The Meteor Journal of the Escambia Amateur Astronomers Association - Escambia ...

The Meteor
    Journal of the Escambia Amateur Astronomers Association
VOLUME XXXIX                                Numbers 9-10                   September-October 2014
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President – Jon Ellard (251) 228-6042                          Vice President -- Ed Magowan – (850) 458-0577
Secretary – Richard Walker (850) 477-7136                             Treasurer Jim Larduskey (850) 434-3638
 Librarian: Jacque Falzone (850) 261-9745                   Education Chair – Dewey Barker (850) 458-1591
NWFAA Contact: Dennis Hausch (850)428-9467              Deep Sky Committee: Dave Haluposki (850) 678-4052
PSC Student Chapter officers for 2014: Dave Cochran—President 850-293-2021, Sara Ingersoll-Sec.-Treas.
Editor and ALCOR: Dr. J. Wayne Wooten,           Physical Sciences, Room 1751,       Pensacola State College,
Pensacola FL 32504-8998       Phone (850) 484-1152 (voicemail)        (E-mail) wwooten @ pensacolastate.edu
Please mail all dues to EAAA Treasurer, 4660 Shannon Circle, Pensacola, FL 32504

One Million Earths: Synopsis of Dr. Clay’s October 4th Presentation

         Imagine as you peer into the inky darkness of a moonless night, sitting in the moist grass of
nighttime on a world that the human race calls "home." As recently as 25 years in our past the human
race was fascinated with the onslaught of UFO's, yet content to believe that life on our Earth was,
somehow, unique. The star-filled sky seemed so vast, yet so empty. Were we alone on Earth throughout
the cosmos?
         Little did we know how our scientific, spiritual and sociological perspectives would rocket into
different directions with the discovery in 1997 of the "First Other World" orbiting another star outside our
solar system. Today, thousands of planets, or "Exoplanets" as they are termed, are known to orbit stars
throughout our own Milky Way Galaxy. Of those, more than 800 are deemed "earthlike" in that they
reside in the "Goldilocks Zone" - a distance from the parent star so far as to not annihilate life with the
star's energy, but close enough to release the life-forming sciences of geology, meteorology and biology.
         With this sudden realization, and nearly daily new discoveries, of so many worlds in our own
Milky Way galaxy, it begs the question: "Are there other Earths throughout space?" Our Milky Way
galaxy is comprised of perhaps 200 billion suns and scientists today believe that on average nearly every
star should have nearly two planets. That, considering that there are at least 200 million other galaxies
throughout the entire Universe, means that not only are there plenty of planets habiting in the "Goldilocks
Zone" - not too hot and not too cold - but the chances of planets having life are now considered probably
rather than possible. So what are the factors that could create such a planet away from our Mother Earth
that could actually eventually have human beings with logical thinking skills to even contemplate this?
         Join Dr. P. Clay Sherrod, of the Arkansas Sky Observatories, in his annual Science for the
People lecture series as he hosts "One Million Earths: The life-force between creation and evolution",
sponsored by Pensacola State College, Saturday, October 4, 2014 at 7 p.m. at Amos Auditorium on
campus. This audience-interactive and visually stimulating presentation will bring the audience up to date
on the divergence of the many sciences necessary to even consider planets capable of harboring and
supporting life. Virtually every scientific discipline - astronomy, biology, climatology, cosmology, geology,
meteorology, paleontology and physics - are required to come together in perfect concert to produce what
we have here on the only known life-bearing planet. Life is not a simple process. Life that can
"understand how it got here" is exponentially more difficult.
         For the first time since modern scientific thought, the concept of blending creation (that an
ultimate force was responsible for creating the Heavens) and evolution (that all biology has evolved from
simpler organisms to more complex and intelligent ones) is being accepted more and more as we search
for the answers as to the uniqueness of life. This marriage between creation and evolution is explored in
a captivating and non-threatening manner suggesting that both had to have taken place for our world to
be what it is today.
         Sherrod ("Dr. Clay") has been an astronomical researcher and consultant; environmental lobbyist
and consultant since 1971. Presently retired, research still continues at his Arkansas Sky Observatories,
Petit Jean Mountain, Arkansas.

The Meteor           Volume XXXIX              Numbers 9-10           Sept.-Oct. 2014           Page 2

          An educator and researcher in earth and physical sciences, astronomy and archeology,
he has devoted four decades to the advancement of public knowledge and appreciation of the pure and
applied sciences. Sherrod has published hundreds of papers and documents in scientific journals and
publications worldwide and numerous books in archeology, meteorology and climatology,
archeoastronomy, astronomy, and energy conservation ( http://www.arksky.org/pubs.htm ). Although now
retired, the work, publications and outreach from Sherrod and Arkansas Sky Observatories is now greater
than ever and ranks among the top in scientific studies by private non-profit smaller facilities.
                                                                                          --Dr. Clay Sherrod
Pavilion Gaze for August 1, 2014

        It was partly cloudy, but the forecast for Saturday was much worse, so quite a few of us got
together for our club picnic and Pavilion gaze on Friday evening. Tom Reiderer and I car pooled, and he
helped me a great deal in learning to use the iOptron mount with my new C-8 OTA (thanks for the great
deal, Jon Ellard!) and the Orion Eon 72. We even had a break in the clouds about 6:30 to spot a plume
shaped prominence with the Coronado 60. Clouds messed us up before we could photograph it,
however.
        Jon Ellard was already there with his fine new refractor, and others joining to assist the 150+
guests who dropped by included Dewey Barker, John Arnold, Trey and Regina Hall, Dave Cochran, Ron
and Rita Meyer, and Jacque Falzone. We observed the crescent moon as twilight fell. I especially liked
the dual mount of the new iOptron to compare the 30X moon with the Eon with the 300X closeup with the
C-8. With a little learning curve, the GPS of the iOptron worked great, and so did its object acquisition.
Very pleased, and looking for much better weather at Fort Pickens to try it out with our new Orion Deep
Sky color video camera! We also used the new Orion iPhone adapters to give many guests a chance to
shoot closeups of the moon as well.
        We were especially pleased to welcome to the EAAA our Canadian guests, Benoit Tourangeau
and his family. He was delighted to see southern skies, like the tail of Scorpius at last! WE also had fine
views of Saturn, with many scopes easily splitting the Cassini division. Clouds grew worse and Tom and I
packed it in about 9:30 PM.                                                                --Wayne Wooten

