive stars and optical transients. The title of his well-received presentation was Where is Everybody? The Fermi Paradox. Proxima Centauri, 4.24 light-years distant, is the nearest star to the Sun. An exoplanet, Proxima Centauri b, was found orbiting this red dwarf star in 2016. The discovery of a second planet was announced in April 2019, but remains unconfirmed. If intelligent life exists on Proxima Centauri b and they observed the planets of our solar system with a large telescope, they would see Earth as it appeared 4 years ago. This is due to the time needed for light to travel the distance between the two worlds. This phenomenon is known as lookback time. In another example, if an alien civilization about 50.7 light-years away focused a very powerful telescope on the Moon, they would witness the first Moon landing on July 20, 1969. The Milky Way Galaxy is approximately 100,000 light-years in diameter. The Sun is located about two-thirds (or about 28,000 light-years) from the galactic center. It is estimated to contain 200 - 400 billion stars. The nearest big galaxy to the Milky Way is Andromeda (M31), located about 2.5 million light-years away. Civilizations in M31 with even bigger telescopes pointed at the solar system would see an Earth devoid of humans. Instead they would see Homo habilis, the first human ancestors known to use tools. The Hubble eXtreme Deep Field was released in 2012. The Hubble Space Telescope took an equivalent exposure of 23 days over the course of 10 years in an area of the sky measuring only 2.3ʹ × 2.0ʹ. It contains around 5,500 galaxies, the most distant of which is 13.2 billion light-years away. The observable universe is estimated to be 93 billion light-years in diameter. Although, thanks to the universe being 13.8 billion years old, we cannot actually view galaxies more distant than 13.8 billion light-years. Light simply hasn’t had enough time to travel further than that.

March Meeting Minutes

climate of their planet? If this were the case, alien races wouldn’t last long enough to discover one another. If alien civilizations do exist, but are infrequent, then they would be scattered throughout the Galaxy. This would make visitation or even communication very impractical. Perhaps most alien societies aren’t transmitting signals. And finally, maybe highly advanced alien cultures just don’t find us interesting. Dr. Aydi used the analogy of driving down the highway. If you saw an ant hill would you bother to stop and try to share your technology? Dr. Aydi then asked “would we want them to visit us?” If our history is any indication, a less advanced culture often suffers when visited by a technologically superior people. Very alien cultures may frankly be too different for us to understand. And finally, maybe there is nobody else out there and it is just us. KAS members shared observing reports after the snack break. Aaron Roman managed to spot Venus in broad daylight with both binoculars and a telescope. Aaron said it was easier to spot in binoculars first, since Venus was equidistant between the Sun and Moon on March 2nd. Roger Williams was able to image galaxies from his relocated and light-polluted backyard observatory on March 4th. Paul Asmus witnessed the launch of more SpaceX Starlink satellites from 3.5 miles away on January 29th. Someone asked about the current brightness of Betelgeuse and Richard mentioned that it is brightening again. It looks like the recent dimming was part of the normal 430-day variation cycle. If Betelgeuse continues to brighten at its current rate, it will return to full brightness by September. Under astronomical news. Richard shared a video of a spectacular daytime meteor captured from a dashcam in Slovenia on February 28th. On March 4th, NASA released Curiosity’s highest resolution panorama to date. On the following day, NASA announced the new name for the Mars 2020 rover: Perseverance. Jack Price mentioned that NASA is asking amateur astronomers to record and submit images with streaks from those pesky Starlink satellites. Some European countries are preparing to complain to the United Nations about the effects the satellites are having on professional astronomy. Karen Woodworth mentioned Earth’s latest temporary mini-moon. The meeting concluded at 9:16 pm.

