- OTEvents - Old Town Sidewalk Astronomers

Space station with shuttle visible tonight after sunset, Los Angeles area
by Morris Jones 16 Mar '09

16 Mar '09

Very shortly after sunset tonight (which is at 7:02), the International Space Station will pass overhead, very bright. It will begin in the southwest -- look toward the sunset, then to the left, and pass nearly overhead to the northeast. First appearance will be close to 7:16 p.m., and highest altitude is at 7:18 p.m.. By 7:21 it will disappear. At about 7:36 p.m. the shuttle will appear, but it will be a little more westerly than the space station, and follow a different lower path. It will be at its highest at about 7:38, and enters the earth's shadow at 7:41. By then it will probably be too low to see, but should give a good show as it passes from southwest to northeast. The station will be very bright, almost like an airplane, except with no flashing lights. Satellites look like bright moving stars, and the brightness changes as the sun angle between you and the satellite changes. Have a look! Jane and I will try to update reports on Twitter as we're out looking for the pass. Mojo: http://twitter.com/mojo_la Jane: http://twitter.com/jhjones 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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EPO Products Giveaway at JPL, Saturday, March 21st, 2009
by Jones, Jane H 13 Mar '09

13 Mar '09

Forwarding a great opportunity - get free E/PO products for educators on March 21st at JPL. You must register for this - there is a conference during the early part of the day and a give-away later. :-) If you are a teacher you can sign up. If you know teachers in the below school districts, please forward this to feel free to do so. I don't have any more info about this, and will be out of town from the 17th - 21st, and can't answer your questions (like what about other school districts) , but there is a contact on this email - Annie Richardson of our Earth Sciences outreach group. That is who to ask if you have questions. :-) 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 Saturnobs http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/Education/saturnobservation/ What's Up for Feb: the moon! http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/index.cfm?id=798 ------ Forwarded Message From: "Richardson, Annie H" <annie.h.richardson(a)jpl.nasa.gov> Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:04:42 -0700 Conversation: EPO Products Giveaway at JPL, Saturday, March 21st, 2009 Subject: EPO Products Giveaway at JPL, Saturday, March 21st, 2009 ATTENTION: Educators in Pasadena, La Canada, and Los Angeles Unified School Districts NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory will be hosting an Earth and Space Sciences Education and Public Outreach products giveaway from 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm on Saturday, March 21st, 2009 in JPL's von Karman auditorium. Free posters, CDs, satellite images for display, bookmarks, videos, and more. Many one-of-a-kind items. Bring your reusable bags! Pre-registration is required: http://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov/epo-giveaway/ Contact: Annie.Richardson(a)jpl.nasa.gov Feel free to forward. -- ------ End of Forwarded Message

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Cancelling Friday - upcoming events abound
by Jane H Jones 06 Mar '09

