From mojo at whiteoaks.com Tue Oct 1 20:06:51 2002 From: mojo at whiteoaks.com (Morris Jones) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:04 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] October SJAA Ephemeris online Message-ID: The October edition of the SJAA Ephemeris is now available online: http://ephemeris.sjaa.net Best regards, Mojo -- Morris Jones <*> San Rafael, CA mojo@whiteoaks.com http://www.whiteoaks.com From jvn at svpal.org Wed Oct 9 15:15:06 2002 From: jvn at svpal.org (Jim Van Nuland) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:04 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] Local TV Showings Message-ID: <3DA4AA6A.7951@svpal.org> (Posting on Ernie's behalf. JVN.) The Cupertino Senior TV Production shows known as "The Better Part" are now being shown on San Jose Cable Channel 15A on Mondays from 4:30 - 5:00 pm. Two shows which could be of interest to local astronomers are as follows: Monday, October 14 - Eclipse Over Zambia (with guest Ernie Piini) Monday, November 11 - The Great Meteor Shower of '99 (with guest Michael Koop Both shows are hosted by Valerie Jeffery. Clear skies, Ernie Piini From koopm at koopm.best.vwh.net Fri Oct 11 17:50:01 2002 From: koopm at koopm.best.vwh.net (Michael Koop) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:04 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] Upcoming Astronomical Events Message-ID: A) Houge Park Star Party Tonight (Friday, Oct.11th) 8:00 PM - 11:00 PM B) Mirror Making Class tomorrow night (Sat, Oct 12th), 7:30 PM -10:30 PM C) Br. Guy Consolmagno speaks to the SJAA General Meeting, Sat Oct 19th, 8 PM D) Vatican Observatory Benefit Dinner and Presentation, Sun Oct. 27th E) Free Family Astro Leader Training next Saturday, October 19th in SF F) Call for Telescopes up in Oakland at the Junior Center for Art and Science, Oct 18th 6:30-8:30 ************************************************************************************ A) Houge Park Star Party Tonight (Friday, Oct.11th) 8:00 PM - 11:00 PM Well, according to the Clear Sky Clock, the weather should clear up for a few hours giving us a window to observe! See < http://www.cleardarksky.com/c/SanJoseCAkey.html> There will be a students from Evergreen College joining us tonight. Come on out and enjoy the fun. Some objects we hope to see tonight: 1) The first quarter moon! 2) Albireo: Double star, mag. 3.1 and 5.1, 34" apart. 385 LY away, stars are 400 AU apart. 3) M 13: Globular Cluster, 23,000 LY, > 300,000 stars, 140 LY across. 4) M 57: Ring Nebula. 1200 LY, 0.5 LY across. Caused by a supernova about 20,000 years ago. 5) M 27: A nebula, the Dumbbell Nebula.. About 900 LY away and 1.5 LY across. 6) M 11: Wild Duck Cluster. 6,000 LY away and 21 LY across. At least 600 stars 7) M 22: Globular cluster. About 10,000 LY away, with > 75,000 stars 8) Uranus: The 7th planet from the sun, 1.76 billion miles away. Green in color. Discovered in 1781. 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. 11) Garnet Star: In Cephus. A red star. 12) M15: Globular Cluster 33, 600 LY away. densest of all star clusters in the Milky Way Sunset: 6:36 PM PDT Civil Twilight: 7:02 PM Nautical Twilight: 7:33 PM Astronomical Twilight: 8:03PM Moonset: 10:49 PM ***************************************** B) Mirror Making Class tomorrow night (Sat, Oct 12th), 7:30 PM -10:30 PM 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. The club also is working (slowly) on a 10-inch "Community Mirror" for everyone to contribute grinding on. The pitch lap will be poured 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: Saturday Classes: Oct 12, Nov 9, and Dec 21 Thursday Classes: Oct 24, Nov 21, and Dec 5 ***************************************** C) Br. Guy Consolmagno speaks to the SJAA Gen Meeting, Sat Oct 19th, 8 PM Our speaker for the October general meeting will be Brother Guy Consolmagno, author of Turn Left at Orion and Brother Astronomer: Adventures of a Vatican Scientist. Brother Guy has been at the Vatican Observatory since 1993 and splits his time between two homes. In the summer, he lives at Castel Gandolfo, Italy (summer home of the Pope), where he is the curator for the Vatican meteorites. In the winter, he lives in Tucson, Arizona, where he observes asteroids and Kuiper Belt comets with the Vatican's 1.8 meter telescope on Mt. Graham He has taught in Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer and has searched for meteorites in Antarctica. He is a renowned speaker, able to talk about the philosophy of science and religion and the commonality he views between them. The title of Br. Guy's Talk is The composition of Asteroids: Are Asteroids Fluffy? He also told me when I briefly met him last August, that he would link the talk to the upcoming Leonid Meteor Storm! Should