Desert Skies
Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association
Volume XLVI, Number 1, January, 2000
Contents
Calendar of Events
BEGINNERS LECTURE Friday, January 7th, 6:30 pm at the Steward Observatory Auditorium
- Room N210.
GENERAL MEETING Friday, January 7th, 7:30 pm at the Steward Observatory Auditorium
- Room N210.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING Thursday, January 13th, 7:00 pm at Steward Observatory Conference
Room N305.
STAR PARTIES & EVENTS
- Jan. 8 - TAAA Star Party at TIMPA
- Jan. 19 - TIMPA Site Committee Meeting
- Jan. 20 - Total Lunar Eclipse (See notice in Items of Interest)
- Jan. 29 - TAAA Star Party at TIMPA
Newsletter Schedule
Deadline for articles: Monday, Jan. 17. Printing: Tuesday, Jan.
25. Folding Party: Wednesday, Jan. 26. Mailing: Thursday, Jan.
27. The newsletter is scheduled to be in the mail at least one
week prior to the following month's General Meeting.
General Information
Newsletter Schedule: Deadline for articles: Monday, Dec. 13. Printing:
Tuesday, Dec. 28. Folding Party: Wednesday, Dec. 29. Mailing:
Thursday, Dec. 30. The newsletter is scheduled to be in the mail
at least one week prior to the following month's General Meeting.
Office Name Phone Email
------ ---- ----- -----
President John Kalas 620-6502 jckalas@aol.com
Vice-President Andy Cooper 795-3585 acooper@pobox.com
Secretary Ingrid Saber 797-3834
Treasurer Terri Lappin 579-0185 tlappin@as.arizona.edu
Member-at-Large Robert Callanan 818-1315 bacallanan@juno.com
Member-at-Large Bill Lofquist 297-6653 wlofquist@aol.com
Member-at-Large Daniel Manrique 762-8192 dcmanrique@aol.com
Chief Observer Open
Newsletter Editor John Kalas 620-6502 jckalas@aol.com
Star Parties John Kalas 620-6502 jckalas@aol.com
ALCOR Laurel Dunlap 544-7780 laureus@earthlink.net
Astrophoto SIG Ray Wallace 294-1197
TAAA Mission Statement
We are a resource for anyone interested in astronomy. It is our
mission to nurture a person?s natural curiosity about the night
sky. By giving people a knowledge and understanding of astronomy,
we enhance their enjoyment of the solar system and beyond. Through
our public activities and school evening observing sessions, we
bring astronomy to persons of all ages. Our regular meetings and
observing sessions offer members a forum to meet others with similar
interests and experiences and to learn from one another.
Membership in the TAAA
Regular membership $ 23
Senior (over 60) membership $ 21
Student membership $ 15
Add for Family membership $ 5
Add for Astronomical League (optional) $ 3
Add for contribution to Southern Arizona
Section of I.D.A. (optional) $ 3 (recommended minimum)
Add for Sky & Telescope Magazine $ 29.95 (NEW)
Add for Astronomy Magazine $ 29
Rates for membership are given above. Family Membership includes
two adults plus minor children. Members may subscribe to Sky &
Telescope or Astronomy magazine (or both) at the time of membership
renewal, saving substantially over the regular subscription rates.
To assure we understand what you are paying for, please identify
which class of membership and what options you want. Send one
check made payable to TAAA to cover membership dues, magazine
subscription(s) and any contributions to:
Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association
P.O. BOX 41254
Tucson, AZ 85717
4 Easy Steps to Membership Renewal
- Pay your dues 2-3 months early. Your month of membership expiration
is listed on your newsletter mailing label.
- Find your membership class and its rate. Add the Family Membership
rate to this, if applicable.
- If you desire membership in the Astronomical League or magazine
subscription(s) or wish to make a donation, add the appropriate
amounts to your membership rate. If a magazine subscription renewal
is desired, include the magazine renewal notice, if possible.
Be sure to identify which options you are paying for.
- Write one check, payable to TAAA, and send it to the address given
above.
