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DECEMBER 2019

Volume XIX Number 12

(Celebrating our 20th Year!)

OBSERVE - LEARN - SHARE Contents

Upcoming Events

December 6

Public Night Insperity Observatory

December 13 General Meeting Lone Star College – Kingwood

December 28 Star Party O’Brien Dark Site

January 3 Public Night Insperity Observatory

January 24 General Meeting Lone Star College – Kingwood

January 25 Star Party O’Brien Dark Site

1 Upcoming Events

2 Monthly Meeting

3 Club News

4 Gallery

5 Observing and Imaging Report - NGC 7448

7 Chasing the Mercury Transit

10 December Star Party

12 Dark Site Information

13 Insperity Observatory

14 About NHAC

15 Calendar, Membership, Officers

16 Affiliations

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IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

The meeting on December 13 will be our annual Holiday Gathering. There will be no novice session. The general meeting will start at 6:45 and will be a potluck dinner. The Club will furnish the barbeque meat. Please feel free to bring a side dish, salad, bread or dessert to add to the buffet.

Following dinner we will have an exciting team competition of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire - The Astronomy Version". Prizes will be awarded!

There will be an exchange table for you to give away or trade gear or books that you no longer need.

Also, we will hold the election for next year’s NHAC Board; it is important that you attend.

See you there!

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NHAC 2020 Calendar The Club is selling the calendars for $10 and they will be available for purchase at the monthly club meetings. Please contact Joana Tan at treasurer@astronomyclub.org to reserve yours.

Coming Soon… The NHAC 20th Anniversary commemorative T shirts will be available soon. They will be highly sought after….

Astronomical League Matters The NHAC Astronomical League Coordinator is Dr. Aaron Clevenson. The Astronomical League has established a number of observing and imaging programs, and challenges. Aaron recently completed the Solar System Observing Program and a number of the new Citizen Science Programs. During the League’s annual convention last summer, he and Barbara participated in the Al-Con observing challenge. Learn about the League’s programs at the Astronomical League Website. Contact Aaron at aaron@clevenson.org for more information.

2020 Dues are Due The NHAC membership year runs from January through December, so the 2020 dues are due now. Dues are $10 for students, $30 for individuals and $40 for a family.

Dr. Bruce Pollard, PhD, NHAC, is our expert in spectroscopy and is a very effective teacher. If you would like some hands-on learning, contact Dr. Pollard. An introductory manual by Ken M. Harrison, "Grating Spectroscopes and How to Use Them", is available on Amazon. It is detailed, and full of good information.

The latest issue of "What's Up, Doc" by Dr. Aaron Clevenson is at What's Up, Doc?

We welcome news, photos, comments and contributions for North Star, the NHAC newsletter. Please send them to newsletter@astronomyclub.org by the 10th of each month.

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Image (SH2-132) by Val Ricks, NWHAC “Honestly, I did not know this existed till I went looking for a target. I noticed some nebulosity on some pictures at https://www.mdwskysurvey.org/. I found the spot in SkySafari, determined there was something bright enough to catch in a night, and aimed the camera there. There is quite a lot to see! This is 11x1800" in H-alpha with the SXVF-H9 through the Synta-ONTC 203mm f/4.95 Newtonian.”

Image by NASA “The dark spots in this enhanced-color infrared image are the recent impact craters that occurred in the Tharsis region between 2008 and 2014. These impact craters were first discovered by the Mars Context Camera (or CTX, also onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter) as a cluster of dark spots.” http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA11176

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Observing Report by Ed Fraini, NHAC

We had the opportunity to observe NGC 7448 on the evening of Oct 23 soon after sunset from a dark sky site about 60 miles west of San Antonio. The location had a low glow of light pollution from nearby small towns at the horizon and gave us a sky that measured 19.4 SQM using the Apple App. Both transparency and seeing were above average, and the Milky Way and structure of the same were evident from horizon to horizon.

NGC 7448 was easy to located 1.3 degrees from the southeast corner of Pegasus, which is marked by the star Markab. The field, at an elevation of about 60 degrees above the horizon, was first observed at 74X, and the galaxy appeared as a slightly elongated brushstroke of even opacity with soft edges. It is aligned somewhat off the north-south axis and is readily visible in the 20-inch dob being utilized. The target is situated between a pair of 10 to 11 magnitude stars along a southwest-northeast line in an otherwise sparse field. Next, the power was bumped up to 142X, and now the galaxy elongation becomes wispier, and the ends much more pointed. It appears almost translucent with no evidence of structure. The close pair of stars at magnitude 14 centered between NGC 7448 and the northeast bracket star was clearly separated now.

