november 2019 volume xix number 11 -...

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NOVEMBER 2019

Volume XIX Number 11

(Celebrating our 20th Year!)

OBSERVE - LEARN - SHARE Contents

Upcoming Events

November 15

General Meeting Lone Star College – Kingwood

November 23 Star Party O’Brien Dark Site

December 6 Public Night Insperity Observatory

December 13 General Meeting Lone Star College – Kingwood

December 28 Star Party O’Brien Dark Site

1 Upcoming Events

2 Monthly Meeting

3 Club News

4 Gallery

5 The Importance of Documenting Observations for Future Reference

7 Notes from the October Star Party

9 November Star Party

11 Dark Site Information

12 Insperity Observatory

13 About NHAC

14 Calendar, Membership, Officers

15 Affiliations

NORTH STAR – NOVEMBER 2019 OBSERVE-LEARN-SHARE

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November 15, 2019

NOVICE SESSION (6:30 P.M……Room CLA 221…….Lone Star College - Kingwood)

"Telescopes” Presented by Dr. Aaron Clevenson, NHAC Astronomical League Coordinator, Professor of Astronomy at Lone Star College Let’s say you are thinking about a new (or new used) telescope for yourself or someone you know. Where do you start? What do you look for? Refractor or reflector? How much should you spend? Aaron can provide some answers to these questions.

GENERAL MEETING (7:30 P.M……Room CLA 112…Lone Star College - Kingwood)

"The Big Bang Theory" Presented by Professor William Leach, Physics Department, Lone Star College – Kingwood No, not the TV show. Bill will discuss the Big Bang Theory of the origin of the Universe.


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NHAC 2020 Calendar The 2020 Club calendar is finished and orders are being taken! The Club is selling the calendars for $10 and they will be available for purchase and pick up at the monthly club meetings. Please contact Joana Tan at [email protected].

2020 Dues are Due Soon The NHAC membership year runs from January through December, so please remember to pay your 2020 dues in the next couple of months. Dues are $10 for students, $30 for individuals and $40 for a family.

Astronomical League Matters In recent months, the League announced three observing programs: Planetary Transit: Mercury 2019

Special Observing Award (TRANSIT ON NOVEMBER 11, 2019!)

Spectroscopy Observing Program Multiple Star Observing Program

Learn more about these programs at the Astronomical League Website. The NHAC Astronomical League Coordinator is Dr. Aaron Clevenson. He can be contacted at [email protected].

Outreach in October The Atascosita Star Party on October 19 was a big success. We had good weather and there were over 90 attendees.

Dr. Bruce Pollard, PhD, NHAC, is our expert in spectroscopy and is a very effective teacher. If you would like some hands-on learning, contact Dr. Pollard. An introductory manual by Ken M. Harrison, "Grating Spectroscopes and How to Use Them", is available on Amazon. It is detailed, and full of good information.

The latest issue of "What's Up, Doc" by Dr. Aaron Clevenson is at What's Up, Doc?

We welcome news, photos, comments and contributions for North Star, the NHAC newsletter. Please send them to [email protected] by the 10th of each month.

mailto:[email protected]

https://www.astroleague.org/


https://www.humbleisd.net/Page/81224


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Image by Loyd Overcash, NHAC “The Elephant’s Trunk nebula (IC 1396A), is only a small part of IC 1396. Taken from Ft. Davis on 10-20-19 with a 14.5 RCOS and the SBIG STL-6303 camera. Exposure was L=75 min. and 30 min. each RGB all in 5 min. subs.”

Image by Kurt Johnson, NWHAC “Last night (Oct. 18) I had the Spacecat 51 out again for more testing. I added the STC Duoband filter and imaged the entire Veil Complex in one frame. Final is a composite stack of 10 frames at 10min each. Still working on the final color balance and playing with a few other things on it. Processed in PixInsight & Photoshop. Camera was a QHY 128c one shot color. From my backyard in Magnolia.”


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By Roger Ivester, NHAC

The following photo represents my past 40 plus years of observing, documenting, sketching and articles.

When I purchased my first serious telescope back in the mid-70’s, I also picked up a small astronomy reference book: “The Finest Deep-Sky Objects” by James Mullaney and Wallace McCall. It was a small paperback with 31 pages, filled with an incredible amount of information, the majority being double stars.

