Desert Skies

Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association

Volume L, Number 7, July, 2004

Contents

Calendar of Events

TAAA MEETING DATE: Friday, July 2 at the Steward Observatory Auditorium – Room N210

BEGINNERS LECTURE: 6:30 pm

We will be showing a video from our archive of early Beginners Lectures. The first few years of Beginners Lectures were all video taped so we will select from that archive. (Maybe this could be called “Terri in Her Younger Years”.) Most likely, the lecture will be either about Jupiter or Imaginary Lines in the Sky (things like celestial equator, ecliptic, lines of RA and Dec, etc.). There’s a possibility of a “real live person” giving this month’s Beginners Lecture, but so far we haven’t located one.

GENERAL MEETING: 7:30 pm
Title: South Pole Astronomy
Speaker: Dr. Chris Walker

Dr. Chris Walker will talk to us about the astronomy work he does at the South Pole. He has been to the South Pole about 7 times, each stay lasting about a month. It’s quite an effort to get to the Pole, so time spent there is dedicated to work – about 19 hours a day! The sub-millimeter wavelength instruments are built in Dr Walker’s lab at Steward Observatory and then taken to the Pole for installation. This will surely by an interesting lecture. Dr. Walker is an Associate Professor/Associate Astronomer at Steward Observatory. He received his PhD in Astronomy from the UA in 1988. His research interests are star formation and millimeter instrumentation.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING: Wednesday, July 15 6:30 pm at Steward Observatory Conference Room N305

STAR PARTIES AND EVENTS:
08 July – Astrophoto SIG
10 July – TAAA Star Party at TIMPA
17 July – TAAA Star Party at Las Cienegas

NEWSLETTER SCHEDULE: Deadline for articles: Sat, July 24. Printing: Mon, July 26. Folding Party: Tues, July 27. Mailing: Wed, July 28. The newsletter is mailed at least one week prior to the following month’s General Meeting.


Note: The board of directors meeting is the first Wednesday after the monthly meeting. The astrophoto SIG is the first Thursday after the monthly meeting.

General Information




		
             Office               Name                Phone        Email
             ------               ----                -----        -----
             President            Thom Peck          327-7825     thomas.peck@optics.arizona.edu
             Vice-President       Michael Turner     743-3437     Mrmgturner@earthlink.net
             Secretary            Steve Marten       906-0049     TAAAStarParty@aol.com
             Treasurer            Terri Lappin       579-0185     tklappin@earthlink.net
             Member-at-Large      Ed Finney          296-9266     cefinney@NetZero.com
             Member-at-Large      Bill Lofquist      297-6653     wlofquist@aol.com
             Member-at-Large      Ray Toscano        529-3074     ray_toscano@Earthlink.net
			 
			Other Officers for 2003

            School S. Party Schedule Coordinator    Steve Marten        906-0049   steve1636@aol.com
            School S. Party Volunteer Coordinator   Robert Wilson       744-0263   rasjwilson@aol.com
            Desert Skies Editor                     George Barber       822-2392   barbergj@flash.net
            AstroLeague Correspondent               Nick de Mesa        797-6614   demesan@onsetbeach.com
            Astrophotography SIG                    Dean Ketelsen       293-2855   ketelsen@as.arizona.edu
            Astrocomputing SIG                      Roger Tanner        574-3876   rtanner@seds.lpl.arizona.edu
            Chief Observer                          Wayne Johnson       586-2244   mrgalaxy@juno.com
            Webmaster                               Dean Salman         250-0407   E-Mail
			 Equipment Loan Coordinator (ELC)        Jerry Penegor       320-1872   penegor@dakotacom.net
			 Club Sales                              Ann Scott           749-4867   lbscott61@cox.net
TAAA Mission Statement

Membership in the TAAA

Desert Skies Publishing Guidelines

Desert Skies is published monthly by the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association, PO Box 41254, Tucson, Arizona 85717

President's Message

Club News

 

August Newsletter Submissions
By George Barber

During the month of July, I will be visiting Australia. Terri Lappin has graciously offered to coordinate the newsletter during my absence. You will need to send her your August newsletter contributions at tklappin@earthlink.net by the July 24 deadline.


