SACNEWS
Articles By Title
1996
to 2003 index
1996
to 2003 index |
Article |
Excerpt's |
Author |
Issue |
| 1996 All-Arizona Messier Marathon | This years Marathon was held on March 16th at a new location south of an older observing site south of Arizona City. This is a very dark and secluded location about 20 miles past Arizona City. 1996 Messier Marathon Results | A.J. Crayon | 5/1/1996 |
| 1996 All-Arizona Star Party, Big Turnout, So-So Skies | The All-Arizona Star Party at Arizona City was sponsored by the East Valley Astronomy Club (EVAC) on October 11 & 12. I had been looking forward to this for quite some time and took off Friday from work to get down there in plenty of time and do some observing both nights. (PHOTO'S) | Ken Reeves | 12/1/1996 |
| 1996 Sentinel Star Gaze A BIG SUCCESS | There where 42 telescopes and about 60 folks ready to observe with them as darkness approached for this year's Sentinel Star Gaze. Once twilight faded there where even more photos of Comet Hyakutake taken and overhead Leo, Virgo and The Big Dipper invited everyone to visit far-away galaxies by the hundreds. | Steve Coe | 5/1/1996 |
| 1997 Arizona Messier Marathon, Saturday, March 8, 1997 | This year's Marathon was held on March 8th at a site
south of Arizona City, AZ. It was attended by 66 telescopes and an assortment
of anxious observers. This, the fifth consecutive Marathon, was attended
by members of four of the more active astronomy clubs in Arizona: East
Valley Astronomy Club, Scottsdale; Saguaro Astronomy Club, Phoenix; Tucson Amateur Astronomical Association and the astronomy club at the University of Arizona. |
A.J. Crayon | 4/1/1997 |
| 1997 Starry Nights Festival | Thanks to an invitation from the Town of Yucca Valley, California, we will hold the first Western Region, Astronomical League (WRAL) star party, this fall. | Robert Gent | 8/1/1997 |
| 1998 Arizona Messier Marathon | This year's Marathon; scheduled for Saturday, March 28, 1998; generated more excitement than in the last few years. It was easily generated due to the fact that chances for observing the entire Messier Catalog were very high. | A.J. Crayon | 5/1/1998 |
| 1998 Leonid Meteor Shower, Report from Florence Junction, AZ | A friend I work with is such an avid meteor observer that a condition for taking the job we offered him was that he could be assured of having time off for the 1999 Leonid's. That was in 1994. This year, Bob and I considered driving NW of Wickenberg to view the Leonid's just in case this turned out to be THE YEAR. | Bernie Sanden | 1/1/1999 |
| 2000 All Arizona Messier Marathon Final Standings | 6/1/2000 | ||
| 2000 ARIZONA MESSIER MARATHON | The Messier Marathon is designed to encourage Deep
Sky observing. By joining in with other marathoners you will enjoy companionship
of those also involved. It will test your observing
skills. If you are a club member in good standing then join in and do so just for the FUN OF IT. |
A.J. Crayon | 2/1/2000 |
| 2001 All Arizona Messier Marathon, Final Results | 6/1/2001 | ||
| 2001 A Year of Sky Events | Joe Orman | 1/1/2001 | |
| 2001 All Arizona Messier Marathon | A.J. Crayon | 6/1/2001 | |
| 2001 ALL ARIZONA MESSIER MARATHON | 2/1/2001 | ||
| 2002 A Year of Sky Events, A Listing of Joe Orman Moments | Joe Orman | 1/1/2002 | |
| 2002 All Arizona Messier Marathon Results, Arizona City, April 13th, 2002 | 6/1/2002 | ||
| 4th Anniversary Celebration: “About Arizona Astronomy" | Christine Shupla | 4/1/2001 | |
| 8.4 Meter Spin Casting and Mirror Lab Open House | The University of Arizona's Steward Observatory Mirror Lab is anticipating spin casting of the first 8.4 meter blank for the Large Binocular Telescope on the 17th of January. | Dean Ketelsen | 1/1/1997 |
| A Magical Evening | It certainly didn't look like it was going to be a great night under the stars, but A.J. and I were going out anyway! Clouds had built up all afternoon and it did not look good in the direction of the site for the Saguaro Astronomy Club Star Party, near Buckeye, Arizona. But, like I said, A.J. and I were going anyway. | Steve Coe | 10/1/1996 |
| A Marathon Experience | As A.J. Crayon, organizer of the SAC-sponsored 1997
Arizona Messier Marathon, handed me a form and walked off into the sunset, I was undecided about attempting the event this year |
Bernie Sanden | 4/1/1997 |
| A Night at the Vega-Bray Observatory | Joan McGue | 1/1/2002 | |
| A Night Out with the Schmidt Camera | I have been doing guided astrophotography, for about 25 years now. In that time I've seen many changes in films, optical systems, and telescopes. Many fancy optical systems, come and go, however one design remains supreme and has been for many years. | Chris Schur | 11/1/1998 |
| A Perspective on Arizona Observing & Astronomy Clubs | Sometimes, the best view of what you are doing may come from someone just passing through, or happening by. A year and a half may be a bit beyond this but I would like to offer my impressions and expressions about Arizona observing. | Russ Chmela | 9/1/1997 |
| A Record-Breaking Crescent Moon Sighting | The window had just opened. It was 25 minutes after sunset. Six of us, Tom Polakis, Steve Redman, Bernie Sanden, Bill Waltz, Regina Lawless and myself were peering through our telescopes at a spot a couple of degrees above the horizon, just north of where the Sun had set. | Pierre Schwaar | 3/1/1996 |
| A Second “New” Telescope | A.J. Crayon | 2/1/2001 | |
| A Spectacular Shuttle Re-entry
Space Shuttle Re-Entry |
Tom Polakis and I witnessed a spectacular shuttle re-entry "Friday night" at about 12:20 A.M. Saturday morning. I arrived at Vekol Rd. at about 12 to find that Paul Knauth and others had left because of clouds. | Paul Lind & Tom Polakis | 3/1/1996 |
| A Story Above Your Heads, Cancer | Mark Klosinski | 3/1/2002 | |
| A Story Above Your Heads, Coma Berenice | Mark Klosinski | 4/1/2002 | |
| A Story Above Your Heads, Mercury | Mark Klosinski | 6/1/2002 | |
| A Story Over Your Heads, Ophiuchus | Mark Klosinski | 7/1/2002 | |
| A Story Over Your Heads, The Pleiades | Mark Klosinski | 10/1/2001 | |
| A Year of Sky Events - 2003 | Joe Orman | 1/1/2003 | |
| Adventures in Sky-Shooting from Arizona | For the astrophotographer, Arizona offers the amateur the opportunity to produce shots unparalleled anywhere in the world. | Chris Schur | 8/1/1996 |
| An Astronomical Banquet, Celebrating 20 Years of the Saguaro Astronomy Club | On Friday, May 30th there will be a dinner banquet to celebrate the 20th year since the formation of the Saguaro Astronomy Club. | 4/1/1997 | |
| An Astronomical Odyssey | It all started with a visit by an old friend. Tom Clark and I had met once, at Riverside, but we had corresponded for many years. Tom and his wife, Jeannie were making their way out West to visit some of the scenic parks near the Four Corners area. A 36" f/5 Newtonian is going to stick way up in the air regardless of how it is constructed. | Steve Coe | 1/1/1996 |
| An Update on Milan Moiston Theory | The announcement of Milan Moiston Theory (MMT) was greeted with glee by astronomers everywhere because it explains so well why clouds always seem to form over new telescopes, why dark-moon nights are usually over-cast, and many other phenomena. However, it also left many with a sense of despair because it seemed there was nothing one could do about it. But there may now be cause for hope. | Wil Milan | 12/1/1997 |
| Angel and Twinkling Stars | Other planets are being found that circle their own suns. Roger Angel spoke on new methods of finding and directly observing extra-solar planets on December 3, 2001 in the main lecture hall at the new Learning Center recently completed on (or in) the Quad of the University of Arizona in Tucson. | Marjory Williams and Jack Jones | 1/1/2002 |
| Another Look at the All-Arizona Star Party | On the Friday of the first night of the All-Arizona Star Party, it seems that everything was in disarray. I seemed to be even more disorganized than I was for the Kitt Peak Cook-out the weekend earlier. (PHOTO'S) | Paul Dickson | 12/1/1996 |
| Arizona Science Center Presents Looking Back to the Big Bang | As a special offer to Saguaro Astronomy Club Members,
we will be giving a discount of $3.00 off each ticket.
