Wouldn’t it be great to be young again and to be entering amateur astronomy! Now is the time to start considering the Astronomical League’s youth awards for 2014: the National Young Astronomer Award (NYAA), the three Jack Horkheimer Youth Service Awards, and the Horkheimer/O’Meara Journalism Award.

If you know a young person who has been involved in an astronomy related research project — either of his or her own doing or though an educational institution — please consider nominating that person for the NYAA. He or she must be between 14 and 19 years of age.

If you know a League member, 18 years or younger, who has brought amateur astronomy to your club or to the public through outreach, presentations, writing, or observing, please consider nominating that person for one of the four Horkheimer Service Awards. One of these awards is more specialized than the others — the Horheimer/O’Meara Journalism Award. It requires a person who is 8 to 14 years of age to compose a 300 to 500 word essay on any science related topic. 

Since the deadlines for the National Young Astronomer Award is January 31, 2014 and for the Horkheimer Awards is March 31, 2014, now is the time for potential candidates to work on their projects and to participate in various astronomy events.

If you are a club officer, nominate them. If you don’t, no one else will! Complete information about each award can be found at www.astroleague.org/al/awards/awards.html

If you or someone you know has earned a Sky Puppy certification, we would like to hear from you. Please contact Aaron Clevenson, the interim Sky Puppy Observing Program Coordinator. Please let us know this information for your award: Your Name, Your Astronomy Club (or Member at Large), Date of the certificate, Number of the certificate. Thanks. Aaron Clevenson aaron@clevenson.org

A third new Observing Program has been added for your viewing enjoyment. The Occultation Program teaches you how to observe occultations and rewards you with a pin and certificate. For more information, see the Occultation Program Introduction page.

This time lapse consists of 90, fifteen second videos taken over the course of 90 minutes. Taken with the Lunt LS100THa scope and DMK-21 video camera. Processed with IC capture, AVIStack 2, Registax 5.1 and Dave's Video Stabilizer software for animation.

solaravi 082013 from Brian Kimball on Vimeo.

A new Hydrogen Alpha Solar Observing Program has been added to the many Astronomical League Observing Programs for your viewing enjoyment. This new Program looks fascinating. It is an addition to the existing Sunspotter Observing Program and will educate you on the finer aspects of our Sun. With Christmas coming up, I hope Santa will being me a H-alpha PST telescope so I can start this program myself.

After receiving my 43rd Observing Program certificate a month ago, I didn’t see any additional Observing Programs I wanted to start, until now. I just finished creating the web pages for the newest Bright Nebula Observing Program. Reading the requirements and looking at the Object List for the Program, I am excited to get started on this one and see what these nebulas look like in my telescope. Review the Introduction page and decide for yourself if this will be the next program you play with.

Members of the Astronomical League: we have Observing Programs that need new Coordinators.

These specific programs are on the list:
Asteroid Observing Program
Carbon Star Observing Program
Constellation Hunter Observing Program (Northern and Southern Skies)
Meteor Observing Program
Sky Puppies Observing Program
Solar System Observing Program
Urban Observing Program

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• “What telescope should I buy?”
• “How can I learn my way around the night sky?”
• “What can I see with my telescope?”

Outreach is all about connecting with the public. The Astronomical League has developed a series of downloadable outreach materials that do just that. They help answer questions commonly posed by the public and help spark curiosity about our fascinating hobby. These materials can be displayed at club activities and astronomy events such as Astronomy Day, school sessions, star parties and amateur conventions, and club meetings.

Simply download the pdf files on a CD and take it to a local printing shop (e.g., Kinkos). Many shops will print the materials in black and white on 20 lb paper for as low as $0.75 per square foot. Color printing will likely cost substantially more, which is why most layouts are designed in black and white. At some shops, the maximum paper width is 36 inches with no restriction on length. Indeed, banner posters many feet long can be printed. If your home printer allows banners, they can be printed on banner or “doodle” paper found in craft stores (e.g., Michael’s).

