Club News

 
March 29, 2009 Messier Marathon

Tuva member Vern Courtwright has designed an original Tuva T-shirt as a fundraiser for the observatory. It is available in black or white and in all sizes for $15. It has an excellent image of the Whirlpool Galaxy on the back along with the Tuva Motto: "We Paid Full Price We Want To See The Whole Universe."

Tuva recognizes the outstanding achievements of its members by means of the big TOE (Tuva Observer Extraordinaire) award. Beginning observers may receive the award by completing the Beginners Program which is explained elsewhere on this site. Non-local members are awarded a big TOE certificate. Tuva also presents the Dave Stine Award to the winner of the annual Messier Marathon hosted by the Observatory. Winners names are engraved on a plaque which hangs in the observatory. Past winners of both these awards are listed below.

TOE Award

PAST RECIPIENTS
Thomas McNicholas
Larry & Violet Williams
Maura McDermott
Maggie Williams
Gerald Miller

David Stine Award

David Stine
__________________________________________________

PAST WINNERS
David Stine               1992
Marc Chouinard        1993
James Liley               1995
James Liley             1996
Scott Parker            1997
David Stine              1998
Rod Gallagher             2003
Rod Gallagher           2004
David Stine                2006
Tony White/Steve Chapman 2007

TUVA is pleased to announce the addition of a meteorite to the TUVA Museum. The meteorite, shown below, is a iron-course Octahedrite collected in Siberia in Eastern Russia from the Sikote-Alin Fall which occurred on February 12, 1947. It is currently on display at TUVA South.

The Sikhote-Alin meteorite fell during daylight at 10:38 a.m. local time on February 12, 1947. Witnesses reported a fireball that was brighter than the sun. It came from out of the north -- about 15 degrees east of north and descended at an angle of 41 degrees. It left a trail of smoke and dust that was 20 miles long and lingered for several hours. Light and sound of the fall were observed for two hundred miles around the point of impact.

The speed of entry was estimated to be 14.5 kilometers per second. This is about 8.7 miles per second or 31,000 miles per hour. As the meteorite entered the atmosphere some of it began to break apart. The group of fragments fell together.

When the descending group of meteorites reached an altitude of about 3.5 miles, the largest mass apparently broke up in a violent explosion. This was a very low altitude for such an event -- about half the altitude at which passenger jets fly.

The fragments scattered over an elliptical area of about a half a square mile. The largest fragments made small craters and pits. One of these measured 85 feet across and 20 feet deep.

Sikhote-Alin is one of the most spectacular falls of recorded history and one of a very small number of recent iron meteorite falls.