Rainwater Observatory E-News 6/27/09
NOTE: NEXT RAINWATER PROGRAM MEETING AUGUST 14
The regular July program meeting will NOT be held. The next program will be August 14. Make you plans to join us for this kick off to the school year. Maybe the heat will start to release its grip 7 weeks after the longest day of the year. By the way, today is the latest sunset of the year, a week after the solstice, so from now on we won’t have to wait so long to begin observing. The earliest sunrise of the year was way back on June 14, week before the solstice.
COMING GROUPS AND EVENTS
If you or some group you know needs a program or wants to set up a field trip, contact us. Note that Jim will be away at Bryce Canyon National Park during July doing observing sessions for the public there. He will try to keep up with e-mail correspondence but phone messages will have to wait until he returns.
We received word from the Mississippi NASA Space Grant that all of our proposals for funding for the year had been granted. Mark your calendars for
“Backyard Astronomy” programs. There will be a series every Saturday in October as well as Fridays in the winter and spring. More details later.
“Galileo Telescope Workshop for Educators” November 6-7, 2009
“Hands-On Astronomy Activities workshop” February 19-20, 2010
Mid-South Star Gaze 2010 - April 14-17. We’ve had a lot of good suggestions on changes to improve the event. If you have suggestions for speakers, or any thing else, please let us know.
“Mid-south Astronomy Conference Educators Workshop” April 14-15, 2010
LOOKING FOR INFORMATION ON CONSTELLATIONS?
Here is a web site that has a sky map and description of the deep sky objects in all 88 constellations as well as a brief story of the mythology. http://www.universetoday.com/guide-to-space/constellations/ Another site with images and info can be found at www.allthesky.com
NEWS FROM THE HILL
We’ve made some breakthroughs on using the Sangre telescope CCD camera thanks to Jim Coker and Jarrod Marsh. There are still some software glitches, but the autoguider and focusing seem to be consistent. Sometimes you jest lose it. Last night a group was observing with the Sangre scope and we decided to switch over to using the MallinCam. I forgot to change the turret from visual and couldn’t figure why there was no picture displayed. DUMB!
NEW LIGHT SHIELDS UP IN FRENCH CAMP
Thanks to several “Friends of Rainwater” who donated funds to purchase light shields for the area around the observatory we have the first installment installed along the main street in French Camp. Eight of the shields were installed by 4-county Electric Coop and now the downtown doesn’t look like the great white way.
ASTRO NEWS: If you have info or links you’d like to share, let us know.
All amateur astronomers know about the Messier list. Here is a birthday article about the man. http://www.universetoday.com/2009/06/26/happy-birthday-charles-messier/
How about some articles about some of the summer constellations.
Scorpius: http://www.universetoday.com/2009/06/26/33528/
Ophiuchus: http://www.universetoday.com/2009/06/25/kids-astronomy-ophiuchus-the-fisher-king/
Bootes: http://www.universetoday.com/2009/06/23/kids-astronomy-bootes-ancient-farmer-of-the-fields/
Hercules: http://www.space.com/spacewatch/090615-hercules.html
Some amazing photos of an exploding volcano taken from the international space station. http://www.universetoday.com/2009/06/25/volcanic-shockwave-captured-by-iss-imagery/
The 1908 blast in Siberia at Tunguska appears to have been a comet. http://www.universetoday.com/2009/06/24/1908-tunguska-event-caused-by-comet-new-research-says/
Cassini finds salts in a Saturnian ring that imply an ocean under the ice of the moon Enceladus. http://www.nasa.gov/cassini
Star Trek fans remember the “Trouble with Trifids”. The Trifid nebula in Sagittarius is a sight all amateur astronomers look for in the summer. Here’s some background info to think about the next time you seek it out. http://www.universetoday.com/2009/06/22/the-trouble-with-trifids/
The Sun’s strange lull in activity may be explained. http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/090617-solar-minimum.html and
http://www.universetoday.com/2009/06/17/the-case-of-the-missing-sunspots-solved/ and
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/17jun_jetstream.htm?list899987
--
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/>
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: 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
)