Jackson (Hole)
Astronomy Club
2008 Binoc/Tripod Raffle info, click HERE.
Comet Hale-Bopp in the skies over Jackson (Hole).
Copies available, contact Walt Farmer.
Comet 17P/Holmes imaged at the Grand Cosmic Observatory Jackson Hole, Wyoming by Arlo F. Niederer
Imaged through a 0.5 meter Ritchey-Chretien Telescope on an SBIG STL-11000M astro CCD. Composite of 30, one minute exposures through Luminance, Red, Green, and Blue filters and composited into an LRGB image.
Imaged on Thursday, Nov. 8, 2007, between 10:51 PM and Midnight.
Our next meeting will be, Friday, June 6 at the home of MEL & Sue Tucker in Pacific Creek. We'll carpool from the Gros Ventre Jct. as usual, leaving at approx. 7pm.
ASTRONOMY MEETING SCHEDULE FOR 2008
DATE MEETING PLACE
Sept. 26, Friday, 8pm Home of Arlo & Dalia Niederer in Bar B Bar
Oct. 3, Friday, 8pm Teton Co. Rec Center
Program: Solar System & the Milky Way, Our Home Galaxy
Nov. 7, Friday,
8pm
TBD
Before the storm at Owen-Bircher Park in Wilson, Aug. 7, 2008
Our LAST MEETING, was at Owen-Bircher Park in Wilson in coop with the Rec Center, Jill and Jill were both there. We had a number of visitors from W. Palm Beach, Chicago & elsewhere. We had some serious rain & lightning while conducting a program under the picnic cover, and never got to do any observing. MEL, ANN & ARLO held forth on meteors & meteor showers in advance of the Perseids next week (which were largely a flop this year), LORETTA providing most of the refreshments. Sold a patch and a few raffle tickets. Sometimes, that's just the way it goes.
Need a club logo ball cap, raffle ticket, calendar? Call LORETTA.
Photo by DALIA NIEDERER.
Welcome to our webpage concerning the activities of our amateur astronomy organization. Our Club Chair for the last 11+ yrs. now is MEL TUCKER. It was begun in 1992 with 5 charter members and now boasts about 40-50. Our members are students, retired military, geologists, teachers, pilots, homemakers, professional astronomers, and a former Jackson Mayor.
Club Dues are $12. to join, $10. to renew, $8. for a second family member and $6. for students. Make checks out to the Jackson (Hole) Astronomy Club and send to LORETTA SCOTT at Box 994, Jackson, WY, 83001-0994. (If students can't afford to make this nominal investment, we will let them join for free.)
Benefits of membership include a monthly newsletter, discounts on national astronomy magazines, instruction and use of the club's three telescopes & astronomical binoculars (Re Telescope Loaner Info for Members below), monthly meetings, observing with others members, discounts on occasional courses, etc. Each meeting includes an observing session if weather allows. Programs are usually given by other members or the occasional professor or other passing through the area.
The club will present Star Parties (scopes, astronomers, etc. for nighttime observing for groups of people). Convention groups may engage the club for the nominal cost of $400. per evening. Local civic groups will be accommodated either free or for a nominal charge. Private small groups, visitors to the valley, etc., may engage us for a date & price to be determined on an individual basis, probably in the $200. range depending. School groups, scouts, or other similar local entities will incur no fee for such an event. We are also engaged in classes for young people, Scout merit badge counseling, and observe National Astronomy Day... usually in Grand Teton National Park in August. This consists of an information table, solar observing, videos in the theatre, an amphitheater program, and then finally, star gazing. Contact WALT via information provided below or click on this LINK to email for more information. For your group, choose the link below for more info:
NAD 2008, Aug. 3: Participating this year were Ed Henze, Ann & Chuck Dahl, Linda Dudinyak, Mel Tucker, Walt Farmer, Arlo/Dalia/Derek Niederer, Dave and Helen Bishop, Bob Hoyle. We had about 250 come by on the deck to view no sunspots on the sun from 2-5pm. Bob did his amphitheater program at 9pm & most of the almost 400 attendees came down to the bay to look through our 5 (2 - 8", 2 - 11", and one 14") scopes and 2 binoculars set up for nighttime viewing, until after midnight. It was a most appreciative and jazzed crowd, more so than usual this year, but then the night was pleasant, the stars were plentiful, and the park helped with promoting the event this year. We had good press locally as well as in Sky & Telescope magazine.
NAD 2007 - Problem was, we were snookered. We got one hour of solar gazing on the deck, the rest was rained out. Several rain showers busted the nighttime event too, although BOB HOYLE did his amphitheatre program in the auditorium. Attending & making the effort were: BOB, MEL, WALT, ARLO & DALIA, BILL B., JOHN F., & ED. Total visitors this year was about 150. After his amp program, the sky cleared a little & briefly. BOB did a quick laser sky tour for about 15 people & WALT got the club's 8 in. out for about 20 min. of stargazing. Hardly worth the effort, but they liked it & after all, that's what we do.
