2019 January Meridian
| Newsletter of the Quad Cities Astronomical Society www.qcas.org | January 2019
QCAS Mission Statement: To stimulate an interest in the science of astronomy in the Quad Cities Area, to nurture an ongoing desire by Quad Cities Astronomical Society members to study the cosmos and to provide members of our community opportunities to experience the beauty and joy of Astronomy. |
Presidents Greeting:
Welcome to 2019 and the first electronic only edition of the Meridian! I am working on the best way to present the newsletter on our new site, but my intent going forward is to set up each monthly Meridian in 2 sections… a section that is available for guests to read and a section for members only. The guests section will contain the less business related portions of our meetings while the members section will be more business and meeting minutes oriented. I believe that you can subscribe to both sections and receive monthly notifications that they are there. Also, as in any forum, you’ll be able to reply to each Meridian post with any corrections, comments, concerns that you may have regarding that issue and its contents…. Pretty cool!
We are always interested in hearing about things you’d like the club to be involved in, how we can further your interests in the hobby, and help you make the most of your time as a member of the QCAS. It is the Boards responsibility to hear you and figure out ways to best implement those ideas. With the new web site, you’ll have an additional means to communicate your thoughts, and we look forward to hearing them. With a little luck, seeing suggestions and answers and actions on line may entice some of you to seek officer positions… we can only grow through your involvement! Let’s see if we can get 2019 started with a bang!
Clear Skies, Jeff
Last Society Meeting Minutes:
Date/Time Location
6:30 PM on Monday, December 17th, 2018
McCarthy Hall, St. Ambrose University, Davenport, IA
Attendance (13 in attendance)
Jeff Struve, Sam Santiago, Byron Davies, Cecil Ward, Mike Dannenfeldt, Robert Mitchell, Don Robinson, Rusty Case, Ken Boquist, Alan Sheidler, Paul Levesque, Ian Spangenberg, Matt Neilssen
Discussion and Topics
2019 Officers – Congratulations!
President – Jeff Struve
Vice President – Mike Ombrello
Treasurer – Matt Neilssen
Secretary – Robert Mitchell
Director – Dana Taylor
Facilities – Mike Dannenfeldt
Publicity – Paul Levesque
Programming – Jim Rutenbeck
Outings –
Dec 06 – Josue (Sunset to Sunrise!) to Menke
Dec 08 – Ken, Sam, Rusty, Jeff to Menke
Dec 09 – Ken imaging at private property near Joy, IL
Dec 09 – Jim imaging
Dec 10 – Byron imaging
Dec 10 – Alan imaged comet
Dec 15 – PAC
Dec 15 QCAS
- Trouble setting up gear in dark; Ken handled crowds for first 40 minutes
- Pleasant Valley people brought scopes
Dec 16 – Ken backyard imaging
Gear –
Mike Dannenfeldt – Nebula Filters, 2019 S&T Observation Calendar, and Pocket Atlas
Sam: narrow-band filters for Horizon camera, LRGB filters, power hub, focuser
Byron: CGM from doctor in Bettendorf
Alan: Nikon D7500 camera
Rusty: Nikon D5200 camera
Jeff Struve – 10 Micron GM1000HPS mount and AstroMi MGP Weather Station
Main Presentations
Jeff Struve – handed out the last of the annual banquet awards
Jeff Struve – Discuss how we can create a group activity to detect exoplanets with our own personal gear.
- sharpcap.co.uk: monthly fee for versions higher than 3.0; earlier versions free
- AstroImageJ: free program, takes images and graphs light curve
- YouTube: The Exoplanets Channel
Matt Neilssen – the new web site www.QCAstro.org
- Admins monitor all posts and will fix mistakes
- Member galleries: uploaded photos will self-publish once your gallery is set up; astronomy-related photos only
Other Discussion
Messier Marathon – Open Discussion
Astronomy Day – Open Discussion
Meteor Shower Party – Open Discussion
Eastern Iowa Star Party – Open Discussion
Observatory Relocation – Open Discussion
St. Ambrose University, “The Buzz Magazine” November Issue
Review of Minutes
The November Minutes as per the December Meridian were approved.
