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Roberts Rules
By Carter Roberts, President

The Ottewell 2001 Astronomical Calendar is a unique and useful resource that you would appreciate having at hand throughout the year. Don Stone still has four copies available for sale to members at a price of $21.25. Send your order to Don at 19047 Robinson Road, Sonoma, CA 95476-5517.

Sometimes you don't have to wait for the clearest of skies to do some intriguing observing. Here is a photo of a ring around the Moon with Rachel. Come up to Chabot on Friday and Saturday evenings. You can spend some time helping the public become oriented to the night sky. Your help is even more needed during daytime hours, as a great number of people are interested in the telescopes from an historical viewpoint. Please call me or Terry Galloway and volunteer your time, however much you can spare, for this public educational service. Another way you can contribute to your society is to volunteer for tasks concerning the relocation of the Burns Library. There is much work to be done, and Anne Creese would welcome you.

We are planning the Annual Dinner Meeting for March, 2001, and at that event we will name the next recipient of the Helen Pillans Award. Please offer your suggestions for this nominee to any Board member before January 18 for consideration.

Don't forget to celebrate the advent of the 21st century and the beginning of a new millennium at 4 pm PST, December 31. Happy New Year!

 

 

Welcome New Members
Please welcome these new members of the
Eastbay Astronomical Society.

Adam Renslo — Oakland
 

Telescope Makers Workshop
is on the second floor of the Spees Building, across from the antique telescope display. Call Paul Zurakowski for further information at
(925) 447-6837.
Come any Friday evening and build your own telescope!

After a Christmas potluck with lots of holiday treats at the December EAS meeting, we were entertained by Lynda Williams, the famous “Physics Chanteuse.” Lynda is a physics instructor at San Francisco State who entertains scientists by singing songs of her own composition such as “Big Bang”, “SETI@Home,” and “Quark Sing-a-long.” Dressed as an elegant nightclub chanteuse, she performed her hilarious musical interpretations of the latest discoveries in physics and astronomy. EAS members clapped, laughed, and sang along to Lynda’s multimedia creations. At the end of the show, she even put on her solar corona hat (sort of like an astronomical Carmen Miranda) and sang the “Sun Song.” Your program director received lots of favorable comments after this memorable show! If you want to see and hear more about Lynda’s unusual and amusing performance check out her website at http://www.scientainment.com.

Anne and Frank Creese found their pictures in the Hayward Daily Review recently accompanying a story about the San Leandro Senior Center. With this evidence, plus counting the number of years these people have been members of EAS, we may be convinced that they indeed have earned the respect due to senior status, regardless of their youthful outlook.

Leah and the Fauth Telescope
By Don Saito


The work on Leah, the historic 1883 Alvan Clark 8-inch refractor has been put on hold, lately, by another urgent project—the clock cases and pier sections of the transit telescope. The Oakland Unified School District needed the room in Old Chabot where the transit telescope and clocks were kept, and they were urging us to move out, so Carter Roberts, Ken Swagerty, and I moved everything to Ken’s home workshop. We figured that since we’re moving them anyway, the wood of the clock cases, and the piers themselves, should be refinished before reinstalling them at New Chabot. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a bigger job than we first thought. But, we’re almost done and should have them installed by the time you read this; then we’ll be able to devote full attention to Leah once again. On December 13, a representative from the Smithsonian toured the facility with Dr. Mike Reynolds, and then they went over to Ken’s workshop to see Leah.
 

Here’s a picture of most of the brass we’ve cleaned, polished, and coated.
 

The Fauth transit telescope also dates to the previous millennium, having been placed in service in 1885 at the original Oakland Observatory in Lafayette Square a few blocks from the City Hall. Both this instrument and Leah had been funded by Anthony Chabot; and after his death in 1888, the Observatory was renamed in his honor. The Fauth telescope was used to set the official time for the City of Oakland. It was set up to ring the bell in City Hall twice a day.
Photo by Carter Roberts


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