NOVAinside

AMEC’s Telescope Tour 1

President’s Message 2

Observing Sites 4

For Sale 5

Upcoming Events 6

Treasurer Needed 7

Loaner Telescopes 8

Galleries 9/10/11

Looking Ahead

Remember, you are alwayswelcome to attend meetings ofCouncil, held on the first Thurs-day of every month at 7:30pmin the G.M.S.O.

May 9: Jonathan Martin, mem-ber of the Vancouver branch ofthe Mars Society: SimulatingMars in Utah.

Jun. 8: Brett Gladman, UBCDept. of Physics & Astronomy:“Finding Buffy,” the discoveryof the Kuiper Belt object.

Jul. 13: Chris Gainor, RASCVictoria Centre: What ApolloTaught Us About the Moon.

Next Issue Deadline

Material for the July Novashould submitted by Monday,July 3, 2006. Please send sub-missions to:

Gordon Farrell(gfarrell@shaw.ca)

NEWSLETTER OF THE VANCOUVER CENTRE RASC

VOLUME 2006 ISSUE 3 MAY/JUNE 2006

IMPORTANTNOTICE!

Effective in June, all RASCVancouver Centre meetingswill be moving from Tuesdaynights to Thursday nights toaccommodate the Space Cen-tre. The next Members’ meet-ing will be held on June 8th.

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

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2006

June

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AMEC’s Invite to a 6m Telescope TourOn Saturday, May 27th, 2006,

I would like to invite any membersof Vancouver Centre to bring theirfriends and relations to AMECDynamic Structures’ PortCoquitlam plant to see the 6MAtacama Cosmology Telescope.Interested members should meet atthe entrance gate of the plant at12:30. The address is 1515Kingsway Avenue, PortCoquitlam. Please wear sturdyfootwear as we will be outside inour assembly yard.

With some luck, one of theProject Scientists, Mark Devlin orMark Halpren, may be on hand tooperate the scope so we can see it

move. If neither of them are therethen the telescope will be operatedby one of AMEC’s MechanicalEngineers, Mike Frost.

The ACT has been developedby AMEC under contract to theUniversity of Pennsylvania andUBC. The telescope is designed tostudy the Cosmic Background ra-diation in the sub-millimetrerange. The thing that makes thistelescope different from other sub-millimetre ones is that it will re-peatedly scan an area of the skytaking millions of readings in or-der to improve the resolution of thedata very similar to the process ofstacking multiple frames of a con-

ventional image to enhance theclarity.

There are many unique fea-tures of this telescope that are aresult of the stringent science con-ditions that must be met and theseshall be explained during the tour.Standing over 4 stories tall, thetelescope is really something tobehold.

I would ask that all memberswho wish to attend be prompt aswe must remain in one group dueto safety requirements.

Craig Breckenridgecraig.breckenridge@shaw.ca �

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info

President’sMessage

2005 VancouverCentre Officers

PresidentRon Jerome 604-298-3292jerome3292@shaw.ca

Vice-PresidentPomponia Martinez 604-215-8844pomponia@telus.net

SecretaryBrian Morse 604-267-6717

TreasurerMarc Verschueren 604-986-1485marcver@shaw.ca

LibrarianWilliam Fearon 604-939-1895williamfearon147@hotmail.com

MembershipSuzanna Nagy 604-682-5111suzannan@slatervecchio.com

CARO Committee ChairBob Parry 604-215-8844robpar@telus.net

Director of TelescopesWayne Lyons 604-467-2956lyonsww@shaw.ca

Public RelationsBruce MacDonald 604-882-3820brumac@gmail.com

SpeakersBarry Shanko 604-271-0615barryshanko@telus.net

Nat’l Rep./MerchandisingDoug Montgomery 604-596-7058moondoug@home.com

Nova EditorGordon Farrell 604-734-0326gfarrell@shaw.ca

Nat’l Rep./WebmasterJason Rickerby 604-502-8158rickerby@dccnet.com

LPA Committee ChairChris Dolman 604-707-0089cdolman@telus.net

Education Cmte. ChairCraig Breckenridge 604-437-3103craig.breckenridge@shaw.ca

TrusteesSally Baker 604-324-3309Karl Miller jkmiller@direct.ca

About RASCThe Vancouver Centre, RASC

meets at 7:30 PM in the auditoriumof the H.R. MacMillan Space Cen-tre at 1100 Chestnut St., Vancou-ver, on the second Thursday ofevery month. Guests are alwayswelcome. In addition, the Centrehas an observing site where starparties are regularly scheduled.

