WASP The Warren Astronomical Society Paper Volume 31, Number 8 August, 1999

My 2 Cents by Joe Van Poucker Ever need a gift for the person that has everything?? Or want a unique gift for that special friend on that odd holiday??? How about giving them a membership to the Warren Astronomical Society? This great idea was brought to me by our newest members the Leinhos Family. [continued] Astro Chatter by Larry Kalinowski Mars seems to be making a lot of news lately. It's probably because that planet will be our next space travel goal. There's nothing like priming the public for another space adventure. Some scientists have duplicated what they believe is the martian environment in a laboratory and introduced microorganisms from the Earth's environment into their Mars experiment. The organisms thrived in the Mars atmosphere. Barry Craig gave us an interesting presentation at the June MCCC meeting. His video camera shots of the Moon and Mars were interesting and spectacular [continued] The W.A.S. 25 Years Ago by LoriAnn Skonieczny I hope you enjoyed the first installment of "The W.A.S. 25 Years Ago..." in last month's WASP. It is interesting to read the back issues of our club newsletter and to see familiar names who are still members today as well as to find out what our club was up to back then. With this second installment I have read over the August 1974 issue and summarized some of its noteworthycontents. You will see many familiar names mentioned. "Final public notice was given that the organization known as the WAS will host the 1974 National Convention of the Astro League at Holmes Hall [continued] Minutes of Meetings by LoriAnn Skonieczny New Members by Joe Van Poucker

My 2 Cents, continued

Kristin recently wrote to me wanting to purchase a family membership for her father James. I contacted Kristin and invited her out to the club's Summer Picnic where she was able to present James with his Father's Day gift. It's my understanding that James had no idea where he was going when his daughter took him out for a Saturday afternoon ride. Now not only will James receive a monthly copy of the society's newsletter, The WASP, he's also a member of the Astronomical League and will receive their newsletter, The Reflector. Also even though James owns his own scope his family now has the privilege of using and borrowing the clubs equipment. Best of all James is now a member of a group of special people that share his interests in a hobby he can enjoy for years to come.

Plus not only does a membership to the Warren Astronomical Society make a great gift it also helps to build the club in more ways than one. So if you wish to purchase someone you know a membership as a gift feel free to contact me. My address and phone number are listed every month on page two of the WASP, or you can e-mail me at Joe Van Poucker.

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Astro Chatter, continued

respectively. It's surprising how much detail the camera captured in the Mars shots and the size of the image produced. The observing tent he demonstrated was erected in less than a minute and was large enough to hold a ten inch Newtonian and observer's table.

I've mentioned this before in a previous chatter column, but it's worth mentioning again. If you're just about to plunk down some money for a new computer and can't decide whether to get an Apple or an IBM type of system, ask yourself these three untechnical questions. What kind of computer do my friends use?....what kind of computer does my son or daughter use in school?, and......what kind of computer do I use at work? If you answer two out of three questions with the same answer, that's the type of computer to buy. If you answer all three questions with the same answer, you better NOT buy the other computer or you'll be awful sorry you did.

More and more of us are getting to see those Iridium satellites flash in the sky as we do our observing. If you'd like to see one too, you can get a list of predicted passages at the next WAS meeting.

If you'd really like to make a statement on someone else's web page, you may be interested in the program THIRD VOICE, available off the web. It allows the user to paste a sticky note to the other persons web page which is readable by all those that go to that web page. You can imagine how this possibility is affecting the owners of commercial web pages. They're crying foul ball and want legislation against such shenanigans.

Comet Lee is a new comet visible only with a telescope, low in the western, evening sky. During early and middle July, it'll be about visual magnitude 6.5. If you have the program to handle the orbital elements, you can display the comet's position, near Pollux and Castor, with your computer. The comet is rapidly approaching the Sun and will become a morning object during late July. I have a few maps still available with an attached ephemeris showing the comet's position at one day intervals from June 23 through July 27. If you'd like a copy, call me at 810-776-9720.

