----- Original Message -----

From: Paul Howell

To: Stephen J. Young ; Jon Oplinger ; Jason Brawn ; Colette Howell ; southern_maine_astronomers@yahoogroups.com ; asnne@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Sunday, November 29, 2009 9:32 AM

Subject: [southern_maine_astronomers] The benefits of slacking [1 Attachment]

 

I am in the process of running a rather large galaxy lensing
simulation. I am testing how foreground galaxies distort the lensing
signal between an otherwise unrelated source and lens galaxy. I have
several factors I can vary, and will end up testing something like 20
or so combinations.

Each combination entails around 100 million loops through about 1000
lines of code with each line typically containing many floating point
operations (flops). So, for each combination my MacPro will complete
something like 200 trillion floating point operations, and probably
more. After doing all 20 configurations, my computer will have done
at least 4 quadrillion flops.

It takes about a day for my computer to complete one configuration,
per core. Now, my machine has eight cores so when I put them all to
work the project will take a few days to complete.

So, I got to thinking, 'what if I had entered grad school in 1979 and
tackled the same problem using a personal computer as I have here?'
Well, back then my PC was an Atari 400 with a 1.8Mhz 8-bit processor:

---

Ignoring problems with memory and such, and assuming one 16-bit flop 
per two clock cycles (optimistic to be sure), my little Atari 400 
would take about:

(~4 quadrillion flops / ~1  million flops per second) = four billion 
seconds give or take a billion.

That's over 100 years. So, had I entered grad school right away and 
was doing this calculation circa 1980, I would still be about seventy 
years away from being done. Lucky thing I waited this long!

Here is a lovely paper that describes the same idea:
http://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/9912202

Basically, due to Moore's law, for any computation that will take 
longer than 26 months it is faster to slack for a while first, then 
buy a computer and start. In my case, I slacked for 25 years and came 
out 70 years ahead!

-P

I am in the process of running a rather large galaxy lensing
simulation. I am testing how foreground galaxies distort the lensing
signal between an otherwise unrelated source and lens galaxy. I have
several factors I can vary, and will end up testing something like 20
or so combinations.

Each combination entails around 100 million loops through about 1000
lines of code with each line typically containing many floating point
operations (flops). So, for each combination my MacPro will complete
something like 200 trillion floating point operations, and probably
more. After doing all 20 configurations, my computer will have done
at least 4 quadrillion flops.

It takes about a day for my computer to complete one configuration,
per core. Now, my machine has eight cores so when I put them all to
work the project will take a few days to complete.

So, I got to thinking, 'what if I had entered grad school in 1979 and
tackled the same problem using a personal computer as I have here?'
Well, back then my PC was an Atari 400 with a 1.8Mhz 8-bit processor:

Ignoring problems with memory and such, and assuming one 16-bit flop
per two clock cycles (optimistic to be sure), my little Atari 400
would take about:

(~4 quadrillion flops / ~1  million flops per second) = four billion
seconds give or take a billion.

That's over 100 years. So, had I entered grad school right away and
was doing this calculation circa 1980, I would still be about seventy
years away from being done. Lucky thing I waited this long!

Here is a lovely paper that describes the same idea:
http://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/9912202

Basically, due to Moore's law, for any computation that will take
longer than 26 months it is faster to slack for a while first, then
buy a computer and start. In my case, I slacked for 25 years and came
out 70 years ahead!

-P

----- Original Message -----

From: rburgess@...

To: southern_maine_astronomers@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 6:14 AM

Subject: [SPAM] Re: [southern_maine_astronomers] Telescope workshop at Southworth Planetarium, December 2, 2009.

 

Steve, I hope to be there. Rob

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

---

From: "steveinmaine" <stardriv@maine.rr.com>

Date: Mon, 23 Nov 2009 02:59:43 -0000

To: <southern_maine_astronomers@yahoogroups.com>

Subject: [southern_maine_astronomers] Telescope workshop at Southworth Planetarium, December 2, 2009.

 

Wednesday December 2nd, the Southworth Planetarium is hosting a telescope workshop. I would like to get a show of hands for anyone who would like to help out. This is helping people with their scope (maybe from the closet) or help them decide what to look for. Bring a telescope to demonstrate if you like, or astronomy magazines, a catalog to show or whatever props you think will help get the point across. At least bring yourself and your knowledge. Please let me know if you can help and what you might like to do.

Thank You.
Steve Innes

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

I would love to give it a try. I will certainly try to be there. I will
have to locate it as I have never been there before.

Forrest


-----Original Message-----
From: joan chamberlin <starladyjoan@...>
To: southern_maine_astronomers@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sun, Nov 22, 2009 11:20 pm
Subject: Re: [southern_maine_astronomers] Telescope workshop at
Southworth Planetarium, December 2, 2009.






