NOVAC has enjoyed a long multi-year relationship with Crockett Park as its primary observing site.  That relationship is now threatened by changes in Crockett Park's policy management.  In the past, our access to the park was governed by the resident park ranger.  Now it appears the Fauquier County Board of Parks and Recreation has gotten involved and feels the need to fix what is not broken.  We are now in the process of renegotiating our club access to the park and as of this writing it does not look good for NOVAC. We may lose access to the park or at a minimum our access will be very restricted.

Our current access agreement will be in effect until the end of June.  After that, the new policy, if any, will be in effect.  Rest assured the NOVAC Board of Directors is working to preserve our use of the park.  To keep the members informed, a web page will be set up on     novac.com with the status of our park access agreement.  Please do not attempt to observe at Crockett without consulting the web page or contacting a board member.  In the fight to preserve our access to Crockett we may call on the membership for action.  Please help if called upon.

NOVAC's membership has grown to over 430 as of this writing, and it continues to grow.  As part of your membership you receive this newsletter bimonthly.   In the past the newsletter was the primary form of communication which tied the club together.  That is no more.  Today, the NOVAC e-mail list is the pulse of the club.  Its subscribers read observing reports, lively debates on topics of interest, members' plans for impromptu observing sessions, and much more.  Clearly, for those who subscribe, 80% of the club activities are discussed, planned and organized on the club e-mail list.  The problem is that only about one third of the members subscribe.  Which leads me to believe NOVAC is a static, every-two-months, distant world for the remaining members.  So, I would like to invite the remaining two-thirds of the club to join the e-mail list and feel the pulse of NOVAC.

To subscribe, send an e-mail with  "subscribe NOVAC [your e-mail address]" in the body to majordomo@mclean1.his.com  If you have any problems feel free to contact myself or Kevin Brown and welcome to NOVAC live!

So, when is the last time you took a long look at the moon?  I thought so.  As a deep sky aficionado, aside from lunar eclipses, I generally see the moon as a nuisance; something I look at briefly while I'm waiting for it to go away.  In early May, I set up the 13-inch telescope for a galaxy gambol through Leo, Virgo, and Coma Berenices.  However, because of haze, dust, pollen, et al, the sky conditions were very poor.  Instead, I swung the telescope to the three-day-old moon.  Plan B was hatched.  As you know, over the past year I have observed and written about the sun and all the planets save Pluto.  Why not continue my solar system caper with a study of the moon?  But what to look for?  The Apollo landing sites would be a good start, along with selected craters, rills, and the Straight Wall.  I figured on following the waxing moon, studying interesting areas along the terminator, and writing it up as sort of a diary.  I planned on using two telescopes; the Astroscan with the power goosed up to 34X, and the 13-inch at high power with a five-inch off-axis mask and an Orion moon filter to cut down on the light.  I could look at the whole moon with the Astroscan and move in for a closer look with the big fellow.  Sort of a macro/micro approach, as it were.  My navigation aids were the Peterson Field Guide to the Stars and Planets, and a poster-sized lunar illustration, which I've had for years.  The Peterson was especially handy at the telescope, because the pictures were real photos, south was up, east to the left, and the names were right side up.  No mental gymnastics were required.  Finally, I went on-line to priceline.com for accommodations at the Copernicus Hotel and lunar tours trip tick.com for directions.  Of course, I asked for the scenic route.

Anyhow, I picked up my lunar tour with the four day old moon.  I didn't look for anything in particular.  The small crescent was very pretty, and I used the time to get reacquainted with the moon.  I just wandered around the limb looking at craters, Mare Crisium, and Mare Fecunditatis.  I remembered that shadows are all important when looking for lunar detail.  The best place to search for and enjoy a lunar feature is along the terminator.  Once an area becomes fully illuminated, the shadows and detail vanish.  What looked like a striking crater or mountain range last night will become a ho hum object one night later.

Lunar Day 5.  The Apollo 17 and 11 landing sites came into view.  Both were fairly easy to find.  Apollo 17 landed on a spit of ground, which, along with the Haemus Mts. separate Mare Serenitatis from Mare Tranquillitatis.  There are a couple small craters adjacent to the landing site, which are of some help. Keep in mind that we cannot see any artifacts of the lunar landings with our telescopes, so don't expect to see the LEM sitting there.  I figured if I got within 20 miles or so that was doing well.  Apollo 11 came to rest almost diagonally across the Mare Tranquillitatis from 17.  It also has a distinctive bit of land jutting into the sea, which can lead the way.  While I was following the coastline south to Apollo 11, I came upon a series of very pretty ridges next to a crater named for Julius Caesar.  The sunlight was just right, and the shadows of the ridges and valleys stuck out like a sore thumb.