Membership is currently $58.00per year ($34.25 for persons under21 years of age) and can be ob-tained by writing to the Treasurerat the address below. Annualmembership includes the invalu-able Observer’s Handbook, six is-sues of the RASC Journal, and, ofcourse, access to all of the clubevents and projects.

For more information regardingthe Centre and its activities, pleasecontact our P.R. Director.

NOVA, the newsletter of theVancouver Centre, RASC, is pub-lished on odd numbered months.Opinions expressed herein are notnecessarily those of the VancouverCentre.

Material on any aspect of as-tronomy should be e-mailed to theeditor or mailed to the address onpage 5.

AdvertisingNova encourages free use of itsclassified ads for members withitems for sale or swap. Notify theeditor if you wish your ad to run inmore than one issue.

CommericalRates

1/4 Page: $15.00 per issue1/2 Page: $25.00 per issueFull Page: $40.00 per issueRates are for camera-ready, orelectronic files. Payment, bycheque, must accompany ad ma-terial. Make cheque payable to:RASC Vancouver Centre.

Our Society’s activities havepicked up momentum as the arrivalof spring has brought increasedviewing opportunities. Among theinitial events planned were a pairof Messier Marathons. The avail-ability of the Chris Graham Ro-botic Telescope gave us the advan-tage of being able to hold our firstmarathon without concern for ourlocal weather. Bob Parry,Pomponia Martinez and a fewkeen observers were able to coaxall but one of those deep sky ob-jects into photographic range, sowe have begun to build our ownimage library. Although this wasnot “eyepiece” astronomy, Bobmakes no apologies, believingfirmly that all is fair when it comesto love and Messiers.

Star parties also bring out hi-bernating astronomers and thespring Merritt Star Quest is thefirst one in our neighbourhood.Bruce MacDonald attended andreported that, while the viewingopportunities were not great, thecamaraderie and exchange of ideasmade the trip worth the effort.

The eclipse in March metmost people’s expectations, as thatever-present cloud that seems todog all such events gave way at thelast minute. Bill Ronald and GilBiderman viewed it from differentparts of Turkey. Andreas Gada (anunattached RASC member fromOntario), who travelled with Na-tional Office stalwart Bonnie Birdto Libya for the event, is reported

continued on page 6

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Observing Sites

Dale McNabb Observatory inAldergrove Lake Park (RASC Van-couver Centre's regular viewingsite)Contact Mike Penndelton (604-888-1505) or Howard Morgan(604-856-9186)

Site of the annual star party organ-ized by the RASC Vancouver Cen-tre

Site of the annual Mt. Kobau StarParty organized by the MountKobau Astronomical Society

Site of the regular Saturday nightstar party. On the dike at the footof 72nd St.

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centre s

ervic

es

FOR SALE

RASC MERCHANDISEAvailable for purchase after meetings:

Calendars $14.00Golf Shirts $30.00Sweat Shirts $30.00Centenary Mugs $ 7.00Beginners’ Guides $15.00Observers’ Guides $20.00Cloth Crests $11.00Lapel Pins $ 6.00L.E.D. Flashlights $22.00

ASTROCOMPUTINGSpaceBase™ (604-473-9358,59).Affiliated since 1992 with RASCVancouver, our link to RASC Net,RASC Members only chat area.Future data distribution hub forCARO Project. Features includelatest HST images, current worldspace news and astronomy pro-grams.

LIBRARYThe centre has a large library ofbooks, magazines and old Nova’sfor your enjoyment at the GSO.Please take advantage of this clubservice and visit often to check outthe new purchases. Suggestionsfor future library acquisitions are ap-preciated.

RASC-VC on the Internethttp://www.pcis.com/rascvan/ or

http://www.rasc.ca/vancouver

H.R. MACMILLANSPACE CENTRE

The Pacific Space Centre Societyis a non-profit organization whichoperates the H.R. MacMillan SpaceCentre and Gordon M. SouthamObservatory. Annual Membership($30 Individual, $80 Family) in-cludes a newsletter, Discounts onSpace Camps, special programsand lectures, Vancouver MuseumDiscounts, and free admission tothe Space Centre. Admission to theSpace Centre includes: Astronomyshows, Motion Simulator rides, mul-timedia shows in GroundStationCanada, and access to the CosmicCourtyard Exhibit Gallery. For Mem-bership information, call MahiJordao at 604-738-7827, local 237for information. You can also reachthem on the Internet at http://www.hrmacmillanspacecentre.com/

MEMBERSHIPHAS ITS

PRIVILEGES!New members, did you know?

