2012 Events
- 2012-12-15 Chapter Meeting, a dinner and a movie Click here for Meeting Minutes. A great meeting in which we viewed the movie “Forbidden Planet”, followed by a few announcements and finished with John Towne’s monthly “What’s Up”. Because it was overcast, this time no observing at the Jon Wood Field. Click here for pictures.
- 2012-11-17 Chapter Meeting Click here for Meeting Minutes. A great meeting which got a late start and finished with John Towne’s monthly “What’s Up”, At the field it got busy, about 10 scopes and 2 binos showed about 35 individuals what was in the sky. Click here for pictures.
- 2012-10-20 Chapter Meeting Click here for Meeting Minutes. Annette Pierre made a presentation about the relationship between Nebulas. Jeff Rebitzke did present John Towne’s monthly “What’s Up”, since John was unable to attend. Following the meeting a large crowd including students/parents of the Stone mountain middle school and the Dunwoody Charter School joined us for stargazing and the Orionid Meteor Shower. Click here for pictures.
- 2012-08-18 Chapter Meeting Click here for Meeting Minutes. Several short presentation from Steve Siedentop about guiding your mount with your cellphone to Theo’s landing of Curiosity on Mars and the NSN “Magnetic Sun” presentation, and finally John Towne’s monthly:. “What’s up” for August” They can be downloaded by clicking the blue links. Because of rain and clouds the observing session was cancelledClick here for some pictures.
- 2012-07-21 Chapter Meeting Click here for Meeting Minutes. Our first meeting in the Conference Center. Joseph Seymour, one of our members and a professor at Perimeter College, presented a great program: “Stellar Evolution“. John Towne’s presentation:. “What’s up” for July” can be downloaded here. Some of the members made it to the observing field, but clouds and rain in the area kept the scopes packed away. Click here for some pictures.
- 2012-06-17 Potluck dinner Chapter Meeting Click here for Meeting Minutes. A great potluck dinner meeting with plenty of food. John Towne presented his first “What’s up” for June. A great observing session followed the meeting and many helped assembling and take a look through the chapter’s 16″ starfinder.Click here for some pictures
- 2012-05-19 Chapter Meeting Click here for Meeting Minutes. During the meeting a new board was elected for the coming 12 months. A great meeting and very interesting presentation by club member Anthony Edwards: “Asteroseismology, Do Stars, Shake, Rattle and Role?”. Steve Phillips presented his latest “This Month’s Sky” for May and June. A great observing session followed the meeting.Click here for some pictures
- 2012-04-21 Chapter Meeting Click here for Meeting Minutes. A great meeting with the feature presentation “The Mass of Super-Massive Black Holes” presented by chapter member Annette Michel, followed by Steve Phillips “This Month’s Sky, April 2012″. Cloudy weather prevented the observing session after the meeting.Click here for some pictures
- 2012-03-24 Chapter Potluck Dinner Meeting and Observing Click here for Meeting Minutes. Another great “Dinner and a Movie” meeting where we watched the BBC production: “Stargazing” followed by Steve Phillips “This Month’s Sky, for March and April 2012″. After the meeting observing with visitors from the AOC as well as students from GWA, who saw the beautiful conjunction of the crescent moon, Venus and Jupiter and other deep sky objects.Click here for some pictures
- 2012-02-16 Chapter Meeting Click here for Meeting Minutes. Another great meeting with the feature presentation “Marathon_Du_Messier-StarHopping-2-16-2012″ presented by the AAC’s Board Chairman Dan Herron, followed by Steve Phillips “This Month’s Sky, February 2012″. Rainy weather prevented the observing session after the meeting.Click here for some pictures
- 2012-01-21 Chapter Meeting Click here for Meeting Minutes. A great meeting with the feature presentation “Push To” presented by chapter member Steven Siedentop, followed by Steve Phillips “This Month’s Sky, January 2012″. Storms prevented the observing session after the meeting. Click here for some pictures.
