March Club Meeting Highlights

Tonight we just finished our March Club Meeting and had great fun snacking and learning about the many resources available to the budding astronomer.  Books covered such topics as "40 Nights to Knowing the Sky", "Astronomy for Dummies", "Universe", "Mike Lynch's Minnesota Starwatch", "Night Sky Companion Volume 1 and 2", "Sky Atlas 2000" and several others.  Members were given the opportunity to peruse these volumes and ask questions and I think some may have been inspired to pick up one or two of the titles.  Also, our Youngest member of only 6 years of age, received her "First Observation Club" certificate, patch and sticker.  Congrats Jane!

While the adults had their meeting, the younger members enjoyed coloring pictures of constellations and finding them on the planetarium globe projector and learning about the location and size of several of them.  Good times were had by all.

Additionally we discussed the upcoming Messier marathon and planned a star party around that theme.  We are considering  hosting a table at the Mora home show and also possibly participating in an astronomy themed evening at the Paradise Theater.  We are also finalizing plans to help the local Boy scouts and Girl scouts earn their Astronomy patches.  With many things in the works, stay tuned for more astro-fun in the coming months!

Jim

March star party yields several unexpected surprises!!

We just got back from a great couple hours in the snow and truly had a ball tonight.  To start things off, at about 6:35 the ISS flew overhead and it was so bright and slow moving that everyone got a view of it through the 10" dob!!  Very cool.  The next surprise was that while we were enjoying a dusky view of Jupiter, the thinnest waxing crescent moon any of us had ever seen appeared.  It was remarkable!

We had 9 club members in attendance and our youngest club member completed her "Young Observers Club" program this evening. She demonstrated her knowledge of constellations, planets, the moon, stars, nebula, and open clusters by showing an example of each to us using a dob equipped with a Tel-rad.  We were all proud of this six-year old's achievement!

The skies were remarkably clear despite the "mostly cloudy" forecast and the temps were in the mid-teens.  Conditions could not have been much better for early March, so we took the opportunity to participate in the Globe at Night Observation program determining the visual limiting brightness of the stars from our location.  This exercise was both fun and educational for everyone!

Come out and join us for our next club meeting Tuesday, March 22nd at 7:00 PM at Dr. Jim Williams' dental office.

The "Cabin Fever" Star Party is on!

It has been a long winter, so get out of the house and be sure to join us tonight at 6 PM to enjoy the evening skies!   We'll stay out as long as we can withstand the cold at the Jaycee's ball field on North Grove street in Mora!  The Orion nebula will be sure to delight as well as many galaxies in Leo and Virgo.

See you there!

Jim