The aspect ratio (width to height) is given in the description of each poster. Therefore, the printed size can be any proportion of that ratio with no unintentional cropping as long as the maximum width doesn’t exceed 36 inches. For instance, a poster with a 2:3 aspect ratio that is originally designed to be 20 inches by 30 inches can also be enlarged to 24 inches by 36 inches.

Foam project boards (20 x 30 inches or 24 x 36 inches) or tri-fold display boards (36 x 48 inches) can be used as the backing support for the posters. These inexpensive rigid backs can be found at craft stores or in the craft section of discount retail stores. The materials can be temporarily mounted using binder clips. This allows posters to be quickly and easily switched with other posters.

Some posters feature questions with multiple choice answers. The correct answers lie hidden under a liftable flap made from a stiff card taped to the poster.

The ABCs of Star Gazing

How would you describe to a friend the size of a sky object, its distance from a particular star, its brightness, or its location on the celestial dome?
The ABCs of stargazing allow you to do just that!

Download “The ABCs of Star Gazing” as banner size (19.28 x 29.28 inch) PDF format 450 Kbytes or as letter size (8.5 x 11 inch) PDF format 101 Kbytes (Revised April 15, 2016).

The Need for Telescopes

Directly compares the apparent sizes of the moon, the bright planets, and a typical field of view of a low-powered telescope.

Download “The Need for Telescopes” as banner size (8.5×44 in.)  PDF 2.6 Mbytes) or as paper size (8.5×11 in.) PDF 987 Kbtyes 

Our Unnatural Night

Aspect ratio: 3:4.  Original design size: 36 inches x 48 inches.  Requires a lift able “Answer Flap” to conceal the answers to the nine questions posed. Simply tape (masking tape) the top edge of the flap to the top edge of the answer box.  Mounts to a 36 inch x 48 inch inexpensive tri-fold display board.  Describes how problem of light pollution affects us all.

Download in a poster format “Our Unnatural Night” (PDF Format 3.4 Mbytes) or as letter size trifold, 8.5 x 11 inch, front and back for two-sided printing.

Is that a Planet or a Star?

Aspect ratio: 2:3.  The visual differences between a planet and a star are noted along with a description of where the different bright planets can appear in the sky. The ecliptic is presented.

Download  “Is that a Planet or a Star?” as poster size 19.487 x 29.443 inch PDF format 296 Kbytes) or as letter size 8.5 x 11 inch 1,879 KBytes.

Seasons Change, Stars Change

Aspect ratio: 2:3.  Diagrams illustrate why different stars come into view as the Earth orbits the sun which causes the seasons to change.

Download “Seasons Change, Stars Change” (PDF format 444 Kbytes)

What is the best telescope for me?

Aspect ratio: 2:3.  Newcomers to the hobby are often confused as to what telescope they should buy. This guide gives them suggestions on what to consider and what is important.

Download “What is the best telescope for me?” as banner size (PDF format 428 Kbytes) or as page size (8.5×11 in.) PDF (1,8 Mbytes)

How is your knowledge of astronomy and stargazing?

Aspect ratio: 3 x 4.  The public will enjoy answering the questions posed on this 36 x 48 inch poster which fits nicely on a try-fold display board. Requires three liftable cardboard answer flaps. Use masking tape to tape the top edge of each cardboard flap to the top of the respective answer box.

Downoload “How is your knowledge of astronomy and stargazing?” (PDF format  5.4 Mbytes)  – Updated Oct 28, 2011

First Telescopic Observation Certificate

Certificate: landscape.  This 8 1/2 x 11 inch certificate can be awarded at public events for people who have never looked through a telescope. Simple fill in their names, dates of observations, the public events where the observations took place, and the objects they observed.

Download “First Telescopic Observation” Certificate” (PDF format 2.5 MBytes)

How do you find celestial objects?