This target was the kick-off to a rewarding night of galaxy hunting and a great challenge object to add to our observing log.

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Image of NGC 7448 by Jeff Schilling, NHAC

I was able to grab just under an hour’s worth of imaging on NGC 7448 last night (Oct. 27) before my mirrors dewed up on me. Attached is a quick stack and edit. Lum filter only. My imaging train had some tilt in it so all the stars are a bit elongated. It looks cloudy for the rest of the month so I had better turn it in as is. I was able to get something at least! My favorite part of this image is the numerous galaxies hiding in the background. Scope: Orion Skyview Pro 8" Mount: Sirius EQG Camera: ASI 1600 MM Pro Lum: 17 x 3min

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By Rusty Hill, NHAC

For the November 11, 2019, Mercury Solar Transit event, I spent the previous week watching the weather forecasts for locations within about 7 hours driving distance. Think Fort Stockton, Oklahoma City, Mobile, Alabama, and McAllen. My hope was to leave Tomball, north of Houston, as late as 3:00 P.M. the day before, to get—somewhere?—in time to sleep and get up the morning of the Transit in order to be in position by sunrise to see the show. But it became apparent that Mother Nature had plans for a Winter Storm covering the South Central part of the United States for a period of time centered on the hours of the Transit. It was as though the weather had eyes, and it never wavered.

At noon on Sunday, the day before the Transit, the updated hour by hour forecasts gave me no reliable guidance. I decided to stay at home. I planned to be on top of a local parking garage at Sunrise, 6:44 A.M. I was there, with no Sun, just clouds.

Checking the hour by hour forecasts at 7:00 within about 4 hours driving, the only open sky possibility I could find was Galveston, with partly cloudy skies until 11 or 12 o’clock. Of course the Transit was ending at 12:04 P.M. so I didn’t care after that. I went home to pick up my wife Donna and some coffee to go. We drove off at ~7:30.

Driving to Galveston, we continuously saw the front edge of the cold front air mass to the southeast, clearly defined by the cloud shelf overhead, with a broken layer of clouds southeast of that. While we were travelling on IH-45 towards Galveston, it became clear that the cloud shelf was moving fairly quickly.

When we got to the Galveston Seawall, we could see the Sun shining on the water to the south, but “not here”! It was apparent there were some cloud breaks to the east, and the cloud shelf was not moving quite as fast it had been.

The only chance left was the Bolivar Peninsula, across the Houston Ship Channel. Quickly, we went to the Bolivar Ferry Landing in Galveston. We were lucky enough to be one of the last 6 or so vehicles on the Ferry, which meant we did not have to wait very long for departure.

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(The Ferry ride, 25 minutes or so, was fun in its own right. We saw lots of porpoises and lots of ship traffic.)

When we got to the Bolivar Ferry Landing our vehicle lane was the first to unload, so we had the luck of being about the 5th vehicle off, in spite of being one of the last vehicles to get aboard for that trip. WOW!! Were we LUCKY!!

We were still under the cloud deck, but we could see sunshine ahead. It took us about 6 or 8 miles to actually be in sunshine, which was moving east. We continued at highway speed for another 5 or 10 minutes and were still in sunshine, so I felt sure we were in a sunny spot which, yes, was still moving east.

Quickly moving off the road out of traffic, Donna and I set up my tripod/mount and the scope, with solar filters on both the scope and finder. We installed the eyepiece, and at 10:25 A.M. Mercury came into focus!! Woo Hoo!!

OK, now to get an image. I had planned to use my computer with the Canon control software for the DSLR and its live view feature, but before I could set up the computer, the clouds were moving over the Sun. But wait! There’s more!!

Actually, there was more. There were intermittent breaks in the clouds, and spots with variably thinner clouds. I decided I did not have time to spend on the computer setup, so I simply used the live view feature of the DSLR to frame and accept the best focus I could manage.

I used ISO 100, the lowest ISO available, and exposure times varying from 1/250 to 1/1000. The image with the best definition of Mercury is one of the 1/1000 exposures. With the moisture in the clouds and the air current movement, seeing was variable.

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Here is the best image, taken about 11:00. Nope, no Sunspots!

By 11:10, the clouds covered the Sun with a solid cloud deck and we were done.

