th Anniversary Edition Morning Star -...

ContentsNew Members ___________ Pg 1Meetings _______________ Pg 1-2

April 7 - Chameleon Star BafflesAstronomers

May 5 - Annual BanquetJune 2 - VAS celebrates its 50th

AnniversaryEvents __________________ Pg 2-4

-VAS Events- GMAAA Events

Articles __________________ Pg 4-7- VAS Celebrates 50 Years- Young Stars in the Oldest Places- A Two-Toned Wonder- VTC’s CubeSat

Board Talk _______________ Pg 8Observer’s Page _________ Pg 8-16

- Supernova 2014J in M82- Imaging planets in Puerto Rico- M45, The Great Nebula in Orion- Comet Lovejoy C/2013 R1- Zodiacal Light- M81, M82 and Supernova 2014J- VTC CubeSat Update- Indoor Star Party- Down to Earth

For Sale / Wanted _______ Pg 16-17Announcements ___________ Pg 17Club Info ________________ Pg 17

Morning StarSpring 2014

New Members

VAS welcomes the following newmembers who joined us since the lastnewsletter:

Keith LawrenceCheryl Lawrence

Bob BiegenApurva Somani

Stephanie Feldman

Meetings/Presentations

Meetings are held the first (non-holi-day) Monday of the month, at 7:30P.M. in the Kolvoord CommunityRoom of the Brownell Library, 6 Lin-coln St., Essex Jct (2nd buildingnorth of Essex 5 corners on the lefton Rt. 2A). (see Map on our web site).Extra parking is available in the BankNorth parking lot across from the li-brary. For inclement weather callJack St. Louis (802-658-0184) orPaul Walker (work # 802-861-8640)to confirm.

April 7

Chameleon Star Baffles AstronomersBy Dr. Joanna Rankin,

a Professor at UVM with a Ph. D. inAstrophysicist

The title above and text below areused with permission from an articleJoshua Brown wrote about the subject.Josh is a physics student at UVM. Thefull article is posted on the UVM website at:http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/?Page=news&storyID=15196

For another, well done, story Joshdid about Dr. Rankin and her work onpulsars, go to:

http://www.uvm.edu/vq/?Page=news&storyID=12610&category=vq2011&SM=featuressubmenu.html

Pulsars — tiny spinning stars,heavier than the sun and smaller than acity — have puzzled scientists sincethey were discovered in 1967.

Now, new observations by an inter-national team, including University ofVermont astrophysicist Joanna Rankin,make these bizarre stars even more puz-zling.

The scientists identified a pulsarthat is able to dramatically change theway in which it shines. In just a fewseconds, the star can quiet its radiowaves while at the same time it makesits X-ray emissions much brighter.

The research “challenges all pro-posed pulsar emission theories,” theteam writes in the Jan. 25 edition of thejournal Science and reopens a decades-old debate about how these stars work.

A pulsar with glowing cones of radiation stemmingfrom its magnetic poles. New observations reported inScience re-open an old debate about how these spin-ning stars work. (Image: European SpaceAgency/ATG medialab)

Bio:My focus is in radio astronomy withprimary interests in the areas of the pul-sar radio-frequency emission problem,pulsars as probes of the interstellar me-dium, and feminist studies of science. Ihave published a series of papers de-scribing a phenomenological model ofpulsar radio emission, based on the

Vallis Alpes (Alpine Valley) By Paul Walker200 frames of HD video, 2014/03/08 7:37 PM

50th Anniversary Edition

study of the average and individual-pulse emission properties of pulsars. In1999, my colleague Avinash Desh-pande (of the Raman Research Institutein Bangalore) and I found a rotating(carousel) subbeam system in pulsarB0943+10, which has provided remark-able new insights into how pulsars gen-erate their radio radiation. Togetherwith my collaborators, I regularlymake new pulsar observations using anumber of different instruments. Dur-ing 2001 and 2002 we conceived andstarted the Multi-Frequency, Multi-Ob-servatory Pulsar Polarimetry Project(MFO) using instruments in Holland,Germany, England, India, Russian andUkraine. I collaborate with astrono-mers in these and other countries andam also interested in science as it isconnected to militarism, the position ofthe so-called "Third-World", and wom-en's emancipation.

I earned my B.S. degree in Physics andMathematics from Southern MethodistUniversity and my Ph.D. in Astrophys-ics from the University of Iowa, whereI studied under Professor James A.Van Allen.

May 5

VAS 50th AnniversaryAnnual Meeting/Banquet

No Presentation. Members andinvited guests only.

If you are having the meal pleaseRSVP with your dinner choice- Tur-key with all the fixings or Veggie La-sagna to Paul Walker (388-4220 [email protected]).

The meal is $15 at the door, nocharge if not eating.

Location: St. Johns Club, 9 Cen-tral Ave. South Burlington (take Lake-side Ave from Pine St.).

Social Hour 6-7. Dinner 7-8.Door prizes, awards, annual businessmeeting 8-9.

Elections this year are for Presi-dent, Vice President and 4 BoardMembers at Large. Any full memberinterested in any of these positionsplease contact any of the board mem-bers listed at the end of this newsletter.

June 2

Vermont Astronomical Society cele-brates its 50th Anniversary

By Jack St. LouisHear about the beginning days of

the Vermont Astronomical Society andthe construction of the 5 observatoriesin Shelburne, Underhill, Williston andHinesburg, Vermont over the past 50years. The VAS continues to do muchin the areas of public outreach, educa-tion, telescope/mirror making andresearch/discovery through its talentedand dedicated members. Current Presi-dent Jack St. Louis will present the his-tory of the VAS from the first meetingto present day. All past/present mem-bers will be encouraged to join in onthe discussion to comment/add to thehistory of the Vermont AstronomicalSociety.

Photo: the First VAS observatory at theBarr Farm in Shelburne, Vt., 1968.

Events

VAS Observing Schedule

All events - Weather Permitting un-less otherwise stated.

Bring extra clothes. We want you tohave an enjoyable and comfortable

experience. Even a summer eveningcan be chilly after standing still for a

couple hours in damp air.

Keep in mind that last minutecancellations may occur even if theweather is good, so please check theweb site (vtastro.org) Events pagefor any last minute cancellations,members will be sent email updates.

_______________

Member and Invited GuestStar Parties at the GMO

(Green Mountain Observatory)100 Observatory Road, Hinesburg, VT

If your not a member, you arewelcome contact one of the boardmembers listed on the last page, one ofus would be happy to invite you.

April 25 (Friday) Hosted by PaulWalker. Gate Opens 8:45 PM, full dark-ness about 9:15 PM.April 26 (Saturday) rain date only.

