Doors will open at 6 pm. Hope to see you all there!

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).

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!

— Paul Davies, "The Fifth Miracle - The Search for the Origin of Life"

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.