This is a reminder for the Stargazing Event at Hopewell Middleschool in Alpharetta on Tuesday February 17, 2009 at 7:00pm . The gate to the field should be open at 6:00 p.m.

Address of the school:
Hopewell Middle School, 13060 Cogburn RD, Alpharetta, Ga 30004 (678) 297-3240

Directions:
Setup is at the same location as last year:
Go north on Highway 9, turn left on Cogburn Rd. Go about a half mile and turn left onto Hopewell plantation Drive. After turning onto Hopewell Plantation Dr, go past the 4th house on the right. The entrance to the track field will be just past there.

Theo

As you know we are trying to get our events from last year acknowledged by the NSN, so we may qualify for the free toolkits. Here is information on the next conference call of the NSN Network.:

NSN wants you to enjoy the exciting Monthly IYA 2009 Telecon Series given by Dr. Mark Showalter a SETI planetary astronomer. Dr. Showalter will speak about Our Solar System in a talk entitled “What’s New Over the Sun”.

Join the Teleconference on Thursday, January 15th at 6:00 pm PT (9:00 pm Eastern).
To log into the Telecon on Thursday, January 15th, between 5:45 – 6:00pm (Pacific Time):
Use the IYA year-long toll-free conference call line number: 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.
This information is also posted on the Night Sky Network member homepage. If you have any questions, please contact the Night Sky Network Administrators at:
nightskyinfo@astrosociety.org
**Note: This months telecon is a PDF rather than the normal PPT.**
Find the PDF and other files all in one place by logging into Night
Sky Network and looking under ToolKit Downloads:
http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/download-view.cfm?Doc_ID=359

HOURS OF VENUS: Today and for the rest of the week, Venus is at maximum elongation (greatest apparent distance) from the sun. This means the silvery planet is “up” for more than three hours after sunset. Go outside after dark, face south, and take a long look. Currently Venus is almost a half disk.

Anyone up for a nice image of Venus at this stage?

Clear Skies,
Theo

As part of NASA’s celebration of the 10th anniversary of the International Space Station, the agency is providing a special 2009 calendar to teachers and the public.

The calendar contains photographs taken from the space station. It highlights historic NASA milestones and fun facts about this international construction project of unprecedented complexity that began in 1998.

for more information visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/dec/HQ_M08248_ISS_Calendar.html

Theo Ramakers

This si a reminder for the Covington Library outreach event for this Thursday November 6th starting at 7:00pm. The library closes at 9:00pm at which time the event will finish. We have a presentation inside in the meeting room, followed with observing the sky (the moon?) outside the library:
7116 Floyd Street NE
Covington, GA 30014
So if you have some time, come out and join us for this event. Please let me know if you can make it for this.

Thanks
Clear Skies
Theo Ramakers

As mentioned in our last meeting, the next outreach program event will be a week from today, November 6th at 7:00pm at the Covington Library. The library closes at 9:00pm at which time the event will finish. We have a presentation inside in the meeting room, followed with observing the sky (the moon?) outside the library:
7116 Floyd Street NE
Covington, GA 30014
So if you have some time, come out and join us for this event. Please let me know if you can make it for this.

Thanks
Clear Skies
Theo Ramakers

Last week I mentioned information about the Cassini Saturn Observation Night – centered on March 18, 2009. I was in error when I mentioned that IYAs 100 hours of Astronomy dates. That world-wide event is April 2-5. Please feel free to use this time for your Saturn observing event if you only do one of them. Of course most of you show Saturn many times during the months it is visible in our sky! So I hope you participate in as many IYA events as your schedules and weather allow!
I am looking for SOC members in all the ESA member countries for a new program Im helping ESA with. If you know anyone in: Austria, Luxembourg, Norway or Switzerland, please contact me, or ask your active, outreach enthusiastic astronomers to contact me. Thanks! Now CHARM

The Cassini-Huygens Analysis and Results of the Mission (CHARM) telecon for October 28, 2008 11:00 am to 1:00 pm Pacific Time

(888) 677-6566 and the passcode is 3832523 (a permanent number)

Topic: Heavy Negative Ions: Tholins in Titans Haze

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/products/CHARM.cfm (package will be available Monday, October 27)

We will be joined by: Prof. Andrew Coates (University College London)

An audio recording of this telecon will be made and linked to our website within a couple of days after the telecon. We will also be making the powerpoint presentation available in addition to the pdf version for download.

EASY REFERENCE:

CHARM telecons are the last Tuesday of the month at 11:00 am to 1:00 pm Pacific Time
The phone number is (888) 677-6566 and the passcode is 3832523
The CHARM pdfs are located at: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/products/CHARM.cfm
The CHARM ppts are located at: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/doclib/
This is a password protected site, here are the details (they are case sensitive):
Username: cassini
Password: Doc$85
If you have any questions please feel free to contact charm_leads_01@cdsa.jpl.nasa.gov

Jane Houston Jones
Senior Outreach Specialist, Cassini Program
JPL – 4800 Oak Grove Drive, MS 230-205
Pasadena, CA 91109
Phone – 818-393-6435
Fax – 818-393-4495
jane.h.jones@jpl.nasa.gov

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov

Thanks Stephen and Theo for meeting with the Charlie Elliott Residential Workshop participants and show them our Sun. Through this event we were able to reach out to a number of schools in the region.