Member News

We welcome the most recent members to join the TAAA: Karel Bott, Steve Henderson, Norman (Joe) Phelps, Norman and Vickie Phelps, Sigmund Stone (Sigmund is a returning member). Glad to have all of you join! New members should be sure to pick up a new members pack at a meeting. Hope you’ll make it to our star parties or meetings so we can all get to know you. (Updated membership lists are available to any member at most regular meetings, so pick one up if you need it.)


New Membership Information Flyers

If you have some of the TAAA tri-folded flyers for handing out to people interested in joining the TAAA, please toss them out or bring them to the July meeting for recycling. We have updated the flyers with new and current information and our new membership rates. We will have a supply of flyers at the July meeting for you to put with your observing gear. If you want some mailed to you, please email Terri Lappin.


Bart and Priscilla Bok Award
Presented June 4, 2004

The Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association's Bart and Priscilla Bok Award was established in 1981 as a way to honor Bart and Priscilla Bok and to recognize local amateur astronomers for their outstanding contributions to amateur astronomy and/or observational astronomy. Last month, the TAAA was pleased to present the Bok award to John Kalas.

John has served the club as a Member at Large, Vice President and President. John's list of accomplishments for the club is too numerous to mention. During part of his term as President, he served as the Desert Skies newsletter editor. He has run the TAAA paid star parties program since May 1999 and continues to do so. The vast majority of accomplishments that have occurred at the TIMPA site occurred while John was the TAAA President. He has been instrumental in helping organize the very successful TAAA efforts for the T4T fundraisers for MDA. John is a regular supporter of TAAA public star parties and was active with Project ASTRO for a couple of years. At star parties, he is always enthusiastic in helping teach people about astronomy and especially in helping new amateurs learn something about the sky or telescopes. John also served as President of the Las Vegas astronomy club.

The past recipients of the TAAA Bart and Priscilla Bok award are Duane Niehaus, David Levy, Pierre Schwaar, Rik Hill, James McGaha, Gary Rosenbaum, Teresa Lappin, Bob Goff, Eduardo Vega, and Dean Ketelsen.


Beginners Lectures

We are looking for speakers to present specific topics to our Beginners. These lectures are about 30-40 minutes long. The topics are listed below. If you can present one of these topics, please talk to Terri Lappin.

The “Beginner’s Lecture Series”
1. Moon & Planets (solar system)
2. Stars & Our Sun (stellar evolution)
3. Telescopes and Their Use
4. Imaginary Lines (coordinate systems)
5. Deep Sky Observing
6. Important People in Astronomy
7. Cosmology


Astro-photo SIG Meeting
July 8, 7pm
China Rose, NE corner Speedway/Rosemont

We've had some great presentations lately, with CCD images, planetary webcams, and film. Come see some of the state of the imaging art over some Chinese food. Just show up and enjoy the show!


Project ASTRO Astronomers Needed
By Connie Walker

You are among the best candidates to become astronomer partners in Project ASTRO. If you have a desire to share your enthusiasm for astronomy with the community at large, involvement in Project ASTRO is a way to give back to the community, get children curious about science and possibly develop their interest into future careers. Your contribution would also enhance the teacher's knowledge and confidence in teaching astronomy. Consider this opportunity to make an important contribution to community service without excessive commitment. You could be a part of fostering the future. Testimonials supporting the Project ASTRO program can be viewed at http://www.noao.edu/education/astro_testimonials.jpg.

