History of the Twin City Amateur Astronomers

The End of an Era, 1990-1994

It seems inauspicious to begin this chapter of the history of the TCAA by talking about endings; however, endings impacted the membership in this organization in a much greater way than ever before during this five-year period. First and foremost among these endings was the loss of our co-founder Bertha Kieviet on October 6, 1994. She had been an active member of the club since day one and continued to be so up to the very end⁶⁷ – even attending the very last meeting before her death a few weeks later.⁶⁸ Other club members passed from the scene as well. This included Thomas Moore (1990), Howard Southerland (1991), E. Eugene Miller (1991), Miriam Johnson (1993), and Aubrey Johnson (1994). Somehow the club would never be the same without them.

Figure 39: The dearly beloved Aubrey and Miriam Johnson

Not only did people pass from the TCAA scene, so it was with certain club-sponsored events and activities. Among the casualties were Astronomy Day – at least for several years; ARC (Astronomy Rendezvous and Conference) was last held in August 1990; and Adult Education, was last held in spring 1993 (to be started up again in 2006). There were several disappointing events as well during this era. Comet Austin, expected to rival Comet West of 1976, fizzled during the spring of 1990. The supposedly dazzling Perseid Meteor storms of 1993 and 1994 were abject failures for US observers, though a few bright meteors were observed by non- Illinoisans who had clear skies in choice locations. The Community Astronomy Rendezvous, the TCAA’s answer to the DAAC Jamboree, scheduled in May and held in September 1993 also fizzed, but not for want of trying. The 1992-93 resurrection of the Junior Astronomers division of the TCAA also fell flat due to the fact that there was insufficient time available to those making an effort to resurrect the division. The TCAA involvement in ISU’s College for Youth also went by the wayside. The traditional Christmas party changed from the large event it once was to a simple pizza party. Nonetheless, many good things happened in this five-year interval as well.

In 1991, Marie-Antoinette Finnigan moved away from her property in Downs where the observatory named in her honor still stood. On January 25, 1991, the TCAA acquired by donation the Marie-Antoinette Finnigan Observatory. Jim Jones, the new property owner, became a member of the TCAA. He allowed the membership to continue observing from this location. Through his generosity, the observatory continued on at the original location until the late 1990s.

Throughout the course of the five years chronicled in this section, the membership continued to follow its mandate to provide public service unabated. During the summer of 1990 the TCAA membership was instrumental in putting on a “Family Space Odyssey” at the ISU Museum in the former Red Bird IGA on Main Street in Normal. They also assisted with science open house solar displays on the university campus.

Nighttime observing sessions hosted by the TCAA for the general public were numerous at this time. These included monthly summer sessions with the Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department at Ewing Park III, and solar observing at Fairview Park. Several special sessions were held for the public that featured the Shoemaker-Levy/Jupiter impacts during July 1994. Additionally, several lunar eclipses were successfully observed with the general public including a particularly beautiful lunar eclipse (eclipsed moon rising) on December 9, 1992. Eight-year-old Rebecca Wenning observed the lunar eclipse of November 28, 1993, along with her father. During this event she was able to determine the longitude of Bloomington-Normal by working with her dad. Using both a salt-based hourglass and the method first employed by Christopher Columbus, she had an error of only one-quarter of one degree in longitude. An article about this feat appeared in the National Science Teachers Association magazine, The Science Teacher, several months later.

Several members ventured far a field in pursuit of their astronomical and space interests. Field trips of an extensive nature took place during 1991, 1993, and 1994. These included a threeday Space Camp field trip by Carolyn and Rebecca Wenning in December of 1993, and two expeditions by club members in an effort to view total solar eclipses. In an effort to observe the July 11, 1991, eclipse club members Sharon MacDonald, Roy and Barb Ostberg, Lynn Waishwell, Mike Starasta, and Garth Bock, along with non-member Ann Crump journeyed to Mazatlan, Mexico. Four club members – Roy and Barb Ostberg, Sharon MacDonald, and Carl Wenning (along with three non-club members⁶⁹) – organized a trip and traveled in a group to Potosí, Bolivia, to view the November 3, 1994, event. Only the second venture was successful.⁷⁰ Never to be forgotten was the phenomenally successful annular eclipse of the sun on May 10, 1994, when hundreds assembled for TCAA-sponsored observing sessions at Ash Park in Normal⁷¹ and on the IWU campus in Bloomington. (TCAA member and ISU Planetarium Director Carl Wenning prepared a 16-page booklet called “The Great Eclipse.” Some 400 schools in Illinois adopted the publication as their official guide to the event.)

Figure 40: Solar eclipse viewing team in Potosí, Bolivia

Public service also extended to non-observational activities. Included in the extensive listing are the following: providing a guest speaker for the Decatur Area Astronomy Club’s Jamboree (every year since its inception), writing three Pantagraph features (moon-Venus, Perseid meteors, and a lunar eclipse), sponsorship of StarDate on WGLT-FM since 1992 (made possible by the incredible generosity of Mike Rogers and Jean Memken), and Skyline (a monthly telephone update provided by Carl Wenning and later by Thomas Willmitch through the ISU Planetarium). During the summers of 1992 and 1993 Sharon MacDonald, David Portree⁷², and Carl Wenning presented programs through ISU’s College for Youth. Of particular note were the programs “Rockets to Space,” “Junior Astronomers,” and “Junior Planetarium Directors.”

The membership put on some well-received programs and displays during the 1990-1994 time interval. These included a 1993 Diamond Star Employees Day (for which the TCAA received a $200 honorarium), Astronomy Day, and a six-month astronomy display set up at the Prairie Aviation Museum at the Central Illinois Regional Airport by Carl and Rebecca Wenning during the summer of 1994. Sandy McNamara and Mike Rogers also erected a beautiful astronomy display at the Bloomington Public Library during the summer of 1994.

