LONGMONT ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY - APRIL 2022 - "CONE AND FOX FUR AREA" BY STEPHEN GARRETSON - LONGMONT ASTRONOMICAL ...
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Longmont Astronomical Society
April 2022
“Cone and Fox Fur Area” Volume 38, No 3, Apr. 2022
ISSN 2641-8886 (web)
by Stephen Garretson
ISSN 2641-8908 (print)
LAS Meeting April 21 at 7 pm
The Visible Broadband Imager of the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope
by Friedrich Woeger
The Daniel K. Inouye come. I will touch briefly on
Solar Telescope (DKIST) its optical setup, the adaptive
is - by far - the largest tele- optics system, and all first
scope for observations of light instruments.
the Sun. Constructed on One of DKIST’s first light
the Haleakala volcano on instruments is the Visible
Maui due to its pristine Broadband Imager (VBI)
sky and seeing conditions, that aims to take movies
it will allow solar physi- of the plasma motions in
cists to gain exciting new various layers of the solar
insights into what drives atmosphere. I will present
our star. In this presen- its design details and show
tation I will introduce some data acquired during
DKIST’s design features the various campaigns of its
and state-of-the-art sub- commissioning that demon-
systems and instrumentation that make it a truly unique strate the capabilities of the telescope.
facility for the solar physics community for decades to
Biography: Dr. nat. rit. Freidrich Waeger
After graduating from the University of Freiburg, Ger-
many, Friedrich joined the National Solar Observatory
in Sunspot, New Mexico, as Associate Scientist. Since
then, he moved on to a Senior Scientist position as the
Instrument Systems Scientist for DKIST, where he was
involved in the design, fabrication, assembly, testing and
verification of various DKIST subsystems, such as the
Data Handling System and the Wavefront Correction
System, and is the Principal Investigator of the Visible
Broadband Imager. He has worked with many teams,
including those that provided Visible Spectro-Polarim-
eter, the Visible Tunable Filter, the Diffraction-Limited
Near-Infrared Spectro-Polarimeter, and the Cryogenic
Near-Infrared Spectro-Polarimeter, overseeing the com-
missioning of these instruments at DKIST.
In the future, Woeger will guide development of new
instrumentation for DKIST.
About LAS
The Longmont Astronomical Society Newsletter ISSN 2641-8886 (web) and ISSN 2641-8908 (print) is published monthly
by the Longmont Astronomical Society, P. O. Box 806, Longmont, Colorado. Newsletter Editor is Vern Raben. Our website
URL is https://www.longmontastro.org and the webmaster is Paul Kammermeier. The Longmont Astronomical Society is a
501 c(3), non-profit corporation which was established in 1987.
The Longmont Astronomical Society is affiliated with the Astronomical League
(https://www.astroleague.org). The Astronomical League is an umbrella organiza-
tion of amateur astronomy societies in the United States.
