Highlights of the March Sky

- - - 1st - - -

DAWN: Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn form a line 19° long.

- - - 2nd - - - First Quarter Moon 2:57 pm EST

- - - 9th - - - Full Moon 1:48 pm EDT

- - - 16th - - - Last Quarter Moon 5:34 am EDT

- - - 18th - - - DAWN: A waning crescent Moon, Mars, and Jupiter form a ght triangle, with Saturn ~7° le of the trio.

- - - 20th - - - DAWN: Mars is less than 1° below Jupiter.

- - - 21st - - - DAWN: Mercury is 5.5° to the upper le of a thin sliver of a waning crescent Moon.

- - - 24th - - - New Moon 5:28 am EDT

PM: Venus is at greatest eastern elonga on.

- - - 28th - - - DUSK: A waxing crescent Moon, Venus, and Aldebaran form a shallow triangle a er sunset.

- - - 29th - - - DUSK: The Moon is 3.5° to Aldebaran’s upper right.

- - - 30th - - - DUSK: The Moon and Zeta Tauri are 1.5° apart.

- - - 31st - - - DAWN: Mars and Saturn are less than 1° apart with Jupiter 5° to their upper right.

A Publication of the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society

KAS

General Meeting: Friday, March 6 @ 7:00 pm Kalamazoo Area Math & Science Center - See Page 8 for Details

Board Meeting: Sunday, March 8 @ 5:00 pm

Sunnyside Church - 2800 Gull Road - All Members Welcome

Member Observing: Saturday, March 21 @ 7:00 pm

Messier Marathon - Richland Township Park - See Page 7 for Details

Inside the Newsletter. . . February Mee ng Minutes................ p. 2

Board Mee ng Minutes..................... p. 3

Observa ons...................................... p. 3

A.L. Observing Clubs.......................... p. 4

NASA Night Sky Notes........................ p. 5

March Night Sky................................ p. 6

KAS Board & Announcements............ p. 7

General Mee ng Preview.................. p. 8

March 2020

The general meeting of the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society was brought to order by President Richard Bell on Friday, February 7, 2020 at 7:08 pm EST. Approximately 68 members and guests were in attendance at the Kalamazoo Area Math & Science Center (KAMSC). Many of our guests were members of the Audubon Society of Kalamazoo. Thanks to Becky Csia for extending an invitation to them! Richard only shared one bit of news during his President’s Report. Mike Patton informed him that, on February 28th and 29th, National Geographic out of London is sending a crew of about 20 people to Arizona Sky Village. They think it is to record an episode for Jeff Goldblum's Disney+ show The World According to Jeff Goldblum as he will be here with them. They will be talking to Rick Beno, Fred Espenak, and Jack Newton. Mike has also been asked if he wants to be interviewed and possibly talk about the Remote Telescope. He told them he would be glad to do that. Richard hoped that we could at least have Mr. Goldblum take a photo with the Remote Telescope! The evening’s special guest speaker was Dr. Jen Owen, an associate professor at Michigan State University and director of the Michigan State Bird Observatory. The title of Dr. Owen’s presentation was Seeing Stars: How Birds Use the Night Sky During Migration. Of the 650 species of birds in North America, over half of them are migratory. In Michigan, close to 5 billion birds migrate south to Central or South America during the Fall. Dr. Owen described migration as innately programmed. In the 19th century, bird fanciers first observed migratory birds in captivity being restless at night. The amount of movement in their cages was equal to distance they would have migrated that night. That length of activity was also equal to that of their migratory period. Studies of birds done by Steve Emlen in the 1960s and 70s demonstrate that this restlessness is directional. He developed an Emlen Funnel, a bowl-like structure with a mesh top and an ink pad in the center. When