be a talk to remember! Copies of Br. Guy's books will be available for purchase and signing: Brother Astronomer: Adventures of a Vatican Scientist (Paperback): List $14.95 SJAA: $13.00 Brother Astronomer: Adventures of a Vatican Scientist (Hardback): List $24.95 SJAA: $20.00 Left Turn at Orion: List: $24.95 SJAA: $20.00 To reserve your copy, email Mike Koop at koopm@best.com with the titles and types your interested in. ***************************************** D) Vatican Observatory Benefit Dinner and Presentation, Sun Oct 27th I got a bunch of invitations to attend this event in San Jose. Let me know if you are interested and I'll send you one. Are we alone in the Universe ... Or are we sharing space? You are invited to explore this and other celestial mysteries at a memorable evening to support the Vatican Observatory Foundation. Your 2002 Space Odyssey will be led by Father George Coyne, Director of the Vatican Observatory in Tucson & Rome. Rich and Stephanie Friedrich are your hosts for this evening. Rich is a member of the Vatican Observatory Foundation Board of Directors. Sunday, October 27 Silver Creek Country Club (http://www.scvcc.com) 5460 Country Club Parkway, San Jose California Reception: 6:00 - 6:30 Dinner and Program: 6:30 - 8:00 Dessert: 8:00 - 8:30 $75 per person* $275 for a group of four friends The reception will be a no-host bar. Please respond kindly by October 16. Reservations will be accepted through the Vatican Observatory Website http://www.sandline.net/vatican/campaign2.html Alternately, please e-mail Nancy Knoche or phone 602-482-9147. * A portion of your ticket will be a donation to the Vatican Observatory Foundation ***************************************** E) Free Family Astro Leader Training next Saturday, October 19th in SF What is Family ASTRO? Family ASTRO is a program sponsored by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, and funded by the National Science Foundation. The goal is to train teachers, astronomers, and museum and community group educators to help children and adults explore astronomy together. Participants will learn to lead family astronomy events. Family ASTRO is about making science fun! No previous astronomy knowledge is necessary. See more info about Family Astro on the Astronomical Society of the Pacific Website: http://www.astrosociety.org/education/family.html At the October 19th "Race to the Planets" leader training you will: a) learn new hands-on astronomy activities that are fun for the whole family b) find out how to organize and lead a successful family workshop c) receive a free leader kit and 10 free activity kits for families about planets d) Meet other Bay Area educators with similar interests To apply for the October 19th workshop, contact Kristin Nelson, Bay Area Family ASTRO Coordinator knelson at astrosociety.org or by phone at (415) 337-1100 ext 101 Space is limited, so please submit your application ASAP! (Late applications accepted only if space is available) Class Details: When: Saturday, October 19, 2002 9:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. Where: Astronomical Society of the Pacific (between City College and S.F. State University in S.F.) This would be a great program to run in conjuction with our Houge Park Star Parties! ************************************************ F) Call for Telescopes up in Oakland at the Junior Center for Art and Science, Oct 18th 6:30-8:30 SJAA member Krishna Seshan is hosting a star party and requests our assistance with a few more scopes. Krishna is the founder of a group called the Kalpakam Foundation, who's goal is education in the sciences for young and old. He writes: We are a group of scientist, educators -with a deep interest in Astronomy /Cosmology/Robotics. Our aim is to visit schools (k-12) as well as adult groups - and teach about how telescopes and microscopes work -and show how these instruments can be used in learning about astronomy. One of our members is a Professor of Biology -and she is interested in teaching about microscopes and their importance in Biology and the life sciences. We have connections to one school in New Delhi India where we plan to teach and present the same materials. We have visited schools in the K-12, with 40 minute presentations on Lenses, Optics, Astronomy and Cosmology. We use the several books written by Don Goldsmith . We have 2 novel approaches. 1: We have loaner binoculars that we send home with interested kids - so that they can involve their families. 