Our club stands available to present free star parties for clubs, schools, scouts, etc. Just contact us for particulars. Here's a list of past events we've volunteered for. Link.ARLO and DAN were going to do a star party in Driggs at the high school but it was cancelled due to bad weather. ARLO and WALT were there at the high school on May 8 to look at the Sun during their Renaissance Faire, and spoke to their astronomy class. On May 24, ARLO and WALT spoke to Jessica Dunlap's class for 4 periods at JHHS, and we held another nighttime star party for several of their classses on May 25. Participating were MEL, ARLO, DEREK, WALT, LORETTA and MIKE MAURER. Mucho thankos to all. Here's their thank-you note to us...
Jackson Hole Sky Quality Meter readings from 2006SQM readings for the Jackson Hole Airportnch. Ann, Mike Maurer, Walt and Mel hosted on 7/8/0
Our 2008 Mega-Fantastico Raffle, you ask?
20 x 80 astronomical binoculars from Orion. BAK-4 prisms w/internal baffling. Note the center mounting bracket that slides for better balance on the tripod. Spectacular night sky observing of celestial objects or close-up terrestial viewing of wildlife, peaks, or other interesting distant subjects. Tech data: 20x, 80mm, fully multi-coated (to minimize spherical aberration), 3.2 deg. field of view, 17mm eye relief, 13 1/4 in. long & 7 lbs. 1 oz. - tripod included below...
A Paragon-Plus XHD tripod, fully compatible with the above binoculars.
Both items have a combined value of about $450.
Raffle tickets can be obtained from certain members of the astronomy club and sell for $5. ea, or 3 for $10. A maximum of 500 tickets will be printed and the drawing will be held at the Teton Co. Rec Center at our meeting on Oct. 3. You need not be present to win. Also included: a one-year membership in the Astronomy Club.
MEL holding the monsters. Good luck ticket holders.
New item, as of October 2007, baseball caps, $20. Contact Loretta to get yours.
The perfect Xmas/birthday/whenever gift. Get YOURS now. Recognize our stylin' cap models?
Pics de Walt
Our PATCH that anyone can acquire. It's $5.(to club members $3. or 2 for $5.) and can be gotten from our esteemed Treasurer LORETTA SCOTT at the address below. Please add an extra .50 cents for mailing, etc. And boy is she "steamed" that they haven't been selling like hotcakes. (Perhaps that's because they're patches & not hotcakes.)Club jackets are available and ARLO sewed patches onto all of them. Some are still available to be acquired, so call them to set one aside for you. They're summer windbreakers in red and black, and cost about $45. to club members.
Jackson Lake Bolide by James Baker, across Jackson Lake from Colter Bay in 1972 when it actually had water in it.
It could be seen for 101 sec. from Utah to Canada & was over 1,000 miles long. This is real, no digital enhancing then.
See the July 1974 issue of S&T Magazine for a sequential series of photos.Current club officers are:
Chair Potentate: Mel Tucker, 307.543.2424, Box 123, Moran, WY 83013
suet@blissnet.comVice-Chair slightly less potentate: Arlo Niederer, 307.734.6353, Box 8937, Jackson, WY 83002.
astroarlo@bresnan.netTreasurer Extraordinaire: Loretta Scott, 307.733.6906, Box 994, Jackson, WY 83001
lscott@wyoming.comNewsletter Producer/Editor/Writer/Correspondent/Whatever:Mike Maurer, 307.733.3728, carnuba_2000@yahoo.com
Professor of Programs:Kurt Johnson - kjohnson@springcreekranch.com
Membership/Star Parties/Publicity/Other stuff: Walt Farmer, 307.733.2173
walt@theastrocowboy.comCLUB PARTICULARS: We hold elections only if one of the first 3 officers can't continue in their position or if someone would like to volunteer/challenge for a post. We're pretty informal & get together for the simple enjoyment of astronomy & sharing of information. We do NOT have 501c(3) status & as such are not tax-exempt. Please volunteer to the Chair or Vice-Chair if you'd like to help in some specific manner.
***(Club members are encouraged to submit items for this page, including astrophotos, or other pertinent info. Contact Webmaster Walt Farmer for more info.)
TELESCOPE LOANER INFO TO MEMBERS LINK
(This webpage is part of the website, Walt's Wyoming (Film) Web and authored by © WALT FARMER, Jim Bliss & Ron Sprouse.)
Some very interesting astronomy links are suggested below...
Weather in Jackson Hole |
Astronomy Photograph of the Day |
More Great Links |
What's happening on the Sun |
A Great Astro Club |
Seti@home |
Solar System Simulator |
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NASA link for Amateur Astronomers |
NASA link for Students & Educators |
Casper Planetarium |
Laramie Astronomical Soc. & Space Observers Club in Laramie |
| A great solar info/imaging website. |
Black Holes |
All the Space News fit to electronically print. |
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| Virtual tours of astronomical observatories | |
Would you like to have your astrophoto here as well? Call Walt & show off a little.Enlargements of Walt's photographs below, including Hale-Bopp at the top of the page, available on request.
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Walt's backyard pic of M31. |
Pleiades open star cluster de Walt |
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Overhead, 3.30.01, Jackson, Wyo AURORA IN WYO WNW, over the Tetons, 3.30.01