Meeting Saturday, 11 Feb 7:00pm Presentation: Humble Hubble
Little Rockians and C.A.A.S. — Get fired up! —
Mark your calendars: Central Arkansas Astronomical Society’s next meeting (always the 2nd Sat of every month) is right around the corner and YOU and your FRIENDS are all invited.
Never been to a meeting …and know nothing about Astronomy?…then you need to come and join us!
Saturday, 11 Feb
7:00pm (19:00 for you military types)
River Ridge Observatory grounds in the clear, dark skies between the cities of Wye and Roland, AR.
Presentation for this month:
This is going to thrill ATMers (Amateur Telescope Makers) -and- people that want to tweak/fix their imperfect “big box store” telescopes to get max performance. Ray Jeter is going to present how he turned a humble collection of cheap/eBay/mall store “scope parts” into a compact wonder you can carry with one hand, yet captures the Heavens above with visual Image & Color perfection. If your bright “star” looks more like a bright “starfish” then you need to hear his tips, then your Reflector telescope can become a humble Hubble in your own back yard.
DOOR PRIZE:
All in attendance are eligible for the drawing for 2 more HUBBLE‘s best space pics photo books.
We’ll be getting an updates regarding:
William Bryden — he is designing CAAS shirts for 2012
Jim Fisher — CAAS business cards are in for every member and guest. Also, an update on our 501C status.
Need to learn how to use your scope?
We can help teach you… parents or kids. All you need is a love of the night’s sky and a sense of wonder in your heart, shooting stars, nebula and galaxies …await you together with friends. If you are bringing a scope you want to learn how to use, contact us so we can set your scope up BEFORE sunset (5:45pm)
After the short welcome and meeting at 7 p.m., skies permitting, we will adjourn to the observing field for fun and fellowship under the planets and stars.
If you need directions to the River Ridge Observatory, please email info@caasastro.org and they will email you the coordinates for Google as well as the password protected Driving Directions located on our website http://www.caasastro.org/category/dreictions-to-caas . Possibly, even meet up with a staff member in L.R. and you can follow our car as we drive to the site…or or maybe even arrange a ride with a staff member if you need a ride.
Become part of our family and friends. You don’t even need to own a scope. All are welcome.
Blue Skies
Bill
Servant to the amazing members of C.A.A.S., Skipper of the Big Dipper, Club President
Minutes from the January 2012 Meeting
John Reed presented astrophotos he made using an off the shelf digital SLR camera. He used a 200 mm lens. Each photo covers a 6 degree by 4 degree area of the sky. He took 30 to 60 one minute exposures for each image. Then, he used a computer program to stack the images. Finally, he used Adobe Photoshop to finish processing each image. He was able to capture impressive pictures of the moon, star clusters, bright and dark nebulae, and galaxies!
The roof leak was fixed by Wade Van Arsdale and Danny Flippo on Saturday. The heater in the bathroom had ceased to function. Wade purchased and brought a replacement heater. Wade will be reimbursed for his expenses.
Membership dues are due in January each year. Quite a few membership dues were turned in Saturday night.
William Bryden presented some awesome T-Shirt design options. There was quite a bit of discussion of the designs. We hope to vote to select a design during the next meeting.
Darrell Heath was nominated for Membership Coordinator by William (Bill) Engberg. The nomination was seconded by Roger Gudith. Darrell was unanimously voted in as the Membership Coordinator.
Wade and Darrell volunteered to be the “Info@ Response Team” and answer questions we receive at the info@caasastro.org email address.
Jim Fisher presented NASA Space Shuttle coins to VP Eric Walker and Carl Freyaldenhoven for their help last year.
The LANTERNS Feb 2,3,4 event at Wildwood will be headed by Darrell/UALR. He is checking to see if they want a telescope (or ten!) set up each night. If so, we have a few volunteers on different nights (Carl Freyaldenhoven on Thursday, John Reed on Friday, and Darrell Heath on Saturday night). We hope more will sign up for a night as well. 5000 guests are expected. Show off your scope, make friends, and invite people to CAAS. Once Darrell confirms we are OK to come, he’ll get FREE passes for all attendees from CAAS and get you more info. Contact Darrell.
CAAS Business cards are being ordered by Jim Fisher for all members to give out to guests at star parties…better than writing in the dark.
Ms. Katie McKinney, the youngest person in attendance, drew numbers for door prizes. Those winning Hubble books donated by Engberg were Roger Gudith, and Jane Hurley. Those winning NASA Space Shuttle coins were Greg Hurley, Danny Flippo, and Katie McKinney.
