The Prairie AstronomerThe Official Newsletter of the Prairie Astronomy Club

What to View inDecember

A Proposal For PACConsideration

A Message From OurOutreach Coordinator

NGC Objects

Li1 Discovery

Where We Are Going

Nature Pulls a Fast One

Website Update

October ProgramEvery holiday season people ponder buying telescopes as gifts, fortheir children, for their family or for friends. The few designs found inmost department stores offer little information and clerks are rarelyknowledgeable. Buying on the internet or home shopping channelswithout any help doesn’t inspire confidence. What if you had achance to have help in making that purchase?

The Prairie Astronomy Club offers this assistance this month at itsregular meeting at Hyde Observatory on November 26th with asession on “how to buy a telescope.” Experienced amateurs willprovide examples of both the good and bad purchases and lots ofhelpful hints.

IN THIS

ISSUE:

November, 2013 Volume 54, Issue #11

The Prairie Astronomer is published monthly by the Prairie Astronomy Club, Inc. Membership expiration date islisted on the mailing label. Membership dues are: Regular $30/yr, Family $35/yr. Address all new membershipsand renewals to: The Prairie Astronomy Club, Inc., PO Box 5585, Lincoln, NE 68505-0585. For other clubinformation, please contact one of the club officers listed to the right. Newsletter comments and articles should besubmitted to: Mark Dahmke, P. O. Box 5585, Lincoln, NE 68505 or mark@dahmke.com, no less than ten daysprior to the club meeting. The Prairie Astronomy Club meets the last Tuesday of each month at Hyde MemorialObservatory in Lincoln, NE.

MSRAL

2The Prairie Astronomer

Jason called meeting to order at 7:31 on TuesdayOctober 29, 2013. Announced program for thenight: Michael Sibbernsen from the Strategic Airand Space Museum.

Next meeting will be “How to Buy a Telescope” onNov. 26. December meeting will be the HolidaySocial, but a date will need to be set.

Treasurer report was provided by BobKacvinsky. There were no budget issuespresented. A reminder about memberships andnotices was sent. 52 members active, with a fewother outstanding dues. Secretary and treasurerwill check on night sky network auto renewalnotices.

Report on outreach activities was provided byJason. October 5 cancelled due to clouds (cubscout). Oct. 26 was Howling Homestead withseveral volunteers and 3-400 people. Put upbright lights, but Jason told them next year would

need to do something different for lights orrelocate telescopes.Observing report was provided by Jim Kvasnicka.Star parties were, Oct 25 and Nov 1. Star partiesin November will be Nov 29 and December 6.Officer elections were held. No nominations fromfloor. Slate was as printed in the Octobernewsletter:

President Jack Dunn VP 1 Brett Boller VP 2. Zach Thompson Secretary. Dale Bazan Treasurer. Bob Kacvinsky

Dan Delzell motioned and Jim Kvasnickaseconded to close nominations which wasaccepted by members in attendanceunanimously. Slate was elected by acclimation.

Business meeting adjourned at 7:51.

Meeting Minutes

November 5, 2013. 7 PM  Mark, Cassie, Zach, Brett,Jack, Dale were present.

•Jack had contacted Night Sky Network to generateauto reminders of membership renewals. Mark andJack went through the membership options and couldnot determine the auto renewal.•Jack will not be at next PAC meeting. Zach will checkon powerpoint available for How to Buy a Telescopeand solicit members bring example telescopes.•Next 3 months of programs are planned, but boardwas charged by Jack to come up with future ideas.•Club library was discussed. Inventory will be needed.Brett was willing to go through it.•Jack recommended a new member packet includingAstronomy 101 book (available at Amazon for 11.00).Jack will check for a discount from publisher.•Mark suggested that we be more engaging withvisitors. Zach will be at back of auditorium to greetvisitors. Presenter will ask at beginning of meetingswhether any visitors and to have them introducethemselves.•Club telescopes were discussed.  Cassie and Brettwill divvy up duties for checking out telescopes.Telescope checking out will be more visible and