Tod R. Lauer, an astronomer at the National Optical Astronomy Observatories, will speak on "Looking Back to the Big Bang." |
11/1/1997 | |
| Asteroid (5460) Now Named TseNaatai | At the end of September the 1996 Festival of Science was held in Flagstaff. As part of this event, I offered a numbered but unnamed asteroid to be assigned a name chosen from among suggestions submitted by participants in the festival. | Brian Skiff | 1/1/1997 |
| Asteroid 13006/Schwaar | 3/1/2001 | ||
| Astro Bits | In my quest to become a better observer, I’ve looked
for ways to improve my drawings and sketches. One thing that I’ve done that
I hope will help is I made up a set of "rules" for each of my
eyepieces. |
Thad Robosson | 2/1/2003 |
| Astro Bits | Shortly after the purchase of my Discovery ‘scope, I was clued in to one painful fact. A large Dob is nice, but it is no fun when trying to use high powers or doing sketches. For this reason, I decided I was going make myself a tracking board for my new toy. | Thad Robosson | 10/1/2002 |
| Astro Bits, Simplification, The Big KISS | Simplicity is such a great concept. A concept that when used properly, allows us to function with considerably less headache and stress. Tasks become much more enjoyable when simplicity is the basis for completion. | Thad Robosson | 1/1/2003 |
| AstroByte– Freeware You Can Use, A Product Review | Rick Tejera | 4/1/2002 | |
| Astroimage '97 | The Orange County Astronomers (OCA) and its special interest group (SIG), the Electronics Oriented Astronomers, with California State University Physics Department are co-sponsoring ASTROIMAGE 97, a one-day seminar on astronomical imaging. | 10/1/1997 | |
| Astronomy 101, Aperture Fever: Catch It | Rick Tejera | 9/1/2001 | |
| Astronomy 101, Are We There Yet?? | Just when I think I’m not going to think of anything to write about, BAM, Inspiration hits. This months tidbits of my mind come to you courtesy of a discussion on the AZ-Observing E-mail list. What started out as Who wants to go to eagle Eye this weekend turned into a discussion on which of our sites are best. For sake of discussion the conversation left out Flat Iron as we were talking about the more distant sites; Sentinel, Eagle Eye and the new Cherry Rd Site. | Rick Tejera | 10/1/2000 |
| Astronomy 101, For the Record | Rick Tejera | 3/1/2001 | |
| Astronomy 101, Hey Man, I'm Wired | Now that I’ve got you wondering about the title of this month’s installment, no it isn’t a tribute to Cheech & Chong; we’re going to talk about computers in astronomy. I think I’ll talk mostly about planetarium & charting programs, but I’ll touch on some other uses & topics too. | Rick Tejera | 11/1/2000 |
| Astronomy 101, How to Win Friends & Influence People | It seems that most folks attending their first star
party tend to do something that goes against Star Party etiquette. The primary
goal of star party etiquette is to maintain a dark observing environment.
Secondary to that, but just as important is to ensure
that everyone has fun. Here are some reminders: |
Rick Tejera | 9/1/2000 |
| Astronomy 101, Makin' a List, Checkin' It Twice | 5/1/2001 | ||
| Astronomy 101, Pushing Glass | Rick Tejera | 1/1/2002 | |
| Astronomy 101, Say Cheese | Rick Tejera | 1/1/2001 | |
| Astronomy 101, Stuff You Don’t Want to Learn the Hard Way | This will be the first of a series of articles aimed
at the beginner. I
could go on about the different types of telescopes and the basics of celestial motion yada yada, but that’s been done to death. Instead, I plan to let you in the stuff I learned the hard way. |
Rick Tejera | 7/1/2000 |
| Astronomy 101, That's It??? | Most of us got into astronomy due to a fascination with the vastness and grandeur of the Universe. We look up and marvel at those points of light and how far away they are, yet we know so much about them, but at the same time, there is so much we don’t know. | Rick Tejera | 8/1/2000 |
| Astronomy 101, The ETX 60AT & The Urban List | Rick Tejera | 2/1/2002 | |
| Astronomy 101, To Goto or Not to Goto, That is the Question | Rick Tejera | 7/1/2001 | |
| Astronomy 101, What a Long, Strange Trip it’s Been | Rick Tejera | 3/1/2002 | |
| Aurora Phoenicia, Moon Photo's | How to take good moon photos in "Aurora Phoenicia" on purpose? | Alan G. Toleman | 7/1/2000 |
| Bits and Pieces, Cruise to '98 Eclipse | As many of you know, there is an excellent solar eclipse on Feb. 26, 1998 near the Caribbean island of Aruba. Princess Cruises is planning a week long cruise into the path of the eclipse and you can join in with the Arizona eclipse chasers. | Steve Coe | 3/1/1997 |
| Bits and Pieces, Western Regional Astronomical League Star Party | Greetings from the Western Region of the Astronomical
League!
We have made great progress in our first Western Regional star party and convention. The city council of Yucca Valley, California has approved our request and is very enthusiastic about the first annual Starry Nights Festival. |
Bob Gent | 2/1/1997 |
| Black Holes: Feeling the Ripples | 11/1/2002 | ||
| Chile's Stargazers Protect 'World's Clearest Sky’ | Reprinted from cnn.com | 7/1/2001 | |
| Chris Schur's, Horsehead Nebula | AstroPhoto | 1/1/1999 | |
| Chris Schur's, M6 Region | AstroPhoto | 2/1/1999 | |
| Comet C/2001 A2 LINEAR | 8/1/2001 | ||
| Comet Comments | Hale-Bopp, Meunier-Dupouy, Hartley 2, Tempel-Tuttle | Don Machholz | 2/1/1998 |
| Comet Comments | P/Machholz 2 | Don Machholz | 1/1/2000 |
| Comet Comments | Hale-Bopp, Tabur, Tilbrook | Don Machholz | 9/1/1997 |
| Comet Comments | Lee, P/Machholz 2, LINEAR (1999 J3) | Don Machholz | 11/1/1999 |
| Comet Comments | Giacobini-Zinner, Williams, LINEAR (M5), LINEAR (U5), Jager, Harrington-Abell | Don Machholz | 2/1/1999 |
| Comet Comments | Hale-Bopp, Tabur | Don Machholz | 8/1/1997 |
| Comet Comments | Images from the solar-observing SOHO satellite have been searched for comets recently, yielding many comets. | Don Machholz | 4/1/2000 |
| Comet Comments | Hale-Bopp, P/Encke | Don Machholz | 7/1/1997 |
| Comet Comments | Hale-Bopp, P/Wild 2 | Don Machholz | 6/1/1997 |
| Comet Comments | Hale-Bopp, P/Wirtanen, P/Wild 2 | Don Machholz | 5/1/1997 |
| Comet Comments | Hale-Bopp, Meunier-Dupouy, Stonehouse, SOHO | Dan Machholz | 6/1/1998 |
| Comet Comments | More comets have been found by the SOHO satellite,
while LINEAR has discovered a faint, small comet. No bright comets are in
our sky again this month.
COMET HUNTING NOTES: |
Don Machholz | 6/1/2000 |
| Comet Comments | Giacobini-Zinner, Meunier-Dupouy, Williams, LINEAR, Howell | Don Machholz | 11/1/1998 |
| Comet Comments | Giacobini-Zinner, Williams, LINEAR (M5), LINEAR (U5), Jager, Harrington-Abell | Don Machholz | 1/1/1999 |
| Comet Comments | Hale-Bopp, Meunier-Dupouy | Don Machholz | 3/1/1998 |
| Comet Comments | Hale-Bopp, Meunier-Dupouy | Dan Machholz | 4/1/1998 |
| Comet Comments | Hale-Bopp, Meunier-Dupouy | Don Machholz | 5/1/1998 |
| Comet Comments | Giacobini-Zinner, Meunier-Dupouy, Howell, Williams, LINEAR (M5), LINEAR (U5) | Don Machholz | 12/1/1998 |
| Comet Comments | Hale-Bopp, Meunier-Dupouy | Don Machholz | 10/1/1997 |
| Comet Comments | No bright comets are in our skies these nights so this
Comet Comments contains no ephemerides or orbital elements. This gives
us the opportunity to look back at 1999 and to discuss the comets we hope to see this year. |
Don Machholz | 2/1/2000 |
| Comet Comments | Hale-Bopp, Meunier-Dupouy, Linear | Don Machholz | 8/1/1998 |
| Comet Comments | Giacobini-Zinner, Meunier-Dupouy, Linear | Don Machholz | 9/1/1998 |
| Comet Comments | Giacobini-Zinner, Meunier-Dupouy, William, LINEAR | Don Machholz | 10/1/1998 |
| Comet Comments | Hale-Bopp, Meunier-Dupouy, Hartley 2, Utsunomiya, Tempel-Tuttle | Don Machholz | 1/1/1998 |
| Comet Comments | Hale-Bopp, P/Wirtanen, P/Wild 2 | Don Machholz | 4/1/1997 |
| Comet Comments | de Vico, Bradfield, Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova | Don Machholz | 1/1/1996 |
| Comet Comments | Hale-Bopp, Tabur | Don Machholz | 12/1/1996 |
| Comet Comments | Hyakutake (95Y1), Szczenpanski, Hyakutake (96B2) , Hale-Bopp, Kopff, Chiron | Don Machholz | 5/1/1996 |
| Comet Comments | Hale-Bopp, P/Wirtanen, P/Wild 2 | Don Machholz | 3/1/1997 |
| Comet Comments | Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova, Hyakutake | Don Machholz | 2/1/1996 |
| Comet Comments | Hyakutake (95Y1), Szczenpanski, Hyakutake (96B2), Hale-Bopp | Don Machholz | 3/1/1996 |
| Comet Comments | Hale-Bopp, Kopff, Brewington, NEAT | Don Machholz | 9/1/1996 |
| Comet Comments | Hale-Bopp, P/Wirtanen, P/Wild 2 | Don Machholz | 2/1/1997 |
| Comet Comments | Hale-Bopp, Tabur, P/Wirtanen, P/Wild 2 | Don Machholz | 1/1/1997 |
| Comet Comments | Hale-Bopp, Meunier-Dupouy, Hartley 2, Utsunomiya | Don Machholz | 11/1/1997 |
| Comet Comments | Hale-Bopp, Meunier-Dupouy, Hartley 2, Utsunomiya, Tempel-Tuttle | Don Machholz | 12/1/1997 |