Project ASTRO-Tucson is an educational outreach program hosted by NOAO, which forms partnerships between teachers (grades 3 - 9) and astronomers (professional, amateur, and students). We have had eight successful years of Project ASTRO. To date, Project ASTRO astronomers and teachers have reached over 24,000 students throughout Arizona. In addition, Project ASTRO-Tucson is one of thirteen Project ASTRO sites nationwide. Visit http://www.noao.edu/education/astro_poster.jpg for a composite of photos and key elements describing Project ASTRO-Tucson.

Our seventh training workshop will be held in Tucson October 11 and 12, 2002. During the workshop and throughout the year resources (including solar telescopes, an encyclopedia of proven hands-on activities, and supplies for the activities) are given out or lent out at no charge. A preliminary workshop agenda can be found at http://www.noao.edu/educatihttp://www.noao.edu/education/astro_agenda.pdf.on/astro_agenda.pdf.

We need more astronomers to partner with teachers who are eager to learn about astronomy and do hands-on activities their students. A minimum of 4 classroom visits per year is all that is required. (Attendance at our upcoming workshop is strongly recommended.) Please consider applying as an astronomer partner to get involved in this worthwhile science education program. Join the "A" Team! A workshop brochure and application form can be found at http://www.noao.edu/education/astrogram/workshopflyer_051104.pdf and http://www.noao.edu/education/astronomerapp_2003.pdf, respectively.

For more information about Project ASTRO, visit the web page: http://www.noao.edu/education/astrotucson.html or contact me at cwalker@noao.edu or 318-8535. Applications will be accepted through September 23.


Thank-you,
Connie Walker
Site Director, Project ASTRO
Senior Science Education Specialist/Astronomer, NOAO

NOAO Educational Outreach
950 N. Cherry Ave.
Tucson, AZ, 85719


Annual Picnic in the Fall – October 30

We are going to try something different this year for our annual picnic. We have reserved a huge ramada at Reid Park for Saturday, October 30th. Mark your calendars now. We hope to have some fun things to do in the afternoon (our reservation begins at 2pm). Terri will be making a comet – great fun if you haven’t seen it done before, and surely we’ll have at least a solar telescope set up. Evening observing is questionable since we will be in town, but that hasn’t been decided yet. If you want to help with the planning of this event let Terri Lappin know.


Express Renewals

In an effort to reduce congestion around the treasurer’s table at our meetings and to make your life a little simpler, I am testing out a new membership renewal system that I’m calling “Express Renewals”. For members paying with a check that has a pre-printed local address on it, and who don’t need a receipt qualify for Express Renewals. An envelope will be provided into which you will put your check and any magazine renewal notices you may have. Then, place the envelope into a basket that will be marked for this purpose. If all goes well, you shouldn’t need to talk to me. This will give me more time to spend with our new members or those paying cash and you will not have to spend time standing in line.


A MEMORIAL TO DON HIGGINS

At 10:20 p.m., May 5, 2004, the great Orion had just set in the west, taking the winter Milky Way with him. In the southeast, Antares, Lucida of Scorpius and harbinger of the summer Milky Way, was lifting above the horizon. The moon was just a day past full, rising next to red Antares; it was not the starriest of nights. All in all, a good night for traveling on the road, and not so good for long gazes into the night sky.

It is worth noting the location where Don left us. 15 mi. east of Flagstaff, in a Pinion and Juniper Woodland and on what to others might seem a lonely stretch of Interstate 40. This is a heavily used road, and Don had passed over it on many previous occasions. On one of those previous occasions, or even several, Don certainly would have noticed that he was under one of the yet starriest skies in North America. The limiting magnitude at the Zenith was probably seventh magnitude to a discerning observer like Don. These are the kind of skies Don lived for. He had apparently stopped at the side of the road, for a reason we probably will never know for certain. But perhaps he paused to take a gander at the rising moon in Scorpius, and perhaps he also took a moment to look upward, to consider that, if the moon were below the horizon, there would be thousands of stars visible from such a dark place, thousands of tiny pinpoints of light, each a thundering sun at an unimaginable distance, each streaming light across the void to cast illumination into his soul.

