Cape Fear Astronomical Society Newsletter - Editor Debbi Hayden November 2, 2003 Meeting Featuring our own Ronnie Hawes who will be presenting a program on the Arecibo Message. This is the 29th Anniversary of sending that radio signal. He will also discuss other messages that have been sent into space. Join us before the meeting for dinner at the Cracker Barrel restaurant, near the Wal-Mart on Sigmon Road (off of Market Street) at 5:00 pm. This month's post-meeting feature presentation is the classic 1951 epic: When Worlds Collide. Note: There will not be a public December 2003 meeting held at UNCW since the facilities are unavailable. Instead, we will be holding our Holiday Social for CFAS members and guests on that date at the Williams' home. Meeting Minutes for October 5th, 2003 by CFAS Secretary Terry Herrin President Si Cantwell called the meeting to order at 7:10pm. Under old business, Tom Jacobs talked about the Mid-Atlantic Star Party being held from October 21st to October 27th. More information on the star party can be found on the Web at http://www.masp.org. Also, Joe and Shelley Callahan still have 20th Anniversary t-shirts for sale. The club voted unanimously to reimburse the Callahans $64.20 for the new club flag. Under new business, the first round of election nominations was held. The final round will occur at the next meeting. Rich Williams volunteered to host this year's Christmas Social. This will also serve as the December meeting, as the auditorium will be in use by UNCW. The New Hanover County Fair is approaching, and having a booth at the fair again this year was discussed. Alan Hilburn donated three sheets of meshed concrete which can be laid down at the Yamacraw site for telescope pads. Alan also mentioned this is a great time of the year to look for bolides. Continuing new business, Ronnie Hawes talked to Johnny Horne and the following dates are available for us to visit his observatory: 11/15, 11/22, 12/13 and 12/20. It was decided that 11/15 would be the date to visit, with 11/22 being a rain date. If it's still raining on 11/22 we will still make the trip. Concluding new business, Alan showed the club a Halley's Comet towel and photo. Under observing reports, Ronnie discussed a viewing session held at the Holly Shelter site on Friday, 9/19/03. Ronnie, Debbi Hayden and David Long observed from 9pm to around midnight. The meeting broke for ten minutes at 7:50pm. Steve Clemmons then showed a video, Rockets Red Glare, and discussed NASA, the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy, and other topics regarding manned space flight. There was a question and answer session at the conclusion of his presentation. After Mr. Clemmons' presentation Si asked if there was any other business, and having none, adjourned the meeting at 9:13pm. News Cluster There are four CFAS 20th Anniversary t-shirts remaining. If interested, please contact Joe or Shelley Callahan. Please speak with Alan Hilburn about helping with the CFAS booth at the County Fair. Now that we have our new flag, people should know who we are this year! A big THANK YOU to Rich Williams and his family for offering to open their home again to us this year for the Holiday Social in December! Preliminary nominations for the 2004 CFAS Officers are as follows: - President - Ronnie Hawes - Vice President - Maria Cantwell - Assoc. Vice President - Alan Hilburn - Treasurer - Ben Steelman - Secretary- -Terry Herrin - Newsletter Editor - (Open) Non-election positions will be continued by: - Astronomical League Representative - Doug Green - Email Newsgroup Contact - Terry Herrin - CFAS Webmistress - Susan - CFAS Website Contact - Tommy Puckett Final nominations will be at the upcoming November meeting. Be there to nominate or volunteer! Who's Messing With The Lights? On Saturday, November the 8th, the Moon will enter the penumbra at 5:15 EST, and we may be able to detect a slight shading by as early as 5:55pm. The partial eclipse begins at 6:32pm, with totality beginning at 8:06pm. This phase will only last a brief 25 minutes (as opposed to the eclipse in May, where totality lasted twice as long). The Moon will begin to leave the umbra at 8:31pm, and the partial eclipse that results will end at 10:04pm. The last visible shading is estimated to be at 10:45pm, with the Moon exiting the penumbra at 11:22pm.. In contrast, the night skies will be lit up by the Leonid meteor shower that peaks before dawn on November 18th. Estimates for how many meteors we can expect at its peak range from just a few to several hundred, so we'll just have to wait and see! There will be a last quarter Moon drowning out some of the fainter meteors, but it should still be a good show! The skies will grow dark again for observers in Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica, and the southernmost tip of South America courtesy of a solar eclipse on November 23-24. Only a thin swath of land on Antarctica will see totality. A different sort of celestial event takes place on November 15th – an occultation of an 8th magnitude star by the planet Saturn. It may make for a very nice photograph for those interested in these things! SAO 78867 will be positioned at the edge of Saturn's rings at 12:20am EST, and it will not be seen again until it passes into Saturn's translucent Crepe (or C) ring. This is the "gap" between the body of the planet and it's "innermost" ring. The sight is described to be like a "diamond" in the rings, so take a look if you can! This month will be worth missing a few hours of sleep!