Hi All,
Ed
Hi All,
How You Can Help?
SJAA Will Match Your Donation At Sandra Faber’s Talk!
The best way you can help save Lick is to get the word out and make a tax deductible donation here: http://www.ucolick.org/SaveLick/help_save_lick.html
But you can double that donation at Sandra Faber’s SJAA talk. The SJAA board approved matching funds and so will match total contributions during Sandra Faber’s talk of up to $1500. If you give $10, SJAA will match that and make it $20. If you donate $100 SJAA will match that and give or add a year to your new or continuing membership. Or for of $100 or more well give you the 2014 Royal Astronomical Handbook ($25 value) while supply lasts.
Dr. Sandra Faber On Lick May 10th
World Renowned Astrophysicist Dr. Sandra Faber, Director Of UC Observatories, Will Talk On The Research And Vision Of Lick Observatory Saturday May 10 At Houge Park!
photo credit www.lauriehatch.com
Some of you may have heard that Lick Observatory may close due to funding issues. Sandra Faber and other astronomers throughout California and beyond are working to save Lick for the simple reason that research there is now, and in the future, viable. Vital in fact. Join Sandra at our monthly program as she talks on the future of Lick Observatory. The observatory the South Bay sees from its own backyard.
Sandra Faber speaks at:
Houge Park
Saturday May 10
7:30 PM Social
8:00 PM Talk
Did some of your eclipse shots look turquoise?
The source of the turquoise is ozone. Prof. Richard Keen, an atmospheric scientist from the University of Colorado explains: “During a lunar eclipse, most of the light illuminating the Moon passes through the stratosphere, and is reddened by scattering. However, light passing through the upper stratosphere penetrates the ozone layer, which absorbs red light and actually makes the passing light ray bluer!” This can be seen, he says, as a turquoise fringe around the red.
Members, send us one of you lunar eclipse photos (m dot packer at yahoo dot com) and we’ll post here. People shots welcome too
CLICK ON ANY PHOTO TO ENLARGE
Above Michael Packer Moon Spica Mars
Above Michael Packer Full Eclipse At Maximum
Above Mark Striebeck: Lunar Eclipse with Spica
Above Mark Striebeck Image of Near Full Eclipse with Spica
Above Terry Kahl Eclipse Enhanced
Marilyn Perry Partial Eclipse 12:06AM
Marilyn Perry Full Eclipse 1:01 AM
Paul Summers: Eclipsed Moon with star Spica and planet Mars at upper right
Paul Mahany: Full Eclipse using 6″ @ F 4.85 ISO 400, 15sec
Mark Scrivener: Eclipse with Spica. 80mm F/7 refractor, no tracking.
Marion Barker & Paul Colby: Canon 3Ti 4sec ISO400 & SCT 1sec ISO 800.
Paul Kohlmiller: Eclipse and Spica
Paul Kohlmiller: Eclipse, Spica, and Mars
Bob Taylor: 5DIII at 560mm (200-400 1.4x Canon)
CLICK ABOVE PICS TO ENLARGE
I wasn’t planning to put out the next post until next month, but just found a really good deal.
Great Courses is offering their DVD Course on Hubble Space Telescope pictures for only $10 (+S&H)! Look for “Experiencing Hubble: Understanding the Greatest Images of the Universe”. Other courses are on sale, too.
www.thegreatcourses.com
We’ve shown a couple sessions over the past couple years at Houge Park and I have it myself. This one’s a STEAL!
My Favorite Things
Rain drops on roses and whiskers on kittens!
“Sound of Music” is one of my favorite movies. My baritone voice is nothing like Julie Andrew’s, but I digress!
Astronomy is such a diverse field. I think most people normally think of astronomy as science, but to me, and I think you’ll agree, it’s SO much more. Astronomy is also art (paintings like Van Gogh’s “Starry, Starry Night”), poetry and music (LOTS of examples of those), photography (which is arguably also art), history, mythology, and even astrology (in a historical context, I mean). And for those who ask “Why?” one can also add philosophy to the list! But all of that is for naught if not for the personal “Wow!” factor we all experience.
