PAGE 2 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY June 2017

Contact information: Info Officer (General Info) – info@fortworthastro.com Website Administrator – webmaster@fortworthastro.com

Postal Address: Fort Worth Astronomical Society c/o Matt McCullar 5801 Trail Lake Drive Fort Worth, TX 76133 Web Site: http://www.fortworthastro.org (or .com) Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/3eutb22 Twitter: http://twitter.com/ftwastro Yahoo! eGroup (members only): http://tinyurl.com/7qu5vkn

Officers (2015-2016): President – Si Simonson, president@fortworthastro.com Vice President – Tom Roth, vicepres@fortworthastro.com Sec/Tres – Michelle Theisen, sec-tres@fortworthastro.com

Board Members: 2016-2018 Bill Nichols Fed Klich 2015-2017 Matt Reed Phil Stage Observing Site Reminders:

Be careful with fire, mind all local burn bans!

Dark Site Usage Requirements (ALL MEMBERS):

Maintain Dark-Sky Etiquette (http://tinyurl.com/75hjajy)

Turn out your headlights at the gate!

Sign the logbook (in camo-painted storage shed. Inside the door on the left-hand side)

Log club equipment problems (please contact a FWAS board member to inform them of any problems)

Put equipment back neatly when finished

Last person out:

Check all doors – secured, but NOT locked

Make sure nothing is left out

I ns id e th is i s s ue :

Cover Photo: NGC 5466 - Globular Cluster in

Bootes, Astro-Tech AT72ED 430mm F6 , Sony Nex5

Photo by Mike Smythers

The Fort Worth Astronomical Society (FWAS) was founded in 1949 and is a non-profit 501(c)3 scientific educational organization, and incorporated in the state of Texas. This publication may be copied and distributed for free only. This publication cannot be uploaded or distributed into any media unless it is in its original, full, unaltered, published form. All rights reserved by FWAS.

Page

E d i t o r :

G e o r g e C . L u t c h

I s s u e C o n t r i b u t o r s :

M a t t M c C u l l a r

C h r i s M l o d n i c k i

R u s s e l l B o a t r i g h t

m s m y t h e r s

P a m K l i c h

April Club Calendar 3

Young Astronomer News 4

Tandy Hills Star Party Info 4

Celestial Events 5

Interesting Objects 6

Abbreviations/Classifications 6

Cloudy Night Library 7

Constellation of the Month 9

Monthly AL Observing Club 10

ISS Visible Passes for DFW 11

Monthly Planet Visibility 12

Monthly Sky Chart 12

Moon Phase Calendar 13

1st/Last Crescent/Ephem 14

Conjunctions:Lunar/Planet 15

Mercury/Venus Data 16

September Meeting Minutes 17

Fundraising/Donation Info 18-19

That’s A Fact 20

Full Moon Name 21

FWAS Fotos 21

June 2017 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY PAGE 3

See our full FWAS Event Calendar at:

http://www.fortworthastro.com/meetings.html

for the latest updates on what our club has scheduled

FQ

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 3

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

25 26 27 28 29 30

Click calendar icons above to see details of bright ISS passes this month.

Moon Apogee

FM

Young

Astronomers

Meeting

Starts @ 7pm-9pm

FWAS

Monthly

Meeting

Starts @ 7pm

LQ

Moon Perigee NM

Tandy

Hills

Prairie Sky

Star Party

J u n e 2 0 1 7

Roy Plunkett

Birthday (1910)

Alois Alzheimer Birthday (1864)

George Mallory

Birthday (1886)

FQ

George Stephenson

Birthday (1781)

Pete Conrad

Birthday (1930)

FWAS

Monthly

APSIG

Meeting

Starts @ 7pm

PAGE 4 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY June 2017

Young Astronomers Light pollution, It’s something an astrono-

mer has to deal with whenever they go out

to observe. How can you help the situa-

tion? Well as of January 2013 you can get

dark sky friendly lights from Lowes which

carry the IDA seal of approval. You can

also get bulbs online via 1000Bulbs.com and

LightBulbs.com or if you need a CFL ver-

sion you can get them on the Genesis lamp

site. Check out the Young Astronomers Web Page at: http://

www.fortworthastro.com/young_astronomers.html

e

Tandy Hills Prairie Sky/Star Party: Astronomy—Community Engagement After many years at the Fort Worth Museum of Science & History, the well-attended, monthly public star parties presented by the Fort Worth Astronomical Society (FWAS) have moved to Tandy Hills Natural Area. Established in 1949, FWAS is one of the first adult amateur astronomy clubs formed in the country and one of the largest with more than 200 active mem-bers.

