Join us this month for an historical tour of local public observatories. Chabot Science Center breaks ground on the 18th for its new observatory and public information facility. Lick Observatory remains a Bay Area focus for astronomical research, despite increasing light pollution all around it.
At deadline time, the board was still assembling a program to update you on the latest research and public astronomy programs eminating from these two observatories. October's program will be devoted to news from both of them.
You are invited to start the meeting at 7 pm by sharing your latest observing news and notes with fellow members. The business portion of the program begins at 7:30, as usual.
Rich and Barbara Green spent the better part of a weekend preparing our new storage area at the church. They swept, sprayed, and organized so that our portable equipment can be accessible from a central location.
The library, public star party equiment, and unrented loaner scopes now have a convenient home rather than being scattered in five or six garages. Club officers can access these assets, so contact one of them if you have a need.
Jim McIntire has graciously assumed management for the Sycamore Grove Park star parties, and we thank him for doing so. School star parties still require an organizer.
Once the nominating committee is formed, members will be contacted about open board positions. If you are interested, attend the October general meeting, or call President Dave Anderson, (510) 661-4249.
You are welcome to attend any planning meeting in person, or you may contact an officer or board member to make your views known. The October general meeting is also a great place for open questions about club money management.
Chris's plans also include acknowledging donations via the Web page, and constructing a moveable bookcase to roll between the storage room and the church.
Remember that TVS is a 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt organization that can provide a donation letter in exchange for the copier. The church is willing to provide space and power in return for shared ownership and upkeep, just like our present arrangement.
The copier would be used to prepare general meeting handouts and star party information. Contact anyone listed in the box below if you have a line on a possible donation.
President Dave Anderson (510) 661-4249
Secretary Earl Mack (510 ) 828-1414
Vice President Bob Braddy (510) 855-0964
Treasurer Gene Nassar (510) 462-7843
Observatory Director Chuck Grant (510) 449-1500
Eyes on the Skies BBS Mike Rushford (510) 443-6146
Web Site http://www.hooked.net/~tvs/
Editor Alane Alchorn (510) 455-9464 (51 ) 455-9466 fax circlewing@aol.com
Meeting Location Unitarian Universalist Church in Livermore 1893 N. Vasco Rd. 3/4 mile north of I-580
| October | 1996 |
| 18 Fri | Groundbreaking for new Chabot Observatory and Science Center, 10:00 AM |
| . | Jupiter 6° south of Moon. Io shadow transit of Jupiter begins 8:01 PM Satellite transit ends 8:19 PM |
| 19 Sat | Astronomy Day II. |
| . | Star Party at Sycamore Grove Park (Livermore Park District) 8:00 PM (Wetmore Rd. entrance near Holmes St.). |
| . | Mars in M44 (Praesepe). Look before dawn. |
| . | First Quarter Moon 11:09 AM |
| . | Neptune 5°, then Uranus 6° south of Moon. |
| . | Ganymede's shadow transits Jupiter beginning 7:54 PM |
| 20 Sun | Asteroid 4197 (19 82 TA) passes within 0.1 AU of Earth. See October Sky & Telescope, p. 68. |
| 21 Mon | Io occulted by Jupiter 8:28 PM |
| 22 Tue | Io shadow transit of Jupiter begins 7:04 PM Satellite transit ends 8:05 PM |
| 24 Thu | United Nations Day. |
| . | Saturn 3° south of Moon. |
| 25 Fri | Tri-Valley Stargazers meeting 7:30 PM PDT. Unitarian Universalist Church of Livermore, 1893 N. Vasco Road, Livermore. (3/4 mile north of I-580). |