| Comet Comments | Hale-Bopp, Tabur, Machholz 1 | Don Machholz | 11/1/1996 |
| Comet Comments | Hyakutake (95Y1), Szczenpanski, Hyakutake (96B2), Hale-Bopp, Kopff | Don Machholz | 4/1/1996 |
| Comet Comments | Hale-Bopp, Kopff, Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 | Don Machholz | 6/1/1997 |
| Comet Comments | Hale-Bopp, Kopff | Don Machholz | 7/1/1996 |
| Comet Comments | Hale-Bopp, Kopff, Brewington | Don Machholz | 8/1/1996 |
| Comet Comments, How to Better Use Comet Comments | Comet Comments is a monthly column that I've been
writing since 1978. I started writing it to inform other amateur astronomers of new comet discoveries and to provide information so that they can find the brighter comets. |
Don Machholz | 1/1/1997 |
| Comet LINEAR, C/1999 S4 | Although this is the August issue most of you will have it by mid July. Thus I thought I’d include information on comet C/1999 S4 (LINEAR). The comet has been eagerly anticipated as it is expected to reach naked eye visibility by mid-July. | Rick Tejera | 8/1/2000 |
| Costa Rica Eclipse 2001 | Glenn Nishimoto | 2/1/2002 | |
| Crop Circles at the Okie-Tex Star Party | Ever wonder about crop circles, where they come from, or who made them? Well, several amateur astronomers in Oklahoma did. | Christopher B. Randall | 3/1/1996 |
| Dating the Earth | In a moment of weakness I turned the TV on (the only screen I usually watch is one with a computer attached to it) a couple of nights ago and watched a religious program on the age of the Earth. The "scientist" was explaining how all of our current methods of dating elements, estimating the rate of erosion, and the rate of sedimentary build up were completely wrong in determining the age of the Earth. | Don Ware | 1/1/1997 |
| Deep-Sky Objects from the Eclipse Cruise | All the follow objects where observed from the deck of the S.S. Dawn Princess while cruising in the Caribbean Sea. | Steve Coe | 4/1/1998 |
| Delta Geminorum Occultation | Gene Lucas | 4/1/2001 | |
| Discovering Asteroids | The asteroids (also known as minor planets) are, together with comets and meteoroids, the small denizens of the solar system. Like the other planets, they revolve around the Sun. Most of their orbits lie between those of Mars and Jupiter and constitute the so-called main belt. | Paul G. Comba | 11/1/1997 |
| Discovery History of the Deep-Sky Objects, Part 1 | Since the earliest times, humans could view stars at night whenever it happened not to be cloudy. As in prehistoric times, there was barely any light pollution in most regions of Earth, our ancestors could view very faint stars, and thus some of those objects we now summarize as Deep-Sky Objects. | Hartmut Frommert | 10/1/1996 |
| Discovery History of the Deep-Sky Objects, Part 2 | Discovery History
of the Deep-Sky Objects Historic Deep-Sky Catalogs Listed are the historic catalogs in chronological order; the number of objects and, if different, the number of entries (including those which do not correspond to real objects) is given in parentheses. |
Hartmut Frommert | 11/1/1996 |
| Eagle Eye Observing Site | Sixteen SAC members and three visitors showed up to
this first time Club tryout of this site which I believe was discovered
by Mr. Vice President Steve Coe and A.J. Crayon. This site is an additional
30
miles west of our usual Buckeye Hills Site and well worth the extra miles. |
Jennifer Keller | 11/1/1999 |
| Enlightened by the Darkness | Diane K. Fisher | 12/1/2002 | |
| FILTER PERFORMANCE COMPARISONS FOR SOME COMMON NEBULAE, Project Summary Version | The following is a summary report of visual observations
of emission and some larger planetary nebulae, comparing the
performance of various filters intended for such objects. The instrument used was a 10 inch f/5.6 Newtonian, working at 52x, 59x, 70x, 101x, and 141x, as well as a few unaided-eye observations using the filters hand-held and looking up at the sky. |
David Knisely, Prairie Astronomy Club | 10/1/2000 |
| First Annual GPIDA Light Pollution Symposium | On Friday August 25th our newly formed local chapter of the International Dark-Sky Association - the Greater Phoenix IDA - held a symposium at the Arizona Science Center's Dorrance Planetarium. | Jennifer Keller | 10/1/2000 |
| Flat Iron Confusion | It seems that there is some confusion as to finding the Flat Iron Mountain Site. | 8/1/2000 | |
| Flat Iron Novice Session | A novice group session was held at the March 25th star
party, which
also officially christened the Flat Iron observing site. |
Rick Tejera | 5/1/2000 |
| Frisbees in Space | Dr. Tony Phillips | 1/1/2003 | |
| From Brobdingnag to Lilliput: My Travels Through 30 Years of the Space Program | Diane K. Fisher | 10/1/2002 | |
| Fuzzy Spot, Andromeda | Andromeda is the chained maiden, the daughter of King
Cephus and Queen Cassiopeia. According to legend, the Queen
boasted that her daughter was more beautiful than the sea nymphs. Herschel 400 Objects 205, 404, 752, 891, 7662, 7686 SAC's 110 Best of the NGC Objects 891, 7662 |
Ken Reeves | 10/1/1999 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Aquila | Ken Reeves | 8/1/2001 | |
| Fuzzy Spot, Auriga | Look north in the early Winter skies, and you'll see
a bright star. This is Capella, the Goat Star, and is the nearest first
magnitude star to the north celestial pole. Herschel 400 Objects
1664, 1857, 1907, 1931, 2126, 2281 SAC's 110 Best of the NGC Objects 1907, 1931 |
Ken Reeves | 12/1/1998 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Auriga | Ken Reeves | 1/1/2002 | |
| Fuzzy Spot, Bootes | Bootes is a prominent northern constellation, containing
the premier star Arcturus. cleus occasionally seen, and with some mottling
suspected.
Herschel 400 Objects 5248, 5466, 5557, 5676, 5689 |
Ken Reeves | 6/1/1998 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Camelepardalis | Ken Reeves | 1/1/2003 | |
| Fuzzy Spot, Camelopardalis | Take a blank area of the sky, throw in a name that
no one can pronounce, and what do you get? Camelopardalis. Herschel 400
Objects
1501, 1502, 1961, 2403, 2655 SAC's 110 Best of the NGC Objects 1501, 2403, 2655 |
Ken Reeves | 3/1/1998 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Cancer | We've looked at a couple of zodiacal constellations
in the past months, lets continue this month with Cancer, the Crab. Cancer
is one of the less prominent constellations in the sky and is probably best
spotted by looking for the hazy naked eye spot which is the Beehive Cluster, or M-44. Herschel 400 Objects : 2775 SAC's 110 Best of the NGC Objects: None |
Ken Reeves | 2/1/2000 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Canes Venatici | Spring time means one thing for deep-sky astronomers,
galaxies! This month covers the constellation Canes Venatici. Although not
a rich as Virgo or Ursa Major, the SAC Deep-Sky Database lists 238 galaxies,
enough to keep one busy for a long time.
Herschel 400 Objects 4111, 4143, 4151, 4214, 4258, 4346, 4449, 4485, 4490 4616, 4631, 4656, 4800, 5005, 5033, 5195, 5273 SAC's 110 Best of the NGC Objects 4111, 4214, 4244, 4449, 4490, 4631, 4656, 5005, 5033 |
Ken Reeves | 5/1/1998 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Canis Major | Canis Major is a well known constellation in the winter
skies, and contains the brightest star in the sky outside of our sun.
Herschel 400 Objects 2204, 2354, 2360, 2362 SAC's 110 Best of the NGC Objects 2359 |
Ken Reeves | 2/1/1998 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Canis Major | Ken Reeves | 2/1/2002 | |
| Fuzzy Spot, Cassiopeia | Cassiopeia is a well known fall constellation. Usually
described as an M, W, or 3, depending on it's orientation in the sky, it
is one of the easiest constellations to see, even in the bright city lights.
Herschel 400 Objects
129, 136, 185, 225, 278, 381, 436, 457 559, 637, 654, 659, 663, 1027, 7789, 7790 SAC's 110 Best of the NGC Objects 185, 281, 457, 663, 7789 |
Ken Reeves | 11/1/1998 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Cassiopeia | Ken Reeves | 11/1/2002 | |
| Fuzzy Spot, Centaurus | Ken Reeves | 6/1/2001 | |
| Fuzzy Spot, Cepheus | Cepheus is a north circumpolar constellation with one
edge sitting on the Milky Way and the other end stretching almost to Polaris.
Herschel 400 Objects 40, 6939, 6946, 7142, 7160, 7380, 7510 SAC's 110 Best of the NGC Objects 40, 6939, 6946, 7129 |
Ken Reeves | 10/1/1997 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Cepheus | Cepheus is a large, though not very prominent, north
circumpolar constellation. The house shape is obvious once you see it even
though it is lying on its side during this season.
Herschel 400 Objects 40, 6939, 6946, 7142, 7160, 7380, 7510 SAC's 110 Best of the NGC Objects 40, 6939, 6946, 7129 |
Ken Reeves | 11/1/2000 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Cepheus | Ken Reeves | 10/1/2002 | |
| Fuzzy Spot, Cetus | Cetus, the whale, spans a large section of the Fall
equatorial sky.
