Rainwater Observatory E-News 12/16/09
BACKYARD ASTRONOMYCRANKS UP AGAIN AFTER NEW YEARS
We’ll be sharing about the winter sky in four Friday programs in January and February. The programs are free to the public and sponsored by the Mississippi NASA Space Grant Consortium. All programs will begin at 7:00 pm and be followed by observing sessions with the observatory telescopes, weather permitting, or a planetarium program.
January 8: The Fabulous Orion Nebula, Edwin Faughn
January 15: The Winter Constellations of Shine Brightly, David Teske
January 29: Mars is Back Again, Tim Rich
February 5: The Life History of Stars, James Hill.
You can register for these free programs at http://www.rainwaterobservatory.org/programs/backyard.html
We’ll skip the week of January 22 to do a Galileoscope workshop for the Mississippi NASA Space Grant at Ole Miss.
SUMMER 2010 PROGRAMS
The dates for two summer activities are set. The “Astronomy for Teachers” college credit class for 3 semester hours credit through Ole Miss is scheduled for June 13-18. This is an intensive week and you must be enrolled in the university to take the course for credit. Call for more information.
We have scheduled a summer astronomy camp to be held June 20-26 in conjunction with the Camp of the Rising Son. This week long event will be for 13-16 year olds. Campers would be at the observatory mornings and evenings and have time in the afternoons for swimming and other camp activities. Astronomy campers will learn to use telescopes for observing and photography and learn about the discoveries of modern and ancient astronomy. If you know someone who would be interested, please have them contact us. Registration information can be found at info@campoftherisingson.com The cost will be$484.00 for the week.
HAPPENING ON THE HILL
The Rainwater e-news just passed a new milestone. It now goes to 900 subscribers.
We are anticipating getting the kit to upgrade the 32” scope in January. Let’s have a naming contest for something to call it. Send in your suggestions.
We also hope to have the Sangre scope back in operation when a crew from Las Cumbres comes to put it back together again after the first of the year. Right now it reminds me of Humpty Dumpty after his fall with pieces all over. We have both mirrors out and are crating them up to send off to get recoated. We’re also sending the mirror cell and some other parts off to Las Cumbres in Santa Barbara to get refitted.
December 1 we participated in a workshop on setting up the Rainwater Astronomical Association as a tax exempt organization. We’ll have the forms filled out before New Year’s and have our first board meeting and the application sent in in January.
An estate planner in Memphis is working with the school to rework people’s estate plans to increase benefits and also include Rainwater Observatory as a beneficiary as well. Contact us if you’d be interested in including Rainwater in your will or in other ways through your estate to help ensure the future of our programs and outreach. We’ll be happy to get with you to explain the details.
COMING EVENTS: ATTEND A PROGRAM NEAR YOU
If you know a group that would like a program in your community or wants to set up a field trip to Rainwater, contact us. For the next two months indoor presentations may work best as the winter cloudiness takes hold.
January 16: Madison Cub Scouts camping at Rainwater
January 19: Walnut Grove School presentations and star party
January 22-23: Mississippi NASA Space Grant Education Conference
January 28: 1st Presbyterian in Jackson
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. Flyers to previous participants will go out this week. Information and online registration can be found at http://www.rainwaterobservatory.org/stargaze/
April 16-17, 2010 “Mid-South Astronomy Conference Educators Workshop”. 1 CEU can be obtained by teachers.
IT’S TIME TO RE-UP
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 the S&T subscription checks out to Sky Publishing for $32.95.)
JUPITER ACTIVITIES FOR SMALL SCOPES FOR EDUCATORS AND AMATEURS
Anyone who likes to “do” science with kids will find these activities from the Lawrence Hall of Science GEMS program great. Observing the Jupiter System simulates the positions of Jupiter's moons as observed by Galileo. Courtesy of Alan Gould and Regents of UC. Three useful files are:
JupMoonsSSSmsGEMS.pdf
(http://www.lettherebenight.com/DVD/GEMS%20Activity/JupMoonsSSSmsGEMS.pdf)
JupMoonsTracking.ppt
(http://www.lettherebenight.com/DVD/GEMS%20Activity/JupMoonsTracking.ppt)
Moons of Jupiter Slides - Teacher Version.ppt
(http://www.lettherebenight.com/DVD/GEMS%20Activity/Moons%20of%20Jupiter%20Slides%20-%20Teacher%20Version.ppt)
Also of interest to anyone teaching astronomy in the classroom or informally is a new online periodical with lots of activities. It’s called “The Classroom Astronomer”.
http://classroomastronomer.toteachthestars.net
Thanks to Gary Lazich for this story he shares. I adapted the following from a Cherokee story and Galatians 5:22. Not really astronomy, but, something to think about.
Two Wolves
An old man was telling his grandson about the trouble he sometimes had deciding what to do. "There are two wolves fighting within me," he explained. "The one wolf is full of hatred, envy, anger, worry, cruelty, wickedness, deceit, harshness, and greed. The other is full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustworthiness, gentleness, and self-control." The grandson thought about this for a moment and then asked, "Which wolf wins?" The old man smiled at his grandson and answered, "The one I feed."
You will find other variations of this story if you Google "two wolves Cherokee."
ASTRO NEWS: If you have info or links you’d like to share, let us know.
Finally, a big new sunspot appears. Now if the clouds will only go away. http://spaceweather.com/
With all the controversy about climate change, here is a source for fact checking. http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/11dec_climateonestop.htm?list899987
The refurbished Hubble spies the most distant object yet. It is a galaxy 13.1 billion light years away seen when the universe was only 600 million years old. http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/091208-hubble-most-distant-galaxies.html
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