Monthly Meeting Notes

The October meeting had a fantastic presentation by Mike Jones, an optical systems staff specialist at Lockheed Martin and the designer of a heliostat system at the soon-to-be-completed new Texas Astronomy Education Center at McDonald Observatory in Ft. Davis.  The output of the heliostat is a projection of the sun's visual image, and also the full spectrum immediately below it.  Sunspots will be visible on the visual image, and absorption lines will be visible on the spectrum.  The ultraviolet end will be visible by using "blacklight" paint on the wall, and the IR end will be viewable using IR equipment.  The full light path is shown on page 6--check it out to see the lenses, mirrors, and diffraction gratings that make this happen. 

If you would like to see a photographic scrapbook on the progress of the construction of the

(Continued on page 6)

Inside this issue:

Observing Notes

The month's e-group has been humming with observing notes, sketches, and images from Doug Carroll, Doug Christianson, Byron Copeland, Tom Moore, and Danny Arthur.  Some really great stuff, but all I have room for this month is the single image to the left--M27 by Doug Carroll with his LX200 and a ST-7E CCD.  Finally some clear skies to get in lots of observing!  Thanks to all who are posting their observing on the e-group.  Others--SIGN UP!  Instructions on page 9.