A patron member and long-time supporter of the club, Jack has agreed to bring a variety of wide field accessories for members to compare. He will supply a selection of economy Plossls, as well as investment-quality eyepieces that display a broad section of the sky. You may wish to bring your own scope so that you can try one of the new designs with your equipment.
TVS will provide the grilled edibles, soft drinks, coffee, paper plates, and cutlery. Members should bring a dish to share, according to the chart below.
A - Q side dish or salad
R - Z dessert
Family members and friends are invited to the barbeque and Jack's talk afterward. See you there!
Congratulations to Laurie Lane, who has just updated her status to Patron membership. Thanks, Laurie. At the barbeque, be sure to welcome the following new TVS members: Patrick Knapp, Thomas Kataga, Leo C. P. Leung, Leonard DiPinto, Derek Shelton, Richard and Roxanne Wolfe, and Charles James.
State Park entry fee is $3 per car, unless you are reserving a numbered campsite. Call the FPOA hotline at (408) 623-2465 by July 30, with your name and number of guests.
| July 1997 | ||
| 1 | Tue | Io's shadow transits Jupiter 2:34 AM, followed by Io 3:27 AM PDT. |
| Io eclipsed by Jupiter's shadow 11:53 PM, reappears from occultation 3:03 AM | ||
| 2 | Wed | Io's shadow transits Jupiter until 11:20 PM Io transits until 12:12 AM |
| 3 | Thu | White Mountains Star Party. (Grandview campground tonight). |
| Planetfest'97 begins Pasadena. (Contact Cindy Jalife, The Planetary Society, 818-793-5100, for information.) | ||
| 4 | Fri | White Mountains Star Party. (Barcroft High-Altitude Research Facility). |
| Independence Day. | ||
| New Moon 11:40 AM | ||
| Excellent weekend for observing. | ||
| Mars Pathfinder lands on Mars. | ||
| Earth at aphelion (farthest from Sun: 1.017 AU = 152,104,000 km). | ||
| Comet 2P/Encke 0.1901 AU from Earth. | ||
| 5 | Sat | Star party at Sycamore Grove Park (Livermore Park District) 8:30 PM (Wetmore Rd. entrance near Holmes St.). |
| White Mountains Star Party. | ||
| 6 | Sun | White Mountains Star Party. |
| Venus 5° north of Moon. | ||
| 7 | Mon | Europa eclipsed by Jupiter's shadow 1:30 AM |
| 8 | Tue | Europa's shadow transits Jupiter until 11:24 PM |
| Europa transits until 12:52 AM | ||
| Io eclipsed by Jupiter's shadow 1:46 AM | ||
| 11 | Fri | Mars 1.8° south of Moon. |
| Ganymede's shadow transits Jupiter 11:39 PM to 3:17 AM | ||
| Ganymede transit begins 2:25 AM | ||
| 12 | Sat | First Quarter Moon 2:44 PM |
| 15 | Tue | Europa's shadow transits Jupiter 11:07 PM to 1:59 AM |
| Europa transits 12:1 8 to 3:08 AM | ||
| 17 | Thu | Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-85) launch scheduled. (Study of Earth's atmosphere, SEDSAT tethered satellite, extreme ultraviolet astronomy.) |
| Io's shadow transits Jupiter 12:05 AM | ||
| Io transits 1:25 AM | ||
| Io eclipsed 10:09 PM, | ||
| reappears from occult ation 12:59 AM | ||
| 18 | Fri | Tri-Valley Stargazers meeting 7:30 PM Unitarian Universalist Church of Livermore, 1893 N. Vasco Road, Livermore. (3/4 mile north of I-580). |
| 19 | Sat | Asteroid 2 Pallas (mag. 9.6) at opposition. |
| Full Moon 8:20 PM | ||
| 20 | Sun | Neptune at opposition (mag 7.8, apparent diameter 2.3").. |
| 21 | Mon | TVS Planning Meeting 7:00 PM
Round Table Pizza,
1540 First St.,
Livermore (in Orchard Supply/Longs/Safeway shopping center). |
| Jupiter 4° south of Moon. (Uranus and Neptune nearby.) | ||
| 22 | Tue | Venus 1.2° north of Regulus. Look shortly after sunset (8:25 PM). |
| Ganymede occulted by Jupiter until 10:59 PM | ||
| Europa's shadow transits 1:41 AM; | ||
| Europa transits 2 :33 AM | ||
| 23 | Wed | Yezdezred (Persian Zoroastrian) New Year 1287. |
| 24 | Thu | Europa occulted by Jupiter until 11:44 PM |
| 25 | Fri | Saturn 0.02° north of Moon (occulted in Hawaii). |
| Io's shadow transits Jupiter 9:14 to 11:32 PM | ||
| Io transits 9:35 to 11:54 PM | ||
| 26 | Sat | Star party at Del Valle. |
| Last Quarter Moon 11:28 AM | ||
| Mercury 4.5° from Venus and 0.5° south of Regulus. | ||
