Jane and everyone at JPL are busily scurrying around getting everything
ready for the annual JPL Open House this weekend. She may have a
followup when she comes up for air! Meanwhile there's information at
JPL's web site:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/events/open-house.cfm
Jane will be with volunteers manning solar telescopes, and offering
views, if there is sun! Also look for your favorite Old Town Astronomers
in the Int'l Year of Astronomy film being shown in the auditorium.
They have huge crowds, and it's good to be there early if you can. I
don't think one day is much better than the other.
It's also our sidewalk astronomy weekend, Friday and Saturday. Right
now the weather forecast is not looking promising for either night, but
I'll send an update tomorrow.
Best regards,
Mojo
--
Morris Jones
Monrovia, CA
http://www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
Twitter: http://twitter.com/mojo_la
Last weekend was an adventurous one for several of us who spent two
nights in the Mojave National Preserve. While Friday was a bit harrowing
with high winds, Saturday was a great day for exploring the park, and
observing galaxies in the dark sky at night.
I have an article here about the trip:
http://mojo.whiteoaks.com/2009/04/26/snakes-tortoises-and-stars/
and a photo album with some cool tortoise video shot by Jane here:
http://photo.whiteoaks.com/2009-04-25-mojave/
We had such a good time that we're contemplating doing it again next
month. If you've never had much opportunity to get out from under the
L.A. light dome, you might consider joining us. From Monrovia it's
about 215 miles of easy drive.
If this sounds like something you'd be interested in, let me know as
soon as you can. The new moon weekend in May is May 23-24. If there
are enough interested parties, we can reserve the same group camping area.
I'll follow this message with information about this coming weekend.
Mojo
--
Morris Jones
Monrovia, CA
http://www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
Twitter: http://twitter.com/mojo_la
Here are some final facts and tidbits. Print it
out and tuck into your car. Be sure you print
out a map too, if you need one. Forward to new
attendees.
Location and directions:
Latitude and Longitude (altitude 4400 feet)
35.043333, -115.395833?
+35° 2' 36.00", -115° 23' 45.00"
Get Google directions from here http://is.gd/tKhT
Here are several maps:
http://www.nps.gov/moja/planyourvisit/maps.htm We
are staying Black Canyon Group Campsite adjacent
to Hole-in the Wall campground. You can see this
on all the maps. Group campsite: Vault toilets,
trash receptacles, potable water, fire ring,
grill, picnic shelter with tables. Fees $25 per
group per night. (Fri night paid by Jane, Sat
night paid by Hanna)
More directions: http://www.nps.gov/moja/planyourvisit/directions.htm
Mojave National Preserve is located east of
Barstow, Calif., between I-15 and I-40.
From I-15: Exit Kelbaker Road at Baker, Calif.,
or Zyzyx Road, Cima Road, or Nipton Road.
From I-40: Exit Kelbaker Road, Essex Road, or Goffs Road.
Directions to Hole-in-the-Wall and Mitchell Caverns
From I-40: Exit Essex Road and drive north 10
miles to the junction with Black Canyon Road.
Mitchell Caverns is 6 miles northwest of this
junction on Essex Road. Hole-in-the-Wall is 10
miles north on Black Canyon Road.
Attendees:
Jane and Mojo will arrive Friday afternoon.
Hanna Strauss, Bill Read +1, Mike Cipra (NPCA),
Dave Lanfrom (Mojave National Preserve
superintendent), Carolina +3 from JPL, Gary + 1
from JPL arrive Friday. Gay + 3 from JPL maybe
Friday.
Saturday: Some of the above - I think Mike and
Dave are Fri night only. Add Todd, probably not
Caroline (hope your dad is better, C). Becky,
Angela +3. Possibly a few more late invitees.
Lots of room in the campground. So it's ok to
invite a few others. It's a fun event, don't
worry if at the last minute you can't make it.
Those things happen. It's not work! ;-)
Weather: http://is.gd/tKfB (check back in the next few days for updates)
Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 72.
Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 43.
Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 67.
Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 40.