Hi Steve,
  I'll try to be there and will help with talking to people about what
to look for in a scope for Christmas and will set up my scope for
people to look through if you think it will be helpful. 
Joan

--- On Sun, 11/22/09, steveinmaine <stardriv@...> wrote:


From: steveinmaine <stardriv@...>
Subject: [southern_maine_astronomers] Telescope workshop at Southworth
Planetarium, December 2, 2009.
To: southern_maine_astronomers@yahoogroups.com
Date: Sunday, November 22, 2009, 9:59 PM


 
Wednesday December 2nd, the Southworth Planetarium is hosting a
telescope workshop. I would like to get a show of hands for anyone who
would like to help out. This is helping people with their scope (maybe
  from the closet) or help them decide what to look for. Bring a
telescope to demonstrate if you like, or astronomy magazines, a catalog
to show or whatever props you think will help get the point across. At
least bring yourself and your knowledge. Please let me know if you can
help and what you might like to do.

Thank You.
Steve Innes

Hi: It me again already. The telescope workshop is from 6:30 to 8:30 PM.

Thanks.

---Steve---

Wednesday December 2nd, the Southworth Planetarium is hosting a telescope
workshop. I would like to get a show of hands for anyone who would like to help
out. This is helping people with their scope (maybe from the closet) or help
them decide what to look for. Bring a telescope to demonstrate if you like, or
astronomy magazines, a catalog to show or whatever props you think will help get
the point across. At least bring yourself and your knowledge. Please let me know
if you can help and what you might like to do.

Thank You.
Steve Innes

We will try to have a directors meeting after the Thanksgiving Holiday so
everyone that would like to attend will be able to.  The date will be posted
later.  Have a great Thanksgiving and don't forget the great December meeting
coming up and plan on attending.

Forrest

----- Original Message -----

From: g_knowles2001

To: southern_maine_astronomers@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Sunday, November 15, 2009 8:39 PM

Subject: [southern_maine_astronomers] Clear for best 2009 asteroidal occ'n in New England & s. Quebec Thurs. am

 

I received this information from my brother-in-law, Dr. David Dunham, and am passing it along in case there is any interest in viewing the occulation.

Gail Knowles


-----Original Message-----
From: David Dunham [mailto:dunham@starpower.net]
Sent: Sunday, November 15, 2009 6:06 PM
To: Df121819@aol.com; noatak@...; Alcovedbase@aol.com; SHAPERINO@aol.com
Subject: Clear for best 2009 asteroidal occ'n in New England & s. Quebec Thurs. am

The best asteroidal occultation of 2009 in New England and the Montreal region of s. Quebec (relatively bright star occulted by relatively large asteroid) will occur at the crack of dawn Thursday morning, November 19th (10:30 UT = 5:30am EST) when 81 Terpsichore, expected to be 119 km in diameter, will occult 9.0-mag. SAO 56567 in Perseus. Accuweather is forecasting clear skies for this event (the current forecast is for 0% cloud in Montreal, and only 20% cirrus in central New England) so if you can, please help us measure the size and shape of Terpsichore by timing or estimating how long the star is occulted using whatever timing resources you have (such as a digital watch's stopwatch feature started with time from http://www.time.gov/ ; see http://iota.jhuapl.edu/timng920.htm for other options). The completeness and accuracy of our results depends on the total number of separate stations, spread across the predicted path, from which the occultation is timed, so the more observers, the better. Just set your alarm a little earlier than usual, observe the occultation, then get ready to go to work.
Methods of pre-pointing your telescope during Wednesday evening, before you go to bed, are described below so that you don't need to take time to locate the target star by "traditional" methods during the 15 to 30 minutes before the occultation. If you can attempt an observation, please let me or "Occult Watcher" (see below) know so that several mobile stations that will be set up to observe this event can be positioned so they don't duplicate your chord (line across the asteroid) and best fill in the gaps in coverage by the fixed-site (observatory and home) stations. If you live outside the path and are mobile, let me know and I'll suggest a good location for you to help complete the coverage. I have made reservations to fly to Manchester, NH early Wed. afternoon, leaving mid-day Thurs., to video record the occultation with several small systems that I plan to deploy in southern Maine and s.e. New Hampshire.

THE OCCULTATION PATH

The occultation path extends from southeast to northwest across central New England at 10:30 UT with southern Maine, most of New Hampshire, and the northern 2/3rds of Vermont in the path. Boston and Manchester, NH are a little south of the predicted southern limit, but with path uncertainties, an occultation is very possible at those locations. At 10:31 UT (5:31 am EST), the path crosses the northernmost part of New York, the easternmost part of Ontario, and southern Quebec, with Montreal inside the northern limit and Ottawa just inside the predicted southern limit. The path extends farther north, crossing Alaska from east to west near Fairbanks and Nome at about 10:39 UT, then it bends southwest across eastern Siberia and, about 10:48 UT, crosses northeastern China during their evening.