Members will have several telescopes set up at Tandy Hills for viewing the night sky.

Free & open to the public. All ages wel-come. Family/kid-friendly - No dogs - Cool-ers welcome - Steel City Pops will be on hand More details at the NASA website: https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/event-view.cfm?Event_ID=76024 S t a r par t y E t i q u e t t e : h t t p : / /www.fortworthastro.com/etiquette.html

WHEN: Second Saturday of every month http://www.tandyhills.org/events/prairie-sky-star-party

PAGE 6 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY June 2017

J u n 0 1 T h V e n u s : 4 5 . 8 ° W

J u n 0 1 T h 0 7 : 4 2 F i r s t Q u a r t e r

J u n 0 3 S a 0 5 : 5 9 V e n u s E l o n g a t i o n : 4 5 . 9 ° W

J u n 0 3 S a 1 8 : 5 7 M o o n - J u p i t e r : 2 . 5 ° S

J u n 0 6 T u 2 2 : 1 9 M e r c u r y - P l e i a d e s : 5 . 5 ° S

J u n 0 8 T h 1 7 : 2 1 M o o n A p o g e e : 4 0 6 4 0 0 k m

J u n 0 9 F r 0 8 : 1 0 F u l l M o o n

J u n 0 9 F r 2 0 : 2 5 M o o n - S a t u r n : 3 . 4 ° S

J u n 1 0 S a 2 2 : 3 6 M o o n S o u t h D e c . : 1 9 . 4 ° S

J u n 1 4 W e 2 1 : 4 0 M o o n D e s c e n d i n g N o d e

J u n 1 5 T h 0 4 : 1 5 S a t u r n O p p o s i t i o n

J u n 1 7 S a 0 6 : 3 3 L a s t Q u a r t e r

J u n 2 0 T u 1 6 : 1 3 M o o n - V e n u s : 2 . 4 ° N

J u n 2 0 T u 2 3 : 2 5 S u m m e r S o l s t i c e

J u n 2 1 W e 0 8 : 5 5 M e r c u r y S u p e r i o r C o n j .

J u n 2 2 T h 0 9 : 2 3 M o o n - A l d e b a r a n : 0 . 5 ° S

J u n 2 3 F r 0 5 : 4 9 M o o n P e r i g e e : 3 5 7 9 0 0 k m

J u n 2 3 F r 2 1 : 3 1 N e w M o o n

J u n 2 4 S a 0 6 : 1 2 M o o n N o r t h D e c . : 1 9 . 4 ° N

J u n 2 6 M o 0 6 : 1 8 M o o n - B e e h i v e : 3 . 2 ° N

J u n 2 7 T u 1 1 : 2 6 M o o n A s c e n d i n g N o d e

J u n 2 7 T u 1 9 : 2 6 M o o n - R e g u l u s : 0 . 1 ° N

J u n 3 0 F r 1 9 : 5 1 F i r s t Q u a r t e r

C E L E S T I A L E V E N T S T H I S M O N T H

(* Times are Local) D a t a S o u r c e : N A S A S K Y C A L - S K Y E V E N T S C A LE N D A R

June 2017 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY PAGE 7

I N T E R E S T I N G O B J E C T S

Deep Sky* - (NGC 6960) Super Nova Remnant –DSO, (M81) Galaxy - GLX, (M82) Gal-

axy—GLX, (M101) Galaxy-GLX, (M106) Galaxy-GLX,

Double/Multiple Stars** - Pi Bootis, Gamma Leonis, Zeta Ursa Majoris, Herschel 2682

(UMi)

Constellations* - Boötes, Ursa Major, Leo, Centaurus, Ursa Minor, Virgo

Asterisms*** - Big Dipper, Spade, Broken Engagement Ring, Eiffel Tower, Gas Pump

Handle

Lunar Features**** - Hyginus Rille (34), Messier & Messier A (48), Mare Frigoris (2-6)

PAGE 8 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY June 2017

“A major retrospective lesson of these four dec-ades is that research in science is very much an act of faith... Large sums of money are today spent on studies, reviews, and committees in order to make sure that a scien-tific proposal is worthwhile and that it will succeed. Jodrell Bank would never have evolved or sur-vived under such scrutiny.” So says astronomer Sir Bernard Lov-ell, who started the famous radio astronomy observatory in England after World War II and directed it for decades.

