Rainwater E-News 5/22/08
SUMMER BACKYARD ASTRONOMY COMING FRIDAYS IN JUNE
We are going to expand our “Backyard Astronomy” series to include the summer sky. We will be having family oriented talks followed by observing the four Fridays in June at 7:30 pm. (note the later start time due to daylight “saving?” time) Bring the family early and picnic before the program. On line registration is up on the web site.
June 6: Along the Milky Way, TBA
June 13: Summer Constellations, David Teske
June 20: Celebrate the Summer Solstice, Jim Hill
June 27: Here Comes Jupiter!, TBA
COMING EVENTS The web site calendar is now working
Kids for Christ: May 25 6:30 pm
Clinton FUMC: May 31, 6:30 pm
Welty Library, Jackson, June 4 10:30 am
Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, Jackson: June 6, 6 pm
Louisiana Motorcycle Group June 7, 7 pm
Busy Hands Quilters: June 10, 1 pm
Astronomy for Teachers: June 8-13 at Rainwater. 3 semester hours credit. www.outreach.olemiss.edu/teachers 662-915-7621 for info. Eight participants signed up for this class so far.
Next year’s Mid-South Star Gaze: April 22-25, 2009
GREAT ISS PASSES COMING UP
The next several days there will be a series of bright space station passes over the mid-south. http://www.heavens-above.com/PassSummary.aspx?satid=25544&Session=kebgcphdanefdbcacgofcicj is the site to give you all the details you want. A simpler site is http://www.spaceweather.com/flybys This site just needs your zip code. A really neat movie of a flyby taken by a German amateur with a 5 inch telescope is also on this site. http://www.spaceweather.com There was a great pass on May 20 that was magnitude -2.5. The space station is getting brighter as more sections are added. Thursday May 22 will be a better pass. Look in the southwest at 8:27 as it heads toward the northeast horizon at 8:32 Look up the details of the passes the next few days and enjoy.
NEWS FROM THE HILL
“World Wide Telescope” Released: Info about the program is at http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=6935 Download at http://www.download.com/WorldWide-Telescope/3000-2054_4-10841796.html?tag=lst-1&cdlPid=10841795 or www.WorldWideTelescope.org I haven’t seen the newest version, but the Beta version I saw demonstrated at a conference last winter was amazing. Check it out if you have high speed internet (dial-up takes an hour) and let me know your opinion. It’s like Google Earth only more so with images of sky objects in many wavelengths through many professional telescopes.
We continue to add materials to our resource center. The latest are 5 lectures on CD by noted astronomers like Frank Drake on "Estimating the Chances of Life Out There" and David Morrison on "Impacts and Evolution" Lectures on the web are becoming common and allow us folks in the boondocks to hear from world experts. We plan to add many more of these to our library for your use. If you have matrials we could use and you'd like to donate them to our library, let us know.
ASTRO NEWS: If you have info or links you’d like to share, let us know.
As Jupiter moves back into our evening sky do we need to revise our ideas of what is a moon? Current count is Jupiter has 63. http://www.universetoday.com:80/2008/05/17/jupiter-how-many-moons-does-jupiter-have/
Don’t forget the Phoenix EDL on May 25. Keep your fingers crossed. (I wonder where that custom comes from?) It’s supposed to land at 6:38 CDT and confirmation of a safe landing is expected by 7pm. I’ll be here watching NASA TV during the afternoon and recording the pre and post landing programming for our archive. The first images are not expected until Monday morning. http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=6940
Galaxy Hunt May Explain Missing Milky Way Supernovae: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/14may_galactichunt.htm?list899987
Lower Gravity May Make Lunar Dust a Hazard to Astronaut Health: http://www.universetoday.com:80/2008/05/13/lower-gravity-will-help-lunar-dust-get-deep-into-astronaut-lungs/
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