THE STAR AND THE OCCULTATION

The star is SAO 56567 = TYC 2342-00278-1, spectral type G0, in Perseus two deg. southwest of 4th-mag. omicron Persei, at J2000 coordinates 3h 35m 30.0s, Dec +32 deg. 13' 37". This is 17' west and a little north of a distinctive group of 3 7th and 8th-mag.
stars. Some maps showing the occultation path and finder charts of different scales locating the target star are at Steve Preston's Web page for the event at http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/2009_11/1119_81_18159.htm . The star will be 20 deg. above the northwestern horizon (22 deg. at Montreal), in the opposite direction from the Sun, which will be 13 deg. below (15 deg. at Montreal) the southeastern horizon, so the sky should be dark enough for this bright a star; there will be no moonlight interference. Temperatures are predicted to be a few deg.
above freezing so take appropriate precautions for cold-weather observing. Dew protection may be important since winds will be light or calm with about 70% relative humidity. If an occultation occurs, the star and asteroid's combined light should drop from mag.
8.9 to the expected mag. 11.2 of Terpsichore (2.3-mag. drop); the duration of a central occultation is expected to be 14 seconds.
The waxing crescent Moon will be below the horizon.

PRE-POINTING OPPORTUNITIES

Rather than find the target star directly, it's easier to pre- point your telescope at a brighter, easy to find star with a similar declination before the occultation, then turn off your clock drive or other tracking at the right time, and let the target star drift into your field of view at the time of the occultation. For example, if you point your telescope at 5.8-mag. DT Cygni at J2000 RA 21h 06.5m, Dec. +31 deg. 11' 6 hours 28 min. 08 sec. before the occultation (this is 4:02:46 UT or 11:02:46 pm EST in New Hampshire, the Boston region, and s. Maine; in Montreal, it will be 17s later), and at that time turn off all tracking, then due to the Earth's rotation, at the time of the occultation, the target star SAO 56567 will be only 2.1' north of where DT Cygni was when it is occulted. Other good pre-point opportunities are listed below where the "Dec Offset" is how far north (positive) or south (negative) of the star you should look for the target, and the "Time Offset" in the last columns is the time from the pre-point opportunity until the occultation. Visual observers might want to do the pre- pointing a minute early, then resume tracking a minute before the occultation to use that minute to positively identify the target star in the field of view before the occultation. Of course, this can be tested on any clear night before the occultation. Keep in mind that there can be some error in the predicted time of the occultation, but this error is likely to be less than 10 seconds.

Occultation of SAO 56567 = TYC 2342-00278-1
by 81 Terpsichore on 2009 Nov 19
Pre-point stars and times for New Hampshire & s. Maine

Univ. J2000 Dec Time
Time Star RA Dec Offset E. S. T. Offset
h m s mag h m o ' ArcMin h m s h m s

10 30 54 9.0 3 35.5 31 14 star 5 30 54 am target 0 0 0
10 8 38 6.9 3 13.2 31 4 9.2 5 8 38 am 0 22 16
9 55 46 7.4 3 0.3 31 7 5.7 4 55 46 am 0 35 8
9 44 14 6.9 2 48.7 31 7 6.2 4 44 14 am 0 46 40
9 22 35 7.6 2 27.0 31 17 -4.4 4 22 35 am 1 8 19
8 53 41 6.9 1 58.1 31 8 4.6 3 53 41 am AA Tri 1 37 13
8 6 50 5.2 1 11.1 31 25 -13.1 3 6 50 am 82 Psc 2 24 4
7 22 57 7.4 0 27.1 31 11 1.7 2 22 57 am 3 7 57
6 29 53 5.0 23 34.0 31 20 -7.2 1 29 53 am 72 Peg 4 1 1
6 6 58 7.3 23 11.0 31 9 3.3 1 6 58 am 4 23 56
5 56 43 6.6 23 0.7 31 5 7.4 0 56 43 am 4 34 11
5 35 46 7.9 22 39.7 31 9 3.7 0 35 46 am 4 55 8
5 26 13 6.6 22 30.1 31 13 -0.4 0 26 13 am 5 4 41
5 20 2 7.0 22 23.9 31 16 -3.2 0 20 2 am PV Peg 5 10 52
4 2 46 5.8 21 6.5 31 11 2.1 11 2 46 pm DT Cyg 6 28 8
3 18 59 6.1 20 22.6 31 16 -2.3 10 18 59 pm 7 11 55
3 12 5 7.7 20 15.7 31 15 -0.8 10 12 5 pm 7 18 49
2 57 24 6.9 20 1.0 31 14 0.1 9 57 24 pm 7 33 30
2 35 7 7.6 19 38.6 31 13 1.0 9 35 7 pm 7 55 47
2 29 24 6.7 19 32.9 31 14 0.1 9 29 24 pm 8 1 30

WEB RESOURCES ABOUT ASTEROIDAL OCCULTATIONS

Interactive google maps, a list of predicted times, distances from the central line, and local circumstances for hundreds of observatories in and near the path can be found on the lines for these events on Derek Breit's global site at http://www.poyntsource.com/New/Global.htm . Similar information, as well as plans for coordinating observations, is available from Occult Watcher mentioned above; it can be downloaded from http://www.hristopavlov.net/OccultWatcher/publish.htm .