06 Mar '09

A confluence of near clouds and and long commutes will keep us from setting up our telescopes in Old Town Pasadena tonight, but we'll be out in full force at Myrtle and Lime in Monrovia tomorrow night, Saturday the 7th. Then Sunday we go boing and "spring forward" losing an hour of early evening darkness. Daylight Savings Time, or darkness squandering time, as we astronomers call it, starts Sunday. The start times of all our events will spring forward too. Coming up are a lot of International Year of Astronomy events, a few weeknight school star parties, and even an excursion or two to the desert. March 22: Super Science Sunday in Woodland Hills (I am one of the many speakers) http://www.discoverycntr.org/pages/events/sss.htm Two more school star parties - March 24 /Monrovia, and March 31/Hacienda Heights. If you are local and have a telescope we could maybe use some help. March 28: Possible (weather permitting) dark sky observing night near Chiriaco Summitt - I-10 between Indio and Desert Center. If a 150 mile one way drive, ending on a rutted dirt road with absolutely no facilities intrigues you, RSVP to Jane or Mojo. There are some courtesy rules about lights - no white lights, and just let everyone know if you need to drive away, so we just close our eyes for the duration, and RV's and heavy trucks will get stuck in the sand and Triple A will have to be called. There is always room for a couple cars. http://photo.whiteoaks.com/2009-02-28-chuckwalla/index.html March 28th - A more civilized and comfortable location for your first dark sky observing night (with paved parking and toilets, and nearby camping) is the Joshua Tree Star Party at Hidden Valley Picnic Area on the same night. It's a much shorter drive! We're members of the Yucca Valley "Andromeda Society", and occasionally some of us go to this nice spot. But this is an excellent way to try out a dark sky star party and meet (in the dark) some telescopes and celestial sights, and lots of darn nice astronomers. Bring your own binoculars or telescopes. It is a public star party so there are upwards of 100 park visitors walking around looking through the telescopes. April 3 and 4: International Sidewalk Astronomy weekend and also the big International Year of Astronomy "100 Hours of Astronomy" event. If you want to do something special and you have your own telescope, here's where to register: http://100hoursofastronomy.org/ Rather than joining us, or in addition to joining us on one of our nights, why not set up a telescope in your own neighborhood, and register your event on the 100 Hours of Astronomy website! April 5 is IYA Sun Day - I suppose we might do something solar if we have any "solar" energy left. :-) April 25th - Joining forces with the Southwest Herpetologists Society, we're holding the first (annual?) Herping Star Party April 25th at Hole in the Wall Group Campsite in Mohave National Preserve. Group campsites will be "first come first served" Day time herping (for desert tortoises, chuckwallas, snakes and more) and night time star gazing. So far there are about 5 tents-worth of our group going, and I hear there are about 10 Herpetologists. :-) All the other weekends in March and April are travel weekends for Jane and Mojo - lots of family visits for us in the eastern and pacific time zones. May 2 and 3 are JPL Open House http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/events/open-house.cfm and May 1 and 2 will be our May sidewalk astronomy events. That will be one busy weekend for your sidewalk correspondent! -- 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 Cassini SOC http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm What's Up? http://education.jpl.nasa.gov/amateurastronomy/index.html

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Lotza planet and moon viewing coming up
by Jones, Jane H 27 Feb '09

27 Feb '09

What's Up for February? The moon! I hope you all get a chance to step outside tonight after sunset and enjoy the beautiful view of the moon and Venus! And just in time for the moon view, My what's Up podcast is all about 400 years of lunar observing, as much as can be condensed into 2 minutes :-). You can find it here on the JPL website: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/index.cfm?id=818 and here on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCa0hw0z_TI&feature=channel_page It's been a busy few weeks for sidewalk astronomy - Solar telescopes at Arroyo Vista school last week, planet and cloud-penetrating telescopes at La Fetra Glendale's Science Fair on Tuesday night. And four more school events next month! Tonight Farnsworth Park in Altadena - you are welcome to come look through our telescopes if this is convenient 6-8 p.m. March 6 and 7 will be our sidewalk astronomy nights. These are all up on our website with February and March observing tips. http://www.otastro.org/ March 22nd is Super Science Sunday in Thousand Oaks - a day of science activities, talks (I'm one of the speakers) and telescopes! Thos with telescopes can volunteer to help out, tho it's a bit of a drive. I'd put you in touch with the coordinators if you are interested. http://www.discoverycntr.org/pages/events/sss.htm See you out under the moon this month! 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 Saturnobs http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/Education/saturnobservation/ What's Up for Feb: the moon! http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/index.cfm?id=798

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Sidewalk Astronomer Tom Traeger stars in JPL OCO Video!
by Jones, Jane H 10 Feb '09

10 Feb '09

There is a new JPL video on the JPL website all about the soon-to-be-launched Orbiting Carbon Observatory, a satellite which will track vast hidden warehouses of carbon dioxide around Earth. Earth Sciences teacher and member of our astronomy group Tom Traeger and his students are in it! It's a great video! Check it out, and you teachers out there can play it in your classrooms for your own students! http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/vidPlayermultimedia.swf 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 Cassini SOC http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/Education/saturnobservation/ (new) What's Up for January http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/index.cfm?id=798 (new)

