Last December Dr. Chris Lintott, co-host of Sir Patrick Moore's"The
Sky at Night" TV show joined the sidewalk astronomers in Monrovia.
With Chris, were series producer Jane Fletcher, and the camera and
sound crews. I brought out my homemade 10-inch f/7.3 Dobsonian
telescope, Stardust, and a couple of other homemade scopes for the
evening. Our segment (with John Dobson), is on this month's show,
which you can see here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/spaceguide/skyatnight/proginfo.shtml
Click on July's episode - a Sting in the Tail - the show starts out
with information about the constellation Scorpius.
Here is our photo album of the evening:
http://photo.whiteoaks.com/2006-12-02-dobson/
In other TV news, on the US History channel is a show called "The
Universe"
http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=mini_home&mini_id=54036.
Each show (there is one about Cassini) runs several times so check
your local listings. The DVD can be ordered from this website too.
I've watched a couple of them, both Jupiter and the moon feature some
Cassini colleagues, and they're great!
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
The weather looks lovely for sidewalk astronomy tonight and tomorrow.
The weekend features a lovely first-quarter moon and Jupiter.
Tonight we'll be looking for space near the Barnes & Noble on Colorado
Blvd., between Delacey and Pasadena Ave. It's Harry Potter release
night, we like to try to expand on some of the astronomical themes from
the books for all the young wizards and muggles.
Tomorrow night we'll be at our usual corner in Monrovia, at Library
Park, Myrtle & Lime.
Drop by and say hello!
Jane's great monthly video "What's Up" is still available from the JPL
web site. We're both delighted that it's been featured for the past
week on the main NASA home page as well, at <http://www.nasa.gov/>.
If you use iTunes, you can subscribe to the free NASA podcasts from JPL,
and have her two-minute monthly video downloaded automatically. It's
fun watching it on my iPod. :)
This link goes directly to this month's video:
<http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/videos/whatsup/whatsup20070713/>
And the current one is always available here:
<http://education.jpl.nasa.gov/>
Cheers,
Mojo
--
Morris Jones
Monrovia, CA
http://www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
"What's Up - July" , the monthly amateur astronomy themed podcast is
up on the public JPL website http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/. I'm the host
of the video. It's geared to members of the public. I put in some
pictures from our June trip to Kaibab, GCSP and Bryce - hope you all
like it! Jane :-)
What's Up for July is all about the moon, and I think it can be used?
Be sure to step outside on the 16th and have a look at Saturn, Venus
and the crescent moon! See you on the sidewalk the weekend of the
20th-21st.
Here's What's Up for July will be archived here, but it's in the
process of getting on the page now and we're on our way to Yosemite
in 15 minutes.
http://education.jpl.nasa.gov/amateurastronomy/index.html
The video is only 2 minutes long and is packed with great amateur
images of planets and more. You'll find some simple (aimed at the
general public) downloadable sky charts, links to NASA amateur
astronomy networks, and this is where the What's Ups are archived.
There are several different download options for museum, planetarium,
astronomy club, classroom and National Parks :-) use. And you can
download these right onto your video iPOD too. If you use them in
any way, let me know!
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
