OK, fall season has started and we have been asked to help out with outreach programs for the home school group in Fayette County on October 15th. This is through Debbie Tisdale. Also the Children’s School of Atlanta will be back at Charlie Elliott in October and we have again two groups. One on the 13th and the second on the 20th. They have asked again for a solar event and evening event for each group. One addtitional group is coming, Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic School (Atlanta) will be there on the 5th and again we have been requested a solar and evening program. These events are all marked on our calendar on our website, so check there for information. I will be following up with reminders and details as we get closer.
Thanks and Clear Skies,
Theo Ramakers

The JPL Solar System Ambassadors have invited NSN members to participate in their telecon on Tuesday, June 15, 2010.

On July 10, the Rosetta spacecraft will pass by asteroid Lutetia, as it travels to its ultimate destination Comet 67P/Churyumov- Gerasimanko.
To learn more about this exciting ESA/NASA joint mission and the asteroid encounter, please join us for a telecon with Dr. Claudia Alexander, Project Scientist and Art Chmielewski, Project Manager, as they discuss Rosetta and the upcoming milestone.

Date: June 15, Tuesday Time: 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm PT (6:00 pm -7:30 pm ET) (Phone lines open at 2:30 pm PT – 5:30 pm ET)
Call-In: 888-282-0432
Passcode: Ambassador
Leader: Kay Ferrari
TRAINING MATERIALS: Training materials will be available on the NASA Nationwide website under the “Current Telecon” section prior to telecon.
The URL for the NASA Nationwide website is:

http://nnw.jpl.nasa.gov/telecon/

Log-in information for the website:
Username: NSN
Passcode: NNW001

TELECON ETIQUETTE – PLEASE READ:
1. When the telecon begins, please mute your phone while the speaker is talking.
2. If your phone doesn’t have a “mute” button, your phone may be muted by pressing “*6″ (star six).
3. The “*6″ feature is a toggle; your phone may be unmuted for questions by pressing “*6″ again.
4. For technical problems encountered during the training, pressing “*0″ (star zero) will signal the operator who can temporarily remove you from the telecon “room” to resolve the issue.
5. If entering the telecon after the recording has begun (3:00 pm PT), please enter SILENTLY and do not announce your name as the recording will have already begun.
6. DO NOT place your phone on “hold” if music is played while the hold button is engaged, as the music will be heard by telecon listeners and will be disruptive to the speaker.
7. Any participants who do not adhere to these rules of telecon etiquette stand the chance of having their phones muted by the operator for the entire session if background noise is a problem.
If you have any questions about this telecon, please let me know. Kay Ferrari, Coordinator NASA/JPL Solar System Educators Program NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassadors Program:
kay.a.ferrari@jpl.nasa.gov
The audio file and transcript will be posted at a later date.
IMPORTANT NOTES: This telecon is ONLY for Solar System Ambassadors, Solar System Educators, Museum Alliance and NASA Nationwide partners: Night Sky Network, NEAT Teachers, NASA Explorer School Teachers, Spaceward Bound Teachers, MESSENGER Fellows, GAVRT Teachers, Saturn Observation Campaign, Girl Scout Trainers, GLOBE Teachers and NASA and JPL Speakers Bureau members. It is NOT to be shared LIVE in classrooms, museums or other venues. This is professional development for YOU, intended to prepare you for your upcoming presentations and events. Please do NOT share the call-in information (phone number, passcode, etc) or telecon with anyone outside this program.
This professional development telecon is sponsored by the NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassadors Program.

http://nnw.jpl.nasa.gov/telecon/

Clear Skies
Theo Ramakers

We had a great meeting yesterday with a number of new visitors, much delicious food (Thanks to all those great cooks!!), a great presentation by Richard Schmude Jr., and our new observing supervisor Steven Phillips’ Observing 101 and Theo’s Current Events. Stephen Ramsden received the Master Outreach Program award from the Astronomical League and those who hang in there at the observing field until after 11:00 when the clouds moved a little out of the way, were awarded with some beautiful objects in the night sky. A great night for our Chapter! The website has been updated with presentations, pictures etc with the exception of Steven’s presentation and the minutes of the meeting, but I am sure they will be there very soon also
Thanks for all that attended or did visit us at the field after the meeting!
Clear Skies
Theo

This is a reminder for our Potluck dinner meeting this coming Saturday June 12, 2010 at 5:00 P.M.   Richard Schmude will present “Jupiter”.    Since his last presentation, we have had two major events happening on Jupiter.  Last year amateurs accross the world followed the impact scar and this week Anthony Wesley and Christopher Go observed, and imaged as well, another event, a hugh light ball.  Richard will include both events in his discussion.
This is a potluck dinner meeting, so please send me an email what you will be bringing so I can give an update of the menu as we progress during the week.  So far we have:

Romaine and Theo Ramakers    -   meatloaf.

