CSM
Astronomy website
In the Mail and In
the eMail
Table of Contents
Directions to College of
San Mateo
Star Parties at
Crestview Park
Events and Club News
The complete Newsletter in .pdf format is available from:
http://www.smcas.com/newsletter/
The July-August Event Horizon Newsletter is
available on our website at
http://www.smcas.
com/newsletter/
.
There will be no meetings in July or August. Our next meeting is
scheduled
for September 4th.
Meanwhile, there will be Crestview Star Parties on August 15 and 22.
CSM will have Jazz Under the
Stars on
August 1 and 29th.
Don't forget that there is the Joint Star-B-Que with the Peninsula
Astronomical Society on August 29th. This will be held at Hidden
Villa in
Los Altos and details can be found in the "From the Prez"
section of the
Event Horizon.
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Other Astronomy Events in Our Area
SMCAS Monthly Calendar
Club Websites, Membership Application
SMCAS patches on sale
Update, June 12
Kepler Star Wheels
Update, July 25, 26
At
the bottom on this page is a review of the
amateur astronomer briefing given by Brian Day at the Fremont Peak Star BQ on
July 25.
The impact event will happen on October 9 at about 4:30 AM pacific time.
Amateur's preparations should be complete by the evening of October 8.
The event is expected to be visible in moderate sized amateur telescopes but
will last only about 100 seconds.
The moon will be high in the sky from San Francisco, 70 degrees altitude and
135 degrees azimuth from true north. ( Somewhat east of south. )
The event will appear at the south cusp of the gibbous moon.
( Where the lunar limb meets the lunar terminator. )
Timing and target destination updating will be final 9 hours before impact.
Telescopes invert the image in various ways so be sure to confirm you are, for
sure,
looking at the lunar south.
Update, August 13
Lunar Graze Expedition
Update, August 15
We are scheduled for a star party at Crestview Park Saturday August 15. We
will be gathering at sunset (8:00PM) and start observing at about 9:00PM.
Weather conditions are predicted to be very good and it should be a good
evening.
If you would like help in using a telescope or just want to see objects
like Jupiter, please join us.
Details at http://www.smcas.
com/events/
crestview_
park/
and directions at
http://www.smcas.
com/events/
directions/
crestview_
park/
Ed Pieret
EPieret zazt Comcast.
net
Update, August 20
Help save the Observatory on Fremont Peak,
Background
Event this Saturday in support of Fremont Peak State
Park
Update, August 26
PAS Star-B-Que at Hidden Villa
at 6PM on
Saturday, August 29!
The PAS and the San Mateo County Astronomical Society will be
holding its annual joint Star-B-Que at the Hidden Villa Farm and
Wilderness Preserve in Los Altos Hills at 6PM this coming Saturday,
August 29. As before, it will be a pot luck picnic with members of
both clubs bringing a sample of their favorite home made(or bought)
dishes for everyone to share. Please bring drinks(non-alchohol
ic) as
well. We will also have Bar-B-Qued hamburgers, sausages, and chicken
provided for by the club.
Please let me know by Email at lum40@comcast.
net if you are coming,
how many people you are bringing and what dishes you plan to bring so
I may know how much BBQ meat to bring.
After dinner, Dave Rodriques of the East Bay Astronomical Society,
who plays the "Astrowizard" at the California Academy of Sciences/
Morrison Planetarium and Chabot Space and Science Center, will treat
us and the public to one of his rousing astronomical presentations
followed by a public Star Party, so bring your telescopes and
binoculars as well. Both the Astrowizard presentation and Star Party
are open to all of us as well as the general public who are coming to
Hidden Villa for this event. Members of both clubs will get in for
free for the price of putting on the Star Party while the general
public will pay an admission fee to help finance Hidden Villa's
operations and programs. For the few die harts, Hidden Villa will
allow us to stay to 2 AM, but please be quiet as people do live on
the premises.
Hidden Villa may be reached by driving west on El Monte Rd. past
Foothill College up to the intersection with Moody Rd. on the left of
a fork. Take Moody Rd. about 2 miles until you see the Hidden Villa
sign on the left side of the road next to an entrance leading to a
wood bridge and subsequently a ranch house(Visitor Center) where you
can park. The Star-B-Que will be held across the parking lot from the
Visitor Center where there is a new picnic are just completed by
Hidden Villa.
Due to the large public turn out that we have had in the past,
telescopes are especially needed!! Besides, the food and camaraderie
are just GRRReat! Looking forward to seeing you all at 6PM on Saturday.