Desert Skies Publishing Guidelines
All articles, announcements, news, etc. must be submitted by the
newsletter deadline noted above. Materials received after that
date will appear in the next issue. All submissions are retained
by the editor unless prior arrangements are made. Partial page
article submissions should be submitted in Word compatible files
via e-mail or on a floppy disk. Full page articles, artwork, and
photos should be camera ready. We will not publish slanderous
or libelous material! Send articles, announcements, etc. to:
TAAA - Desert Skies
c/o John Kalas
3470 W. Red Bird Court
Tucson, AZ 85745
or e-mail: jckalas@aol.com
Desert Skies is published monthly by the Tucson Amateur Astronomy
Association, PO Box 41254, Tucson, Arizona 85717
President's Message
December has been a great way to end a super year. There were
lots of school/organization star parties (5), an enjoyable Holiday
Party, and some fantastic progress at TIMPA. Our Holiday Party
was attended by 63 members and guests and everyone seemed to have
a good time. Many thanks to Terri Lappin, Barb Callanan, and Dean
Ketelsen for coordinating a fine evening. One unfortunate note
from the party was that we learned that new members to the TAAA,
Wayne and Arlene Johnson, lost their home in Vail to a fire just
two days before the party. Despite the terrible circumstance,
Wayne and Arlene attended the party and Wayne gave a presentation
even though his slides were lost in the fire. The TAAA wishes
the Johnsons a quick recovery from their loss.
The weekend of 12/11-12 was a busy time for several TAAA members
as the security cage in the TIMPA barn was finished and the TAAAÕs
property was transferred from our mini-storage unit into the security
cage. Further progress at TIMPA was discussed at the TIMPA Site
Committee Meeting on 12/16. The club has received official notice
that the observatory dome and support structure on Kitt Peak has
been approved for transfer to the TAAA. At the meeting, sub-committees
were established to proceed with the development of plans for
the observatory and general site improvements. See more info in
the TIMPA Site News section of this newsletter.
The club has received a nice telescope as a donation. It will
be prepared as a "loner" scope for use by TAAA Members. See the
notice in the Club News section of this newsletter.
Longtime TAAA Member and Past President, David Levy, and his wife
Wendee will make an interesting announcement at the January meeting.
The February monthly meeting will be a Members Night, so get your
presentations ready.
Have a Safe and Happy New Year,
John Kalas
Meeting Information
Beginners Lecture
"Winter Observing"
by Terri Lappin
Terri will talk about observing this month. Among the objects
to observe will be a lunar eclipse, the beautiful objects in Orion,
Jupiter, and Saturn.
Main Lecture
"Galileo: The Long Road to Jupiter"
by Dr. Paul Geissler
The spacecraft Galileo was launched in 1989 from the shuttle Atlantis,
and took 6 years to arrive at Jupiter following flybys of Venus,
the Earth, and two main-belt asteroids, Gaspra and Ida, the first
such small bodies to be imaged by a spacecraft. The mission was
made up of two components: a Jupiter Probe, which entered the
atmosphere of the giant planet and relayed the first direct measurements
of its composition, structure and dynamics, and an Orbiter equipped
with four remote sensing instruments sensitive to wavelengths
from the ultraviolet to the thermal infrared along with a battery
of instruments for monitoring the charged particles, waves and
fields of Jupiter's space environment. Galileo has produced a
number of new insights about Jupiter's satellites and rings, solving
some of the mysteries arising from the Voyager data and presenting
new puzzles. In this talk, Dr. Geissler will summarize what has
been learned so far, particularly with regard to the violent volcanic
activity on Io and the possibility of a subsurface sea on Europa.
Dr. Geissler is an associate of the Galileo Imaging Team and the
author of several research papers about the surfaces and atmospheres
of Io and Europa.
Club News
February Monthly Meeting - Members Night
Every three to four months the TAAA dedicates one monthly meeting
to members. A Members Night gives all members the opportunity
to present to the meeting audience any astronomy-related topic
that they have been working on. It is a great chance to show your
astrophotography, discuss a topic that you may be investigating,
or show a widget or doodad that you may have developed to make
a task easier. There will be a sign-up sheet at the January meeting,
so we can start preparing the schedule for FebruaryÕs interesting
event.
