Rainwater Observatory E-News 5/10/09
NEXT RAINWATER PROGRAM FRIDAY JUNE 12 AT 7PM
COMING GROUPS AND EVENTS The web site calendar shows more events and programs. If you or some group you know needs a program or wants to set up a field trip, contact us.
May 15-17: Scout Troop 318 Germantown, TN
May 22: Mississippi Outdoor Club camp out
May 23: Family groups
June 7-12, 2009: Astronomy for Teachers Summer School class through Ole Miss for 3 semester hours credit. http://www.outreach.olemiss.edu/summer/teacher_workshop/
RAINWATER HIATUS IN JULY
Rainwater is seeking staffing for the future. Jim Hill will be sharing about the sky at Bryce Canyon National Park during July, so unless someone comes along, we will not be able to host visiting groups until he gets back in August.
GALILEO TELESCOPE GRANT RECEIVED
As part of the International Year of Astronomy, 20 sets of 100 Galileo telescopes were awarded to astronomy education facilities around the country. Rainwater was one of the twenty. We are planning to have two or three CEU teacher workshops during the year to train teachers and informal educators in optics and the history of the telescope. Each educator will get to keep one of the telescopes for classroom use. More on this as we get plans made. The first of these workshops will be in October and November.
MID-SOUTH REPORT
The 2009 Mid-South Star Gaze and Astronomy conference is history. Several things made it a bit smaller than the last couple of years but it was still a great event. Most of the 90 plus attendees were old friends from past events. 12 states were represented. Some of the folks arrived four days early and some stayed over an extra day so the four day event lasted ten days. The weather this year cooperated for most of the time and several nights were especially good. A new thing this year was internet connections for laptops. We thought we had wireless connectivity, but that didn’t work out. We have plans for having that for next fall. Over 50 tons of gravel was put down on the road to the Sangre facility and behind the bunk house. A “Friends of Rainwater” meeting garnered many good ideas for future events. Donations from several added up to enough to fund full cut-off light shields for the “security” lights in the village of French Camp. Contacts have already been made t
o acquire the shields and get the local electric company to install them. Thanks to the speaker, both professional and amateur who gave us the benefit of their knowledge in this special year of the telescope. We missed Rex McDaniel, our regular vendor, and Drs. Verschuur and Smeltz. We hope they can join us for the 2010 Mid-South.
Note the date: Mid-South Star gaze 2010 - April 14-17
"DISCOVERIES IN PLANETARY SCIENCE" CLASSROOM POWERPOINTS
The Education Subcommittee of the American Astronomical Society (AAS)'s Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) announces the inaugural release of "Discoveries in Planetary Science" Classroom PowerPoints. These are succinct summaries of discoveries too recent to appear in "Intro Astronomy" college textbooks; each set consists of just three slides to be shown: the discovery itself, a basic explanation based on good planetary science, and the "big picture" context. Another page for further information is provided as well.
The first set covers Mars Methane, Extrasolar Planet Imaging, The Chaotic Early Solar System, Mars Sulfur Chemistry, and Mercury
Volcanism. Powerpoints and pdf's can be downloaded from http://dps.aas.org/education/dpsdisc.
ASTRO NEWS: If you have info or links you’d like to share, let us know.
The Hubble wide field camera is to be replaced during the servicing mission scheduled to launch May 11. This instrument has made many discoveries in the time since it was installed in 1993. See some of the images and learn about the instrument at http://www.universetoday.com/2009/05/05/end-of-an-era-hubbles-wfpc2s-greatest-hits/
Speaking of the Hubble servicing mission. It will be broadcast live on NASA TV. The refurbished Hubble will be even more capable than envisioned when it was designed due to advances in technology and instrumentation. Look forward to a new IMAX program in the future. http://www.universetoday.com/2009/05/04/hubble-servicing-mission-meets-the-big-screen-watch-with-friends/
The Constellation program planned for the replacement of the space shuttle and to be used for long term space exploration by NASA is being re-evaluated by the new administration. http://www.universetoday.com/2009/05/05/obama-to-re-examine-constellation-program/
The International Association of Geomorphologists has created a "Planetary Geomorphology Image of the Month" website at http://www.psi.edu/pgwg/images/may09image.html
May's topic is layered sediments in Martian craters. Past images and captions are available at
http://www.psi.edu/pgwg/images/index.html
New mysteries unveiled on Mercury. http://www.universetoday.com/2009/04/30/new-mysteries-unveiled-on-mercury/ also http://www.nasa.gov/messenger
Starburst episodes in galaxies may last much longer than thought and effect galaxy evolution. http://www.universetoday.com/2009/04/30/starbursts-from-dwarf-galaxies-like-fireworks/
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