2011 Events
- 2011-12-17 Chapter Potluck Dinner Meeting and Observing
Click here for Meeting Minutes. A great potluck dinner meeting during which we showed the APOD pictures of 2011. Dinner was followed by Steve Phillips “December 2011 – Observing 101″. With clear but cold skies, a good crowd made it to the “Jon Wood Astronomy Field”, to observe an ISS pass, the Spy plane and a number night sky objects. A cold but beautiful night sky. Click here for some pictures - 2011-11-05 Chapter Meeting, Observing and AOC Outreach
Click here for Meeting Minutes. A great meeting with the feature presentation “Saturn” presented by Dr. Julius Benton, followed by Steve Phillips “November 2011 – Observing 101″. With clear skies, a large crows with 19 telescopes and binos made it to the “Jon Wood Astronomy Field”, to observe 2 ISS passes and the transit of the GRS and Io on Jupiter in the beautiful night sky. Click here for some pictures - 2011-10-22 Chapter Meeting, Observing
Click here for Meeting Minutes. A great meeting with the feature presentation presented by Frank Garner and Larry Owens, reviewing how to properly setup an equatorial mount, followed by Steve Phillips “October 2011 – Observing 101″. With clear skies, members of the chapter made it to the “Jon Wood Astronomy Field”, to onserve the beautiful night sky. Click here for some pictures - 2011-09-24 Chapter Meeting, Observing
Click here for Meeting Minutes. A great potluck dinner meeting with the feature presentation presented by Clay S. Turner: “Astro Photo Talk” (images (c) C Turner), a short update on our Outreach and AL activities, followed by Steve Phillips “September 2011 – Observing 101″. With clear skies, members of the chapter with a lot of scopes and 3 binos made it to the new “Jon Wood Astronomy Field”, where a large group of students and parents of the Stone Mountain Middle School joined us for observing Click here for some pictures - 2011-08-27 Chapter Meeting, Observing and Observing Field Dedication
Click here for Meeting Minutes. A great meeting with the feature presentation presented by Dr. Richard Schmude: “Jupiter’s in 2010 and 2011″. , followed by Steve Phillips “August 2011 – Observing 101″ and Theo Ramakers’ “Remembering Jon Wood” presentation to celebrate the dedication of our Observing Field to our late Chapter Observing Supervisor and dear friend: Jon Wood. With clear skies, members of the chapter with 25 scopes and 3 binos made it to the new “Jon Wood Astronomy Field”. What a way to celebrate the dedication of the field to our late friend!Click here for some pictures - 2011-07-30 Chapter Meeting and Observing
Click here for Meeting Minutes. A great meeting with the feature presentation presented by Rich Jakiel: “Imaging on a Budget”. , followed by Steve Phillips “July 2011 – Observing 101″. Despite the clouds, 16 individuals made it with 7 scopes and a few binoculars to the observing field. Click here for some pictures - 2011-07-02 Chapter Meeting and Observing
Click here for Meeting Minutes. A great meeting with the feature presentation presented by Ken Poshedly: “The Moon, what you won’t see tonight”, followed by Larry Owens: “Imaging the Moon”. Steve Phillips presented his “July 2011 – Observing 101″. Despite the clouds, 14 individuals made it with 6 scopes to the observing field. Click here for some pictures - 2011-06-04 Chapter Meeting and Observing
Click here for Meeting Minutes. A great meeting with the election of a new chapter director and the feature presentation by Marie Lott: The NSN presentation “Stargazers, Starfarers and Kepler”. Steve Phillips presented his “June 2011 – Observing 101″. Again a large number of scopes at Jon Wood’s field let all visitors especially the young once see “what’s up there”. Click here for some pictures - 2011-05-07 Chapter Meeting and Observing
Click here for Meeting Minutes. A great meeting with 29 members and vistors in attendance. 5 Short sessions were presented: NSN tool kits – Frank Garner, Imaging the Sun – Theo Ramakers, The Denver Chair - Dan Schmitt, Planning with AstroPlanner – Steven Phillips and Considerations for Deepsky imaging – Tim Geib. Steven Phillips presented his “May 2011 – Observing 101″. The meeting closed with the elections of the new board. A large number of scopes (16) at Jon Wood’s field let everyone see “what’s up there”, while at 9:11 the ISS honered us with a close pass of the moon. Click here for some pictures - 2011-04-02 Chapter Meeting and Observing
Click here for Meeting Minutes. A great meeting with the feature presentation by Jim Soboleski: “Supernova”. Eric Bozeman presented his “April 2011 – Observing 101″. The meeting closed with the documentary: “A universe of their own“. A large number of scopes at Jon Wood’s field let all visitors see “what’s up there”. Click here for some pictures - 2011-03-05 Chapter Meeting, Observing cancelled because of weather conditions
Click here for Meeting Minutes. A great Potluck dinner and the Feature Presentation: A National Geographic Movie “Journey to the Edge of the Universe”. Steve Phillips presented his “March 2011 – Observing 101″ . Click here for some pictures - 2011-02-05 Chapter Meeting, Observing cancelled because of weather conditions