The equipment was an Orion manual mount, light weight, purchased for this and other Solar events, with a 100mm f/6 Orion refractor purchased from Kurt Johnston several years ago. I used an Orion Solar Filter, an Orion standard right angle finder correct image scope with a visual solar filter from the 2017 Solar Eclipse taped over the front end, and for visual observation an Orion 30mm 2” eyepiece.

The camera is a Canon T4i DSLR with an APS-C sensor chosen to give the largest possible area coverage on the image. If we ever see Sunspots again, I am hoping this rig will work well for those, also.

This successful trip would not have been possible without Donna’s encouragement, navigation, and on-site assistance. She is a real gem!

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By Rusty Hill, NHAC

Hi, NHACERS: Our next Star Party at the O’Brien Dark Site is going to be sandwiched between Hanukkah/Christmas and New Years' Day. The New Moon is on Wednesday Dec. 25, and the nearest Saturday is Dec. 28. Sunset will be at 5:31 P.M. and the very slender moon will be setting at 8:00 P.M. Weather permitting, the sky overhead and north should be quite dark.

This is a rarity: The Moon and Venus will be very close together in the Western Sky. At 6:30, about an hour after Sunset, they will be about 17d above the Horizon. This should make a very nice naked eye picture for almost any camera, and could include the Horizon depending on your camera and timing. In almost any wide angle telescope it should make a striking picture.

I will share a thought: If you have no telescope but you do have an iPhone or similar, for not much money you can acquire an iPhone holder from Orion. This will allow you to attach your iPhone to anyone's telescope and take presentable images on your iPhone. Who knows? You might catch the bug.

The Summer Triangle will still be nicely up during this time period. This will be your last Star Party chance to see Albireo in Cygnus and M57, the Ring Nebula, in Lyra, until Spring 2020. M31, with its companions M32 and M110, will be near the Zenith overhead. To the East, the Orion Galaxy will be nicely up. As Orion climbs higher in the sky, M42 will become Naked Eye visible, depending on the sky conditions. It will be striking in any binocular or telescope.

Special Announcement:

We are going to hold a 5 ½ week long Messier Challenge again this year, to allow as many in the Club as possible to participate regardless of the weather on any given date. The Challenge will start at Sundown on Friday February 14 (Yes that is Valentine's Day!) and end at Sunrise on Monday March 23. This will include 6 full weekends from Friday evening through Monday morning, as well as the intervening 5 weeks. That will include a complete moon cycle as well as some additional Prime Observing days.

The rules in 2020 allow the use of any site chosen by the observer. But pay attention: Do stay safe. Plan ahead!

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Stay warm. Take warm or hot drinks. Be with someone, or take a working cell phone. Do not drive tired. Make sure someone knows where you are and when you will return.

There will be recognition of all participants who submit logs. There will also be some sort of an award for the top scores, if there are enough scores submitted.

There will be 3 brackets: Binocular, Dobsonian or manual mounts, and Go-to mounts. If you are using a Go-to mount but find all your Messier objects manually, you will be included with the Dobsonian/manual mount users. (I will be using my 8" Dobsonian. HMMMMM: I wonder if we should have a 4th bracket for 14" and above Dobsonian scopes….Naah!)

Have a great week! See Y'all at the meeting Friday, December 13.

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If you are new to the club, Star Parties are especially for you. We, the members, are the reason we have observing Star Parties, and they are great occasions to get familiar with observing. We have 10" Dobsonian telescopes available at the Dark Site for your use. There will also be several other scopes available for all to try. And do bring a Binocular-- you can do lots of successful observing with nothing more.

NHAC Club Policy is that the focus of the Star Parties will be to give as much assistance as possible to new observers. For those who may not have been to the O'Brien Dark Site, it is just north of Dobbin, which is on Highway 105 west of Montgomery. It has reasonably dark skies and a great low horizon in all directions. The Owners, Tim and Wanda O'Brien, are very generous hosts, and they do turn off any outside lights which might bother us, if we remember to ask.

The specific Dark Site location is password protected. Any club officer can give you the password, but it is NOT FOR THE GENERAL PUBLIC!

Access to the Dark Site must be requested from the O’Brien’s in advance via the NHAC email. It is only necessary for any 1 member to request access-- Access approved for any of us is access approved for all of us.

On our NHAC web site, click on "Observing" then select "O'Brien Dark Site". Scroll down to the O'Brien Dark Site information and look for the "detailed directions" link. You will need to enter the password. There are maps as well as directions. It is well worth the drive, which is about 6 or 7 minutes driving time North of Dobbin off of State Highway 105 west of Montgomery.

