Our first experiment with a virtual club meeting last Thursday evening was a tremendous success! We had 22 participants. We also had another excellent presentation from Russ Pinizzotto on “What to see in Ursa Major.” I think we were all enlightened to learn about so many additional, interesting objects there were to see in such an old familiar constellation that we thought we all knew. Russ identified major stars and some of their characteristics, including “Chalawan,” an Earth-like star between the rear feet of the Big Bear and the curious “Delaware Diamond,” an 11th mag official star of Delaware. Really?! He showcased the odd M40, a mere double star that appeared to enter Messier’s catalog because he needed something to fit into that slot, and the familiar M81 (Bodes’ Galaxy) and M82 (the Cigar Galaxy), M101 (the Pinwheel Galaxy), M109, a very obvious barred spiral, and M108 (the Surfboard Galaxy), an edge-on spiral. Russ reminded everyone that when we look toward the Big Dipper we were looking away from the center of the Milky Way where more galaxies would be visible. Other noteworthy objects included M97 (the Owl Nebula), a bright planetary, an interesting asterism, the “Broken Engagement Ring,” and Zwicky 18, an Irregular Dwarf Galaxy. Russ concluded with a discussion of the Hubble Deep Field, an image taken in Ursa Major that surprised the entire astronomical world because of the thousands of galaxies that populated an area of space that had previously been considered void of almost everything. This image and the approach used to get it has spawned several other similar endeavors in different parts of the sky, including the Hubble Ultra Deep Field N and S, and the Hubble eXtreme Deep Field.
Given this success we will hold our next regularly scheduled club meeting on Thursday, May 7th , as another virtual meeting, via Zoom. Invitations to join that meeting will be forthcoming. Our featured presenter will be Ara Jerahian, who has graced us with so many astonishingly beautiful images over the last year. His topic will be an Introduction to Astrophotography. Russ Pinizzotto will also take us deep into the constellation Hydra for interesting things to see. We would also welcome input in the form of short talks on notable names in astronomy or any other short topic presentations anyone would like to present. Please get back to me if you’d like to contribute something like that for the next meeting.
A silver lining of COVID 19 is that it forced us into this new technology and we are now only beginning to realize its potential to bring us speakers from away, and also allowing members to join our meetings virtually when circumstances prevent them from physically being present. We also see potential for more real-time interaction with other clubs around the state.
So please mark your calendars for Thursday, May 7 at 7 p.m. for our next ZOOM meeting.
Thanks, and stay well.
Rob Burgess
President, SMA
_________________________________________________________________________________
Southern Maine Astronomers
4 April 2019
Annual Meeting of
Membership
Rob Burgess called the meeting to order at 1930 hours. 18 members
and guests were present with sufficient members present to elect directors.
Preliminary remarks by Rob Burgess include upcoming events on the Spring-Summer
schedule.
Invited Lecture: Dwight Lanpher visited Ireland and
especially the “Leviathan of Parsonstown” built in 1845 by William Parsons, the
3rd Early of Birr on his estate Birr Castle. The 72 inch reflector was the worlds
largest telescope for seven decades until the100 inch Hooker telescope was
completed in 1917. Using extensive photographs, as well as information gathered
from interviews with curators at the site and references, Dwight described the
innovations required to create on site the telescope and to allow the 12 tone
instrument to function including the elevating gallery raising the observers
more than 40 feet. Parsons developed techniques for the fabrication, grinding,
and polishing speculum mirrors on site that enabled drawings of numerous
galaxies of which the most famous was the Whirlpool Galaxy shown on site along
with Hubble Space Telescope images of the same.
The telescope continued to the used after William Parson died in
in 1867 by the 4th Earl of Rosse until 1878. It was partially disassembled
after his death in 1908 and in 1914 one of the mirrors was transferred to
Science Museum in London where it remains on display along with its trolley.
The telescope fell into decline until restoration efforts were started under
the direction of retired structural engineer and astronomer Michael Tudbridy
whose efforts were made more challenging by absence of original designs
necessitating reliance of photographs taken by Mayr Rosse, the wife of the 3rd
Earl and primary source of funding for the original project.
Dwight’s expertise as an engineer and astronomer allowed those in
attendance to better understand the technical innovations, skills, and
workmanship to enable so large an instrument to be operated by five individuals
including the astronomer. The telescope still has its secrets and remains only
a tourist attraction with further deterioration over time in its current
unprotected state. The understanding of its operation was enhanced by
renderings made by Michael Tudbridy and computer aided designs by Dwight
Lanpher based on those drawings.
What’s Up in Leo?: Russ Pinizzotto provided the audience a
guided tour of the Constellation Leo beginning with locating the constellation
using the bowl of the Big Dipper as a guide to Alpha Leonis Regulus, the heart
of the lion. The constellation looks like a lion with famous guide posts such
as the backwards “question mark” and the lion’s nose or muzzle. Also shown were
faint Messier objects in form of M65 and M66 and NGC3628 (the Leo Triple) near
Chort and M95, M96, and M105 all described by Messier as “faint” and “very
faint” but shown nicely on images by HST, etc. Russ also showed his light
curves for the variable star located near Regulus that has presented a challenge
by this reporter to identify. As with the previous presentation on this night,
a lively discussion followed.
Annual Meeting to Elect Board of Directors: Rob Burgess
convened the annual meeting of the the membership with a review of the past
year including events and topics covered by speakers at monthly meetings. A
listing of these events with invited speakers and those by club members can be
found on the SMA website. A system of staggering expiration dates for directors
was described in which half of the board will be elected annually to provide
continuity.
A nominating committee had created a list of potential directors
to join the board but withdrawal of the sole nominee occurred. Volunteers were
sought from those in attendance but none were forthcoming. A motion was made
and seconded to return the existing
board for the terms of service in the coning year. This was approved by
vote of the attending members.
All business being completed, the meeting was adjourned at 2130
hours.
Respectfully submitted.
George Bokinsky
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