Click here for Meeting Minutes. Feature Presentation: “Imaging the Unusual” by theo Ramakers, followed by Theo Ramakers’ Current Events in Astronomy and Space Exploration (16MB movie), and Steve Phillips’ “February 2011 – Observing 101″ . Click here for some pictures - 2011-01-08 Chapter Meeting, Observing and Monroe Area High School outreach
Click here for Meeting Minutes. Feature Presentation: “Meteorites” by Anita Westlake, followed by Theo Ramakers’ Current Events in Astronomy and Space Exploration (14MB movie), a review movie of the chapter’s Images of the Month for 2010. and Steve Phillips’ “January 2011 – Observing 101″ . Following the meeting the students from Monroe Area High School joined us for deep sky observing Click here for some pictures
2010 Events
- 2010-12-04 Potluck dinner Chapter Meeting
Click here for Meeting Minutes. Theo Ramakers’ “Current Events” presentation was followed by the Feature Presentation: “AINT” Ancient INovation and Technology by Rich Jakiel, and Steve Phillips’ “December 2010 – Observing 101″ . Because of the clouds and rain, observing was cancelled. Click here for some pictures - 2010-11-06 Chapter Meeting and Atlanta Outdoor Club outreach
Click here for Meeting Minutes. Feature Presentation: “The Howl-een Hunt list: 13 of the Unluckiest Heavenly Objects”by Phil Sacco, followed by Theo Ramakers’ Current Events in Astronomy and Space Exploration (20MB movie) and Steve Phillips’ “November 2010 – Observing 101″ . Following the meeting the Atlanta Outdoor club as well as 10 students from GPC joined us for deep sky observing Click here for some pictures - 2010-10-02 GWA Outreach and Chapter Meeting
Click here for Meeting Minutes. Feature Presentation: Binaries and Conspiracies by Stephen Ramsden Current Events in Astronomy and Space Exploration and Steve Phillips’ “October – Observing 101″ . Following the meeting 40 GWA students and parents joined us for deep sky observing Click here for some pictures - 2010-09-11 Potluck dinner Meeting
Click here for Meeting Minutes. We watched the NASA movie of the mission to Pluto: “NewHorizons”, followed by Theo’s Current Events in Astronomy and Space Exploration and Steve Phillips’ “September – Observing 101″ . No observing at Jon Woods Field after the meeting because of storms passing through. Click here for some pictures - 2010-08-07 Chapter Meeting and Observing
Click here for Meeting Minutes. Theo Ramakers did present his “Building your own Observatory” and a review of alternate designs followed by “August – Observing 101″ by Steve Phillips, and observing at Jon Woods Field after the meeting. Click here for some pictures - 2010-07-10 Chapter Meeting and Observing
Click here for Meeting Minutes. Phil Sacco did present his “Something out of Nothing” followed by “July – Observing 101″ by Steve Phillips. - 2010-06-12 Chapter Potluck Dinner Meeting
Click here for the Meeting minutes; Lecture: “Jupiter” – Presented by Richard Schmude Jr., the executive director of ALPO. Following the feature presentation, Theo Ramakers presented the Master Outreach Award from the Astronomical League to Stephen Ramsden. The award ceremony was followed by Theo’s Current Events in Astronomy and Space Exploration for June 2010 . Steven Phillips presented his “Observing 101″ for June. Click here for pictures of the meeting. - 2010-05-15 Chapter Meeting and Observing
Click here for Meeting Minutes. We did screen the new NASA movie: A Journey to the Stars” followed by May – Observing 101 by Steve Bieger, also the Filter Reference Chart; and Current Events by Theo Ramakers. A demonstration of how to align an EQ mount without being able to view Polaris and a review of two Night Sky Network kits was presented by Frank Garner. Click here for some pictures of the meeting. - 2010-04-17 Chapter Meeting and Observing
Click here for Meeting Minutes. Several mini sessions: Website review – Theo Ramakers; The “Byers Galaxi Owens” Recap of the project to build the 16″ Telescope – Larry Owens; Guiding for Astro Imaging - Tim Geib. April 2010 Observing 101 – Steve Bieger; Current Events – Theo Ramakers. Click here for some pictures of the meeting. - 2010-04-16 Hightower Trail Elementary school, Conyers GA
Frank, Annette, Pierre, Jimmy, Milena and Theo responded for the 6th annual “Space Camp” at Hightower Trail Elementary. Check the Outreach page for more information and click here for some images of the event. - 2010-03-20 Anna Ruby Falls, Helen GA
Solar Event at Anna Ruby falls, possibly our largest event so far. Almost 1000 people came by as a number of our members showed the sun to the visitors through our telescopes. Visit the Outreach page for more info and click here for some pictures of the event. - 2010-03-13 Chapter Potluck Dinner Meeting
Click here for Meeting Minutes; Lecture: “Our Sun” – Presented by Stephen Ramsden. Following the feature presentation, Theo Ramakers presented his Current Events in Astronomy and Space Exploration for February 2010 and March 2010 and Steve Bieger presented his “Observing 101″ for March. Jim Soboleski made a presentationabout his DOB project and several members were presented with awards. Click here for pictures of the meeting. - 2010-02-18 Pucketts Mill elementary school, Dacula GA