Herschel 400 Objects 157, 246, 247, 584, 596, 615, 720, 779, 908, 936 1022, 1052, 1055 SAC's 110 Best of the NGC Objects 246, 939 |
Ken Reeves | 11/1/1997 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Coma Berenices | This is the time of year for galaxy observing, and
Coma Berenices is one of the best constellations for galaxies.
Herschel 400 Objects 4147, 4150, 4203, 4245, 4251, 4274, 4278, 4293, 4312, 4350, 4394, 4414, 4419, 4448, 4450, 4459, 4473, 4477, 4494, 4548, 4559, 4565, 4689, 4725 SAC's 110 Best of the NGC Objects 4274, 4414, 4494, 4559, 4565, 4725 |
Ken Reeves | 6/1/2000 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Corvus | Corvus, the crow or raven, is a prominent grouping
of 4 stars almost forming a square and sitting along the spine of Hydra.
Herschel 400 Objects 4027, 4038, 4361 SAC's 110 Best of the NGC Objects 4361 |
Ken Reeves | 4/1/2000 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Crater | Ken Reeves | 5/1/2001 | |
| Fuzzy Spot, Crater | Ken Reeves | 4/1/2001 | |
| Fuzzy Spot, Cygnus | One of the birds of the night sky, Cygnus, the swan, is a large and beautiful constellation sitting on the summer Milky Way. The other common name for this constellation is the Northern Cross, although this time of year the cross is lying on it's side. NGC 6811, 6826, 6834, 6866, 6888, 6960/6974, 6992/6995, 7000, 7008, 7044 | Ken Reeves | 8/1/2000 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Cygnus | Ken Reeves | 9/1/2002 | |
| Fuzzy Spot, Delphinus | Delphinus is a small but very prominent constellation
in the autumn sky. The tight "diamond with a tail" shape almost
looks like a loose cluster, but in fact, it is not. The stars range from
100 to 950 light years in distance. Herschel 400 Objects
6905, 6934, 7006 SAC's 110 Best of the NGC Objects none |
Ken Reeves | 10/1/2000 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Eridanus/Fornax | Eridanus is a constellation that really reminds me
of it's name.
Herschel 400 Objects 1084, 1407, 1535 SAC's 110 Best of the NGC Objects 1232, 1535 |
Ken Reeves | 12/1/1997 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Fornax | Ken Reeves | 10/1/2001 | |
| Fuzzy Spot, Gemini | Ken Reeves | 2/1/2003 | |
| Fuzzy Spot, Gemini | Gemini is one of those constellations that is easy
to learn, the two lead stars (Pollux and Caster) with the trail of stars
that dangle down west from each star. Herschel 400 Objects
2129, 2158, 2266, 2304, 2355, 2371 2372, 2392, 2395, 2420 SAC's 110 Best of the NGC Objects 2158, 2392 |
Ken Reeves | 2/1/1997 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Hercules | Hercules, the demigod or strongman, is the offspring
of the great Zeus and the mortal Alcmene. Herschel 400 Objects 6207, 6210 SAC's 110 Best of the NGC Objects 6207, 6229 |
Ken Reeves | 7/1/2000 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Hercules | Ken Reeves | 7/1/2002 | |
| Fuzzy Spot, Hydra | Hydra is the largest constellation in the sky, extending
through almost 8 hours of right ascension, and covering about 1300 square
degrees.
Herschel 400 Objects 2548, 2811, 3242, 3621, 5694 SAC's 110 Best of the NGC Objects 3242 |
Ken Reeves | 4/1/1998 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Lacerta | This month's column covers the small and indistinct
constellation Lacerta, the lizard. It appears in the fall Milky Way between
Cygnus and Cepheus.
Herschel 400 Objects 7209, 7243, 7296 SAC's 110 Best of the NGC Objects 7209, 7243 |
Ken Reeves | 9/1/1997 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Leo | Ken Reeves | 4/1/2002 | |
| Fuzzy Spot, Lepus | Lepus is a small constellation just under the feet
of Orion. The Rabbit or Hare is hard to distinguish, I see it as a lopsided
and smaller version of Hercules with Alpha, Beta, Mu, and Epsilon making
the keystone. worry, I made sure that these objects were listed in Lugin-
Herschel 400 Objects 1964 |
Ken Reeves | 2/1/1999 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Lepus | Lepus is a small constellation just under the feet
of Orion. The Rabbit or Hare is hard to distinguish, I see it as a lopsided
and smaller version of Hercules with Alpha, Beta, Mu, and Epsilon making
the keystone. of the stars pop out using averted vision and the central
Herschel 400 Objects 1964 |
Ken Reeves | 1/1/1999 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Libra | Ken Reeves | 7/1/2001 | |
| Fuzzy Spot, Leo Minor | This time of the year brings us away from the Winter
MilkyWay with its clusters and nebulae and into the Spring "Galaxy
Zoo." For example, the SAC Deep-Sky Database contains 69 objects in
Leo Minor of which only 3 are not galaxies (and these are listed as non-existent
NGC objects). Herschel 400 Objects
2859, 3245, 3277, 3294, 3344, 3395 3414, 3432, 3486, 3504 SAC's 110 Best of the NGC Objects 3344, 3423 |
Ken Reeves | 4/1/1997 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Lynx | Ken Reeves | 3/1/2001 | |
| Fuzzy Spot, Lyra | Being a musician, Lyra is a special constellation to
me as it is the only musical instrument in the sky. Messier objects: 2 (M56
& M57) Sac 110 Best of the NGC: 0
Herschel 400 Objects: 0 |
Ken Reeves | 10/1/1999 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Monoceros | Ken Reeves | 3/1/2002 | |
| Fuzzy Spot, Monoceros | Herschel 400 Objects - 2185, 2215, 2232, 2244, 2251,
2264, 2286, 2301, 2311, 2324, 2335, 2343, 2353, 2506
SAC's 110 Best of the NGC Objects - 2244, 2261 |
Ken Reeves | 3/1/1997 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Ophiuchus | Ophiuchus is responsible for holding the Serpent safely
in the sky and keeping him from striking down on all of us.
Herschel 400 Objects 6171, 6235, 6284, 6287, 6293, 6304, 6316, 6342, 6355 6356, 6369, 6401, 6426, 6517, 6633 SAC's 110 Best of the NGC Objects 6369, 6572, 6633 |
Ken Reeves | 7/1/1998 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Orion | Orion is probably one of the best known constellations
in the sky.
Herschel 400 Objects 1788, 1980, 1999, 2022, 2024, 2169, 2186, 2194 SAC's 110 Best of the NGC Objects 1788, 1973, 2022, 2024, 2194 |
Ken Reeves | 1/1/1998 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Orion (part 1) | Ken Reeves | 1/1/2001 | |
| Fuzzy Spot, Orion Part 2 | Ken Reeves | 2/1/2001 | |
| Fuzzy Spot, Pegasus | The great square of Pegasus is a sure sign of Fall.
The four stars, alpha, beta, gamma, and delta, form an almost perfect rectangle
with delta being slightly out of place.
Herschel 400 Objects 7217, 7331, 7448, 7479 SAC's 110 Best of the NGC Objects 7331 |
Ken Reeves | 10/1/1998 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Pegasus | Ken Reeves | 12/1/2002 | |
| Fuzzy Spot, Perseus | Perseus is one of the heroes in the sky, who rescued the chained up Andromeda from the great sea monster, Cetus. NGC 650/651, 869, 884, 1023, 1039, 1342, 1491, 1531, Mel 20 | Ken Reeves | 12/1/2000 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Perseus | Welcome to the first installment of the Fuzzy Spot
column. This column is a follow-on to Steve Coe's "What's Up"
column. Steve has some new projects he is working on and he asked me to
take over the DeepSky column. Herschel 400 Objects
650/651 (M 74), 869 and 884 (the Double Cluster), 1023, 1245, 1342, 1444, 1513, 1528, and 1545 SAC's 110 Best of the NGC Objects 869 and 884 (the Double Cluster), 1023, 1491 |
Ken Reeves | 1/1/1997 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Piscies | Pisces is home to faint galaxies. Unlike the spring
skies where many galaxies abound including some bright ones, those here
are
scattered and will test your observing skills. |
Ken Reeves | 11/1/1999 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Piscies Austrinus | Ken Reeves | 10/1/2001 | |
| Fuzzy Spot, Saggita | Ken Reeves | 9/1/2001 | |
| Fuzzy Spot, Sagittarius | Ken Reeves | 8/1/2002 | |
| Fuzzy Spot, Sagittarius | Welcome to one of the richest constellations in the
sky. You can find good examples of every type of deep sky object in this
constellation, with globular clusters being especially numerous. Herschel
400 Objects
6440, 6445, 6514, 6520, 6522, 6528, 6540, 6544, 6553, 6568, 6569, 6583, 6624, 6629, 6638, 6642, 6645, 6818 SAC's 110 Best of the NGC Objects 6445, 6520, 6818 |
Ken Reeves | 9/1/1998 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Scorpius, Serpens, and Libra | When I took up this column, one of the constellations
that I was excited about doing was Scorpius. When I looked into it, I was
very surprised to find out the there are only two Herschel 400 objects and
NO SAC 110 best of the NGC objects!
Herschel 400 Objects 5897, 6118, 6144, 6451 |
Ken Reeves | 7/1/1997 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Scutum | Scutum is a small constellation in the summer Milky
Way. The original name given by Hevelius was Scutum Sobiescianum (Sobieski's
Shield), but was shortened to Scutum by Flamsteed, both to make the name
more accessible, and to avoid favoring certain kings (John III Sobieski,
the king of Poland).