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birds were left in the funnel at night they were found to move in the correct direction for migration (north in the Spring and south in the Fall). The natural question is how do the birds know what direction to travel. There are multiple compasses birds can utilize. These include the Sun, magnetic field lines, and the stars. Much of the research done on birds using stars for migration was done in Longway Planetarium in Flint. Researchers in 1957 placed Garden Warblers in Emlen Funnels and they displayed the correct orientation for migration within the planetarium. When no stars were projected on the planetarium dome, the birds moved in random directions. It would seem that star maps are genetically encoded in migratory birds. To test this hypothesis, Mr. Emlen setup the planetarium so Betelgeuse was the pole star instead of Polaris. Three groups of birds were used in the experiment. One group was raised under a natural sky, another had never seen the night sky, and the third was raised with Betelgeuse as the North Star. All the birds were then placed in the planetarium under a normal sky. What they found was that birds raised under a normal sky and no sky moved in the proper direction. Those raised with Betelgeuse as the pole star did not migrate in the proper direction. Dr. Owen concluded her talk by briefly discussing how birds use Earth’s magnetic field for migration, describing it as their most important resource. She encouraged everyone to visit the Michigan State Bird Observatory. Several members reported seeing the Moon before heading into the meeting. Aaron Roman has been attempting to spot Venus with binoculars in broad daylight. No success yet. The Spitzer Space Telescope, one of NASA’s Great Observatories, was retired on January 30th. Spitzer was launched in 2003 and its prime mission ended in 2009 when its supply of liquid helium coolant, necessary for operating two of its three instruments, was exhausted. The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST), a 4-meter (13-foot) aperture telescope located on Haleakalā in Hawai'i, has produced the highest resolution observations of the Sun’s surface ever taken. Christina Koch returned to Earth on February 6th after completing a 328-day mission aboard the International Space Station. This is the longest single spaceflight in history by a woman. A new type of aurora called “the dunes” discovered by aurora chasers in Finland is helping scientists better understand a mysterious layer of Earth’s atmosphere. Richard then unboxed several items for the Owl Observatory Upgrade Project. These included broadband, narrowband, and OIII filters from Thousand Oaks. Next was the Coronado SolarMax II hydrogen alpha-filter. After that was the ZWO ASI071MC Pro cooled CMOS camera to be used with an Optolong L-eNhance filter. Four premium Tele Vue eyepieces were then unboxed. These include a 41mm Panoptic, 31mm Type 5 Nagler, 21mm Ethos, and 13mm Ethos. Last but not least was the Tele Vue NP101is refractor. The meeting then concluded at 9:04 pm.

February Meeting Minutes

Dr. Jen Owen, an MSU associate professor and Michigan State Bird Observatory director, discussed how birds use the stars during migration at the meeting on Feb. 7th.

A New Business item that did not get discussed at the last board meeting is the question of whether KAS could host a Great Lakes Region of the Astronomical League (A.L.) and Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers (ALPO) meeting this Fall. Possible venues were discussed briefly, and the Fetzer Center was considered a leading choice. Richard agreed to suggest this to his A.L. contact. In other New Business, Don mentioned that in the course of shopping for insurance for Kiwanis, he had also looked at possibilities for KAS. The prices still looked prohibitively high, but he agreed to look for the best possibility. With the end of business, the meeting was adjourned at 6:20 pm. The next meeting was set for 5pm on March 8th at Sunnyside. Respectfully submitted by Roger Williams

The KAS Board met on February 9, 2020 at Sunnyside Church. Those present were Richard Bell, Dave Garten, Scott Macfarlane, Jack Price, Aaron Roman, Don Stilwell, and Roger Williams. Richard called the meeting to order at 5:08 pm. Don presented the Treasurer’s Report, noting that it did not include a significant payment to reimburse Richard for the purchase of the latest Owl Observatory items. It was also noted that the next year’s rent for our Paragon Storage space had been paid, and Don had leveraged our yearly payment schedule (instead of the default monthly) to obtain a 9% discount. Richard summarized planned February-March events. These included the first gathering of the KAS Book Club (February 15th), the final planned Remote Viewing Session (February 15th), and February Freeze Out (February 21st). The next general meeting date was Friday, March 6th at KAMSC. In the Follow-Up category, Scott reported that he had received the declination cable for the donated Meade Classic 10-inch f/6.3 LX200. When it at first appeared not to work with the telescope, he cleaned all of the contacts, and now it appeared to respond as expected. Richard said that we could now look for a buyer, and he would begin working on this. The proceeds will be used for the Owl Observatory expenses. Regarding additional needed equipment for the Owl Observatory, possible items included another counterweight, an AC adapter for the camera power supply, and a motorized driver for the roof opener. Ways were discussed to insure that roof opening would be safe both for the equipment and for people, and there was agreement that the extra expense was justified to obtain safety interlocks. It was moved by Jack and seconded by Dave to authorize Richard to order the roof opener in the cost range of $1,000 - $1,150. The motion carried unanimously. A final item in this category was the Leonard James Ashby Telescope dedication. Richard had contacted the family about the date of Saturday, May 16th, but he had not had a reply as yet. Because of conflicts with the May 16th date, some of the board members expressed a preference for May 30th. Richard agreed to check with KNC about that date. The Board looked over the proposal for a curved plaque that would fit on the 10-inch pier, and no one objected to the design or the cost of approximately $100. Following a motion by Dave and second by Don, all voted in favor of ordering the plaque. In the outreach subcategory, Don confirmed plans to cover the Family Science Night at Hastings Public Library on February 19th from 6 – 8 pm. Jack had some volunteers for Science Night at Vicksburg Middle School on March 11th but could use one or two more. Richard agreed to include a call for volunteers in an upcoming e-mail. Don and Dave planned to attend the Barry County Science Festival at Pierce Cedar Creek Institute on March 21st from 10am – 3pm. Others will be recruited as the date approaches.

