This is a reminder for our next meeting on Saturday May 16 at 5:00 p.m. at the Charlie Elliott WC Visitors Center. This month we will screen the PBS documentary “400 Years of the Telescope”, which aired in April and was made in celebration of the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s telescope. As usual, Jon and Theo will present their “Observing 101″ and “Current Events in Astronomy and Space Exploration”.

In addition we will elect the Chapter’s officers for the next 12 months. So, if you would like to nominate someone, send your choice to Debbie Jones at Debbie@CEastronomy.org, or make the nomination on the floor during the meeting.

Last but not least, we need help with Charlie Elliott’s JAKES day, their anual outdoor festival. We are trying to have some solar scopes outside the Visitor Center around 10:00am until around 3:00 or 4:00pm for the visitors to take a close up of the Sun, and if we are lucky, sunspots might have moved “around the corner” and be visible. (the sun has been active in the last days)

Inside in the meeting room we will show the movie we viewed in the last meeting and we will have some tables with images, star maps, books etc and a regular scope. We will use this to explain to interested individuals what we do, what we use, and answer any of the questions they might have. We also will help the youngsters answer the questions on their Museum Scavenger Hunt sheet. The CE staff has decided to use the same questions from last year:
At an average distance of 92,957,000 miles away, how long does it take light from the Sun to get to the Earth?
a. 499.012 seconds b. 8.317 minutes c. 8 minutes, 19 seconds d. All the above
and
Which planet has a beautiful system of rings that are visible from Earth through a small telescope?
a. Neptune b. Uranus (Yur-a-nus) c. Saturn d. Jupiter

We also will be handing out some nice gifts to the visitors from the Night Sky Network.
Please come out and give us a hand, even if it is for a short time! This event qualifies for the Night Sky Network and the AL awards

Clear Skies
Theo