announced.  Two weeks will be the limit for checkingout before renewing.•Jack discussed engagement of Lincoln PublicSchools. Suggested being more proactive with schoolaged kids and growing younger membership.  Cassiewill contact science coordinators of LPS to engagescience teachers. Jack suggested a science teachernight at Hyde (not a Saturday night).  A spring targetdate with some food, a presentation, and a star partywas decided upon.•Programs were discussed with ideas such asrocketry, space law, and others.  Jack suggestedvariety.•Discussed an annual OAS/PAC dinner at some point.A board member will attend an OAS meeting andsuggest a dinner, and negotiations will start.   SACcould be used for free. Would just need a caterer.•Cosmosphere trip was discussed. Investigatingcosts.  Spring is being targeted as possible time.•Brett had investigated a remote observatory.  Costsand manpower would need to be discussed furtherand voted at a PAC meeting.

Board Meeting Minutes

The Prairie Astronomer 3

To check out one of the clubtelescopes, contact CassieEtmund. If you keep a scopefor more than a week, pleasecheck in once a week, to verifythe location of the telescopeand how long you plan to useit. The checkout time limit willbe two weeks, but can beextended if no one else hasrequested use of a club scope.100mm Orion refractor:Available

10 inch Meade Dobsonian:Available

13 inch Truss Dobsonian:Available

ANNUALMEMBERSHIP

REGULAR MEMBER -$30.00 per year. Includes clubnewsletter, and 1 vote at clubmeetings, plus all otherstandard club privileges.

FAMILY MEMBER - $35.00per year. Same as regularmember except gets 2 votesat club meetings.

STUDENT MEMBER - $10.00per year with volunteerrequirement.

If you renew yourmembership prior to yourannual renewal date, you willreceive a 10% discount.

Club members are alsoeligible for specialsubscription discounts on Sky& Telescope Magazine.

Club Telescopes

PAC Meeting

PAC MeetingTuesday Nov 26th, 2013@Hyde Observatory

December meeting dateto be determined

Tuesday Jan 28th, 2014@Hyde Observatory

PAC MeetingTuesday Feb 25th, 2013@Hyde Observatory

Newsletter submission deadlineDecember 15, 2013

Dates in bold are closest tothe new moon

Oct 25, Nov 1, Nov 29, Dec6 & 27

2014 Star Party DatesJanuary 24, 31February 21, 28March 21, 28, April 25May 2, 23, 30, June 20, 27July 18, 25NSP: July 27-Aug 1August 22, 29, Sept 19, 26Oct 17, 24, Nov 14, 21Dec 12, 19

Lunar Party DatesMay 9, June 6, Sept 5, Oct 3* Lunar party dates aretentative, sites to bedetermined.

PAC Star Party Dates Events

PAC E-Mail:info@prairieastronomyclub.orgPAC-LIST:To subscribe send a request toPAC. To post messages to thelist, send to the address:pac-list@prairieastronomyclub.org

NGC4603 Credit: NASA

LinksPAC: www.prairieastronomyclub.orgNight Sky Network: https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/CafePress (club apparel) www.cafepress.com

www.hydeobservatory.infowww.nebraskastarparty.orgwww.OmahaAstro.comPanhandleastronomyclub.comwww.universetoday.com/www.planetary.org/home/http://www.darksky.org/

4The Prairie Astronomer

Li1 Discovery—Rick JohnsonBack on 4-24-2010 my Observatory Updatefeatured SH2-80 also known as Merrill's Star.  Forthose not on my email list back then or didn't savethe post part of it is archived at:http://www.spacebanter.com/showthread.php?t=155099 .  Little did I know it would play a bit part inthis saga.