May 2 (Friday) Hosted by Paul Walk-er. Gate Opens 9:00 PM, full darknessabout 9:30 PM (4 day old crescentMoon will be very low by 10:30. Norain date as the Moon will be bright-er and not set until midnight on Sat-urday.

May 23 (Friday) Hosted by PaulWalker. Gate Opens 9:15 PM, full dark-ness about 9:45 PM.May 24 (Saturday) rain date only.

Darkness falls too late for June andJuly GMO star parties.

August 22 (Friday) (Tentative, Paulwill not be available so we needsomeone to host the event, check the

web site under Events for updates).Gate Opens 8:45 PM, full darknessabout 9:15 PM.August 26 (Saturday) rain date only.

August 29 (Friday) (Tentative, needsomeone to host the event, check theweb site under Events for updates).Gate Opens 8:30 PM, full darknessabout 9:00 PM.August 30 (Saturday) rain date only.

September 19 (Friday) Hosted byPaul Walker. Gate Opens 8:00 PM, fulldarkness about 8:30 PM.Sept. 20 (Saturday) rain date only.

September 26 (Friday) Hosted byPaul Walker. Gate Opens 7:45 PM, fulldarkness about 8:15 PM.Sept. 27 (Saturday) rain date only.

October 17 (Friday) Hosted by PaulWalker. Gate Opens 7:00 PM, full dark-ness about 7:30 PM.October 18 (Saturday) rain date only.

October 24 (Friday) Hosted by PaulWalker. Gate Opens 7:00 PM, full dark-ness about 7:30 PM.October 25 (Saturday) rain date only.

November 14 (Friday) Hosted byPaul Walker. Gate Opens 7:00 PM, atwhich time it will be fully dark.Nov. 15 (Saturday) rain date only.

November 21 (Friday) Hosted byPaul Walker. Gate Opens 7:00 PM, atwhich time it will be fully dark.Nov. 22 (Saturday) rain date only.

Since our 18” scope is best suitedfor deep sky objects we only scheduleofficial observing sessions on nightsthe Moon will be out of the way.

You are of course welcome tobring your own scope.

Contact: Paul Walker802-388-4220 (H)802-861-8640 (W)

[email protected] (H),[email protected] (W)

__________________________

VAS Public Star Parties

School, Library and other group re-quested star gazing parties.

If you know of a group or institu-tion that would like to schedule astar gazing session.

Contact Bob Horton802-879-7802

[email protected]_______________

Weather Permitting.

Public Star Gazing atDorset Park, S. Burlington, VT

Every Friday night in May (2, 9, 16,23 and 30). The nights of the 2nd, 23rd

and 30th will be Moon free.

Every Friday night in September (5,12, 19 and 26). The nights of the 19th

and 26th will be Moon free. _______________

July 17 (Thursday) Solar Observingat Haston Library, 5167 Main Street,Franklin, VT 05457Contact Ron Anstey 802-524-3653,[email protected].

August 2 (Saturday) - Public StarGazing Party at Lake Carmi StatePark, 460 Marsh Farm Rd. EnosburgFalls, Vermont. Sponsered by HastonLibrary and VAS. Time is not set yet.If you can help out by bringing a scope,manning a scope or just want more in-fo contact Joe Comeau at 802-238-1664, [email protected] orJack St. Louis at 802-658-0184,

[email protected]_______________

“Spontaneous NightUnder the Stars”

July or August.Joe Comeau will once again hold

public observing at his observatory,Orchard Hill Observatory at 70 PoorFarm Rd. Alburgh VT. The plan is tomake a list of interested people and

contact folks up to a few days in ad-vance based on the weather forecast.This event will likely occur in July butit may not happen until August.

Activities will begin at dusk. Thiswill be a no-cost event for people of allages. Families with children are wel-come. VAS members are invited tobring their telescopes to show partici-pants around the summer sky. Therewill be a slide show of pictures takenby Astronomical Society members.Invite your friends for an exciting eve-ning.

Contact Joe at 802-238-1664 [email protected] _______________

Hinesburg Community School.Details to be worked out. Contact JackSt. Louis at 802-658-0184,[email protected]

Keep an eye out for email an-nouncements / updates for these andother events, also check the Eventspage on our web site, vtastro.org.

___________________

Green Mountain Alliance ofAmateur Astronomers

(GMAAA)Observing Schedule

Contact Ron Lewis for more details802-779-5913 (cell)

802-247-5913 (home)[email protected]

Weather Permitting.

Events at the Hubbardton Battle-field State Historic Site.

5696 Monument Hill Rd, Hubbardton,VT 05735http://historicsites.vermont.gov/directory/ , “Directory of Sites” , “Hubbard-ton Battlefield”, “Things to Do”,

“Events and Happenings”

May 24 (Saturday) - Meteor ShowerNight Opens 8:00 PM, Sunsets 8:21,full darkness 10:00. Predicted meteorstorm, as debris from Comet209P/LINEAR, discovered in 2004,

burn up in Earth’s atmosphere. Predict-ed peak will be 3-4 AM on May 25.(Note: for those willing to stay, thiswill be an “all nighter”)

July 20 (Sunday) - Lunar Event Onthe 45th anniversary of the first lunarlanding, enjoy the waning moon andnight sky with members of the GreenMountain Alliance of Amateur Astron-omers. They bring telescopes and re-veal the magic of moon and star lightin Vermont. If you like, bring binocu-lars, blankets, and flashlights. We pro-vide marshmallows. If inclementweather, inside illustrated program.(Note: the waning crescent Moonrises about 2:30 AM so this isplanned as an all nighter for thosewilling to stay).

August 28 (Thursday) - Deep SkyEvent Opens 7:30 PM, sunsets at 7:40,full darkness about 9:00.

Articles

Vermont Astronomical SocietyCelebrates its 50th Anniversary

By Jack St. Lois

“At a regular meeting of the Ver-mont Astronomical Society held, inBurlington, Vermont, on Wednesdayevening, May 6, 1964, the acting chair-man in the chair was Mr. Robert BJones Jr, and Mr. Leo R. Kirby Jr, act-ing as Secretary. As the Society wasnot completely organized, no minutes,per se, were read from the previousmeeting, however Mr. R. Jones out-lined what had transpired, namely thatthe name of the Society should be “TheVermont Astronomical Society”, andthat meetings would be held on thefirst Wednesday on each month.”

“There were 12 members present atthe meeting on May 6, 1964.”

“A motion was made by Mr. LeoKirby, Jr., seconded and adopted thatthe annual dues for members would be$6.00, which would include, in addi-tion to membership, an annual sub-scription to the magazine, Sky &Telescope.”

