Rainwater E-News 1/10/08
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. See Mars and the Oroin nebula as well as the Andromeda galaxy. (weather permitting)
COMING PROGRAMS (Contact us to arrange a program at Rainwater or in your community.)
Meridian Community College February 5, 6pm
“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 will be presenters. 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
Astronomy for Teachers: June 8-13 at Rainwater. 3 semester hours credit. www.outreach.olemiss.edu/teachers 662-915-7621 for info
Johannes Kepler’s Astronomy workshop: June 15-20, 4 CEU units. www.johanneskepler.org
NEWS FROM THE HILL
New additions to the library: “Einstein’s Relativity and the Quantum revolution” 24 30 minute lectures on DVD by Professor Richard Wolfson. Also, we have 13 hours of lectures on cosmology from the Kavli conference at the Univ. of Chicago. We have all the PowerPoints of these lectures as well as VHS video. During the Christmas vacation we added hundreds of pages to the vertical files as well as several new books and videos. Thanks to the MMAP volunteers we w9ill have newly painted signs at the entrance on the highway.
OBSERVATORY STAFFING NEEDED:
Rainwater has reached a limit in its programming without more staffing. We need a new person to work with the new telescope and do some part time teaching. If you or someone you know might be interested, please contact us. We are also looking for volunteer help to train to do planetarium programs and help with large groups. Another wish would be a college student who would like to work at the observatory for a semester as an intern. If yo0u or someone you know fits this description, please let us know.
ASTRO NEWS: If you have info or links you’d like to share, let us know.
Happy Fourth Anniversary to the Mars Rovers: The amazing rovers have driven almost 12 miles and taken hundreds of thousands of science images and spectra. http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/080103-rovers-anniversary.html
New Mercury Mission About to Reach Its Target: The MESSINGER mission has been heading toward the innermost planet for over 1,000 days and still has over 1,000 days to go, but it will make its first flyby as a braking maneuver next week. It’s been over 20 years since a spacecraft did a Mercury flyby and this will be the first time that we’ve seen 2/3 of the planet. Learn more at http://messenger.jhuapl.edu:80/
New Solar Cycle Has Begun: The Sun switches its magnetic polarity about every 11 years. The first sunspot with the reversed polarity has just been seen. Solar cycles usually take a few years to build from solar minimum (where we are now) to Solar Max (expected in 2011 or 2012). It's a slow journey, but we're on our way! For info see http://www.universetoday.com/2008/01/05/new-solar-cycle-begins-with-new-year/ and http://spaceweather.com
Mars Will Miss a Big Splat: It would have been exciting, but the asteroid headed toward Mars will miss by several thousand miles. http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/080109-mars-asteroid-update.html
--
This mailing list is powered by Crossroads Computer Consulting. For web site design, hosting, and on-site computer repair in North and Central Mississippi visit: http://www.crossroadscomputer.com
The following information is a reminder of your current mailing
list subscription:
You are subscribed to the following list:
Rainwater Observatory E-Newsletter
Using the following email:
example@example.com
You may automatically unsubscribe from this list at any time by
visiting the following URL:
<http://dada.crossroadscomputer.com/cgi-bin/mail.cgi/u/rainwateren/>
If the above URL is inoperable, make sure that you have copied the
entire address. Some mail readers will wrap a long URL and thus break
this automatic unsubscribe mechanism.
You may also change your subscription by visiting this list's main screen:
<http://dada.crossroadscomputer.com/cgi-bin/mail.cgi?f=list&l=rainwateren>
If you're still having trouble, please contact the list owner at:
<mailto:jhill@rainwaterobservatory.org>
The following physical address is associated with this mailing list:
Rainwater Observatory
1 Fine Pl.
French Camp, MS 39745
(662) 547-6377
Mailing List Powered by Dada Mail
http://dada.crossroadscomputer.com/cgi-bin/mail.cgi/what_is_dada_mail/
)