An amateur astrophotographer, Stefan Lilge, I amin regular contact with, decided to try for SH2-80from his location in DOWNTOWN  BerlinGermany!  Talk about light pollution.  He workswith very narrow band filters that I rarely use.  Ishould have in this case.  His image of this objecttaken last August, oriented the same as mine is athttp://ccd-astronomy.de/temp8/Sh2-80/Sh2-80colourcropgut.jpg.  Notice something besidesSH2-80?  He did.  That got him to go back andlook at my image in the Space Banter link.  Whilenot nearly as obvious it was there.  He wrote measking what it was as he couldn't find it in anycatalog.  He thought it a planetary but with nocatalog entry was puzzled.  I then took the imageposted below at 0.5" per pixel (original was at1").  I had to wait for a good night but luckily onecame soon after he contacted me.  (It was theonly one since so we were really lucky.)  Thatimage convinced me it was an unknown planetarynebula.  I sent this data to an amateur in Englandthat works with professional astronomers onnewly discovered objects, Sakib Rasool.  He saidthere was a survey going on for new planetarynebula and he'd check it.  Not there.  Hecontacted Matthias Kronberger, an amateurastronomer in Australia who has discoveredmany new planetary nebula.  He then contactedone of the pros doing the survey, DianerHarmer.   They immediately took a narrow bandimage of it with the 84" telescope at Kitt Peakusing very narrow band filters compared to thoseStefan used.  It was one they missed in theirsurvey using 2 meter class and larger scopes.Stefan who was using a 10" Meade ACF from hishigh rise terrace in downtown Berlin didn't missit.Matthias Kronberger  and the pros announced 37new likely planetary nebulae at the AsymmetricalPlanetary Nebulae VI meeting in Mexico lastweek.  While most carry names like Kn 65 or Pa36, the former for Kronberger, the latter for

Parker, there's oneoddball name, Li1 forStefan Lilge's discovery.

It's rather ironic that I'malways harping onknowing what is in animage but blew it in thiscase.  If I'd havefollowed my own adviceit would be Jo1.  InsteadI only get an asterisk forthe confirming photo prior to the official confirmingphoto from Kitt Peak.  At least I got to play a partin its discovery.

My image is pure LRGB meaning it is ordinarywhite light.  There is a star on the west edge ofthe planetary that is rather bright somewhathiding it and the reason I didn't see it in theoriginal image at the lower image scale.  Stefanused a combination of 5nm hydrogen alpha and3nm OIII which greatly reduced all stars, includingthe one on the edge making it much easier tosee.  Kitt Peak used even narrower filters inunknown bands (unknown to me that is, notthem) that hid the star completely.  Oddly they leftin the hot pixels that all astronomical CCD's eventhe pro cameras create.  Amateurs remove them.That's why you will see some colored squares inthe Kitt Peak image but not Stefan's or mine.

Now for the images.  My "full" image has beencropped significantly to reduce the size in half butit is still a 2 meg download.  This is why I normallywork at 1" rather than 0.5" besides my seeingrarely supporting it but a few times each year.  Li1is down in the lower left to the upper left of thelower of two bright blue stars.  I'd hoped to pickup the central star but it is too dim.  Kitt Peakdidn't either but their narrow band filters sosuppressed stars that that this is not unexpected.

http://www.spacebanter.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=4842&stc=1

http://www.spacebanter.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=4843&d=1384484999

5The Prairie Astronomer

Li1, Continued

6The Prairie Astronomer

Jack has appointed me to head a committee tolook into the possibility of expanding the club witha remote observatory.  This would enable theclub to provide the possibility of astrophotographyto anyone in the club.  Some advantages are justtaking single images of the wonders of space to alive video feed for anyone in the club. You canalso showcase the differences in the sky qualityof Lincoln to that of the observatory.  Even ifyou’re just 10 miles outside Lincoln it can be ahuge difference in the quality and quantity ofthings that you can see.This can also help out anyone not able to or notwilling to go out to a dark sky site with atelescope.  They can still observe objects fromthe comfort of their home.  An added possibility ofa remote site are the recruitment of newmembers.  New members could be anyone fromthose interested in photography to youngermembers interested in technology. Also anyonelooking at getting into the hobby ofastrophotography can use the setup and try outastrophotography and see if they like it beforepurchasing their own equipment.The one big question is location.  My family hasland south of Denton and would be willing to letus use it to build the observatory on.  The clubwould not have to purchase any land and the rentwould be next to nothing.  This location would be

