Improve Locating Skills at September 26th Meeting
San Juan Stargazers Will Improve “Locating Skills”
TheSanJuan Stargazerswill hold their regular monthly meeting on Thursday, September 26, 2019, at the Chamber Visitors’ Center Conference Room located at 105 Hot Springs Blvd. The meeting is from 7- 8:30 PM. (SHARP) Hot drinks and a treat will be served at 6:30 with time to socialize.
Our program for this month will be presented by Jerry Granok. It will be an inter-active practicum on locating constellations, stars and deep-sky objects. Somehow Jerry will have the night sky (minus rain clouds) appear in the conference room at the Chamber. We will locate various sky objects that at first view are labeled in the “sky.” Then we will try to locate these same objects with unlabeled stars like we usually see. We will do most of this as a group activity, but individuals can “show off” & test themselves while others of us just “watch & learn.” It sounds pretty unbelievable, but because Jerry is doing it, it will happen. Come & see how he pulls this off (I’m referring to a sky without rain clouds). It should be a great learning experience & lots of fun because someone, I’m not saying who, but I bet you can guess, will have water balloons with warm water, of course. Remember that guests are always welcome at our meetings and this will be one you don’t want to miss. If you’ve wondered about something you’ve seen in the night sky, this is the perfect time to come & see if we can help you figure it out.
This will be the last training lesson for this year’s 9th and last Star Party at Chimney Rock which will be held on Friday, September 27. The gate opens at 6PM and the program begins at 6:45. Chris Horley will be doing his wonderful power point presentation on Stars & Galaxies. There will be Cub Scouts galore, so this would be a great time for other children to come. Grandparents can bring their grandchildren for one last treat of the summer. Many of you have said all summer that you want to come to a Star Party. This is your LAST CHANCE for 2019. We will save a spot for you.
We have a few more special activities for this Fall. We will be having a private Star Party for Middle School 8th Graders with the date still to be determined. On Saturday, October 5, there will be a HUGE Star Party at Mesa Verde National Park. This is one of the last events that John Buting started the summer before he died and it has continued every year in his memory. It is still going strong & we want to invite people from Pagosa to join others in the 4-Corners Area. If you can bring a telescope or help out in other ways, you can have a free campsite in the Park. Call our club number for more information. This is a BIG STAR PARTY with hundreds of people and something I would recommend for everyone to experience.
There is one last event to mention. Our End-of-Year Celebration for having 9 Star Parties at
Chimney Rock serving hundreds of people, and our 7th Anniversary Dinner for the San Juan Stargazers Astronomy Club will be held on Friday, October 25, at a private home. It is for Club members & invited guests only. We always invite all the C.R.I. A. members who help us during the summer. This year we will have special door-prizes instead of games with more time to socialize. You must make a reservation this year to determine food quantities. Hope to see all you Stargazers and C.R.I.A Night Sky support members!
The San Juan Stargazers are part of the Astronomical League, which includes clubs from all over the US. We have a wonderful new web-site—www.sanjuanstargazers.org, as well as an email address, sjstargazers@gmail.com and a club phone number 970-335-8286.
We welcome everyone who has an interest in learning more about our AMAZING UNIVERSE.