Lunar Day 6.  This was the night of the first quarter moon.  There are some nice big craters along the north-south centerline of the moon, and I had a good view of Hipparchus and Albategnius.  Ptolemaeus is another giant crater, but only one edge was illuminated.  It would take one more day for that one.  Apollo 16 was next on my list, and I'm not sure I even came close.  Apollo 11 was my starting point.  I followed the coastline south to a big crater named Theophilus, and then I hung a right.  The landing site is next to a shallow crater, Descartes, but I couldn't say with any assurance that I was even in the ballpark.  So, on to Apollo 15.  This site is just off the apex of the Apennine and Haemus Mountains.  Most of the Apennine range was still in shadow, but there was enough visible for me to come mighty close to the landing area.

Lunar Day 7.  We're just short of the Straight Wall.  I still had a nice look at Ptolemaeus, Alphonsus, and Arzachel, three craters in a north to south line just south of the equator.  Tycho is visible, but the rays are not all that obvious.  It sure is crater heaven down south.  I didn't even begin to try identifying the myriad holes in the ground down there.  A lot of the features that caught my eye early on are now washed out by sunlight.  Working around the terminator is the only way to go.

End of Part I.  Coming next: Will our hero find and climb the Straight Wall?  Does the Copernicus Hotel serve a continental breakfast?  Are there any surprises in store for us?  The answers to these pressing questions (and many more!) will be covered in the next thrilling edition of the newsletter.  Meanwhile, Lynn and I want to wish a fond farewell to the Archinals.  Brent's new position sounds like an exciting challenge, and as I see it, it is a well-earned chance to play with the big kids.  It's like being signed by the New York Yankees.  I was blest to have two experienced mentors during my early days as an amateur astronomer.  Al Boldt and Brent Archinal were mentors long before the term became fashionable.  If they saw a willingness to learn, they were right there to help.  I can't begin to count the many nights when just the three of us sidestepped cow pies at Greenville Farm or later endured freezing fingers and toes at Crockett Park.  They helped me to find my way around the sky, answered numerous dumb questions, and kept my interest piqued.  Since then, I have tried to repay the debt by being as patient a teacher to others as they were to me.  So, thanks, Brent.  Keep in touch and Godspeed.

On a recent business trip, I had a chance to see Munich's Deutches Museum, which is a lot like our Smithsonian.  A TV ad in my hotel mentioned a planetarium there, so I thought I'd check it out.  I got there when they opened at 9:00 and caught the first showing.  I hardly know a few words of German, but my limited familiarity with the sky was good enough to figure out what was happening.  Most of the star (stern) names were recognizable on hearing them, and it was easy to recognize the Grosse Bar (Great Bear) and Grosse Hund und Sirius (Canis Major).  The show was very well presented, including seasonal changes and planetary motion.  It's great how the hobby is so universal that it transcends the language barrier.

The roof had a sundial garden; this has long been a second interest of mine.  I took digital photos of every dial and its plaque; most interesting was the modern,  machined,  analemmic version which was of course right on the money, time-wise, when the clouds broke for a moment.

The next two floors were devoted to astronomy.  Very nice displays of the solar system including much detail about the sun, lots of photos and models of the solar system, the galaxy, on out through the local group into clusters of galaxies.  One floor had antique instruments such as astrolabes, quadrants, and dioramas of early observatories such as Herschel's monster scope.  The 'scopes on display included early meters-long refractors and reflectors.  Modern gear was represented, like Celestron and Vixen.

My general impression was that the museum tends to bias toward German invention to an obvious extent, while downplaying foreign contributions.  But I plan to go back at the next opportunity to see the displays on 2 entire floors that I didn't have time for... they closed at5:00, and by then my legs were hurting!  A great beer and schnitzel dinner at a nearby restaurant fixed that problem.  All in all, I'd recommend this museum... especially the top two floors and the planetarium, to anyone who might get a chance to visit Munich.

Finally, I picked up a copy of Sterne Und Weltraum (Zeitschrift für Astronomie) at a newsstand...a very good astronomy magazine!  Here's a chance for me to learn a little German from familiar topics!

The weekend of June 2-4, 2000 was the first Northern Virginia Astronomy Club trip to Spruce Knob's Gatewood Group Camping Area for the year 2000.

The forecast for Friday evening was for rain early and possible clearing late in the evening.   Bob Traube, Tom Deitz, Ed and Laquetta Karch, and I were hoping to get in some early morning observing but the clearing never came.  The rain and drizzle continued through the early morning hours.

Saturday morning the clouds began to disappear and a beautiful clear blue sky appeared overhead.  At about 3 p.m., many more people began to arrive and soon the field was full of observers.  In addition to the NOVAC members there were several people from the Charlottesville, VA area and others from Ohio who had heard about the event.  I would estimate that there were at least 20 people, with the biggest scopes being owned by Greg Dillon of Charlottesville (25" Dob) and NOVAC's president, Pete Johnson (24" dob).

As evening arrived and stars began to appear there was a real buzz of excitement on the field.  Would this be a night to remember?  Would the sky stay clear all night leaving us happy and fulfilled for another month?
Well, it was not to be.  At about midnight the clouds began to form and we were reduced to scanning for bright objects in the moments of clearing.