Treasures Report
Membership Dues – Registration and renewal in progress
General Fund – $6865.35
Observatory Relocation Fund – TBD
Total Balance – $6865.35
Old Business
- The doors at McCarthy Hall are kept locked when school is not in session. Those months are as follows: January, May, June, July, and December… On those meeting dates, the doors will be open from 6:30 PM and locked again at 7:15 PM. If you are running late, and need access after 7:15, text Jeff at 309-737-0206 and he’ll send someone to let you in. We hold a brief social/Open Discussion time from 6:30 until the meeting starts at 7:00 PM.
Please check your email and/or Facebook for potential last minute room change information!
- Observatory Relocation
- We discussed the continuing endeavor to relocate the Jens Wendt Observatory to the Menke observatory site. We feel that a 24’ X 36’ structure will meet our needs in housing the 20” and 16” Newt’s as well as additional pads/piers for member use.
- Karl Adlon recommended Steve Gripp, http://stevegrippinc.com/ to move our scopes and dome from Sherman Park to WREEC
- Robert sent a request for reference to St. Ambrose University to help legitimize our building new structures at Menke. Upon their reply, Jeff will send out similar letters to WREEC and Scott County.
- Robert scheduled a meeting with Paul Koch, Paula McNutt, Jodi Prosise, and Mike Poster to discuss the project and talk about a reference letter. Along with Robert, Jeff, Jim and George were in attendance. We also discussed grants and Nikki DeFauw and Regina Matheson will lend a hand in helping us with that task. We also discussed the need for insurance. This might be best obtained by joining the Astronomical League where insurance can be purchased at a large discount.
- Jeff sent initial specifications – building use, proposed size, and telescope dimensions – to Stefan Reichmann, Teleskop-Schutzbauten.de, http://teleskop-schutzbauten.de/ . Stefan advised he would help with plans and specs, w/o charge, if he could place the project on his website.
- Jeff sent initial specifications – building use, proposed size, telescope dimensions – to Scott Horstman of Back Yard Observatories for review. Scott gave an estimate of $24,000.00 for materials (including motor) and labor in constructing the building on our slab. We install piers, scopes, and hook up electrical facilities. Scott offered to provide CAD sketches for our draftsman. They do not do Dome structures.
New Business
- Facilities
- Need Mouse repellent for the observatory
- 16” Drive not working
- Lock on Roll Off Roof Bldg is sticking
- Timer for heater
- Future Presentations:
- Nebulae Presentation for the public – Jeff Struve
- Alan Sheidler has a number of presentations available
- Steve VanHyfte will talk on the LA, Observatory, Crater, Dark Skies….
Adjournment
After the meeting, members were invited to continue the discussion at the Village Inn just a few blocks from St. Ambrose… those attending included Sam Santiago, Mike Dannenfeldt, Jim Rutenbeck, Byron Davies, and
Next Society Meeting:
Date/Time Location
6:30 PM on Monday January 21st, 2019
McCarthy Hall, St. Ambrose University, Davenport IA
January Presentation
Jan – TBD
Feb – Dr. Mitchel on AES
Presentations for future meetings include Steve VanHyfte on Meteor Crater, AZ, Christian Allen on weather forecasting, Jeff Struve on Nebulae for public outreach, and Alan Sheidler on topics to be agreed upon. Contact Jim Rutenbeck or Jeff Struve if you’d like to make a presentation.
