March 2009

March 6: Monthly Meeting

Meteorites: Thunderstones from Space! How Space Rocks Help Unravel the Mysteries of Our Solar System

Jim Zebrowski
I am the President of my local Astronomy Club, Aldrich Astronomical Society, Inc. and participate in many public outreach events in conjunction with my fellow club members through the Aldrich Community Outreach Program (ACOP). My participation in our outreach programs includes volunteering at several organizations like the Arunah Hill Natural Science Center in Cummington, Massachusetts, the EcoTarium in Worcester, the IGNITE Organization and organizing educational enrichment programs for groups like the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, the Big Brothers and Big Sisters and for the local Boys and Girls Clubs. I also routinely sponsor teacher workshops to bring materials and resources into after school activities that can engage students to become interested in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). In the past, I have made some arrangements with local school teachers to bring programs into schools and to work with science and Astronomy clubs during after school events. We have actively done events with multimedia including slide show presentations, videos from NASA/JPL and the NASA select channel and when the weather permits, we have given many night sky viewing sessions with the support of Aldrich Astronomical Society, Inc. member telescopes. Our Society also has its own selection of PowerPoint slide Programs for use in after school programs that cover topics from constellations, to star hopping, to comets, to Returning to the Moon and Women in Astronomy. The Solar System Ambassadors Program: Jim J. Zebrowski,http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador/profiles/Jim_Zebrowski.htm Aldrich Astronomical Society,http://www.aldrichastro.org/ Podcast: Zebrowski Interview,http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=7062
7

Star Party at Portsmouth Middle School, Friday, March 13th, 2009

Friday, March 13th, 2009 @ 8:00 PM / Portsmouth Middle School The night went well with around 12 scopes. A few members that weren’t on the list had also showed up so we had a good turn out. We probably only had around a total of 150 students, parents and teachers that show up for the event. It seems they cam in a few waves. The temperature was around the freezing mark but the wind let up so it wasn’t too bad. We had first intended to setup in the parking lot but the has been long gone and the ground on the north side of the building seemed firm. The lights in the parking lot went off at 7:30 and the lights on the building, that they were unable to shut off last year, were shut off just after 8:15 or so. I had a live CCD image of comet Lulin running for those interested and this was our first event with the binocular table that was setup with donated binoculars. Bob Magnuson, a member of ASSNE was also able to join us. As the night went on the clouds slowly thickened. By 9:45 it was cloudy and everyone started to pack it in. Newport Bridge toll $2.00 each way…what can you do.
8

Girl Scouts Visit to Seagrave, Friday, March 20th, 2009

The clouds persisted all day but did completely clear within ½ hour of their arrival. I arrived earlier to setup the binocular table, Night Sky Network table and setup with the CCD. We only had around 9 Girl Scouts and 4 adults show up but everything went well. The temperature was in the mid 20’s, so everyone was done by around 9:30 and by 9:45 we started packing it up.
2

Cub Scouts Visit to Seagrave, Saturday, March 21st, 2009

I arrived early to setup and get the meeting hall ready but found Bob H and Bob N needed a hand lifting the 16” Meade back onto it mount. Bob N. tested it out later that evening so it should be back in operation for the next event and public nights. The presentation started at 7:15 and seemed to be a fairly full house with probably just over 40 seats taken. Afterwards I discovered that several of them were people that had arrived early for public night and just joined in with the group. This was my first presentation but it went well and several parents even commented on it. At around 8:15 we took it outside where I demonstrated how easy it was to setup and use the ETX80, pointed out how to find the North Star and let them try out the binoculars at the binocular table. Everyone then went into groups and rotated through the scopes. The temp was around 28 but they stuck it out until around 9:30.
4

Boy Scouts visit to Seagrave, Wednesday, March 25th, 2009

Wednesday, March 25th @ 8:00 Boy Scouts visit to Seagrave The group was smaller than anticipated and was comprised of more parents and siblings than boy scouts. They stayed until after 9:30 and were well dispersed since we had so many viewing stations open. We again had the binocular table setup along with the M42 flyby video. John Kocur and Jim Hendrickson both had their scopes setup and Larry Isom had his but since we had as many scopes as people, he was better utilized for moral support at the different viewing stations. Nicole has also attended for moral support. I did a demonstration of the ETX80 and let everyone view Orion then let them compare it to the live CCD image. We used this to lead into why is doesn’t look like the photos in the eyepiece.

Help us complete our archives...

Do you have any anecdotes, personal stories, meeting notes, photos, or any other experiences you would like to share?