Astronomy Night 2008
Tierra del Sol, CA -- Our fourth annual Civil Air Patrol (CAP) Astronomy Night proved to be a tremendous success as the previous three were! Clear dark skies, warm night, outstanding turn-out with three squadrons this year, and an outside learning environment that was out of this world. We are very grateful to Mr. Dennis “Astro Man” Ritz our host who not only shared his knowledge of the heavens, but also his observatory. Mr. Ritz is a chemical engineer and also a pilot who owns a Cirrus SR22 low wing, four seat aircraft. He has flown to Nome, AK to the State of Main and all points of the compass inside the USA and Canada, so Mr. Ritz is very familiar with both the night and day sky!
At 1300 hours the following San Diego Cadet Sq. 144 personnel reported to Maj Dennis Ammann, Squadron Commander at the 147th Combat Communications Squadron, CA Air National Guard for transportation to the San Diego Astronomy Association (SDAA) site at Tierra del Sol:
Capt David Saavedra
2Lt Russell Wesley
C/2Lt Douglas Saavedra
C/SSgt Laura Brown
C/A1c Nathan Blackburne
C/Amn Yusuf Al-Hibshi
C/Amn Johnny Frantz
C/Amn Naomi Shea
C/AB Brett Ward
C/AB Michael Saavedra
The Squadron 144 parent volunteer drivers/cooks were: Ms. Nancy Al-Hibshi, Mr. Art Brown, Mrs. Kuei-Mei Ammann, Mr. Alan Blackburne, and Mr. Mike Frantz.
With cadets assigned to respective vehicles, the convoy left at 1320 hours, arriving at the south end of the Golden Acorn Casino one hour later in order to meet with our the other two CAP squadrons and our host.
Joining us at the casino were the following personnel from South San Diego Cadet Squadron 201:
LtCol Steve Handrop
C/2Lt Matthew Lytle
C/SSgt Jacob Pucci
C/Amn John Handrop
C/Amn Philip Barlis
C/Amn C.J. Dela Vega
C/Amn Zack Hamner
C/Amn Wayne Stokes
C/Amn Daniel Taylor
C/AB Alex Thomas
C/AB Jacob Hamner
Parents supporting Sq. 201 with driving and cooking duties were: Mr. Patrick Hamner, Mr. Bruce Lytle, and Mr. Wayne Stokes.
Also attending was 1Lt Shairre Van Duzer, Commander of San Diego Senior Squadron 57.
Attendance was down somewhat this year because of the Non-commissioned Officer School being held at March Air Reserve Base where one third of our cadets were either students or staffing this school. It appears Sq. 144 is so large that we can now schedule two events and not miss a beat, providing something for everyone.
Upon assembly at the casino, our host, Mr. Dennis Ritz was introduced and spoke about the San Diego Astronomy Association’s (SDAA) ten acre site five miles to the south west, the night weather forecast, what planets were out that night, and a few rules and safety items that needed to be discussed. With that said, Mr. Ritz led the way for the short drive to the SDAA site.
Upon arrival at 1500 hours, Maj Ammann conducted the mandatory CAP safety brief discussing dehydration, altitude awareness (3,500’), animal wildlife (including tarantulas) night hazards, and general campground safety. The schedule of events for the weekend was discussed too. Upon completion of the safety brief, the vehicles were off-loaded and CAP ‘tent city’ was set up around two of the observatories. The cooks went right to work setting up the BBQs and cooking dinner which consisted of hot dogs and hamburgers and various other assorted drinks and food. At about 1630 hours dinner was served and with so much food available, members of SDAA were invited to eat with us.
After dinner the first meeting of the night was held at 1830 hours by the BBQ area. Everyone was instructed to affix a red transparent lens or red cellophane to their flashlights so their night vision would remain in tact and also not destroy other SDAA members’ night vision. Major Ammann pointed out Venus, Jupiter, and the “summer triangle” that would be setting in the west soon and should be the first items on everyone’s list to observe first. He also pointed out the North Star (Polaris), and how to find it using the Big Dipper. One other item he always points out at is the direction of the center of our Milky Way Galaxy in the constellation of Sagittarius, 30,000 light years from Earth. Other planets available for viewing in the evening sky were turquoise blue Neptune and light blue Uranus. The “Red Planet” Mars was too close to the sun to be seen.
