Minutes of the September 27, 2008 Meeting of the Charlie Elliott Chapter of the AAC In the absence of CE chapter Director Theo Ramakers, CE chapter Observing Supervisor Jonathan Wood called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. and thanked all for their contributions to the evening’s pot luck dinner this evening. There were with 17 members and guests present at the start of the meeting, with a total of 23 members and guests present by the end of the meeting. CE chapter Director Theo Ramakers was out of town and not able to attend.

* A birthday celebration was held for Angus Owens (birthday Oct. 4) and Mary Owens (birthday Oct. 12), the parents of CEWMA member and former chapter director Larry Owens; the elder Mr. Owens has reached the milestone of 90 years old, while Mrs. Owens is now age 86. The elder Mr. Owens attends our CEWMA meetings with Larry. Birthday cake was served throughout the evening.

* Discussion was held about shifting back the meeting start time for the October 25 meeting to 4 p.m.; all agreed.

* Jon Wood’s “Observing 101″ PowerPoint segment included upcoming rise/transit/set times for celestial objects in the coming month; tonight’s slides and epheremis data were produced using the software programs “Celestia” (available at http://www.shatters.net/celestia/) and Stellarium (available at http://www.stellarium.org/).

After a break in the meeting for dinner and refreshments, member Stephen Ramsden presented the first part of his solar lecture series, “The History Of Solar Observing”. Part one described the religious beliefs and lore of early civilization’s sometimes mythic relationship with our nearest star up to and including an overview of modern solar observatories and available options for amateurs interested in solar observing and photography. Part two — to be presened at a later date — deals with solar emissions and the different wavelengths produced by the Sun.

After a final break for refreshments, CE chapter member Clevis Jones handled the “Current Events” segment of the meeting, where upcoming natural and manmade celestial activites are noted. Among those in the spotlight were the following:

* The launch on September 25 of China’s Shenzhou VII spacecraft carrying three astronauts, with images of a spacewalk during its orbit of Earth. (The craft and its crew of three landed safely on September 28.)

* The fifth dwarf planet, Haumea, with its moonlets, Namaka and Hi’iaka, the names of which are based in Hawaiian mythology.

* First image of an extra-solar planet to be imaged.

* Updates on the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity; Spirit was at Gusev Crater (90 miles wide, about the size of Connecticut), while Opportunity had departed from Victoria Crater and was on journey to Endeavour Crater (13.7 miles wide, larger than the borough of New York’s Manhattan). One image from the Mars Reconnaiance Orbiter showed the trek Opportunity is to follow.

* Coverage of the “Jules Verne ATV-1″, Europe’s first state-of-the-art Automated Transfer Vehicle and its departure from the international space station on Friday, September 26,  after a five-month stay that delivered more than 10,000 pounds of cargo to the complex. Named for the visionary 19th century science fiction writer, the supply ship launched March 9 and spent more than three weeks being readied to approach the station. Docking occurred April 3. The craft was programmed to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere and burn up over the Pacific Ocean on September 29. (More on the re-entry at http://atv.seti.org/)

* Movies of past and planned Hubble Space Telescope servicing missions by the space shuttles. (More at http://www.nasa.gov/hubble)

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 8:15 p.m. The next meeting of the CE chapter of the AAC will be at 4 p.m., Saturday, October 25.

Respectfully submitted,

Ken Poshedly
CEWMA Chapter Recording Secretary