Herschel 400 Objects NGC 6664 SAC's 110 Best of the NGC Objects NGC 6712 |
Ken Reeves | 9/1/2000 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Scutum | Scutum is one of those tiny constellations that doesn't
have much going for it in the way of bright stars.
Herschel 400 Objects 6664, 6712 SAC's 110 Best of the NGC Objects 6712 |
Ken Reeves | 8/1/1997 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Taurus | Let's begin the new millennium (or start the last year of this millennium, however you chose) by looking at the bull. NGC 1514, NGC 1647, NGC 1746, NGC 1807, NGC 1817, NGC 1952, Mel 22, Mel 25, Simeis 147 or Sh2-240 | Ken Reeves | 1/1/2000 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Triangulum | Ken Reeves | 10/1/2001 | |
| Fuzzy Spot, Ursa Major | Ursa Major is probably the first constellation most
people learn to recognize (with the possible exception of Orion). Herschel 400 Objects 2681, 2742, 2768, 2787, 2841, 2950, 2976, 2985, 3034, 3077, 3079, 3184, 3198, 3310, 3556, 3610, 3613, 3619, 3631, 3665, 3675, 3726, 3729, 3813, 3877, 3893, 3898, 3938, 3941, 3945, 3949, 3953, 3982, 3992, 3998, 4026, 4036, 4041, 4051, 4085 4088, 4102, 5322, 5473, 5474, 5631 SAC's 110 Best of the NGC Objects 2841, 3077, 3079, 3184, 3675, 3877 3941, 4026, 4088, 4605 |
Ken Reeves | 5/1/1997 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Ursa Major | Ken Reeves | 6/1/2002 | |
| Fuzzy Spot, Ursa Major | Ursa Major is best known to most people as the Big
Dipper, but this asterism is only a small portion of the figure which forms
a bear.
Herschel 40 400 Objects 0 2681, 2742, 2768, 2787, 2841, 2950, 2976, 2985, 3034, 3077, 3079, 3184, 3198, 3310, 3556, 3610, 3613, 3619, 3631, 3665, 3675, 3726, 3729, 3813, 3877, 3893, 3898, 3941, 3945, 3949, 3953, 3982, 3992, 3998, 4026, 4036, 4041, 4051, 4085, 4088, 4102, 5322, 5473, 5474, 5631 SAC's 110 Best of the NGC Objects 2841, 3077, 3079, 3184, 3675, 3877, 3941, 4026, 4088, 4605 |
Ken Reeves | 5/1/2000 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Virgo | Ken Reeves | 4/1/2002 | |
| Fuzzy Spot, Virgo (west) | Virgo is such a large constellation and contains so
many objects that I like to split it up into three areas: North, South &
West Herschel 400 Objects
4900, 4958, 4995, 5054, 5363, 5364, 5566, 5576 5634, 5746, 5846 SAC's 110 Best of the NGC Objects 5746 |
Ken Reeves | 6/1/1997 |
| Fuzzy Spot, Vulpecula | Here is a faint constellation that sits between Cygnus
and Sagitta. It's brightest star, 13 Vulpeculae, is only mag 4.5 with Alpha sliding in slightly dimmer at 4.6. Herschel 400 Objects 6802, 6823, 6830, 6882, 6885, 6940 SAC's 110 Best of the NGC Objects 6940 |
Ken Reeves | 9/1/1998 |
| Gene Shoemaker | Below are two Web sites in memorial of Gene Shoemaker, who died on the afternoon of July 18, 1997. | 8/1/1997 | |
| Getting Started, Finding Your Way in The Sky, Part 2 | In Part 1 of this article we discussed the celestial coordinate system, right ascension, declination, and the "celestial clock." In this installment we'll see how the coordinates of a celestial object, a star, a Messier object, anything, can be used to locate that object. | Wil Milan | 3/1/1997 |
| Getting Started, Astrophotography for Everyone | Sooner or later every budding astronomer starts thinking about taking photos of the night sky. It's a natural progression: Seeing all those splendors in the eyepiece, who would not want to show them to others? And what better way than a photograph? And there are other reasons: The truth is that the human eye, marvel that it is, cannot accumulate light the way photographic film and CCD sensors do. | Wil Milan | 6/1/1997 |
| Getting Started, Astrophotography for Everyone, Part 2 | In the last article we discussed the equipment you need to do the simplest types of astrophotography: with a fixed camera and with an unguided piggyback camera. In this article we'll discuss the how-to of each of these. | Wil Milan | 7/1/1997 |
| Getting Started, Care and Feeding of Equatorial Mounts | This is the second installment of a two-part series on equatorial mounts. The first part ("The Selection and Breeding of Equatorial Mounts") discussed what equatorial mounts are, how they work, and the different types commonly available. In this installment we'll discuss how to use an equatorial mount and how to get the most from one. | Wil Milan | 12/1/1997 |
| Getting Started, Equipped and Organized | As you become more involved with astronomy you soon
end up with more and more, well, gadgets. At the outset perhaps you only
had some binoculars, then perhaps you bought a small telescope. With the
telescope there are of course multiple eyepieces and perhaps a Barlow lens,
a diagonal, finder scope, mount, and for the
mount perhaps a separate tripod, drive motors, batteries, cables, nuts and bolts, and more. |
Wil Milan | 4/1/1997 |
| Getting Started, Finding Your Way in The Sky, Part 1 | One of the most frustrating things for new (and often not-so-new) astronomers is being unable to find objects in the sky. You read about wonderful object XYZ and see it plotted on a sky chart, but somehow you just can't find it in the sky no matter how hard you try. | Wil Milan | 2/1/1997 |
| Getting Started, Now What? | An interest in astronomy can be an insidious thing. All your life the sky was always there, but you never noticed it much. Then one day something happened, a science class, a look through a friend's scope, perhaps a bright comet, and you were hooked. | Wil Milan | 11/1/1996 |
| Getting Started, Selection and Breeding of Equatorial Mounts | Sooner or later every astronomer longs for a good equatorial
mount. Most of us started with simple alt-azimuth mounts, often a glorified
photo tripod or perhaps a simple, sturdy Dobsonian mount. Others may have
started with a small department-store telescope on
a cheap equatorial mount, the kind of equatorial mount which drive many to swear off equatorials forever. |
Wil Milan | 11/1/1997 |
| Getting Started, The Christmas Scope | When one first develops an interest in astronomy the
natural temptation is to zip right out and buy a telescope. That's particularly
true during the Christmas season, when the itch to buy is in the air. I
won't try to talk you out of it; a telescope is, after all, a basic implement
of astronomy. But if you talk to most astronomers they'll
tell you their first telescope was a mistake. |
Wil Milan | 12/1/1996 |
| GPIDA, Greater Phoenix International Dark-Sky Association | There's a new "club" in town and we're looking
for some motivated people who want to make a difference. More on that later.
First a quick report on the annual International Dark-Sky Association (IDA)
meeting in Tucson. |
Sam Herchak | 8/1/2000 |
| Grasslands Observatory | Dark of the moon, Mitch Stanley, a new SAC member,
and I were invited to Grasslands Observatory near Tucson to meet astronomer
James McGaha and talk about Mitch's experience of seeing the "Phoenix
Lights" through his 10-inch Schwaar reflector. On March 13, Mitch was
in his backyard checking things out and at 65 power caught a V-shaped formation
of airplanes slowly creeping across
the sky over Scottsdale. He quickly moved on to other things, since he'd already seen way too many airplanes since getting the scope a year ago. He had no idea what a big foo-farrah would develop in the coming months after this one sighting, but that's another story. |
Jack Jones | 12/1/1997 |
| How to Stay Awake Past Your Bed Time | It's three in the morning and you have just completed another night of observing, stowed the equipment, and you are climbing into your car to drive home. | David Priest | 5/1/1997 |
| Images from the First SAC ATM Subgroup Meeting | Photos | Paul Dickson | 12/1/2000 |
| Images From the Grand Canyon Star Party | Paul Dickson | 8/1/2001 | |
| Images from the November 27th ATM Group Meeting | Paul Lind | 1/1/2002 | |
| In Gratitude to Pierre | Dan, Donna, Liz and Amy Ward | 4/1/2000 | |
| In Memoriam, Curtis L. Taylor, February 24 1944 - May 9, 2002 | 6/1/2002 | ||
| In Memorium STS-107, February 1st, 2003 | 2/1/2003 | ||
| In Memorium, JOHN E. HOLMQUIST, 1919 - 1996 Electrical Engineer, Telescope Maker & Observer | 4/1/2001 | ||
| In Memorium, Pete Jurca, 1942-1999 | 2/1/2000 | ||
| In Memorium, Pierre Pierre-Yves Schwaar, May 14, 1946 - March 6, 2000 | 4/1/2000 | ||
| In Memorium, Robert Fulton Goeff, December 23, 2001, Artist in Glass | Margie Vin-Williams & Paul Dickson | 2/1/2002 | |
| In Search of Moon Trees | Dr. Tony Phillips | 9/1/2002 | |
| IN THE TWINKLING OF AN EYE . . . | Dr. Peggy Kain | 4/1/2001 | |
| Invisible Tornadoes | Dr. Tony Phillips | 2/1/2003 | |
| Jones’ Hexagon | Gauging a dark sky is a necessary endeavor in finding the quality of observing one can expect for the coming night. I use Jones’ Hexagon, an eye-catching asterism (star pattern) of my own devise, to quickly check if it has become dark enough to commence serious observing, and also to find out just how good a supposed dark sky site really is. | Jack Jones | 4/1/2000 |
| Kamakaze Star Hopping | I joined a group of 6 other people for a Saturday observing session last November 9th at Sentinel. Five of the group had already spent the night before observing from the site. The evening sky was ominous. High clouds put in a strong appearance, attempting to cover the sky. | Paul Dickson | 7/1/1997 |
| Kitt Peak Cook-out & Star Party | Kitt Peak has allowed the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association (TAAA) to hold occasional cook-out star parties at its picnic area, located at 6500 feet elevation, about 1.5 miles below the summit. While these events are usually limited to about 30 attendees, they are allowing 50 this time, and I thought it would be nice to see if there was any interest in attendance from the Phoenix area. | Dean Ketelsen | 9/1/1996 |
| Large Crowd at Public Star Party | Well, we certainly had a lot of people who wanted to
see Comet Hale-Bopp, a lunar eclipse and Mars, all in one night. Just as
twilight started I walked around and counted 40 scopes set up and ready.
