D.C., with a large white house where their leader lives. It happens to be right next door to their military intelligence”. You reply to Ni in one third of a nano-second “nonsense you were at the briefing, there’s no such place, it doesn’t exist. It’s another one of their ludicrous government cover-ups, like us. Look, we just crossed 60,000 parsecs of empty space, why would we even consider landing in the middle of more”? Ni replies, “that is a very logical answer captain, but allow me to finish. My ETIS (short for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence Scanner) also tells me that all the intelligence for this species is in a place called Arizona.

Per capita, they have more astronomical observatories and institutes of scientific education and research than any other place on their planet. I would advise that we land there and make first contact with this highly advanced race.” “Duly noted”, you reply to Ni.

How right Ni is! Our great state is a special place to live! Aside from being one of the last truly dark sky frontiers of our country, Arizona seems to have been created for astronomy. At seven major observatory sites around the state, there are 60 giant optical telescopes peering into the sky every night. By giant, I’m referring to any telescope with an objective lens or mirror from one meter (one meter is 3.28 feet) to 8.4 meters (27.54 feet) in diameter. In fact, many of them should be referred as “monstrous”.

For example, the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) at Mt. Graham International Observatory, Safford, AZ. It sports two enormous mirror objectives, each 27.54 feet in diameter and weighing almost 18 tons. That’s a combined telescope with a 55.08 foot objective, making it the most powerful telescope on Earth or in space! The Mayhall 4 meter, or 13.12 foot reflector telescope, sits atop Kitt Peak 50 miles southwest of Tucson.

This is only one of their 24 research telescopes, including the largest solar research telescope in the world. Thirty miles south of Tucson is the MMT Observatory, a 6.5 meter (21.33 foot) optical telescope, located on the summit of Mt. Hopkins at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory. As we head north to Flagstaff, we find Lowell Observatory with its famous 24" inch Clark refractor telescope that Clyde Tombaugh used back in 1930 to discover Pluto. Their newest addition, the 4.2 (13.78 foot) meter Discovery Channel Telescope will be operational in 2010. Just outside Flagstaff, is the United States Naval Observatory (USNO) with its 1.55 meter, 1.3 meter, and 1 meter telescopes. Astronomers around the world compete heavily to obtain a few hours at an Arizona observatory! There’s more, many more than I can write about in this entire paper.

Most of Arizona’s 21 community colleges teach accredited courses in physics and astronomy. Nearly a 100% of their graduating students move on to one of Arizona’s three major universities.

The University of Arizona (U of A), Arizona State University (ASU), and University of Northern Arizona (NAU), has some of the largest and finest physics and astronomy departments in the country. U of A has the Lunar Planetary Lab (LPL) that is famous for data recovery and analysis from our planetary probes, many of which are still in operation today. Also at U of A is the Steward Observatory Mirror Lab where most of the optics for our planetary probes and gargantuan observatories are made. It’s one of the largest optics labs in the world. ASU built the Mars Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) to analyze Martian soil by the Phoenix Mars Lander. In addition, ASU has instruments on many other active spacecraft in our Solar System. NAU works directly with NASA in analysis of data sent back by the spacecrafts. It’s a very prestigious role for a student to be selected on a NASA team.

All the major observatories in Arizona offer public science outreach programs or some type of activity that is free to the public, or a very nominal fee to cover operation. Arizona has some of the largest astronomy clubs in the country, and many small towns around the state have an astronomy club as well.

Our club, the Heber/Overgaard Astronomy Club (HOAC) is a good example. Arizona is a leading state in private observatories that use high quality instruments and offers them to communities as free public science outreach facilities.

Star Quest Observatory (SQO) in Heber/Overgaard is such a facility, and it’s free of charge to young and old alike that want to nurture their interest in astronomy.

Arizona should be referred to as the “Astronomy State”, but all said, it’s pretty tough to compete with the Grand Canyon. Most of the sites listed above are accessible to the public, and only a few gallons of gas away. Access roads are safe, with well maintained paved roads; just take it slow on the switchbacks. I encourage everyone, especially parents with school-aged children, to visit these magnificent institutions. I promise, you and your children will never see Arizona in the same light again. No pun intended. For more information on visiting times and how to get there, go to www.lpl.arizona.edu/~rhill/azastro.html for everything astronomy in Arizona.