PS: Here are Ben’s observations of southern skies so far.
          The sky last night was quite nice. I did not even look for a real dark place. Just in a remote
corner of our resort using a small 8x50 finder scope, I found, M11, M16, M17, M20/M8 and M7 in a matter
of a few minutes. I just wish I had my 8 incher with me! It is quite nice to look at Sagitarius and Scopio
that high in the sky. If I recall, I think it was the second time I could see the whole Scorpion from the
claws, then Antares up to the tip of the tail. At home, the tip of the tail is always hidden by something.
          I just hope my daughters (5 & 7) will be strong enough to stay up long enough (Friday?) night.
 Those hours under the sun take their toll. At night, they can be little pest and need to go to bed. I will try
to rest them good.
          It was quite nice to meet with you and your group Friday night. I wish we could have stayed
longer but my daughters were getting quite tired and we had a long drive to do.
          I did not see enough of the very nice Florida sky. Like i said in my previous email, the sky I saw
Wednesday was just amazing. I did not have a real scope to explore it but the seeing, from what I could
tell, looked perfect. Last night, the moon at 300x on your C8 was quite something. And you did not even
try to push it further and I am sure there was room for more magnification! At home, with my Dobson 8
inches, I do not own eyepieces allowing me for more than 273x. There is no need. The seeing is never
good enough to allow it! And I am not talking about the extra 15 or 20 degrees you have to the south
compared to where I live which is needless to say, a great bonus!
          I was hoping to see Omega Centauri and the other jewels of the southern sky and did not. The
late delivery of my brand new grab & go telescope and the cloud cover last night did not allow for it. But
so what? I am young and I have plenty of time ahead of me.
          But Friday night, I saw stars that do not show in star atlas. Those stars are rare and I was not
expecting to see that many on a single night. And I am talking about the stars in your eyes and those of
your colleagues when talking about astronomy.

The Meteor           Volume XXXIX               Numbers 9-10            Sept.-Oct. 2014           Page 3

         You guys form a very nice group of people. You all have a passion for the great science that is
astronomy and you want to share it with layman people. I did enjoy the enthusiasm of your group. It is
special.
         I also have that same desire to share my passion. I have done my share of public outreaches
with my local astronomy club but my first public is obviously my two daughters. My oldest is a scientific
type. I spent many many nights outside with her telling her the stories of the constalations of the sky.
 Last night, minutes after after saying goodbye to you and your group, Juliette saw two lights infront of a
store, one yellow and one blue. She showed me and said only one word: "Alibiero?" That made me laugh
quite a bit. I then told her that I have to show her Almach in Andromeda who looks quite a bit like Albiero.
 She asked who was Andromeda? I told her it is a constalation for the princesse Andromeda near
Pegasus. She said the big W? No, Juliette, that is Cassiopea, the mother of Andromeda... You get the
idea. I share this passion with my daughter Juliette and that makes me happy like you can not believe.
 Quality time with my girls.

        Your offer for your nice little telescope is very generous. I have to say it would make both Juliette
and Léa quite happy. We already have a big scope home and will have a second one next Tuesday. But
those are equipment my daughters can not manipulate. The Dobson is just too big. But your telescope
on a nice little tripod would allow them to look at the moon by themselves. That will fill them with joy and
pride! After that, i am sure they will take pleasure looking and naming the 4 big moons of Jupiter or the
Pleiades.

PSS: We made it home. The journey back to Canada has been quite a bit more complex than it should
have been since we had some problems with our connecting flights. We ended up spending a whole day
in Atlanta which we found very nice.

       We truly enjoyed the time we spent in your company. It was nice meeting you and your group of
astronomers on Friday night at Pensacola beach as well as you and your colleagues at the College, on
Monday. Thanks again for the astro equipment. We will put it to good use!

          Once back home, I took delivery of the new SCT 6 inches, I wanted so much to bring along with
me in Florida. It arrived a day too late.       Having a full goto telescope will be a very nice addition. Star
hoping in heavy light pollution is quite difficult in some sections of the sky due to lack of bright stars. Also,
since I like to explore the sky with my daughters, they often show impatience If I do not locate the targets
immediately with the Dobson. All targets are not as easy as M57, M42, M45 and M35! The goto will fix
that. And when I will add a Mallincam, it will be an amazing set-up!

         But I now see the difference between a 8 inches f6 and a 6 inches f10. First, I see a less stars.
And second, the field of view is quite smaller. I knew all that before buying but it is never as clean as
when you test it yourself. I know it was a cruel test for the SCT but the double cluster show so much
better in the Dobson! But I would not be surprised if it was the other way around when we will look at
planets. We will see. I discovered a while ago that in astronomy, telescope, eyepieces, everything, is
always a question of compromise. I wanted a grab & go telescope to go along the Dobson and I have it.
I could have gone for a 8 inches SCT but it would have been more $, a bit more encumbrance, and my
Dobson would have most likely lost its purpose. Now, I have a reason to use the Dobson (extra aperture)
and other reasons for the SCT. Mid September we will go camping (in a big camper), upstate New York,
green zone. I will find room at the back of the car for the telescope. It will be the first real test for our new
toy!
         We hope that your favorite beverage tastes good in your new Disney mug. Hopefully, that will
remind you the two French Canadian girls that are quite thankful for what you did for them. And so are
the parents!                                                Thanks a lot! --Benoit Tourangeau LL.B., MBA

The Meteor          Volume XXXIX             Numbers 9-10           Sept.-Oct. 2014           Page 4
Pavilion Gaze for Saturday, August 2, 2014
         The weather was kind of iffy all day Saturday but I decided to head out to the beach just to see if
it would be worth setting up after I was contacted by Harold Breyde. I arrived around 7:00 PM and met up
with Harold and we were joined by Tom Reiderer and Rick Heddendorf while getting set up. Harold had
his 8" Dob and Rick had his 10", Tom had a 5" Refractor and I had my 4" Orion. The skies were a bit
clearer than Friday overhead, but there were a lot of clouds and haze to the south. I spent most of my
time on the Moon using the cell phone adapter to allow people to take shots or videos and I spent a little
time on Saturn for viewing. We had about the same size crowd as Friday, 125-150, maybe a little more. I
took some time to show the few constellations we could see with my laser and explained how viewing
stars was a form of time travel. Things seemed to make more sense to them when I used some of Dr
Clay's examples of relating distances to when events occurred on Earth. I also discussed some of the
information listed on the assortment of flyers I placed out.
         Tom, Harold, and Rick packed up about 10:30 or so, because the crowd thinned down as the
clouds got thicker and spoiled the views. It seemed too early to break down, so I spent a little time
relaxing in my chair listening to the waves and people in the distance. The clouds moved through fairly
quickly and I was back under clear skies within 15-20 minutes. I had about 20 more minutes of viewing
the Moon before it disappeared behind the building. I stayed on site for another hour and had about 10
people show up for the final views of the Moon, Saturn and M-6 or M-7. I believe we had a pretty good
night of viewing, despite the issues with clouds and everyone seemed to have an enjoyable experience.
                                                --Dewey J. Barker, EAAA Star Gaze & Events Coordinator