2. We are developing some teaching materials -with ray diagrams and formulae only - so that they can be explained in any language at all. We hope that teachers can understand the basics and explain the material in their own mother tongue. This is specially important in India where there are many languages. In the US the material could be taught in Chinese, Spanish Vietnamese etc. We hope this way to reach kids who don't speak English as their first language. If you are interested in knowing more about us - or donating old used or broken telescopes which we can fix and use in our loaner program- please contact us by email or visit our website Invitation to a Star Party at Junior Center for Art and Science Oct 18th, 6:30-8:30. Anyone interested is invited. Junior Center of Art and Science 558 Bellevue Ave. Oakland, CA 94610 (510) 839-5777 For more information contact Krishna Seshan at krishnas@ihot.com Kalpakam Foundation (A Not for Profit Educational Foundation) http://www.ihot.com/~krishnas/ ******************************************** Clear Skies, Mike Koop President, SJAA Email any comments, questions or flames to Koopm@best.com From koopm at koopm.best.vwh.net Mon Oct 14 17:07:42 2002 From: koopm at koopm.best.vwh.net (Michael Koop) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:04 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] Missle Launch Tonight! Message-ID: There will be a launch from Vandenberg tonight, Monday October 14 sometime between 7 and 11 PM. This is a Minuteman II ICBM launch to the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands to test a Exoatmosphic Kill Vehicle as part of the continuing test of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization. These launches are easy to spot from the greater bay area. From San Jose, look to the south - southeast or using a compass look to 158 degrees (use a map to determine the look angle for a different location). Make sure to have a clear horizon to maximize your viewing time but these ballistic tests get up to 30 degrees over our horizon. Mike More info at: http://www.acq.osd.mil/bmdo/ Details from Brian Webb: ASTRONOMY/SPACE ALERT FOR SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA Brian Webb, KD6NRP Ventura County, California E-mail: kd6nrp@earthlink.net Web Site: http://home.earthlink.net/~kd6nrp 2002 October 12 (Saturday) 18:05 PDT ---------------------------------------------------------------------- MONDAY VANDENBERG LAUNCH A refurbished Minuteman II strategic missile is scheduled for launch this Monday evening from Vandenberg AFB. The vehicle will send an unarmed warhead and decoys to the central Pacific as part of a missile defense test. The launch window runs from 19:00 to 23:00 PDT. Although there's no guarantee when the Minuteman will be launched, there's a good chance it will go at 19:00 or shortly afterwards. If the Minuteman is launched between 19:00 and 19:19 PDT, the vehicle will exit the Earth's shadow as it heads downrange. The exhaust plume will be backlit by the Sun with a twilight or dark sky as a backdrop, creating an impressive sight. The display could be visible across a large portion of the U.S. southwest and Mexico. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The following is a Defense Department press advisory related to Monday's launch PRESS ADVISORY from the United States Department of Defense The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) will conduct a developmental flight test to include the planned intercept of a long-range ballistic missile target in support of the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) test program on Oct. 14, 2002. The test will involve the launch of an Orbital Suborbital Program long-range missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The OSP, a modified Minuteman II intercontinental ballistic missile, will carry a mock warhead and decoys. About 20 minutes after the target missile is launched, and about 4,800 miles away, a ground-based interceptor (GBI) carrying a prototype exoatmospheric kill vehicle (EKV) will launch from the Ronald Reagan Missile Test Facility at Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. About 10 minutes later the intercept is planned to take place at an altitude of approximately 140 miles above the central Pacific Ocean during the midcourse phase of the target warhead's flight. This will be an integrated system test, with all representative system elements participating: space-based missile warning sensor; ground-based early warning radar, the prototype X-Band radar at Kwajalein Atoll and the GMD battle management, command, control and communications system located at Kwajalein Atoll and the Joint National Integration Facility in Colorado Springs, Colo. Since the system is in its research and development phase, these elements serve as either prototypes or surrogates for system elements which are in the developmental stage and have not yet been produced for actual operational use. A U.S. Navy Aegis destroyer, the USS John Paul Jones, will participate in the