NEWSLETTER FORMAT
There are several reasons that it makes sense to do this. First, we would save almost $2OO.OO a year in postage. The USPS has just announced they are increasing the postage again.
Second, we would be helping the environment by saving on paper and using fewer chemicals to print the newsletter.
Third, the newsletter would be posted on the web site and the Yahoo site for download. This would stop the problem of getting lost or damaged in the mail, and you would not worry about
misplacing it.
This is something that I am just looking into. If we go this way it would not be until next year. We can still have some printed that will be available at the quarterly meetings. We would make
the quarterly meeting date available on the previous newsletter. I would like everyone’s input on this. Could you please give me a call or send me an e-mail and let me know what you all think? Thanks!
brian.hawkes@verizon.net
WINTER CONSTELLATIONS PROMINENTLY
DISPLAYED
Nothing makes me contemplate the why and wherefore of the Universe more than looking at a galaxy in my backyard through a telescope.
Here on my own piece of earthly real estate, photons of light are hitting the back of my eyeball after traveling, let's say, 35 million miles at the speed of light. The galaxy I'm looking at has a designation of M1O4, and is called the Sombrero Galaxy. It is just one of dozens of galaxies that anybody can see through a a modest telescope.
It's spring galaxy time! The entire southeastern night sky is an open window into our celestial neighborhood in the vast Universe.
Most of the year the nights are filled with lots of nearby stars in our own Milky Way galaxy.
But during the months of April and May, our orbit around the Sun places Earth in an area where we can look away from our own galaxy and into the the rest of the Universe. And much of it is occupied by galaxies of all sizes and shapes but containing thousands of millions of stars.
There is no Moon in the evening skies for the next two weeks, and amateur astronomers everywhere are getting out their telescopes.
At 9PM DST, the huge constellation of Virgo occupies the southeast part of the night sky, and it is absent of any bright stars except one exceptionally bright one, called Spica.
Virgo is famous for its dozens of galaxies easy to find with a backyard telescope. This area of the night sky is known as the Realm of the Galaxies. We are literally looking out a window away from our Milky Way, and seeing our neighbors.
QUARTERLY MEETING
LOCAL GROUP E-GROUP
FOR SALE
BAADER WHITE-LIGHT FILTER
for a 1O" SCT telescope.
No damage, in very good condition.
New $14O, asking $1OO firm.
Call Art Mullis 813-774-98O2 or
armullis@tampabay.rr.com
6” f/1O Unitron/Jaegers refractor w/ 6Omm f/16 Unitron guide scope; both with Unitron Unihex eyepiece turrets; finder scopes on both. Pedestal/equatorial mount on 5” casters for easy moving, LEDs. Full hardwood case w/ internal lighting. $15OO.
6” Celestron Newtonian reflector on xtra-heavy eq. mount (includes polar gude scope); old style, heavy duty, no plastic parts; wooden tripod legs; on castered LED lighted base. Excellentoptics! $45O.OO.
5” JAX rich-field refractor; Swarovski lenses, D&B R&P focusing; on mica-covered hardwood alt-az mount; built-in 1.25” and 2” eyepiece holders; w/ fitted hardwood-and-mica case.
$12OO.OO.
(2) 6Omm rich-field refractors; Zeiss triplet lens system; tripod mount base plate. $1OO.OO each.
(2) 4” JAX rich-field refractors; f/3.5 ~ f/2O iris control f-stops; solid; tripod mounting plate, carry handle. $3OO.OO each.
25x1OO Celestron binos; new & unused. $375.OO
Call Jack Lavely at 941-756-1393
NEW MEMBERS
You can revisit “The History of The Local Group” a 20 year retrospective, at:
LOCAL GROUP HISTORY
CROWLEY OBSERVING SESSIONS
Any other questions?
DIRECTIONS TO AND RULES FOR ALTERNATE OBSERVING SITE
15.4 miles east of I-75
MAIN GATE
I obtained GPS coordinates from Google Earth. These are guesstimations only as topography does not match old aerial photos displayed on Google. Main gate is 27.28’.25.51” N 82.13’13.68” W.
NOW THE RULES!
Observing sessions are dependant on the weather, however, since this site drains quickly, if weather clears before dark, we may still be on for that night. Admission to the site is free.