Nominating Committee
ItÕs that time of the year, again. The TAAA Constitution requires
that a nominating committee of three members (anyone except the
President) must be elected at the February monthly meeting. The
purpose of the committee is to present a slate of candidates to
the membership for club elections in May. The committee members
contact the current officers to determine if they are willing
to run for office again and also solicit other members who are
interested in running for office. Please consider supporting the
club in this important duty. If you would like to be considered
for the nominating committee, please contact any board member.
Help Wanted: School Star Party Coordinator
Recently, the School Star Party Coordinator position became vacant.
The school star party program is the major educational outreach
effort of the TAAA. It exposes the youth of our community to the
wonders of astronomy. This position maintains the master star
party calendar and is the contact point for schools or non-profit
organizations to arrange for star party dates. The coordinator
schedules the events and records all of the pertinent information
about the school/organization (i.e. event location, contact personÕs
name and phone number, size of group, etc.). Once this basic information
is established, the coordinator generates a brief announcement
for the newsletter, transmits the info to the newsletter editor,
and prepares the signup sheet for the monthly meeting. The candidate
for this position must have a computer (preferably with Microsoft
Word) and e-mail capability.
This position is a very important one within the TAAA. If you
would be interested in learning more about it, please call John
Kalas at 620-6502. John Kalas will assume the responsibilities
of the coordinator until a replacement can be found.
December School Star Parties
by Ed Finney
Dietz Elementary School, 12/9
This party was for K through 5th grade and was well attended by
about 50 children and parents. Everyone was well behaved and there
were many smiling faces. The viewing was not the best since it
was a hazy night, but Saturn and Jupiter made the show. Several
parents said it was the first time they had seen Jupiter's moons
and Saturn's rings even though they had heard about them all their
lives. Over and over there were many thanks expressed to the TAAA
volunteers.
Cragin Elementary School, 12/13
The sight of about 40 kindergartners and 1st graders with parents
can make one fear for his life and/or his scope. Such small people
around big scopes could have made for a real heart-stopping experience.
All fears were soon dispelled -- the parents were all well-behaved
and the children were a real joy to talk with. A good time was
had by all at the last school star party of the millennium. Again,
there were many thanks to the TAAA for participating.
Construction on Campus
Remember, thereÕs a lot of construction on campus, especially
south of Steward Observatory and along Cherry Ave. Cherry Ave.
at University is closed. Allow extra time to park and walk to
Steward Observatory.
Member News
We welcome the most recent members who have joined the TAAA: James
L Boren, Guy McArthur, Thomas McDonald, Judy Murphy, Mark Pagel,
Alan Scherer, and A.T. Winfree. We also welcome back Aaron Bland.
Glad to have you join! Please be sure to pick up a new members
pack at a meeting. Hope youÕll make to a star party or a meeting
so we can all get to know you.
TAAA 30" Mirror Project
by Gary Rosenbaum
The TAAA project to install our 30" optics in the 40" telescope
on Mount Lemmon is in the engineering phase. Roger Tanner is investigating
methods of mounting the primary mirror with Silicone glue. There
is still work to be done on designing the mirror cell and adapting
it to the existing telescope tube assembly.
Steward Observatory engineers have begun work on removing the
old rack mount electronic control for the telescope mount and
converting it to a new Telescope Control System.
The TAAA is currently in need of a couple optical and or mechanical
engineers, preferably with experience in telescope design. Please
contact Gary Rosenbaum (579-0185 or garyr@as.arizona.edu) if you
have this type of experience and could volunteer to assist us.
TAAA Receives Telescope Donation
Tucsonan, Hubert Bath, very generously donated his telescope to
the club. Hu gave the TAAA a complete 8" diameter f/6 Meade Starfinder
reflecting telescope. It includes an electrically driven (AC)
equatorial mount with pier and tripod legs, a 6x30 finderscope,
a 1_" rack and pinion focuser, and three 1_" dia. eyepieces (25mm,
12mm, & 9mm). The telescope is in excellent condition. John Kalas
took it out to the Beginners Star Party at TIMPA on 12/4 and,
except for needing a minor collimation adjustment, it performed
fine. The equipment will be prepared for use as a club telescope
to be loaned out to members.