Frank Garner and Theo Ramakers responded for a Star Party at Pucketts Mill Elementary School at their Science Night. Check the Outreach page for more information and click here for some images of the event and click the thumbnail for the full sized picture. - 2010-02-16 Scout troop 211 – Covington, GA at Charlie Elliott
Wow what an event. Stephen Ramsden, Steve Bieger, Frank Garner, Jim Soboleski, Steve Kennedy and Theo Ramakers showed Covington’s Scout troop 211 the moon, the orion nebula, Mars, and some open and globular clusters. See our Outreach page for more info and Click here for some images of the event. - 2010-02-13 Chapter Meeting and Observing – Cancelled
Click on the link here to find out why the meeting was cancelled. You still can watch the presentation by William Shea about Gallileo, by clicking this link to the website of the Burlington House. - 2010-02-10 Ficquett Elementary School – Covington, GA Solar Event
Frank Garner and Theo went back to the 4th grade science class of Mrs Kristen Emerson for a Solar event. Check the Outreach section for more information and Click here for some pictures of the event. - 2010-02-01 Ficquett Elementary School – Covington, GA
Frank Garner and Theo did an event for the 4th grade science class of Mrs Kristen Emerson. Frank presented the Solar system presentation, and explained how Telescope work using our telescope toolkit. Students who answered questions correctly received photos of different planets of the solarsystem. Finally Theo showed them some movies from the impact scar of Jupiter, Comet Holmes and the two missions of Columbus as well as some solar flares made by Frank and Theo a few weeks ago. Thanks to Mrs. Emerson for letting us come and demonstrate some of the features of our solar system. Click here for some pictures of the event. - 2010-01-22 Morgan County Middle School, Madison GA
Frank Garner and Theo Ramakers did the first outreach event of the year for the Astronomy class of Mrs. Heather Elo at the Morgan County Middle School in Madison. The Students saw a presentation on our Solar system while Theo set up the Telescope demonstration using the glass and mirrors tool kit. The students received pictures of the different plantes if they had the answer to the questions posted. Theo finally took the students on a flight through the solar system and they did visit a number of planets and some of their strange moons from a viewpoint you only can get from a space craft that orbits a planet, or moon. Click here for pictures of the event. - 2010-01-16 Memorial Service
Our monthly meeting was cancelled because of a conflict with the memorial service of Jonathan Wood, our Observing Supervisor since 2008. The following members attended the memorial service in the Lutheran Church on Brocket Road in Tucker: Carlos and Olga Flores, Stephen and Nathalie Ramsden, Steve Phillips, Mary Lott, Jim Soboleski, Dan Schmitt, Dale Harrison, Brigitte Fessele, Alesia Rast, Julie Duncan, Larry Carswell, Ken and Justin Poshedley, Theo and Romaine Ramakers. Art Zorka and Steve Bieger were on out of State travel and sent their condolences. During the service Theo Ramakers and Stephen Ramsden reflected on Jonathan as a member of the Charlie Elliott chapter.
2009 Events
- 2009-12-19 Chapter Potluck Dinner Meeting
Click here for Meeting Minutes; Lecture: “Ice Planet Hoth – I mean Earth!” (4MB) – Presented by Richard Jakiel. Following the feature presentation, Steve Bieger presented his “What’s up” for December.
Theo Ramakers followed with Current Events in Astronomy and Space Exploration for December 2009 and a review of some events of 2009. (Click for Streaming Video 29MB). Larry Owens concluded the program with an update on the Truss Telescope project. Click here for pictures of the meeting. - 2009-11-16 Chapter Meeting, and observing
Click here for Meeting Minutes; Lecture: “Steward Mirror Lab & Kitt Peak, Arizona” (44MB) – Presented by Carlos Flores,. Following the feature presentation, Steve Bieger presented his “What’s up” for November. Theo Ramakers followed with Current Events in Astronomy and Space Exploration for November 2009. (Click for Streaming Video 14MB). After the meeting about 45-50 individuals including several boyscout clubs and Newton County Schools attended the observing session Click here for pictures of the observing session. - 2009-11-03 Chamblee Middle School Star Party
Steve Bieger and Stephen Ramsden held a mini star party at Chamblee Middle School on Tuesday, November 3rd. The gathering had more than two hours to observe and ask questions. There were about 50 people that came by. Students and parents alike had many great questions about the sky and telescopes. Check the outreach event page for more information. Steve and Stephen had a chance to make some new friends and promote the Chapter. Click here for some images of this event. - 2009-10-22 Chamblee Middle School
