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R E F L E C T O R

The Astronomical League Newsletter

Vol. XLII No. 1 ISSN: 0034-2963 November, 1989
REFLECTOR

Quarterly Publication of the Astronomical League

Issued by the Astronomical League in February, May,
August and November. The Reflector is mailed directly to each individual
of its affiliate socities and to members-at-large as a benefit of
League membership.

 ISSN: 0034-2963

Editor Ed Flaspoehler

 5027 W. Stanford

 Dallas, TX 75209



Assistant Editor M. Barlow Pepin

 P.O. Box 295

 Lake Helen, FL 32744



Book Review Editor Gail O. Clark

74 Mountain Drive

 Pocatello, ID 83204



Advertising  Debbie Moran -

Coordinator see address below

Reflector Deadlines

Fall Issue  September 20th

Winter Issue December 20th

Spring Issue March 20th

Summer Issue June 20th



Written and graphic material from this publication
may be reprinted only for non-profit benefit of interested parties,
provided specific credit is given to the writer(s), the Reflector
and the Astronomical League. Any other use of material, including
graphics and photographs, is subject to express permission from the
Editor and the Astronomical League Publications Director, Rollin P.
Van Zandt.

National Officers

PresidentKen Willcox

225 SE Fenway Pl

 Bartlesville, OK 74006



Vice President Jerry Sherlin

 1001 S. Cornelia

 St Sioux City, IA 51106



Secretary Rollin Van Zandt

 7035 N Willow Wood Dr

 Peoria, IL 61614



TreasurerDebbie Moran

 11832 Sandpiper

 Houston, TX 77035



Executive Merry Edenton-Wooten

Secretary 6235 Omie Circle

Pensacola, FL 32504



Assistant Executive Wayne Wooten

Secretaty 6235 Omie Circle

 Pensacola, FL32504

ALCON '89 - Spokane, Wa.

by Rollin van Zandt, Secretaty, AL

The 43rd National Convention of the Astronomical League, hosted by
the Spokane Astronomical Society, brought about 140 participants to
its attractive setting at the campus of Eastern Washington University
in Cheney, a few miles from Spokane. Though the attendance was small,
this was not unexpected considering the remote location in the Pacific
Northwest. Nevertheless, all parts of the country were surprisingly
well represented.

Under the capable guidance of Gene Dietzen, Chairman, and Katie Hershfield,
co-Chairwoman, the whole Convention unfolded from Thursday, July 20
through Saturday, July 22 in a most professional manner, both as to
the quality of its program and the smoothness by which it was conducted.
I experienced several personal examples of the latter with Katie's
quick response to my need for name plates for the Council meeting
and in the locating and prompt return of a bag lost at the airport.  Even
without the usual support of the A.L.P.O., 21 speakers were there
who gave 26 talks (some gave more than one talk) varying from being
informative to entertaining, thus insuring that this year's League
PROCEEDINGS will come up to their usual high standards.

Tom Anderson from Tacoma led off the paper sessions with a truly inspirational
presentation of art at the eyepiece and demonstrated once more how
the human eye can capture more fleeting detail than the camera. Though
he was an accomplished artist, he demonstrated with the help of various
devices how much an unskilled observer could do with a little practice
and invited the listener into this both satisfying and worthwhile
field often of scientific value.

The renowned Jack Newton from Victoria, B.C., on the other hand, represented
astrophotography at its best with his marvelous shots taken through
a rather simple amateur telescope.

Dan Bakken, President of the Spokane Astronomical Society, set the
stage for the rest of the opening day on deep sky subjects with a
thorough discussion of what a viewer can do to make the eye operate
at its maximum efficiency in sensing vague and often extended objects.
His article will appear in the forthcoming PROCEEDINGS. It is an absolute
"must" for budding amateur observers who wish to enhance their visual
acuity.

David Levy from Tucson followed as a living example of what a highly
trained and honed observer can do. (David has four comets to his credit).
He gave two informal talks garnished with the rich sprinkling of poetry
and romance which so characterizes him. No one can listen to him,
especially the young people, without feeling the urge to observe the
sky at the next opportunity!

