Copyright © 2001 San Jose Astronomical Association, Inc.Volume 12 Number 5 Official Publication of the San Jose Astronomical Association, May 2001

24 Hour News and Information Hotline: (408) 559-1221www.sjaa.net

May5 General Meeting: Speaker Seth

Shostak from SETI12 Fremont Peak star party sunset

8:04 p.m., 71% moon rises 1:02a.m.

18 Astronomy Class VI, 7:30 p.m.,hall, Houge Park, Topic TBA

18 Houge Park star party. Sunset8:12 p.m., 17% moon rises 4:16a.m.

19 Fremont Peak star party. Sunset8:10 p.m., 10% moon rises 4:43a.m.

25-28 Riverside Telescope MakersConference, 1Q moon followingTuesday

26 Coe and Peak star party sunset8:17 p.m., 20% moon sets 0:13a.m.

SJAA Activities CalendarJim Van Nuland

June1 Houge Park star party, sunset 8:23

p.m., 85% moon sets 3:54 a.m.2 General Meeting, Speaker Dr. Larry

Lasher from the Pioneer Project.15 Astronomy Class VII, 7:30 p.m.,

hall, Houge Park. Topic TBA15 Houge Park star party, sunset 8:30

p.m., 31% moon rises 2:44 a.m.16 Fremont Peak star party, sunset

8:27 p.m., 22% moon rises 3:12a.m.

23 Coe and Peak star party, sunset8:31 p.m., 10% moon sets 10:56p.m.

29 Houge Park star party, sunset 8:32p.m., 72% moon sets 2:29 a.m.

July 7, Greg Laughlin of NASA Ames,The Five Ages of the Universe

Have you ever wondered whathappened to the optical instrumentsused by the amateur watchers of theskies during the past 125 years or so? Ihave often done that, imagining myselflooking at the Moon through the sameinstruments used by the great lunarobservers of the past trying to see theMoon as they did. May I assume thatyou are familiar with the classic Englishlunar observers/writers Neison, Elger,Goodacre, and Wilkins & Moore.Right? You may ask why I am mention-ing these gentlemen out of the hun-dreds of other amateur observers. Ihave their books, many of their lunararticles, and an original set ofGoodacre’s 1910 lunar charts, but I didnot know until November 2000 that theyhad something in else common be-

Historic With-Browning Telescope with Unique ProvenanceRobert A. Garfinkle, F.R.A.S.

sides their lunar writings and love of theMoon.

I recently purchased a completealmost mint-condition, 1874, 9.25-inchWith-Browning reflector with cast ironaltazimuth mount. This instrument wasoriginally owned by the great Englishlunar observer/writer Edmund Neison(1851-1938), who passed it on toThomas Gwyn Elger (1838-97), whopassed it on to Walter Goodacre (1856-1938), who passed it on to Hugh PercyWilkins (1896-1960). The telescopewas found several years ago in Wilkins’garage with a letter inside the tubesigned by Elger stating how he got theinstrument from Neison. Knowing that

Wilkins and Sir Patrick Moore (1923- )had collaborated on lunar writingsduring the 1950s, I wrote to my friendContinued on next page

Robert Garfinkle’s classic With-Browningtelescope packed for shipping.

SJAA EPHEMERIS Page 2 May 2001

With-Browning Telescope

Continued from previous page

Sir Patrick and he responded that hehad used the telescope many timesand that it is a good instrument. Price?By agreement with the seller, I cannotdisclose the actual selling price, butthe telescope was recently appraised

at about $38,000. (About double what Ipaid for my first house (1,200 squarefeet), in Newark, California, about 32years ago.)

The Browning race car greenwrought-iron tube is 9.25 inches insidediameter and the green-tint soda-limeglass George With mirror is 8 inches indiameter. I have seen this particularinstrument mentioned in the astronomi-cal literature as being a 9.25-inch f/7.5instrument, and I have also been toldthat it is an 8 inch instrument. Which iscorrect; 9.25 or 8 inches? I don’t know,because it can be called by either sizeand be correct. In the Victorian era,Newtonian telescopes were labeled andsold by their aperture size and that nowwe use the diameter of the mirror.Neison refers to the telescope as a 9-1/3-inch instrument, which is its outsidediameter.