The Geminid meteor shower on the 13th, one of the years largest is expected to be a flop this year due to being washed out by the Moon. However, the lesser known Ursid meteor shower that peaks on December 22, will give us a nice show at 30 meteors an hour. Look north from 11:30 P.M., to about 3 A.M. our time. The Ursid shower is the results of Earth passing through comet 8P/Tuttles dust trail.

Planet lineup for December - Evening sky, Mercury (southwest), Venus (southwest), Jupiter (southwest), and Uranus (south). Midnight sky, Saturn (east). Morning sky, Saturn (south).

Full Moon occurs on the 12th, and New Moon on the 27th.

Winter solstice happens on the December 19th at 4:04 A.M., our time. This is the exact moment at which the Earth is at its maximum tilt away from the Sun, indicating the beginning of winter.

Did you know…that many of our exploration spacecraft are powered by less energy than it takes to light a hundred watt light bulb? The Mars rover Spirit, cruises Mars surface, sends back data/pictures across 100 million miles of space, and maintains its internal temperature, all on less than 250 watts of electricity. That’s equivalent to lighting a 100-watt light bulb for 2.5 hours.

Ni and all of us at Star Quest Observatory bid you all a very Merry Christmas, and a sincere “Thank You” for your interest and support in 2008!

Until next month, get up, get out, and get into “What’s Up.”

Star Quest Observatory closes October 31 to May 1 for the winter.

For information on Star Quest Observatory programs and activities call 928-535-6621 or email us at: starquest@frontiernet.net. Free Information packages available, by mail, upon request. Watch for announcements in the Mogollon Connection for upcoming events. Star Quest Observatory is a non-profit public science outreach facility. All programs and events are free of charge.

For information on the Heber/Overgaard Astronomy Club, call Kellie at 928-240-1449 or Ron at 928-535-6621.



	Under The Heber-Overgaard Night Skies By Ron Firestone, Star Quest Observatory Every now and then, I like to “suppose.” When we were kids in school, and got caught staring out the window, we were reprimanded for daydreaming. In the “grown-up” world, we refer to it in a more adult way: supposing. Let’s suppose for a little bit. Suppose you’re the captain of an alien spaceship. You’re on a recon mission to check up on Earths progress on your way to the Omicron Delta sector (wherever the heck that is) of our galaxy, the Milky Way. You tell your science guy “Ni” (pronounced Ni) to get you the landing coordinates to the leader of this intelligent civilizations office. In two thirds of a nano-second, Ni replies. “Well, there’s a place called Washington,

		The Large Binocular Telescope atop Mt. Graham, just outside of Safford, Arizona. Each mirror is a whopping, 27.54 feet across, and weighs in at 17.64 tons.


