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President’s Update vacationBoard Meeting page 2Calendars page 4May Meeting Recap page 6Library News page 7June Meeting Preview page 7Campus Observatory page 7

Departments FeaturesTAAS Picnic page 3Bluewater page 4GNTO News page 6Chaco page 6Oak Flat page 8Astro Day page 8Dark Sky page 9Bits-O-News page 10

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June2000

P.O. BOX 50581, ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO 87181-0581

T h eT h eT h eT h eT h e★

★

THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THE ALBUQUERQUE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY★

The Kids’ Corner page 9Docent News page 9Trivia Contest page 10Classified Ads page 11Letters to the Editor no lettersAsk the Experts vacationTAAS 200 (and more) vacation

Believe it or not, the rumors you may have heardare true—TAAS owns and operates its very own ob-servatory. It’s located southwest of Belen, New Mexicoon a remote 4-acre site and offers some great dark skyobserving. At the General Nathan Twining Observa-tory (GNTO) you’ll find the Isengard Telescope—aCave 16-inch f/6 Newtonian reflector on an equatorialmount housed in its own rotating dome. You will alsofind an Astrophysics 6-inch f/8 refractor on a pedestalmount. In addition, there’s a picnic area, lecture area,observing field with concrete scope pads, loaner tele-scopes and a selection of eyepieces and accessories. Iteven has that newfangled contraption—electricity—which was no small feat in the middle of nowhere(come out and we’ll show you how it’s done). We arealso very proud to have what may be one of the mostused, yet misunderstood, pieces of equipment atGNTO—especially after some of Carl’s chili surprise.A very singular, neutrally atmospheric air pressurized,naturally odiferous, self decompositional waste deposi-tory system (NAAPNOSDWDS)—”outhouse” forshort—that even has its own night light.

Now I know at this point you’re probable ready tojump up, dust off the old scope, (shooing away thosepesky Spotted Owls that have nested in your tube) andhead on out there. But then a nagging thought mayarise: “Gee, I don’t think I know how to operate aNAAPNOSDWDS”. Now what do you do? Where doyou turn? Well, as they say, “The truth is out there”.

The GNTO Committee has developed an officialGeneral Nathan Twining Observatory OperationsManual. Its 50 pages of stirring observatory informa- Continued on page 7

GNTOIs Waiting For You!

by Dave Brown

tion aims to provide TAAS members with the essen-tials needed to use and enjoy their GNTO. The manualdescribes the GNTO site, its facilities and available as-tronomical hardware and explains in depth the train-ing, knowledge and checkout procedures necessary tosafely operate GNTO equipment. There are three lev-els of observatory operations for which training is avail-able and user checkout is necessary. The first level al-lows individual access to the buildings and manual useof the Isengard scope. Level two adds use of computerequipment for charting and map generation. Levelthree provides access to the Astrophysics scope andavailable CCD equipment. As always, TAAS membersare encouraged to use GNTO anytime especially dur-ing TAAS scheduled GNTO nights. No approval isnecessary for members using the GNTO site with theirown equipment. Scheduled GNTO nights, being pri-marily for TAAS members, are a great time to see whatthe observatory’s astronomical equipment can do withthe friendly help of an approved operator or to get train-ing in the use of specific equipment. Group trainingsessions for TAAS members are scheduled several timeseach year—often as part of TAAS Astronomy 101classes. Individual sessions can be set up by contact-ing the GNTO Site Manager (Carl Frisch @ 239-6002)or the GNTO Director (Robert Ortega @ 269-5770).Once a TAAS member has been checked out on a levelof GNTO equipment use, they can arrange to scheduleindividual use of the facility with the Director or SiteManager.

—The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society—

The Sidereal Times

June 2000

PRESIDENT’S UPDATEPRESIDENT’S UPDATEPRESIDENT’S UPDATEBOARD MEETING

by Sammy Lockwood

Dave Brown was the acting Secretarythis month—ed.

The May 11, 2000 meeting of theTAAS Board of Directors was called toorder at a little past 7 pm by PresidentEric Bucheit. The slightly late start wasdue to the need to wait for enoughboard members to form a quorum.Board members attending were, BruceLevin, Robert Williams, Carl Frisch,Robert Ortega, Linda Hixon, BarrySpletzer and Dave Brown. Othermembers attending were Barry Gor-don and Neil Goldberg.

Eric presented the eveningsagenda and it was accepted with theaddition of a Barry Gordon item con-cerning the Placitas Star Party. TheApril 13, 2000 Minutes were brieflydiscussed and Bruce Levin submitteda copy of the minutes with some mi-nor error corrections. Robert Ortegamoved to accept the minutes and Rob-ert Williams seconded and the cor-rected minutes were accepted.

Robert Williams submitted theTreasures Report with Education fundsof $1,318.08, GNTO Observatory fundsof $4,481.04 and General funds of$1,057.30. Total funds on deposit are$6,856.42. Robert Ortega mentionedthat now might be a good time to be-gin thinking of a way to pay back thefunds owed by the general fund to theobservatory fund. Eric will place thisitem on the agenda for next month’smeeting.

CorrespondenceEric read a letter from the 2001 In-

ternational Space Development Con-ference to be held May 24 to 28, 2001at the Albuquerque Hilton asking ifTAAS would be interested in becom-ing one of the supporting organiza-tions. It was decided that this eventwas more for engineers than astrono-mers and it would not benefit our so-ciety to participate.

