"MacYoda"
Subject: PizzaGram - March 13th, 2004 Star Party

Greetings Fellow Stargazer,

"When the moon is in the Seventh House
and Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars"

http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/lin...ance_big_gif_i
mage.html&fr=t

Not only will Jupiter align with Mars but all also Saturn, Venus
and Mercury (at times) this month! These bright planets will all be
visible in the evening sky at the end of March. You can see these
planets without the aid of a telescope! At this month's Star Party
(March 13th) four these planets might be getting together for a
pizza!!!

"When the Pizza is from Jimmy's Lakeside Bakery
and Jupiter soon aligns with Saturn, Mercury, Venus and Mars
Then peace will guide our stomachs
And you will be invited to a Star Party"

Speaking of Star Parties, you are invited to one! The best planet
to see is Saturn and it will be overhead and in the best spot to see
it clearly. And while enroute to it, stop in at Jimmy's Lakeside
Bakery Cafe (across from Schofield Barracks near Tom's Golf Shop and
Kemoo Farms) and get the best Pizza on Oahu. Jimmy must be from my
home state of NJ to have pizza I think is the best on the Island. Oh
that's right, his family IS from NJ! So bring some Jimmy's Pizza to
the April Star Party to share with don't forget to get a Tiramisu or
Cheesecake chaser to go.

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Star Party Invite for March 13th
Sponsored by the Hawaiian Astronomical Society
http://www.hawastsoc.org
Dillingham Airfield - before sunset (6:41 pm)
(Star Party Directions are at the end of this message)
Bring:
http://bishopmuseum.org/planetarium/...4/03/mar04.pdf

Here is where I go to check the weather on a Star Party Night:

http://www.wunderground.com/radar/ra...&scale=1&noclu
tter=0&ID=HMO&type=N0R&lat=0&lon=0&label=you

If it is clear, you will be able to see many astronomical sights.
It's now that time of year to see the Saturn, Venus, Orion Nebula,
Mars, Jupiter, Canopus, the Seven Sisters as well as many other
heavenly sights!

If you won't be in Hawaii, fear not. Check this link for a Star
Party near you!

http://SkyandTelescope.com/resources/organizations/
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If you miss this month's HAS Star Party then join us at the next:

***** 2004 *****
April 10th
May 22rd
Jun 19th
July 10th
August 7th
September 18th
October 16th
November 6th
December 4th

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Saturn Lore

Saturn or in Greek, Cronus, became ruler of the universe when
he led a successful rebellion against his father, Uranus.
Worried that his children with his wife Rhea would turn against him,
he began to swallow them as soon as they were born. Rhea and Gaia hid
Zeus from Cronus until he was fully-grown. After Cronus was given a
poison he threw up the children who emerged alive. The children waged
war with Cronus and the other Titans until a victorious Zeus became
the new ruler. Saturn is honored by Saturday.

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Cosmic Saturn Factoids

Saturn is the next biggest planet in the solar system.

Saturn and some of its moons can be seen in the composite image at
left. Four more moons were found in late 2000 and 9 more were
discovered recently for a total of 31. Scientists are tracking more
objects that may be additional moons.

The moon Titan is one of the few moons in the solar system with a
significant atmosphere. Other unusual moons of Saturn include the
"Death Star" shaped Mimas, the half-black, half-white Iapetus, and
the garbage-can shaped Hyperion.

The Voyager missions found winds, magnetic field, auroras and
lightning on the planet similar to Jupiter. Also, the planet has
light colored cloud bands (zones) and darker bands (belts) like the
larger gas giant.

The fascinating ring system observed by Galileo in 1610 is only
beginning to be understood. At first thought to be a solid ring it is
now known to be thousands of water ice particles with some chunks as
big as a small car. The rings are held in place by moons that
"shepherd" the particles and keep them in a series of ringlets. Some
gaps like the Casinni Division separate the ringlets called the "A
Ring", "B Ring" and so on. The Cassini/Huygens spacecraft will pass
through between the "F" and "G" rings on its way to orbit Saturn.

The most remarkable feature associated with Saturn is its magnificent
system of ring and satellites. The former is unique in the solar
system. The ring, the seeming ends of which were first seen by
Galileo as handles to the planet, was for some time a mystery. After
Galileo had seen it at one or two oppositions, it faded from sight, a
result which we now know was due to the advance of the planet in its
orbit, bringing our line of sight edgewise, to the ring. When it
reappeared, Galileo seems to have abandoned telescopic observation,
but the "ansae" of Saturn remained a subject of study through a
generation of his successors without any solution of their mystery
being reached.