Other Business
- 20” Newt Refurb
Last Board Meeting Minutes:
Date/Time Location
Monday, December 3rd, 2018
6:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Village Inn – Elmore, Davenport
Attendance
Jeff Struve – Present
Craig Cox – Present
Robert Mitchell – Present
Matt Neilssen – Absent
Mike Dannenfeldt – Present
Jim Rutenbeck – Present
Dana Taylor – Absent
GUESTS
Mike Ombrello – Present
Paul Levesque – Absent
Steve VanHyfte – Absent
Agenda
- 2019 board meetings on 1st Wed… Jan is on the 16th
- November Dinner Meeting November 19 – Annual Dinner
- 6:00 social 6:30 Meal
- 2019 EISP
- Speakers
- Lee Carkner
- Natalie Batalla
- Scott Roberts
- Sheldon
- Doug Slauson
- Fee
- $15 for Star Party and Speakers
- $10 for Electricity
- Jens Wendt Observatory Relocation to the Menke site
- 8/10 Meeting with St. Ambrose to discuss the project and reference letter.
- Grant Committee
- Steve VanHyfte wrote a cover letter/introduction
- Attendance Books
- Separate account for Observatory Fund
- Need document from IRS on 501
- Craig Cox has drawn up the sketches and artist rendition
- George Bailey, Jim Rutenbeck, and Alan Sheidler are compiling list of grantors.
- Carver
- Other Details:
- Roll off Roof Building – 24’ X 36’
- Piers for 16” and 20” Newtonians and room for tripod mounted scopes
- Poured floor – Expansion joints to eliminate vibrations
- Roll off Roof building to be frame, Dome Building to be concrete block for aesthetically matching the current structures – have a warm room for PC remote control?
- 6’ walls with an additional 18” wall built onto roof for head room when roof is closed
- Additional electrical capacity
- Additional pads w/electricity outside
- Make sure Wi-Fi band width is sufficient
- Mitchell will check for the Menke Roll Off Building plans and see if their Engineering Class will take on drawing prints and materials list for our building. Jeff has pics of the plans.
- Stefan Reichmann of Teleskop-Schutzbauten provided an online 3D model of the project and will try to have additional specifications ready by Sept 1.
- Scott Horstman of Backyard Observatories gave an estimate of $24K for a 24’X32’ roll off roof structure including motor. This would be on our slab, with us doing all electrical and pier work.
- Steve VanHyfte wrote a cover letter/introduction
- Web Site
- PayPAl
- Will contain Treasurer Info (Board Member Access), Minutes, Applications, Links, Other
- Approved budget of up to $2500.00 for web site less picture gallery
- Treasurer Report
- Funds $6791.85
- SAU has donated $1300.00 toward the 2018 EISP
- We need to do a complete inventory of items owned
OTHER
- Administrative
- Main agenda topics for 2019
- EISP
- Moving Jens Wendt Observatory to the Menke site
- New Website
- Trifolds
- Jeff to try to have draft ready for the April Board meeting
- Membership Registration/Renewal Forms
- Jeff to try to have ready for June Board Meeting
- Membership Cards
- Use current until they run out
- Astronomical League
- Discounted club insurance for club members
- $10 for club
- Minimum of 5 members
- $7.50 per member unless all join then $5.00 per member
- Public Nights
- Lights Off Signs and Parking Area Signs
- Craig will investigate
- Canned Presentations
- Lights Off Signs and Parking Area Signs
- Jeff has the following presentations completed
- Binary Star Systems (manual and automated)
- The Moon (manual and automated)
- Spectroscopy 101 (manual)
- Jeff has the following presentations in progress
- Nebulae
- Intro to Imaging
- Asteroids, Comets, and Meteors
- Star Clusters
- Revamp 20” (Steve VanHyfte) – Mirror cell revamp to 18 point (we are 9 point), Mirror edge support, Flip mirror, Replace the drive cover – Tentative completion date, July 14th Public Open
- Add a refractor?