Page 2 Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, April 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org
Contents
rF ont Cover C
“ one and oF x ru F Area” by Stephen aG rretson
2 LAS eM eting April 21 at 7 pm, “ e Visible rB oadband m I ager of the DKIST ”
by rF eidrich Woeger
3 Contents
LAS Ocers, Board eM mbers, and Appointed Positions in 2022
4-6 o“N tes for the aM rch 17 eM eting” by Vern Raben, Secretary
6 eN wsletter Archive for April 2012 and 2002
7 a“N vigating the iM d April iN ght Sky” by oJ hn Goss
8 “ e Planets in April” by Vern Raben
v“E ents in April” by oJ hn Goss
9 C “ omet C/2019 L3 (ATLAS)”
10 C “ omet 19P/Borelly”
11 C “ omet C/2017 K2 (PANSTARR S)
12 C “ omet C/2021 O3 (PANSTARR S)
13 “HDR of rO ion in HW O and SH”O by aD vid lE more
14 C “R W 33, 32, and 27” by aD vid lE more
15 “SH 2-312 with ”NBZ and “SH 2-296 in HW O ” by aD vid lE more
16 “SH 2-275, Rosette eN bula with ”NBZ by aD vid lE more
17 “SH 2-275, Rosette eN bula in SH”O by aD vid lE more
18 e“N ar ulF l oM on set” and “M51” by Eddie n u H nell
19 “M101” by Eddie n u H nell
20 “M51” and “NG C 3028” by aG ry aG rzone
21 “M97, Owl eN bula” and “M66 aG laxy” by aG ry aG rzone
22 “IC 434, oH rsehead” and “NG C 7023, rI is eN bula” by iJ m Pollock
23 C “ omet 116P/Wild” and C “ omet C/2017 K2 (PANSTARR S)” by iJ m Pollock
24 “M63, Sunower aG laxy and closeup of M63” by aM rtin tuB ley
25 “M81 and M82 aG laxies” by aM rtin tuB ley
26 C
“ one eN bula in SH”O by M. .J Post
27 “NG C 1931” by M. .J Post
28 “NG C 2024” by Rolando aG rcia
29 “M78” by Rolando aG rcia
30 “Spider and lF y” by Stephen aG rretson
31 “Leo Trio” by Tally ’DOonnell
aB ck Cover “Rosette eN bula” by Rolando aG rcia
LAS Officers and Board Members in 2022
• Stephen Garretson, President Board Members:
• M. J. Post, Vice President David Elmore, Gary Garzone,
• Vern Raben, Secretary Mike Hotka, Brian Kimball, and
• Bruce Lamoreaux, Treasurer Tally O’Donnell
Appointed Positions 2022
Sarah Detty, Webmaster; Bruce Lamoreaux, Library Telescope Coordinator;
Vern Raben, Newsletter Editor
Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, April 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org Page 3
Notes for Thurs. Mar. 17 Meeting by Vern Raben, secretary
I. Call to Order
Stephen Garretson, president, opened the meeting and
introduced club officers: M. J. Post, vice president, Bruce
Lamareaux, treasurer, and Vern Raben, secretary.
II. New members and visitors
None.
V. Financial Report – Bruce Lamoreaux
Main Checking Account - $8,700
2-Year Savings Account - $8,100
Telescope Fund - $1,100
Petty Cash - $50
Total Assets - $17,950
Regular members: 111
Student Members: 4
Total: 115 (includes 10 who have not renewed) “Moon at Last Quarter” by Prof. Henry Draper, 1840
VI. Old Business IV. Main Presentation - “Antarctic Odyssey: Win-
None ter-Over at South Pole Station” by John W. Briggs
VI. New Business In 1994 John Briggs had the opportunity of living at
the south pole. John worked at Yerkes Observatory as
Star party for Boulder County Parks and Open Space on
an instrumentation engineer back then. Yerkes was the
April 8. Frederick HS astronomy class in May; date and
headquarters for “Center for Astrophysical Research”
time is not yet settled (same week as BCPOS). Ideas about
which funded by NSF. The organization lasted for more
this appreciated.
than a decade and involved many institutions. The general
goal was to explore and document the potential of South
Discussion about equipment that is needed for in-person
Pole Station for expanded observations in astronomy and
meetings:
astrophysics.
• Wireless microphones to reduce room noise
• Loud speaker so remote attendees/speaker can be heard
How do you get there? You fly by commercial air to Christ-
• HDMI capture device to broadcast presenter notebook
church, New Zealand. In Christchurch is the International
to Zoom audience
Antarctic Center where you receive your extreme winter
Stephen will try to schedule Niwot Inn (turned out to not
clothing. You would then get on a Lockheed C-130 Her-
be available for April 21 meeting - VR)
cules turboprop aircraft for a 7.5 hour flight to McMurdo
Base on the coastline of Antarctica. In John’s case it took
III. March Historical Note by Stephen Garretson three tries to get to McMurdo because of weather condi-
On March 24 1840 Dr. William Draper took a picture of
the moon using a daguerreotype system from the roof of
New York University.
He used a silver plated copper inside the camera and then
developed it by fuming with mercury vapor. This is the
image he got. He made several improvements to increase
the sensitivity of plate to shorten the exposure.