Theo Ramakers went back to Chamblee Middle School for a second presentations for the 6th graders of science teacher Shirley Sigmon. The Glass and Mirrors presentation explained to the students how telescopes work and included refractors and reflectors. Theo than took the students on a flight through the solar system and they did visit a number of planets from a viewpoint you only can get from a space craft that orbits a planet, or moon. Click here for pictures of the event. - 2009-10-20 and 21 Children’s School Atlanta at CE
The chapter did two outreach events for two classes from the Atlanta children’s School at Charlie Elliott. The first group on the 20th had great seeing conditions. The second group had to deal with a broken cloud cover. See the Outreach Tab for further details. Click here and here for some images of the events. - 2009-10-17 Chapter Meeting, observing cancelled because of cloud cover
Click here for Meeting Minutes; Lecture: “The Milky Way” – Presented by Dan Schmitt,. Following the feature presentation, Jon Wood presented his Observing 101 for October. Theo Ramakers followed withCurrent Events in Astronomy and Space Exploration for October 2009. (Click for Streaming Video 14MB) Dale Harrison did bring 8 students from George Walton Academy in Monroe to the meeting. Another 6 were scheduled to show up for observing. This had to be cancelled because of the prevailing cloud cover. Click here for pictures of the meeting. - 2009-10-06 Stone Mountain Middle School – Galileo
Steve Bieger did a presentation for 3 classes about Gallileo’s discoveries for the Stone Mountain Middel School’s 6 graders. Steve’s presentation was well received by the students who in the end came up with some very good questions for Steve. Thanks to teacher Madeline Hill who did invite us to do this for her 75 students in her astronomy class Click here for some images of the event. - 2009-09-30 Chamblee Middle School
Frank Garner and Theo Ramakers went to the Chamblee Middle School for an entire school day and did 6 presentations for all the 6th graders of science teacher Dr. Victoria Rao. Frank’s presentation explained and showed the students how telescopes work and included refractors and reflectors. Theo took the students on a flight through the solar system and they did visit a number of planets from a viewpoint you only can get from a space craft that orbits a planet, or moon. Click here for pictures of the event. - 2009-09-19 Chapter Potluck Dinner Meeting (observing cancelled because of weather)
Click here for Meeting Minutes; Lecture: “NASA’s Solar Probes and the Solar Dynamics Observatory” – Presented by Stephen Ramsden,. Jon Wood was not at the meeting so we skipped Observing 101 for August. Theo Ramakers followed with Current Events in Astronomy and Space Exploration for August/September 2009. (Click for Streaming Video 20MB). We did host a number of members of the Atlanta Outsoors Club, interested in Astronomy. Thanks for visiting us and please come back when we can observe the nightsky!! Click here for some pictures of the meeting and our guests - 2009-08-22 Chapter Meeting and observing
Click here for Meeting Minutes; Lecture: “Heading back out of the Harbor”- Presented by Fred Buls,. Jon Wood was not at the meeting so we skipped Observing 101 for August. Theo Ramakers followed withCurrent Events in Astronomy and Space Exploration for August 2009. (Click for Streaming Video 14MB) After the meeting 36 individuals with an impresive 14 telescopes, including a group of kids, bussed in from Madison, met at the observing field for a night of observing. Click here for pictures of the meeting and observing. - 2009-08-15 Stone Mountain Middle School
Stone Mountain Middle School had planned a star Party in hopes of catching a glimpse of the Perseid Meteor Shower. Rain showers replaced the event, but some diehards still were able to see some nightsky gems. For more details, please read the Outreach TAB . And click here for some pictures of the event. - 2009-07-22 Charlie Elliott “Summer Camp”, week 2
Charlie Elliott held its second summer camp in the week of 7/20/2009 and the chapter was asked if we could come out for an Astronomy session. We planned for a Solar session as well as an observing session of the night sky for July 22th. For details, please read the Outreach TAB . Click here for some pictures of the event. - 2009-07-18 Chapter Meeting and observing
Meeting Minutes; Lecture: “The Philosophy of Astronomy”- Presented by Larry Owens. Jon Wood was not at the meeting so we skipped Observing 101 for the July. Theo Ramakers followed withCurrent Events in Astronomy and Space Exploration for July 2009 by Theo Ramakers. (Streaming Video 20MB) Click here for pictures of the meeting. - 2009-06-20 Chapter Meeting and pot luck dinner
Meeting Minutes; Lecture: “The Distance Ladder”- Presented by Jim Honeycutt. Observing 101 for the July was presented by by Jon Wood followed by Current Events in Astronomy and Space Exploration for June 2009 by Theo Ramakers. (5MB) Click here for pictures of the meeting. Thanks to everyone for the delicious food!!! - 2009-06-10 Charlie Elliott “Summer Camp”
