Jack Horkheimer’s Passing

The Astronomical League has received the sad word that Jack Horkheimer, Public Television’s  Star Gazer for 30 years, has died. 

He was a long time supporter of the League, including his sponsorship of the League’s Horkheimer Service and Horkheimer Youth Journalism awards.  In addition to being a giant in the planetarium field, many amateur astronomers were honored to hear him speak at various League ALCons, regional conventions and star parties.

He will definitely be missed.

Here is the link for the news story:

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/20/1785361/star-gazer-host-jack-horkheimer.html

As Jack always said “Keep looking up”.

First Annual International Observe the Moon Night - September 18, 2010

An exciting new program, International Observe the Moon Night, joins NASA with amateur astronomers across the country and the world. The goal is to bring a greater understanding of the Moon to the public. 

Expert presentations from leading researchers and lunar mission leads will be webcasted from NASA locations to enhance the first-hand observations conducted at International Observe the Moon Night events. The website  http://observethemoonnight.org will feature downloadable materials that participating astronomy clubs and other organizations can  use to supplement  their events.

The League would like to hear from clubs that participate in this special event.

Aperture Isn’t Everything

By Bill Pellerin
Houston Astronomical Society
GuideStar Editor

When amateur astronomers get together and talk about their telescopes, they usually discuss the aperture of the telescope first. Why? Because it is easy to determine, in fact, it is probably the parameter that is of most interest to knowledgeable telescope buyers.

Professional observatories make great efforts, and spend a lot of money, to increase the effective aperture of their telescopes. The Keck telescopes in Hawaii combine the light from two mirrors (two telescopes, really) providing an aperture of 280 feet and a resolution of 5 milli-arcseconds. At Mount Wilson, there is the Infrared Spatial Interferometer – three 65” telescopes, spaced up to 279 feet apart to get high-resolution infrared images.

The next most discussed parameter is focal ratio, which is stated as f/10 or f/5, whatever it is. This number defines the focal ratio, the aperture = the focal length (f) divided by the focal ratio. Or, the focal length = the aperture * the focal ratio. The focal ratio is of great importance to those who image the sky.

Dark Nebulae Club

Dark Nebulae Club Chair

Astronomical League Dark Nebula Club PinKathy Machin
4845 N Smalley Ave.
Kansas City, MO   64119
E-mail: kmachin@kc.rr.com

Introduction:

Dark nebulae were once thought to be holes in the Milky Way. This viewpoint changed as astronomers such as E.E. Barnard started serious study of the dark areas and photography was developed as a useful tool to study the heavens. These pioneers discovered that dark nebulae were not holes in the Milky Way but obscuring interstellar dust clouds blocking our view. These dust clouds may be small, dusty star forming regions, or may be portions of larger dark lanes of galactic dust. Other dusty spiral galaxies clearly show similar dark lanes and patches.

Observing the Objects:

Guy Ottewell's 2011 Astronomical Calendar

The 2011 Astronomical Calendar: 

Specially priced for League members

 

The Astronomical League is pleased to announce a special offer for our members from the Universal Workshop, the producers of Guy Ottewell’s popular Astronomical Calendar. They are making the 2011 edition of the Astronomical Calendar available at a discounted price. There are plenty of good reasons why it has been published for over thirty years. The 2011 edition will not disappoint!

 

Packed throughout its 84 pages are monthly sky charts; daily celestial highlights; charts, tables, and explanations of planetary movements; eclipse times and paths; and lunar occultation specifics. There are extensive descriptions of the year’s meteor showers and periodic comets, as well. This calendar tells, in clear language, what events occur and when they happen.

 

Doubling Up on Double Stars

By Bill Pellerin, GuideStar Editor

Houston Astronomical Society

The Astronomical League has a Double Star Club, which I highly recommend (and which I completed some years ago). The program requires you to observe 100 double stars and to record those observations in an observing log with a drawing of the double star (anybody can put a pair, or more, of dots in a circle).

If that is not enough double star observing for you, there are additional resources that you can use to continue your double star observing program. The two books that I will review for this article will keep you in the double star observing business for a long time. Which of these two books is appropriate for you depends on how you like to go about your observing program.

The two books are:

Press release for Astroleague Youth Awards (NYAA and Horkheimer Awards)


(Presentations to be made at National Convention in Tucson, Arizona)

(Kansas City, MO)--The Astronomical League is pleased to announce the top finishers in the competitions for its National Young Astronomers Award Program (NYAA) and the Jack Horkheimer Award Program.

The first-place winner in the NYAA program is Andrew Hitchner, Norristown, Pennsylvania. His project was entitled “A Study in Stellar Spectroscopy.” Tongji Li, Hershey, Pennsylvania, was awarded second-place in this competition for her work “Will Humans Become Extinct Like the Dinosaurs Did?” Third place was awarded to Erika Tinley, Tucson, Arizona, for “The Geometry of Active Galactic Nuclei as Evidenced by their Emission Line Spectra.” The first-place winner receives an all-expenses- paid trip to ALCon 2010, the national convention of the Astronomical League, being held in late June in Tucson, Arizona. The top three finishers receive beautiful plaques to commemorate their outstanding achievements. The NYAA is generously supported by Explore Scientific, which also provides one of its great telescopes to the first-place winner.

Flat Galaxies Club

Introduction & Overview

 

Detection of shape and form in galaxies is a visual challenge. As a general class of galaxies, edge-on galaxies are a pleasant yet demanding change of pace. A subclass of edge-on galaxies are flat galaxies which are defined as having a diameter larger than 40 arc-seconds and a major to minor axis ratio of >= 71. This unique brand of galaxies is used as a tool for studying large scale motions and distances. Karachentsev et al1 published the fact that there is a tight correlation between their linear diameter and the width of the 21cm line that can be detected. There are thousands of flat galaxies catalogued1,2 with many of them well beyond the limit of visual observations. The galaxies selected are brighter than 15th magnitude, with the majority well within the range of amateur telescopes.

Purpose & Significance

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