The end of an era...

Carter Worth Roberts, 1947 - 2008

Our friend and club president, Carter Roberts, died on April 24, 2008, 20 minutes past midnight, at Summit Medical Center in Oakland, CA of complications resulting from colon cancer. A memorial in his honor will be held:

Monday, May 19, 7:30pm
Ask Jeeves Planetarium
Chabot Space & Science Center
10000 Skyline Blvd.
Oakland, CA
N37º 49' 12" W122º 10' 52"

Anyone wishing to give a presentation at the memorial should contact Dave Rodrigues at (510) 483-9191, or Don Saito at (510) 482-2913. Please leave a short message with your name and phone number, and we will contact you. Carter has no surviving family, but anyone wishing to make donations in remembrance of him are asked to make them to the Chabot Space & Science Center. The CSSC was Carter's greatest cause and mission in life, and it's high quality and survival through the years are due in no small part to his efforts.

Bye, Carter! We're missing you, already... :'-(

EAS ANNUAL AWARDS DINNER A SUCCESS!
The EAS Annual Awards Dinner last Sunday was spectacularly successful! We had a full house, Paul Hoy received his well-earned Helen Pilans Award, the food, dessert, and Peet's coffee was terrific, and Alex Filippenko was simply amazing. No wonder he's such a popular lecturer at one of the finest educational institutions in the world. More details in the next newsletter!

SKY & TELESCOPE WRITING CONTEST FOR AGES 5 - 18
If you're 5 to 18 and can write a short astronomy essay, you can send it in for a shot at prizes ranging from $50 to $200. [More]

The What's Up and Schedule web pages on this site are now up-to-date as much as they can be, for now. Check 'em out!

ANNOUNCEMENT: The Eastbay Astronomical Society proudly presents Alexei V. Filippenko, Professor of Astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley, as our Keynote Speaker for this year's Annual Awards Dinner, to be held Sunday, February 24, 2008. Look for more details and signup forms in the near future!

Happy New Year! <fweet!> SOLAR CYCLE 24 STARTS The first indicator that we are coming out of solar minimum appeared today in the form of a pole-reversed sunspot. It will still be a few more years before solar maxiumum happens, but it's on its way. Read more about it at SpaceWeather.com (check the archives for Jan 5, 2008 if this article is no longer on the home page).