“A motion was made by Jay Free-man, seconded and adopted unanimous-ly that the Society Executive boardconsist of four (4) offices; President,Vice-President, Secretary and Treasur-er, and that nominations be opened.”

“A nomination from the floor wasmade for Mr. Robert B Jones, Jr., forpresident, and was seconded.”

“A nomination from the floor wasmade for Brother David Bryan forVice-President and was seconded.”

“A nomination from the floor wasmade for Mr. Leo R. Kirby, Jr., for Sec-retary and was seconded.”

“A nomination from the floor wasmade for Mr. Jay Freeman for Treasur-er and was seconded.”

“A motion was made that the nomi-nations for officers be closed and wasseconded and passed.”

“A motion was made from the floorto vote on the slate of officers as nomi-nated, seconded and approved by unan-imous show of hands.”

“Professor Dominique Cassavantwas introduced by the president. Hecommented on the observatory at St.Michael’s College and that it would beavailable to the Society. Also that ar-rangements would be made for accessto the observatory key for members.”

“Guest Speaker:Mr. John Pierce, President of the

Springfield Telescope Makers and ofthe Woodstock School, spoke on theorigination of the Springfield club Am-ateur Astronomer’s contribution to As-tronomy, Junior Clubs and telescopebuilding.”

“Several members accompaniedBrother Bryan to St. Michael’s Obser-vatory where they looked at the fa-mous star cluster M13 in Hercules,and the Ring Nebula in Lyra thru thetwelve and a half inch reflector.”

On motion of Mr. Jones the Soci-ety adjourned at 11:40pm.”

So began the first 50 years of theVermont Astronomical Society.

The above text is in quotes as it istaken directly from the notebook con-taining meeting minutes, copied fromthe original meeting notes, by Amelia

“Millie” Swanwick on 11 October, 1964.If Millie had not copied the originalnotes, we may have never known thedetails of the beginnings of the VAS.Thanks Millie!

50 years has a lot of history to cov-er, so this article will focus on the vari-ous VAS observatory sites constructedby many of its members. Correctionsto any historical errors are welcomed.

At the start, the VAS had no obser-vatory, but did have the use of the Hol-comb Observatory, which still standson the campus of St. Michael’s Collegein Colchester, Vt. The observatory isnow surrounded by trees but is stillused by current astronomy students.

The first VAS observatory wasbuilt by the newly formed Junior VAS,high school students from BurlingtonHS and Rice HS. The club was grant-ed the use of a hill on the Barr Farm,located on Pond Road, in Shelburne.Ed Salvas cemented a pipe in a crackin a rocky outcrop near the top of a hill,where a 6” RFT scope was mountedwith a 45 degree angle for observation-al tracking. In 1968 the JVAS built thefirst VAS observatory on that spot withthe pipe mount centered in the building,the dimensions being 8 foot ‘square’,walls 4 feet high, with a peaked roof.The roof was lifted off for observing,then lifted back on and secured whennot in use, the door secured with latchand lock.

The next construction project wasthe warming hut, 8 feet wide by 12 feetdeep and 7 feet high at the front, withthe roof sloping down towards theback. The warming hut was construct-ed in the spring/summer of 1969.

A replacement observatory wasplanned and constructed at the BarrFarm, this building would be of sturdi-

installed in July 1983, open house on10-11 September, the site officiallynamed Green Mountain Observatory.

1989 brought the closing of theGMO and the return of the Clark toUVM, which has not been installed inan observatory since that time. Laterefforts by Don Manley, Professor ofAstronomy at UVM, to build an obser-vatory on UVM land were thwarted,the Clark telescope was set up in a mu-seum room in the Cook Science build-ing, where it remains today.

From June 1989 to March 1990,VAS members used Catamount CrossCountry Ski Area in Williston, for atemporary observing site, no observato-ry was constructed.

In 1990, the VAS obtained permis-sion for a temporary observatory atLester Brown’s Farm, South Road,Williston. In September a 12'x12' mod-ular observatory was built in Georgia,Vt. at then VAS President Russ Chme-la's house, disassembled, then re-as-sembled on Brown's Farm. This

observatory housed 3 different scopes –In October was a Celestron 5” F/10SCT, November an 8” F/9.2 Newto-nian on a German Equatorial Mount,then in April 1991 the club’s 10” F.20Buchroeder Tri-Schiefspiegler tiltedcomponent reflector on an alt-azimuthmount.

er construction with a roll-off roof, us-ing roller-skate wheels. A new pipewas put in the ground, centered in theobserving area, with a Cave Astrolaequatorial mount and Keith Law-rence’s 6” F/10 Newtonian reflector.Also used on this mount was theJVAS’s 10” F/5.6 solar Newtonian.This observatory had an attached stor-age space at the entry way, where theroof rolled off. Plans were begun to

build a dual-observatory, but the land-owner did not want more build-ings on his land.

In 1970 the JVAS membersmet with Robert Patterson of Pok-er Hill Road, Underhill, to discussthe construction of an observatorysite on his land. Bob liked theidea, and agreed to lease about 2acres for a 10 year period. At thistime, since the core of the JVASgraduated from high school, theJVAS ceased to be a separate entity,and the current JVAS membershipevolved into the VAS. Younger mem-bers later join the club, but the JVASwas not reinstated.

In 1971 the VAS site at the BarrFarm was closed down after vandalsdestroyed the warming hut and attempt-ed to break into the observatory. Theremains of the hut were taken down,the observatory removed later.

During that year, while Keith wasattending UVM, news of a large aper-ture-telescope lens was conveyed byDr. David DePatie, professor of Phys-ics. Keith and I went with Dr. Depatieto the cellar of the Dental Hygienebuilding, then located on the north sideof upper Main St. That building wasmoved to the south side a few yearsago. There was discovered a 9" Alvan

Clark refractor, which had been "instorage" for about 30 years. The tele-scope and mount was disassembled,cleaned and painted by VAS members,then reassembled for installation in Un-derhill.

In November of that year (1971),VAS traveled to Middlebury College toinvestigate their 12" Newtonian, whichwas to be removed from their observa-tory and replaced with a new SCT.VAS agrees to pay $500.00 for the tele-scope, but over a five year period. Thetelescope had a plate glass mirror, butwas deemed adequate for use in thenew dual observatory.

For the next two years, VAS con-structs first a two story clubhouse andthen the dual-observatory, joined by astorage area, at the Poker Hill site.High walls on one end of the buildinghoused the 9” Clark refractor, lowerwalls on the other end housed the 12”Middlebury reflector.

