This month’s meeting will be on Friday, June 5, at 7:45PM in room 215 of Davis Hall, the Aerospace Engineering Building.  The doors to the building automatically lock at 8:00PM, so if you’re running late, rap on the door nearest our meeting room and we’ll let you in. 

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 6:45PM. 

Our new moon star party this month will be in conjunction with our CPODD stargaze on Saturday, June 20 at Children’s Harbor, just south of the Kowaliga bridge, on ALA 63 on Lake Martin, across from Sinclair’s restaurant.

June 5, Monthly meeting 7:45PM in room 215 of Davis Hall, 
June 5, Greatest western elongation of Venus (morning sky)
June 7, Lunar occultation of Antares, 9:05 to 10:17 PM CDT (Full Moon)
June 9, Io and Ganymede  shadows on Jupiter, 3:06 to 5:16 AM CDT
June 13, Greatest western elongation of Mercury (morning sky)
June 20, CPODD Stargaze at Children’s Harbor on Lake Martin 9:00p.m.
June 21, Summer Solstice – shortest day in northern hemisphere

July 25, Kumon Math and Reading Center Stargaze

October 11th - 18th Peach State Star Gaze 2009 will be held at the Deerlick Astronomy Village 
October 14th – 18 DSRSG  Wednesday, at The Feliciana Retreat Center, in Norwood, LA

CPODD Stargaze at Children’s Harbor 

Saturday, June 20, at Children’s Harbor on Lake Martin, near the Kowaliga bridge, on ALA 63 on Lake Martin, clouds permitting of course.   Because summer solstice will be the next day, sunset on Saturday will be late -- 7:55 PM, and the sky will not be dark enough for telescopic viewing until about 45 minutes later. Lets plan on having our telescopes ready to go at 9:00PM.  Sarah M. Dowdy is coordinating the weekend long retreat is expecting 80-100 guests.  Please let me know if you can help.

Kumon Math and Reading Center

Carrie Ingram, an intern at the Kumon Math and Reading Center in Auburn, writes:

We are doing a reading program this summer with our students and the universe is our theme. We are interested in offering our students opportunities to explore the universe through books and activities. I found your website and was excited to see that there are star gazing events. 

We’re currently working with Carrie to find a location for her event.  Because of the generally poor sky conditions that exist through the summer months, we’re looking at a first quarter Moon weekend, July 25.   I wrote to Carrie that I’d ask if any of our Auburn area members have any ideas.  Let us know if you have any suggestions for a location and if you can help.

Eastwood Christian School

Ira Hostetter has decided to wait until next fall so that the students can take full advantage of the pristine black skies at his rural Macon county farm.

June 05 - Venus At Its Greatest Western Elongation (46 Degrees)
June 06 - Cassini, Titan Flyby @ 599 miles
June 13 - STS-127 Launch - Space Shuttle Endeavour launch @ 6:17 a.m. CDT with Japanese Experiment Logistics Module
June 17 - Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)/ Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite    (LCROSS) Atlas 5 Launch
June 17 - Restart Dawn spacecraft ion thrusters
June 18 - First data from Kepler expected to be downloaded to Earth  http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/main/index.html
June 21 - Summer Solstice, 05:45 UT
June 22 - Cassini, Titan Flyby
June 23 - Pluto At Opposition
June 24 - Progress 34 cargo ship to I.S.S.
June 26 - GOES-O Delta 4 Launch
June 28 - Expected Space Shuttle Endeavour landing 11:16 p.m. CDT

All favorable ISS events for June are predawn events 

I think that Astronomy Day was very successful, despite mostly cloudy skies most of the evening.  The crowd may have been a little smaller than usual, but the folks that came seemed truly interested in astronomy.  Folks began coming in around 4pm.  Most of our guys had their equipment set up by that time.  Though it was hazy, it was possible to get glimpses of the 
moon.  Several people brought their personal telescopes and wanted to know how to use them.  Several more wanted to know how to choose a telescope.  The three NASA speakers showed up and had very good presentations.  I think Rick was very pleased at the way the evening went. 

Here are the names of the people who signed up to be on our mailing list:

Rebecca Croley 
Rebekah Medlen 
Debra Kinman 
William Naron 
Charlie Dubin 
Mills Thornton 
Brenda Thornton 
Michael Pastorett 

Michael was the winner of the free membership.  He is about 12 years old, but impressed everyone with his enthusiasm about astronomy.  He jumped out of his seat when I announced his name at the end of the program. 

