Important Announcements

Our next meeting will be on Thursday, February 3th, at 8:00 PM at the Colts Neck Fire Company #2 on Conover Rd. in Colts Neck. If you didn't make the last meeting, note the change in day of week, time, and location! Directions From Rt. 520, turn South onto Rt. 34. Conover Rd. is on the right, at the first light South of Rt. 520 (opposite Laird Rd. this is actually the 2nd Conover Rd. off of 34 south of 520, as Conover is a loop that begins and ends at Rt. 34). The fire house is on the right hand side, just past Heyers Mill Rd. Directions from Rt. 537, turn North onto Rt. 34. Conover Rd. is on the left, two lights North of Rt. 537 (opposite Laird Rd.). The fire house is on the right hand side, just past Heyers Mill Rd. The The topic of this meeting will be ``What I did on my Summer Vacation''. If you have any pictures or other star party memories to share, bring them along.

We need articles for the Spectrogram! Would you like to write one? See http://www.starastronomy.org/Library/Spectrogram/author.html for article submission guidelines, or ask Mike Lindner about it at the next meeting.

News & Events

	January 31-February 5, Florida. The Winter Star Party at West Summerland Key in Florida. For more information contact Fred or Lucille Heinrich, WSP registrars, phone 904-362-5995 e-mail heinrich@alltel.net or see the web site http://www.scas.org/.
	February 2-6, Orange Blossom Special Star Part (Florida), by the St. Petersburg Astronomy Club, Brooksville, Florida. For more information, contact Dennis & Ellen Farr 8811 W. Broad St. Tampa, FL 33615, email dnefarr@aol.com.
	February 9 (rain dates February 10, 11) Star party for Holy Cross School in Rumson. 7-9 PM. Scopes needed. Contact Dan Pontone for more information.
	Andy Zangle is collecting members' cell phone numbers as part of making up an ``observers' list'' for people to call when they are going out observing. If you are interested, please contact Andy.

Notes from January

By Dave Hayden

What does a telescope really do? Fundamentally, it creates a small "virtual image." The eyepiece magnifies the virtual image so you can see it. David Britz passed around a gizmo that creates a virtual image to illustrate the point. A small toy pig appeared to float above the gizmo, but if you reach for it, it isn't there.

Treasurer John Gasparini has membership cards and is still accepting dues.

Penny Fisher will be running a star party at the New Egypt middle school January 12 from 6 to 7:30. Dan Pontone will be on Broad St. in Red Bank for the Lunar Eclipse on January 20.

Mike Lindner and David Segelstein showed the rebuilt club scope. It's an 8" F8 Dobsonian that was in pretty bad shape. They decided to fix it when they found that they couldn't collimate it one night. The base and primary mirror are the same, but pretty much everything else has been replaced. Mike said that this scope has the best mirror he has ever measured at 1/25th wave. The scope is available for any member who wants to use it. Chris Olszewski has it now. If you want to use it, just ask.

Mike also said that the material for solar filters has arrived. We'll be making filters sometime in the future.

Joe Cascella talked about the upcoming total Lunar Eclipse on January 20. These are easy to observe and easy to photograph. Joe recommends looking every 10 or 15 minutes to see how it progresses. he enjoys watching for first contact.

Victor Klimovich spoke about the fire house in Hazlet where he is an officer. It's available Tuesdays for free for a year or so. There are some parking restrictions, but it will fit about 100 people without any problem. We agreed to let the officers decide whether to move the meeting there.

The speaker was Bill Murray from the Amateur Astronomy Association of Princeton (AAAP). Bill spoke on CCD (charge coupled device) astrophotography in New Jersey. He's been intensely involved in astronomy for about 15 years.

Bill showed a comparison of a film photo shot on hypered film with a 2 hr. guided exposure vs. a 4 minute CCD image of the same object. The two were quite comparable. This showed the great sensitivity of CCD.

A CCD is a digital device. It consists of a camera head, control box and a serial cable to a computer. The camera head contains an array of tiny CCD detectors. These convert light into electric charge. The charge is measured and converted to a number, and the number gets transmitted to the computer. Images can then be manipulated directly by the computer to remove the effects of light pollution.

There are four factors to getting a good image: focus, image scale, exposure time, and shooting close to the meridian.

For focusing, Bill uses the diffraction method, which gives a great bang for the buck. If you put a thin linear obstruction in front of the telescope, then star images will contain a single diffraction spike when the image is in focus. When out of focus, there will be multiple spikes. You just adjust the focus until there's one spike.

For image scale, you want about 2 arc seconds per pixel in the CCD. This means that star images are about 2 pixels wide. With less resolution, the image looks blocky. More resolution is wasted. Bill says this factor is often overlooked when people buy a CCD camera.

Exposure time is related to polar alignment. Bill takes about 20 minutes using the drift method to align his scope. This give alignment that's good enough for a 2 minute exposure.

Finally, shooting when the object is close to the meridian (the line running north to south through the zenith), helps because that way you're shooting through less atmosphere.

