The Rittenhouse Astronomical Society meets the second Wednesday of the month at 7:30 p.m. in the
 
Fels Planetarium
The Franklin Institute
222 North 20th Street,
Philadelphia PA 19103

  Enter the Institute on 20th street through the Business Entrance that is to the right of the main entrance stairs. This meeting is open to Rittenhouse Society Members and Franklin Institute members.   Guests, and Family are welcome to attend along with the general public, students included.

Rittenhouse Society Members:
Derrick Pitts-Observatory
Carol Ludolph- Observatory
Ted Williams- Rooftop Laser Star Orientation
Dave Walker-Rooftop Telescopes/Observatory
 

The Ecliptic Plane
Zodiac Constellations
Transit, Eclipse, Occultation
What's the difference?

May 9,
2007

May 31
2006
Book Signing after Lecture

Our next meeting April 9:   English Astronomer William Herschel is well known for his discovery of the planet Uranus and his advances in the construction of large telescopes.  His life as a musician and composer is often forgotten. The Rittenhouse Astronomical Society, conductor Martin Knoblauch and the Chestnut Hill Orchestra intend to remind us of his contributions in both fields when they present a program entitled   The Harmonious Life of William Herschel on Wednesday evening April 9^th 2008 at the Franklin Institute.

 Postcards From Saturn
Dr. Anne Schmiedekamp
NASA Solar System Ambassador

NASA Solar
    System Ambassador/
Penn State University
     Abington

Meeting Night 2/20/08

 Lunar, Solar, and Martian Eclipses
Presentation: Dr. Ken Kremer
NASA / Solar system Ambassador Program

Lunar Eclipse Night review! Missed the event at the Franklin?    View a  Power Point presentation of eclipse night.  (Note: To advance slides, scroll down with menu bar.)  Much thanks to Dave Walker!  A few more pictures for your review..

Meeting Night 1/9/08

Family night!
January 9th 2008--
The Planets
Gustav Holst

The Science
 The Mythology,
The Music

PowerPoint Preview
By Ed McCaffrey: Methcton School District

Gustav Holst was a British composer who was born in Cheltenham England in 1874 and died in London in 1934. One of the last great pieces of music he composed “The Planets” is an overture to the Planetary Celestial Spheres of our Solar System. Before the time of Space probes, Holst composed 7 musical suites each founded in the mythical characteristics and physical appearances provided by telescopes of the visible planets of his age. Now that Pluto has been re-classified and is no longer considered a planet, the music of Holst can once again represent the solar system of today.w

Student Presentation
An overview of the Planets visible in our sky.  Learn the basic structure of the solar system, and what you can expect to see of it in a telescope.

Guest Speakers
Ed McCafferty (Methacton School District) and Lori Weidner (Neshaminy School District), explore with us the musical characteristics and technique that was used to convey the mythology in the suite by Holst: The Planets.
 

Meeting Night 12/12/07

Dr. Karen Vanlandingham
Planets, Planets Everywhere...But only Eight for Us

  
NASA artist imagines a Neptune-sized extrasolar (left) planet circling the red dwarf star Gliese 436. Here, the planet appears gaseous like Jupiter, with a cloudy atmosphere. However, astronomers don't know yet if the newly discovered smaller planets are gaseous like Jupiter, or rocky like Earth and Mars. 
Right: NASA artists imagines other planetary ring systems.

     Dr. Vanlandingham is the current planetarium director at West Chester University Planetarium.  The planetarium is used daily for all astronomy classes and labs and is a central component of the department's outreach activities.  Dr. Vanlandingham has an extensive background in binary star systems.  For her presentation tonight, she will focus on Exoplanets.  We welcome Dr. Vanlandingham and encourage members to check out the West Chester University Planetarium web site.