Most stars in the Milky Way are now thought to contain at least one planet of its own. Today, we know of over 4,000 exoplanets orbiting stars other than the Sun (most of these stars are relatively nearby). Therefore, our galaxy alone likely contains trillions of planets. The observable universe contains at least 100 billion galaxies. Doing a bit of math, there are 1021 total stars in the universe. So, the total number of planets in the universe is staggeringly large! Dr. Aydi then covered the two most successful techniques to discover exoplanets utilized today, the radial velocity and transit methods. The Kepler Space Telescope and Transit Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) were also discussed. (Richard covered these topics in his talk on exoplanets last year. Please see pages 2 - 4 of the March 2019 issue of Prime Focus to learn more.) The existence of planets around distant stars, along with possible inhabitants, has long been speculated. Therefore, in 1950, the Italian-American physicist Enrico Fermi, asked (over lunch with his colleagues) “Where is everybody?” If the Milky Way has been inhabited with intelligent extraterrestrial civilizations for tens of million of years then they’ve had plenty of time to spread out and explore the Galaxy, including visits to Earth. Since no visitations have occurred, intelligent life beyond Earth must not exist. In 1961, the American astronomer Frank Drake developed what became known as the Drake Equation, used to calculate the number of currently active communicative extraterrestrial civilizations. Making various assumptions for the variables, the number of advance alien societies can range from 20 to 50,000,000 in our galaxy alone. However, Dr. Aydi argued that non-intelligent life is far more abundant in the universe. Bacteria appeared very early in Earth’s history, perhaps within the first 100 million years. Therefore, this type of life must be common on suitable planets within their star’s habitable zone (the distance necessary for liquid water to exist on the surface). Dr Aydi speculated that NASA will discover bacterial life on one of the moons of Jupiter or Saturn within the next 10 to 20 years. As for intelligent life, that took an additional 3 billion years to appear on Earth. If it weren't for the comet or asteroid that crashed into Earth about 65 million years, bringing about the end of the dinosaur age, intelligent life like humans may have taken considerably longer to appear. Additionally, the formation of the East African Rift changed the climate of central Africa from forest to savannahs. This forced early primates to start walking on two legs and gradually develop tools, instead of happily jumping from tree to tree. This, along with the discovery of fire, helped primates develop larger brains, which would lead to homo sapiens. These sequence of events are no doubt unique to Earth, but the shear abundance of other planets make it highly probable that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the Galaxy or universe. So, if intelligent life beyond Earth exists, where are they? The first possibility is that they are not yet advanced enough to communicate with radio telescopes. Maybe we are the most advanced civilization in the Galaxy thus far? Additionally, maybe intelligent races don’t last very long. Perhaps they exist for several hundred years and snuff themselves out by nuclear war or severely altering the

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Dr. Elias Aydi, a Research Associate in the Physics and Astronomy Department at MSU, was the guest speaker at our meeting on March 6th.

members were available to attend Statewide Astronomy Night at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum on April 17th. Finally, developments in the planning for KAS to host a meeting of the Great Lakes Region of the Astronomical League and Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers had made it unfeasible to proceed for the current year. Under New Business, Dave suggested a mini star party for a few members at his dark sky site in the Manistee National Forest in August. The idea was met with enough interest to continue planning, with a sign-up sheet to show the level of interest. With the end of business, the meeting was adjourned at 6:00 pm. The next meeting was set for 5:00 pm on April 19th (due to Easter on the 12th) at Sunnyside. Respectfully submitted by Roger Williams

The KAS Board met on March 8, 2020 at Sunnyside Church. The meeting began promptly at 5:00 pm EDT. Those present were Richard Bell, Joe Comiskey, Dave Garten, Scott Macfarlane, Rich Mather, Jack Price, Don Stilwell, and Roger Williams (Aaron Roman arrived at 6pm due to Daylight Time issues). Don presented the Treasurer’s Report, which showed the right totals but which failed to reconcile the checks properly. There was apparently a data entry error, but Don had not been able to locate it before the meeting began. Richard reiterated his criticism that the account balance report needs new categories, since it currently shows over $20,000 in the Remote Telescope Account, which is misleading. Richard’s summary of March/April events included Messier Marathon on March 21st, the general meeting on April 3rd, and Public Observing Sessions on April 11th and April 25th. (In the time since the board meeting, developments in the COVID-19 virus area led to daily changes and difficulty in scheduling any events.) In the Follow-up category, the Owl Observatory Upgrade Project was discussed. The donated 10-inch Meade Classic LX200 was tested by Scott and found to work properly. However, it was dustier than anticipated and will need some serious cleaning before it is sold. Richard will look at this. Additional items to be purchased for Owl Observatory included Sequence Generator Pro software, TheSkyX Serious Edition software, a 2× PowerMate for use in planetary photography, and an AC-DC power supply for the dew-control system. Richard estimated the cost of these items at $650, and Joe moved to authorize Richard to make the purchase. After a second by Dave, the motion passed. Dave had been working on the motorized roll-off roof. He reported having all the basic parts needed to control the roof but still needing smaller fasteners, etc. to assemble the unit. Some of the parts previously OK’d from Astronomy Solutions were regarded as not necessary, since they were aimed towards remote operation, while we only required motorized operation with supervision. This would also save significant money. Dave estimated the remaining cost at $360. After a motion by Don and second by Joe, the Board voted to authorize the expenditure. Finally, the dedication ceremony for the Leonard James Ashby Telescope was set for May 30th when May 16th was found to interfere with a scheduled wedding reception at KNC. 6:00 pm appeared to be the preferred time. On the topic of year 2020 outreach, Jack had organized the helpers needed for Vicksburg Middle School Science night on March 11th. Jack and Dave were planning to attend the Barry County Science Festival at Pierce Cedar Creek on March 21st (subsequently canceled). A request from Lakeside Center Elementary School for March 21st encountered too many conflicts, and the Board agreed to turn it down, with a request for earlier notification in the future. At least two

