Cape Fear Skies The Cape Fear Astronomical Society Newsletter - Editor Debbi Hayden This Month's Meeting will be: Sunday, July 10th, 2005 Featuring a presentation by Ben Steelman on the planet Mars. Gastronomy! Join us before the meeting for dinner at Moe's Southwest Grill (4401 Oleander Drive, across from the Toys ‘R Us shopping center) at 5:15pm! Meeting Minutes for June 5th, 2005 - by CFAS Secretary Billy Kidney (Webmistress' Note: To date, minutes have not been submitted, so have not been posted or sent out.) The meeting minutes were unavailable at the time of the printing the newsletter (and updating the website). The minutes will be brought to the July 10th meeting as well as placed on the email list as soon as they are completed. News Cluster Sam Bissette requested this information be put out for CFAS members... "My Celestron 8 inch SCT is for sale. Included is a very extensive group of accessories, lenses and miscellaneous equipment.. My reason for selling is that I am no longer able to do observing and astrophotography." Contact Sam Bissette for details. Please note that the July meeting of the CFAS will be on July 10th instead of the 3rd, due to the holiday weekend! A little-known meteor shower called the Alpha Capricornids peaks on July 30th, with only one to four meteors per hour. Although few in number, these meteors tend to be especially slow and occasionally produce a fireball! Sky Calendar July 1-2 - CFAS Group Viewing Sessions July 06 - New Moon is at 8:02am EDT July 8-9 - CFAS Group Viewing Sessions July 10 - CFAS July Meeting at 7:00pm July 14 - First quarter Moon is at 11:20am EDT July 21 - Full Moon is at 7:00am EDT July 27 - Southern Delta Aquarid meteor shower peaks            Last quarter Moon is at 11:19pm EDT Aug 07 - CFAS August Meeting at 8:00pm What's Up Down Under? (News from our Sister Society in Albury-Wodonga, Australia) Check out their latest newsletter! It features astrophotography from club member Bob Price, who has had many of his photos published in the Australian Astronomy Guide. He has nice pictures of the Eta Carinae Nebula (NGC 3372) and the crescent Moon. (www.asaw.org.au) Member John Hills recently made a trip the USA and saw Cape Canaveral, NASA headquarters at the Kennedy Space Center. He also visited the Canadian Observatory on Vancouver Island, BC. The members of ASAW do a presentation at each meeting for "The Astronomer of the Month", in which someone in the astronomical community is selected and their contributions to the field are outlined to the group. This month, Dr. Carolyn Porca was chosen for her contributions in the area of imaging, in which she was the leader of the imaging team on the Cassini-Huygens probe to Saturn. Great idea, guys! Some Real Fireworks for the 4th? We are anxiously awaiting the results of the planned collision between the washing machine-sized projectile from spacecraft Deep Impact and Comet Tempel I. Ironically, the potentially explosive meeting will occur in the early morning hours of July 4th (or late on the 3rd for the western United States). Scientists figure the projectile will make a crater perhaps as big as a football field. The comet's core, made of rock, water, ice and other chemicals, is potato-shaped and about half the size of Manhattan. Planetary scientists are hoping that the debris released as a result of the impact will give them an idea of the material that was around during our solar system's formation. The Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS) has been asleep for the past 11 months, but now it's being woken up to watch the collision. SWAS had been put into "hibernation" after five and a half years of studying comets evaporating while orbiting a red giant star. The spacecraft is especially good at measuring the abundance of water molecules in ice and dust, so it should be able to help analyze the ejected material when the spacecraft slams into the comet on July 4. There is some debate about how bright the collision will be: some are optimistic that viewers from a dark sky location will be able to see a momentary brightening with the naked eye, while others think at least binoculars will be needed to appreciate any change in brightness. Take a look 5 degrees left of Spica in the very early hours of July 4th for some celestial fireworks! ____________________________________________________________ All content unless otherwise stated Copyright (c) 2002-2005 CAPE FEAR ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY. All Rights Reserved.