Fort Pickens Gaze on August 22nd

         We had our summer club picnic, round 2 (making some members even more round, alas) at
Battery Worth before the gaze. Thor Garber and I car pooled and brought pizza, but plenty of other finger
foods were consumed. We welcomed our special guest, Lauren Tjaden, and her husband Paul, who is
reporting on our gazes for the Beaches and Adventure Insider at VisitFlorida.com; many thanks to gaze
coordinator Dewey Barker for setting up the session with her. She met and interviewed many members
and students and other guests during the long, clear evening under the best Milky Way I have seen in
August since I left DeFuniak Springs!
         We had a great turnout from the membership, with Thor Garber, Bill Cristea, Dewey Barker,
Malone Calvert, David Cochran, Lyen McAbee, Ron Fairchild, Don Meyer, Trey and Regina Hall, Justin
Rogado, Mike Lewis, Ed Magowan, and Wayne Wooten attending and setting up scopes. Many
Pensacola State astronomy students attended, with Clifford Rainbolt, Elizabeth Watson, Paul Stearley,
Anthony Ickes, Scott Nguyen, Randall Johnson, Anthony Miller, Ken Davis (who built a Star Scout scope
and has now joined the club), Abigail Megginson, Ahsley Coberly, Alex Chatham, Emily Toole, Jake
Smith, and Jessica Marks all signing in with me. While I personally was frustrated by the iOptron’s failure
to align properly, the rest of you had a great time, as my students reported Monday. The Milky Way was
great, and everyone had a fine time, especially watching the nice ISS pass at 9 PM which reached
magnitude -2.5 before fading into our shadow.                           --Wayne Wooten, EAAA Sponsor

Note from Lauren Tjaden

         Thanks so much for the newsletter, the great pictures-- and an unforgettable experience.
I love that you all are not only passionate about astronomy but that you are passionate about sharing it.
What the club members are doing is remarkable. I cannot imagine a more effective way to get the masses
excited about science. Bravo! With huge thanks!                                      --Lauren Tjaden

VISIT FLORIDA Beaches and Adventure Insider ( 703-727-6661 ) has Lauren’s report on this at:

http://www.visitflorida.com/en-us/articles/2014/freelance/starstruck-pensacola-beach-escambia-

tjaden.html?CID=SM_Facebook_Insiders_BeachesAdventure

The Meteor             Volume XXXIX             Numbers 9-10          Sept.-Oct. 2014          Page 5
Pavilion Gaze for September 5th

           Indeed, it is a Harvest Moon, or as we used to say in Walton County, “Time to get your corn in the
crib”…..
          I lost the list of all the members, so my apologies if I missed you. We had a few clouds, but great
views of the waxing gibbous moon, Saturn, and brighter constellations. We had a lot of fun finding the
HST; it was turned away from us and invisible when it passed below Mars and Saturn at 8:23 PM, then
went into a cloud, but we did catch it coming out of the cloud overhead, and then reaching mag. +1 before
fading into our shadow just below the moon, right on schedule (well, my countdown was 6 seconds off,
anyway) at 8:27 PM.
          Many thanks to members Adam Licko, Thor Garber, Dave Cochran, Dewey Barker, John Arnold,
Lyen McAbee, Tom Reiderer, and Wayne Wooten for manning the scopes and pointing out
constellations. About twenty astronomy students joined us (sorry I lost your list, but Thor and I will take
your reports on the gaze and still give you bonus points!) and about 200 other guests dropping by to
observe with us; it was one of our best gazes in quite a while! I want to know the names of the two
students in the “Observing Moon” photo; think it is one of the best publicity shots for the club ever!
          We had two new loaner scopes from EduScience and Toys’RUs on display, both of which are
impressive values. The $25 50/360 refractor has fine optics, a surprisingly functional table top tripod, and
is very portable. Dave Cochran and I compared the Celestron Astromaster 70 AZ for $120 with the $90
EduScience 70/700. The Celestron has a longer 900mm focal length for better planetary imaging, but the
optics are very comparable, the EduScience 26mm and 9.7mm Plossl eyepieces are as good as Meade
or Celestron’s, which cost $25 each, and other than a little slop in the altitude slow motion with the
EduScience mount, the mounts are comparably useful. In fact, I liked the portability, stability, and light
weight of the EduScience mount so much I have now mounted my 80mm Messier refractor on it, and put
the 70/700 OTA on a Meade equatorial mount for better planetary observing with it. I converted the
114mm Meade Newtonian to a RFT for tripod mounting at 15X; the views of the Milky Way, even just
hand holding it, will be fantastic at Big Lagoon!
          Don’t forget Friday’s meeting at 7 PM in room 1775 at PSC. I will give a program on Rosetta’s
first findings at Comet C-G, and the approach of Comet Sidling Spring to Mars in October. Also, on
October 4th, Dr. Clay Sherrod will give his fall presentation in the Amos Studio of WSRE at 7 PM; more on
that in the new Meteor, now in preparation.                                                 --Wayne Wooten

Robert Burnham and Coin Collecting
          Enclosed are photographs of a coin used as an in illustration in BURNHAM'S CELESTIAL
HANDBOOK. The obverse shows Athena while the reverse shows her wise old owl with the crescent
moon shown over the owl's shoulder. This is said to be the phase of the moon when the battle of Salamis
resulted in the defeat of the Persians---who fielded such a large force, partially naval and partially an
army that it was said to drink rivers dry in passage. This was not only among the greatest upsets in
history---but, had the first mention in history of a woman commander, an Ionian island queen, Artemisia,
taking part in war---ramming and sinking a Persian naval ship.
          Bob Burnham collected ancient coins. If that was not so---I would not have gotten to know him
beyond a nodding acquaintance. He was an overgrown child---very shy about getting to know fellow
adults. But, I was hired as a masters student to give the public tours at Lowell Observatory and had a
desk in the office also shared by Norm Thomas and Bob Burnham who were the asteroid search
program. The one time I tried to engage Bob in conversation beyond just saying, "Hi!"---he acted hostile.
But, one day I was asking Norm about adding some ancient coin photos to my program, such as Mars
advancing in Roman armor, carrying a spear and shield, Neptune holding a dolphin, Janus, two faced,
etc., Bob came right across the room asking, "You collect ancient coins?" I got to know him after that and
could bring friends over to meet him to see his home museum---of which he was proud.
          Years later, Bob was laid off from Lowell Observatory and was crashing financially in slow motion.
I bought several of his coins---and told him that he could buy them back any time at the same price. The
rest of his coins went to professional dealers at about 25c on the dollar. Bob never was able to buy back
any of the coins. Here is the Athenian tetradrachm. Drachm is ancient/classical Greek. In modern Greek
it is drachma with ch pronounced as "k".                                    --Robert Blake, EAAA Founder