On July 20th, 1974, the objectivelens was installed in the Clark refractor,members observed sunspots throughholes in the clouds; I am not certainwhen the 12” reflector was installed.This site was in use until 1980 whenthe lease with the new owners ran out,Bob Patterson had previously movedto Nova Scotia. The buildings wereleft ‘as is’ to the new owners, the Clarkwas returned to the UVM Cook Sci-ence Building for refurbishing, a newsite search began.

In 1981 observing sessions werebegun at a site on Old Creamery Roadin Williston, on land owned by thenVAS President Larry LaForge. In 1982the site was approved, the foundationfor the 4th VAS observatory poured inMay, the corner stone was set in placein September. The Clark refractor was

At the June 1993 VAS monthlymeeting, it was announced that a newobservatory site has been located, inHinesburg, North Road. This site couldturn out to be permanent, or at leastlonger term per an agreement with theTown of Hinesburg. First test observa-tions were in July, the observatory atBrown’s Farm was disassembled andmoved to the current Hinesburg sitewith the Schief installed by September.

A Grand Opening was held, thenPresident Brad Vietje spoke of the his-tory of the VAS, special guest JohnMartin of the Springfield ATMs con-gratulated the VAS on their new site.

The current Green Mountain Ob-servatory contains an 18” F/4.5 ‘Obses-sion’ Newtonian reflector telescope onan alt-azimuth mount, and is enjoyedby the VAS members and invitedguests.

To sum up, the VAS has construct-ed 5 observatories, at 5 different sites,two different observatories at the firstsite in Shelburne, and the same build-ing used at the second site in Willistonand the current site in Hinesburg. Themembership has waxed and waned, butthrough the tough times the club en-dured and accomplished much.

Such accomplishments by an ener-getic group of amateur astronomerswith such passion for their hobby andabundant talents is to be highly com-mended! The Vermont AstronomicalSociety has survived, grown and be-come an important resource for Ver-mont communities due to its amazingmembership, past and present. I amsure the VAS will continue with thismomentum well in to the future.

It is no wonder I speak of the VASwith great pride, at every opportunity.I applaud all VAS members for theirefforts.

Special thanks to Paul Walker forediting this article, and to Gary Nowakfor additions to this historical timeline.

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We are partnering with NASA’sSpace Place (spaceplace.nasa.gov/).

Space Place“The mission of NASA's Space

Place is to engage kids' interest inSpace and Earth science, as well as thetechnologies that scientists use. Oursite offers interactive games and dem-onstrations, hands-on projects, funfacts and short videos. It is a U.S. gov-ernment-sponsored website; there areno advertisements or pop-up windows,and NASA's Space Place does not linkto any commercial websites. It is asafe place for kids of all ages to visit.

Essentially we provide a free arti-cle each month for inclusion yourclub's newsletter (or posted on yourclub's website, depending upon the or-ganization's preferred distributionmethod) and regular mailings of print-ed materials for sharing with the club'smembership. In return, we ask for acopy of the newsletter using our articleand a link to our websites be added toyour club's web page.”

We have added the site to our As-tro Links page under “Kids Astronomyand Space Sites”. For those who dopresentations for local schools, you can

get small quantities of NASA’s SpacePlace items (bookmarks, stickers, tem-porary tattoos) to hand out.

Following are Space Place Partners’articles for January and February 2014

Surprising Young Stars in the Old-est Places in the Universe

By Dr. Ethan Siegel

Littered among the stars in ournight sky are the famed deep-sky ob-jects. These range from extended spiraland elliptical galaxies millions or evenbillions of light years away to the starclusters, nebulae, and stellar remnantsstrewn throughout our own galaxy. Butthere's an intermediate class of objects,too: the globular star clusters, self-con-tained clusters of stars found in spheri-cally-distributed halos around eachgalaxy.

Back before there were any starsor galaxies in the universe, it was anexpanding, cooling sea of matter andradiation containing regions where thematter was slightly more dense insome places than others. While gravityworked to pull more and more matterinto these places, the pressure fromradiation pushed back, preventing thegravitational collapse of gas cloudsbelow a certain mass. In the young uni-verse, this meant no clouds smallerthan around a few hundred thousandtimes the mass of our Sun could col-lapse. This coincides with a globularcluster's typical mass, and their starsare some of the oldest in the universe!

These compact, spherical collec-tions of stars are all less than 100 light-years in radius, but typically havearound 100,000 stars inside them, mak-ing them nearly 100 times denser thanour neighborhood of the Milky Way!The vast majority of globular clustershave extremely few heavy elements(heavier than helium), as little as 1% ofwhat we find in our Sun. There's agood reason for this: our Sun is only4.5 billion years old and has seen manygenerations of stars live-and-die, whileglobular clusters (and the stars insideof them) are often over 13 billion yearsold, or more than 90% the age of the

universe! When you look inside one ofthese cosmic collections, you're look-ing at some of the oldest stellar swarmsin the known universe.

Yet when you look at a high-resolu-tion image of these relics from the ear-ly universe, you'll find a sprinkling ofhot, massive, apparently young bluestars! Is there a stellar fountain ofyouth inside? Kind of! These massivestellar swarms are so dense -- especial-ly towards the center -- that mergers,mass siphoning and collisions betweenstars are quite common. When twolong-lived, low-mass stars interact inthese ways, they produce a hotter, blu-er star that will be much shorter lived,known as a blue straggler star. Firstdiscovered by Allan Sandage in 1953,these young-looking stars arise thanksto stellar cannibalism. So enjoy thebrightest and bluest stars in these glob-ular clusters, found right alongside theoldest known stars in the universe!Learn about a recent globular clusterdiscovery here:

http://www.nasa.gov/press/2013/september/hubble-uncovers-largestknown-group-ofstar- clusters-clues-to-dark-matter.

Kids can learn more about howstars work by listening to The SpacePlace’s own Dr. Marc:http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/podcasts/en/#stars.

Globular Cluster NGC 6397. Cred-it: ESA & Francesco Ferraro (BolognaAstronomical

Observatory) / NASA, HubbleSpace Telescope, WFPC2.

A Two-Toned Wonder from theSaturnian OutskirtsBy Dr. Ethan Siegel

Although Saturn has been knownas long as humans have been watchingthe night sky, it's only since the inven-tion of the telescope that we've learnedabout the rings and moons of this giant,gaseous world. You might know thatthe largest of Saturn's moons is Titan,the second largest moon in the entireSolar System, discovered by ChristiaanHuygens in 1655. It was just 16 yearslater, in 1671, that Giovanni Cassini(for whom the famed division in Sat-urn's rings—and the NASA missionnow in orbit there—is named) discov-ered the second of Saturn's moons: Ia-petus. Unlike Titan, Iapetus could onlybe seen when it was on the west side ofSaturn, leading Cassini to correctlyconclude that not only was Iapetus tid-ally locked to Saturn, but that its trail-ing hemisphere was intrinsicallybrighter than its darker, leading hemi-sphere. This has very much been con-firmed in modern times!

