Star Gazer February 2018
Schoonover Observatory 670 N. Jefferson Street, Lima, Ohio 45801
Mailing Address: Lima Astronomical Society, Box 201, Lima, OH 45802
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The Star Gazer is written by Sherry Cottle Graham. Please forward comments, suggestions, or to unsubscribe/subscribe to this newsletter to SherryCottle@gmail.com.
February 2, 2018 Meeting starts at 8:00 P.M. at the Schoonover Observatory
Presentation: “Jupiter” hosted by Michael Ritchie
Under the Dome
Winter Celebration Invitation – When: February 17th, 2018 Where: Lima Elks Club, 302 West North Street, Lima, Ohio Time: 6:30 PM. Please mark your calendars and plan to attend our Winter Party. We will send out more information to you as it becomes available. It will be a fun event and we hope that you will join us.
Astronomical Calendar for 2018 (February and March)
Date GMT Event
(h:m)
Feb 01 18:24 Regulus 0.9°S of Moon
07 15:54 LAST QUARTER MOON
07 19:47 Jupiter 4.3°S of Moon
09 05:12 Mars 4.4°S of Moon
11 14:16 Moon at Apogee: 405701 km
11 14:46 Saturn 2.5°S of Moon
11 16:40 Mars 5.0°N of Antares
14 21:11 Moon at Descending Node
15 20:51 Partial Solar Eclipse; mag=0.599
15 21:05 NEW MOON
17 12 Mercury at Superior Conjunction
23 08:09 FIRST QUARTER MOON
23 17:07 Aldebaran 0.7°S of Moon
27 14:48 Moon at Perigee: 363938 km
27 17:28 Beehive 2.3°N of Moon
28 05:03 Moon at Ascending Node
Mar 01 05:09 Regulus 0.9°S of Moon
02 00:51 FULL MOON
04 06 Mercury 1.1° of Venus
04 14 Neptune in Conjunction with Sun
07 06:57 Jupiter 4.1°S of Moon
09 11:20 LAST QUARTER MOON
10 00:37 Mars 3.8°S of Moon
10 11 Mercury at Perihelion
11 02:37 Saturn 2.2°S of Moon
11 09:13 Moon at Apogee: 404682 km
14 03:47 Moon at Descending Node
15 15 Mercury at Greatest Elong: 18.4°E
17 13:12 NEW MOON
18 19:07 Venus 3.7°N of Moon
19 08 Mercury 3.8° of Venus
20 16:15 Vernal Equinox
22 22:33 Aldebaran 0.9°S of Moon
24 15:35 FIRST QUARTER MOON
26 17:17 Moon at Perigee: 369104 km
27 00:52 Beehive 2.2°N of Moon
27 10:56 Moon at Ascending Node
28 13:38 Regulus 1.0°S of Moon
31 12:37 FULL MOON
2018 Lima Astronomical Events Calendar
General Meetings for 2018 are on Friday’s starting at 8:00 P.M.
Winter Celebration is February 17, 2018 starting at 6:30 P.M. at the Lima Elks Club
Astronomy Days #1, April 21, 2018 starting at 9:30 P.M. at Kendrick woods
Persuides Meteor Shower, August 12-13, 2018 starting at dusk, at Kendrick Woods.
Astronomy Days #2, October 13, 2018, from Noon to Evening, at Lima Schoonover Observatory.
International Observe the Moon, October 20, 2018, starting at 6 P.M., at Kendrick Woods.
2019
50th Anniversary of the Apollo Lunar Landing, May 4th, 2019 at the Neil Armstrong Airport.
Night Out at the Neil Armstrong Museum, May 19th, 2019.
In the News
Rare Lunar Eclipse of a “blue moon” on January 31st, 2018
Hunters Recover Meteorites From Michigan Fireball
By: Bob King | January 19, 2018
The attached file contains the deleted pictures that were embedded into this document.
1.9KA spectacular fireball seen by hundreds of people from Iowa to Ontario delivered precious samples from the asteroid belt to the lake country of southern Michigan Tuesday
On January 16th around 8:10 p.m. EST, a brilliant, green fireball crackled across southern Michigan skies. Eyewitnesses described it as brighter than the full Moon with sparks and an orange tail. At least 77 observers reported hearing explosive sounds as the meteoroid broke apart overhead.
The American Meteor Society(AMS), a clearinghouse for meteor sightings, has received 657 reports of the fireball with some as far away as Iowa and southern Ontario.
The fireball traveled relatively slowly at around 45,000 km (28,000 miles) per hour. That sounds fast, but it’s more than 4½ times slower than a typical summertime Perseid. Its slow speed and great brilliance suggests a fairly large space rock that penetrated deep into the atmosphere, according to Mike Hankey of the AMS.
While fireballs are relatively common, ones that drop meteorites are rare, and it’s rarer still for someone to find those black treasures. But by using Doppler weather radar data and seismic traces (more on that in a moment), meteorite hunters were able to pinpoint the strewn field, the name for the ground footprint where the space rocks might have fallen. Lately of the asteroid belt, these interplanetary fragments now call the Township of Hamburg, Michigan, home.
The strewn field extends about 5 miles, oriented east-southeast to west-northwest, from about Highway 23 up to Bass Lake, some 20 miles northwest of Ann Arbor. Since the area has many lakes, make sure the ice is sound before venturing out.
Anyone living in that area should be on the lookout for black rocks poking out of the snow similar to what Ward is holding in the photograph above. The black coating, called fusion crust, forms when the outside of the meteoroid is heated and melted by friction from the air during its flight through the atmosphere. Fusion crust is typically only 1-2 mm thick.
The Michigan fireball not only put on a light show, it “knocked down the door,” announcing its arrival with a 2.0-magnitude seismic event recorded by the U.S. Geological Survey. The blast was not from the impact itself but from the air pressure wave created during the explosive breakup of the meteoroid in the atmosphere.
A preliminary analysis indicates it’s possibly an L6 chondrite, a common stony meteorite type. The “L” stands for low iron and “6” (on a scale from 3 to 7, from least to most altered by heat) indicates that the meteorite was strongly heated, so it likely originated from a larger asteroid. Samples are on their way now to the Chicago Field Museum for more detailed analys
Mission Statement
Mission Statement: To promote knowledge of astronomy and science (in general) for the residents in and around our community.
Membership Renewals for 2018 year are now due. Please send your checks to: Lima Astronomical Society, Box 201, Lima, OH 45802. The price is: Student $15: Individual $20: Family $25: Life Time $300.
End of Star Gazer