Eric also read some correspon-dence from Secretary Sammy Lock-

wood who was unable to attend themeeting. One item concerned a 25 yearold equatorial mounted, 8" F5 EdmundScientific Newtonian Telescope thatwas donated to TAAS by Patti Hoech.Sammy is in the process of convertingit to a useful Dob for the loaner scopeprogram. Sammy reported that As-tronomy Day went well with greatmember turnout and no real problemsother than the media / securitySNAFU. He should have an As-tronomy Day web page put togetherby the weekend of May 12th. Sammywill be taking orders for shirts at theSaturday May 13th meeting. Hewould also like to lower the cost of theTAAS license plates so that people whoprovided money to create the platesmight get their money back. The boarddiscussed the fact that the peopleshould get their money back and thatthe license plates need to be advertisedmore.

Unfinished BusinessThere was no unfinished business

from the April board meeting.

Committee ReportsMembership—Robert Williams

stated that there was no report fromthe committee.

Observatory —Robert Ortega re-ported that it had been decided thatthe GNTO Operations Manual wouldnot appear on the TAAS web site be-cause of it’s extensive listing of theequipment and material at GNTO. Aspart of this discussion the board talkedabout the presence of TAAS’s asset in-ventory on the web site. It was movedby Dave Brown and seconded by BarrySpletzer that the asset inventory be re-moved from the web site. The motionpassed unanimously. Robert Ortegastated that 2 copies of the GNTO Op-erations Manual will be kept at GNTOand each of the 10 GNTO key holderswill have a copy. The number ofGNTO key holders will remain at 10.

There will be a GNTO work party Sat-urday June 10th. Robert Ortega re-quested that the TAAS membership e-mail list be used to announce the workparty and request membership partici-pation. Robert Williams so motionedand Barry Spletzer seconded, the mo-tion passed.

Programs (Hospitality)—BruceLevin stated that the next generalmeeting (May 13th) will concernGNTO with Robert Ortega as MC. Sci-ence fair winners will also be presentto receive their awards. Barry Spletzerwill write up a trivia question. Aspeaker for June has been lined up.

Grants—No Report. Carl Frischhad a question concerning any followup on the Intel grant items. It wasstated that a new list of TAAS needsshould be drawn up. Carl will bringthe old list to the next board meetingfor discussion and approval of a newlist of items to be presented to theGrants Committee.

CalendarLinda Hixon noted that the Belen

star party to be held at GNTO was noton the calendar. Carl Frisch stated thatit was not an official TAAS event.Linda Hixon would like to discuss theBelen star party at a board meeting andwill have it placed on the agenda whenready. Carl Frisch said that he has nowincluded the first quarter of 2001 on thecalendar for a full 12 months of infor-mation. Barry Gordon noted that thismonth’s (May) general meeting wasnot on the Saturday nearest the fullmoon as he thought was the rule. BarrySpletzer questioned whether it wouldbe better to set the meetings for theSaturday before the full moon insteadof nearest the full moon. It was de-cided to place this item on the nextboard meeting agenda. Carl reportedplacing Los Ranchos School star partyon the calendar for May 23rd.

EventsStar Parties—Menaul star party

was canceled. Barry Spletzer reportedthat Sunset Mesa had good supportand attendance. Carl Frisch noted thata multimedia projector would be a


The Sidereal TimesJune 2000

very useful item at school star parties.

Science Fair —Bruce Levin statedthat all the winners except one wouldattend and display their projects at theSaturday general meeting.

Astronomy Day—AstronomyDay went very well with good supportfrom the members. Carl Frisch men-tioned that new displays may beneeded in the future. New displayswould be a good addition to theneeded items list for the Grants Com-mittee.

Oak Flat—Carl Frisch reported theMay 6th Oak Flat event was attendedby approximately 50 people and eventhough the sky was clouded over, visi-tors seemed to enjoy the presentations.There was good public relations for theevent with write ups in the paper andmentions on KHFM radio. Barry Gor-don stated that he thought the partici-pating members did a wonderful jobmaking the public and new membersfeel welcome. Carl Frisch stated therewould be a meeting with the U.S. For-est Service concerning the proposedOak Flat Observatory on May 16th.The U.S. Forest Service has installed apad lock to the chain gate leading tothe field and Carl has the key. Carl willdiscuss TAAS access to the field forevents.

Chaco—The upcoming Chaconight will be handled as in past yearswith camping and the apartment avail-able to TAAS members.

Star Fire —The owner of the eventAlan Green has an article in the news-letter.

Bluewater—Last year was a greatevent. Robert Williams the owner ofthe event will be contacting park per-sonnel and working out the details.

Newsletter AssignmentsBruce Levin will discuss the

speaker for the June general meeting.Robert Ortega will provide the Maygeneral meeting recap and DaveBrown will write up the May boardmeeting minutes.

New BusinessBoard Membership—New board

members will discuss their thoughtson TAAS and the board at the nextboard meeting.

Lodestar Liaison—Neil Goldbergthe new TAAS liaison to the Lodestarboard reported a meeting with the di-rector of Lodestar where they dis-cussed the general position of each or-ganization and hopes for good rela-tions between the two. Neil reportedthat the last two Lodestar board meet-ings were canceled. Eric Bucheitthanked Neil for taking the liaison po-sition. A general discussion acknowl-edged that TAAS’s board wished for amutually beneficial relationship withLodestar within each groups organiza-tional limits. Carl Frisch mentionedthat there was a Lodestar Committeethat could provide Neil with support.

Air Force Education PartnershipTech Transfer—Bruce Levin, RobertWilliams and Eric Bucheit met withtech transfer personnel at their requestto introduce them to TAAS. They havea 16" scope with a CCD camera andother equipment for possible donationto TAAS. A committee was formed tofollow up with tech transfer and re-view any equipment and proposals.Dave Brown is chairman with BruceLevin, Robert Williams, Eric Bucheitand Neil Goldberg as initial members.

Fun Stuff—The board discussed amessage from Lisa Wood concerningfun items that TAAS could do. Theindividual item will be discussed fur-ther at future board meetings. It wasagreed that TAAS needs to rememberthe fun aspects when planning events.