| 26 Sat | Full Moon ("Hunters' Moon") 7:11 AM |
| 27 Sun | Daylight Saving Time ends. |
| . | AANC Meeting 1:00 PM Lawrence Hall of Science, Berkeley. |
| . | Europa reappears from eclipse by Jupiter 7:37 PM PST. |
| 28 Mon | TVS Planning Meeting 7:00 PM Location TBD. |
| . | Mars 1.2° north of Regulus. |
| . | Aldebaran 0.9° south of Moon; occulted in Alaska. |
| 29 Tue | Io transits Jupiter beginning 6:49 PM; shadow transit begins 7:59 PM |
| . | Callisto eclipsed 7:29 PM |
| 31 Thu | Halloween. |
| . | . |
| November | 1996 |
| 1 Fri | Algol at minimum 10:59 PM PST. |
| . | Moon occults Lambda Geminorum (mag. 3.7): reappearance at dark limb 1:58 AM |
| 2 Sat | Last Quarter Moon 11:50 PM Good weekend for observing. |
| 4 Mon | Moon occults Omicron Leonis (mag. 3.8): reappearance at dark limb 12:54 AM |
| 5 Tue | Election Day. |
| . | Mars 5° north of Moon. (Rise about 12:40 AM) |
| 8 Fri | Venus 1.4° north of Moon. (Rise about 3:45 AM) |
| 10 Sun | New Moon 8:16 PM Excellent weekend for observing. |
| 11 Mon | Veterans' Day. |
| 14 Thu | Jupiter 5° south of Moon. |
| 15 Fri | Neptune 4°, then Uranus 5° south of Moon. |
| 16 Sat | Venus 4° north of Spica. |
| 17 Sun | Leonid meteor shower peaks about 6 AM |
| . | First Quarter Moon 5:09 PM |
| 20 Wed | Saturn 3° south of Moon. |
| 22 Fri | Tri-Valley Stargazers meeting 7:30 PM PST. Unitarian Universalist Church of Livermore, 1893 N. Vasco Road, Livermore. (3/4 mile north of I-580). |
| 24 Sun | Full Moon 8:10 PM |
| . | Algol at minimum 9:30 PM |
| DATE(00UT) | R.A. (2000) | DEC | El. | Sky | Mag |
| 10-19 | 17h33.5m | -04° 04' | 59° | E | 4.7 |
| 10-24 | 17h35.6m | -03° 47' | 55° | E | 4.6 |
| 10-29 | 17h38.1m | -03° 29' | 51° | E | 4.5 |
| 11-03 | 17h41.0m | -03° 09' | 48° | E | 4.4 |
| 11-08 | 17h44.3m | -02° 47' | 44° | E | 4.3 |
C/1996 Q1 (Tabur)
| DATE(00UT) | R.A. (2000) | DEC | El. | Sky | Mag |
| 10-14 | 11h35.3m | +55° 55' | 68° | M | 5.5 |
| 10-19 | 13h12.2m | +52° 44' | 63° | M | 5.7 |
| 10-24 | 14h10.0m | +47° 32' | 59° | E | 5.9 |
| 10-29 | 14h44.2m | +42° 34' | 57° | E | 6.2 |
| 11-03 | 15h05.8m | +38° 16' | 54° | E | 6.4 |
| 11-08 | 15h20.6m | +34° 35' | 52° | E | 6.7 |
C/1996 N1 (Brewington)
| DATE(00UT) | R.A. (2000) | DEC | El. | Sky | Mag |
| 10-19 | 19h44.6m | +54° 36' | 99° | E | 12.0 |
| 10-24 | 20h14.9m | +52° 33' | 102 ° | E | 12.2 |
| 10-29 | 20h42.2m | +50° 15' | 105 ° | E | 12.5 |
| 11-03 | 21h06.5m | +47° 48' | 107 ° | E | 12.7 |
| 11-08 | 21h28.2m | +45° 18' | 108 ° | E | 13.0 |
C/1996 E1 (NEAT)
| DATE(00UT) | R.A. (2000) | DEC | El. | Sky | Mag |
| 10-19 | 19h49.2m | +28° 08' | 98° | E | 11.3 |
| 10-24 | 19h57.0m | +22° 48' | 95° | E | 11.5 |
| 10-29 | 20h04.3m | +18° 11' | 92° | E | 11.8 |
| 11-03 | 20h11.2m | +14° 12' | 88° | E | 12.0 |
| 11-08 | 20h17.7m | +10° 48' | 85° | E | 12.3 |
96P/Machholz 1 Too close to the sun for observation
| DATE(00UT) | R.A. (2000) | DEC | El. | Sky | Mag |
| 10-24 | 14h34.5m | -02° 27' | 14° | E | 8.4 |
| 10-26 | 14h49.6m | -03° 23' | 15° | E | 9.3 |
| 10-28 | 15h03.0m | -04° 18' | 16° | E | 10.0 |
| 10-30 | 15h15.1m | -05° 12' | 16° | E | 10.7 |
| 11-01 | 15h26.2m | -06° 03' | 17° | E | 11.2 |
| 11-03 | 15h36.4m | -06° 52' | 17° | E | 11.7 |
| 11-05 | 15h45.9m | -07° 37' | 18° | E | 12.2 |
Comet Hale-Bopp, brightening as expected, has been displaying a "J "-shaped tail nearly a degree long. It passes near the globular cluster M 14 during the last week of October. Comet NEAT and Comet Brewington remain in the evening sky, both are slowly fading in brightness. I've also included an ephemeris for Periodic Comet Machholz 1, which passes closer to the sun than any other periodic comet. It will be a diff icult object in twilight, but may also be brighter than suggested here. Periodic Comet Kopff has faded from view.
