AAS membership dues for 2005 expired
at the end of December. Annual dues for 2006 are $20.00 for
regular membership, and $10.00 for full-time students. Advantages
of membership in the Auburn Astronomical Society include:
• Access to others who share your interest in
astronomy.
• Access to a wide variety of telescopes.
• Access to experienced amateurs who are eager
to share their skills and expertise.
• Discount subscription rates for Astronomy and
Sky & Telescope magazines.
• Access to a safe dark-sky
location for observing.
• Access to the society's extensive video
tape and DVD library.
• Access to the society's 8-inch
"loaner" telescope and Hydrogen-alpha solar scope.
• Because the Auburn Astronomical Society is
affiliated with the Astronomical League
, members are entitled to enjoy all of the benefits afforded to League
members, including quarterly issues of The Reflector.
• Newsletters with news of upcoming events. E-mail
reminders of scheduled events and special notices of late-breaking astro-news.
Make your check payable to Auburn Astronomical
Society. If you can’t attend the January meeting, send your check
to:
Auburn Astronomical Society
c/o John B. Zachry, treasurer
501 Summerfield Road
West Point, GA 31833
Make sure John has your current mailing address
so that you’ll continue to receive The Reflector. If you have
questions about your membership status, e-mail John at: treasurer@auburnastro.org
Treasure’s
Report
As of January 4, 2006, our checking account balance
is $239.05.
Member News
From: Gail Smitherman
Just a shout out from Selma.!! Hope you
have a great Christmas. I'm getting a few telescope items:
new lens (13mm) correct image diagonal and collimator for my 10"
reflector.
Hope Santa brings you something!!!!!
From: Scott Thompson
Subject: Your Canon 10D Wins Photo Contest with
Pictures
Russell,
I entered some pictures in the Alabama Outdoors
contest and won. All the pictures were taken with your camera!
I won 4 times with 2 first place and 2 third
place out of 900 submitted pictures.
Scott
Thank you for entering the 2006 Outdoor Alabama
Photo Contest. We receive d more than 900 photos from 112 entrants. I'm
pleased to let you know that one or more of you photos placed in the contest.
The photos will be published in the February
2006 issue of Outdoor Alabama and will also be online at www.outdooralabama.com
in the Photo Gallery after the magazine has been printed. One of the first
place photos will be featured on the cover, but this will not be revealed
until February.
Please look over the listing for your photo(s)
and make sure we have correct information as to the subject of your photo,
where it was taken, your name and city and your type of camera. If any
of this information is incorrect or missing, please let me know as soon
as possible.
Again, thank you for taking the time to enter
the contest. Please feel free to call or email me if you have any questions.
Flora
First Place
Pitcher Plants, Bon Secour National Wildlife
Refuge
Scott Thompson, Alexander City
Canon 10D
Third Place
Stream, Near DeSoto State Park and Little River
Canyon
Scott Thompson, Alexander City
Canon 10D
Nature-Based Recreation
First Place
Fishing in Early Morning, Lake Martin
Scott Thompson, Alexander City
Canon 10D
Third Place
Fall Fishing, Lake Martin
Scott Thompson, Alexander City
Canon 10D
[Editors Note: Over the holidays, I spent
a couple of hours looking at Scott’s amazing photography and art.
His winning images will not be online until next month. While you’re
waiting, have a look at Scott’s Website: http://www.walkerferryobservatory.us
. After you drool, slack-jawed, at his astro-images, go over to his
“Miscellaneous Photography” link, and see the beauty of planet Earth
captured by Scott. As you may have read in Scott’s message to me,
his winning images, as well as most on his Web pages were taken with the
Canon 10D that I bought from him last spring. It turns out that you
actually have to go out and take these pictures yourself and are not included
with the camera. ;-) Scott has set the bar awfully high
for the rest of us. Also, attached with your e-mail, see Scott’s
Under the Stars columns for December and January, published in Lake Martin
Living magazine. RDW]
Rhon’s “Last
Stand” Observatory: Part 1
Back
in May 2005, after I hurt my back at a star party here in Auburn, I decided
it was time to part with the 18” StarMaster Dob. I hated to do it,
but the telescope found a good home with fellow AAS member William Baugh.
I was then left with the burning question of what to replace it with.
I decided on a new telescope being introduced by Celestron … an 11” CPC
Schmidt-Cassegrain. The CPC is the scope Celestron is introducing
to replace the NexStar series, which is being phased out after Celestron
lost a patent infringement lawsuit to Meade over the automatic alignment
algorithm. The casual reader might think that I’d simply traded one
way to hurt myself with an even better way. As time wore on it became
clear to me that my back problem wasn’t going to go away quickly, so I
needed a permanent place for the scope. Even though the local skies
here have deteriorated over the years, I still have a pretty good location,
as our home is on a small lake with a very good view of the Eastern and
Southern skies.
About
four years ago, I built a fairly substantial observing platform out in
the lake, connected to a storage shed by a wooden walkway. I stored
the Dob in the shed and wheeled it out to the platform when I wanted to
observe. The platform is somewhat unique, in that it has a small
central portion that is structurally independent of the rest of the platform;
in this way the telescope is not affected, even with someone walking around.
I decided that this would make a good location for an observatory.
I contacted Technical Innovations in Gaithersburg, MD, and ordered a 10
ft “Home-Dome”, a modular fiberglass dome-type observatory.
The
unit was delivered in early December. The crate it came in weighed
in at 1200 lbs, and can best be described as “the crate that ate the garage”.
By this time, my extensive therapy program had gotten me back up to a lift
capability of 10 lbs, and my wife (and primary construction engineer) Joyce
had just had shoulder surgery. You can probably imagine the wonderful
time we had (and are still having) with construction. We are, however,
making progress, and should have the walls completely up in a couple more
days. It’s a real challenge making the walls simultaneously circular,
centered, and level. I’m taking pictures as we go, and plan to show
them at the February meeting, so be forewarned!! The dome will be
completely automated, and will follow the telescope as it slews.
Speaking
of the telescope, the 11” CPC has turned out to be vaporware. The
original shipping date slipped from August to October to November to January
to … well, you get the point. So … four days before Christmas
I canceled the order and ordered a 12” Meade LX200-GPS instead. It
arrived two days later. It’s a beautiful scope, with a much more
mature supporting accessories line, so everything turned out for the best.
Now if I could just lift the &^%^# thing out of the box!
More
to come in Part 2 in next month’s newsletter.