Twenty-three items (textbooks and CD-ROMs) have been removed from our library. They were offered to members at the February meeting and then were offered to students at the Kalamazoo Area Mathematics & Science Center. We are keeping more recent editions of astronomy textbooks and also some vintage textbooks. Donations are still being accepted for the library. Thank you to Paul McKinley, who donated two items at the March meeting. If you would like to donate items to the library, please talk to me at a meeting and/or put them on the "returned items" portion of the shelf. Do you know how to find the library catalogue on the website? Go to kasonline.org and hover over the "Resources" tab. A drop-down menu will appear. Click on "KAS Library" and you'll find the list of holdings (the catalogue) under information about how to check out books. Which categories of materials are you most interested in? Please let me know with an email or talk to me at a KAS meeting. Here are your choices:

Amateur Astronomy, Astrophysics, General, Historical Fiction [pertaining to astronomy], Science Fiction, Solar System, Textbooks, DVDs, Miscellaneous.

Knowing what you'd most like to check out will help when accepting or soliciting donations of materials. At the February and March meetings, I announced the return of the KAS Puzzle Challenge! Here's how it works: Check out the "Celestial Planisphere" puzzle, put it together, take a photo of the completed puzzle with yourself and anyone else who helped assemble the puzzle, print and date the photo, and tape the photo into the box to join the photos that are already there. This is a 1,000-piece puzzle, although since there's a piece missing it's really a 999-piece puzzle. Donations of additional astronomy-themed puzzles with all of their pieces included will be happily accepted into the KAS library.

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KAS Library Update

by Karen Woodworth, Ph.D.

April 2020

Our secretary, Roger Williams, omitted one bit of business I brought up at end of the board meeting on March 8th. With news of the coronavirus pandemic building, I wondered if we would have to cancel at least the general meeting on April 3rd. A couple of board members (I won’t say who) were very doubtful of the possibility of cancellation and thought I was overreacting. However, I could see the writing on the wall. A few days later, I e-mailed Mike Sinclair to ask about the likelihood of Kalamazoo Public Schools (KPS) closing down. Mike replied “We ain’t closing anytime soon.” Two days later KPS shutdown until after spring break. At that point, there wasn’t a single case of COVID-19 in Kalamazoo County. Obviously, things developed very quickly that week. Currently, Michigan ranks third in the number of deaths and fourth in the number of cases. On March 23rd, Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced a stay-at-home order for Michigan through at least April 13th. By this point, I had already made the decision to cancel the April 3rd general meeting and the Public Observing Sessions on April 11th and 25th. Frankly, our activities in May are in doubt as well. Our special guest speaker for the May meeting doesn’t want to give an in-person presentation. I don’t blame him one bit. My guess is that KPS will cancel in-person classes for the remainder of the school year soon. I’m even skeptical of being able to hold our telescope dedication on May 30th. It’s March 31st as I type this and COVID-19 cases haven’t even peaked yet. Experts say that won’t occur until mid- to late April. What matters most is that everyone self-quarantines as best they can and practice social distancing. Our guest speakers (I hope), the new telescope, and the night sky will still be there after this nightmare is over. However, there’s one thing that we can’t stop or delay until the pandemic is over: a possibly very bright comet!

