February 2010 - OTEvents - Old Town Sidewalk Astronomers

Snakebit for sidewalk astronomy
by Morris Jones 19 Feb '10

19 Feb '10

No offense to snakes ... :) Both Friday and Saturday look, as my grandpa used to say, "'pert near" impossible for sidewalk astronomy this weekend. Clouds, rain, and telescopes don't work well together. I'll update the list if anything changes. It sure would be good to get in a little observing while Mars is still high and bright. Maybe an opportunity will come up. Best regards, Mojo -- Morris Jones Monrovia, CA http://www.whiteoaks.com Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org Twitter: http://twitter.com/mojo_la

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April 9-10 Mojave National Preserve Star party
by Jones, Jane H (1862) 12 Feb '10

12 Feb '10

Join the Sidewalk Astronomers for a Spring Star Party at Black Canyon Equestrian and Group Campground in Mojave national Preserve April 10th (some of the astronomers will arrive on the 9th for a shorter informal star party that night). There is a small 10 x 20 ft level cement pad for the telescopes, with room for perhaps 6-8 telescopes, so let me know if you are not one of the usual astronomers but plan to bring one - it will be first come, first setup on the pad, but lots of room next to your tent for setup. There is room for about 30 people camping (10-15 tents), with nearby first come first serve spaces at Hole in the wall campground. The spring sky is magnificent in a dark sky and Mojave National Preserve offers one of the very best and darkest (and closest to us) sites in the United States! Mars and Saturn bookend the beautiful constellation Leo the lion, while dozens of spring galaxies are easy to find in the dark velvet skies. The faint winter spiral arm of our Milky Way galaxy will glimmer like a gossamer veil of stardust in the western sky after dark. Mercury and Venus will be visible low on the western horizon just after sunset, too. And to the south, naturalists will enjoy identifying the constellations Corvus the crow and Hydra the snake. For pictures, stories and desert tortoise videos from last years event: http://mojo.whiteoaks.com/2009/04/26/snakes-tortoises-and-stars/- end blurb The SW Herpetologists will on hand too, for night and day forays to see Chuckwallas, and other reptiles, if you are interested in that. There is room for RV's in the parking lot, pit toilets and even running water near the covered picnic table pavilion for dishwashing. We have established a relationship with the Mojave National Preserve park staff, the brand new Mojave Preserve Conservancy, and the National Park Conservation Association and there will be a great pot luck Saturday night all with these folks. (join these groups and help preserve this preserve. :-) I have it on good authority that this should be a great time of year to see the desert tortoises and high desert wildflowers and blooming cacti. :-) Link http://www.nps.gov/moja/index.htm (click on map and campgrounds for more info and details.) This is a 200+ mile one way drive from near Monrovia. But the stars (and tortoises) are well with the journey. ;-) This weekend we're all scattering here and there for star gazing and so there is no "official" dark sky star party. If you crave a dark sky - we typically travel at least 100-150 miles one way to get out of the light dome of LA: Yucca Valley Andromeda Society Feb 13, Mar 13 Joshua Tree Lake/Campground at 2601 Sunfair Rd. about four miles north of the airport. Borrego Springs Feb 13, Mar 13 sponsored by ABDNHA Church Lane 1-760-767-3098 for directions Jane Houston Jones Senior Outreach Specialist, Cassini Program JPL - 4800 Oak Grove Drive, MS 230-205 Pasadena, CA 91109 818-393-6435 jane.h.jones(a)jpl.nasa.gov What's Up For February - 400th Anniv of Galilean Moon discovery http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup-archive.cfm

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What's Up February: Galileo's 400th anniv of Jupiter moons discovery
by Jane Houston Jones 06 Feb '10

06 Feb '10

Hi Old Town Astronomer astro enthusiasts! My NASA JPL¹s What¹s Up February Podcast: Jupiter¹s Moons + Education activities and a flyer are available here: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup-view.cfm?WUID=304 A few months ago I was researching images of the Crab nebula and its creation in the supernova of 1054 for my November 2009 podcast. I played around with some starcharting software to see if I could recreate the view seen from the famous rock painting at Chaco Canyon - of a starburst and a crescent moon. By golly, the same shaped crescent moon appeared on my computer screen next to the supernova remnant! I included those charts in that November podcast! http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup-view.cfm?WUID=244 For February 2010, I wanted to talk a bit about the discovery of the 4 Galilean moons. Using the same software (SkyMap Pro) I typed in January 7th 1610 and up popped a view of Jupiter near the constellation Orion, just as Galileo described in his letters. I felt a direct connection with the sky happenings of 400 years ago in Padua when I looked at those charts! I was totally surprised to compare Galileo's drawing showing 3 moons on his first night's sketch January 7, 1610 with my computer generated skychart. The planet and moons lined up exactly like his historic drawing! But the big surprise (for me) was that one of those moons in Galileo's drawing was actually a tight pairing of Io and Europa! Galileo's telescope could not split these two tiny objects. Sorry for the ramble. Galileo continued his Jupiter series of observations through March 2, 1610. 400 years ago today Galileo was out sketching Jupiter once again. On that night of February 5th, 1610, he saw all four of the Galilean moons, two on each side of Jupiter. Wow! You can download or view some educational materials about Jupiter, plus a 2-page flyer on the NASA Solar System Exploration website archive page along with the podcast here: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup-view.cfm?WUID=304 Youtube format here http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=JPLnews#g/u The January 2010 What's Up topic was Mars Opposition and is still valuable this month. It shows when and where to see the Spirit, Opportunity and Phoenix sides of Mars with some February dates. :-) March's podcast will be about Saturn Opposition and a bit about Rosetta and visible asteroids. :-) Carpe Noctum! Jane -- Jane Houston Jones Monrovia, CA Website: www.whiteoaks.com Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org What's Up January 2010? Mars Opposition! http://is.gd/6krYj What's Up Podcast on YouTube: http://is.gd/6WE77 Twitter: http://twitter.com/jhjones http://twitter.com/CassiniSaturn Blog: http://jane.whiteoaks.com/

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