From mojo at whiteoaks.com Thu Aug 1 13:05:55 2002 From: mojo at whiteoaks.com (Morris Jones) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:04 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] August SJAA Ephemeris online Message-ID: The August edition of the SJAA Ephemeris is now available online: http://ephemeris.sjaa.net/ You'll enjoy the photos and story from the Yosemite Glacier Point Star Party especially! Mojo -- Morris Jones <*> San Rafael, CA mojo@whiteoaks.com http://www.whiteoaks.com From jane at whiteoaks.com Sun Aug 11 21:26:48 2002 From: jane at whiteoaks.com (Jane Houston Jones) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:04 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] Perseid Meteor flux measurement at Fremont Peak Sunday and Monday nights Message-ID: <3D573908.3060500@whiteoaks.com> If you were considering going to Fremont Peak tonight or tomorrow night for the Perseid meteor shower, Dr. Peter Jenniskens and Mike Koop are looking for some help with flux measurement on both nights. The teams will be conducting field tests for instruments and outreach activities during Perseids and preparing for the November Leonids. Last night (Saturday night/Sunday morning) at Fremont Peak we averaged about 25 Perseids per hour and plenty of minor shower meteors and sporadics and we quit at 4:30 a.m. Tonight (Sunday night/Monday morning) Mike Koop and Peter Jenniskens are setting up the flux measurement equipment (computer and mice to count the Perseids) at Fremont Peak. Like last night the set-up will be near the restrooms down from the observatory. Monday night/Tuesday morning I'll be leading the Fremont Peak team from midnight to close to dawn, and Dr. Peter will be conducting some research at Lick with students. If this interests you, bring your own lawn chair and come on up to Fremont Peak tonight or tomorrow night! It's alot of fun, especially if you don't have to get up the next morning! When we quit at 4:30 a.m. this morning it was 69 degrees and the sky was just gorgeous, filled with Milky Way splendors, Saturn rising and meteors galore! The observatory will be open Monday night so everybody can view other objects while waiting for the Perseids. For map and other information, here is the FPOA website: http://www.fpoa.net Jane Houston Jones -- Jane Houston Jones San Rafael, CA jane@whiteoaks.com http://www.whiteoaks.com From koopm at koopm.best.vwh.net Fri Aug 16 13:13:40 2002 From: koopm at koopm.best.vwh.net (Michael Koop) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:04 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] Astronomical Events this Weekend! Message-ID: Astronomical Events this Weekend: A) Houge Park Star Party Tonight! (August 16) 8:30 PM - 12:00 AM B) Amateur Telescope Making Class Continues Tomorrow! (Sat, August 17) C) Three Loaner Scopes Looking for a new Homes D) Asteroid 2000 NY40 Close Approach to Earth on Saturday Night *********************************** A) Houge Park Star Party Tonight! (August 16) 8:30 PM - 12:00 AM Weather permitting (Hopefully, the fog will hold off for a while!), we will have a Public observing session on the grounds at Houge Park. Families welcome. Come on out and enjoy the fun. *********************************** B) Amateur Telescope Making Class Continues Tomorrow! (Sat, August 17) Under the instruction of Tom Whittemore of Evergreen Valley College, the SJAA continues to host a mirror making class in the hall at Houge Park. The class format is casual, sometimes 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 or someone will show a scope that they have built. A Foucault tester will be available to help determine the figure of your mirror along with some advice on how to correct it. You can start a mirror at any class session. We have mirror making kits available at each class at a cost of $75 for a 6" mirror, $145 for a 8" mirror, and $200 for a 10" mirror. The club also is working (slowly) on a 10-inch "Community Mirror" for everyone to contribute grinding on. The class will meet twice monthly based on the Houge Park star party schedule. The class meets at 7:30 p.m., either on Saturday after a first quarter star party (except when a general meeting is scheduled!) or Thursday before a third quarter star party. Feel free to attend any of the classes that you can. ATM classes for