SASKATOON SKIES OCTOBER 2014 1

Vol. 45, No. 10 October 2014

These two cover photos of the Victoria General Assembly taken and submitted by Tenho Tuomi show The

Dominion Astrophysical Observatory on the back of a t-shirt and “The Duchess and the Queen” opening the

RASC GA banquet. To see more of Tenho’s photos from the GA go to page 7 of this issue.

Saskatoon Centre The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada

P.O. Box 317, RPO University Saskatoon, SK S7N 4J8

WEBSITE: http://www.usask.ca/rasc/

E -MAIL: rmwaldron@shaw.ca To view Saskatoon Skies in colour, see

our Website: http://www.usask.ca/rasc/newsletters.html

In This Issue:

Membership Information / Bottle Drive / Officers of the Centre

2

U of S Observatory Hours / Light Pollution Abatement Website

2

Calendar of Events / Notice of Meeting 3

Minutes of the September Meeting – James Gorkoff 4

Astronomy Night at Sleaford 2014 – Jeff Swick 5

Observer’s Group Notes – Larry Scott 6

Sky Buys and Mirror Cells 6

Online Webinars – submitted by Rick Huziak 7-9

Important Message from the President 10

Observing Clubs and Certificates 10

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Regular: $82.00 /year Youth: $43.00 /year Family: $77/year

The Saskatoon Centre operates on a one-year revolving membership. You will be a member for the next 12 months no matter when in the year you join. If you do not want to join at this time, ask to get onto our FREE 3-month Temporary Membership list. You will receive regular mailings of our Saskatoon Skies newsletter and will be invited to participate in Centre activities. Members are encouraged to renew

early to avoid disruption in publications. Renew through the National Office at http://www.rasc.ca/join-us

Benefits of Membership in the Saskatoon Centre • knowledgeable & friendly amateur astronomers

• use of the Sleaford Observatory

• use of the U of S Observatory (after training)

• Saskatoon Skies Newsletter

• Observer’s Handbook

• Journal of the RASC (electronic format)

• SkyNews Magazine (bimonthly)

• use of the Centre library

• borrow the Centre’s Data Projector to give astronomy outreach presentations – contact Les Dickson at astrochem@sasktel.net

• rent the Centre's Telescopes http://homepage.usask.ca/ges125/rasc/telescopes.html

• discounts to Sky &Telescope Magazine*

• free, no-cost, no-obligation, 3-month temporary membership if you don ’t want to join right now!

*New subscription or renewal of Sky &Telescope? Send new info or renewal notice, plus credit card # to Norma Jensen, 128 – 4th Street East,

Saskatoon, SK S7H 1H8, or email her at norj@sasktel.net.

SASKATOON CENTRE’S

MAIN OFFICERS:

President – James Gorkoff, 306-644-1343 Secretary – Tenho Tuomi, 306-858-2453

Vice-President – Jim Goodridge, 306-370-8530

Treasurer – Norma Jensen, 306-244-7360

Bottle Drive & Canadian Tire $

By Jim Goodridge

If you cannot make it to a meeting but would like to contribute your Canadian Tire money please call me at 306-370-8530

Newsletter Editor – Ron Waldron Copy & Collate – Les & Ellen Dickson Labels & Temps – Mark de Jong Web Posting – Gord Sarty Saskatoon Skies is published monthly by the Saskatoon Centre of the RASC. Distribution is approximately 100 copies per issue. Saskatoon Skies welcomes unsolicited articles, sketches, photographs, cartoons, and other astronomy or space science material. Submissions should be sent by e-mail to the editor at rmwaldron@shaw.ca win msword or text format. Images: .jpg please, no larger than 1 – 1.5 MB, sent by e-mail as attached files. Deadline for submission of all articles for an upcoming issue is the first Friday of the month!

A separate by-mail subscription to Saskatoon Skies is available for $15.00 per year. Saskatoon Skies is also posted on our Saskatoon Centre homepage as a .pdf file and can be downloaded free-of-charge. Members may choose to receive the newsletter by regular mail or via the Internet. Articles may be reprinted from Saskatoon Skies without expressed permission (unless otherwise indicated), provided that proper source credit is given. Saskatoon Skies accepts commercial advertising. Please call the editor 306-382-9428 for rates. Members can advertise non-commercial items free of charge.

MEMBERSHIP? JOIN TODAY!