In fact, the darkness of the leadingside is comparable to coal, while therest of Iapetus is as white as thick seaice. Iapetus is the most distant of all ofSaturn's large moons, with an averageorbital distance of 3.5 million km, butthe culprit of the mysterious dark sideis four times as distant: Saturn's remote,captured moon, the dark, heavily cra-tered Phoebe!

Orbiting Saturn in retrograde, orthe opposite direction to Saturn's rota-tion and most of its other Moons, Phoe-be most probably originated in theKuiper Belt, migrating inwards andeventually succumbing to gravitationalcapture. Due to its orbit, Phoebe is con-stantly bombarded by micrometeoroid-sized (and larger) objects, responsiblefor not only its dented and cavity-rid-dled surface, but also for a huge, dif-fuse ring of dust grains spanningquadrillions of cubic kilometers! Thepresence of the "Phoebe Ring" wasonly discovered in 2009, by NASA'sinfrared-sensitive Spitzer Space Tele-scope. As the Phoebe Ring's dustgrains absorb and re-emit solar radia-

tion, they spiral inwards towards Sat-urn, where they smash intoIapetus—orbiting in the opposite direc-tion—like bugs on a highway wind-shield. Was the dark, leading edge ofIapetus due to it being plastered withmaterial from Phoebe? Did those im-pacts erode the bright surface layeraway, revealing a darker substrate?

In reality, the dark particles pickedup by Iapetus aren't enough to explainthe incredible brightness differencesalone, but they absorb and retain justenough extra heat from the Sun duringIapetus' day to sublimate the icearound it, which resolidifies preferen-tially on the trailing side, lightening iteven further. So it's not just a thin, darklayer from an alien moon that turnsIapetus dark; it's the fact that surfaceice sublimates and can no longer re-form atop the leading side that darkensit so severely over time. And that sto-ry—only confirmed by observations inthe last few years—is the reason forthe one-of-a-kind appearance of Sat-urn's incredible two-toned moon, Iape-tus!

Learn more about Iapetus here:http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/science/moons/iapetus.

Kids can learn more about Sat-urn’s rings at NASA’s Space Place:http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/saturn-rings.

Images credit: Saturn & the Phoe-be Ring (middle) - NASA / JPLCaltech / Keck; Iapetus

(top left) - NASA / JPL / SpaceScience Institute / Cassini ImagingTeam; Phoebe (bottom

right) - NASA / ESA / JPL / SpaceScience Institute / Cassini ImagingTeam.

Board Talk

Board meetings are currently heldat BioTek Instruments (Paul’s employ-er) the week after the Monthly Meetingon Tuesday, 7:30 to 9:00 PM. Theyare open to all members, contact anyBoard Member for info.

Board meeting summaries:

January Jack has ordered a soar powered

battery charger for the observatory forrecharging the small 12V batteries weuse there.

We have 2 requests for star parties.One from Hasten Library and one fromHinesburg Community School. Shel-burne School is interested in a presenta-tion. We could really use help for theseand other requests as we seldom haveas many scopes as we would like atthese events and it’s usual the samefew people who participate. Please con-tact Jack St. Louis at 658-0184,[email protected], if you canhelp out.

We will have our Annual Banquetand Business Meeting at St. JohnsClub again. Dennis will be in chargeof getting door prizes, Paul for reserv-ing the space.

FebruaryJoe will be at Earth Hour for pub-

lic star gazing. He will also host Spon-taneous Night Under the Stars at hisplace again this summer.

Ron will host solar observing atHaston Library. Ron also representedVAS at the state wide Librarian’s Meet-ing to offer our services to Vermont’slibraries.

MarchJack has received permission to

have public star gazing at Dorset Park,Dorset St., South Burlington every Fri-day night in May. He and Bob Hortonwill be hosting. Members are encour-aged to come, with or without scopes.

Ron received a thank you letterfrom the librarian’s a the LibrariansMeeting (see February notes).

Doug Williamson will renew ourmembership with IDA (InternationalDarksky Association).

We have extra Observers Hand-books, most of which we will give toarea libraries.

As part of the Burlington SummerActivity Program, Steve Scaravelle,Bill Wick, Don Manly, Donna Lescoe,Dennis Woos, Jack St. Louis and AlBoudreau will be running a SummerAstronomy Program (June 30 throughJuly 3). Each will take a different day.

Vermont State Parks is interestingin our doing astronomy programs atthe state parks this summer.

Observers Page

Supernova 2014J in M82By Paul Walker

2014-01-30 Middlebury, VTSingle unprocessed 2 min. exp.10 inch f/4.0 (1000mm fl) reflectorCamera - Modified Canon Rebel XTISO 200 (also see processed image onpage 14)

M82 is a "starburst" galaxy about12 million light years away in UrsaMajor (Big Dipper). The numbers aremagnitudes of comparison stars with-out the decimal point. The supernovawas in the mid 11th magnitude range.The galaxy is magnitude 8.4.

I tried for the supernova on 2nights. The first on 1/29/14. I hadn'tused the scope for a few months (toocloudy or too cold). I was getting usedto the cold weather by now so eventhough it was only about +10 deg. FI found it tolerable.

Even though the setup is semi-per-manent, I had to polar align the scope

due to the frozen ground having shiftedsince last Fall. I might have been usedto the cold but the "GoTo" equatorialmount wasn't. I tried to do the staralignment, but it didn't get to far. Asthe motors were ramping up to fullslew speed the mount suddenlystopped with an awful grinding noiselike the teeth on the gears were stripingout! Even though I knew it was onlythe stepper motors stalling, I stillwinched a little.

I grabbed an old hair dryer I usesometimes for drying dewed up opticsand aimed it at the mount where thegears and motors reside. It took awhile but eventually things warmedenough for the motors to stop com-plaining. I did a one star alignment us-ing the northern pointer star in the BigDipper (Dubhe) figuring that would begood enough for getting me to M82. Ipunched M82 into the hand controllerand took a short exposure image. I sawa galaxy so I thought I was in the rightplace. I moved the scope around a littleuntil I could see 2 galaxies in the testimages. They weren't as bright as I ex-pected, but it had been a few yearssince I had imaged them. So I wentahead with several frames. Turns outthey were the wrong galaxies and I stillhaven't figured out which ones I got.

The next night was clear so I triedagain. The air temperature again wasabout +10 deg. F. So again I used ahair dryer to warm the grease on thegears. I decided this was taking toolong, so I switched to a propane torch.You want to be careful to keep theflame moving so you don't scorch anypaint and to keep it away from anywires and plastic parts.

