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Club Address:
65-1158 Mamalahoa Hwy.
Kamuela, HI 96743
An electronic publication of The West Hawaii Astronomy Club -
Club Officers:
Presidents:
Craig Combes and Craig Nance
Secretary:
Laura Kraft
With Support From:
Canada-France Hawaii Telescope and
W. M. Keck Observatory
This website is currently maintained by
Doug Summers
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November 2005 Club Meeting Report
The club meeting was held on November 8, 2005 @7pm at the CFHT large conference room. Many thanks to CFHT for hosting the meeting, including snacks and beverages! We had what we believe was a record turnout of ~30 attendees at the meeting! An informal survey indicated that about 1/3 of the attendees are from Kona. The following notes were taken by none other than our own Craig Nance (Thank you!):
The Introductions included a few new faces. Welcome everyone!
During the Gear Talk Show & Tell part of the meeting Craig Combes shared his new Burgess Optical eyepiece. CBurgess eyepieces, something that the Scribe can attest to. Here for more details --> "Burgess Optical"
The featured web site was Carlton Lane presenting information available on MSNBC on supermassive black holes. He used the article to illustrate how MSNBC is an excellent source of up to date news on astronomy and space related information. "Space News"
Craig Nance and Craig Combes reported on observing sessions held over the previous Friday (Combes) and Saturday (Nance) evenings at Hale Pohaku. Following was a group discussion on observing sites. There seems to be an ongoing debate as to whether the Saddle area is good for observing, or is it better to continue on to higher elevations, such as Hale Pohaku.
The featured speaker was Gary Fujihara of the Institute for Astronomy. We credit him for the bump in meeting attendance, as he is always an entertaining, enthusiastic, and exciting speaker. He spoke on three separate topics. First, he gave a report on the early scientific findings of the Deep Impact event. Second, he reviewed the impressive amount of public outreach in Hawaii that accompanied Deep Impact. Then, he concluded with an update of the construction of the Mauna Kea Astronomy Education Center. Sometime during the end of his talk, Gary told us about how he was fortunate to look through the 8-meter Subaru telescope via an eyepiece. This occurred years ago back when he worked for Subaru. The icing on the cake: Gary graciously invited the West Hawaii Astronomy Club to be a part of AstroDay 2006. It will occur on May 6, 2006 from 10am-5pm in the Prince Kuhio Mall in Hilo. The Scribe will pursue this in the coming month or two. Gary's AstroDay web site is here --> "Gary's AstroDay Website" He also has a personal Weblog which is very entertaining reading, here --> "Gary's Weblog"
Gary wrote the following in his weblog about his talk to our club:
They call themselves the WHACos, and this energetic group of amateur astronomers is anything but that. The West Hawaii Astronomy Club (WHAC) President Craig Combes (as I found out, one of three Co-Presidents of the club) booked me for a talk Tuesday evening at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope conference room. I hadn't actually thought of a subject on which to speak until a few days ahead ago, and decided to go with the Deep impact mission and early results and implications. The talk will be spiced with some data and images from the NASA JPL Solar System Ambassador program, along with some visuals like the spacecraft with detachable probe from the University of Maryland, and Dan Maas animation footage for portions of my Keynote slideshow. The weather in East Hawaii has been really wet earlier this week, and the day of the meeting was fraught with large outbursts of rain. The satellite images did not inspire any confidence for a change in the current weather pattern, but with no announcement for cancellation, I packed my gear and headed for Waimea. The rain beat a constant patter on my windshield as I made my way out of town, but by Hakalau, the clouds seemed less ominous, and the rain less dense. When I was on the outskirts of Paauilo, I could actually see some patches of sky in the distance, and I could switch my wipers onto intermittent mode. By the time I got past Tex Drive-Inn in Honokaa, the skies to the north were somewhat clear with a few patches of clouds - hmmm, okay, we may be able to see some stars tonight. The Canada-France-Hawaii headquarters in Waimea was dry, and I was met by Remi Cabanac at the conference room. We chatted a bit, while I set up my system, and after some club business, was able to deliver my presentation. I cannot begin to tell you how much fun I had interacting with the club members during and after the talk. It can be so invigorating to be in the company of folks who have a similar passion for the night sky. It is wonderful to see a club flourish like it is in West Hawaii and Waimea, and I am particularly happy to see that our colleagues at W.M. Keck Observatory and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope supporting them. Maikai no!
Craig Nance presented The Sky This Month and Featured Object of the Month. The featured object was the Veil Nebula. By request, the December featured object will be the Andromeda Galaxy.
Craig Combes facilitated several pieces of club business. Reminder that the Filippenko lecture series on "Understanding the Universe: an Introduction to Astronomy" is ongoing and all are invited. There are ~half-dozen hardy souls that are viewing this 40-lecture set, two lectures at a time every Tuesday evening that there is not a WHAC club meeting. Lectures shown at the Keck meeting room. All are invited, and you do not have to have viewed prior lectures to enjoy the current lectures. The lectures are projected to conclude on Feb 6. We plan to acquire the follow-up lecture series "What's New In Astronomy, circa 2003" to start in mid to late February.
Pierre Martin of CFHT asks interested persons to come to the CFHT Star Gazing party on December 3 at 7pm, which follows the Waimea Christmas Parade. If you have a telescope, bring it!
Doug Summers is back now, and promised to begin helping out by getting the web page back up & running. He is happy to report that the web is mostly up again, and normal monthly items like moonphases, club news, sky_chart, future meeting notices, etc. are already up-to-date. Check the web out again and let him know if you want anything put on the web.
The formal part of the meeting ended at about 9pm.
Reminder that the next WHAC meeting will occur on Tuesday December 13, 2005 at 7pm at our usual meeting room at the Keck headquarters. At 6pm that evening many club members gather for the customary pre-meeting dinner at the Parker Ranch Foodcourt. If the weather appears clear, bring your telescope for some after-meeting observing. Check the Yahoo groups web site for updates on observing opportunities, such as deep sky observing and the Dec 3 event at CFHT.
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