The Meteor           Volume XXXIX              Numbers 9-10           Sept.-Oct. 2014           Page 6
Starter Solar Binoculars at WalMart
          As we look ahead to two partial solar eclipses, the first on October 23, 2014, and the next the
astronomical event of many of our lives, the total solar eclipse on the afternoon of August 21, 2017, one
thing everyone will need is a safe way to observe the partial phases. WalMart has two nice Tasco binocs
in their sporting goods section, both easily adapted to safe sunspotting and eclipse viewing for under $10
with Draco Baader solar filters. Here is a review of them.
          The Tasco Essentials 10x25 roof prism binocs were just $10 at WalMart, but think they have
gone up to $13 now. I paid that for the rare yellow version shown here; most are black. If you want to
order from Amazon, I found black ones for just $7.50 from Adaroma. To put the new Draco solar filters
(made with 1.5” Baader filters, and Kodak 35mm film cannisters…very neat fit!), just take off the front lens
cover, and slip the film canister in place. These filters are $5 with $5 S&H for priority mailing; specify
filters for Tasco 10x25 binocs in the order. These are ideal of all use, as they fit nicely into your pocket or
purse, do surprisingly well as night binocs (will go down to 8th mag. under good skies) and at 10X can be
stably held by most folks; they have a 6 degree field of view. I have one pair of the yellow binocs, the
prototype, for sale for $15. Let me know you want them, and will bring them to next club gaze.
          For more power and aperture, consider the 16X32 Tasco Essentials for $20 at WalMart. I found
them on Amazon for about $22. I have adapted the 1” pair of Baader filters to custom fit over the front for
$5 + $5 S&H priority mailing. These do have a case, while the 10x25 ones don’t, and the complete filters
do fit in this case. Order the pair of filters for the 16X32 binocs and they will fit nicely in the case on the
binocs. I like the sun in these binocs; it is more detailed than with the 10X25 ones, but will warn that
some of us may have more trouble holding them steady for observing all objects; the extra aperture and
magnification do help with deep sky objects, but the field of view is only about 4 degrees, much less than
at 10X. Alas, they do not have a tripod mount; neither do the 10x25.                           --Wayne Wooten
Telescopes at Toys’RUs
          Since the Discover Center store in Cordova Mall closed, I had not thought much about local
sources of telescopes, mainly noting ones showing up around Christmas at Target, Sam’s Club, or
WalMart (all of which have improved greatly in the past years, with better mounts, 1.25” eyepiece, etc).
But since I don’t have little kids anymore, been a while since I shopped at ToysRUs, and I recently their
EduScience scope line proved to have very impressive values!
          For $25, the Land and Sky 360 is an impressive 50mm refractor on a very functional table-top
tripod. It comes with a star diagonal and 20mm and 12.5mm Huygens eyepieces for 18X and 29X; the
eyepieces were fair quality and parfocal, and a good choice for such a starter scope. It has no finder, but
I used the Daisy Electronic Point Sight off Amazon ($10) with a large clip to sight easily at 18X. I also
used a Draco Productions 1.5” Baader filter ($4 + $1 S&H) for great views of sunspots down to the size of
our moon. It is easy to use, transport, and with a terrestrial erector eyepiece, carry for birding and
backpacking. I have views of it used for solar observing, and a photo with the solar filter, my Olympus D-
595, a 26mm Plossl eyepiece, and a yellow filter showing sunspots attached; I just used the camera’s
auto exposure setting.
          For $90, the 70mm refractor is another impressive value. It has a 700mm focal length, and
excellent quality Plossl eypieces in 1.25” standard barrels and a 1.25” mirror star diagonal; to my delight,
the eyepieces are parfocal. With the 700mm focal length of the f/10 objective, they give 27X for the
26mm Plossl, and 72X for the 9.7mm Plossl. The latter nicely framed the gibbous moon last night, and
great detail with only a hint of chromatic aberration noted; the photo shows a slight blue fringe if you look
closely. I like the altitude and azimuth slow motions on the very light but sturdy tripod, the creative
eyepiece tray attachment, the easily aligned red dot finder (2 brightness settings, unlike my $10 Daisy
sight), and the nice pearly finish on the tube. This might be a good choice for our library loaner scopes in
the future. I will share both these scopes with students in our loaner scope program, and have them at
future stargazes for members to check out as well. I shot the moon through the same setup as the sun
shot with the 50mm refractor. I just installed a 2.5” Baader filter from Draco Productions ($8.50 + $1.50
S&H, access link at http://www.dracoproductions.net/Baader.htm ) Will try taking some higher resolution
solar shots when the clouds part.
          In my next installment, I plan to check out the 4.5” Newtonian reflector they sell for $130. Hope
these reviews will give you some good hints to pass along to kids in the neighborhood who want to get
started in astronomy.                                                                        --Wayne Wooten

The Meteor     Volume XXXIX       Numbers 9-10      Sept.-Oct. 2014    Page 7

                           EAAA Meeting Agenda
                      September 09, 2014 - Room 1775

TONIGHT'S PROGRAM: Dr. Wayne Wooten
- Summary: 1 - Mars vs. Comet Siding Springs: On October 19, 2014, Comet
Siding Spring is expected to pass extremely close to Mars, so close that the
coma may envelop Mars
                    2 - Rosetta Mission: Rosetta is a robotic space probe built
and launched by the European Space Agency to perform a detailed study of
comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.
                    3 - Dr. Wooten has several items for sale that can aid in
celestial observation. These will be photographed and included in a "For Sale"
area on the EAAA unofficial web site. Check and see if you can use any.

NEXT PROGRAMS:

October 4, 2014: Advertisements have been place in the Thrifty Nickel
announcing the Dr. P. Clay Sherrod talk on October 4, 2014 at 7:00pm in the
Jean and Paul Amos Auditorium. The 600 seat venue was confirmed by Dean
Douglas A Wymer. The EAAA may have a table in the lobby promoting
information for both the club as well as for the 2 eclipses this year.
The EAAA plans to meet at 5:30pm at the Golden Corral for our annual feast with
Dr. Sherrod.
Weather permitting, bring your scopes for a gaze immediately following Dr.
Sherrod's talk.

October 10, 2014:

OPEN MEETING: Ed Magowan - 07:30pm (following program)

Introduce Students and Guests
There were several students and guests (one becoming a new member) at the
meeting.

REPORTS
Awards (Wayne Wooten) - No awards presented this evening.

Amateur Astronomer Education Program and Levels: Dewey Barker briefly
covered the EAAA Education Program for the benefit of our new members and
guests. It was pointed out that everyone passing the Level I open book exam
would receive a green laser pointer.

The Meteor      Volume XXXIX       Numbers 9-10      Sept.-Oct. 2014     Page 8

Treasurer Report (Jim Larduskey)
Checking                  $506.78
Savings                    5,796.18
Cash                         443.55
Total                    $6,746.51

$295.00 was paid to the Astronomical League for our dues.

