OAS Executive Committee 

President- Ron Vanderhule

Ph. (801) 544-9458

Vice Pres- Dave Dunn

Ph. (801) 544-7705

Secretary- Bob Tillotson

Ph. (801) 773-8106

Treasurer- Doug Say

(801) 731-7324

A Special Solar Program is planned for this year's "Annual" Meeting of the Ogden Astronomical Society

A 7:00 p.m. start time is prescribed in order for members to view the sun through the H-alpha telescope

The "Annual" meeting of the Ogden Astronomical Society and election of next year's club officers will be held at Weber State University this Thursday September 14, 2000. Please note that an earlier than usual start time is planned this month. Dr. Bob Neill's Hydrogen-Alpha telescope will be set up near the front entrance of the Lind Lecture Hall (the planetarium building) at 7:00 p.m. After everyone has a look, members will move to the planetarium for the remainder of the meeting.

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A brief business portion to this month's meeting will consist of the election of new club officers. The nominees are:

President - Dave Dunn

2^nd Nomination is open*

Vice Pres. - 

Dr. Bob Neill

Lee Priest

Secretary - Bob Tillotson

2^nd Nomination is open*

Treasurer - Doug Say

2^nd Nomination is open*

* Nominations from the floor are permitted as long as the nominee has been contacted prior to, and has agreed to accept the nomination. REF: OAS By-Laws Article IV, Sec. 3

A ballot for each member-in-good-standing will be available at the meeting. Results of the voting will be announced before the close of the meeting. Everyone's vote is important. Please plan to attend.

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Antelope Island in September

Our next to last star party on Antelope Island State Park is scheduled for this Saturday September 9, 2000. Members may bring their telescopes along with friends and family and enjoy this popular event. Please pick your spot and try to be assembled before dark. For questions or directions contact one of your Executive Committee members.

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PRESIDENTS PARSEC

Greetings Earthlings

Did summer come and go already? I sure missed it this year. Counting RTMC we only got out four times observing/camping. I will admit though the four nights we spent in Dixie National Forest offered about the best skies I have experienced through an eyepiece. Buts that only if you like dark, steady, transparent skies. Just take highway 14 east out of Cedar City and with in minutes you are at 8 to 10,000 feet in pine and aspen covered mountain tops. I scouted the area thoroughly during the day and found several off road camping areas as well as the usual developed ones. I would heartily recommend this area. Its' Prez approved!

Speaking of Prez approved items, "Amateur Astronomy" magazine. It is a quarterly magazine written for and by amateurs. It has articles on scope building (atm) observing hints, product reviews, personality profiles, etc. It is the best thing out there for the amateur. Log on to < www.amateurastronomer.com >, and take care of your subscription from there.

Speaking of logging on, the utah-astronomy e-mail list is a good way to communicate with Utah astronomers and keep posted on the astro related events in Utah. Just subscribe from your computer by sending an e-mail to < majordomo@xmission.com> then put -subscribe utah-astronomy and your e-mail address then send it. Included in this newsletter is an account of my adventures with the northern lights that I sent out to the list the day following.

And how about the Monte Cristo events this summer? The theme song for the July outing was "Smoke Gets In Your Eyepiece". And with all the clouds in August I kept singing, "Turn On the Lights, the Party's Over". I must say the food was exceptional at all of them.

On a more personal note as my presidency shifts more to the red. I want to thank the members of OAS (my homies) for allowing me two years of choosing and organizing our monthly meetings. I had a great time at all of them and you are great bunch to work with .

Meetings came together well because of the willingness of members to be an active resource.

Also I appreciate your indulgence in that bit of whimsy that was my monthly column.

I don't know where some of that stuff came from I only know it will be used against me in court someday.

the Prez

P.S. Also thanks to Deloy Pierce for allowing me to use the term "Greetings Earthlings"

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And The Nominees Are:

Below are a few comments from some of this year's nominees.

For President, David Dunn:

"As president of OAS I will continue with the programs that we have been enjoying for the past few years. In speaking with several of you at Monte it was discovered that you want to have more private observing sessions at a location that is nearer to Ogden. These sessions will be planned about once a month, maybe more if there is an occultation or other special event. We will hold these year round if there is interest. Observing sessions like these will help us learn and will foster friendships. We are still looking for some good locations, if anyone has one please let us know".

For Secretary, Bob Tillotson:

"Some things never seem to change and I am proud to be nominated again as the OAS Secretary. I have seen amazing changes within the club over the years. The membership is now at one of its highest levels it has ever been and we have the highest quality of amateur astronomers we could ask for as an association. As your Secretary I will continue to be the Editor and Publisher of the newsletter. I am eager for members to submit articles, observations, their photographic work and such so I can share it with the membership. I appreciate your support and I always value your ideas and your suggestions on how we can make the club even better".

For Treasurer, Doug Say:

" Please elect me treasurer because I know were I put the MONEY and it's safe with me."

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The Prez has submitted the following to the Utah Astronomy e-mail List:

Last night around 1 am the dog and I went out back to the patio that faces north to do a little meteor watching. I noticed a different look to the sky than usual and for a second assumed it might be smoke from the Adams Canyon fire that afternoon. I then noticed that the mountains to the north and north east ( I live in the bench area in Layton ) past Ogden were lit up from behind and gave every appearance of dawn breaking in that direction. A splendid silver blue glow extended above them for about 10 degrees while above and to the east of that there was a deep reddish glow that extended maybe about 35 degrees.

The consensus between my dog and me was that maybe we should pull up a chair and keep an eye on this event, which we promptly did. For the next hour we watched the sky do things I haven't seen since the sixties. Every time the glow in the north would intensify, the sky above would produce ghostly, pale green and yellow glows and shafts of light ,some approaching zenith. After a particularly intense event I knew that I had to share this moment with my wife even at the risk of bodily harm by awakening her at that hour. Remarkably enough she was receptive to the idea and moments later two people and two dogs were perched on the patio watching natures light show. For another hour we watched the apparition which was punctuated frequently by some fairly impressive Perseid meteors. By 3 am Jupiter and Saturn were vying for our attention and deciding to make a night of it I dragged the 10 inch out

and gave them some eyepiece time. At 3:15 am we decided to call it a night (what else would you call it, the sun was down). I can't help but wonder how vivid the lights would have been if the moon hadn't been so prominent. I cursed the orb more than usual last night. All in all it was quite a night and I will be watching tonight for a replay.

I would like to hear from anyone who watched all night and get their impression of when the most intense period was. Or maybe I don't want to know. I would hate to think that the sky exploded in textbook aurora borealis while I was asleep.

Ron Vanderhule, member OAS 

Crossword Challenge

by Jeremy Mathews

(Click on the images for a larger view or to print out.)

"Terms"

Answers to Last Month's Crossword Challenge