Much more information about asteroidal occultations is given at http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/observations . Please try to time the occultation with whatever means you can, such as by using the stopwatch function of a digital watch set to the time available at http://www.time.gov/ . Those with astronomical CCD's can make timed drift scans described at http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/observations/DriftScan/Index.htm
while other simple timing methods are described at http://iota.jhuapl.edu/timng920.htm . Another good source is IOTA's free observer's manual available at http://www.poyntsource.com/IOTAmanual/Preview.htm

OTHER GOOD ASTEROIDAL OCCULTATIONS IN N. AMERICA DURING THE REST OF
2009

Although these won't be visible from New England or s. Quebec, they are listed in case you might be travelling to any of these areas, or know other observers in the locations mentioned.

In the list below, all of these paths are wide relative to their expected errors, with rank 99 except when given in the individual information below; most of the paths are 100 to 200 miles wide. After the list, I give a couple of lines of information for each event, with a link to Steve Preston's Web page for the event, from which you can see maps of the path and finder charts of different scales to locate the target star. More general information applicable to all of these events is given above.

In the list, "dur., s" is the predicted maximum (central) duration of the occultation in seconds and "dm" is the expected magnitude drop when an occultation occurs. Two-letter US State, Canadian Province, and country codes are used for the location; the paths usually cross other States and Provinces between the listed ones, which are listed chronologically; small letters describe the part (such as n = northern) with cen = central.

2009 Univ.Time star dur.,
Date h m m Asteroid mag. s dm Location

Nov 16 5:53-:57 344 Desiderata 11.0 9 1.4 SC,nGA,AR,OK,sNV,cenCA Nov 19 10:30-:39 81 Terpsichore 9.0 14 2.3 sME,NH,nVT,sQC,AK
Nov 21 3:12-:38 234 Barbara 7.5 8 5.6 RU,nGermany,sUK,cenFL
Dec 1 9:51-:63 130 Elektra 9.1 33 2.9 QC,sMB,sSK,sAB,sBC,nWA
Dec 6 7:31-:35 423 Diotima 10.9 16 1.4 nFL,LA,TX,sNM,AZ,sCA
Dec 24 11:53-:60 216 Kleopatra 10.7 26 1.6 eSK,WY,eUT,AZ,Son.,Baja
Dec 25 4:48-:61 81 Terpsichore 8.5 44 3.5 sSK,MT,ID,nNV,cenCA

Nov. 16: I distributed more information to observers in and near the predicted path earlier. Steve Preston's page is at:
http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/2009_11/1116_344_18149.htm

Nov. 21: This rank 94 occultation is of special interest since the star, in Monoceros 8 deg. west and a little south of Procyon, is so bright and Barbara may be a contact, or even close separated, binary.
IOTA will be holding its annual meeting in Orlando, Florida for this event; you are invited to attend, for information, see http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/observations/NA/Meeting/ . The star is SAO 114856 = HIP 34106, spectral type G5. Accuweather is forecasting about half cirrus cover, essentially an uncertain forecast. Steve Preston's page is at:
http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/2009_11/1121_234_18170.htm and Scotty Degenhardt, who is coordinating the effort in Florida, has much information about the event, including pre-point charts, on his Web page for it at http://scottysmightymini.com/PR/234_Barbara_CallForObservers.htm .

Dec. 1: The star is SAO 134903 = TYC 4831-00302-1, spec. type F5, in Monoceros. Steve Preston's page is at:
http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/2009_12/1201_130_18200.htm .

Dec. 6: The star is TYC 1252-00803-1 in Taurus, south of the Pleiades and west of the Hyades. Steve Preston's page is at:
http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/2009_12/1206_423_18224.htm .
Observers in s.w. Arizona might also observe a rank 98 occultation of 11.1-mag. PPM 183249 = TYC 4682-02550-1 (in n. Cetus) by 455 Bruchsalia earlier, at 3:50 UT; it will also be visible from Salt Lake City a minute later, and from w. Sask. Steve Preston's page is
at: http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/2009_12/1206_455_18221.htm .

Dec. 24: This is of special interest due to Kleopatra's strange dogbone shape; it is the largest M-class (metallic) asteroid. The star is PPM 705092 = TYC 4909-00873-1 in Sextans. Steve Preston's page is at:
http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/2009_12/1224_216_18301.htm .

Dec. 25: The star is SAO 75766 = TYC 1795-00251-1, spec. type A3, in Aries. San Francisco, Sacramento, Reno (NV), and Regina (SK) are near the northern limit while Salinas and Merced, Calif. are near the southern limit Steve Preston's page is at:
http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/2009_12/1225_81_18306.htm .
_____________________________

David Dunham, 2009 Nov. 15, 22:55h UT
Phones home 301-220-0415; cell 301-526-5590

----- Original Message -----

From: FIS85@...

To: southern_maine_astronomers@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 6:11 PM

Subject: Re: [southern_maine_astronomers] Pictures - Martian landscape

 

Should be coming from the east to east northeast.

Forrest

-----Original Message-----
From: melinda <melinda62@myfairpoint.net>
To: southern_maine_astronomers@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tue, Nov 17, 2009 5:43 pm
Subject: Re: [southern_maine_astronomers] Pictures - Martian landscape

Can someone please tell me which direction in the sky I should look up
to this a.m. (read 3 a.m. best to view) the Leonid Meteor showers
tomorrow morning?  Thanks if you can!
 
