From mojo at whiteoaks.com Fri Feb 1 11:44:16 2002 From: mojo at whiteoaks.com (Morris Jones) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:03 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] February SJAA Ephemeris online Message-ID: Just when you got the paper version ... The February issue of the SJAA Ephemeris is now available online: http://ephemeris.sjaa.net/ This month's online Ephemeris has a new design that's a little more in line with modern web publishing practices, but it should render well on most any browser. Comments are invited. Replies here will go to the SJAA chat list. Mojo -- Morris Jones <*> San Rafael, CA mojo@whiteoaks.com http://www.whiteoaks.com From koopm at koopm.best.vwh.net Thu Feb 7 18:32:42 2002 From: koopm at koopm.best.vwh.net (Michael Koop) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:03 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] Astronomical Events this Weekend (Feb 7 - Feb 9) Message-ID: A) Amateur Telescope Making Class Starts Tonight! (Thurs., Feb 7th) B) Observational Astronomy Class on Observing the Planets this Fri Night! C) Houge Park Star Party Fri Feb 8th 7:00 PM - 12:00 AM D) APD's and RASC's E) Other Astronomical Events in the Bay Area this weekend from Jane Houston Jones F) Slide Scanner Needed! *********************************** A) Amateur Telescope Making Class Starts Tonight! (Thurs., Feb 7th) Under the instruction of Tom Whittemore of Evergreen Valley College, the SJAA will be hosting a mirror making class starting tonight at 8 PM in the hall at Houge Park. The class will meet twice monthly based on the Houge Park star party schedule. The class will meet at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday after a first quarter star party (except when a general meeting is scheduled!) and Thursday 8:00 p.m. before a third quarter star party. Feel free to attend any of the classes which you can. The class format is casual, with a talk at the beginning followed by a grinding session. The talk will be on all aspects of telescope making, focusing on mainly on mirror making, corresponding to where most people are in the class. A Foucault tester will be available to help determine the figure of your mirror along with some advice on how to correct it. A few SJAA members have partially completed mirrors, so bring those on in to finish them up. The club will also fund a 10-inch "Community Mirror" for everyone to work on. So if you want to get a feel for what mirror making is all about, come join us for an evening! ATM classes for the first half of 2002: Thursday Classes: Feb. 7, Mar. 7, Apr 4, May 2, May 9, May 30 Saturday Classes: Feb. 16, Mar 23, Apr 20, June 15 *********************************** B) SJAA Observational Astronomy Class starts Friday Night! Can't tell the Encke Division from Cassini division? What are festoons and Barges? The San Jose Astronomical Association Observational Astronomy Class is here to help you! This informal monthly series will teach basic astronomy, the constellations, the movement of the sky, and the use of the telescope. It occurs every third quarter moon Houge Park Star Party Night until November. No Reservations needed and you can join the class at any time. The class is a free public service provided by the SJAA. The next class is at 7:30 PM on Friday, February 8th in the hall at Houge Park. Akkana Peck will take us on a grand tour of the planets, giving expert advice on what to observe on each through your telescope. Weather permitting, after the class we will be pointing out the constellations in addition to viewing the planets and other deep sky wonders through telescopes. *********************************** C) Houge Park Star Party Fri Feb 8th 7:00 PM - 12:00 AM Weather Permitting Public observing session on the grounds at Houge Park. Families welcome. Feel free to bring your scope and share views with others. Saturn and Jupiter are primed for public viewing along with some of our favorite winter objects. *********************************** D) APD's and RASC Books! The SJAA is selling Astronomical Pocket Diaries as a fundraiser for loaner telescope program. This handy daily guide to the heavens offers weekly information that includes evening and morning star maps along with the planet positions. Daily information features lunar phases and visibility, astronomical events (meteor showers, planetary conjunctions, and eclipses, for example), and significant dates in history, with plenty of room for your own notes. This Diary is customized for the San Jose area and the SJAA events are listed in here, so you no longer have a good excuse for missing an event! It even has a cool animated solar system view as you flip the pages. Cost is $10 per book or $25 for three. Buy some for friends who keep forgetting when the Houge Star Parties are! For more information see The club is also selling the RASC Observer's Handbook 2002. The Observer's Handbook is a 288-page guide published annually since 1907 by The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. Through its long tradition and the expertise of more than 35 contributors, the Observer's Handbook has come to be regarded as the standard North American reference for data on the sky for the year. It normally sells for $23, but you can purchase it at a discounted club price of $15. For more information see < http://www.rasc.ca/handbook/order.html> We also have copies of the copies of the RASC Beginners guide available for $15. RASC Beginners Guide:< http://www.rasc.ca/pubs/beguide.htm > Get yours today before they run out! *********************************** E) Other Astronomical Events in the Bay Area this weekend from Jane Houston Jones Saturday, February 9th is the date of the East Bay Astronomical