The tube weighs about 100pounds and the cast iron alt-azimuthmount weighs over 75 pounds. The 1-inch straight-tube finder scope, finder

scope mounts, two handles, mountshafts, focuser, and eyepieces are allsolid brass along with most of theattaching knobs and screws on thetelescope tube. No brass plating inthose days. The eyepieces screw intothe focuser. Modern slip-in eyepiecesdo not fit. I still need to determine thepower of the finder scope and the

telescope witheach eyepiece.The focal ratiois not markedon the eye-pieces.

GeorgeHenry With(1827-1904)was consideredone of the bestsilver-on-glassmirror makersof the late 19thcentury. He wasone of theleaders in themove frommetal to glasstelescopemirrors. Themirror was

recently resilvered at Kitt Peak andtested at 1/25 wave. By profession,George With was a schoolmaster inHerford, England and made astronomi-cal mirrors as a side business.

John Browning, F.R.A.S.(1835-1925) was one of the best telescopeand spectroscope manufacturers of thattime. He wrote numerous articles onastronomical instrument and a book onspectroscopes. Browning’s familyinstrument company was in businessfor about 145 years, closing with hisretirement in 1905.

If you would like to see a drawingof a sister telescope to mine, there isone in the Norman Lockyer Observatoryin England, just follow the link. Mytelescope looks like the upper image.The drawing is from the 1876 JohnBrowning Company catalog.

http://www.ex.ac.uk/nlo/news/nlonews/1995-10/9510-12.htm

I have been planning on how tomake a new oak base for the tele-scope. I have some drawings of similar

instruments and a photograph of a 10-inch With-Browning of the same era. Abase has to be built before this nine-teenth century telescope gets to feedon twenty-first century moon beams. Iam also planning on building oakstorage boxes for the tube, mount, andaccessories.

I intend to collect as muchinformation as I can about my particularinstrument. I have already locatedseveral references to this specificinstrument in the astronomical literaturein several reference works in my homelibrary. Neison mentions it as theinstrument used in several of his lunarobservations given in the“Selenographical Journal” in the years1879 to 1882. The telescope is specifi-cally mentioned on page 20 of theWilkins and Moore book “The Moon.”When I am in London this summer afterobserving the total solar eclipse inZimbabwe, I intend to spend some timein the Royal Astronomical Society andBritish Astronomical Society libraries inBurlington House and to see whatbusinesses are now using the JohnBrowning Company factories at 111Minories (about a block from the Towerof London) and his last place of busi-ness at 63 Strand (near the WaterlooBridge).

I can hardly wait to observe theMoon in much the same manner as mylunar heroes Neison, Elger, Goodacre,and Wilkins through the same fascinat-ing treasure of a telescope that theyused.

The cast iron 75-pound mount.

Brass eyepiece and focuser detail from theWith-Browning reflector telecope. Photos byMorris Jones.

SJAA EPHEMERIS Page 3 May 2001

I have said in other essays,watching a row of zeros come up on anodometer is fun: In March, 2001, Ilogged my ten thousandth differentcelestial object seen. Lest you thinkthat saying so demonstrates lack ofhumility, there are professional skysurveys in process that are expected tocatalog millions of galaxies. My life listof objects is a thimbleful of watercompared to an ocean of stars.

I have observed many of these

things more than once — some brightand popular objects, over 100 times.Counting repeats, and also counting afew hundred instances when I reliablyidentified the location of something butcould not spot it, my logs contain22891 observations altogether. Yet forme, the great thrill has always beenlooking at something new, preferablynew and difficult.

My present run of logbooks beganin 1978, when I became much moreactive in a hobby I had let dwindleduring college and graduate school.Even as a child, I had habitually writtendown what I saw in the sky, in a simplelogbook. When I began observingagain, I decided to augment that kind of

The Celestial Tourist SpeaksFrom the Descent of Atlantis to the Depths of the Abyss

Jay Reynolds Freemanrecord with a file-card cross-index,organized by object. I might not havedone so had I known what I was gettinginto — my index now fills thirteen shoe-box sized containers — but I am glad Idid. Otherwise, I would have no way tofind observations of specific objects, orto know whether I had observed them atall.

From time to time I summarizethings — I have many log pagesshowing how many objects of several

different kinds Isaw recently,and how manyobservations Imade withdifferent equip-ment. Onlylately did I startbreaking downnew objectsseen by equip-ment used tosee them, so Ican onlyestimate thecontributions myvarious instru-ments havemade to the listof differentobjects seen.