The teachers were working on the Residential Program of Charlie Elliott and did get first hand to see what we as a group can bring to them in bringing the Universe closer to their students. I have the strong feeling that some of these teachers will reach out to us.

The Gallery, Events page and the Outreach page on the web have been updated. Take a look.

Thanks Stephen for coming out again despite the 9 gas stations which were out of gas………

Clear Skies
Theo Ramakers

HARVEST MOON: This weekend’s full Moon has a special name–the Harvest Moon. It’s the full Moon closest to the northern autumnal equinox. In years past, farmers depended on the light of the Harvest Moon to gather ripening crops late into the night. Post-Edison, we appreciate it mainly for its beauty. Be alert in the nights ahead for Harvest Moon halos, coronas and ‘dogs. Visit http://spaceweather.com for example and more information.

AURORA WATCH: Around the Arctic Circle, moonlight will compete with Northern Lights. A solar wind stream flowing from a coronal hole on the sun is due to hit Earth on Sept. 13th or 14th, possibly sparking high-latitude geomagnetic storms. Sky watchers from Alaska to Scandinavia should be alert for auroras.

September 2008 Aurora Gallery

MINUTES OF THE AUGUST 30, 2008 MEETING OF THE CHARLIE ELLIOTT CHAPTER OF THE AAC.

CE Chapter Director Theo Ramakers called the August 30, 2008 meeting to order at 5:05 p.m. and reviewed the agenda for the night. There were 13 members and guests in attendance. Theo explained that the Chapter does indeed value the time and effort of the presenter of the featured presentation for the night, and therefore, it will precede presentations on observing, current events and club news.

Theo then provided a brief introduction of the featured speaker for the evening, Dr. Richard Schmude, who is professor of Chemistry and Astronomy at Gordon College in Barnesville, as well as the ALPO observing coordinator of the Jupiter Section of the Assn of Lunar & Planetary Observers.

In his presentation, “Jupiter’s Oscillating Storms”, Dr. Schmude explained that Jupiter has no solid surface and that it is basically a body of gases of different densities held together by gravity. While the planet itself rotates on its axis in just under 10 Earth hours, different bands or belts move around the planet at different speeds — all moving from east to west. In addition, clumps, ovals or spots which form in the gas belts move not only across the face of the planet as seen from Earth, but also slightly north and south, as well. Some examples of planetary spots — besides the well-known Great Red Spot — were the Great Dark Spot (Voyager 2 images of Neptune, 1989) and Hurricane Fay (satellite images of Earth, 2008).

Dr. Schmude distributed images and plastic measuring overlays for all to try their hands at determining the movement of several ovals on Jupiter. Some of features studied were Jupiter’s Oval BA (which oscillated most when nearby Jupiter’s Great Red Spot), Oval A1 (near the planet’s south polar cap), and several white ovals, especially “N2″ and “N3″ (oscillated in latitude).

Dr. Schmude recommends methane band filters for those who wish to further study these Jovian features.

At this time, there was a short break for refreshments.

CE chapter Observing Supervisor Jonathan Wood: In his slightly abbreviated “Observing 101″ segment of the meeting, Jon reviewed a number of upcoming rise/transit/set times for celestial objects in the coming month, using his program of choice “Calsky” (available at http://www.calsky.com).

CE Chapter Director Theo Ramakers: In his “Current Events” segment of the meeting, Theo used PowerPoint to display some absolutely stunning images of the August 1 solar eclipse with prominences (including a beautiful image from the TERRA satellite of the lunar shadow as it fell on the Earth near the Arctic Ocean; go to http://www.redorbit.com/images/images-of-the-day), images of the August 16 partial lunar eclipse as seen from Europe, plus a 65-image movie of a transit of one of the Galilean satellites across the face of Jupiter. Theo also presented a number of images from other CE chapter members, including Carlos Flores, Jim Honeycutt and Steve Ramsden. The remainder of Theo’s presentation included images taken at the recent Imaging Workshop by Larry Owens at Oxford College; images taken by Cassini as it flew by the south pole of the Saturnian moon Enceladus on August 11 only 30 miles from the surface of the moon; and images from the Phoenix Mars Lander near the planet’s north polar cap.

CEWMA staff rep Alesia Rast informed us of the various and many cutbacks being implemented by the Georgia Dept. of Natural Resources as it affects the CEWMA. Alesia added that none of the cutbacks will impact the CE chapter of the AAC. But she also asked everyone in attendance to let others know that the CEWMA lodge is available for families or groups, that its costs are comparable with similar facilities and that food service is included.

Steve Bieger gave an update about his 12.5-inch Dob Project, including visuals of the design he is using as a basis for his final product and images of the scope assemblies as they exist right now. The design Steve is modeling is the Highe Dobsonian Design, which includes only three aluminum truss tubes and provides better balance. Plettstone Telescopes has been marketing this design and one was shown at the 2007 Peach State Star Gaze. The Highe Dobsonian was featured in a writeup by Gary Seronik in the April 208 issue of Sky &Telescope magazine.

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 8 p.m.

The next meeting is 5 p.m., Saturday, September 27, and is a Pot Luck Dinner meeting.

Respectfully submitted,

Ken Poshedly
CEWMA Chapter Recording Secretary