the second half of 2002: Saturday Classes: Aug 17, Sept 14, Oct 12, Nov 9, Dec 21 Thursday Classes: Aug 29, Sept 26, Oct 24, Nov 21, Dec 5 ******************************** C) Three Loaner Scopes Looking for a new Homes Loaner Scope Number 37: Celestron SP-C102F, 4" Refractor on a Super Polaris Mount This refractor was recently donated from the estate of Bob Hewett. Bob had brought it out to many Houge Park and school Star Parties. It is an excellent scope for the planets (once they come up) and the moon. Comes complete with eyepieces. Thanks to Dave North for checking out the scope and getting it ready for loan. Loaner Scope Number 34: Criterion Dynamax 8" Schmidt-Cassegrain Scope This complete S/C setup has a beige colored 8" diameter f/10 telescope with a spur gear AC drive, a lightweight fork mount, wedge and 1 1/4" accessories similar to the C8. It also includes a variable speed drive and a 12v DC converter. It also has a large 8 x 50 finder, a photographic tele-extender and a carrying case. Another eye catching feature is the "golden pyramid" tripod. Criterion was famous for the excellent optics in their Newtonian and tried to compete with Celestron for a few years with this scope. Bausch & Lomb eventually bought them out. Thanks to Phil Chambers for repairing and evaluating the scope. Loaner Scope Number 26: 11" f/4.5 Dobson Unfortunately, the gentleman who is storing the scope is moving, so this scope needs to find a new borrower or someone to store it for me. It was built by Paul Barton, who flattened out an 11" S/C blank that he had. The tube has an interesting granite finish. This scope works great on deep sky objects but does not work well on the planets or the moon without an off axis mask. It also has digital setting circles to help you find objects. If you are interested in borrowing (or storing) any of these scopes, please contact Mike Koop at koopm_at_best.com or by phone at (408)446-0310 (Leave Message). ******************************* D) Asteroid 2000 NY40 Close Approach to Earth on Saturday Night FPOA President Pat Donnelly invites you to come up and observe the asteroid using the 30" Scope: This Saturday night, August 17, 2002, there will be a near earth asteroid pass within 327,000 miles of the earth. As best as I can tell Fremont Peak should have a front row seat to watch the event. The asteroid, 2000 NY40, will be between magnitudes 8 and 10. This means that the asteroid should be visible in all of the instruments, including the 11x80 binocs, and the closest approach will be at 12:47 AM on Sunday morning with a transverse motion of over 8 arcminutes per minute! As such, I am inviting all of you to come up and watch the show. We can start observing the asteroid as soon as it gets dark around 9:00 PM. At that time it should be visible in a wide angle view with the challenger just under Kappa Lyrae. Please note that Saturday is also a public program night. I think the public will want to watch this asteroid too. Hope to see you there. Pat Donnelly, President, FPOA Directions to Fremont Peak: http://www.sjaa.net/fpk.html Of Course, you can observe the asteroid from here in San Jose with your own scope. It is estimated to peak at mag 10 and should be moving at over 6 degrees an hour at dark and maxing out at over 8 deg per hour in the vicinity of Lyra & Hercules. Ephemeris data http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/db?name=2002+NY40 Sky and Telescope's Page: http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/asteroids/article_697_1.asp Cool Plot of Asteroid's orbit around the sun: http://www.darkhorizons.org/ny40.htm Other Pointers and Info at http://www.spaceweather.com/ ******************************* Clear Skies, Mike Koop President, SJAA Email any comments, questions or flames to Koopm_@_best.com From bhavner at earthlink.net Wed Aug 21 19:04:33 2002 From: bhavner at earthlink.net (Bob Havner) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:04 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] SJAA General Meeting Message-ID: SJAA General Meeting Saturday Aug. 24, 2002 8:00pm Guest Speaker: Juanita Ryan Antarctica: The Ultimate Field Trip Just how cold is cold? Why look for meteorites in Antarctica? How do you know if meteorites are from Mars? Juanita was one of 16 teachers selected to participate in the TEA (Teachers Experiencing