Shirts and Hats (Dave Halupowski)
Dave has hats (about $15) and all sizes of shirts (about $15) for sale. He is also
able to arrange to have personal items embroidered for a reasonable fee (about
$12).
International Dark Skies Report: There is a lot of Dark Skies activity taking place
today. Anyone wish to present a program on the latest activity?

OLD BUSINESS
Past Star Gazes - maintained on EAAA calendar at
http://www.gulfweb.net/rlwalker/astronomy/index.html
Star Gaze reports appear in the Meteor.
Dewey Barker briefed us on several of our most recent gazes. The reports on
these and other gazes will appear in the next Meteor.

Local Dark Skies Locations: If you use established or find new dark skies please
let the club know about them so we can compile a list with GPS coordinates,
aiding other members to find them.

NEW BUSINESS
Future Star Gazes - maintained on EAAA calendar at
http://www.gulfweb.net/rlwalker/astronomy/index.html
Clicking on any posted star gaze should bring up additional information about
that event (Point of contact, begin time, location including GPS coordinates)
The October 23, 2014 "partial" solar eclipse could be considered a dry run for the
"total" solar eclipse that will be occuring August 21, 2017.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1 - Still looking for suggestions about what to include in both the library
paperwork and in the paperwork to the patrons checking out the telescopes. I
sent an e-mail describing the EAAA telescope loaner program and got no reply.
My next contacts will be telephone followed by in-person.
ADJOURNMENT: Ed Magowan - 8:20pm                       ---Richard Walker, Secretary

The Meteor       Volume XXXIX        Numbers 9-10       Sept.-Oct. 2014      Page 9

Calendar of Events
Sept. 20     Big Lagoon Gaze at sunset, moon passes 5 degrees south of Jupiter in dawn
Sept. 22     Autumnal Equinox, fall begins at 9:29 PM CDT
Sept. 24     New Moon
Sept. 25     Rosh Hashanah, Jewish New Year 5775 AM
Sept. 28     Waxing Crescent moon passes north of Saturn, occultation in Japan
Sept. 29     Moon passes 5.6 degrees north of Mars
Oct. 1       First Quarter Moon
Oct. 3       Final Pavilion Gaze at Pensacola Beach for season, sunset until 11 PM
Oct. 4       PSC hosts Dr. Clay Sherrod’s Talk at 7 PM, Amos Auditorium at WSRE
Oct 8        Full Moon, total lunar eclipse from 5:30-6:22 AM, gaze at planetarium
Oct. 10      EAAA meets at 7 PM in room 1775, planning for the October 23rd eclipse
Oct. 11      Greater Good Music Festival, Wahoo Stadium, 10AM – 11 PM
Oct. 12      Greater Good Music Festival, Wahoo Stadium, 10 AM – 7 PM
Oct. 18      Open House at Roy Hyatt EC, 10 AM – 2 PM, 1300 Tobias Rd, Cantonment
Oct. 18      Final Big Lagoon Gaze of season, Moon 5 deg. S of Jupiter in morning sky
Oct. 19      Comet Siding Spring passes very close to Mars in SW evening sky
Oct. 21      Orionid meteor shower peaks in the dawn sky, no moon to interfere
Oct. 23      New Moon, Partial Solar Eclipse from 5:07 – 6:09 PM Sunset, 30% coverage
Oct. 25      Muslim New Year, 1436 A.H.
Oct. 28      Waxing crescent moon passes 6.5 degrees N of Mars in SW twilight
Oct. 31      Halloween, first quarter moon, host a stargaze for a kid’s treat tonight!
Nov. 2       Fall back to Central Standard Time
Nov. 6       Full Moon, the Frosty Moon
Nov. 13      Gulf Breeze ES, 5:30 – 7:30 PM, First Grade Reading Night
Nov. 14      Last Quarter Moon, EAAA meets at 7 PM in room 1775
             Moon passes 5 degrees south of Jupiter
Nov. 17      Peak for the Leonid meteor shower, no moon interference this year
Nov. 18      Myrtle Grove ES Gaze, 5;30 – 7:30 PM
Nov. 22      New Moon, Pace HS gaze, 7:30 – 9:30 PM
Nov. 26      Waxing crescent moon passes 6 degrees N of Mars
Nov. 29      First quarter moon
Dec. 6       Full Moon, the Long Night Moon
Dec. 12      EAAA Christmas Party, Food Drive for Manna, 7 PM, room 1775 PSC
Dec. 12      Waning gibbous moon passes 5 deg. S of Jupiter in late evening sky
Dec. 13      Peak for Geminid Meteors, possible Ft. Pickens campout for PSC clubs???
Dec. 14      Last Quarter Moon
Dec. 21      Winter Solstice is at 5:03 PM CST
Dec. 22      New Moon, peak for the Ursid meteor shower
Dec. 23      Waxing crescent moon passes 6 deg. North of Venus, now back in evening sky
Dec. 25      Merry Christmas, Moon passes 5 degrees North of Mars in twilight
Dec. 28      First Quarter Moon

Droughts, Floods and the Earth's Gravity, by the GRACE of NASA
                                              By Dr. Ethan Siegel

When you think about gravitation here on Earth, you very likely think about how constant it is, at 9.8 m/s2
(32 ft/s2). Only, that's not quite right. Depending on how thick the Earth's crust is, whether you're slightly
closer to or farther from the Earth's center, or what the density of the material beneath you is, you'll
experience slight variations in Earth's gravity as large as 0.2%, something you'd need to account for if you
were a pendulum-clock-maker.

But surprisingly, the amount of water content stored on land in the Earth actually changes the gravity field of
where you are by a significant, measurable amount. Over land, water is stored in lakes, rivers, aquifers, soil
moisture, snow and glaciers. Even a change of just a few centimeters in the water table of an area can be
clearly discerned by our best space-borne mission: NASA's twin Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment
(GRACE) satellites.

Since its 2002 launch, GRACE has seen the water-table-equivalent of the United States (and the rest of the
world) change significantly over that time. Groundwater supplies are vital for agriculture and provide half of
the world's drinking water. Yet GRACE has seen California's central valley and the southern high plains
rapidly deplete their groundwater reserves, endangering a significant portion of the nation's food supply.
Meanwhile, the upper Missouri River Basin—recently home to severe flooding—continues to see its water
table rise.

NASA's GRACE satellites are the only pieces of equipment currently capable of making these global,
precision measurements, providing our best knowledge for mitigating these terrestrial changes. Thanks to
GRACE, we've been able to quantify the water loss of the Colorado River Basin (65 cubic kilometers), add
months to the lead-time water managers have for flood prediction, and better predict the impacts of droughts
worldwide. As NASA scientist Matthew Rodell says, "[W]ithout GRACE we would have no routine, global
measurements of changes in groundwater availability. Other satellites can’t do it, and ground-based
monitoring is inadequate." Even though the GRACE satellites are nearing the end of their lives, the GRACE
Follow-On satellites will be launched in 2017, providing us with this valuable data far into the future.
Although the climate is surely changing, it's water availability, not sea level rise, that's the largest near-term
danger, and the most important aspect we can work to understand!