Thanks to our members who volunteered their time and telescopes: 

• Ray Kunert, Takahashi Sky 90 refractor
• Mike Holley,  Celestron CPC11, SCT
• Frank Ward, 12-inch Lightbridge Dobsonian
• Gail Smitherman, 127mm Orion Maksutov 
• Jim Garner, Meade 8-inch SCT
• Jim McLaughlin,  Meade 8-inch SCT 
• Stephanie Doss, Astronomy Day photographer
• Rhon & Joyce Jenkins,  Ringmaster & Public Relations
• Elliot Errera, AAS 8-inch Dobsonian

See Stephanie’s photos and captions at the AAS Astronomy Day 2009 Web page.

STS 125 Hubble Release video (6:44) 

MRO- "Soaring over Mars" from JPL video (4:22) 

It’s back.  Six years later, the recycled Mars Hoax is still being forwarded. 

Time-Lapse Movie from TSP
Neat time lapse photography of the milky way rising over the  Texas Star Party

Book on Space Shuttle Challenger
From Larry M. Owsley

Twenty-three years after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, Auburn University Professor and author James Hansen has helped produce a compelling book recounting exactly why the U.S. space program's first fatal in-flight accident occurred. Hansen, professor of history and director of Auburn's Honors College, teamed up to write the new 626-page book "Truth, Lies, and O-Rings: Inside the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster" with Allan McDonald. McDonald was an engineer who warned NASA officials that Challenger's solid rocket motor could explode at ignition if launched that very cold morning on Jan. 28, 1986. In the book, which was just released by the University Press of Florida, Hansen assists McDonald in telling how his words of warning were ignored and the fateful consequences of that decision. For more details on Hansen's book, visit the news release

Peter Petrillo has set up a Facebook group for the "Auburn Astronomical Society".  Peter writes: 

You’ll need a FaceBook account which is needed to join the group.  I have not restricted the group's security so anyone can join it; however, that can be changed."

To see more details and confirm this group invitation, follow the link below:
<http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=798284535&ampk=RXAYYWRYWZ4M5AMFXCX3YW>nbsp

You can share unlimited photos, plan events and join discussion groups. It's free and everyone can join. 
To register, go to:  <http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=798284535&ampampk=RXAYYWRYWZ4M5AMFXCX3YWampr>

If you're already a member of Facebook, please make sure this email address is associated with your Facebook account.  Here are three ways for you to get the most out of it:

 Find Friends Find people you know on Facebook using our simple tools.
 Upload a Profile Photo Personalize your profile and help your friends recognize you.
 Edit Your Profile Describe personal interests, contact information, and affiliations.

If you have any questions, reference our New User Guide.
nbsp
nbsp

Cosmic Time Machine
From John Zachry 

Europe is planning to launch a sharp-eyed observatory Thursday to give humans their furthest look back in time to see the cosmic fingerprint of the Big Bang.  The Planck observatory will observe the cosmic microwave background radiation left over about 380,000 years after the Big Bang. 

Scientists extrapolated data from WMAP to pin down the age of the universe to 13.73 billion years, accurate to within about 120 million years.   WMAP found that dark matter, material not made of atoms, makes up about 23.3 percent of the universe. WMAP also confirmed the existence of dark energy as 72.1 percent of the universe, causing its expansion to speed up. <http://www.spaceflightnow.com/ariane/v188/planck.html>

From: Smitherman Gail 

I was watching the astronauts fix the Hubble on NASA channel on dish network 213.   I went down a channel and discovered Dish EARTH on channel 212.   This is a 24 hour feed of the earth from the Dish Satellite.  It is very cooolllll.    You can see the moon in the distance.   You can see stars but I can’t make out the constellations.  Give it a look and let me know if you can identify star patterns to left and right of earth.  <http://www.givetheworld.com/aboutEchoStar11.asp> 

Stephanie Doss is the proud owner of her first telescope – an ETX-70 GoTo refractor. 

AAS treasurer, John Zachry writes:

Here is the current list of Auburn Astronomical Society members. 

Thanks again for your time on this, John.  I've updated the membership page.  Be sure I didn't leave anyone out.
 

Hoping to see everyone at the meeting,

Russell