I did a 1 star alignment toward theEast then pulled up Dubhe in the con-trollers data base. The star was not cen-tered so I manually brought it closer tocenter. I then entered M82. This timeit was in the field. It still took sometime to get both M82 and M81 in thefield because for some reason I incor-rectly thought North was to the right inmy camera's view, it was really to the

left (I have a mark on my focuser indi-cating landscape rotation for the cam-era and have North incorrectly marked,I still need to fix that). Ultimately Iwas successful with framing both M81and M82.

Based on current theory superno-vae occur 2 ways, either as a whitedwarf star in a binary system that accu-mulates mass from its companion staruntil it reaches critical mass and ex-plodes or as a massive star that collaps-es when it runs out of "fuel" thenrebounds in an explosion. This super-nova is of the white dwarf type.

A white dwarf is a "dead" starwith about the mass of the Sun, i.e. ithas gone through the red giant phaseand has converted most of its hydrogen

"fuel" into Helium, Helium into Oxygenand Carbon via fusion reactions andhas collapsed down to about the size ofthe Earth. Sometime later, the compan-ion star starts running out of hydrogenas well and enters the red giant phaseswelling to tens to hundreds of timeslarger. If the 2 stars are orbiting closeenough together, the white dwarf

"steals" material from its bloated com-panion. This material builds up in alayer on the surface of the white dwarfuntil the internal pressure and tempera-ture is high enough to fuse carbon atwhich point the star blows itself apart.

_______________________

Jack St. Louis - After arrivinghome after last night's meeting, Ilooked up and saw the sky clear in thearea of Ursa Major (The Big Hairy Ani-mal), so I took out my Orion Shortyrefractor and a 26mm eyepiece. A lit-tle searching and I found M 81 & M82,and could see the supernova in M82. Itwas faint and tiny, but I could tell itwas there. I then used a 12.5mm eye-piece, that was a little better, then add-ed my 2x barlow, that helped. Stilltiny and faint, but because I knewwhere and what to look for, I can say Ibagged it! First real night time obser-vation in months for me. I froze myfingers but it was worth it.

_______________________

Here's a picture Al Boudreau got withwith his Mallincam astro video cameraon a 6-in SCT, 56 seconds exposure. _______________________

Imaging planets in Puerto Rico 2014By Joe Comeau

This year, Molly and I made ourannual pilgrimage South to the littleisland of Culebra, 17 miles off the east-ern tip of Puerto Rico. The five by sev-en-mile island is small but has avariety of mini-climates. The southernregion is arid and the skies are mostlyclear each night. Evening tempera-tures in February and March are in themid- to upper 70s and the stable weath-er commonly results in very good toexcellent seeing. The twelve-hourdays of the Tropics allow for a reason-able balance between snorkeling, turtlewatching and astro-imaging time.

This year I focused on lunar andplanetary imaging. Jupiter was ideallypositioned overhead in the evening skyand Mars and Saturn were well posi-tioned in the early morning. Beforedawn Venus appeared low in the skybut at 18o North latitude, it was betterpositioned than at 45o N. in Vermont.Since we stayed for a month, the possi-bilities for the moon were endless.

Along with a Celestron advancedVX mount, I sent an Astro-Tech 6" f/9AT6RC Ritchey-Chrétien astrograph toCulebra by parcel post about a monthbefore my visit. The inexpensive 12.9-pound scope was named a Sky & Tele-scope Hot Product for 2009. TheAT6RC is designed for coma-free imag-ing using webcams, Deep Sky Imager-type cameras, and DSLRs.

For imaging, I used an ultra com-pact Sentech STC-MC33USB -640x480 Color Camera. This camerais a progressive scan, VGA, USB 2camera and can capture 60 frames persecond (fps) at full resolution. It iswell suited for planetary, lunar, andsolar imaging. The sensor size is 4.74x 3.55 mm and the pixel size is 7.40 x7.40 µm.

The scope was set up on the shoreat a cottage named "Casa Yaboa" onMosquito Bay on the southeastern partof the island. There is an unobstructedview to the South and West. Duringthe day, three large black plastic trashbags protected the scope, causing thetube to warm up from the sun. I foundit very important to remove the trashbags and lens caps about an hour be-fore imaging to allow the tube to coolto ambient. Thermal currents in thetube cause serious image degradation.

Imaging planets requires consider-ation of both image scale and exposure.To take advantage of the good seeing, a3x Televue Barlow was used with thescope and camera to get an image scaleof 0.4 arc seconds per pixel. AVI vid-eo files were collected at 25 frames persecond or greater with minimal cameragain to give an individual frame histo-gram in the middle to upper third ofthe camera's eight bit dynamic range.Digital gain was not used because thenoise artifacts were too high. TypicallyI captured 1200 frames per videowhich kept the video length to 48 sec-onds or below. This was important forimaging Jupiter. The planet's rapid rota-tion causes blurring with longer videos.

A larger scope would have given awider choice of frame rates and lowercamera gain combinations but portabili-ty considerations made this scope cam-era combination a very reasonablecompromise.

For image processing, I used Registax5.0.2.8 fromhttp://www.astronomie.be/registax/html/download_v4.html and the followingprocedure:

Steps used for these planetary images:1. Select the AVI2. Choose an alignbox size big enoughto enclose the entire planet or a highcontrast moon feature.3. For planetary images only, selectalign center of gravity and increase theLum Threshold until the box locks onthe planetary image4. Set the quality setting to gradient 2and tracking settings at track object andpredict track.5. Set the lowest quality to 1006. Click on the align button7. After align is complete, reduce thequality setting to select a number offrames to process. I usually use at leastthe top 80% at this stage

8. Click on limit to go to the optimizepage. I use the fast optimizer V5 withthe optimizer difference set on

"squared", the optimizer limits set at1-% improvement and the search areaset at 8 pixels.9. To create a reference frame, set theframes per alignpoint to 50 and hit "cre-ate".10. On the wavelets page hit do all andcontinue11. Back on the "optimize" page, opti-mize and a box will come up asking ifyou want to use the new reference -answer yes.12. When finished go to the "Stack"tab and select normalization for frameintensity, show stackgraph and stretchhistogram after stacking.

13. The slider on the left side of thestackgraph should be lowered to cutoff the peak spikes from slightly mis-aligned frames.14. The slider on the bottom of thestackgraph should be moved to the leftto limit any unusually low qualityframes.15. Hit the stack button to finish stack-ing16. Open the wavelets tab17. Click on RGB align - estimate tocorrect for atmospheric refraction18. Adjust the wavelet sliders to bringout planetary features to taste. I usual-ly use the 1:1 slider for sharpening andthe 6:1 slider for contrast.19. After adjustment click on the do alland save image buttons.

