Explorit Science Center

C L U B E V E N T S

Come to our next meeting, at 7:30 p.m. on March 23 at Explorit. The evening's topic will be "Making Comets and Comet Flipbooks".

We will also see what club member Ben Granett has recorded during his long-term telescopic observations of sunspots. Ben is one of the few members who has followed a consistent observing schedule with his telescope. Regular, daily observation is a hallmark of the amateur solar astronomer. Perhaps the most faithful observer was Heinrich Schwab, who, in 1843, observed the sun's surface 312 days out of the year. He went on to record the sun's appearance almost every clear day for 17 years. From Schwabe's records came the dramatic revelation that sunspots occur in regular cycles of 11.2 years.

Making Comet Flipbooks is the fourth in the Club's series on constructing astronomical instruments. Our earlier devices: astrolabes, planispheres and starframes, stressed the regular cycles of the Sun, Moon and stars. Comets and meteors demonstrate irregular and unexpected changes.

We will show what sort of materials go into making a comet by building a comet nucleus at the meeting (moving it out of Earth's gravitational field will not be attempted); and we will make flipbooks illustrating how most comets move in their orbits around the sun.

Weather permitting, we will try to glimpse Comet Hyakutaki--Japanese amateur astronomer Yuji Hyakutak's second comet discovery, and the third comet discovered in 1996. This eagerly awaited comet may come within 8 million miles of Earth on March 25, and may be as bright as Betelgeuse (the bright reddish star in Orion) for the first few weeks in April. Comet Hyakutaki will be well placed for viewing because it will be near the "North Star" (Polaris). In late April it will dive south and move away from Earth toward the Sun, perhaps brightening again as the increasing heat and "solar wind" vaporize icy material on the comet's surface. We will have more information on Comet Hyakutake at the meeting--new comets, such as this one, are very unpredictable!

FEBRUARY'S MEETING was an introduction to making Starframes. Starframes are transparent maps of constellations. They are made using a coat hanger, plastic wrap, and white paint. We experimented with a variety of materials and we were fortunate to have (generally) clear skies for testing them. We also viewed Venus and the Orion nebula through the telescope. Thanks to Tim Feldman for introducing the constellations to many new members.

WHAT'S UP IN MARCH?

Get out your planisphere and catch sight of these fabulous constellations in the evening sky around 8:00 p.m. in mid-February. (1) in the West: Pegasus (the Horse); (2) overhead: Perseus (the Hero);

Auriga (the Charioteer); (3) in the South Orion (Hunter); Canis Major (Big Dog) (4) in the East Gemini (the Twins); Leo (Lion) and in the Northeast: Ursa Major (Big Dipper). Weather permitting, we'll point them out at our meeting.

MARCH PLANETS

Most of the planets appear too near the sun for observation this month.

Venus and Jupiter are the most easily visible.

SUNSETS (after 5:30) Venus is now at its highest elevation above the western horizon at sunset-. Viewed through a telescope, it looks like a larger and larger half moon each night. Saturn is below and to the right of Venus, sinking into the sun's glare around the middle of the month.

SUNRISE (around 7:00) Jupiter, where the space probe Galileo is now in orbit, is the brightest "morning star" at sunrise in the southeast.

The Astronomy Club is hosted by Dennis Smith with the assistance of Tim Feldman and other eager astronomy buffs. The club is for everyone - adults, children, knowledgeable or ignorant. Come to listen, look and learn, or to share your expertise or experience.