OAS Executive Committee

President- Lee Priest, Ph. (801) 479-5803

Vice Pres- Cliff Peterson, Ph. (801) 782-4378

Secretary- Jim Seargeant, Ph. (801) 479-4050

Treasurer- Doug Say, (801) 731-7324

Vol. 32 Number 2 November 2002 http://physics.weber.edu/oas/oas.html

The President's Message

Hi All, As we move into the colder part of the year, it seems that my telescope spends a little more time collecting dust. I do look forward to our star parties at the end of the year; there are many great observing nights if you bundle up. November will bring us a couple of opportunities to get out, the Golden Spike Star Party and Leonid meteor shower. I hope you can join us and spend some time associating with others, and the stars.

Lee

And Furthermore

The program for the November meeting will be a Show and Tell.

We will be collecting for "The Year in Space" desk calendar at the November meeting. If we order 10 or more, the cost will be $8.95 each. Less than 10 the cost will be $9.95 each. We will place the order shortly thereafter. They should be available at the December Meeting.

The Golden Spike National Monument Star Party will be November 8th and 9th. Telescopes will be set up in the Visitors Center parking lot. Camping will be available in the parking lot or the field next to it. There are no camp ground facilities, no fires will be allowed. The visitors center rest rooms will be open all night. David Dunn and Lee Priest will have stew, bread sticks and hot chocolate for everyone at midnight, bring something if you want. There is no charge for the star party but if you want to tour the area you will need to pay the admission fee.

We are planning to get together for the Leonid Meteor Shower on the evening of November 18th, possibly at the snowmobile parking area on the road to Monte Christo. If there is snow there, we will find an alternate place. Details will be discussed at the November meeting.

Andrew Pratt has received an LDS mission call. He is going to Cleveland Ohio, he will go January 8, 2003.

Lee Priest, President

OAS Minutes
October 10, 2002

President Lee Priest opened the meeting at 7:35 p.m.

Announcements:

The Treasurer offered the new 2003 Astronomy Magazine calendar for sale at $10.00 each. (I got mine and they're marked at $11.99; a deal!)

Lee introduced the OAS purchase of the Coronado SolarMax40, as was discussed in the September meeting. The cost will be $1774. Doug indicated that the club has lots in the treasurery, about $3400. A vote was called for and the purchase approved. The club will establish procedures and training for it's use and make it available to members.

The purchase of a 2" OII filter for use with BOB was also discussed at the last meeting, and Doug indicated that he found one for $110 on Astromart and had purchased it.

The opening star party at Dale Hooper's new observatory in Hyde Park will be 11 Oct.

The Golden Spike star party and a Leonids Watch were discussed. (See The Presidents Message.)

Lee thanked those who supported the star party at Huntsville. One of the highlights (ahem) was observing a passage of the International Space Station.

Cliff Peterson introduced the idea of the OAS conducting astronomy learning sessions in addition to the regular star parties. A beginner's class would allow time to help beginners set up and operate their telescopes and find objects to view. The public and private star parties just don't offer much opportunity to offer to help beginners. A show of hands found several OAS members willing to help. The President announced the OAS will set up a beginners program and that anyone interested sould contact him at Levae@aol.com.

Dr. John Sohl announced that the 2003 Observers Guide and Beginning Observers Guide are in, but that he lost track of who requested copies. (See John's note, below.)

He also announced that he was preparing a new order for the Photon series of LED lights for the Weber County Search and Rescue organization and could accept orders from OAS members. Several colors are available and prices include $4.50 for the "X" light and $8.50 for the Photon II, for instance. The new Photon Fusion head lamp is $42.

Lee discussed the desk planners - anyone interested should contact him at the November meeting. The discount depends on the number ordered

The night's program included the new Ott Planetarium show "Space Dreams" and a presentation by one of John's students, Spencer Demar Riley, who was selected for NASA's Research Experience for Undergraduates at Oklahoma State University. He described his very interesting survey of rock glaciers and how they may help understand features seen on Mars.

Coronado's Web Site

Take a look at Coronado's web site at http://www.coronadofilters.com/ for information on the SolarMax40 and their other telescopes and filters. A description of how their filters work is at Information/Technical Information.Star Party

Hi All:

I'm hosting a star party at the on-campus observatory across the street to the north from the planetarium. This is for the Ogden City Schools elementary school gifted and talented program (called EQUIP). It will be on November 8th from 8:00 to 9:00. Any help that I can get would be great. If you don't have a scope available or don't want to haul your scope, then you can operate one of the observatory's scopes. I will have the parking lot roped off so that the spots will be open for you if you bring a telescope. You will be able to pull in then just set your scope up on the pavement behind your car.
Thanks!

John

Dues are Due!

Have you paid your yearly OAS dues? Look on your address label. If you've paid, there is an " * " next to your name. If not, not. Let Doug Say know if we've got it wrong.

Upcoming Events

8, 9 Nov Golden Spike National Monument star party, dusk to dawn

8 Nov EQUIP star party, WSU observatory, 8 - 9 PM

14 Nov OAS meeting, WSU, Ott Planetarium, 7:30 - 9:00 PM

18 Nov Leonid Meteor Shower watch, dusk to dawn

RASC's Astronomy Handbooks

The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada's "Observer's Handbook 2003" and the "Beginner's Observers Guide" all arrived before last month's meeting and many where picked up at the meeting. Unfortunately, I accidentally recycled the paper listing who ordered what. If you ordered a guide and didn't get it at the last meeting you must either e-mail John (jsohl@weber.edu) to tag it for you or get it before the start of the meeting. Any guides that are left over by the end of the meeting will be sold on a first come first served basis. As a reminder, they are $14 each. Please have exact change or a check made to WSU Planetarium.

Thanks, John

Google Search for Images

Great tool! You can search for astro images at http://images.google.com/ or at the "images" link just above Google's standard search entry box. I did a search for M57 and got about 3,800 hits. I've been trying to get my "ultimate" image of M57 and found many benchmarks - no, I did not go through all 3,800! The way Google displays thumbnail linked images with direct web address is really useful.

The hint to look at Google Images came from Ed Stewart, stargazer@skymtn.com, on the Meade Advanced Products User's Group (MAPUG) mailing list.

Jim Sgt