CAVEATS
PLANNING AN OBSERVING SESSION
A word about my cell phone practices: While I am at work the cell is on all the time and in my patrol car. I may not answer it right away so, leave a message and I will call you back. Also, there are dead spots on Anna Maria Island that make reception bad, leave a message, I’ll call you back. Be aware that leaving a message is not instantaneous, give it/me time. The Police dept. I work for does not provide the cell phone or pay for it’s use, therefore, it stays in the car even if I don’t.
When an observing session is planned for B.F.E., it will be posted on our Yahoo Group A.S.A.P.
B.F.E. Info PDF
Any questions or further help needed, call or e-mail me.
UPCOMING MEETINGS & EVENTS: 2008
Brian Hawkes
Recently I have had several club members ask if they could receive the newsletter electronically and in PDF format. I have asked many of the members about this. Most that I have talked to like the idea.
941-342-9632
Mark Marquette
Bays Mountain Astronomers
Our summer meeting will be held Tuesday night, July 8th(7PM) at the Central Library in downtown Bradenton.
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/tlgbradenton/
3/16” 1st-SURFACE MIRRORS
from rear-projection televisions. Many available.
Call Brian Roberg at 794.53O8
Joe Biederman and Adam Koeppel.
As of this mailing, the Local Group newsletter reaches 75 members/families and 11 other correspondents.
Crowley observing sessions are always dependent on local weather conditions. Admission to the site is free, but donations are accepted.
The Crowley Museum & Nature Center is near the north gate to Myakka State Park, (164O5 Myakka Road — phone 322-1OOO). Go all the way out (east) to the end of Fruitville Road then turn right. It’s 2.5 more miles on the left. There are restrooms
and limited electricity at the covered museum area. You should try to arrive by nightfall, as dark sky rules will be observed. After-dark arrivals should approach the site with parking lights only - NO headlights please!
Be careful and watch for telescopes set up in the parking area. We will have the combination to the gate lock for your preferred departure time. It’s up to us to leave the site as if we had never been there. Let’s work to make that happen.
No pets or alcoholic beverages are allowed - if you are a smoker, the site is not your ashtray - either take it home or leave it home.
If you anticipate leaving early (before midnight), park your vehicle so that you will not need to back up to exit. Exit with parking lights only, with a group member to escort you until you are clear of the observing area. And please... ask before you light upthe site with any bright light. This is for the benefit of all who are already dark-adapted as well as the camera shutters that may be open for long time exposures.
Contact Mark Wojcul, Brian Hawkes or Tom Wolf
I have many mileage readings to assist all members of the group in locating our new alternate observing site therefore, it will not matter what route you take to get there, I should have something for everyone. The site, known as (B.F.E.) is (all measurements are on SR-64):
11.3 miles east of RYE RD
10.5 miles east of LORRAINE RD
6.4 miles east of Bradenton Motor Sports Park
5.2 miles east of Western entrance to CR-675
4.6 miles east of Eastern entrance to CR-675
2.9 miles east of VERNA-BETHANY RD
9/10 mile east of FORESTRY TOWER
2/10 mile east of KIBLER RANCH RD
On North side of SR-64, has address on sign of “30579” (30579 SR-64 East). There is also a very faded, approximately 2’X3’ Florida Gators flag at the gate (currently looks like a small white bed sheet).
From the main gate the designated observing site is an additional 5.4 miles north. The shell road that you will now be on makes a few turns, the last of which will bring you to the site. There is a large metal roofed, two story, building next to the site (B.F.E. field office). The site is a large shell covered “pad” that we can set up on, on the north side of the field office. North of the site (50’) is a small building that houses the generator which, we can use, if needed. North of the generator building (300’-500’) is a standard(?) sized building that houses facilities for our use. This building is used by the family that owns the property as a hunting camp (sleeping quarters). If anyone wants to catch stars all night or be there for the morning observations, Messier Marathons, etc., we can use the sleeping quarters.
Site could be 27.29’.51.42” N 82.13’44.27” W or 27.31’37.70” N 82.14’07.58” W
Someone needs to bring a handheld GPS unit to verify!
We need to contact the field foreman ahead of time (24-hours?) to make sure we won’t interfere with anything they have going on.
Gate needs to be closed at all times and made to appear to be locked while we are on property. Locked when last person leaves.