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Sidewalk Astronomy this weekend
by Morris Jones 30 Jan '09

30 Jan '09

These past couple of days the Santa Ana winds have brought us clear and very dry skies, along with very temperatures from the downslope wind. The good transparency has made for fabulous views just after sunset of the thin crescent moon. If you looked on Wednesday, then Thursday, you saw the moon creep closer to bright Venus in the western sky. It's been a few months since we were able to set up telescopes on Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena, our usual Friday night spot, but everything is good for tonight. We're going to try to set up at about 6:00; our two targets, the moon and Venus, will be quickly sinking toward the western horizon. By 8:00 p.m. we're not likely to have a very good view, so it will be a short night for us. We'll be set up on the north side of Colorado Blvd. near Delacey, somewhere in the two-block stretch between Fair Oaks and Pasadena Ave. Tomorrow, Saturday, we'll have our regular Monrovia star party, again featuring Venus and a slightly larger moon, starting at about 6:00 again. If you can't join us, by all means look up to the west after sunset and enjoy the great views of Venus and the crescent moon. And one more time -- the Old Town Sidewalk Astronomers were very pleased to be the subject of JPL's International Year of Astronomy video, featured right here: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/index.cfm?id=804 Clear skies! 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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Upcoming astronomy interest lectures
by Jane Houston Jones 24 Jan '09

24 Jan '09

I hesitate to compile local science-related lectures each month, because there are dozens of them every month. But golly, there are so many amazing lectures every month - by JPL, Caltech, MWOA, Carnegie Observatories, local astronomy clubs, and more! If anyone wants to do the research, and compile the info in a monthly email, I'd help you get started, and authorize you to post the info to our 206-member list. We don't post commercial or charity fund-raising type events - just free and public science-related lectures or events. In the next two weeks there are some notable lectures that I'll be attending (or wishing I could attend) and I thought you'd enjoy knowing about them. First - this Sunday - Caltech Seismologist Kate Hutton, who is a member of our own otastro email list will speak to MOWA (Mount Wilson Observatory Association) on Sunday Jan 25 2:30 p.m. at Altadena Public Library. Yes there will be refreshments, beginning at 2:00.Mojo and I will be there. We feel bad, as sustaining MWOA members that we have never gone to a MWOA meeting, we've even volunteered as docents, but just can't afford the time to be more active in this very worthwhile local observatory. http://www.mwoa.org/index.html We'll be there Sunday to hear Kate! Jan 25 2 - 4 p.m. Altadena Public Library 600 E Mariposa St, Altadena Kate is also a member of AAVSO - the American Association of Variable Star Observers, and has attended our sidewalk astronomy events. :-) Next, MWOA newsletter editor Bob Ekland, author (and amateur astronomer) of a fantastic astro poetry book called First Star I see Tonight http://www.bobeklund.com/ sent me a note about an event on Monday the 26th. Don Benito Wilson: From Mountain Man to Mayor, Los Angeles. Nat B. Read reveals the amazing tale of the “pioneer, beaver trapper and trader, grizzly bear hunter, Indian fighter, justice of the peace, farmer, rancher, politician, horticulturist, vintner, real estate entrepreneur, and one of the great landholders in Southern California.” He faced near death experiences with Indians, grizzlies, and a firing squad. Mount Wilson was named after him. This is a story people of all ages will want to hear! This joint presentation is sponsored by the Altadena Historical Society and the Friends of the Altadena Library. Monday, January 26th @ 7:30 pm, Altadena Community Center: 730 East Altadena Drive. Finally, Discover Magazine, National Science Foundation and Caltech's Thirty Meter Telescope present Mysteries of the Cosmos. January 30 7 p.m. Beckman Auditorium, California Institute of Technology. RSVP to cpe(a)caltech.edu. Leading experts including planet hunter Mike Brown of Caltech and dark energy guru Saul Perlmutter of Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory who will debate the most compelling issues in astronomy today: How do Black Holes affect the evolution of the universe. This event will be moderated by Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait - another friend of ours, since we seem to be name dropping in this email. Although this is our Pasadena Sidewalk astronomy night, I am checking to see if they'd like a few telescopes out for this event. If not we'll probably be nearby at our usual Colorado Blvd Sidewalk event.Or not! Clear skies to you all. I just updated my Saturn Viewing in 2009 webpage for JPL http://www.mwoa.org/index.html andjust looked on the JPL website to see what was the hot news. Darn it if our Monrovia Sidewalk Astronomy Night video isn't on the front page of JPL right now! Wow! http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ (shameless plug) updates on local sidewalk astronomy events here: http://www.otastro.org/ dates here -- Jane Houston Jones Monrovia, CA 34.2048N 118.1732W, 637.0 feet http://www.whiteoaks.com Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org What's Up Podcast: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/podcasting/whatsup_index.html Twitter: http://twitter.com/jhjones Facebook: http://www.facebook.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/janehoustonjones

