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1992 THE ALACHUA ASTRONOMY CLUB MEETS THE 2ND TUESDAY OF EACH MONTH AT 7:30 PM AT THE DOYLE CONNER BUILDING ON SW 34TH ST AT 20TH AVENUE. CALL ANY OF THE CLUB OFFICERS FOR INFORMATION. EVERYONE IS INVITED TO COME TO MEETINGS OR JOIN THE AAC. NO EQUIPMENT IS NEEDED.

CLUB OFFICERS: PRESIDENT- GILBERTO BERNARDO, Branford,Fl. 935-0340 V. PRES/ALCOR- MARK COWAN, Gainesville, Fl. 375-2564 TREASURER- DOUG RICHARDS, Gainesville, Fl. 332-4317 FIRSTLIGHT ED- CHARLES BROWARD, Melrose,Fl. 475-1014

STARPARTY—FRIDAY JUNE 5!!!!! PLEASE ATTEND!!!!

This; starparty will be in Alachua, Friday evening. .. Please plan on attending.

Take 1-75 north to exit 79 (236) EAST to ALACHUA for .6 mi. Turn left on CR 1491 (North) 1.1 MI. (first stop).

Go LEFT AT STOP (WEST) and go 1.0 MI. to GUARDRAIL ON BOTH SIDES and,

TURN RIGHT in a DIRT DRIVEWAY and go .3 miles to HOUSE.

SIGNS SHOULD BE UP!!

HELP HELP HELP

BOY SCOUT TROOP 454 WANTS CLUB TO MEET ON A SATURDAY IN JULY, WITH POSSIBLE CAMPING TO STARGAZE. CHARLIE TARJAN WILL PROVIDE MORE INFO. We gave this Troop a program a month or sc ago. Lets not let them down! Call Chuck or Charlie for info.

PRACTICAL COSMOLOGY D

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CONSIDER. THIS UNIVERSE WE'RE F_,ATirs/6 IMNDoESMT IT MAKE too f^EL. SMALL ? w a n BILLIONS OF GAiAxies -fiw-uows of SUMS, frowty STANDS TO REASON..-.

^REYOU 60I^Q TO EAT THAT PICKLE?

MUSEUM AND STARPARTY A QUALIFIED SUCCESS Astroday at the Museum proved to be a

mixed success. Maybe it was funding, or lack of. Maybe it was lack of interest in the Stars...Bi1ly's rockets dazzled, the SUN provided few spots, and the Museum seemed a bit less than interested in promoting what used to be a major weekend activity. Be thinking of how we can promote ASTRONOMY DAY next year.

2 ASTRONOMY Network News

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SUMMER OF TELESCOPE MAKING

Summer has always been pull our members away This summer we are goi that the club embark o idea! And, if it doesn HERE"S THE PLAN: Jun

Jul Aug

I have several pieces gladly donate to the p All that is needed is teams and spread that that you have been mea Telescope making is an It is quite within the make a successful mirr you see your handy wor more the merrier.

an uncertain time for AAC. Vacations for various times throughout the summer, ng to try something new. Chuck suggested n a project to make telescopes. A grand 't work out, we'll just blame Chuck! e - grinding y - lap making and polishing ust - figuring and building mounts of glass of various diameters that I will roject. Jan says he has lots of abrasives, the elbow grease. We'll divide up into around.Perhaps you have a piece of glass ning to turn into a mirror. Bring it along, interesting and challenging activity. abilities of any one of our members to

or. Futhermore, it is a great thrill when k form that first image. Plan to help. The 2L^r;

ASTRONOMY DAY - 1992

May 16 turnou seemed well, Cass, that h Mark h member was in obsevi we had

th was t seeme to hav

also. W Reid ha e recen is rich ,I didn teresti ng Jupi a grea

be a a ha hi

tly fie 't c ng. ter t ti

aut if littl great d at s 4_" purch Id, a atch He wa and i me .

ul day to share astronomy. Although the e less than other years, those who came time. Our star party at SFCC worked out

least 50 visitors. Jan was there with his reflector, Dale had a nice 11X80 binocs

aced, Duane and Pamela had a small refactor, nd I brought one of the 8" Odysseys. A former the name, had a 10" Odyssey. The comparison s using an off center stop of about 4" when t improved the image considerably. All in all

