Cape Fear Skies The Cape Fear Astronomical Society Newsletter - Editor Ric Longren This Month's Meeting will be: Sunday, October 1, 2006 (Webmistress note: Featuring: Rich Williams will present "Measuring Astronomical Distances: The Long and Short of it.") Meeting Minutes for September 10th, 2006 - by CFAS Secretary Letisha McLaughlin The CFAS business meeting for the month of September commenced at 7:00 PM, September 10, 2006 in Morton Hall Auditorium. Nineteen members were in attendance and three guests - all family members of Secretary Letisha McLaughlin. Officer reports Treasurer - Ben Steelman announced the club now has $1,905 plus or minus some change. Also, payment in the form of a $100 check is ready to be given to Clint North to allow the club viewing privileges on the Yamacraw site for an additional year. This month he intends to send the Astronomical League dues which, as decided at an earlier meeting, will only pay for the officers of the group. Also, Steelman thanked Tom Jacobs for filling in for him while he was absent at last month's meeting. Editor - Ric Longren informed the group at present there are 13 "snail" mail and 43 e-mail copies of the Cape Fear Skies newsletter being sent out each month. Up to date, $162.49 of the club's funds have been used for distribution purposes and he estimates an expense of approximately $200 by the end of the year. This is a dramatic decrease from $500- the previous year's distribution expense. Old business President Ronnie Hawes reminded those in attendance of the club cookout which is to be held at Becky Lewis' house again this year. The projected date for this function is uncertain as the club and, of course, Becky Lewis need to decide which time is best. For those who were not able to go last year, each member brings a covered dish of their choice to share with the group. The club cookout offers members an opportunity to get to know one another and their eating habits! The date for this event will be discussed in next month's meeting. New business The president noted that a friend of his has a 10 inch Schmidt Cassegrain telescope for sale. According to the owner, it has only been gently used. For more information contact Ronnie Hawes. Tom Jacobs presented a short slide show concerning the exciting new location for the Mid-Atlantic Star Party, or MASP. The new site has no sandspurs! The field is located at 35.43 N and 79.59W- close to Robbins, North Carolina. Complete with a building, which contains permanent restrooms, the new site is slightly larger than the last and looks to have plenty of stargazing potential. Billy Kidney has kindly suggested having this year's Christmas party at his house again. Because last year's was such a big hit, the club gratefully accepted his proposition. On a personal note, I would like to thank Ben Steelman and Tom Jacobs for doing a wonderful job with the secretarial duties while I was in Montana. I appreciate it immensely! News Cluster The next meeting of the Cape Fear Astronomical Society is October 1 starting at 7:00 pm. For this month's program, Rich Williams will present "Measuring Astronomical Distances: The Long and Short of it." Should be very interesting. For those of you who missed the September CFAS meeting, you missed an excellent program by member and Secretary Letisha McLaughlin. Her presentation covered ongoing solar physics research into a phenomenon called SAD or supra-arcade downfalls. Her summer internship involved assisting Dr. David McKenzie and graduate student Sabrina Savage in their mission to thoroughly understand SADs. Nominations of 2007 CFAS officers begin in October. The officer positions are: President, Vice President, Associate Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary and Editor. If you're interested or know someone who is, by all means come to the October meeting and nominate. Event Calendar for October Oct 01 CFAS May Meeting 7:00 pm Oct 06 - Full Moon, 11:32 pm, Oct 09 - Moon occults the Pleiades for North America Oct 13 - Last quarter Moon, 8:26 pm Oct 16-22 - Mid Atlantic Star Party in Robbins NC (www.masp.org) Oct 20/21 - CFAS Group Viewing Sessions Oct 20 - Orionid meteors peak, lasts thru 24th Oct 22 - New Moon, 1:14 am Oct 27/28 - CFAS Group Viewing Sessions Oct 29 - EDT ends, set clocks back hour, First Quarter Moon, 4:25 pm EST Oct 31 - Halloween All times are EDT unless otherwise noted Astronomical History During the Month of October Date - Milestone Oct 4, 1957 - Sputnik 1, first artificial satellite to orbit Earth, is launched by the Soviet Union Oct 5, 1923 - Edwin Hubble discovers a Cepheid variable star in M31, the first proof of the remoteness of the galaxies Oct 6, 1995 - Discovery of first planet orbiting a Sunlike star (51 Pegasi) Oct 7, 1959 - Luna 3 takes first pictures of Moon's far side Oct 22, 1975 - Venera 9 is first spacecraft to return images of surface of Venus What's Up Down Under? (News from our Sister Society in Albury-Wodonga, Australia) - Bob Price discussed two upcoming events, the occultation of Uranus by the Moon on 7 Sept 06 and the partial eclipse of the Moon on 8th Sept 06. Bob also requested members submit images for the ‘Image of the month'. - Carl Rainer presented some images of the Southern Cross, M6, M7, Lagoon Nebula, Jewel Box, Moon and 47 Tucanae. - Harry Akkerman presented images of Jupiter and the Jewel Box taken with his ToU Web-cam through Secretary Allan's Orion 80mm ED refractor. - Bob Price informed members that Ross Faulkner has an Optex Model 300, 90mm refractor for sale. Anyone interested can contact Bob. Photo Gallery Billy Kidney took the photographs (please see Knowledge Page) of the M82 and M77 using a Meade DSI imager and an Orion 8" Newtonian (M82) and Celestron C11 (M77) both mounted on the Advanced Series CG5 Go To mount. Excellent Job! Night Lights Auroras range from a pale glow near the horizon to intense red, green and violet shafts and curtains that fill the sky, magically floating among the stars. The phenomenon originates with eruptions on the Sun's surface, called solar flares, which liberate vast amounts of charged particles – electrons and protons - into space. When these charged particles reach earth, they follow our planet's natural magnetic field and are funneled into a continent - sized ring around the magnetic north pole in Canada's artic (a similair ring occurs over Antarctica). The rarified gases in the Earth's upper atmosphere, effectively act like a giant television screen, glowing when bombarded by the particles. Auroras peak and subside in harmony with the 11-year sunspot cycle. The last sunspot maximum was in 2001, so we are now in an intermediate period between maxima. Nevertheless bright auroras can occur at any time. There is no favored time of night, but observers located under dark country skies are far more likely to see the dancing sky lights than are city dwellers. ____________________________________________________________ All content unless otherwise stated Copyright (c) 2002-2006 CAPE FEAR ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY. All Rights Reserved.