The Winter edition of the NPO newsletter has been posted . . .

By Steve Self
LAS CRUCES—The Winter edition of the NPO newsletter has been posted to the web site. This edition of the newsletter is open to the public and may be downloaded by clicking this link.

Feature Story

Spaceport tourism – the future is now

By Jessica Savage
LAS CRUCES—One of the biggest economic booster shots
Spaceport America will provide to the area will be the result
of tourists seeking an experience at the first commercial
spaceport, First Scope

according to government, business and education
officials speaking at a recent public forum.
National Public Observatory officials this fall attended the
Leonard R. Sugerman Public Forum, “Building a spaceport
community,” the kickoff event for the International
Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight
organized by the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium. Click here to read the rest of the story . . .

Drawing For Two Celestron First Scopes Is Almost Here

By John Gilkison
LAS CRUCES—When we saw these bargain Celestron First Scopes, we decided to acquire a couple of them to see if they were suitable as a beginners telescope for the public. We found a good deal on some Plossl eyepieces online and ordered them for this telescope. We will be raffling off the First Scope with two Plossl eyepieces at the Fall programs for $1.00 per ticket. We will have the telescope at select programs to demonstrate it. The final drawing for this telescope will be held at on December 19th at City of Rocks State Park.

<<Click Here for the Form>>

Send the form and your check to the NPO to receive your raffle tickets by mail to…….

NPO
P.O. Box 19,
Radium Springs
NM 88054

The NPO Photographs a Morning
Occultation of the Planet Venus by the Moon

By John Gilkison
LAS CRUCES—Reading about an upcoming occultation of the planet Venus by the Moon

Occulation of Venus by the MoonI decided to make an attempt to photograph the event even though it was occurring on a Wednesday work day for me. So I set up my LX-55 German Equatorial Mount with our 6 inch Schmidt Newtonian telescope and had everything ready to assemble for a photographic run first thing in the morning. I awoke to a spectacular sight of a beautiful crescent Moon very near Venus in a clear morning sky. I got a rough alignment done for the drive because I really did not need the Go/To function just the drive. With the Sony digital camera set up in a par-focal configuration I begin working on focus and the exposure value. I had some problems because I was not full awake enough at first to realize that the camera lens was not locked down at infinity. However I got this setting changed just before the occultation started I managed to take several photographs of the event. One of the problems with work like this is that you seldom just get to observe the event for yourself. I managed to stop now and then and observe through the finder and of course I could see the event on the display screen of the camera. An hour later I grabbed my 11X80 mm binoculars and scanned for the Moon. Sure enough I found it (only then was it visible to naked eye once I knew where to look) and there was Venus reappearing from the dark limb of the Moon with the Sun to the east just above the horizon. Priceless.

Spring Southern New Mexico Star Party to be held

April 8th - 11th 2010

Support Stars-N-Parks!
Sponsor a Stars-N-Parks program $35

Ecliptic Wheel

John's Eliptical Wheel

By John Gilkison
NPO President
How the Ecliptic Wheel is made?

As far as I know the idea of an ecliptic wheel is original with me. Conceptually it would be a part of any three dimensional model of the sky, but I was inspired to fabricate one in order to explain the
ecliptic as a isolated concept while teaching. I am not saying one does not already exist somewhere or has existed in the past, I am just saying if it exists I am not aware of it.

To start with I attached a block of wood to a square of plywood at a 32 degree angle. Then I drilled a hole down into the block of wood. This is the matching angle for the tilt of the Earth's axis at the latitude where we live in Radium Springs, New Mexico.

Next I cut the intended mounting shaft at a 23.5 angle and I mounted a circular disk of Aluminum to this cut shaft through a hole made a the center. This allows the circular disk of Aluminum to be rotated on a shaft that is in line with the Earth's axis so that the disk of Aluminum can be lined with the ecliptic in the sky as it appears at the moment in question.

One could mark the outside edge of a larger disk for each day of the year. As a preliminary measure I marked my smaller disk SS meaning Summer Solstice, WS meaning Winter Solstice, SE meaning Spring Equinox, and FE meaning Fall Equinox.

How the Ecliptic Wheel is used?

One takes the Ecliptic Wheel outside in daylight and sets the base so that it is level and the axis points true north. Please note that magnetic north is 11 degrees NE of true north where I live in Radium Springs, New Mexico. Once this done (it can be place on a table) you rotate the disk until the shadow of the disk on the ground is a thin plane. There are potentially two positions where this is possible. So you need to make sure the sun is aligned with the approximate date of the year and not an opposite date where the wheel could produce a thin shadow but be tilted with the actual ecliptic everywhere else except where the wheel intersects with the Sun.