Antarctica and the Arctic) Program. Sponsored by the NSF (National Science Foundation) and administered by Rice University, CRREL (Cold Regions Research and Engineering Lab), and the NMNH (National Museum of Natural History), the TEA program immerses teachers in a polar research experience. Juanita was invited to join the ANSMET (Antarctic Search for Meteorites) team for the 2001-2002 field season. The team spent four weeks traveling across crevasse-filled fields, over ice-covered hillsides, and up mountaintops in search of ?rocks from space?. During this talk, Ms. Ryan will share her personal adventure of living and working in Antarctica. Join us Saturday at 8:00pm for this informative talk. For directions to Houge Park go to: www.sjaa.net/directions.html Bob Havner San Jose Astronomical Association From koopm at koopm.best.vwh.net Fri Aug 23 11:16:49 2002 From: koopm at koopm.best.vwh.net (Michael Koop) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:04 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] Br. Guy Consolmagno Speach on Wed. Aug 28 Message-ID: The "Mechanics" of God: Techies and Religion Br. Guy Consolmagno SJ, Astronomer, Vatican Observatory Wednesday, August 28, 2002 7:30 PM St Francis of Assisi 5111 San Felipe Road San Jose, California The mindset of a "techie" -- an engineer or scientist -- provides a view of the universe that's very different from what our Sunday School teachers might have taught. And yet, many "techies" are active churchgoers. How does the technical mindset shape the reasons they use for believing, and the way they approach organized religion? What are the advantages, and the pitfalls, of these approaches? And how do they reflect the way that modern theologians and philosophers are approaching the traditional "Big Questions"? Bio: Br. Guy Consolmagno SJ, a Jesuit brother at the Vatican Observatory, is a self-described "techie." He has two degrees from MIT and a doctorate in Planetary Sciences from the University of Arizona. He's the author of more than 100 scientific and technical papers, plus a number of popular books including Turn Left at Orion (with Dan Davis and an amazon.com best seller in 2001) and Brother Astronomer: Adventures of a Vatican Scientist. He has spoken at the Rose Center Planetarium in NYC, the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, and the Einstein Planetarium of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. His research involves the formation and evolution of meteorites and asteroids. In 2000, the nomenclature committee of the International Astronomical Union named an asteroid, 4597 Consolmagno, in his honor in recognition of his work in the field of asteroid and meteorite studies. Brother Consolmagno will also have a presentation at the San Jose Astronomical Association General Meeting on October 19, 8 PM at Houge Park in San Jose.Check out the SJAA webpage in September for more details as they become available. Websites: http://www.stfrancisofassisi.com/ http://www.sjaa.net Directions: Highway 101 South to Capitol Expressway/Yerba Buena off ramp. Stay on frontage road to Yerba Buena, then left to San Felipe Road. Then right, about a quarter mile. St. Francis is on the right. The Parish Center is behind the Gathering Hall, which is on the other side of the Chapel For more information email rich_friedrich@yahoo.com From koopm at koopm.best.vwh.net Thu Aug 29 19:20:35 2002 From: koopm at koopm.best.vwh.net (Michael Koop) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:04 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] Astronomical Events this Weekend! Message-ID: A) Amateur Telescope Making Class Tonight (Thursday, August 29) B) Beginning Astronomy Class Tomorrow (Friday, Aug 30) 7:30 PM C) Houge Park Star Party Tomorrow (Friday, Aug 30) 9:00 PM - 12:00 AM D) Coyote Star-B-Que Saturday Aug 31 E) Starry Starry Nights Aug 28 thru Sept 3 in the Sierras F) ConJose 2002 Aug 29 to Sept 2 G) The Tech Museum to close Sept 3-Oct 9 H) The Lost Spacecraft Exhibit at Chabot Science Center Closes Sept 15 J) Night Skies & Imaginary Coordinates: The Artist as Navigator Closes Sept 8 *********************************** A) Amateur Telescope Making Class Continues Tonight (Thursday, August 29) Under the instruction of Tom Whittemore of Evergreen Valley College, the SJAA continues to host a mirror