A great meeting with the feature presentation presented by Dr. Richard Schmude: “Jupiter’s in 2010 and 2011″. , followed by Steve Phillips “August 2011 – Observing 101″ and Theo Ramakers’ “Remembering Jon Wood” presentation to celebrate the dedication of our Observing Field to our late Chapter Observing Supervisor and dear friend: Jon Wood. With clear skies, members of the chapter with 25 scopes and 3 binos made it to the new “Jon Wood Astronomy Field”. Because many family members and friends showed up during the observing session,  the number of individuals observing was larger than the people attending the meeting. What a way to celebrate the dedication of the observing field to our late friend!Click here for some pictures.

Two events today for the participants of the The Outdoors Sports Camp at Charlie Elliott. At noon a solar event, and in the evening activities in the Visitor Center from scope building to astroid and meteorite hunting. The weather conditions prevented us from the observing part of the evening. Thanks Frank, Marie and Theo for stepping up to show these kids what astronomy is about.
Clear Skies,
Theo Ramakers

Wednesday we have two events at CE again. One at 11:15 A.M. with our regular solar and solar-system event. The second at 7:45 P.M. at the VC for the indoor presentations, followed at 8:45 with observing the night sky. Anyone with some time, come and join is in the fun. The kids will really like it.
Clear Skies,
Theo Ramakers

We have expanded our website with an additional page “The Chapter’s Outreach Program” which explains in text and pictures to the visitor, what activities/tools we use in our outreach program to make astronomical concepts easier to understand for the novice. This page is linked to from our “Outreach” page through a clickable link. We also have added a link on this page where visitors can request an event, by completing the “Request Event page” of the Night Sky Network. We hope that through this page readers will be encouraged to contact us if they have an interest in astronomy.
I appreciate any feedback.
Clear Skies,
Theo Ramakers

We did two events for the participants of the The Girls of the Great Outdoors Camp at Charlie Elliott. At noon a solar event, and in the evening activities in the Visitor Center from scope building to astroid and meteorite hunting. The weather conditions prevented us from the observing part of the evening. The girls really enjoyed all phases of what we did. Thanks Frank, Marie and Theo for stepping up to show these kids what astronomy is about. Click the thumbnail below for some images of the event.
Clear Skies,
Theo Ramakers

We are at Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center Wednesday 7/13 for two events.  At 11:15 A.M. for a Solar presentation and observing, and a second event in the Visitor Center at 7:00 P.M. followed at 8:45 P.M. at the Jon Wood Field for night sky observing.  If you can spare a few minutes to let these ladies see what’s in the sky, bring your scope and show them!  These events are always much appreciated and everyone is welcome.
Clear Skies,
Theo Ramakers

We reached out to the campers of the Garden Club of Georgia at Charlie Elliott’s Jon Wood Field. 20 Children and adults waited very patiently for clouds to slowly move through, but were rewarded with views of the Moon with some awesome closeups, Saturn, its rings and moon Enceladus and the double star Mizar. Too much light polution caused by the moon and thin clouds to see nebulas. Thanks Marie, Frank, and Theo
Clear Skies,
Theo Ramakers

Great news today. It looks like the ISS and the Shuttle Atlantis will be transitting the sun next thursday, almost accross the center, as seen from my observatory. Now, I have told anyone who is looking that far out that many changes are to be expected, so I estimate this will be again the case here. But, I will be monitoring the ISS orbit, as well as the weather forecast, very closely, as it gets closer to next Thursday.
Clear skies,
Theo Ramakers

This is a reminder for the monthly meeting at Charlie Elliott Visitors Center, Saturday, June 2nd at 5:00 P.M.
We also will have the dedication ceremony of the Jon Wood Astronomy Field at the observing field at 7:00 P.M. Please come out and help us celebrate the naming of our observing field to Jon. The weather looks good, so let’s extend this with a great evening of observing and fun.
Clear skies,
Theo Ramakers

We did two events for the participants of the Wildlife Week Camp at Charlie Elliott on Wednesday June 29th. At noon a solar event, and in the evening activities in the Visitor Center from scope building to astroid and meteorite hunting, followed by observing of the night sky at Charlie Elliott’s Jon Wood Field. The kids really enjoyed all phases of what we did. Thanks Frank, Marie and Theo for stepping up to show these kids what astronomy is about.

Clear skies,
Theo Ramakers