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Special comet viewing in Monrovia this Saturday evening

by Morris Jones

Normally on the third quarter moon weekend, you don't find the Sidewalk Astronomers setting up. There will be no moon in the early evening. But the sky gave us a big surprise late in October. Normally extremely faint, comet 17P/Holmes had an outburst that made it a million times brighter -- bright enough that we can see it from downtown Monrovia without a telescope! Over the past couple of weeks, amateurs and professionals alike have been watching the comet's coma, the glowing cloud of dust that surrounds it, grow in apparent size. It's a fun object to see in a telescope, and we invite you to join us this Saturday evening in Old Town Monrovia to do exactly that. We'll be in our usual spot, at the corner of Myrtle & Lime, from 7:30 'til 9:30 p.m. Because the comet is fairly far to the north in the sky, whereas the moon and planets are usually found to the south, we'll have to move a little up the walk towards the Mark Twain statue to get a clear view without a tree in the way. Right now the weather forecast looks good for Saturday night. I'll send a follow-up note if that changes. More about the comet and links to other pictures can be found on JPL's web site here: <http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/features.cfm?feature=1514> Mojo -- Morris Jones Monrovia, CA http://www.whiteoaks.com Old Town Astronomers http://www.otastro.org

18 years, 8 months

Tricks and Treats

by Jane H Jones

Do you need some eerie sounds to spook the little ghouls and goblins tonight? Why not play the Eerie and Bizarre Sounds of the Saturnian System. http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/sounds/ ? Included are sounds of Enceladus, echoes from Titan's surface, speeding through Titan's haze, and sounds from the Lord of the rings, Saturn! There are even more spooky sounds of our solar system on the JPL webpage today http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm look on the New Multimedia section. And if you want to see a ghostly interloper in the sky tonight, take out the binoculars and see a comet from your own front (or back) yard! Here's where to look: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/features.cfm?feature=1514 To the unaided eye, the comet looks like a fuzzy star, but in binoculars (or telescopes) it looks like a ghostly snowball with a bright center, much like the image shown on the link above. It was taken by Gary Spiers, who is one of our sidewalk telescope gang in Monrovia. Congrats on the picture! "To see the comet, all you have to do is step outside and look to the Northeast. You should be able to see the "W" that is the constellation Cassiopeia - it's standing on its end. One and a half "fists" away to the right is a bright star in the constellation Perseus. You probably won't be able to see all the Perseus stars, but the bright one - Mirfak - should be visible. It marks the top of a triangle, which is about the size of your thumb held at arms length away. The triangle's lower left corner is the comet!". We may set up telescopes for a special comet viewing night Saturday the 3rd. Stay tuned, we'll send an announcement if that plan firms up. October What's Up is about tricks and treats in the night sky. It starts out with some of those spooky sounds from the solar system. http://education.jpl.nasa.gov/amateurastronomy/index.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

18 years, 8 months

Mojo to speak to Riverside Astronomical Society Sat. Oct. 27

by Jane Houston Jones

Mojo is giving a talk to the Riverside Astronomical Society Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. To set the scene, [from the web blurb] "Mojo's talk called "You Are Here" includes a brief travelogue of some of the many places in the western U.S. parks that Mojo and Jane have given this presentation, and the talk he most recently presented at Yosemite, Grand Canyon and Bryce Canyon star parties. A nice writeup is on the RAS website http://www.rivastro.org/ras_meeting.html Location is La Sierra University, E. E. Cossentine Hall (Riverside, CA.) http://www.rivastro.org/ras_meeting_campus_map.html I highly recommend this talk :-) Pre meeting is at 5:00 PM - Coco's Bakery Restaurant 10098 Magnolia Riverside, CA 92503 (951) 687-3846 (call to join the dinner party) http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=10098+Magnolia,+Riverside,+CA+92503… -- Jane Houston Jones Monrovia, CA 34.2048N 118.1732W, 637.0 feet http://www.whiteoaks.com Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org