NEW COMET LEE C/1999 H1
Time Of Perihelion (T).....1999 Jul 11.16520000
Eccentricity (e).....1.00000000
Perihelion distance (q).....0.70829400 (AU)
Perihelion Position (Peri).....40.67330000 (degrees)
Ascending Node (Node).....162.64170000 (degrees)
Inclination (i).....149.35450000 (degrees)
Absolute Magnitude.....6.76
Magnitude Coefficient.....10.00
equinox 2000.0

On the light side, if you're a lightening bug affectionado, like I am, try this little experiment. The next time you're out at Stargate or any country field, if you see one of those fireflies forty or fifty feet away, point your red LED flashlight at it and give your flashlight five quick flashes. Be sure you flash the bug after he (or she, I don't really know) finishes flashing. You'll notice the interested bugs coming closer to you and some will finally land on your light if you keep enticing them with your flashing.

Bill Whitney just notified me that he's interested in selling his folded, six inch, F15, refractor. It's rumored that a close friend of Bill's took a look through the 'scope and was so amazed at the quality of the image that he promptly sold his seven inch Questar. It's available with or without the mount. You can reach Bill at 734-462-3255.

I also have a Diamond Stealth II, G460, 2X AGP video card for sale. It's for a PCI slot and has eight megabytes of video memory on board. A CD-Rom disk comes with it. Asking $50. Dial 810-776-9720 for more information.

The July computer meeting will be held at Gary Gathen's home on Thursday, the 22nd. You can call Gary or Larry for further information.

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The WAS 25 Years Ago, continued

on the campus of Michigan State University in East Lansing on August 14-18. Said convention will consist of and include: many interesting amateur papers; a "night at Big Jacks;" a telescope fair; field trips to Abrams Planetarium, the MSU observatory and the U of M optical and radio observatories at Portage Lake, Wilma Cherup; a banquet; Bob Right; a DOAA slide show; Charley Johnson; and many more hits to numerous to mention." Excerpted from the August 1974 issue of the WASP, article written by Dinster Mudgrave.

The following excerpt is from the News section of the August 1974 issue. "Your roving reporter, Dave Harrington, has een making the rounds, and has interviewed many of the club members as to their current interests and projects." "Faitus Enterprises (Lous Faix and Pete Kwentus) has been very active of late. Their latest development is a "hot camera", which is designed to make the film less sensitive to light, thus making guiding errors much less noticeable. Their first model utilized outdated Kodachrome II in an Instamatic camera with a hot-water bottle taped to the back. A second-generation model utilized a hot water reservoir on the back of a Polaroid camera, but this idea was scrapped when Bill Whitney came along and dropped a tea bag in it. Lou and Pete now claim to have a third generation model with a portable butane torch which directs a flame on the film plane. It also makes a great hand warmer on cold nights says Pete. Another Faitus project is the design of a unique on-axis guiding system for astrophotography. This utilizes a half-silvered primary mirror and a peephole in the mirror cell. With this system, the observer merely sits behind the telescope and looks through the mirror. Lou is quite enthused about this project, and says, 'it's great for aligning the telescope on the pole too.' Lots of luck with these innovations boys."

"Doug Bock has been diligently working on the development of a computer program to predict the positions of all the planets. After working for over a year to complete the program, Doug couldn't figure out why his computer predictions didn't agree with observations. Then another club member pointed out that Doug had assumed that the Earth was the center of the universe. When confronted with this, Doug said, 'but I see the sun going around the Earth every day.' Oh well, it's back to the old drawing board for Doug. Doug is also working on cleaning the mirror on his square-tube telescope. It was temporarily out of service anyway, due to problems with an oversize diagonal mirror.(It seems the diagonal was larger than the primary mirror) At any rate, it seems he had his telescope standing up in the kitchen, and his mother thought it was a Trash Compactor, so she dropped a bag of garbage in it. As of this date, Doug has most of the garbage cleaned out, but commented, 'boy, those potato peelings are tough to get.'"

"Larry Kalinowski has been working closely with Jerry Persha, and has expanded the LFK exposure guide to include Neptune and Pluto. 'Planet X will also be included,' said Larry, 'as soon as Jerry discovers it.' For those of us who have been overexposing Pluto for years, this new exposure guide will be most welcome. Larry is also working on the correct exposures for that new film, 103 bo, which has an ASA that increases with exposure time. 'You might say that this film has a reciprocity success,' quipped Larry, 'and the trick here is to cut off the exposure before the ASA gets too large.'"