Learn more about NASA’s GRACE mission here: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/Grace/

Kids can learn al about launching objects into Earth’s orbit by shooting a (digital) cannonball on NASA’s
Space Place website. Check it out at: http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/how-orbits-work/

Image credit: NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen, using GRACE data provide courtesy of Jay
Famigleitti, University of California Irvine and Matthew Rodell, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
Caption by Holli Riebeek.

Twinkle, twinkle, variable star
                                               By Dr. Ethan Siegel

As bright and steady as they appear, the stars in our sky won't shine forever. The steady brilliance of these
sources of light is powered by a tumultuous interior, where nuclear processes fuse light elements and isotopes
into heavier ones. Because the heavier nuclei up to iron (Fe), have a greater binding energies-per-nucleon,
each reaction results in a slight reduction of the star's mass, converting it into energy via Einstein's famous
equation relating changes in mass and energy output, E = mc 2. Over timescales of tens of thousands of years,
that energy migrates to the star's photosphere, where it's emitted out into the universe as starlight.

There's only a finite amount of fuel in there, and when stars run out, the interior contracts and heats up,
often enabling heavier elements to burn at even higher temperatures, and causing sun-like stars to grow into
red giants. Even though the cores of both hydrogen-burning and helium-burning stars have consistent, steady
energy outputs, our sun's overall brightness varies by just ~0.1%, while red giants can have their brightness’s
vary by factors of thousands or more over the course of a single year! In fact, the first periodic or pulsating
variable star ever discovered—Mira (omicron Ceti)—behaves exactly in this way.

There are many types of variable stars, including Cepheids, RR Lyrae, cataclysmic variables and more, but
it's the Mira-type variables that give us a glimpse into our Sun's likely future. In general, the cores of stars
burn through their fuel in a very consistent fashion, but in the case of pulsating variable stars the outer layers
of stellar atmospheres vary. Initially heating up and expanding, they overshoot equilibrium, reach a
maximum size, cool, then often forming neutral molecules that behave as light-blocking dust, with the dust
then falling back to the star, ionizing and starting the whole process over again. This temporarily neutral dust
absorbs the visible light from the star and re-emits it, but as infrared radiation, which is invisible to our eyes.
In the case of Mira (and many red giants), it's Titanium Monoxide (TiO) that causes it to dim so severely,
from a maximum magnitude of +2 or +3 (clearly visible to the naked eye) to a minimum of +9 or +10,
requiring a telescope (and an experienced observer) to find!

Visible in the constellation of Cetus during the fall-and-winter from the Northern Hemisphere, Mira is
presently at magnitude +7 and headed towards its minimum, but will reach its maximum brightness again in
May of next year and every 332 days thereafter. Shockingly, Mira contains a huge, 13 light-year-long tail --
visible only in the UV -- that it leaves as it rockets through the interstellar medium at 130 km/sec! Look for it
in your skies all winter long, and contribute your results to the AAVSO (American Association of Variable
Star Observers) International Database to help study its long-term behavior!

Check out some cool images and simulated animations of Mira here:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/galex/20070815/v.html

Kids can learn all about Mira at NASA’s Space Place: http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/mira/en/

Images credit: NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) spacecraft, of Mira and its tail in UV light (top);
Margarita Karovska (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA) / NASA's Hubble Space Telescope image of Mira, with the
distortions revealing the presence of a binary companion (lower left); public domain image of Orion, the Pleiades
and Mira (near maximum brightness) by Brocken Inaglory of Wikimedia Commons under CC-BY-SA-3.0 (lower
right).

One Million Earths: The life-force between creation and evolution

Imagine as you peer into the inky darkness of a moonless night, sitting in the moist grass of
nighttime on a world that the human race calls "home." As recently as 25 years in our past the
human race was fascinated with the onslaught of UFO's, yet content to believe that life on our
Earth was, somehow, unique. The star-filled sky seemed so vast, yet so empty. Were we alone on
Earth throughout the cosmos? Today, thousands of planets, or "Exoplanets" as they are termed,
are known to orbit stars throughout our own Milky Way Galaxy. Of those, more than 800 are
deemed "earthlike" in that they reside in the "Goldilocks Zone" - a distance from the parent star
so far as to not annihilate life with the star's energy, but close enough to release the life-forming
sciences of geology, meteorology and biology.

With this sudden realization, and nearly daily new discoveries, of so many worlds in our own
Milky Way galaxy, it begs the question: "Are there other Earths throughout space?" Our Milky
Way galaxy is comprised of perhaps 200 billion suns and scientists today believe that on average
nearly every star should have nearly two planets. That, considering that there are at least 200
million other galaxies throughout the entire Universe, means that not only are there plenty of
planets habiting in the "Goldilocks Zone" - not too hot and not too cold - but the chances of
planets having life are now considered probably rather than possible.

So what are the factors that could create such a planet away from our Mother Earth that could
actually eventually have human beings with logical thinking skills to even contemplate this? Join
Dr. P. Clay Sherrod, of the Arkansas Sky Observatories, in his annual Science for the People
lecture series as he hosts "One Million Earths: The life-force between creation and evolution",
sponsored by Pensacola State College, Saturday, October 4, 2014 at 7 p.m. at Amos Auditorium
on campus. This audience-interactive and visually stimulating presentation will bring the
audience up to date on the divergence of the many sciences necessary to even consider planets
capable of harboring and supporting life. Virtually every scientific discipline - astronomy,
biology, climatology, cosmology, geology, meteorology, paleontology and physics - are required
to come together in perfect concert to produce what we have here on the only known life-bearing
planet. Life is not a simple process. Life that can "understand how it got here" is exponentially
more difficult. Come and ponder this question with the members of the EAAA.

