He has asked IDA members for a recommendation as to the park that should be recommended, and will start the process in November. Spider Mike showed us the spider he is making for the rebuilding of the 20 inch scope. The vanes are constructed with circular openings to reduce weight. Anyone who wishes to be added to these list can email the club or let us know at the next meeting. Speaker Our speaker was Dr. John Carr from the Naval Research Lab who spoke about brown dwarfs.
Brown dwarfs have masses greater than planets, but less than stars.
Where the dividing line is made is somewhat of a gray area. Brown dwarfs do not have enough mass to fuse hydrogen, and are too dim to be easily observed. Because brown dwarfs loose heat and luminosity throughout their lives, they are easier to find when they are younger. Brown dwarfs can be counted in hot stellar nurseries to find out how many stars there are relative to brown dwarfs, and then an estimate made as to the number of brown dwarfs in the universe. Curiously, we have now found many extra-solar planets that orbit closely to their star, and many binary star systems.