Prime Focus

Although extrasolar planets may not be rocky and mountainous, like this portion of the Caloris Basin on Mercury, space-based observatories may one day transmit their images to Earth. (Photo credit : Mariner 10 space craft, NASA)

IN THIS ISSUE

TVS presents

Dr. Ken Croswell earned his doctorate in astronomy from Harvard University, and is the author of two books. His first was the highly-aclaimed The Alchemy of the
Heavens (a finalist for the 1995 Los Angeles Times Book Prize), and his newest offering is entitled Planet Quest .

In a colorful slide show, Dr. Croswell will speak about planet-hunting, and the scientists who seek to prove the existence of alien solar systems. In Planet Quest , he suscintly defines the essential features of our own solar system, and then recounts stories of the discovery of Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. He also discusses the search for Planet X.

The extrasolar planets recently found circling 51 Pegasi and 47 Ursae Majoris confirm that other planetary systems lie beyond our own. In his latest book Dr. Croswell explains the four basic astronomical ingrediants for life. Moreover, he demonstrates how new space-based and technologically advanced observatories could some day provide direct detailed images of our new planetary neighbors.

Club News Notes

We need help with nominations

This is also a good opportunity to get to know more TVS members and to learn about their experiences and interests. If several of you will volunteer, this job can be done fairly quickly and easily. (Dave called the entire membership list last year himself, but doesn't want to do it all himself this year.) Please contact Dave either by e-mail (anderson@knowware.net) or phone (510 661-4249).

Our apologies to Ken Sperber

Jump in Membership

Please extend your welcome to: Trina Alkema, Gert Gottschalk, Brett Hall, Dennis Morse, Bruce and Harriet Skelly, the John Stivers Family, Mike Walsworth, and Greg and Colleen Zamira.

Our apologies go to Victor Sickenger, whose name was misspelled when we welcomed him last month.

More on money

While the Dark Sky Site committee assembles its recommendations for club expenditures, our short-term investments will change. Monies will be moved from the checking account and the money market fund into staggered-maturity, 90-day certificates of deposit. The club will then own a total of three CDs: the recently-renewed $3,201.37 certificate, and two new ones of $2,500 each.

This will leave approximately $2,4 50 in the club checking account. The balance of the club 's funds will remain split among the three CDs until the board presents its plans to the membership.

At that time, all proposed Sky Shack and scope expenditures will be noted in Prime Focus, and discussed at the following general meeting where a vote will be taken.

Planning meetings (the next is scheduled on Oct. 20, at Round Table Pizza in downtown Livermore, at 7:00 PM) are always open to all TVS members. If you have a concern about the use of club funds, or simply wish to be better informed about board decisions, please consider this your personal invitation to attend.

Sorry... Because this newsletter is being commercially printed, it is only six pages. Next month we will print all the articles that could not fit in October.

President Dave Anderson (510) 661-4249
Secretary Bill Burnap (510 ) 449-4552
Vice President Chuck Grant (510) 449-1500
Treasurer Gene Nassar (510) 462-7843
Observatory Director Chuck Grant (510) 449-1500
Librarian Chris Cody (707) 747-6550

Eyes on the Skies BBS Mike Rushford
http://www.hooked.net/~tvs/eyes/
Web Site http://www.hooked.net/~tvs/
Editor Alane Alchorn (510) 455-9464 (510) 455-9466 fax circlewing@aol.com
Meeting Location Unitarian Universalist Church in Livermore 1893 N. Vasco Rd. 3/4 mile north of I-580

Membership: 203

Board
Alane Alchorn, Dennis Beckley, Rich Combs, Rich Green, Russ Kirk, Dave Rodrigues, Debbie Scherrer, Al Smith, Dave Sworin, Jim Zumstein

Tri-Valley Stargazers

Star parties

Space permitting, school star party information will be printed here each month.

Your own star party!

For those willing to hang out a little longer, Orion adds even more excitement, with a rising time of approximately 11:00 PM

To make the evening particularly enjoyable, new moon occurs just the night before. Lunar illumination for November 1-2 should be just 3 %.

What's up in October

		November 1997
1	Sat	Callisto occulted by Jupiter 9:21 PM
		Io transits 9:50 PM PST.
		Algol at minimum 2:33 AM Eclipsing binary drops from mag. 2.1 to 3.4 in about 5 hours. (Period is 2.8673 15 days). Compare Alpha Persei (mag. 1.79), Gamma Andromedae (2.2 6) and Delta Persei (3.01).
2	Sun	Io occulted by Jupiter 6:59 PM, reappears from eclipse 10:36 PM
3	Mon	Mars 6° and Venus 9° south of Moon.
		Ganymede's shadow transits Jupiter until 6:35 PM
		Io transits until 6:36; shadow transits until 7: 55 PM
		Ganymede's shadow eclipses Io (partial; 96% light drop) 10:2 3 to 10:55 PM
		Algol at minimum 11:22 PM
4	Tue	Election Day.
		Europa occulted by Jupiter 6:32 PM
		Delta Cephei at maximum 10:02 PM Variable rises to mag. 3.5 from 4.4 in about 1.5 days. (Period is 5.3663 41 days). Compare Zeta Cephei (mag. 3.35 ) and Epsilon Cephei (mag. 4.2).
5	Wed	Venus at greatest eastern elongation (47° ), but also at extreme southern declination (-27° 01'), making this a poor evening apparition for northern latitudes.
6	Thu	Algol at minimum 8:11 PM
		Galileo flyby of Europa (1,119 km).
		Europa's shadow transits Jupiter until 6:21 PM
7	Fri	First Quarter Moon 1:43 PM
9	Sun	Io occulted by Jupiter 8:54 PM

Some Fall Deep-Sky Objects

Comet Comments

Ephemerides

C/1997 J2 (Meunier-Dupouy)

Date (00UT)	R.A. (2000)	Dec	El	Sky	Mag
10-04	15h05.1m	+60°	15' 71°	E	11.1
10-09	15h23.8m	+59°	24' 72°	E	11.1
10-14	15h39.5m	+58°	30' 73°	E	11.0
10-19	15h55.2m	+57°	33' 73°	E	11.0
10-24	16h10.9m	+56°	33' 74°	E	10.9
10-29	16h26.5m	+55°	30' 74°	E	10.9
11-03	16h42.0m	+54°	25' 75°	E	10.8

A faint comet has been discovered "automatically" by the Spacewatch equipment at Kitt Peak. Comet C/1997 P2 (Spacewatch) will remain faint. Six more short-lived faint comets have been found on images obtained by the solar-orbiting SOHO satellite; its total is now 26. Meanwhile, Comet Hale-Bopp is now in the morning southern sky and Comet Meunier-Dupouy slowly brightens in our evening northern sky.

COMET HUNTING NOTES: With so many comets from the Kreutz Sungrazing Group being discovered by the SOHO satellite, amateurs have taken a renewed interest in sweeping along the path by which these comets are arriving. That path is now in the morning sky, having been behind the sun this past summer. The comets are very faint in the weeks before perihelion and it may take CCD imaging to capture them. The brightest members, although rare, can still be discovered visually.

Orbital Elements