Update, August 27
Postings for events after August are at 09-09sept/sept.htm
Crestview Star
Parties
Crestview star party dates:
Number of people in attendance
subject to weather.
Crestview 2005/7 Sun Chart
Scobee Star Chart
Scobee
Planetarium
The Solar System Live
This is the Crestview Park Star Party Fall 2009 Schedule that I gave
to
the San Carlos Park & Rec. dept. for the Activity Guide.
Please review it and let me know of any problems with these dates.
Thanks,
Bob B.
Saturdays - Dusk - 10pm
September 12 & 19 - October 10 & 17 - November 7
& 14 - December 12 & 19
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Come out and see
how many different things you can
identify
in the night sky!
Bring
your binoculars, telescopes, star guides, and lounge chairs for some informal
star gazing at Crestview Park. Dress warmly, wear a hat. Cars should arrive before dark so that headlights don't affect people's dark
adaptation. Bring small flashlights only, with the lens covered with red
cellophane or red balloon. Please don't touch a telescope without permission.
And parents, please watch your children.
Directions to Crestview Park: Take Hwy 101 or El Camino to Brittan Avenue in
San Carlos, and turn west (right from El Camino). From El Camino, follow Brittan
about 2.3 miles to the intersection with Crestview Drive. From Alameda, go about
1.4 miles to Crestview. Turn right on Crestview. A small sign saying "Crestview
Park" is a half-block ahead on the right.
Look to the left for the park entry road, a small street between houses #998 and 1000.
If after dark, please park on Crestview to avoid disturbing the observing with
headlight glare.
From Highway 280 to Edgewood Road. Go east toward the Bay about 0.8 miles. Left on
Crestview Drive. Go 0.5 miles uphill to the intersection with Brittan Avenue. Go one
short block to the park entrance on the left.
Generally the first star party is around the 3/4
moon and the second party is a week later (around the new moon). Our
experience is that 4 or 5 days after the full moon the moon rises late
enough that it won't bother observing. Some months the calendar and the and
the moon phases give us a star party with a new moon or at least less than a
quarter moon. This is OK because we all like to do a little moon observing
once in a while. Sometimes we even call it a moon party.
Leroy Amen
Crestview Park is at W122° 17', N37° 29'
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==================================================================
REACH FOR THE STARS AT CSM!
With its planetarium, variety of astronomy courses, top-notch faculty,
and special events such as Star Parties, when the College partners with the
San Mateo County Astronomical Society...or with CSM's many A.A., A.S., and
certificate programs, its scenic and historic campus, the ease with which
you can sign up for classes online as a first-time or returning student...
The possibilities are astronomical.
COLLEGE OF SAN MATEO. Visit us on the web at http://gocsm.net
=================================================================
Astronomy Events in Our Area
( Edited for August )
Bay
Astro, Ken L's Event List
There is expected to be a public star party on the parade grounds at
Moffet
Field ( Mountain View ) on Saturday, August 1 as a continuation of Moonfest.
IYA2009
at Berkeley ( poster )
This UC Berkeley Speaker series for the International Year of Astronomy 2009
Public Talks,
Hosted by the UC Berkeley Astronomy
Department
http://astro.berkeley.edu/~scroft/iya/
Dean
Lectures
California
Academy of Sciences
Tickets for the August 3 lecture (Dr. Margaret Race from the SETI Institute
speaking about "Astrobiology, Planetary Protection, and Hitchikers in the
Solar System") are now available either by calling 800-794-7576 or online
at https://www.calacademy.org/event_tickets/.
____________________________________
Benjamin Dean Lecture Series in Astronomy
Morrison Planetarium
California Academy of Sciences
55 Concourse Drive
San Francisco, CA 94118
415-379-8000
deanseries@calacademy.org
http://www.calacademy.org/events/index.php
SLAC Physics
Lecture Series at Stanford Linear Accelerator
http://www.slac.
stanford.
edu/welcome/
location.
html (how to get to SLAC)
Silicon
Valley Astronomy Lecture Series
Foothill College
Los Altos Hills, CA
Seti Seminar Series
The colloquiums are free and open to the public, and run from
noon to 1 pm on Wednesdays at the SETI
Institute, 515 N. Whisman Road, Mountain View, California.
UC Berkeley's Lawrence
Hall of Science
http://www.lawrencehallofscience.org
Lick Observatory
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Plan to arrive after noon and before 3 PM for best access to Public
Areas.