Items of Interest
The Geminids of December
by Laurel Dunlap
The Geminid meteor shower was first observed rather suddenly in
1862. Reported hourly rates progressively increased from the time
of its discovery. Early on, the rates were ~7/hr and by 1892 had
increased to nearly 14/hr. By the early 1900s, the rates climbed
to ~40-70/hr. Recent observations have variably been reported
up to 110/hr. It was not known for many years what the source
of this meteor stream was. Observations led to calculations of
an interesting, rather short, orbital period. After years of analysis,
and controversy, 1983 brought the discovery of an asteroid in
the constellation Draco, that fell within parameters associating
it with the enigmatic Geminid stream. The asteroid, now called
3200 Phaethon, was the first asteroid designated as the source
of a meteor shower.
Having been mildly disappointed by the Leonids of 1999, I decided
to give old Phaethon a chance to dazzle me with rumors of his
unpredictable nature. And dazzle he did! I observed during the
early morning hours of the 13th and 14th. This show was much more
impressive than the Leonids. The day before the peak, 12/13, the
shower was very active between 1-3am. During one 10 min interval,
I counted 25+ meteors most were mag 3-4. The morning of 12/14
brought even more meteors, that appeared in waves of increased
frequency, until finally decreasing after 4am. Several brighter
meteors ~mag 2 were seen with trains averaging 4 seconds. On the
morning of the expected peak, the show was impeded by high thin
clouds that flowed like ribbons of misty water across the sky.
Perhaps a foreboding of Phaethon's destiny with Eridanus.
So who is this Phaethon, this errant charioteer? Phaethon, in
Greek mythology was the son of Helios. Young, impetuous, hedonistic,
and over confident, Phaethon begged his father to steer the chariot
of the sun across the heavens for just one, albeit, disastrous
day. He charges recklessly across the sky, raining fire, and steering
dangerously close to the Earth. Zeus stops the adolescent display
with a thunderbolt, and Phaethon, plunges to his death, falling
into the river Eridanus.
Note: Geminid historical ZHR data from the writings of Gary W.
Kronk, Washington University, St. Louis.
http://comets.amsmeteors.org/about.html
For a literary journey exploring Ovid's Phaethon visit this website:
http://www.ancientsites.com/~Torrey_Philemon/thalassa/phaethon.htm
Lunar Eclipse!!!
What a great way to start off the New Year! On the evening of
Thursday, 1/20, we will be treated to a total lunar eclipse. It
will start at about 7:00 pm MST when the Moon enters the EarthÕs
penumbral shadow and proceed to totality at 9:05 pm to 10:20 pm.
This event is particularly well placed for North America because
the eclipsed Moon will be relatively high in the sky during totality.
This will be a fantastic photo opportunity, so get those cameras
and telephoto lenses ready.
Computers in Astronomy Special Interest Group
Computers and Electronics in Astronomy Subgroup Meeting Report
by Roger Tanner
The subgroup met at the Irvin Marvin Winer Memorial Observatory
in the back yard of TAAA member Mark Trueblood on Sunday, 11/21.
Mark lives in Sonoita, about 1 hour southeast of Tucson. Although
we had a low turnout, we had a good time and actually got to do
some observations with the University of Iowa 20" telescope. The
Winer Observatory is a non-profit public charity run by Mark for
organizations that want to place a telescope at a dark sky site
and operate it remotely. The observatory is named after an inspiring
teacher Mark had when in college. The observatory is a 52' x 26'
roll off building with an attached 54' by 26' shop reached by
a spiral staircase. The observatory has space for 9 telescopes
mounted to 5' deep concrete piers, which are isolated from the
building. The roof is steel and has a full width garage door at
one end. The door is raised and this provides the clearance for
to roof to roll off without hitting the scopes. The roof rails
extend onto the shop and the roof rolls over the shop when it
is opened. The upper part of the walls move with the roof providing
a pretty low horizon for the scopes. It takes a 2 horsepower motor
to move the 9 ton roof. The motor is interlocked with a series
of switches that prevent the roof from moving until the garage
door is up to avoid hitting the scopes. Mark designed and installed
the drive system. This is substantial professional installation
and is quite a way beyond most amateur observatories.