If you smoke, the property is not your ashtray, take it home or leave it at home. Trash must be picked up and we must leave the property as we found it. Lights, you should try to arrive by nightfall, as dark sky rules will be observed. After dark arrivals should approach the site with parking lights only – NO headlights please. Be careful and watch for telescopes set up in the area. If you anticipate leaving early, before everyone else, park your vehicle so that you will not have to back up to exit. Exit with parking lights only, with a group member to escort you, until you are clear of the observing area. And please… ask before turning on any bright lights. This is for the benefit of all who are dark adapted as well as the camera shutters that may be open for long time exposures.
No pets or alcoholic beverages are allowed.
This site/area is used by the family that owns the property, their friends and acquaintances as a business and for recreation. There may be times when we have to share our observing times with these individuals as they use their property for hunting, camping, four-wheeler riding and the like. Since we will be observing at night there should not be too much activity by them except for an occasional campfire or someone moving around. Deer are in large populations and eating the crops on the property. As such, the property has been granted a special permit by the State of Florida to hunt Deer at night and with a light. I was advised that most of the hunting that may be going on at night would be away from our observing site/vehicles/their campgrounds.
If we should plan an observing session and find ourselves in their company, please let them know who you are and where you will be and by all means invite them to have a look, we may find new members.
The field foreman has also requested that should we plan an observing session during a rare or special event (occultation, meteor shower, asteroid viewing, transit, etc.) that he and his immediate family would like to be notified of the special event and may attend.
Currently I am the only person (in our group) with a key to the property and contact info for notifying the field foreman. I trust that others will volunteer to be “Site Managers” of this site. Keys and info will be provided at that time.
Call me to plan an observing session. Some impromptu times may be OK also.
I have every-other Wednesday/Thursday then the following Monday/Tuesday and following Saturday/Sunday off. The pattern repeats again. Good nights that I could be available would be the night of the day that I last worked and the night of my first day off.
Here is my cell phone number (941) 228-5329
Here is my e-mail (only used at home/evenings):
dafuzz_9atyahoodotcom
(Exchange proper symbols for common words)
Driving time from my house to the site is 30 minutes.
Don’t forget that I/we must give adequate notice that we intend to use the site. Don’t call me at 4:00pm and want to go to the site that night. You can try and we may be able to swing it, some nights, but let’s not make a habit of it. I dislike groveling to get clearance to go!
B.F.E. Info in Word
Chip
July 2 New Moon
July 4 Earth @ aphelion
July 8 QUARTERLY MEETING @ Central Library, downtown Bradenton
July 9 Jupiter @ opposition
July 1O First quarter Moon; Mars .7° S of Moon
July 18 Full Moon
July 21 Full Moon Party @ Monty’s, Lakewood Ranch
July 25 Last quarter Moon
July 27 Delta Aquarid meteor shower
July 29 5Oth Anniversary of the founding of NASA
Aug 1 New Moon; total lunar eclipse @ extreme north latitudes
Aug 5 Double shadow transit on Jupiter
Aug 8 First quarter Moon
Aug 12 Perseid meteor shower
Aug 16 Full Moon
Aug 19 Full Moon Party @ Demetrios in Bradenton
Aug 23 Last quarter Moon
Aug 3O New Moon
Sept 1 Labor Day
Sept 6 Sidewalk Astronomy @ the Bradenton Riverfront
Sept 7 First quarter Moon; double shadow transit on Jupiter
Sept 15 Full Moon; Full Moon Party @ Sugar & Spice in Sarasota
Sept 22 Last quarter Moon
Sept 27 Crowley Observing Session
Sept 29 New Moon
CROWLEY SITE MANAGERS:
MARK WOJCUL - 78O-7827
BRIAN HAWKES - 3O2-3312
TOM WOLF - 737-6732
The e-group for the The Local Group can be accessed by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tlgbradenton/
* Don’t forget that your Sky and Telescope renewals are done without the need for going through the Group. Just follow the directions on your renewal notice!
**The new Sonny’s Real Pit Bar B-Que is located across from Cracker Barrel on the SR64 exit of I75. The street address is 631 - 67th Street Court East, phone number: 746-6166. Demetrios’ Pizza House is in Bradenton on Cortez Road, just west of Business 41, phone number: 758-6478. Demetrios’ Full Moon Parties are held on Tuesday nights - all other Full Moon Parties are held on Monday nights.
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