Peter Collins, also from Tucson and this year's recipient of the Leslie
C. Peltier Award on excellence in observing, demonstrated what can
be done with only a pair of binoculars. He is credited with discovering
three novae, the first with a pair of 7x50s in 1978, the second with
11x80s in 1984, and the last in 1987 with a pair of 10x50s. His general
field of operation is the Milky Way region where novae are most commonly
found. He revealed his observing technique on how to build a large
collection of self conceived asterisms into a mental memory bank that
will trigger any sudden change in brightness or reveal a new member
to the asterism. Some people are good at memorizing words. Peter has
an unsurpassed memory of stellar configurations.

The afternoon session was highlighted by a potential human nova, Devin
Meucci, age 14, from Seattle, whose subject was an "In Depth Review
of Supenova 1987A." He had the easy confident manner, unusual for
one so young, of one who had thoroughly researched his subject, yet
had the humility to state flatly when he couldn't answer a question.
He bears watching as his personal magnitude brightens.

For a change of pace, Dr. Robert Ruotsalainen, astronomy professor
from the local Eastern Washington University, gave a very interesting
discussion on observing star types in very dwarf irregular galaxies,
and how this rather benign environment affects star creation and evolution.

The end of a most stimulating day of talks and papers was climaxed
by the well known John Dobson who spoke under the title "Between the
Reality and the Appearance Falls the Shadow." He is a most remarkable,
creative and energetic character who has an amazing knack of presenting
himself in a variety of entirely different moods. This evening he
chose both to entertain and confound with the apparent purpose of
breaking up any vestige of conventional thought. His first act set
the pace of what followed when he slung a bundle of preprints at his
audience and let them scramble for a copy. He talked entirely without
notes at a fast pace, pausing for questions from his audience at any
time with equally quick answers.

We were treated Friday morning with a session on telescope making.
Norm Sperling, introduced in the program as lecturer, philosopher,
and astronomer, presented in his usual charming style an historical
sketch of Henry Fitz, a capable pioneer lens grinder and telescope
maker who was upstaged by the somewhat later and much more famous
Alvin Clark.

John Dobson appeared again on Friday in an entirely different and
communicative mood, describing his world famous Dobsonian mount and
showing  many slides of his 24-in. reflector in action in several
national parks where he extends his sidewalk astronomers' act to park
audiences. He further demonstrated his broad knowledge in mirror grinding
in response to questions. He has built the optics for most of his
own telescopes.

Spin casting, the future process for large mirrors, was vividly described
by Ed Mannery from the Steward Observatory Mirror Lab in Tucson. This
process has almost doubled the size limit of large mirrors by its
successful thin wall honey comb construction cast to parabolic curvature
by a rotating furnace. Their goal of producing an six-meter mirror
is on its way through a final enlargement of the furnace. He illustrated
this process with a fascinating movie called "Light Wars" which will
be made generally available through the League Program Materials service.

Banquet Speaker

The Speaker at the Saturday night banquet was Richard Shaffer from
the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who gave an account of the Ulysses
Project scheduled for launch in 1990. The Ulysses Project is a cooperative
venture between NASA and the European Space Agency on sending a modestly
instrumented spacecraft into a polar orbit around the sun. Aside from
observing the fields and emanations from the sun at this unusual vantage
point, it has secondary objectives while it is being gravitationally
slung into its eventual orbit, such as a search for gamma ray bursts
and gravitational waves.

Mr. Shaffer concluded with exampIes via video tape of a newly developing
visual data processing technique whereby static pictures can be represented
with different viewing positions and brought into motion with scenery
sweeping by at different velocities and directions. Nothing can be
added to the original input data, which is digital, but by changing
orientation and simulating motion, the process greatly adds to the
understanding of the information at hand. The speaker illustrated
this technique with a fast trip around Los Angeles, a study of cloud
motion and weather patterns from different angles and, finally and
most dramatically, a quick spacecraft tour about the different environs
of Mars. Such video pictures will be made available to the League
through the Program Materials Service.