Everyone was encouraged to introduce themselves to the various SDAA club members and inquire what they were observing. Friendliness and the willingness to share their knowledge of astronomy is one of the traits of this club. In fact, each year Mr. Bob Austin, the SDAA President, makes his 17” Dobsonian telescope available to the cadets and welcomes them to view the stars in his observatory. The club’s huge 22” Lipp telescope was available for observation with Ms. Alice Harvey, the SDAA secretary ready to explain what was being observed. Likewise Mr. Ritz’ observatory was open for everyone to gaze at the various stars, nebulae, and galaxies through his 16” Meade LX200 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. Aided with a computer astronomical software program on his laptop, he could quickly locate any celestial body of interest with the click of his mouse. Mr. Ritz also had available for observation two Meade Dobsonian 18” and 16” telescopes. Our old friend Mr. Jerry Hilburn who owns the observatory at the eastern end of the site also provided his telescope and knowledge to the cadets. His astrophotography is well known at the SDAA. One of his most noteworthy photos was a few years ago when a group of asteroids hit the planet Jupiter and he was able to record it on film right here at his observatory.
During the night, some of us took notice of the gradual light pollution to the NW (San Diego/Orange County) and to the east (Imperial Valley). Only about 70% of the Milky Way is now available, with only two places in the United States where one can see the Milky Way stretch from horizon to horizon: Death Valley National Park (central-east Calif.) and Arches National Park (SE Utah). This was the first time that most of the cadets were able to see the Milky Way and the millions of stars shinning above.
Each year the cadets are taught how to find the most distant object one can see with the naked eye: Andromeda Galaxy (M31) our nearest neighbor in the local group of galaxies near us. This tiny fuzzy ball is 2.2 million light years from Earth and is high in the sky for easy viewing during autumn. The good news is that Andromeda will collide with us and we’ll have twice as many stars in our heavens! The bad news is this won’t happened until five billion years from now when planet Earth is nothing more than a cold burnt piece of rock floating in our galaxy.
At 2200 hours a second meeting was held to discuss what the cadets were viewing and what they learned so far. They were encouraged to continue their observations all night if they desired as the heavens moved overhead from east to west. About this time the star cluster Pleiades (M45) (about 440 light years from Earth) was in an excellent position for observation. This cluster is truly a beautiful sight to view with its blue-white stars shining away and the gaseous cloud scattering the light, a perfect example of God’s handiwork. The Ring Nebula (M57) by the star Vega, seemed to be a favorite target among the amateur astronomers. This nebula is 2,300 light years from Earth and is very interesting to view with a high powered telescope.
As the last cadets were starting to turn in at midnight, the winter constellation, Orion was rising in the east. This is an astronomer’s playground with many nebula and other interesting objects to observe. By this time, only Cadet Taylor from Sq. 201 was left and by 0100 hours everyone was asleep.
At 0430 hours Capt David Saavedra and his two cadet sons along with Cadet Naomi Shea set out to view Saturn and Orion. Unfortunately Saturn was too low in the horizon along with the planet Mercury to observe in the east as the surrounding chaparral was too high for a telescope to aim at.
Reveille was held at 0600 and CAP tent city was quickly dismantled and loaded back in the vehicles by 0700 hours. Prior to departure, the traditional “FOD” walk down was held as the cadets formed a line abreast and became a human vacuum cleaner sweeping from the east to the west end, leaving the SDAA site clean. Prior to departure, the squadrons thanked “Astro Man” for hosting this event for a fourth straight year and sharing his telescopes and knowledge of astronomy. Although Mr. Bob Austin was sleeping when we departed he too is very instrumental in allowing CAP to access the site, club equipment, and to camp out under the stars.
The squadrons left at 0815 hours and headed back to San Diego for the one hour drive.
Aerospace Education (AE) is one of the three missions of CAP and this activity is an excellent way to study astronomy. The cadet AE study guide, Module 5 covers astronomy, but this activity is a “hands-on out of this world experience.” The tools at our disposal were outstanding, to name a few: the 22” Lipp Ritchey-Chretien reflector telescope; 8” refractor telescope; the aforementioned member owned telescopes; and the club members themselves providing astronomical knowledge to our cadets.
This event would not be possible without parents driving and pitching in to cook. We would like to especially thank 2Lt Russell Wesley for providing the ‘mule’ service with his pick-up truck. All bulky items were loaded in his vehicle to and from the site, saving room in the cars for more personnel to attend. He also hauled the trash back to San Diego and properly disposed it.
Lastly, we would like to thank LtCol Steve Handrop and his squadron for joining us and also 1Lt Sharrie Van Duzer for her supervision of our female cadets during the night. Events like this help mold CAP friendships and dialog with other squadrons, truly a ‘win-win’ activity.
Keep looking up! Semper Vigilans!
Maj Dennis S. Ammann
Commander, San Diego Cadet Sq. 144
“You much knowing tube, more precious than any scepter.”
Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)
-- describing Galileo’s telescope. --
