From koopm at koopm.best.vwh.net Wed Feb 2 14:42:30 2005 From: koopm at koopm.best.vwh.net (Michael Koop) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:07 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] Binocular Astronomy with Jay Reynolds Freeman Message-ID: <20050202153922.B37055@koopm.best.vwh.net> Beginning Astronomy Class on Binocular Astronomy with Jay Reynolds Freeman Friday, Feburary 4th, 2005 7:30 PM in the hall at Houge Park Are you trying to get into astronomy and have a limited budget? You may already own a tool which will greatly magnify your enjoyment of the night sky: Binoculars! Many experienced observers enjoy the wonderful wide field views they provide long after they have purchased a telescope. They are the perfect tool for the beginner just learning the night sky to help find the brighter Messier Objects and their relationship to the stars around them. Your instructor is the Celestial Tourist, Jay Reynolds Freeman. Jay has been a SJAA member for over 30 years and has contributed many articles to the SJAA Ephemeris Newsletter and Sky and Telescope Magazine. He has a Ph.D. in Astrophysics, but fondly says that he has kept his amateur status since his research was in nonvisible wavelengths. Jay has logged over 10, 000 objects over a lifetime of observing. He has completed many Messier Surveys with various binoculars and small telescopes he has owned over the years. Jay will give sage advice on Purchasing Binoculars, Observing techniques, and what to observe. This is a class not to be missed. The class finishes with a "Whats Up Tonight" presentation by SJAA President Mike Koop, pointing out how to find the constellations, planets, and various deep sky objects. Weather permitting, after the class we will do a constellation walk under the night sky with the laser pointer. Bring your Binoculars! We will point out a few deep sky objects and try some of the techniques Jay presented in the class. This is also a Houge Park Star Party night so many telescopes will be set up to get a closer view of Saturn and other celestial delights. This class is part of an informal monthly series that teaches the basics of astronomy; the constellations, the movement of the sky, and the use of the telescope. The class occurs every third quarter moon Houge Park Star Party Night though out the year. No reservations needed and you can join the class at any time. The class is a free public service provided by the SJAA. Next Two Classes: Friday, March 18th: Dave North on Observing the Moon Friday, April 1st: Akkana Peck on Observing the Planets Website of interest: Jay's Cosmic Bird Watching: http://observers.org/beginner/deep.sky.html The Binocular Astronomy Resource Page: http://www.uvaa.org/BinocularResources.htm Directions to Houge Park: http://www.sjaa.net/houge.html See you there! Mike Koop President San Jose Astronomical Association Email any Questions or flames to: koopm best com From robhawley at earthlink.net Wed Feb 2 16:14:05 2005 From: robhawley at earthlink.net (Rob Hawley) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:07 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] SJAA Houge Park Star Party Feb 4 7PM Message-ID: <20050203001408.78E2F1B39@mail.whiteoaks.com> *******Houge Park Star Party ********* On Friday Feb 4 the SJAA will host its public observing session on the grounds at Houge Park. Families are welcome to attend. Feel free to bring your scope and share views with others. The evening star party will start about 7:00 PM and last to 10:00PM See the SJAA weather pages for up to date information. www.sjaa.net/weather Weather for Houge Park: http://www.sjaa.net/weather/sites.html#Houge-Park Moon and Sun The following information is provided for Los Gatos, Santa Clara County, California (longitude W122.0, latitude N37.2): Friday 4 February 2005 Pacific Standard Time SUN Begin civil twilight 6:41 a.m. Sunrise 7:08 a.m. Sun transit 12:22 p.m. Sunset 5:36 p.m. End civil twilight 6:03 p.m. MOON Moonset 11:58 a.m. on preceding day Moonrise 3:24 a.m. Moon transit 8:07 a.m. Moonset 12:46 p.m. Moonrise 4:36 a.m. on following day Phase of the Moon on 4 February: waning crescent with 23% of the Moon's visible disk illuminated. Last quarter Moon on 1 February 2005 at 11:27 p.m. Pacific Standard Time You can follow this link for a map of tonight's sky http://skymaps.com/skymaps/esmn0502.pdf. Note this map gives the location of comet Machholz. The comet can now be visually observed even from the city. Friday night it will be near the double cluster and Ruchbah. Finder charts are available at http://home.earthlink.net/~robhawley/comet/CometMachholz.html Comet Machholz @ 9PM 4 Feb Magnitude: 5.0 Distance: 0.5358 AU (80.2 million km) Right Ascension: 2h 51m 38.2s Declination: +66? 