- OTEvents - Old Town Sidewalk Astronomers

June 30 - a good time to test the moon illusion
by Jane H Jones 29 Jun '07

29 Jun '07

Here's a good article about the moon illusion from NASA's Science@NASA series "On Saturday night, June 30th, step outside at sunset and look around. You'll see a giant moon rising in the east. It looks like Earth's moon with the usual craters and seas, but something's wrong. This full moon is strangely inflated. It's huge! You've just experienced the Moon Illusion"...Read the whole article here http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/27jun_moonillusion.htm -- 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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Bookstore astronomy: Harry Potter book release
by Jane H Jones 27 Jun '07

27 Jun '07

Mojo and I have often set up our sidewalk telescopes at local bookstores when a popular book such as one of the Harry Potter series is released. It's especially nice when there is a midnight (or evening) book release which coincides with a first quarter moon. Wizards and muggles alike set aside their differences and stand peacefully in line for a look at the moon. July's first quarter moon Friday night happens to coincide with the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Donna Smith of the LA Sidewalk Astronomers is wondering if one or two telescope operators could help her out at the Barnes and Noble in Burbank on Friday the 20th. The event starts at 6 p.m. and the book goes on sale at midnight. They set up the telescopes up on the roof. If you have telescope and will travel :-) let Donna know. She's interested in having kids there - kids with telescopes, that is. Contact Donna directly. Her email is dsmith1055(a)earthlink.net, if you are interested in bringing a telescope to this event. If Burbank is not convenient for you, why not ask your own favorite bookstore if they'd like to have your telescope out on that night. The moon and Jupiter will make great targets! Mojo and I will try to set up our telescopes near the Colorado Blvd Barnes and Noble, parking permitting. Our two telescopes are plenty for that busy sidewalk. 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 Cassini SOC http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm What's Up? http://education.jpl.nasa.gov/amateurastronomy/index.html

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Once more, Sidewalk Astronomy, Monrovia, Saturday Night
by Morris Jones 23 Jun '07

23 Jun '07

Normally we don't send this many emails to our list, but it's a really great weekend for astronomy. First of all, we have great weather, warm with clear skies, and fairly good seeing. Second, we have a great array of planets. Venus and Saturn are setting quickly in the west, and this will be our last month for Saturn. Jupiter is rising low in the south east, and the moon this weekend is high with lots of detail. Something for every telescope we should have out on Saturday night! Third, we have a great pass of the International Space Station. It will enter the sky from the northwest, cross between the Big Dipper and the north star, then pass all the way across the sky to the east, just above the rising summer triangle. It'll be first visible at 8:50, reach its highest altitude of 58 degrees at 8:53, then disappear at 8:55. So join us in Old Town Monrovia Saturday night. Sunset is late, but we can see the moon before the sun sets. We should be at Myrtle & Lime from about 7:30 'til 10 p.m. And just to follow up on the landing of the space shuttle, I did indeed step out my front door in Monrovia to hear a nice "boom boom" pair of sonic booms from the shuttle on approach. Five minutes later it was on the ground. That was a first for me! Finally, pictures from the Grand Canyon and Bryce are here: <http://photo.whiteoaks.com/2007-06-grand-canyon/> Best regards, Mojo -- Morris Jones Monrovia, CA http://www.whiteoaks.com Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org

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Shuttle sonic boom heard from JPL
by Jane H Jones 22 Jun '07

22 Jun '07

A bunch of us walked outside the Space Flight Operations Facility here at JPL http://education.jpl.nasa.gov/iged/sfof.html a few minutes ago to watch and listen for the STS117 as it passed the LA area on it's way to landing at Edwards Air Force base. A couple people from the Cassini Team were there, since we work in this historic building, and several folks had their laptops in their arms with the NASA commentary and imagery running. We could see the shuttle on the screen, but could not see ourselves. But we did hear the subtle and very low double sonic booms, and minutes later, the shuttle had successfully landed. In case you were wondering.....why does the space shuttle have a double sonic boom? http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/dec97/874604921.Eg.r.html 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 Cassini SOC http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm What's Up? http://education.jpl.nasa.gov/amateurastronomy/index.html

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Space Shuttle landing at Edwards
by Morris Jones 22 Jun '07

22 Jun '07

I have no idea if we'll be able to see or hear anything, but space shuttle Atlantis will be landing at Edwards AFB at 12:49 today. I expect it to pass north of the city, on the other side of the San Gabriel mountains. There could be a couple of good sonic booms from the shuttle! Mojo -- Morris Jones Monrovia, CA http://www.whiteoaks.com Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org

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Reminder - Sidewalk Astronomy weekend coming up
by Jane H Jones 22 Jun '07