Astronomy Weather (forecast partly cloudy for
weekend at the moment, check back Thursday)
http://www.cleardarksky.com/c/HlWllCpCAkey.html?1
Herping outings: (notes from Hanna) "The desert
still won't be too hot; in fact it would be
ideal to do some day herping to see various
lizards (including chuckwallas), desert
tortoises, and diurnal snakes. It should be warm
enough in the early evening for the nocturnal
species to come out to hunt and thermoregulate
on asphalt warmed by the sun during the day. You
can also do lantern walking at night around the
campground and road to look for stuff. At night
you are more likely to find interesting stuff:
shovelnose snakes, leafnose snakes, glossy
snakes, longnose snakes, rosy boas, banded
geckos, sidewinders, scorpions,
tarantulas,kangaroo rats. pocket mice, solpugids,
bats,desert cottontails, nighthawks, kit foxes,
coyotes and jack rabbits. Roadcruising for Herps
(with a driver and a few passengers will be
arranged with Hanna)
A good pocket guide is Western Reptiles And
Amphibians by Robert C. Stebbins. It is published
by Houghton Mifflin
What to bring:
Layers - it will be in the 80's in the daytime,
40's-50's at night, so prepare for all these
temperatures with layers
Shoes - hiking boots, ankle support to walk among
the rocks. Remember there are cacti and desert
dwellers afoot. Those going on herping walks will
want proper foot covering, for sure.
Sun - Sunscreen and hats and plenty of drinking water
Food - (closest store is probably Barstow - not a
quick drive to/from the campsite): Let's help
Hanna (she may be the only herpetologist) with a
fun Saturday potluck and Sunday breakfast - bring
some side-dish - fruit-etc things to share if
you want for Sat night and main meal (aka
meat/whatever) for yourself. There will be a
couple camp stoves. Easy on desserts - if
everyone brings some to share there will be way
too many desserts - keep it simple for desserts
warns Hanna. Bring some drinks (OJ, milk, etc,
for breakfast). Hanna is bringing coffee, and
offered pancakes, but if she is the only
herpetologist this may be too much for her - I'll
send an email about food tomorrow - everyone send
me some food ideas if they have them, so everyone
doesn't being the same thing......If you are not
bringing a stove, share what you can prepare
without a stove (except for you meat or whatever)
We are bringing simple stuff like mac 'n cheese
+tuna. I'll bring tea bags, hot chocolate, coffee
to share, too. :-) Cutting or collecting any
wood, including downed wood, is prohibited. All
firewood must be brought into the preserve.
Astronomy Etiquette (aka keep white lights away from telescopes)
Safety is first, but white flashlights damage
everyone's dark adaption. Bring flashlights to
get from here to there. Always point flashlights
at ground not at peoples eyes. Cup your palm
around the light to diffuse it. If you want to
use smaller flashlights near the telescopes I
have red tape to put over the light. And extra
red flashlights to share. I'll have the red tape
at the telescopes and at my tent. Big lanterns
are ok in your tent and out walking at night away
from the telescopes, but not at the telescopes.
You'll want to walk around looking for critters,
do that away from the telescopes. :-)
Car lights There will be cars coming and going to
take people "roadcruising" down the road at
night. It's a way to see more herps by covering
more territory. It would be a good idea to
leave the cars away from the telescopes/dining
pavilion at night. It is impossible to get all
interior car lights off, so at night if you are
going to get in and out of your cars, it would be
good to park away from the telecopes. Shouldn't
be a problem. :-)
Camping Rules and Leave No Trace Guidlines from
NPS
http://www.nps.gov/moja/planyourvisit/camping-regs.htm
--
Jane Houston Jones
Senior Outreach Specialist, Cassini Program
JPL - 4800 Oak Grove Drive, MS 230-205
Pasadena, CA 91109 818-393-6435
jane.h.jones(a)jpl.nasa.gov
Cassini SOC http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm
What's Up? http://education.jpl.nasa.gov/amateurastronomy/index.html
My good friend Dave Doody is teaching his awesome space class again at
Art Center College of Design beginning May 14. His class is really
great and gives a good overview of everything from the environment in
the solar system to reference systems to get around the solar system, on
to gravity, spacecraft trajectories, flight missions and operations.
Everyone is 6 degrees from a JPL flight mission. You are either working
on one, or you know someone on a mission or you'd like to work on one
someday. Dave's class is a great start for the enthusiast to the advocate!
Dave's class takes place on seven Thursday evenings beginning May 14.
It's a great way for everyone to get a good overview about space
flight: You night see me there!
Course: Basics of Interplanetary Flight
Starts: May 14. Registration opens April 8, 2009
Venue: Art Center College of Design Public Programs
Meets: 7 Thurs evenings 7-10pm, South Campus, Pasadena
Space: 12 participants total ($315 tuition, some discounts available)
Instructor: Dave Doody, Caltech/JPL senior flight operations engineer
Visit: http://people.artcenter.edu/doody
--
Jane Houston Jones
Monrovia, CA
34.2048N 118.1732W, 637.0 feet
http://www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
My JPL What's Up podcast: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup.cfm
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jhjoneshttp://twitter.com/CassiniSaturn
It's IYA Sun Day!