50' 43" Constellation: Cassiopeia Altitude: 50? 55' Azimuth: 333? 30' C/2004 K4 LINEAR will also be in the southern sky. At Mag 8 it may be a challenge from Houge. Some other Objects to look at Object visibility for 21:00:00 on Fri 04 Feb 2005 (From the SAC Urban 110) Object Type Con Alt Az Hrzn ------ ---- --- --- -- ---- M 37 Open Cluster Aur +85? 184? +70? M 36 Open Cluster Aur +85? 230? +70? M 38 Open Cluster Aur +85? 256? +69? NGC 1907 Open Cluster Aur +84? 251? +69? M 35 Open Cluster Gem +77? 165? +61? NGC 1528 Open Cluster Per +68? 316? +52? NGC 2169 Open Cluster Ori +66? 171? +51? NGC 1342 Open Cluster Per +62? 281? +46? M 45 Bright Nebula Tau +60? 253? +44? NGC 2251 Open Cluster Mon +60? 160? +44? NGC 2252 Open Cluster Mon +57? 161? +41? eta Persei Star Per +54? 316? +39? M 34 Open Cluster Per +53? 294? +38? iota Cancri Star Cnc +53? 91? +38? NGC 957 Open Cluster Per +52? 318? +36? NGC 884 Open Cluster Per +50? 317? +35? NGC 2324 Open Cluster Mon +50? 152? +35? sigma Orionis Star Ori +50? 186? +34? M 44 Open Cluster Cnc +50? 104? +34? NGC 869 Open Cluster Per +50? 317? +34? Stock 2 Open Cluster Cas +49? 320? +34? M 42 Bright Nebula Ori +47? 187? +32? gamma Andromedae Star And +46? 295? +31? Pictures of any of these objects may be obtained at http://archive.stsci.edu/cgi-bin/dss_form?target=ngc457&resolver=SIMBAD Saturn will be at about 63 degrees in the Eastern Sky at 9 PM Satellite Predictions (From heavens above ) http://www.heavens-above.com/allsats.asp?lat=37.339&lng=-121.894&alt=0&loc=S an+Jose&TZ=PST&Date=38388.1041666667&Mag=3.5 The table from Heavens above does not reproduce well in a plain text message. Here are the highlights Name Mag Time Alt. Az. Cosmos 2263 Rocket 3.5 18:26:34 56? ESE Lacrosse 3 2.4 19:27:38 84? SE Cosmos 2082 Rocket 3.3 19:38:40 85? WSW Rob Hawley From bhavner at sbcglobal.net Tue Feb 8 17:58:34 2005 From: bhavner at sbcglobal.net (Bob & Brenda Havner) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:07 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] Fw: [AANC Contacts] March 20 lectures at Alien Earths exhibit - LHS Message-ID: <001701c50e4a$dd1b2680$60d9fea9@Turtlerock> The next set of lectures, Searching for Extra Terrestrial Life - connected with the exhibit "Alien Earths" at UC Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science, is on March 20, 2005 on Centennial Drive below Grizzly Peak in the Berkeley Hills. General information: (510) 642-5132. Website and map: http://www.lawrencehallofscience.org. The Alien Earths exhibit runs at LHS February 5 through May 8. Schedule of talks for March 20, 2005: 12:30 - Dr. Margaret Race: "Looking for ET-- Bring 'em Back Alive... and Carefully" - perspectives from an expert in the field of planetary protection, analyzing issues of cross-contamination both in space and on Earth. 1:30 Dr. William Borucki, NASA Ames Research Center - "The Search for Habitable Planets Around Other Stars" - Over 100 giant planets orbiting other stars have already been found by ground-based telescopes. Dr. Borucki will describe future space-based missions necessary to find habitable Earth-sized planets, including the upcoming Kepler mission based at NASA Ames Research Center. 2:30 Dr. Emma Bakes - "How does life evolve? An exploration of Titan and Europa as possible alien habitats" Water has always been nominated as one of the essential ingredients for life and our own planet Earth yields conclusive proof. However, the main requirements for sources of extraterrestrial life might be thought of as a substance as the triple point (i.e. existing as a solid, a liquid and a gas at the same time) and a source of energy to fuel its organization into single celled organisms. We discuss the types of potential life which may inhabit Europa and Titan and how this may predict the nature of extraterrestrial life in other star systems. About the speakers: Dr. Margaret Race, a biologist at the SETI Institute, works closely with NASA in studying scientific, policy and public issues associated with solar system exploration. She has served on three major studies with the National Research Council (NRC) Space Studies Board involving planetary protection, and recently completed work on two major NASA projects related to Mars exploration- one that developed scientific protocols for the quarantine and testing of