A new comet was visually discovered on August 19 by Vello Tabur of Wanniassa, of the Australian Capital Territory. The comet was very diffuse, magnitude 11, and near the constellation Orion in the morning southern sky. Comet Tabur may reach unaided-eye visibility in the morning sky in October. Its orbit is similar to that of Comet Liller, discovered in 1988. Apparently the two comets were one in the past, they take 2900 years to orbit the sun.
A new comet was discovered on Sept. 7 by Carl Hergenrother on plates exposed by Timothy Spahr of the University of Arizona. No orbit has been determined and it
is presently known as simply Comet 1996 R1. The 12th magnitude object was found near the Andromeda Galaxy and moving westward at about two degrees per day.
The NEAT program, mentioned here last month, discovered an object that appears asteroid-like (stellar), but is in a comet-like orbit. Known as 1996 PW, it takes 690 0 years to orbit the sun, and was at perihelion this Aug. 8 at 2.5 AU. At its most distant point it is 360 AU away. It is not expected to get brighter than magnitude 16.
On the flip side of that story, in early August, Eric Elst reported the discovery of a comet on photos taken in mid-July by Guido Pizarro. This object shows a tail, but no coma, and it is in an asteroid-type orbit between Mars and Jupiter, taking 5.6 years to circle the sun. In 1979 it was announced to be an asteroid (1979 OW7), but now that it shows cometary activity, it is renamed Comet P/19 96 N2 (Elst-Pizarro). It remains near magnitude 17.
Finally, I surpassed 6,000 hours of visual comet hunting last month. I began in January 1975. I still enjoy it.
| Object | Hale-Bopp | Brewington | NEAT |
| Peri. Date | 1997 03 31.86770 | 1996 08 03.42395 | 1996 07 27.36189 |
| Peri. Dist (AU) | 0.9170703 | 0.92581470 | 1.3585919 |
| Arg/Peri (2000): | 130.40061 deg. | 043.96932 deg. | 81.12936 deg. |
| Asc. Node (2000): | 282.4 6983 deg. | 234.90202 deg. | 149.84329 deg. |
| Incl (2000) | 089.38442 deg. | 052.14766 deg. | 114.47220 deg. |
| Eccen: | 0.99674010 | 1.004799 | 1.0005638 |
| Orbital Period: | 4700 yrs. | Long period. | Long period. |
| Ref: | MPC 26879 (7-96) | MPC 27690 | MPC 27428 |
M57 The Ring Nebula,
a famous planetary nebula in Lyra.
M27 The Dumbbell Nebula,
a superb planetary in Vulpecula!
NGC6960/92/95 The Veil Nebula in Cygnus.
A large supernova remnant.
(Try an OIII filter).
NGC7000 The North America Nebula near Deneb.
Fine in binoculars under dark skies.
M15 Rich,
compact globular cluster in Pegasus.
NGC7009 The Saturn Nebula,
a bright planetary nebula in Aquarius.
NGC7293 The Helix Nebula,
a large planetary nebula,
also in Aq uarius.
NGC7331 A large,
bright spiral galaxy in Pegasus.
Stephan's Quintet is nearby.
M31,
M32,
M110 The Andromeda Galaxy (and companions)!
Marvelous with any instrument,
even unaided eye.
NGC7662 Blue Snowball planetary nebula in Andromeda,
a bright annulus.
NGC891 Faint but striking edge-on spiral galaxy in Andromeda.
M33 Large,
bright (mag.
5.7),
but quite diffuse galaxy in Triangulum.
NGC253 Large,
bright galaxy in Sculptor.
NGC869 & 884 The Double Cluster in Perseus.
Great in binoculars or telescope.
NGC7789 Very rich but faint open cluster in Cassiopeia.
M45 The Pleiades in Taurus.
Best in binoculars.
M1 The Crab Nebula in Taurus,
the remnant of the supernova of 105 4 A.D.
M37 Best of Auriga's open clusters.
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