Meeting Night 11/15/07

A special thanks to all our members who stepped forward last night to share a little of their interests, hobbies and passion with our society.  Visitors can definitely see the enthusiasm with which society members embrace astronomy.  Whether it is astronomy computer software, locating dark-sky observing sights, viewing comets, news breaking images from the moons of Saturn, our society members had it covered.  We should consider doing it again during this academic year!   (11/15/07)

Meeting Night 10/10/07
 

Meeting Night 9/26/07

Robert Nemiroff
(creator, lead writer and editor)
of   Astronomy Picture of the Day

Sitting in the grandeur of the Fels planetarium and being guided by the creator of a website that daily communicates grandeur to it's audience is an amazing experience for astronomy buffs and amateurs alike.  Thank you Dr. Nemiroff  for sharing your 'choice' selections, your insight and your dream with the Rittenhouse Astronomical Society Members and guests. Your interest in astronomy was felt by any who attended tonight's presentation.  The journey you created through our solar system, around the Universe and back again through your unique selection of the most fascinating images developed by our species is a testament to human creativity, our technology and the artistry it can reveal.

Follow Dr. Kremer mission updates at :
The Planetary Society (9-22), and at
The Planetary Society Weblog (9-27)

Planetary Society volunteer Ken Kremer is reporting for us from the Kennedy Space Center, where he is anticipating the launch of Dawn on September 26. Kremer is a research scientist who spends his spare time giving public outreach presentations on behalf of The Planetary Society as a volunteer and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a Solar System Ambassador. Thanks Ken! --ESL

Special Event 6/06/07

Winston E. Scott   Former NASA Astronaut

Special Lecture & Book Signing:  Winston E. Scott (former NASA Astronaut) will be speaking October 5th 7:00-8:00 PM in celebration of World Space Week at The Franklin Institute.  This will be followed by a signing of his book "Reflections from Earth Orbit".   The meeting is free, but registration is required to help us prepare proper seating please RSVP:  215-448-1231 to notify TFI you will be attending.  Mention that you are a Rittenhouse Member. 

     Captain Scott, a trained naval aviator and officer, received his Master of Science degree in aeronautical engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in 1980. After completing jet training, he served a tour of duty with Fighter Squadron Eighty Four at the Naval Air Station (NAS) in Oceana, Virginia. In 1986, he was designated as an Aerospace Engineering Duty Officer and served as a production test pilot at the Naval Aviation Depot, NAS in Jacksonville, Florida.
     Scott was selected by NASA in March 1992, and reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1992. He served as a mission specialist on STS-72 in 1996 and STS-87 in 1997, and has logged a total of 24 days, 14 hours and 34 minutes in space, including 3 spacewalks totaling 19 hours and 26 minutes.

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Meeting Night 6/13/07

Louis Berman:  Inspired by the Worlds Leading Telescopes

To paraphrase “Unusual Telescopes” author Peter L. Manly, “The important parts of a telescope are a few grams of reflective aluminum; everything else is simply mechanics!"  If telescopes merely exist to gather light then he is surely correct.  My contention, however, is that they also exist to inspire and astound.  And for me at least the mechanics are totally fascinating.  Indeed, I’ve had a lifelong love-affair with telescopes and observatories.  In the last four months alone I’ve toured more than a dozen including the US Naval Observatory in Washington, DC, Palomar Observatory on Mount Palomar, Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, WI, and the huge Gemini, Subaru and Keck telescopes on Mauna Kea, HI.  My ongoing plan is to visit every notable telescope / observatory extant and to document my travails with a book (titled ScopeSeeing) to be published late 2008.

The point of my presentation is that you can do this too!  I will examine the process from selecting an observatory to negotiating for private access and observing time to wrangling your colleagues; everything you need to organize a successful trip of your own. I'll also show a couple of travelogues from my own trips to get you stoked!

Louis Berman

Meeting Night 5/9/07

Special Event Brother Guy Consolmango

Meeting Night 4/11/07

Dr. Ken Kremer: Mars Saturn Comets and Beyond in 3-D

Meeting Night 3/14/07

Dr. Al Lamperti  The Univese in 3-D

Meeting Night 1/10/07

Dr. Chris Sommer introduced us to "Rambo Viruses" that may survive the extreme conditions of space.  His talk centered on the structures that certain viruses and bacteria have developed for survival of extreme conditions here on earth.  He then linked the conditions found on Earth to similar conditions we have found on various moons of our solar system. 

Providing evidence of past impacts, and how pieces of Earth's crust have been ejected into space was discussed as a method as to how viable microorganisms may have been transported to other celestial bodies.  A color enhanced micrograph of the red-pigmented D. radiodurans cell, highlighting the ring-like morphology of the cell genome. Courtesy S. Levin-Zaidman An interesting idea proposed during his talk asked us to consider that the first alien life we may discover, could be life that originated on Earth itself.

