[Friends_of_SSASTROS] October Meeting Follow-Up

[Mike McCabe]

Greetings Friends and Members of the SSAStros,
Thanks to all who came out last night to make our October meeting the success that it was! I'd like to add a special thanks to the following folks for their contributions;
Sue D'Arcangelo - those fresh-out-of-the-oven brownies were heavenly! Thank you!
Brendan Smith - your club observing objectives look great and I'm personally looking forward to viewing every target on your list! Thank you for putting those together!
Steve LaFlamme - once again, a splendid presentation, this time about the 100th anniversary of a discovery that changed everything! Thank you for sharing your efforts with us!
And speaking of the observing objectives, my Binocular Special could use a little clarification. Basically it boils down to this; can we still use Vernon's Neptune Parallelogram to find the distant icy blue giant? The answer is you could, but with Neptune's progress in its orbit there's now an easier way.

Last year we had you start at Jupiter and pan west to Psi 1,2,3 Aqr to get started on the path, which eventually landed you on Vern's Neptune Parallelogram. That worked good then.

Because Jupiter has moved east significantly and so has Saturn, this year start at Saturn and pan east about 15° to the Psi 1,2,3 Aqr arrangement, which is still a good starting spot for finding Neptune.

The path to Neptune is simpler this year, which is just a straight shot 9° (about two binocular fields) east from Psi 1,2,3 Aqr. You're looking for a 'hockey stick' asterism made up from four 5th/6th magnitude stars. Neptune is a little northwest of the end of the handle of the hockey stick.

Remember; Neptune, which is far away and dim as solar system planets goes is still readily visible in binoculars. That's always cool, but to experience the cool blue color of the icy giant you'll need to put it in a telescope at high power. Do it!
Keep Looking Up!
Sincerely,
Mike McCabe
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