Southern African biennial Symposium of the ASSA

The Pretoria branch of ASSA is proud to announce the dates for the Southern African biennial Symposium of the ASSA. The symposium will take place at the Silverton campus of the Council for Geoscience on Thursday 7 October 2010 and Friday 8 October 2010. Click to download a pdf or doc registration file with full information.The symposium will focus on light/spectrum pollution and people interested in delivering papers are invited to send a short synopsis to the Committee. See detail at: download pdf document

• More information from: Andrie van der Linde, cellphone: 0836324894 or e-mail

The Complete Sky & Telescope: Seven Decade Collection.

All of S&T on DVD
Rumors have been flying around for months, but now it's official. Starting today, we're taking orders for The Complete Sky & Telescope: Seven Decade Collection.
Click above for full information on the DVD collection — and to order your own copy online.
This set of eight DVD-ROMs includes every issue published from November 1941 through December 2009, plus a unified index for the complete set with full text search for every word ever printed.

I don't know if you're excited, but I sure am! For anyone interested in the history of astronomy, the back issues of Sky & Telescope are a goldmine. That's why the 3-by-6-foot bookcase containing bound volumes of all of S&T is the most precious resource in our offices — even more valuable than the thousands of books that have been acquired over the years both by the magazine as a whole and by the individual editors.

• Read more and order your DVD set

Chairman’s Chat
by Gary Els, Canopus July 2010
monthly newsletter of the johannesburg centre of assa Visit and download Canopus
Those of us who enjoy spending hours viewing through an eyepiece, have to brave the
elements outdoors, and while summer is the most comfortable, there are the clouds and
seasonal rain that washes out many a good night's observing.

The problem is that best sky viewing is in winter, and while family and friends think you are
crazy, and at times we agree, some of the best objects are visible at this time of year.

Just take the number of objects that are visible in the southern sky in the early evening,
just too many to name that are waiting to fill an eyepiece.

While the Highveld is experiencing the lowest temperatures since 1994, this should not
deter us from taking advantage of moisture-free skies and hunting down those objects
we have not yet seen. So here are some tips to help in viewing at this time.

- Dress in layers, maybe starting with thermal underwear, always a good gift to receive.
I find a top with a hoodie is best, and together with a beanie it keeps the ears even
warmer;
- Wear good boots and warm socks, which are always something we tend to overlook,
until it’s too late and frozen feet soon put an end to viewing;
- Good gloves are important, but check out some hunting gloves that have a flap for
quickly removing your fingers for focusing. Chemical hand warms are cheap and
may help to revive cold hands;
- Stay out of the wind, as a mild breeze can have a wind chill factor of 5 degrees less
than the ambient temperature;
- Take breaks every hour or so and go inside and enjoy a hot mug of your favourite
observing liquid;
- A few short bursts of a hairdryer helps to get rid of dew on lenses, and could also help
to warm other extremities;
- Keep your green laser in your pocket so that it stays warm, as they simply don’t work if
they get too cold.

So if the soccer fans can endure hours in the cold, we can also view our favourite team
of sky objects with a little help from these cold weather tips.

Gary

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101 Amazing Earth Facts

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The Top 10 Views of Earth From Space

The Top 10 Views of Earth From Space

Humans have sent many missions, both manned and robotic, beyond our planet to explore our neighboring celestial bodies. Now and then, these intrepid explorers have glanced home to provide us with sometimes stunning and always thought-provoking images. The following is a compilation of ten of those homeward glances, from the moon and beyond. - Justin Jernigan

•  Click and enjoy!
  
• More Top 10's

 Bafana verloor 0 - 3 teen Urugay. Hartseer!

Hubble scrutinises site of mysterious flash and missing cloud belt on Jupiter

 Click on image to enlarge

Source: www.spacetelescope.org

New and detailed observations from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have provided insights into two recent events on Jupiter: the mysterious flash of light seen on 3 June and the recent disappearance of the planet’s dark Southern Equatorial Belt.

Read more...

• Urugay het nou net die 1ste doel teen Bavana aangeteken. Disaster!  

