[The background above is part of an image by the Hubble Space Telescope of the Crescent Nebula.]

WHERE: AT EXPLORIT Science Center, 3141 5th Street, Davis.

Join us Saturday night, January 26 at 8:00 when we will discuss the SOHO project. SOHO is an orbiting Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. If you're thinking this subject is "déjà vu all over again," you're correct! The scheduled topic for our October 2001 meeting will also be featured at our first meeting for 2002: recent solar research.

SOHO was launched in 1995, reaching orbit one million miles sunward of Earth. It carries 12 instruments developed by European and American scientists. After years of continuous observing, the SOHO has accumulated an unprecedented array of pictures and data on the sun. Primary discoveries from the mission have concerned the internal structure of the Sun, the heating of the Sun's large outer at-mosphere, and the origin of the solar wind. We will have a slide show on what SOHO has discovered. If weather permits, we will observe the evening sky after the presentation.

In addition to the usual program, we will have a number of posters, stickers, CD-ROMs and pamphlets on the SOHO project, courtesy of NASA and the European Space Agency. We hope we'll see you there, especially if you are new to our hobby!

October meeting: we had a small group of approximately 1 at our meeting October and observation was confined to glimpses of the moon behind heavy clouds, wind and threats of rain. We'll hope for better luck in 2002!

Beautiful Leonids of November 17th.

Despite the bright lights of a TV film crew, (they vacated Fairfield school around 9:00 p.m.), we had an enjoyable Perseid meteor shower party at Fairfield School, though more clouds than meteors filled the sky before midnight. But, we did have some sparkle early in the evening, thanks to Joseph Roeper. It happened that Joseph's guest for the evening was the renowned sidewalk astronomer and teacher John Dobson. With his characteristic informality, anecdotes and observations amusing and educating, John related his vision of the universe, and hopes for the future of amateur astronomy. Thank you Joseph and John!

I had left the school around 10:00 p.m. By 2:00 a.m., member Larry Snyder re-lates, the school was becoming quite crowded, and when he left shortly there-after, the cars were parked along Rd. 96 on both sides, making it in effect a one-lane road. My son, who was parked with a group along the same road, said that people were reclining on the bike path taking in the spectacle. Thank you, Larry, and member Jane Smith, who were at the school much longer than I! I caught the show from my back yard in central Davis around 2:30 a.m. and saw many brilliant meteors, despite the light pollution. It certainly was the most impressive shower I've ever seen. Early analysis of sightings around the world suggest that the peak in our area was around 3:00 a.m.

Perhaps the most unusual factor in this apparition of the Leonids (at least for us Davisites) was that after midnight the sky was (relatively) clear - - no smoke, no fog, no dense clouds. A mass of very high altitude ice crystals may have de-graded the sky's general transparency, and certainly, it was difficult to see the Milky Way at all, but who could find fault when the meteors were so bright and numerous!

I hope you were fortunate enough to see a few, at least. If not, take heart, some predictions are already being made that next year's Leonids could be surprisingly good - - though they will be competing with a full moon!

To Receive These Bulletins via E-mail Contact Dennis Smith at: d2smith@pacbell.net

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.