out in a field and would bedoubtful that power wouldbe readily available.  Themention of solar panels anddeep cycle batteries hasalready come up.  Some ofthe other necessaryequipment that would haveto purchased would be thebuilding, a computer(s),telescope and mount,camera, etc.  You wouldalso need an Internet source for controlling thetelescope. There are a few companies that usemicrowave transmission so  as long as you havea line of site to their transmitters, you would haveInternet.  Diode Communications or AffordableInternet Solutions are just two local companies.I will be having a short discussion at the next PACmeeting on Tuesday Nov. 26th.  If you areinterested in being part of such a committeeplease see me after the PAC meeting or send mean email to let me know. Brett BollerVice-PresidentPrairie Astronomy Clubproboller86@yahoo.com

A Proposal for PAC Consideration—Brett Boller

As the new outreach coordinator for the following year of PAC,my goal is to increase the presence of the prairie astronomyclub in Lincoln. Outreach events are how we get more peopleinterested in astronomy and generate new members. It is veryimportant we as a club have volunteers at these events to shareour knowledge and get people excited about what we do. Thepassion and enthusiasm shown to me by other PAC members iswhat encouraged me to become a part of the club and volunteer8 years ago.

A Message From Our New Outreach Coordinator, Cassie Etmund

7The Prairie Astronomer

What might look like a colossal jet shooting awayfrom a galaxy turns out to be an illusion. Newdata from the National Science Foundation's KarlG. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) reveal that twogalaxies, one lying behind the other, have beenmasquerading as one.

In a new image highlighting the chancealignment, radio data from the VLA are blue andinfrared observations from NASA's Spitzer SpaceTelescope and Wide-field Infrared SurveyExplorer (WISE) are yellow and orange,respectively. Visible data are also shown, withstarlight in purplish blue and heated gas in rose.

The closer galaxy, called UGC 10288, is located100 million light-years away. It is spiral in shape,but from our viewpoint on Earth, we are seeing itsthin edge. The farther galaxy, seen in blue, isnearly 7 billion light-years away. Two giant jetsshoot away from this galaxy, one of which is seenabove the plane of the closer galaxy's disk.

Earlier radio images of the two galaxies appearedas one fuzzy blob, and fooled astronomers intothinking they were looking at one galaxy. Thanksto the VLA pulling the curtain back on thedisguised duo, the scientists have a uniqueopportunity to learn otherwise-unobtainable factsabout the nearer galaxy.

"We can use the radio waves from thebackground galaxy, coming through the nearerone, as a way to measure the properties of thenearer galaxy," said Judith Irwin, of Queen'sUniversity, Canada, lead author of a recent paperon the findings, appearing online Nov. 15 in theAstronomical Journal.

Observations from Spitzer and WISE helped toreveal new structures above and below the planeof the closer galaxy's disk. For example, Spitzerhelped confirm an arc-like feature rising morethan 11,000 light-years above the disk, which wasseen in the radio observations.

Irwin worked with an international team ofastronomers from North America, India andEurope who are part of the "Continuum Halos inNearby Galaxies -- an EVLA Survey" (CHANG-

ES) consortium.

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is afacility of the National Science Foundation,operated under cooperative agreement byAssociated Universities, Inc.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena,Calif., manages the Spitzer Space Telescopemission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate,Washington. Science operations are conducted atthe Spitzer Science Center at the CaliforniaInstitute of Technology in Pasadena. Spacecraftoperations are based at Lockheed Martin SpaceSystems Company, Littleton, Colorado. Data arearchived at the Infrared Science Archive housedat the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center atCaltech. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. Formore information about Spitzer, visithttp://spitzer.caltech.edu andhttp://www.nasa.gov/spitzer .