The only scope in the building was a 20" F9 Cassegrain owned by
the University of Iowa. The scope was designed and built at the
University. The scope sits on a computer controlled altitude-azimuth
mount with a rotating camera mount. It is equipped with a Apogee
AP8 camera which has a 1K x 1K Site back illuminated CCD. There
is also a filter wheel with BVRI photometric filters. They use
it for stellar photometry and teaching grad students. The scope
is run by a computer system down in the control room in one corner
of the shop. The university sends a control file to the computer
system over the observatory's DSL link. The computer checks the
times of the commands in the file and when the first command is
programmed, the computer starts running the scope. Mark has to
open and close the roof. Since the control computer is never shut
off and the encoders on the scope are always powered; the computer
maintains an accurate position of the scope and sky. The system
runs a set of software written by Elwood Downey of the Clear Sky
Institute. The software runs on the Lunix operating system. It
includes all the software necessary to read the command file,
position the telescope and filters, take exposures, and log everything
to a file. The images are compressed 3-4X to reduce transmission
times. In spite of the compression, they still can do 1% photometry
on the data. The system will reach 19th magnitude in 60-second
exposures. The data is then sent back to the University the next
day.
Mark checked and there was no command file for that night, so
we took some images with the scope in real time mode. The software
has lists of deep sky objects so we called up a galaxy to image,
NGC891. The galaxy is a nice edge on spiral with a prominent dark
lane through the middle. The telescope slewed for about 40 seconds
and then we took an image. Since the camera is powered and already
cooled, we had a nice image right away and could see the galaxy
centered in the image. The scope points to within an arc minute
and with the field of view of about 21 arc minutes the scope should
always have the object in the field. We took several clear filtered
images of 100 seconds and a RGB set. The convenience of a permanently
mounted ready to go telescope, filters and CCD camera is impressive.
We didn't have to align the scope, cool the camera down, adjust
focus, or set anything up. We had the first image within 1 minute
of the first command. The camera has an engineering grade CCD
chip and had some bad columns near the edge and some variations
in sensitivity over the chip. However the camera still gave impressive
images. The tracking showed slightly trailed stars for the first
clear filter images, but all of the color filter images had round
stars, even the 600 second blue image. They needed to be calibrated
with flats, darks, and bias frames.
Mark showed us some sensors that he is building to make the observatory
more automatic. He has patterned his sensors after the ones developed
by Lou Boyd for his fully automatic Fairborn Observatory. He has
a rain sensor, composed of two aluminum plates; the upper one
is perforated and separated by a Teflon spacer from the lower.
He will set up a circuit to measure the resistance across the
plates, when a rain drop hits, the upper will be shorted to the
lower plate and be detected. He is also building a cloud sensor
which is composed of two aluminum plates separated by a peltier
cooler. The upper and lower plates are painted white. The peltier
is not powered; instead it is connected up to a circuit to measure
its voltage output. When the two plates are at the same temperature,
there is no temperature across the peltier junctions and no voltage
is output. When clouds are present, the clouds reflect the IR
from the ground back at the top plate and both plates are at the
same temperature. If the sky is clear, the upper plate will 'see'
a much colder temperature and cool below the bottom plate, which
is heated by the ground. The peltier will then see a temperature
difference and generate a voltage. The peltier's advantage is
its high voltage output for a small temperature difference. Mark
is also installing a weather station to read temperature, wind
speed, direction, and humidity. Using these sensors and the position
of the Sun, Mark will setup a computer program to determine if
it is ok to open the roof. If it is ok, the computer will open
the roof and close it when the conditions are not met. This takes
the observatory another step toward fully automatic operation.
We had a good time and enjoyed the Trueblood's hospitality very
much. If you want to set up a telescope in this observatory the
cost is about $10,000 per year. The observatory is at 5000' altitude
and gets about 250 clear nights a year. Mark is still finishing
the observatory, he is installing insulation in the workshop to
prevent heat from the workshop from affecting the seeing in the
observatory and landscaping to reduce the heating of the cement
block walls during the day. He has installed pipes in the walls
and slabs to allow coolant to be pumped through to remove heat
if needed.
Keep checking the coming event announcements for the next Computers
in Astronomy subgroup meeting.