Join me this afternoon from 1:30 until 3 p.m. Myrtle and Lime Streets
Monrovia CA for the Old Town Sidewalk Astronomers fourth and final "100
Hours of Astronomy" observing celebration. Here is what the sun looks
like today http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime-images.html
I'll be out at Monrovia's Library Park with two telescopes - one is my
homemade (in John Dobson's telescope makring class) safe solar
telescope. And the other is a small reftactor fitted with a special
h-Alpha filter.
The homemade telescope shows the sun in white light - this is how the
sun looks to the unaided eye. The viewer sees the photosphere, or the
apparent surface of the sun, which has a temperature of 6,000 Celsius.
You can say this is the sun you can "see" or what you see through a
projection onto a piece of paper.
The other is a telescope fitted with an h-Alpha filter, which shows just
one wavelength of light -the red light of hydrogen (wavelength of 656.3
nanometers). With this we see the next highest layer of the sun - the
chromosphere (temperature between 6,000 and 20,000 C.) We need a filter
to see this layer because the brighter photosphere layer below washes
out the fainter chromosphere, just like a bright streetlight would wash
out the light of a flashlight. What you see through an h-Alpha filter
are ribbony dark colored filaments against the disk and prominences on
the edge, many times longer than the diameter of the Earth!
I took these definitions from my writeup for the SOHO outreach website
:-) http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/outreach/past/Sidewalk/
For those who venture out to Myrtle and Lime, you'll be rewarded, not
only with some great solar views, but I am bringing an AMAZING
collection of educational handouts. While they last, get 3-d images of
the sun in H-alpha, courtesy of the SOHO - Solar and Heliospheric
Observatory, some more from STEREO ( two space-based observatories, one
ahead of Earth, the other trailing behind. I also have lots of NASA
lithographs of the sun. And just a very few additional 3-d cards from
the SOHO/TRACE missions. And plenty of IYA bookmarks. First come,
first get! See you in a half hour!
Jane
PS the Sun will be the subject of my May What's Up podcast!
--
Jane Houston Jones
Monrovia, CA
34.2048N 118.1732W, 637.0 feet
http://www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
My JPL What's Up podcast: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup.cfm
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jhjoneshttp://twitter.com/CassiniSaturn
Today's IYA theme is "Around the world in 80 Telescopes"!
Since it's impossible to watch online for 24 hours (at least it is for me),
this IYA website breaks down the telescope segments so you can watch one or
a few any time. Sort of like Astro TIVO. :-)
It's on the 100 Hours of Astronomy website, and as each segment finishes
it's shown as a link. http://www.100hoursofastronomy.org/
For those who want to geek out in real time, it's on Ustream TV live, where
you can join 3,000 others and chat realtime while watching the video.
Careful, or you'll get hooked!
Speaking of telescopes, my April 2009 What's Up podcast features four of
most famous telescopes: Hubble, Spitzer, Chandra and Galex as they image
the Whirlpool Galaxy. Before and after the big eyes, spy the Whirlpool
you'll see some lovely small images of galaxies including the whirlpool
galaxy. Mojo took those images out at our desert observing spot this past
year. :-)
Here are the best places to get the video:
On YouTube - which is easy to load
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=JPLnews&view=videos
NEW: A new archive of all What's Ups
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup.cfm
Itunes http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/podcasting/whatsup_index.html
The weather is looking great for our two sidewalk astronomy events this
weekend. 7-9 p.m. both nights. One warning for those who might want to
bring a telescope for the first time to Monrovia Saturday night. There is
landscaping going on in the gorgeous new Library grounds. The construction
fences are down but there is a lot of planting going on, and there is a
smaller space of pavement for telescopes and lots of redwood mulch where we
may have put a telescope or two or three in the past.
Stop by and say hello tonight or Saturday! Jane
Jane Houston Jones
Senior Outreach Specialist, Cassini Program
JPL - 4800 Oak Grove Drive, MS 230-205
Pasadena, CA 91109 818-393-6435
jane.h.jones(a)jpl.nasa.gov
Saturnobs http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/Education/saturnobservation/
NEW!!What's Up for April: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup.cfm
