Date: November 11th 2009

Rainwater Observatory E-News 11/11/09

MILKY WAY CENTER MURAL UNVEILING SCHEDULED FOR FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13
Rainwater is one of about 100 museums and planetariums in the country chosen to receive two wall murals made by three different space telescopes. The Hubble in infrared mode, the Spitzer infra-red telescope, and the Chandra x-ray telescope took images that have been made into a composite of the central region of our galaxy. This program will show how these images were made and how they tell us about the central region of the galaxy that almost certainly has a super massive black hole that weighs about 3 million times as much as our Sun. For a preview go to http://www.universetoday.com/2009/11/10/great-observatories-combine-for-stunning-look-at-milky-way/

The talk will begin at 7:00 PM on Saturday in the meeting room at the observatory. Observing with the telescopes will be held after the talk. Please pre-register if you plan to come with a group. It helps to plan our set up. Thanks

GREENWOOD PROGRAM ON JUPITER THURSDAY NOVEMBER 12
If you’re in the Greenwood area, come to our program on Jupiter on Thursday night at 7:00 PM at the Cottonlandia Museum. We’ll have telescopes set up for viewing the giant planet after the talk.

GET READY FOR THE LEONID METEOR SHOWER
The Leonid meteor shower occurs when the Earth passes through a stream of debris left by Comet Temple-Tuttle when it passes through the inner solar system. Since the Earth meets the stream head on, the best time to view meteors is between 11 PM on Tuesday night November 17 and dawn on Wednesday morning November 18. Here are a couple of links to information about the shower.
http://stardate.org/nightsky/meteors/ http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/10nov_leonids2009.htm?list899987

RAINWATER OPEN FOR LEONID METEORS
Jarrod Marsh from Mississippi State has offered to open the observatory for Leonid observing the night of November 17 until we get back from the program at Meridian Community College. He has a program he will give for those who come. If it’s clear and you plan to come, bring a lawn chair and dress warmly. You might want to bring a thermos of coffee or hot chocolate and munchies.

RAINWATER REACHS TWO MILESTONES
As I was putting things away after last weekend’s Galileoscope Teacher’s workshop I realized we have been doing these workshops for ten years. We thank the clinicians who have worked with us over the years and the Mississippi NASA Space Grant Consortium for funding them. We have conducted more than 30 workshops for over 1,000 teachers and informal educators over that time. Hundreds of teachers have been able to receive CEU credit toward recertification.

HAPPENING ON THE HILL
John Martinez from Las Cumbres Global Telescope Network will be visiting on November 18-19 and possibly the 20th to help us re-collimate the Sangre telescope. It had a problem with the software that caused the scope to move where it wasn’t supposed to and made the mirror shift slightly. We will be putting in newly compiled software to hopefully correct the problem in the future. Let us know if you’d like to sit in.

COMING EVENTS: ATTEND A PROGRAM NEAR YOU
Notice below that we have a number of “away” programs around the state in November. If you’re in the neighborhood of any of these programs, join us. If you know a group that needs a program in your community or wants to set up a field trip to Rainwater, contact us.

November 12: Cottonlandia Museum, Greenwood, 7:00 PM program on Jupiter and observing.
November 13: Canton Day Trippers, 3:00 PM
November 13: Hubble Murals of the Galactic Center Unveiling 7:00 PM
November 14: Mathiston Cub Pack camping at Rainwater
November 16: Co-Lin Community college Astronomy club star Party, Wesson.
November 17: Meridian Community College, 6:00 PM
November 17-18: Leonid Meteors Open House at Rainwater
November 19: Pearl Presbyterian, 1:45
November 19: Itawamba Community College, Fulton, 7:00 PM
November 20: Meridian Cub Pack 9, 6:00 PM
November 21: Clinton Cub Pack 345, noon
December 11: Rainwater Program meeting, 7:00 PM
February 19-20, 2010 “Hands-On Astronomy Activities Workshop” John Frassinelli will be our clinician. http://www.rainwaterobservatory.org/programs/handson.html
April 14-17, 2010 Mid-South Star Gaze Regional Astronomy Conference and Star Party
April 16-17, 2010 “Mid-South Astronomy Conference Educators Workshop”.

IT’S TIME TO RE-UP
It’s a bit early, but consider sending in your renewal for Rainwater Astronomical Association membership ($15). If you subscribe or renew your subscription to Sky & Telescope magazine through the club, you get at $10 discount. (Make subscription checks out to Sky Publishing for $32.95.)

The Rainwater web site has a link that can be used to make donations to the observatory’s endowment or program fund through PayPal. All donations are tax deductible and donors will receive a letter confirming the gift. Thanks for your support.

ASTRO NEWS: If you have info or links you’d like to share, let us know.

Here is a YouTube video you don’t want to miss. The Hubble Deep Field in 3-D http://www.flixxy.com/hubble-ultra-deep-field-3d.htm Don’t miss the Rainwater video on YouTube if you haven’t seen it. The link is on our web homepage.

LRO has imaged the Apollo 11 landing site. You can even see the ladder Neil Armstrong stepped off of. http://www.universetoday.com/2009/11/09/lros-closer-look-at-apollo-11-landing-s/

An asteroid was spotted just before it passed 14,000 miles from the Earth. http://www.universetoday.com/2009/11/09/surprise-unknown-asteroid-buzzed-earth/

A new study finds galaxies within less than a billion years of the big bang. This helps pinpoint the era of reionization. http://www.universetoday.com/2009/11/06/early-galaxy-pinpoints-reionization-era/

Finally, for the geeks. Why did HAL sing “Daisy” when being disconnected at the end of the movie 2001? http://www.universetoday.com/2009/11/09/why-did-hal-sing-daisy/



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