In 1665 William Ball or Balle, joint-founder and first treasurer of
the Royal Society, discovered that the ring was apparently formed of
two concentric rings, separated by a fine dark line. This was
afterwards independently discovered by G. D. Cassini at the Paris
Observatory. As the telescope was improved, yet other shaded lines
concentric with the ring itself were found.

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Some Messier Objects to See this Month

M41
This cluster in Canis Major is visible as a hazy patch to the naked
eye
just below Sirius. M41 is resolvable in binoculars and appears fairly
loose in telescopes at low power.
M93
This is a small fuzzy patch of light in Puppis, partially resolvable
in
binoculars. The hardest part of finding this cluster in binoculars is
picking it out of a fairly rich region of the milky way. Use low power
to
examine this cluster and the surrounding richness in a telescope.
Medium
power provides a nice view of the cluster itself.
M47
A bright cluster in Puppis, easily visible as a hazy patch to the
naked
eye. Binoculars will show a large hazy patch with many stars
resolvable.
Telescopes show a fairly loose cluster with stars of wide variety of
magnitudes.
M46
This cluster is right next to M47 and is also visible to the naked
eye.
In binoculars M46 appears as a large hazy patch with no stars
resolvable,
giving a nice contrast to M47. In telescopes at low powers this
cluster
evenly fills the eyepiece. While you are here go to medium or high
power
and look for the planetary nebula NGC2438. It will appear as a faint
uneven ring, with a blue/green color.
M50
An open cluster in Monoceros. This is a small hazy patch in
binoculars,
partially resolvable. Like M93, the richness of the surrounding field
is
the only difficulty in finding this object. This is a fairly tight
cluster at low power in a telescope.
M48
Moving on to Hydra, we find another naked eye cluster. M48 is a large
fuzzy patch in binoculars, partially resolvable. Use low to medium
power
in your telescope for a spectacular view.
M67
In the southeast portion of Cancer is another open cluster, barely
visible as a fuzzy patch to the naked eye. Binoculars show M67 as a
large
hazy patch of light, similar to M46. Use low power to resolve this
large,
rich cluster in a telescope.
M44
Known as the Praesepe or Beehive Cluster, this open cluster is easily
visible to the naked eye as a large, fuzzy patch bigger than the moon.
Binoculars or rich field telescopes provide the best view of M44.
M81, M82
This pair of galaxies in Ursa Major are very possible to see in
binoculars, they look like a pair of fuzzy stars. Both galaxies will
fit
into the same low power telescope field. M81 will appear as a large
oval
gray patch of light. M82 is a pencil like streak of light next to and
perpendicular to the long axis of M81.

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The Wanderers (The Planets) this Month

Mercury: By 20 March you should be able to find it by looking for it
low in the west around 7:10 PM, about 5 degrees above the horizon. On
March 20 Mercury sets at 7:45 PM. On March 29, Mercury is at
"greatest elongation", its greatest apparent distance from the sun.
It still won't get that high in the sky. Mercury will be about 15
degrees above the western horizon as it emerges from the twilight
around 7 PM on March 29, and will set around 8 PM. Mercury sinks in
brightness quickly in the last two weeks of March. If you are lucky
enough to find it on March 15, it will be blazing away at minus 1.3.
By March 22, it will have faded already to minus 0.8; and by the last
day of the month, it will shine at 0.4.

Venus is anything but elusive. In fact, you can't miss it! Look west
at dusk throughout March and you'll see it halfway up in the sky. It
shines at minus 4.2 at the start of the month, minus 4.36 at the end.
Venus will appear to draw closer and closer to Mars as March goes on.
As March goes on, Venus will also draw closer and closer to the
Pleiades (the tiny dipper shape known as Makahiki in Hawaiian). On
April 2, Venus will be right next to this lovely, famous cluster of
stars.

Mars: Look for Mars above Venus throughout the month. Mars is
slightly orange in color and much, much dimmer than Venus. By the
middle of the month, Mars crosses into the constellation of Taurus
the Bull. The red planet will be close to the Pleiades, the little
dipper shape on the back of the Bull, during the week of March 15-22.
By the end of the month, Mars will be near to Aldebaran, the
brightest star in Taurus. Both Mars and Aldebaran have a
reddish-orange tint. As you look west at the end of March, Mars will
on the right, Aldebaran on the left. Aldebaran will shine more
brightly than Mars. Mars is down to a mere 1.4 magnitude at the end
of the month, dimmer than Aldebaran's 0.8 brightness.

Jupiter was in opposition on March 3. When an outer planet like
Jupiter is in opposition, it behaves like the full moon, rising at
sunset, overhead at midnight, setting at sunrise. For you early
risers, Jupiter is your only morning planet this March. Look for it
in the western sky; it will not set till dawn in early March, and
will set by 4:45 AM at the end of the month. Jupiter shines at minus
2.5 magnitude throughout the month.