Placitas Star Party—Barry Gordonreported that the planned location forthe star party had to be abandoned.The owner of the field wanted to in-clude both business and alcohol ele-ments to the star party and refused todrop these requirements when in-formed that TAAS could not partici-pate in such an event. Barry is work-ing with the La Placitas Association tofind a new location.

The meeting adjourned sometime af-ter 9 pm.

2000 TAAS Picnicby Ray Collins

The 2000 annual TAAS Picnic willbe held Saturday, July 8th, at the Gen-eral Nathan Twining Observatory (seepage 10 for map). As in years past, thiswill be a potluck event: bring a favor-ite main course, side dish or desert toshare. Water, ice, and a variety of bev-erages will be provided, as well as pa-per goods and plastic utensils. Serv-ing utensils will be in very limited sup-ply, however. There is a charcoal grill,and a stove in the hospitality trailer forlast minute food preparation.

There has been absolutely no for-est fire danger on this mesa betweenthe Rios Grande and Puerco for the lastseveral hundred years —at least! Theprice for this peace of mind is thatnatural shade is very scarce. It wouldbe helpful for as many members aspossible to bring a portable canopy tosupplement several that will be onhand. Add your own comfortable seat-ing, and all will be in place for a de-lightful event!

Horseshoe pitching and Frisbietoss will be featured recreations. Wewelcome other activities for the kids.Please inform, so that we may planaccordingly. Robert Ortega has indi-cated that he will lead a hike to the RioPuerco (a tradition since 1999!). If thereare people interested in meeting himat GNTO on the morning of the 8th,please contact him for information inregard to the hike, or road conditionsin to GNTO.

Arrival time at the picnic can bevaried to suit your schedule, but themajor feasting will begin at about 4:00pm. Plan to stay on into the night toenjoy the sky. The moon will be at firstquarter. By all means bring a telescope,or plan to enjoy shared use of the Isen-gard, Astrophysics or one of thesmaller loaner scopes on the premises.

We look forward to a large turn-out for this annual fun, family event.If you expect to be on or near the sur-face of this planet on July 8th, plan onmaking your way to GNTO for theTAAS Picnic.


The Sidereal Times

June 2000

June 2000

1 2 3

• UNM(call to confirm)

• Mercury atgreatestelongation east

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

25 26 27 28 29 30

SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT

• Full Moon@ 16:27


• Last quarter @19:01

• GNTO• Bluewater

• ATM Workshop7pm, Valley HS

• Venus 0.31° S ofMars


• NewMoon@06:15


• GeneralMeeting,Regener Hall,7pm

• Oak Flat• Moon at perigee,

56.3 earth-radii@ ~07:00

• Explorer Post110 meeting. 6pm GrantMiddle School

• Pluto atopposition

• Board Meeting(7 pm @ PandAbld.)

• Moon atascending node@ 02:55

• Summer solstice@ 19:48

• Moon atapogee, 63.7earth-radii @~07:00

• Father’s Day

Planet Rise / Set (6/15/2000)

Mercury 07:30/20:00 Uranus 23:45/10:30Venus 06:00/20:30 Neptune 23:00/09:15Mars 06:15/20:45 Pluto 18:30/05:30Jupiter 04:15/18:00Saturn 04:15/17:45 (Rounded to 15 minutes, MDT)

06/01 05:53/20:1706/15 05:51/20:2406/30 05:55/20:26

Sunrise/Sunset

(MDT times)


• Mercurystationary in RA:begin retrogrademotion

• Venus at superiorconjunction withSun. 1.736 a.u.from Earth,passes intoevening sky

• Mercury ataphelion,0.4667 a.u.from Sun

• Firstquarter @21:29

• GNTOCommitteeMeeting

• Equation oftime = 0 @18:00

• Earliest sunrise(05:51)

• Flag Day

• Moon atdescending node@ 02:36

• Moon 0.25° E ofVesta

• Latest sunset20:26

• GNTO WorkParty

Return ofBluewater Lake

Star Party!by Robert Williams

On Saturday June 24th The Al-buquerque Astronomical Societywill be returning to Bluewater LakeState Park for our second annualpublic star party. To get to Bluewa-ter Lake State Park go west on I-40to the Prewitt exit then go south onHighway 412 to the park. We willbe at Group Shelter 1 again this year.We will set telescopes up in the park-ing area to the south of the shelter.

Last year we had a great turn-

out of TAAS members and it was fairlywell attended by those people stayingat the park and from the nearby town.The group shelter has plenty of roomand there are rest rooms and showersvery near by. We have the shelter re-served from Thursday June 22nd threwSaturday June 24th so if you would liketo go out early you are welcome to. Ifyou do decide to go out early be sureand stop by the ranger station and letthem know you are there. The parkpersonnel were very helpful last yearand are excited about this year’s eventas well.

This could be a great event againthis year and I am looking forewordto it. If you are interested in going andneed any more information please feel

free to call or e-mail me, my num-ber and e-mail address are on thelast page of the newsletter. I wouldlike it if you would call me and letme know you are coming just so Ihave an idea of how many peopleare attending. Last year several ofthose who attended brought some-thing for a potluck dinner on Sat-urday evening, if you would be in-terested in doing this as well let meknow.

I hope you can make it andhope to see as many if not more thanlast year. This is a great place toview the night sky and New MexicoState Parks is very excited about allour star parties.



NOTES:TAAS=The AlbuquerqueAstronomical Society

GNTO=General NathanTwining Observatory. CallGordon Pegue @ 332-2591 toconfirm.

UNM=University of NewMexico Observatory. Call theTAAS hotline @296-0549, or theUNM hotline @ 277-1446 toconfirm.

ATM =Amateur TelescopeMaking. Call Michael Pendleyfor information @ 296-0549.