The title comes from the fact that Sir Bernard Lovell did not original-ly endeavor to become an astronomer, but a physi-cist. He was a major partici-pant in the British military radar program during World War II and his work helped develop radio astronomy as a major scientific program. Some of the discoveries came about almost by chance during or soon after the war, such as the fact that some meteor show-ers take place only during the daytime and thus are not visible to the eye... but the invisible ionized trails they leave behind make perfect reflectors for radio waves. (Lovell describes invaluable assis-tance he received from British amateur astrono-mers in this matter.) His coworkers also deter-

mined that sunspots are responsible for a great deal of radio noise (this fact was originally a war-time secret, because it jammed military radar re-ceivers). Radar astronomy was born, which later studied the surface features of the Moon and oth-er planets. Not bad for a scientist who started out looking for cosmic rays.

I'm not sure why, but a great many amateur astronomers are also Amateur Radio operators (hams), such as myself (callsign KJ5BA). Such astronomer-hams will greatly enjoy this book. With-out getting overly technical, Lovell describes the radars he worked with that flew on Royal Air Force bombers over Germany. He and his fellow scientists worked with the air crews to solve myriad problems inherent in the then-new Ultra-High Frequency radio spectrum. They were forced to work with vacuum tubes, too, as semiconductors had not yet been invented.

_Astronomer by Chance_ is es-sentially Lovell's autobiog-raphy, and he had a very inter-esting life and career. That this book is so enjoyable came as somewhat of a surprise, as his

previous book, _The Jodrell Bank Telescopes_ (which I reviewed in the August 2011 issue of _Prime Focus_), was awful. The latter title dealt more with British government red tape in getting the huge radio telescopes funded and constructed than astronomy. But _Astronomer by Chance_ more than makes up for it.

(Continued on page 9)

Media Reviews Media reviews by Matt J. McCullar, FWAS

Astronomer by Chance by Bernard Lovell

Published by Basic Books – 1990 ISBN 0-465-00512-8 381 pages

June 2017 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY PAGE 9

The 250-foot steerable paraboloid Mark I radio telescope at Jodrell Bank in England created a great many frustrating engineering problems, as no one had ever tried to build anything like it be-fore. It has been upgraded several times since its construction in 1957, and continues to produce useful scientific data today. Other radio tele-scopes have since been added to the area. Hun-dreds of scientific papers have been published using data collected from Jodrell Bank, on topics ranging from radio galaxies to quasars and pul-sars. “In the early 1950s many observers main-tained that the telescope we were proposing to build would not last for 15 years, and few scien-tists believed it could be a useful research instru-ment for that length of time.” It remains in use 24 hours a day, and fortunately the structural en-gineers built into the Mark I dish the redundancy to withstand a ferocious windstorm in 1976.

It's fascinating to read Lovell's account of how Jodrell Bank came to be. Shortly after World War II he and his colleagues managed to salvage a large amount of necessary equipment from army surplus and scrap piles. The raw, muddy land they set up a couple of army trailers on to house the electronic equipment had originally been used by the University of Manchester for their botany laboratory. “I have on record a photo-graph I took on the first day at Jodrell Bank, show-ing the transmitter and diesel trailers sunk to their axles in that sticky mud.” Today the facility in-cludes a visitors center and a planetarium, attracting thousands of visitors annually.

Lovell got into deep trouble during the telescope's construction because of huge cost overruns. Even

after it was built the Mark I radio dish remained deeply in debt. But the unexpected launch of the Soviet Union's Sputnik I satellite stirred public in-terest in Jodrell Bank due to the dish's ability to accurately track space probes and receive their radio signals, and a private donor paid the final bill. The Mark I radio dish was used throughout the late 1950s and 1960s to not only track space probes from various countries, but also to trans-mit commands to them.

I also particularly enjoyed reading about Lovell's experiences with his fellow scientists, many of whom went on to become Nobel laureates. One coworker turned out to be a spy; and not all of his friends survived the war. Astronomers – profes-sional and amateur – have benefited tremendous-ly from his radio dishes. He and his colleagues also helped win World War II for the Allies; let us hope that will never be forgotten. Lovell passed away in 2012.

_Astronomer by Chance_ is very well written. It includes a handful of B&W photographs, but I wish there were more. I had a grand time reading this one, but at 381 pages, it takes a while. Five radio dishes out of five!

(Book Review—Continued from page 8)

If you have an idea for an article, have astronomical related photos or an astronomy pro-

ject you’ve done, and you’d like to share or want to contribute to the newsletter in any oth-

er way, please contact the editor at primefocus@fortworthastro.com or through the club’s

Yahoo! eGroup forum.

