May 2010 - OTEvents - Old Town Sidewalk Astronomers

New telescope owners (followup)
by Morris Jones 20 May '10

20 May '10

To follow up with Jane's post to the list, we'll be repeating the New Telescope Owner's clinic this Saturday in Monrovia, as described here: http://mail.otastro.org/pipermail/otevents/2010-April/000250.html If you're interested in attending, please drop me a note to reserve a spot. I try to keep it to one astronomer per new telescope, so we don't beat each other up. :) 6:00 p.m. Saturday, Library Park, Monrovia 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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Herpetology meeting tonight at Eaton Canyon, sidewalk astronomy on the weekend
by Jane Houston Jones 20 May '10

20 May '10

Hi everyone! We've conducted a couple "Herping Star parties" with the SW Herpetology Society - both astronomers and herpetologists like new moon nights. :-) , I've attended one of their San Gabriel Valley chapter meetings at Eaton Canyon Nature Center at 1750 North Altadena Drive, Pasadena. I see they have a meeting tonight, and I plan on attending. :-) Might not be your cup of tea, but it's a fun nature hobby and I am learning a lot about lizards, tortoises and even snakes! The SGV Chapter is having a Herp Show-&-Tell for our May 20th meeting - meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. Bring your favorite, or your most interesting, herp and tell us what you have observed and learned about it. Please NO VENOMOUS in person, but photos are OK. Also, we have a few raffle items for tonight's meeting. Guests are welcome! BTW, here is my latest herpetology adventure - The Chuckwallas of Amboy Crater: http://jane.whiteoaks.com/ :-) Sidewalk astronomy this weekend - weather permitting, and it does look like weather will permit. :-) Moon, Saturn and Mars will be on view. Old Town Pasadena 7:30 - 9:30 - someplace on Colorado Blvd between Fair Oaks and Pasadena Avenues. Old Town Monrovia - 7:30 - 9:30 - Myrtle and Lime streets. Could be earlier if someone has signed up for telescope clinic - but I don't think anyone has....Two of the regulars, including me, will be at a Girl Scout star party Saturday night, but there will still be telescopes on our Monrovia corner. :-) That's all for now. Jane Jane Houston Jones Monrovia, CA Latest Blog: Some thoughts about Cancer http://is.gd/c0wVU What's Up May 2010? Constellation Stories http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup.cfm What's Up Podcast on YouTube: http://is.gd/c3r1i Twitter: http://twitter.com/jhjones http://twitter.com/CassiniSaturn Blog: http://jane.whiteoaks.com/

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Constellation Story podcast and JPL annual open house this weekend
by Jones, Jane H (1862) 12 May '10

12 May '10

Last August, I sat in a huge tent in the middle of an Ontario (Canada) field waiting to give my talk at the annual Starfest star party. The speaker before me was playing a drum, and singing and telling star stores. The drummer was Wilfred Buck, a Cree First Nation Elder and Science Educator with the Manitoba First Nation Education Resource Center. Wilfred travels the length and breadth of the Canadian province of Manitoba presenting starlab planetarium shows to nearly 60 First Nation schools with 17,000 students. While he drummed, he sang songs and told star and constellation stories he gathered first-hand from Cree First Nation Elders. When it was dark, he took us out into the field and pointed out the constellations while he told even more star tales. :-) I was literally star-struck with his presentation and stargazing stories, and asked him for a copy of it. Over the months, we became friends, and I asked him if I could write up some of the stories and share them with others. He said yes, and then then invited me to the annual First Nation Science Fair in late March (it was awesome!!). Here is how I presented his stories on my blog last year. http://is.gd/b8Lps Recently, I asked him if I could do one of my monthly NASA podcasts about the Cree Constellation stories he shared at the August star partt and he said yes and reviewed my script. :-) So with the rich Cree constellation paintings as a base, Wilfred's stories as the glue, I added some ancient star charts and constellation stories from other cultures to make May's What's Up podcast. And here it is: The SSE version has related links - stories of the Night sky, including one video of Wilfred telling a big bear tale, so click through the links. http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup-view.cfm?WUID=364 Youtube might be easier for some: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=JPLnews#g/u iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/nasacast-whats-up-video-podcasts/id252873 558 Please share with whoever you want. Oh, and this weekend is JPL Open House. On display will be Hubble's Wide-Field Planetary Camera 2 - the camera that saved Hubble! It was built at JPL and was in the Spacecraft Assembly Facility being built when I first visited JPL on a visitor tour over 20 years ago. I'll be in the Solar System exhibit area this year accessorized as Galileo, thanks to Caroline and Joan from our sidewalk astronomers club. I'll be holding a Galilean telescope replica and pointing to missions displays for future missions to the outer planets. Stop by and see me, and I'll also point you to the Cassini exhibit where one of our other sidewalk astronomers, Dr. Scott, will be stationed part of the weekend. :-) Get all the details here: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ Over and Out! Jane 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 May - Constellation Stories http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup-archive.cfm

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Mother's Day planets :-)
by Jane Houston Jones 08 May '10

08 May '10

Happy Mothers day everyone! For you early risers, at dawn on Sunday, May 9th--Mother's Day--the crescent Moon and Jupiter are getting together for a lovely conjunction. Only 5 degrees will separate the two bright celestial delights as they hang together in the sunrise-colored sky. Look for Jupiter below the moon - about the distance of your fist, held up to the sky. If you don't get up early, enjoy the planetary lineup tonight (or any night now). Bright Venus is lower and brighter, Saturn and Mars are higher - Mars is overhead slightly to the west. Wendy took her telescope out to the desert this week and shared views of Saturn with her archaeologists, geologist , botanist, biologist and other ologist staff at their retreat. Kudos to Wendy!!! She is an official Sidewalk Astronomer now, and I'll have to make her a nametag and let her borrow my big telescope now. :-) . Morning chart looking East http://science.nasa.gov/media/medialibrary/2010/05/06/skymap_morning.gif Evening chart looking West http://science.nasa.gov/media/medialibrary/2010/05/06/skymap_evening.gif Speaking of big telescopes, Mojo and I are all packed for a night of desert stargazing tonight out past Indio. It will be our first shirtsleeve weather night. It's short notice, but here are the directions - you can send us (mojane(a)whiteoaks.com) an email if you are planning to come out. Bring lots of water, gonna be hot out there!!! http://www.otastro.org/chuckwalla.html Next weekend, which is our usual new moon outing is also JPL Open House http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/events/open-house.cfm, so I am working all weekend and can't go play with the stars. :-( Come see me in the solar system exhibit. I will be cross dressing (as Galileo) with a replica of his telescope. Something like this http://photo.whiteoaks.com/2010-03-03-LPSC/slides/IMG_5668.html, but nicer thanks to my sidewalk buddy Caroline, who is helping with some 17th century accessories :-) -- Jane Houston Jones Monrovia, CA Website: www.whiteoaks.com Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org What's Up March 2010? Saturn & 21Lutetia! http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup.cfm What's Up Podcast on YouTube: http://bit.ly/bBUANa Twitter: http://twitter.com/jhjones http://twitter.com/CassiniSaturn Blog: http://jane.whiteoaks.com/

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