ASTRONOMY CLUB NEWSLETTER

CLUB EVENTS:

Come on Saturday, February 20th to view beautiful images captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, illustrating various stages in the life of stars. Most stars are born from clouds of hydrogen gas, endure a sometimes tempestuous youth, settle into a long "middle age" and then fade or, sometimes explode, seeding the galaxy with heavy elements. Atoms, other than those of hydrogen and helium, found on our planet originated within such stars. After the slide show, and weather permitting, we will view stars of the February sky. What a variety they present! Old stars such as red Betelgeuse and Aldebaran, contrast with younger stars, the bright blue "babies" of the Pleiades cluster. For interesting multiple star systems we have the "Trapezium" in Orion, Omicron Draconis, Gamma Andromedae ("Almach"), Iota Cassiopeiae, Eta Persei ("Tien Chuen"), Delta Orionis ("Mintaka"), Alpha Geminorum ("Castor" six stars in one) and Gamma Leonis ("Algieba")

If you are just beginning to develop an interest in astronomy, you may be interested in our continuing "Where's that Star" series. Discover why we see Gemini in the winter, but not in the summer. We will use slides to help "observe" the various astronomical features of the constellation Gemini.

SATURN meeting. The Club opened its 1999 season on a wet night in January-the sixteenth, to be exact. Though we weren't able to go outside to view the subject of the meeting-Saturn, we were warm in the spacious Explorit classroom. We saw a slide show on Saturn and the Cassini space probe that is scheduled to arrive at the ringed planet on July 1, 2004. We looked at what sort of equipment this school-bus-sized probe is carrying, including a probe that will impact Saturn's moon, Titan. We were also pleased to hear that, as of that morning, the spacecraft appeared to be out of danger after shutting itself down earlier in the week. The slides showed artist's impressions of the spectacular sights Cassini will be returning to us from the "Lord of the Rings."

Scouts in space. Thursday night January 7, Tim Feldman and I presented a program on astronomy to approximately 100 Cub Scouts from Davis's Troop 111. The young audience, aged 5 to 11 years old was very attentive and receptive. The weather prevented us from viewing the sky, so we provided a slideshow on upcoming space flights to Mars and future NASA missions. Creation of a model of a comet using dry ice was quite popular with the boys. Tim showed the Scouts how telescopes are made, using his own 8 inch as an example. Scout leaders said this was one of the most successful presentations they've had. Thank you, Tim and other club members who offered to assist in this event!

Astronomical Sights In February

Saturn, Jupiter and Venus are prominent in the early evening sky shortly after sundown this month. Watch as Venus appears to move closer to Jupiter day by day until the 23rd.

Tuesday the 23rd around 6:00 p.m. be sure to view Jupiter and Venus! The two planets will be approximately 17 minutes of arc (0.3 degrees) apart.

Mars is approaching. Around month's end, for early morning observers, Mars is in the south just before sunrise. Its northern polar cap should be visible in telescopes at high power.
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To Receive These Bulletins via E-mail Contact Dennis Smith at: densmith@dcn.davis.ca.us

The Astronomy Club is hosted by Dennis Smith with the assistance of Tim Feldman and other eager astronomy buffs. The club is for everyone - adults, children, knowledgeable or ignorant. Come to listen, look and learn, or to share your expertise or experience.