Bruce and Emma Anderson
• Pleasant Hill
Gerald McKeegan • Walnut Creek
Harry J. Ries • Oakland
Points of Light [The Refractor welcomes items
about EAS members in the news, their published articles, their
conference presentations, or word of their completed astronomical
projects.]
A color image of the globular cluster
M5, captured by Joseph
Liu with his 8-inch refractor,
was featured in the “Small-Scope Sampler” column in
the June Sky & Telescope.
John Westfall presented a paper during July’s AstroCon
2000 in Ventura. The topic: “A Preliminary Report on the
November 15, 1999 Transit of Mercury.” John will next take
the podium at an upcoming meeting (August 22) of the Mount Diablo
Astronomical Society, where he’ll discuss “ALPO and
Planetary Observing for Amateurs.”
Yet another EAS member, Carter
Roberts, will speak at the MDAS
meeting on September 26th. Carter plans to recite his “Confessions
of an Eclipse Watcher.”
Chabot Space & Science Center merits an article in the August
issue of Sunset Magazine. The story features a color photo
of the Ask Jeeves Planetarium showing mythological images projected
on the dome. Mike
Reynolds is quoted: “Educationally,
we are building our programs on student interest in astronomy
and space exploration. The ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’
I hear as visitors look through telescopes at the moon, Saturn,
or the Andromeda Galaxy tell me that people are fascinated by
their connection to the universe.”
The most recent copy (issue #27) of the quarterly magazine Amateur
Astronomy profiles EAS member Jim Scala
in its “Star People” column.
Carl Trost appeared in a photo in the Pleasanton
Weekly on June 23. He is shown observing the solstitial Sun
crossing the local meridian, as indicated by the sundial-like
sculpture adjacent to the Pleasanton Senior Center. Carl also
spoke on the topic of sundials and analemmas at the July meeting
of the San Francisco Amateur Astronomers.
The Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers’ journal,
The Strolling Astronomer, mailed out in June, contains
an article by Mark
Gingrich, titled “Illuminated
Extent: A Telltale Measure of an Inferior Planet’s Disk”.
This is a more technical presentation of Mark’s EAS Members’
Night talk concerning optimal dates for viewing Mercury and Venus.
In that same issue of The Strolling Astronomer, José Olivarez gives brief synopses of four books: The
Deep Sky: An Introduction, by P.S. Harrington; A Sky Watcher’s
Year, by J. Kanipe; The Monthly Sky Guide, 5th Edition,
by I. Ridpath and W. Tirion; and Meteorites and Their Parent
Planets (2nd Edition), by H.Y. McSween, Jr.