Friday, August 26, 2011

Several Astronomical League Certificates

It has been a successful summer in completing AL clubs. San Antonio has had mostly clear skies, and the time I have spent in Ohio has also had great viewing opportunities. After moving back to my Ohio home, I have been tickled pink to discover that Beavercreek Ohio has some pretty good skies. At the zenith, I am easily able to see magnitude 4.5 stars. I occasionally catch hints of the Milky Way. I may have seen the Andromeda Galaxy naked eye - at least I think that with averted vision I can see it. This is not as good as the Frio Cielo Texas property we bought last year, but considerably better than my house in Helotes, TX.

Over the last few months I received my Herschel List certificate, my Master level Outreach award, and the Sunspotter club certificate. I now have 29 hours of meteor watching in the log, toward the 36 hours necessary for the certificate in that club.

Once the Meteor club is done, I will have the ten clubs necessary for my Master Observer award - something I have been working toward for several years now. These are the clubs I have or will have:

Required clubs:
Messier Club
Binocular Messier Club
Lunar I club
Double Star Club
Herschel 400 Club

Optional clubs:
Binocular Deep Space club
Outreach Master Level club
Sunspotter club
Caldwell club
Meteor club, 36 hour award

That will give me the prereqs for the Master Observer Club

Other clubs I have plans to work on in the coming year:
Asteroid Club
Urban Skies Club
Galileo Club

Thanks to everyone who has helped me along the process.

Dark Skies, Risk