Access to most of these papers can be had through the ALCON '89 PROCEEDINGS
which are available at $10 postpaid through the League Sales.

Awards and Other Things

Other activities offered by the host were star parties, a planetarium
show, a most liberal quantity of door prizes given out at the banquet
and an evening tour to nearby Spokane under the title "Spokane Under
the Stars." The final event of the banquet meeting was the presentation
of awards.

The Astronomical League Award was made to Dr. Donald Parker and was
received for transmittal by Steve O'meara.

The G. R. Wright Award for League service was made to Executive Secretary
Merry Edenton-Wooten, and received by her husband, Wayne Wooten.

The Leslie C. Peltier award was made to Peter Collins.

There were a great number of awards made by the Convention Committee
in recognition of their own workers .

All in all, it was a very busy, educational and entertaining three
days, worthy, as so often happens, of a far larger attendance.


 Amateur Astronomers Gain Time on Hubble Space Telescope

by Ken Willcox, President, AL

Five amateur astronomers have been awarded 16.5 hours of unocculted
spacecraft time on the Hubble Space Telescope. This was the result
of a program announced by Dr. Ricardo Giacconi, Director of the Space
Telescope Science Institute (STSCI) during the 1986 Astronomical League's
national convention in Baltimore, MD. Dr. Giacconi stated his belief
that amateurs had for decades made valuable contributions to the science
of astronomy and he wanted to give them an opportunity to use the
Hubble Space Telescope to ask refreshingly new questions. He added
that he believed their findings would make a real contribution to
the advancement of astronomy. There is no question that this program
is just the beginning of a whole new era of amateur astronomy as America
again takes it's place In space.

After numerous delays, the HST is now scheduled to be launched in
March, 1990 by the Space Shuttle Discovery on flight 31. There are
still four launches scheduled before HST and any delay in those launches
can be expected to delay the launch of the HST in March. Nevertheless,
five amateur astronomers will be among the professional astronomers
to use the worlds most technically sophisticated telescope when it
does reach Earth orbit.

The final five were chosen from a list of 29 semi-finalists selected
by the Amateur Astronomers Working Group (AAWG) which included Dr.
Janet Mattei, American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO),
Dr. John Westfall, Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers (ALPO),
Gerald Persha, International Amateur-Professional Photoelectric Photometry
(IAPPP), Dr. David Dunham, International Occultation Timing Association
(IOTA), Ken Willcox, Astronomical League, and Chairman of the AAWG,
Steve Edberg, Western Amateur Astronomers (WAA).

Each member of the AAWG reviewed preliminary proposals submitted to
their respective organizations by American amateurs across the nation
and selected what they believed represented the best science to be
included in the 29 semi-finalists. From these 29, the AAWG then agreed
on ten finalists. From those ten, the final five were chosen to be
given time on HST based on scientific contribution, conflicts with
professional astronomers proposals, and whether observations could
be made from Earth or other space probes.

The five amateurs chosen for this first round of amateur observations
will be invited to go to STScI at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore,
MD where they will be given individual guidance by the staff astronomers
and technicians at STScI to carry out their observations. Observations
by astronomers, both professional and amateur will not begin until
HST has spent about 6 months in orbit going through testing and calibration.

A list of the five finalists and their proposals are listed in the
table below. The Astronomical League has one member among the five
finalists, Ray Sterner from Woodbine, MD, a computer scientist employed
by the remote sensing group at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab.
One member of the final five, T. J. Hewitt, is currently the only
person, amateur or professional, who has been given time on HST in
case of a nova. We can be very proud of the 145 amateur astronomers
who participated in this first round of HST proposals.