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Oct 8 Total Eclipse of the Moon (early morning event) Ron Waldron

Oct 18 Sleaford Open House Stan Shadick

Oct 20 RASC Executive Meeting Annual General Meeting and Elections

Jim Gorkoff

Oct 23 Partial Eclipse of the Sun ~ 72% obscured Ron Waldron

Oct 25 Observer’s Group at Sleaford Larry Scott

Nov 15 Observer’s Group at Sleaford Larry Scott

Nov 17 RASC Executive and General Meeting Jim Gorkoff

Dec 13 Observer’s Group at Sleaford Larry Scott

Dec 13 / 14 Geminid Meteor Shower

Dec 15 RASC Christmas Potluck Social – No Executive Meeting

For a complete list of club events, please check out: http://www.usask.ca/rasc/activities.html

RASC CALENDAR OF EVENTS

General Meeting

for all members and guests

Room 175 Physics Bldg University of Saskatchewan

Monday, Oct. 20th at 8:00 PM

Program

1. Annual General Meeting and Elections

2. Aperture Fever and Coma Correction – James Goodridge Jim will talk about why bigger is better and what strategies you can use

to get the most from the aperture you have. This will include

information on coma correctors and the “most important accessory for

amateur astronomy”.

3. Edmonton’s The Northern Prairie Star Party – Rick Huziak Rick attended the NPSP at the end of September. He will give an

overview of this star party and will give you lots of reasons to attend

this event in the future.

Note: there will be an Executive meeting at 7:00 PM

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Present for the executive meeting were Jim Goodridge, Jim Gorkoff, Jim Young, Les and Ellen Dickson, Ron Waldron and Rick Huziak. "Moved by Les Dickson and Jim Goodridge that the minutes of the June 16 10 Executive meeting be accepted as distributed. Ellen noted that there was a typographical error on page 4 and the minutes were then moved as corrected and Carried.

Committee Reports:

• Vice-President's Report - Jim Goodridge advised that a new banner has been obtained for the Centre and one for SSSP

• Treasurer's report - Jim Gorkoff gave the report on behalf of Norma Jensen and advised that teh books were up to date and that put out a plea that all accounrts and deposits should be submitted to Norma as soon as possible so that they can be properly reflected in our year end accounts

• Fundraising Report – Jim Goodridge announced that he planned to re-introduce the Sobey's program next month.

• Observing Coordinator Report – Absent.

• Newsletter Report – Ron Waldron announced that the deadline for the next newsletter is Oct 3

• Sleaford Site Report – Absent

• Events Coordinator Report – Jim Goodridge advised that the Sleaford open house will be October18.

• SSSP Report – Jim Goodridge advised that even though more rain fell than over 300 people stayed the whole weekend and enjoyed themselves. 100.4 mm of rain fell between Wednesday and Monday with 60 mm falling on Friday alone. Sale of Badges and Pins exceeded $200.00 and the Science shop sold its wares in a room in the convention facility.

• National Report - Tenho was absent and Ron Waldron advised that this month’s report could be found in the current newsletter

• Saskatchewan Light Pollution Abatement Committee – Rick Huziak reported that the lights in the service center and the toilets in the meadows are being changed. He also advised that the Province is adopting a standard design for lighting in all parks. He advised that he will be speaking at "Gone Wild" on Oct 25.

Other Business: i) Event participation was discussed generally and specifically in respect of Gone Wild and Stem Fest. It was decided that we would not participate in Gone Wild, other than to the extent of Rick's presentation and that we would consider Stem Fest later as it is set for September 27 to Oct 3 of next year.look seriously at Stem Fest ii) The possibility of appointing a Public Relations Officer but no determinations were made other than that Jeff Swick seemed to be fulfilling that role; iii) Our insurance insured us for 10 events of which 7 are already spoken for; so to the extent that we want coverage for a specific event we should specifically identify it with executive; otherwise the participants may not be covered under our local insurance policy; iv) Jim Gorkoff advised that Stephen Germann had made an offer to the centre respecting the sale of a mechanized platform at a discount to centres so that they could try it out; v) An election committee was struck with Jim Gorkoff, Jim Goodridge and Les and Ellen Dickson as members. The meeting was adjourned at approximately 8:15. An informal General Meeting was convened thereafter. New attendees were introduced. Jim Gorkoff gave a short presentation on the upcoming bylaws. Discussion was made as to whether the draft bylaws should be published in the newsletter or placed on the website. Thereafter Jim Goodridge gave a presentation on SSSP2014 with the help of pictures by George Charpentier."