Star Parties are routinely scheduled for the Saturday on, just before, or just after the New Moon throughout the year. This is to provide the best opportunity for dark skies.

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Public Night will be on Friday, January 3, 2020 Doors will be open by 6:00 P.M. and remain open to the public until 10:00. Sunset will be at 5:34 P.M. The 8 day old waxing moon will be about 59% illuminated and will be overhead during the evening.

Public Nights are a great opportunity for us to be a part of Astronomy Outreach, and also to observe with scopes we might never get to use, otherwise. The Observatory has a 6" Takahashi refractor, a 16" Meade Schmidt-Cassegrain, and a 20" Plane Wave telescope. Each is computer controlled, and provides an awesome view of the sky. There are usually about 75 to 100 guests, sometimes more, on Public Night, with many repeating. Our guests are very appreciative of the opportunity to enjoy the sky and also expose their kids to Astronomy. Then after all our guests have departed, several of us usually stay for a while and enjoy the views and each other's company. This can be an opportunity to see a new or favorite object in a large telescope.

The Observatory is about 3/4 of a mile south of Will Clayton Parkway on S. Houston Ave, just north of Rankin Road in Humble, in the back part of the Jack Fields Elementary School on the East side of S. Houston Ave. The address is:

Jack Fields Elementary School 2505 S. Houston Ave.

Humble, TX 77396

For more information, the Observatory phone number is 281-641-STAR and the web site is https://www.humbleisd.net/observatory.

Dates and times are subject to change.

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The North Houston Astronomy Club (NHAC) is a not-for-profit organization established in 1999 for educational and scientific purposes, for people of all races, creeds, ethnic backgrounds and sex. Our primary purpose is to develop and implement programs to increase the awareness and knowledge of astronomy, especially for those living near the north side of Houston, Texas.

NHAC is dedicated to providing an opportunity for people to pursue the science of astronomy, to observe in a dark-sky site, to learn the latest technology, and to share their knowledge and experience, thus our “Observe-Learn-Share” motto.

Public meetings are normally held each month on the fourth Friday. In the months of October, November and December they are usually rescheduled for the third Friday of each month, so as to not conflict with the Annual All Clubs meeting, Thanksgiving, or Christmas.

The benefits for membership include:

Loaner telescopes after being a member for 6 months. Opportunity to observe from dark sky observing sites. Learn from experienced observers. Astronomy Magazine subscriptions at a discount. Astronomical League membership, with its many observing programs. Subscription to the Astronomical League magazine "Reflector". Access to the NHAC library Discounts on purchases at Land, Sea and Sky. Be sure to identify yourself as an NHAC member.

More information at the NHAC Website

Check out our Facebook page.

Our mailing address is:

North Houston Astronomy Club Post Office Box 5043

Kingwood, TX 77335-5043 NHAC is sponsored by:

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Membership Memberships run from January 1 through December 31. Full year dues are: Students $10 Individuals $30 Family Groups $40 Membership applications and dues payments can be made at the NHAC website at:

NHAC Website

2019 NHAC Executive Board President Carlos Gramajo - email Vice-President Bruce Pollard - email Secretary Mike Comeaux - email Treasurer Joana Tan - email Newsletter Editor Jesse Roberts - email Astronomical League

Coordinator Aaron Clevenson - email

Webmaster Justin McCollum - email Observation Committee Chair James Billings - email Membership Committee

Chair David Dutschmann - email

Program Committee Chair Open - email Immediate Past President Susan Pollard

NHAC General Calendar New Moon Star Party General Meeting December 2019 Dec 25 Dec 28 Dec 13 January 2020 Jan 24 Jan 25 Jan 24 February 2020 Feb 23 Feb 22 Feb 28 March 2020 Mar 24 Mar 21 (and BBQ) Mar 27 April 2020 Apr 22 Apr 18 Apr 24 May 2020 May 22 May 16 (and BBQ) May 22 June 2020 Jun 21 Jun 20 Jun 26 July 2020 Jul 20 Jul 18 Jul 24 August 2020 Aug 18 Aug 15 Aug 28 September 2020 Sep 17 Sep 12 (and BBQ) Sep 25 October 2020 Oct 16 Oct 17 Oct 23 November 2020 Nov 14 Nov 14 (and BBQ) Nov 20 December 2020 Dec 14 Dec 12 Dec 11

Dates and times are subject to change. Star parties are weather permitting.

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NHAC is a member of:

The Astronomical League https://www.astroleague.org/

Night Sky Network https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/

International Dark Sky Association https://www.darksky.org/