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The Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) is, as the name suggests, an asteroid impact early warning system operated by the University of Hawaii. Two 20-inch (0.5-meter) telescopes, one atop Mauna Loa and another on Haleakala, automatically scan the entire sky several times every clear night looking for hazardous near-Earth asteroids. Like other similar survey projects, such as NEAT and Pan-STARRS, ATLAS has observed and discovered other items of interest like supernovae, variable stars, and comets. And a comet is exactly what the telescope on Mauna Loa found on December 28, 2019. Once confirmed, the comet was given the designation C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS). According to their slightly-dated website, ATLAS has discovered at least 37 other comets. This one might be special though. At the time of its discovery, ATLAS Y4 was only a 19.6-magnitude fuzzball in Ursa Major and 273 million miles (2.9 AU) from the Sun. Its orbit is inclined by 45° with respect to the ecliptic and it currently has an orbital period of 6,000 years. After enough observations of the new comet were made, its precise orbit was calculated. That orbit bore an uncanny resemblance to the Great Comet of 1844, which reached 2-magnitude and sported a 10° tail in January 1845. Evidently, that comet and ATLAS Y4 are fragments of a larger body that broke up approximately 5,000 years ago. What’s causing all the excitement is the sudden increase in brightness the comet experienced between February and the end of March. ATLAS Y4 experienced a 4,000-fold increase in brightness, from magnitude 17 to 8. Under dark, moonless skies that makes it an easy target in binoculars. This dramatic increase in brightness was caused by volatile ices on the comets surface suddenly sublimating (changing phases from ice directly into gas) as it nears the warmth of the Sun. This phenomenon is common for comets that are venturing into the inner solar system for the first time. The question is will this increase in brightness continue or will the comet gradually fizzle out, as has happened so many times before? Recent examples include Comet Kohoutek in 1974 and Comet ISON in 2013. Much of this depends on the diameter of ATLAS Y4’s nucleus. In the case of ISON, its nucleus turned out to be only about 0.8 km and was nothing more than a rubble pile. It crumbled into pieces on Thanksgiving as it neared the Sun. If ATAS Y4 is more typical in size, say 3 to 5 km, and contains lots of dust, then it could put on one helluva show! Goodness know, we need and deserve it. On average, Earthlings are supposed to enjoy one bright comet per decade. That has been the trend recently, but favoring the Southern Hemisphere. The last “great comet” was C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy), which reached a maximum magnitude of -3 or -4 and sported a 40° straight tail. That comet’s nucleus was also fairly small, but managed to survive its close passage around the Sun. Before that was C/2006 P1 (McNaught), the brightest comet to grace our skies in over 40 years. That beauty reached a peak magnitude of -5.5 and was adorned with a drop-dead gorgeous fan-shaped dust tail that made me green with envy. It was briefly visible to the unaided eye north of the equator, but we

This is one of the two custom built 20-inch f/2.0 Wright Schmidt telescopes that discovered Comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) on December 28, 2019.

in West Michigan didn’t get to see it thanks to typically overcast January winter skies. Technically, the last naked eye comet we northerners got to see was C/2011 L4 Pan-STARRS, which briefly reached 1st magnitude in March 2013. Several amateurs reported viewing the comet with the unaided eye, but the bright dusk sky made it difficult around here (or at least for me). Before that was 17P/Holmes in 2007. That comet experienced a half a million increase in brightness in October of that year and appeared as a distinct yellow dot in Perseus. Both were fine targets with camera and telescope, but neither qualified as “great comets.” For that, you have to go all the way back to 1996 and 1997. Comet Hyakutake was the first bright comet I ever saw, since we had a bright-comet drought in the 1980’s. Hyakutake reached a peak brightness of 0-magnitude in late-March 1996 and its magnificent tail stretched over 80°! It came closer to Earth than any comet had in 200 years. At its closest, you could see it move across the sky...with the UNAIDED EYE! Then there was Hale-Bopp! Its discovery, on July 23, 1995, actually preceded that of Hyakutake. Its early discovery was made possible by its unusually large nucleus, estimates range from 40 to 80 km! Most of the time you never know exactly how a comet will perform, but I cannot recall any doubts that Hale-Bopp was going to put on a grand show...and that it did. Both the ion and dust tail were easy to see (even in moderately light-polluted skies) and made the jaws of both novice and seasoned skywatchers drop. Thanks to its large size, it still holds the record for being visible with the unaided eye: 18 months. Both Hyakutake and Hale-Bopp both helped with the re-birth of the KAS in the mid- to late 1990s. The KAS may not be in need of a re-birth at the moment, but a bright comet certainly would help lead to an influx of new members. That’s why it would be a shame if the pandemic made it impossible for us to share ATLAS Y4 with the public. Fortunately, if predictions pan out, all you’ll need is your own two eyes and a clear view of the northwestern sky. Comet ATLAS Y4 reaches perihelion (closest to the Sun) on