This book also contained a number of galaxies, nebulae, star clusters, and even included several prominent red stars. This would be my first list of objects to observe, and document.


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My next list of objects to observe was the Messier catalog, which I’ve observed and documented multiple times, taking my time and being very patient.

This began my quest of making simple notes of all the objects I was observing. However, my notes were pretty poor, mostly listing only the identification number and object. However, I had to start somewhere, and this seems to be how many amateurs begin their documentation of observations….writing down nothing more than “I saw M37 and M42…etc.”

The late Tom Lorenzin, author of “1000+ The Amateur Astronomer’s Field Guide to Deep-Sky Observing” shared the same. This made me feel better, saying that he too, in his early days listed only the object identification, being the Messier number, NGC or IC.

In the early 90’s I began using “1000+” almost exclusively, at least for the following ten or more years. I really liked the descriptions by Lorenzin, being relatively brief, but saying so much. He was very effective in his use of words.

I was fortunate to have been able to meet Tom Lorenzin, on numerous occasions, and we became friends.

I patterned my descriptions to follow in Tom Lorenzin’s format…attempting to use precision, without being overly wordy.

My writing and observation notes both improved during this period, but I needed more than just notes. I started pencil sketching. It’s true…”a picture is worth a thousand words.”

It’s my opinion: visual observing is seeing the faintest of detail in each and every deep-sky object, then recording and/or sketching the object.

I continued to sketch and to-date have spent thousands of hours at the eyepiece, never wanting to be anything more than a visual backyard observer.

My only regret….I don’t have any notes or sketches from my earliest days. Those days at thirteen years old, with my brothers, 60 mm refractor, from the weedy field beside my childhood home, in the foothills of North Carolina.


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By Frank Nowatzke, NHAC

Just a recap from last night’s star party (Oct 26) from my perspective, being fairly new to the club. My wife and I moved down here from the Chicago area this past March and this will be my first winter in the Houston area. The missus and I find it tantalizing to find out what everybody considers a "winter" down here.

I was the tall guy with the large table set up in the Southwest corner of our area. I was not the last one to leave. That honor belongs to two imagers. I believe I started packing up at 11:30 and was on the O'Briens driveway just before midnight.

For those of you who left early we had a few meteors and one bright bolide north of Andromeda.

As darker Skies fell, I searched Pegasus trying to find a Hickson's Galaxy group near the Great Square. I found NGC 7331 fairly easily but could not resolve the nearby smaller galaxies. With utility I tried finding group called Stephan's Quintet but figured I would not be able to after not finding the smaller than GCS near 7331. I then went to the next corner of the Square to search for NGC 7448 that has been talked about lately. That was my first time searching and again could not find it. A small problem what is the Dew which was a pest for my Telrad, though even if it was dry would not have helped my ignorance of the whereabouts.

While playing around Pegasus, of course took a tour multiple times through the night for M31. I had trouble locating M33 but James came over and did find it for me, being able to resolve it as a large fuzzy with low surface brightness. Another attempt at finding some smaller NGC inside Triangulum was a failure. Even looking directly overhead almost at zenith had a lot of moisture still after that front moved through.

In between chasing galaxies I thought I would check out Saturn. I had the 21 mm Ethos in it and easily made up the Cassini division. Bumping it up to the 8 mm Ethos blocked out color differentiation on the cloud tops of Saturn!! Even at the Texas Star Party 2 years ago I was not able to do this. James had heard my vocal exclamation and came over and I shared the view with him. He


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was able to make out a darker equatorial Cloud band whereas I was able to easily make out a brighter Cloud band to the top of Saturn near the Rings. We bumped the magnification up to a 4.7 mm Ethos, but that I know was too extreme and went back to the 8 millimeter.

I also had visited M13 and was able to distinguish the propeller. Jim also came over to confirm this visual. After he walked away I then got the NGC Galaxy but could not make out a little IC Galaxy in between which is supposed to be easily recognized via a parallelogram. I could not even pick out any parallelogram so I knew I would not find a Galaxy.

Towards the end of the evening playing near the great Square again, how was showing a few folks Mirach's ghost.

So I learned that the Longhorns are kind of gentle and do not have to worry too much about them scraping the car as much as the donkeys coming over and nudging you for attention. And next time I will have my dew heater ready.

Clear skies….