Myobserving

program used to be simple: I only had a7x50 binocular. With good dark adapta-tion, high transparency, and maniacalpersistence, I managed to find all theMessier objects with it. I had not seenmost of them before. I also moochedviews of other things through tele-scopes belonging to friends and fellowastronomy club members, but soon Iwanted more capable equipment of myown.

I built a fast 6-inch Newtonian,and learned to use it hand held, with nomounting. I retired it nearly twentyyears ago, after 965 observations.Those included a Messier survey — Ihave done one with nearly everytelescope or binocular I have pos-

sessed — but I also used it to beginworking my way through the lists ofgalaxies, star clusters and nebulae inBurnham’s Celestial Handbook.Burnham formed the basis of myobserving for over a decade — the goalwas to see everything in those listsnorth of 45 degrees south declination.

Presently I succumbed to aper-ture fever, and bought the largesttelescope I have owned, the Celestron14 that I later named Harvey. It hasbeen a real workhorse, accounting for10022 observations, nearly half thegrand total — more than half if I sub-tract off all those Messier surveys. Ithas also been the telescope I mostcommonly use for chasing down newobjects — I first saw the vast majorityof those 10000 different things with theC-14. I don’t know where the idea camefrom, that small telescopes get usedmore than large ones, but as far as myown experience goes, that notion rateswith flat-earthism and the luminiferousether as unadulterated nonsense. If Icould have only one astronomicalinstrument out of all the ones I haveowned, it would without question be myCelestron 14.

I soon found I occasionallywanted something quicker to set up, soI built a lightweight 8-inch f/5 tube-typeDobson, that was almost as handy asmy mountless 6-inch. I used it nearlyas much as the 6-inch —848 observa-tions. Those two telescopes still rankthird and fourth in numbers of observa-tions made with various telescopes.The 8-inch also did yeoman duty withthe brighter objects in Burnham.

My observing declined in the mid-1980s. I was nearly done withBurnham, and had neither object listsnor charts suitable for deeper work.What’s more, the C-14 drew long linesat star parties, enough so I didn’t get touse it much. I started to bring smallertelescopes to star parties, but thereweren’t a lot of new things I could seewith them. These instruments included

Continued on next page

Jay Freeman in his trademark ushanka hat presides over the annual SJAAAuction, April 2001. Photo by Mike Koop.

SJAA EPHEMERIS Page 4 May 2001

binoculars larger than my old 7x50, anda Vixen 90 mm fluorite with wonderfuloptics.

In the mid 1990s, I evaluated anIntes 6-inch Maksutov-Cassegrain atthe request of a local dealer, and wasimpressed enough to buy it. It was anice match for the Great Polaris mountthat came with my 90 mm fluorite, andits stubby carrying case was lessawkward to haul around than the longbox of the Vixen OTA. About then, Ifinally got around to finishing the lastfew objects in my Burnham observingprogram. Then I ran across a list all the2500-odd objects that William Herschelhad discovered, posted on the internet.

Herschel did most of his observ-ing with telescopes vastly smaller thanhis well-known 48-inch monster, but hislist of discoveries is suitable for smallerinstruments, considering that he usedspeculum metal mirrors and had to findthings anew, without knowing theirpositions. My index revealed that I hadalready seen about half the list. Finish-ing it took a year or two. Most of whatwas left was indeed within the range ofthe Intes 6-inch, though many objectstook more aperture — one or tworequired borrowed 18-inch Dobsons toferret out. The Intes is second only toHarvey in total number of observationsmade, but a poor second, with a countof 1888.

As my Herschel program wounddown, I bought a copy of a massive,expensive new reference work —Millennium Star Atlas, with enormousnumbers of deep-sky objects accu-rately plotted, and with a stellar limitingvisual magnitude of 11 — 1.5 magni-tudes fainter than on my best previouscharts. Gazing at the atlas pages, Irealized there would usually be chartedstars in the field of a low-magnificationeyepiece in my old Celestron 14. Withso many guideposts, finding deep-skyobjects would be easy, and the atlaspages had lots of new things.

