Cape Fear Astronomical Society September 8, 2002 Meeting Features Rich Williams presenting "CCD Astrophotography." He will show us the basics of CCD imaging as well as some examples of the results you can achieve. Join us before the meeting for dinner at the Cracker Barrel restaurant, at 5:15 pm. Meeting Minutes for August 8th, 2002 President Si Cantwell called the meeting to order at 7:00pm. We had fifteen members and six guests attending. Many were from Ronnie Hawes' astronomy class. The first item on the agenda was officers' reports. Ben Steelman didn't have the checkbook with him, but he said there is about $1500 in the account. There have been a lot of debits and credits with the Sky & Telescope subscriptions. The savings account has $315.53 and our CD is at $1122.17. Under new business, the Mid-Atlantic Star Party this year will be held Tuesday, October 29th, through Monday, November 4th, in Robbins, NC. We will have details as the event draws closer. Their web site is http://www.masp.org/maspindex.htm. Under old business, it was announced that Skye Lewis would be turning over responsibility of maintaining the club web page to Susan. It was decided that Tommy Puckett would forward confidential member's only files upon request, rather than the club pay $60 a year for scripting and password protection. Si notified the club the old Yahoo email list is now closed. Anyone wanting on the new list should contact Terry Herrin at therrin@bellsouth.net. Next up was observing reports. On 8/3/02 Ronnie Hawes, Becky Lewis, Doug Greene and some of Ronnie's class observed at Holly Shelter. They arrived at 8:45pm and the skies cleared around 9:30pm. According to Ronnie the Milky Way was "awesome". The many objects observed included the Eagle Nebula, Ring Nebula, Swan Nebula, M8, M17, M20, M31 and M51. They left around midnight. Also observing, but during daylight, is John Canaday, John and Susan Bucc ini. They have been keeping an eye on the sun using two Coronado H-alpha filters and John's new TeleVue NP-101 4" refractor. Ronnie suggested the club have a public solar viewing session. It was agreed the club should first have a club only viewing session before planning one for the public. The club also planned to meet at the Yamacraw site the following Saturday night to view the Perseid meteor shower. The meeting broke for ten minutes at 7:40pm. Afterward, Ben Steelman gave a presentation on Arizona, including Flagstaff, Lowell Observatory, a history of Percival Lowell, and the Meteor Crater. At 8:20pm Tom Jacobs gave a presentation on his trip to the Winter Star Party this past January. After Tom's presentation Si asked if there were any other business, and having none, adjourned the meeting at 8:45pm. News Cluster Our lifetime member and creator of Astromicroscopy, Sam Bissette, has his gallery of art displayed on his website: http://www.healthymind.com/gallery. It includes a section of his astronomical collection "The Universe According to Earth", which is on permanent display at UNCW. Be sure to check it out! The website is now finished! Take a look at the several new astronomy links that have been added (including Sam Bissette's). A HUGE thank you to Susan for all of the long hours she has put in to make the website a success! Thanks also to Skye Lewis for making our site possible! The new maps for our observing sites are finished (thanks again to Susan!). I have included the updated Yamacraw map with this mailing, as well as the address list. As always, if there are any changes to your information, please let me know. September's Harvest Moon Those of us who crave those deep-sky "faint fuzzies" often act as though the Moon, especially a full moon, is the bane of our existence. Well, look out this month, because you are about to get a huge dose of the Big Cheese for several nights in a row! September's full moon will be extra special for several reasons: 1) it is the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox and is therefore labeled the Harvest moon, 2) it actually occurs very near the equinox itself, so its effect is even stronger, and 3) it is further enhanced by the fact that the moon's orbital tilt is "angled with the low part of its slant facing away from the summer sun." This full moon received its name from folklore which described the electricity-deprived farmers hurrying to finish their autumn harvesting chores before running out of daylight. The Harvest moon gave them the extra illumination they needed night after night. Normally, the moon rises approximately 50 minutes later each successive night, but there is some variation throughout the year. Spring's full moon is relatively short-lived, as it appears at sunset, then rises 80 minutes later the following night, then another 90 minutes later the next night. This month's full moon will rise at sunset, then appear only 25 minutes later each night for several nights following. The higher in latitude you go, the shorter the delay of moonrise. In fact, in Fairbanks, Alaska, the moon actually rises earlier on successive nights in September! So even though the extra light this month may not lend itself to much deep-sky observing, check out our closest heavenly body. It will always be one of the most beautiful sights in the sky, and who knows... you may get a little more work accomplished in the evening because of her!