Recent Society News:

The Astronomical Society of Harrisburg lost a good friend on Saturday, February 5, 2005. Former Vice President and Newsletter Editor Wanda French Wilson passed away at age 68. Wanda will be remembered for her service and unselfish gifts to the Society. The French Dome at the Observatory is named in honor of her father. Wanda gave a generous gift to the Society's 1970's Fundraising Effort to purchase a new 16" Cave Newtonian for our Dome (which replaced our member-made 12.5" Dall Kirkham Cassegrain) and she was in turn granted naming rights for the existing building. Wanda was an astronomy aficionado and traveled to see 8 total solar eclipses with her husband, David Jordan, a fellow ASH Member. In fact, Wanda and Dave, wed at ASH's Naylor Astronomical Center. Wanda was also part of a "historic" event in ASH's history (and MAYBE Astronomy Club History in general) from 1978-1980! Women filled 3 of ASH's 4 officer positions. Charlotte Thompson served as President for 2 terms, Wanda Wilson served as Vice President for 2 terms, and Margaret Black and Mary Eichelberger split the Secretary terms, while Bob King and James Suter split terms as Treasurer. Wanda will be missed and our thoughts are with her family and husband. Wanda's obituary can be found here.

The last Public Observing Session of 2004 was held on November 14 at 6:00 PM. The session featured the first time in which the Society's New Observatory was opened for the public viewing of the heavens. "Wow," "What a building, this is an excellent setup," "Absolutely Marvelous," and "Look at these Scopes" were some of the comments heard by visitors as they peered through the Observatory's Meade 14" LX200GPS Telescope and Celestron C-14 14" Telescope. Views of M-27 (the Dumbbell Nebula) and Globular Cluster M-15 were had through the Meade and views of M-57 (the Ring Nebula) and of the NGC 869/884 (the Double Cluster) were had through the C-14. The new observatory greatly complimented the Society's armada of other permanently mounted scopes that night, our 17" Classical Cassegrain under the French Dome and our 12.5" Cave Newtonian in the Culver Building, which continue to amaze viewers who peer through them. The new building effectively doubles the amount of permanently mounted scopes onsite at the observatory allowing for a plethora of different objects to be viewed by members and the public through a variety of different scopes. And as always members of the Society had their own telescopes setup for viewing on Naylor's Observing Pad to give attendees an idea of what type of equipment is attainable and available for purchase by them to explore the night sky. Our 2005 Public Observing Schedule has been announced and the first session of 2005 will be held in March. We look forward to seeing you, your family and friends out at Naylor for a wonderful night under the stars in 2005! General Information on attending a public observing session is posted here.

ASH's New Observatory features two 14" Schmidt-Cassegrains (SCTs) inside as approved by the ASH Membership. Schmidt-Cassegrains are classified as Catadioptric Telescopes. One of the 14" telescopes in the observatory is an Orange Tube Celestron C-14. The C-14 is generously being placed on long-term loan to the Society by a long-time friend of the Society. The C-14 is a valued addition to the optical armada at the Naylor Observatory. As opposed to our Meade 14", the Celestron 14" is not computerized or go-to and will offer observers the opportunity to go "manual" with a large Schmidt-Cassegrain. However, the telescope will have Optical Encoders and a Small Computer attached to it, making it a "Push-To" telescope for those who opt to find hard to find objects using the assistance of a computer. The C-14 is also perfectly setup for Astrophotography. ASH installed the telescope in the New Observatory on November 13, 2004!

The Astronomical Society of Harrisburg hosted the Public at the ASH Naylor Astronomical Center in Lewisberry, PA to view a total lunar eclipse on Wednesday, October, 27, 2004. Approximately 100 people were onhand to watch the event unfold which in the beginning was cloud free, then clouded out, and then the total phase was observed through several different "sucker" holes. This was the last Total Lunar Eclipse visible IN ENTIRETY from this area until February 21, 2008! Special thanks to WHP Channel 21 for covering the Event and presenting an excellent well-rounded story on the Event! Thanks also to all those who ventured out, we hope to see you again soon!
More information on this total lunar eclipse and why it happened is available at NASA's Eclipse Site.
ASH's Press Release on the Lunar Eclipse and our activities we held for the event is posted here.