As Don pulled back onto the Interstate, a large truck hit his van and it was pushed off the side of the road, rolling numerous times unto it came to a stop. Shortly thereafter, Don’s heart also came to a stop and so the life of a man whom his sister called “Lightfeather” was abruptly ended.

Because he had dedicated the last decade of his life to preserving the glory of the night sky, the Southern Arizona Section of the International Dark Sky Association (SA-IDA) would like to offer a small prize as a memorial. We will award a year’s membership in IDA for the first member of TAAA who attends three meetings of SA-IDA. The section meetings are held at 5:30 PM on the second Wednesday of each month in the IDA office at 3225 N. First Ave.. (In the case of a tie, multiple awards will be given.)

Prepared by John Polacheck with the assistance of Christian B. Luginbuhl.

Equipment Available

Just a reminder that the club has equipment that you can borrow. Contact Jerry Penegor to check out any of the following items:


Sears Discoverer 4 60mm f/15
equatorial head on tripod
finder scope
three 0".965 eyepieces
+ lots more
carrying case


Unitron Model 128 62mm f/14.5
equatorial head on tripod
five 0".965 eyepieces
wooden cases

plus: 60mm f/11.7 Optical Tube Assembly
plus: 60mm f/8.3 OTA


Meade ETX-90EC 90mm f/13.9
Meade 26mm Super Plossl
Meade hand-set (paddle)
Meade ETX AutoStar computer + cord


Coulter Optical Inc Odyssey 8 8-inch f/4.5 or f/5
with Dobson mount and variable focus eyepiece

 

A Record in One Respect
By John Polacheck

Each month since 1998, here in Tucson, a small group of us has been searching the evening sky for the first sighting of the “new” thin crescent Moon using only our “naked” eyes (or ordinary glasses). That is precisely what our ancestors did for thousands of years. Why? In order to keep the calendar.

To see the Moon when it is only a very thin sliver, one needs to know exactly when and where to look. It is most unlikely that such a thin crescent will be sighted by accident. We now, however, have a huge advantage over our ancestors because we have lots of modern technology.

Preparing each month, we use two computer programs: MoonCalc by Monzur Ahmed (Birmingham, England) and LunaCal 2.1 by Roy Hoffman (Jerusalem, Israel). Both of these can easily be downloaded for free from the Internet. We also have available to us, of course, binoculars, tripods and telescopes to first find the location of the thin crescent Moon in the sky, thus making it much easier to sight it with naked eye vision. Obviously, all our sightings take place shortly after sunset.

If the thin crescent Moon is seen with naked eye vision by at least three observers, I send off a report via E-mail to the Israeli Moon Society. Knowing that the crescent was particularly thin on Wednesday evening, May 19th, 2004, I decided to seek help from Dean Koenig at Starizona. And, we were successful!

Here below is a copy of the report, which I sent off via the Internet that evening:

The very thin crescent Moon was indeed sighted with naked eyes in Tucson this evening, Wednesday, May 19, 2004!

We were not at our usual observing site but about 6 miles almost directly North of downtown. (Latitude: 32 degrees, 18 minutes North; Longitude: 110 degrees, 58 minutes West; Elevation: 2,344 feet). There is a small flat hill (only a couple of degrees) obstructing the Western horizon. It has some trees on the top. These later served as reference points, helping us to locate the crescent Moon with our naked eyes.

The temperature was about 32 degrees Celsius; the air was dry (dew point minus 3 degrees Celsius); and the winds were light to moderate, about 12 nautical miles per hour from the Southwest (240 degrees). There were, however, a moderate number of clouds in the western sky as the Sun set, with only a very few thin linear breaks. That led to a most beautiful red sunset! As the Sun set, however, the area above the horizon cleared appreciably, and by the time the thin crescent Moon was sighted, the sky was nearly free of clouds. There were, however, a few wisps of clouds remaining, and these helped us (paradoxically) find the crescent Moon with our naked eyes. These tiny thin clouds also provided us with points of reference in the sky - - - thus, we knew precisely where to look for the Moon.

