A) Houge Park Star Party Tonight (Friday, Feb 7) 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM
B) Amateur Telescope Making Class Continues Saturday Nite (Feb 8,7:30PM)
C) Columbia memorial Sunday at Chabot, Feb 9th at 1 PM
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A) Houge Park Star Party Tonight (Friday, Feb 7) 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM
The skies are clear and it looks like it will be a great night for
astronomy tonight!
See < http://www.cleardarksky.com/c/SanJoseCAkey.html>
Families welcome. Feel free to bring your scope and share views with
others. Make sure to dress warm since it will be a bit cold.
Some objects to look for tonight:
1) The 1st Quarter Moon!
2) Jupiter We have quite a few events tonight with transits and shadows..
(courtesy of www.calsky.com)
20h03.7m Jupiter Io Transit Begin (5.3 mag)
20h12.2m Jupiter Io Shadow Begin (5.5 mag)
21h12.1m Jupiter Io Inferior Conjunction (5.5 mag)
22h20.6m Jupiter Io Transit End (5.3 mag)
22h29.5m Jupiter Io Shadow End (5.5 mag)
22h37.9m Jupiter Europa Transit Begin (6.1 mag)
22h55.9m Jupiter Europa Shadow Begin (6.1 mag)
3) Saturn
4) Comet NEAT V1. Look at astro twilight, below the shoulders of Pegasas
(Alpha Peg) and to the left of Theta Peg at the head of the Horse. About
Magnitude 4.5
5) A Iridium Flare at 7:38:41 about 4 degrees below Rigel in Orion
6) M 45: The Pleiades, a large open cluster 380 light years away
7) M 42: The Great Nebula in Orion 160 light years away
8) M36, M37, M38: Open Clusters in Auriga
9) Andromeda Galaxy: About 2.3 million LY away, 130,000 LY across.
Contains 300 billion stars.
10) Hind's Crimson Star: A blood Red Star in Lepus
11) Gamma Andromeda: a nice Double star at the foot of the fair maiden
Come on out and enjoy the fun.
Sunset: 5:39 PM
Civil Twilight: 6:06 PM
Nautical Twilight: 6:37 PM
Park Lights Out: 7:00 PM
Astronomical Twilight: 7:07 PM
Moonset: 11:52 PM
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B) Amateur Telescope Making Class Continues Saturday Nite (Feb 8,7:30PM)
Under the instruction of Dwight Elvey and Ralph Seguin, the SJAA continues
to host a mirror making class in the hall at Houge Park. The class format
is casual, with Dwight, Ralph, and other mirror makers offering advice on
grinding and polishing a mirror as you work on it in the class. A Foucault
tester will be available to help determine the figure of your mirror along
with some advice on how to correct it. Last meeting kicked off the next
group of mirrors. Its not too late to start a mirror and easy to catch up
with the class. We have mirror-making kits available at a
cost of $75 for a 6" mirror, $145 for a 8" mirror, and $200 for a 10"
mirror. Email Mike at koopm@No-Spam if you would like to reserve a
mirror kit.
The class will meet twice monthly based on the Houge Park star party
schedule. The class meets at 7:30 p.m., either on Saturday after a first
quarter star party (except when a general meeting is scheduled!) or
Thursday before a third quarter star party. Feel free to attend any of the
classes that you can.
Next ATM classes for the first half of 2003:
Thursday:
Feb 20, Mar 27, Apr 24, May 22, Jun 19
Saturday:
Feb 8, Mar 8, Apr 5, May 10, Jun 7
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C) Columbia memorial Sunday at Chabot, Feb 9th at 1 PM
Chabot Space & Science Center will be holding a memorial service for the
Columbia astronauts on Sunday, Feb 9, 2003 at 1:00 pm. As far as we know
this is the only major public memorial scheduled in the SF Bay Area
outside of NASA-Ames.
Congresswoman Barbara Lee will be there to represent the US.
NASA & members of the Israeli & Indian consulates have been invited.
Music and readingsfrom the banner which has been in our rotunda all week
for people to signtheir condolences and remembrances (over 400 feet so far!)
will be presented. This banner is being sent on to Johnson Space Flight
Center in Houston.
General admission to Chabot will be free all day.
Following the service we will be presenting a special Meditation in the
planetarium (wonderful music against a background of stars) free of
charge.
"To Be An Astronaut" will show all day in the Tien MegaDome theater at
discounted price.
Chabot Space & Science Center is located at 10000 Skyline Blvd in the
Oakland Hills off Hwy 13.
Check our website www.chabotspace.org
<http://www.chabotspace.org> for directions.
510-336-7373 for more information.
Please join us in celebrating and honoring the 7 astronauts and the
Columbia.
Denni Medlock
Astronomy Programs Coordinator
Chabot Space & Science Center
10000 Skyline Blvd.
Oakland, CA 94619
1-510-336-7368
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Directions to Houge Park:
Houge Park is in San Jose, near Campbell and Los Gatos.
>>From Hwy.17, take the Camden Avenue exit. Go east 4/10 mile, and turn
right at the light, onto Bascom Avenue. At the next light, turn left onto
Woodard Road. At the first stop sign, turn right onto Twilight
Drive. Go three blocks, cross Sunrise Drive, then turn left into the park.
>>From Hwy.85, take the Bascom Avenue exit. Go north 0.2 miles, and turn
right at the first traffic light, onto White Oaks Road. Run another 0.2
miles to the first stop sign, then turn left onto Twilight Drive. You will
now be passing the park. Turn right at the first driveway, into the
parking lot.
See Map at
http://www.sjaa.net/img/houge.jpg
Clear Skies,
Mike Koop
President, SJAA
