Astrofiles
Auburn Astronomical Society E-Newsletter
October, 2006
In this Issue
October Events
This month’s meeting will be on Friday, October
7, at 8:00PM in room 215 of the Aerospace
Engineering Building. This will be an home football weekend so
parking will be worse than usual. Be prepared to walk several blocks.
Riders from the Montgomery area are welcome to
meet at the home of
Russell Whigham, 518
Seminole Dr., and carpool over to Auburn. Plan to be ready to
leave for Auburn at 7:00PM.
Our dark-sky star party this month will be on
Saturday, October 21, at Cliff
Hill’s farm, clouds permitting of course.
Upcoming
Events
Club subscriptions payments for Astronomy
and Sky & Telescope magazines are due this month. The
publishers want subscriptions in by October 15th. If I get 5 subscriptions
for Sky & Telescope and 5 for Astronomy
magazine at the October meeting I will go ahead and send them in.
After that date I will collect names until November 10th before I send
in my final list. I will of course send in club subscriptions at
any time during the year (feel free to ask) but I would appreciate it if
most members would help me out this year and give me their orders in October
or no later than November 10th. If checks are going to be late just send
me an e-mail and I will add your name to my list and collect payment later.
Club subscriptions for Astronomy magazine is $34.00
(regular price $ 42.95) for 1 year or $ 60.00 for 2 years. Sky &
Telescope is $32.95 (regular price $ 42.95) for 1 year.
Make
checks out to Auburn Astronomical Society. Only members of Auburn
Astronomical Society are entitled to club subscription rates. If you are
unable to attend our October meeting, mail checks to:
Auburn Astronomical Society
c/o John B. Zachry
501 Summerfield Road
West Point, GA 31833
Member
News
Please welcome Nathan Galle of Auburn,
and Trey Lee of Opelika as AAS members. We look forward to
continue having them join us at or meetings and star parties.
Mike Holley, while spending too much time
under the cool dark skies with his ETX70, has compromised his objective
immunity and suffered an acute case of aperture fever. He’s doing
much better now since he received his new Celestron CPC-11 (and
enough bells and whistles to keep him occupied for many years), from
OPT using the AAS discount! Mike ordered it the week before
our September star party, if you’re looking for someone to blame for the
clouds that night. We look forward sharing lots of eyepiece time
with Mike and his new baby.
Shane Bledsoe has
recently acquired a Canon AE-1 camera to go with his 8-inch Meade LX 200.
He’s looking for someone who might have a T-ring for his camera to sell
or trade. bledsoeauto@bellsouth.net
Jim Burns and his son drove over from Prattville
for our impromptu star party last month. Jim writes:
Thank you for the fine star party the other day
when I was able to bring my son. He's now "got the bug" and wants
to get a telescope and he's found one in his price range that he likes:
[really
long ebay link]
I wonder if you might offer your opinion or others
in the club regarding this scope or even suggest a different source?
Best regards,
Jim Burns
jim.burns@charter.net
12-inch Progress
Report
Ray Kunert reports that the tube assembly
has cleaned up nicely with its fresh paint and new hardware. The
mirror looks to be in good condition, as well. We spoke with Tom
McGowan about building a rocker box when the time comes, and William
Baugh has volunteered to re-aluminize the secondary. Jim Chesnutt
is still looking for the finder scope. Perhaps all of the pieces
will come together by Astronomy Day this spring.
Space News
John Zachry
treasurer@auburnastro.org
Sorry to disappoint anybody but the newest pictures
of the "Face on Mars" show it to be just a pile of dirt. http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2006/09/22/marsslide_spa.html
Messenger Spacecraft is scheduled to make it
first flyby of Venus on October 24 at 3:55 a.m. CDT (4:55 a.m. EDT).
Hope everyone is following MER Opportunity on
the Mars Exploration Rover web site http://marsrovers.nasa.gov/home/index.html
MER Opportunity is "currently a little over 45
meters (148 feet) away from Victoria Crater's "Duck Bay" - a point on Victoria's
vast rim. ... This location is expected to provide Opportunity a spectacular
view of the crater's interior."
"Victoria Crater is big – six times larger than
the stadium-sized Endurance Crater ..."
"Wheeling across the open, parking lot-like dune
fields of Meridiani Planum, the robot is nearing a major milestone: rolling
up to "Victoria", a crater that is roughly half a mile (750 meters) wide
and 230 feet (70 meters) deep." http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/060907_rover_update.html
As most already know, Mars will be behind the
Sun for most of October so don't expect any news about Mars spacecraft
during this time.
For those with NASA-TV, set your DVD or VCR recorder
for Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter News Conference on October 16th at 12 p.m.
CDT (1:00 p.m. EDT). Should be great! (Sure would like to know how many
members get NASA-TV!)
Mars Exploration Rover Spirit will have been
on Mars 1000 days on October 23rd or 24th.
Messenger spacecraft will make its first Venus
Flyby on October 24th at 3:34 a.m. CDT (4:34 a.m. EDT).
Thanks. - John
Cool Links
From: Jim Chesnutt
The Universe Song Copy the
link above to your browser. It is worth the time.
http://dingo.care-mail.com/cards/flash/5409/galaxy.swf
From: Rod Mollise
A new blog has been posted. This time it's AstroPlanner,
the observation/planning/logging program for PCs AND Macs. http://skywatch.brainiac.com/reviews/reviews.htm
Also check out Uncle Rod's Astroblog's:
http://uncle-rods.blogspot.com/
Topics include:
• The Astro Holga
• How Not to Spoil a Star Party
• Heavens to Murgatroid! A Galaxy Filter?
• Who Wants a 66mm Telescope?
• Celestron's SkyScout: Uhhh! What is it Good
for?
• Uncle Rod, What Am I Supposed to Bring to a
Star Party?
Meade History http://www.company7.com/meade/history.html
Loaner Scopes
Let Loaner
Scope steward, Rhon
Jenkins, know if you (members only) would like to have your name added
to the list to borrow either of the loaner telescopes.
Hoping to see everyone at the meeting and the
star party,
Russell
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