Society's meeting at Chabot Space and Science Center. The talk will feature Art Owens, on "Fun With The Sun", live demonstrations of solar wind using a Tesla Coil and Van De Graf generator. This is a real fun talk...I've heard it at our San Fran meeting. http://www.eastbayastro.org/ As I always remind everyone, the Lawrence Hall of Science hosts Saturday night stargazing on the plaza every first and third Saturday night (tonight, so mark your calendar for the other dates), and Chabot Space and Science Center has public viewing every Friday and Saturday nights, through two large telescopes, and many amateurs set up in front of the domes. Info here: http://www.chabotspace.org/, http://www.lhs.berkeley.edu/ *********************************** G) Slide Scanner Needed Do you have a good quality slide scanner? Jack Zieders has lent his copy of the Observational Astronomy class slides to the club to copy for future class use. The board has decided to copy the slides digitally, which will help any instructor know what is available and in addition to making pristine copies of the slides. Please contact Mike Koop at (408)473-6315 if you are interested in helping out on this project. *********************************** Directions to Houge Park: Houge Park is in San Jose, near Campbell and Los Gatos. From bhavner at earthlink.net Tue Feb 19 22:24:57 2002 From: bhavner at earthlink.net (Bob Havner) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:03 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] February Meeting Message-ID: SJAA General Meeting Feb. 23, 2002 8:00pm Guest Speaker: Tim Thompson Tim is the president of the Los Angeles Astronomical Society and works at JPL on the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection radiometer (ASTER) project. In his talk, ?Stellar Evolution?, Tim will describe the physics and observational consequences of stellar evolution, tracing star life times through the HR diagram. ?While cosmological evolution is a popular topic these days, the "meat & potatoes" of the evolution of the universe is really the evolution of stars?. Karin Avila?s Project Astro Intro will be on March 30th due to an unforeseen schedule conflict. Also there are still some of the following to be had!!! The SJAA is selling Astronomical Pocket Diaries as a fundraiser for the loaner telescope program. Astronomical Pocket Diaries (Cost is $10 per book or $25 for three). Also available are: The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Observer's Handbook 2002, It normally sells for $23, but you can purchase it at a discounted club price of $15. We also have copies of the RASC Wall Calendar available for $10 (Discounted from $15) and copies of the RASC Beginners guide available for $15. For directions to Houge Park go to: www.sjaa.net/directions.html All are welcome to attend. Bob Havner San Jose Astronomical Association bhavner@earthlink.net -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: winmail.dat Type: application/ms-tnef Size: 2572 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.sjaa.net/pipermail/sjaa-announce/attachments/20020219/4118ce40/winmail.bin From bhavner at earthlink.net Tue Feb 26 19:05:57 2002 From: bhavner at earthlink.net (Bob Havner) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:03 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] 2002 Messier Marathon Message-ID: San Jose Astronomical Association 2002 Messier Marathon The San Jose Astronomical Association will be hosting the 2002 Messier Marathon on March 16th at Henry Coe State Park. The Messier Marathon as an attempt to find all 110 Messier objects in one night! The French comet hunter Charles Messier created the catalog to identify objects that could be mistaken for comets. Today?s list represents the most famous deep sky objects in the night sky. While being a favorite goal of amateur astronomers to complete over time, late March offers an opportunity to see all the Messier objects in a single night. The 2002 Messier Marathon will be held at the overflow parking area at Henry Coe. Directions can be found at . Although not required, we recommend pairing up with a partner as a way of verifying observations. Observing lists will be available at the site. There are many resources available to aid in a successful marathon I would recommend the SEDS Messier page and as a good starting point. They have many helpful links to images and lists. This is a great time for those that are new to astronomy to be introduced to the deep sky. Don?t expect to get them all if this is you first time, just have a good time and enjoy the ones you do find. You will get a good start on completing your own Messier list. As always, come prepared for cold weather; bring plenty of warm clothing and hot drinks. Come out to Henry Coe with us for a night of astronomy and start (or perhaps finish) your Messier list. Sunset: 18:16 Astronomical Twilight 19:43 Moonset 20:52 Moon Phase 8% Messier Marathon Henry Coe State Park March 16, 2002 There is a $2.00 per vehicle night use fee. Bob Havner San Jose Astronomical Association bhavner@earthlink.net -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: winmail.dat Type: application/ms-tnef Size: 2812 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.sjaa.net/pipermail/sjaa-announce/attachments/20020226/ee650423/winmail.bin From mojo at whiteoaks.com Thu Feb 28 00:34:27 2002 From: mojo at whiteoaks.com (Morris Jones) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:03 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] March Ephemeris online Message-ID: The March edition of the SJAA Ephemeris is now available online: http://ephemeris.sjaa.net/ Mojo -- Morris Jones <*> San Rafael, CA mojo@whiteoaks.com http://www.whiteoaks.com