SOUTH SHORE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
NEWSLETTER
Vol. 1 #2 (Aug/Sept)
by Paul Grueter President
A brief
bi-monthly newsletter for the South Shore Astronomical Society
Upcoming Events: Even though the summer is drawing to a
close we still have several public events plan.
We will
travel to the Plymouth Public Library on Mon, Aug. 8th for a
presentation by Bill Luzader. We
are also committed to setting up telescopes for evening viewing. We are looking for some of the members
to lend a hand and bring their scopes.
Once
again we will be travelling to Quincy for a viewing night with the Beach and
Coast Commission. We will be at
Merrymount Park on Aug. 10th (rain date Aug. 11th)
Jeff
Lane is again coordinating this year’s
International Observe the Moon Night on Sunday, Oct. 9th.
Scituate Library Viewing: Louis
Gentile and George
Roberts continue their Thursday evening
viewings at the Scituate Library. Things
started off slow with poor viewing conditions but recently the attendance has
been excellent. They need other members joining them. Contact Louis at lgentile@ssastros.org to confirm
weather conditions.
Viewing Nights: In recent months viewing nights have
been poorly attended, to say the least.
Now that the weather is starting to cool off, lets see if we can start
going out on Saturday nights to pursue our interests. If you are considering going send a general email to members@ssastros.org to see who else is going.
I am going to make a personal effort to be going to these nights. I am at the point that I might have to
get out my scope manual to remember how to run the scope.
Community Outreach Awards: The complete requirements and
activities log are available on the members only page. I know many members are eligible to
receive this recognition, please take a few minutes and look at the material
and see if you qualify I bet you do.
If you have questions contact me at grueter@ssastros.org
We also
have the info for the Messier Award and Double Star Award on the member’s
page. Right now there are only 2
members who have earned the Messier Award, Don Greeley and Steve LaFlamme. Steve actually did it as an individual
AL Member many years age. Don is
the only member listed as an SSAS member on the Astronomical League web site.
Presenters Wanted: Once again I would ask for presenters. We have a large
number of members with knowledge about the many different aspects of
astronomy. If you would like to
share with other members, we would love to give you time at a meeting. Let Bill
Luzader know if you would be interest
in giving a little talk on any related subject. If you know of possible speakers who might come to a meeting
a present, please let Bill know.
In Sept. Bill will be presenting "What's in Starlight? - Milking
Information from Photons" based on a request from Al Monaco.
TWO
EX OFFICIO OFFICERS:
In addition to the officers authorized by our by-laws we have two new “Ex
officio” officers.
Jeff
Lane is our SSAS Weather Man.
Bob
Reed is our New Member Stewart
Thank you
gentlemen for volunteering to help.
NASA
SPACE PLACE ARTICLE:
New GOES-R to Give More Tornado Warning Time
by Dauna Coulter and Dr. Tony
Phillips
So far
this spring, more than 1,400 tornadoes have struck the U.S. Some of them have cut jaw-dropping
trails of destruction across the countryside and, tragically, across inhabited
communities, too. Hundreds of
lives have been lost in the onslaught.
Throughout
the season, the National Weather Service has routinely issued tornado alerts.
In the case of the Alabama tornadoes of April 27th, forecasters warned of
severe weather five full days before the twisters struck. Because they couldn’t say precisely
where the twisters would strike, however, many of their warnings went
unheeded.
“If people get a hurricane
warning, they often evacuate the area,” notes NOAA's Steve Goodman. “But we
react differently to tornado warnings.”
Perhaps it’s because tornadoes
are smaller than hurricanes, and the odds of a direct hit seem so remote. Recent pictures from Tuscaloosa,
Alabama, and Joplin, Missouri, however, show the perils of playing those
odds. Goodman believes that more
precise warnings could save lives.
To
fine-tune tornado warnings, NOAA will soon launch the first in a series of
next-generation weather satellites – GOES-R (Geostationary Operational
Environmental Satellites-R series). The spacecraft is brimming with advanced
sensors for measuring key ingredients of severe weather including winds, cloud
growth, and lightning.
“GOES-R
will be the first geostationary spacecraft to carry a lightning sensor,” says
Goodman, the GOES-R Program Senior Scientist. “Studies show that sudden changes
in the total lightning activity correlate with storm intensity—and with
tornadoes.”
The
lightning mapper will detect and map not only cloud-to-ground lightning, but
also bolts within and between clouds. The kind of cloud-to-ground lightning we
see from our front yards accounts for only 15-20 percent of total lightning. To
get a clear idea of a storm's intensity, meteorologists need to know about all
the lightning—a view GOES-R can provide.
All by itself, the lightning mapper will provide 7 minutes more
lead time in tornado warnings, according to Goodman. GOES-R’s state-of-the-art
instruments will also improve long-range forecasts.
“The
satellite's Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI), for instance, will provide a much
clearer picture of clouds,” says NOAA research meteorologist Tim Schmit. Compared to lesser instruments already
in orbit, ABI can better detect super-cold “overshooting tops,” evidence of
enormous energy and upward velocity that correlate with subsequent severe
weather.
“Accurate
advanced notice of high-risk tornadic conditions can cue officials to close
schools and businesses even before tornadoes are actually detected,” says
Schmit.
Forecasters
doubt tornadoes can ever be predicted with 100% accuracy. The twisters are just
too capricious. GOES-R, however,
is a step in the right direction.
Find
out more about GOES-R’s unprecedented capabilities at http://www.goes-r.gov. Young people can
learn more about tornadoes and all kinds of other weather at http://scijinks.gov.
This
article was provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of
Technology,
under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
WE
NEED A SLOGAN:
At the August meeting Louis suggested that we print club business cars and/or
bumper stickers to promote the club at public events. Bob Reed is coming up with some potential designs but we
need a slogan to replace “Keep Looking Up” that
appears on our hats. Please think
about it and send any ideas to Louis.
FINAL
WORD: I am as guilty as anyone, but it seems
like we are not using our viewing nights.
I know it can be a pain to load up the car and head to field wondering
if anyone will be there. I have
found as I get older the idea of loading the scope and everything is less
attractive. However, I am getting
tired looking at my scope box and wondering what is inside. I bought the scope to observe and
increase my knowledge about the night sky. I remember a lot of nights where we would get together and
have fun and even learn a few things.
Remember the night when we had the great Aurora? Lets make an effort to do that again.
Having
said that, I must tell you that I won’t be able to attend the next two
observing nights because I will be away.
Once I get back, I will be going to the observing nights at field as
long as I have company.
Paul
Grueter
President
South
Shore Astronomical Society
grueter@ssastros.org