Because of the cloudy weather the observing at the Jon Wood Field had to cancelled and instead, we gave some inside presentations. The highschool students took a flight through the Solar System and learned a lot about gravey on different space objects and why it is dangerous to run fast on the moon Deimos. They learned about how we study our neighbor Mars and what it takes to take Curiosity from Earth to Mars. A variety of other topics made this a well received session despite the clouds.

We went for two days to Trip Elementary in Grayson and exposed the 4th graders a little more to astronomy, space, and space exploration. They learned inside more about astronomical concepts, the solar system and the universe, and outside they learned a lot about our solar system. They were very surprised to find out through our relative size activity, how small earth really is and how far away we are from the Sun. They also could take a look at the sun and on the second day, they even observed Venus in midday!! Thanks Frank for adding this to their program. Thanks to Jon Edwards, Frank Garner and Theo Ramakers for being there for these students. Please click the image below to go to the gallery and see the students in the activities.

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.

We have seen a good number of images taken in the last month, but David Whalen has been very persistent in trying to get better with imaging Jupiter. Last Saturday the seeing was great and David captured his best Jupiter so far. With seeing as bad as it has been for months, this was very rewarding for David. The image was taken with his C1100, a DMK41AU02AS, 500 frames captured with ICapture and stacked and processed in Registax6. Very nice job David!!!

This was our 5th year of participation in Pucketts Mill’s Science night. Mrs. Mandy Collins does a fantastic job at this school. This is probably one of the best organized science activities at the schools we participate in. Thanks so much for asking us to come back. The students learned about how telescopes work and observed our simulated moon through the “scope on a stick”. They also learned how the rover Curiosity on Mars knows where to drive. Unfortunately, the young lady who was supposed to make the pictures made only one when one of the groups was leaving the room But the thank you card made up for that!
Clear skies,
Theo

Just received notification that the STEM event for Trip Elementary for Thursday evening has been cancelled. Will let you know for which date they want to reschedule as soon as I receive it.
Thanks
Theo

Eight CEA members went to Hightower Trail Elementary to help celebrate the school’s 10th anniversary of the program and to show the students what Astronomy is about. 9 Telescopes on the playground allowed the kids to see some real beauties of the night sky including Jupiter and its Jovian moons. Inside they learned about Mars and its moons and the effect of gravity. In addition they got an update on NASA/JPL’s MSL/Curiosity mission. A very successful event. Congratulations Hightower for repeating this program every year!. A noteworthy note: Some of the students participating in the early program, did have the opportunity to interview one of the International Space Station’s crews in an uplink a few years ago, and some of Rockdale’s teachers were chosen to participate in a 0-G flight with their gravity science project.

Marie Lott, Frank Garner and Theo Ramakers went to Henderson Mill Elementary where had their first official STEM night after being STEM certified by the State. Theo did a presentation about Mars and Curiosity and outside we showed the students and parents Jupiter and its Jovian moons. They also had invited the AAC, so everyone could look through 4 telescopes. Thanks also to Sharon Carruthers and Mark Dove for giving their time to these students.

Now where the slab was in for the scope building and the observing pads, we needed volunteers to finish the landscaping, seed the grass, and lay the wheat straw. 5 Members volunteerd their time for this project and their effords are well appreciated. Thanks to Larry Owens, Steve Siedentop, John Towne, Bruce Wengryn and Theo Ramakers to finish this phase of our buildijg project!!

I got a call at 8:00 A.M from the wife of the concrete contracter that he wanted to meet us at 9:00 A.M at Charlie Elliott. She did not know for what purpose. So when he arrived at 9:45 it turned out that he wanted to start pouring the slab and the pads. Frank and I ran to ACE Hardware in Social Circle for conduit and spend all day until after dark at the Jon Wood field. Just hope that the deer and the wild boar did not have a party on the Jon Wood field and danced on the concrete while it had not cured yet. Will check on this Wednesday and notify the building company to get the building ready.