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Minutes of Meetings

Cranbrook, June 7, 1999

• PRESIDENT STEVE GREENE opened the meeting at 7:34 p.m. with 22 members and 2 guests in attendance.
• CLAYTON KESSLER gave the club an overview of Astronomy Day. He stated that 4-6 WAS members attended including Marty Kunz and Riyad Matti and that some solar viewing was done with projection and solar filters. Clay also gave the club a synopsis of the Texas Star Party. Around 600 people attended. The skies weren't as dark as the previous year due to forest fires in New Mexico but one could view 6-6 1/2 magnitude objects with the naked eye. The programs given were good and there were a lot of telescopes and a great deal of astrophotography going on. David Lee won for best overall photo. Clay also passed around the beautiful pictures that he took in Texas.
• DOUG BOCK brought in some of the slides he took at both the Texas Star Party and on Astronomy Day and shared them with the group. He also said that David Levy's talk in Texas was good as always and that there was an amateur telescope making contest there in which Sky and Telescope and Astronomy magazines judged. Doug also gave the dates for the Kensington Star Party as August 20 and 21. There will a meeting SundayJune13 concerning GLAAC. The Indian Springs site was checked out as a possible observing site for
• GLAAC. Doug announced that he will be having his annual Summer Solstice Star Party on June 11-13 and that he sold his 20" scope and recently got a used 10" LX200 for his dome.
• BOB WATT gave the club an update on the mirror grinding subgroup's latest accomplishments. He stated that it took 2 1/2 hours to get the basic curve on the mirror and some discussion was had on the subject of subdiameter tools with Clay. Bob also announced that SMURFS will be from August 12-15 and that no early arrivals will be accepted. He provided the club with some informational handouts on the event.
• LARRY KALINOWSKI provided the club with handouts on Comet Lee and Iridium flare predictions. The comet will be visible from June 3 until July 7. He explained how to read both charts and announced that he still has 4 more copies of the planetarium program for sale for $5 with all proceeds going to the club.
• 2ND VP CHRIS MEHLING stated that he will be giving a presentation on microgravity tonight and that Barry Craig will be giving the program at the June 17 Macomb meeting.
• KIM DYER announced that MI State's Open House for their 24" telescope will be June 18-19 if anyone is interested in going. He also told the club a little about the Apollo rendezvous that will be held Sat. June 12 in Dayton OH.
• DOUG BOCK thanked Frank, Riyad, Marty, Clay, and Jeff for their help with Astronomy Day.
• STEVE GREENE announced the Friday June 11 we are expecting a large group of scouts out at Stargate. He asked for help with lecturing, the program will be at 7 p.m. that eve. Steve broke the meeting at 8:15.
• CHRIS MEHLING gave his program on microgravity after the break and STEVE GREENE closed the meeting at 10 pm.