The Vancouver Centre has 8 tel-escopes available for loan free ofcharge! We have telescopes rang-ing from 60mm to 10" diameter.For more information see WayneLyons, Director of Telescopes in themeeting room of the GSO after themembers meeting. All telescopesare to be picked up and returned atthe GSO. The loaner period is forone month, to be returned after thenext meeting. Telescopes are notallowed to circulate outside of thesemeetings. You can now reserve 2different telescopes per year anduse what is left at the end of themeeting anytime. Wayne can bereached at 604-467-2956.

Your greatest opportunity as amember of the R.A.S.C. is to takeadvantage of the company of otherenthusiasts to increase your knowl-edge, enjoyment and skill in as-tronomy.

The best thing you can do togain the most from your member-ship is to get active! Take in theclub meetings; engage other mem-bers with questions; come out to ob-serving sessions (also known as“star parties”), and, by all means,volunteer to take part in our manypublic events.

Observing takes place atBoundary Bay on the dike at thesouth end of 72nd St. in Delta (seemap on p. 4). We are there mostclear Thursday/Friday nights. Con-tact Jason Rickerby at 604-502-8158.

RASC1100 Chestnut Street

Vancouver, B.C.V6J 3J9

604-738-2855

‘INTES’ Russian Made PrecisionQuartz Clock DriveSpeeds: Sidereal, Lunar & Adjust-ableAdjustable for Observer’s LatitudePower: 12 volts DC 80 mAmps(Very low power consumption)Works with battery or AC adaptorSuitable for scope to 30lbs$80 or OBOContact Seamus Dunne604-327-7262seamus@xtcfx.ca

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Upcoming EventsMay18-22 – GA 2006 in Ottawa26 – Sidewalk Astronomy (rainday May 27)

June29 – CARO tour

August11-12 – Perseid meteor shower19-27 – Mt. Kobau Star Party

October13 – Sidewalk Astronomy (rainday Oct. 14)

November14 – 75th Anniversary ofVancouver Centre

December12 – AGM

to have taken 10,000 photos oftheir adventure. Apparently someof them were even of the eclipse.

Anne and I had to cancel ourplans to go, in part, because ofanother equally wondrous event—the birth of our first grandchild.While our daughter did not bestowan astronomical name on the newlittle girl, she is certainly a new starin our skies.

We did have the opportunityto go New Mexico Skies in lateApril for a tour of the site wherethe CGRT is housed. Lynn andMike Rice, our hosts, have a 53-acre site, 7300 feet up in theSacramento Mountains in southcentral New Mexico, about 3½hours drive northeast of El Paso,Texas. They are in good company.Across the narrow valley to thenortheast is another “bed and tel-escope” site, while 36 miles to the

west, on the southwest ridge of theSacramento Range are the SloanDigital Sky Survey, the SunspotNational Solar Observatory and anumber of other professional fa-cilities.

NMS has six separate perma-nent observatories for individualscopes plus an assortment of port-able scopes with a variety of ac-cessories that can be used by visi-tors for visual or imaging work. Aswell there are another six domes(one that holds the CGRT) and twobuildings with roll-off roofs, all ofwhich house internet-operated in-struments.

The NMS apartments werevery comfortable and fullyequipped, even to the red lights inevery room to protect night vision.For those who want a change fromthe nightlife, there are walks andhikes in the surrounding LincolnNational Forest as well as a vari-

ety of birds that liven up the day-time skies.

I got to spend an evening witha 25" Dobsonian. It was touch-and-go as to whether I was actu-ally going to be able to see any-thing, as clouds moved through thearea, offering only sucker holes forthe better part of two hours. Fi-nally, about 11:00pm, the sky be-gan to yield its stars and for thenext 3 hours I was about as closeto heaven as I may ever get. Be-sides examining all the Messierobjects in Virgo (twice, just to besure), the special treats wereComet SW3, Omega Centauri andCentaurus A. The last two, ofcourse, are well below the acces-sible horizon from Vancouver. Iquit reluctantly about 2:00am asmy concentration began to fade.The trip was quite wonderful andI am looking forward to a future

Pho

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by R

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visit.Astronomy Day, our biggest

production of the year, was accom-panied by, dare Imention it, rain, af-ter a stretch of re-ally decent viewingweather. Ah well…it is spring in Van-couver. While at-tendance was low,the talks were ex-cellent and our fea-tured speaker—Dr.Carolyn Porco—delivered an ex-tremely informa-tive presentation onNASA’s Cassinimission. Pictures of Saturn, itsmultiple rings and fascinatingmoons, accompanied by a discus-sion of the trials and tribulations

of bringing sense to the frequentlyperplexing images, kept the audi-ence in rapt attention for an hourand one half. For those who have

yet to discover the imaging team’swebsite, visit http://ciclops.org/index.php. We do live in interest-ing times.