At least another 5 or so arrived during twilight. People to use those telescopes
started coming during twilight and seemed to never stop! I estimated 800
people from the length of the lines
at the scopes and the length of time that they persisted. |
Steve Coe | 4/1/1997 |
| LBT Mirror Update | In early April, after nearly 3 months of cooling, the
mirror finally dropped to room temperature. The LBT 8.4m mirror could finally
be inspected up close. When the mirror reach maximum temperature (1180±
C) on the Sunday morning after the Open House, the surface level of the
glass in the oven kept going lower and
lower. It was decided then, to end the maximum temperature point early and begin cooling the mirror while there was still enough glass to grind the mirror's surface. |
Paul Dickson | 6/1/1997 |
| Light Pollution Symposium | As this negative from a night satellite photograph illustrates, a tremendous amount of outdoor lighting (and 1.5 billion dollars of electricity in just the US each year) is wasted by lighting nothing but our night skies and outer space. | 9/1/2000 | |
| Lunar Eclipse at Chaco Canyon | Where is Chaco (CHALK coe) Canyon? It is located in the ultimate nowhere. And at first it also looks like nothing, an eroded crevice with sometimes running water and further, back not extremely tall canyon walls such as one would see at Canyon de Chelly (SHAY). | Marjory Vin Williams | 11/1/1996 |
| M 102 Controversy | Charles Messier compiled his "Catalogue of Nebulae and Star Clusters" during the years 1758 to 1781 (or 1782 if one counts the last additions by his colleague Pierre Mechain, which are contained in most modern versions of the catalog). Contrary to prior and contemporary observers who had a large number of errors (nonexistent objects) in their lists, the entries of his catalog correspond to actual astronomical objects in all cases, perhaps with one exception, his entry number 102 | Hartmut Frommert | 3/1/1998 |
| Magellan II Casting | The next Mirror Lab casting is predicted for mid-September. The Magellan II telescope is the second 6.5 mirror for the Carnegie Institute and when combined with Magellan I (on the same mountain top in Chile) will provide a powerful instrument for interferometry, similar to Keck I and II and the VLT. | Dean Ketelsen | 9/1/1998 |
| Meade ETX90, A Product Review | A bit of bad luck while stopped at a red light turned into a bit of money. And being interested in astronomy, that meant that I was soon looking for new astronomy toys to purchase. | Thad Robosson | 11/1/1999 |
| Memories of Pierre | 5/1/2000 | ||
| Memories of Pierre | 4/1/2000 | ||
| Mirror Cleaning Procedure | I have used several different procedures to clean mirrors, but they are mostly experimental and involve special materials and techniques. The following procedure is the classic tried-and-true and easiest method for cleaning an aluminized Newtonian-type astronomical mirror. | Jack Jones | 6/1/1996 |
| Moistron Theory All Wet | Concerning the publication of the "Milan Moistron Theory" in the September, 1997 (#248) issue of the Saguaro Astronomy Club's newsletter, SACNEWS; the theory is misdirected and based on faulty observation at best! In short it's all wet! | Michael Lerch | 10/1/1997 |
| More Than Heroes | Rick Tejera | 2/1/2003 | |
| New SAC Webmaster | 8/1/2002 | ||
| New Theory Explains Astronomical Weather | I've come up with a new theory which explains why it's always clear around a full moon, but often cloudy near a new moon. My new theory also explains why buying a new scope inevitably leads to a long string of cloudy nights. I hereby offer my new discovery for the good of mankind and for the understanding of astronomers everywhere, who will immediately grasp the truth of my theory. | Wil Milan | 9/1/1997 |
| No Excuse Not to Get Out and Look!, See Mars at its Best with the Right Filter | Jack Jones | 8/1/2001 | |
| No Leonid Storm Last Year | The title sort of gives away the conclusion of this article, but quite a bit occurred during the night. It was the last minute when I decided to go out and observe the Leonids on Friday, November 17. | Paul Dickson | 1/1/1996 |
| Northern Arizona Star Party Observing Site | Photo | 10/1/1998 | |
| Novice Group Meeting Clearly a Success | The Novice Group Meeting at the Buckeye Star Party was obviously a success. A short talk in twilight was followed by an observing session of a variety of astronomical showpieces. I counted 42 people at the twilight talk, followed by a question and answer session. | Steve Coe | 12/1/1997 |
| Novice Group Star Party Results | On Saturday, Oct. 10 the Novice Group held a star party at the club's Buckeye site. Steve Coe and A.J. Crayon gave a short talk during twilight on getting started taking pictures of the sky. Steve spoke on using a tracking mount for astrophotography and A.J. gave the group a demo on how to use your telescope for piggybacking a camera with a telephoto lens. | Steve Coe | 11/1/1998 |
| NY Moves To Regulate Illumination, Turning Out the Lights | Pradnya Joshi | 10/1/2001 | |
| Old Moon Observation Attempt | It was a clear, chilly Sunday morning at the Empire Ranch, one of the TAAA's observing sites about 50 miles southeast of Tucson. Set up that morning were six of us: Marjory Williams, Glenn Nishimoto, Hazel Lawler, Bill Waltz, Steve Redman and myself, waiting for an Old Moon to rise, just 14.2 hours from New. | Pierre-Y Schwaar | 1/1/1997 |
| On a Light Polluted Night, The Urban Observing Program | If you’ve been wondering what to do with your telescope during the week, or if you don’t have the time to get out to dark sky sites to observe, the Deep Sky group has an answer to your problem, The Urban Observing Program. | Rick Tejera | 9/1/2000 |
| People Wanted For Private Star Parties | The Saguaro Astronomy Club does at least three Public Star Parties during the year. Two are usually held in the Spring and another in the Fall. But less publicized are the private star parties. | Paul Dickson | 2/1/1996 |
| Phoenix Tour of the Moon | Alan Tolman | 1/1/2003 | |
| Pima County Passes Strict Light Law | The Pima County Board of Supervisors just voted 4-1 for the revised Outdoor Lighting Code. It sets a relatively strict cap in terms of lumens per acre for any new development, and requires full cut-off lighting for all but the internally lit signs. | Wayne P. Johnson | 10/1/2000 |
| Planetarium Programs | When I first started using planetarium programs on a home computer several years ago, I found them useful but at the same time, disappointing. Disappointing from an observing point of view because they just weren't accurate enough. | Sam Herchak | 2/1/1999 |
| Ramsden Eyepieces | I was at Fremont Peak State Park, near Salinas, California, on September 7{8, 1996. I did something I had been meaning to do for a while, but had kept forgetting: I brought along a set of Ramsden eyepieces, one each of inch, half-inch, and quarter-inch focal length. The Ramsden is a quite old design; it was first described in a 1782 paper by its inventor, Jesse Ramsden. | Jay Reynolds Freeman | 4/1/1997 |
| Ramsden Eyepieces, How They Work | The problem with color correction which Ramsden
eyepieces address so well, so simply, is chromatic difference of magnification, also known as lateral color or lateral chromatic aberration. The issue is, that if the focal length of an eyepiece is different in different wavelengths of light, then the magnification it produces will similarly vary with wavelength. |
Jay Reynolds Freeman | 4/1/1997 |
| Rating Eagle Eye | Last Month I ran an article about rating observing
sites. I promised a review of the Eagle Eye site based on the criteria mentioned
in the
article. Here it is along with some of my observations from that night. |
Rick Tejera | 11/1/1999 |
| Rating Your Observing Site | How can you evaluate an observing site? Experience is the best guide, but here is a checklist that will help you rate your site. | Rick Tejera | 10/1/1999 |
| Reflections, "Thank you" from the first recipient of the Burnham's Celestial Handbook Award | Steve Coe | 9/1/2002 | |
| Reflections, A Leonids Gallery | 12/1/2002 | ||
| Reflections, A Sunday Afternoon At the Very Large Array | Jennifer Keller | 8/1/2002 | |
| Reflections, A VISIT TO HARQUAHALA SOLAR OBSERVATORY, Sunday November 1, 1999 | After a night of off and on cloudy skies, accompanied by a friendly group of well lighted hunter/ campers, Jack Jones and I continued down the rest of the dirt road from our Eagle Eye Observing spot as far as two wheel drive would take us toward the top of Harquahala Peak to get a look at the old solar observatory that was abandoned in 1925. | Jennifer Keller | 1/1/2000 |
| Reflections, Blue Hills & A Rainbow with Three Last Names!!!, Observing from Stan Gorodenski’s Blue Hills Observatory | Jennifer Keller | 12/1/2002 | |
| Reflections, Christmas, an Eclipse and a Bicycle | Rick Tejera | 2/1/2001 | |
| Reflections, Eagle Eye and the Lion | The sunset was wooly scarlet with rose color at the
north and south ends. The goal was to go west, past the White Tanks and