Sunday (appropriately enough), May 31st. At that time, it will be 23.5 million miles (0.25 AU) from our local star. That qualifies it as a sun-grazing comet. Forecasting a comet’s performance is an imprecise science, so there are a range of predictions. Daniel Green, Director of the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams (CBAT), used an equation based on the behavior of previous long-period, sun-grazing comets and calculated a peak magnitude of –0.3. Not bad. NASA’s JPL Horizons is a bit more optimistic. They predict the comet could reach a maximum magnitude of –5, exceeding that of Venus and putting it on par with Comet McNaught’s performance in 2007. On May 31st, ATLAS Y4 will be 13° southwest from the Sun, so this would make the comet visible in broad daylight with a properly shielded telescope! That would be AWESOME, but don’t get your hopes up. The comet spends the entire month of April in the obscure constellation Camelopardalis, starting off as a 7-magnitude fuzzball. By May 1st, it should reach 5-magnitude. It crosses the border into Perseus on May 12th and should have brightened to 3.5-magnitude. By mid-month, ATLAS Y4 should be visible to the unaided eye. JPL Horizons calculates it will be magnitude 1 or 2, while Director Green at CBAT predicts that number will be between 2 and 3. The comet makes its closest approach to Earth on May 23rd. At this point it will be very low in the sky, about 5° above the northwestern horizon 25 minutes after sunset. At this point, the ion tail will be lost in twilight. Will it have a glorious dust tail like comets McNaught or Lovejoy? As mentioned earlier, that depends on how much dust the nucleus contains. Further outbursts are always possible or the comet may crumble into nothing under the increasing heat of the Sun. Let’s hope it’s the former and not the later! You can track its progress online, of course, but the comet is well placed in the evening sky. Why not get out there and monitor it every clear night yourself? Just practice proper social distancing. These are strange times we live in!

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Gregg Ruppel captured this image of Comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) on March 28, 2020 from Animas, New Mexico. He used an ASA 10N astrograph and SBIG STL 11000M CCD camera. It is a 48-minute total exposure.

The scene above, generated with Starry Night Pro, shows the position of ATLAS Y4 on May 19, 2020 at 9:45 pm EDT. At this point, the comet should be brighter than 2-magnitude and visible to the unaided eye. The ion tail stretches back into Camelopardalis. The dust tail, if it has one, would curve off toward Auriga. The planets Venus (top) and Mercury are visible toward the west, in Taurus.

April 2020

Attending Members:

Don Stilwell, KAS member for 15 yrs., (left early to continue observations from his backyard and discuss later that evening via phone) Andrew Loveless, KAS member for 4 or 5 yrs., (newly rebuilt C8, had technical trouble preventing use) Aaron Roman, KAS member for 2 yrs., (10” Dobsonian and tripod mounted 10×50 binoculars) Via email: Joe Comiskey, KAS member for 11 yrs., “Went out and saw a few galaxies from my driveway (and the 1/2 moon-shaped Venus earlier).”

Social distancing, COVID-19, and general unease may be a thing of the past one day, but for now this seemed like a great opportunity as I find myself hunkered down in front of Netflix more and more each day. 9:00 to 9:15 - Temperature: 31° F. Observed “march of the satellites”. At 20° intervals, 4 - 5 magnitude satellites can be seen in perfect line following each other. Visibility started below Perseus and progressed through Taurus and into Leo.