Without Light Pollution Filter With Light Pollution Filter

Combined image, color balanced

Combined (filter and no filter images)

Jupiter from CulebraJupiter has moved from its apparent opposition diameter of~46.8 arcseconds on January 5, 2014 to ~38 arcseconds inMarch but it is still well placed in the sky. Cloud bands,the Great Red spot and numerous moon shadow transitswere recorded.(North is up all images)

The Great Red Spot

Io and Ganymede Shadow Transit

Without Light Pollution Filter - Final Processing Combined Image, Final Processing.

Mars from CulebraMars is approaching opposition on April 8, 2014 and willreach an apparent diameter of 15.1 arcseconds. In March,Mars went from 11.6 to 14.7 arcseconds. Features recordedinclude the North polar cap, dust storms and albedo fea-tures like the orographic clouds over the shield volcanoesin the Tharsis region.

Clouds over the Tharsis Region 3-7-14

Mare Erythraeum Mare Acidalium area 3-16-14

Sinus Meridiana area 3-18-14

Syrtis Major Sinus Sabaeus area 3-17-14

Venus from CulebraVenus is at greatest elongation from the Sun on March 14th.The apparent size shrinks from 33 to 22 arcseconds. It islow in the eastern sky but in the tropics, the image is notbadly distorted from atmospheric turbulence and refraction.

Saturn from CulebraSaturn is highest before sunrise. The disk is 18 arcsecondsand the rings are tilted at 22 degrees. It is low in the skybut rises to 55 degrees at maximum altitude. Saturn wasdifficult to image with the setup that I used because the sur-face brightness was not sufficient to give an image with amid- to upper-range histogram at a frame rate of 25 andwith no digital gain. 4000 frames were stacked to make thisimage. This is where a larger scope aperture would havehelped. Taken 3-16-14.

The Moon from CulebraThe Moon moved from new to full in the first two weeks ofMarch. On March 2nd the thin crescent was 1.6 days oldand bright with earthshine.

Setting crescent Moon, 3-2-14, 1.6 days old

Mare Orientale Mare Humorum and Grimaldi area 3-17-14

While imaging the planets in the early March morn-ings, it was hard not to notice the start of the summersky. Using a Canon DSLR piggybacked to my scopeI was able to capture wide-field images of Scorpio,the Milky Way and the Southern Cross. All in all, itwas a good vacation.

The Southern Cross (lower left corner) Scorpio - two views

M45, The Great Nebula in OrionBy Steve Yerby

Conditions were perfect last night and it was a weekend [February 28] with no moon, so rare. I got 42x2mins on M42.I would have positioned the camera for the running man too but I was SO cold by the time I was set up and realized itwasn’t in the frame, I settled for just M42. Camera - SBIG ST-8300, Scope - ED80, Mount - CGE Guided with MeadeDSI III Camera Control/processing - Nebulosity 3, Processing - CS PS4

Jupiter (North down) with Io (barelyvisible, far left edge, on N. edge of S.Eq. Belt), Io Shadow (center) &Great Red Spot. 200 frames of highdefinition video taken 2014/03/07 at9:56 PM.

In case you didn’t know, now is a greattime to be viewing Jupiter. BecauseJupiter is tilted only slightly, transits ofit’s moons and moon shadows acrossthe face of Jupiter are common. SeeSky and Telescope for timing of events.

(North down in all images)

Ganymede (top right) and Europa (bot-tom left) 250frames of HD video taken2014/03/08/ at 7:30 PM.

Europa (left) and Callisto’s Shadow.Callisto is out of the view to the left.2014/03/11 at 7:19 PM

Images by Paul Walker

M81, M82 and Supernova 2014JBy Paul Walker

Here’s a slightly cropped version of the processed image that includes the supernova . 30 x 2 minute exposures through Paul’s 10” f/4.0 reflecting telescope.

Comet Lovejoy C/2013 R1By Allon WildgustComet Lovejoy arguably put on a better show for amateursthen Comet ISON. Allon took this tracked shot on December25, 2013 using a Pentax K-3 camera piggybacked on his home-made scope. 300mm f.l., F/4.0, ISO 800, 42 second exposure.He had to contend with the trees that surround his house.

Zodiacal Light and MeteorBy Allon Wildgust

This faint dust cloud from comets is centered on the ecliptic and isbest seen in the Spring and Fall under very clear skies. Occasionallyone of these dust specks lights up when Earth plows into it.Pentax K-3, @ 18mm f-3.5, 15 sec. ISO 3200 on 2/17/14 at 7:20 PM.

VTC CubeSat Update

On the right, is the first photo of the Earth taken byVermont’s first orbiting CubeSat. Downloaded and assem-bled by Bill McGrath of LED Dynamics (one of the Ver-mont CubeSat partners). It is of the North coast ofWestern Australia, looking towards Port Hedland

Below is some Inertial Measurement Unit data down-loaded from the CubeSat on March 6, 2014 (plots byplot.ly)

This is part of the CubeSat Lunar Lander Project. Thegoal of the project is to explore the technologies requiredfor building a viable CubeSat device that can orbit and/orland on the moon. This project's predecessor was the Alas-kan Ice Buoy Project which assisted in learning about theCubeSat Kit hardware that is also being used in this proj-ect.

We have built a single CubeSat to test the navigationcomponents we would use to go to the Moon. It waslaunched as part of NASA's ELaNa IV program on the AirForce ORS-3 mission, on an Orbital Sciences Minotaur 1rocket from Wallops Island, VA, on November 19, 2013.

http://www.cubesatlab.org/

Here’s a novel idea -

INDOOR STAR PARTYBy Larry Garrett

For amateur astronomers, wintercan be an uncomfortable time. It's hardto concentrate on the stars above whenyou are freezing. Lawrence Garrett ofQueen City Printers In Burlington, Ver-mont, has a solution to this problem:

"Hold your star party indoors." Serious-ly. "For the past two months I havebeen holding indoor press room starparties," he says. "Using a solar filter,we have watched active region 1944round the Sun. And we have been en-joying good views of Venus, which iscurrently a slender crescent. "

Here are two of his colleagues tak-ing a look at the second planet throughhis Meade 90mm ETX:

"Even with window glass and slighthaze, the sight of Venus was beyondmy greatest expectations. Others withsmall telescopes might find these in-side star parties just as good as thoseoutside this time of year, and introduceVenus, and perhaps the Sun and Moonto co-workers, while staying warm inthe process!"