Dark Skies for January 2000
DARK SKIES (no twilight, no moonlight) for Tucson in 24-hour MST: 18=6pm, 20=8pm, 22=10pm, 0=12am
RISE, SET, VISIBILITY for sun and bright planets: rise for morning object, set for evening object
Fr/Sa 31/ 1 18:57 - 2:56 Mo/Tu 10/11 21:25 - 5:59 Fr/Sa 21/22 - - -
Sa/Su 1/ 2 18:57 - 3:50 Tu/We 11/12 22:23 - 5:59 Sa/Su 22/23 19:13 - 19:48
We/Th 12/13 23:21 - 5:59
Su/Mo 2/ 3 18:58 - 4:43 Th/Fr 13/14 0:21 - 5:59 Su/Mo 23/24 19:14 - 20:53
Mo/Tu 3/ 4 18:59 - 5:36 Fr/Sa 14/15 1:23 - 5:59 Mo/Tu 24/25 19:15 - 21:55
Tu/We 4/ 5 19:00 - 5:59 Sa/Su 15/16 2:28 - 5:59 Tu/We 25/26 19:16 - 22:55
We/Th 5/ 6 19:00 - 5:59 We/Th 26/27 19:16 - 23:52
Th/Fr 6/ 7 19:01 - 5:59 Su/Mo 16/17 3:35 - 5:59 Th/Fr 27/28 19:17 - 0:48
Fr/Sa 7/ 8 19:02 - 5:59 Mo/Tu 17/18 4:42 - 5:59 Fr/Sa 28/29 19:18 - 1:43
Sa/Su 8/ 9 19:32 - 5:59 Tu/We 18/19 5:49 - 5:59 Sa/Su 29/30 19:19 - 2:37
We/Th 19/20 - - -
Su/Mo 9/10 20:28 - 5:59 Th/Fr 20/21 LUNAR ECLIPSE! Su/Mo 30/31 19:20 - 3:30
Weekend Sun Sun Mercury Venus Mars Jupiter Saturn
Sa/Su Set Rise Rise Vi Rise Vi Set Vi Set Vi Set Vi Vi=Visibility
1/ 2 17:28 7:23 6:55 - 4:27 -3 21:11 1 1:37 -3 2:47 0 -3 brilliant
8/ 9 17:33 7:24 Set 4:40 -3 21:09 1 1:11 -2 2:19 0 0 conspicuous
15/16 17:40 7:23 17:34 - 4:52 -3 21:07 2 0:46 -2 1:52 0 3 moderate
22/23 17:46 7:21 18:03 - 5:03 -3 21:05 2 0:22 -2 1:25 0 6 naked eye limit
29/30 17:52 7:18 18:35 7 5:13 -2 21:03 2 23:59 -2 0:58 0 9 binoculars limitBy Erich Karkoschka
Star Parties & Events
TAAA Star Party at TIMPA
January 8 (Saturday)
What makes this event special is that our novice members can get
help with observing issues or equipment problems. There will be
experienced members present who would be more than happy to help.
If you donÕt own a telescope, donÕt worry. There will be lots
of scopes set up and everyone is invited to look through them.
This is a great way to check out the different telescope designs
before you make that all-important decision to buy. There is no
scheduled talk for this activity. Just come out with lots of questions
and weÕll do our best to get you the answers you need. Arrive
at about 4:30 pm for a group question and answer session. It should
be dark enough to observe by 5:30 pm. If you have friends who
might be interested in amateur astronomy, bring them along. Be
prepared for the cold weather and bring lots of warm clothing.
Directions to the TIMPA site are located on the outside flap of
this newsletter.
TIMPA Site Committee Meeting
January 19 (Wednesday)
With the activity level at TIMPA picking up, TIMPA Site Committee
meetings will be scheduled monthly for the foreseeable future.
At the 12/16 committee meeting, several sub-committees were established
to undertake the numerous tasks that require attention as we attempt
to develop short and long range plans for the site. The individual
sub-committees will report on their progress at this meeting.
The meeting will be held at 7:00 pm in the Steward Observatory
Conference Room N305. All interested TAAA members are invited
to attend.
TAAA Star Party at TIMPA
January 29 (Saturday)
TIMPA Site News
What is TIMPA, Anyway?
