Newsletter of the Desert Foothills Astronomy Club
Issue #51: January 1st, 2011
Contact the Editor: Dan Heim, phone: 623.465.7307 or email:
DFAC Events for 2011: | ||||||
Date | Time | Event | Location | |||
Jan 19 | 6:30-8:30 pm | DFAC Lecture Meeting #4 Speaker: Dennis Young, Sirius Lookers Astronomy Club of Sedona Topic: Astro Scenic Photography of Arizona |
North Valley Regional Library, 40410 North Gavilan Peak Parkway, Anthem, AZ 85086 | |||
Feb 16 | 6:30-8:30 pm | DFAC Lecture Meeting #5 Speaker: Howard Israel, IDA Topic: The Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe |
North Valley Regional Library, 40410 North Gavilan Peak Parkway, Anthem, AZ 85086 | |||
Mar 16 | 6:30-8:30 pm | DFAC Lecture Meeting #6 Speaker: Bob Holmes, Meteorite Man Topic: Meteorite Hunting The Inside Story |
North Valley Regional Library, 40410 North Gavilan Peak Parkway, Anthem, AZ 85086 | |||
Apr 20 | 6:30-8:30 pm | DFAC Lecture Meeting #7 Speaker: Rick Tejera, Saguaro Astronomy Club Topic: Beyond M42 (what to look at after you've found all the easy stuff) |
North Valley Regional Library, 40410 North Gavilan Peak Parkway, Anthem, AZ 85086 | |||
May 18 | 6:30-8:30 pm | Annual Business Meeting | North Valley Regional Library, 40410 North Gavilan Peak Parkway, Anthem, AZ 85086 | |||
Jun TBA | 5:00-9:00 pm | June Summer Social at Heimhenge, featuring Asteroids Snooker, snacks and drinks provided by your hosts Dan & Sandi. | Maps will be sent to members only. |
Next Meeting: Wednesday, January 19th, 2011 |
Our speaker will be Dennis Young, of
the Sirius Lookers Astronomy Club in Sedona. Dennis is
not only an astronomical entrepreneur, providing
stargazing experiences for visitors to Sedona resorts,
but also an avid photographer, specializing in the
combination of terrestrial landscapes as astronomical
skyscapes. He has an entire line of postcards based on
this concept, and will share his work with us, explaining
what is involved in producing these works of art. He also
has a massive open-truss Dob, through which your
President first saw the Veil Nebula up at Orme-Dugas Road
off I-17 some 10 years ago. Doors will open at 6 pm. Hope to see you all there! |
Last Meeting: Saturday, December 18th, 2010 |
This "last meeting" was
actually our DFAC Holiday Social, hosted by Jay &
Barb Chatzkel at their beautiful home in New River. If
you're looking for our last formal meeting, in
November, check here. This was our
first gathering at the Chatzkel hacienda. There was a bit
of a mixup with the map. MapQuest had the roads wrong,
which they often do in developing rural areas. That map
has since been updated to reflect reality. With the help
of a hastily posted sign, all attendees were able to find
the place, though a few arrived late. The weather started out pretty nice, so we took advantage of their deck and beautiful views of the surrounding open desert. The deck also provided a spot for members to enjoy a pipe of their favorite tobacco. Left to right: Dan, Diann, Ron, Scott, and Dave. As the weather cooled we moved inside. Left to right: Peggy and Bob, Julie, and Barb (our gracious host). Jay had this cool cake made up for us. Note the two stars exchanging mass in the upper left Orion Arm of the Milky Way. Or maybe that was just dribbled frosting? Host Jay cuts and serves, as Dan offers thanks for the cake we are about to receive. It was a great Holiday Social. With 10 members in attendance we had lots to talk about and enjoyed each other's company. Thanks again to Jay and Barb for making this possible! |
State of DFAC: By Dan Heim, President |
Item 1: Not much to
report at this point in time, except that our speaker
schedule for Spring has filled in nicely. See the DFAC Events for 2011 at the top of this page. We have some
interesting lectures on tap for 2011, and always strive
for a good mix of topics. We think you'll enjoy our
selections. Item 2: And yet another copy and paste from last month. In fact, expect to see this here every month until we get some action. VP Jim Renn will not be continuing as VP next year. He'll still be a member, but time constraints dictate his decision not to run. So we're looking for a member to step up and run for VP, to be voted on at our May 2011 Business Meeting. Here's the job description from our Constitution: ARTICLE 2: Officers and Duties b. Vice President: The Vice President shall assist the President in the performance of all duties, and assume responsibility for those duties should the President be unable to do so. The Vice President will maintain and a list of potential speakers for our Lecture Series, contact and schedule those speakers, and coordinate stipends as needed with the Treasurer. If you think you can fill this position, please let me know. A few things to be aware of ... first, we maintain a "speaker contact list" with both phone numbers and emails for some 24 potential speakers to make the job of scheduling easier (not that you can't add to the list, which grows yearly). Second, as #1 for the President, your attendance at meetings is crucial. Should the President, for whatever reason, be unable to preside, you will need to be there. And third, should you become our new VP, you'll get an unlimited supply of these cool DFAC business cards: I count on our membership to help make DFAC work. I appreciate the support of those who do step up, and encourage those who haven't to consider it. Bottom line is, none of the Officer positions really dominate your schedule, and you have considerable flexibility in choosing how to make it work. So please consider this, and I appreciate your thinking about it. Thanks for reading Quid Novi. If you have feedback, you know where to reach me. Until next we meet, clear skies! |
Quote of the Month: |
When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong. |
Space Debris: Astronomical Poetry |
For those of you inspired by the Muse,
I stumbled across a great collection of astronomical
poetry at: http://www.baltastro.org/AstroPoetry.html Here's just one example from Walt Whitman I'm sure many of you are already familiar with: WHEN I HEARD THE LEARN'D ASTRONOMER There are many other poems by lesser authors, but it's a nice collection to browse. Enjoy, and Happy Holidays! |