How do you find Venus throughthe window in broad daylight? Garrettoffers this advice:

"Venus is easy to see right before Istart work in strong twilight. The realtrick is to do polar alignment indoorsso the telescope can track Venus. Itseasy with the ETX if you know wherethe North Pole is. I start tracking onVenus for a few minutes, and then seehow it has moved away from the centerof the eyepiece view. I then move thewhole telescope to place Venus back inthe center and it tracks perfectly afterthat."

My indoor star parties have madespaceweather.com today.

Yes, the Venus shot was takenright through the glass the same

Day.---------------------------

Mars - Taken by Stephen Scaravella’sfriend Ernie from Florida.

It shows the north polar cap, orograph-ic clouds over the Elysium volcanoesjust north of the Martian equator and abright blue cloud over the Hellas im-pact basin in the southern hemisphere

---------------------------Something More Down to Earth

Not all star-like and spiral nebulae-likeobjects are in the sky. Here are recentexamples of what Allon Wildgust hasbeen doing on cloudy winter days.

Snowflake.

Frost on window.

For Sale / Wanted

For Sale:

Feather-touch focuser for aSchmidt-Cassigrain. Brand new, hard-ly used. For specs go tohttp://starlightinstruments.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=51. Asking $200 for it.Contact Stephen Scaravella, 802-434-3884, [email protected]

.NextStar 11-inch SCT, Alt-Az mountI have decided to sell my older Next-Star 11-inch. I put a lot of work into itthrough the years. I had it fully baffledand flocked with dark material. Alsorecently refurbished the altitude andazimuth motors. New hand pad and, Iput in a feather-touch focuser ($300)

.Its go-to and tracking are impeccable.It comes with 50mm finder and has aTelrad base mounted. Heavy duty tri-pod. If you know anyone that is inter-ested let me know. I will keep it ifthere is no interest, but it's a shame toleave it unused.

Asking price is $700. Paid $3000..Stephen Scaravella, 802-434-3884 [email protected]

************Celestron CPC-1100 Telescope plusaccessories.Asking price is $2100, brand new con-dition. It's four years old but literallyhas been used about three times -- twotimes on my deck and once on the lawn.Original tags are still on the scope. 11inch Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope,tripod, Celestron PowerTank Battery,and Celestron Accessory Kit ($240 val-ue), with additional eyepieces and fil-ters, is included in price. The new saleprice of this set on Amazon is $3300.NexStar computer GPS controlled.

Available for pick up only in Stowe,Vermont, please call 781 266 6606 (mo-bile) or 978 692 2673 (home).

************

8” Schmidt-Cassegrain TelescopeMeade LXD 500 with many extra's.I'm from Jeffersonville and asking$500.00. extra #812 polar alignment finder#1702 Dual-Axis Drive System.6 colored filters including a nebula fil-ter in a case.Meade super Plossl 26mmMeade series 3000 Plossls - 25mm,16mm, 9.5mm, 6.7mmMeade 2x Telenegative Lens (Barlow)Meade #918a Diagonal Prism, lenspen,1 bottle brite sky lens cleaner, 1 MylarFilter.Contact David Cook,[email protected]

************Starlight Xpress Lodestar Mono-chrome Imager & AutoguiderRetail is $595 asking $395. Buyerpays for shipping of their choice andany PayPal fees.

I am the only owner/user and it hasseen very little use, maybe 20-30hrs. IPlan to use my DMK21 as a videoguide camera with PHd or MetaguideQuick Overview:· Doubles as an electronic finderand planetary imaging camera with animage format of 752 x 580 pixels.· Black anodized aluminum bodymeasures only 32 x 72mm and weighsapproximately 50 grams.· Built-in USB 2.0 compatible andpowered interface downloads imagestypically in 0.2 seconds at full resolu-tion.· The Starlight Xpress Lodestar uti-lizes a ICX429AL Sony Exview inter-line CCD with low dark current andvertical anti-blooming.

Celestron 23mm AxiomBasically unused and very clean condi-tion. Buyer to pay for shipping of theirchoice and PayPal fees. $125

Baader LaserColliUnused Item in very clean condition.Buyer pays for shipping of their choiceand any PayPal fees. For sale at $50.Contact Douglas [email protected] Box 8, West Glover, VT 05875(802) 525-4904

************Lenses:2- 6" diameter air spaced doublets,38" fl anti reflective coated, $150.00each2- 5" diameter glued doublets, 28"flA/R coated $150.00 each (these are amatched pair)Mirrors:3- 13" diameter 2" thick, 120" fl sil-ver coated, $750.00 each1- 20"diameter 3" thick, 1 1/2 chipon edge needs re-coating , (fl un-known) $700.00Mirrors are spherical, custom made forfocusing high power lasers.Contact Charles Lysogorski, Gor Op-tics, [email protected]

********For selling & buying also check out:www.marketplace.skyandtelescope.com

DuesTime to Renew Your

MembershipAssociate Members $15

Full Members $25

Your can bring a check (preferred)or cash to the meeting or send acheck to the address below.

If there is no change to your mailingaddress or email all we need is yourname so we can update our records.

Contact Paul Walkeror

Doug Williamsonor

Send dues to VAS, PO Box 782, Wil-liston, VT 05495.

AnnouncementsELECTIONS

Elections this year are for Presi-dent, Vice President and 4 BoardMembers at Large. Any full memberinterested in any of these positionsplease contact any of the board mem-bers listed at the end of this newsletter.

Associate Members interested in be-coming full members make your inter-est known to one of the board members.

All membership dues are due asof January 1st. $15 for AssociateMembers, $25 for Full Members.Send dues to VAS, PO Box 782,Williston, VT 05495.

Contact Paul Walker, 802-388-4220 or [email protected]

Club InfoObserving Certificates

Several certificates (beginner toadvanced) are available to members asencouragement to get out under thestars and hone their observing skills.Follow the link on our web site.

Wanted - WebmasterAlso wanted PR person

If interested in either position contactJack St. Louis or Paul Walker.Looking for 5-10 minute product re-

views for the monthly meetings.

Moving / Changing Email?Please send changes to Paul Walker,53 Valley View, Middlebury, VT05753, [email protected]

Web Sitewww.vtastro.orgEmail: [email protected] Walker is acting webmaster.

Board MembersJack St. Louis Pres 658-0184Open VPDoug Williamson Treas 388-3482Paul Walker Sec'y 388-4220Ron Anstey 524-3653Joe Comeau 238-1664Bob Horton 879-7802Gary Nowak 879-4032

Editor and Publisher - Paul Walker

Contributors:Al Boudreau, Joe Comeau, Larry Gar-rett, Stephen Scaravella, Ron Lewis,Jack St. Louis, Gary Nowak, PaulWalker, Allon Wildgust, Steve Yerby,Dr. Ethan Siegel, NASA’s Space Place(My apologies if I missed anyone)

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