Text 286, 91 rader
Skriven 2006-03-01 23:25:00 av John Pazmino (1:278/230)
Ärende: NYC Events 2/2 Mar   5/ 5
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Continued from previous message.

Soviet kid's book about the Moon. Printed in 1974 in Leningrad, it 
portrays Soviet and American lunar missions! My other item is a 
textbook on practical astronomy from the colonial era. It has many 
foldout maps and diagrams, including gores for a starglobe. And it's 
chuck full of maths that make you wonder how any one had the nerve to 
work out with pencil and paper! 
    With this year being the Darwin year, anchored by the monster 
exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History, many events relate 
to evolution. They are spread over much of the NYSkies turf, not just 
on Manhattan. These are particularly timely for the upswing in the 
debate about Bible-based creation in public schools. 
    If you're looking for potential contention at a lecture, try the 
one with James Hansen at the New School on March 14th. He's the chap 
hounded by his higher up at Goddard Institute for Space Studies, right 
here in the City. Why? He alludes too closely to American industry as 
a prime source of global warming. 
    As warmer weather approaches, outdoor cultural activity is ramping 
up. Besides walking tours of a couple hours length, there is, on the 
26th, an all-day ride-walk of the BMT Brighton line from end to end. 
    Many outdoor observing sessions are suspended for the harsh 
conditions in a US Northeast winter. However, several continue right 
thu the year. Please understand that the cold and wind are most 
merciless to the unprepared astronomer! This is specially true in a 
field with no shelter. 
    Amateur Astronomer Association Inc sticks to its despotic ways, 
with no indication of reform. Thus, certain of its activities carry 
the risk of abuse and hostility to their visitors, as marked in the 
index and annotated in the listings. 
    On 2005 December 2 three AAA Board members, including president 
Michael O'Gara, displayed hostile behavior at its lecture at the 
American Museum of Natural History. They tried to harass a Museum 
visitor by posturing and gesturing! 
    Because there now seems to be more than just a 'risk' of abuse and 
hostility, NYC Events no longer lists AAA events at the Museum. These 
were so far this year their Friday lectures in Kaufmann Theater and 
their starviewing in the Planetarium's Monday shows. 

Sky News
 ------
    A substantial snowstorm sweeped over the City on February 11-12, 
piling 682mm in Central Park. The snow was a fluffy, cotton-candy 
substance that exaggerated the depth of the fall. Never the less, t 
forced cancellation on just about every activity on Saturday night and 
all day on Sunday. These included the shutdown of City College late on 
Saturday night. 
    In turn ,this closure cascaded to all events set for the campus on 
Sunday. Staff from the NY Academy of Sciences, running the fair, 
showed up at the college to find it closed with no onsite crew to 
operate the event. 
    We say bye-bye to Mars with his disc shrinking way beyond comfort 
in small telescopes. He's still in the western sky, crossing in 
Taurus-Gemini. 
    Saturn is in high south at night, to rule the evening sky all thru 
spring. His rings are slowly closing up, making him more 'classical' 
in appearance. 
    After 21 years, the recurrent nova RS Ophiuchi flared up in mid 
February to 4-1/2 magnitude. It faded quickly in a few days to 6-1/2, 
then faded more gently thru the end of the month. Large moon, cloudy 
weather, awkward viewing hours, winter chill kept many NYSkiers from 
getting a view of this rare event. When will RS erupt again? Not for 
decades, according to experience thruout the 20th century. 
    We're starting to rev up for comet Schwassmann-Wachmann-3 
approaching Earth in May. It's still far too soon to make any credible 
forecast of its brightness and showiness. Please calm down a bit. OH? 

NYSkies
 -----
    Astronomers are exploiting NYSkies as a quick, handy, friendly,
and potent source of astronomy news relating to the City. And there is
LOTS of astronomy stuff going on around New York! Since it revived on
28 September 2001 (it was interrupted by World Trade Center) NYSkies
became the definitive forum and public record for matters bearing on
home astronomy in and around New York.
    Joining NYSkies is easy. Send an empty email to this Yahoogroup
maillist at 'nysky-subscribe@yahoogroups.com'. Its posts are sent to
you in your email and you post to it by email. It's that simple!
    Or you may go to 'groups.yahoo.com/group/nysky'. If you are
already signed up with Yahoo, you go and sign in and then 'join'
NYSkies. If not, you have to go thru a silly 'registration' that's a
one shot chore, valid for all groups you may eventually join. The
files area of NYSkies are accessible only thru the website.

[end of part 2 of 2]


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 * Origin: MoonDog BBS, Brooklyn,NY, 718 692-2498, 1:278/230 (1:278/230)