From the President
Carter Roberts

Take Your Seat Among the Stars

There is still time to put your name on a seat in the Ask Jeeves Planetarium at the Chabot Space & Science Center. Approximately half of the 240 planetarium seats and a few in the Tien MegaDome Theater have been sold at $500 each. A seat marketing effort begins soon so now is the time to help Chabot pay off construction costs and leave your name under the stars. I understand that the names of those buying two or more seats by June 30 will also be included on the capital campaign donor wall.
To reserve Your Place in the Universe also known as "José's Meadow" send your VISA or MasterCard information or check payable to Chabot Space & Science Center, 10000 Skyline Blvd, Oakland CA 94619. Please indicate how many seats you want and in which theater. (Megadome Theater seat donations are presently being matched by Mr. Richard Liu thus doubling donations.) Also give the inscription you would like on each seat. Each plaque can have 2 lines with up to 25 characters (including spaces and punctuation) per line. ˜

June 8, 2004: Venus in Transit, by Eli Maor, and Transit: When Planets Cross the Sun, by Michael Maunder and Patrick Moore, are two recent books reviewed by John Westfall in the June Sky and Telescope.

In that same issue, the Chabot Space and Science Center is mentioned in David Levy's profile of artist and planetary scientist William K. Hartmann - specifically, Hartmann is shown working on the 17-meter-wide mural now adorning the wall adjacent to the Tien MegaDome Theater's exit.

Chabot Vacuum Solar Telescope Project
Kevin Medlock and Joe Waidl are looking for a few good men/women to help them with assembling the recently acquired Chabot Vacuum Solar Telescope (CVST) for Chabot Space and Science Center (CSSC). If you're interested in helping to install this research-grade solar telescope from the Observatorio del Teide in the Canary Islands, please send your area of expertise and interest, name, address, phone number, email address and times you can work to: Jwaidl@email.msn.com or to
kmedlock@chabotspace.org. Or, just leave Kevin a message at Chabot (510) 530-3480.

EAS Library Project
Though it's not quite as sexy as the solar telescope project, the EAS Library Project, headed by EAS Librarian Anne Creese needs your help to get the books moved from old Chabot out of their boxes, cleaned up, cataloged and shelved. The next activity session will be held from 2 - 5pm, Saturday, May 26th. The EAS Library contains many rare and valuable materials that span more than a century; please lend a hand to keep that legacy safe and available to future generations of astronomers. For more information, please contact any EAS club officer (contact information located elsewhere in this newsletter)..

KQED Pledge Drive and the EAS
EAS member Harry Betancourt has offered the EAS a chance to get some great television exposure by having some EAS volunteers work on a KQED pledge drive, manning phones. It's only a couple of hours of work, you get to be on TV(!), the camera will pan over an EAS banner several times, and there's even free food. If you're interested in doing this, call or email me: (510) 482-2913
donsaito@pacbell.net. The next pledge will be in June. Al Stearn and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific will also be there. C'mon, let's do it! It sounds like fun!

This is a great aerial shot showing Chabot, Lake Merritt, downtown Oakland, the Bay, and San Francisco taken by Chabot Board Member Dan Miller in April of this year.)