Next on the annual agenda isthe General Assembly in Ottawa,the weekend of May 18th – 22nd.The speakers and workshops look

very instructive andI suspect there willbe more than a few“interesting” discus-sions at the councilmeetings. I am surefinancial matterswill dominate thesessions as Nationalcontinues to look forsolutions to itsbudget dilemma. Weanticipate a fee in-crease in the comingyear, which, as weknow, will not be

shared by the centres. To thosemembers planning the trip, I lookforward to seeing you there.

– Ron Jerome �

Vancouver Centre Needs a TreasurerDuties and Responsibilities:- Receive all funds paid to the

society and handle the relatedbanking duties;

- Verify and make alldisbursements required in theordinary course of the society’sbusiness;

- Keep all books and financialrecords;

- Help track the society’sinventory;

- Help prepare annual budgetsand advise council on thefinancial requirementsnecessary to realize the projectsand programs of the society;

- Present regular financial

statements to council withappropriate commentary;

- Advise council on investments;- Present the financial statements

at the Annual General Meeting;- Prepare the financial statements

required by the National Officeof the RASC at year-end.

Time Commitment:- Council meetings are held once

a month, a week prior to theregular members’ meeting andthe treasurer should be inattendance. Meetings last about2 hours.

- Banking and recording keeping,including preparation of

financial statements, requires 2-3 hours per month.

Book keeping or accountingexperience would be useful,although our financial reporting isnot complicated. Familiarity withspreadsheets and/or a basicaccounting program is necessary.

Your council needs to fill thisimportant position and we askanyone interested to contact anyother of your centre executives.

Ron Jerome – Presidentjerome3292@shaw.ca604-298-3292 �

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RASC-Vancouver Centre Telescope Loaner Programmeby Wayne Lyons

There are a number ofloaner telescopes available tomembers at no cost. Theprimary purpose of the programis to provide an assortment oftelescope for beginningamateur astronomers to use andcompare. Each scope hasadvantages and disadvantagesand may be suitable fordifferent types of viewing. Bycomparing the different scopesyou will be able to make aninformed telescope purchasebest suited for your personaluse.

Each scope has anequipment list with it and alsoa list of other scopes in theloaner program. The current listof loaner scopes is:• OKKK, Refractor, 60mm - f/

15• Carl Wetzler, Refractor,

80mm - f/15• Karl Stein, Refractor, 80mm

- f/15• Sky-Watcher, Refractor,

102mm - f/10• Tasco, Reflector, 110mm - f/

8• Homemade, Reflector,

150mm - f/5• Omcon, Reflector, 150mm -

f/6• Homemade, Reflector,

152mm - f/6• Homemade, Reflector,

200mm - f/6• Sky-Watcher, Reflector,

203mm - f/5• Homemade, Reflector,

250mm - f/5.6• Homemade, Reflector,

250mm - f/5

GUIDELINES FORUSE:

Loaner telescopes are to bepicked up and returned to theGMSO at the end of monthlymeetings.

Reservations: Up to twodifferent scopes may bereserved throughout the year.The reservation of a scope maybe done up to three monthsprior to the date of use. Anyunreserved scopes are availableat the GMSO at the end of ourregular meetings.

If you are familiar with theprocess of collimating you mayrealign the primary mirror.Collimation of the primarymirror may be done if you feelcomfortable. The secondarymirrors are checked frequently.To prevent damage to hardwaresupporting the secondarymirror we would prefer that itbe realigned by a member ofCouncil.

CLEANING:Transporting and storing

RASC-VC scopes should be

done with care. Dust andvibrations are the worstenemies of a telescopes opticalsystem. Please keep the scopecovered with a dust cap whennot in use to prevent dust fromsettling on the lens surface ormirrors. Ideally reflectortelescopes should be storedwith the primary mirror in avertical position and thesecondary mirror face down.An additional large plastic bagto cover the entire scope willoffer further dust protection.Finderscopes and eyepieces areto be cleaned with special lenspaper & cleaning fluid only.Eyepieces need to be handledwith care.

AVOID TOUCHINGOPTICAL SURFACES.

DO NOT CLEAN theMIRRORS.

IMPORTANT:In order to keep the scopes

in good operating order pleaseREPORT any difficulties orproblems with the scope to theDirector of Telescopes. �

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Members’ Gallery

Diamond Ring at Third ContactBill Ronald29 March, 2006

10

Astronomy Day 2006

11

CGRT Gallery

Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 (73P)50 seconds, unguided25 April, 2006

M6330 seconds, unguided

M51Ten stacked 20-second exposures, unguided

3303 West 4th Avenue, Vancouver, BC, V6R 1N6, Canada

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