The Meteor
    Journal of the Escambia Amateur Astronomers Association
VOLUME XXXIX                              Numbers 11-12                 November-December 2014
*********************************************************************************************
President – Ed Magowan – (850) 458-0577                           Vice-President: Tom Reiderer (920)540-8337
Secretary – Richard Walker (850) 477-7136                             Treasurer Jim Larduskey (850) 434-3638
 Librarian: Jacque Falzone (850) 261-9745                   Education Chair – Dewey Barker (850) 458-1591
NWFAA Contact: Dennis Hausch (850)428-9467              Deep Sky Committee: Dave Haluposki (850) 678-4052
PSC Student Chapter officers for 2014-15:                            President: Dave Cochrant (850) 293-2021
Vice President: Adam Licko (850) 313-9347                  Secretary-Treasurer: Amy Stewart (410) 629-9588
Editor and ALCOR: Dr. J. Wayne Wooten, Physical Sciences Department, Room 1751, Pensacola State College
Pensacola, FL 32504-8998      Phone (850) 484-1152 (voicemail)         (E-mail) wwooten @ pensacolastate.edu
Please mail all dues to EAAA Treasurer, 4660 Shannon Circle, Pensacola, FL 32504

The EAAA as a Service Organization
        Our student chapter is reminded of our need to report our students’ service hours for the
college community participation. Edith Finley writes “Please remind your students to input their
volunteer hours into NobleHour. This is the only way that your students and your
club/organization will receive credit for any community service project that you participated in as
a club/organization or individually. With limited funds, NobleHour participation will be one of the
items that funding for 2014/15 will be based on.” We will be able to log our previous hours with
NobelHour coordinator, Matt Listau, for the student club members. He will be addressing our
student chapter members before the January 2nd club meeting.
        I checked, and our participation in the Manna Food Drive on December 12th, and WSRE
fund raising on December 3rd all qualify, as well as previous student support of the gazes this
fall at Fort Pickens, the Pavilion, and Big Lagoon, and numerous school gazes and the two
eclipse watches. I will have a log for members to report these service hours to Matt for
Noblehour credit on Thursday.
        All this made me think more about the many people who have served the EAAA and the
astronomical community. Our participation with Manna Food Bank actually goes back to the
presidency of Merry Edenton-Wooten in the mid 1980’s. Manna was just getting organized, and
Frank and Norma Johnson of Trinity Presbyterian were leaders of the effort. Merry advocated
the EAAA make annual Christmas food and fund raising for Manna as our public service project,
and for many years, we kept this tradition. She suggested in 2011 that we revive it, and with
help from many club members, it has again been a great success. Now the need for our
support is even greater than ever, with Manna losing its headquarters to flooding, and trying to
move into new facilities to continue their great work for families in need". So bring canned and
dry goods to the December 12th meeting at 7 PM in room 1775 for our annual Christmas party.
They also take personal hygiene items, diapers, diaper rash cream, toothbrushes and
toothpaste, pads for men and women for periods or leakage, soap and deodorants and those
need to be mentioned, because diapers and diaper cream, and deodorant and tooth brushes
and pastes and other items are the kinds of items that people don't think to bring..they bring
cans or boxes of cereal. When your baby has diaper rash, you can rinse it with water a lot, but
have nothing to protect it to help the irritation heal. [You have to think outside of the box and
think of what you would need if you were homeless or living in a dumpy small apartment that
had rent high enough that you barely had any cash left over for groceries and personal hygiene
items-or worse yet, some campground where you can only sort through the garbage cans for
food scraps].

The Meteor         Volume XXXIX            Numbers 11-12          Nov.-Dec. 2014         Page 2

        Likewise our work with WSRE dates back to Merry’s presidency, as we have over the
years supported our local PSB station and its fine science programming such as Nova with our
time on the phones, and our financial backing as well. It will be good to continue this tradition
on Wednesday, December 3rd at 6 PM at the WSRE studio; we now have enough members to
man the phones, but we need all of you to watch and call in your own pledges for PBS and its
science programming Wednesday evening.
        Our local club is the oldest in the area, and helped establish clubs in South Alabama and
Northwest Florida. We pioneered the participation with the National Park Service in 1976 for the
Bicentiennial, and have hosted over 30,000 guests at Fort Pickens over the years. We also
work with the Santa Rosa Island Authority for the Pavilion Gazes, and the state parks at Big
Lagoon. Many kudos to Dewey Barker, our observing chair, for his fine coordination of these
and also many school and scout gazes. Also Tom and Kimi Dragon coordinated our work with
the Girl Scouts, with many great observing sessions to inspire youth interest in sciences. Many
of our members qualified as Astronomy Merit Badge Counselors, and we have worked with
many local troops on this and the space exploration badge as well. I remember especially
Merry’s work as a Boy Scout Commissioner in hosting a wonderful Camporee devoted to these
badges at Blue Angel Rec Area, with over a dozen local troops building and launching rockets,
then chasing them down as they parachuted back to earth! We had over a dozen EAAA
members helping with the solar observing, rocket launches, space exploration MB talks, and of
course the gaze and astronomy MB work in the evening.
        On a national level, members of the EAAA have greatly supported the Astronomical
League. Merry Edenton Wooten was editor of the regional newsletter, New Horizons, from
1984-86, after serving as the convention chairman for the SERAL convention at UWF in 1984.
This convention was a great success, with emphasis on family involvement in amateur
astronomy; many of her ideas became adopted at later ALCONs. She was elected Executive
Secretary of the Astronomical League in 1986, and served two terms until 1992. In her six
years, she brought the AL into the digital era by computerizing the AL Reflector mailing list. She
also started the annual national competition to honor young astronomers for their research, now
known as the Horkheimer Award. She began the development of our own EAAA Educational
Program, and helped expand it far beyond the existing Messier Award into the many observing
programs we see in the Reflector now. She worked with the AL Trust Fund to help establish
programs, insurance, and support for new clubs, and left the League much stronger in 1992
than when she took office in 1986 . She received the Astronomical League’s Wright Service
Award for her work in 1989. More recently, our past president, Jon Ellard, has now been
elected the new Chairman of the South East Regional of the Astronomical League.
                                                           --Wayne Wooten, Sponsor of the EAAA
Final Pavilion Gazes of 2014
        Thor Garber and I got to the beach about 6 :30 PM to watch a magnificent sunset. But
the expected clearing that Clear Sky Clock predicted about 7 PM was several hours late, and
we got only occasional breaks in the clouds to glimpse the moon. A few breaks about 7:37 PM
did allow me to spot the ISS moving up the southern sky, and think everyone there got to spot it
before it vanished into our shadow below the moon. Dr. Clay Sherrod joined us for a while, and
it was good to see Gary Wiseman with his new scope out, as well as Tom Reiderer, Dewey
Barker, Dave Cochran, and Lyen McAbee. Thor and I called it a night about 9 PM, but think it
did clear up later, if anyone has more to add. Believe Dewey and Lyen also went back out
Saturday as well.
                                                                                  --Wayne Wooten

The Meteor      Volume XXXIX               Numbers 11-12           Nov.-Dec. 2014         Page 3
Big Lagoon Gaze on September 20th