- Focusers not aligned properly
- Inferior focusers may be adding the flexure
- TT John Baker about 18pt floatation system…
- Drive Cover Box – has template ready
Next Board Meeting:
Date/Time Location
Unless otherwise noted, Board Meetings will be held on the 1st Wednesday of the month at 6:30 PM at the Village Inn Restaurant on Elmore and 53rd in Davenport, IA. Please notify Jeff Struve if you plan on attending so seating arrangements can be made. Ordering from the menu is Dutch treat.
The January Board Meeting will be held on January 16th!
Agenda
- 2019 EISP
- Upcoming Events
- Moving Jens Wendt Observatory to the Menke site
- Messier Club
- New Website
- Treasurer’s Report
- Moving Jens Wendt Observatory to the Menke site
- New documents
- Trifold
- Application Form
- Membership Renewal Form
- Membership Cards
Other Business
- Discuss work to be done on the 20”
- Discuss continued inventory
- Discuss selling our heavy fiberglass step ladder and replacing it with an aluminum ladder for use in the roll off roof building.
Secondary Topics
- SCT Collimation Party
- Exoplanet Detection
- PixInsight meetings/class
- Here is a new PixInsight Tutorial! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvuMrHEWaS8&feature=youtu.be
Submitted Articles:
Skyward—December 2018
By Dr. David Levy
Inner Starlight
In 1994, Star Trek: The Next Generation was one of the most popular shows on television. The episodes were so good that it was easy to tell that the cast was especially enjoying themselves. One of the episodes that year was “The Inner Light.” It was a beautiful story in which a strange probe approaches the Enterprise and attaches a beam to Captain Picard, who loses consciousness and has a dream in which he is living on a distant planet. He enjoys a full life there, with a wife, two children and a grandson, and he becomes politically active in his community. He even outlives his wife. One day his daughter asks him to watch a rocket launch. He hesitates, but then his deceased wife and best friend appear. The Captain then exclaims, “It’s the probe that was sent for me!”
After enjoying this episode many times, I was reminded of another beautiful story. Written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1824, it is called The Great Stone Face and concerns a large natural face-like structure hanging near Franconia Notch, across some granite rocks in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. The site was magnificent, at last until a few years ago when the face fell down in a big heap. The cliffs are still there, but no more face.
The night sky is much like Star Trek, and much like Hawthorne. We look at a group of stars, perhaps a constellation or two, and our brains begin to make connections. On Star Trek we share the idea of travelling through space, even if all we have to warp through space with our two good eyes and a telescope. Some of us may even remember chapter 12 of Hawthorne’s masterpiece The Scarlet letter, in which the “A” is likened to a meteor crossing the sky at midnight: “…before Mr. Dimmesdale had done speaking, a light gleamed far and wide over all the muffled sky. It was doubtless caused by one of those meteors, which the night-watcher may so often observe burning out to waste, in the vacant regions of the atmosphere. … And there stood the minister, with his hand over his heart; and Hester Prynne, with the embroidered letter glimmering on her bosom; and little Pearl, herself a symbol, and the connecting link between those two.”
Was the meteor an interpretation of the scarlet A parading across the sky? The night sky is full of messages, and only some of those messages come from astronomers. The rest come from people like you and me, people who have innocently stood up a looked at the stars, and who have wondered. The rest come from Shakespeare, and Tennyson, and perhaps even Nathaniel Hawthorne.
The next time you look at the stars, picture yourself not just watching them but reading them. Learn the stories they tell, as interpreted by your favorite writers whether they be Shakespeare, Tennyson, Hawthorne, or even you. What sparks your imagination can be something as simple as a story you have heard, seen read, or even written. Even in our modern age, the message could indeed be written in the stars.
Although this is not what Captain Picard saw from his planet during “The Inner Light” it is a view of the Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis, seen from East Jordan, Michigan.
Photograph by David H. Levy on Thursday, September 18, 2014.