Melinda
 
 

----- Original Message -----
From: calstan2002
To: southern_maine_astronomers@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 6:38 AM
Subject: [southern_maine_astronomers] Pictures - Martian landscape

 

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/11/martian_landscapes.html

Should be coming from the east to east northeast.

Forrest


-----Original Message-----
From: melinda <melinda62@...>
To: southern_maine_astronomers@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tue, Nov 17, 2009 5:43 pm
Subject: Re: [southern_maine_astronomers] Pictures - Martian landscape







Can someone please tell me which direction in the sky I should look up
to this a.m. (read 3 a.m. best to view) the Leonid Meteor showers
tomorrow morning?  Thanks if you can!
 
Melinda
 
 

----- Original Message -----
From: calstan2002
To: southern_maine_astronomers@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 6:38 AM
Subject: [southern_maine_astronomers] Pictures - Martian landscape


 

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/11/martian_landscapes.html

----- Original Message -----

From: calstan2002

To: southern_maine_astronomers@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 6:38 AM

Subject: [southern_maine_astronomers] Pictures - Martian landscape

 

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/11/martian_landscapes.html

----- Original Message -----

From: calstan2002

To: southern_maine_astronomers@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 6:38 AM

Subject: [southern_maine_astronomers] Pictures - Martian landscape

 

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/11/martian_landscapes.html

 

----- Original Message -----

From: calstan2002

To: southern_maine_astronomers@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 6:38 AM

Subject: [southern_maine_astronomers] Pictures - Martian landscape

 

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/11/martian_landscapes.html

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/11/martian_landscapes.html

I received this information from my brother-in-law, Dr. David Dunham, and am
passing it along in case there is any interest in viewing the occulation.

Gail Knowles



-----Original Message-----
From: David Dunham [mailto:dunham@...]
Sent: Sunday, November 15, 2009 6:06 PM
To: Df121819@...; noatak@...; Alcovedbase@...; SHAPERINO@...
Subject: Clear for best 2009 asteroidal occ'n in New England & s. Quebec Thurs.
am

The best asteroidal occultation of 2009 in New England and the Montreal region
of s. Quebec (relatively bright star occulted by relatively large asteroid) will
occur at the crack of dawn Thursday morning, November 19th (10:30 UT = 5:30am
EST) when 81 Terpsichore, expected to be 119 km in diameter, will occult
9.0-mag. SAO 56567 in Perseus.  Accuweather is forecasting clear skies for this
event (the current forecast is for 0% cloud in Montreal, and only 20% cirrus in
central New England) so if you can, please help us measure the size and shape of
Terpsichore by timing or estimating how long the star is occulted using whatever
timing resources you have (such as a digital watch's stopwatch feature started
with time from http://www.time.gov/ ; see http://iota.jhuapl.edu/timng920.htm
for other options).  The completeness and accuracy of our results depends on the
total number of separate stations, spread across the predicted path, from which
the occultation is timed, so the more observers, the better.  Just set your
alarm a little earlier than usual, observe the occultation, then get ready to go
to work.
Methods of pre-pointing your telescope during Wednesday evening, before you go
to bed, are described below so that you don't need to take time to locate the
target star by "traditional" methods during the 15 to 30 minutes before the
occultation.  If you can attempt an observation, please let me or "Occult
Watcher" (see below) know so that several mobile stations that will be set up to
observe this event can be positioned so they don't duplicate your chord (line
across the asteroid) and best fill in the gaps in coverage by the fixed-site
(observatory and home) stations.  If you live outside the path and are mobile,
let me know and I'll suggest a good location for you to help complete the
coverage.  I have made reservations to fly to Manchester, NH early Wed.
afternoon, leaving mid-day Thurs., to video record the occultation with several
small systems that I plan to deploy in southern Maine and s.e. New Hampshire.

THE OCCULTATION PATH

       The occultation path extends from southeast to northwest across central
New England at 10:30 UT with southern Maine, most of New Hampshire, and the
northern 2/3rds of Vermont in the path.  Boston and Manchester, NH are a little
south of the predicted southern limit, but with path uncertainties, an
occultation is very possible at those locations.  At 10:31 UT (5:31 am EST), the
path crosses the northernmost part of New York, the easternmost part of Ontario,
and southern Quebec, with Montreal inside the northern limit and Ottawa just
inside the predicted southern limit.  The path extends farther north, crossing
Alaska from east to west near Fairbanks and Nome at about 10:39 UT, then it
bends southwest across eastern Siberia and, about 10:48 UT, crosses northeastern
China during their evening.