The Sun "set" partially into (behind) a tree between about 7:04 and about 7:07 PM (MST, UT minus 7 hours). It set behind the hill at about 7:09. It set at the horizon about 7:18 (predicted, U.S. Naval Observatory).

Using a Celestron NexStar 8 GPS telescope with a 40 mm eyepiece (50X magnification) and a Telrad, the crescent thin Moon was found using a special procedure devised by Dean Koenig. The telescope could not be aligned using the “normal” protocol because it was not yet dark enough to locate two stars, as required for the normal alignment procedure. This is a brief summary of Dean’ special alignment procedure: First the telescope was put in an approximately horizontal position; then it was pointed approximately North (“true North not magnetic North). If you are setting-up at a familiar observing site, you very likely know which direction is North. Then we asked the telescope to “go-to” Venus. The time was about 7:12 PM and Venus was easily seen with our naked eyes. Because the telescope had not been aligned, the telescope pointed about 3 degrees off. Venus, a beautiful crescent that night, was then manually centered in the eyepiece and the telescope was re-focused carefully. Finally, we asked the telescope to “go-to” the Moon. At the time we did that, the Moon just happened to be dipping below a thin layer of clouds. It was easily seen through the telescope’s eyepiece. The time was about 7:30. By the way, we were all amazed at how very thin the crescent Moon appeared and how beautiful!

Because the telescope was pointed directly at the thin crescent Moon, we could then use the Telrad to locate the Moon’s position in the sky. We needed one more “trick”, however. Because the Western sky was still so bright (just after sunset), we needed to "blink" the image by intermittently putting a hand behind the Telrad. That way we could see the Telrad's circles, which otherwise were invisible. Knowing exactly where to look in the sky, the thin crescent Moon could then be located with binoculars (Orion Mini Giant, 8x56). The time was about 7:31. Therefore, we knew exactly where in the sky to look for the thin crescent Moon with our naked eyes. Shortly thereafter, a few observers thought that they might have seen it briefly but only intermittently. But then, success! At about 7:40, the very thin crescent Moon was clearly seen with only naked eyes by all of the experienced observers who were present! We continued observing until the crescent Moon was lost in the haze (likely dust) near the horizon. The time was about 7:50.

Witnesses included Dean and Donna Koenig, John Polacheck, Scott Tucker, Kirk Wines, and Jim Nierenberg.

The next day, I received the following E-mail announcement from the Israeli Moon Society:

The New (sic) Moon was seen clearly tonight (Thursday 20th May 2004) from Israel. The Moon was also seen last night (19th May) from Tucson, AZ, USA. I mention this because this was an extremely marginal observation of the type used to define the limit of visibility. Congratulations to the observers.

And, a few days later:

This last sighting of yours is of great importance and is making large waves throughout the crescent sighting community.

On the date that we were making our observation, we did not know how special it was. We were not aware that over the past 150 years, there have only been seven reliable reports of a successful visual sighting when the size of the Moon was near the limit of possibility. Those are called “marginal” observations. Most of those marginal observations were made when the new Moon was very young. For example, there is the “famous” observation made by Stephen James O’Meara on May 24th, 1990, from Mt. Wilson (reported 6 years later in Sky and Telescope, December, 1996, pp 104-6). O’Meara made that observation when the new Moon was very young, a mere 15 ½ hours old. By contrast, when our observation was made this past May, the Moon was much older. In fact it was 22 hours old. That is not even close to a record. Yet, that evening we did comment to each other how remarkably thin the Moon’s crescent appeared. We doubted that we would ever see a thinner crescent Moon with our naked eyes. (Note: at any given age, the size of the Moon’s illuminated crescent can be larger or smaller depending on whether it is relatively close to or further away from the Earth.)

