Weather conditions are the factor that have the most control over amateur astronomy at this time of year. As I write this in mid-December it has been 2 weeks since I was able to see the Sun, much less the Moon or any star, due to continuous clouds and storms. I would like to take this opportunity to remind the club membership that the road to the observatory can become impassable at this time of year due to snow and ice. Since the park doesn't plow Brickyard Rd. in the winter snow and ice accumulate. Your best bet if you want to use the observatory is to call ahead (737-2575) to see if someone is there. Observatory keyholders are encouraged to use their best judgment in evaluating the road condition before attempting to drive on it. If Brickyard Rd. becomes blocked for an extended period of time I will evaluate our alternate access route through The Abott's Farm entrance and inform the club. Enough of warnings, Here's the latest club happenings:
Jersey Starquest. The location for Jersey Starquest '97 has been finalized. It will be held at Camp Linwood MacDonald, a YMCA camp in Branchville, NJ. The date is June 6-8. The people at Rutgers were unable to give us use of the Beamerville 4H camp this year due to scheduled maintenance. Planning is ongoing. Anyone interested in participation in the planning for this event is urged to contact me.
Astrophotography Working Group. Normal December weather in NJ (back to back nor'easters) forced the cancellation of the astrophotography workshop on the 14th of December. Hopefully January will be more clement (or at least clearer). We are going to try again on Saturday January 11th at 8 PM at the Simpson Observatory. Anyone interested in learning the ropes about prime focus astrophotography can contact me for further information.
December and January Programs. The January program (8 PM, Jan. 14th) features David Dunham of International Occulation Timing Association (IOTA). His topic will be "Calculation and Observation of Asteriod Occultations".
The February program (8 PM, Feb. 11th) features Hiram Levy of the NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. His topic will be "Atmospheric Ozone: A Little Goes a Long Way".
Super Science Weekend. The New Jersey State Museum is sponsoring Super Science Weekend on Saturday, Jan. 18th (9 AM to 5 PM) and Sun., Jan. 19th. (11 AM to 5 PM). As is usual we will have a display there promoting astronomy activities of the AAAP. If you would like to help out for a few hours on either Saturday or Sunday by helping to man our booth contact George Walker or me.
AAAP Board Meeting. The next meeting of the AAAP Board of Directors will be on Thursday, Feb. 20 at 7 PM at my house. Attendance is open to all club members. Contact me for directions if you need them.
This month's column will be short due to holiday time pressures leaving me with little time to research or write it. It is appropriate that the constellation chosen is small with only a few deep sky objects.
Nevertheless, Lepus, The Hare, is an interesting constellation. Although it is dim, having only one second magnitude star, it is easy to find just south of Orion, which is high in the south on January evenings. I am always reminded of Lepus when I go out to observe because rabbits are the only animal I see with any frequency, both in my backyard and at the observatory.
Although it is near to the bright star fields of the winter Milky Way, Lepus has only two deep sky objects of interest that I have observed. The first is the constellation's only Messier object, the globular cluster M79. Globular clusters are scarce in the winter sky since they are centered around the center of our galaxy, which lies in Sagittarius, a summer constellation, and M79 is one of the brightest examples of this class of object at this time of year. It can be found about 4 degrees south and a little to the west of Beta Leporis, the star that makes up the southeastern corner of a quadrilateral of 3rd magnitude stars that make up the most prominent asterism in Lepus.
The second object of interest can be found 3 1/2 degrees northwest of Mu Leporis along the line from Alpha Leporis. The variable star R Leporis is one of the treats of the winter sky. It is a long period variable that goes from mag 5.5 to mag 11.7 in 427 days but that is not the main reason I observe the star. R Leporis, which is better known as Hind's Crimson Star (It was first cataloged by the British observer J.R Hind in the last century), is one of the reddest objects visible in small telescopes. When near maximum brightness it appears like a burning coal set in the night sky.
That's Lepus. Good luck and good hunting.