I described recommissioning theC-14 in another essay. It proved as finea match for Millennium as I hoped.During the next two and a half years, I

worked nearly all the way throughMillennium, page by page, north of 39degrees south declination. I didn’t seeevery deep-sky object plotted — manyAbell galaxy clusters were invisible,and lots of planetaries were too faint tosee or too small to appear non-stellar.Even so, there were so many objectsthat I could start at one side of a chartand star-hop across it, logging thingsas I came to them. That was lotsquicker than locating objects that arefar apart.

My experience with small tele-scopes left me fascinated with them.During the 1990s I played with many,doing a Messier survey with each, but itwas rare that I used them to seeanything new. The major exceptions tothat rule came with large binoculars — Ihave made extensive use of a 14x70

(519 observations) and a 25x100 (465observations). There are lots of largebright and dark nebulae best seen withthe wide fields of view they provide. Thesmall instrument I have most used isRefractor Red, a dayglow-painted 55mm Vixen fluorite refractor, but its 568observations include almost nothingnew.

Two other modestly large tele-scopes figured prominently in observingnew objects, one because of geographyand the other because of panache. Ibuilt a 10-inch f/5 Dobson to fit in acase as airline checked baggage, andtook it to Hawaii in late May, 2000. Iobserved about 400 new southern-skyobjects from Mauna Kea, mostly withit, though a few were with my 14x70. Ihave made 580 observations withaltogether with that 10-inch. And inDecember, 2000, I acquired an Astro-Physics 10-inch Maksutov-Cassegrain,and named her Gillian. I do not intendthis instrument as a telescope forvague nothings, but between new, high-end coatings and small central obstruc-tion, the AP-10’s performance on deep-

sky objects is closer to Harvey’s thanmere collecting area would suggest. Itis nice to have a high-end planetaryinstrument that can also find faintfuzzies. I have logged 811 observationswith the AP-10 so far, including 364 ofobjects new to me.

As I write these words, thenumber of different objects I havelogged as actually seen is 10026. 922are stars — mostly doubles that Iresolved, or tried to resolve. 62 aresolar-system objects, both natural andhuman-made. 5967 are in the NewGeneral Catalog — that’s about threequarters of the NGC — 553 in the IndexCatalog (IC), and the rest are a wideassortment of other deep-sky targets,including large contingents of galaxiesfrom the ESO, MCG, and UGC cata-logs.

One object was not really celes-tial: On a night when it was possible tosee all the planets without pushingtwilight, I looked down between my feetand made a mental note to include“Earth” in the log. The nearest celestialobject might have been a meteor, but Ilike to think it was Space ShuttleAtlantis, engulfed in a re-entry fireball,streaking high across San FranciscoBay as dawn turned the morning skygray. The farthest “object” I have lookedfor was the Hubble Deep Field, in theremote depths of the cosmos. I didn’tsee anything there, C-14 notwithstand-ing. The most distant thing I haveactually seen was probably the quasarthat is gravitationally lensed asEinstein’s Cross. I always say thataperture wins, and having a wholegalaxy scooping up light from thisdistant target indeed helped a lot.

As my Millennium observingprogram winds down, I am not surewhat to do next. I would like to seemore of the southern sky, so perhapstravel is in order. Beyond that, thethought of professional surveys ofmillions of galaxies makes me wary ofthe obvious next step, of getting aneven bigger telescope and even bettercharts. Yet I imagine that I will findmore observations to make. Theuniverse is full of wonders.

The Celestial Tourist

Continued from previous page

I always say that aperturewins, and having a whole

galaxy scooping up light ...helps a lot

SJAA EPHEMERIS Page 5 May 2001

Auction XXIJim Van Nuland

The SJAA/Bay-area Auction wasa great success! With the auction runfirst, there was much more materialthan in years past, and it took longer —about 3 hours. The results were worththe work, however, as the net incomewas $993.35 — better than most years.

The swap meet was sharplydifferent! One of our biggest sellers wasabsent, and with much already sold,the swap was almost non-existent!

There was another $41.15, and, withthe dollars from bidder numbers andsome donations, the overall total is$1054.35.

Jay Reynolds Freeman conductedthe auction in his uninimitable style; abig thank-you to Jay.

We must also thank Scope Cityfor the filters, books, and charts thatwere donated; they brought in $192.Thank You, Scope City!

Photos from the 2001 SJAA Auction. (Left) JayReynolds Freeman takes bids from a room fullof eager buyers. Photo by Mike Koop. (Above)Winning bidders line up to part with their cash.Photo by Akkana Peck.