returned Martian samples, and another that analyzed the technical and scientific issues associated with human missions to Mars. Her studies also focus on legal and regulatory aspects of Mars sample return proposals; public involvement in the review and approval process for sample return; ethical implications of solar system exploration, and educational outreach about Astrobiology both through schools and the mass media. Dr. William Borucki is the Principal Investigator of the NASA Kepler mission designed to detect Earth size planets in the habitable zones of stars. He has been immersed in photometry work for over 20 years and is a recognized leader in the field. Dr. Emma Bakes has all the time in the world---not Earth, however, but an exotic moon orbiting a distant planet in our solar system. Bakes, a SETI Institute scientist and NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) lead team member, studies the chemical evolution in the atmosphere of Titan, Saturn's giant satellite and the only known planetary companion in our solar system swaddled in a thick atmosphere. Rich in large, complex carbon- and nitrogen-bearing chemicals, Titan's dense smog-like haze is thought to be similar to the primitive atmosphere of early Earth. Inside Bakes' powerful Sun Microsystems processor, the smoggy shroud evolves at breakneck speed. Millions of years of complex chemical reactions condense into hours. And what results may help us learn more about how life emerged and survived on Earth. Emma Bakes got her PhD 14 years ago and in the interim has done research at Princeton University, worked as a professor at Vassar College and a Principal Investigator at the SETI Institute and NASA Ames Research Center. She has written two books on Astrophysics and Astrobiology and has chaired a NASA space mission concept to sample the outer solar system. She is currently involved in research concerning the origins of life, planetary atmospheres, star formation and space medicine. Her passions are exploration, discovery and pioneering new ground in the sciences, medicine and in everyday life. However, by far the greatest source of wonder has been her fellow human beings. See also: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/people/bios/women/eb.html The exhibit Alien Earths was developed by the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado with funding from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Science Foundation. It is a hands-on exhibit that covers the search for life, as well as orients individuals to both the possibilities and the obstacles that figure into exploring space. The exhibit is divided into four areas: Our Place in Space Star and Planet Formation Planet Quest Search for Life Interactive and multi-media presentations in the exhibit will allow visitors to: Set planets in motion around a star and see what happens Experiment with an infra-red camera Listen to sounds from space Learn about microbes, the most abundant life form on Earth and possibly elsewhere Admission to LHS is $8.50/adults; $6.50/ youth (5-18), full-time students, senior citizens, and the disabled; $4.50/children 3-4; and free for children two and under. SETI Institute and the NASA Kepler mission are a co-sponsors of the LHS run of the Alien Earths exhibit. From bhavner at sbcglobal.net Thu Feb 10 19:35:53 2005 From: bhavner at sbcglobal.net (Bob & Brenda Havner) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:07 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] Fw: [AANC Contacts] GIVE A CHILD THE UNIVERSE It's Project Astro time again! If you have been thinking "hey, that sounds like fun" now's the time to sign up! Christina de Leon will be at the February SJAA meeting to meet and talk about Project Astro. Bob Project ASTRO is accepting applications for the 2005-2006 school year. Deadline is Friday, May 6, 2005 Project ASTRO is looking for amateur and professional astronomers who would like to work with teachers and students in 3rd ? 