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PAGE 10 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY June 2017

Boötes /boʊˈoʊtiːz/ is a constellation in the northern sky, located between 0° and +60° declination, and 13 and 16 hours of right ascension on the celestial sphere. The name comes from the Greek Βοώτης, Boōtēs, meaning "herdsman" or "plowman" (literally, "ox-driver"; from βοῦς bous “cow”).

One of the 48 constellations described by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, Boötes is now one of the 88 modern constellations. It contains the fourth-brightest star in the night sky, the orange giant star Arcturus. Epsilon Bootis, or Izar, is a colourful multiple star popular with amateur astronomers. Bo-ötes is home to many other bright stars, including eight above the fourth magnitude and an additional 21 above the fifth magnitude, making a total of 29 stars easily visible to the naked eye.

Boötes is a constellation bordered by Virgo to the south, Coma Berenices and Canes Venatici to the west, Ursa Major to the northwest, Draco to the northeast, and Hercules, Corona Boreal-is and Serpens Caput to the east. The three-letter ab-breviation for the constellation, as adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1922, is 'Boo'. The official constellation boundaries, as set by Eugène Delporte in 1930, are defined by a polygon of 16 seg-ments. In the equatorial coordinate system, the right ascension coordinates of these borders lie between 13h 36.1m and 15h 49.3m, while the declination coordinates stretch from +7.36° to +55.1°. Covering 907 square degrees, Boötes culminates at midnight around 2 May and ranks 13th in area.

Colloquially, its pattern of stars has been likened to a kite or ice cream cone. However, depictions of Boö-tes have varied historically. Aratus described him circling the north pole, herding the two bears. Later an-cient Greek depictions, described by Ptolemy, have him holding the reins of his hunting dogs (Canes Ve-natici) in his left hand, with a spear, club, or staff in his right hand. After Hevelius introduced Mons Mae-nalus in 1681, Boötes was often depicted standing on the Peloponnese mountain. By 1801, when Johann Bode published his Uranographia, Boötes had acquired a sickle, which was also held in his left hand.

The placement of Arcturus has also been mutable through the centuries. Traditionally, Arcturus lay be-tween his thighs, as Ptolemy depicted him. However, Germanicus Caesar deviated from this tradition by placing Arcturus "where his garment is fastened by a knot".

C o n s t e l l a t i o n o f T h e M o n t h

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Boötes

June 2017 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY PAGE 11

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I n ancient Babylon, the

stars of Boötes were

known as SHU.PA. They were appar-

ently depicted as the god Enlil, who

was the leader of the Babylonian

pantheon and special patron of farm-

ers. Boötes may have been repre-

sented by the foreleg constellation in

ancient Egypt. According to this inter-

pretation, the constellation depicts

the shape of an animal foreleg.

The name Boötes was first used by Homer in his Odyssey as a celestial reference point

for navigation, described as "late-setting" or "slow to set", translated as the

"Plowman". Exactly whom Boötes is supposed to represent in Greek mythology is not clear.

According to one version, he was a son of Demeter, Philomenus, twin brother of Plutus, a

ploughman who drove the oxen in the constellation Ursa Major. This is corroborated by the

constellation's name, which itself means "ox-driver" or "herdsman." The ancient Greeks

saw the asterism now called the "Big Dipper" or "Plough" as a cart with oxen. This influ-

enced the name's etymology, derived from the Greek for "noisy" or "ox-driver". Another

myth associated with Boötes tells that he invented the plow and was memorialized for his

ingenuity as a constellation.

Another myth associated with Boötes by Hyginus is that of Icarius, who was schooled as a

grape farmer and winemaker by Dionysus. Icarius made wine so strong that those who

drank it appeared poisoned, which caused shepherds to avenge their supposedly poisoned

friends by killing Icarius. Maera, Icarius's dog, brought his daughter Erigone to her father's

body, whereupon both she and the dog committed suicide. Zeus then chose to honor all

three by placing them in the sky as constellations: Icarius as Boötes, Erigone as Virgo, and

Maera as Canis Major or Canis Minor.

