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Auburn Astronomical Society E-Newsletter December, 2004 In this Issue
This month’s meeting will be on Friday, December 3, at 8:00PM in room 215 of the Aerospace Engineering Building. Riders from the Montgomery area are welcome to meet at the home of Russell Whigham, 518 Seminole Dr., and carpool over to Auburn. Plan to be ready to leave for Auburn at 7:00PM. Our star party this month will be the following
weekend, Friday/Saturday, December 10/11, at Cliff
Hill’s farm. We’ve had good success at scheduling our star parties
on either/or Friday / Saturday evenings. Keep an eye on the weather
and pick the best night. All things being
Mary Olive Thomas
Demonstration Forest Star Gaze
Yes, the stargaze happened (or at least something did). It was a lovely drizzly, foggy night, but Greg Glasscock, Allen Screws and I unloaded our stuff under the pavilion and set up for a show-and-tell. Greg and Allen did a great job under trying circumstances. As expected, there weren't many folks there (but there were some, especially kids). Margaret provided hot cider and other goodies. We were there almost two hours. Hopefully we can try again next year and hope for better weather. Club subscriptions to SKY & Telescope and to ASTRONOMY magazine have been sent in. Any member still wanting to get a club subscription to either of the above can still do so by sending me an e-mail or letter. Club discount subscriptions to SKY & Telescope for $ 32.95 (Regular price $42.95) and/or ASTRONOMY magazine for $29.00 (Regular price 42.95). If you cannot be at our next meeting to pay for their subscription(s) please send me an e-mail (and pay later) or letter (with check) telling me you want to be included. Checks must be made out to “Auburn Astronomical Society” - not to me. E-mail: jbzachry@mindspring.com Address: Auburn Astronomical Society
Thanks Memberships for 2004 expire this month.
If you haven’t already renewed, you’ll need to
From: Scott Thompson:
From: John Zachry
Mack Acheson called to say that he and his family will be leaving the area soon pending orders from the U.S. Navy. Few AAS members have displayed the contagious energy and genuine enthusiasm as Mack. I’m sure he’ll take that with him where ever he goes. It’s been a pleasure, Mack. Good luck! Charles (Chuck) Lewis
Telescope: Meade 10" LX200 GPS SCT AAS: Are you a seasoned amateur astronomer or just getting into the hobby? CL: I wouldn't say "seasoned". I've had a little experience with my 6" reflector but haven't played with it for quite a while. AAS: What was your first experience that attracted you to astronomy? CL: I became interested in the comet Kohoutek, back in the 70's. Never did see it through my telescope but did get a view of it from an airplane. The real hook, though, was seeing Saturn the first time. AAS: Tell us a little about your family members; spouse? kids? siblings? significant other? CL: I met my wife Bette in 1963 in Selma while stationed at Craig AFB for pilot training. We have been married for 41+ years and have three sons—Thomas, Bill and Stephen. Thomas and Stephen are married, and Bill has a "significant other." Thomas works in film and video production in Los Angeles. Bill teaches art in a public school near Boise, ID. Stephen raises fish—tililpia—on our farm near Lowndesboro. We have three grandchildren. Thomas and his wife Liz have a ten year old daughter. Our youngest son Stephen, an AU graduate in fisheries, and his wife Jo—also an AU grad—have a three year old daughter and a 17-month old son. AAS: Can you tell us a little about your formal education? CL: I was graduated in 1963 from Grove City College in Penn. with a BS in mechanical engineering. AAS: Do you have any pets? What kind?; How Many? CL: Yes, we have a 3 1/2 year old black Lab named Tallapoosa, Tally for short. AAS: Where do you work? If you're retired, what was your occupation?; If you're still in school, have you chosen a career? CL: After college I entered the Air Force, where I spent four years after completing Pilot training at Craig AFB in Selma. From there I went to work for United Airlines and was employed as a pilot just shy of thirty years. AAS: Besides astronomy, what other hobbies do you enjoy? CL: Stamp collecting, woodworking, magic AAS: What was your first or favorite car? CL: My first car was a 1962 Dodge Lancer. Pretty nerdy, huh? The closest I came to owning my dream car, an early Corvette, was my 1996 Chevy Super Sport with a 'vette engine. AAS: What was your first or most interesting job? CL: My first real job was the Air Force, although I had many summer jobs while going to school. AAS: Tell us about your favorite vacation. CL: Our best vacation was an all-expense-paid tennis vacation to Amelia Island, Florida, back in the 70's AAS: Have you ever lived in some other part of the U.S. or another country? Where?; When? CL: I have lived in N.J., Ohio, Ill., Calif., and Mich. All this moving around was due to the Air Force and being employed by United Airlines. The Chiefland Star Party is held each November at the Chiefland Astronomy Village in, you guessed it, Chiefland (Florida, that is). More information about the Village is available at http://www.chiefland.org. This year two of our club’s members attended: Ray Kunert and yours truly. The star party is normally a week long event; Ray went down on Saturday and I on Sunday. There were supposedly 300+ people registered but while I was there, I don’t think the actual count made it that high. Last year’s event was bigger. However, I left on Thursday morning which is when many people start showing up, although the weather forecast for the remainder of the week indicated cloudy conditions. According to Ray, Saturday night had excellent skies. Of the nights I was there, only one was marginal with clouds ended the observing early. So I had three and a half excellent observing opportunities. One night, I forget which, we had a beautiful auroral display. There were at times 3 or 4 columns of bright light shimmering with a pinkish hue. The first night I mostly looked at “eye candy” objects, but later searched for some things I’d never seen. I got to try out a Paracorr with my dob as well as some nice big Nagler eyepieces and a Sky Commander DSC, all of which I am now lusting after. Are you reading this, Santa!! I also made a few friends, one of whom had a NICE 24” Starmaster dob with go-to. Views through it of some planetary nebulae were awe-inspiring. Chiefland is a great venue for star parties.
I addition to all the nice people and hundreds of scopes to look at, there
were two vendors there that went home with some of mine and Ray’s money.
Hey, Ray, did you ever tell your wife about the two Naglers you brought
home. Ray and I also partook of the opportunity to visit nearby Cedar
Key one day to eat some fine seafood at Frog’s. Oh yeah, thanks,
Ray for putting up with me in your very nice RV; now that’s the way to
camp. All in all we had a great time at Chiefland, but don’t take
my word for it, go experience it for yourself.
Hoping to see everyone at the meeting, Russell
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