9th grade classrooms. This is a great opportunity to share your love of astronomy with an enthusiastic audience and help kids learn about science. Through Project ASTRO, you will be paired in a one-on-one partnership with a Bay Area teacher at a school near you. Together, educators and astronomers attend a 2-day summer workshop where participants learn to do hands-on, inquiry-based astronomy activities that involve students in the excitement of scientific discovery. Project ASTRO partners receive ?The Universe at Your Fingertips,? a rich curriculum resource book as well as access to books, videos, and telescopes from our lending library. Throughout the year, partners are invited to attend follow-up workshops that demonstrate astronomy activities from ?The Universe at Your Fingertips? and telescopes available in the lending library. The project emphasizes ongoing partnerships, which fosters a nurturing environment for students to learn. During the school year, astronomers make at least four visits to their adopted classroom at mutually convenient times. The program has been operating since 1993 in the Bay Area. Previous participants often report that being a Project ASTRO Volunteer has been one of the most satisfying volunteer endeavors they have undertaken. Graduate students and advanced undergraduate students majoring in astronomy are encouraged to apply. Astronomer applications are now being accepted for the 2005 ? 2006 school year. The deadline is May 6 and space is limited to 35 partnerships. All participants must attend a hands-on training workshop, which will be held August 19 & 20, 2005, at the San Mateo County Office of Education in Redwood City. Astronomer application forms are available from: Christina de Leon, Project ASTRO Astronomical Society of the Pacific 390 Ashton Avenue San Francisco, CA 94112 Tel. 415-337-1100 ext. 101 E-mail: cdeleon@astrosociety.org Information and forms can also be found on the Web at: http://www.astrosociety.org/education/astro/bayarea/volunteer.html Project ASTRO, a program of the nonprofit Astronomical Society of the Pacific, began with support from the National Science Foundation and the NASA Office of Space Science. It has now expanded to 12 other sites around the country and has trained over 1,300 astronomer-teacher partnerships. ******************** Christina de Leon Bay Area Project ASTRO Coordinator 390 Ashton Ave. San Francisco, CA 94112 415.337.1100 ext 101 415.337.5205 fax www.astrosociety.org/education ASTRO Volunteers' Discussion Forums at: http://www.astrosociety.org/phpBB2/index.php From bhavner at sbcglobal.net Sun Feb 13 12:41:13 2005 From: bhavner at sbcglobal.net (Bob & Brenda Havner) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:07 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] Fw: NASA speaker in Sunnyvale Message-ID: <004a01c5120c$5bd52510$60d9fea9@Turtlerock> Is there Life on Mars? The story behind the landings and findings of the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity. Dr. Firouz Naderi, NASA's Mars Exploration Program Manager, will be speaking in Sunnyvale at the Sheraton Hotel on March 4th at 7:00. Tickets are $15.00 Event info and ticket reservations at: 408-605-5591 http://www.anjoman.org/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.sjaa.net/pipermail/sjaa-announce/attachments/20050213/0f31bcac/attachment.html From robhawley at earthlink.net Wed Feb 16 16:39:12 2005 From: robhawley at earthlink.net (Rob Hawley) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:07 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] FW: SJAA Houge Park Star Party Feb 18 7PM Message-ID: <20050217003921.17D8576DB@mail.whiteoaks.com> On Friday Feb 18 the SJAA will host its public observing session on the grounds at Houge Park. Families are welcome to attend. Feel free to bring your scope and share views with others. The evening star party will start about 7:00 PM and last to 10:00PM While the weather prospects currently do not look very good, there is always a chance that holes will appear when we need them. See the SJAA weather pages for up to date information. www.sjaa.net/weather Weather for Houge Park: http://www.sjaa.net/weather/sites.html#Houge-Park Moon and Sun The following information is provided for Los Gatos, Santa Clara County, California (longitude W122.0, latitude N37.2): Friday 18 February 2005 Pacific Standard Time SUN Begin civil twilight 6:26 a.m. Sunrise 6:53 a.m. Sun transit 12:22 p.m. Sunset 5:51 p.m. End civil twilight 6:18 p.m. MOON Moonrise 11:58 a.m. on preceding day Moonset 3:36 a.m. Moonrise 12:45 p.m. Moon transit 8:36 p.m. Moonset 4:27 a.m. on following day Phase of the Moon on 18 February: waxing gibbous with 76% of the Moon's visible disk illuminated. First quarter Moon on 15 February 2005 at 4:16 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. You can follow this link for a map of tonight's sky http://skymaps.com/skymaps/esmn0502.pdf. Note this map gives the location of comet Machholz. The comet is now dimming, but should still be mag 5-6. . Finder charts are available at http://home.earthlink.net/~robhawley/comet/CometMachholz.html Comet Machholz @ 9PM 18 Feb Magnitude: 5.7 Distance: 0.6755 AU (101.1 million km) Right Ascension: 3h 6m 23.8s Declination: +77? 