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Monrovia Star party video
by Jones, Jane H 16 Jan '09

16 Jan '09

Hi everyone! Some of you were at our last Monrovia star party, which was filmed by a JPL film crew. Just in time for the film award season (darn it, we missed the Golden Globes I'm afraid) here it is! It shows the joy of conducting a local star party, and I hope you enjoy it - you might even see yourself in the video! Its available in HD and Standard Definition, and there is a written transcript too. http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/index.cfm?id=804 Mojo put it on our Otastro website, too. http://www.otastro.org/ You Tube version: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=JPLnews&view=videos NASAs International Year of Astronomy "Go Observe" sub-section for January 2009 is all about Venus, with lots of resources and good articles, including my January What's Up podcast about Venus - a link on the right side bar. You might enjoy reading the article about Venus or use some of the educational materials. http://astronomy2009.nasa.gov/observe.htm Next sidewalk events are Jan 30 Pasadena, January 31 Monrovia. Hope to see you then! Weather permitting, of course! Happy new year to everyone and happy birthday to Mojo January 18 (and happy anniversary Jane and Mojo January 15) -- 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 Cassini SOC http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/Education/saturnobservation/ (new) What's Up? http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/podcasting/whatsup_index.html (new)

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Full moon tonight
by Jane Houston Jones 10 Jan '09

10 Jan '09

Watch the full moon rise tonight, Saturday January 10. Does it look bigger than usual? Well, test the moon illusion by holding a paper tube at your eye and sight the moon through it. You'll see it looks "less big". this month's moon will look much like the December 2008 moon in size. Our brains trick us into "seeing" a huge full moon every month at moonrise. It's called the moon illusion. http://facstaff.uww.edu/mccreadd/ or wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_illusion Read about the "closest moon" here at Science@Nasa http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/08jan_bigmoon2009.htm Or just go out and enjoy the rising moon tonight! And we'll see everyone on the sidewalk when we aim at the moon Jan 30 pasadena and Jan 31 Monrovia (weather permitting, that is)! Jane and Mojo -- Jane Houston Jones Monrovia, CA 34.2048N 118.1732W, 637.0 feet http://www.whiteoaks.com Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org What's Up Podcast: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/podcasting/whatsup_index.html Twitter: http://twitter.com/jhjones Facebook: http://www.facebook.com MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/janehoustonjones

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no sky tonight ...
by Morris Jones 03 Jan '09

03 Jan '09

Monrovia is clouded over tonight. We'll have to try again on January 30 and 31 when we'll have a crescent moon in the sky. Stay tuned 'til then! Cheers, Mojo -- Morris Jones Monrovia, CA http://www.whiteoaks.com Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org

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