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Erik Bakke, CWU Astronomy Club Secretary

For the week starting with Sunday, April 10, 2005

Greetings everyone!!

This is Erik Bakke, your Astronomy Club secretary for Spring Quarter 2005, filling you in on news that has been happening and will be happening with the Astronomy Club.

The CWU Astronomy Club will meet on April 11, 2005 at 8 PM in Lind 215 for our next meeting of Spring Quarter 2005.

Be sure to read Bruce Palmquist's column in the Saturday edition of the Ellensburg Daily Record that is titled "What's Up In The Night Sky" so that you will know what will be available in the night sky for the coming week.

Be sure to check out the CWU Astronomy Club web site at www.cwu.edu/~astroclb.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A. Topic of the Week

B. Basic Astronomy
C. CNN news and link
D. MSNBC news and link
E. NASA/ESA/Chandra
F. Space news and link

G. Web site and link
H. Last meeting and minutes (in brief)
I. Announcements

J. Close

A. Topic of the Week
We will be doing the Topic of the Week from time to time during Spring Quarter 2005.

Erin will give her Topic of the Week tomorrow night on April 11.
Erin's Topic of the Week will be on E. Karkoschka and the Dobsonian Telescope

Please let me know what your topic summary is for the newsletter by the Sunday (not Monday) of the week before you present it. Your topic summary consists of about two sentences that summarize your topic or tell something about your topic, or just the title of your topic.

B. Basic Astronomy
Mercury
Mercury is the innermost planet in our solar system and is the closest planet to the Sun. It is
the eighth largest planet, with an orbit of 57,910,000 km from the Sun (0.38 Astronomical Units or
AU), with a diameter of 4,880 km.
Mercury has been visited only by Mariner 10 in 1974 and 1975, and Mercury is too close to the
Sun for it to be safely imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST).
Further information can be found at these links:
http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/mercury.html

C. CNN news and link
A reborn star surprises astronomers, as a theory predicts that the star's nuclear furnace has re-ignited for one last blast. The star, named V4334 Sgr (a white dwarf), is in the constellation of Sagittarius, and is also known as "Sakurai's Object, after Japanese amateur astronomer Yukio Sakurai, who discovered it on Feb. 20, 1996, when the star became very bright.
Further information can be found at this link:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/04/08/reborn.star/index.html

D. MSNBC news and link
This past Friday, there was a hybrid solar eclipse that could be seen from the south Pacific Ocean to about Central America. Solar eclipses occur when the moon and the sun line up so that the moon casts a shadow on Earth. This particular eclipse is known as a hybrid because the moon's shadow was at just the right distance to create a total eclipse along the central part of a narrow track -- and a ring of fire, or an annular eclipses, on the western and eastern ends of the track. Only about 5 percent of all eclipses take this hybrid form.
Further information can be found at this link:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7435586/

E. NASA
Scientists at NASA have recently found out that the northern lights (aurora borealis) and the southern lights (aurora australis) do not mirror each other. The main cause is due to what occurs between the solar wind and Earth's magnetic field. From spacecraft observations made in October of 2002, the auroras shift in opposite directions to each other depending on the orientation of the sun's magnetic field, and also on how far the Earth's northern magnetic pole is leaning towards the sun.
Further information can be found at this link:
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/dueling_auroras.html

F. Space news and link
"Houston, we are go for launch!"

After more than two years since the destruction of the space shuttle Columbia (in Feb. 2003), NASA once again has a space shuttle (Discovery) ready for launch. If all goes well, the space shuttle Discovery will lift off for the next space mission sometime between May 15 and June 1, 2005.
Further information can be found at this link:
http://space.com/missionlaunches/rtf_rescue_050407.html

G. Web site and link
This web site is a great place to find information about meteor showers throughout the entire year. A good example is the Lyrid Meteor Shower (max on April 21 - 22) and the Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower (max on May 5 - 6)
Further information can be found at this link:
http://www.amsmeteors.org/showers.html

H. Last meeting and minutes (in brief)
Meeting of the CWU Astronomy Club from April 4, 2005 at 8 PM in Lind Hall 215.

AGENDA
Astronomy Club Meeting

Meeting lasted about 90 minutes

Note taker -- Erik

Attendees -- Brian, Tony, Brooke, Eric, Erin, Erik, Kathy, and Joseph

This was our planning meeting for the quarter, and after coming up with a variety of ideas, these two major events are what we have decided to do:

1) April 30 - May 1 - do night sky observations at MRO

2) May 5 - Solar / Star Party

TOTW (April 11) -- Erin will present, as her TOTW, E. Karkoschka and the Dobsonian Telescope.

We will be working with Jeff Hashimoto and his group of students from Ellensburg High School for a private star party on the evening of April 25.

Senators for the AC will alternate between Brian and Erin.

Between business / events / activities, we will be a busy group this quarter.

We had a good meeting, and we had a lot of fun at the meeting, and it started with Erin and Kathy, and eventually all of us got caught up in the fun!!

The next meeting of the CWU Astronomy Club for Spring Quarter 2005 will be on April 11, 2005
at 8 PM in Lind Hall 215.

I. Announcements

The CWU Astronomy Club web site can be found at www.cwu.edu/~astroclb

The Ellensburg, WA Daily Record can be found on line at www.kvnews.com.

Be sure to read Bruce Palmquist's column in the Saturday edition of the Ellensburg Daily Record that is titled "What's Up In The Night Sky" so that you will know what will be available in the night sky for the coming week.

Bruce Palmquist's column in the Saturday edition of the Ellensburg Daily Record can also be found in the CWU Astronomy Club web site at www.cwu.edu/~astroclb or online at www.kvnews.com.

If you have any ideas for astronomy related topics that you would like to see in the newsletter, please e-mail the club secretary.

Be sure to check your junk mail file (and filters) so that your copy of the newsletter is not deleted.

J. Close

If you want to be removed from this list, e-mail the club secretary.

A reminder, check to make sure that you have enough free hard drive space in your computer's e-mail system for the newsletter.

Be sure to check out the CWU Astronomy Club web site at www.cwu.edu/~astroclb and send any comments to Rebekah.

If you have any comments, feedback, or suggestions about the newsletter, let me know (e-mail the club secretary).

Be sure to read Bruce Palmquist's column in the Saturday edition of the Ellensburg Daily Record that is titled "What's Up In The Night Sky" so that you will know what will be available in the night sky for the coming week.

The CWU Astronomy Club will meet on April 11, 2005 at 8 PM in Lind 215 for our next meeting of Spring Quarter 2005.

As Spring Quarter 2005 is continuing, there will be more to talk about and inform you as to what will be happening during Spring Quarter 2005 with the CWU Astronomy Club.

See you on Monday night!!

Look to the stars and see what you can see....

Enjoy your spring,

Erik Bakke