Vol. 27 No. 6 March 1998 http://physics.weber.edu/oas/oas.html



THE MARCH MEETING

The regular meeting of the Ogden Astronomical Society will be held Thursday March 12, 1998 in the Ott Planetarium on the Weber State University campus. Members and visitors will come to order at 7:30 p.m.

Deloy Pierce will present a program created by The Astronomical Society of the Pacific on Impact Craters. Pictures and narration will present new information relating to these potentially deadly rogue bodies from space.

Also, at least one OAS member team observed last week's total solar eclipse from the Caribbean. We may be fortunate enough to see the photographic results.
 

MEMBERS NEEDED AT TWO
LOCAL SCHOOL STAR PARTIES

The OAS will present the universe to a couple of hundred inquiring young minds in late March and early April. Members are sorely needed to assist with the groups of students planning to look through our equipment. Please bring telescopes.
 

Thursday March 26, 1998:

Members will assemble telescopes at Wasatch Elementary School, 270 East Center Street in Clearfield. The teachers have estimated 150 students and parents.
 

Friday April 3, 1998:

Mound Fort Middle School at 1396 Liberty Ave. in Ogden will have about 100 students and parents present for viewing.
 

Both of these events are worth big bucks to the OAS so we hope to have a bunch of members attend them. Further details will be available at the March 12 meeting. Or, call Bob Tillotson at 773-8106 if you have questions.
 
 

MINUTES
OGDEN ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
January 8, 1998

The January 1998 meeting of the Ogden Astronomical Society came to order at 7:30 p.m. in the Ott Planetarium. President Steve Peterson opened with welcomes to members and visitors.

Club Treasurer Doug Say took to floor to conduct sales of the new "white" OAS shirts and caps.

President Peterson then opened the meeting to the evenings activity of member " Show and Tell". Steve started with examples of books and models relating to the early space program.

Ron Vanderhule exhibited a 10-inch telescope he is building and showed the members the innovative secondary spider which is part of his new design.

Wayne Sumner and Dr. Bob Neill too exhibited telescopic equipment and astronomy related items of interest to the group.

Deloy Pierce discussed the recently publicized facts surrounding sending ashes of Gene Shoemaker to the moon on board the Prospector spacecraft. Deloy also discussed plans for the Texas Star Party and The Riverside (RTMC) events.

The meeting adjourned to mixed conversations at 9:05 p.m.
 

MINUTES, February 12, 1998

President Steve Peterson opened the February meeting at 7:30 p.m. with welcomes.

SLAS has invited the OAS members to attend the Messier Marathon in March. Steve will likely attend the event and members interested may contact him.

Two local school star parties are scheduled; March 26 and April 3, 1998. The OAS will collect $50.00 for each. Members attendance is needed.

Members participating in Project ASTRO described some of their recent adventures with their 6th grade classes.

Doug Say presented a Treasury Accounting saying the club has just over $442.00 in the account. The club is attempting to collect enough money to soon purchase a Hydrogen Alpha Solar Filter.

Members should contact Doug for their Sky and Telescope renewal. Doug also discussed the possibility of a Golf Tournament at the Say Country Club this summer.

Deloy Pierce exhibited the recent fad in collectibles. The little sets of Mars Explorer toys he recently purchased at a local toy store.

The evenings speaker, Todd Pottorff, was introduced. Todd spoke on the vehicle and launch procedures of the recent Lunar Prospector mission.

The meeting adjourned at 9:30 p.m. RLT



OAS sympathies are extended to Mike Reinsch. Mike's mother, Mary Reinsch, passed away last month as a result of a long illness. 

Elgie's Picture of the Month

This image of the Horse Head Nebula was taken on February 18, 1998 at 20:10:25 MST by Mike Reinsch at my home observatory. It is a 40 second exposure. The image on the right is a negative of the same image on the left. I had the CCD set to -50 Degrees Celsius, and the image is not processed. We had high clouds and light winds the night we took this image along with others images, yet almost all of them turned out pretty good.

Elgie

Editor's Note: The detail in these CCD images is extremely fine and subtle, and fails to reproduce effectively in The Star Diagonal. Please refer to the OAS web site to see these images as they should be viewed. Editor regrets the inconvenience.