[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.

TOPIC: "Seeing Double" (Stars)

Join us Saturday night, September 29th at 8:00 when we will discuss multiple star systems: double stars, triple stars, and more. Some stars are obvious doubles to the naked eye, such as the stars Mizar and Alcor in the handle of the "big dipper" asterism. But with a telescope we begin to see that many, if not most, of the single stars we can see are actually double or triple stars. We will have a slide show on examples of star systems, and how they might appear from hypo-thetical nearby planets. For example, the "star" Castor in Gemini, which consists of 6 stars, and the star W in the constel-lation Ursa Major (Big Bear) which consists of stars that actually touch each other. We will see a demonstration of how stars orbit each other, and what is meant by terms such as "apastron", "periastron," and "line of apsides." We will consider a list of interesting star systems to view through the telescope, and we‚ll find out why the colors of the components in multiple star systems seem exaggerated when viewed through the eyepiece. Afterward, weather permitting, we'll view some stars and perhaps Mars as well.

We had a good group of approximately 50 amateurs at our Perseid Meteor Shower Party, Saturday August 11. The night was perfect, with just enough cool breeze to keep the flying insects away. I saw 5 or 6 large meteors and most other attendees saw at least 1 every 20 minutes or so. The Moon rose around midnight, spoiling the rest of the evening‚s dark sky, but we had good views of Mars and summer deep sky attractions, such as Albireo, the colorful double star in Cygnus.

Davis Star Show an exciting event!

Congratulations to the many volunteers who made the 2nd Davis show such a wonderful success! Larry Snyder was the chair of this year's group, and, many people were involved.

One of the volunteers noted: "Once when I was at the top of my 6 foot ladder, I looked down on the crowd while nudging my celestial object back into the eyepiece. There were no spaces where there weren't either telescopes or people, and there was a steady stream of people walking back and forth from the buildings." Certainly, the show has grown in every respect. Here's hoping this success will continue in future events. Our Club operated a table where kids and adults constructed planispheres. I suppose we helped make around 100 or so.

Monday morning the 10th Moon occults (covers) Saturn. (Note: times approximate) Saturn disappears behind the "upper left edge" of the Moon at 4:59 a.m., and reappears from behind the "upper right edge" at 6:07 a.m. The Moon will be well placed for the event: almost directly overhead. Good Luck! Mars is still bright above the southern horizon in the early evening but it is be-coming smaller as our faster orbit takes us around the sun and away from the red planet. Saturn rises around midnight and Jupiter around 2 hours later. Venus greets the early (5 a.m.) risers above the eastern horizon.