Text Source: http://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/ Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urania%27s_Mirror

Boötes

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PAGE 12 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY June 2017

Al Observing Club

Highlight Of The Month

I ntroduction:

Welcome to the Astronomical League's Constellation Hunter Program. The Constellation Hunter Program has two certifications and pins: The Northern Skies and the Southern Skies. The purpose of these programs is to provide an orientation to the sky for novice astronomers. They require no special equipment (other than a planisphere and a reference for the brighter star names), and no prior knowledge. The objective is to provide a forum for the novice observer to become more familiar with the constellations and brighter stars, to begin to learn to navigate among the stars, and to provide a solid foundation for moving on to other observation programs such as the Messier Program.

Rules and Regulations:

To qualify for the AL's Constellation Hunter Certificates and pins, you need only be a member of the Astronomical League, either through an affili-ated club or as a Member-at-Large, and observe and sketch all of the constellations on the included on the checklist that you are pursuing. No equipment is required other than a planisphere and reference information of the names of major stars and constellation boundaries. Binoculars, while not required, will give you a deeper look into the star fields that you sketch. You should not include these additional stars and objects on your sketches, but the view will give you an appreciation for all of the things that await you in the other Astronomical League Certification Programs. You should proceed constellation by constellation. For each constellation, you need to provide this data:

Local date and time.

Latitude and Longitude of observation.

Constellation name.

Sky conditions: transparency, and seeing.

A sketch of all stars that were visible to the unaided eye, out to the limits of the constellation's boundary. Named stars should be identified on the sketch.

The sketch should include other objects that are visible within the boundaries of the constellation, including but not limited to: galaxies, open clus-ters, globular clusters, and nebulas.

You must be a member of the Astronomical League to receive these certificates. If you are not a member now, click here to view information on membership in our organization.

To receive your Constellation Hunter Certificate and either a Northern Constellation Award Pin or a Southern Constellation Award Pin, simply send your sketches along with your name, address, phone number, and society affiliation, either to your society's Awards Co-ordinator for verification, or to:

Constellation Hunter Observing Program Coordinator:

Cliff MygattP.O. Box 8607Port Orchard, WA 98366(360) 265-5418E-mail: cliffandchris@wavecable.com

Upon verification of your observations, your certificate and pin will be forwarded either to you or your society's Awards Co-ordinator, whomever you choose.

For information on which constellations to study and sketch, read the Constellation Hunter Northern Skies Observing Checklist or the Constellation Hunter Southern Skies Observing Checklist .

Constellation Hunter Program O b s e r v i n g E x p e r i e n c e L E V E L

B e g i n n e r

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June 2017 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY PAGE 13

Times and Data are for Fort Worth, Texas Locations Only Data Source: Heavens Above

NOTE: NO bright ISS passes visible in the DFW area, for dates not listed.

Chart created using: Cartes du Ciel

Date Bright-ness

Start Highest point End Pass type

(mag) Time Alt. Az. Time Alt. Az. Time Alt. Az.

05 Jun -0.9 23:25:43 10° N 23:26:47 14° N 23:26:47 14° N visible

07 Jun -1.4 23:16:30 10° NNW 23:18:05 23° N 23:18:05 23° N visible 08 Jun -1.8 22:24:29 10° NNW 22:26:57 19° NE 22:27:29 19° NE visible 09 Jun -1.2 21:32:58 10° N 21:34:13 12° NNE 21:35:28 10° NE visible 09 Jun -1.9 23:07:46 10° NW 23:09:32 29° NW 23:09:32 29° NW visible 10 Jun -3.3 22:15:21 10° NW 22:18:31 45° NE 22:19:00 41° ENE visible 11 Jun -2.1 21:23:11 10° NNW 21:25:53 23° NE 21:28:31 10° E visible 11 Jun -1.6 22:59:33 10° WNW 23:01:09 20° W 23:01:09 20° W visible 12 Jun -3.5 22:06:38 10° NW 22:09:52 57° SW 22:10:43 40° S visible 13 Jun -3.6 21:14:05 10° NW 21:17:20 59° NE 21:20:20 12° ESE visible 14 Jun -1.7 21:58:34 10° W 22:01:00 19° SW 22:02:40 14° SSW visible 15 Jun -2.9 21:05:26 10° WNW 21:08:34 43° SW 21:11:41 10° SSE visible

PAGE 14 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY June 2017

Chart displayed is for June 15, 2017 @ 21:00 Local Time

Fort Worth, TX (32.7555°N, 97.3308°W)

