From jane at whiteoaks.com Fri Oct 3 12:13:03 2003 From: jane at whiteoaks.com (Jane Houston Jones) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:05 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] A few spots remain fror SFAA Mt. Wilson trip Message-ID: <3F7DCA3F.7070908@whiteoaks.com> As announced at the bottom of the 10/03 Ephemeris article "Mt. Wilson Mars observing run" by Dave North, http://ephemeris.sjaa.net/0310/c.html the SFAA is planning an October 18th Mt. Wilson trip and has invited SJAA members on a first comefirst serve basis to fill the open slots.. Maximum number of participants is 20 and right now there are about 17 confirmed. If you are interested contact Bill Stepka stepka@aol.com. Here's the 10/03 Ephemeris blurb: The San Francisco Amateur Astronomers are planing a Mt. Wilson trip October 18. There are still a few spots open. The cost will be $50.00 per person for the observing session. Refunds are given for either weather or atmospheric conditions which require closing the dome. Plan your own transportation and lodging, bring a camp chair for your own comfort. Contact SFAA Mt. Wilson coordinator Bill Stepka if you are interested. stepka@aol.com. I wrote about another Mt. Wilson trip in the Ephemeris a few years ago. Here it is to further whet your appetite: http://ephemeris.sjaa.net/0202/d.html -- Jane Houston Jones San Rafael, CA jane@whiteoaks.com http://www.whiteoaks.com From jvn at svpal.org Thu Oct 9 00:32:26 2003 From: jvn at svpal.org (Jim Van Nuland) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:05 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] Lecture: Recognizing Life Under Strange and Distant Rocks Message-ID: <3F850F0A.24EF@svpal.org> The following announcement was sent by Prof. Graeme Smith of UCSC and Lick Observatory. Forward it to other interested mailing lists, if he didn't sent it to your club, too. -- Jim Van Nuland, San Jose (California) Astronomical Association JVN's web site ******************* The UCSC Astronomy and Astrophysics Department and the University of California Observatories/ Lick Observatory present the third Halliday Lecture... Professor Kenneth H. Nealson speaking on Recognizing Life Under Strange and Distant Rocks Dr. Kenneth Nealson is the first Wrigley Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Southern California. He is a recognized pioneer of the young interdisciplinary field of geobiology, which studies the interrelation between the chemistry of life and the mineral and metal composition of the Earth. His recent interests have been directed towards the microbiology of life in extreme environments, and in this capacity he has chaired several NASA task groups charged with evaluating techniques in the search for non-terrestrial life in the Solar System, particularly on Mars. If you have a rock from Mars or any other extraterrestrial site, what can you do to decide if life is, or ever was, present? Searching for life on other planets when one doesn't know what it is going to be like is as difficult at the micro-level as is the search for intelligent extraterrestrial radio signals (SETI). One is reduced to a non-earth-centered approach in which physical and chemical measurements are used to search for things that "shouldn't be there." This inferential method may be necessary for finding unknown extraterrestrial life forms, and it involves a decidedly non-biological approach. Venue: Music Center Recital Hall University of California at Santa Cruz 8 pm, Thursday, 16 October 2003 Open to the public - no charge (although there is now a $2 parking fee for the parking lot nearest the Recital Hall for non-UCSC people). Presented as part of the Halliday Lecture Series, made possible by a private gift to UCSC by John and Layne Halliday to promote public awareness and appreciation for astronomy and astrophysics. ******************* From bhavner at earthlink.net Fri Oct 10 10:53:33 2003 From: bhavner at earthlink.net (Bob Havner) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:05 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] Fw: [AANC Contacts] Special SFAA meeting presentation November 19, 2003 Message-ID: <001c01c38f57$6da28500$56dcf7a5@default> Morrison Planetarium Farewell Show Wednesday, November 19 7:00 p.m. Morrison Planetarium, California Academy of Sciences Golden Gate Park, San Francisco In conjunction with the San Francisco Amateur Astronomers Free Admission The Morrison Planetarium will be closing its doors forever at the end of this year, as the California Academy of Sciences builds new facilities in Golden Gate Park. The one-of-a-kind, hand built Morrison Planetarium projector will be retired forever. Help the San Francisco Amateur Astronomers say farewell to this institution of Bay Area astronomy for the past 50 years, by attending a special show sponsored by the Planetarium and the SFAA. Admission is free. Steve Craig, the Planetarium director, will be on-hand to present the show. We will see the sky show "Stars Over San Francisco." Celebrate 50 years under the