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Meeting Night 12/10/06

Alan Daroff was in top form with our guest lecture as he guided society members back into the past to appreciate the work of David Rittenhouse.  The Rittenhouse Clock, on display at Drexel University, was the focus of the evening presentation.  He informed the audience about the exquisite detail and craftsmanship that is exhibited in this piece of Rittenhouse's work.   Together with an array of pictures provided by fellow society member Drew Maser, the talk was informative and quite interesting. Alan topped of the evening presentation with a talk on the Retro-reflectors placed on the moons surface.  Coupling the presentation with a laser demonstration involving cubic corner reflectors helped the audience understand the precision of these tools (still in use today) for measuring the exact distance to the moon.

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Meeting Night 11/8/06

Members have requested a telescope night in time for that holiday gift purchase, and society officers stepped up to the challenge.  Dave Walker reviewed various beginner telescopes and helped the audience to understand what to look for when purchasing binoculars for viewing the night sky.  Dave covered the basic nomenclature for the various styles of telescopes and utilized a reflector, and refractor that were set up in the planetarium for a hands on look. 

Alan Daroff continued the evening talk with an orientation to the function of lenses and what view they afford.  He also compared the various light paths that different telescopes utilize to bring us those fantastic views.  Alan had lenses on hand and materials from various telescope manufacturers to aid in ones purchase.

Members hung around after the meeting to answer personal questions from members and visitors in attendance who are thinking of buying or upgrading their telescopes.

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Meeting Night 10/11/06

This year will be a memorable one for our society with the refurbishment of the rooftop observatory at the Franklin Institute.   Derrick Pitts, Chris Ray and  Dr. Fred Orthlieb were on hand to share their first hand experience and pictures of  the renovation involved with the Zeis Refractor telescope.  The scope is truly one of a kind, and now that is is refurbished, we expect the use of this fine instrument will be extended for another 70 years.

Dr. Fred Orthlieb conducts some final adjustments

Although observation was not possible due to the cloud cover and rain, that did not stop interested members from touring the observatory and watching demonstrations of the new equipment, the drive and tracking features, and the computer assisted command utilized to aid in proper tracking for the scope.

Hats off to Derrick and the crew at the Franklin Institute and special thanks to the Antique Telescope Society for completing such fine work ensuring a front seat view for future visitors to the museum.  The Joel N. Bloom observatory is open to the public daily for sun spotting, for viewing celestial events, and is planning public observing nights in addition to our meetings nights throughout the year.

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Meeting Night 9/13/06

What a great way to start our fall meetings!  Hearing from society members and their astronomical interests is a good way to build a community of people with common interests. 
 

Alan Daroff provided us with some upcoming sky events to watch for and also tantalized us with some out of this world trivia.  Alan was quite surprised when Peg Labosh correctly answered some of the questions with her knowledge of Star Trek trivia, and William Herschel facts!
 

Ruth List continued our evening agenda sharing her experience of taking a recent correspondence course in astronomy.  She explained how some are available for undergraduate credits, graduate credits and she also talked of some non-credit astronomy interest courses.
 

Mike Mountjoy enlightened us as to the work involved when Space Command was constructed.  Mike works with the Franklin Institute and his pictures of the construction process gave us all an inside view of what is required to make the magic happen!
 

Peg Labosh took center stage with her presentation on the Mysteries of Stonehenge and other astronomical sites of interest from around the globe.  Ted Williams finished the evening with a proposal and presentation on Spinning in the planetarium.  He also explained the new Apprentice Program geared to student visitors and how they can obtain a student membership.

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Meeting Night 6/16/06

Our end-of-year field trip turned into a beautiful night under the stars.  Yes, the weather, and the location came together to offer our society members an excellent evening under clear skies both inside and out.   Our spring field trip found us visiting the Mallon planetarium of the Methacton School District.  It is located on the campus of the Arcola Intermediate School.
 

We were all treated to a full length feature presentation called Light Years from Andromeda driven by the Spitz ATM4 automation system.  It was then we were to see double. Darkness set early inside the planetarium as we were led through sunset on an orientation to the evening sky by the planetarium director Ted Williams.  A repeat performance as darkness set in outside under the twilight sky with assistance of Alan Daroff, Mike Mountjoy, Dave Walker, Carol Ludolf, their telescopes, their advice, green lasers, the International Space Station all added to a great night under the summer stars.  Read more about our evening in the September Rittenhouse Newsletter.