June Sky Chart

June 2017 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY PAGE 15

PAGE 16 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY June 2017

Data source: http://astropixels.com/ephemeris/moon/moon2017.html

Thursday 22 June 2017

5.8h Moon Lunar Crescent visible, 39.2 hours before new moon Elongation: 23.5°, 4.4% illuminated, Position angle of crescent (from Zenith to East): 125.9° - crescent points to the lower left, Width of the crescent: 1.39', Length of the crescent: 149°, Moon rises at 5h05m, 74 minutes before the Sun (Azimuth: 70°/ENE) The Yallop (1998) criteria additionally states for this event with q=+1.124

Saturday 24 June 2017

21.0h Moon Lunar Crescent visible, only 23.4 hours after new moon Elongation: 13.6°, 1.5% illuminated, Position angle of crescent (from Zenith to East): 236.5° - crescent points to the lower right, Width of the crescent: 0.47', Length of the crescent: 74°, Moon lower limb relative to sunset point at sunset: dalt=6.8° daz=-11.0° (i.e. eastward), Altitude of moon center at listed time: 3.6°, Azimuth: 290.1°/WNW, Altitude of Sun: -4.1°, Moon sets at 21h20m, 41 minutes after the Sun (Azimuth: 293°/WNW) The Yallop (1998) criteria additionally states for this event with q=-0.028: Telescope re-quired to find crescent.

Thursday 25 June 2017

21.4h Moon Lunar Crescent visible, 47.9 hours after new moon Elongation: 27.3°, 5.9% illuminated, Position angle of crescent (from Zenith to East): 229.5° - crescent points to the lower right, Width of the crescent: 1.84', Length of the crescent: 159°, Moon sets at 22h16m, 96 minutes after the Sun (Azimuth: 291°/WNW) The Yallop (1998) criteria additionally states for this event with q=+1.758

First and Last Lunar Crescent Visibility

Data source: https://www.calsky.com

June 2017 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY PAGE 17

Lunar Occultations & Conjunctions of Planets

Monday 19 June 2017

5.2h Moon Close to Uranus, 5.9mag, with Sun below horizon, Separation=6.08°, Limb separa-tion=5.8068° =10.72 lunar dia., Position angle=22.1° N, Azimuth az=97.3°, Altitude h=29.5°, RA= 1h43.8m Dec=+10°08.0', Moon phase=29.2%, Sun altitude hsun=-12.0°

Tuesday 20 June 2017

6.3h Moon Close to Venus, -4.2mag, with Sun below horizon, Separation=6.41°, Limb separa-tion=6.1260° =11.14 lunar dia., Position angle=47.0° NE, Azimuth az=94.1°, Altitude h=31.6°, RA= 2h51.0m Dec=+13°33.3', Moon phase=18.9%, Sun altitude hsun=-0.2°

Data Source: http://www.calsky.com/

PAGE 18 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY June 2017

Data and Image Sources: www.calsky.com

June 01

June 15

LOCAL SUNSET

June 01

June 15

June 30

June 30 LOCAL SUNSET

June 2017 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY PAGE 19

A ttendees: Bill Nichols, Fred Klich, Laura

Cowles, Matt Reed, Michelle Theisen, Pam

Klich, Patrick McMahon, Phil Stage, Si Simon-

son, Tom Roth

Si Simonson called the meeting to order.

Discussion Topics

Jerry Gardner + Reflector Cover – The club had Jerry’s picture

from the Reflector cover framed for presentation at the next

monthly club meeting on 5/16.

Meteor Evaluation by Rhiannon Mayne, TCU – Si will confirm

that the next date with Rhiannon to conduct meteor evalua-

tions for club members will be June 13, 2017 at the school lab.

Stars Over Euless – Si shared open dates in August and Sep-

tember but they have not responded yet.

Ft Worth Library –Si offered the use of the loaner telescope to

the library but has not yet heard back.

Inventory – The group likes the use of pictures in the invento-

ry. We will combine the photos and text list. Starr Ranch is

next to be inventoried.

Starr Ranch Toilet – The solar panels and batteries are not

providing adequate power. Si will reach out to the club for

options. Consider using a wind turbine. Mike Ahner will coor-

dinate.

Nobel Planetarium Telescope – the transfer paperwork is in

progress. Mike Jones to head up the effort for moving the

telescope to Thompson.

Bob Wilbers – Si will invite Bob to attend a Club Meeting again

and inquire about possible further donations from the charita-

ble organization Bob is a member of.

Business Cards – Si will order more cards, which are used at

FWAS events.

Upcoming FWAS Elections – the board will recruit volunteers

for the open positions. The target timeline is to finalize by the

May meeting.