THKOUGH THE EYEPIECE On June 14th, a Sunday night-Mo eclipse of the moon. Mid-eclips About 3/4 of the moon will be i deep within the penumbra. This Although the calender says June solstice actually occurs at 11: a clear horizon, it is interest point where the sun rises and s point most north of east, and s From that day until December 21 to the south.

nday morning, we will have a partial e will occur at 12:57 am , EDT. n the umbra with the southern 1/4 should be an interesting eclipse. 21 is the first day of summer, the

14 pm , EDT, on June 20. If you have ing to make a mental note of the ets on that day. The sun rises at a ets at a point most north of west. , the sun will start a slow march

Star Parties George Russell. A number of us followed through on an invitation by Doug Richards to take part

in a Star Party recently held at the Hidden Oaks school near the Fort Clarke Middle School on N.W. 23rd Avenue. At his request, several tele-scopes were quickly assembled and lines of interested persons, parents and children, formed to view the sky.

Perhaps an estimated several hundred or so individuals had an oppor-tunity to view pre-selected targets of opportunity such as the moon and others. Refractors, reflectors and binoculars were available for their use. One parent told me that he had never used his 10X50 binoculars to view the sky and was quite impressed what he could and could not see with my 10X50's.

I was particularly delighted with Doug's new home brew 18 incher. This was the first time I had an opportunity to check out its construc-tion and also view the sky through its optics. Very nice indeed.

After a couple of hours, the crowds of youngsters and parents dwind-led and opportunities to check out other set ups were possible. Light-ing conditions were not all that great but good views of the moon and other objects of interest were still worth while. I hope I can make the next Star Party.

Astronomv Day George Russell. May 16th, 1992, on a very nice Saturday afternoon, the Alachua As-

tronomy Club had an opportunity to display various aspects of amateur astronomy to the visiting public at the Florida Museum of Natural His-tory which is located on the campus of the University of Florida.

In addition to a display of models of our planetary system and how the earth changes from "night" to "day", 365 or so days a year, a cou-ple of displays of telescope making including mirror grinding were shown. An extensive display of telescope making books and pamphlets were also on hand.

Doug Richards 18 incher Dobsonian was trained on a number of objects and Chuck Broward had his scope viewing a disappointing 2 or 3 sunspots which were quite small. A very quiet sun indeed. Nevertheless, the viewing public had an opportunity to view terrestrial and celestial objects that Saturday afternoon. Gilbert Bonardo had quite a few stu-dents and their parents from his school there and he conducted a class at the museum that was well attended. In addition to the foregoing, some video was shown of the astronauts out side of the shuttle grappling with a wayward communications satellite which was finally brought un-der control.

To finish off Astronomy Day with a "bang" so to spealc, several mo-del rockets were launched to the count down of the spectators. Some of the rockets travelled quickly our of sight but just as quickly could be seen again when their parachutes popped open and slowly came to earth. Thanks to the gang at the University, Billy Cooke and Dan Durda and perhaps others that the foregoing was made possible.

I don't recall seeing any pass outs indicating that the Alachua As-tronomy Club participated in Astronomy Day. We may want to take a good loolc at how best we can do this next time. All of us that were there truly had a great time.

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DOBSON ON DOBSONIANS

When John Dobson came upon the scene of amateur astronomy, he gave it a much needed shot-in-the-arm. His innovative- approach': to building telescopes brought large scopes within the reach of the amateur society, scopes they never dreamed possible. He never sought to capitalize from his innovation,he just seemed content to share it with everyone. Once, when thanked by someone who had just finished looking through one of his telescopes, he quipped, "Don't thank me, it's your universe!" Now we have a book by the guru himself. It titled HOW AND WHY TO MAKE A USER-FRIENDLY SIDEWALK TELESCOPE.lt is edited by Norman Sperling and is sold through Everything in the Universe, 5248 Lawton Ave, Oakland, Calif., 94618 The book is a little expensive, $39.95 + $5.00 shipping. The book is aimed at first time telescope makers and promises to become a classic and probably a collector's item. It is bound in Dobson's favorite building material, plywood. I feel the run will be rather small. If for nothing else, the purchase of this book will help to compensate John Dobson for all that he has given.

H E E T I K ( 6 -TUBS-DAY JVK/E 9 ) -1 I

ALACHUA ASTRONOMY CLUB FIRSTLIGHT EDITOR C. 3. Broward Rt. 2 Box 2915 Melrose, Fl 32S6S 475-1014/ 392-1051