This is an all day trip climbing to
4200 feet on the historic
Mount Hamilton Road, Route 130.
Alum Rock off of 101 or 680.
Please don't pass bicyclists
on the blind curves.
Gift Shop
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Mt Tam
Enthusiasts-
Mt Tam , website: mttam.net
Exploratorium in San Francisco
http://www.exploratorium.edu/
To the Moon: A Look at NASA’s Lunar Impact Mission and the History of
Moon
Exploration
A Talk with Space Historian Andrew Chaikin
Sunday, September 27, 2009
McBean Theater, 2pm
Take a trip to our nearest neighbor in space with renowned science
journalist and space
historian Andrew Chaikin. Coinciding with the 40th anniversary of
the first moon
landing, Chaikin’s talk will introduce the past, present, and future
of lunar exploration
and include a visual tour of the moon’s surface—from Apollo landing
sites to the
planned Lunar Impact point. Relive the achievements of Apollo lunar
astronauts and
learn about the ambitious LCROSS (Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing
Satellite)
mission, which will send a rocket crashing into the moon’s permanently
shadowed
regions to kick up huge plumes of debris in the hopes of uncovering
deposits of ice. In
addition, Exploratorium physicists will give an entertaining and
interactive overview of
moon science. This event is included in the price of admission to the
Exploratorium.
Go to:
http://press.exploratorium.edu/moon-webcast-september-2009/
Raphael Rosen
The Exploratorium
The Tech Museum, downtown
San Jose
Western
Amateur Astronomers
Peninsula Astronomical Society
OTHER CLUBS & EVENTS - For regularly-updated information on other
astronomical organizations and events, we refer you to the website of the
Astronomical Association of Northern California;
www.aanc-astronomy.orgJane H J on your I-Pod,
http://education.jpl.nasa.gov/amateurastronomy/index.html
eMail
from Jane H.
For those of you with an interest in Java Programs and/or
extra-solar planet search see:
http://oklo.org/?page_id=86
This is a forum run by students and instructors at
Lick Observatory concerning the reduction of extra-solar
radial velocity data. Update at: http://www.oklo.org/
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Astronomical Society of the Pacific
ASP Website
U.S. Department of the Interior
U.S. Geological Survey,
Public Programs:
http://online.wr.usgs.gov/calendar/
The Intel Museum
Computer History Museum
For those familiar with the streets of the SF Mission,
Bay Area Science Cafe
http://www.sciencecafesf.com/
http://www.atlascafe.net/
Lockheed
Martin Palo Alto Colloquia
NASA Ames Research Center
The NASA Exploration Center is open to the public free of charge. For information about the Exploration Center, please visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/home/exploration.html
To learn about other events hosted by NASA Ames, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/events/index.html
Update May 24, 2009:
The space shuttle landed safely at Edwards in Southern California today.
Space Telescope Science Institute
Hubble 'Top Ten', from email
Briefing on the James
Webb Space Telescope
from Vacuum and Coating
Technology, August
2007. |
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page 51 |
page 52 |
page 53 |
page 54 |
page 55 |
page 56 |
page 57 |
Multimedia review of some major space telescope projects since 1990.
http://www.space.com/php/multimedia/telescopetech/
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Astronomy at College of San Mateo
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College of San Mateo Maps
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Webmaster's
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SMCAS Patches
The SMCAS patches
are on sale for six dollars each.
Actual diameter is 9 centimeters or
about 3 1/2 inches.
...
LCROSS Briefing July 25 ( review with comments by Bob Fies )
Background
The Lunar Reconnaissance
Orbiter, ( LRO ) has been in the planning for many
years. The objective being to obtain detailed sub meter resolution
pictures of the entire lunar surface. The LRO is now in orbit around
the moon.
At some point in the design of the LRO it became apparent due to the configuration
of the Atlas launch vehicle that there would be room for additional equipment.
The LCROSS package was added to the adapter ring that sits atop the centaur
third stage and below the LRO package. After third stage burnout the
centaur was not jettisoned as is usually the case.
The LRO separated from the centaur and LCROSS and injected itself into the
lunar orbit.
The LCROSS package made a near flyby of the moon and is now in a 39 day orbit
around the earth.
The near lunar flyby of LCROSS allowed the plane of its orbit to be shifted so
that it could impact the moon
at an 80 degree angle into an always shaded crater on the south pole of the
moon.
