August 2014

Comet C/2014E2 (Jacques) in August 2014

 

Jaque-08-01.jpg

 

Interesting imaging opportunities in the evening on Aug 12 as it passes within 50 arcmin of open cluster NGC 1528; quite low though,–only 10 above horizon in the NE. Much better circumstance  in the evening of Aug 19-20 as the comet passes through IC1848 and IC1845 (the heart and soul nebula). Astronomical darkness at 9:36pm and third quarter moon rises about 1:12 am. Comet midway between around 10.

 

Date

RA

Dec

Date

RA

Dec

Date

RA

Dec

8/10

04h29m

46⁰54’

8/17

03h29m

57⁰05’

8/24

00h56m

65⁰30’

8/11

04h23m

48⁰12’

8/18

03h15m

58⁰38’

8/25

00h24m

65⁰39’

8/12

04h17m

49⁰34’

8/19

02h59m

60⁰10’

8/26

23h52m

65⁰21’

8/13

04h10m

50⁰59’

8/20

02h40m

61⁰37’

8/27

23h20m

64⁰36’

8/14

04h01m

52⁰28’

8/21

02h19m

62⁰56’

8/28

22h50m

63⁰26’

8/15

03h52m

53⁰58’

8/22

01h54m

64⁰05’

8/29

22h23m

61⁰52’

8/16

03h41m

55⁰31’

8/23

01h26m

64⁰58’

8/30

21h58m

60⁰01’

 

James Fox 2014 Peltier Award Winner

Having been “bitten by the bug” as a young boy in the 1950s, Jim began his amateur astronomy “career” as a member of a “Junior Moon-Watch Team,” eagerly awaiting the launch of the first artificial Earth satellites during the International Geophysical Year toward the end of that decade. But, unlike the young man in Walt Whitman’s famous poem, he never tired of the “Learn’d Astronomer” and quickly grew tired of simply gazing up at the beauty of the stars. He wanted to “Do something to contribute.”

2014 Peltier Award presented to James Fox by Carroll Iorg, A.L. President at ALcon 2014 in San Antonio.

Like many amateur astronomers in the 1960s and 1970s, he made a variety of telescopes, grinding his own mirrors for many of them. But he always had that nagging urge to put them to use. While in college, Jim made a brief foray into variable star observing at the suggestion of a member of the astronomy department at Northwestern University where he was studying for an engineering degree. He admits that some “bribery” was involved.

After graduation, his local club joined the Astronomical League, and, at his first regional convention, Jim learned about the fascinating study of occultatioins – lunar grazing occultations in particular. During the next two decades, he led teams that successfully observed several dozen of these “grazes,” despite occasional encounters with deputy sheriffs, curious farmers and wandering cattle!

By the mid-1980s, Jim had a house and built his longtime dream: an observatory. Using his 8-inch refractor, Jim proceeded to make lunar and planetary observations for the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers. Seeing was not too bad, considering his location in the suburbs of a major metropolitan area. But that changed shortly after the Shumacher-Levy 9 comet impacted Jupiter.

Not to be deterred, Jim acquired an Optec SSP-3 photoelectric photometer and began making photometric measurements of various targets. The refractor was soon replaced with an SCT for better balance. First, he worked directly with researchers who requested observations via IAPPP, then through the PEP committee of AAVSO. He eventually added the remote planets of Uranus and Neptune to his observing program. With the integration time of several seconds on the photometer, Jim found that scintillation noise was smoothed out when compared to visual observing. He continues to make several hundred PEP observations per year, and he currently chairs the PEP Committee for AAVSO.

This year’s Leslie C. Peltier Award goes to Astronomical League Past President: Jim Fox

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