test, using its SPY-1 radar to gather data about the target and interceptor missiles. While the ship's radar will not take part in directing the interceptor to its target, the data gathered will be used to confirm the potential role the SPY-1 radar and the Aegis weapon system could play in a defense against long-range missile targets. This will be the first time an Aegis radar is participating in a GMD flight test. This will be the seventh intercept test of the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense element research and development program. The first test on Oct. 2, 1999 resulted in the successful intercept of a ballistic missile target. The second test took place on Jan. 18, 2000, and did not achieve an intercept due to a clogged cooling pipe on the EKV, but did successfully test the integrated system of elements. The third test, on July 8, 2000, did not result in an intercept when the EKV and booster rocket failed to separate. The fourth test, on July 14, 2001, achieved a successful intercept of a ballistic missile target, as did tests on Dec. 2, 2001 and March 15, 2002. These last three tests used all GMD components as part of a fully integrated flight test. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- VANDENBERG LAUNCH NET Amateur radio operators interested in discussing the launch are invited to participate in one of the Vandenberg Launch Nets beginning at 18:30 PDT on Monday. The primary Vandenberg Launch Net will be held on the the WB6OBB repeater in Santa Barbara. This repeater has very wide coverage and simulcasts on 147.000, 224.900, and 449.300 MHz. Since Mondays's launch may be visible over a wide area, secondary launch nets will be held on the 147.090 MHz Catalina Island repeater and on 3.815 MHz, LSB. The Catalina repeater covers areas to the south that the Santa Barbara repeater cannot. Meanwhile, 3.815 MHz is in the high frequency, or shortwave, portion of the radio spectrum and covers the western U.S. There may also be some launch-related discussions on the Condor linked repeater system, but these are not officially part of the launch nets described above. The Condor system covers much of California and currently consists of the following repeaters: 223.840 Mount Vaca (Vacaville) 224.600 Mount Hamilton (San Jose) 224.900 Goat Mountain (Fresno) 224.920 Tassajara Peak (San Luis Obispo) 224.640 Shirley Peak (Lake Isabella) 224.820 Tranquillon Peak (Lompoc) 224.720 Frazier Mountain (Gorman) 223.840 Quartzite Mountain (Victorville) 224.000 Brush Peak (Santa Barbara) 223.940 Raznow Peak (Thousand Oaks) 224.820 Santiago Peak (Orange County) 224.180 Toro Peak (Palm Springs) 223.940 Lyons Peak (San Diego) 224.880 Hayden Peak (Kingman) 224.900 Mount Potosi (Las Vegas) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- LAUNCH PHOTOGRAPHY If Monday's launch creates a dusk light show, you might want to record it on film. Doing so should be farily easy. All you'll need is the following: 35mm camera 50, 100, or 135mm lens Film Cable release Tripod To capture the vehicle on the way up, use Fuji Superia 800 film and 4, 2, 1, and 1/2 second exposures at f/2.8. To capture the aftermath (twisted contrail), use Fuji Superia 400 with exposures of 16, 8, 4, and 2 seconds at f/2.8. From jvn at svpal.org Wed Oct 16 01:15:02 2002 From: jvn at svpal.org (Jim Van Nuland) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:04 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] Timothy Ferris at bookstore, Nov.12 evening Message-ID: <3DAD2006.7527@svpal.org> Information supplied by Mike Koller, Community Relations Manager Barnes & Noble Almaden 5353 Almaden Expressway San Jose CA 95118 (408) 979-0611 November 12th Tuesday at 7:30 pm Seeing In The Dark: How Backyard Astronomers Are Probing Deep Space and Guarding Earth From Interplanetary Peril Noted astronomer and author Timothy Ferris will join us to discuss his latest book, Seeing In The Dark. Learn how the growing field of amateur astronomy is helping unlock the secrets of the universe. JVN: the store is on the east side of the big block of shops, north of a small plaza that has a fountain. The book is reviewed by Chet Raymo in Sky & Telescope, November 2002, page 62f. Prof.Raymo loved it. -- Jim Van Nuland, San Jose (California) Astronomical Association JVN's web site From jvn at svpal.org Thu Oct 17 23:37:49 2002 From: jvn at svpal.org (Jim Van Nuland) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:04 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] Call for telescopes, Friday in Milpitas Message-ID: <3DAFAC3D.4756@svpal.org> Hi, All, The school/city star party in Milpitas is expected to have a big crowd. In addition to the local newspapers, etc., the PTAs of two schools are also helping publicize it. I'm short-handed due to a few