20' 26" Constellation: Cassiopeia Altitude: 42? 55' Azimuth: 345? 6' Some other Objects to look at Object visibility for 21:00:00 on Fri 04 Feb 2005 (From the SAC Urban 110) Object Type Con Alt Az Hrzn ------ ---- --- --- -- ---- M 37 Open Cluster Aur +85? 184? +70? M 36 Open Cluster Aur +85? 230? +70? M 38 Open Cluster Aur +85? 256? +69? NGC 1907 Open Cluster Aur +84? 251? +69? M 35 Open Cluster Gem +77? 165? +61? NGC 1528 Open Cluster Per +68? 316? +52? NGC 2169 Open Cluster Ori +66? 171? +51? NGC 1342 Open Cluster Per +62? 281? +46? M 45 Bright Nebula Tau +60? 253? +44? NGC 2251 Open Cluster Mon +60? 160? +44? NGC 2252 Open Cluster Mon +57? 161? +41? eta Persei Star Per +54? 316? +39? M 34 Open Cluster Per +53? 294? +38? iota Cancri Star Cnc +53? 91? +38? NGC 957 Open Cluster Per +52? 318? +36? NGC 884 Open Cluster Per +50? 317? +35? NGC 2324 Open Cluster Mon +50? 152? +35? sigma Orionis Star Ori +50? 186? +34? M 44 Open Cluster Cnc +50? 104? +34? NGC 869 Open Cluster Per +50? 317? +34? Stock 2 Open Cluster Cas +49? 320? +34? M 42 Bright Nebula Ori +47? 187? +32? gamma Andromedae Star And +46? 295? +31? Pictures of any of these objects may be obtained at http://archive.stsci.edu/cgi-bin/dss_form?target=ngc457&resolver=SIMBAD Saturn will be at about 73 degrees in the Eastern Sky at 9 PM Rob Hawley From bhavner at sbcglobal.net Sun Feb 20 10:53:42 2005 From: bhavner at sbcglobal.net (Bob & Brenda Havner) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:07 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] Fw: [AANC Contacts] "Bad Astronomy" Program March 2 at Foothill College Message-ID: <001501c5177d$840afa70$60d9fea9@Turtlerock> Event Announcement ================= Wednesday, March 2, 2005, 7 pm: Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture Series Author and astronomer Phil Plait of Sonoma State University will give a non-technical, illustrated talk on: "Bad Astronomy (In Everyday Life and the Movies)" in the Smithwick Theater, Foothill College, El Monte Road and Freeway 280, in Los Altos Hills, California Free and open to the public. Parking on campus costs $2. Call the series hot-line at 650-949-7888 for more information. Will a giant asteroid soon destroy civilization? Can an egg stand on its end only during the spring equinox? Were the Apollo Moon Landings the biggest hoax of all time? Do toilets flush one way just north of the equator and the other way just south of it? Astronomer, popular author, and web-master Phil Plait will take the audience on a good-humored guided tour through some of the misconceptions and mistakes people (particularly people in Hollywood) have about science. Dr. Plait is an astronomer and a NASA Educational Resource Director (which, he points out, spells NERD) at Sonoma State University. He worked on Hubble Space Telescope data for 10 years, studying such astronomical phenomena as black holes, quasars, and the birth and death of stars. He runs the popular web site "Bad Astronomy" (at www.badastronomy.com) and has written a book by that name, published by John Wiley. He has debated Moon Hoax believers in print, on the radio, and television and is regular columnist for "Night Sky" magazine. No background in science will be required for this talk, which will interest both fans of astronomy and critical thinking. Bring the whole family for a fun evening. Co-sponsored by: * NASA Ames Research Center * The Foothill College Astronomy Program * The SETI Institute * The Astronomical Society of the Pacific ================================= Andrew Fraknoi, Chair: Astronomy Program, Foothill College, 12345 El Monte Road, Los Altos Hills, CA 94022, USA Tel (Mon-Thur): 650-949-7288 Tel (Fri): 415-337-1100 x 120 FAX: 415-337-5205 E-mail: fraknoiandrew@fhda.edu ================================== From bhavner at sbcglobal.net Wed Feb 23 17:29:06 2005 From: bhavner at sbcglobal.net (Bob & Brenda Havner) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:07 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] Fw: Night Sky Network Message: February News Message-ID: <004401c51a10$3b425910$60d9fea9@Turtlerock> Here is the latest newsletter from the Night Sky Network. There is a teleconference this Friday Feb. 25th from 3 to 4 pm. SJAA Username: SJAA_Club password: sjaansky If you are interested in getting on the club roster contact me and I will set you up. Bob Subject: Night Sky Network Message: February