PandA=UNM Physics andAstronomy. Corner of Lomasand Yale.

GNTO Work Partyon June 10

By Carl Frisch

Yes, summer is almost here andit’s time to schedule another workparty out at GNTO. The observatoryhas come a long way in the lastcouple of years and this will be agood opportunity to see the im-provements in the daylight. Themorning of June 10, 2000 at 8 am hasbeen chosen as the work party dateand time. We hope to spread moregravel, fix a leaky roof, and do othermaintenance chores. By afternoon apotluck/barbecue will take place.For details call Robert Ortega @ 269-5770 for details.

July 2000

30 31 1


2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20 21 22

23 24 25 26 27 28 29

SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT


• GNTO• ATM Workshop

7pm, Valley HS• Venus ~0.20°

SSW of BeehiveCluster

• UNM (call toconfirm)

• Mars farthestfrom Earth (2.621a.u.) @~ 0:00


• Moon at apogee,63.7 earth-radii@ ~09:00

• Explorer Post110 meeting.Location TBD

• GNTOCommitteeMeeting

• Board Meeting(7 pm @ PandAbld.)

• Earth ataphelion @~18:00—1.01674 a.u.from Sun

• FullMoon @ 07:56

• Vesta @opposition

07/01 05:55/20:2607/15 06:03/20:2307/31 06:14/20:12

Sunrise/Sunset

(MDT times)


• Sun enters Cancer

• Venus atperihelion @~16:00—0.7185a.u. from Sun

• Mercurystationary in RA@ ~04:00. Endretograde motion

• Equation of timereaches shallowminimum (-6.51min) at ~16:00

• Firstquarter @06:53

• TAAS Picnic

ChacoOpportunity!

by John Sefick

Chaco Culture National Histori-cal Park in Northwest New Mexico islooking for astronomy oriented vol-unteers to assist with the park’s star-gazing programs. Lots of equipment,including a 25" Obsession reflector,will be made available. Individualsmust be comfortable in teaching largegroups of all ages. Candidates musthave own motor home or trailer. Six-week commitment required. E-maila short resume to: John Sefick [email protected] or call G.B. Cor-nucopia at (505) 786-7014

Planet Rise / Set (7/15/2000)

Mercury 05:30/19:15 Uranus 21:45/08:30Venus 06:45/21:00 Neptune 21:00/07:00Mars 05:45/20:15 Pluto 16:30/03:30Jupiter 02:30/16:30Saturn 02:15/16:15 (Rounded to 15 minutes, MDT)

• OakFlat

• NewMoon@13:20

• Moon at perigee,56.0 earth-radii@ ~16:00

• Year 2000 is1/2 over.

• GeneralMeeting,RegenerHall, 7pm

• Lastquarter @05:03

• Neptune atopposition at~17:00

• Mercury at Welongation

• NewMoon@20:25

• Moon at perigee,56.2 earth-radii @~02:00

• Saturn ~2° andJupiter ~3° fromMoon


The Sidereal Times

June 2000

May GeneralMeeting Recap

by Bruce Levin

Special guests at this meeting werepresent for the presentation of theLeonard Broline Memorial Science FairAwards. The Broline awards are givenby TAAS each year to the Junior andSenior division winners of the 41 An-nual Northwestern New Mexico Re-gional Science and Engineering Fair forAstronomy related projects. Theaward winners took a few minutes totalk about their projects.

Following the award presenta-tions, Pete Eschman chaired our panelof speakers who shared the develop-ments of the General Nathan TwiningObservatory.

George Pellegrino gave a brief his-tory of the Society and GNTO—start-ing with the offer of the Isengard Tele-scope. He then discussed the incorpo-ration of TAAS and how we obtainedthe land from Nathan Twining Jr. Hefinished by discussing the constructionof our observatory and many of thepeople that were involved.

Carl Frisch projected numerousslides showing the site upgrades of TedSandy-Schuler’s Eagle Scout Project,the PNM Solar Panel Power system,and sky glow effects from Albuquer-que and the surrounding towns ofBelen and Socorro.

David Brown followed with a briefdescription and summary of the Ob-servatory Operations Manual. A sig-nificant amount of work was done bythe Observatory Committee to developthis living manual.

Robert Williams then showed ascale model of a residence facility theSociety is looking to build to housemembers at the site.

Finally, Gordon Pegue talkedabout the work that was done to auto-mate the Isengard telescope and tomake it user friendly. Gordon ex-pressed great pleasure with the imagequality of the instrument and the easein using the telescope during theMessier Marathon event.

During the social hour, everyone

had a chance to look at the science fairprojects and to talk with the young sci-entists.

Chaco SP Updateby Sammy Lockwood

Sammy Lockwood provided twoaccounts of the most recent Chacoevent. The first is from his (first) edi-tion of the TAAS-l (remember that is alowercase L not a one) TAAS update.The other is his response to MarkHinton’s request for a recap of theevent. Mark is a Chaco employee andkeeps up a web page—ed.

Chaco Was Great!!!

GB Cornucopia and John Sefickplayed host this weekend as TAAS re-turned to Chaco Canyon for the firstof two planned public events this sum-mer. We were treated to SUPERB, clearnights, and very good seeing, espe-cially on Saturday night. About 50 -75 Chaco visitors were treated to theviews. TAAS’ers included: GB, JohnSefick, George & Chris Pellegrino,Bruce Levin, David Blair and his friendPeter, Barry Gordon, Gordon Pegue,Alejandra, and Sammy. The nextChaco party is September 30.

* * * * * * *

Mark, I spent last weekend up atChaco, I hope that you an use my (logbook) notes.