stars of Morrison Planetarium and find out how the Planetarium and our knowledge of the Universe itself have changed since the Planetarium opened its doors November 8, 1952. California Academy of Sciences rebuilding, directions and more www.calacademy.org San Francisco Amateur Astronomers events, directions and more: http://www.sfaa-astronomy.org/sfaa/ Note for astronomy newsletter editors: Here are some images and some history you might like to use for your newsletter: http://www.calacademy.org/planetarium/about.html#equipment -- Jane Houston Jones San Rafael, CA jane@whiteoaks.com http://www.whiteoaks.com From koopm at koopm.best.vwh.net Fri Oct 10 12:07:12 2003 From: koopm at koopm.best.vwh.net (Michael Koop) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:05 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] General Meeting This Sat. Oct 11, 8PM Message-ID: The San Jose Astronomical Association Presents Dr. Bruce Weaver of The Monterey Institute for Research in Astronomy (MIRA) Speaking on "Using Artificial Intelligence to Classify Double Stars" Saturday October 11th starting at 8PM in Houge Park Building 1 Dr. Weaver founded MIRA in 1971 and continues as its director. He is the co-developer of a new stellar classification system in the near infrared and has designed and constructed a variety of astronomical instruments. Dr. Weaver will introduce us to the observatory and how it came about. He will show us some slides of the observatory along with various images taken from there. The second part of the talk will be on some of the current research at MIRA on the classification of Double Stars using artificial neural network techniques. Please join us to hear about fascinating scientific research occurring at a local observatory. Background on MIRA: The Monterey Institute for Research in Astronomy is a non-profit astronomical observatory, dedicated to research and education in astronomy. It is the first independent professional observatory founded in the 20th century. The offices, library, and shops are located on the Monterey Penninsula of California. The Institute is currently developing Richard W. Hamming Astronomy Center on the old Ft.Ord site near the new California State campus at Monterey Bay. The Astronomy Center includes a main building, electronics and machine shops, and the Bette M. and William R. Weaver Student Observatory. The Institute operates the Oliver Observing Station atop 5000 foot Chews Ridge. The Station houses a 36-inch reflecting telescope used for astronomical research. Because of the excellent atmospheric conditions in the Santa Lucia Mountains, the first to intercept the smooth airflow from the Pacific Ocean, and the dark skies of the Los Padres National Forest, the observing conditions are among the best measured in the world. Research areas include: The study of the birth, life, and death of stars; Interstellar matter; Gravitational lenses; Morphological classification of near-infrared stellar spectra; The use of artificial neural networks in astronomical problems; Observational and statistical studies of star formation. Scientific Paper: Spectral Classification of Unresolved Binary Stars with Artificial Neural Networks. Abstract: An artificial neural network technique has been developed to perform two-dimensional spectral classification of the components of binary stars. The spectra are based on the 15-Angstrom resolution near-infrared (NIR) spectral classification system described by Torres-Dodgen & Weaver. Using the spectrum with no manual interaction except wavelength registration, a single artificial neural network (ANN) can classify these spectra with Morgan-Keenan types with an average accuracy of about 2.5 types (subclasses) in temperature and about 0.45 classes in luminosity for up to 3 mag of difference in luminosity. The error in temperature classification does not increase substantially until the secondary contributes less than 10% of the light of the system. By following the coarse-classification ANN with a specialist ANN, the mean absolute errors are reduced to about 0.5 types in temperature and 0.33 classes in luminosity. The resulting ANN network was applied to seven binary stars. The paper is available at: http://www.mira.org/research/nir/astars.pdf ******************************************************** Websites The Monterey Institute for Research in Astronomy http://www.mira.org One research product from MIRA: Atlas of Low-Resolution Near-Infrared Spectra of Normal Stars http://www.mira.org/research/nir/nir.htm ( With links to 4 additional papers!) ************************************************************* The Board of Directors meets starting at 6:30 in the hall at Houge Park. Learn how the club operates and help contribute to its success. All are welcome to attend. ************************************************************* 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 From mojo at whiteoaks.com Fri Oct 10 13:16:18 2003 From: mojo at whiteoaks.com (Morris Jones) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:05 