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Don counted at least 13 in a row. It is clear that viewing this phenomenon is dependent on the Sun still being up at the orbital level while being set here. There was discussion afterword that none of us was able to identify these objects. I observed these objects at a different angle in the sky last Monday. 9:35 - Bright shooting star from zenith falling west in between Auriga and Orion. At least 35° long and -1.5 magnitude. We agreed it wasn’t as bright as Venus though when I asked Andrew what color he thought it had been, he said orange. In this we didn’t agree... my color memory isn’t that great. 9:35 to 10:20 - Completely overcast. Took the time to sketch Pleiades through the clouds in the eyepiece. 10:25 - Let the Marathon begin! Began with Owl Cluster with the following observation: “An easy to find, unevenly distributed open cluster with its brightest star a magnitude five. Stars vary in magnitude and color including one very red star. 12.5mm eyepiece (100×, 0.8° AFOV).” So not a Messier, I know. But goals tonight were a mix of naked-eye southern constellations, telescopic items from Caldwell’s list and as many binocular Messier Catalogue objects I could find. When I was making up my list this week of potential targets for the marathon, it occurred to me that I didn’t know any constellations below Orion. I am aware that there is a rabbit down there somewhere , but anything from Lepus to Corvus is a mystery to me. With the early cloud cover, that was not remedied. Oh well, maybe I’ll get to learn those constellations another day. 12:56 - Right after observing M81 and M82 in the binoculars, I realized I may have breezed over a potentially great target while star-hopping my way to those targets. If the NASA app was to be believed, C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) comet (predicted magnitude 14.5) was recently found to be 8.5. So this comet is brightening quickly...could it be the one? I figured I better backtrack so I could say I was there. It is a bright nucleus surrounded by a faint green coma that is at least 6 arc minutes in diameter. Neat! End Count:

Caldwell: 5 (favorite: Owl Cluster, NGC 457) Binocular Messier: 16 (favorite: Hercules Cluster, M13) Comet: 1 Sketches: 2

I was the last member to leave at 2:30 am. Temperature: 22° F. Skies were still clear, but I was getting sluggish. All in all...personally, a successful night.

Messier Marathon Report by Aaron Roman

Andrew Loveless

Aaron Roman

April 2020

The Hubble Space Telescope celebrates its 30th birthday in orbit around Earth this month! It’s hard to believe how much this telescope has changed the face of astronomy in just three decades. It had a rough start – an 8-foot mirror just slightly out of focus in the most famous case of spherical aberration of all time. But subsequent repairs and upgrades by space shuttle astronauts made Hubble a symbol of the ingenuity of human spaceflight and one of the most important scientific instruments ever created. Beginning as a twinkle in the eye of the late Nancy Grace Roman, the Hubble Space Telescope’s work over the past thirty years changed the way we view the universe, and more is yet to come! We’ve all seen the amazing images created by Hubble and its team of scientists, but have you seen Hubble yourself? You actually can! Hubble’s orbit – around 330 miles overhead – is close enough to Earth that you can see it at night. The best times are within an hour after sunset or before sunrise, when its solar panels are angled best to reflect the light of the Sun back down to Earth. You can’t see the structure of the telescope, but you can identify it as a bright star-like point, moving silently across the night sky. It’s not as bright as the Space Station, which is much larger and whose orbit is closer to Earth (about 220 miles), but it’s still very noticeable as a single steady dot of light, speeding across the sky. Hubble’s orbit brings it directly overhead for observers located near tropical latitudes; observers further north and south can see it closer to the horizon. You can find sighting opportunities

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using satellite tracking apps for your smartphone or tablet, and dedicated satellite tracking websites. These resources can also help you identify other satellites that you may see passing overhead during your stargazing sessions. NASA has a dedicated site for Hubble’s 30th’s anniversary. The Night Sky Network’s “Why Do We Put Telescopes in Space?” activity can help you and your audiences discover why we launch telescopes into orbit, high above the interference of Earth’s atmosphere. Amateur astronomers may especially enjoy Hubble’s images of the beautiful objects found in both the Caldwell and Messier catalogs. As we celebrate Hubble’s legacy, we look forward to the future, as there is another telescope ramping up that promises to further revolutionize our understanding of the early universe: the James Webb Space Telescope! Discover more about the history and future of Hubble and space telescopes at nasa.gov. This article is distributed by NASA Night Sky Network. The Night Sky Network program supports astronomy clubs across the USA dedicated to astronomy outreach. Visit nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov to find local clubs, events, and more!

by David Prosper

NASA Night Sky Notes...