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By Rusty Hill, NHAC

We had a good turnout for the BBQ/Star Party in October. Thank you James for the good food, as well as others who brought side-dishes. (Where did that good looking cake disappear to?) For a change the sky was clear, and there was a good bit of observing by various members of the Club. Venus and Mercury were Naked Eye visible low in the west. Venus was very clear and bright, and several of the telescopes were able to resolve the Mercury crescent. Jupiter and Saturn were easily found, and striking as usual. There were several Deep Sky Objects seen, and most everybody considered the evening a success. It has been a while since we could say that!

Our next Star Party on November 23 will be 3 days before the New Moon, which will be at Perigee. But you will have to stay up until after 4:43 on Sunday Morning to see it, and it will only be 3% illuminated.

Sunset will be at 5:23. Jupiter will be very close to Venus above the Western Horizon, and will be setting just after 7:00. They should make a good photographic target. Saturn will be easily visible. Neptune will be overhead, at Mag 7.9, and further East will be Uranus at Mag 5.7. Both will be high enough that if we have a good sky they can easily be observed. If you are using a go-to Telescope they can easily be found, or if you are a “do-it-yourselfer”, bring a basic sky chart, such as the Sky and Telescope Pocket Sky Atlas, together with either the Sky and Telescope September issue or the Astronomy October issue. Both have good finder charts for Uranus and Neptune. In fact the September issue of Sky and Telescope (pages 48-49) has charts which cover close to 60° of the sky. If you are familiar with the location and appearance of constellations Aquarius, Aries, Cetus, Pegasus, and Pisces, they could be used as stand-alone charts for finding Uranus and Neptune.

If you have the motivation and the weather allows, this is a good night to observe and log all the other 7 Planets, and perhaps a very slim Lunar Crescent. (Mercury will be in Solar Transit the morning of November 11, but will be clear of the Sun by November 24 morning.) During the early evening hours of the 23rd, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune can all be seen. Mars can be seen about 1 ½ hours before sunrise. In fact, if you find Mars in the morning, the very slim crescent moon will be just north of it. And Mercury will also be rising not long after Mars in the east predawn on the 24th.


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For those looking ahead to the Messier Marathon next Spring, now is not too soon to start practicing to find some of the more elusive targets such as M33, 74, and 77, as well as learning to identify and differentiate M31, 32, and 110. The more times you can find them in good sky without the pressure of time, the easier they will be in March. Hint: They are almost overhead right now.

If anyone knows a good reverse rain dance, bring it on! We are due for some good weather.


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If you are new to the club, Star Parties are especially for you. We, the members, are the reason we have observing Star Parties, and they are great occasions to get familiar with observing. We have 10" Dobsonian telescopes available at the Dark Site for your use. There will also be several other scopes available for all to try. And do bring a Binocular-- you can do lots of successful observing with nothing more.

NHAC Club Policy is that the focus of the Star Parties will be to give as much assistance as possible to new observers. For those who may not have been to the O'Brien Dark Site, it is just north of Dobbin, which is on Highway 105 west of Montgomery. It has reasonably dark skies and a great low horizon in all directions. The Owners, Tim and Wanda O'Brien, are very generous hosts, and they do turn off any outside lights which might bother us, if we remember to ask.

The specific Dark Site location is password protected. Any club officer can give you the password, but it is NOT FOR THE GENERAL PUBLIC!

Access to the Dark Site must be requested from the O’Brien’s in advance via the NHAC email. It is only necessary for any 1 member to request access-- Access approved for any of us is access approved for all of us.

On our NHAC web site, click on "Observing" then select "O'Brien Dark Site". Scroll down to the O'Brien Dark Site information and look for the "detailed directions" link. You will need to enter the password. There are maps as well as directions. It is well worth the drive, which is about 6 or 7 minutes driving time North of Dobbin off of State Highway 105 west of Montgomery.

Star Parties are routinely scheduled for the Saturday on, just before, or just after the New Moon throughout the year. This is to provide the best opportunity for dark skies.


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Public Night will be on Friday, December 6, 2019 Doors will be open by 6:00 P.M. and remain open to the public until 10:00. Sunset will be at 5:22 P.M. The 10 day old waxing moon will be about 75% illuminated and will be overhead during the evening.

