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Newsletter
of the Desert Foothills Astronomy Club Issue #58: November 1st, 2011 |
Member
Society of the Astronomical League Since 2006 |
Contact the Editor: Dan Heim @ 623.465.7307 or email:
DFAC Events for 2011-2012: | ||||||
Date | Time | Event | Location | |||
Sep 21 | 6:30-8:30 pm | DFAC Lecture Meeting #1 Speaker: Dr. Ted Dunham, Lowell Observatory Topic: The Kepler Space Telescope and the Search for Exoplanets |
North
Valley Regional Library 40410 North Gavilan Peak Parkway Anthem, AZ 85086 |
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Oct 15 | 6:00-9:00 pm | Astronomy Night at Corona
Ranch Resort Setup 5:30-6:00 pm, observing 6-9 pm Post-event details TBA |
Corona
Ranch Resort 7611 S. 29th Ave Laveen, AZ 885339 |
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Oct 19 | 6:30-8:30 pm | DFAC Lecture Meeting #2 Speaker: Howard Israel, Phoenix IDA rep Topic: Light Pollution Update — The IDA's Perspective |
North
Valley Regional Library 40410 North Gavilan Peak Parkway Anthem, AZ 85086 |
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Nov 16 | 6:30-8:30 pm | DFAC Lecture Meeting #3 Speaker: Roger Serrato, DFAC Topic: Astronomy 101 (How to Buy Your First Telescope) |
North
Valley Regional Library 40410 North Gavilan Peak Parkway Anthem, AZ 85086 |
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Jan 18 | 6:30-8:30 pm | Astronomy Night at NVRL
(takes the place of our regularly scheduled meeting) Setup 6:00-6:30 pm, observing 6:30-8:30 pm Volunteers still needed |
North
Valley Regional Library 40410 North Gavilan Peak Parkway Anthem, AZ 85086 |
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Feb 15 | 6:30-8:30 pm | DFAC Lecture Meeting #4 Speaker: Fr. William Stoeger, S.J., Vatican Observatory Topic: Cosmology |
North
Valley Regional Library 40410 North Gavilan Peak Parkway Anthem, AZ 85086 |
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Mar 21 | 6:30-8:30 pm | DFAC Lecture Meeting #5 Speaker: Tom Polakis, EVAC & SAC Topic: Atacama Astronomy |
North
Valley Regional Library 40410 North Gavilan Peak Parkway Anthem, AZ 85086 |
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Apr 18 | 6:30-8:30 pm | DFAC Lecture Meeting #6 Speaker: TBA Topic: TBA |
North
Valley Regional Library 40410 North Gavilan Peak Parkway Anthem, AZ 85086 |
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Apr 25 | 7:30-9:00 pm | Astronomy Night at Canyon
Elementary School Setup 6:30-7:00 pm, sunset 7:00 pm, observing 7:00-8:00 or 8:30 pm Volunteers still needed |
Canyon Elementary School 34630 S. School Loop Road Black Canyon City, AZ 85324 |
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May 16 | 6:30-8:30 pm | DFAC Business Meeting Speakers: Dan Heim & Roger Serrato Agenda: DFAC Business & Officer Elections |
North Valley
Regional Library 40410 North Gavilan Peak Parkway Anthem, AZ 85086 |
Next Meeting: Wednesday, November 16th, 2011 |
Our next Lecture Series meeting is
November 16th. Our Speaker will be DFAC Treasurer Roger
Serrato. This will be his annual pre-holiday presentation
titled Astronomy 101, including a "how to buy your
first telescope" lesson for those considering a
holiday purchase. This lecture is designed for beginners
in our hobby, as it usually attracts interest from the
public at large. Still, even for us "pros"
Roger always has some good tips on equipment and
techniques. Doors will open at 6 pm. Hope to see you all there! |
Last Meeting: Wednesday, October 19th, 2011 |
Our last meeting featured Howard
Israel, Phoenix area rep for the IDA. Originally scheduled to talk about "light
pollution," Howard decided there just wasn't that
much new to report. Instead, he gave one of his many
popular presentations from the cruise ship lecture
circuit. The topic: We're All Made of Stardust — The
Life Cycle of Stars. Dan began the meeting with some club
business about upcoming events (see State of DFAC), a
quick review of the Galactic Gavel genesis, and then
introduced Howard. Photos by Roger Serrato. Howard began his presentation with the intriguing question "Where did the atoms in your body come from?" He began his answer with a review of since-debunked theories of stellar and planetary genesis, and then explained the current proto-planetary disc model. From there, he launched into a discussion of stellar nucleosynthesis, basically covering the birth, life, and death of stars. The following 2 images are slides from Howard's presentation. The first shows the Orion Nebula as a classic example of a "stellar nursery." The second is a supernova in the LMC that was recorded by the HST in 2007. For elements heavier than iron, nucleosynthesis requires the energy released by such massive explosions.