Finally, because the images are digital, you can do all sorts of tricks to filter out light pollution, camera noise, etc. For example, CCD's are sensitive to heat as well as light, so images contain "thermal noise." But you can compensate for this by taking an exposure with the shutter closed. Such a "dark frame" contains only the thermal noise, so you can subtract that frame from an image to get just the light component of the image. You can also play with the image on the computer to bring out nebulosity etc.

In Remembrance of Kay

By Dan Pontone

The other night I was jogging down Harding Rd. at twilight. The stars were just popping out. I passed the church on Tower Hill where STAR had had the first of many Hale-Bopp star parties. A feeling of deja-vu came over me.

It was 4 AM, cold and crisp. Kay, Don, Rosemary and her husband, Joe Levantino and I were all treated to our first look at Hale-Bopp. Don had just finished a new telescope and had first light on the comet. It put all other telescopes and binoculars to shame. Kay was excited to see five STAR members out on expedition. As dawn came, we all went to a diner to reminisce and plan for more viewing of the great comet.

[For the new members who never met Kay Sears, he was one of the original members of STAR and one of the most active ones until his death last year. Many of us who knew Kay have fond memories of his experience, enthusiasm and gentle tutelage \Ed.]

1/20/00 Total Lunar Eclipse

By Joe Cascella

``Mamas, don't let yer babies grow up to be Eclipse Chasers!''

As it's been nearly 3 years since the last Total Lunar Eclipse visible from NJ, and the next one seen in our area won't be for another 3 1/2 years, eclipse chasers had a lot of incentive to be looking skyward on Thursday night. Although not as spectacular as a total solar eclipse, lunar eclipses can still rattle quite a few oohs and aahs from observers. With any luck, a wonderful reddish hue can leave the moon as a beautiful ball suspended in the sky that you can almost reach out and grab!

Not able to get to Europe for this past summer's Total Solar Eclipse, this lunar eclipse would be somewhat of a consolation prize. Totality, in any form, is worth the effort. Mother Nature would not dare interfere again as she did in August when we tried to view the partial solar eclipse as seen from NJ. But once again, Her bizarre sense of humor kicked in full force. Most of this season has been on the dry, mild side. So of course we had to be hit with frigid air, the coldest we've seen in years. Then there's what will probably turn out to be the only snowfall of the season, just to make it more difficult to set up equipment. But Momma N. threw us a bone this time. A chance of clearing just in time for us to view at least a part of the eclipse was in the forecast.

So I left work in the storm, made it home safely, still foolishly optimistic. Snow stopped. Good sign. Partial clearing by 8 p.m., with the full moon occasionally peeking through. Even better. Equipment and long johns ready. This could work. Telescope and cameras set up by 9:30. But alas, there was very little meat on that bone that Mother Nature threw to us. Ten o'clock, and still thick clouds. The Moon tried to peek through a few times as it slowly disappeared. But by 10:45, a full twenty minutes before totality, there was no chance of seeing anything further due to the heavy overcast. One gigantic sigh and it was back inside to watch ``I Luv Lucy'' reruns. Being the fool I am, I left the equipment set up, resigning myself to check outside every ten minutes just in case.

11:05; nothing. 11:15, then 11:25; still nothing. The Moon must look magnificent by now. What a glorious sight we're missing. Each time, I threw on my coat, laced up the boots, went out in the cold, but nothing doing. Stayed outside a few minutes each time just in case the eclipsed Moon peeked through. But all for naught. 11:45. Midnight; this time not even bothering to zip up the coat or lace the boots. Wouldn't be outside that long. Oh well, 3 1/2 years isn't so long a wait.

About 12:10, only minutes before totality was to end, I figured one last check before packing it in for good. No zipping, no lacing. Came this far, so might as well see it through. Stepped outside. Aaahhhh, the sky is clear! Aaahhhh, there's the Moon, glowing a majestic dull red. Aaahhhh, only a few minutes of totality left. Aaahhhh, where's my camera? Aaahhhh, it's damn cold out here!

I stared at the beautiful, warm glowing Moon but soon realized it was quite a bit colder and windier than earlier. With an open coat, the only thing glowing warm was the Moon. I practically jumped out of my unlaced boots and ran inside to grab the video camera. Set it up quickly, then stared at the Moon some more. Didn't want to look away, but I had a loaded camera ready to be prime-focus mounted on my scope. With only a few minutes of totality left, got the camera set up and began clicking away. The Moon was a bit brighter than I expected, but it's reddish glow was unmistakable. The Moon's three dimensional appearance was just I remembered from previous eclipses. Fantastic! But now the edge of the Moon was becoming a brighter, brilliant white, as totality was ending. The reddish color began fading as more of the Moon became bright white. With the wind really picking up, it was getting so cold that I don't think I would have wanted to stay outside too much longer. Took a few more shots and went inside to warm up. Came back out a short time later to watch as the Moon slowly reappeared. Did this a few times over the next hour, each time staying outside only a few minutes as it was bitterly cold with the nasty wind-chill.

I got just enough taste of totality to once again make me want more. This is an addictive activity, this eclipse chasing. Who cares about cold and wind-chill. Give me more shadow!!

