NEWSLETTER.
Vol. 1 #1
by
In an effort to keep the membership informed about the South Shore Astronomical Society. I will try and send out a brief newsletter on a regular basis.
Astronomy Day: As was the case last year, we held Astronomy Day at the Scituate Library. While the weather was not great with pretty thick cloud cover, we had a very successful day. As usual the Library Staff made us feel at home. We had great participation with approximately 100 people attending the different programs.
Thanks to the following members for the hard work:
Jeff Lane and Bob Reed ran planetarium programs through out the day.
Spencer Howe ran Galileo experiments with the children.
The library staff and volunteers handled other children crafts.
Rolf Egon had his meteorite collection on display. This always draws a crowd.
Skip Newell set up his scope, and even though we did not have clear skies, people were still very interested in seeing the equipment.
Al Monaco stopped by with his new small telescope, which we set up as part of the indoor telescope display.
Upcoming Events: We have several special events planned and are looking for member participation.
On Friday, June 17th, we will be participating in a program with the Audubon Society at the Chickatawbut Hill Education Center, from 8:30 to 10:00. All members are encouraged to setup scopes for public viewing. If you need more information contact me at grueter@ssastros.org .
On Friday, July 22, Bill will once again be making a presentation at the Winslow House in Marshfield. In addition, we hope to set up a few scopes for solar viewing. If you are interested in helping, please contact Bill via email.
The South Shore Astronomical Society is planning to participate in a community outreach at the Newport Folk Festival on July 30. More info will be sent out as I receive it.
We will travel to the Plymouth Public Library on Mon, Aug. 8th
for a presentation by
Jeff Lane is coordinating this years, International Observe the Moon Night on Sunday, Oct. 9th. There is talk of combining this event with the Fall Astronomy Day event. This program will take place in Sharon. More information will be coming as the date approaches.
Viewing Nights: We continue to have viewing nights scheduled but as of late there hasn’t been much activity. If you are considering going to the field send an email to the membership using member’s group email address to see if others are going. Perhaps by sending out a message others might be interested in joining. It is more fun to observe with friends rather than doing it alone.
New Members: In recent months we have had three new members, welcome to Ajay Prassad, Ernie McNeill and Nate Roman.
Community Outreach Awards: Congratulations to Skip Newell and Mal MacDonald for qualifying for Astronomical League Outreach Awards. The complete requirements and activities log are available on the members only page. I know many more members are eligible to receive this recognition, please take a few minutes and look at the material and see if you qualify. If you have questions contact me at grueter@ssastros.org.
Presenters Wanted: We have a large number of members with knowledge about the many different aspects of astronomy. If you would like to share with other members, we would love to give you time at a meeting. Let Bill Luzader know if you would be interest in giving a little talk on any related subject. If you know of possible speakers who might come to a meeting a present, please let Bill know.
FREE ASTRONOMY SOFTWARE: There are a large number of free astronomy software programs available for both Windows and Mac. When the weather does not cooperate you can still do some “observing”
I have all of these programs on my Mac and find they work very well.
Cartes du Ciel, Mac and PC. http://www.ap-i.net/skychart/
Distant Suns, Mac version, http://www.rattlebrain.com/~oes/distant/index.html
Stellarium, Mac and PC, http://www.stellarium.org/
Solscape, Mac, http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/6399/solscape
I would also recommend that you check out APS for your smart phone, iPod or iPad, many free others fairly cheep.
FINAL WORD: I hope this letter gives you a feel for
what we have planned in the upcoming months.
We need your help to meet these goals.
If you can join us or have suggestions please let me know. If you have suggestions for activities or
speakers, please let contact me or one of the other officers. Our goal is to have a club where your input
is important and all feel welcome.
President
South Shore Astronomical Society
grueter@ssastros.org