Cen-Tex Star Party Spring 2013

•April 10, 2013 • Leave a Comment

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Sharleen Forrest with dedication plaque for

Sharleen Forrest with dedication plaque for the Ealing.

The spring Central Texas Star Party is a 2-day event for the members of the Austin Astronomical Society and their guests. It’s held at the Eagle Eye Observatory. This year, we had two special dedication ceremonies held on the second evening of the event. The first was in honor of the late Larry Forrest by rededicating the Ealing Educator Telescope in his name. Larry was instrumental in acquiring and restoring the 16″ CAT. I never had the pleasure of meeting Larry as he passed away just months after I moved to Texas and joined the AAS. I have been able to hear all the wonderful stories about him from the other AAS members and know he’s truly missed. His wife, Sharleen, attended the dedication ceremony and I was happy to have met her.

Fred and Melissa Ruof with their donated roll-off observatory and telescopes.

Fred and Melissa Ruof with their donated roll-off observatory and telescopes.

 

The second was in honor of AAS member Fred Ruof. Fred and his wife moved here from Pennsylvania and donated an observatory, an 11-inch CAT, a 4-inch refractor and a PST to the club. In Fred’s words:

“My offer is very simple. I’ll give AAS my three best instruments – TeleVue 101 refractor, 11-inch Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain, H-alpha solar scope. This is a good thing for all of us. I expect the AAS will be around for at least several score of years. I may poop out in just a few.”

This was my first time meeting Fred and his wife, Melissa. What a fun couple. I also managed a hug and kiss from Fred, but only because he mistook me for someone else. Hey, I’ll grab a hug whenever I can regardless if it was intended for me or not!

Larry and Fred are wonderful examples of how dedicated and generous people can be, whether it be with their time or donations. We can carry on their efforts by using the equipment and being generous with our own time and support through public outreach and teaching others about the night (and daytime) skies.

The rest of the star party was filled with great company, great food, and particularly great cookies (thanks Kass Brown!).

Bluebonnets on the drive by Lake Buchanan
Bluebonnets on the drive by Lake Buchanan
Ealing telescope on the left, Harlan telescope on the right
Dedication plaque
Taken during the dedication ceremonies.
So peaceful at that part of the field.
Friday pot luck!

Posted in Austin (AAS), Cen-Tex, Outreach/Star Parties
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April 2013 Issue – Sidereal Times

•April 8, 2013 • Leave a Comment

The April 2013 issue of Sidereal Times for the Austin Astronomical Society is now available for download.
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April 2013 issue of Sidereal Times pdf (2.3MB)

Inside this issue, you’ll find meeting minutes, IDA news, Central Texas Star Party, Messier Marathon report, outreach events and reports, image of the month, report on Earth Hour, Observing Targets, App reviews, Guest Spotlight with Nick Howes, member photos and more!

Please contact me if you’re interested in joining the club or wish for more information! It’s a very active club and has a great outreach program.

Posted in AAS "Sidereal Times"
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2013 April 6 – Meridian Charter School Science Day

•April 7, 2013 • 1 Comment

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This weekend was Science Day at Meridian Charter School. I love these types of events because they provide hands-on learning experiences for a broad range of sciences rather than just astronomy. Marshmallows with toothpicks, empty soda bottles, plastic human skeletons and the likes were being ushered in by the armfuls in preparation of the event. My station was solar astronomy in the courtyard. I brought my dual mount solar rig consisting of a double-stacked Maxscope 60mm hydrogen alpha solar telescope and a 102mm refractor with a Thousand Oaks white light filter. I also brought handouts for the students and their families.

The volunteers and faculty staff at Meridian Charter were fantastic and very helpful. They provided food and refreshments and volunteers to assist me during the event as well as unloading and loading my equipment. They couldn’t have made me feel more welcomed if they tried.

I’m not sure how many people came through to take peeks at the Sun, but if I were to guess, it would be 300-400 during the 5 1/2 hours I was there – 1 hour for set up and tear down, the remainder for viewing. The ages ranged from toddlers to senior citizens. There were only a few breaks where I had a minute or two to step away from the scopes for a breather. Other than that, it was a steady stream of attendees with small lines. I explained the views of both scopes with each person that stepped up to the eyepiece. What fun it is to experience “first solar views” over and over again during the course of a day!

How often does a person get to hear a young student exclaim, “This is the BEST station yet!!”

Outreach is such a rewarding experience!

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Posted in Charlie Bates Solar, Outreach/Star Parties, School Events
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International Dark Sky Week 5 – 11 April, 2013

•April 5, 2013 • Leave a Comment

It’s International Dark Sky Week.

Celebrate the stars! Created in 2003 by high-school student Jennifer Barlow, IDSW has grown to become a worldwide event and a key component of Global Astronomy Month. The goals of IDSW are to appreciate the beauty of the night sky and to raise awareness of how poor-quality lighting creates light pollution.

Light pollution affects our night skies, disrupts ecosystems, and affects our health by breaking up a healthy sleep pattern. It’s never to late to address the problem and start making changes. There are several ways we can mitigate light pollution.

  • Join the International Dark-Sky Association  (IDA)
  • Assess lighting around your home
  • Spread the word
  • Outreach: throw a star party or present about light pollution in public locations such as schools, parks, sidewalk astronomy and libraries
  • Assess and photograph lighting in public areas to help out the IDA

To see how assessments are performed, please see IDA – Learning to Assess Lighting.