NEWS FLASH: We recently learned that the observation, which we made here in Tucson last month, did indeed break a record, in one respect: the record for the thinnest crescent width seen with naked eye vision. On that evening, the crescent Moon was only a mere 11.8” - - - for example, contrast that with Stephen James O'Meara’s observation in 1990; although the Moon was “super” young that evening in 1990, the crescent width was considerably larger (12.8" ) than it was the evening of our observation. The previous record was an observation made in Islamabad on February 15, 1991 when the crescent width was ever so slightly wider (12.0" ) - - - in other words, we “beat-out” the previous record by only 0.2” !!!!!

Each month we repeat our observations, not knowing if it will be special; but each month we enjoy ourselves. In closing, I would like to take this opportunity to invite other members of the TAAA to join us. Please feel free to contact me personally at email address: jpolacheck@earthlink.net or telephone number (520) 743-1362.

 

WEBSITES: TRIPS ON THE INTERNET SUPER-SKYWAY
By Rik Hill

From Earth to the Moon...web style.

Years ago I was lucky enough, during one of my bookstore crawls, to come across a full copy of the imagery from the 5 Lunar Orbiters that were sent to the moon in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This has been an invaluable reference in sorting out small features at the edge of resolution. But not all that many were printed so few amateurs have one. This is too bad since it is so helpful in lunar observing. But recently, Lunar & Planetary Institute in Houston has put the whole thing on the web at: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/research/lunar_orbiter/ with the ability to search by feature name, photo number or coordinate position on the moon. What a resource to have at your fingertips! A warning, this website is rather slow so be patient.

If you are interested in getting into lunar observing but the above is a bit daunting, try the freeware Virtual Moon Atlas at: http://www.astrosurf.com/avl/UK_index.html This handy piece of software has lots of Earth-based and spacecraft imagery combined with drawings that will get you acquainted with what is visible at any given moment.

Once you have gotten the hang of getting around on our natural satellite, you might want further detail visible. You'll be surprised, if you’re not a lunar observer, just how much detail is visible in even a little ETX90! Try your hand at seeing how small a feature you can see, just how close you can get, by going to the Ranger 9 imagery page at: http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/html/mission_page/EM_Ranger_9_page1.html How close was the spacecraft when it had the same resolution as your telescope? I think you will be surprised at what you find!

Lunar & Planetary also has put the entire Consolidated Lunar Atlas on line. It was done at our own Lunar & Planetary Lab. on the U/Az campus back in the late 1960s and is the highest resolution comprehensive Earth-based atlas ever done. http://www.lpi.usra.edu/research/cla/. Again, this is a slow'ish' website so be patient.

There is also an excellent atlas, done in many formats, of sections on the moon that is maintained by The Lunascan Project at: http://www.astrosurf.com/lunascan/sections.htm. Here you click on a portion of the moon that you want to know more about or select a feature from a list, and you will be given a list of relevant images of that region or feature done with different spacecraft or telescopes.

How good a job of lunar imaging can you do from Earth? Among the best of the lunar images taken by amateurs today are those of Antonio Cidadao (Portugal) at: www.astrosurf.com/ cidadao/moon.htm and Thierry Legault's (France) http://perso.club-internet.fr/legault/. Their work is breathtaking. Nothing like it had been achieved by amateur astronomers until the advent of the digital camera. Hopefully it will be very inspirational to you.

As always, if you know of a particularly good website you would like mentioned here, drop me a line at rhill@lpl.arizona.edu.

 

Star Parties and Events

TAAA Star Party at TIMPA
Saturday, 10 July, 2004

Come on out and enjoy the summer skies! TIMPA star parties are great for both beginners and experienced observers. Our novice members can get help with observing issues or equipment problems, as there are many experienced members there who would be happy to help. If you don’t own a telescope, come anyways, because there are lots of telescopes set up and everyone is invited to look through them. This is a great way to check out different telescope designs before you make that all-important decision to buy. There is no scheduled talk for this activity, just come out and enjoy. We’ll do our best to get you the answers you need. If you have friends or relatives who are curious about amateur astronomy, feel free to bring them along. The TIMPA site features a large parking area, and full restroom facilities. Be prepared for cool temperatures after sunset. It’s also a good idea to bring insect repellent. Directions to the TIMPA site are located on the outside flap of this newsletter.