By Bill Pellerin
Houston Astronomical Society
GuideStar Editor

Just after midnight (Central Daylight Time) on June 21, summer began officially. You would be forgiven (in some parts of the country) if you thought that summer was here prior to that date, with some especially hot days. June 21 was the summer solstice, the day on which the Sun is the highest in the sky and the longest sunlit day in the year. At the solstice the Sun is at its northernmost excursion.

I live in Houston, Tx, where the latitude is 29.8 degrees north. Does the Sun ever get directly overhead here? No, it doesn’t. That is, the Sun does not reach the zenith. You’re probably aware of two lines on the world map called the ‘Tropic of Cancer’ and the ‘Tropic of Capricorn’. These two lines represent the northernmost and southernmost positions of the Sun at summer solstice and winter solstice. Does the Sun get to the zenith at any point in the continental United States. Again the answer is no.

The northernmost position of the Sun this year is 23 degrees, 26 minutes. So, in my hometown, the Sun was about 6 degrees south of the zenith on June 21 as it crossed the meridian, and close to M35 at the foot of Gemini. How about other locations? Brownsville, Tx has a latitude of 25.9 degrees; still too far north. Even the southernmost location in the continental United States Ballast Key, Florida at 24.5 degrees north is just about one degree too far north. The southernmost point of the entire United States is at Ka Lae, Hawaii at 18.9 degrees north, so clearly the Sun will reach the zenith at this location and at other places on the big island just north of this site.

The good news about the summer solstice, of course, is that the amount of darkness per day increases from now until December 21, so we’ll have a bit more dark time every day. How much more dark time? Well, the velocity at which the Sun moves south in the sky varies over that time, but, on average, Houston gets about 1.6 minutes more of darkness every day between now and December 21. This is based on astronomical twilight, which is when the sky gets as dark as it’s going to get (not considering moon phase). On June 21, we got just over 6 hours of darkness and on December 21 we’ll get almost 11 hours of darkness. We’ll have two and a half hours extra of darkness in the evening and two and a half extra hours of darkness in the morning. I’m not taking into account the changes in clock time associated with daylight saving time.

If you live north of Houston, the change in dark-time between summer and winter is even higher.

The north to south (summer to winter) movement of the Sun from our viewpoint is a manifestation of the tilt of the axis of Earth. On the first day of summer, the southward velocity of the Sun is near zero. At the autumnal equinox on or near September 21, the southward velocity is a maximum, at the winter solstice the north-south velocity of the Sun is near 0 and it’s a maximum south to north velocity at the vernal equinox on or near March 21. I calculated the change in hours of darkness (based on USNO data) over the year and plotted the result. As you might expect the result looks like a familiar sine wave. There would be some variance from a sine curve because the orbit of Earth around the Sun is slightly elliptical, not circular.

The US Naval Observatory has a web site that shows hours of darkness or daylight for various cities in the U.S. and around the world. The numbers in their calculations don’t match mine because I’m using astronomical twilight time and they’re using (essentially) sunset time. (Search for “USNO hours of darkness” and you’ll find the web site.)

By Bill Pellerin
Houston Astronomical Society
GuideStar Editor

If you have a world globe in your house it may include a strange figure 8 pattern, called the Analemma, with some dates on it. Without going into great detail, this shows the north/south position of the Sun in the sky for the year. Because the orbit of Earth around the Sun is elliptical, the Sun is not always on the meridian at mid-day. In fact, the Sun is only on the meridian at mid day on the two equinox days and on the two solstice days. To keep ourselves going to meetings our time clocks show the average length of the day as 24 hours. Close enough. On some days the Sun is east of the meridian at noon and on some days it’s west of the meridian at noon (always ‘standard’ time). The Analemma shows you how this goes.

So for the next 6 months, revel in the notion that you’re getting more dark sky every day. Take advantage of it.

ALCon 2013 Flyer.

ALCon 2013 Flyer with white background for printing

Library lending telescope flyer

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