       Last night was so good (Dewey and I stayed until 1), I hit Big Lagoon again tonight.
What a change......light breeze off the Gulf, humid humid humid. Transparency slowly dropping
and mosquitos moving in. Coyote making a racket in the swamp. My autoguider cable seems to
be damaged, 6P6C, one of the pins looks corroded, I'll crimp a new one on tomorrow. Looks like
a crimp tool and spare plugs should be added to the list of "astrostuff to keep in the car.". Would
have been REAL frustrating at Hurricane Lake or Munson. Only way I can run PHD with the Q-
guider is with my old Vista laptop. Won't run on Win8.1 or Ubuntu/Wine - neither can find the
camera. PHD starts up with Wine but won't connect the guider. Might work with ASCOM and a
webcam though. Sounds like a good cloudy night project. On the plus side, the CG5 had NO
problem with the C8, camera, piggybacked 4 inch refractor and 22 lbs of counterweights, though
it helped to be meticulous with balancing. I have Bill Martinec's HaRGB images from
iTelescope's 27.5 inch Dall-Kirkham to play with in PixInsight.....should keep me busy for a while
and provide consolation for tonight's issues. He got some amazing detail on M16.
                                                                   --Ed Magoawn, EAAA President

Reviews of 10x40 Binocs and Nova 500 Reflector at Toys’RUs

         Again, Toys’RUs offered fine values for beginning astronomers. First, their 10x40 roof
prism binocs. They are compact, have a carrying case, but like the WalMart Tasco smaller
binocs, alas no camera tripod adapter hole. But with 40mm objectives, they are certainly better
night glasses, and at 10X yet still light and comfortable to hold, suitable for older observers and
well as younger kids. I compared them with 7x50 Bushnell and 9x63 AstroAlaska binocs over
the weekend, on a variety of deep sky objects, including the Pleaides, Orion Nebula, M-13 in
Hercules, and of course the Andromeda Galaxy. Certainly held their own against the bigger,
more expensive competition in terms of both sharpness and light grasp unless less than perfect
skies in my front yard in Scenic Heights. Even the 6 degree field of view was just a little less
than the 7 degrees the larger glasses offered. And only $25; perhaps a better value that the
WalMart 16x32 binocs in my last review. I fitted them up with Draco’s 1” Baader solar filters for
$5 for nice solar viewing and will be fine for the partial solar eclipse starting about 5 PM on the
afternoon of October 23rd locally. Should also give nice views of the total lunar eclipse during
totality about 5:30 AM on the morning of October 8, 2014.
            But the best value yet was their Nova 500 4.25” reflector for $130. This fast system is
f/4, but has a well figured mirror for a good image. The front of the tube beyond the focuser is
longer than needed, but that may help with reduced glare in urban settings as well. As with the
earlier review of the 70/700 refractor, the (19X) 26mm and (52X) 9.7mm Plossl eyepieces are a
great value and perform better than expected; the barrels and focuser are all 1.25”. The tripod
is similar to the smaller refractor, but the slow motions are much more precise and sturdy here,
so much so I can use the saddle type scope mount easily with the Eon 72 refractor as well.
Considering the whole package is a modest $130, to me it seems the fine mount and two
eyepieces are worth that much. You could easily buy the scope, use the mount for a more
expensive smaller refractor or reflector, and hold the low power 19X 26mm Plossl to sweep the
Milky Way while cradling the unmounted OTA in your arms like a baby. Again, results on the
deep sky objects were impressive, and this scope will give many hours or enjoyment. Rather
than the more expensive Orion 4.25” reflectors, perhaps these might be good choices for our
new library loaner scopes. We should probably equip them with 2.5” Baader solar filters for
$10; got excellent eclipse photos with this rig on October 23rd, as shown with the solar image
with my 26mm Plossl, Olympus D595, Baader filter, and automatic setting.           --Wayne Wooten

The Meteor          Volume XXXIX            Numbers 11-12           Nov.-Dec. 2014          Page 4

Total Lunar Eclipse October 8, 2014 from Navarre
         This morning I was in Navarre Beach, Florida and had an excellent opportunity to view
the total lunar eclipse that was happening in the early hours of October 8, 2014. I was on the
14th floor of the condominiums where I was staying with my family and had an unbelievable
vantage point. That wasn’t the best part of it. There was something extra I was hoping to see.
          According to an article I read by CBS News, I might be able to see the total eclipse of
the moon and the rising of the sun simultaneously. The name for this is called a “selenelion.”
According to celestial geometry, a selenelion cannot happen because the moon and the sun
during a lunar eclipse are exactly 180 degrees apart. This perfect alignment is called a syzygy.
However, because the Earth’s atmosphere, both the sun’s and the moon’s images are lifted
above the horizon by atmospheric refraction. This allowed me to see what I believed to be
sunrise and the moon in the last minutes of the total lunar eclipse.
     So my adventure began this morning when I set my alarm clock for 4am. I was on the 14th
floor balcony seated towards the west. The partial eclipse began around 4:16am. That was
when I first started to take my photos. I do not own an expensive camera with a super magnified
lens. After viewing this eclipse I wish I did. I used my iPhone camera. I noticed the shadow of
the Earth coming in from the top right side. Again let me state my camera did not do the event
justice.
     About 5:26am the total eclipse began. The mood was a shade of red and almost did not look
real. I saw on the local news channel a magnified view of the moon as well as neighbors coming
out to stand on their balconies as well for short periods of time. I snapped away and did the best
I could. I noticed with my pictures I could see the craters on the moon that I could not see before
the total lunar eclipse. At this time I looked south and witnessed a magnificently, bright Jupiter in
the sky over the Gulf of Mexico.
     Close to 6am I witnessed what I had learned later to be the maximum eclipse. By this time I
had invested two hours into this study. My wife came out to see what I was doing and if I had
any success. I showed her the lunar eclipse and mentioned to her about the selenelion. She did
not share my enthusiasm. I looked over the railing and back to the east I could make out the
contrast of clouds against the sky. Dawn was soon approaching. I took my camera phone out
and started to snap away. First to the east and then to the west. I repeated this procedure about
three more times. In the last two picture frames I was able to catch the light on the gulf and the
last part of the lunar eclipse at 6:22am.
         This was a great experience not only as a chance to learn about Astronomy, but also as
a personal achievement. I am sure that once or twice in my life I have looked up in the sky at
the moon and have thought to myself the moon sure looks different tonight. This time I knew
what I was waiting for and why the moon looked like it did. I may be a little over the top (and a
little novice) thinking I saw the selenelion as reported by Joe Rao, but it sure does add for a
better story. I really enjoyed this opportunity as well as the chance to experience this with my
family.                                                        -- RODP student Scott Blankenship
Lunar Eclipse in Tennessee

        I am almost sure I would need to invest in a USB Reader/Writer to get any pictures to
you (anyway my camera phone did not have a zoom function, so the pictures are not very
revealing anyway). For possible midterm bonus points, I'd like to report on what I saw at least: I
began observing the eclipse around 4:30 a.m. CDT, right after the Moon began entering the
inner, umbral shadow of the Earth. As I live in a condo complex, I walked about a quarter mile to
get an unobscured view of the event in a nearby lot that had been cleared of trees in
anticipation of home construction.