MOVEMENT OF COMET 46/P WIRTANEN, 10 DEC 2018 0400U TO 0420U
By Ken Boquist
The following four images show the movement of Comet Wirtanen over a 20 minute period. The first photo has an arrow to show a star that can be used as a reference point in following the movement of the comet. The pictures were taken under terrible conditions, so various exposures were being used, and conditions changed from one image to the next.
| 300 second exposure ending at 04:00. |
| 180 second exposure ending at 04:05. |
| 420 second exposure ending at 04:12. |
| 360 second exposure ending at 04:20. |
Gallery:
2018_12_15 Jens Wendt Open
Byron
Ken and Jeff
Alan Sheidler
Above are two pictures taken last evening from my back yard in Moline, Illinois. These pictures were taken at 7:26 and 7:28pm. The 2 minutes between snapshots is sufficient to easily show the motion of the comet relative to the background stars. These were taken with a Nikon D7500 SLR camera attached to a 10″ Meade LX200 telescope with a 0.63 focal reducer, yielding an effective focal length of 1575mm. The camera was set to ISO6400 and 10 second exposure time. The comet was just visible to me in the finder scope, so I would guess binoculars would deliver a nice view. If it is clear tonight, you might want to go out and try for it. Good hunting! Thanks. Al.
After the Dec 10 PAC meeting, I made the above attempt at capturing 46P/Wirtanen from my back yard. I used a D7500 Nikon camera and 35mm F1.8 lens, ISO 1600 and 5 sec exposure time. There is significant haze and light pollution, but the comet is clearly visible as a fuzzy little ball near the center of this image. Neat! Thanks. Al.
Dana Taylor
Byron Davies
Played around with the imager on the AR152 tonight (Dec 10). Focused on M42 for now since it is any easy target. Camera appears to do better with out filters. This was the first time I used the imager on the refractor. I had to buy an extension to align for focus. It will only reach focus with the reducer on the short camera extension and also without the reducer being used. The filter works great with the naked eye viewing but with the camera image turns red period. My EgdeHD performs great with filters and without but the stars are crisper in the refractor. For EAA both scopes perform really well. I think my eyepieces will be collecting dust!
Byron.
Ken Boquist
I played around with the Mallincam in the backyard tonight, 12/16/18 and ended up trying to image a few planetarys. The attached shot of NGC 7662 turned out real nice, although it has more of a greenish cast than blue. It looks somewhat like some of the pics I’ve seen on the web.
I’ve determined that for some reason, my computer doesn’t recognize my Mallincam frame grabber, but it does recognize yours. So, I guess that means there’s something wrong with mine.
The pics labeled 2200, 2205, 2212, and 2221 are a copy of each of the four pics I took, and they were cropped to make it easier to see the motion of the comet over the 21 minute period of the pics. The numbers represent the time (24 hour clock) they were taken on 9 December. The 2200 image has an arrow to draw the reader’s attention for use as a reference point in seeing the movement. These four images should be shown in sequence at the meeting. I couldn’t achieve a very good consistency in appearance from one image to the next. A lot of this has to do with my lack of knowledge of image processing, which I’m never going to be good at, and some of it probably has to do with the lousy conditions. Some of it is due to different exposure times for each one, since I was trying to find what would work given the conditions.
The other pic is a larger image (i.e., not cropped) of the 2221 image. It is a 300 second image, and I thought this was the best of the bunch.
2200
2205
2212
2221
Jim Rutenbeck
Attached are 5 monochrome photos I took using my ASI 290mm planetary camera in my back yard with the moon present. Software: SharpCap using its live capture and stretching tool. Three images taken with an AP 155mm refractor operating at f5.2. The smaller NGC 891 and M33 were taken with an ES 80mm f6 refractor.