These Public Nights are a great opportunity for us to be a part of Astronomy Outreach, and also to observe with scopes we might never get to use, otherwise. The Observatory has a 6" Takahashi refractor, a 16" Meade Schmidt-Cassegrain, and a 20" Plane Wave telescope. Each is computer controlled, and provides an awesome view of the sky. There are usually about 75 to 100 guests, sometimes more, on Public Night, with many repeating. Our guests are very appreciative of the opportunity to enjoy the sky and also expose their kids to Astronomy. Then after all our guests have departed, several of us usually stay for a while and enjoy the views and each other's company. This can be an opportunity to see a new or favorite object in a large telescope.

The Observatory is about 3/4 of a mile south of Will Clayton Parkway on S. Houston Ave, just north of Rankin Road in Humble, in the back part of the Jack Fields Elementary School on the East side of S. Houston Ave. The address is:

Jack Fields Elementary School 2505 S. Houston Ave.

Humble, TX 77396

For more information, the Observatory phone number is 281-641-STAR and the web site is https://www.humbleisd.net/observatory.

Dates and times are subject to change.

https://www.humbleisd.net/observatory


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The North Houston Astronomy Club (NHAC) is a not-for-profit organization established in 1999 for educational and scientific purposes, for people of all races, creeds, ethnic backgrounds and sex. Our primary purpose is to develop and implement programs to increase the awareness and knowledge of astronomy, especially for those living near the north side of Houston, Texas.

NHAC is dedicated to providing an opportunity for people to pursue the science of astronomy, to observe in a dark-sky site, to learn the latest technology, and to share their knowledge and experience, thus our “Observe-Learn-Share” motto.

Public meetings are normally held each month on the fourth Friday. In the months of October, November and December they are usually rescheduled for the third Friday of each month, so as to not conflict with the Annual All Clubs meeting, Thanksgiving, or Christmas.

The benefits for membership include:

Loaner telescopes after being a member for 6 months. Opportunity to observe from dark sky observing sites. Learn from experienced observers. Astronomy Magazine subscriptions at a discount. Astronomical League membership, with its many observing programs. Subscription to the Astronomical League magazine "Reflector". Access to the NHAC library Discounts on purchases at Land, Sea and Sky. Be sure to identify yourself as an NHAC member.

More information at the NHAC Website

Check out our Facebook page.

Our mailing address is:

North Houston Astronomy Club Post Office Box 5043

Kingwood, TX 77335-5043 NHAC is sponsored by:

http://astronomyclub.org/nhacwp/

https://www.facebook.com/NorthHoustonAstronomyClub/


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Membership Memberships run from January 1 through December 31. Full year dues are: Students $10 Individuals $30 Family Groups $40 Membership applications and dues payments can be made at the NHAC website at:

NHAC Website

2019 NHAC Executive Board President Carlos Gramajo - email Vice-President Bruce Pollard - email Secretary Mike Comeaux - email Treasurer Joana Tan - email Newsletter Editor Jesse Roberts - email Astronomical League

Coordinator Aaron Clevenson - email

Webmaster Justin McCollum - email Observation Committee Chair James Billings - email Membership Committee

Chair David Dutschmann - email

Program Committee Chair Open - email Immediate Past President Susan Pollard

NHAC General Calendar New Moon Star Party General Meeting November 2019 Nov 26 Nov 23 Nov 15 December 2019 Dec 25 Dec 28 Dec 13 January 2020 Jan 24 Jan 25 Jan 24 February 2020 Feb 23 Feb 22 Feb 28 March 2020 Mar 24 Mar 21 (and BBQ) Mar 27 April 2020 Apr 22 Apr 18 Apr 24 May 2020 May 22 May 16 (and BBQ) May 22 June 2020 Jun 21 Jun 20 Jun 26 July 2020 Jul 20 Jul 18 Jul 24 August 2020 Aug 18 Aug 15 Aug 28 September 2020 Sep 17 Sep 12 (and BBQ) Sep 25 October 2020 Oct 16 Oct 17 Oct 23 November 2020 Nov 14 Nov 14 (and BBQ) Nov 20 December 2020 Dec 14 Dec 12 Dec 18

Dates and times are subject to change. Star parties are weather permitting.

http://astronomyclub.org/nhacwp/












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NHAC is a member of:

The Astronomical League https://www.astroleague.org/

Night Sky Network https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/

International Dark Sky Association https://www.darksky.org/

https://www.astroleague.org/

https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/

https://www.darksky.org/

november 2019 volume xix number 11 -...

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