My hope is that this is the start of a monthly blog about astronomy (duh!) that I think SJAAers will find interesting. I’ve been a science buff since I was little, so most of what you’ll find on “MFT” will be science but on topics that I think has a “coolness” factor and that will catch the eye of the general public.
LADEE to Bite the Dustee
NASA’s LADEE lunar probe has completed its primary objectives and is scheduled to impact the moon around April 21. You can enter their contest to guess when the actual impact will occur (deadline is April 11). The NASA article and the link to the contest are here.
Incidentally our July speaker will present on LADEE!
Sky Safari 4.0 for Android — On sale!
The latest version of our favorite astronomy app is now available on Android and is half off until April 21. Observers should get either the “Plus” or “Pro” version. At half off the Pro version is just $20! [Note 4.0 is a completely different app from the previous version, so there’s no discount upgrade path.]
For details on their iOS, Android, and Mac OS products, see here.
Till next time, Clear Skies! (And of course comments are always welcome!)
Cupertino Earth Day a Big Success
Terrific weather, super sunspots, fabulous H-Alpha flares and a great crowd made the Cupertino Earth Day an outreach success for SJAA. We showed views of the sun and talked about astronomy to some 200 – 300 people both large and small. It would not of happened if we did not have a stellar volunteer crew. See below pics which tell the story of the day!
Above are shots of veteran sun lover Terry Kahl. In the middle image you see her front side with the club’s 100mm H-Alpha and an 8-inch Schmidt Cassegrain in the back – providing real time views of the sun via a video camera set up. Just to the right of Terry you see her highly portable (and more affordable) H-Alpha scope; the far right image shows a girl looking through the it.
Above, Bill O’Neil is in the foreground with his nicely portable 5-inch scope and Marion Barker is in background showing what folks are seeing and how we amateur astronomers view the sun.
Above Teruo Utsumi explains to kids prominences (solar flares) at the club’s 100m H-Alpha scope.
Kevin Lahey at his 10-inch dobsonian sunspot killer. A scope this size shows the intricate penumbra webbing of sunspots in stunning detail. See below image at left. You can click the image for higher resolution image.
Above is what the sun looked like today with a standard filter (left) showing photosphere with sunspots and H-Alpha filter (right) showing prominences or h-alpha flares. With the number of sunspots today at 174 (NOAA) we had a very active sun to show the public! Again, you can click image for higher resolution image.
Paul Colby above left, is showing his video views of the sun along with Marion Barker. This allows them to better point out and explain features of the Sun along side the public.
Above astronomers…Just kidding! Above is a beautiful Eastern dance shared on this Earth Day from the south bay community. Earth Day is about celebrating and protecting our planet – the coolest planet in the solar system!
Electric bicycles go a long way in protecting our planet and keeping us healthy.
Marion above showing and explaining live video image of sun – how easy and cool is that?
Above, nice shot of Bill talking with a visitor at our booth.
Kevin at is scope. It looks like he showing the trees with the reflection off his huge solar filter but rest assured that person is getting a killer view of the over 170 sunspots on the solar disc.
At night, astronomers sometimes have a run in with mountain lions but this one is at peace – really at peace as it is a display (not alive) to talk to USA’s future adults about protecting these magnificent cats of the night.
Above, learning how to make your own greeting cards form materials you likely already have at home.
Above, kid art!
Above, Teruo manning the SJAA solar scope.
Another shot of Bill O’Niel
Kevin at scope talking with a family.
Above foreground is yours truly Michael Packer – SJAA Solar Program coordinator and lover of everything sun! Thanks to all the volunteers above for a stellar SJAA outreach day. We handed out over 80 SJAA brochures and over 30 International Dark Sky Association brochures – info on protecting our night skies!