Charlie Elliott held its summer camp in the week of 6/7/2009 and the chapter was asked if we could come out for an Astronomy session. We planned for a Solar session as well as an observing session of the night sky for June 10th. Stephen Ramsden and Marie Lott brought their solar scopes out and I attended just to help out and manned the evening session. See the Outreach TAB for more info. Click here for some pictures of the event. - 2009-05-16 Charlie Elliott JAKES Day and Chapter meeting
Meeting and Event Notes; Movie: “400 Years of the Telescope” A Journey of Science, Technology and Thought – Screening of the NSN version of the PBS Documentary, created by Kris Koenig and Dan Koehler. Go to www.400years.org for more information. The screening was followed by Jon Wood’s Observing 101 for May/June and covered special conjunctions and other updates (see meeting notes). Current Events in Astronomy and Space Exploration for May 2009 (4.9MB) was presented by Theo Ramakers. Click here for pictures of the meeting - 2009-04-18 Chapter Meeting
Meeting Minutes; Movie: “Eyes on the Sky”- 400 Years of Telescopic Discoveries. Observing 101 for April/May was presented by by Jon Wood. Current Events in Astronomy and Space Exploration for March and April 2009 (5.6MB) was presented by Theo Ramakers. Click here for pictures of the meeting - 100 Hours of Astronomy – 2009; April 2, 2009 – April 5, 2009
As part of the International Year of Astyronomy, the 100 Hours of Astronomy reached out to the general public worldwide to look through telescopes. Read what our Chapter did by clicking here, and take a look at the pictures here. - 2009-03-28 Chapter Meeting and pot luck dinner
Meeting Minutes; Lecture: “Radiometric Dating”- Presented by Fred Buls, and the Moon Rock Exhibit by Jim Honeycutt. Mr. Buls a frequent speaker at our meetings, has been an instructor at Georgia Perimeter College since 1996. Observing 101 for the Spring season was presented by by Jon Wood. Because of the long duration of the meeting, Current Events in Astronomy and Space Exploration for March 2009 by Theo Ramakers was delayed until next meeting. Click here for pictures of the meeting. Thanks to everyone for the delicious food!!! - 2009-02-27 The 5th. Space Camp of Hightower Trail
Jon Wood and Theo Ramakers did participate in Hightower Trail Elementary School’s 4th. Grade Space Camp event. Because the weather did not cooperate for looking at the stars and deep sky objects, Jon and Theo did give presentations inside the school. Jon took the students on a spaceflight through the solar system where they did visit the planets with their moons, while Theo took them on a trip to the sun, where they flew trough some prominences, landed in a sunspot, and learned about the “other” kind of weather, “Space Weather” and its effects on earth. Click here for a few pictures of the presentations - 2009-02-21 Chapter Meeting
Meeting Minutes; Lecture: “Saturn”- Presented by noted Saturn observing expert and author Dr. Julius L. Benton, Jr., Ph.D., of Savannah. Dr. Benton, a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (FRAS), is the coordinator of the Venus and Saturn observing sections for the Assn of Lunar & Planetary Observers (ALPO). His Venus and Saturn apparition reports in the ALPO quarterly journal, “The Strolling Astronomer”, provide a wealth of extremely detailed information about features noted in reports submitted by a network of dozens of observers worldwide (including several members of the CEWMA astronomy club). Click here to download his presentation. Current Events in Astronomy and Space Exploration for February 2009 (5.4MB) was presented by Theo Ramakers. Observing 101 for February/March was presented by by Jon Wood. Click here for pictures of the meeting - 2009-02-10 Rock Eagle 4-H Environmental Education Astronomy Event
Stephen Ramsden, Jon Wood and Theo Ramakers did an event with a group of young educators at Rock Eagle in Eatonton. Because the forecast was cloudy we counted on doing presentations on the Moon and Solar observing. However, the clouds gave in a little after a while, which allowed us to setup the scopes and have a peek at the Orion Nebula and the waning cresent of Venus! It was very rewarding for us to be together with such an enthousiastic group of young educators! A special thanks to Matt Hammons for inviting us.Click here for a few pictures of the presentations - 2009-01-24 Chapter Meeting
Meeting Minutes; Lecture: Factors affecting visibility – Presented by Dr. Chip West, meteorologist in charge, Atlanta Center Weather Service Unit, Atlanta Air Route Traffic Control Center in Hampton, Ga. Dr. West did a great job of tying together the relationships between cloud types and other atmospheric phenomena with how well or not the night sky will appear. Current Events in Astronomy and Space Exploration for January 2009 (12MB) was presented by Theo Ramakers. Observing 101 for January/February was presented by by Jon Wood. Click here for pictures of the meeting - 2009-01-23 and 24 Girl Scout leaders Stargazing at Camp Misty Mountain
Chapter member Marie Lott stepped up to the plate and did her yearly event with the Girl Scout leaders at their training camp. Marie showed 37 Girl Scout leaders the beauty of the night sky and provided, among others, handouts from the Night Sky Network and Astronomy magazine.