We finished a little earlier than usual, giving members the opportunity to ask some followup questions. Howard handled them all, and threw in some additional info about the prospects for intelligent life on other planets. The recent profusion of exoplanet discoveries (see last month's review of Dr. Ted Dunham's presentation) certainly modifies the factors in the Drake Equation. 10 members and 4 guests were present. It was a good turnout. Always nice to see new faces. Dan adjourns the meeting at 8:15 pm with the usual nickel-iron to aluminum impact. Special thanks to Jean Renn for providing a last-minute laptop for our speaker. Signals got crossed, and our speaker's presentation was on a thumb drive. The Library couldn't help, but Jean could. After the meeting was adjourned, 6 members and 4 guests retired to Native New Yorker for further discussion, libations, and the usual great food. Dave Beams, who missed the meeting, caught up with us there. DFAC picked up the tab for members who participated in our Astronomy Night event at Corona Ranch Resort (see Space Debris). |
State of DFAC: By Dan Heim, President |
Item 1: [repeated
from last month] Scott Loucks suggested we push strongly
for all members (at least those who are online) join the
newsgroup he moderates for DFAC. He points out that, for
organizing astronomy events, it would be far superior to
email chains, and a central repository for event
information. We could even run a poll regarding where we
want to eat/drink after the event. Makes total sense to
me. So how about it, members? Signing up is easy. Simply
visit: https://edit.yahoo.com/registration?.done=http://groups.yahoo.com%2f&.src=ygrp&.intl=us to create a Yahoo account (if you don't already
have one), then go to http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/DFAC-IE/ and start participating. It would be great if all
DFAC members were onboard there, and save me a lot of
email time. And there's also some good discussion threads
you might want to participate in. Scott has made signing
up and participating about as easy as it can be. Thanks! Item 2: With our successful October 15 event at Corona Ranch Resort now history, it comes time to solicit volunteers for the Jan 18 event at NVRL. This will be a public Astronomy Night that takes the place of our regularly scheduled Lecture Series meeting. We won't make any money at this one, but the Library says it's OK to put out our "donations box," so we might get a little something for our treasury. We're doing this mainly as a favor to NVRL, who has made our speaker scheduling process simpler with a change of their policy. We'll be setting up on the grassy area just west of the Library. There will be some lighting issues, but not as bad as it was at Corona Ranch Resort. We also lose a little sky to building heights, but still have many good targets for the evening. Those include: Jupiter, Pleiades, Double Cluster, Andromeda Galaxy, Orion Nebula. So with my astro binocs for the Pleiades, that means we'll only need 4-5 scopes. Setup is 6:00-6:30 pm, observing from 6:30-8:30 pm. The Library tells me to expect 40-50 people. So this is the official call for volunteers. If you want to attend without a scope, please do. Always good to have extra people around to answer questions, hand out club brochures, and keep an eye on the donation box. Otherwise I'll be handling those duties. And we will be adjourning to Native New Yorker afterward as usual. Please let me know if you can help out at this event. Thanks in advance! And 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: |
“In 1911 the little
town of Nakhla in Egypt was the scene of one of the most
remarkable events in history when a chunk of rock fell
from the sky and killed a dog. This is the only known
canine fatality caused by a cosmic object. Improbable
though this encounter was already, its truly
extraordinary nature was revealed only decades later when
scientists found that the culprit was not a common
meteorite, but a piece of the planet Mars.” — Paul Davies, "The Fifth Miracle - The Search for the Origin of Life" |
Space Debris: Astronomy Night at Corona Ranch Resort |
On Saturday, October 15th, DFAC did an
Astronomy Night at Corona Ranch Resort at Baseline &
29th Avenue. It was a bit of a drive, but we had been
contracted for $100 per telescope, so it was well worth
the effort to feed our treasury. We were assisted by PAS,
who fielded 3 scopes to bring the total to the requested
10. We were able to deploy our scopes on a flat and level concrete patio area. That advantage was somewhat offset by light pollution from the resort, but by the time guests arrived we had at least a few targets to show them. Those included the Double Cluster, Albireo, Jupiter, the Sagittarius Star Cloud, and a (late rising) gibbous Moon. Here we are, fully deployed and waiting for customers. The resort was hosting a convention of graphic design artists from around the country. With their eye for aesthetics, they appreciated the views. Not surprisingly, Jupiter and the Moon were the highlights of the show. Many of the guests resided in large cities, and many remarked how "I had no idea such cool things were up there." Part of the deal (for DFAC volunteers) was that DFAC would pick up the tab at Native New Yorker after our next meeting. And so we did. Even with that tab, our treasury netted a cool $500+. Many thanks to all those who volunteered, and to PAS for their assistance. |