5/27/00 - CHACO CANYON - Ihad always heard that this was a greatplace for astronomy, but was neverable to go. This year, I’m here with thecamper (left the family behind).Camping with me is George Pellegrinoand his son Chris. Over at the rangercabin is Gordon Pegue, Alejandra,Bruce Levin, David Blair, and hisfriend Peter. John Sefick and GB Cor-nucopia are our hosts, and really makeus feel welcome. This is going to begreat!

Sat night - BEST NIGHT OF AS-TRONOMY I’VE EVER HAD! Skiesare perfect, seeing is good. About 50-

Internet Newsby Mike Pendley

The El Valle Astronomer’s (withlong time TAAS member Lee Mesibov,President) has web site located athttp://laplaza.org/~griggs/.

For lots of (very good) space news,visit Universe Today at http://www.universetoday.com/.

GNTO Newsby Carl Frisch

Thanks to Dave Brown, PeteEschman, George Pellegrino, and therest of the GNTO committee, theGNTO Operations Manual is nowcomplete. Members now have a com-prehensive guide covering just abouteverything needed to utilize the Ob-servatory. Getting checked out shouldbe a piece of cake, so take advantage ifyou wish. Call Carl Frisch @ 239-6002and leave a message or call RobertOrtega @ 269-5770 for scheduling.Checkout may also be accomplishedduring any scheduled event, especiallythe TAAS picnic. In any event it is rec-ommended that your first trip toGNTO be during daylight hours to getfamiliar with the lay of the land (road).

Two Manuals will be kept at theObservatory; one at the Isengard tele-scope and one in the computer roomlibrary. Anyone checking out keysmay also check out a copy from the keyholder.

Any TAAS member curious abouthow GNTO is run may attend anyGNTO committee meeting. They areusually held the Thursday before theboard meeting at 7 PM, place to beannounced. To confirm meeting andplace call Robert Ortega the day of themeeting.

The power system is still doingwell with current usage standing at 445KW hours. 12 VDC as well as 120 VACare available at the dome for anyone’suse.



Library Newsby Lisa Wood

Still looking for my replacement—please call!

The Aeos Programto Be Presented atthe June Monthly

Meetingby Bruce Levin

You may be asking yourself,“What is the AEOS Program?” Is itsome sort of specialized computer pro-gram, or is it some sort of top secretmission? This month’s guest speakeris Dr. John Kenemuth, the TechnicalDirector for the Advanced Electro-Optical System.

The AEOS Program will providea major upgrade to the U. S. Air ForceMaui Space Surveillance System(MSSS) on Haleakala, Maui, Hawaii.The Program includes a 3.63-m tele-scope, an advanced adaptive opticssystem, sensor packages for the tele-scope, a modernized observatory con-trol system, as well as associated struc-tures and equipment. Dr. Kenemuthwill tell us about the upgrades and ca-pabilities of the site for space objectidentification missions and other ap-plications. We will learn about howthe system operates, what kinds ofdata are collected, and the optical per-formance of the system and compo-nents. “First light” was obtained onSeptember 26, 1997. The performance-testing phase is in progress and near-ing completion with AEOS scheduledto become operational this July.

John Kenemuth received his B.S.in Physics from Pennsylvania StateUniversity in 1957, his M.S. in Physicsfrom Cornell University in 1962, andhis Ph.D. in Physics from Pennsylva-nia State University in 1967. Johnjoined the Air Force Weapons Labora-tory (a predecessor to the present AirForce Research Laboratory) as a Re-search Physicist in 1967 after complet-ing graduate studies and has been withthe Laboratory since then. He has pri-marily conducted research on thepropagation of high-power laserbeams through the atmosphere andhas developed technologies for opticalcomponents, including deformablemirrors for high power laser system

applications. Dr. Kenemuth becamethe Tech. Director for AEOS in 1994.

The general meeting starts at 7:00p.m. on June 17th at Regener Hall onthe main campus of UNM. A social pe-riod will follow the meeting. Family,friends, and those interested in as-tronomy are welcome as usual.

75 campers come for the public starparty. The lines at my 10" home builtDob are enthusiastic and curious. Af-ter a few hours, the lines thin out, andI can start doing some serious explor-ing.

It’s easy to lose track of the num-ber of things that I’m seeing for the firsttime. For example, about 90 minutesafter sunset the dark sky lightensslightly. GB explains that this is Zo-diacal light from reflected dust in thesolar plane. It lasts about 15 minutes.

Gordon trains his 20" on OmegaCentarus. WOW! Only about 5 de-grees above the southern horizon, butspectacular. After Gordon shows mewhere, I am pleased to find that it looksjust as good in my 10".

Bruce shows me the M8, (Lagoonnebula), M20 (Trifid nebula) and M17(Swan nebula) in his 10" Cassegrain.The dust lanes are apparent, with evena hint of color. Once again, I ampleased to discover that my home builtimages are as good or better than thefactory scope. (Bruce and George evencommented about it) Bruce and Ispend most of the rest of the eveningtouring Sagittarius. With so much tolook at, we both decide to write a view-ing list for the following night. We stayout until about 3 am.

5/28/00 (Sunday night) - Clearskies, seeing is a little soft. With myviewing list in hand, I locate (no com-puter) and closely examine:

Centaurus: Omega C, NGC 5128Hercules: M13, 92Ursa Minor: NGC 6217Ursa Major: M81, 82, 51, 101Coma Berenicies: M3, 53Scorpius: M4, 6, 7, 19, 62, 80Sagittarius: M8, 11, 12, 14, 16,

M17, 20, 21, 107

Darkskies!Sammy Lockwood

UNM Reportby Jay Harden, Campus Coordinator

5 May: Docents: Brock Parker, JayHarden. 40 Viewers.

12 May: Docents: Sammy Lockwood,Mike Pendley. Sammy reported thatviewers were small (6) in number.

l9 May: Docents: Brock Parker, JayHarden. Twenty viewers.