Members-only observations were rewarding as well. Supernovas were observed in M81 and M51 during the time period, and club members observed several spectacular auroras during the winter of 1992. Rebecca Wenning, seeing these along with her father one night at 7 years of age, called the aurora “dancing air” – an apt description. Viewing the July 1994 impacts of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 on Jupiter was quite a thrill for TCAA observers. Several TCAA members attempted and completed the club’s seasonal mini-Messier marathons as well.

During this five-year interval the TCAA membership carried the banner to a host of astronomical conventions scattered all over the nation. These included Astrofest (yearly), Hidden Hollow (Carl Wenning, 1992), the Universe ‘92 convention in Madison, and Universe ‘94 in Phoenix (Lenore Trainor). Five members (Lenore Trainor, Sandy McNamara, Sharon MacDonald, Mike Miller, and Carl Wenning) attended ALCON ‘93 in Madison and one member, Sandy McNamara, attended ALCON ‘94 in Kansas City. Tim Maurer attended the Riverside Convention in California in 1992 and 1994. Lenore Trainor and Carl Wenning attended the North Central Region Astronomical League (NCRAL) convention in Burlington, Iowa, in April 1994. Carl gave an invited talk at the convention. His talk dealt with a national survey of amateur astronomers that he had been conducting. Shorter field trips were taken to the Adler Planetarium by seven members and one guest in August 1992, to Yerkes Observatory in both August 1990 (12 participants) and November 1991 (two participants), and to the Field Museum in December 1993 to see the Star Trek display (four members and one guest).

$Figure 41: Jim Moncher near the tailpiece of the Yerke’s 40-inch refractor$
Figure 41: Jim Moncher near the tailpiece of the Yerke’s 40-inch refractor

TCAA members were honored during this time period as well. At the 1991 Annual Meeting Jim Moncher was inducted into the G. Weldon Schuette Society of Outstanding Amateur Astronomers. The same honor was conferred upon Sandy McNamara at the Annual Meeting in 1994. Former TCAA member Darren Drake, video astrophotographer extraordinaire, had video footage of the Jupiter comet impacts shown on national TV (PBS) in July 1994. Sandy McNamara received her honorary Messier certificate and Brian Barling his provisional Messier certificate in 1994.

In an effort to revamp the way the meetings were conducted, three different interest groups were arranged that, in 1992, gave monthly reports or presentations. The three groups were naked eye, solar system, and deep space. This format operated for about a year until it fell out of use due to the fact that members in charge of the various sections would miss meetings from time to time.

One of the changes that the club underwent during this time period was a change in the editorship of The OBSERVER. After the passing of Weldon Schuette, Gary Skinner and then Jim Moncher took over the editorship⁷³ of The OBSERVER. In June 1993, Michael Rogers and Jean Memken took over the production of the newsletter using newly available personal computers with desktop publishing software. There were immediate changes in format and content, the likes of which the TCAA had never seen before. Production quality, including layout and printing, improved markedly improved due to the untiring efforts of the editors. The editorial staff prepared, printed, and posted the 12-16 page monthly issue of The OBSERVER at their own expense. Though the junior division of the TCAA died an untimely death many years before, the younger members of the group still found time to make significant contributions to the club. Briana Trainor and Rebecca Wenning both wrote articles for The OBSERVER and were recognized for their literary accomplishments during the 1994 Annual Meeting.

As a group, the TCAA was honored by the presence of a variety of excellent keynote speakers at its Annual Meeting banquets: Pamela Gossin (Millikin University English Department, 1990), (Herman) Lew Detweiller (IWU Physics Department, 1991), Jim Stanlaw (ISU Anthropology Department, 1992), David Leake (Champaign-Urbana Astronomical Society, 1993), and Eric Clifton (Peoria Astronomical Society, 1994).

Next Section: Changing Gears, 1995-1998

⁶⁷ After John passed away, first Weldon Schuette and then Sharon MacDonald always saw to it that Bertha had a ride to club events. After John passed away, Bertha moved to 4 James Place in Bloomington to be nearer her daughters.

⁶⁸ Shortly after Bertha’s death, Valeria and Kora – her daughters – donated John Kieviet’s 6-inch homebuilt telescope to the TCAA. The telescope was later “removed” from the club’s inventory. Due to poor storage conditions (and a lack of knowledge of the historical value of this instrument), the telescope’s cardboard tube was ruined by water and later thrown away. No one seems to know what happened to the mount that was made from wood and pipe fittings. Only the mirror and a few hardware items from the telescope appear to remain. According to William Carney, “The mirror, finder, focuser and such are at SGO in a plastic container” (January 2010).

⁶⁹ Also traveling to Bolivia was Ted Schaar from Wisconsin, Tom Naber from the Decatur Area Astronomy Club, and Agnes Wenning, Carl’s mother, from Ohio.

⁷⁰ Carl Wenning wrote a detailed, 20-page account describing the trip called A Bolivian Adventure. See the club’s historical materials or DVD for this booklet.

⁷¹ None of the club members realized that TCAA founding member Sue Remsburg Bassett was there that day with her Questar telescope. She appeared in a Pantagraph photograph the next day.

⁷² David S. F. Portree was a part-time planetarium employee in the early 1990s. Today he is known as a space history author and former technical writer for Johnson Space Center. He authored many scripts for StarDate over the years. As of 2010, he resides in Flagstaff, AZ.

⁷³ For a listing of editors and their years of service, consult Appendix 5.

⁷⁴