C-130 landing at South Pole Station.
Page 4 Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, April 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org
tions. The monument in the photo was the “ceremonial There were 3 diesel electric power plants. One was always
south pole”. They had an inventory of flags which would running; a second was on standby in case the first failed;
be shown for visiting dignitaries. The US flag marking real a third power plant was serviced to be put back in use.
south pole had to be relocated each year because of shifting During the year there were 140 flights. Each flight arrived
ice -- only the U.S. flag was shown there. with surplus fuel which was stored in fuel bladders 25 or
30 feet square and about 2 feet high when full. Electricity
John at the door of South
Pole Station which would
be his home for the rest of
the year. (Note the station
has since been entirely
rebuilt).
The geodesic dome was 165 feet in diameter. The dome
was unheated; it was merely a wind and snow shield. In-
was primary heat and light source though heat from the
generators was used to heat some areas.
Only communications was
to a geosynchronous satel-
lite that was occasionally
only a few degrees above
the horizon. If there wasn’t
much blowing snow they
side the dome were three main buildings: could send emails at a slow
• Galley area with an upstairs rec area rate for about 5 hours per
• Dormitory or sleeping area day.
• Building containing laboratories, communications
center, meteorological office, administration space and Some science experiments
electronic labs. were sheltered in small
wood shacks. Drifting snow
In the summer there were around140 people at the station; made it necessary to con-
in the winter there was skeleton crew of 27 people. struct wood chimneys so
they could be accessed. They
Primary safety concern at South Pole Station was fire -- not attached rope lines to bam-
cold. Everyone was trained in firefighting techniques prior boo poles which lead back
to being assigned there. to the dome. When you
went down the chimney to
Blowing snow was a major problem. Although precipita- maintain your experiment
tion was only 4-6 inches per year the snow was constantly there was always a chance
blowing. Aerodynamics are such that snow drifts around the weather could quickly
objects which causes them to be buried deeply quite rap- change and you could be in
idly. Early on they built plywood chimneys to give them a white out.
access to wooden buildings containing their experiments.
Newer designs place all structures on stilts which allows Even though the air is
the snow to pass through. extremely dry the extremely
Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, April 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org Page 5
low temperatures result in the relative humidity to be near
100% quite frequently. Frost formed on everything. Snow
is a good insulator which maintained year round tem- Newsletter Archives
perature in the equipment sheds to about -50 F although
10 Years Ago - April 2012
outside temperatures during the arctic night reached -160
The March meeting on Thursday,
degrees F or so.
April 19th at Dickens Tavern, 300
Main Street, Longmont, CO. Please
join us for dinner around 6 pm. The
general meeting will begin at 7pm.
Open forum this month. If you
would like to discuss some astronomy
related topic you are invited to pres-
ent it to the group. Vern is planning
on doing a couple short presentations
on the LAS “All Sky Camera” and a
update on our Sunset Observatory proposal to the city.
20 Years Ago - April 2002
Astronomy building located about a mile from the station.
Note the use of stilts to reduce drifting snow. Because of The LAS annual banquet will be
the extreme conditions they tested the use of a 24 inch on April 27 at the Way Side Inn in
cassegrain infrared telescope. They did however succeed Berthoud. Guest speaker is Tom
in using the telescope to photograph the Shumaker-Levy Melsheimer of the Little Thompson
impacts on Jupiter which occurred while they were there. Observatory in Berthoud.
Unfortunately the atmospheric turbulence was horrible at We will have an astronomy booth set
the location. High thermal gradients between the ground up at the Twin Peaks Mall. Small scopes
and top of equipment building resulted in lots of turbu- with solar filters will be setup outside to show the sun to
lence. the public. We are inviting the public to view the stars and
planets that same night.