26 May: Docents: Mike Pendley. Theskies were marginal then turned bad.No visitors.

2 June: Rained out.

Continued from page 3

NAAPNOSDWDS

Thanks go to all the members ofthe GNTO Committee for theirsupport of the GNTO OperationsManual process. Thanks to Lisa Woodand Carl Frisch for their work on theinitial notes. Special thanks goes toPete Eschman for his technical inputand general hard work on the manualand the manual’s photographs whichmade it a much better moreunderstandable document. ThanksRobert Ortega, Carl Frisch and GordonPeque for your technical input. ThanksGeorge Pellegrino for the GNTOhistory and allowing us to wear outyour copier making fifteen copies of a50 page document. Thanks BarryGordon and Robert Williams for yourreview and input.

Remember GNTO is yourObservatory. Come on out and checkit out. Learn to use it or just enjoy it.The “NAAPNOSDWDS” will alwaysbe glad to see you.


The Sidereal Times

June 2000

Astronomy Day2000 Recap…

by Sammy Lockwood

Well, another good AstronomyDay has come and gone. It’s gettingso that we have done so many of thesethat a good one is just considered “parfor the course.” Check out my webAstro Day web site through the TAASsite at http://www.taas.org for memo-ries.

At the risk of rambling on, I’d liketo share some thoughts and thanks onthe event, in no particular order.

Big thanks to Judy Stanley, whobrought enough booth material for 4tables on her own…

To Carl Frisch, who runs like a ce-lestial tornado when there’s work tobe done. He buzzed through the boothsetup like a pro...

To Katherine Blankenburg, whohelped setup and break down, al-though I failed to mention her lastmonth.

To Larry Cash and Nancy Davis,who helped everywhere…

To Jeff Goldmeer who braved theelements to run the outdoor scopes…

To Bruce Levin, who thinks I don’tknow what a flare is…

To Mike Pendley and Brock Parker,previous A-Day chairs who helpedbefore and during the event…

To Dave Brown and his wifeDonna, who helped with setup andbreakdown…

To Derek Skinner, a hard workingyoung man who was always 4 placesat once…

To Robert Williams, who’s appear-ance always lights up an event…

To Gordon Pegue, who spent allday there… again…

To Bill Bell, Bonnie Burton, Ric

Thiem, and other new or (previously)inactive members that gave their time.

To Imelda A. De La Rue, of theStarfire Optical Range, who made thearrangements for Dr. Gil Moore to at-tend, and show-off his Project Star-shine (the big disco ball in the mall)….

To Kevin McKeown, who dazzledthe crowd with knowledge…

To Ray Collins, who gave his truckfor the cause…

To Eric Becheit, who figured outhow to get the banner up…

To Dennis Mitchell, who figuredout how to get the banner down – noone ever sees this guy unless there’swork to be done…

To Dave Blair who made ourstealthy poster. Coronado still saysthat they were displayed.

To Dr. Gil Moore, who’s “DiscoBall” demo of Project Starshine was ahit…

To The A&W Food Booth, whogave us a great discount on snacks…

And finally, to everyone who cameand helped. Once again…

We Were Great!!

Oak FlatObservatory News

by Carl Frisch

A meeting was held Tuesday, May16 at the Sandia Ranger District officein Tijeras. Present were TAAS repre-sentatives Carl Frisch, John Sefick, andRay Collins, and NFS representativesDana Howlett and Clifford Dilf, dis-trict Ranger. Discussion focusedaround the possibility of building of apermanent observatory near or at theOak Flat Picnic area, the summer starparties, and the possibility of CarlFrisch serving as a picnic grounds hostfor the summer.

It was suggested that many areaswithin the district could be considered.TAAS members are welcome to sharetheir views on where they think sucha facility could be built. Carl and Johnwill be assessing the night sky at OakFlat via CCD imaging and observing.Clifford pointed out that any perma-nent facility would require a lot of redtape and studies, so it would be a long-range goal. For the interim the SRD isopen to activities and events thatwouldn’t require such a permanentstructure(s). Would you use such a fa-cility? What amenities and equipmentwould you like to see there?

Sky and site analysis will continueat the scheduled Oak Flat events overthe summer. For these events I maybe at Oak Flat more than just the view-ing night (Saturday), and welcomeTAAS members up on other nights aswell. Since the picnic areas may al-ready be reserved, we must yield tothat priority. A padlock has been in-stalled where TAAS members enter theviewing field and Clifford and Danahave agreed to let TAAS control thatlock and field access on a trial basis.

As far as the picnic ground hostposition goes, details are still beingworked out. This would give TAASan ad hoc presence at Oak Flat andwould be a good move forward, po-litically. As host, TAAS memberswould have the added flexibility ofusing Oak Flat for their viewingagenda more often as well as sharing

Grant Listby Carl Frisch

What equipment, tools, or acces-sories do you think would allowTAAS’ programs and events to be moresuccessful? The TAAS board of direc-tors is in the process of compiling awish list for our grant committee. Ourplanetarium, the photovoltaic systemat GNTO, and a CCD camera are re-cent requests that have come to frui-tion. I’m beginning to believe that thestuff is within our grasp if we just askfor it in the right way. Please expressyour thoughts and ideas to any of theboard members for consideration.



Brock Parker (standing) and JimLawrence sitting (not Dan Lovett as

reported last month) at the opening of thePlanetarium at the Museum of Natural

History. Photo by Richard Edgar

their experience with members of thepublic. Any input may be directed toCarl Frisch @ 239-6002.

Oak Flat Star Partysby Carl Frisch

The May 6 star party was almost abust, but thanks to Nancy Davis’ slideshow and the dozen plus telescopesthe event was somewhat a success.Sunset clouds opened up a little to giveseveral dozen visitors a glimpse of thecrescent moon and some stars. Forthose who stayed, the sky kept onclearing and presented many celestialobjects for viewing. Thanks to JacklynJohnson and her enchiladas, salad, andcake, the docents ate well.

