The monthly public night at the Urban Astronomy Center in E. P. “Tom” Sawyer State Park will be Friday evening, September 17 from 8:30 PM to 11:00 PM. Telescope set up is at 8:00 PM with an orientation lecture at 8:30 PM, rain or shine. The outdoor observation is of course weather dependent so watch those weather forecasts!

You do not need to be a member to attend. If you have a scope or have questions regarding the types of scopes, we are the people to see. If you are new to astronomy, please come out, ask questions and observe the night sky.

The Urban Astronomy Center is located in the old Root Celler Building formerly known as the Old Pottery Barn.  From Westport Road take Freys Hills Road to the second entrance to the park on the right.  Follow the road and the signs to the Recycling Center and we are the white building across from the recycling bins which are past the Archery Range.

The LAS Member night for September is scheduled for Saturday, September 04, 2010 with the annual Labor Day Picnic. Festivities begin around 6:00 p.m. with Scope Set-up for 8:00 p.m. Please let us know if you plan to arrive early to help set-up and clean out the General Purpose Building. The Club will provide the hotdogs and burgers.

The next General Meeting and Board Meeting are schedule for Friday, September 10. This meeting is now scheduled to be held at Strickler Hall on the University of Louisville Campus near the Planetarium. Our guest speaker for the night is Dr. Chris Grainey. His topic is “Galileo and What You Can See Through A Small Telescope”.

The Board Meeting will be held in the Planetarium Meeting Room at 6:30 p.m.

The Board Meeting starts at 6:30 p.m and the General Meeting starts are 8:00 p.m.

Contents:

After the crash of the old server housing the LAS Photo Gallery, I have it restored to the server here. The direct link to it is: http://louisville-astro.org/gallery. A random photo from the gallery is displayed in the left column. If you click on it, it will display the gallery within the web site.  If you click on the link in the “Links” section, it will take you to the stand-alone gallery page.

In the process I migrated it to the latest version of Gallery.  Some of the pictures were missing, probably due to some corruption on the failing hard drive on the old server.  The people with missing photos are Bob Hart, Greg Miller, Kevin Clark, and Don Spain. Check your albums and restore anything that’s missing.

The usernames and passwords should be the same in the new gallery.  I’m still working on linking the web site usernames and passwords with those on the gallery. Leave a comment here about any problems you find.

August 14, 2010 is public night along with the guests of the Lavenworth Inn for the River of Stars weekend at the James G Baker Center for Astronomy at Curby, IN.  Scopes are needed along with someone who can operate the observatory.   Please post on the Yahoo message board if you can attend or append a comment to the website or let Ken know via e-mail.

We are participating with the Leavenworth Inn in Leavenworth, Indiana again this year in a special program called the River of Stars. This is from their website:

River of Stars with the Louisville Astronomical Society
Listen, Learn, Look Up! Enjoy two relaxing nights as the Louisville Astronomical Society teaches you how to view the stars at their observatory where Saturn and the Quarter Moon float on a River of Stars. See the Craters of the Moon, Nebulae, Galaxies and the Rings of Saturn through your own scope or look through the society’s giant 16″ Meade Reflector Telescope in a roll-off observatory. You can even take a picture through their Astrophotography telescope and it will be sent to your email address.

$260 regular room, $310 suite (price does not include tax)

•Two night’s stay at The Leavenworth Inn – August 13-14, 2010
•One hour lesson on viewing the night sky followed by stargazing at the LAS James G. Baker Center for Astronomy just minutes from The Inn
•Friday and Saturday night viewing sessions at the LAS James G. Baker Center for Astronomy in Curby, Indiana (subject to weather).
Call toll free today at 888-739-2120 to reserve your room, space is limited. LAS members are welcome to buy a package and it makes for a great weekend getaway.
If you are interested, contact Sara Wilson at 1-800-739-2120 or email her at Innkeeper@Leavenworthinn.com

LAS, we will need some scopes and instructors there the 13th and 14th, so let Ken know who can help.

Sorry for the delay, the July/August 2010 is now available.

  Starword 2010 07 (535.8 KiB, 38 hits)
Starword July/August 2010

The new Starword has been uploaded to the Yahoo group and to this website.   

  Starword 2010 05 (1.9 MiB, 211 hits)
Starword May/June 2010

Once again, something happened that made me realize why I am an amateur astronomer. Last night, I was tired. It had been a chaotic day at work as I tried to make a living selling storage sheds. I had closed up the store and headed for the Urban Astronomy Center, that gateway to the stars tucked into the back of Tom Sawyer State Park.

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