THE STAR AND THE OCCULTATION

       The star is SAO 56567 = TYC 2342-00278-1, spectral type G0, in Perseus two
deg. southwest of 4th-mag. omicron Persei, at J2000 coordinates 3h 35m 30.0s,
Dec +32 deg. 13' 37".  This is 17' west and a little north of a distinctive
group of 3 7th and 8th-mag.
stars.  Some maps showing the occultation path and finder charts of different
scales locating the target star are at Steve Preston's Web page for the event at
http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/2009_11/1119_81_18159.htm . The star will be
20 deg. above the northwestern horizon (22 deg. at Montreal), in the opposite
direction from the Sun, which will be 13 deg. below (15 deg. at Montreal) the
southeastern horizon, so the sky should be dark enough for this bright a star;
there will be no moonlight interference.  Temperatures are predicted to be a few
deg.
above freezing so take appropriate precautions for cold-weather observing.  Dew
protection may be important since winds will be light or calm with about 70%
relative humidity.  If an occultation occurs, the star and asteroid's combined
light should drop from mag.
8.9 to the expected mag. 11.2 of Terpsichore (2.3-mag. drop); the duration of a
central occultation is expected to be 14 seconds.
The waxing crescent Moon will be below the horizon.

PRE-POINTING OPPORTUNITIES

       Rather than find the target star directly, it's easier to pre- point your
telescope at a brighter, easy to find star with a similar declination before the
occultation, then turn off your clock drive or other tracking at the right time,
and let the target star drift into your field of view at the time of the
occultation.  For example, if you point your telescope at 5.8-mag. DT Cygni at
J2000 RA 21h 06.5m, Dec. +31 deg. 11' 6 hours 28 min. 08 sec. before the
occultation (this is 4:02:46 UT or 11:02:46 pm EST in New Hampshire, the Boston
region, and s. Maine; in Montreal, it will be 17s later), and at that time turn
off all tracking, then due to the Earth's rotation, at the time of the
occultation, the target star SAO 56567 will be only 2.1' north of where DT Cygni
was when it is occulted.  Other good pre-point opportunities are listed below
where the "Dec Offset" is how far north (positive) or south (negative) of the
star you should look for the target, and the "Time Offset" in the last columns
is the time from the pre-point opportunity until the occultation.  Visual
observers might want to do the pre- pointing a minute early, then resume
tracking a minute before the occultation to use that minute to positively
identify the target star in the field of view before the occultation.  Of
course, this can be tested on any clear night before the occultation.  Keep in
mind that there can be some error in the predicted time of the occultation, but
this error is likely to be less than 10 seconds.

         Occultation of SAO 56567 = TYC 2342-00278-1
             by 81 Terpsichore on 2009 Nov 19
    Pre-point stars and times for New Hampshire & s. Maine

    Univ.               J2000         Dec                       Time
    Time     Star    RA       Dec   Offset  E. S. T.           Offset
   h  m  s    mag   h   m     o  '  ArcMin  h  m  s            h  m  s

10 30 54    9.0    3 35.5   31 14   star  5 30 54 am  target 0  0  0
10  8 38    6.9    3 13.2   31  4    9.2  5  8 38 am         0 22 16
   9 55 46    7.4    3  0.3   31  7    5.7  4 55 46 am         0 35  8
   9 44 14    6.9    2 48.7   31  7    6.2  4 44 14 am         0 46 40
   9 22 35    7.6    2 27.0   31 17   -4.4  4 22 35 am         1  8 19
   8 53 41    6.9    1 58.1   31  8    4.6  3 53 41 am  AA Tri 1 37 13
   8  6 50    5.2    1 11.1   31 25  -13.1  3  6 50 am  82 Psc 2 24  4
   7 22 57    7.4    0 27.1   31 11    1.7  2 22 57 am         3  7 57
   6 29 53    5.0   23 34.0   31 20   -7.2  1 29 53 am  72 Peg 4  1  1
   6  6 58    7.3   23 11.0   31  9    3.3  1  6 58 am         4 23 56
   5 56 43    6.6   23  0.7   31  5    7.4  0 56 43 am         4 34 11
   5 35 46    7.9   22 39.7   31  9    3.7  0 35 46 am         4 55  8
   5 26 13    6.6   22 30.1   31 13   -0.4  0 26 13 am         5  4 41
   5 20  2    7.0   22 23.9   31 16   -3.2  0 20  2 am  PV Peg 5 10 52
   4  2 46    5.8   21  6.5   31 11    2.1 11  2 46 pm  DT Cyg 6 28  8
   3 18 59    6.1   20 22.6   31 16   -2.3 10 18 59 pm         7 11 55
   3 12  5    7.7   20 15.7   31 15   -0.8 10 12  5 pm         7 18 49
   2 57 24    6.9   20  1.0   31 14    0.1  9 57 24 pm         7 33 30
   2 35  7    7.6   19 38.6   31 13    1.0  9 35  7 pm         7 55 47
   2 29 24    6.7   19 32.9   31 14    0.1  9 29 24 pm         8  1 30

WEB RESOURCES ABOUT ASTEROIDAL OCCULTATIONS

Interactive google maps, a list of predicted times, distances from the central
line, and local circumstances for hundreds of observatories in and near the path
can be found on the lines for these events on Derek Breit's global site at
http://www.poyntsource.com/New/Global.htm . Similar information, as well as
plans for coordinating observations, is available from Occult Watcher mentioned
above; it can be downloaded from
http://www.hristopavlov.net/OccultWatcher/publish.htm .

