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SMCAS Monthly Meeting
February 5 at 7:30
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College of San Mateo
1700 West Hillsdale Blvd., Bldg 36-100 ,
San
Mateo, California
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SMCAS will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2010.
If you have documents, pictures or stories about the earlier years of SMCAS, please let me
know.
Ed Pieret
President, SMCAS
Table of Contents
Directions to College of
San Mateo
Star Parties at
Crestview Park
Events and Club News
Other Astronomy Events in Our Area
SMCAS Monthly Calendar
Club Websites, Membership Application
SMCAS patches on sale
February 26, final entry for February Newsletter
Crestview Star
Parties
February 6 & 13 - March 6 & 13
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Come out and see
how many different things you can
identify
in the night sky!
Bring
your binoculars, telescopes, star guides, and lounge chairs for some informal
star gazing at Crestview Park. Dress warmly, wear a hat. Cars should arrive before dark so that headlights don't affect people's dark
adaptation. Bring small flashlights only, with the lens covered with red
cellophane or red balloon. Please don't touch a telescope without permission.
And parents, please watch your children.
Directions to Crestview Park: Take Hwy 101 or El Camino to Brittan Avenue in
San Carlos, and turn west (right from El Camino). From El Camino, follow Brittan
about 2.3 miles to the intersection with Crestview Drive. From Alameda, go about
1.4 miles to Crestview. Turn right on Crestview. A small sign saying "Crestview
Park" is a half-block ahead on the right.
Look to the left for the park entry road, a small street between houses #998 and 1000.
If after dark, please park on Crestview to avoid disturbing the observing with
headlight glare.
From Highway 280 to Edgewood Road. Go east toward the Bay about 0.8 miles. Left on
Crestview Drive. Go 0.5 miles uphill to the intersection with Brittan Avenue. Go one
short block to the park entrance on the left.
Generally the first star party is around the 3/4
moon and the second party is a week later (around the new moon). Our
experience is that 4 or 5 days after the full moon the moon rises late
enough that it won't bother observing. Some months the calendar and the and
the moon phases give us a star party with a new moon or at least less than a
quarter moon. This is OK because we all like to do a little moon observing
once in a while. Sometimes we even call it a moon party.
Leroy Amen
Crestview Park is at W122° 17', N37° 29'
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REACH FOR THE STARS AT CSM!
With its planetarium, variety of astronomy courses, top-notch faculty,
and special events such as Star Parties, when the College partners with the
San Mateo County Astronomical Society...or with CSM's many A.A., A.S., and
certificate programs, its scenic and historic campus, the ease with which
you can sign up for classes online as a first-time or returning student...
The possibilities are astronomical.
COLLEGE OF SAN MATEO. Visit us on the web at http://gocsm.net
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Astronomy Events in Our Area
( Edited for February )
Bay
Astro, Ken L's Event List
Dean
Lectures
California
Academy of Sciences
https://www.calacademy.org/event_tickets/.
More info on this website
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Benjamin Dean Lecture Series in Astronomy
Morrison Planetarium
California Academy of Sciences
55 Concourse Drive
San Francisco, CA 94118
415-379-8000
deanseries@calacademy.org
http://www.calacademy.org/events/index.php
SLAC Physics
Lecture Series at Stanford Linear Accelerator
http://www.slac.
stanford.
edu/welcome/
location.
html (how to get to SLAC)
Silicon
Valley Astronomy Lecture Series
Foothill College
Los Altos Hills, CA
Past Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures are now available
in MP3 format at:
http://www.astrosociety.org/education/podcast/index.html
Public Lecture, Free and Open to Everyone
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Wednesday, Mar. 10, at 7 pm
Dr. Helen Quinn (of Stanford University) will give a free public lecture on
“The Many Mysteries of Antimatter”
part of the 11th Annual Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures, in the Smithwick
Theater, Foothill College, El Monte Road and Freeway 280, in Los Altos Hills,
California.
No background in science will be required for this talk. Seating is
first come, first served. Parking on campus costs $2.
Call the series hot-line at 650-949-7888 for more information and driving
directions.
Antimatter is just like matter with all its properties reversed. But
when antimatter meets a matching amount of matter, they destroy each other,
both turning suddenly into energy. Scientists think there may have been
equal amount of matter and antimatter in the early universe, and yet today we
have lots of matter and very little antimatter. How and when that imbalance
developed is one of the great mysteries in understanding the underlying
properties of the universe.
Dr. Quinn, who is co-author of the definitive popular book on antimatter, will
discuss the history of our understanding of antimatter and how we use the
little bit of antimatter around today to study some of the highest energy
processes among the stars and galaxies. One particularly interesting possible
source of antimatter is the annihilation or decay of dark matter
particles, mysterious material that is thought to make more of the universe
than the regular matter we know and love. Dr. Quinn will discuss ongoing
antimatter experiments that are helping to put limits on the nature and
behavior of dark matter.
