A great meeting last Saturday with the feature presentation “The Mass of Super-Massive Black Holes” presented by chapter member Annette Michel, followed by Steve Phillips “This Month’s Sky, for April 2012″. Thanks to both of them for the effort that went into them. Cloudy weather prevented the observing session after the meeting, but a makeup session has already been scheduled for next Saturday.Click here for some pictures. (The links might show errors until the respective documents have been uploaded)

Frank and Theo from the Charlie Elliott Chapter went to McConnell Middle School in Grayson on 2012-04-16 for a solar program and a presentation about Mars and how Curiosity was launched and will land on Mars. The three 6th grade classes of Mrs Sandidge were very interested and learned about the topography of Mars and about its moons. They also came up with a number of items how the trip to Mars could be improved!! If it would not have been cloudy we would have observed the largest solar flare in years, but clouds made us to postpone the solar observing until another time.

65 students and parents from East Newton Elementary attended our Starparty for these students. Smart and eager to learn more…. They saw 4 planets with some of their moons, Orion’s nebula, some double stars, star clusters and other galaxies. Thanks to Mrs. Thompson to bring the school out to Charlie Elliott and to Frank Garner, John Town, Jeff Rebitzke, Steve Phillips, Annette and Piere Michel and Theo for coming out and letting these kids experience the Universe over CE. Click the picture to see the gallery.

I wanted to pass on the email I received from Julie from the Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center:

Hi Theo,
I forwarded your email to Charlee.
I so appreciate the tremendous effort you, Frank and the other volunteers gave to make the Royston field trip a success. All of our TODS and BADR students are so fortunate to be able to receive the gift of your knowledge and time.

We love CEAstronomy!!!

Julie
Julie Duncan
The Outdoor Discovery School
Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center
GA-DNR, Wildlife Resources Division
543 Elliott Trail
Mansfield, GA 30055

Friday the 30th of March it was time to return to Palmetto Elementary School for the Field Day of  Ms. Lyle’s classes.  Theo presented various programs about the solar system, including asteroids, meteor(ite)s and telescopes.  But they also learned about the mission  of the Mars rover Curiosity and the different phases in the launch, and entry, decent and landing stages as it arrives at Mars and how long it takes to get there.  They were very appreciative of what they learned and were very proud to let me know at the end what they learned that day.

The Charlie Elliott Chapter of the AAC had two events for the 83 students and parents of Royston Elementary School from Franklin County, who came to Charlie Elliott for three days. A solar event at 11:00 A.M and an evening program with an hour presentations in the Shepard Room followed by observing the night sky at the Jon Wood Astronomy field, Despite the steady but transparent layer of clouds at noon, which made the sun hard to see, they enjoyed looking at our nearest star and learning some facts about it. In the evening, Sarah Flynn, Jeff and Kieran Rebitzke, Steve Phillips, Frank Garner and Theo Ramakers showed them Jupiter with its belts and 4 of its moons as well as the crescent Venus, the double star Mizar, M42 and some other nightsky objects. The group was very excited about what they saw “above”.

Annette and Pierre Michel, Marie and Tim Lott, Anthony and Lesley Edwards, Frank Garner and Theo Ramakers were the Charlie Elliott Chapter members who made it to the third annual solar observing event at Anna Ruby Falls.  Between 200 and 250 visitors passed through our roped off area at Anna Ruby Falls State Park.  And between the clouds they learned some facts about our sun, and why and how we to study the sun.  Finally and probably the most enjoyable part was taking a look at our sun through our solar scopes.  Marie also brought a projection cone on which they could see the sunspots. Everyone had a great time!  Click thumbnail for more photos. 

We had a great meeting yesterday. Potluck dinner while watching a BBC movie: Stargazers. It almost cannot get better! After the movie, Steven Phillips presented his “This Month’s Sky” for March and April, and Marie Lott presented “Build a Sun Funnel“. A few announcements completed the meeting. At the Jon Wood field, the skies gave way and everyone, including the visitors from the AOC and about a dozen students from GWA got to watch the beautiful conjunction of a small cresent moon, Jupiter and Venus, M42 and some other deep sky objects. For a few pictures of the meeting, click the picture below.

As a member of the Charlie Eliiott Chapter you can attend the Night Sky Network conference calls.
Get ready for the public’s questions about the “end of the world” happening this year. Arm yourself with history, facts, and humor with this telecon from leading astronomer, cultural anthropologist, and popular writer Anthony Aveni.

To join the Teleconference on Thursday, March 22nd at 9:00 pm Eastern, call the toll-free conference call line: 1-888-455-9236

Call anytime after 8:45 pm the evening of the telecon. An operator will answer and:
- You will be asked for the passcode: NIGHT SKY NETWORK
- You will be asked to give your NAME and the CLUB you belong to, and number of people listening with you.
You can  download the presentation but you need to log in to the NSN website first.
http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/club/download-showdoc.cfm/2012S.ppt?Doc_ID=488&Doc_Filename=2012S%2Eppt 
Clear Skies,
Theo Ramakers

We are ready for a Solar outreach event at Grayson Elementary School for Tuesday and Wednesday March 20/21.  We will be there around noon and will show all the 4th grade classes what the sun looks like.  We also have some activities for them that will help them better understand some astronomical concepts.  If you have time come out and join us.