Stan showed pre-meeting videos of our Hammond Hill outreach.

Ken introduced our speaker, Professor Jay Dunn from Atlanta, who has previously presented programs for our club.  He was also accompanied by several of his students from Atlanta.  The subject for the program was Active Galactic Nuclei, basically the activity around “black holes” commonly found at the center of almost all spiral galaxies.  Jay started with basics of size, drew our interest with more details, then into his main interest: gas interference by AGN in measuring galaxy distances and activity accurately.  He has found that all 4 Fe -containing gas clouds are far away from their black holes.

Kenneth presented Jay with our ACA Certificate of Appreciation, and thanked Jay for sharing his knowledge and research efforts, so closely related to our endeavors in astronomy. 

Stan videotaped this presentation.   If club members wish to see it at a later date, or view it a second time, you are invited to ask Stan.  
Stan will show the SEED 2014 video at our next star gaze on Nov. 22.

Stan awarded bean counter door prizes:  two tickets each for two winners (4 tickets total) to attend a program at the DuPont Planetarium at USCA before Dec. 31.  Suzanne #42 and Mike A. #60 won!

Tedda noted our club’s growing influence with out-of-town and international speakers, and emails from members who have moved away, but miss us:

Nov 02  Tedda and Stan:  I do thank you both for the wonderful hospitality you showed me... and for the offer of future visits... I look forward, with thanks in advance, to receiving the certificate. Dave Cotterell, Canada

Nov.05   Dear ACA, wishing you clear skies and wonderful nights filled with stargazing.  I just wanted to let you know that I am settling in to my new surroundings here in Richland Washington.  I hope everyone in the club is doing well.  Thanks for all the great memories, Mark N.

Oct.24   Hi Stan & Tedda, I know y'all were watching the eclipse yesterday.  I only caught a brief chance to snap a few pics before the sun went behind the tree line & clouds moved in. Hope y'all are well. Hello to the ACA. Doug N., North Carolina

A letter from JOHN GOSS, President of the Astronomical League, announced that University Work at Furman University, who publishes the Astronomical Calendar by Guy Ottwell each year, is offering a discount:  Regular price is $29.95, but to club members the price is $19.95 including S&H.  This publication is an excellent source of monthly information and charts to help you plan your viewing and to know “what’s up” for any given time or special events.  When you order let them know that you are a member of the ACA also a member of the Astronomical League.  Order online  www.universalworkshop.com/clubs.htm  or  800-533-5083 before December 31, 2014.

Refreshments: Many thanks to Mike and Michael Axel for delicious snacks: crackers, veggies, chips, dips, cookies, sodas, and homemade brownies. 

John lead our business meeting:

1.    Dec. meet:  We decided to meet at Bobby’s BBQ again this year.  It won over Sconyers- too noisy, Golden Corral- so so food, and Formosa- inadequate room, as to tasty food and private room. Kenneth later confirmed our room with Bobby’s, and Cathy agreed to lead the gift exchange.

2.    Jan. meet:  John agreed to present Astronomy Wheel of Mis-Fortune.

Kenneth asked for refreshment volunteers, and made a sign-up sheet. Thanks for volunteering! 

We passed around a condolence card to Mark.

Outside in the parking lot, we enjoyed clear skies, and observed the moon, Andromeda galaxy, and many brighter constellations.  Five young people were introduced to and had fun learning the 12 large visible maria on the moon.  We had a little problem with the scope but “improvised” effectively to provide excellent images.  GRU accommodated us by turning out the parking lights!  We finished about 10:30PM.

Respectfully submitted,

John White, ACA Treasurer,

Tedda Howard, Immediate Past President

for Ray Owens, ACA Secretary




20141122ACAMin

The Astronomy Club of Augusta met on November 22, 2014 for its monthly stargazing at NMR-DSO. Four members attended, and began arriving at about 7:00pm.

The night began with SpaceNews and general astronomy conversation. Kenneth and Tedda went through resources and links for the Statesville road trip next March, and added updates to the Calendar of Events page. Stan and Mike went out to see what they could see, which wasn't much due to clouds.

The club reflector scope has hardware mounting issues which Stan had to deal with, and Mike mounted the Viewfinder 2 backwards on his StarMax 90mm. After wasting most of the viewing time before the clouds came in, it started to rain. We packed-up everything, went into the house, and had chili with biscuits and tea or hot chocolate, coffee.

The night finished off with watching an interesting video of the Rosetta Mission and the Philae space probe landing on Comet P67.

Respectfully submitted,
Mike McCoy