Macomb, June 17, 1999

• PRESIDENT STEVE GREENE opened the meeting at 7:38 p.m. with 25 members in attendance.
• TREASURER JOE VAN POUCKER announced that he has 45 pairs of solar shades for sale to members for $2 each with all proceeds going to the WAS. These shades can be used for naked eye observing of the sun. He also has copies of "More Things in Heaven and Earth" by David Levy which contains poems and literature by different astronomers and poets. These are for sale for $10. As usual he has the guides for the Meteor watch and Messier awards. The treasurer's report for May is as follows:
• Opening balance as of May 1, 1999 $4841.11
• Income $ 286.64
• Expenses $ 609.09
• Ending balance as of May 31, 1999 $4518.66
• Petty cash $ 12.00
• Joe then led a discussion on the subject of our membership renewals and the annual renewal date of October for all members. This new system is not working out as planned. He has been trying to prorate members in order to catch them up to the annual October renewal date. Many club members have been either not responding to his requests or sending full year amounts instead of the prorated amount. He has also had problems with members that are overdue for membership renewals. He has tried to send out letters notifying them that they are delinquent and asking them to respond to him whether or not they want to continue membership. People haven't been responding either way. He has been forced to drop members that are overdue and don't respond to his letters. The club discussed the idea of having Joe call these people personally to inquire about their club status. He mentioned that this may cause the club to incur the additional cost for reimbursement of the long distance phone calls that he would have to make to call these members. Dave D'Onofrio and Steve Greene suggested that the cost of the phone calls is worth saving these memberships. Kim Dyer suggested that members and/or board members that live closer to these delinquent members should make the calls to inquire about there memberships. It was noted that a personal contact with members always has a positive effect.
• MARTY KUNZ stated that when he was President and the club's bank account started to dwindle he took a hard look at the budget and really brought down expenses. The biggest expense at that time was the WASP but we are currently getting the best possible rate on our printing costs now so the club needs to look at other ways to generate positive cash flow. Marty noted that another important part of a healthy club is a lot of participation from its club members.
• STEVE GREENE announced that we are trying to plan a public Open House coordinated with Wolcott Mill that would be beneficial to both parties. He said we need to get more public advertisement for our club to encourage interest in astronomy and membership in the club. Some suggestions were offered such as an ad in the Metroparks newsletter, sending invites to school administrators to be given to teachers and advertising at events such as the Kensington Star Party.
• BLAINE MCCULLOUGH announced for Rick Gossett that last Friday we had 45 scouts and 10 adults at Stargate. A 2.6" tabletop scope was found out of Stargate when some members cleaned it out to make it more organized inside. A question has arisen to what we want to do with the scope, sell it to raise money for the club or keep for club use? We will take comments on that subject over the next month to get a consensus on what we will do with the scope. Blaine also reminded the club that SMURFS is August 12-15.
• BARRY CRAIG, the president of the Detroit Astronomical Society, spoke of some projects he has thought of that would be beneficial to the club as things to bring to star parties to generate interest in children for astronomy. One idea is a gravity simulation and the other is navigating over an alien surface. He asked for volunteers interested in helping him build his portable gravity simulator. He added that the DAS is currently in limbo and that maybe the answer to its revival is an absorption into a local club such as ours while maintaining the DAS association.
• DAVE D'ONOFRIO gave the club a synopsis of the game plan for the Kensington Star Party. It will be held on Aug 20 and 21 starting at 5 p.m. There will be 6-7 talks including subjects such as basic astronomy, basic equipment, light pollution, comet making and a tour of the constellations. The big focus this year will be on children. There will be an organized "find the celestial object" contest where prearranged scopes will be set up that focus on one object of a list of about 6 that the children will have to get signed to prove they have viewed them. There will be transportation to the observing sites from the parking lot for people who have a lot of telescopic equipment. They plan to advertise this event by radio, TV and with flyers so they expect a great turnout with a super opportunity for local clubs to get visibility and prospective new members.
• MIKE O'DOWD donated "The New Solar System" book to our club's library. THANK YOU MIKE!!
• PRESIDENT STEVE GREENE announced the break at 9 p.m. After a short break Barry Craig gave a show and tell presentation of some astrovideo he has shot along with his idea and plans to use his LX200 to map out the stars on his home ceilings. His video of a 747 crossing the moon went over big. He explained how he took this image and figured out the distance away and the altitude of flight of this passenger plane. In addition he showed the club his collapsible and portable dome which was a big hit.
• PRESIDENT STEVE GREENE closed the meeting at 10:15 pm.

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New Members

The thing that makes the Warren Astronomical Society a great are its members. We are very happy to announce the following new members who joined during June of 1999. Please extend them a warm welcome.

• James Leinhos & Family, Troy

WAS Anniversaries for August

• 12 Years
  • Larry F. Kalinowski, Roseville
• 11 Years
  • Laszlo J. Kiss, Warren
• 5 Years
  • Raymond & Esther Travis, Beverly Hills,
• 2 Years
  • Louis Namee, St. Clair Shores
  • Scott E. Ferguson, Clinton Twp.
  • Walter Wawrzynski, Warren

(If you see any mistakes in these entries, please report them to Joe Van Poucker)

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This page was created by Jeff Bondono, and last changed on July 7, 1999.

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