News NASA Night Sky Network members: - This newsletter includes: - Sun-Earth Day - Training Telecon this Friday Feb. 25 - Black Hole ToolKit Announcement - Annual and Quarterly Drawing Winners - Using the Club Roster System and Password Recovery - Tell us about your events ? with Photos! - Setting goals for 2005 - More training and resources > SUN-EARTH DAY Sun-Earth Day is coming up March 20. To learn more about this event log-in to the Night Sky Network site and read the lead article. But suffice it to say that it is an amazingly cool opportunity to talk about the equinox. The NASA Solar System Ambassadors have invited the Night Sky Newtwork clubs to join them in the Sun-Earth Day Ancient Observatories training to be held by telecon NEXT FRIDAY!!! Date: February 25, Friday Time: 3-4:00 pm PST (6-7:00 pm EST) (Phone lines will open at 2:30 pm PST - 5:30 pm EST) Call-In: 888-399-8606 Passcode: Observatory Call Leader Name: Kay Ferrari The materials to be reviewed during this training will come from the Ancient Observatories webpage on the Sun-Earth Connection website and from this year's Sun-Earth Day kit. To receive a Sun-Earth Day kit, you must register through the following website: http://sunearthday.nasa.gov/index.htm This is an amazing program and set of materials made available to those like us who do public outreach through NASA?s Sun-Earth Conenection program. If you haven?t registered for a kit do so now before they are all gone! To review Sun-Earth Day Kit materials online before the conference call, go to http://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2005/multimedia/kit.htm --- > BLACK HOLE TOOLKIT ANNOUNCEMENT Get sucked in: Black Hole Survival ToolKit coming April 30th! The next ToolKit to be released to qualified Night Sky Network member clubs is the Black Hole Survival ToolKit. Scheduled for release April 30, 2005, this ToolKit is named to explain: 1. How we survive in a galaxy full of black holes 2. How to survive an encounter with a black hole 3. How amateur astronomers can survive all the questions they get about blackholes! To qualify: As of April 22, 2005, your club must have been an NSN member for at least six months and logged at least two events since October 1, 2004. Featuring the topics of gravity and black holes as an extreme form of gravity, the ToolKit is currently being tested by 14 member clubs around the country. What are the testers saying? "It makes it easy to visually represent what space is doing around a black hole . . . it grabs their attention!" "Any club that gets this kit will have a fun time with it." To get ready, you might want to review NASA?s Universe Forum on black holes: http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/seuforum/blackholelanding.htm --- > ANNUAL AND QUARTERLY DRAWING WINNERS If you haven?t heard from us by now, sadly, you didn?t win the quarterly or annual drawing prizes. To read more about the lucky ones who did check out the online article http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/club/news-display.cfm?News_ID=80 As winners of the annual drawing, these lucky members were selected by their clubs to attend this year?s JPL Open House this coming May: Dave Hutchison, Texas Astronomical Society of Dallas Mark Brown, River Bend Astronomy Club Becky Lowder, Statesboro Astronomy Club Doug Decker, Starlight Astronomy Club Reagan Herman, Amarillo Astronomy Club Coming up for the next quarterly drawing ? back by popular demand the Night Sky Network embossed green laser pointers! --- > USING THE CLUB ROSTER AND PASSWORD RECOVERY One of the great benefits of being a Member of the Night Sky Network is our Club Roster System. http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/club/club-roster.cfm Night Sky Network Club Coordinators can load club member emails into the system and use the interface to maintain a live and up-to-date registry of members as a downloadable Excel spreadsheet. Clubs can also use the system to generate broadcast emails to all club members about club events and activities. We also recently updated the way the system works so that you can generate your own custom subject lines. Attachments are not allowed at this time. Things to keep in mind. When you add club members to the roster, they will automatically receive a password to log in to the Night Sky Network site. This gives club members access to teleconference presentations, the discussion board and the ability to log Night Sky Network events (though only coordinators are allowed to approve events). Club coordinators