making class in the hall at Houge Park. The class format is casual, with the Tom and other mirror makers offering advice on grinding and polishing a mirror as you work on it 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. You can start a mirror at any class session. We have mirror-making kits available at each class at a cost of $75 for a 6" mirror, $145 for a 8" mirror, and $200 for a 10" mirror. The club also is working (slowly) on a 10-inch "Community Mirror" for everyone to contribute grinding on. We are at 320 Grit tonight! The class will meet twice monthly based on the Houge Park star party schedule. The class meets at 7:30 p.m., either on Saturday after a first quarter star party (except when a general meeting is scheduled!) or Thursday before a third quarter star party. Feel free to attend any of the classes that you can. Next ATM classes for the remainder of 2002: Thursday Classes: Sept 26, Oct 24, Nov 21, and Dec 5 Saturday Classes: Sept 14, Oct 12, Nov 9, and Dec 21 *********************************** B) Beginning Astronomy Class Tomorrow (Friday, Aug 30) 7:30 PM Just don't know how to get started in Amateur Astronomy? 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 tomorrow at 7:30 PM on Friday, August 30th in the hall at Houge Park. After a brief Sky Tour by President Mike Koop, Terry Kahl will be the first member to start off a new series of classes for the SJAA on "How I Observe". Terry will show us her new 10" Dobsonian Telescope and all the material that she takes out to observe and why she brings it. She will also give some insights on how she prepares before hand on what to observe and share some memories of favorite observing nights and what made them so special. *********************************** C) Houge Park Star Party Tomorrow (Friday, Aug 30) 9:00 PM - 12:00 AM Weather permitting (Hopefully, the fog will hold off for a while!), we will have a Public observing session on the grounds at Houge Park. Families welcome. Feel free to bring your scope and share views with others. We are expecting a local church group of about 25 people so we could use a few more scopes. Some objects to look for tomorrow: 1) Albireo: Double star, mag. 3.1 and 5.1, 34" apart. 385 LY away, stars are 400 AU apart. 2) M 13: Globular Cluster, 23,000 LY, > 300,000 stars, 140 LY across. 3) M 57: Ring Nebula. 1200 LY, 0.5 LY across. Caused by a supernova about 20,000 years ago. 4) M 17: The Swan Nebula. 5000 LY away, brightest part is 12 LY (72 trillion miles) long. 5) M 11: Wild Duck Cluster. 6,000 LY away and 21 LY across. At least 600 stars 6) M 8: Lagoon Nebula, 5200 LY away. 7) M 20: The Trifid Nebula. 1.5 deg. N of M8. About 5,000 LY away. 8) M 22: Globular cluster. About 10,000 LY away, with > 75,000 stars 9) Andromeda Galaxy: About 2.3 million LY away, 130,000 LY across. Contains 300 billion stars. 10) Double Cluster: 7200 LY away, 200 stars each. Come on out and enjoy the fun. Sunset: 7:39 PM Civil Twilight: 8:06 PM Nautical Twilight: 8:38 PM Astronomical Twilight: 9:11 PM Moonrise: 11:54 PM *********************************** D) Coyote Star-B-Que Saturday Aug 31 Thanks to the efforts of SJAA member Denny Woolaghan, Coyote Lake County Park has been made open to astronomy. For the last few months, members of TAC have been using this facility with great success. They have enjoyed the large paved parking area along with the open horizons and full bathroom facilities over by the boat launch area. Since the lake is at 1000 ft, it does not get fogged in unless the marine layer is very heavy. It also is a little closer to San Jose, in the foothills above Gilroy. Join Denny other members of TAC at Coyote Lake for a night of public astronomy and a pre-observing potluck dinner. Pot luck begins at 6:30 p.m. - bring a main dish.... anything will do from KFC to sushi to crepe suzette to chef's salad to homemade enchiladas.... make it something you like! Bring enough to share. Bring your own drinks and side dishes (or bring some of those to share too). This is an informal pot-luck... Bring your own paper plates and utensils. Doing a BBQ is okay too. Public star party begins at 8 PM. Directions: Coyote Lake County Park is located off Gilroy Hot Springs Road in the Mount Hamilton Range foothills, east of Highway 101. To reach the park, take Highway 101 to Gilroy. Take the Leavesley