The open positions are:

-VP

-Treasurer

-2 Board members (replace Matt and Phil)

Use of Solar Scope - The Board discussed the use of the solar

scope and came up with the following priority for usage:

--FWAS

--The Outreach Coordinator

--Other FWAS member

Young Astronomers, YA! – Attendance is very low. Will review

in the next few months and determine whether to continue

the program.

Starr Ranch – The access code has been changed. Find the

code on the eGroup site. The directions to the ranch need to

be updated. The shed needs to be cleaned out. Tom will

check on new vermin repellant.

2017 Christmas Party – targeting the 1st Saturday of Decem-

ber which is 12/2/17. Group agreed to reserve the room earli-

er this year.

Insurance – was renewed.

Presentations – May-Mike Jones, June-Building Solar Filters,

July-Si and Bruce Solar Eclipse Review, August-swap meet,

Sept-Parallel use of binoculars and telescope, Oct-Fred Stellar

Spectra, Nov-Dr. Tuttle, Dec-Christmas Party

Ft Davis Property – remains for sale at $19k.

Treasurer Report – Michelle reviewed the club finances and

discussed new bank options. Board agreed to convert to Wells

Fargo upon election of new treasurer. Phil mentioned the lack

of Wells Fargo locations in Arlington. Laura will re-check loca-

tions. Board is in favor depending on the outcome of the loca-

tion research.

The meeting was adjourned.

Business Meeting Minutes— May 09, 2017 Pam Klich, Secretary-Treasurer

e

PAGE 20 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY June 2017

The meeting was called to order by Si Simonson, President.

48 members and visitors were in attendance.

Si welcomed everyone and recognized visitors and new mem-

bers.

General Session

Club Leadership Elections in June –

The open positions are:

-VP

-Treasurer

-2 Board members (replace Matt and Phil)

Recognition – Jerry Gardner was presented a framed copy of

the March Reflector magazine front cover.

Meteor Evaluation by Rhiannon Mayne, TCU – Si will confirm

that the next date with Rhiannon to conduct meteor evalua-

tions for club members will be June 13, 2017 at the school lab.

Upcoming Presentations –

-June - Building Solar Filters

-July - Si and Bruce Solar Eclipse Review

-August - swap meet

Tonight’s Speaker – Mike Jones spoke about “Optical Design –

Right in Front of You”. He followed his presentation with a

demonstration of a software tool called Zemax EE Optic Stu-

dio. Some of the topics Mike covered were:

-Spherical aberrations

-Longitudinal chromatic aberrations

-Lateral chromatic aberrations

-Raytracing versus diffraction

-Science and Art of optical design

Business Session

Starr Ranch – A new access code will be posted on the

eGroup>files location. Fred will inventory the Starr Ranch site.

The shed needs to be reorganized. The concrete will be used

to reinforce the driveway.

Starr Ranch Facilities – the current toilet requires more power

than available at the site. Mike Ahner discussed the use of a

composting toilet instead, which has less power needs. Volun-

teers are needed for this project.

Noble Planetarium Telescope – the paperwork is in progress

for transfer of the telescope. It will be moved to Thompson.

Mike Ahner will coordinate the physical transfer. Si asked for

volunteers to assist with the move.

Astrophotography Classes Cancelled for June and July – Jerry

Gardner’s classes are cancelled for a couple of months.

FWAS Newsletter – George Lutch has the newsletter ready

pending the receipt of the meeting minutes.

2017 Christmas Party – The club is targeting the 1st Saturday

of December which is 12/2/17.

Meeting Adjourned

Club Meeting Minutes— May 16, 2017 Pam Klich, Secretary-Treasurer

e

June 2017 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY PAGE 21

AmazonSmile is a website operated by Ama-

zon that lets customers enjoy the same wide

selection of products, low prices, and con-

venient shopping features as on Ama-

zon.com. The difference is that when custom-

ers shop on AmazonSmile at

smile.amazon.com, the AmazonSmile Foun-

dation will donate 0.5% of the price of eligi-

ble purchases to the charitable organizations

selected by customers.

To participate, visit AmazonSmile and select

Fort Worth Astronomical Society as your

charity upon log-in. For more information vis-

it org.amazon.com. The site will remember

your charity automatically when you visit

AmazonSmile to shop. If you are already an

Amazon.com user, you can use the same ac-

count to log-in to AmazonSmile to shop. You

must sign-in to AmazonSmile each time you

shop in order for your purchases to count to-

wards a donation to your charitable organiza-

tion. If you do not have an Amazon account,

signing up is free!