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Meeting Night 5/31/06

SPECIAL GUESTS & BOOKSIGNING:
   DR. JOEL PRIMACK AND NANCY ELLEN ABRAMS

Alan Daroff; Vice President
Ted Williams; Secretary  / Ruth List; Treasurer / Carol Ludolph; Member at Large
DR. JOEL PRIMACK; Astrophysicist, Cosmologist, Author / NANCY ELLEN ABRAMS; Author, Historian, Songwriter

Special Thanks for helping with our event as
we extend a warm welcome to a new member:  Margaret Labosh
Peg is a certified event coordinator!

The Franklin Institute can attract the leading scientists and authors in our field, and we benefit greatly from our association with such a fine organization.   Thank you Mr. Phillip Hammer (Vice-President Franklin Center) for your introduction and reception of our members, and stepping up to the duties of moderator for the discussion following the presentation.  I'd also like to thank our Treasurer Ruth List for designing our new  information/membership flyer (you will receive with your June mailing), and her continued assistance in publishing our newsletter.  Also special thanks to Peggy Labosh for assisting with our reception table.

Ted Williams
Secretary
6/03/2006

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Meeting Night 4/19/06

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Meeting night 3/8/06

Karl brings back some amazing memories with the "Outer Limits" galaxy.

When Karl Krasley was relating his memories of how the Sombrero Galaxy first caught  his attention watching Outer Limits as a child, he struck a chord with our audience.  A little explanation was needed for our younger visitors, but much appreciated by those who grew up with the Outer Limits original television run in black and white.  Those sights have spurred on more than one astronomer!

I think we can all conclude that Karl is a spiral expert.  His first hand observations and guidance as to what can make or break a night observing under the stars was a great warm-up for spring which is just around the corner.  Karl's tips on dark sky sights across Pennsylvania were appreciated by both members and guests. 

Special thanks to Karl and his guests from Chesmont Astronomical Society for sharing their expertise, advice and helpful tips on good telescopes, and great sights.

Dr. Milton Friedman
President
3/9/2006

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Meeting night 2/8/06

Dr. Kim Weaver's presentation  "New Eyes on the Universe"  broadened the view for 65 members, guests and students at our recent meeting in the Fels Planetarium.  From Radio Energy through Gamma Rays,  Dr. Weaver was the perfect lens to helps us see, understand and appreciate the view of the cosmos across the electro-magnetic spectrum.

Her presentation truly led all who attended (from novice through enthusiast) to a greater understanding of what lies beyond the spectrum our eyes can see.  The combination of the Digital Sky in the Fels planetarium with the projected images from Hubble, Chandra and Spitzer was a perfect combination of astronomy and beauty.

On behalf of our officers I would like to thank Dr. Weaver for the energy she can generate explaining the invisible Universe and to our members and  guests for their strong support of this evening's presentation. 

If you want to learn more about X-ray astronomy you might try reading Dr. Weavers recent publication "The Violent Universe: Joyrides across the X-ray Cosmos."  Or check out information about the electromagnetic spectrum at:

Dr. Milton Friedman
President
2/9/2006

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Meeting night 1/11/2006

 

SOCIETY OFFICERS (Left to Right)
Dave Walker	Liaison to Fels Planetarium
Mike Mountjoy	Member
Dr. Carol Ludolph	Member at Large
Ted Williams	Secretary / Webmaster / Newsletter
Dr. Ken Kremer	Guest Speaker / NASA Ambassador program
Dr. Milton Friedman	President
Ruth List	Treasurer / Newsletter

~Dr. Kremer engaged the audience and we were off to Mars.  His talk  "Exploring Mars and the Search for Life"  was an adventure from take-off, through touch down.  It didn't stop there! We journeyed across Mars, and through the rovers eyes went mountain climbing, surveying, and moon gazing.  Dust Devil Ally was so realistic on the planetarium dome that we felt like we were there.  I could easily see the interest in the questions and answers that were brought forward by our members and guests.  Many thanks Dr. Kremer, we would be honored to have you speak again next year!

Dr. Milton Friedman
President
1/12/2006