Clear Skies,
Theo Ramakers

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

I checked the roads around the area just a minute ago. Many icy spots, and covered with frozen snow. Temperatures will get above freezing around 11 and the slush will start freezing over again at the time when the meeting would end. So stay safe at home and enjoy the presentation from William R. Shea at home. His presentation can be seen in a movie on the internet. We planned to see this presentation first for our January meeting to end the International Year of Astronomy. So it is time now to end the IYA. Here is the link to the presentation, and watch him make his presentation about Galilieo. Of special interest to me was the question and answer session following the presentation.
http://www2.geolsoc.org.uk/presentations/bh091026/#
Our next meeting is March 13 at 4:00 P.M. The time is the “Time in between Summer and Winter start-times of the meetings”. Check our home page in a few days for further information on the feature presentation.
clear skies,
Theo Ramakers

Thursday, November 19th, 6:00 PM Pacific Time, Dr. Jon Jenkins will speak featuring the December 2009 IYA Discovery Guide theme: Discovering New Worlds

On March 6, 2009 the telescope that is the centerpiece of the Kepler mission was flung into orbit, and began a landmark work. Its efforts promise to revolutionize our knowledge of how common (or otherwise) Earth-size worlds are.

Dr. Jon Jenkins is the Analysis Lead for the Kepler Mission, which means that he heads up a group of about a half-dozen scientists and programmers who are designed and tested the software that are the brains behind this dramatic search for other worlds. As Co-Investigator in the Kepler Mission, Jenkins was part of the original proposal team for Kepler, and has been helping to make this mission perfect for the past 14 years.

To log into the Telecon on Thursday, November 19th, between 5:45 – 6:00pm (Pacific Time) (8:45 – 9:00 Eastern):
Use the IYA toll-free conference call line: 1-888-455-9236
An operator will answer and: You will be asked for the passcode: NIGHT SKY NETWORK
Identify yourself as a member of the Charlie Elliott Chapter of the Atlanta Astronomy Club when you are being asked to give your NAME and the CLUB you belong to, and number of people listening with you.
Find the PowerPoint and more here: http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/download-view.cfm?Doc_ID=401

Telecon August 27th LCROSS Mission with Brian Day
The Lunar Crater Observing and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) is scheduled to impact the lunar surface on October 9th, at 11:30 UT (7:30 a.m. EDT, 4:30 a.m. PDT), +/- 30 minutes, to confirm the presence or absence of water in a permanently shadowed crater at the Moon’s South Pole. Our speaker will give us the background on the Mission and how we as amateurs can actively participate.

Brian Day is an avid amateur astronomer with the Fremont Peak Observatory Association in Northern California and Education and Public Outreach Lead for the LCROSS Mission and Technical Educational Lead for NASA/Ames Educational Technology Team.

To join the Teleconference on Thursday, August 27th at 6:00 pm PDT (9:00 pm Eastern) call the toll-free conference call line: 1-888-455-9236
Call anytime after 5:45 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.
(Charlie Elliott chapter of the AAC)

The PowerPoint to accompany Brian Day’s talk is available here:

http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/download-view.cfm?Doc_ID=384

View the Online Version of LCROSS Telecon here:

http://www.astrosociety.org/nsntelecon/

Clear Skies,
Theo

The problems with this year’s outreach program for the week 2 of Charlie Elliott summer campers started before we actually were on site. Stephen’s cases with eye pieces and hand controllers were stolen the night before. However, Stephen did not let up. He was at the Camera Bug first thing on Wednesday morning to see if Tim could get him the pieces he needed to make the outreach event happen!! At 11:30 he was uploading the latest version of the software for the new controllers, but at that time the clouds had already rolled in at Charlie Elliott, 60 miles to the east, so we had to cancel the solar event. Stephen, thanks so much for your effort and your attempts to still make this happen and thanks to Tim for helping him out!!!

The evening session was still on with an inside presentation by Theo Ramakers and outside observing if the clouds would let up. Theo presented material of the NSN on the solar system, followed by a flight throught the solar system showing views future astronauts would be able to see using the program Celestia. After visiting earth, our moon, and practically all the planets and some of Jupiter’s moons, the kids had many questions. Outside the clouds were still persisting, so we had to cancel the observing part of the outreach program. Taking the observing cancellations aside, overall a great event!

Thanks to the management of Charlie Elliott, especially Julie Duncan, for inviting us again this year to reach out to those kids and try to spark interest in Astronomy and Space Exploration, and the members of the Charlie Elliot Chapter, Stephen, Frank and Jim Soboleski, who had volunteered their time but could not because of mother nature.

Click here or use this URL for images of the program.

http://www.ceastronomy.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=6790

Theo Ramakers

This is a reminder for our Pot Luck Dinner Meeting and Observing after the Meeting for next week Saturday at 5:00 p.m.. Jim Honeycutt will be the featured speaker with his presentation: “The Distance Ladder”. Ken will keep track this month of the dishes that we will bring, so please post a message or email him with the choice of dish you will be bringing, so he can send updates with the menu so far. Romaine and I will bring a chicken pot pie, biscuits and cookies. I am looking forward to the meeting and be able to catch up on a lot of things in the chapter, and to meet some new members/vistors.

See you next week, Clear Skies,
Theo Ramakers