22 Jun '07

Here's a friendly reminder that this is the weekend for our moon and planet sidewalk astronomy! But first, there was a good (but low to the horizon) ISS/Shuttle pass last night. at about 9:30 p.m. The brighter Space Station led the way, followed several seconds (and about 15 degrees away) by the fainter shuttle. Anyway, look up the shuttle and ISS passes for tonight and the future on this website http://www.heavens-above.com/ . Sorry I forgot to mention it, but I figure those who enjoy these satellite passes are already checking this website, especially when there is both a ISS and a shuttle to see. Tonight there is a good ISS pass at 9:44 p.m. (that's for Monrovia and environs) - the space station will reach a maximum elevation of 69 degrees at 9:47 p.m. It's good to check the website shortly before the viewing to see if anything changed. maybe the shuttle info will have been updated (it still shows planned reentry of this morning, which has changed). Back to Earth - Friday night we'll be in Pasadena someplace on Colorado Blvd between Fair Oaks and Pasadena Avenues from 7:30 to 10 p.m. Saturday, we'll be at Myrtle and Lime Streets in Monrovia about the same times. We expect large crowds because of the warm weather. Mojo and I attended both the Grand Canyon Star Party and the Bryce Canyon Astronomy Festival last week, and conducted our own small star party in the Kaibab National Forest in-between the two bigger events. Here's our pictures for those who like vacation pictures. http://photo.whiteoaks.com/2007-06-grand-canyon/ 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 Cassini SOC http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm What's Up? http://education.jpl.nasa.gov/amateurastronomy/index.html

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What's Up for June?
by Jane Houston Jones 08 Jun '07

08 Jun '07

June marks the beginning of our annual tour of some of the great national parks of the US. Our motto beccomes "Have Telescope, Will Travel!" During the warm summer months we take telescopes, and occasionally other sidewalk astronomers away from the city and into the national parks for a couple of the annual star parties. In June, we'll be in Northern Arizona and Utah for the annual Grand Canyon Star Party and the Bryce Canyon Astronomy Festival. During these events, the dark skies of the national park become rich tapestry for amateur astronomer volunteers who introduce thousands of park visitors to the dark splendor of the summer Milky Way. Closer to home, the Joshua Tree Mational Park has a similar ongoing astronomy program, in conjunction with the Yucca Valley based Andromeda Society. http://www.andromedasociety.org/ Our OTASTRO website http://www.otastro.org/ has all the summer star party dates, but I'll recap June here: We'll be at the Kaibab Lodge June 11 - talks at sunset, and later, telescopes out on the Lodge grounds. http://kaibablodge.com/events.htm Sidewalk barry Peckham from hawaii and John Dobson from San Francisco will be with us. We'll be at the Grand Canyon - North Rim June 12-13. The star party takes place at both the North Rim Lodge and the South rim Yavapai Point parking lot June 9-16. http://www.tucsonastronomy.org/gcsp.html the public is welcome to hear the talks at sunset and look through the telescopes. All the telescope volunteers have registered with the national park as volunteers (aka lots of paperwork) and gone through a brief park training and orientation. If you're interested for next year, you can get information via the website above. Then we'll head north to Bryce Canyon National Park on June 14 - 16. Again all the volunteers have registered and even documented what types of telescopes they are bringing - as there is only room for 45 telescopes at the star party site. this event goes on for 3 days, and there are activites both day and night. It's all free, but some events require tickets due to space limitations. Read all about it here: http://www.nps.gov/brca/planyourvisit/astronomyprograms.htm June 22 and 23 will be our monthly sidewalk Astronomy nights in Pasadena and Monrovia. Finally, my monthly video, "What's Up" for June is up on the JPL website. Have a listen! It's only 2 minutes long and is packed with great amateur images of planets and more. There's lots to see this month!. :-) http://education.jpl.nasa.gov/amateurastronomy/index.html -- Jane Houston Jones Monrovia, CA 34.2048N 118.1732W, 637.0 feet http://www.whiteoaks.com Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org

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Sidewalk Astronomy Saturday night
by Jane H Jones 16 May '07

16 May '07

HI everyone, We've updated the Old Town Astronomers website to include all the summer National Park astronomy events we'll be attending. During the summer months "Have Telescope, Will Travel" becomes our motto. We'll be hauling 4 Dobsonian telescopes and John Dobson and Barry Peckham from Hawaii to the Grand Canyon and Bryce Canyon in June. In July and August we'll join our fellow members of the the San Jose and San Francisco astronomy clubs at the Glacier Point Star Parties in Yosemite.These free public astronomy events are held every year for guests at the national parks. Read all about it here: http://www.otastro.org/ And on Saturday night May 19, we'll be showing a slender crescent moon near Venus, and Saturn from 7:30 to 9:30 at Myrtle and Lime Streets in Monrovia, CA. We'll hit the Pasadena sidewalk Friday May 25, when there is more moon to show. Saturday the 19th is also the first International sidewalk Astronomy Day. Even if you don't join us in Monrovia, why not look up at moon, Venus and Saturn. Or show these solar system wonders to your neighbors . No telescope is needed, but if you have one, why not place it out on your own sidewalk and share the views? Here's where all the international sidewalk astronomy night events are being held. http://www.sidewalkastronomynight.com/ Finally, last month a reporter from American Public Radio's "Weekend America" interviewed sidewalk astronomers in both northern and southern California for this week's 2-hour show. It airs locally on Saturday, May 19 on KPCC 89.3 FM from 1-3 p.m. If local for you is someplace other than KPCC, you can look at the station list here: http://weekendamerica.publicradio.org/about/list.php (it's on Sirius and XM satellite too) ! Listen live on Saturday http://www.scpr.org/, or you can subscribe to the podcast for convenient listening later. We don't know how long the segment is, what or who is included, or during which hour of the show the Sidewalk Astronomer segment will air. http://weekendamerica.publicradio.org/collections/podcast/ See some of you at JPL Open House this weekend? 9-5 Saturday and Sunday. Look for me in the big Cassini Mission tent, right next to the full size Voyager model. :-) http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/pso/oh.cfm -- 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 Saturn Observation Campaign http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm

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What's Up: For May
by Jane H Jones 04 May '07

04 May '07

The JPL website has a lot of fascinating stories for you astro folks right now! There's one story about new evidence of ancient volcanic explosions on Mars and another about the molten core of Mercury. Ice on Mars? Read all about it! There are also details about JPL Open House and, drumroll please......What's Up for May, my new monthly podcast! You can get to the 2 minute podcast from the JPL main page: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ http://education.jpl.nasa.gov/ The JPL education page has the video, and tools for amateur astronomers, such as sky charts you can download, links to amateur astronomy networks, and this is where the What's Ups will be archived. This month we feature the Dawn mission's Amateur Observer Program, since I talk about observing the asteroid Vesta - that's where the Dawn Mission will be heading later this summer. For those of you with iPods you can subscribe to the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory video and audio podcasts (podcasts are free and on iTunes under science podcasts) and have "What's Up" and other JPL podcasts downloaded automatically every month when you sync your iPod. Of course you can watch them on your computer too! Our next sidewalk dates will be May 18 and 19. May 19 is also JPL open house. Se you then! 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 Cassini Saturn Observation Campaign http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm

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JPL's Open House May 19, 20, 2007
by Jane H Jones 30 Apr '07

30 Apr '07

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ This notification just went out to all the people who like to get email announcements from JPL, so I thought I'd pass it on to you. Our annual JPL Open House occurs May 19 and 20. I'll be in the Cassini Tent in person, and also a 1/4 scale model of me will be stationed next to a 1/4 scale model of the Cassini Spacecraft, so you can see two of me, possibly at the same time! You can find me (and Cassini) near the entrance to the laboratory - I'll be there all day, both days. The large Cassini tent will be the first exhibit when you enter the west entrance to JPL on Open House days. Saturday night, May 19 is International Sidewalk Astronomy Day, too, so we'll be setting up telescopes in Monrovia that night. Check out our Old Town Astronomy website for information - we'll update the pages soon for our June trip to both the annual Death Valley and Bryce Canyon Star Parties, July and August Yosemite (at Glacier Point) star parties, and proposed trips to the Southern California desert for stargazing without city streetlights or LA lights. Here's that announcement - stop by and say "hi"! There can be up to 15, 000 to 20,000 people at JPL open house on each day. It's best to arrive early, plan for the heat (wear a hat and sunblock), Sunday morning seems a little less crowded than Saturday. Jane JPL Open House Takes Visitors on a Journey to the Planets and Beyond NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., invites the public on a "Journey To the Planets and Beyond." The laboratory will open its doors during its annual Open House on Saturday and Sunday, May 19 and 20, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Visitors will learn about JPL's exciting space missions and see robots in action. Scientists and engineers will also answer questions about the solar system, the universe and our home planet. A giant balloon that may someday explore Venus will be on display in JPL's Spacecraft Assembly Facility, the clean room where spacecraft and instruments are built. Visitors can see unique 3-D images from space, including stereoscopic views of the sun, and view movies highlighting current and upcoming JPL missions. At the Robo-Dome, a pair of 700-pound robots will glide in a high-tech arena under artificial stars, while the Saturn Moonwalk will display the ringed planet's vast system of unique moons. JPL Open House will offer lots of fun activities for kids of all ages who want to learn more about science and technology. Kids can get rolled over by a mechanical Mars rover, fly in outer space and view the sun with high-powered telescopes. Admission is free and reservations are not required. No backpacks or ice chests are allowed; visitors may bring small purses and diaper bags. Visitors, vehicles and personal belongings are subject to inspection. Food and beverages will be available for purchase, along with space souvenirs and JPL and NASA merchandise. Vendors will only accept cash. ATMs will be available. JPL is located at 4800 Oak Grove Drive. Exit the 210 (Foothill) Freeway at the Berkshire Avenue/Oak Grove Drive exit in La Canada-Flintridge. Parking is available near the Oak Grove Drive main gate and on the eastern boundary of JPL, accessible from Windsor Avenue via the Arroyo Boulevard exit off the 210 Freeway. Buses and tour guides will move people between different locations around the facility. Walking is required to some locations. Comfortable shoes are recommended. -- 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 Saturn Observation Campaign http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm

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