18 years, 9 months

What's Up October

by Jane H Jones

On Monday, Cassini celebrates 10th years since launch. http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press-release-details.cfm?newsID=783 Cassini rode into space October 15, 1997 atop a Titan 4B. Its mission: to orbit and study the Saturnian system for four years. Just this week we can read more exciting headline-grabbing results - this time about Titan's land of lakes and Iapetus' mysterious dark side. http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm What better than a moon with a mysterious dark side for the October (aka Halloween) edition of "What's Up"? This month both Titan and mysterious Iapetus can be seen near Saturn, when looking through most any telescope. Rhea, Dione and Tethys are always easily visible, and they are not shown on the maps, but essily found in astronomy magazines, planetarium programs or you can ask and we'll help you out. Iapetus has an 89 day orbit, which takes it far from Saturn and the other moons usually easily visible though a telescope. But when the small moon is north or south of the planet it is easy to spot. That's when I try to encourage folks to have a look at this small (892 miles diameter) moon, which was discovered by Giovanni Cassini in 1671. Don't despair if you don't see it this week. The next good time to Iapetus to the South of Saturn is December 31. And to the north of Saturn November 23. And you'll also spot Iapetus easily for the week or so on both sides of these dates. Next year, when Saturn rises earlier in the evening, it won't be such a trick to see it. Here is where you'll find October What's Up, Cassini's Iapetus page, some Educational activities related to the Saturn system, plus star charts for viewing Jupiter, Mars, Venus and of course, Saturn, lord of the rings! http://education.jpl.nasa.gov/amateurastronomy/index.html Next observing: Pasadena October 19, Monrovia Oct 20,m weather permitting. No Iapetus or Saturn, Jupiter may be too low to see until next year. Mars will begin peeking above the Eastern rooftops towards the end of our sidewalk nights. It'll be a moon night 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 Cassini SOC http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm What's Up? http://education.jpl.nasa.gov/amateurastronomy/index.html

18 years, 9 months

Reach for the Stars

by Jane H Jones

Mojo and I attended the AANC - Astronomical Association of Northern California's annual conference "Reach for the Stars" at College of San Mateo yesterday. Mojo took pictures and I gave a Cassini Mission talk. http://aancstars2007.org/events.shtml Once it was dark, the CSM Observatory opened, after a great Planetarium show about Black Holes. All day long there was a planetarium show called The Sky at Night to whet the attendees appetites for what would be visible that night. Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, the moon, and several galaxies clusters and nebula were visible from the observatory through assorted telescopes owned by both the university and by attending amateur astronomers - dozens of telescopes in the afternoon and the evening. In the daytime there were some great talks - two on astrophotography, and the others on science, the hourly planetarium shows, family activities, a solar system walk, solar observing and telescope making demonstrations, and even a band called Dark Matter singing and playing! Everyone hung around for the raffle - lots of wonderful donated items - from telescopes to cameras to books to posters and more. Dr. Peter Jenniskens had the Aurigid Meteor Mission covered at the SETI table. Complete with meteorites, his flight suit, a Mission photo poster display, a flux measurement camera and meteor videotape running all afternoon - the same camera I used to record the meteors I saw and counted on the Aurigid and Perseid Mission flights last month. We arrived at about 10:00 a.m. and left about 11:00 p.m. - had a great time seeing all our Northern California astro pals! Lots of work to put these conferences on - College of San Mateo, the San Mateo County Astronomical Society, the AANC and KCSM's Jazz Under the Stars, dozens of volunteers and the vendors http://aancstars2007.org/vendors.shtml for a great day and night! Here are the pictures: http://photo.whiteoaks.com/2007-09-29-aanc/ There are several conferences like this here in southern California too! We'll try to tell you about them all. Let us know if you are interested. Last Night there was also the Starry Starry Nights Festival in Yucca Valley which we missed because we couldn't be in two places at the same time. Our next sidewalk astronomy nights are October 19 and 20, and we may do something for Halloween too! 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

18 years, 9 months

No telescopes tonight

by Morris Jones

NOAA just changed its public forecast for the region from "partly cloudy" to "mostly cloudy," and at 1:30 p.m. today it was still raining in Monrovia. That means we'll have wet grass at the park, and foggy or cloudy skies. That's my guess. So no telescopes tonight! Best regards, Mojo -- Morris Jones Monrovia, CA http://www.whiteoaks.com Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org

18 years, 10 months

No astronomy tonight

by Morris Jones

Given the 70% chance of rain tonight, it's a safe bet to say we won't have telescopes in Old Town Pasadena tonight. We're scheduled for Monrovia tomorrow evening, and that's looking pretty questionable. I'll update the list as I see the conditions tomorrow afternoon. Best regards, Mojo -- Morris Jones Monrovia, CA http://www.whiteoaks.com Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org

18 years, 10 months

What's Up at JPL?

by Jane H Jones

Lots of Solar System happenings here at JPL this week, and it's only Wednesday! I hope you've had a chance to look at the incredible images from Cassini over the past 2 days! If not, I highly recommend a look! The Iapetus images are simply amazing! Find the series of Iapetus links, along with a Cassini Status report on the Cassini website now! http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm Dawn - the mission to the asteroid belt - is nearing launch. The rover Opportunity has dipped all 6 of its wheels into Victoria Crater on Mars after hunkering down during a massive dust storm on our red planet neighbor. And Cassini is returning simply amazing images, now in its 4th year of the mission. You can see all three of these features on the JPL website today: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ What else is up? As Voyager celebrates its 30th year anniversary, all four of the outer planets - Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune - are all visible this month and all four are featured in "What's Up for September". Link to the video, plus all the downloads of charts and short animations from the JPL Education Page: http://education.jpl.nasa.gov/amateurastronomy/index.html You can subscribe to JPL Podcasts here - What's Up, and many other podcasts are available in a High Definition video feed. http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/tools/podcast.cfm See all these podcasts on You Tube, too: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=JPLnews&p=r&page=1 Link to Voyager website: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/voyager/index.html Link to the Dawn website: http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/ Link to the Mars Exploration website http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/ 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