should keep the club roster emails fresh. Every time we email notices, we get an inbox full of returned emails. If you are already using the Club Roster system, please freshen up your email records. If you or your club members lose or forget your user name and password, we have implemented an automatic password recovery feature. When you receive a new password, consider changing it and your user name to something memorable. We?ve found that most times people forget the under_score in their robot generated usernames. --- > TELL US ABOUT YOUR EVENT ? WITH DESCRIPTIONS AND PHOTOS! How do we pick stories to feature on the main Night Sky Network page? First we peruse the logged events for great stories that stand out. The more you tell us about the details of your event the greater the chances are that your club or event will be featured in an online article! What are we looking for? Mostly a good description of the impact you had on the audience. Yes we want to know you used our materials, but what is most interesting is how you used the materials, tailored them to meet your needs or how you delivered them to your audience. A picture is worth a thousand words! It?s clich?, but true. Photos bring your events to life for us, our NASA sponsers and others in the Network. Please post your event photos. Keep in mind, that for us to use photos with easily recognizable children, we need signed photo release forms. The simple way around this is clever photo framing and cropping - a whole classroom of kids can be useable photo for us when it is taken from the back or side of the room. --- > SETTING GOALS FOR 2005 We are setting goals here at the Night Sky Network and we want your club to consider doing it as well. One of our goals for 2005 is to help clubs reach the requirement of logging 5 outreach events each year. To do our part, we will be posting articles and hosting teleconfernces on topics we think clubs will find worthy of an outreach event. When your club uses materials from one of the Night Sky Network supplied ToolKits, you can log the event. Remember, to maintain your NSN membership, your club must log at least 5 events a year using materials from one or more of the ToolKits. Each logged event also qualifies your club for a chance to win one of our quarterly drawing prizes. If your club is struggling to meet this requirement, please contact us. Our goals is to help you succeed. So set your outreach goals for the year now and log those events! --- > Training, Resources and Classes Looking for resources, training opportunities or classes? There are a wide variety of resources available now or coming on line soon to help with astronomy outreach. We know amateurs doing outreach are not always interested in the same stuff professional teachers are, but these resources have materials amateurs can use. Astronomical Society of the Pacific Education Resources - Outreach and education are what we do, there is a reason we host the Night Sky Network. http://www.astrosociety.org/education/resources/resources.html Astronomy Center and Compadre ? Clearing houses sponsored by the American Association of Physics Teachers, the American Astronomical Society, and National Science Foundation http://www.astronomycenter.org/ http://www.compadre.org Center for Astronomy Education ? Sponsored by JPL?s Navigator Program and supported by University of Arizona?s Conceptual Astronomy and Physics Education Research Team this initiative is geared to community colleges and those teaching introductory astronomy http://astronomy101.jpl.nasa.gov/ http://caperteam.as.arizona.edu/ Planetary Society - Worldwide Astronomy 101! Free Astronomy Course Offered via Internet through the Planetary Society and California State University Dominguez Hills http://www.planetary.org/news/2005/betts_class_0204.html --- Clear skies! Mike Hart and Marni Berendsen Astronomical Society of the Pacific NASA Night Sky Network From robhawley at earthlink.net Wed Feb 23 23:52:09 2005 From: robhawley at earthlink.net (Rob Hawley) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:07 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] SJAA Feb Meeting :Scott Sandford to speak about Stardust - February 26, 2005 Message-ID: <20050224075217.55AD37AA9@mail.whiteoaks.com> Six years ago, on February 7th 1999, the Stardust spacecraft was launched. Beginning its 7-year mission to rendezvous with Comet Wild 2 and return particles back to earth. On June 14, 2003 Scott Sandford spoke to the SJAA about the Stardust Mission, the spacecraft, the experiments, and