into the
Harquahala Plain which has the spectacular jagged crest of the Eagle Tail Mountains to the south, the Big Horn Mountains to the east, and the Harquahala (mountain with? or without? water, we're not sure which) Mountains to the north. |
Marjory Vin Williams | 1/1/2000 |
| Reflections, Eagle Eye Revisited: A Close Encounter With the Beehive Cluster | Sixteen extreme optimists appeared out of the clouds
for a star party at E2 Saturday September 2nd. Early in the evening we were
able to
catch glimpses of Venus peeking out through a massive cloud bank to the west before it finally gave up and settled in for the night. |
Jennifer Keller | 10/1/2000 |
| Reflections, Flat Iron Mountain June 24 24-25th | I counted 19 vehicles at the site around the end of twilight. It was nice to get somewhat cooler (probably 90 deg. F) by 10:00 or so. I really enjoyed the view of the Double-Double (Epsilon Lyrae), both close pairs were split without doubt. | Steve Coe | 8/1/2000 |
| Reflections, Images of the June 10th Eclipse | 7/1/2002 | ||
| Reflections, March Madness | Rick Tejera | 5/1/2001 | |
| Reflections, My Last Night at Buckeye, 26 February 2000 | Everyone who attended this star party knew that tonight
will probably be the last evening that SAC would hold a viewing session
at the
Buckeye Hills Recreation Area. So, after 17 years of observing the sky from this park, it is time to move on to darker skies. |
Steve Coe | 4/1/2000 |
| Reflections, Observing at the Grand Canyon Star Party | Jennifer Keller | 8/1/2001 | |
| Reflections, The 2000 Northern Arizona Star Party | I had business to attend to on Friday evening, so I
arrived at the
Northern Arizona Star Party on Saturday morning. Immediately, someone told of the wind blowing the night before and how I had missed a pretty poor night of observing. |
Steve Coe | 11/1/2000 |
| Reflections, The 2002 Grand Canyon Star Party | Jack Jones | 8/1/2002 | |
| Reflections, The Sentinel Schwaar Star Gaze | The Sentinel Star Gaze was renamed to Sentinel Schwarr
Star
Gaze in dedication to long time friend, astronomer, optician and telescope maker Pierre Schwarr. This years event took place on Friday, April 28th and Saturday, April 29th. |
A.J. Crayon | 6/1/2000 |
| Reflections, Trip to Eagle Eye Observing Site | Well, the sky had stayed clear for several nights in
a row and Saturday did not disappoint a group of anxious observers. About
20
members of SAC decided to try out the new site at Eagle Eye Rd. about 75 miles from central Phoenix. |
Steve Coe | 11/1/1999 |
| SAC & Seti@Home | Eight SAC members have been contributing processing
time to the Seti@Home project. Below are the current statistics from midnight
of December 31st. |
Paul Dickson | 7/1/2000 |
| SAC Observing Programs, Part One, Shallow Sky and Basic Deep Sky | After having been the Deep Sky chairman for a long time, the time has come for an article about SAC observing projects. Some of which have been around for over 20 years and as club members you should know what is available. | A.J. Crayon | 2/1/2000 |
| SAC Observing Sites, Latitude / Longitude | A map with lat. / long. Callouts, and radial distances from downtown Phoenix | 10/1/2000 | |
| SAC's 110 Best of the NGC | At the April SAC meeting, copies of the book SAC's 110 Best of the NGC was shown and all copies sold out. | Paul Dickson | 5/1/1996 |
| Satellite Reentry | I believe I've identified the piece of space junk that reentered just after midnight at the Sentinel Star Gaze that made everyone say "WOW!!" | Adam Sunshine | 5/1/1996 |
| Say No to NEMA | Every astronomer dreads the "dusk to dawn security" lights that pop up all the time. My question is, "Why do people put up with them?" NEMA mercury vapor lighting has been outlawed by the State of Arizona for years! | Sam Herchak | 10/1/1998 |
| Scenes From the SAC Holiday Party | 1/1/2003 | ||
| Seeing Double, | It has been said that the road to Disneyland is paved
with good intentions, and such is the case of this month’s Seeing Double.
All
packed up, I headed out to my favorite dark site, Eagle Eye. |
Thad Robosson | 10/1/2000 |
| Seeing Double, | Thad Robosson | 12/1/2002 | |
| Seeing Double, | Thad Robosson | 11/1/2002 | |
| Seeing Double, | Hello, and welcome to the first installment of "Seeing
Double". To state the obvious, I’ll be writing on double stars. Not
just which ones are up in the sky, but on various topics about doubles and
their observation.
Doubles are City Slickers… It is entirely possible to view every double on the SAC Doubles list (and many others) from downtown |
Thad Robosson | 5/1/2000 |
| Seeing Double, | Hello all, welcome to May’s edition of Seeing Double.
As in any type of astronomy, it is the observer who determines to what degree
an
observation takes place. Some people may only hunt down the more colorful pairs, while others take very exacting measurements of quite obscure couples. |
Thad Robosson | 6/1/2000 |
| Seeing Double, | Thad Robosson | 9/1/2002 | |
| Seeing Double, | Did you know that the simple act of measuring double stars could yield some important scientific facts? Currently, the only way of pinning down a star’s mass is if it has a companion and the orbit of the companion is known. | Thad Robosson | 8/1/2000 |
| Seeing Double, | M40, The Littlest Messier | Thad Robosson | 5/1/2001 |
| Seeing Double, | If you’re like me, the monsoons have you pretty depressed by now. If it’s not the clouds, it’s all the crud in the air that keeps you from observing your favorite deep-sky objects. I would like to offer a cure from the cruddy sky blues...doubles, lots of them. | Thad Robosson | 9/1/2000 |
| Seeing Double, | Thad Robosson | 4/1/2002 | |
| Seeing Double, | Thad Robosson | 3/1/2002 | |
| Seeing Double, | The first thing I’d like to bring up is resources. Most atlases are resources in themselves. Even Sky Atlas has known doubles above a certain magnitude specially marked as double. All that’s left is to find out what the stats are. | Thad Robosson | 7/1/2000 |
| Seeing Double, | Thad Robosson | 9/1/2001 | |
| Seeing Double, | Thad Robosson | 6/1/2002 | |
| Seeing Double, | If you take any comprehensive list of double stars,
such as the Washington Double Star Catalog, or even the list in Sky Catalog
2000.0, vol. 2, you will find an absolutely staggering number of doubles.
Even more staggering is that so few people are responsible for finding this
incredibly large number of pairs. Here is a
brief synopsis of some of the pioneers of double star work. |
Thad Robosson | 11/1/2000 |
| Seeing Double, | Thad Robosson | 7/1/2001 | |
| Seeing Double, | Thad Robosson | 2/1/2001 | |
| Seeing Double, | Thad Robosson | 6/1/2001 | |
| Seeing Double, | Thad Robosson | 1/1/2001 | |
| Seeing Double, | 21+22 Tau, 27+BU Tau, Theta Tau, Eta Tau | Thad Robosson | 3/1/2001 |
| Seeing Double, | Thad Robosson | 4/1/2001 | |
| Seeing Double, | Thad Robosson | 8/1/2001 | |
| Seeing Double, | After making an alt/az mount with tripod for my little ETX, I can now say that I enjoy that little telescope. It’s only 90mm of aperture, but as I learned one recent Friday night, that 90mm can do some wonderful things. | Thad Robosson | 12/1/2000 |
| Seeing Double, First Light | Thad Robosson | 7/1/2002 | |
| Seeing Double, First Light Part 2 | Thad Robosson | 8/1/2002 | |
| Seeking the Edge of the Solar System | 9/1/2002 | ||
| Sentinel Cloud Gaze | Well, the Sentinel Star Gaze did not turn out for the best this year. The strong storm that dumped 2 feet of snow on Flagstaff just kept bringing in clouds from the south and we only had short periods when the clouds would part of a while to allow some observing. | Steve Coe | 5/1/1997 |
| Small Meade Equatorial Mounts: Old & New | A Product Review | Curits Taylor | 2/1/2000 |
| Spread the Word About Light Pollution | With the upcoming light pollution Symposium almost
upon us (see pages 8-9), your chance to help spread the word about light
pollution
has arrived with it. |
9/1/2000 | |
| Star Catalogues | It's occurred to me that most sci.astro.amateur readers
are completely unaware that several major changes are coming along soon
in the field of comprehensive star catalogues and star atlases. By about
this time next year, whatever you're using now (in both print and machine-readable
form) will be obsolete. Here's a summary of what's happening along with
some Web links for further
information, in case you want to get a head start. |
Brian Skiff | 10/1/1997 |
| Star Testing Telescopes, National Magazine Style | "Star testing at high power proved the optics to be quite good. The well-known Double Double, Epsilon Lyrae, was cleanly split and, at 600X, all four components were surrounded by diffraction rings. Views of Jupiter and the Moon were also sharp and pleasing" | Howard Moore | 6/1/1998 |
| Staying Warm on the Cheap, A Primer on Cold Weather Observing Gear | Tony Muller | 1/1/2003 | |
| Stone Mountain Marathon | With a cutoff low-pressure weather system hanging over
central Phoenix all week, the marathon for 2000 threatened to be a wash.