Please add the first Saturdays ofJune, July, and August to your starparty calendar for this summer’s OakFlat events. There’s always room formore scopes, and this year we’ll needthem. Cosponsored by the SandiaRanger District, this year’s events maybe bigger than ever. Ranger DanaHowlett, program coordinator, indi-cates that the TAAS partnership is verysignificant. These traditional summerstar parties have been going on forabout eight years now, bringing theheavens a little closer for thousands.The Sandia Ranger District office aswell as TAAS will promote the eventsheavily.

As always, we have permission toobserve all night if we wish but needto leave by dawns light. The forecastis for a drier than normal spring, sohopefully a repeat of last years cloudedout events won’t take place during therest of the events. Most of the generalpublic leaves before midnight, soyou’ll have plenty of time to attendyour own agenda. Come early to pic-nic, hike, or just enjoy the mountainair. The gates should be open by 4 pm.Rest rooms, picnic tables, grills, andwater are available.

To get to Oak Flat from Albuquer-que take I-40 east to Tijeras, south onhighway 337 about 9 miles to the OakFlat turn off, turn left and go about one

mile and your there. We will park andset up in the field adjacent to the Juni-per picnic area. If you would like tohelp with event implementation, ordesire more information give me a call@ 239-6002 and leave a message withyour name and phone number. Evenif you don’t have a scope your help isalways welcome.

Dark Sky Newsby Lisa Wood

Albuquerque Sky Update—

They’re still light polluted! I’m hop-ing the star party docents will have achance to speak with the mayor of LosRanchos at our upcoming school starparty. All star party docents areprimed to bend the mayor’s ear shouldhe enter the light cone of our influence(been reading about black holes thisweek...), and Darksky NMer’s (a small,but quality group) have been invitedto attend also. We’re needing morepeople who are interested in being ac-tive in Dark Sky issues to give me acall!

Docent Newsby Lisa Wood

Here’s a note I received from thePrincipal of Petroglyph ElementarySchool. I would estimate we had about150 attendees at their star party. I somuch enjoy the interesting reactionswe get to our program. I’m in the pro-cess right now of searching my files forthe remaining Docent Interviews wedid at the beginning of the year.Things can get so lost when you finallyget organized! But I’ve seen them inmy cybertravels, so I’m sure I’ll findthem again. We have only one morestar party scheduled for 5/23, and thenwe’re off for the summer. Stay tunedfor the final wrap-up. Lisa

Petroglyph Elementary School owesTAAS an ASTRONOMICAL thank you!We had such a wonderful time when youadded us to your schedule. We had hopedfor a larger crowd, but, in hindsight, it wasa perfect size of group. Each of our star-gazers got individual attention and lots of“brain picking” time from the volunteers.

Among the comments from our stu-dents and their parents:

“Cool! Who knew that all of thosestars were right here, above our school!”

(from a parent) “That’s why we movedto Albuquerque - for the incredible re-sources you have access to.”

“I’m going to be an astrondometerwhen I grow up, Mrs. Jaime!” (My per-sonal favorite...)

Quite simply, you helped to widen theuniverse a bit for us. We would love tocontinue to be on your list for schools whoget to schedule Star Nights. You are spe-cial friends and on our list of learning he-roes.

Joyce Jaime

Kids CornerStay Tuned. We may have news

next month—ed.


The Sidereal Times

June 2000

TAAS Triviaby Barry Spletzer

From Pluto’s surface, Charon looks farlarger than any other moon viewedfrom its local planet. When viewedfrom the surface or cloud tops of theirlocal planet, pick the next 4 largest ap-pearing moons (in any order).

a) Earth’s Moonb) Mars’ Phobosc) Jupiter’s Europad) Jupiter’s Ganymedee) Jupiter’s Iof) Saturn’s Titanf) Neptune’s Tritrong) Uranus’ Ariel

Apparent size (in micro-radians)

Pluto, Charon=109,319Jupiter, Io=10,356Earth, Moon=9,229Mars, Phobos=9,023Neptune, Triton=8,181Uranus, Ariel=6,989Jupiter, Ganymede=5,270Jupiter, Europa=5,234Uranus, Umbriel=4,867Saturn, Tethys=4,533Uranus, Miranda=4,529Neptune, Proteus=4,479Saturn, Titan=4,428Jupiter, Callisto=2,650

Answers

Bits-O-NewsSteve’s on his way Home!

Long time TAAS member and ex-TAAS BBS sys-op Steve Snider is comingback to Albuquerque. Steve says he and his wife should be back in town by July8th and is looking for people that will work for food (help unload his truck forpizza). Contact the editor for info.

Explorer Post 110 Mail ListThe TAAS astronomy Explorer Post now has a mail list. Those wishing to

join should send an e-mail to [email protected]. Calendar infor-mation is available at http://www.egroups.com/group/post110.



TAAS Hot Line Phone Number is 296-0549

Telescope Curator Dee Friesen 856-1593 (H) [email protected] Curator Jason Vargas 452-9098 (H) [email protected] Liaison, Librarian Lisa Wood 344-8308 (H) [email protected] Master, Newsletter Editor Michael Pendley 296-0549 (H) [email protected] Campus Observatory Coordinator Jay Harden 296-0537 (H) [email protected] Post 110 Advisor Dean Clark 296-0549 [email protected] Post 110 President Rob Salazar 857-0092 (H)

President Eric Bucheit 771-9050 (H) [email protected] President Bruce Levin 299-0891 (H)Secretary, Public Relations Sammy Lockwood 275-0258 (H) [email protected], DB Manager, Starlab & Membership Chair Robert Williams 839-2840 (H) [email protected] Dave Brown 293-5768 (H) [email protected], Event Coordinator Carl Frisch 239-6002 (H)Director Linda Hixon 861-1288 (H) [email protected] Barry Spletzer 294-4601 (H) [email protected] Ray Collins 344-9686 (H) [email protected], Observatory Director Robert Ortega 891-7847 (H) [email protected] Dan Richey 293-3983 (H) [email protected]

—SOCIETY STAFF—

E-mail Address

Non-Board Members

CLASSIFIED ADS

For Sale: Rechargeable batteriesfor sale: 12 volt, 15 amp-hour rating,$20 ea. Bright LED flashlights,starting at $5. Three yards by 5 feetwide photo cloth (great telescopeshroud material) $35. Call CarlFrisch @ 239-6002.

