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Meeting was called to order by Burt Salk at 7PM at Laurel Manor.
Early arrivals to the Astronomy Club Meeting were taken outside and given a treat watching the International Space Station (ISS) make a 7 minute fly over Central Florida from 6:50 - 6:58 PM from WSW to the NNW.
The meeting began with several announcements of SST-126 successes and the loss of some tools being used during a space walk.
Our next Astronomy Club Meeting will be a members only Christmas Party on December 16 at no charge. The only thing we have asked of our attending members and their spouses is that they bring finger food for 10 people and BYOB.
Tom Stec presented "What's Up There", talking about the events going on in the heavens and the upcoming viewing available of the conjunction of Jupiter, Venus and the crescent Moon at the end of November.
Ernie Rossi brought an in depth presentation of Jupiter and it's Moons and explained the dramatic influence Jupiter has on our solar system. Its size, mass, gravity, make-up, and moons were all illustrated in Ernie's fasinating presentation. Thanks Ernie.
Congratulations to the winners of the 50/50 and to Mary Zarse the winner of the Telescope gifted to our club by a fellow villager.
Two other telescopes we own will be raffled off at our Christmas Party.
I want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.
Our January 20th meeting will be "The Search For The Smoking Gun" (exploring the Big Bang Theory) presented by Chuck Knaus.
Our next Executive Breakfast Meeting is January 7 at 10:30 AM and the meeting place has been changed to El Santiago Restaurant in The Villages.
Respectfully Submitted
Burt Salk, President
THE VILLAGES ASTRONOMY CLUB MEETING OCTOBER 21, 2008
Meeting was called to order by Burt Salk at 7PM at Laurel Manor.
A review of our well attended visit to the Plantation Astronomy Club with a presentation by Dr. Ken Kremer of the Dawn and Phoenix Rovers on Mars and the passing of Saturn by Cassini. Dr. Kremer showed 3-D Mosaic photographs of the surface of Mars and a discussion of Cassini's fly by of two asteroids.
Treasurer Bill Santos gave his Treasurer's Report with a current balance of over $2200.
Our Secretary, Nancy Reena brought out the new name tags for our club members.
Membership dues for the 2008-2009 season is due and payable at the door ($5.00).
50/50 was collected at the door with four $5.00 winners, congratulations.
"What's Up There" for Oct.-Nov. was presented by Doug Landmann.
A brief political discussion was requested by our members to clarify some of the confusion in the wording of proposed amendments for this upcoming public election.
The main event of the evening was a presentation of Part 2 - Birth of the Universe by National Geographic.
Upcoming events include Starry Night November 1 at 7:15PM behind the Saddlebrook Softball Complex.
Our next meeting Nov. 18 will feature a presentaion by Ernie Rossi on Jupiter.
Our Christmas Party for members and their spouses will be on Dec. 16 at 7:00PM at Laurel Manor.
Meeting was adjourned to the parking area at 8:10PM where Burt Salk setup his telescope for viewing of Jupiter and her moons. We just missed seeing Venus setting in the West.
Respectfully submitted,
Burt Salk
THE VILLAGES ASTRONOMY CLUB MEETING SEPTEMBER 16, 2008
Meeting was called to order by Burt Salk at 7PM at Laurel Manor. Burt Salk made some announcements and reminders....
Our new web site www.vlgastroclub.org
Our membership in Slooh.com
Our development of an email system of member communication.
Our club has been invited by Ernie Rossi 8PM October 20 meeting of the Astronomy Club at the Plantation for a presentation of the mosaic photographs taken by JPL's Phoenix and or Dawn satellite presented by Ken Kremer Phd from Princeton
Thanks to Jerry Kosarko and Doug Landmann for building our web site.
Treasurer's Report was given with $2078.00 in the bank less expenses for name badges.
Nancy Reena was unable to attend because of illness (presentation of the name badges has been postponed until our October 21 meeting.
Presentation of What's Up There by Doug Landmann was followed by s short clip from YouTube on the size of the universe discovered thru Hubble. We then had a presentation of National Geographic's Birth of the Universe, part 1. Part 2 will be presented at our October meeting.
Unfortunately, the presence of low clouds prevented our adjourning our meeting to the parking lot to view the heavens.
We then did the 50/50 and had three winners and adjourned the meeting at 8:15PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Burt Salk
THE VILLAGES ASTRONOMY CLUB MEETING JUNE 17, 2008
The June meeting of the Villages Astronomy Club was called to order by the President Burt Salk.
It was noted that there would be no meeting July or August of 2008. Meetings would resume in September 2008.
The E-mail Web site for the club is in the works and is expected to be available soon.
Doug Landmann presented "What's up there" for the month of June and July 2008.
It was also noted that a free project called the World Wide Telescope, similar to Google and planetarium software, was being introduce on-line. To utilize the program at least one gig of memory and a 2.4 gig processor was needed. This program has tours/search/explore and telescope capabilities.
Mr. Landmann spoke of the beginning of a new project in which astronomers around the world were going to be participating in a real time video. It was being constructed by a Danish astronomer and would begin in Australia and go around the world.
Mr. Salk noted that the SLOOH internet subscription was expired and he would renew same. Members should contact Mr Salk for user ID and Password. The club would pay for the subscription.
The program for the evening was a video presentation of the National Geographic Naked Science, Birth of the Solar System. Part 2 of this program will be presented at the June 18, 2008 meeting.
The dates projected for the next Starry Night at the Villages were Novermber 1, 2008 and February 28, 2009. These dates would allow for other astronomy clubs in the area to participate.
A report on Joe Stepnewski, a club member, was presented by Mr. Knaus. Joe is improving slowly and still is in the nursing facility.
Mr. Santos presented the Treasurer's report noting that the club has increased its treasury from last months report. Expected expenses include the Slooh renewal and the Web site fees.
There being no other business the meeting was adjourned following the video program.
Respectfully submitted,
Mary E. Hall, Co-Secretary
ETA CARINAE AND THE HOMUNCULUS NEBULA
Credit: N. Smith, J. A. Morse (U. Colorado) et al., NASA
"PILLARS OF CREATION" FROM EAGLE NEBULA WITH CUSTOM ENRICHED DETAIL
Credit: Piotr Wachowicz NASA / ESA Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2