Hubble’s “first light” image. Even with the not-yet-corrected imperfections in its mirror, its images were generally sharper compared to photos taken by ground-based telescopes at the time. Image Credit: NASA

1. Thomas Abraham Senior 2020 2. Jan Andersen Senior 2020 3. Paul Asmus Senior 2021 4. Harold Ballen Senior Family 2021 5. Soumendra Nath Bandyopadhyay Regular 2020 6. Richard Bell Life me n/a 7. Karen & Peter Berzins Senior Family 2020 8. Luke Bessler Student 2020 9. Charles Bibart Senior Family 2020 10. Be y Bledsoe Senior 2021 11. Jack & Lorrie Bley Family 2021 12. Hunter Boone Regular 2020 13. Ma hew Borton Regular 2021 14. Tommy Brown Regular 2020 15. Phyllis Buskirk Life me n/a 16. Michael Bussey Senior 2020 17. Beverly Byle Senior 2020 18. Dale A. Campbell Family 2020 19. David Carpenter Family 2020 20. Adam Castle Regular 2020 21. Bonnie Covert & Mike Chaffee Family 2020 22. Barry Collins Family 2021 23. Joe & Ellen Comiskey Family 2021 24. Roark Consola Senior Family 2021 25. Michael Cook Family 2020 26. Harry Co erill Senior Family 2020 27. Steve Crawford Regular 2021 28. John Dillworth & Dorilee Crown Family 2020 29. Kalman & Becky Csia Senior Family 2020 30. Jean DeMo Senior 2020 31. Sue DeNise Regular 2021 32. Ma hew DePriest Family 2020 33. Richard Dirrenberger Senior 2020 34. Kris & Steve Durbin Family 2021 35. Fred E. Du on Senior 2021 36. James Dyer Senior Family 2020 37. Janet Dykens Regular 2020 38. Cli on E. Ealy Jr. Regular 2020 39. Richard Emmons Senior Family 2020 40. William Fowler Family 2021 41. Richard Frantz Senior 2020 42. Dave Garten Family 2020 43. Ma Garten Regular 2020 44. Brendan & Dee Gauthier Senior Family 2021 45. Kalina Angell & Rob Gauthier Family 2020 46. Tom George Regular 2021 47. Jaimy Gordon Senior 2020 48. Tony Gurczynski Senior 2021 49. Alexander Hanchar Senior 2021 50. Robert & Barbara Havira Senior Family 2020 51. Geoffrey Hickok Senior Family 2020 52. Christopher & Lydia Hodshire Family 2020 53. Lydia Hoff Regular 2020 54. Nicholas & Nancy Hotra Senior Family 2020 55. Arya Jaya laka Family 2021 56. Dean Johnson Senior 2020 57. Phillip Johnson Family 2023 58. Kevin Jung Regular 2020 59. Ahsanuddin & Maliha Ali Khan Senior Family 2021 60. Rodney Kinne Senior 2021 61. Mark Kinsey Family 2020 62. Kellie Kloosterman Regular 2020 63. Kirk & Angela Korista Family 2020 64. Srinivasa Kota Family 2020 65. Zosha Kuiper Student 2020 66. Jim Kurtz Regular 2020 67. Tim Kurtz Regular 2020 68. Cal Lamoreaux Senior Family 2020