School Star Party programJim Van Nuland

The school star party program iswinding down, with just two eventsremaining on the calendar. There havebeen 25 successful events and 13cloud-outs. This is sharply better than1999-2000, when we did 14 successesand 10 cloud-outs. Most have been atelementary schools, with a smatteringof middle and high schools. In addition,SJAA has about 25 public star partiesat Houge Park each year, and we haveschool or scout groups there, but Idon’t have a count, perhaps anotherdozen.

This year, we experimented withafter-DST (Darkness Squandering Time)events at grade schools, and I’m happyto report that, despite the late time, 8to 10 pm, we had good turnouts! So ourseason is extended a couple weeks,and there’s more time to get from job toschool.

Special thanks go to our stal-

warts, Bill O’Shaughnessy, GaryMitchell, and Jim Bartolini. Honorablemention to Terry Kahl, Bob Havner, andothers who have come out when theirjobs allowed. My apologies for notlisting you all. We have a few PASmembers who help when we’re on thatside of the valley, and another fewStanford students who help when we’rewayyy up the peninsula.

We have done events fromMountain View to Milpitas to MorganHill, with most in San Jose east ofHwy.101.

John Dobson has said that themeasure of a telescope is not the sizeof the mirror, or the quality of the figure,or the smoothness of the mount; themeasure of a telescope is the numberof non-astronomers who have lookedthrough it. By this measure, we havesome superb instruments!

Clear Skies!

Lecture Program atFoothill College

Andrew Fraknoi

Dr. Vera Rubin of the CarnegieInstitution of Washington will appear onWednesday, May 2, at 7 p.m. to speakon “What’s the Matter in the Universe:Galaxies and Dark Matter.” The lectureis free, non-technical, and open to thepublic.

The lecture will be held at FoothillCollege, El Monte Road and Freeway280 in Los Altos Hills. You can reachthe series hotline at (650) 949-7888.

Dr. Rubin, one of the mostdistinguished astronomers in the U.S.,has made significant contributions tomany areas of our understanding ofgalaxies. Her research in the 1970’sfirst suggested that these vast islandsof stars must include a great deal ofunknown, unseen material, whichastronomers now call “dark matter.”She will describe our modern under-standing of this weird “stuff,” which maymake up the majority of the universe.

This is a joint Silicon ValleyAstronomy Lecture and AmericanAstronomical Society Second CenturyLecture.

SJAA EPHEMERIS Page 6 May 2001

As this part of the year drifts by(along with the all-too-common clouds)the first quarter (and earlier) moon slipshigher and higher in the sky.

If you want a good look at theeastern half of the moon, you generallymust wait until just after full Moon andset your sights on midnight or later.

But not now!Because the early Moon is so

high in the sky, some of these goodiesare often seen in steady air just atsunset, even though the Moon hasalready begun to set.

I remember one May at FremontPeak when I had my 12.5 set up nextto Rich Neuschafer’s then-newishAP180 and the air was dead calm at

sunset ... we had incredible views ofthe Moon at roughly 45 degreesaltitude, though some tree branchesran brief interference.

It was a great prelude to a darksky night, and the air was steadyenough to let even my 12.5-inch workto full advantage.

This kind of thing can happen anynight this time of year, so don’t wastethat twilight: look at bright things andcheck for seeing!

That halcyon night at The Peakwas particularly memorable for thegreat views of the Gang Of Four (myown name for the four similar, large andobvious craters that show up a fewdays into the lunar cycle. They arewonderfully named all: Langrenus,Vendelinus, Petavius and Furnerius).

I was especially enthralled(literally bubbling enthusiasm; it wastruly a sickening spectacle for thosepresent) about the complex rillestructure in Petavius — which usuallyisn’t all that complex.

MooningThe Buzz on Petau, Kopernik and Tyge

Dave NorthPetavius is particularly friendly to

any telescope, because it has one ofthe fattest rilles on the moon, and atthe same time offers a well-definedshape and good detail in the walls.

In other words, it’s interesting andeasy to see.

But it has some hidden secrets: acouple of finer rills and other featuresthat only show up in very good condi-tions.

We could see *everything.*And if you want to see what’s

there, you should try and try again.One day you’ll hit it. Especially latethis month.

But early in just about everyone’slunar career, the Rille in Petavius willfigure as one of the more memorablediscoveries (whether I point it out ornot, you’ll eventually notice it: it’s a realstandout!)