FWAS Club

Fundraiser FWAS is still asking for donations to raise

the $3000 to cover the costs of purchasing

our new Lunt LS60THa solar telescope and

an iOptron ZEQ25 GT mount. We have al-

ready used this at some outreach and edu-

cational events, and

it was a hit!

Donations are tax

deductible. We are a

501(c)3 non-profit

organization dedicat-

ed to educating and

sparking the interest

in Astronomy and

Space in the public.

If you would like to

help us recoup this

expense, it’s still not

too late. You can still

donate. Please click

the button below or

go to the URL shown

at the bottom. Any

amount is welcome

and greatly appreci-

ated.

http://www.fortworthastro.com/donate.html

PAGE 22 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY June 2017

Newsletter: The FWAS newsletter, Prime Focus, is published monthly. Letters to the editor, articles for publication, photos you’ve taken, per-sonal equipment reviews, or just about anything you would like to have included in the newsletter that is astronomy related should be sent to: primefocus@fortworthastro.com

Meetings: FWAS meets at 7:00 PM on the third Tuesday of the month at the UNT Health Science Center – Research & Education Building, Room 100; 3500 Camp Bowie Blvd; Ft. Worth. Guests and visitors are always welcome.

Outreach: Items regarding FWAS Outreach activities, or requests for FWAS to attend an event, should be sent to: out-reach@fortworthastro.com

Young Astronomers: FWAS’ youth activities (known as YA!) meet on the 3rd Saturday of every month between 7pm and 9pm (check our calendar for time changes throughout the year - determined by seasonal sun-set times). This group meets for one hour at the Parkwood Hill HOA Club House - 5573 Eastwedge Dr., Fort Worth, TX 76137. YA! Coordinators: ya@fortworthastro.com

FWAS Annual Dues: $40 for adults / families & households $20.00 for students (half-price Dec 1 thru May 31); Membership runs June 1st through May 31st. Please make checks payable to: Fort Worth Astronomical Society See our Secretary/Treasurer for more info: sec-treas@fortworthastro.com Cash and checks should be paid in-person at the next indoor meeting, or checks can be mailed in the traditional way. Mem-bers should check the eGroup for the latest postal mailing ad-dress listed by the Secretary/Treasurer. Credit card payments (for existing membership renewals only) can be made through our PayPal link (private link is on the club’s Yahoo eGroup – no PayPal account required).

Discount Magazine Subscriptions: Sky & Telescope, Astronomy, and StarDate (McDonald Observa-tory) magazines are available for discounted subscription rates through our association with the NASA Night Sky Network and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. The link can be found on the club’s Yahoo eGroup. (Members Only)

Astronomical League Membership: Your FWAS membership gives you associate membership in the Astronomical League. This gives you access to earn various ob-serving certificates through the AL observing clubs. You also re-ceive their quarterly magazine, Reflector. AL Observing clubs: http://tinyurl.com/7pyr8qg

The Sun burns 600

million tons of Hydrogen

every second.

Flowers spring forth in abundance

this month. Some Algonquin tribes

knew this full Moon as the Corn

Planting Moon or the Milk Moon.

Source: OId Farmer’s Almanac

“Full Flower Moon”

Ap r i l

That’s a Fact!

Just go to their website at http://www.amsmeteors.org/

and hover your cursor on the Fireball menu item at the

top of the page and you will see the link to report a fire-

ball. They will ask you several questions in a web ques-

tionnaire and your observations will be added to the

other witnesses for the same event. These will be com-

piled and analyzed to determine the location and direc-

tion from which the object entered the atmosphere.

Seen a Fireball Lately? Report it to the

American Meteor Society (AMS)

Source

e

June 2017 FORT WORTH ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY PAGE 23

Have an interesting photo you’ve taken of the sky? Discovered a technique and want to show the results to fellow FWAS mem-

bers? Submit your photos to primefocus@fortworthastro.com or send them in the Yahoo! eGroup to the attention of the news-

letter editor. Your participation in showing off your personal astrophotography is greatly appreciated by all FWAS members.

(Below Right)

Horsehead Nebula

TeleVue101 apo refractor

CGEM-DX mount

70mm guidescope

Orion SSAG

SBIG STF-8300M with Baader 7nm Ha filter

12x10min exposures

9x15min exposures

1x20min exposure

Processing in Nebulosity and PS CS6 .

Photo taken by FWAS member

Chris Mlodnicki

(Left)

Dumbell Nebula

Photo taken by FWAS mem-

ber Russell Boatright