The Five Amateurs Awarded Time
on Hubble Space Telescope

Peter J. Kandefer New Hartford, CT Magnetic Fields
of Peculiar Type A Variable Stars

T. J. Hewitt Berkeley, CA Search of Oort Cloud
Around Suitable Nova

Ray SternerWoodbine, MDImaging the Arc In Galaxy
2244-02

Ana M. Larson Seattle, WA Collapsing Protoplanets
of Nearby T-Tauri Stars

James J. Secosky Shortsville, NYSO2 Concentrations
and Brightening of Io
Following Eclipse





Twenty Four Semi-Finalists Awarded Time On Hubble Space Telescope


Roy Beavers  Plano, TX  UV Studles of Planetary Nebulae


Jeffrey Beish  Miami,FL  Water Vapor Studies of Mars


Joe Buzard  Emporum, PA  Ultra Short Variations in Crab
and Vela Pulsars

Michael Caplinger  Mesa, AZ  Conclusive ID of Geminga
(2CG 195+4) Counterpart

Michael Captinger  Mesa, AZ  Small Objects In Earth's
Lagrangian Points

Jeffery Clarke  Trussville, AL  Distance to Cepheid
DT Cyg (HD201078)

Richard Clingempeel  Amherst, VA  Survey of Peculiar
Galaxy LSB/AGN, Mailin 1

Jerry DeBolt  Fort Wayne, IN  Other Solar system.'s


James Disbrow  Culpeper, VA  Determine Fractal Signature
of the Urityer-se

Karl Hricko Edison, NJ  Red Shift Discordant Members
of a Galaxy Group

Alan Macfarlane, Jr  Seattle, WA  Time-lapse Study of
Mars in Integrated Light

Paul Maley  Houston, TX  A Search for Natural Satellites
of Asteroids

Michael Marron  Carefree, AZ  Focused Plasma Tails from
Stellar Winds

James McCanney  St. Paul, MN  Verify the Hubble Constant
(IEDRS)

Brian McMillan  Traer,IA  Effects of Interstellar Medium
on Main Seq. Stars

Tony Murray Georgetown, GA  Binary Stars Discovered
During Lunar Occulations

John Persichilli  Phoenix, AZ  In Search of Brown Dwarf'Companions


Willism Pie], Jr, E. Setacuket, NY  Search for Nearby
Brown Dwarfs

John Reynolds  Oklahoma City, OK  Structurel Elements
of Peculiar Galaxy NGC2685

 Michael Schuckel  Woodburn, IN  Accurate Cluster Star
Counts

Richard Schwartz Santa Barbara, CA Search for Gamm"ay
Burster Counterpart

Frank Smith Old Adbany Rd,  Globular Clusters in Quasars


Norman Wasson  Hacienda Hghts, CA Red Dwarf Stars Toward
the Galactic Poles

Spencer White Quakertown, PA  Comparison of Quasars,
Seyfert Galaxies

The International Dark-Sky Association

by Tim Hunter, President, IDA

The Astronomical League and other amateur and professional astronomy
organizations are very concerned about the deleterious effects of
light pollution. The Astronomical League recently joined the International
Dark-Sky Association (IDA) as a supporting member organization. The
League's efforts will be coordinated through IDA. IDA is a non-profit
corporation formed to serve the public and the astronomical community
through information, education, and research on light pollution and
related topics. IDA will assist with member's problems concerning
these issues by sharing and coordinating knowledge on a local, national,
and international basis. A united approach should be very supportive
of the many individual's efforts. The problems of light pollution,
interference to portions of the radio spectrum, and space debris are
large and growing worse daily. However, much has been accomplished
already. Solutions are available. It will be a long, many year's battle,
but it can be won.

Even though IDA was organized for the purpose of preserving dark skies
for astronomy and the general public, solutions to the problem of
light pollution will at the same time promote maximum effectiveness
for all outdoor lighting. The lack of awareness rather than resistance
to new ideas is generally the biggest problem in controlling light
pollution. Educating the public, the astronomical community, government
officials and staff, and lighting professionals is a major effort
of IDA.

 Astronomers are not against nighttime lighting. They have the same
needs for security, safety and recreation as other citizens. IDA advocates
the best possible lighting for the task - lighting that pays heed
to all relevant factors such as glare control, energy efficiency,
and the need for dark skies.

Future issues of the REFLECTOR will contain  reports from IDA to keep
League members up to date on the pertinent aspects of the light pollution
issue. Nevertheless, IDA needs the support of individual members.
Membership dues start at $20 per year. Members will receive a quarterly
newsletter, many one page information sheets, support for local efforts to
promote lighting ordinances, as well as brochures, leaflets and other aids
for combatting this plague which threatens to take away the beauty of the
nighttime sky from us all.