The mission objective is to determine from the plume of impact debris if
there is ice trapped at the bottom of
eternally shaded craters on the lunar south pole. The secondary
objective is to determine the nature
of the lunar surface chemistry. The instrumented LCROSS will separate
from the inert centaur nine hours before impact and impact the crater bottom
nearby four minutes after centaur impact.
The centaur crater is expected to be about 3 meters deep and 20 meters in
diameter and to throw debris
about 10 km above the lunar surface. Craters of this size are
continually formed on the moon by impacts
but unfortunately at unexpected random locations.
Observations of Impact and Amateur Astronomer Briefing.
Previous lunar missions have determined the almost certain presence of
increased hydrogen at the lunar
poles and there is some inconclusive evidence for crystalline ( ice? ) crystals.
Atomic hydrogen would not stay on the moon so the hydrogen must be chemically
bound in some way.
The immediate thought is to look at the optical spectra for the presence of
the atomic oxygen spectral line
in the impact flash. There are two problems with this ( although Brian Day
insist he is discouraging no effort ).
One problem is that the flash will be below the crater rim as viewed from
earth. The other is that there is the expectation that there is indeed
oxygen present but not in the form of ice.
There was stated that the impact would be viewed by the Space Telescope and
comment that the NICMOS
instrumentation on the Space Telescope was appropriate.
Observations from the Earth will be possible in general to the west of the Mississippi.
Although the moon will be visible from the east coast the 4th to 5th magnitude
debris plume will be lost
against the daytime sky.
Perhaps the primary terrestrial observations will be made from Mauna Kea in Hawaii
where many large
telescopes will be dedicated to observations of the impact. But keep in
mind it all happens in 100 seconds
and if a cloud were there all data from Hawaii could be lost.
Arizona is another prime area for observations.
The high, and dry deserts of Chile will be hampered by a low lunar elevation
above the horizon.
Large telescopes are designed to drive at sidereal rate and some of the spectrograph
slits are only
.5 arc seconds in width. This makes pointing the telescope in advance
quite tricky since the moon
besides not traveling at sidereal rate also has parallax and liberation and
the view from a rotating earth
is not in the moons orbital plane.
The pointing problem plus the fact that the OH, hydroxyl spectra is a band
and not a spectral line tend to
pre dispose me toward the use of infra red band pass filters. ( Bob Fies )
Multi layer infra red band pass filters are already available and might be
'off the shelf' items.
Amateurs have been using webcams at the prime focus. These cameras have
a frame rate of maybe
30 frames per second. If a filter wheel could be synchronized with the
frame rate then two IR filters
could be used, one filter excluding the main OH bands and the other including
the main OH bands.
Data reduction would involve subtracting non OH frames from OH frames.
Comment was made that a camera with wide dynamic range would be required. (
bits per pixel )
Comment was made that a telescope aperture of more than a meter might be
required depending on
filter band pass and filter efficiency. But no calculations were done.
Appearance in the Amateur Telescope
Since the event
lasts only about 100 seconds preparation is
important. It is recommended that those with serious
expectations find 4th and 5th magnitude stars that are near
the moon to learn what to expect visually.
A grazing occultation of a 4th magnitude star by the moon
would be an excellent simulation. There was discussion
of using an occulting mask at the prime focus to reduce
some of the glare from the gibbous moon.
The plume is expected to look like an upside down lamp
shade. It will appear first as a slightly out of focus star then
spread in width to about 5 arc seconds.
e lyrae is commonly used by amateur telescope makers for
testing telescope resolution. Commonly called the
double-double, the closely spaced pairs have a separation
of about 2 arc seconds.
There will be a Google groups called LCROSS
observations for those that like to blog.
also on this page
More LCROSS information
NASA
is to crash a used rocket booster into an always
shaded crater on the moon.
See attached page from Sky & Telescope and links:
http://lunar.gsfc.nasa.gov
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LCROSS/main/index.html
There is also a web page for coordinating amateur astronomers.
http://groups.google.com/group/lcross_observation?lnk=srg
Graze Expedition
Have you ever participated in a Graze Expedition?
They are great sport for techno nerds, such as I am.
There is one which can be observed from Skyline Blvd. just south of Haynes
Rd., Hillsborough.
... and at the convenient time of about 1:53 am.
Please let me know.
Bob ( B. )
Walt M., a great grazer, sent this to me:
Late Thursday night/early Friday morning, August 13/14 will be the occasion
of the “last good crescent-Moon Pleiades passage visible from the USA until
the next series starts about 2023” (quoting David Dunham).