TAAA Star Party at Las Cienegas (Empire Ranch)
Saturday, 17 July, 2004

Las Cienegas (formerly Empire Ranch) has been our normal dark-sky observing site for quite a number of years. Please try to arrive before sunset. Stay as long as you like, but let everyone know when you are ready to leave; someone may be taking astrophotos. Bring a telescope if you have one, but you don’t need one to attend. Any member would be glad to let you look through their telescope. There are no restroom facilities at the site, so be prepared. Las Cienegas is at 4000 feet so be prepared for cool temperatures after sunset. It’s also a good idea to bring insect repellent. Attendees should park their vehicles either perpendicular to the airstrip facing toward the center of the strip, or parallel to the airstrip along either side facing west. That way, when you are ready to leave, you will not have to back up and turn on your bright white backup lights. See the directions to Las Cienegas on the outside flap of this newsletter.


 

 

Dark Skies for July 
 
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


We/Th 30/ 1    -   -   -           Su/Mo  11/12  21:11 -  1:36        Th/Fr  22/23  22:47 -  3:58
Th/Fr  1/ 2    Full Moon           Mo/Tu  12/13  21:10 -  2:11        Fr/Sa  23/24  23:15 -  3:59
Fr/Sa  2/ 3    -   -   -           Tu/We  13/14  21:10 -  2:52        Sa/Su  24/25  23:46 -  4:00
Sa/Su  3/ 4  21:14 - 21:21         We/Th  14/15  21:09 -  3:38                                   
                                   Th/Fr  15/16  21:08 -  3:52        Su/Mo  25/26   0:21 -  4:01
Su/Mo  4/ 5  21:14 - 22:04         Fr/Sa  16/17  21:08 -  3:53        Mo/Tu  26/27   1:02 -  4:02
Mo/Tu  5/ 6  21:13 - 22:41         Sa/Su  17/18  21:07 -  3:53        Tu/We  27/28   1:53 -  4:03
Tu/We  6/ 7  21:13 - 23:12                                            We/Th  28/29   2:53 -  4:04
We/Th  7/ 8  21:13 - 23:41         Su/Mo  18/19  21:06 -  3:54        Th/Fr  29/30   4:02 -  4:05
Th/Fr  8/ 9  21:12 -  0:08         Mo/Tu  19/20  21:22 -  3:55        Fr/Sa  30/31    Full Moon  
Fr/Sa  9/10  21:12 -  0:35         Tu/We  20/21  21:52 -  3:56        Sa/Su  31/ 1    -   -   -  
Sa/Su 10/11  21:11 -  1:04         We/Th  21/22  22:20 -  3:57                                   


Weekend    Sun   Sun      Mercury     Venus      Mars     Jupiter    Saturn                       
Sa/Su      Set   Rise     Set  Vi    Rise Vi   Set  Vi    Set  Vi   Rise Vi    Vi=Visibility      
                                                                                                  
 3/ 4     19:32  5:21     20:41 5    3:18 -3   21:04 5   22:55 -1   5:38  -    -3 brilliant       
10/11     19:31  5:24     20:52 4    2:59 -3   20:51 6   22:31 -1   5:15  -     0 conspicuous     
17/18     19:28  5:28     20:53 4    2:44 -4   20:38 7   22:06 -1   4:52  -     3 moderate        
24/25     19:25  5:33     20:45 4    2:33 -4   20:24 8   21:42 -1   4:29  6     6 naked eye limit 
31/ 1     19:20  5:37     20:30 5    2:26 -4   20:10 9   21:18  0   4:05  4     9 binoculars limit

By Erich Karkoschka
Meeting Minutes

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