Upcoming Programs
| March | Stephen Meeks | Stellar Evolution |
| April | Rocky Togni | Space Race USSR: 1957-75 |
| May | Darrell Heath | JPL/NASA |
| August | Jim Fisher | International Dark Sky Association |
| November | William Engberg | Mayan Calendar |
| December | Dinner |
We have programs for the months listed above. However, we still need volunteers to present programs in October, September, July, June, and February.
There were many first time guests at the meeting.
Members and Guests Who Attended The Meeting
Wade Van Arsdale
William Bryden
Jack Dixon
Jim Dixon
Patricia Dodson
William Engberg
James Fisher
Danny Flippo
Carl Freyaldenhoven
Roger Gudith
Darrell Heath
Greg Hurley
Jane Hurley
Chris Lasley
Don Lewis
Cliff McKinney
Katie McKinney
James Bruce McMath
John Reed
Coy Scott
Eric Walker
The next monthly CAAS meeting will be at 7 pm on Saturday, February 11. Weather permitting, there is normally observing after the meeting adjourns (usually sometime from 8 pm to 8:30 pm).
Observation Planning Data
According to the Sky and Telescope web site almanac, sunset will be at 5:51 pm. Twilight ends at 7:16 pm. Twilight begins at 5:35 am on Sunday morning with sunrise at 7:01 am. The moon is 79% illuminated and rises at 10:24 pm. Venus sets at 9:09 pm. Jupiter sets at 11:30 pm. Mars rises at 7:54 pm. Saturn rises at 11:00 pm. The Sky and Telescope web site Interactive Sky Chart shows the constellation of Auriga nearest the zenith at 8 pm. The great Orion constellation will be beginning to transit at 8 pm.
Respectfully Submitted,
Coy Scott
CAAS Secretary
The Nerdiest Video Game Ever
By Dr. Tony Phillips
NASA has a job opening. Wanted: People of all ages to sort, stack, and catalogue terabytes of simulated data from a satellite that launches in 2015. Agile thumbs required.
Sorting terabytes of data? It’s more fun than it sounds.
In fact it’s a game: Satellite Insight. The Space Place Team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory created the entertaining app for iPhones to get the word out about GOES-R, an advanced Earth science satellite built by NOAA and NASA.
Described by the Los Angeles Times as possibly “the nerdiest game ever,” Satellite Insight may be downloaded for free from Apple’s app store. Be careful, though, once you start playing it’s hard to stop. Some reviewers have likened it to Tetris, one of the most popular video games of all time.
GOES, short for “Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite,” is the workhorse spacecraft for weather forecasters. NOAA operates two (at a time) in geosynchronous orbit, one above the west coast of N. America and one above the east coast. They monitor clouds, wind, rain, hurricanes, tornadoes and even solar flares. The GOES program has been in action since 1975.
GOES-R is the next-generation satellite with advanced technologies far beyond those of the older GOES satellites. It has sensors for lightning detection, wildfire mapping, storm tracking, search and rescue, solar imaging, and more. Many of the sensors are trailblazers. For example, the Advanced Baseline Imager has 60 times the capability of the current imager—16 channels instead of 5. It has twice the spatial resolution and five times the temporal refresh rate, including the 30-second imaging of weather systems over a region of 1000 km x 1000 km. Also, the Geostationary Lightning Mapper can count and pinpoint lightning bolts over the Americas 24/7. It’s the first such detector to fly on a geosynchronous satellite, and it could lead to transformative advances in severe storm warning capability.
All in all, GOES-R represents a “huge technological leap from the current GOES.” We know this because Satellite Insight tells us so. The app has an informative “Learn More” feature where players can find out about the satellite and the data they have been sorting.
Which brings us back to sorting data. It’s a bit like eating Cheerios; just don’t tell the kids it’s nutritious, and they love it. Helping GOES-R gather and stash data from all those advanced sensors is just as satisfying, too—a dose of Earth science wrapped in thumb-flying fun.
More information about Satellite Insight may be found on the web at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/satellite-insight/id463588902?mt=8. The game also available in web form (flying thumbs optional) at spaceplace.nasa.gov/satellite-insight.
This article was provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Caption:
New iPhone game is first NOAA app and only the second NASA game app. Just as with the real GOES-R, the challenge with Satellite Insight is to keep up with the massive influx of weather and other environmental data.