CN3y Sharing the Sky Weblog No. 16

 

The Summer of 2010 begins

 

            Sharing the Sky becomes very active during the summer months, particularly when we conduct our annual Adirondack Astronomy Retreat. In a few days, people and telescopes will start to arrive at the Twin Valleys Campsite for a week of friendship, discussion, and most of all, observing. 

            If the sky is clear on Saturday, August 7, we will gather at dusk to begin observing what could be one of the best Perseid meteor showers in years. The radiant rises just after dark in the northeast, and climbs higher and higher with each passing hour. Thus, our count of meteors should also increase as the night goes on. The Perseids and I go back a very long way; I first observed them on the night of August 12, 1962 from the original Jarnac Site in Quebec, and over the course of the night I counted 112 meteors. The meteors sometimes came in pairs as if one speck of dust broke into two as it entered the upper atmosphere. The Perseids are the best shower of the year in the northern hemisphere; with summer nights being warm and pleasant, the sky show is often outstanding.

            The Perseids are not the only activity for the retreat this year. Many participants will have their own telescopes and cameras, and so astrophotography should be a big part of what we do. In fact, Wendee has arranged a slot of time each afternoon for anyone who has pictures to show to display them for all to see. Since our first Retreat in 2004, each year a group of men including Vince Matteo, Greg Taylor, Bob Masterson, Bill Olear, Steve Durham, Martin Rice, Bradley Feldman, and others have come, observed visually, and taken some of the most stunning photographs I have seen. They normally remain nameless, but Wendee calls them “the guys”, in honor of their having been part of the retreat since its beginning. 

            This year, Saturn will also be in the evening sky, pretty close to Venus. Saturn is a favorite object because of its ring system. “Exquisite!” seems to be the best word to describe this magnificent sight of a planet surrounded by “a thin, flat ring, nowhere touching” as Christian Huygens wrote when he discovered them in 1655.   I remember arguing the point a few weeks ago with someone at the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, who insists that Galileo discovered them. Neither his telescope nor his eyesight were good enough to see Saturn as other than a triple-planet which gradually turned into a single object, then reemerged as a triple years later. Looking at Saturn is one of the most satisfying things that one can do with a telescope.

            I’ll write more about this year’s retreat when it ends. In the meantime, let’s hope this one comes with a clear sky and lots of fun.