John W. brought the club’s contribution of a pork tenderloin.  Stan had the BBQ ready for John’s hamburger patties, hotdogs, and buns.  It didn’t take long to cook them up.  Everyone else brought their contributions to the menu promptly.  We placed all the yummy food on the table in the breezeway Gallery of the Planets, said a blessing, and filled our plates to enjoy.  There was potato salad, coleslaw, broccoli salad, green salad with tomatoes, Vidalia onions and lettuce, veggie platter, chicken salad, pasta salad, and more, with plenty of cold water, tea, and soft drinks.  Then there was dessert:  raspberry mousse, blueberry cobbler, brownies, and rice krispy treats.

Best of all, there was lots of excitement and camaraderie in the air.  Most of us found congenial groups outside on the patio, some in the breezeway, others gathered ‘round the table in the kitchen.  There was plenty of moving around on second and third helpings!  We got to know each other and our families better.   

As dusk began setting on us we started up to the hay field to get our scopes set up before dark.  Pat joined us there.  Some stayed to help clean up the table and put some things in the refrigerator, so it didn’t take long.

The night sky cleared up fairly well.  The evening temperature and occasional breeze were just lovely.  We had a great look at Saturn with Titan all evening long.  A few clouds challenged us to distinguish them from the Milky Way Galaxy, crossing the sky.  Clouds and light pollution kept us from a good view of the MWG’s center in Sagittarius, but we had a good view of Scorpius, its head, heart and stingers, Shaula and Lesath.  The summer triangle was high in the sky and made for good observing. 

This also got us started counting satellites, and Perseid meteors.  It wasn’t the peak night, and it wasn’t 2-4 AM, so we had a low count, but enough to keep us attentive and counting.

We reviewed the naked-eye sky, distinguishing constellations and asterisms, finding Polaris and the five circumpolar constellations/asterisms!  The younger adults enjoyed laying on towels to hear the story of Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Andromeda, Perseus, the Medusa Head, and Cetus.  They were concerned for Delphinus, in the Altair eye of Aquila the eagle. 

As the night progressed, some noted for the first time how the stars and constellations were moving through the sky.

Then there was plenty more to see in the scopes.  We had the club Meade 12” LX200 set up, the Televue Genesis 4” refractor, Steve’s 8”, and several other scopes.  Despite the considerable efforts of some members, we were not able to get the club telescopes automated, so we found the objects we wanted most, manually.

We checked out Saturn, Titan, possibly Rhea, Albireo, and the Andromeda Galaxy in more detail.

After 10PM people started leaving periodically, picking up any remaining food and containers at the house.  We brought the scopes in about midnight or thereafter.  It was a good night.

Our next meeting will be our monthly program at GRU on August 21. Hope to see you there. Clear Skies!!!

Respectfully submitted,

Tedda Howard, ACA Web Editor

for

Ray Owens, ACA Secretary

20150821ACASRHMin

The Astronomy Club of Augusta held its regular monthly club meeting on August 21, 2015, Friday at 7:00 PM, at the GRU New Science Center auditorium W1008. Twenty-eight members and guests attended.

Apparently there were a few business announcements (fill in here).

Stan Howard, our ACA Observing VP, presented our program titled “How to Make a Comet” After a brief introduction, however, it became apparent that Stan would not be giving the talk. Gandolf, most recently of “Lord of the Rings” fame, has an older brother, Gandorf, who upstaged his more famous little brother by making the presentation in his area of expertise, about Comet 67P and the Rosetta/Philae reconnaissance/landing mission. The presentation had a scientific inclination somewhere between cosmology and cosmetology. It seems that Gandorf has recently been trying to learn some of the new (since 1509) European methods of discovery rather than solely relying on his previously assumed 1066 vintage “knowledge” often employed by those of the wizard/alchemist/astrologer ilk of his time. To ease the audience’s apprehension of dealing with the ancient Middle Earth language, he further tried to deliver his message through his new ventriloquistic study of “modern Texas English”, much like that Stan typically uses, which sometimes confuses normal southerners from South Carolina and Georgia.

After a rather convoluted explanation of why Gandorf should appear rather than Stan (I think it had something to do with the fake beard), Gandorf proceeded to step the audience through some current information about comets in general, and Comet 67P “Chury” in particular. In a “nut” shell, Gandorf told whatever he could remember of comets and the challenge of getting a craft to the comet. Paring away the unintelligible ramblings, his message was geared something along the following lines.

Rosetta is a cornerstone mission to chase, go into close orbit around, and land on a comet’s nucleus, while watching how the comet is transformed by the warmth of the Sun along its elliptical orbit.

It is studying the Jupiter-family Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, (two of Stan’s best Commie buddies – Pictorial evidence proves it.) with a combination of remote sensing and in-situ measurements.

The spacecraft arrived at the comet on August 06, 2014 following a 10-year journey through the Solar System. Between August and November, the Rosetta spacecraft orbited the comet and gathered data to characterize the environment and the comet nucleus. On November 12, 2014, Philae, Rosetta's lander, was deployed to the surface. Philae carried a suite of instruments for imaging and sampling the comet nucleus. Though the Philae craft made a bouncy crash landing, it did manage to provide some information to the world through the Rosetta orbiter as it tracked the comet through perihelion (August 2015), examining its behavior before, during and after. At the time of the presentation, the final fate of the lander was unknown.

The audience was presented with pertinent facts and speculations concerning the comet, the orbiter, and the lander, including some speed, size, and characterizations of each. The entire PowerPoint presentation, along with personal notes, is available on request for anyone wishing to learn more.

After the PowerPoint presentation, Gandorf asked his good friend Kenneth Beard to join in an exhibition of “making” a comet. Note that no actual comet was produced or harmed in the demonstration, which consisted of mixing as many household compounds that have been found on this and/or other comets. Some autistic license may have been taken to liven the impact of the demonstration. Many ingredients of a comet were included, most notable were organics (Carbon compounds with Oxygen, Nitrogen and Hydrogen), though no claim as to the relative percentages of each were made. Recent information has concluded that thin particles of silica, rocky material, frozen carbon dioxide, water, and several other compounds that sublimate or can be dispersed when the comet approaches the Sun. Luckily, Kenneth’s “smoke filled comet” was able to hold together better than Gandorf’s, so a visualization of the sublimation effect could be observed.

Enthusiastic discussions followed in the conference room as a wonderful array of snacks were provided by Victor and Kathy L.

Respectfully submitted,

Stan Howard, ACA VP Observing

for

Ray Owens, ACA Secretary


Additions:

We have been blessed that all of our speakers have had a sense of humor. We like the exposition to be entertaining if possible. Astronomy/science is supposed to be fun. Anyone there for the lecture I think will never forget Grog the caveman and astronomy. I had been warned the night before that he would ask me to assist and I was working on my serious science demeanor. I had no idea that I was to encounter him as Gandalf, in full Wizard regalia. And for a moment I thought I was being turned into a Halloween Witch. I prefer to think of myself as Mr. Bilbo Baggins but I remain a bit fuzzy on that. I hope our impromptu comic duo humor was not too offensive. I believe Stan managed to be very technically informative and very entertaining and that double feat is quite an act to pull off. Of course I might be a wee bit prejudiced.

Respectfully submitted,

Kenneth Beard, ACA VP Programs