Our new observing year is off to a great start. We had clear skies for the February Freeze Out! This was the first successful Freeze Out in 7 years and the sixth overall in its 24 year history. The temperature was 28° F, but the 12 - 15 mph winds made it feel between 10° and 12° F. At least a dozen KAS members braved the arctic conditions to enjoy winter’s assortment of deep sky objects. Only Aaron Roman brought a telescope, his 10-inch Dobsonian. A couple other members did bring binoculars. The highlight of this year’s Freeze Out were sneak peaks through the brand new Leonard James Ashby Telescope, a Meade 16-inch SCT on an Astro-Physics 1600GTO German equatorial mount. Views of the Orion Nebula’s Trapezium region with the new Tele Vue 21mm Ethos eyepiece were quite impressive, easily the second best view I’ve ever had. (The best was through Robert Wade’s 24-inch Obsession at the 2011 Winter Star Party.) Conditions did seem to degrade half-way through the session thanks to a layer of haze. No complaints though as Freeze Outs are few and far between. Honestly, I should have stayed home as I had a slight fever of 99.1° F earlier in the day. Let’s hope our luck holds for the Messier Marathon on March 21st and, of course, for the 2020 season of Public Observing Sessions. Beating last year shouldn’t be that tough but I hope we fare far better than the standard 50% success rate. I am quite anxious to show off the new telescope in Owl Observatory! Speaking of which, we hope to install the new Tele Vue NP101is refractor sometime this month, when the temperature is well above freezing. Keep an eye on your inbox for updates. I’ve also republished Roger Williams’ article on Astronomical League Observing Programs (see page 4). Check it out and make an effort to complete at least one program this year. If I can remember, I’ll bring copies of some of the more popular observing programs to the March General Meeting.

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Have you had the experience of waiting days for clear viewing weather and then finding excuses for not setting up all of your equipment when a good night finally presents itself? One way to maintain enthusiasm for getting out under the sky is to have a long-range viewing plan or goal. As a member of the KAS, you are also automatically a member of the Astronomical League. This makes you eligible to receive observing awards from a large variety of observing clubs. These are summarized on KAS Online’s Astroweb Yellow Pages, with links to the A.L. site. Each club has a set of required observations or activities to be carried out and documented. After verification of the observing logs, A.L. awards a certificate and a pin. There are appropriate clubs for every level of experience and equipment. For the new enthusiast, a planisphere and eyeballs are all that is needed to carry out the observations of the Constellation Hunter Club or Universe Sample Club. Add a pair of binoculars, and you can do the Lunar Club, Sky Puppy Club (children 10 or younger), or Binocular Messier Club. For telescopic observations, several levels of difficulty are presented. The Messier Club requires observation of 70 of the 110 M-objects, with an Honorary certificate available for observation of all 110 (there are nine KAS members on the Messier Club list). Moving up in difficulty, the Herschel 400 Club chooses 400 NGC objects from the Herschel catalog that are not on the Messier list. Two members (Mark Miller and Robert Wade) have completed this list. An even greater challenge is offered by the Herschel II Club, with a list of another 400 NGC objects. Other observing clubs concentrate on asteroids, comets, double stars (five KAS members completed this one, the last in 2009), meteors, planets, and the Sun. While some of the observing programs require dark skies and large-aperture telescopes, others are deliberately oriented towards mediocre viewing conditions. The Urban Observing Club actually requires that light pollution should prevent the Milky Way from being visible to the naked eye. Whatever program is chosen, it is important to learn the details of the requirements from the A.L. website before beginning observations, because the rules differ. Programs that want to teach recognizing the skies and finding deep-sky objects may prohibit using GOTO telescopes and computers to find the objects. Those that concentrate more on observing the objects may allow any method of finding them. Some are strictly visual, while others may allow or even recommend imaging. All require keeping observing logs that include specified data fields. Most of the targets can be downloaded as lists from the A.L. site, but a few (i.e., the Globular Cluster Club)

