Cape Fear Astronomical Society

August 2002 Meeting

Features Tom Jacobs and Ben Steelman showing slides of their trips to different star parties. Tom's program is entitled "Time for a Latitude Adjustment"and will take you to the Winter Star Party 2002 in the Florida Keys. Ben will be sharing slides and stories of his trip to Flagstaff, Arizona.

Join us before the meeting for dinner at Casa Maya restaurant, 149 South College Road (in the Market Place Mall, where Shoney's used to be) at 5:15 pm.

Meeting Minutes July 7th, 2002 - by Terry Herrin, CFAS Secretary

President Si Cantwell called the meeting to order at 7:12pm in Ingram Planetarium, Sunset Beach, NC. The first item on the agenda was officers' reports. Ben Steelman stated he is still taking money for magazine subscriptions. The cost for each is $29.95 for Sky & Telescope and $29.00 for Astronomy. He said we have met the minimum five subscriptions for Sky & Telescope, but not for Astronomy. Ben also verified the Astronomical League dues have been paid for the Club. Unfortunately, the great deal on club insurance fell through.

Under old business, Skye Lewis, Susan and Debbi Hayden are working together on the new Club web site. Tom Puckett volunteered to be responsible for uploads and downloads to the site. Alan Hilburn presented some t-shirt and golf shirt ideas for the Club's 20th anniversary.

Moving on to new business, the new CFAS email list was presented. The new list will be for Club members only, and will replace the old Yahoo list. If anyone wishes to join the new list, please send an email to Terry Herrin at therrin@bellsouth.net.

The business meeting concluded at 7:40pm, at which time the planetarium director, Robert Kline, gave a presentation about the history and workings of Ingram Planetarium. He also said he looked forward to working with the Club on future projects. The show "Just Imagine" was then presented, and while there were a few glitches, everyone agreed it was a great show and well worth the trip. The group departed Sunset Beach around 9:00pm.

News Cluster

Skye Lewis will be going overseas to help the Army as a linguist (French and Arabic) for quite some time, and he is leaving on August 20th. This means we have to have the website at a point where things only need to be uploaded and updated. Enter Super Susan and Terrific Tommy. They will be taking on this task, so be sure to thank them - it will require a lot of their time and energy. We wish Skye good luck with his new assignment!

Thanks to Tom Jacobs for having a web page called Clear Sky Clock adapted for the CFAS viewing areas. It gives you an idea of the viewing conditions, including cloud cover, darkness, and transparency. Take a look: (http://www.cleardarksky.com/c/CFAS1NCkey.html)

We are planning to get together on August 10th to view the Perseid meteor shower. Details will be discussed at the August meeting.

August is the Month for Meteors and Asteroids

Be alert this month around August 11th and 12th to witness the Perseid meteor shower. Under dark skies, you should be able to see the meteors streaking from the northeast at a rate of one every couple of minutes, and will peak at 6pm EDT on August 12th. The "shooting stars" will appear to emanate from between the constellations Perseus and Cassiopeia. This shower is from the parent comet Swift-Tuttle, which made a return in 1992. We will be in for quite a treat as the Perseids are known for their bright meteors and long-lasting trains.

An interesting way to pass the time while the crescent moon is setting is to watch the moon's surface for signs of meteor impacts. This year, there is a large area of darkened moon that lends itself to seeing the small flashes of light, signaling an impact.

Asteroid 2002 NY40 was discovered on July 14th this year using the LINEAR telescope in New Mexico. It is estimated to be about 500 meters (0.3 miles) across, and will make its closest approach on August 18th when it will be only 330,000 miles from Earth.

Right now 2002 NY40 is only at magnitude 18, but it will brighten to magnitude 9.3 by August 17th. It is currently looping around the star Beta Aquarii and will reach an angular velocity of over 4 arcminutes per minute - easily appreciated with small telescopes.

Asteroid Iris will be crossing in front of the constellation Aquarius this month. At magnitude 9, it should be readily seen with a telescope. On August 11th, Iris will appear to "run into" Zeta Aquarii.

Check those sky charts and do some asteroid hunting!