JPL manages and operates the WISE mission forNASA's Science Mission Directorate. The WISEmission was selected competitively under NASA'sExplorers Program managed by the agency'sGoddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.The science instrument was built by the SpaceDynamics Laboratory in Logan, Utah. Thespacecraft was built by Ball Aerospace &Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colo. Scienceoperations and data processing take place at theInfrared Processing and Analysis Center atCaltech. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. Moreinformation is online at http://www.nasa.gov/wiseand http://wise.astro.ucla.edu andhttp://www.jpl.nasa.gov/wise .

Nature Pulls a Fast One on Astronomers

8The Prairie Astronomer

The new PAC Board held its first meeting lastTuesday and I thought I would share some ideaswith you. Brett has already produced a terrificnew PAC brochure. We have a few copies out atHyde but are investigating getting a bunch printedin color to distribute at various events. Cassiehas already been spearheading more outreach.Step up and help when you can and she'll keepyou informed via the PAC list and NSN mailings.We are happy to get invitations to volunteer,along with OAS at Strategic Air and SpaceMuseum events such as Space Day. And thatincreases our contact with OAS to work towardsreinstituting having an annual joint dinner withOAS. Their president Bill Bond has indicatedthey are happy to work on this again. AndMichael Sibbernsen has already offered that wecould have the first one in the new year at SASM.So we have a great location. Suggestion is itshould be possibly February or more likely inMarch.

Zach stars with programs next three months withNovember's "How to Buy a Telescope," theDecember members and families event at MuellerPlanetarium and January's "How to Use YourTelescope." For the December gathering, we willbe setting the date soon.  I can tell you'll have anew fulldome show called "Firefall." Its topic ismeteors, asteroids and objects that crash intothings. Reminds us of Pete Schultz.(g)Speaking of Pete, he was just on PBS "Nova"(the one that aired November 19th). Continuesshowing how far PAC members can go. Withregard to future programs, we are looking to thepast and the future. We are going back to look atgood programs from past years, and working onsome new ones. In particular, the general lack ofteaching of critical thinking is troubling. So oneprogram may give us both humor and a way toeducate some of the public on the pseudo-science which confuses them in the media.Recently, a local TV station did a feature on a"UFO" seen by their tower-cam - an objectstrangely familiar to amateur astronomers. Thiswill provide a good start to an evening of wackyideas. The Internet gives us access to anincredible amount of information. But there's nofilter except in the individual reader. So we mightuse this as a chance to make the point to the

public that there is a lot ofgoofy non-science out there(which some people will stillbelieve).

We know that HydeObservatory and PAC haveboth been in existence foryears, yet there are still peoplein Lincoln who don't knoweither exist. It is our goal to improve that bothwith the schools and with the public. We areinitiating a possible event with LPS for scienceteachers to acquaint them with what we have tooffer. And our other goal is a video public serviceannouncement for local broadcast and YouTube.We want to see PAC continue to grow and inspirethe new generation of Pete Schultzs, RickJohnsons and Larry Stepps for the world ofAstronomy.

Where We Are Going—Jack Dunn

9The Prairie Astronomer

This is a partial list of objects visible for theupcoming month.

PlanetsVenus: Shines at its maximum magnitude of -4.9in early December.Uranus/Neptune: In Pisces and Aquarius.Jupiter: In Gemini, rises around 7 pm. It shinesat magnitude -2.7 with its disk at 47”.Mars: Rises a little after midnight at magnitude0.9.Saturn: Rises around 5 am as the month startsand 1½ hours earlier at the end.Mercury: Starts the month to the lower left ofSaturn but it is soon lost to view.

CometsC/2012 S1 ISON: Travels from Leo across Virgoand Libra into Scorpius this month. It getsbrighter and lower each day. See November S&Tpage 50 for finder charts.

Messier ListM2: Class II globular cluster in Aquarius.M15: Class IV globular cluster in Pegasus.M29: Open cluster in Cygnus.M31: The Andromeda Galaxy.M32: Companion galaxy to M31.M39: Open cluster in Cygnus.M110: Companion galaxy to M31.Last Month: M27, M30. M56, M57, M71, M72,M73.Next Month: M33, M34, M52, M74, M76, M77,M103

NGC and Other Deep SkyObjectsNGC 1746: A large andloose open cluster inTaurus.NGC 1980: An emissionnebula in Orion south ofM42.NGC 2169: The 37 Clusterin Orion.NGC 2244: An opencluster embedded in the Rosette Nebula inMonoceros.NGC 2264: The Christmas Tree Cluster inMonoceros.