the mission goals. Since then, on January 2, 2004, the Stardust spacecraft successfully encountered Comet Wild 2, collected samples, and is now on the return voyage to Earth. At the February SJAA meeting Scott Sandford is returning to give a mission update including the latest mission images and findings. For more information, check out the Ephemeris article on Project Stardust. http://ephemeris.sjaa.net/0402/a.html Also the Annual Messier Marathon will be held at Coe on Saturday March 12. This is a mountain star party, at which the specific goal is to observe as many of the Messier objects as possible, all in a single night. All but one of the 109 objects are observable sometime during the night. One of the folks that helped to popularize the Marathon is our own Don Machholz (of comet fame). To help with the marathon the club will be selling autographed copies of Don's Messier Guide for $10.00 available as well as lists for the March 12 marathon. Finally Christina de Leon and Bob Havner will be giving a short Project Astro presentation before Scott Sanford speaks. Rob Hawley From jvn at svpal.org Thu Feb 24 13:50:38 2005 From: jvn at svpal.org (Jim Van Nuland) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:07 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] Richard "Dick" Barrett, 1910 - 2005 Message-ID: <421E4C2E.71E9@svpal.org> Thursday's Mercury-News (page 7B) reports the death of retired M-N columnist Richard Barrett. Among other work in his 49 year career, he wrote a column titled "Share it with Barrett". It was in one of those columns on Nov.8, 1954, he printed William Weller's suggestion that there ought to be an astronomy club here in San Jose. The first meeting was held on December 6, the beginning of the San Jose Amateur Astronomers, renamed in 1977 the San Jose Astronomical Association. He was at our 40th anniversary meeting in 1994, but was too frail to come last December for our 50th. May he rest in peace. -- Jim Van Nuland, San Jose (California) Astronomical Association JVN's web site From koopm at koopm.best.vwh.net Mon Feb 28 15:25:39 2005 From: koopm at koopm.best.vwh.net (Michael Koop) Date: Fri Jul 29 03:57:07 2005 Subject: [SJAA-announce] Dr. Chris McKay Talk on Titan in Palo Alto Message-ID: <20050228161200.D75806@koopm.best.vwh.net> Thursday, March 3rd, 4 PM At Lockheed Martin Advance Technology Center Building 202 Auditorium TITAN: THE NEW RESULTS FROM THE HUYGENS PROBE Dr. Chris McKay - NASA - Ames Data from the Cassini/Huygens mission to the Saturn system have shown us the surface of Titan and will help us understand this world that is strange and yet in many ways similar to our own. Titan is the largest moon of the planet Saturn and the only moon in the solar system with a substantial atmosphere. Consisting mostly of nitrogen, Titan's atmosphere is a close twin of Earth's atmosphere. Dr. Chris McKay will describe Titan's organic smog layer - including chemistry that is similar to the current theories for the origin of life on Earth - and its anti-greenhouse effect. Cassini-Huygens is a joint mission of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Cassini spacecraft carried the Huygens probe to Saturn's orbit. The probe entered Titan's upper atmosphere on January 14. A research scientist at NASA Ames Research Center, Dr. McKay has been involved with the Titan mission since its conception more than 20 years ago. He is a co-investigator for the probe instrument that measures the atmospheric structure. His interests focus on the nature of the atmosphere and the organic material on Titan. Dr. McKay has been actively involved in planning for future Mars missions, including human settlements, and with polar research in the Mars-like environments of Antarctica and the Siberian Arctic. He received his PhD in astro-geophysics from the University of Colorado. Map: http://www.lockheedmartin.com/data/assets/7344.pdf (Near Foothill Expressway and Page Mill Rd.) The Palo Alto Colloquia are a long-standing tradition of public outreach that deliver information about aerospace research and development news to the local community. All presentations are given on Thursdays at 4:15 p.m. in the Lockheed Martin ATC Auditorium in Building 202 and last about an hour. Refreshments are available at 4:00 p.m. Visitors are welcome. Stop by to find out the latest details about some fascinating science! Flyer: http://koopm.best.vwh.net/Titan_McKay.pdf Future Colloquia Events: http://www.lockheedmartin.com/wms/findPage.do?dsp=fec&ci=16261&rsbci=21&fti=0&ti=0&sc=400