Minutes of the September Meeting – James Gorkoff S’s

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The week of September 21st to 28th was one of the best we've had in a while. Clear skies and warm temperatures resulted in at least four nights with observers at Sleaford, though some nights were better than others. On Thursday, the 25th, the dust and chaff from the surrounding fields being harvested chased us home prematurely and the Observer's Group on the 27th was clouded out. Other nights were so warm and pleasant we were able to observe in just a long-sleeved shirt (and pants, of course.) Most evenings we were treated to flyovers from hundreds of waterfowl as they were winging south. We also had some four legged visitors in the warm-up shelter which were not so welcome. Efforts are ongoing to clear them out and keep them out. With regard to this, please take all garbage home with you as the mice are less likely to stay if we're not serving them up a picnic. Also, please be aware of a wasp nest on the south side of the new shed which will be removed prior to the Open House. Our next opportunity for moonless evenings starts around October 14th and ends near October 28th. During this period we've scheduled the Sleaford Open House on the 18th and the Observers Group on the 25th. There's also a lunar eclipse on the 8th and a partial solar eclipse on the 23rd. Lots of activities this month so start planning now for the ones you want to attend. Hope to see people at some or all of these events. Stay tuned to our yahoo! site for more info as these dates approach.

FOR SALE - Celestron 12" Starhopper Dobsonian

Telescope with very nice ball-bearing swivel base

- Celestron finder scope - Telrad with mount (not pictured)

- Meade 14mm 82º UWA eyepiece

- Antares SWA 9.4mm Series 2 Speers Waler eyepiece with adapter

- Antares W70 14mm eyepiece - Celetron E-lux 32 eyepiece - Moon filter - Laser collimator - Backyard Astronomers Guide -

Dickinson & Dyer - Star Watch - Harrington - Sky & Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas This telescope and all accessories/books have only been used a couple of times and everything is in mint condition. Asking $650 for everything listed. Offers will be considered. Additional photos available by request. Contact Mike at 306-717-2252 or mjs1766@gmail.com

Observer’s Group Notes – Larry Scott S’s

SKY BUYS AND MIRROR CELLS S’s

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Upper Left - Victoria Centre's club observatory and telescope on the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory grounds.

Upper Right - Dominion Astrophysical Observatory 72 inch telescope.

Upper Left - Jack Newton's old observatory near Pearson College

Upper Right - Jack Newton's 25inch telescope.

Upper Left - University of Victoria's observatory on top of the Wright building.

Upper Right - University of Victoria's 32inch telescope.

More Pictures from Victoria GA – Tenho Tuomi

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Webinar: Astrophotography and Eclipses

October 6th 2014

Description

Discover the Universe is happy to welcome Alan Dyer as our guest speaker for this special webinar. Alan Dyer is a well-known Canadian astrophotographer, author and astronomy educator. Recently retired from the TELUS Spark science centre in Calgary where he has spent the last 30 years producing planetarium shows, Alan is also the associate editor of the magazine SkyNews and author of several astronomy guidebooks and children’s books. His astrophotos have been featured on many famous astronomy websites and magazines. You can see his photos on his website: amazingsky.net.

Alan will talk to us about his astrophotography adventures, including many worldwide expeditions to chase solar eclipses. You will learn about different astronomical phenomena and be amazed at the beauty of his photographs. Alan will also give us information about the upcoming eclipses visible from Canada: a lunar eclipse on October 8th and a partial solar eclipse on October 23rd 2014.

Monday October 6th at 12:00 Noon CST

This presentation is free and will be recorded for those who cannot join us live (you still need to register).

Sign Up for This Workshop To register for this course, you must log in or sign up on Discover the Universe. It's fast and free !

Workshop for Teachers 2014

October 20th to November 7th 2014

Description

Is astronomy part of your school curriculum but you feel uncomfortable teaching it to your students? Would you like to feel more confident and better prepared to answer the many questions your students may have?

If so, then this workshop is for you!

Discover the Universe offers an online astronomy workshop especially designed for teachers. You will discover fascinating topics in astronomy, all connected to your school curriculum. The main part of the workshop will be a weekly one-hour videochat (webinar). This webinar will be on Tuesdays at 5:30pm (Central) but a recording will be available for those who cannot participate live. You can then easily include this workshop in your busy schedule! This workshop may also require up to 2-3 hours every week spent on research, reading or completing the recommended activities. The only requirements are a high speed internet connection and a set of speakers or headphones for your computer.

Series of Three Webinars Available Online

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Who is it for?

The topics covered in the workshop are found in the pan-Canadian grade 6 curriculum. Since every province adapts this curriculum to their own needs, we invite interested teachers from grades 5 through 8 to join us. The main topics covered during the workshop are:

• the sky and the constellations;

• motions of the Earth and the seasons;

• Moon phases and eclipses;

• the solar system.