Hopes High for Asteroid Samples From Japanese Space Capsule

By Tariq Malik
SPACE.com Managing Editor, posted: 14 June 2010, 01:57 pm ET www.space.com

The triumphant Sunday landing of a Japanese space capsule that visited an asteroid and returned to Earth despite near-overwhelming  malfunctions now has scientists around the world asking one final question: Did it actually capture a piece of asteroid Itokawa?

"First, the sample container will be inspected, and then the content will be extracted," said Keiji Tachikawa, president of Japan's space agency JAXA, in a Monday statement.  "We hope to find the Itokawa's surface material in the capsule, and contribute to understanding the origin and evolution of the solar system."

 This still from a NASA video shows the Hayabusa spacecraft as it burned up over Australia during re-entry on June 13, 2010 to cap a 7-year mission to the asteroid Itokawa. Hayabusa ejected a sample return capsule (bright dot at lower right) before burning up. It landed in the Australian outback and has been recovered. Credit: NASA/SETI

 Japan's Hayabusa asteroid sample capsule and parachute are seen in the Australian outback after its historic June 13, 2010 landing. The capsule was jettisoned from its Hayabusa mother ship after a 7-year voyage to the asteroid Itokawa to collect samples. Credit: JAXA

 An artist's concept of Japan's Hayabusa landing on the asteroid Itokawa. Credit: ©Akihiro Ikeshita/JAXA

Source: www.space.com

Stellarium 0.10.5 released!

The Stellarium team is very proud to announce the release of stable version 0.10.5. This is an important bug fix release closing more than 30 bugs in the main application and in the plugins. It also brings small GUI usability improvements, as well as a much reduced starting time.

A huge thanks to all community bug reporters who helped us a lot finding bugs!

• www.stellarium.org  
  
• Wiki with more information: quickstart; FAQ; user's guide; scripts

Star Party at Mountain Sanctuary Park, Magaliesberg, from 6-8 August 2010

The West Rand Astronomy Club will be hosting a Star Party at Mountain Sanctuary Park, Magaliesberg, from 6-8 August 2010.

All are welcome, and we would like to invite members of ASSA Bloemfontein.

See attached Invite for more information and bookings. Also attached are maps and details for Mountain Sanctuary Park.

The West Rand Astronomy Club will be hosting a Weekend Away Star Party at the Mountain Sanctuary Park from 6th to 8th August 2010.

The Mountain Sanctuary Park is a private nature reserve in the Magaliesberg Mountains, about 120km north-west of Johannesburg and 90km west of Pretoria.

The night sky is beautiful from this site and if conditions are favourable, the Coal Sack in the Southern Cross and the Small Magellanic Cloud can be seen.

Accommodation options are chalets, log cabins or camping.

Those bringing telescopes stay free, if camping. 10 large campsites have been reserved for those with telescopes. These campsites border a central field where the telescopes will be set up. Please join us for a weekend of star gazing under dark skies.

Bookings
Please contact Elizabeth at Mountain Sanctuary Park by 30 June 2010.
Tel: (014) 534-0114 (08H00 - 17H00, 7 Days a week)
eMail: owen@mountain-sanctuary.co.za
Website: www.mountain-sanctuary.co.za

Be sure to mention you are booking for the WRAC Star Party and whether you are bringing a telescope.

For more information contact
Kenny Nevill on 082 335 1983, email: kenny@wrac.org.za.

If bringing a telescope, please email Doryn Jolly, doryn@wrac.org.za to let
her know you are bringing a telescope and the type of telescope.

Terms and conditions apply.
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FW: Sumbandila Missing Blog

SunSpace was established in 2000 as a spin-off from Stellenbosch University following the successful launch of SUNSAT by NASA with a Delta-II launch vehicle. During the past decade SunSpace has developed and delivered numerous satellite components, subsystems and two flight model satellite, now operational in space. This blog documents the mission of Sumbandila (funded by the DST), launched on a Soyuz-2.1b on 17 September 2009. SunSpace places a high premium on a strong partnership with the South African Government for supplying the ongoing satellite needs of our government.

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