	Sun	Moon
Rise	5:40	03:24		24.9d
Set	19:47	14:30	22%

May 2010

Programs
Articles

May 7: Monthly Meeting

DSLR Astrophotography

We return to Seagrave Observatory for our May meeting. Newly elected officers will be sworn in at the end of the meeting.

John Kocur will give a Powerpoint presentation on DSLR Astrophotography. John uses a Canon XSi 12 megapixel DSLR camera with various telescopes and lenses to take wide field and deep sky images. Equipment, focusing tools, and imaging techniques will be explained along with a live demonstration of Canon EOS Live View image capture software.

M40: The “Unknown” Messier Object

May 2010 : By Glenn Chaple

Arguably the oddest member of the Catalog, M40 isn’t a cluster, nebula, or galaxy. It’s a double star! We might well label M40 “Messier’s Mistake.”

Can You Find a Quasar? (You Might be Surprised)

May 2010 : By Craig Cortis

Readers having 8” or larger telescopes might wish to observe a quasar, provided you can follow a detailed finder chart and manage to isolate a 12.8 magnitude object that looks exactly like a star, but actually is not. Rather it’s the brightest known quasar and, at a distance of 2.5 billion light years, will be by far and away the most distant thing in the universe most of you will ever see in your lives.

Something for Everyone

May 2010 : By Dave Huestis

Well, March was a wash. Literally and figuratively. Locally Rhode Island set a new record rainfall total. And that means stargazers didn’t spend much time observing. We can’t wait for cloud-free skies, and I hope April wasn’t true to the rhyme “…March winds bring April showers….” As we move into May, I’ve got several observing highlights to tell you about, including beautiful Saturn, the planet Venus, and a meteor-ocre (sic) shooting star display.

Sky Data