| 2008 December 3 General Meeting "Johnson Space Center" by Carol Witten Carol took the audience on a VIP tour of the Johnson Space Center. The presentation took us behind the scenes where the Astronauts work, and included photos of mock ups of the International Space Station and view Historic Mission Control. November 5 General Meeting "Supernovas" by Tom Eason Tom Eason presented "How Stars Blow Up." Tom's presentation addressed the history of novas up to the present day and explained the basic physics of stellar explosions. October 01 Astrophotography by Ken Crawford Award-winning Astrophotographer, Ken Crawford presented a program of astrophotos at OCL. His presentation was titled "The Universe from my backyard." Ken showed images and discussed advances in equipment that allows amateurs to achieve near professional results in Astrophotography. The audience thoroughly enjoyed this outstanding presentation. September 23 Blue Canyon Star Gazing Clear, dark skies provided an evening of excellent stargazing at Blue Canyon. Members shared outstanding views of galaxies, nebulae, planets and star clusters through several telescopes, including a 13" Dobsonian. September 03 General Meeting "Starry Night" Planetarium Software for Home Computers" by Charlie Barlow and Nina Mazzo Dr. Charlie Barlow & Nina Mazzo presented a program entitled "Surfing the Night Skies" at OCL Fine Arts Room at 7pm. They demonstrated the wonders of our Solar System available on the Astronomy software program called Starry Night. August 11 Moon Observing Moon observing begins at dusk behind Orchard Creek Lodge. Telescopes and binoculars will be provided. To view photos of this successful event click here August 6 General Meeting "The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence" by Seth Shostak The August meeting of the Astronomy Group was held at the Kilaga Springs Presentation Hall. Over 150 Lincoln Hills residents heard Dr. Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute (SETI), describe their fascinating program that looks to the far-reaches of the Universe for signs of intelligent life. Forty two (42) radio telescopes have been installed at Hat Creek California, north of Mt. Lassen. This will be expanded to 350 dishes in the coming years. This project has been ongoing for over 40 years and sponsored by various organizations such as NASA, U.Cal. at Berkeley, Paul Allen of Microsoft and others. Click here to read the article in the Lincoln News Messenger about this meeting. Thanks to Carol Witten for writing the article. July 4 No Meeting due to the Holiday June 25 Star Party at Blue Canyon CANCELLED Site was being used by firefighters as a staging area. June 11 Moon Observing Moon observing began at at dusk behind Orchard Creek Lodge. Telescopes and binoculars were provided. Many LHAG members enjoyed a close-up view of the craters, mountains and maria "seas of lava" along the terminator of the 1st quarter moon. To view photos of this event click here June 4 General Meeting "Your Space Program" by Don Wilson Presently there are 71 active missions that you are funding through NASA. Don discussed those missions that are of interest to astronomy enthusiasts. May 7 General Meeting "Planetary Rings" and Moon Observing by Tom Eason Everybody is familiar with the beautiful rings of Saturn, but did you know that three other planets in the Solar System have rings also? Tom described the rings of all four planets and how they were formed. Following the presentation, we observed features on the 3-day old crescent moon. April 2 General Meeting "The Wondrous Sky" by Dave Wood Dave presented a Gee-Whiz tour of the universe we live in. Exceptional images were shown and discussed including the solar system, star birth (as seen in gaseous nebulae), star death (as seen in supernovae and Ring Nebula), star clusters and galaxies. April 10 "Moon Observing" On March 11, our group met behind Orchard Creek to observe the 3 day old Moon. We saw several Mare ("seas" ) and several distinctive craters. We enjoyed seeing bright diamond pinpoints of light in the dark area near the terminator as the rising sun illuminated the tip top of several crater peaks. On April 10, we observed the famous Mare Tranquillitatis, surrounding features and craters as well as locating the landing areas for Apollos 11 and 17. March 5 General Meeting "Our Place in the Universe" by Loel Thomas Joel took us on a cosmic journey from our Sun past the Earth, past the Solar System, past the Milky Way, past the Local Group of galaxies out to the edge of the universe. Along the way we examined star clusters, globular clusters, various nebulae, other galaxies and the large structure of the Universe. February 20 View the Eclipse of the Moon An estimated 35 members and guests observed the Total Lunar Eclipse with us on February 20 behind Orchard Creek Lodge. The reddish Moon, Saturn and other objects were viewed via naked-eye, binoculars and member-provided telescopes. February 6 General Meeting "Searching for Extraterrestrial Life" by Al Witten How might we find extraterrestrial life? what does life require? Where can we look? Al provided insight into these questions, and described the latest activities in the search for extraterrestrial life. January No Meeting due to the New Years holiday |