I did manage to observe one of the really faint Hickson Compact Galaxy Groups before the clouds arrived.  Hickson 66 is a tiny group of 4 faint galaxies in Ursa Major.  Hickson 66A was the only one I could see.  It was under 30" in diameter and was just visible with direct vision and was fairly easy with averted vision.  A galaxy of similar size and brightness was in the same field but was not a member (MCG +10-19-103 for the record).  Both of these galaxies were listed at 15.8 magnitude by Megastar but appeared to be more like magnitude 14.5 - 15.0 visually.

Craig Tupper asked to see a Hickson group and I suggested he look for Hickson 68 in Canes Venitici with his 10" Dob.  This is one of the brightest Hickson groups; three of the galaxies are between magnitude 11.0 - 11.5 (NGC 5353 is the brightest) and the other two areabout 14th magnitude.  A few minutes later he had them in the eyepiece.  The three main galaxies in the group were bright and easy, as was a 4th galaxy, NGC 5371, not far away.  We suspected the two fainter galaxies as well.  Nice view!

My 6" F5 Jaegers scope proved to be ideal for chasing down bright objects in the brief moments of clearing.  The globulars M4 and NGC 6144 and Antares made a fine sight in Scorpius.  The bright globular M80 just to the north was small and tight compared to the looser M4.

The Lagoon, Trifid, Omega, and Swan nebulas were just wonderful in the 6" without any filters.  M22 was a fine ball of stars in Sagittarius.  M11, the Wild Duck Cluster, in Scutum was quite a sight as well.
The North American Nebula in Cygnus was well defined with an OIII filter.  The 6" F5 combined with a 35 mm Panoptic yields a 2.91 degree field of view, just right for the North American.  Several people got their first really good view of this large nebula.

The night went on like this (2 or 3 objects each time the sky cleared).  In between these quick runs to the telescopes we had plenty of time to sit and chat and get to know one another better until about 3 AM, when people started heading off to get some sleep.

The forecast for Sunday night was not promising, so everyone left Sunday morning.

Even though the weather did not really cooperate, I enjoyed the weekend and am looking forward to more trips to this dark sky site in the future.

The board discussed the upcoming NOVAC picnic on June 24.  As in the previous two years, NOVAC will provide the hamburgers, hotdogs, and drinks and members can bring a side dish to share.  It was decided to mail out a flyer to all NOVAC members a couple of weeks before the picnic.

The board discussed the new NOVAC web site.  Pete Johnson will draft a set of rules for making updates to the website.

The ATM special interest group has made it's first purchase from the revolving fund that has been set up.  Ten sets of 4.25" mirrors and diagonals were purchased for resale to members at cost.

The board decided to move the general membership meeting time from 6PM to 7PM as soon as GMU will allow it, hopefully in July.

Ed Witkowski listed the upcoming public outreach programs.

Craig Tupper listed the upcoming programs for the general membership meeting.

Pete Johnson adjourned the meeting at 21:00

JUNE 7 NOVAC BOARD MEETING
19:30 Pete Johnson, President, called the board meeting to order.

The board discussed activities for the upcoming NOVAC picnic on June 24 at Crockett Park.  It was decided to have swap tables and to have a scope tuning/collimation session for anyone who would like some help in this area.

The board discussed the access problems at Crockett Park.  Pete Johnson handed out copies of the new agreement that was drafted by the Fauquier County board that runs the parks.  As it stands, the agreement is unacceptable to NOVAC and would render Crockett Park essentially unusable as a regular NOVAC observing site.  Pete Johnson will continue his negotiations with the board to obtain an agreement that is acceptable to both sides.  However, there is the possibility that we will lose Crockett as a regular observing site.

Pedro Martinez, NOVAC's Treasurer, reviewed the budget with the board.

GMU has approved moving the general membership meeting to 7PM beginning in July.

Pete Johnson informed the board that the old NOVAC Hotline phone number has been disconnected.

The board briefly discussed the NOVAC Star Party in September.  At this point it is still planned to be held at Crockett Park.

Ed Witkowski listed the upcoming public outreach programs.

Craig Tupper listed the upcoming programs for the general membership meeting.

Pete Johnson adjourned the meeting at 21:00

JUNE 11 NOVAC GENERAL MEETING
18:05 Pete Johnson, President, called the meeting to order.  The prospective and new members introduced themselves.
Pete Johnson discussed plans for the upcoming NOVAC picnic at Crockett Park and the current problems with the Crockett Park observing agreement with NOVAC.

Pete Johnson informed the membership that beginning in July, the general membership meetings will start at 7PM.

Pete Johnson demonstrated the new NOVAC web site.

Ed Witkowski listed the upcoming public outreach events.

Bob Gent made some Astronomical League and IDA announcements.

Tom Dietz outlined the club observing trip to Spruce Knob, WV on the weekend of June 3.

Ian Keith gave the sky tour.

There were two speakers for the main program.  Steve Robinson gave a talk "High Energy Astrophysics for Amateurs" and

John Nusbaum spoke about observing planetary nebulae.

Pete adjourned the meeting at 20:00

There were approximately 42 in attendance.