Large graze expeditions are planned across the country for several of the
Pleiades stars. In Northern California our best opportunity is a northern
limit graze by magnitude 3.7 Electra (17 Tauri), at about 1:53 a.m. Friday morning
(UT 8:53). Electra is the third brightest of the Pleiades stars.
Its ZC number is 537.
Lunar circumstances:
Cusp angle 6.2 degrees north
Altitude 18 degrees
Azimuth 73 degrees
Moon 43% illuminated, waning
A more comprehensive description from David Dunham will be pasted in below.
This notice is rather late, but no one has stepped up to lead a Bay Area expedition.
Each person can instead find a suitable place near their home, using tools
I’ll describe below.
Occult indicates that this graze will be visible with binoculars, but larger optics
are always preferred. Video records are best, but the traditional audio recordings
with the observer’s voice superimposed on a WWV signal are still very useful.
Besides being an unusually bright star, the extra attraction of this graze is the
recent availability of profiles an order of magnitude better than those used previously. The explanation is rather complicated (and I don’t fully understand it myself), but in a nutshell: place yourself 500 to 1000 metres southeast (measured perpendicularly) of the predicted graze line and it is highly probable that you will have multiple peaks. The profile is rather flat by normal standards, but its improved accuracy is expected to compensate for that.
The general path crosses the southern part of the San Francisco peninsula,
Hayward, Danville, I-5 north of Stockton, and the Sierra foothills.
The best map to use for this graze is available at
http://www.poyntsource.com/New/index.htm
Click on Google Maps (top center). Down a way on the right side of the resulting
screen, click on Electra Graze August 14 – 50m. The next screen will have an
interactive map, but it is necessary to scroll down a couple screens to see it.
Click and drag to get the red circle (map center) positioned on northern California,
and zoom in. The green line is the graze limit. The gray lines are displaced
+5 and -15 km from that.
Just above the map are two lines where you can change the offsets of the gray lines.
Change the values to +0.5 and +1.0, then click on the Click Here box to the right
each time. The gray lines will move to 0.5 and 1.0 km south of the green line.
Your only remaining task is to drag the map around, zooming as appropriate,
until you find a place between the gray lines where you can set up your scope
and have the moon in view.
That process ignores a small offset for elevation
(which is assumed to be 50 metres for the green line shown).
If your elevation will be greater than 100 metres a small offset should be included,
and I will figure out how to explain that and send an announcement Thursday afternoon.
Meanwhile, see if you can’t find a nearby location and schedule a little time to
use your scope early Friday morning.
Walt M.
* * * *
(Message from David D. -- I hope it shows up all right)
A spectacular crescent-Moon occultation of the brighter Pleiades
stars will occur Friday morning, August 14th. For observers
throughout the USA and Canada, it will be their last chance to
observe such an event until 2023, so it's worth some effort, at
least to observe the total occultation dark-side reappearances
visible from their homes. The message below also describes three
good grazing occultation paths across populous parts of North
America; those within an approximately mile-wide band will see the
bright star flash off and on as it is repeatedly covered and
uncovered by lunar mountains and craters along the dark northern
edge of the Moon. There are many paths for other grazing
occultations of stars of mag. 5 to 8 that also cross the continent,
possibly one near you, and these can also provide interesting views.
The Pleiades occultation events will occur mainly within an hour of
9h UT (5am EDT, 4am CDT, 3am MDT, or 2am PDT)
For Pleiades occultations, region of visibility maps and
predictions for hundreds of N. American cities for the brightest
6 stars are on the IOTA lunar occultation prediction Web site at
http://www.lunar-occultations.com/iota/pleiades/pleiades.htm .
Predictions for all of 2009 for stars to mag. 6.0 for 40 of the
larger N. American cities can be downloaded in .zip files from
http://www.lunar-occultations.com/bobgraze/index.html .
You can also download IOTA's Occult 4 program at no cost from
http://www.lunar-occultations.com/iota/occult4.htm and compute your
own predictions. That has the advantage that you can use it to
create views of the Moon showing the locations of each reappearing
star in the predictions that you generate.
_________________
The grazing occultations are certainly the most spectacular events,
so if possible, you are encouraged to try to "go mobile" and observe
one in your area; see below. If you can't do that, at least try to
observe the total occultations from a convenient location as
described above.
___________________
Lunar Grazing Occultations during the passage
You can zoom in on some of these paths using Brad Timerson's
interactive Google maps Web site at http://www.timerson.net/IOTA/ .