What Can the Ecliptic Wheel Show us?

The Ecliptic Wheel could show us the day of the year if all 365 days in a year were marked on the wheel. It not only shows us how the ecliptic is aligned in space at our location at any given moment, but interestingly enough it could be used as a compass. That is, knowing the day of the year and pointing that edge of the disk towards the Sun one can then simply rotate the base until the shadow appears the thinnest, the rotation shaft will point true north.

Other Designs for the Ecliptic Wheel

The last point about how the Ecliptic Wheel could act as an compass brings up a interesting potential. A small portable model of the Ecliptic Wheel could be made so that it could unfold from a carrying case for example, and the altitude of the rotation shaft could be made adjustable to match an range of latitudes on the surface of the Earth. Then knowing ones latitude and the date one could always locate true north if the sun was shining.

A second more interesting design for the general public would be a large fixed wheel located in a park or some other public location. I would suggest a radius for the wheel of 59 inches. This would give one enough space along the perimeter to have a peg for each day of the year one inch apart. A second half circle could be set up near the lower rim of the circle to act as a sundial face. A Gnomon could be affixed to center of the disk and allowed to rotate to align with the Sun. This way with a table for the Equation of Time one could tell the local apparent time as long as a differential for longitude was incorporated.

Final Thoughts on the Ecliptic Wheel

In other words you could have a very accurate interactive Sundial which also told the day of the year as well as the hour, and it would clearly delineate the plane of the solar system when it was properly aligned with the Sun. Such a large inactive sundial could even have the equation of time incorporated into the spacing of the date pegs. Such a Ecliptic Finder, Sundial, Date finder, and true north location device would be of great interest to the public and a great teaching tool.

Matt Wilson left, and John Gilkison right, stand beside the newly mounted imaging telescope on the 14 inch Meade telescope at the City of Rocks State Park Observatory. The tube counter weights are seen at the bottom of the main telescope.

The NPO Installs a 5 in. Piggy Back Imaging Telescope at City of Rocks State Park Observatory

by John Gilkison
After Ken Abalos (the City of Rocks S P Manager) procured a five inch Celestron SCT for piggy back imaging duties on the 14 inch observatory telescope at the park the only problem left was in mounting it. Finally in February we received a piggy back rail and rings kit from a internet provider (www.scopestuff.com) of telescope equipment. I scheduled a installation date of Saturday February 2nd so we could get the equipment up and running before the regular monthly program.

Matt Wilson the park's program presenter met me at the observatory at 4:00 PM. It took about a hour of adjusting and playing around with the best location of the five inch so it would not interfere with visual observing through the main telescope. The five inch had to also be optically aligned with the main telescope so the image the five inch produced would match the views through the eyepiece.

Then we had to wait upon darkness to make the final adjustments and to find focus. The imager is a Stella Cam II which as many of you may know works best below a focal ratio of F/4. We use a F/3.3 Compressor then the regular visual back to mount the camera which simply has a 1 & 1/4 inch mounting barrel.
We had a couple surprise visitors. Steve Cary the State Parks Head Interpretive Guide showed up with Robert V. the State Park architect. They were wanting to interview us about the good and bad aspects of the observatory design for use in building a new astronomical observatory at Oasis State Park in the coming year. We had a calm clear night for a wonderful program under the stars with this latest high tech addition to the capabilities of the City of Rocks State Park Observatory.
First we displayed Orion Nebula on the monitor. Then Andromeda Galaxy and it's two satellite galaxies. Patrons were also treated to the same views through the main observatory telescope as well as 11X and 20X 80mm binocular views of selected objects. We also did a green laser constellation and bright star tour at the beginning of the program. I was very pleased to see the Bond Lanes of Andromeda Galaxy showing well on the monitor. I could then explain these artifacts and describe what was being seen to a group of several persons at once.

We slewed to the Double Cluster which showed very well. What pleased me the most was the eyepiece views through the 14 inch telescope and the image on the monitor from the 5 inch imaging telescope were virtually the same. You could see about half of each of the clusters and the space in between them. Next we stopped by M-46 and the planetary nebula that appears in front of this beautiful open cluster. Next the Crab Nebula which required some historical as well as scientific explanations.

The night and the installation of the five inch piggy backed imaging telescope were a great success. All that remains to be done is to install a few more counter weights as the existing tube counter weights are not sufficient for balancing the telescope tube. We are looking forward to many more exciting public programs using this wonderful imaging technology which matches the main telescope's low power image scale.