At the February meeting, we gave out the awards for members who volunteered time in 2014 for outreach. Members who participated in less than 5 events during the year were listed in our presentation. Those members who participated in 5 or more events were given certificates and a pin of appreciation from the Night Sky Network. If you were unable to attend the meeting, you can view the presentation through this link. Thanks again to all those members who graciously donated their time and talents. We are off to a great start for 2015, and welcome anyone who is willing to help out. If you are not registered on the Night Sky Network website, but would like to be, please register at this URL. All of the upcoming outreach events are listed on our calendar here.
Valorie Whalen
Outreach Coordinator CEA

This month’s meeting was held at the Charlie Elliott Conference Center in Conference Room A.  Fifty-one members and visitors attended the meeting.

Steve Siedentop, Chapter Director, convened the gathering by introducing himself and John Towne (Chapter Observing Supervisor) began the monthly ‘What’s Up’ presentation.  After covering a few choice conjunctions and meteor showers, John discussed the Charlie Elliott July Target list, which the following targets in Sagittarius:  M17, M25, M20, M8, M54, and M70.  The Charlie Elliott Astronomy Challenge Object for this month was NGC6822, Barnard’s Galaxy.

Handouts were available to all attendees.  The What’s Up! presentation and handout are also available for download:

What’s Up! Presentation
Charlie Elliott Astronomy Target List

This month’s feature presenter, Dr. Rachel Kuzio de Naray from Georgia State University, was introduced by Steve.  Dr. Kuzio delivered an engaging presentation providing an overview of her research on dark matter.

Steve dismissed the meeting by inviting all to the Jon Wood Observing Field.

Approximately 75 members and visitors enjoyed observing and imaging on Jon Wood Astronomy Field under spectacularly clear skies until the last few diehards left the field just before 4 a.m.

Photos from the event can be viewed here.

This months meeting was held at the Campbell Aquatic Activities Building, Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center near Mansfield Georgia.  Thirty-three members and visitors attended the meeting.

Steve Siedentop, Chapter Director, convened the gathering by introducing himself and then adjourning us to enjoy the quarterly potluck meal.  These Potlucks have become a tradition and one of our most well attended events.  There was plenty of great food and desserts to pick from.

After eating, Steve brought us back to order and introduced John Towne (Chapter Observing Supervisor) for the monthly ‘What’s Up’ presentation.  After pointing out that we were meeting on the day of the Summer Solstice, John centered our mental telescopes on the constellation Hydra and the half dozen key objects it contains including Galaxy M48, Globular Cluster M68, Open Cluster M83, Planetary Nebula NGC 3242, Variable Star Epsilon Hydra and Binary Star Alphard.  John also made mention of the upcoming Conjunctions, Occultation’s and Meteor Showers that will occur in June/July.  This months Observing Challenge is M1-92 (Minkowski 92), AKA the Footprint Nebula.

Handouts were available to all attendees.  John’s presentation is available on the Club’s website.

This month’s feature presenter, Rich Jakiel, was introduced by Steve.  Rich delivered a great presentation on Lunar Geology.  Why observe the moon?  “It is close, unaffected by light pollution and it is up more than half the month”.  What followed was a complete run down of examples of different geological features on the moon.  Each was accompanied by photographic examples captured by Rich.   The presentation is posted on the clubs web site.

Steve dismissed the meeting by inviting all to the Jon Wood Observing Field.

Approximately 25 optimistic attendees and visitors continued to socialize and talk astronomy over the 9 set-up telescopes while waiting on the clouds to part.

Approximately 33 members and friends attended the April meeting. John Towne opened the meeting with an overview followed by the outreach summary for March by Theo Ramakers. Ken Poshedly discussed ALPO again as an introduction to Julius Benton presentation “ALPO and Saturn“. Julius is the ALPO Section Coordinator for Saturn. A great presentation followed by some interesting questions. Theo Ramakers took all on a trip through the CEA website CEAstronomy.org so that all were aquainted with the resourses available. Two members made a donation of a telescope to CEA’s outreach program, Jack Fitzmier did donate an ETX125 and Evan Phillips at 9 years became the youngest donor by donating his desktop telescope since he started to use his dad’s. This is great!!! Thanks Evan and Jack for the generous donations. Jack Fitzmier did a book review of Mike Brown’s “Why I killed Pluto” and John Towne’s very interesting “What’s Up” for April concluded a great meeting.
Following the meeting a dozen of die-hard attendees made it to the JWF to take a look at Jupiter and the Moon through the 10″ and high clouds. Never the less, a very nice session. Click thumbnail for images of the meeting.