Dr. Quinn is Professor of Physics at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center at
Stanford and Assistant to SLAC’s Director for Education and Outreach. She
has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences and is a former President
of the American Physical Society. Her book The Mystery of the Missing
Antimatter (2008, Princeton University Press) is an engaging introduction
to the world of particle physics.
The lectures are co-sponsored by:
* NASA Ames Research Center
* The Foothill College Astronomy Program
* The Astronomical Society of the Pacific.
* The SETI Institute
Past Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures are now available in MP3 format at:
http://www.astrosociety.org/education/podcast/index.html
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Andrew Fraknoi, Chair, Astronomy Program
Foothill College, 12345 El Monte Rd.,
Los Altos Hills, CA 94022, USA
E-mail: fraknoiandrew@fhda.edu
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Seti Seminar Series
The colloquiums are free and open to the public, and run from
noon to 1 pm on Wednesdays at the SETI
Institute, 515 N. Whisman Road, Mountain View, California.
UC Berkeley's Lawrence
Hall of Science
http://www.lawrencehallofscience.org
Lick Observatory
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Plan to arrive after noon and before 3 PM for best access to Public
Areas.
This is an all day trip climbing to
4200 feet on the historic
Mount Hamilton Road, Route 130.
Alum Rock off of 101 or 680.
Please don't pass bicyclists
on the blind curves.
Gift Shop
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Highway 130 is closed to visitors above
Grant's Ranch Park
during and after snow storms.
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"From Eyeballs to Electrons" is the first online exhibit from the Lick
Observatory Historical Collections Project. The exhibit draws on artifacts and
images from Lick's collections to illustrate the evolution of light detection in
astronomy, with special attention to Lick Observatory's role. Part One begins
with astronomy's first detector, the human eye, and ends with photography's long
reign as the principal means for recording starlight. Part Two, coming this
spring, will describe the development of electronic detectors, culminating in
the digital age. Please visit the exhibit at:
http://collections.ucolick.org/exhibits_on_line/E2E.1/
The Historical Collections Project is a work in progress. It was created to
preserve and make accessible the observatory's historical holdings through
cataloging, online databases, and exhibits. Please visit the Project website at:
http://collections.ucolick.org/archives_on_line/
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Mt Tam
Enthusiasts-
Mt Tam , website: mttam.net
Exploratorium in San Francisco
http://www.exploratorium.edu/
The Tech Museum, downtown
San Jose
Western
Amateur Astronomers
Peninsula Astronomical Society
OTHER CLUBS & EVENTS - For regularly-updated information on other
astronomical organizations and events, we refer you to the website of the
Astronomical Association of Northern California;
www.aanc-astronomy.orgJane H J on your I-Pod,
http://education.jpl.nasa.gov/amateurastronomy/index.html
For those of you with an interest in Java Programs and/or
extra-solar planet search see:
http://oklo.org/?page_id=86
This is a forum run by students and instructors at
Lick Observatory concerning the reduction of extra-solar
radial velocity data. Update at: http://www.oklo.org/
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Astronomical Society of the Pacific
ASP Website
U.S. Department of the Interior
U.S. Geological Survey,
Public Programs:
http://online.wr.usgs.gov/calendar/
The Intel Museum
Computer History Museum
For those familiar with the streets of the SF Mission,
Bay Area Science Cafe
http://www.sciencecafesf.com/
http://www.atlascafe.net/
Lockheed
Martin Palo Alto Colloquia
NASA Ames Research Center
The NASA Exploration Center is open to the public free of charge. For information about the Exploration Center, please visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/home/exploration.html
To learn about other events hosted by NASA Ames, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/events/index.html
More Exploration Center information on
this website.
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Astronomy at College of San Mateo
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College of San Mateo Maps
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Webmaster's
Links
Return to smcas.htm
SMCAS Patches
The SMCAS patches
are on sale for six dollars each.
Actual diameter is 9 centimeters or
about 3 1/2 inches.
General Meeting, Invitation
Everyone,
Our February 5th meeting speaker will be giving us a highly informative and
visually stimulating presentation. Chris Ford, Business Director,
RenderMan - Pixar Animation Studios, will be presenting on Computer Graphic
Astronomical Visualization: From Hollywood, NASA, and Beyond. 3D glasses
provided!
Please invite your interested friends and family, and forward this note to
any other people you think may be interested. As always, our meetings are
free, open to the general public, and parking is free.
Speaker: Chris Ford, Business Director, RenderMan, Pixar Animation
Studios
Topic: Computer Graphic Astronomical Visualization: From Hollywood,
NASA, and Beyond
Where: SMCAS general meeting Friday, Feb 5th
General meeting starts at 7:30pm in the CSM Planetarium, followed by the
presentation.
Full presentation information at:
http://www.smcas.
com/events/
meetings/
upcoming_
meetings/
Parking is free in the well lighted parking lot 7, immediately adjacent to
the planetarium building. Directions at:
http://www.smcas.
com/events/
directions/
activities_
at_csm/
Regards,
Marion
San Mateo County Astronomical Society
http://www.smcas.
com/