It's easy to get discouraged and become resigned to ever brightening
skies. But we can have dark skies and lit streets at the same time
if we insist on, and work for, quality, sensible nighttime outdoor
lighting.  For more information write to:

The International Dark-Sky Association

3545 N. Stewart Avenue

Tucson, AZ 85716

A Note from the Exec-Sec

Merry Edenton-Wooten

I would like to thank Ken Willcox and the members of the
Astronomical League for presenting me with the G. R. Wright Service
Award this year.

Special thanks goes to my assistant, Wayne Wooten, and
all of the ALCORs who have helped me control updates to the address
list. Without their cooperation, the effectiveness of this office
would suffer.


DEEP-SKY OBSERVING

WITH SMALL TELESCOPES

by David J. Eicher

Enslow Publishers, Inc.

Box 777

Hillside, New Jersey    07205

336 pages, paper $29.95

ISBN 0-89490-075-7



Aimed at the enthusiastic observer with somewhat limited skills and
knowledge, this one-volume reference and guide book to objects beyond
the solar system will be useful to seasoned veterans as well. Written
by experienced amateurs and organized in a practical, concise manner,
the book will be a good tool for owners of small <197> two to six
inch <197> telescopes who want to push their instruments to their
maximum capability.

After an introductory chapter which discusses telescope types, oculars,
star maps, and similar basics, the book devotes a chapter each to
seven deep-sky objects. They are double stars, variable stars, open
(galactic) clusters, globular clusters, planetary nebulae, bright
and dark nebulae, and galaxies. Each of the chapters uses an identical
format in presenting information. That is, each chapter's author defines
the subject, offers a brief but meaty historical sketch, explains
the nature of the object, gives instructions on beginning to observe
the object, describes advanced observational techniques, and closes
the chapter with a catalog of objects within the viewing parameters
of small telescopes. Each catalog is alphabetical by constellation,
and gives coordinates and brief comments on the specific objects listed.

David Eicher, assistant editor of Astronomy magazine compiled
and contributed to this book. In addition, well-known amateurs David
Levy, Glenn Chapel, Michael Witkoski, and others added their expertise.
The result is a volume that will get dog-eared and worn from use.
And that is a great testimonial for such a book. There are a few typos
here and there, but hopefully a second printing will take care of
this shortcoming in an otherwise very welcome and desirable book.

Over the years, Enslow Publishing has produced some outstanding books
of interest to the astronomical community. Deep-sky Observing With
Small Telescopes continues this tradition.

Gail O. Clark  <197> Book Review Editor

Sweeping the Skies

by Matthew Mazurek,
 Central Valley Astronomers, Fresno, CA.

One day while chatting with Clarence Funk, President of the Central
Valley Astronomers, I happened to ask him how he found and observed
deep- sky objects. He said, "Sometimes I just point my telescope at
a certain constellation and sweep around with no intention of finding
anything in particular." After hearing this little tidbit of news,
I thought he might just be wasting his valuable star party time, but
I decided to try it.

And what fun it is to wander aimlessly among the stars! If you want
to try something new and refreshing, just plain sweep the skies. You
can discover double stars, deep-sky objects and even enjoy an occasional
telescopic meteor.

At the next star party pick a constellation that you know has lots
of goodies in it like Cetus or Gemini. Both constellations have an
interesting smattering of deep-sky objects that are sure to please
you when you 'accidentally' stumble on them. You can look at your
atlas to find out what object you're looking at or you can play Galileo
for a while and ignore the fact that the object has been scrutinized
and analyzed by the pros.

How do you sweep? Start at one end of the constellation and move your
scope horizontally, then nudge it up and go back.  I call it the Sky
Switch-Back. Comet hunters use this method and so do some deep-sky
observers when there is a lack of stars to star-hop. If you are using
an equatorial mount simply sweep in R.A.Then move your scope up in
Dec. and go back in R.A.

