We're not dead

I've been reminded that this blog exists, and I should update it. So!

Tshirts:
the design for this year has already been sent out via email, and order forms will follow soon

Events:

Girl Scout Science Night is April 3
-if it's clear (which is historically unlikely), volunteers to help guide the crowd and answer questions will be needed

100 Hours of Astronomy is April 2-5
-there will be some observing event, which we haven't decided on yet

April meeting is April 7
-it's at 9:30, in 319 Science

Relay for Life is April 25-26
-go here and sign up for the Astronomy Club team!

10th Anniversary Party is not scheduled yet
-but it'll be fun

Updated Activities

The Upcoming Activities page of the website has been updated with details of our planned trips and some scheduled activities this semester: http://www4.wittenberg.edu/student_organizations/astronomy_club/members.html

If going on a trip has ever even crossed your mind, go read about them now. If you're interested, Dr Fleisch needs to know so we can get the planning started.

FALL 2008 Class Observing Schedule

Friday August 29, 9:30 to 11:30

Wednesday September 10, 9:30 to 11:00

Thursday September 18, 9:00 to 10:30

Sunday October 5, 9:00 to 10:30

Monday October 13, 9:00 to 10:30

Friday October 24, 8:30 to 10:00

Wednesday November 5, 8:30 to 10:00

Thursday November 13, 8:00 to 9:30

Monday November 24, 8:00 to 9:30

Tuesday December 2, 7:30 to 9:00

Friday December 12, 7:30 to 9:00

Meeting: April 1, 2008

Hello all Wittenberg Astronomical Society members,

I hope you all have enjoyed a fabulous year in the Astonomy Club.

In case you missed the last meeting of the 07-08 academic year, here's the minutes:

We played a game of "Astro" (aka Bingo) with common Dr. Fleisch sayings and astronomy words.

If you were planning to go on the Chicago trip, Dr. Fleisch is trying to reschedule it, so email him ASAP if the weekend of the 11th, the 18th, or the 26th works for you.

This Friday, April 4th, is the next Friday Night Lecture. Come hear our wonderful president, Nick's presentation titled "I bet Newton could draw" at 7:30 in Bailey Auditorium. Observing will follow.

Another Friday Night Lecture is also in the works: Music of the Spheres II presented by Keith Ward is scheduled for April 25th at 7:30.

Our remaining observing sessions are all at our beloved Weaver Observatory
April 4 8:30pm
April 18 start time 9 or 10 pm (it's Girl Scout Science Night)
May 9 9pm (if you're around for graduation)

We talked some more about the Flag of Earth. SETI and the North American Astrophysical Society are in charge of it, so check out their websites or google 'Flag of Earth' for more information.

SENIORS: contact me to sign our Alumni Canvas. Leave your mark on the Observatory (well, just our canvas).

We appointed next year's officers (see Nick's post).

Other topics:

• Gamma Ray Bursts
• badastronomy.com
• AIBS Science Wars: April 15 8:30 watch for flyers

Meteorites!!!

• We're thinking of buying some small ones for the club.
• The three types are iron, stony, and stony-iron.
• meteoroid = in space; meteor = in atmosphere; meteorite = on Earth's surface
• A meteorite fall lands next to you. A meteorite find is found later and must be analyzed to know it is a meteorite.

Dr. Fleisch's book A Student's Guide to Maxwell's Equations is "selling like hotcakes" and has sold out on Amazon twice!! See him if you want a copy or more information.

Erin and I will be ordering T-shirts this week, so email her if you have not already. T-shirts will be in by April 25.

I guess that's it, gang. See you at the upcoming events!

Meeting: March 11, 2008

Greetings Astronomy fans!

Welcome back from Spring Break. Here's what we talked about at this month's meeting:

Observing sessions:
3-14 @ 9 to look at Saturn
4-4 @ 9
4-18 @ 9 to look at the moon

Nick's Friday Night Lecture is April 4th at 7:30 pm. We are planning to have this recorded on video. Try to make it. Observing will happen afterward at the Observatory.

TRIPS:
The group going to Chicago is leaving Friday at 9 AM. If this includes you, check your email for details.
The UK trip does not have enough interest to be a group, per se, but you can still email Dr. Fleisch if you want to meet up with him in Europe.

At next month's meeting we will be electing officers for next year. Be sure to email Nick if you are interested. We will also be discussing ways to spend this semester's budget. Let us know if you have ideas.

Other topics of discussion:
Gamma ray burster, "Death Star," badastronomy.com
Water on Mars
eclipse pictures are on the website
Dr. Bob Dixon is speaking on SETI tomorrow at 3.

Next Meeting is April 1st at 9:30 pm in Science Center room 319.

Observing Tonight

Tonight at 9pm the observatory will open so we can check out the total lunar eclipse tonight. It's clear as I type, the Clear Sky Clock looks promising, and we can hope the weather got all the snow out of its system earlier today, so be sure to stop by. Totality (complete eclipse) will be reached at about 10:00 and stay for the next fifty minutes.