require buying a guidebook. Finally, some certificates are awarded based on confirmation of the observations by your ALCOR, while others require a copy of the observing log to be submitted to a specified A.L. representative. So find a club that fits with your interests, learn the rules, and get out there under the skies! It is time for more KAS member names to be added to those awards lists. Here’s a breakdown of observing clubs completed by past and present KAS members: Binocular Messier Club Richard Bell, Joe Comiskey, Mike Cook, Becky Csia, Michael Dupuis, Mark Miller, Arya Jayatilaka, Eric Schreur, and Mike Sinclair. Comet Observers Club Roger Williams Deep Sky Binocular Club Richard Bell, Mark Miller, and Mike Sinclair. Double Star Club Richard Bell, Michael Dupuis, Jim Kurtz, Mark Miller, and Mike Sinclair. Globular Cluster Program Mike Cook Herschel 400 Club Mark Miller and Robert Wade. Lunar Club Richard Bell, Joe Comiskey, Mike Cook, Becky Csia, Mark Miller, Mike Sinclair, and Don Stilwell. Messier Club Richard Bell, Mike Cook, Michael Dupuis, Mark Miller, Aaron Roman, Eric Schreur, Don Stilwell, Mike Sinclair, and Henry Van Gamert. Southern Sky Binocular Club Mark Miller Universe Sampler Jeff Kavanaugh, Christopher Sinclair, Karen Sinclair, Kimberly Sinclair, and Mike Sinclair.

Observing Clubs Motivate & Direct Your Viewing

by Roger Williams

March 2020

Cancer the Crab is a dim constellation, yet it contains one of the most beautiful and easy-to-spot star clusters in our sky: the Beehive Cluster. Cancer also possesses one of the most studied exoplanets: the superhot super-Earth, 55 Cancri e. Find Cancer’s dim stars by looking in between the brighter neighboring constellations of Gemini and Leo. Don’t get frustrated if you can’t find it at first, since Cancer isn’t easily visible from moderately light polluted areas. Once you find Cancer, look for its most famous deep-sky object: the Beehive Cluster! It’s a large open cluster of young stars, three times larger than our Moon in the sky. The Beehive is visible to unaided eyes under good sky conditions as a faint cloudy patch, but is stunning when viewed through binoculars or a wide-field telescope. It was one of the earliest deep-sky objects noticed by ancient astronomers, and so the Beehive has many other names, including Praesepe, Nubilum, M44, the Ghost, and Jishi qi. Take a look at it on a clear night through binoculars. Do these stars look like a hive of buzzing bees? Or do you see something else? There’s no wrong answer, since this large star cluster has intrigued imaginative observers for thousands of years. 55 Cancri is a nearby binary star system, about 41 light years from us and faintly visible under excellent dark sky conditions. The larger star is orbited by at least five planets including 55 Cancri e, (a.k.a. Janssen, named after one of the first telescope makers). Janssen is a “super-earth,” a large rocky world 8 times the mass of our Earth, and orbits its star every 18 hours, giving it one of the shortest years of all known planets! Janssen was the first exoplanet to have its atmosphere successfully analyzed. Both the Hubble and recently-retired Spitzer space telescopes confirmed that the hot world is enveloped by an atmosphere of helium and

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hydrogen with traces of hydrogen cyanide: not a likely place to find life, especially since the surface is probably scorching hot rock. The NASA Exoplanet Catalog has more details about this and many other exoplanets. How do astronomers find planets around other star systems? The Night Sky Network’s “How We Find Planets” activity helps demonstrate both the transit and wobble methods of exoplanet detection. Notably, 55 Cancri e was discovered via the wobble method in 2004, and then the transit method confirmed the planet’s orbital period in 2011! Want to learn more about exoplanets? Get the latest NASA news about worlds beyond our solar system at nasa.gov. This article is distributed by NASA Night Sky Network. The Night Sky Network program supports astronomy clubs across the USA dedicated to astronomy outreach. Please visit nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov to find local clubs, events, and more!

