Thursday, May 20, 2010 at 9:00 pm Eastern.
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO):    http://lunar.gsfc.nasa.gov/  allows us to see the Moon as we’ve never seen it before.  Brooke Hsu and Brian Day will give us an update on the LRO and tell us why the LRO is so exciting.
To join the teleconference on Thursday, May 20th at 9:00 pm Eastern, call anytime after 8:45 pm.
Call the toll-free conference line: 1-888-455-9236
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.  The Club’s name is the Charlie Elliott chapter of the Atlanta Astronomy club.
A PowerPoint presentation can be downloaded from the following URL and will be avaiable by May 19, 2010:
http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/club/download-view.cfm?Doc_ID=450
Clear Skies,
Theo Ramakers

Thanks to Marie Lott, Annette and Pierre Michel, Frank Garner and Theo Ramakers for participating in Charlie Elliott’s JAKES Day. We had some great kids with a lot of very interesting and good questions!! Check here for some pictures.
In addition, we had a surprising number of attendants for the meeting, despite the ongoing “Georgia Star View” in Griffin. Check the past Events page for more information and pictures of the meeting and observing after the meeting even though some clouds made observing a challenge. Over all, a long but very rewarding day !!! Thanks to all.
Clear Skies
Theo

Thanks to Frank Garner, Marie Lott and Theo Ramakers for participating in the Chapter’s outeach to the above school. The noon event was great, except that clouds kept obscuring the sky, but the students learned some about the relative sizes and distances in the Solar System. At night, each student created a mini-solar system showing the orbits of each planet. They took a trip through the solar system and did visit some planets and some of the moons. At the Field they all saw Saturn and a few of its moons, Mars and Venus as well as some far way galaxies and the complex star Mizar. Click here for some of the pictures.
Clear Skies,
Theo Ramakers

This is a reminder for this Saturday’s meeting (5/15/2010) with observing at Jon Wood Field after the meeting. In addition, Saturday is JAKES Day at Charlie Elliott. We will participate with Solar observing starting at 10:00 A.M at the visitor center, while inside we will run a planetary show and answer any questions visitors might have. If you can, please attend the JAKES outreach program of the day and the meeting, in which we will elect the officers for the coming 12 months.
Clear Skies,
Theo Ramakers

We will have two outreach events at the Charlie Elliott’s Outdoor Discovery School this coming Tuesday May 11. We will start with Solar observing at lunch time and have an indoor and outdoor event in the evening. If you can, please come and help with the solar event and/or the evening event. Lunch will be provided at noon by CE, as well as dinner if you can come around 6:00 P.M. Please let me know if you can make it.
Clear Skies,
Theo Ramakers

The school that was coming to Charlie Elliott’s TODS tomorrow has cancelled and with that our outreach event for them is cancelled also.
Clear Skies
Theo

I don’t know if you have been following the progress of our friends at Hightower Trail Elementary school with their project at NASA. Check it out if you have not done so by clicking here. As far as I know they are ready for their 0G flight with the experiment today! It feels good to have participated with this school in Astronomy for so long that now they find their way to NASA!
Clear Skies
Theo

We did 2 events at the Outdoor Discovery School at Charlie Elliott for the Fayette Montessori school of Fayetteville, GA. At noon Marie Lott, Stephen Ramsden, Frank Garner and Theo Ramakers gave the students a chance to see the sun through 5 solar scopes in visble light, H-alpha filters as well as Calcium-K. They also got a feel for the distances from earth to the moon and the sun in relation to each other. The second phase in the evening Theo and Frank took them on a ride through the solar system to vist some planets and some of their moons and they learned that not all moons are round. At Jon Wood Observing field they got a chance to see with their own eyes the rings of Saturn and its moons Tethys and Enceladus as well as Venus, Mars, the Orion Nebula, some constellations and a beautiful rising full moon! Click here for some pictures. Click here for some images of the event (click the thumbnail for the full sized picture).

The outreach for Tuesday has been moved to Wednesday same time. The forecast is not good for tomorrow, but Wednesday looks clear. If you can make it please join us for the Solar or evening programs. (Lunch and dinner provided by CE).
Clear Skies
Theo

Frank Garner, Annette and Pierre Michel, and Theo Ramakers did participate in Summerour’s Astronomy night. Franks showed participants how telesopes work and Theo in another classroom flew about 50 students and parents through the solar system and visited several planets and some of their moons. Outside the sky became cloudy so we only could show the moon through a layer of clouds which washed out the view and no other objects were visible. Overall a great event for the approx. 120 that attended. Thanks Marjorie Veasey for inviting us to participate. Click here for some pictures of the event