Auburn Astronomical Society E-Newsletter September, 2006 In this Issue
This month’s meeting will be on Friday, September 8, at 8:00PM in room 215 of the Aerospace Engineering Building. AAS president, Rhon Jenkins, will give our program on “The Latest Findings in Cosmology”. This will be an “away” football weekend so parking should be no worse than usual. 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, September 23, at Cliff
Hill’s farm, clouds permitting of course.
John Zachry Saw an interesting article in the September 2006
issue of Popular Science magazine, pages 72-73 entitled "Finding Earth's
Cosmic Twin" which said among other things:
--- John Zachry Good time to see the International Space Station next week. I hope members will tell their local newspapers and get some free publicity for A.A.S. - John The International Space Station will pass almost directly over the Montgomery area on Wednesday, September 6 traveling from Northwest to Southeast between 8:02 p.m. CDT and 8:07 p.m. CDT (but not on Friday, September 8). The International Space Station will pass over the Auburn area on Wednesday, September 6 traveling from Northwest to Southeast between 8:02 p.m. CDT and 8:07 p.m. CDT and again on Friday, September 8 from Northwest to Southeast between 7:13 p.m. CDT and 7:19 p.m. CDT The International Space Station will pass over the West Point area on Wednesday September 6 traveling from Northwest to South southeast between 9:02 p.m. EDT and 9:07 p.m. EDT and again on Friday, September 8 from Northwest to Southeast between 8:13 p.m. EDT and 8:19 p.m. EDT Good web site to see Space Shuttle Atlantis flight
plan if it is launched on Wednesday, September 6.
--- John Zachry Scott Thompson is sharing his always informative and well written astronomy articles with us again. Scott writes: I posted my feature article of the Wetumpka Meteor Crater on the web and I will let everyone get a peek at the October's article early. All previous publications are here: http://www.inaap.com/publications.htmSeptember: Wetumpka’s Meteor Crater Near-Earth asteroids seem to make the headlines more often these days as we continue to search skyward. At this moment no asteroid seems likely to hit Earth anytime soon. However this was not the case in the early years of our inner solar system, including planet Earth. These cataclysmic events have left many scars across the Moon, Mars, Venus and Earth. Now local geologists have the first direct evidence proving that the “Astrobleme” in Wetumpka came from a meteorite impact that occurred around 83 million years ago. [more…] October: Pluto and Charon The ruler in darkness, the icy unstable rock,
the little rear brakeman waving from the back of the caboose, is now no
longer a planet! The poor guy didn’t even get a farewell party. He was
booted out of the club before a century had even passed. The International
Astronomical Union (IAU) has voted to downgrade Pluto to the status of
dwarf planet.
Cool Links Celestron SkyScout From: "Thad Floryan" <thadATthadlabs.com>
Wellllll, I couldn't resist. My buddies at the local Orion store in Cupertino called last Wednesday stating the units are trickling in and they'd hold one for me. So I bought one yesterday and, without a doubt, Celestron has a real winner here. A mini-review, PDF manuals and docs, and pictures can be found at: <http://thadlabs.com/ASTRO/SkyScout/> From: "astronomics1" <mikeATastronomics.com>
Here are some numbers for anyone who cares. Celestron Pre-Sells to dealers. 14,000
They are a very hot item. I hope they jumpstart the astronomy hobby and get new people wondering what the heck is going on up there. While it might not appeal to seasoned vets, but people that pay $400 for an IPOD (me being one of those people. I have 5 different models. I know, I know, it is a sickness) will scarf them up. People like my cousin with 3 kids and he doesn't know a lick about astronomy and can never answer a question like,"Daddy, what is that?" Mike/astronomics Fun with Pluto From: "Jim Webb"
From: Gary Spiers
An unofficial email circulating at JPL first put
a spin on the Pluto
GaryS Night Lights From: Anthony Arrigo <AnthonyATStarryNightLights.com>
My name is Anthony Arrigo... I'm the president of an organization that I'm sure you'll be happy to hear about. My company, Starry Night Lights is a night sky friendly lighting retailer. (www.StarryNightLights.com) Our goal is simple... to provide the widest selection of attractive, high quality, night sky friendly lighting available anywhere. This is something that's been really hard to come by for way too long. If you'd be so kind as to add a link to Starry Night Lights from your Auburn Astronomical Society website I'd be grateful. I'd also be willing to offer a 10% discount to you and your members. Simply enter astronomy-06 into the coupon field at checkout time. I've put together a few "suggested" link formats
(http://www.starrynightlights.com/help/support_starry_night_lights.html)
Please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments you might have... as well as suggestions on how I might improve my site or product line. Thanks for any support you can provide! Anthony 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, Russell
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