On May 13, 2004 a nice sized group of Astronomical Society of Harrisburg members traveled south to near Wrightsville, PA to view a predicted eclipse of the planet Jupiter by the International Space Station (ISS) along with other amateur astronomers from the area. There is little margin of error for making a mistake in locating a suitable place where it can be seen and orbital elements change constantly, so no success is guaranteed. We took our chances! Being in the right place for something like this to be observed is essential. To see the Space Station to pass in front of Jupiter you'd have to be in the right spot on the Earth (an area about 250 feet wide or so) to see the station cross Jupiter. If you were too far one direction or another you wouldn't see it, the Station would just skirt to one side of the planet in close proximity. Predictions lead us to believe we were in the right location but the Station passed a tad south of the Jovian Planet Jupiter. While Jupiter wasn't eclipsed it was a near miss and a dramatic site! We'll keep our fingers crossed for better success and chances next time! An article further describing what happened on May 13 is available at NASA's Science Website.
Did you know that seeing the Space Station isn't that rare? It makes passes over the Central Pennsylvania area all the time! What was rare about this pass was the pass brought it mighty close to the Giant Planet Jupiter! However, on any given night the Station glides past many different stars. Want to know how to see the Space Station and what makes it possible? Well, the International Space Station can be the brightest object in the night sky - besides the Moon. All of the light we see when we see the station comes from reflected sunlight; the ISS does not produce any visible light of its own. When the Space Station is seen down on Earth, when it's dark and we're out looking for it, the sun is at an angle where the Station is still lit by the sun. That's why we're seeing it! Later in the night or earlier in the morning when the Sun is at an angle that isn't near sunrise or sunset for us the Station is passing us unlit so we don't see it in the "middle" of the night. The ISS orbits the Earth every 90 minutes at a speed of over 17,000 mph. When it is directly overhead, it is about 400 kilometers (250 miles) high. It also passes over every continent except Antarctica, but people who live at higher than 60 degrees latitude, north or south, cannot see the ISS because of its orbital path. So we're in the right spot on Earth here in central PA to see the ISS! To see when the ISS Passes over where you live visit Heavens-Above.Com. Complete details on the multi-nation International Space Station Project is available here. Happy Space Station Spotting!

Currently, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit sits near Bonneville Crater on Mars headed toward a range of low hills in the distance that may hold further clues about the planet's geologic composition. It originally landed in Gusev Crater where its empty lander, the Columbia Memorial Station, still sits. Gusev was believed to possibly be a dried up lakebed. Spirit uncovered evidence of water in the Gusev region but results clearly show not as much was there as at Opportunity's landing site. The other rover "Opportunity" has now exited the small impact crater dubbed Eagle Crater which it landed in after completing an interplanetary "hole in one" and is now traversing Meridiani Planum towards a far off larger crater. The only evidence of the Opportunity in Eagle Crater is its empty lander, the Challenger Memorial Station. Meridiani is an area on Mars rich with hematite, which traditionally forms on Earth in either purely volcanic areas or areas with iron-rich lakes or oceans. Opportunity was the luckiest of the rovers landing in an area that has now been proven to be once filled with water. To date 2 major announcements regarding Opportunity's findings have been made. After thorough investigation it is believed Opportunity is now parked on what was once the shoreline of a salty sea on Mars. The quest to explore Mars is still on, and the rovers continue to provide details about water on Mars having already successfully completed their primary mission of finding water!
ASH Members are probably as wrapped to their TV's and the internet as the rest of the world to follow the exciting Spirit and Opportunity Missions! And in the "spirit" of discovery ASH wishes the NASA Mars Exploration Rover Team the best of luck in "following the water" on Mars. ASH specifically owes the Red Planet Mars a lot of thanks! This past summer Mars Fever swept through the area and brought thousands to our observatory to view the planet during its close 2003 opposition. And now Mars has been nice to the two NASA rovers allowing them to safely land on its surface. If you're interested in staying updated on the Spirit and Opportunity Missions, we suggest you visit either the NASA Mission site or SpaceFlight Now.

ASH is branching out and expanding its astronomical capabilities! Currently, ASH only houses equipment to view the universe in the visible wavelength of light. There's a whole spectrum of other ways to view the universe, such as infrared, x-ray, gamma ray, radio, and more. ASH will be adding the capability to peer into the radio wavelength of astronomy this spring! Now our members and the public will see how the universe looks different at different wavelengths of light! The 12-foot radio telescope we will be installing will explore notable radio sources observable from our latitude and enable us to expand our programs by allowing us to receive NASA TV at our Naylor Astronomical Center. The dish is coming to the observatory through ASH's cooperation with the West Shore School District. TOGETHER we seek to improve science education to the students and residents of this area. More information on what can be done when observing the sky through a radio telescope is available here.

Thanks to the Continued Success of our Capital Campaign (which runs during our 2003 Fiscal Year April 2003-April 2004) we are now proceeding with Phase 2A. Phase 2A includes the remounting of the telescope currently in the Culver Roll-Off Building, a 12 1/2" Cave Newtonian. The current manufacturer-supplied mount was undersized for the 12 1/2" telescope and was more suited to handle Cave's 10" Newtonian. The new mount, on order, features excellent tracking capabilities as well as Go-To technology. If you put the two mounts specs side by side (gear sizing, bearing sizes, shaft sizes, etc.) the new proposed mount blows our old mount out of the water. The purchase of the new MI-250 mount was approved by our General Membership at the February 2004 Meeting. As was said earlier, the current 12 1/2" mount was suited more for Cave's 10" Scope, and luckily ASH has one of those we are looking to remount too! The current 12 1/2" mount will be put to use on ASH's 10" Cave Newtonian, these are exciting times for ASH, TOGETHER WE'RE REACHING OUR GOALS!

Many exciting things are happening in this Society! The Society has received an 18" Mirror Blank which will be made into an 18" Dobsonian telescope! The telescope, larger in aperture than any telescope at the Naylor Astronomical Center, will be a truss-tube Dobsonian in design and will be able to be moved out onto the grounds of the Naylor Astronomical Center for viewing. The telescope will also travel with ASH on Official Functions/Events. We estimate having the new telescope in operation sometime in the future! Stay tuned for more details and updates on this exciting project!