We were invited to show the students of the Oxford Baptist Learning Center the Sun. A great group of kids who were very eager to learn about the Sun and take a close look at it through our Scopes. Not only the kids liked it but an adult who came by and wanted to take a peek also, thought that the Sun was way smaller than Earth and when she heard that the volume of the Sun could almost fit 1 million Earth, she almost flipped over. Please click the thumbnail picture to go to the gallery.

Three of us, Bob Jacoby, Frank Garner and Theo Ramakers went to McConnell Middle for this year’s Astronomy Day for some of the 6th grade classes.  Three classes of Mrs. Sandidge, and two of Mr. Yoder, learned what  effect traveling through the Solar System has on gravity.  In addition, they learned some interesting facts about some of the planets.  Then it went outside to observe the Sun through a number of Ha Scopes and White Light telescopes.  They all were very surprised to see the activity on the Sun and went home having a better understanding of our Solar System.

May 5th we did retrieve the pinhole camera at East Newton Elementary school. Everyone was excited to find out what the camera had recorded between February 1st and May 5th. Here is the result and one can nicely see the path of the Sun through the sky, the sunny and cloudy days, as well as days with some scattered clouds. The reording period started off with a number of cloudy days.(See the lower end of dark arcs at right). We would like to thanks Mrs. Thompson for arranging for us to bring this project to her school.

This was our 6th year of Solar Outreach at Anna Ruby Falls. 9 of our members did participate with 10 scopes. Frank did let the visitors see Venus in bright day light which not many expected. The Sun showed two small spots but a few large filaments did dress up the sun very nicely for this event. About 500 visors did get to see and learn today what happens on the Sun. A number of them were very excited and told us they will for sure pay us a visit at one of our meetings and observing sessions. A great event and thanks the Michels, Marie and Tim Lott, Bob Jacoby and Dominic, Mark Dove, Frank Garner with his greandaughter and friend, and Theo for coming out to this great spot in North Georgia to show the visitors what’s up there in daytime.  Click the image to go to the Gallery for more pictures and an image of the Sun taken at the event.

The end of the school year nears and the students still need to see the result of what the pinhole camera captured to really see the path of the Sun throughout the year. The first school I retrieved the pinhole camera from was the Theme School at Ficquett in Covington. The pinhole camera recorded the path of the Sun from January 19th until today May 1st. The image shows nicely the arcs of the Sun and recorded the sunny days, and hours, as well as the cloudy and rainy once. In addition, one can see nicely the surrounding buildings as well as the Newton County Schools Administration Building. Thanks to Mrs. Tamburro and the Staff at the Theme School for letting us help to bring this program to their Students.

The April meeting conveyed at 5:00 PM EDT at the Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center. Thirty-four members and guests were in attendance.  Steve Siedentop, Chapter Director, opened the meeting and announced the Board is proposing changes to the clubs By-laws as follows:
□ Clarify the roles of Club elected Officers.
□ Adding a new position to oversee the clubs Facilities and equipment.
□ Adoption of an annual operating planning process and budget.
□ Overhaul of the chapters Outreach program to better balance our commitments with volunteer capacity to support.

Steve also reminded attendees that annual officer elections will occur at the May meeting and asked for nominations to be submitted to Steve. He also announced the existing officers have volunteered to serve another year.  Steve then reminded attendees that CE officials have elected to install a locked gate at the entrance to the observing field. The code to the lock will be provided to all paying members.  Lastly, Steve reminded that it is time to renew dues and urged all members to do so as soon as possible. An updated membership roster will be placed on the clubs web site before the May meeting.

John Towne, Observing Supervisor, delivered the ‘What’s Up’ presentation featuring the Constellation Virgo. John’s image of the Pleiades was featured as our image of the month. Johns presentation is available on the clubs website.

Up next was Jack Fitzmier, Chapter Astronomy League coordinator who presented AL observing awards to:
Dan Thoman – Basic Level Outreach
David Whalen – Basic and Stellar Level Outreach
Marie Lott – Binocular Messier Program
Congrats to all for their accomplishments and hard work!

The April meeting conveyed at 5:00 PM EDT at the Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center. Thirty-four members and guests were in attendance.

Steve Siedentop started the meeting promptly at 4:30 p.m.  Observing Supervisor John Towne was not in attendance due to work commitments, but made his presentation and target list available for download on www.ceastronomy.org  Jack Fitzmier extolled the virtues of the Astronomical League’s observing plans and presented awards.  Valerie Whalen gave an update on the state of outreach and asked for volunteers for two upcoming events.  Shortly thereafter, members and guests in attendance enjoyed good food and good company while Jack gave a book review.  Steve Siedentop announced that the next meeting would be April 18th, 2015 at 5 pm.  Thirty-four members and guests were in attendance.

Yesterday we did participate in CEWC’s event for Kate’s Club of Atlanta at Panola Mountain State Park where we brought a Solar event to about 68 kids and their chaperones. The weather changed its mind and turned out gorgeous, so they got to see the Sun with some nice features and got to search for our model Earth through a scope in our relative size/distance activity. They also learned what UV rays do to us, by looking at our UV beads and learned where the energy comes from on Earth. Thanks to David, Dan T, Dan S, Jon, Frank and Theo for participating.  Click on the image to see the gallery.

Friday night we had a great outreach event for Grayson Elementary School. We had four club members come out to brave the wind and cold to show eighty 2nd grade students some night sky objects. The kids and teachers were able to see Jupiter, Jupiter’s moons, Venus, M42 and a gorgeous 1st quarter moon. These students were perfect ladies and gentlemen for the whole night. It was a true pleasure to work with them.
Thanks very much to Bob, Dominick and Ken for coming out to give me a hand. (special thanks to Ken Poshedly for taking the photos.)

I received this thank you note from Mrs. Veasey in regard to our outreach last Friday after she received the “quick Jupiter image”.

That is incredible. I don’t think I have ever seen Jupiter in such detail. Breathtaking!
Thanks again for bringing all your people and scopes and presentation and expertise to make our astronomy night the best ever! We really appreciate what your club does for us. I hope that you are able to do this for many groups, as you provide such an amazing service to the community. Some people have never had any opportunity to see anything like this, and you open up worlds to them.
Soon we’ll have to start thinking about next year’s date. The calendar person at the school always wants things like this on the calendar by the end of the school year!
Friday night was so beautiful. We lucked out! Mother nature was very cooperative.
Again,thanks for everything.
Marjorie