Road exit. Follow Leavesley Road east 1.75 miles to New Avenue. Turn left onto New Avenue and proceed north for .6 miles to Roop Road. Turn right onto Roop Road. Roop Road eventually turns into Gilroy Hot Springs Road. The park entrance is approximately 3 miles from New Avenue. Turn left onto Coyote Reservoir Road, the park visitor center/ranger station is about one mile from Roop Road. Website and Map of the park at: http://www.parkhere.org/prkpages/coylake.htm *********************************** E) Starry Starry Nights in the Sierras this weekend SJAA alumni Don Macholtz is hosting the Starry Starry Nights star parties up in the Sierras this weekend. This is a travelling star party where they will be observing from seven different sites on seven nights! If your Labor Day Weekend plans are up that way, you might want to bring a scope and join him for an evening. Wednesday Aug. 28: Sugar Bowl Ski Resort, Mt Judah Parking Lot Thursday Aug. 29: China Wall, 12 miles past Foresthill Friday Aug. 30: Colfax High School (note change in location) Saturday Aug. 31: Big Bend, 30 miles above Colfax Sunday Sept. 1: Sugar Pine Res. Boat Parking Lot, near Foresthill Monday Sept. 2: Dutch Flat Tuesday Sept 3: Soda Springs Ski Resort Parking Lot For More Information See the website at: http://www.geocities.com/donmachholz/StarryStarryNights.html *********************************** F) ConJose 2002 Aug 29 to Sept 2 In case you did not know, The 60th World Science Fiction Convention is in San Jose this year. This is the convention that picks the Hugo Awards annually. It is a huge gathering of SF fans and authors from around the world. The full program is on the web and there are many talks of astronomical interest. It's a little costly ($200 for 5 days or $50 for one day), but it is a great opportunity to see some of your favorite SF authors. Website: http://www.conjose.org/index.html McEnery Convention Center, San Jos, California Warning: You might want to take public transit since Tapestry in Talent is also this weekend. *********************************** G) The Tech Museum to close Sept 3-Oct 9 The Tech Museum will be closed for renovations starting September 3. If you have not seen the IMAX movie on the space station, this might be your last opportunity to do so. Website: http://www.thetech.org/imax/ *********************************** H) The Lost Spacecraft Exhibit at Chabot Science Center Closes Sept 15 The Lost Spacecraft: Liberty Bell 7 Recovered See the actual spacecraft that Gus Grissom flew on which sank to the bottom of the ocean in 1961 and learn about its recovery 38 years later. Climb inside a capsule, watch rocket launches, experience centrifuge-training, pilot a remote-controlled vehicle, and learn about the history and technology of space flight. This interactive exhibition was developed and presented by Discovery Channel and produced by Clear Channel Entertainment-Exhibitions. Website: http://www.chabotspace.org/visit/exhibits.asp *********************************** I) Night Skies & Imaginary Coordinates: The Artist as Navigator Closes Sept 8 This is a nice art exhibit in Palo Alto worth spending a lunch hour on if you're in the neighborhood. Historic works in the exhibition feature antiquarian celestial maps, while contemporary works explore mapping as a metaphor, a way to chart new landscapes, or locate ideas in space through prints, photographs, sculptures, and painting. They also have a "Kids" activity poster to increase their enjoyment of the exhibit. It's worth spending time to look at the full sized print from Michael Light's Full Moon. Website: http://www.city.palo-alto.ca.us/artcenter/press/artist-navigator.html *********************************** Directions to Houge Park: Houge Park is in San Jose, near Campbell and Los Gatos. >From Hwy.17, take the Camden Avenue exit. Go east 4/10 mile, and turn right at the light, onto Bascom Avenue. At the next light, turn left onto Woodard Road. At the first stop sign, turn right onto Twilight Drive. Go three blocks, cross Sunrise Drive, then turn left into the park. >From Hwy.85, take the Bascom Avenue exit. Go north 0.2 miles, and turn right at the first traffic light, onto White Oaks Road. Run another 0.2 miles to the first stop sign, then turn left onto Twilight Drive. You will now be passing the park. Turn right at the first