TEXAS SOCIETY OF YOUNG ASTRONOMERS
At Rosemont 6th Grade
…….by Sallie Teames

(Continued from page 2)


Bob Newman:  I woke up at 4:30 Sat AM to look for the new comet Utsunomyia in the Eastern sky. It was a little cloudy earlier, so I didn't rush around and set up a telescope. However, I did set up my 20 X 80 binocs on the deck on top of the cabin. It had cleared off and the sky was magnificent! I was seeing stars down to 7 magnitude easily and some dimmer. After observing over 50 Messier objects (all of Virgo, etc) up until about 5:15, I turned to the search for the comet.

I had several trips up and down the stairs, trying to precisely locate the comet's position. Turned over a chair, knocked over some plastic pots on the porch, and woke Becky up twice. Finally located her page 17 of the sky Atlas 2000, (she has them all loose and mixed up as they are individually laminated) and scurried back up to the deck. So, there we were, me and Booker, (or is it, Booker and me?) The comet was discovered only a few days before with 25 X 150 binocs. Wow, that's 6" of binocs! What was I going to see with my little 80 mm? Right off, I had aperture envy. But, I had it located exactly, and sure enough, with steady, dark skies, and considerable perseverance, continually sweeping the area left and right, up and down, there it was - about 9 degrees due East of Enuf. It was at first only visible with averted vision, but eventually became a fixed object. It did appear to have a short tail, but I was really at the very edge of seeing it at all. Each time I looked directly at the comet, I was able to see the tail rising straight up from the comet. When I looked directly at the tail, it was not there. This is supposed to be a 10th mag. object and I believe it. If it were not for the extremely dark skies of the Davis Mountains, I do not think I would have seen it.

I was already the next morning, today, to set up a scope and look for it with "real aperture", but it was pretty cloudy this morning and it was not possible.

I did record the observation in my Uranametria, page 211. Chalk up one more comet!

[Editor's Note:  Congratulations to Sallie Teames for winning a grant to participate in the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) meeting and the High Energy Astrophysics Workshop for Amateur Astronomers in Hawaii, June 30-July 6!]

AAVSO provides many valuable services.  Members and Observers contribute data to headquarters where about 300,000 observations are received a year from around the world. At the end of each month, incoming observations are sorted by observer and checked for errors. They are converted into computer-readable form and processed using computer systems at AAVSO Headquarters. These observations are added to the data files for each star and the corresponding computer generated light curves are brought up to date. Once the data have been processed at headquarters, there are several methods that can be used to access the data. AAVSO services and data are available to researchers upon requests to the director. Our database is a tribute to the skill, enthusiastic devotion, and dedication of AAVSO members/observers since 1911.

On Tuesday, I will do my presentation on "Signs of Eta Carinae Outburst in Artifacts of Ancient Bolivia."  The High Energy workshop is Thursday and Friday-- on "Cataclysmic Variables" and "Gamma Ray Bursts".  In between, we will go to the observatory on Mauna Kea, tour, luau, and other stuff.  In return for the grant, I am to do future presentations sharing the workshop information with other science teachers, amateur astronomers, and the public at teacher conferences and star parties, etc.

I have already checked in with Danny Arthur, who schedules our FWAS monthly presentations. He has scheduled my "Signs of Eta Carinae Outburst" for our June FWAS meeting.. so I can practice on you guys for the big one at AAVSO. (I thank you in advance!)   Danny also penciled me in for Aug or Sept for a presentation on the workshop "CV's" and "GRB's".