NGC891 with 6 inch Total exposure 66 minutes
NGC891 with 3 inch Total exposure 168 minutes Moon in the sky
M27 Total exposure 40 minutes
NGC 7635 Bubble Total exposure 35 minutes (needs more exposure time)
M33 Total exposure 61 minutes Moon in the sky
I used individual exposures of from 5 to 20 seconds. This camera has very low read noise so you can take hundreds of short exposures. SharpCap live capture stacks each image as it is downloaded and subtracts a master dark. The darks are 5 to 20 seconds so it doesn’t take long to take the darks! Outside temperature was about 25 degrees F which helped since this is an uncooled camera. I was cold but once the computer and camera were running I went in my house to warm up.
The process is pretty easy. Short exposures are forgiving for mount tracking. SharpCap rejects bad individual frames caused by wind, drifting focus, a few clouds, etc. This camera has a chip with a diagonal dimension of 6.5mm so the field of view is small.
M33 doesn’t look good. There was moon in the sky, frost forming and some haze.
Interesting there is almost as much detail in the NGC 891 taken with the 80mm refractor but the exposure time was about 2.5 times as long.
Josue Granillo
I have been pushing my setup to see what is the limit of what a phone can do. I had 2 targets that evening, the Flaming Star Nebula, and the Horsehead. With surface brightnesses of 26 and 28, I found a point where the object is too faint to properly image with a cellphone over an eyepiece on a 8″ telescope. While there is some signal on the Horsehead and the Oxygen emission from the Flaming Star Nebula, multiple hours gives such a noisy image that I feel my time would be better spent on brighter targets. Also I am pretty sure that I am losing a significant portion of Hydrogen alpha emission from a glass filter in the phone.
P.S.
It was so cold ice formed on the inside of my car. Ice formed on the outside of my scope and eventually the secondary. I stayed warm with blankets and winter garb.
No pics yet!
Jeff Struve
Ken, Sam, Rusty and I met at the Legion at about 5:30, and had burgers fries and some Pepsi’s. We got to the observatory about 7:30, and decided that we would wait on any outdoor set up to see if the clouds cleared. Well, the clouds never went away, we might have seen Mars and maybe a star or two peek out, but nothing even promising enough to think about setting up scopes other than my new one inside.
It was fun messing around getting it set up properly, there will be a learning curve, but nothing that we can’t handle. The mount is very, very, very, very, quiet! We didn’t know that it was even slewing when I was poking around the buttons to see how to check things like the location coordinates. At any rate, we figured out how to set up the coordinates, stored the coordinates and saved it as Menke Observatory, checked out the encoders to see if it remembered where it was at when the power was off, it did! Also played around with the balance routine and we did find that Ken is a master at manually balancing scopes. Both the RA and the DEC we’re only .1% off!
Anyway, we did run them out for a while and play around with some techniques, decided but about a quarter to ten that things were never going to clear oh, so we packed up and left at about 10 p.m.
It was a good time though!
For Sale – Wanted
- Jeff Struve has purchased a new mount and is streamlining/consolidating his inventory:
- $1,000 – 1 Orion Atlas mount with PAS, HC, tripod and extension, 2 or more weights, and a wood homemade mount box also has hardware for PoleMaster and an EQMOD cable (PENDING)
- $1,100 – 1 Orion Atlas mount with upgraded wedge, HC, PAS, 2 or more weights and a plastic mount case also has hardware for PoleMaster and an EQMOD cable (PENDING)
- $50 – 1 Orion duffle bag that will hold 2 Atlas tripods
- $75 – 1 Orion Atlas GPS (PENDING)
- $500 – 1 SBIG STIc planetary/guide camera with guide kit
- $400 – 1 Celestron AVX mount and tripod with PAS, 2 weights, also has hardware for PoleMaster (SOLD)
- $225 – 1 PoleMaster w/universal ADM dual dovetail adapter. (SOLD)
- $175 – 1 observation tent