Much more information about asteroidal occultations is given at
http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/observations .  Please try to time the
occultation with whatever means you can, such as by using the stopwatch function
of a digital watch set to the time available at http://www.time.gov/ .  Those
with astronomical CCD's can make timed drift scans described at
http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/observations/DriftScan/Index.htm
while other simple timing methods are described at
http://iota.jhuapl.edu/timng920.htm .  Another good source is IOTA's free
observer's manual available at http://www.poyntsource.com/IOTAmanual/Preview.htm

OTHER GOOD ASTEROIDAL OCCULTATIONS IN N. AMERICA DURING THE REST OF
2009

       Although these won't be visible from New England or s. Quebec, they are
listed in case you might be travelling to any of these areas, or know other
observers in the locations mentioned.

       In the list below, all of these paths are wide relative to their expected
errors, with rank 99 except when given in the individual information below; most
of the paths are 100 to 200 miles wide.  After the list, I give a couple of
lines of information for each event, with a link to Steve Preston's Web page for
the event, from which you can see maps of the path and finder charts of
different scales to locate the target star.  More general information applicable
to all of these events is given above.

       In the list, "dur., s" is the predicted maximum (central) duration of the
occultation in seconds and "dm" is the expected magnitude drop when an
occultation occurs.  Two-letter US State, Canadian Province, and country codes
are used for the location; the paths usually cross other States and Provinces
between the listed ones, which are listed chronologically; small letters
describe the part (such as n = northern) with cen = central.

2009   Univ.Time                 star dur.,
Date    h  m   m  Asteroid       mag.  s dm  Location

Nov 16  5:53-:57 344 Desiderata  11.0  9 1.4 SC,nGA,AR,OK,sNV,cenCA Nov 19
10:30-:39  81 Terpsichore  9.0 14 2.3 sME,NH,nVT,sQC,AK
Nov 21  3:12-:38 234 Barbara      7.5  8 5.6 RU,nGermany,sUK,cenFL
Dec  1  9:51-:63 130 Elektra      9.1 33 2.9 QC,sMB,sSK,sAB,sBC,nWA
Dec  6  7:31-:35 423 Diotima     10.9 16 1.4 nFL,LA,TX,sNM,AZ,sCA
Dec 24 11:53-:60 216 Kleopatra   10.7 26 1.6 eSK,WY,eUT,AZ,Son.,Baja
Dec 25  4:48-:61  81 Terpsichore  8.5 44 3.5 sSK,MT,ID,nNV,cenCA

Nov. 16:  I distributed more information to observers in and near the predicted
path earlier.  Steve Preston's page is at:
http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/2009_11/1116_344_18149.htm

Nov. 21:  This rank 94 occultation is of special interest since the star, in
Monoceros 8 deg. west and a little south of Procyon, is so bright and Barbara
may be a contact, or even close separated, binary.
IOTA will be holding its annual meeting in Orlando, Florida for this event; you
are invited to attend, for information, see
http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/observations/NA/Meeting/ . The star is SAO
114856 = HIP 34106, spectral type G5.  Accuweather is forecasting about half
cirrus cover, essentially an uncertain forecast.  Steve Preston's page is at:
http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/2009_11/1121_234_18170.htm and Scotty
Degenhardt, who is coordinating the effort in Florida, has much information
about the event, including pre-point charts, on his Web page for it at
http://scottysmightymini.com/PR/234_Barbara_CallForObservers.htm .

Dec. 1:  The star is SAO 134903 = TYC 4831-00302-1, spec. type F5, in Monoceros.
Steve Preston's page is at:
http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/2009_12/1201_130_18200.htm .

Dec. 6:  The star is TYC 1252-00803-1 in Taurus, south of the Pleiades and west
of the Hyades.  Steve Preston's page is at:
http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/2009_12/1206_423_18224.htm .
Observers in s.w. Arizona might also observe a rank 98 occultation of 11.1-mag.
PPM 183249 = TYC 4682-02550-1 (in n. Cetus) by 455 Bruchsalia earlier, at 3:50
UT; it will also be visible from Salt Lake City a minute later, and from w.
Sask. Steve Preston's page is
at: http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/2009_12/1206_455_18221.htm .

Dec. 24:  This is of special interest due to Kleopatra's strange dogbone shape;
it is the largest M-class (metallic) asteroid.  The star is PPM 705092 = TYC
4909-00873-1 in Sextans.  Steve Preston's page is at:
http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/2009_12/1224_216_18301.htm .

Dec. 25:  The star is SAO 75766 = TYC 1795-00251-1, spec. type A3, in Aries. 
San Francisco, Sacramento, Reno (NV), and Regina (SK) are near the northern
limit while Salinas and Merced, Calif. are near the southern limit Steve
Preston's page is at:
http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/2009_12/1225_81_18306.htm .
_____________________________

David Dunham, 2009 Nov. 15, 22:55h UT
Phones home 301-220-0415; cell 301-526-5590

The star party was a great success and it was due to the great turnout of
members who really helped with the large number of guests with the viewing on
the  different scopes.  It is too bad we were not able to do this throughout the
summer. Georger did a great job (as usual) in having everything ready on what to
view for the evening and it really made for a very smooth operation.  Hopefully
we will be able to continue with this type of format in the days to come. 
Thanks again to everyone for a job well done!