cases of the flu, so I'm asking here for help. It's a too-moony night, but choices were few. The web page below has directions. We usually use Hwy.880 and Dixon Landing Road, but there is considerable local construction, causing some closures. Alternate directions are given on that page. Since the event was publicize widely, we can't cancel the event, but if the weather looks hopeless when you would leave, stay home. Clear Skies! -- Jim Van Nuland, San Jose (California) Astronomical Association Current Events From koopm at koopm.best.vwh.net Fri Oct 18 12:28:06 2002 From: koopm at koopm.best.vwh.net (Michael Koop) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:04 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] Br. Guy Consolmagno Talk at SJAA Meeting Tomorrow! Message-ID: Brother Guy Consolmagno of the Vatican Observatory The composition of Asteroids: Are Asteroids Fluffy? San Jose Astronomical Association General Meeting Saturday, October 19 starting 8:00 PM In the Hall at Houge Park, San Jose, CA Free and Open to the General Public! Our speaker for the October general meeting will be Brother Guy Consolmagno, author of Turn Left at Orion and Brother Astronomer: Adventures of a Vatican Scientist. Brother Guy has been at the Vatican Observatory since 1993 and splits his time between two homes. In the summer, he lives at Castel Gandolfo, Italy (summer home of the Pope), where he is the curator for the Vatican meteorites. In the winter, he lives in Tucson, Arizona, where he observes asteroids and Kuiper Belt comets with the Vatican's 1.8 meter telescope on Mt. Graham He has taught in Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer and has searched for meteorites in Antarctica. He is a renowned speaker, able to talk about the philosophy of science and religion and the commonality he views between them. The title of Br. Guy's Talk is The composition of Asteroids: Are Asteroids Fluffy? He informed me when I briefly met him last August, that he would link the talk to the upcoming Leonid Meteor Storm! Should be a talk to remember! Copies of Br. Guy's books will be available for purchase and signing: Brother Astronomer: Adventures of a Vatican Scientist (Paperback): List$14.95 SJAA: $13.00 Brother Astronomer: Adventures of a Vatican Scientist (Hardback): List $24.95 SJAA: $20.00 Left Turn at Orion: List: $24.95 SJAA: $20.00 To reserve your copy, email Mike Koop at koopm@best.com with the titles and types your interested in. Directions to Houge Park: Map: http://www.sjaa.net/houge.html Houge (rhymes with "Yogi") Park is in San Jose, near Campbell and Los Gatos close to the intersection of Highways 17(880) and 85. From bhavner at earthlink.net Wed Oct 30 22:10:37 2002 From: bhavner at earthlink.net (Bob Havner) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:04 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] SJAA Astronomy this weekend Message-ID: SJAA Astronomy this weekend Although this is a Deep sky weekend the 3rd quarter Houge Park Star party will be held on Friday Nov.1st Sunset 5:10 p.m. The astro class will be a ?What?s up in November? talk at 7:30 in the meeting hall. Included will be a look at the constellations, planets, and deep sky objects for the month of November. You will have to get an early start on Saturday the 2nd to get to that favorite deep sky site now that DST is over. The gate will be open at Henry Coe for astronomers and all are welcome to show up. Fremont Peak is another possibility as well. Check the TAC site www.observers.org to see who?s going where. Here are some other events going on this weekend: Friday Nov.1st. San Mateo County Astronomical Society General meeting at 7 p.m., College of San Mateo planetarium. Speaker: Dr. Steven Stahler of U.C. Berkeley, on "How Stars Are Made". Also, discussion and instructions for viewing Leonid Meteors on Nov 18-19. More info: http://home.covad.net/~alcoat/smcas/nov/nov.htm Leonid MAC PI Dr. Peter Jenniskens will give a public seminar webcast at http://nai.arc.nasa.gov/ on expected meteor activity and the various experiments. November 01 (10:00 a.m. PST, 01:00 p.m. EST, 18:00 UT). Saturday Nov. 2nd San Mateo County Astronomical Society. Star party at Crestview Park, San Carlos. Start at sunset. More info: http://home.covad.net/~alcoat/smcas/nov/nov.htm#star_party Santa Cruz Astronomy Club http://astro.santa-cruz.ca.us/index.html Star Party Bonny Doon Airport observing site. Start at sunset. Directions at: http://astro.santa-cruz.ca.us/bonnydoon.html Halls Valley Astronomical Group http://www.snap-design.com/HVAG/ Star party at Telescope Row Joseph D. Grant County Park Start at sunset. Info at: http://www.snap-design.com/HVAG/tr/tr.html Have a great weekend! Bob Havner San Jose Astronomical Association bhavner@earthlink.net