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] November Ephemeris deadline Message-ID: Officially today is the deadline for submissions for the November Ephemeris, but actually if you have a submission for the issue and can get it to us over the weekend, we can probably get it into the issue. An article and photos about Calstar would be great to have. Who has a story to tell? Please send articles in plain ASCII text -- no word processor formats please. Send pictures in the highest resolution you have available -- unprocessed images from a digital camera are excellent sources. Don't reply to this message with articles -- they'll be directed to the chat email list. Send articles and photos to ephemeris@sjaa.net Best regards, Mojo -- Morris Jones <*> San Rafael, CA mojo@whiteoaks.com http://www.whiteoaks.com From koopm at koopm.best.vwh.net Fri Oct 17 15:15:14 2003 From: koopm at koopm.best.vwh.net (Michael Koop) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:05 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] The Typo Star Party at Coyote This Saturday, Oct. 18! Message-ID: According to this months Ephemeris, we are having a Deep Sky Star Party at Coyote Lake Park on Saturday, Oct 18th where the 51% Moon will set at 0:33. This came as a surprise to your president since he had already scheduled the three star parties requested by the park ranger in July, August, and September. The secretary blames the editors, the editors blame the secretary, who cares! Lets just have a Star party at Coyote for us! Having the moon SET at 0:33 in third quarter phase will be tough to arrange. ;-) We will be meeting down by the boat ramp instead of the picnic area, about a mile past the ranger kiosk. Continuing with the Coyote Star Party tradition, we will be hosting a "Pot Luck BBQ". Pot luck begins at 5:30 p.m.- bring a main dish.... anything will do from KFC to sushi to crepe suzette to chef's salad to homemade Enchiladas to side dishes, just make it something you like! Bring enough to share. This is an informal pot-luck. Bring your own paper plates and utensils. We will have one of the BBQ pits fired up and ready at 5:30 PM. We provide the flame, you provide the grillables. Some Fun Objects to Observe: M47 in Puppis was missed because Messier did a sign error during the reduction of positional data "Baxendell's Unphotographable Nebula" i.e. NGC 7088 near Aquarius, later identified as a plate defect. M102 may be the Lenticular Galaxy NGC 5866 in Draco or look at M101 in Ursa Major twice. List of other typo objects: http://cac.uvi.edu/staff/rc3/astro/m102.html http://www.seds.org/messier/missing.html http://www.ngcic.com/history.htm Clear Skies, Mike Koop Preseident, SJAA ************************************** 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, which 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. When you enter the park, tell the ranger you are there to support the star party. They will admit you free of charge. The park office phone number is (408) 842-7800. For a map of the Coyote Park area go to: http://www.parkhere.org/scc/assets/docs/330208Coyote%20Lake%20map.pdf Website for Park: http://www.parkhere.org/channel/0,4770,chid%253D16486%2526sid%253D12761,00.html Saturday, October 18th, 2003 Star Party Details: Sunset: 6:26 PM Civil Twilight: 6:52 PM Nautical Twilight: 7:23 PM Astronomical Twilight: 7:53 PM Mars Transits: 9:42 PM Moon RISES: 0:32 PM Sunday From bhavner at earthlink.net Mon Oct 20 21:13:26 2003 From: bhavner at earthlink.net (Bob Havner) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:05 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] Two Weeks on Mars Message-ID: <007701c39789$add902e0$bb0356d1@default> Tony Misch and Bill Sheehan used the 36" Lick refractor to make drawings of Mars around the time of opposition. They are working on a website about the project. They have their drawings of the 2003 opposition as well as the drawings by Edward Emerson Barnard during the opposition of 1894 using the same telescope. There is also a historical retrospect of past Mars observations and a description of their project. http://mtham.ucolick.org/public/TwoWeeksOnMars/ Bob Havner From bhavner at earthlink.net Tue Oct 28 20:13:09 2003 From: bhavner at earthlink.net (Bob Havner) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:05 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] Talk at Ohlone College; Mission to Mars Nov.13 Message-ID: <002401c39dd2$f7a22ec0$62d4f7a5@default> Mission to Mars The Search for Life Dr. Geoffrey Briggs Physicist & Director Center of Mars Exploration NASA-Ames Presented by Ohlone College & NASA-AMES Part of the Math-Science-Technology Science Speakers Series Thursday, November 13, 2003 7-8pm Ohlone College Smith Center 43600 Mission Boulevard Fremont, CA 94539 Reception will follow. FREE ADMISSION-Seating Capacity Limited to 400 Tickets available at Smith Center Box Office at 6pm on the evening of the lecture. For More Information Call 510.659.7372 Bob Havner bhavner@earthlink.net