Artist concept of 55 Cancri e orbiting its nearby host star. Find details from the Spitzer Space Telescope’s close study of its atmosphere its website and the Hubble Space Telescope’s observations its website. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

by David Prosper

NASA Night Sky Notes...

— March Night Sky —

NORTH

EAST W

EST

S kywatchers up just before dawn on March 18th may be able to

enjoy a waning crescent Moon, Mars, and Jupiter assemble in a tight triangle above the southeastern horizon. This planetary trio will easily fit in the field-of-view of 7×50 or 10×50 binoculars, enhancing this splendid sight. Ringed marvel Saturn is 7° to the Moon’s left.

The Moon will have moved on, but Mars and Jupiter close within 42 arcminutes on March 20th. The two worlds are now close enough to view together in many amateur telescopes. Look low on the east-southeast horizon before dawn on March 21st for a thin waning crescent Moon and Mercury with

less than 6° separating the two worlds. Meanwhile, in the evening sky on March 28th, a waxing crescent Moon, Venus and the Pleiades cluster form a triangle of their own. This makes for an interesting photographic opportunity. The Moon and Venus (four days past greatest eastern elongation) will be nearly 8° apart.

SOUTH

This star map is property of the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society. However, you may make as many copies as you wish free-of-charge, so long as it is for non-profit educa onal purposes and full credit is given to the KAS. www.kasonline.org

• Late February 10 pm

• Early March 9 pm

• Late March 8 pm

• Early April 7 pm

This map represents the sky at the following local standard mes:

PRESIDENT

Richard S. Bell

VICE PRESIDENT

Jack Price

TREASURER

Don S lwell

SECRETARY/ALCOR

Roger Williams

PUBLICITY MANAGER

Joe Comiskey

MEMBERS-AT-LARGE

Jean De Mo

Dave Garten

Sco Macfarlane

Aaron Roman

E-MAIL a BOARD MEMBER

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Our Celestron 8˝ Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope is quick and easy to setup. A dew cap, 3 eyepieces, Tel-Rad finder, and more are included.

This is a serious amateur telescope that will provide dazzling views of the Moon and planets, and is capable of showing you thousands of deep sky objects.

Visit the Telescopes for Loan webpage for more information and contact KAS Equipment Manager Arya Jayatilaka today if you’d like borrow it.

Volunteers Needed @

|

The KAS has been asked to par cipate in the sixteenth annual Science Night at Vicksburg Middle School (located at 348 East Prairie St.). Members are needed to help setup and take down classroom displays, hand out KAS literature, and answer ques ons from students and parents. Members are also needed to setup telescopes outside if skies are clear. Please contact us if you’d like to lend a helping hand.

Saturday, March 21st @ 7:00 pm | Richland Township Park - 6996 N. 32nd St.

Messier Marathon The work of comet-hunter and nebulae cataloger Charles Messier comes alive in March of each year as amateur astronomers participate in a one night search for all of the objects in his catalog of nebulae, star clusters and

galaxies. By a quirk of fate, we are fortunate that most of the objects Messier and Méchain took 24 years to discover can be

observed in one night around the time of the vernal equinox. Members are encouraged to bring a good pair of

binoculars or a telescope and participate in this one night race across the sky.

© March 2020, Stargazer Productions

Kalamazoo Astronomical Society c/o KAMSC 600 West Vine, Suite 400 Kalamazoo, MI 49008

STAMP

General Meeting Preview

With an estimated 60 billion exoplanets in our galaxy alone, "where is everybody?" is a very reasonable question to ask! This question has been a long standing debates in astronomy for decades and became a paradox known as the Fermi Paradox. In this talk, Dr. Aydi will elaborate on the Fermi Paradox, the possibility of life evolving outside of our solar system, and if life on Earth is a unique one.

Friday, March 6 @ 7:00 pm Kalamazoo Area Math & Science Center

600 West Vine, Suite 400 • Use Dutton St. Entrance

─ Dutton Entrance Locked by 7:10 pm ─