Any telescope will do.As to the hifalutin name Petavius,

some folks might wonder why most ofthe things on the Moon are named afterancient Latins... well, they’re not.

Petavius is named after a FrenchJesuit Cleric named Denis Petau, but itwas stylish (if not even reasonable) formid-era Europeans to “translate” theirnames into Latin — not an easy thingsometimes, as there wasn’t anyreasonable translation. In this case, thename Denis is thought to be a geneticdrift of Dionysius, and Petau ended upPetavius somehow.

The same sort of thing happensright now when folks who don’t comefrom an English-speaking countrypublish on the Web; they often trans-late their names using an alphabet(ours) that doesn’t offer a good matchfor the sounds in their names — so it’soften easier to just adopt a similarname from the English arsenal.

Of course, in those days, allscholarly works were in Latin. Now, thelanguage of science, computer andotherwise, (as well as air traffic control)is English. So we see the same thinghappening.

Petau was essentially a translatorof Greek works, and a very good one.His deep knowledge of the subject ledto the writing of histories that are stillconsidered definitive today.

But why is this magnificent crater— one of the more striking on the Moon— assigned to a notable but otherwiseobscure historian while some other farmore solid contributors are essentiallyunmentioned, or assigned tiny, obscurecraters?

Politics, of course!Though he was slightly controver-

sial in his interpretations, Petau stoodin good with the Vatican, which was analmost unparalleled power in the 16thand 17th centuries (his time).

And if you wanted a Moon mappublished in those days, it was a goodidea to stay tight with the Powers ThatBe (again, nothing has changed in thatregard).

So that, mostly, is why when youlook at the moon you hear tons ofobscure Latin names rather thansomething that should sound a bit morefamiliar.

But it’s not a completely grimpicture.

You’ll also hear Copernicus(actually a Polish guy namedKopernik), Kepler (his real name) andthe curious Tycho — actually Tyge inhis native Denmark (that part of whichis now in Sweden).

What’s so strange? It’s his firstname, not last! It would be like, oh, ifAldrin Crater were actually named“Buzz.”

Can you think of another craterthat's a famous first name?

Don’t waste that twilight:look at bright things and

check for seeing!

Petavius is particularlyfriendly to any telescope,because it has one of the

fattest rilles on the moon ....

SJAA EPHEMERIS Page 7 May 2001

As May opens, Jupiter and Saturnare low in the west at dusk, and youcan still catch a little detail on themand watch the motion of their moons.Try to find them right at sunset, or evenearlier if you can — you’ll see moredetail when they’re higher in the sky.

But the real target of the month isMars. Mars isn’t at opposition thismonth — that doesn’t happen until themiddle of next month — but if you wantto see as much detail as possibleduring the few weeks around oppositionwhen it will be closest to us, now is thetime to start practicing, even thoughyou have to stay up past midnight toget a good view. Our small red neighboris already pretty close — about half an

The Shallow Sky in MayAkkana Peck

Continued on next page

AANC Conference Scrapbook

105 attendees from 27 of the AANC groups, including13 club presidents and founders, and 8 newsletter editors,attended this year’s AANC conference at Chabot Space &Science Center in Oakland on April 7th. 11 members of theSJAA trekked up to join in the fun, and Mike Koop gave agreat presentation about the SJAA.

Photos clockwise from right: (1) Jane Houston Jonesintroduces Chabot Space & Science Center ExecutiveDirector Mike Reynolds to kick off the conference in the AskJeeves Planetarium. (2) SJAA VP Bob Havner shares abeverage with San Francisco Amateur Astronomers presi-dent Al Stern. (3) John Dobson visits with Robert Garfinkle.(4) SJAA Pres. Mike Koop. (5) Robert Garfinkle awards anautographed copy of his book Star-Hopping to marathonwinner Liede-Marie Haitsma of Mt. Diablo Astro. Society.

SJAA EPHEMERIS Page 8 May 2001

Seth Shostak of the SETI (theSearch for Extraterrestrial Intelligence)Institute will be speaking at the May5th meeting. In his talk, titled “TheChances for Finding E.T.,” He willdiscuss new developments in both thescience and technology of SETI. Also ifa signal is found, how will the news bemade public? What will we learn? Andwhat effect will it have on our society?