18 years, 10 months

An interesting class - Basics of Interplanetary Flight

by Jane Houston Jones

I thought you Old Town Astronomer list members might be interested in this class. Basics of Interplanetary Flight! If so read on! Hello - I'd like to invite you to consider joining us, starting next week, for "Basics of Interplanetary Flight," a night course open to the public. The first class meeting is Thursday September 13, 2007. This week, though, is the week to register: late registration fees start Monday. Classes are hosted by the Art Center College of Design Public Programs, at their award-winning South Campus building (converted wind tunnel facility) on Raymond at Glenarm in Pasadena. This is hands-on interplanetary exploration. In the course of seven consecutive Thursday evenings, we will experiment together to intuitively learn the keys to interplanetary flight. We can usually count on enjoying a stellar guest speaker, as well. So far, previous class participants have included physicians, secretaries, film producers, engineers, undergrads, grad students, writers, teachers, pilots, architects, even a celebrity. Here's a quote from a participant in the summer term that ended recently: "Incredible. Interesting topics were explored in a fun way, often with experiments. Each night left me eager to learn more." We generally divide our three-hour meetings into developing three lines of inquiry: (1) Observing and grasping each of the major factors in the whole environment in which we live and operate our robots: being the companion of a dwarf star in a bubble orbiting a super-massive black hole at the center of one of many galaxies (and understanding just how this is known); (2) Learning how spacecraft are put together, what all their components do, how they work, and why; (3) Soaking in the results; seeing and experiencing new worlds, encountering the latest and ongoing discoveries. Information from the Art Center course catalog is included below. Substantial tuition discounts are offered to teachers, members of The Planetary Society, and others. For more details, and a link for registration, see http://people.artcenter.edu/doody. If you have any questions, please email me at doody(a)artcenter.edu Thanks! Dave Doody E/078 Basics of Interplanetary Flight noncredit $395 Art Center at Night is pleased to offer you this extraordinary opportunity to study the fundamentals of robotic space flight with Caltech/JPL senior engineer Dave Doody, Flight Operations Lead for the Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft's realtime operations. We have as our home a very rare planet, the companion of a star-in-a-bubble, orbiting the distant black hole at our galactic center. In this 7-week workshop, you will look back at our planet from this greater perspective, and explore the vehicles, the techniques, and the science experiments involved in today's ongoing extraterrestrial exploration. Many familiar products such as cell phones, medical devices, and imaging systems have developmental roots on the edges of robotic space flight. Surveying these roots may help designers conceive future products. Knowing how real spacecraft move may be useful for filmmakers and illustrators. The range of topics will intrigue any curious participant. Class discussions will be enhanced by ongoing Q&A, many hands-on demonstrations, design-based learning sessions, and a "guest star" appearance or two. No prerequisites. 7 sessions Thursdays 7 -10 pm Dave Doody SOUTH CAMPUS -- Jane Houston Jones Monrovia, CA 34.2048N 118.1732W, 637.0 feet http://www.whiteoaks.com Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org

18 years, 10 months

Mojo to speak tonight at Pomona Valley Amateur Astronomers, Harvey Mudd

by Morris Jones

Jane and I became familiar with the Pomona Valley Amateur Astronomers a few months ago when she spoke to them on the Cassini mission. It's a great club, and a great location, especially if you're more in the direction of Pomona than Pasadena. Tonight I'm going to give the talk that I gave last year in Ireland at the Whirlpool Star Party in Birr. It's a brief travelogue of the Sidewalk Astronomers' summer excursions to the great national parks of the western U.S., along with the talk I've given at the parks on the vanishing Milky Way, titled "You Are Here." I'll add some photos from our visit to Bryce Canyon park this summer as well. If you're interested in attending, the club web site is here, <http://www.pvaa.us/> and directions to the 7:30 p.m. meeting are here <http://www.pvaa.us/maps/meet.html> Late tonight, or actually early tomorrow morning, scientists are forecasting a rare return of the Aurigid meteor shower. Jane sent some information about it in an earlier message. While I'm giving my talk this evening, she will be at NASA Ames in Northern California, installing equipment on a small Gulfstream business jet, and preparing with a group of researchers to document the meteor shower at an altitude of 50,000 feet. It should be quite a story. I currently plan to observe the shower from home near Sawpit Wash in Monrovia in a comfortable chair. :) Best regards, Mojo -- Morris Jones Monrovia, CA http://www.whiteoaks.com Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org

18 years, 10 months

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