No matter which constellation you choose, you will surely find something
new and exciting - perhaps even a once unknown member of our solar
system - a comet! I'd like to know if any of you discover something
new.

Lunar Eclipse/Perseids

The Lunar Eclipse of 16 August was observed by many members of the
Astronomical Society of the Atlantic and their guests. Atop Stone
Mountain, near Atlanta, GA, Don Barry of the Society was interviewed
by CNN against a background of vivid lightning, as members waited
a clearing to set up their telescopes. Although the eclipse appeared
to be only moderately dark as viewed from Atlanta, other reports seem
to indicate that during central eclipse, the lunar disk was quite
dim. Lars Furerdid of Long Island wrote, "We (Karen and I) viewed
the eclipse last night from a relatively dark beach site. Skies were
clear but with a hint of haze as there generally is over the water.
The moon was in the offshore direction. The eclipse was 100% at almost
exactly 10:20 pm. There was relatively little color evident at any
time: a greyish white with perhaps just a tinge of warmer hues in
the illuminated areas and a neutral grey in the dark regions. The
leading edge became completely invisible by about 10:30 as the eclipse
deepened. By 10:45 the disk was completely invisible to the naked
eye. Unfortunately, clouds blew in at 11: 15 (weather changes very
fast here on Long Island) and the show was over.

 The best report of the Perseids was received from Chein-Shiu Kuo
of Taiwan, a recipient of the Society's Electronic Journal. He reported,
"I went to Mt Laia in Taiwan leading an observation team to observe
the Perseid Meteor Swarm. We counted about 480 meteors from 10:30-
4:20 local time. In the period around 2:00 a.m. local time, the zenithal
hourly rate was about 120! We also used five cameras to record the
images of meteors, and are now processing the data."


Obituary

Dr. WaIter Lee Moore

(1898 - 1989)

Dr. Walter Lee Moore, a longtime member of the Louisville Astronomical
Society, died July 20, 1989. He was 91.

Dr. Moore and two other amateur astronomers formed the Louisville
Astronomical Society in 1933 after obtaining a 21-inch pyrex mirror
blank. The telescope was completed in about 20 years, after a major
interruption by World War II. At the time it was dedicated, it was
the largest club telescope in North America.

The telescope was donated to the University of LouisvilIe and formed
the jewel of the Walter Lee Moore Observatory upon its dedication
in 1977.

A mathematics professor by profession, Dr. Moore's interest in astronomy
kept him involved in the hobby throughout his life. He studied the
sun with a radio receiver in later year's; his interest in the heaven's
did not fade with his night vision.

Although he retired as professor emeritus in 1966, he worked
as skilled machinist and precision instrument maker for the University
of Louisville Physics Department throughout his retirement. In 1978,
Dr. Moore and a team of professors built a 73 foot foucault pendulum
in the rotunda of the University Administration building.

He belonged to Siqma Xi, a national honor society for science researchers,
the American Astronomical Society, the AAVSO, the American Association
of University Professors, and the Astronomical League.

He is survived by his wife, the former Katherine Bollinger.

Submitted by Alan Goldstein; Louisville AstronomicaI Society.

Results of League Council Meeting at Alcon '89

by Rollin van Zandt

The annual Council Meeting of the Astronomical League for 1989 was held during
the Astronomical League Convention in Spokane, WA. The Council meeting was
opened by President Ken Willcox on Saturday morning, July 21, with nine of the
officers and council present. Twelve more council members were represented
by proxies. Attendance was well in excess of the required quorum of eight.

Trust Fund

The most significant action taken by the Council was the revitalization of the
Trust Fund via a complete rewrite of Standing Resolution #1 covering this
operation. Its major feature was to make all of the interest accruing from
this fund, (reported elsewhere), available for enhancing the services to the
League membership. It was a unanimous agreement that these funds were NOT to
be used for routine expenditures.

Another important provision was that the Executive Committee
(the League officers) and the five Trustees would work
cooperatively to determine the nature and magnitude of the
expenditures. It has already been tentatively agreed that this
year's interest will be applied to the purchase of new video
programs for the Program Materials group serving the membership.