What do the skies look like in your area? Compare your skies with the image provided by The Universe on Facebook and learn more about the effects of light pollution and what we can do to help. Light Pollution Simulation

Posted in Light Pollution
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2013 Earth Hour – Austin City Hall

•March 24, 2013 • 2 Comments

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Earth Hour. Have you heard of it before reading this? If so, do you understand what it is?

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in Australia and the Leo Burnett Worldwide, in 2004, collaborated to bring global climate awareness to Australians. In March 2007, “The inaugural Earth Hour is held in Sydney Australia 7.30pm – 8.30pm, 2.2 million Sydneysiders and 2,100 businesses participate.” The idea was to reduce energy consumption by simply turning off all non-essential lighting for one hour at a proposed time and date. By doing this, it would bring people together as a community to show and act on a desire to protect our planet during (and continuing after) the Earth Hour event. October, that same year, San Fransisco ran their own version of Earth Hour after being inspired by the Sydney event. As word spread, so did the participation around the world.

“Uniting people to protect the planet

The world is using the equivalent of one and a half planets to support life on Earth. WWF’s Earth Hour was born out of a hope that this could change. At 8.30pm on 23 March hundreds of millions of people will turn off their lights for one hour, on the same night, all across the world in a huge, symbolic show of support.

It is a unique annual phenomenon that focuses the world’s attention on our amazing planet, and how we need to protect it.”

~ WWF 2013

I encourage you to read the message and watch the video from Andy Ridley, CEO & Co-Founder of Earth Hour, that can be found at this link:  Message from Andy – Earth Hour. Also, next time you see an envelope in the mail with a black and white panda logo on it, please take the time to open it. It’s an organization near and dear to my heart.

Outreach Chair Dawn Davies

Outreach Chair Dawn Davies

I’m very thankful to belong to an astronomy club that actively participates in and promotes events like this, light pollution, as well as public awareness and education concerning our important roll in preserving the night skies. We have a wonderful outreach chair, Dawn Davies, who spends countless hours organizing these events to provide avenues for us to reach out to the public. Last night, the Austin Planetarium and the University of Texas at Austin’s Astronomical Students Association collaborated with the Austin Astronomical Society in celebration of Earth Hour. Thanks to Dawn’s efforts, we were able to set up in front of Austin’s City Hall. What a wonderful opportunity and a thoroughly enjoyable evening! The Austin Planetarium Mobile Dome was there as well as Steve and Crystal Bosbach with the IDA. We also had 5 telescopes for both nighttime and solar viewing, binoculars, the “City Dark” documentary and lots of terrific company and discussions during the course of the evening.

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Posted in Austin (AAS), Earth Hour, Light Pollution, Outreach/Star Parties
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The James Webb Space Telescope

•March 21, 2013 • Leave a Comment

The James Webb Space Telescope full-scale model and crew came to the South by Southwest (SXSW) event in Austin, Texas over the weekend of March 8-10th, 2013. I had a full weekend lined up with other astro activities and obligations, but due to the weather, Paul and I were able to attend the event for a few hours on Saturday. This was a pretty exciting opportunity to learn more about the James Webb telescope design and its mission first hand from astronomers and engineers who are involved with its creation. The Webb Telescope will reach further into the Universe than Hubble, using infrared technology.

The James Webb Space Telescope – NASA

The James Webb Space Telescope (sometimes called JWST) is a large, infrared-optimized space telescope. The project is working to a 2018 launch date. Webb will find the first galaxies that formed in the early Universe, connecting the Big Bang to our own Milky Way Galaxy. Webb will peer through dusty clouds to see stars forming planetary systems, connecting the Milky Way to our own Solar System. Webb’s instruments will be designed to work primarily in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum, with some capability in the visible range.

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Specs:

  • Primary mirror: 6.5-meter diameter aperture
  • Wavelength: 0.6 to 28.5 microns
  • Diffraction limit: 2.0 microns
  • One-year sky coverage: 100%
  • Orbit: L2, 1,500,000 km from Earth
  • Mission lifetime: 5 years (10-year goal)
  • Telescope operating temp. : ~45 K (-380F)
  • Mass: ~6500 kg

We listened to presentations from Dr. James Bullock and Scott Willoughby. One of the highlights was a talk by Dr. John Mather, Nobel Laureate in physics.

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Outside, several engineers and physicists were available for questions and answers. This lady explained about the importance of proper placement (Lagrange point L2) of the JWST beyond the Moon’s orbit for gravitational balance.  L2 is 940,000 miles from Earth, four times as far away from Earth as the Moon. The Sun is 93,000,000 miles from Earth.

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We made our way back inside the NASA Experience Tent to have a closer look at the displays, learn more about the design material and infrared technology, and to grab a few souvenirs.

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What a terrific opportunity NASA and SXSW gave the Austin community.

JWST set world record – Find out how the JWST set a world record on March 10th in Austin, Texas

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Posted in NASA News, Outreach/Star Parties
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Surprise from Barton Hills Elementary

•March 20, 2013 • Leave a Comment

In this day and age, I rarely receive hand-addressed envelopes in the postal service mail. When I do, it brightens my day with fond memories of receiving personal mail before the era of emails and the Internet. Today, I received such an envelope, and imagine my surprise when I opened it to find a beautiful handmade card from one of the students at Barton Hills Elementary School where I participated in an outreach event. Family Star Night – Barton Hills Elementary 2013

It really warms my heart when a child’s eyes light up while observing through my telescope. To receive this precious handmade thank you card, even more so. Thank you, Isabella!

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Posted in Astronomy Meanderings, Outreach/Star Parties, School Events
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