Some of the leaders were so excited about the stargazing, that they asked about their troops attending a local astronomy club event or a dark sky campout. Club information has been sent to the leaders so we probably have not heard the last from them. Thanks Marie for the terrific event, our first one in the International Year of Astronomy!
2008 Events
- 2008-12-27 Chapter Meeting
Meeting Minutes. ; Lecture: Earth -The First 2 Billion Years; – Presented by Rich Jakiel.
Observing 101 for December was presented by by Jon Wood. The Current Events in Astronomy and Space Exploration was a review of the activities of the Chapter in 2008 with many pictures and short movie clips which were presented during the year. The Current Events presentation was presented by Theo Ramakers. Click here for pictures of the meetingThis meeting was a very successfull Pot Luck Dinner meeting with so much delicious food. Thanks to everyone!!! If you missed this one, don’t miss the next one in March to sample all the goodies before you listen to the great presentations and go out on the field to observe. - 2008-11-29 Chapter Meeting
Meeting Minutes; Lecture: The Wonderful Universe of Gallileo; -Presented by Steve Bieger and Solar Observing Part 1 and 2; – Presented by Stephen Ramsden, Atlanta GA. Observing 101 for December was presented by by Jon Wood. The Current Events in Astronomy and Space Exploration including movie clips of the Endeavour mission STS126 was presented by Theo Ramakers. Click here for pictures of the meeting - 2008-11-17 Alcovy High School, Covington, GA
Chapters members Stephen Ramsden and Theo Ramakers showed over 100 students and faculty the sun in visible color and through H-alpha filters. Before observing the sun, each group listened to a short general overview of the workings of the sun and stars in general. They than took turns looking at the sun through 5 solar scopes. Two scopes showing the sun in visible light and three H-alpha filtered scopes.
We would like to extend a special thank you to doctor Asherrie Yisrael (EdD), who is a science teacher at Alcovy High for giving us the opportunity to show the beauty of our sun to so many young students. Click here to take a look at the different groups as they came through in the 3 hour session. - 2008-11-06 Covington Library Event
Thanks to our Chapter members Debbie and Clevis Jones, Theo Ramakers and Carol Durusau, who was our coordinator at the library for being involved in this event. Approx. 16 youngsters and parents participated in the event and learned some more about our solar system. Following a general presentation in the meeting room of the library, it went outside where Clevis gave a general real time overview of the night sky. Following alignment of the scopes, the participants were able to see a close up of Jupiter, its moons and several features of our own moon. This included well known craters and valleys as well as the Straight Wall or Rupes Recta, a 68 mile long feature in the south east part of Mare Nubium which looks like a sword and which you could mistake for a “hair” on the eye piece. We again forgot to take some picures until the very end when most had left. Some of the youngsters were real excited and learned that with some good binoculars a lot of the night sky can be observed for a lot less money than expensive telescopes - 2008-10-25 Chapter Meeting
Meeting Minutes; Lecture: Narrow Band Imaging from the City; – Presented by Paul Tankersley, Roswell GA. Observing 101 for October was presented by by Jon Wood, and Current Events in Astronomy and Space Exploration including the launch of the first lunar mission of India presented by Theo Ramakers. Click here for pictures of the meeting - 2008-10-22 Atlanta’s “The Children’s School” at Charlie Elliott
Chapters members Jon Wood and Theo Ramakers showed approx. 24 students and teachers some treasures of the Universe in a cloudy sky. Following some story telling by Jon about the old greeks and their explanation of some of the constellations, the students got to see some double stars, star clusters, the Andromeda gallaxie and nebulas. Finally, when the clouds moved far enough they could take a peak at Jupiter and its moons and seeing the expanse of the Milky Way made every one appreciate the beauty of the sky. I believe we sparked some interest in astronomy with these kids. Congratulations to the school and teachers for a group of well-behaved and knowledge hungry students. - 2008-09-27 Chapter Meeting and Pot Luck Dinner
Meeting Minutes; Lecture: The History of Solar Observing; – Presented by Stephen Ramsden aka “The Sundawg”. The chapter did celebrate the 90th. birthday of Angus Owens and the 86th. of his wife Mary. Angus is Larry Owens dad and almost always attends our meetings!! Congratulations with this special birthday Angus, and we wish you many, many more….
Observing 101 for September by Jon Wood, and Current Events in Astronomy and Space Exploration by Clevis Jones. Click here for pictures of the meeting - 2008-09-25 Charlie Elliott’s Residential Curriculum Workshop
Chapters members Stephen Ramsden and Theo Ramakers showed approx.