- $1500 – Explore Scientific 127mm F7.5 Carbon Fiber Triplet and accessories (PENDING)
- $TBD – Explore Scientific 80mm F7.5 Carbon Fiber Triplet and accessories
Email PwrHsePro@aol.com or text 3097370206 for details
- Frank Olsen of CAA has the following for sale: Astro-Physics 6-inch F9 Star Fire apochromatic refractor. Includes Model 600 German equatorial mount, portable pier, and rechargeable battery pack. $4,800. Contact Frank Olsen in Cedar Rapids at fdolsen@mchsi.com (PENDING)
Not the actual gear but same model
- April Sanders was wondering if you folks would be interested in purchasing her brand new telescope. It is a Celestron C8. It has a few accessories such as a Celestron 9×50 finder, and an ultima LX 8mm lens. I can assemble and deliver if so. It truly is an astounding piece of equipment. My cell phone number is 563-349-1226
- A gentleman by the name of Jerry Hansen is selling his telescope, filters, and other associated equipment. If you are interested in finding out more about it, please let me know and I will send you his contact information so you can find out more and negotiate directly with him (if interested). It looks like a nice unit. Thanks. Al Sheidler. ADSheidler@gmail.com
- New 2nd Addn “Inside PixInsight” by Warren Keller. $30.00 – 1 left! Contact Jeff Struve at PwrHsePro@aol.com
- A local gentleman called me advising that he had some gear that he wanted to sell. Apparently he just doesn’t have time for the hobby…
I didn’t see the gear, but he sent the following list and few attached pics:
- 8″ Meade LX90 with field tripod, Autostar controller, smart finder and manual
- Hard carrying case for telescope
- 7mm, 18mm, 26mm, 2″ 30mm eyepieces
- Case for series 5000 eyepieces
- 2X Amplifier
- 3 focal reducer
- Deep Sky Imager camera (older version), camera adapter
- Set of series 4000 filters
- Kendrick dew remover
- Set of three vibration
He went further to add the following info:
“Looking back on my cost the case alone was $500, the eyepieces, amp, reducer were $600, the misc. stuff $400, and the scope was around $1700.”
With the description, prices, and pics, I did a bit of checking on Cloudy Nights Classifieds and found a Meade LX90 8″ with tripod that was listed for $675 that sold this past month… The case for the scope about $200… The eyepieces and reducer and Barlow maybe $425… Not sure about the filters but a set of 3 of the 4000 series went for $24… I didn’t check on the camera, Kendrick, or vibration pads but those would probably be in the $200 range…
After a few emails back and forth, he advised that he’d like to ask $1325 for the lot….
Let me know if you want his contact info!
- An amateur astronomer by the name of Noe Vega is wanting to sell his 10” Collapsible SkyWatcher Dobsonian and a Celestron OMNI XLT 150 Telescope.
Here’s the link for the Omni: http://machlink.com/~nvega/OmniXLT-150/
Here’s the link for the Dob: http://machlink.com/~nvega/10-DOB/
He can be reached at Vega1247@gmail.com
I’m considering selling the Genesis Sdf telescope (thinking around $1500), and 2 Nagler eyepieces plus the Televue Big Barlow ($200 new). I have a few other less expensive eyepieces as well. The most expensive eyepiece I have is the Televue Nagler 20 mm Type 2. Also have a Televue Sky Tour ($300 New).
Everything is like new – hardly used – a hobby that never got off the ground.
Thanks, Joe DeAngelis
1-718-216-7553 https://www.scopereviews.com/page2.html#7
Editor’s Note:
Please help improve the substance of our newsletter by submitting articles and pictures for publication. Variety is the spice of life… is spicy!
Types of articles that would really be interesting could include What’s In the Sky This Month, equipment reviews, experiences you’ve had in astronomy, sketches you’ve drawn, trips you’ve taken to observatories or star parties, a high level overview of your favorite astronomer, movie, book or article reviews, list astronomy gear that you want to buy or sell, and of course pictures you’ve taken and how they were done…
If each member submitted 1 article per year we could have an incredibly varied and interesting newsletter… that is my challenge to you!