Right up until it was time to leave, the emails were flying; people were scrambling in search of "official" status and looking for clear skies. |
Steve Dodder | 7/1/2000 |
| Successful Novice Group Meeting | The April star party at Buckeye Hills was designated a Novice Group meeting to allow those new to astronomy to ask questions and get some answers about getting started observing the sky. There were 30 vehicles at the site by the time it started to get dark and approximately 50 people ready to take advantage of a nice, clear night. I gave a short talk on star party etiquette and a quick introduction to which constellations were starting to appear as the sky got dark. | Steve Coe | 5/1/1998 |
| T.A.A.A.'s Kitt Peak Cook-out & Star Party | Early October was a time of Star Parties. I skipped SAC's star party at Buckeye Hills on October 5 in favor of the Tucson Amateur Astronomical Association's (TAAA) Kitt Peak Cook-out & Star Party. I figured the sky would be a lot better on Kitt Peak at 7000 feet than at Buckeye Hills at 1300 feet. I figured it correctly. | Paul Dickson | 12/1/1996 |
| Taming the NGC's | How many NGC objects can I see with my telescope? How many planetaries are in the NGC catalog? How many NGC objects are double stars? Triple stars? What IC object is a photographic plate defect? Rainman Software has created a program called NGCView that they call the premier observational planning and logging software for the deep-sky astronomer. | Jack Jones | 7/1/1996 |
| Telescope Cradle | A cradle to safely transport your telescope tube can be easily fabricated. I came up with the idea and several members of the Sun City West Astronomy Club now have them. The photos show the final result. | Chuck Hilliker | 4/1/1998 |
| Telrad Hopping | How do I find M75! It's out in the middle of nowhere without any bright guide stars to start from! I've been spending hours trying to find it! | Ken Reeves | 9/1/1996 |
| Texas Star Party '95 | Night life in West Texas takes on a special meaning
every May as hundreds of dark sky seekers converge on Prude Ranch, located
just outside Fort Davis, Texas. The [people at TSP] impressed
me as being highly-knowledgeable deep sky observers |
Bernie Sanden | 2/1/1996 |
| The 1996 Messier Marathon at a Glance | Well the 1996 All-Arizona Messier Marathon has come and gone. It was a lot of frustrating, tedious work, but I saw one more object than my one and only previous marathon two years ago. | Paul Dickson | 4/1/1996 |
| The 2000 All-Arizona Messier Marathon Final Standings | A.J. Crayon | 6/1/2000 | |
| The 2002 All-Arizona Messier Marathon | A.J. Crayon | 6/1/2002 | |
| The 90mm Refractor, A Serviceable Piece of Merchandise (Meade Polaris EQ-90) | I am up to my old antics again and have done another consumer test of inexpensive locally available, yet fun-to-use astronomical telescopes, while at the same time testing Service Merchandise's patience and liberal return policy (See "The Tasco Caper," April 1996 SACNEWS). This time it's the Meade Polaris EQ-90 equatorial 90mm f/11 refractor, being offered at Service merchandise for $500, usually on sale for $450. | Jack Jones | 9/1/1998 |
| The Big Melt | About a decade ago, as I hear the tale, a man by the
name of Roger Angel charged off to a Tucson K-Mart and bought a bunch of
Pyrex pie plates. He then proceeded to melt melt them. He was pleased with
the result. On Saturday, January 18, 1997, he melted 41, 942 pounds of Pyrex-like
glass to make the first of the two primary mirrors for the Large Binocular
Telescope (LBT), a joint
U. of A. / Arcetri Observatory project, being erected on Mount Graham. |
Marjory Vin Williams | 6/1/1997 |
| The Diffuse Nebulae Complexes of the Southern Winter Sky | Diffuse nebula are not randomly strewn about in the sky, rather they are confined to a narrow region centered on the Galactic Plane. A particularly fascinating area for telescopic study can be found in the southern winter Milky Way. | Richard Jakiel | 2/1/1998 |
| The Dugas Star Party, A.K.A. "I can't make it to the Grand Canyon Star Party" | Saturday, June 15th was a star party at the Dugas Road meadow for those of us who were not able to get all the way up the Grand Canyon for the observing session there. | Steve Coe | 7/1/1996 |
| The Perseids are Coming! The Perseids are Coming! | If you're talking about meteors, then the shower to talk about is the Perseids. This year, the moon will factor very little into observing the shower with the shower occurring just 2 days before the new moon. | Paul Dickson | 8/1/1996 |
| The Pierre -Yves Schwaar Scholarship Fund | Rick Tejera | 9/1/2001 | |
| The Tasco Caper | It occurred to me the other night, as Mars sat up there looking back at me and I contemplated lugging Big Boy out of the workshop and setting it all up to have a peek: What do I really know about those little light-weight cheapy refractors except what the authoritative sources have told me? | Jack Jones | 4/1/1996 |
| The Times, They are A’Changin’ | Rick Tejera | 3/1/2001 | |
| The Twin Points Observatory Under Construction | 4/1/2002 | ||
| The Urban List | Num Name CON RA(2000) Decl Typ Mag Notes | 9/1/2000 | |
| Thoughtful Donation Kick Kick-starts the SAC ATM Subgroup | Several weeks ago, a thoughtful person contacted Peggy
Kain about a "telescope" that had been left behind by the previous
inhabitants of her home. As it turns out, the "telescope" was
actually
several boxes of telescope pieces that the donator’s sister was getting ready to throw away. |
Thad Robosson | 9/1/2000 |
| Training for The "Other March Madness" | Mention March Madness to most people and they think of basketball, me, I think of the Messier Marathon. | Rick Tejera | 4/1/2000 |
| Uranometria 2000.0 Second Edition, a BOOK REVIEW | Thad Robosson | 1/1/2002 | |
| Vekol Lions | Scientific discussion, regarding the Leonid Meteor Shower, conducted the night of November 16th and early morning of the 17th, at Vekol Wash, Arizona, among members of the Astronomical Society of Kansas City, Missouri, and Arizona's East Valley Astronomy Club and Saguaro Astronomy Club: | Marjory Vin Williams | 1/1/1999 |
| Viewing Pluto | It is approaching that time of the year when Pluto is closest to the Earth and thus at its brightest. To the right is a coarse finder chart, with a much more detailed chart given below. | Paul Dickson | 4/1/1996 |
| Walter Scott Houston’s “Deep Sky Wonders”, A book review | Thad Robosson | 2/1/2002 | |
| What's Up, Aquila | Aquila is a constellation that has always presented a puzzle to me. That is: why isn't there a nice, bright Messier object located within its' borders? | Steve Coe | 9/1/1996 |
| What's Up, Best Tips | Well, here we are at the last "What's Up" for a while and I think I will end with some of the most important things I have learned about going out to observe the night sky. These are in no order of importance, just some things to think about. | Steve Coe | 12/1/1996 |
| What's Up, Cancer | I have been using Position Angle (PA) to mark the angle of elongation of deep sky objects for several years. I find it useful to make certain that I am observing the same object seen by Herschel or other observers. | Steve Coe | 3/1/1996 |
| What's Up, Centaurus | I have always loved a good view of a globular cluster. No other object for me seems so three dimensional as a these beautiful globes of stars. | Steve Coe | 5/1/1996 |
| What's Up, Delphinus | NGC 6891, NGC 6905, NGC 6934, NGC 6956, NGC 7006, PK59-18.1 | Steve Coe | 8/1/1996 |
| What's Up, Draco | I have had a chance to take a look at the Cambridge
Atlas of Galaxies, thanks to Gerry Rattley for bringing this two volume photographic atlas to the Deep Sky meeting. A.J. Crayon and I were both struck by the wild variety of galaxy shapes. |
Steve Coe | 6/1/1996 |
| What's Up, Leo | Leo is another of those constellations that seems to be a bottomless pit. Several of the Spring constellations are so full of galaxies that even after several good nights in Leo, Virgo or Ursa Major, there are still plenty of objects to observe. | Steve Coe | 4/1/1996 |
| What's Up, Ophiuchus | Planetary nebulae have always been a source of fascination for me. I know that the first time I saw the Ring Nebula and then the Dumbbell Nebula in one night with my first telescope, an 8" f/6, I was hooked. | Steve Coe | 7/1/1996 |
| What's Up, Piscies Austrinus | If you are observing galaxies in Pisces Austrinus, then it is probably getting chilly while you are observing. | Steve Coe | 10/1/1996 |
| What's Up, Puppis | Puppis is one of those constellations that just comes along with the Messier catalog. As observers decide to learn the sky more thoroughly, many set out to see the list of Charles Messier for themselves. | Steve Coe | 2/1/1996 |
| What's Up, Sculptor | Sculptor is one of those constellations that have few bright stars, but there are some very nice deep sky objects to pick out, even in such a star-barren area of the sky. | Steve Coe | 11/1/1996 |
| What's Up, Taurus | The constellation of the Bull is easily recognized because of the fact that it is composed of two, large, bright open clusters. | Steve Coe | 1/1/1996 |
| Why Not Start With A Pair of Binoculars? | Steve Willis | 10/1/2001 | |
| You Know You’re a Deep Sky Buff… WHEN | 10/1/2002 |