November 17, 2003
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The 2003 JJMO
Mars Parallax Project
P. Moreland
The Earth's opposition with Mars on August 28, 2003 occurred only 41 hours before the Mars perihelion, reportedly the closest we have been to Mars at opposition in some 60,000 years.
This was the optimum time to measure the parallax angle of Mars from Earth, in order to calculate the distance to the Sun as first done by John Flamsteed in 1672.
This article describes the most recent efforts reproduce the experiment performed by John Flamsteed almost 450 years ago. The effort demonstrates the remarkable technique and skill that was required of Flamsteed to make such measurements with the technology available at the time.
The work reported in this article is a continuation of the project initiated by Dr. Moreland in 2001, using an improved micrometer eyepiece, and taking measurements with Mars at its optimum position relative to the Earth. Based on the parallax measurements of Mars, taken on September 16-17, 2003, the astronomical unit (the distance from the Earth to the Sun) was calculated to be 94.2 million miles +/- 9 million miles.
To obtain the full article, please click on the button to the left.
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August 10, 2002
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The ZOMBIE Project
Zenith Oriented Meteor Baseline Imaging Explorer
M. Robson
Project ZOMBIE, the first exercise in our Hands-On Astronomy program, is a simple and inexpensive experiment that uses photography and the principle of parallax to determine the altitude of meteors. ZOMBIE is an acronym for Zenith Oriented Meteor Baseline Imaging Explorer. To participate, all you need is the desire to and a camera that can take a long duration exposure, about 14 minutes. We are planning the first round of ZOMBIE imaging for Monday night, August 12th, 2002; this is the peak of the very reliable, annual Perseid Meteor Shower.
Project ZOMBIE has been made as simple as possible so lots of people can participate. It should be lots of fun. The procedure uses 'fixed cameras', cameras that are not moving relative to the Earth. But since the Earth is rotating your images will show star trails.
To find out more about Project ZOMBIE and download the full atricle (button to the left) to get the instructions on how to build your own ZOMBIE apparatus.
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April 25, 2002
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The JJMO Micrometer Eyepiece
P. Moreland
For the JJMO Mars Parallax measurement project (see separate JJMO Journal article), Parker Moreland needed a precision micrometer eyepiece capable of measuring star separations to a precision of 1 arc-second.
This is a technical article that discusses the modifications made to a commercially available eyepiece to meet these specifications.
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March 29, 2002
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The McCarthy Chronicles
the Messier Marathon
R. Birnbaum
Charles Messier was a comet hunter, who lived in France in the late 1700's. On his nocturnal searches of the sky, he found objects that had the same fuzziness as comets, but that did not move. Perplexed, he classified them, recorded their exact position, and continued his sweeps of the sky in search of other cometary objects. By the time his catalog was complete, he had recorded the position of 110 objects that are now regarded by amateur astronomers as being a challenging and interesting variety of deep sky objects to observe and admire.
Each year around the vernal equinox, amateur astronomers hold Messier Marathons, a kind of contest to see how many of the 110 Messier objects they can observe in a single night.
This article chronicles Rick Birnbaum's (one of JJMO's intreped volunteers) impressions has he participated in this year's event at the observatory.
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February 26, 2002
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The McCarthy Chronicles
the Leonid Meteor Shower
R. Birnbaum
This article provides a description of the events surrounding last November's Leonid Meteor Shower star party, held at the McCarthy Observatory. It is written from the unique perspective of a JJMO volunteer who spent the night in the cold, enjoying the wonder of it all and sharing the experience with the more than 1,000 people who participated.
It gives significant insight into just what makes those of us who enjoy astronomy... enjoy astronomy.
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January 2, 2002
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The JJMO Mars Parallax Project
P. Moreland
An amateur project to determine the Astronomical Unit by measuring the parallax of Mars as viewed from Earth is described. The approach and methods used will replicate those of Flamsteed and Cassini, who first determined the scale of the solar system in 1672. The project is ongoing and will continue through the excellent Mars opposition of August, 2003.
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