Seth Shostak is the PublicPrograms Scientist at the SETI Insti-tute. As public programs scientist,Seth’s responsibilities include explain-ing to the public the work done at SETI,and what they may one day discover.He is also the author of the bookSharing the Universe: Perspectives onExtraterrestrial Life (Berkeley HillsBooks). Copies will be available at themeeting. Come hear this fascinatingspeaker May 5th at 8:00 p.m. in theHouge Park meeting hall.

Seth Shostak to Speak at May 5th General Meeting

AU at this month’s end — and even asmall telescope should be enough toshow some of the planet’s majorfeatures, like the dark feature of SyrtisMajor (shaped roughly like India) andthe huge, pale impact feature Hellas.Larger telescopes will show more detail— sometimes you can see cloudsaround the volcanic region of Tharsis,and this year, with the planet barelytilted at all as viewed from our location,we might get a good view of the chal-lenging Sinus Meridiani area.

How do you identify these fea-tures? The RASC Observer’s Hand-book, which many club membersbought at SJAA meetings, has adecent Mars map in it. The drawingisn’t great, but the labelled features givea good idea of what a telescopicobserver might hope to see. Plan-etarium programs are more useful, ifyou can find one that shows featureson Mars correctly oriented as theyappear at a specific time. Guide(Windows), Starry Night (Windows and

Mac), and XEphem (Linux) are someprograms which offer this feature. Itmight also be worth searching the webfor a freeware program called “MarsPreviewer”, which was useful in the lastopposition for showing the orientation ofMars and its features.

If you don’t have a computerhandy, or don’t want to hassle withbringing one out into the field with you,try a globe. Replogle makes a nifty miniMars globe which is often available fornot much money in combination withan earth globe (out of date) and a moonglobe (not the best quality but some-times useful). Try large toy stores (Ibought mine two oppositions ago in theGreat Mall).

The outer planets — Uranus,Neptune, and Pluto — all rise late andare best viewed well after midnight.More on those planets in columns tocome.

The inner planets, Venus andMercury, are both morning objects now.Early risers (or people pulling all-nighters) can get a lovely view of a largecrescent Venus throughout most of themonth.

Shallow Sky

Continued from previous page

Dr. Seth Shostak from the SETI Institutespeaks at the May 5 General Meeting.

Celestial CalendarMay 2001

Richard Stanton

Lunar Phases: Date Rise Trans SetFM 06:32 PDT 07 20:26 00:57 06:27LQ 03:11 PDT 15 02:00 06:23 10:55NM 19:46 PDT 22 04:04 11:37 19:27FQ 15:09 PDT 29 10:41 18:20 01:16

Nearer Planets: R. A. Dec.Mercury, 0.93 A.U., Mag. -1.507 06:46 14:07 21:30 03:58.2 +22:2217 07:03 14:35 22:07 05:06.6 +25:1727 07:07 14:36 22:05 05:49.1 +24:54

Venus, 0.52 A.U., Mag. -5.307 04:16 10:29 16:42 00:22.8 +03:0617 03:58 10:16 16:33 00:48.5 +04:2127 03:43 10:07 16:32 01:19.6 +06:30

Mars, 0.55 A.U., Mag. -2.107 23:17 04:02 08:42 17:55.2 -24:2817 22:39 03:22 08:00 17:54.8 -25:0127 21:56 02:36 07:12 17:48.8 -25:36

Jupiter, 6.02 A.U., Mag. -1.907 07:41 14:59 22:18 04:54.3 +22:1217 07:11 14:30 21:49 05:03.8 +22:2727 06:40 14:00 21:20 05:13.6 +22:40

Saturn, 9.09 A.U., Mag. 0.907 07:01 14:06 21:12 04:01.2 +18:5317 06:26 13:32 20:39 04:06.5 +19:0927 05:51 12:58 20:06 04:11.9 +19:24

SOL Star Type G2V Intelligent Life in System ?Hours of Darkness06:36 07 06:03 13:04 20:05 02:57.2 +16:5106:10 17 05:54 13:04 20:14 03:36.5 +19:2105:47 27 05:48 13:05 20:22 04:16.6 +21:19

Astronomical Twilight: Begin EndJD 2,452,036 07 04:23 21:46

046 17 04:09 22:00056 27 03:59 22:12

Sidereal Time:Transit Right Ascension at Local Midnight07 00:00 = 13:5317 00:00 = 14:3227 00:00 = 15:11