Observatory Status
GREAT NEWS!!! The TAAA has received formal written notice from
NOAO that the sixteen foot diameter dome and support building
on Kitt Peak has been authorized for transfer to the club. The
transaction will be a direct transfer of the property to the TAAA
rather than an indefinite loan. TAAA Member, Claude Plymate, coordinated
the arrangement and has been designated as our contact at NOAO
to proceed with the project. The next step is to arrange for moving
the structures to the TIMPA Site. After a thank you letter has
been transmitted, discussions with Kitt Peak Engineering will
begin.
A sub-committee consisting of Bob Schwartz, Andrew Cooper, Gary
Rosenbaum, and John Kalas has been established to develop a plan
to prepare the site and install the structures at TIMPA. To accomplish
this task as economically as possible, the involvement of many
club members with a variety of skills will be required. Expertise
in excavating (footers), carpentry, concrete working, masonry,
and electrical services will be needed. If you have any of these
skills, please volunteer to help by notifying John Kalas at 620-6502
or via e-mail at <jckalas@aol.com>.
Security Cage in TIMPA Barn
ANOTHER SUCCESS!!! Thanks to TAAA Members Andrew Cooper and Robert
Callanan the 7Õ high chain link security fencing was installed
in the barn. On Saturday, 12/11, Andrew Cooper, Robert Callanan,
Bill Lofquist, John Kalas and his son Mike Kalas completed the
construction of the security cage by installing the raised flooring.
Although the chances of flooding at the barn area are remote,
we decided to raise the storage floor inside the cage area. Numerous
8" high cement blocks were carefully positioned on the existing
concrete floor of the barn. Two layers of 1/2" thick plywood sheets
were screwed together to form a solid platform above the cement
blocks. The total area of the security cage is 11Õ by 22Õ with
11Õ by 16Õ of it elevated by about 9". This TIMPA storage area
is considerably larger than our current mini-storage shed which
is 10Õ by 15Õ. Many thanks to all who helped build this very professional
storage facility.
On Sunday, 12/12, a crew consisting of John Polacheck, Patrick
Price, Andrew Cooper, Daniel Manrique, Bill Lofquist, Ingrid Saber,
George Barber, Terri Lappin, Gary Rosenbaum, and John Kalas took
on the substantive task of moving the clubÕs property from the
mini-storage shed to the newly constructed security cage at TIMPA.
A lift-gate truck was rented for that purpose. The day-long activity
started with breakfast at the Cracker Barrel Restaurant at 8:00
am. By 9:30 am, the loading of the truck began and by noon, the
truck was fully loaded. Before the items were unloaded at the
TIMPA barn, the clubÕs metal shelving was assembled and positioned
in the cage for improved organization of the property. At about
4:00 pm, a very tired group locked up the cage and headed home.
This security cage project at TIMPA is important to the overall
TIMPA project because the club saves about $81. per month in mini-storage
charges that will substantially offset the monthly maintenance
fee of $100. Again, many thanks to those who gave up their weekend
to accomplish this major task.
TIMPA Users - Take Note
by Terri Lappin
The TIMPA Long Range Site Planning Committee will have its initial
meeting in January. We are open to ideas that members, especially
those using TIMPA, would like to see incorporated into the Long
Range Plan. Money is tight, but dreams don't cost a dime. At this
point, in addition to the 16" telescope/dome, our dream includes
a roll-off roof observatory housing two or more telescopes (including
a universal pier for Meade/Celestron SCTs), and observing pads
(both concrete and natural, cleared areas). Real bathrooms aren't
a dream...they WILL be built early next year. If you come from
a club that has an observing site, maybe you have some suggestions
for us. Please call me early in the month of January with any
and all ideas. The committee meeting date/time is to be announced,
but it will be early in the month. My phone number is 579-0185
and e-mail address is (tlappin@as.arizona.edu).
TIMPA Site Committee Meeting
The next TIMPA Site Committee meeting is scheduled for Wednesday,
1/19, at 7:00 pm in the Steward Observatory Conference Room N305.
All interested TAAA members are welcome to attend.
Directions to TIMPA
Directions to Empire Ranch
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