In 1989, the tenure of office of the Trustees was changed from
life to five year terms, where each would come up for review by the
Council for extension or replacement. Trustee Jerry Pardue resigned
and was replaced by Jeff Lewis.

League Budget Report

A report of major significance was from Treasurer Debby Moran. The League
operations have grown to about $25,000 annually, which will require a
financial report to the IRS and increases the importance of continuing to
document each expenditure. The 1989-1990 budget for the fiscal year beginning
July 1 was approved at the $25,000 level and is reported in detail in another
part of this issue. The budget includes an increase from $15 to $20 for the
fixed portion of the member society dues to keep up with inflation.

Reflector

It was decided that the membership listings will appear in the November issue
of the REFLECTOR and that it will include the names and addresses of the
ALCORs (Astronomical League Correspondents) to enhance communication among the
societies. There are now 178 member societies in the League representing a
total membership of about 11,000 individuals.

Computor User's Group

A motion was passed that the Computer User's Group, now
managed by John Wagoner, be expanded to include the whole
membership that has access to a home computer, as well as making a
much wider range of programs available of interest to the amateur
astronomer. As explained in the August REFLECTOR, this service was
developed originally for the Computer User's Group in the form of a
Bulletin Board Service (BBS). The only charge is the long distance
fees when dialing in through a modem.

Other Items

The decision was made to revive the publishing of the
"Guidelines for Astronomy Classes" booklet as a service to member
societies who undertake educational programs for their members.

The League will also reprint the "Astronomy Handbook", an
excellent guide for Astronomy Day, and make it available at nominal
cost.

The Council approved the next National Convention to be hosted by the St.
Louis Astronomical Society to take place in St. Louis, MO between July 31 and
August 4, 1990. (See announcement in this issue).

BUSINESS MEETING.

The business meeting took place Friday afternoon and was
chaired by vice president Jerry Sherlin. The first order of
business was election of officers.

The executive secretary, Merry Wooten, ran unopposed and was reelected.

The only other office up for election was secretary. There were two nominees,
Rollin Van Zandt and incumbent Harriet Witt Miller. Rollin Van Zandt was
elected.

Results of the Council meeting were presented. After the announcement of the
1990 convention in St. Louis, it was explained that the 1991 Convention would
not be in Hawaii during the eclipse because of restrictive cost and
availability of meeting places. It was, however, emphasized that the League
was sponsoring a guided expedition to Hawaii for the eclipse, as mentioned in
the August REFLECTOR.

ALCON '90

The St. Louis Astronomical Society will be hosting the Astronomical
League's 1990 National Convention. The dates are July 31 to August 4, 1990,
on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis, MO.

The co-chairmen of the convention are Steve Best and Wayne Clark.

For more information on ALCON '90, contact:

Wayne E. Clark
Co-Chairman, ALCON '90
310 Calvert Ave.
St. Louis, MO. 63119

Welcoming Mat

New Socities

Shoreline Amateur Astronomy Assoc.

ALCOR: Michael Cote

6360 Old Allegan Rd

Saugatuck, MI 49453


Moorhead-Fargo Astronomy Club

ALCOR: Robert J.  Brummond

1420 8th Street S

Fargo, ND 58103



Ft Bend Astrnomy Club

ALCOR: Barbara Wilson

12346 Wellington Park Dr

 Houston, TX 77072



West Kentucky Amateur Astronomers ALCOR: Dan
Hatfield

4360 Stonewall Dr.

Paducah, KY 42001

Program Materials Service

The Astronomical League is in the process of revamping the Program
Materials Service. This service, in the past, has tried to provide
quality film, videos and slide presentations that member clubs could
use for programs at their scheduled meetings.

It is the League's desire to update its materials offerings to make
this service more accessible to its members. The League is planning
on purchasing new program materials in the form of VHS video tapes
and slide shows within the next six months. All program materials
in the future will be sent out as a slide presentation or a video
tape. The Program Materials Committee would like to solicit suggestions
of video or slide programs that might be available for purchase for
League use.