Darkest Saturday Night: 19 May 2001Sunset 20:16Twilight End 22:02Moon Rise 04:15Dawn Begin 04:07Hours Dark 06:06

SJAA EPHEMERIS Page 9 May 2001

Officers and Board of Directors

Pres Mike Koop (408) 446-0310VP Bob Havner (408) <732-2559Sec Jim Van Nuland (408) 371-1307Tres Gary Mitchell (408) 265-2336Dir Bill Arnett (650) 780-9645Dir Bill O’Shaughnessy

(408) 984-3985Dir Jim Bartolini (831) 394-7795Dir Paul Mancuso (408) 946-0738Dir Mark Taylor (408) 972-2719

Ephemeris Staff

Editor Jane Houston Jones(415) 453-2885

Editor Morris Jones (415) 453-2885Circulation

Bob Brauer (408) 292-7695Lew Kurtz (408) 739-7106Dave North (408) 297-5257

Printing Accuprint (408) 287-7200

School Star Party ChairmanJim Van Nuland (408) 371-1307

Telescope Loaner ProgramMike Koop (408) 446-0310

Web PageBill Arnett bill@nineplanets.org

Publication Statement

SJAA Ephemeris, newsletter of theSan Jose Astronomical Association, ispublished monthly, 12 times a year,January through December.

San Jose Astronomical Association,P.O. Box 28243San Jose, CA 95159-8243

SubmitSubmit articles for publication in theSJAA Ephemeris. Send articles tothe editors via e-mail toephemeris@sjaa.net.

To subscribe to or unsubscribe fromthe SJAA Mailing List, visithttp://www.sjaa.net/mailman/listinfo/sjaa-announce

SJAA Loaner Scope StatusAll scopes are available to any SJAA member; contact Mike Koop by email

(loaner@sjaa.net) or by phone at work (408) 473-6315 or home (408) 446-0310(Leave Message).

Available ScopesThese are scopes that are available for immediate loan, stored at other

SJAA members homes. If you are interested in borrowing one of these scopes,please contact Mike Koop for a scope pick up at any of the listed SJAA events.# Scope Description Stored by1 4.5" Newt/ P Mount Tim Roberts10 Star Spectroscope Steven Nelson15 8” Dobson Daron Darr16 Solar Scope Jim Van Nuland24 60mm Refractor Al Kestler32 6” f/7 Dobson Sandy Mohan

Scope LoansThese are scopes that have been recently loaned out. If you are interested

in borrowing one of these scopes, you will be placed on the waiting list until thescope becomes available after the due date.# Scope Description Borrower Due Date3 4" Quantum S/C Hsin I. Huang 7/1/016 8" Celestron S/C Al Kestler 4/19/017 12.5" Dobson Bruce Horton 5/10/018 14" Dobson Jack D. Kellythorne 7/13/0111 Orion XT6 Dob Raghu Srinivasan 6/16/0112 Orion XT8 Dob Steve Sergeant 5/13/0123 6" Newt/P Mount Dennis Hong 4/28/0126 11" Dobson Robert Morgan 6/2/0127 13" Dobson Gene Schmidt 6/30/0131 8" f/8 Dobson John Templeton 5/16/01

Extended Scope LoansThese are scopes that have had their loan period extended. If you are

interested in borrowing one of these scopes, we will contact the current borrowerand try to work out a reasonable transfer time for both parties.# Scope Description Borrower Due Date2 6" f/9 Dob John Paul De Silva ?9 C-11 Compustar Paul Barton Indefinite13 Orion XT6 Dob Li Chung Ting 6/15/0119 6" Newt/P Mount Ilkka Kallio 6/15/0121 10" Dobson Ralph Seguin Repair28 13" Dobson Michael Dajewski 6/2/0129 C8, Astrophotography Doug Graham 6/18/01

Waiting List8” Sky Quest: Gordon McClellan, Dennis Hong, Joe Fragola, Robert MorganLoaner NotesThe auction was very good to the loaner program this year! Dave Simonsdonated five eyepieces. The Peninsula Astronomical Society also donatedan eyepiece and an objective lens. Thanks for your support of the loanerprogram!

SJAA EPHEMERIS Page 10 May 2001

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May 5General Meeting:Seth Shostak from SETI

May 18Observational Astronomy Class