September 2011 - OTEvents - Old Town Sidewalk Astronomers

Fwd: Thank you
by Jane Houston Jones 26 Sep '11

26 Sep '11

One of the three civilian groups from our email list to show up at the Mojave event. :-) -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Thank you Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2011 13:04:15 -0700 (PDT) From: Zeynep Yeldan <zeynep_yeldan(a)yahoo.com> Reply-To: Zeynep Yeldan <zeynep_yeldan(a)yahoo.com> To: jane(a)whiteoaks.com <jane(a)whiteoaks.com> Hi Jane, We had a great weekend owing to all of you. Thank you so much. Hopefully we'll be able to make it to the next stargazing event too. There's too much I wouldn't want to miss again. Best, Z.

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Mount Wilson Institute talk Altadena Library tomorrow
by Jane Houston Jones 23 Sep '11

23 Sep '11

If I weren't heading to the Mojave National Preserve tomorrow for our annual fall star party there, I'd head over to the Altadena Library to hear Don Nicholson's free talk at 2:30 p.m. His talk is titled " Mount Wilson astronomers I have known; some of whom have known me". At 90 years old, Don has known a LOT of astronomers who worked at Mt. Wilson. The son of Dr. Seth B. Nicholson of the Mount Wilson Observatory, he has had a lifelong association with that Observatory. His present interests are the history of astronomy in the 20th century and the encouragement of public interest and participation in astronomy. Don spent much of his youth at the Observatory and met many of the legendary figures who worked there. He graduated from Pomona College with a major in physics and received a Masters Degree in meteorology from Caltech. After serving in the U.S. Army Air Force, he worked for Technicolor, Northrop, and The Aerospace Corporation, where he led the Optical Systems Department. Since retiring, he has been active in public outreach for astronomical organizations. The Altadena Public Library is located at 600 E. Mariposa Street in Altadena, two stop signs west of Lake Avenue at the corner of Mariposa and Santa Rosa Avenue ("Christmas Tree Lane"). Exit the 210 freeway at Lake Avenue in Pasadena and go about 2.5 miles north to Mariposa Street in Altadena. Turn left on Mariposa, go to the second stop sign, turn left on Santa Rosa, and turn into the parking lot at the first driveway on your right. The lecture is in the library's Community Room. This talk is sponsored by the Mount Wilson Institute. For more information, including how to become a member of Friends of Mount Wilson Observatory (FOMWO), see the Observatory's website www.mtwilson.edu or contact lecture coordinator Bob Eklund, beklund(a)sprynet.com, (310) 216-5947. -- Jane Houston Jones Monrovia, CA What's Up Podcast-Sept:Moon Past&Present: Apollo landing sites to Grail launch NASA podcast: http://is.gd/bSXeAl Youtube site: http://is.gd/kPUtSx Twitter: http://twitter.com/jhjones /CassiniSaturn /otastro My Blogs about Moon views,meteors,launches: http://jane.whiteoaks.com/

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No sky tonight ...
by Morris Jones 10 Sep '11

10 Sep '11

We had plans to set up telescopes for some lunar observing tonight in Monrovia, but they've been dashed by cloudy skies and a chance of thundershowers. Hopefully next month! Meanwhile we'll be hoping for clear skies and calm winds for September 24th dark sky observing in Mojave National Preserve. We'd love to have you visit out from under the L.A. light dome. Details are here: http://preservethemojave.org/ Best regards, Mojo -- Morris Jones, Monrovia, CA http://whiteoaks.com

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Observe the moon, dark sky outing, meteor watching
by Jane Houston Jones 02 Sep '11

02 Sep '11

Hi everyone, Mojo and I will make an impromptu, unscheduled sidewalk astronomy foray tomorrow night September 3rd at Myrtle and Lime Streets 7:30 – 9:30 p.m. This month the first quarter moon phase falls on Sunday the 4th, and so both flanking weekends offer some decent mooning —a slender crescent this weekend, and a big fat waxing gibbous phase next weekend. I'll be working at Kennedy Space Center next week for the launch of GRAIL – twin washing machine-sized spacecraft heading to our moon. They'll fly in formation very close to the moon's surface and measure the moon's gravity. And I'll be at a star party at Brevard Community College Observatory in Cocoa, FL next Friday night showing Grail's destination with the local astronomy club! :–) My monthly video is all about GRAIL and observing the moon. Next week, the days surrounding the September 8th launch will perfect nights to look at the moon and see where all 6 Apollo missions landed! Here's the link http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup-view.cfm?WUID=944 and there is a great map of the landing sights on that page at the bottom. We'll hand out some charts on the sidewalk both weekends, too. Dark sky enthusiasts may want to join us in Mojave National Preserve on September 24th. The Milky Way is high overhead, spanning the sky from horizon to horizon. It's definitely worth the drive! The Mojave National Preserve Conservancy website still shows our spring stargazing info http://preservethemojave.org/ but just change the date to September 24th. Directions and RSVP contact are on the page, and they have not changed. There is limited room for RV's so I'd definitely call if you are bringing a large RV – there is plently of room for tents, but everyone should RSVP. You only need to tell me your coming if you bring telescopes, and want to share the cement pad. There's room for about 6 –8 telescopes Camping is free, courtesy of the MNPC, but you might want to consider joining the conservancy and helping protect this magnificent preserve. Last weekend we were at Yosemite's Glacier Point public star party and we shared milky way views (plus a comet, supernova and more) with 150 or so park visitors. A different astronomy club is up there at Glacier Point right now and tomorrow night, too, in case you are heading that way. What else? I received a lot of questions about the August Perseids from the media and enthusiasts alike. The full moon washed out the few meteors we could possibly see from the city, and the same will happen next year. So as a preemptive strike, I wrote up some tips in an article called Post-Perseid depression? More showers are on the way!http://jane.whiteoaks.com/2011/08/31/post-perseid-depression-more-showe… I'm close to hitting the send button on a moon observing article, too. It will appear as the top feature on my blog if I get it done this weekend. Mojo and I both wrote our adventures at Kennedy Space Center for the launch of Jupiter-bound Juno - apologies if I already shared that one. http://mojo.whiteoaks.com/2011/08/11/the-nasa-tweetup-to-launch-juno/ http://jane.whiteoaks.com/2011/08/14/mission-juno-launch-august-5-2011/ Until next month, over and out! -- Jane Houston Jones Monrovia, CA http://jane.whiteoaks.com/ http://twitter.com/jhjones What's Up For August? Jupiter and Juno http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup-archive.cfm Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=JPLnews

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