Double Star Program ListEta Cassiopeiae: Yellow primary with a rosecolored secondary.Sigma Cassiopeiae: Yellow and light blue stars.Theta Aurigae: Bright white and pale blue pair.1 Camelopardalis: White and pale blue pair.32 Camelopardalis: Equal white pair.Gamma Ceti: Bright white and pale yellow stars.Chi Tauri: White primary with a pale bluesecondary.118 Tauri: White primary with a yellowsecondary.

Challenge ObjectB33: The Horsehead Nebula in Orion. A darknebula that is very difficult to see. Dark skies andexcellent seeing are a must. A Hydrogen-Betafilter will help.

December Observing—Jim Kvasnicka

We are also looking at planning a PAC trip tothe Kansas Cosmosphere in the Spring of2014.

Where We Are Going, continued

10The Prairie Astronomer

Website and Social Networking Update—Mark Dahmke

The Hyde website has been redesigned usingWordpress. The site contains the same contentas the old site but has been updated andrearranged. It also includes a news andannouncements blog page. Zach updated theHyde Facebook page with a new photo of theobservatory and the background constellationswill be updated quarterly to match the current sky.

The PAC Facebook group hasbeen consolidated into theFacebook “page” which is opento the public. Please rememberto share and repostannouncements for bothHyde and PAC onto your ownFacebook/Google+/Twitter

accounts to increase ourvisibility and public awareness ofboth PAC and Hyde.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PAC_Lincoln_Ne

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/PrairieAstronomyClub

www.hydeobservatory.info

The Prairie Astronomer 11

NGC Objects—Jim Kvasnicka

The Christmas Tree Cluster and Cone NebulaNGC 2264

NGC 2264 The Christmas Tree Cluster is anopen cluster embedded within the Cone Nebulain Monoceros. The nebula belongs to a muchlarger group which is currently an active starforming region.

NGC 2264 the open cluster was discovered byWilliam Herschel in 1784. The following year1785 he discovered the nebula. NGC 2264 is2,400 light years away and spans 20 light years.Through a telescope it has an apparent size of20’.

NGC 2264 is a bright large cluster that resemblesa Christmas tree. It contains about 20 bright starsalong with about a hundred dim stars. The ConeNebula which the open cluster is embedded in isa dim patch of nebulosity. It is best seen in largetelescopes under clear dark skies. The ConeNebula is a beautiful image in photographs butdifficult to detect visually.

Right: This color image of the region known asNGC 2264 — an area of sky that includes thesparkling blue baubles of the Christmas Treestar cluster — was created from data takenthrough four different filters (B, V, R and H-alpha) with the Wide Field Imager at ESO's LaSilla Observatory, 2400 m high in the AtacamaDesert of Chile in the foothills of the Andes. Theimage shows a region of space about 30 light-years across. Credit: ESO.

Cassie and Jack representing PACat Space Day.

The Prairie Astronomerc/o The Prairie Astronomy Club, Inc.P.O. Box 5585Lincoln, NE 68505-0585

PRESIDENT Jack Dunn jdunn@spacelaser.comVICEPRESIDENT Brett Boller proboller86@yahoo.com

2nd VP Zach Thompson(Program Chair) zachthompson86@gmail.com

SECRETARY Dale Bazan dale.bazan@gmail.com

TREASURER Bob Kacvinskybob.kacvinsky@syngenta.com

402-423-4967

Club Observing Chair Jim Kvasnicka (402) 423-7390 jim.kvasnicka@yahoo.com

Outreach Coordinator Cassie Etmund

Website and Mark DahmkeNewsletter Editor

Next PAC MeetingTUESDAY

November 26, 20137:30 PM

Hyde Observatory

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