69. John Lee Family 2020 70. Nancy Wood & Dale Lighthizer Senior Family 2020 71. Keith Longjohn Senior 2021 72. Andrew Loveless Family 2020 73. Gary & Phyllis Lubbert Family 2021 74. Chuck Lund Senior 2020 75. Sco Macfarlane Family 2021 76. Dale E. Mais Senior 2020 77. Phillip & Linda Marshall Senior Family 2020 78. Jon Towne & Bobbi Mar ndale Family 2021 79. Richard Mather Regular 2022 80. Randy & Michelle Matson Family 2020 81. Sandi McGuire Senior Family 2021 82. Joe McJilton Regular 2021 83. Paul McKinley Senior 2021 84. Cathy McMinn Family 2020 85. Michael J. Melwiki Regular 2020 86. Chris Miller Regular 2020 87. John Miller Regular 2021 88. Mark & Ninah Miller Family 2020 89. Dave & Carol Mitchell Senior Family 2021 90. David & Michelle Murphy Family 2020 91. Bill Nigg Life me n/a 92. Jim & Christene Oorbeck Family 2020 93. Charles Overberger Regular 2020 94. Mike Pa on Senior 2020 95. Jack & Ruth Price Family 2020 96. Alison Prui Family 2020 97. Sam & Tina Qualls Family 2020 98. Michael Quinn Senior Family 2020 99. Jay Raycra Regular 2021 100. Jonathan Reck Regular 2020 101. Andrew C. Robins Regular 2021 102. Florence Roe Senior 2021 103. Aaron & McKenzie Roman Family 2020 104. Jason Sche ner Student 2021 105. Eric Schreur Senior 2020 106. Robert Secor Regular 2020 107. Frank & Susan Severance Senior Family 2020 108. Diane Schear Regular 2021 109. Rick Shields Senior 2020 110. Lloyd Simons Family 2021 111. Michael & Karen Sinclair Family 2020 112. Greg Sirna Regular 2021 113. Don S lwell Senior Family 2021 114. Brian & Terri Swisher Family 2020 115. Jon Szczepanski Family 2020 116. Renée Szostek Regular 2020 117. David Taylor Regular 2021 118. Josh Taylor-Lehman Regular 2021 119. Gary & Karen Theisen Family 2020 120. Eric Therkildsen Family 2021 121. Terry Tomlinson Senior Family 2021 122. Henry & Martha Upjohn Family 2020 123. Michael & Debbie Vandeveer Senior Family 2021 124. Jim Vukelich Senior 2020 125. Robert Wade Suppor ng 2021 126. Brian Walesh Family 2021 127. Sharyl Weber Family 2021 128. Ka e & Duane Weller Family 2021 129. Danielle & James Whitaker Family 2020 130. Bob White Senior 2021 131. Roger & Molly Williams Family 2020 132. Vera Paz-Moreno & Ma hew Wimsa Family 2020 133. John Wing Family 2024 134. Klay & Karen Woodworth Family 2020 135. David Woolf Family 2020 136. Mohammed Zafar Regular 2020

Membership of the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society. . .

April 2020 Prime Focus Page 9

— April Night Sky —

NORTH

EAST W

EST

V enus visits the stars of the Pleiades, the Seven Sisters, on the evening of April 3rd. The

brilliant evening star, shining at magnitude -4.4, lies just outside the “mini dipper’s” bowl or ¼° southeast of Alcyone, the brightest of the Pleiads. This will be a delightful sight in binoculars or wide-field telescopes. Hope for clear

skies, as Venus won’t visit the Pleiades like this again until April 2028. Early risers can catch the quartet of a last quarter Moon, Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars 30 minutes before sunrise on April 14th. They’ll form an arc that spans some 20° above the south-southeastern horizon starting in Sagittarius.

The Moon will be 3° below Saturn before dawn on April 15th and 4° to the lower left of Mars on April 16th. The Moon, now in the evening sky, will be 3½° right of Aldebaran on April 25th. The dark portion of the Moon will be illuminated by Earthshine, making for a stunning sight in binoculars.

SOUTH

This star map is property of the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society. However, you may make as many copies as you wish free-of-charge, so long as it is for non-profit educa onal purposes and full credit is given to the KAS. www.kasonline.org

• Late March 11 pm

• Early April 10 pm

• Late April 9 pm

• Early May 8 pm

This map represents the sky at the following local mes:

PRESIDENT

Richard S. Bell

VICE PRESIDENT

Jack Price

TREASURER

Don S lwell

SECRETARY/ALCOR

Roger Williams

PUBLICITY MANAGER

Joe Comiskey

MEMBERS-AT-LARGE

Dave Garten

Sco Macfarlane

Aaron Roman

E-MAIL a BOARD MEMBER

April 2020 Page 11

and help the

Did you know that you could purchase telescopes, binoculars, eyepieces, and much more from Orion Telescopes & Binoculars and help the KAS in the process?

Simply click on the link provided above and begin shopping on Orion’s website. Purchasing their products through the link gives the KAS a commission.

− http://twitter.com/kzooastro/ −

Keep up to date on the latest news and activities of the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society. Stay informed about upcoming events in the night sky.

All this and more in 280 characters or less!

ALL NEW KAS GALLERY Visit the completely redesigned KAS Gallery! Not only does the gallery have a new look with several new pages added, but nearly every single image in older galleries has been reprocessed in some way.

You won’t find another astronomy club’s gallery as extensive as ours anywhere online. Check it out at:

gallery.kasonline.org

© April 2020, Stargazer Productions

Kalamazoo Astronomical Society c/o KAMSC 600 West Vine, Suite 400 Kalamazoo, MI 49008

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