They also had a Celestron 8 inch Schmidt-Cassegrain The 4th annual North Sterling star party was a big success
telescope. At Yerkes they had designed a roller drive mount with 82 people camping and 375 inches of aperture of all
to function in the extreme cold. Even so frost formed in a scopes combined.
thin layer on the mount which caused great difficulty. Frost
also formed on the optics. They learned that they could use 30 Years Ago - No newsletter was published for
acetone on a kim wipe to clean the frost of the optics. April 1992
Page 6 Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, April 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org
Navigating the mid April Night Sky by John Goss
Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, April 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org Page 7
The Planets in April Celestial Events in April
Mercury by John Goss
Mercury is at superior conjunction (on the far side of
the solar system) on April 2. It becomes visible in the
evening sky after mid month low in the WNW. It will be
magnitude -1.1 in brightness and 5.8 arc sec across -- a
difficult object to see.
Venus
Venus is very low in the southeast before sunrise. Its
brightness decreases from -4.3 magnitude to -4.1 and its
disc decreases from 22 arc sec to 16 this month.
Mars
Mars may be seen low in the ESE around 5 am in
constellation Sagitarius. It increases brightness from
magnitude +1.1 to +0.8 in brightness this month. Its
disk increases from 5.2 to 5.8 arc sec across. Next Mars
opposition is Dec. 7, 2022.
Jupiter
After the 9th of this month Jupiter will be visible very
low in the eastern sky before sunrise. It will be magni-
tude -2.1 in brightness and its disk will be 34 arc sec
across.
Saturn
Lunar Phases in April
Saturn is low in the ESE about an hour or so before
sunrise; it is not far from Mars. They are only about 30
arc min apart on the morning of April 4. Saturn will be New Moon
April 1 at 12:25 am
magnitude +0.9 in brightness and its disk will be 16 arc
sec across. See John’s note about this at top of the next
column. First Quarter
April 9 and 12:49 am
Uranus
Uranus disappears from our view into the bright evening
Full Moon
twilight after the 7th.
April 16 at 12:56 am
Neptune
Neptune reappears in the morning sky after the 13th, Third Quarter
not far from Jupiter. It is magnitude 7.9 in brightness April 23 at 5:57 am
and 2.2 arc sec across.
Lyrid Meteor Shower
Lyrid meteor shower peaks on the 22nd. Moon rises
about 2 am so best to view before then. Expect to see
maybe 22 per hour from a dark location.
Page 8 Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, April 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org
Comet C/2019 L3 (ATLAS)
Created with SkyTools 4
Date Optimal time RA Dec Constellation Magnitude Size (arc min)
Apr 1 7:33 pm 06h44m26.8s +16°27’52” Gemini 10.4 3.2
Apr 7 8:02 pm 06h47m55.0s +15°39’53” Gemini 10.6 3.1
Apr 13 8:07 pm 06h51m49.9s +14°53’19” Gemini 10.7 3.0
Apr 19 8:16 pm 06h56m08.4s +14°07’48” Gemini 10.9 2.9
Apr 25 8:22 pm 07h00m47.9s +13°23’02” Gemini 11.0 2.9
Apr 30 8:28 pm 07h04m55.0s +12°46’04” Gemini 11.1 2.8
Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, April 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org Page 9
Comet 19P/Borrelly Created with SkyTools 4 Date Optimal time RA Dec Constellation Magnitude Size (arc min) Apr 1 7:56 pm 04h28m54.5s 37°10’12” Perseus 11.1 2.5 Apr 7 8:03 pm 04h51m10.4s +38°54’41” Perseus 11.4 2.4 Apr 13 8:10 pm 05h13m54.3s +40°20’05” Auriga 11.7 2.3 Apr 19 8:00 pm 05h36m56.4s +41°26’38” Auriga 12.1 2.3 Apr 25 8:28 pm 06h00m05.2s +42°14’52” Auriga 12.4 2.2 Apr 30 8:35 pm 06h19m19.1s +42°41’40” Auriga 12.7 2.1 Page 10 Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, April 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org
Comet C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS)
Date Optimal time RA Dec Constellation Magnitude Size (arc min)
Apr 1 4:09 am 18h55m21.8s +11°39’26” Aquila 11.1 3.1
Apr 7 3:58 am 18h56m06.6s +11°44’04” Aquila 10.9 3.3
Apr 13 3:57 am 18h56m10.4s +11°47’34” Aquila 10.8 3.4
Apr 19 3:36 am 18h55m28.7s +11°49’09” Aquila 10.7 3.6
Apr 25 3:23 am 18h53m56.5s +11°47’56” Aquila 10.5 3.7
Apr 30 3:13 am 18h51m56.9s +11°44’00” Aquila 10.4 3.9
Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, April 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org Page 11Comet C/2021 O3 (PANSTARRS) Date Optimal time RA Dec Constellation Magnitude Size (arc min) Apr 26 7:33 pm 03h21m13.5s +13°49’02” Aries 5.8 1.3 Apr 27 7:41 pm 03h24m52.5s +16°12’06” Aries 5.9 1.3 Apr 28 7:49 pm 03h28m20.4s +18°44’32” Taurus 6.1 1.4 Apr 29 7:56 03h31m39.8s +21°25’03” Taurus 6.2 1.4 Apr 30 8:02 pm 03h34m53.6s +24°12’36” Taurus 6.4 1.5 May 1 8:08 pm 03h38m04.2s +27°05’53” Taurus 6.5 1.5 Page 12 Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, April 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org
“HDR of Orion in HOOW” by David Elmore
“HDR of Orion in SHO” by David Elmore
Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, April 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org Page 13“RCW 33, 32, and 27” by David Elmore Here is a 6° tall field centered at about -41° declination. This is so far south that even from my telescope in New Mexico the full field of the scope never cleared the south wall of the observatory so the left side has been cropped. Of additional interest in this dual narrow band (Hydrogen-alpha red, Oxygen III teal) image is the beautiful emission on the bottom left. Again if farther north this would probably be well known but is just part of the very large CED (Cederblad Cata- log of Bright Diffuse Nebulae) 106 nebula that extends even further south. Borg 55FL 200mm focal length astrograph. ASI2400MC Pro camera. IDAS NBZ filter. Exposures 18 X 10 minutes. Page 14 Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, April 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org
“Sh 2-312 in NBZ” by David Elmore
“Sh 2-296 in HOOW” by David Elmore
Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, April 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org Page 15“SH 2-275, Rosette with NBZ” by David Elmore Page 16 Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, April 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org
“SH-275, Rosette in SHO” by David Elmore Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, April 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org Page 17
“Near full moon set” by Eddie Hunnell
“M51” by Eddie Hunnell
Page 18 Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, April 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org“M101” by Eddie Hunnell Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, April 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org Page 19
“M51” by Gary Garzone
“NGC 3028” by Gary Garzone
Page 20 Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, April 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org“M97, Owl Nebula” by Gary Garzone
“M66” by Gary Garzone
Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, April 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org Page 21“IC 434, Horsehead” by Jim Pollock
“NGC 7023, Iris Nebula” by Jim Pollock
Page 22 Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, April 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org“Comet 116P/Wild on Mar 12” by Jim Pollock “Comet C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS) on Mar 1” by Jim Pollock Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, April 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org Page 23
“M63, Sunflower Galaxy” by Martin Butley
“M63, Sunflower Galaxy” by Martin Butley
Page 24 Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, April 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org“M81 and M2” by Martin Butley Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, April 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org Page 25
“Cone Nebula in SHO” by M. J. Post Page 26 Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, April 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org
“NGC 1931” by M. J. Post Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, April 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org Page 27
“NGC 2024, Flame Nebula and IC 434, Horsehead and Nebula” by Rolando Garcia Page 28 Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, April 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org
“M78” by Rolando Garcia Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, April 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org Page 29
“Spider and Fly” by Stephen Garretson Page 30 Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, April 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org
“Leo Trio” by Tally O’Donnell Copyright (c) Longmont Astronomical Society, April 2022. All rights reserved. Website: www.longmontastro.org Page 31
Longmont Astronomical Society
PO Box 806, Longmont, CO
https://www.longmontastro.org
“Rosette Nebula”
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