letters

Messier Card to the Rescue

Having recently lost my old Messier Card,
I bought a new one from the visitors center at Kitt Peak National Observatory during a recent observing run there. The
following night the skies grew
cloudy around midnight,
so just for fun I started
taking pictures of various Messier objects
using the preprogrammed coordinates in the telescope operators
computer. The operator would point
the scope, and when
a hole in the clouds
passed by Id take a 15second CCD exposure.
When the image for M2 came up
on the screen, the object just wasnt there.
I checked the computers coordinates
against my trusty Messier Card, and sure
enough the correct declination was 0
49' rather than +0 49'. On our second try
the globular cluster was right where it
should have been. You just never know!
William Keel
University of Alabama
P.O. Box 870324
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0324
keel@bildad.astr.ua.edu

Saving Perkins Observatory

Once home to the third largest telecope in
the world and now a center for informal
public education in astronomy, Perkins
Observatory is in danger of being closed.
A plan has been developed to save it, but
we need your help.
The observatory is owned by Ohio
Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio,
and has provided public outreach since
its completion in 1924. In fact, one of
Sky & Telescopes parent magazines, The
Telescope, was first published at Perkins.
With the help of the Columbus Astronomical Society, the observatory provides informal educational activities in
astronomy throughout the year for
40,000 people, most of them children.
The more than 300 public programs are
held at Perkins using the 32-inch Schottland Reflecting Telescope and at schools
12

December 1997 Sky & Telescope

With the help of his Messier Card William Keel

took this CCD image of the globular cluster M2
in Aquarius with no less than the 4-meter Mayall telescope of Kitt Peak National Observatory.

around central Ohio using

portable equipment. During Comet Hale-Bopps
apparition we provided spectacular views
to roughly 6,000
Ohioans.
Since 1935 Ohio
State University
has provided the
lions share of funding for our public
activities in the form
of a rental fee for use of
the historic 72-inch Perkins
Telescope, now located at Lowell
Observatory. Recently OSU announced
that as of July 31, 1998, it will end its financial support of $100,000 per year. If
we are to continue our public stargazing
activities, we must replace those funds.
To that end Perkins Observatory has
launched a $2 million endowment campaign. Just as Hiram Perkins set aside
money his entire life to build the observatory, Ohio Wesleyan has determined
that only an endowment can assure that
its programs remain accessible indefinitely. Tax-deductible gifts can be directed to the Perkins Endowment Fund at
the address below. Contact me at 614363-1257 or by e-mail (burns.15@osu.
edu) for more information about the
fund or our public activities, or view
our World Wide Web site at http://www.
astronomy.ohio-state.edu/perkins/.
Tom Burns
Perkins Observatory
P.O. Box 449
Delaware, OH 43015

Which Way Is Up?

In the August issue (page 95) there is a
chart describing Hale-Bopps race to the
bottom. I thought the Greek philosophers had established that the world has
neither top nor bottom, but just to be
sure I investigated the subject myself.
After careful consideration I have discovered that we, the inhabitants of Santiago,
1997 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.

The Essential
Magazine of
Astronomy

DECEMBER 1947 Three typical problems, the solution of which would alone justify the construction of the 200-inch [Palomar] telescope, were discussed in detail
recently by Dr. Edwin
P. Hubble. . . . He
cited . . . advantages
which will accrue
from . . . the new instrument: resolution, [spectral] dispersion, and [space]
depth penetration.
Perhaps the
most popular problem for which great resolution is required is
that of the canals of Mars. . . .
The example illustrating the need for dispersion deals with the determination of the
relative abundances of the various chemical
elements in the stars. . . .
The depth-probing problem . . . [involves]
apparent recessional velocity [of galaxies]
proportional to distance. Is [this] a real effect
of an expanding universe . . . ?
The 200-inch didnt decide whether Marss
canals were real or not, but it did fulfill the
other two missions. Hubbles universal expansion, of course, turned out to be true, though
astronomers a half century later are still trying
to pin down the constant of proportionality.

50&25
Y

DECEMBER 1972 A hundredfold improvement in the determination of the speed of

light, or c, was announced on October 18th. . . .
The new value of c is 299,792,456.2 1.1
meters per second.
The present value is 299,792,458 meters per
second, which was adopted as a defined constant in 1986 to fix the length of the meter in
terms of the second.
More and more critical
problems in modern astronomy demand data obtainable only at excellent observing sites or, in some
cases, from observing platforms in the upper atmosphere or space. . . .
By any standard of astronomical quality, Mauna
Kea has proved second to none in the Northern Hemisphere. Here on the Island of Hawaii,
the University of Hawaii has . . . placed in operation an 88-inch and two 24-inch telescopes.
David Morrison and John Jefferies reported
on the first three years of observing at what indeed turned out to be a premier astronomical
site.The picture of the summit accompanying
this article shows only three tiny domes; now the
mountain is packed with structures of all kinds.
14

December 1997 Sky & Telescope

Chile, live at the top of the world. You

see, when I compute the real positions of
every other country, I end up looking toward the ground. I am grateful that this is
so, otherwise my view of our beautiful
southern skies would be blocked!
Eduardo Vila-Echague
Waterloo 421
Santiago, Chile
edovila@ibm.net

Fixing a Finder
Based in part on the review in Sky &
Telescope (March issue, page 55), I recently purchased an Orion ShortTube 80
Refractor. I had noted reviewer Joshua
Roths comments regarding his inability
to focus the finderscope.
To my dismay my finder was also out
of focus. As I was preparing to replace the
finderscope with another I discovered that
it can be focused! The trick is to adjust
the objective lens of the finderscope, not
the eyepiece. By releasing the objectives
retaining ring the lens can be focused by
screwing or unscrewing it. After focus is
reached the retaining ring is retightened.
Once focused my finderscope is superb, giving a sharp image. M22 and M8
are clearly seen in this 630 finder that
looks like a toy but performs as a minirefractor. I have written to Orion suggesting that they include appropriate instructions with the ShortTube 80.
Camillo F. Fontana
211 Richard St.
Rochester, NY 14607-3822
Editors Note: As mentioned in the review, Roth attempted to adjust the ShortTube 80s finderscope using the method
described above, to no avail.

Bright Skies and Asterisms

In the September issue (page 82) Fred
Schaaf points out that the Summer Triangle formed by Vega, Deneb, and Altair
is of very recent popularity as an asterism. I agree with his assessment in
four decades of teaching I have seen a
great increase in its recognition.
This is due, in part, to increasing sky
brightness. One summer many years ago,
from a rooftop on New York Citys Upper
West Side, I would point out Cygnus and
Aquila to my fellow tenants, and on clear
nights Lyra as well. Now in Middletown,
Connecticut, I can no longer see the outlines of Lyra and Aquila. I can make out
1997 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.

the brighter Cygnus on clear nights. The

three bright stars of the triangle stand out
from their fainter neighbors far more
than they once did.
The Winter Triangle was well known
then as now, as was the Spring Triangle
(Arcturus, Spica, and Denebola). An Autumn Triangle (Fomalhaut, Beta Ceti, and
Alpha Phoenicis) was also visible, but
2nd-magnitude Alpha Phoenicis at declination 42.5 is now rarely seen from
Middletown, much less New York City.
The Northeast is now replete with municipalities agreeable to streetlight-shielding plans sponsored by the International
Dark-Sky Association and others. I hope
that when my students teach their students, the Summer Triangle will merge
with its background and the Autumn
Triangle will once again be seen in full.
Arthur Upgren
Wesleyan University
349 Science Center
Middletown, CT 06459

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President/Publisher