Please send all suggestions to:



Don Garland

AL Program Materials Committee

c/o Ft. Worth Museum of Science and History

1501 Montgomery

Ft. Worth, TX 76107

Saturn Occults
28 Sagittarii
July 3, 1989

by Kevin Kilkenny
 Amateur Astronomers Association of New York



My alarm went off at 12:30 AM. Plenty of time to drive to Sperry Observatory
to view the once in a lifetime occultation of 28 Sagittarii by Saturn.

I arrived at about 1:15 AM to find the Observatory bustling with activity.
A planetary expert is manning the 10-inch refractor while there are
a number of New York Astronomical Society members in the 24-inch reflector's
dome. They are watching Saturn close in on 28 Sagittarii on a video
monitor that has been set up. Outside there are a number of telescopes
set up on the lawn awaiting the moment of occultation. The universal
clock is ticking loudly while a classical radio station plays softly
in the background.

The event started only 30 seconds behind Sky & Telescope's prediction
of 5:56 UT. The 5.5 magnitude star briefly blinked behind Saturn's
F Ring to cheers from all those watching. Then the star went behind
the A Ring and started blinking violently. Everyone started yelling,
"Did you see that?"  The star never did reach its full brightness
again until it came to the Enke Division where it blinked to full
magnitude, then back to dim. Then blinking occasionally it would disappear
altogether.

28 Sagittarii became almost to full magnitude as it reached the Cassini
Division, but there was still some blinking.

The star disappeared altogether as it moved into the B Ring, briefly
appearing here and there. The C Ring was a little less opaque but
the star still disappeared, especially at the start of the C Ring.
The star again blinked toward the end of the C Ring. The space the
star went through between the ring system and the planet's disk was
so small that it never seemed to reach full magnitude.

The star went behind the disk at about 7:00 UT and for most of us
the show was over. I stayed while the video tape was replayed.

I drew this light curve of the event. The bottom line represents total
disappearance of the star.

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Northwest Suburban Astronomers Win
Astronomy Day Prize


On Monday, September 11, 1989, the Northwest Suburban Astronomers
in Hoffmann Estates, IL, presented the Schaumburg Township District
Library Board with a $100.00 gift certificate received as part of
the 1989 Sky & Telescope Astronomy Day award. The Hoffman Estates
branch of the library participated in Astronomy Day 1989 by hosting
the Astronomy Day solar observing session at their library. The gift
certificate was presented to the library for the purchase of new books.

Deborah Miller, President of the Schaumburg Township District Library
Board of Directors, received the gift certificate from NWSA President
Bob Long and Vice-President Bill Spizzirri. Photo by Gordon Garcia,
NWSA ALCOR.

Five runners-up in the first annual Astronomy Day Award sponsored
by Sky Publishing included Bay's Mountain Amateur Astronomers, Kingsport,
TN; The Wilderness Center Astronomy Club, Massillon, OH; American
Samoa Astronomical Society, Pago Pago, American Samoa; The Charles
Hayden Planetarium, Boston, MA; and Penn State Astronomy Club, State
College, PA.

Between these six organizations and the dozens of others, Astronomy
Day had plenty of activities. Besides the standard events, (day and
night telescopic observations, mirror grinding demonstrations, special
speakers, lectures, library lists of suggested astronomical reading
and observatory open houses), some of the more unique and interesting
activities included teacher workshops, a lunar gravity simulator,
moon rocks, and a walking tour of the solar system (scale model).

Other events included people in costume portraying famous past astronomers,
serving food with space themes, administering the "Astronomy Test
of General Knowledge"; breaking dark inner balloons while leaving
the clear outer balloon in tact with focused sunlight, the construction
of a special "Light Buster" poster (a take-off of "Ghost Busters"),
astronomical postage stamp displays, door prizes, planetarium shows
(one planetarium ran a show entitled "Dinosaurs in Space"), and fundraising
for the Ronald McDonald House.

This year the use of indoor shopping malls seemed to be less popular
for some reason. Perhaps liability insurance is an issue here. At
least one city, St. Louis, held Astronomy Week, with several events
held throughout the week. During these, and all of the before mentioned
events, thousands of people were impacted.


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