Astronomy is a vast subject and it would be impossible to cover entirely in a few hours! This workshop will help you gain more confidence teaching astronomy and know where to get more resources.

At the end of this workshop you will...

• be more familiar with many astronomical topics in your school curriculum;

• have interesting activities ready to use in class;

• have access to teaching material adapted to your class;

• be more familiar with the sky through observations made during this workshop;

• have discovered some tricks and tips which will help you teach astronomy;

• overall feel better equipped to teach this fascinating subject to your students!

October 20th to November 7th 2014

Register now!For more information, please do not hesitate to contact our coordinator, Julie Bolduc-

Duval, at julie@discovertheuniverse.ca. We will be happy to answer your questions

Webinar: The TMT and the Canadian Contribution

November 26th 2014

Description

The next generation of telescopes will have mirrors 30 or 40 metres across. Canada has been involved in the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project for many years and construction is now beginning on the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. For this webinar, our guest speaker will be Luc Simard, an astrophysicist involved with the TMT since the beginning. He will give us an overview of the project and the role Canadian astronomers are playing in this international endeavour.

Wednesday November 26th at 1 PM CST This presentation is free and will be recorded for those who cannot join us live (you still need to register).

Register now! This webinar will also be presented in French.

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Join the Club! Observe all 110 Messier, 110 Finest NGC, 400 Herschel I or II, 140 Lunar, 154 Sky Gems or 35 Binocular objects, or Explore the Universe and earn great OBSERVING CERTIFICATES!

MESSIER CLUB Certified at 110 Objects: R. Huziak, G. Sarty, S. Alexander,

S. Ferguson, D. Jeffrey, D. Chatfield, B.

Christie, K. Noesgaard,

M. Stephens, B. Hydomako, T. Tuomi, L.

Scott, G. Charpentier, B. Johnson, M.

Clancy, L. Dickson, B. Burlingham, K.

Houston, Norma Jensen

Ron Waldron 105

Wade Selvig 75

Garry Stone 57

Bernice Friesen 45

Wayne Schlapkohl 43

Barb Wright 40

Ellen Dickson 34

Jeff Swick 24

Graham Hartridge 9

Chatfield BINOCULAR CERTIFICATE

Certified at 35 to 40 Objects: M. Stephens, T. Tuomi, M. Clancy,

R. Huziak, K. Maher

Jim Goodridge Up! 12

FINEST NGC CLUB Certified at 110 Objects: R. Huziak, D. Jeffrey, G. Sarty,

D. Chatfield, T. Tuomi

Larry Scott Done! 110

Scott Alexander 97

Norma Jensen 72

Sandy Ferguson 23

Kathleen Houston 23

George Charpentier 13

Mike Clancy 7

EXPLORE the UNIVERSE Certified at 55 to 110 Objects: M. Clancy, T. Tuomi, K. Maher,

B. Gratias

Wayne Schlapkohl Done 55

Sharon Dice 31

Jim Goodridge Up! 35

Isabel Williamson Lunar Observing Certificate Certified at 140 Objects: T. Tuomi

Norma Jensen 133

Jeff Swick 29

HERSCHEL 400 CLUB Certified at 400 Objects: D. Jeffrey, R. Huziak, D. Chatfield, T.

Tuomi

Gordon Sarty 251

Scott Alexander 117

Sandy Ferguson 18

Larry Scott 20

HERSCHEL 400-II CLUB

Darrell Chatfield Done! 400

Rick Huziak 246

Tenho Tuomi 253

LEVY DEEP-SKY GEMS Certified at 154 Objects:

Tenho Tuomi 150

Darrell Chatfield 70

The Messier, Finest NGC and David Levy’s Deep-Sky Gems lists can be found in the Observer's Handbook. The Explore the Universe list is available on the National website.

On-line Messier and Finest NGC lists, charts and logbooks: http://www.rasc.ca/observing On-line Herschel 400 List: http://www.astroloeague.org/al/obsclubs/herschel/hers400.html

Binocular List is at: http://homepage.usask.ca/%7Eges125/rasc/Chatfield_Binocular_List.pdf "Isabel Williamson Lunar Observing Program Guide:

http://www.rasc.ca/observing/williamson-lunar-observing-certificate Program details can be found at: http://www.rasc.ca/williamson/index.shtm

Observing Clubs and Certificates S’s

***IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT***

Draft Bylaws - In furtherance of changes to the bylaws for National and in keeping with good governance the Centre is in the process of updating its bylaws. Members should check the web site for a copy of the draft bylaws after the 9th of October."