We had a great time at Summerour Middle School in Norcross, where Valorie Whalen, Marie Lott, David Whalen, Charlie Cottingham, Frank Garner and Theo Ramakers showed about 100 students and their parents with 6 telescopes the beauty of the night sky including Jupiter with a transit of Io, the Orion Nebula, the Pleiades and not to forget our Moon. Inside the visitors learned more about NASA’s MSL mission and how Curiosity navigates on the red planet and what the night sky looked like that evening. A great and very rewarding evening for all of us. Thanks to Mrs Marjorie Veazey from Summerour and those who helped at this event.

53 Members and guests attended a great March Potluck dinner meeting. After some opening remarks by Steve Siedentop, CEA’s Director, Jack Fitzmier gave a short book review of Jim Sowell’s book “The Naked Eye Sky” which was donated by the Camera Bug. A repeat presentation of the “Big-O” 16″ telescope reconstruction project was given by Larry Owens. A tremedous effort! Thanks Larry for getting this scope back in use for our CEA members and visitors! Theo Ramakers followed with a short presentation to remind recent members who Jon Wood was, how he inspired so many, and how basically he was responsible for the large outreach efforts in the Atlanta area. Next was the NSN award presentation for those who participated in CEA’s outreach in 2013 (See seperate post), and those who participated in 5 or more events also received the NSN Keppler Dark field Pin. Theo announced the last donation to CEA by Larry Owens: a 10″ Meade LX50. This scope will come in very handy in our outreach at the field. John Towne followed with his always interesting and well prepared “What’s Up” for March. After the meeting it went to the Jon Wood Field for the dedication ceremony of the new CEA Scope Building and the revealing of the 16″ scopes. Members and guests were in awe about the crisp image the scope gave of Jupiter and M42 and Larry and Theo made the “First Light image of the scope at the Jon Wood Field.

27 Members and guests attended a great meeting. The feature presentation was deliverd by Dr. James Sowell from Georgia Tech. on “The Aloah Telescope”. A telescope program available to schools for remote observing the Moon, Jupiter and Saturn using a remote telescope in Hawaii. Steve Siedentop presented John Towne’s monthly “What’s Up” for February. Click here for his the February target list. Theo Ramakers gave an update on the Outreach program but the award ceremony had to be postponed because the pins were delayed probably because of the weather. Observing after the meeting had to be cancelled again because of the clouds. Click the thumbnail to go to the gallery.

40 Individuals attended our meeting in Conference room B at Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center’s Conference Center despite the cold and bad weather. Stephen Ramsden gave his very inspiring talk on Solar Astronomy Outreach showing some awesome clips and images. John Town was as good as always, with his presentation “What’s Up” for January. Theo Ramakers finally gave a status update on the Telescope building at the Jon Wood Field and a short presentation about the outreach CEA did in 2013 and gave recognition to those who helped making this a success for 2013. Click the image to go to the gallery for images of the meeting. Because of the bad weather observing was cancelled.

Another well attended meeting and observing session. Dr. Richard Schmude presented his findings of the research he did on the North Polar Cap of Mars. A very interesting subject. John Town presented his always interesting “What’s Up” and Jack Fitzmier did another book review. Theo reported that the MOU was signed by CEA and that we expect constructon of the telescope shed to start very soon. After the meeting it went to the Jon Wood Field where we ended up with 19 telescopes and many visitors from nearby towns as well as participants of CEWC’s Hunting and Learning program came by to learn something and look through the scopes. The imagers were also very active despite the cold. So it was a very successful day for CEA.

Another great and very good attended meeting. Chapter director Steve Siedentop started the meeting with opening remarks which was followed by Ken Poshedly with a talk about ALCon2013. Dan Llewellyn was next with his presentation about imaging with color cameras. John Towne gave his monthly “What’s Up” for August and Theo gave an update on the Telescope Shed. After the meeting most went out to the Jon Wood Field for observing and the Perseids. A great evening shared with a group of Students from the Lawrenceville Science and Engineering School. Click the picture for the gallery.
Clear skies,
Theo