D.C., with a large white house where their leader lives. It happens to be right next door to their military intelligence”. You reply to Ni in one third of a nano-second “nonsense you were at the briefing, there’s no such place, it doesn’t exist. It’s another one of their ludicrous government cover-ups, like us. Look, we just crossed 60,000 parsecs of empty space, why would we even consider landing in the middle of more”? Ni replies, “that is a very logical answer captain, but allow me to finish. My ETIS (short for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence Scanner) also tells me that all the intelligence for this species is in a place called Arizona. Per capita, they have more astronomical observatories and institutes of scientific education and research than any other place on their planet. I would advise that we land there and make first contact with this highly advanced race.” “Duly noted”, you reply to Ni. How right Ni is! Our great state is a special place to live! Aside from being one of the last truly dark sky frontiers of our country, Arizona seems to have been created for astronomy. At seven major observatory sites around the state, there are 60 giant optical telescopes peering into the sky every night. By giant, I’m referring to any telescope with an objective lens or mirror from one meter (one meter is 3.28 feet) to 8.4 meters (27.54 feet) in diameter. In fact, many of them should be referred as “monstrous”. For example, the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) at Mt. Graham International Observatory, Safford, AZ. It sports two enormous mirror objectives, each 27.54 feet in diameter and weighing almost 18 tons. That’s a combined telescope with a 55.08 foot objective, making it the most powerful telescope on Earth or in space! The Mayhall 4 meter, or 13.12 foot reflector telescope, sits atop Kitt Peak 50 miles southwest of Tucson. This is only one of their 24 research telescopes, including the largest solar research telescope in the world. Thirty miles south of Tucson is the MMT Observatory, a 6.5 meter (21.33 foot) optical telescope, located on the summit of Mt. Hopkins at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory. As we head north to Flagstaff, we find Lowell Observatory with its famous 24" inch Clark refractor telescope that Clyde Tombaugh used back in 1930 to discover Pluto. Their newest addition, the 4.2 (13.78 foot) meter Discovery Channel Telescope will be operational in 2010. Just outside Flagstaff, is the United States Naval Observatory (USNO) with its 1.55 meter, 1.3 meter, and 1 meter telescopes. Astronomers around the world compete heavily to obtain a few hours at an Arizona observatory! There’s more, many more than I can write about in this entire paper. Most of Arizona’s 21 community colleges teach accredited courses in physics and astronomy. Nearly a 100% of their graduating students move on to one of Arizona’s three major universities. The University of Arizona (U of A), Arizona State University (ASU), and University of Northern Arizona (NAU), has some of the largest and finest physics and astronomy departments in the country. U of A has the Lunar Planetary Lab (LPL) that is famous for data recovery and analysis from our planetary probes, many of which are still in operation today. Also at U of A is the Steward Observatory Mirror Lab where most of the optics for our planetary probes and gargantuan observatories are made. It’s one of the largest optics labs in the world. ASU built the Mars Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) to analyze Martian soil by the Phoenix Mars Lander. In addition, ASU has instruments on many other active spacecraft in our Solar System. NAU works directly with NASA in analysis of data sent back by the spacecrafts. It’s a very prestigious role for a student to be selected on a NASA team. All the major observatories in Arizona offer public science outreach programs or some type of activity that is free to the public, or a very nominal fee to cover operation. Arizona has some of the largest astronomy clubs in the country, and many small towns around the state have an astronomy club as well. Our club, the Heber/Overgaard Astronomy Club (HOAC) is a good example. Arizona is a leading state in private observatories that use high quality instruments and offers them to communities as free public science outreach facilities. Star Quest Observatory (SQO) in Heber/Overgaard is such a facility, and it’s free of charge to young and old alike that want to nurture their interest in astronomy. Arizona should be referred to as the “Astronomy State”, but all said, it’s pretty tough to compete with the Grand Canyon. Most of the sites listed above are accessible to the public, and only a few gallons of gas away. Access roads are safe, with well maintained paved roads; just take it slow on the switchbacks. I encourage everyone, especially parents with school-aged children, to visit these magnificent institutions. I promise, you and your children will never see Arizona in the same light again. No pun intended. For more information on visiting times and how to get there, go to www.lpl.arizona.edu/~rhill/azastro.html for everything astronomy in Arizona. The Geminid meteor shower on the 13th, one of the years largest is expected to be a flop this year due to being washed out by the Moon. However, the lesser known Ursid meteor shower that peaks on December 22, will give us a nice show at 30 meteors an hour. Look north from 11:30 P.M., to about 3 A.M. our time. The Ursid shower is the results of Earth passing through comet 8P/Tuttles dust trail. Planet lineup for December - Evening sky, Mercury (southwest), Venus (southwest), Jupiter (southwest), and Uranus (south). Midnight sky, Saturn (east). Morning sky, Saturn (south). Full Moon occurs on the 12th, and New Moon on the 27th. Winter solstice happens on the December 19th at 4:04 A.M., our time. This is the exact moment at which the Earth is at its maximum tilt away from the Sun, indicating the beginning of winter. Did you know…that many of our exploration spacecraft are powered by less energy than it takes to light a hundred watt light bulb? The Mars rover Spirit, cruises Mars surface, sends back data/pictures across 100 million miles of space, and maintains its internal temperature, all on less than 250 watts of electricity. That’s equivalent to lighting a 100-watt light bulb for 2.5 hours. Ni and all of us at Star Quest Observatory bid you all a very Merry Christmas, and a sincere “Thank You” for your interest and support in 2008! Until next month, get up, get out, and get into “What’s Up.” Star Quest Observatory closes October 31 to May 1 for the winter. For information on Star Quest Observatory programs and activities call 928-535-6621 or email us at: starquest@frontiernet.net. Free Information packages available, by mail, upon request. Watch for announcements in the Mogollon Connection for upcoming events. Star Quest Observatory is a non-profit public science outreach facility. All programs and events are free of charge. For information on the Heber/Overgaard Astronomy Club, call Kellie at 928-240-1449 or Ron at 928-535-6621.