Cold Weather Observing

By Ronald Mittelstaedt

Winter is upon us, the warm, muggy buggy nights of summer are gone. The atmosphere has less haze which makes the sky much clearer to sight constellations and startup. You say it's too cold to venture out with your telescope. You can observe as often in the winter as in the summer if you are dressed right and have the right equipment. Who wants to miss the Orion Nebula, the Crab Nebula and the many open clusters the winter sky has to offer?

I can handle the cold, but it's the wind that makes my toes and finger start to numb. The wind makes it hard to stand still looking into a eyepiece for any length of time. My only suggestion is try to refrain from observing on windy nights because body heat is lost quickly, and it makes my telescope shake on its mounts where I can't use high magnification.

The calm, clear, some-what cold nights can be enjoyed comfortably by wearing several layers of clothing. I start with insulated underwear, than a flannel shirt and jeans. I than wear a insulated vest, scarf, and a heavy coat. My gloves are actually mittens that can folded back to expose my fingers to handle delicate eyepieces, focus knobs or my sketching pencil.

On my feet I find a thin pair of cotton followed by a pair of wool socks works best. Your feet tend to sometimes sweat with the just the wool socks on. The cotton is there to absorb the perspiration which keep your feet from getting cold just from being moist. My boots, with 1000 grams of thinsulate, are not so bulky that I can't drive with them on. Lastly wear a hat, most of your body heat is lost through your head (makes you wonder if there's anything up there to stop it). I prefer to wear the new insulated RCC observers baseball cap, than a wool knit hat and if it's really cold, my coat has a detachable hood which I use.

A nifty heat source is a solid fuel hand warmer. They cost about three dollars at K-Mart. Also good are solid fuel sticks; about two dollars for ten sticks. I bought two heaters and put one in each pocket of my coat. I light the fuel stick at each end for maximum heat and tend to stay warm for about three hours.

Take your observing equipment outside before you don the articles mentioned above and let your optical tube stabilize for about fifteen minutes. I sometimes observe with bare fingers and find that if I insulate the bare metal items on my telescope my fingers won't numb so fast. I do this by wrapping rubber bands around the top metal portion of the eyepiece. Another item is my observing chair. When I obtained my Tele-Vue Air Chair Ralph already had his. His wife, Betty, made a nice cloth cushion to cover the cold naugahide cover. I also bought a heatable pad to fit this chair. This pad can be reheated in a microwave oven and lasts for about three hours, more than enough time for a decent observing session in the winter months.

When I bring my telescope in from the cold I let it sit to dry, this is to make sure no condensation is left on the optical tube before it's covered. Tilting the the rear of the scope down and the star diagonal removed, will allow dry air to enter the optical tube and a minimal amount of dust.

ATM: Making a Finder

By Michael Lindner

My first real telescope was a 6" f/7 newtonian that I built myself. I wanted to build as much of the scope as possible, not realizing how hard some of it would be. For a finder, I bought a cheap 50mm achromat lens and a zoom projector lens to use as the finder's eyepiece.

I quickly learned that although the combination worked well, it was subject to severe aberrations if the objective lens wasn't held perfectly straight. No problem, really, I'd planned to mount it in PVC pipe, which would hold it well.

However, PVC pipe weighs a ton, and I didn't want that much weight on the end of my scope. I began to look into alternatives. I toyed with building a telrad-like finder, which is easy to make, but at the last minute saw an article on modifying a Daisy red dot finder.

The Daisy red dot finder is designed for aiming a gun. It works like a telrad, except instead of projecting rings it projects a single red dot. It is very small and lightweight, which was what I wanted. I had seen Telrads on other people's scopes, and was dismayed to see how big and heavy they were.

The Daisy red dot sight costs about $12 at Sports Authority (or did when I bought it). The modifications suggested are to remove the tint on the glass (the tint makes the red dot stand out more in bright sunlight, but makes it harder to see dim objects through at night) and to add a fancy dimmer to the LED (so it's not too bright at night).

First step was mounting it on my scope and trying it out. It worked great in the day time. At night, the LED was bright, but bearable, and the tint made it hard to see through the finder, but I found by using both eyes, one looking through the finder, one looking past it at the sky, I could aim the telescope quite accurately.

I brought the scope as-is out to Colliers Mills, where Kay Sears saw it (Kay was a member of STAR before he passed away last year). Having heard via e-mail about my Daisy sight, he said "I have something for you" and produced a small piece of double sided printed circuit board with a resistor soldered across both sides. It slipped in between the battery and battery holder.

The resistor dimmed down the LED just the right amount (I found out later it was a 5.7KW resistor). I decided not to build the fancy dimmer, because the brightness was just right. I also decided not to remove the tint, as depending on the exact construction of the finder, this occasionally leads to a double image of the red dot.

My Daisy finder works great! With just the finder I can put the dot on Jupiter and have ti centered in the eyepiece at 300x. I have found most of the Messier objects with it, and much more. Although the 2 and 4 degree circles of the telrad are useful if your charts show them, I think the telrad is inferior when you are trying to put the center of the field on something, since there is no center dot in the telrad.