| Delta Cephei at maximum 11:59 PM Variable rises to mag. 3.5 from 4.4 in about 1.5 days. (Period is 5.366 341 days). Compare Zeta Cephei (mag. 3.35) and Epsilon Cephei (mag. 4.2). | ||
| 28 | Mon | Zoroastrian New Year 2387. |
| 29 | Tue | Uranus at opposition (mag 5.7, apparent diameter 3.7"). |
| Grazing ooccultation of Aldebaran by Moon south of Bay Area. | ||
| Ganymede eclipsed by Jupiter's shadow 9:34 PM, reappears from occultation 2:16 AM | ||
| 30 | Wed | Europa eclipsed by Jupiter's shadow 10:40 PM, reappears from occultation 2:00 AM |
| Io eclipsed 1:57 AM, reappears from occultation 4:27 AM | ||
| August 1997 | ||
| 1 | Fri | Io's shadow transits Jupiter 11:08 PM to 1:27 AM |
| Io transits 11:19 PM to 1:38 AM PDT. | ||
| 2 | Sat | Star party at Sycamore Grove Park (Livermore Park District) 8:30 PM (Wetmore Rd. entrance near Holmes St.). |
| Star-B-Que at Fremont Peak (South of Gilroy ) 5:00 PM | ||
| Mars 1.7° north of Spica. | ||
| 3 | Sun | New Moon 1:14 AM |
| Excellent weekend for observing. | ||
| Mercury at greatest eastern elongation (27 ° ) in evening sky. | ||
| End of Mars Pathfinder's primary mission. | ||
| 5 | Tue | Mercury 1.0° south of Moon (occulted in Greenland). Venus nearby. |
| Date (00 UT) | R.A. (2000) | Dec | El | Sky | Mag |
| 07-01 | 06h41.3m | -01° 37' | 25° | M | 3.6 |
| 07-06 | 06h54.6m | -03° 27' | 26° | M | 3.8 |
| 07-11 | 06h54.6m | -05° 16' | 28° | M | 3.9 |
| 07-16 | 07h01.0m | -07° 05' | 30° | M | 4.1 |
| 07-21 | 07h07.1m | -08° 55' | 32° | M | 4.3 |
| 07-26 | 07h13.0m | -10° 45' | 35° | M | 4.4 |
| 07-31 | 07h18.8m | -12° 36' | 37° | M | 4.6 |
| 08-05 | 07h24.3m | -14° 28' | 39° | M | 4.7 |
PERIODIC COMET ENCKE = 2P/Encke
| Date (00 UT) | R.A. (2000) | Dec | El | Sky | Mag |
| 07-01 | 07h48.7 m | -36° 06' | 61° | E | 6.0 |
| 07-06 | 09h22.3 m | -57° 51' | 86° | E | 6.3 |
| 07-11 | 12h46.0 m | -67° 39' | 107 ° | E | 6.9 |
| 07-16 | 15h18.5 m | -61° 58' | 120 ° | E | 7.7 |
| 07-21 | 16h20.2 m | -54° 40' | 126 ° | E | 8.5 |
| 07-26 | 16h50.5 m | -49° 07' | 129° | E | 9.2 |
| 07-31 | 17h09.0 m | -45° 02' | 129 ° | E | 9.8 |
| 08-05 | 17h22.2 m | -41° 58' | 127 ° | E | 10.4 |
Comet Hale-Bopp and Periodic Comet Encke are not far apart in early July in the southern sky. They remain visible mainly to those in the equatorial areas and south of the equator.
As observers turned their instruments to observe Comet C/1997 J1 (Mueller), they also picked up a new comet, unrelated, but slightly brighter. It is now known as Comet C/1997 J2 (Meunier-Dupouy). This large comet will be closest to the sun next March at 3.05 AU when it should reach magnitude 10.
Meanwhile, a solar-orbiting satellite named SOHO has picked up ten new faint comets over the past year. All were imaged only by the satellite as they zoomed in toward the sun. Most seem to be following the same orbit as the Kreutz Sungrazing comets, disappearing as they rounded the sun. They were magnitude 2 to 8, with most at mag. 7-8.
COMET HUNTING NOTES: Of the 97 visual comet discovery events since 1/1/75, during which 73 comets were found and named, only four times was the comet found by accident. In early July 1975 Doug Berger and the late Dennis Milon found a comet while observing M 2. It had been found the previous day by a comet hunter (Toru Kobayashi of Japan). Then, twenty years later Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp chanced upon a new comet near M 70.
| Object: | Hale-Bopp | P/Encke |
| Peri. Date: | 1997 04 01.13800 | 1997 05 23.59776 |
| Peri. Dist (AU): | 0.9141405 AU | 0.3313951 AU |
| Arg/Peri (2000): | 130.58915 deg. | 186.27201 deg. |
| Asc. Node (2000): | 282.47069 deg. | 334.72147 deg |
| Incl (2000): | 089.42943 deg. | 011.92956 deg |
| Eccen: | 0.9951172 | 0.8500135 |
| Orbital Period: | ~2500 years | 3.28 years |
| Ref: | MPC 29568 | MPC 29882 |
| Epoch: | 1997 06 01 | 1997 06 01 |
| Absol. Mag/"n": | -1.0/4.0 | 9.8/4.0 |
Tri-Valley Stargazers Membership/Renewal Application
Since July 10, 1997 we estimate that this page has been downloaded
about