Observing Reminder

A really delayed observing reminder, but hey, there's more than half an hour to go...

Observing is scheduled tonight for 8pm in the observatory.

Meeting: February 5, 2008

Hey Club members!

Here's what's coming up for the Wittenberg Astronomical Society:

Very soon we will be ordering club t-shirts, so keep an eye and ear out for more info on that.

The upcoming observing sessions are always listed on the WAS website and the next one is Saturday, February 9th @ 8pm. We are tentatively planning to go to Hocking Hills in April.

Other possible trips are to the Pittsburg Planetarium and the summer UK trip.

We also have 2 Friday Night Lectures this semester: "Magic and Science" on March 14 presented by our favorite president, Nick; and "Music of the Spheres" in April presented by Keith.

Topics of discussion at the meeting:
Asteroids
Near Earth Object Program
Clear Sky Clock
Mercury Messenger
Deep Space Broadcasting

See you all at our next meeting March 11th @ 9:30pm

Meeting tomorrow

If your inboxes have not jogged your memory enough, remember that tomorrow is our February meeting of astronomy club. 9:30, 319 Science. It will feature our three favorite meeting activities of talking, planning, and eating.

Meeting: January 8, 2008

Welcome back, Astronomy Fans! I hope you all are getting off to a great start this semester.

Here's what we covered at the meeting.

The first ever Spring Activities Fair is happening at dinner in the CDR on Jan 23.

Observing sessions (weather permitting, of course) :

• Tues, Jan 15 8:00 pm at Weaver Observatory, to look at the first quarter moon
• Tues, Jan 22 11:30 am in front of the Student Center, to look at the sun
• Sat, Feb 9 8:00 pm at Weaver Observatory, to see the sky during the new moon
• Fri, March 14 8:30 pm at Weaver Observatory, first quarter moon, after Nick's lecture
• Fri, April 4 9:00 pm at Weaver, new moon
• Fri, April 18 9:00 pm at Weaver, full moon

*On any clear night, you can call Dr. Fleisch and go to the Observatory.*

Friday Night Lectures

We have 2 this semester already scheduled: a repeat of Music of the Spheres in February, and Nick Gladman is presenting one on March 14 at 7:30 pm.

Trips

• Chicago- one night, March 22 or March 28, price TBA
• UK- summer, no credit, email Dr. Fleisch if interested
• Pittsburg- overnight, email us if interested
• Tucson/Arizona/somewhere in the Southwest- are you guys interested?

Astronomy News

Asteroid 2007 WD5 has a 4% chance of impacting Mars on Jan 30 at about 6:30am our time. This will be the first time scientists might be able to observe a plume of ejecta.

Atrium Display

In case you haven't noticed, it's up and working. Any suggestions? See Dr. Fleisch.

See you at the next meeting: February 5 at 9:30pm in BDK 319.

December Meeting Cancelled

Since the final meeting falls so close to finals and we are all busy, the next meeting will be in January: 1/8/08.

If you're still interested in going to Chicago over break, check your email.

Tshirt winner & observing reminder

The winner of the shirt design contest was design #1. Thanks to everyone who voted, and start thinking about if you want a shirt and if you would prefer a tshirt/hoodie/either/both.

We are scheduled to have observing tomorrow at 8:30 when a group of Boy Scouts visits the observatory, but depending on the weather it might or might not happen. Stay tuned to your inboxes.

Meeting: November 6

Hi All,

Here's the recap from the meeting:

We started off by talking about the T-shirt voting (see previous post). Then we moved on to regular meeting stuff.

Future Observing:
Thurs. Nov. 8 @ Dr. Lewis' leave from student center at 7:30pm
Thurs. Nov. 15 @ Weaver Observatory, Cub Scouts will be there 8:30
Mon. Nov. 19 @ Weaver Observatory 8-9:30pm

Trips:
The trip to Booneshoft was not so impressive, but we are planning to go next semester and try to have more control over the show.
Chicago is booked this month. Email Dr. Fleisch if you want to go over winter break or early next semester or if you have suggestions.
The non-credit UK trip has about 8 of you interested. If anyone else is possibly interested email Dr. Fleisch right away.

Comet:
The comet 17P Holmes is on its way out. You might be able to see it in the constellation Perseus (down from Cassiopeia). It is slightly fuzzy.

Thanks to Keith for presenting on Deep Space galaxies!

Next meeting we will be talking about Sky & Telescope pictures.

The Atrium Display will be put up over Christmas break.

Our next meeting is Tuesday, December 4th at 9:30pm.

Music of the Spheres reminder

Remember, Music of the Spheres is tonight at 7:30 in Bayley. If it's clear afterwards we'll have observing over at Weaver.

tshirt reminder (updated)

If you have an idea for an astronomy club tshirt/hoodie, remember that designs are due in by Tuesday October 9Update: by the end of Wednesday October 10 to Erin (s09.ekapp). Make sure you have attached a picture file of your design to your email.