10 teachers and Charlie Elliott personnel the sun.In addition Stephen explained what they were going to see through the H-alpha, Clacium and visual light filters. The sunspots which were visible earlier in the week had disappeared, but a very nice flare was visble extending accross the edge of the disk to a hight of approx. 5 times the size of the earth! A discussion followed, and we did encourage the teachers to call on us if they were interested to give their students a chance to see the sun, or the night sky at their schools. - 2008-08-30 Chapter Meeting
Meeting Minutes; Lecture: Jupiter’s Oscillating Storms; – Presented by Dr. Richard Schmude, Jr., Professor of Chemistry at Gordon College and ALPO (Association for Lunar and Planetary Observers) coordinator for Jupiter. Observing 101 for September by Jon Wood, and Current Events in Astronomy and Space Exploration by Chapter Director Theo Ramakers. Pictures of the meeting - 2008-08-23 Challenges of Imaging Jupiter (Powerpoint Presentation, 54MB)
Presentation and Workshop: Challenges of Imaging Jupiter(.pdf file, 32MB) – Presented by chapter member Larry Owens at Oxford College in Covington GA. The workshop was hosted by Jim Honeycutt, who is an astronomy teacher at Oxford College. Larry presented a workshop, which was open to everybody, about the challenges of imaging Jupiter. The workshop was attended by approx. 16 individuals from different clubs from Mid to North Georgia. The workshop was a great success and everyone left the course knowing that imaging jupiter had been made a little easier by the material presented by Larry. Thanks Larry!! Please note that the download of the presentation may take a few minutes. Pictures of the workshop here - 2008-07-26 Chapter Meeting
Meeting Minutes; Lecture: Probes to the Planets – Presented by Fred Buls, instructor of Astronomy at Perimeter College; the presentation of the Astronomical League’s Honorary Messier Award for Ray Major; Observing 101 for July by Jon Wood, and Current Events in Astronomy and space exploration by Theo Ramakers. pictures of the meeting - 2008-07-23 Charlie Elliott’s Summer Camp – Group 2
Chapters members Jon Wood, Stephen Ramsden, and Theo Ramakers showed approx.
16 young CE campers the Universe at Charlie Elliott. In the morning they saw three filaments on ths Sun and the evening program included visits to the inner and outer planets as well as movies and presentations about Saturn, Mars and Jupiter as well as some unusual views of the moon. Outside the clouds had moved in, except for a small opening around Jupiter, so everyone was able to see Jupiter with three moons and a little later 4 moons, when Io’s transit ended. The clouds kept us busy trying to find the best spots to see. A faint M57 could be seen once in a while, and a faint coming and going Alberio also. Despite the adverse cloud conditions, the observing session was well accepted by all! - 2008-07-20 Garden Club of Georgia – Summer Camp
Chapters members Jon Wood, Stephen Ramsden, Frank Garner and Theo Ramakers showed approx.
16 young and adult campers of the Garden Club of Georgia the Universe at Charlie Elliott. The vistitors were able to take a first hand look at Saturn, Jupiter, Alberio, M13, M57,and other deepsky objects. After many OOh and Ahhhh’s they left but not after havng seen the moon just rise over the horizon and the expanse of the Mighty Milky Way! - 2008-07-16 Charlie Elliott Summer Camp – Group 1
Our participation in CE’s Summer Camp. A morning session observing the Sun through visible light and H-alpha filters, and an evening program with a planetary session in the Visitors Center followed with observing at the field. Chapters volunteers: Clevis Jones, Jim Honeycutt, Jon Wood, Stephen Ramsden and Theo Ramakers - 2008-07-09 Newborn Library Group
Our chapter hosted a Solar viewing event for a groupm of 6 – 12 year old childeren who participated in the Newborn Library activies. The Solar viewing was followed with a movie inside the library about the Cassini mission to Saturn. Click here for images of the event. - 2008-06-07 Chapter Meeting and Pot Luck Dinner
Meeting Minutes, Lectures: Observing the Moon II -Theo Ramakers, Current Events movie: The Phoenix has Landed and the next Mars Science Laboratory as well as Jon Wood’s Observing 101 presentation (>45MB) and picturesof the dinner/meeting. - 2008-05-17 Chapter Meeting
Meeting Minutes, Elections and Lecture: Backyard 200″ Telescope -Patrick Durusau, What’s up, Current Events, and pictures of the meeting - 2008-05-17 JAKES Day – Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center
JAKES Day event slide show, Short movie by Theo Ramakers - 2008-04-05 Chapter Meeting
Meeting notes, Presentation by Dr. Richard Schmude. See here a slide show from the meeting - 2008-03-11 Observing the Launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour from Charlie Elliott
Pictures of the Launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour STS123 as seen from the CE observing field. - 2008-03-07 Hightower Trail Elementary school: SpaceCamp 2008
Space Camp write up, a slideshow of pictures of the Event, and a Short movie by Theo Ramakers - 2008-02-20 Total Moon Eclipse
Slide show of the event, Short Movie - 2008-01-19 Meeting Cancelled
Slide show of the event, See here why