Saturn is high overhead as darkness settles in during March. The
planet is in the constellation of Gemini. Saturn will spend the
evening hours working its way down the western sky. It sets around 3
AM in early March and by 1 AM at the end of the month. Saturn shines
at 0 magnitude all month.

Uranus and Neptune are hidden in the glare of the Sun.

Pluto (magnitude 14, in Ophiuchus) is up in the southeast before
dawn.
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Annual Meteor Showers

Quadrantids: January
Virginids: March/April
Lyrids: April
Scorpiids: May
Delta Aquarids: July
Perseids August
Piscids: September
Orionids: October
Leonids: November
Geminids: December

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Find what is moving overhead after sunset:
http://www.bester.com/
http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/RealTim.../JTrack3d.html

Check out when the next Iridium Satellite is available for you to
see:
http://www.heavens-above.com/Neighbo...PlaceID=593409
(for non Oahu Star Gazers...)
http://www.heavens-above.com/selectt...p?CountryID=US

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Check out:
http://www.seds.org/messier/xtra/12months/m-mar-i.html

and bring the above list...

As for the rest of the Messiers, check out
http://www.hawastsoc.org/deepsky/messier.html It also has a link to:

http://www.hawastsoc.org/messier/index.html
(all the Messier Objects as photographed by HAS's local Jay Wrathall)

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Star Party Directions
(http://www.hawastsoc.org/directions/dillingham.html)

To reach the Dillingham observing site, take the H2 to the end at
Schofield Barracks. Drive past Schofield and follow the signs to
Waialua. At the Y intersection at Waialua, bear left and pass under
the bridge. Drive out of town a few miles until you reach Dillingham
Airfield. Dillingham is several miles long. It has three gates. You
need to drive to the far end to the third gate (marked as Gate 1 on
the color map). When you enter the gate, the road will curve left
behind some hangars. It will then take you through a very sharp S
curve. 1/4 mile beyond that is a stop sign in the middle of nowhere.
Turn right at the stop sign, and you will be there. You can find me
by looking for the big red telescope in the corner with a table with
lots of pizza on it.

You will need to reach the site before sunset in order to find the
gate open!!!

A few words on light. We try to maintain dark conditions at the site.
Therefore we have certain rules about light. First, no white
flashlights. The only flashlights that you should use are not too
bright, red ones.

When entering and exiting the site, do not use headlights. Some cars
now can't turn off their headlights. If you have a car like that
please park nearer the windsock then the telescopes. Point it away
from the telescopes. Headlights make you lose your night vision for
up to 30 minutes. It immediately ruins any astro photography that
might be in progress.

Bring some warm clothes, something to sit on, some real powerful bug
spray, a dim or red covered flashlight and some munches to share with
your friends.

Remember there is an absolute need to remain clear of the runway, and
anyone attending the star party needs to remain in the immediate star
party area. Do not be wandering around in areas where we are not
permitted. Especially near any planes (parked or moving)!
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Bishop Museum Planetarium Happenings

Daily Planetarium schedule:
(808) 848-4136 for pre-recorded sky information and planetarium
schedule.

11:30 a.m. Explorers of the International Space Station (45 Minutes)
12:20 p.m. Explorers of Polynesia (in Japanese , 30 Minutes)
1:00 p.m. Red Planet Mars (in English , 30 Minutes)
3:30 p.m. Explorers of Polynesia (45 Minutes)

³The Sky Tonight,² an hour-long sky talk with Sam Rhoads, occurs on
the first Monday, at 7:00 PM. Reservations are necessary, since Sam¹s
shows often fill. $4 for adults, $3 for kids, free to Bishop Museum
members and Hawaiian Astronomical Society members. Reservations for
³The Sky Tonight²: 848-4168.

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After Dark with Stars in the Park
Waikele Community Park
OR... Kahala Park
(Weather permitting)

***** 2004 *****
March 27th
April 24th
May 29th
Jun 26th
July 24th
August 21st
September 25th
October 23rd
November 20th
December 18th

FROM DUSK to 9:30 PM
Bring your children! Tell your friends!

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Visit the cosmos via:

The HAS HomePage: http://www.hawastsoc.org/ or go to
(or show up at meeting 7:30pm first Tue of month)
and check out the Bishop Museum Planetarium Home Page
http://www.bishopmuseum.org/planetarium/
and the Institute for Astronomy Colloquia/Seminars
http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/
Hawaii in Space: http://apollo-society.org/launchpad39_A.html
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Keep Looking SkyWard...gww

http://homepage.mac.com/macyoda/PhotoAlbum6.html
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"The computer is to the mind as the amplifier is to sound."
Paul Maurer
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Gravity brings me down!
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--
Dragons Must Fly when Thread's in the Sky

www.starlord.org