For Sale: 10 Inch Meade F10 LX200 W tripod; 90° prisim; 26 mmBloss eye piece; hard carrying case;Meade matching dew shield; dewstrap (120 VAC); 35mm piggy-backbracket; counter weight set; fullaperture solar filter; nylon cover forscope. Excellent condition—likenew. $2500.00. Call Keith White at281-8128 after 7:00 pm or leavemessage.

For Sale: 25 inch f/5 Star Splittertruss tube Dob. Includes shroud andJMI 2” focuser. Superb optics. $6,300.Call Mark Nagrodsky at (505) 864-2953 or e-mail at [email protected]

Free Telescope OfferWhat’s that? Did you say Free? That’s right FREE!

Any TAAS member can use this coupon to borrow a TAAStelescope. Call Dee Friesen at 856-1593 or Jason Vargas at 899-9755

and receive a loaner telescope absolutely free. You can choose from scopeswith apertures ranging from 6” to 13”. Call soon because they’ll be going fast!

Some restrictions apply. Offer valid for current TAAS members.Offer is first come first served. Late comers will be put on a waiting list.

Neither TAAS nor the telescope curators will be held liable for any lost sleep or otherproblems arising from the use of TAAS scopes. Borrowers are required to enjoy the telescopes.

★

★

★

NEW MEXICO ASTRONOMICALNEW MEXICO ASTRONOMICALCELESTRON • MEADE • TELEVUE

PARKS OPTICAL • UNITRON • HOME DOMETelescopes • Eyepieces • Mounts • Accessories

Observatory FabricationOn-Site Observatory • Regular Star Parties

Come to the Country Telescope Store and TestEquipment Under Dark Skies!

834 N. Gabaldon Rd.Belen, NM 87002(505) 864-2953

Mark A. NagrodskyOwner

Call for [email protected]

Ask about the TAASmember discount

Board of Directors Phone

MEMBERSHIP: You may request a member-ship application by calling the Hotline or bysending e-mail to the Database Manager (seeprevious page). Applications may also bedownloaded from the Web site. Annual duesto The Albuquerque Astronomical Society are$30/year for a full membership and $15/yearfor an educator or full time student member-ship. Additional family members may join for$3/each (educator, student, and family mem-berships are not eligible to vote on society mat-ters). New member information packets areavailable for $3.50 (free copies are available fromthe Web site). You may send your dues by mailto our newsletter return address with yourcheck written out to The Albuquerque Astro-nomical Society or give your check to the Trea-surer (see previous page ) at the next meeting.

MAGAZINES: Discount magazine subscrip-tions to Sky and Telescope ($29.95/12 issues) andAstronomy ($29/12 issues) as well as discountson books from Sky Publishing Corporation areavailable when purchased by TAAS membersthrough our society. Include any of the abovemagazine renewal mailers and subscriptionpayments as part of your renewal check (We rec-ommend you renew 1-2 months early to ensureuninterrupted magazine subscriptions.).

NEWSLETTER ARTICLES/ADVERTISE-MENTS: Articles, personal astronomical clas-sified advertisements and business card size ad-vertisements for businesses related to as-tronomy must be submitted by the deadlineshown on the Society calendar (generally theSaturday near the new Moon) Rates for busi-ness card size ads are $10/ad/issue or $7/ad/issue for 6 consecutive issues or $5/ad/issue

for 12 consecutive issues. The newsletter edi-tor reserves the right to include and/or edit anyarticle or advertisement. E-mail attachmentsin Microsoft Word, 10 point Palatino, justified,.25 inch indent at paragraph beginning, nospaces between paragraphs is preferred. ASCIIand RTF are acceptable. One column is approxi-mately 350 words. Contact the Newsletter Edi-tor (see previous page ) for more information.

CHANGE OF ADDRESS: Note that The Si-The Si-The Si-The Si-The Si-dereal Timesdereal Timesdereal Timesdereal Timesdereal Times is mailed at a nonprofit organiza-tion bulk mail rate. As a result, the newsletterwill NOT be forwarded to your new addressshould you move!! Please provide the DatabaseManager with your new mailing address to en-sure that you receive your newsletter.

NONPROFIT ORG.U.S. POSTAGE

PAIDALBUQUERQUE, NM

PERMIT NO. 352

The Albuquerque Astronomical Society

P. O. Box 50581Albuquerque, NM 87181-0581

Address Service Requested

Map to Regener Hall(not to scale)

MLK Dr.

Central

Yal

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Uni

vers

ity

RegenerHall

Par

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PopejoyHall

TAAS LIBRARY: Please contact the Librarian(Lisa Wood) to check out a book or make a con-tribution.

TAAS on the World Wide Web:

http://www.taas.orghttp://www.taas.org/download

ftp://astro.phys.unm.edu/pub/taas

[email protected]

TAAS Hotline: (505) 296-0549

Physics & Astronomy(PANDA) Building

Map to UNM Campus Observatory(not to scale)

Lomas

Uni

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ity

Yal

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Observatory

To Santa Fe

To LosLunas

Par

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Par

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I-40

I-25

the sidereal times - taas

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