driveway, into the parking lot. See Map at http://www.sjaa.net/img/houge.jpg *********************************** Clear Skies, Mike Koop President, SJAA Email any comments, questions or flames to Koopm@best.com From jane at whiteoaks.com Fri Aug 30 23:42:01 2002 From: jane at whiteoaks.com (Jane Houston Jones) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:04 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] Don Machholz's Starry Starry Nights is underway! Message-ID: <3D706539.1080502@whiteoaks.com> I just returned from participating in the first two of seven nights of astronomy in the Sierra/Foothills, , the fantastic event organized by Don Machholz. Starry Starry Nights - Seven nights at Seven Sites kicked off Wednesday night at elevation 6930 foot Sugar Bowl Ski Resort in the Mt. Judah parking lot. Don was able to have all lights turned off, which made for an incredible observing location. There were about 8 telescopes there including a 6-inch f/12 Astro-Physics refractor and some 6-inch Takahashi binos. Just imagine the views I got to see! About 50 or so people from the community came to the star party, and not one of them had white flashlights! The skies were amazing...I stayed to watch and sketch the moon rise at about midnight. Don handed out observing lists and we all selected objects from the list: Bright stars at twilight, then double stars and some good red stars, a couple galaxies, and tons of Milky Way objects and 4 planets, Venus, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. Yes, Don assigned Pluto to one or two observers each night, with excellent charts. The observers were able to show Pluto, Comet Hoenig and more. Don handed out copies of his Messier Marathon Observers Guide, which each observer got to keep. The people all got to see about 40 objects this way in less than an hour and a half. The second night's star party was at elevation 3600 foot China Wall, 12 miles past Foresthill, which is 18 miles past Auburn. There were some clouds, but without light pollution, the clouds were black! A local astronomer from the Foresthill area was the one who pointed this out to me. I was at his borrowed 6-inch Orion Skyquest with a 6 x 30 finder looking at his conquests between my own customers at the eyepiece. He was happy to be finding his assigned targets and was showing M-51, the Whirlpool Galaxy through that 6-incher at that moment. You night recognize his name --Tony Hallas who was borrowing one of Don Machholz's two 6-inchers. Again about 8 telescopes and about 75 attendees. All these folks knew Tony and Don - they are well known in the communities. It was a real community happening at another incredible observing location, one available for amateurs to use when it is not covered with snow. Tonight the traveling star show goes to Colfax High School. Saturday to Big Bend, about 30 miles from Colfax. Sunday night Don could really use some more telescopes at Sugar Pine Reservoir. Boat Parking Lot near Foresthill. Monday night he moves to Dutch Flat and the last night, Tuesday night, is at Soda Springs Ski Resort Parking Lot. This event is co-sponsored by the Colfax Chamber of Commerce, and Don did an incredible job of promoting it. I saw the event mentioned in a large article in the Auburn Sentinel newspaper this morning as I headed for my drive back to the bay area, (on my way to Vegas where I am writing this note) and Don appeared daily on local radio shows (perhaps TV too) giving "observing reports" of each night's activity. Locations, elevation, latitude, longitude, directions and current weather conditions for all sites are available on Don's website. I am really glad I made the nice drive to the Sierra on Wednesday. I woke up Thursday morning with a view of Donner Lake from my camping spot, and got to observe with some of the great amateur astronomers from the region. Plus I visited most of these observing spots and detoured here and there to visit interesting geologic sites on an all-day Thursday drive through the foothills. If you are wondering what to do this labor day weekend, check the weather, and head for the hills! The Sierra Foothills for some Starry Starry Nights with Don Machholz and his friends. http://www.geocities.com/donmachholz/StarryStarryNights.html Jane -- Jane Houston Jones San Rafael, CA jane@whiteoaks.com http://www.whiteoaks.com