But you need to know the offsets for the graze zone in your area; we
can help you determine that. One of the best grazes will be the
one of 4.3-mag. Taygeta (19 Tauri = ZC 539) that will be visible
along a path extending from s.e. of New Orleans, to north of Mobile
and s. of Montgomery, AL; south of Atlanta; south of Petersburg, VA;
and over the Delmarva Peninsula, crossing the Atlantic coast over
the southern part of Assateague Island. Taygeta is a relatively
long-period spectroscopic binary that has apparently been resolved
during some past grazes and high-speed photoelectric recordings of
total occultations. Unfortunately, the current weather forecast is
poor for the Mid-Atlantic region, but good farther southwest along
the Taygeta graze path, from where it crosses I-75 about halfway
between Atlanta and Macon, Georgia to s.e. of New Orleans.
Another spectacular graze will be one of 3.9-mag. Maia (20 Tauri =
ZC 541) with the path extending from near El Paso, Texas, to Kansas
City, MO; Racine, Wisc.; and s. of Sudbury, Ont. Also, there will
be a spectacular graze of 3.7-mag. Electra (17 Tauri = ZC 537)
visible from the San Francisco Bay area; near Carson, Nev.; and
northeast from there to Twin Falls, ID and s.e. of Regina, Sask.
Both of these stars are also spectroscopic binaries, and although
there have been some past claims of resolution, it's likely that the
separations of these pairs is too small to resolve from occultation
observations.
There are many other grazes of 8th to 5th-mag. stars that will also
be spectacular with small telescopes, visible along many other
paths, possibly one near you; see a Web site that I've set up about
this Pleiades passage at http://iota.jhuapl.edu/pleds814.htm,
especially for Mid-Atlantic region information. For an overview
of the better events across N. America, see pages 177 (table) and
180 (map), and for general info. pages 166 - 172 of the RASC
Observer's Handbook for 2009; the table, map, and path predictions
are also at http://iota.jhuapl.edu/grazemap.htm . For detailed
interactive maps to select local sites for many of the grazes, see
Brad Timerson's site specified above, click on "times" to see the
list of times and circumstances along the path, and click on the
star number at the top of the map for the interactive Google map. In
that, change the numbers in the two boxes to +2.0 and 0.0, and click
on them, to very approximately define the graze zone between the two
gray lines that will be plotted. The best multiple events range
will be narrower; for the brighter grazes, I'll give some guidance
in an update to this message tomorrow - see below.
A recent analysis of past Taygeta grazes, and 2006 Apr. 1/2 Maia
graze observations, using much improved profile data derived from
the Japanese Kaguya mission show excellent agreement with the
observations, so we can select locations that will guarantee many
events using the predicted Kaguya profile for this event.
Links to the Kaguya profiles are given below. During the 2006 Apr.
2nd graze, a spectacular video recording was obtained with my
telescope; you can download (it'll take awhile, it's 247 megabytes)
from http://iota.jhuapl.edu/20060402MaiaGrazeSA.avi . Videos of
another good graze, to see what the phenomenon is like, are also on
my Web page about it at http://iota.jhuapl.edu/muari612.htm ;
especially good are my northern station video and Bob Sandy's video
that are posted there.
KAGUYA LUNAR PROFILES
Much improved lunar profile data derived from the Japanese Kaguya
mission show excellent agreement with past graze observations, so we
can select locations that will guarantee many events using the
predicted Kaguya profile for this event. You can see the past
observed graze reductions using Kaguya data at
http://optik2.mtk.nao.ac.jp/~somamt/grazes-kaguya.html
(the comparison/improvement over the old Watts profiles is striking)
and the predicted Kaguya profiles for the Taygeta, Maia, and Electra
grazes are at the bottom of
http://optik2.mtk.nao.ac.jp/~somamt/grazes.html . Also at the
bottom there is a "star path" figure that you can print, either on a
transparency or cut out along the curve; you can then move this up
and down on the predicted Kaguya profile (which is plotted with the
Moon's mean limb as a horizontal line, so the star paths are curved)
keeping the center at the axis angle of central graze for your
longitude (which you can get from the northern limit data on my
Pleiades Web site, or from the "times" lists on Timerson's site).
August 15, 2009
Attached is a movie made of 4 frames I took last night via an 80mm APO.
It was 2 frames of 20 seconds and 2 frames of 30 seconds, obviously the moon
looks like its on fire but you can make out M45 and the motion of the moon
in the foreground.
Enjoy