Forrest

----- Original Message -----

From: Ron T

To: George Whitney SMA ; George Roth SMA ; George Bokinski SMA ; Forrest Sumner SMA ; Gracia Largay SMA ; Kerry Kertes SMA ; Kerry K H SMA ; John Saucier SMA ; Joan Chamberlin SMA ; James Coyle SMA ; Eric Walton SMA ; David Crockett SMA ; Colette Howell SMA ; Bartley Cardon SMA ; Andrew Sawyer SMA ; Adam Lee SMA ; David Wallace SMA ; Ed Garrison SMA ; Earl Raymond SMA ; E Jay Sarton, Jr SMA ; Doug Roncarati SMA ; Dean Dakin SMA ; Kirk R Work ; Robert Rovner SMA ; Robert Page SMA ; Rob Parisien SMA ; Rob Burgess SMA ; Richard Kahn SMA ; Roger Perry SMA ; William Richards SMA ; Tim Dutton SMA ; Steve Innes SMA ; Stephen Rioux SMA ; Ron T ; Ralph Harding SMA ; Michael Lawsure SMA ; Melinda Campbell SMA ; Lisa Bishop SMA ; Kyle Grigel SMA ; Kirk Rogers SMA ; Michael O'Brien SMA ; Paul O'Brien SMA ; Paul Howell SMA ; Paul Beauchesne SMA ; Mike Simmons SMA ; Mike Efron SMA ; SMA ; Morgan MacLeod SMA

Sent: Sunday, November 08, 2009 6:06 PM

Subject: [southern_maine_astronomers] Fw: SKY & TEL "Special Offer until Dec 15

 

Just a reminder...The SKY & TEL Magazine special price, for SMA MEMBERS, is $32.95 until December 15. If interested, please send me a check...SOON.

 

DO NOT INCLUDE MEMBERSHIP DUES ON THE SAME CHECK>>>PLEASE 

 

If I have to return your Magazine check, and you've included your Club Dues with it, you'll have to send another.

 

If you are renewing, please send me a copy of your label with your CUSTOMER NUMBER.

 

Included in the offer is a Mars DVD, 2010 SKY Starter Package and a new Decal...

 

Ron Thompson, Treasurer

PO Box 216

Cumberland, ME 04021

 

The real reason I am resending this...without the pdf...I have received notices of e-mail delivery failure, possibly due to the large graphic pdf.

From: Ron T

Sent: Saturday, November 07, 2009 11:20 PM

Looking forward to seeing you there! Haven't seen or heard from you in
some time. We are sure to have a great time and the weather looks great
for a change. Don't forget to dress warm.

Forrest


-----Original Message-----
From: mainerinvt <CBNFBR@...>
To: southern_maine_astronomers@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wed, Nov 11, 2009 6:55 am
Subject: [southern_maine_astronomers] Re: Falmouth Star Party






George,

I may be able to help out. I have a 10" Orion Dob with an Object
Locator (new). I have not attended one of these with Kids so I may need
a little initial guidance.

Steve Savoie
207-666-8378 W
207-282-7749 H

Feel free to call, going out tonight. Work call is OK.

--- In southern_maine_astronomers@yahoogroups.com, "George Whitney"
<gwhitney@...> wrote:
>
> Hello members,
>
>
>
> It looks as if this Thursday, the 12th, at 6-7:30 pm the Falmouth 4th
grade
> Star Party will be a go. There will be 35-50 kids with parents at the
> Falmouth community park on Wyn Road by the fire station.
>
>
>
> So far I have only heard that Ron may be able to help with the group.
>
>
>
> I need help with more scopes and more hands to organize the kids.
This is a
> paying group for SMA, as they always bring a check for us.
>
>
>
> Please let me know who can help out. I shall be there at 5:00 pm in
order to
> set up.
>
>
>
> Thank you,
>
>
>
> George
>

George,

I may be able to help out.  I have a 10" Orion Dob with an Object Locator (new).
I have not attended one of these with Kids so I may need a little initial
guidance.

Steve Savoie
207-666-8378  W
207-282-7749  H

Feel free to call, going out tonight.  Work call is OK.



--- In southern_maine_astronomers@yahoogroups.com, "George Whitney"
<gwhitney@...> wrote:
>
> Hello members,
>
>
>
> It looks as if this Thursday, the 12th, at 6-7:30 pm the Falmouth 4th grade
> Star Party will be a go. There will be 35-50 kids with parents at the
> Falmouth community park on Wyn Road by the fire station.
>
>
>
> So far I have only heard that Ron may be able to help with the group.
>
>
>
> I need help with more scopes and more hands to organize the kids. This is a
> paying group for SMA, as they always bring a check for us.
>
>
>
> Please let me know who can help out. I shall be there at 5:00 pm in order to
> set up.
>
>
>
> Thank you,
>
>
>
> George
>