Rainwater E-News 1/1/08
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
JANUARY 11 MEETING FEATURES TALK ON THE ICY MOONS OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM
Tereza Nevosadova from the Davis Planetarium in Jackson will give a talk about the moons of the outer solar system at the program Friday January 11 at 7pm. Observing after the program. (weather permitting)
COMING PROGRAMS (Contact us to arrange a program at Rainwater or in your community.)
“Bringing Astronomy to the Classroom” – February 8-9, 2008. This workshop will feature a chance to learn about robotic telescopes available for students to use from the classroom. Rachel Ross, the education director of the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network will be our clinician. You can obtain 1 CEU while you learn how to process images. Meals and housing are covered by the Miss. NASA Space Grant Consortium. Info and online registration at http://www.rainwaterobservatory.org/programs/handson_copy(1).html
“Spring Backyard Astronomy” 7pm Friday evenings in March, 2008. We plan to have a different speaker each session. Tim Rich, from Rust College, Gary Lazich from the Davis Planetarium, David Teske from Louisville, and Jim Hill. Registration and info at http://www.rainwaterobservatory.org/programs/backyard.html
Mid-South Star Gaze will be April 2-5, 2008. The registration form is up on the web site. Details and speakers will be added. http://www.rainwaterobservatory.org/stargaze/regform.html
NEWS FROM THE HILL
The latest word from Las Cumbres is that the Sangre scope will be taken outside soon to test the optics and software. We expect the telescope to be here in mid-February because the engineer that needs to be here will be in England for the next 6 weeks.
We are in the process of compiling a strategic plan for the future operations observatory. If you have ideas and/or projects you’d like to see included, please contact us. The highest priority is to find additional staff and add to the endowment.
We’ve put a couple of thousand miles on the van in the last month with programs in Fulton, Meridian, Greenwood, Hattiesburg, and Memphis for over 1,000 people.
Mirrors recoated for the 32” and 20.5” scopes! The mirrors for two of our biggest telescopes were dropped off at Optical Mechanics in Iowa City on the way to the cosmology conference in Chicago. They stripped and coated the optics and they were picked up in a snowstorm on the way back. We hope to have these big scopes put back together and ready to use shortly.
ASTRO NEWS: If you have info or links you’d like to share, let us know.
Election Update: With the election coming up you might like to know the positions of the candidates on space exploration. Only two seem to feel it’s a priority. Check out their statements for yourself. http://www.space.com/news/071231-candidate-positions.html
Day and Night targets: New Comet: 8p-Tuttle is in the new year sky at magnitude 5.8 and the Sun seems to waking up from its boring visage with a new sunspot group. http://spaceweather.com:80/ The Quadrantid meteors will peak on January 3. Info and finder chart at http://www.universetoday.com/2007/12/28/quadrantid-meteor-shower-will-sparkle-on-january-3rd/
The best 10 astrophotos of 2007 are at
http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2007/12/13/top-ten-astronomy-pictures-of-2007/
See if you agree with the “Bad Astronomer.
Target Mars: There is a small chance that Mars will be struck by an asteroid later this month. Here is the latest info http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/21dec_2007wd5.htm?list899987
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