Meeting: October 2

Hey everyone. Here's what we talked about at October's meeting:

Astronomy News:
We had 3 news presentations.
1) Lunar Impact Monitoring -how often meteors collide with the moon
2) Dawn Mission Project - ion propulsion, photography of Vesta and Ceres
3) Double Helix Nebula (aka DNA nebula)
**a new club goal is for everyone to see a nebula**

Trip Planning:
Dayton Planetarium - Sat. Oct. 27th 1pm-4:30pm
Chicago - Nov 3-4th or Nov 10-11th
Cleaveland - next semester
U.K. - right after graduation, 10 days, $1700

Observing schedule:
see club website or other posts labelled observing

Constellation Mythology:
We are hoping that several people will learn about a few constellations each (which stars, the past mythology, maybe of several cultures) to share during observing activities. Let us know if you are interested.

Music of the Spheres:
presentation Oct. 19th at 7:30pm in Bayley Auditorium by Keith Ward
There will possibly be other times of presentation of this.

If you are interested in the Atrium Display, SETI, the Allen Telescope Array, email any of the officers.

Also, email T-shirt ideas to Erin at s09.ekapp@witt

Our next meeting is Tuesday, November 6th at 9:30pm. See you there!

Meeting reminder & Parents' Weekend observing

Next meeting is tomorrow, October 2.

This weekend observing was great on Friday and basically a wash on Saturday.

The good news: We had at least 93 people attend just one observing session!
The bad news: It was the Saturday one, so they were all squished into the dome or they got to stand on the deck and look at clouds or they were trapped in the stairwell. If you were trapped in the stairs or otherwise bored, we hope you come back and try for clearer skies.

So we got to look at Albireo both nights, although it wasn't until quite late on Saturday that it cleared up enough.

The club is starting up a logbook for a variety of reasons, including: we want to know what part of campus we're reaching, whether we have a lot of repeat attendees, how often we see non-students, and also Student Senate asks us questions during budget hearings like "who comes to your activities?" So if you're in the observatory for observing at all, even if you're there every single time and we all know who you are but especially if you've never signed before, please sign the logbook.

So remember: tomorrow. Pizza. Pop. 319 Science. 9:30.

Meeting: September 4

Hi Astronomy fans! Our first meeting of the year was a HUGE success. Thanks to all who came.

Here's the meeting rundown:
Introductions- We introduced the officers and Dr. Fleisch. Our email addresses can be found on the W.A.S. webpage. Feel free to contact any of us about club events, ideas for the club, etc.

The goal of astronomy club is to get you involved with astronomy at any level you want to be involved. That said we talked about observing sessions (the schedule for them is posted in the previous post) and other club activities.

Activities include:
Observing sessions, going to Dark Sky sites, taking trips to planetariums and other neat places, having guest speakers, maintaining the observatory, deciding how to spend our money from Student Senate, and outreach programs.
We also need to make one or more radio spots for WUSO to broadcast during sporting events, work on a 3D rendering of the observatory for GoogleEarth, and be ready for the Atrium Display System LCD screens which are coming soon.

Scheduled Events:
Aside from scheduled class observing sessions, on October 19th Keith Ward will be presenting "Music of the Spheres". If you would like to help in any way, email the officers or Dr. Fleisch.

Finally we mentioned astrobiology, SETI, and a summer course in the U.K.

Suggestions made by members were:
Observing Kuiper belt objects and dwarf planets
Photographing galaxies
Hosting a speaker on Cosmology
Learning the mythology of constellations

Thanks for a great meeting!

Our next meeting will be Tuesday, October 1st at 9:30pm.

Observing Sessions: Astronomy Class

These sessions are open to everyone.

That said, they were scheduled for the benefit of the astronomy class, who have to do sky knowledge for an actual grade. As such, there were will be a lot of constellation-and-star-names learning, as well as any planets that are out.

So, weather permitting,* the observatory will be open on the following dates and times:

Wednesday, 9/5 9:30-11:00
Tuesday, 9/18 9:00-10:30
Saturday, 9/29 9:00-10:30
Monday, 10/8 9:00-10:30
Friday, 10/19 8:30-10:00
Wednesday, 10/31 8:30-10:00
Thursday, 11/8 8:00-9:30
Monday, 11/19 8:00-9:30
Tuesday, 11/27 7:30-9:00
Friday, 12/7 7:30-9:00

*weather permitting=visible stars. Complete cloud cover all the time, thunderstorms, rain, snow, tornadoes, and heavy fog are good reasons to not come, since no one will be there.

Meeting reminder

The first meeting of the semester is:

Tuesday, September 4, at 9:30 pm, in room 319 of the science building. Open to all whether you are on our mailing list or not.