Also…. Drop an email, text, or make a phone call or two… members want to get together outside of normal club events to discuss and work on our hobby!
Jeff
Calendar of Events – 2019 BOARD QCAS MENKE OTHER
Jan 16 – Board Meeting
Jan 21 – Society Meeting
Jan 26 – QCAS Membership Night – Waning Gibbous 65% full moon
Feb 06 – Board Meeting
Feb 09 – QCAS Membership Night – Waxing Crescent 18% full moon
Feb 18 – Society Meeting
Mar 06 – Board Meeting
Mar 08 – Messier Marathon
Mar 09 – Messier Marathon
Mar 18 – Society Meeting
Mar 30 – QCAS Membership Night – Waning Crescent 28% full moon
Apr 03 – Board Meeting
Apr 15 – Society Meeting
Apr 27 – QCAS Membership Night – Waning Crescent 45% full moon
May 01 – Board Meeting
May 03 – NCRAL
May 04 – NCRAL
May 11 – Astronomy Day at Bett High School & QCAS Membership Night – First Quarter 50% full moon
May 20 – Society Meeting
Jun 05 – Board Meeting
Jun 08 – Menke Public Night – Waxing Crescent 30% full moon
Jun 17 – Society Meeting
June 21 – Founders Day Solar Viewing
Jun 29 – QCAS Membership Night – Waning Crescent 13% full moon
Jul 10 – Board Meeting
Jul 15 Society Meeting
Jul 27 – QCAS Membership Night – Waning Crescent 26% full moon
Aug 03 – Meteor Shower Party at Pleasant Valley Junior High School
Aug 07 – Board Meeting
August 17 – Menke Public Night – Waning Crescent 97% full moon
Aug 19 – Society Meeting
Aug 24 – QCAS Membership Night – Waning Crescent 41% full moon
Sep 04 – Board Meeting
Sep 07 – QCAS Membership Night – Waxing Gibbous 64% full moon
Sep 16 – Society Meeting
Sep 21 – Menke Public Night – Last Quarter 50% full moon
Sep 27 – Eastern Iowa Star Party
Sep 28 – Eastern Iowa Star Party
Sep 29 – Eastern Iowa Star Party
Oct 02 – Board Meeting
Oct 12 – Membership Night – Waxing Gibbous 98% full moon
Oct 19 – Menke Public Night – Waning Gibbous 70% full moon
Oct 21 – Society Meeting
Oct 24 – David H Levy Arizona Dark Sky Star Party
Oct 25 – David H Levy Arizona Dark Sky Star Party
Oct 26 – David H Levy Arizona Dark Sky Star Party
Oct 27 – David H Levy Arizona Dark Sky Star Party
Oct 28 – David H Levy Arizona Dark Sky Star Party
Oct 29 – David H Levy Arizona Dark Sky Star Party
Nov 06 – Board Meeting
Nov18 – Society Annual Dinner Meeting and Elections
Nov 23 – QCAS Membership Night – Waning Crescent 13% full moon
Dec 04 – Board Meeting
Dec 16 – Society Meeting
Dec 28 – QCAS Membership Night – Waxing Crescent 06% full moon
| QCAS Correspondence:
Please contact the society at: P.O. Box 3706, Davenport, IA, 52808. Members are welcome and encouraged to submit articles for The Meridian. Submit any and all interesting items (via e-mail) to: PwrHsePro@aol.com and/or MitchellRobertC@sau.edu |
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| QCAS Officers and Contacts: | |
| Officers
President: Jeff Struve Vice-Pres: Mike Ombrello Secretary: Dr. Robert Mitchell Treasurer: Matt Neilssen Director: Dana Taylor Chairpersons Facilities: Michael Dannenfeldt Meridian Editor: Jeff Struve Outreach: Matt Neilssen Programming: Jim Rutenbeck Web Master: Matt Neilssen Publicity: Paul Levesque |
Levesque5562@att.net |
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