An open letter to members
(Continued from Page 6)

he Vice President, stepping in to run meetings when I can't and handling all sorts of club business and correspondence, he also serves as Observatory Director, Loaner Scope Coordinator, and Webmeister.  He never complains.  Indeed, he seems to enjoy it.  Nevertheless, a little assistance wouldn't hurt.  (Thanks, by the way, to several of you, especially Mike Rushford, for helping Chuck with the new mount and drive.)

   I'm sure I have left out some things.  Perhaps you could help Rich Combs with the ATM workshops.  Perhaps Gene Nassar, Signe McIntire, Phil Waide, Mike Rushford, or Maggie Halberg could use some assistance.  Go ahead and ask them.

   None of these are big jobs.  They involve a few hours or less each month.  If you can take on one of them, it will greatly help the Tri-Valley Stargazers do all it should be doing for its members and the public.

   Whether you have some time to help with these functions or not, I want to thank you for joining the Tri-Valley Stargazers.  It is a pleasure to know and serve you.

Carpe noctem,
Dave

Ken Sperber captured M8, the Lagoon Nebula,
using his LX200, working at f/6.3. The 30-minute exposure was taken at Hidden Hill Observatory, using PPF-2, with a Lumicon Deep-Sky filter.

NASA announces Kepler program
   The latest version of Interactive Educational Software on extrasolar planet detection is now available. It can be downloaded from the web site at http://www.kepler.arc.nasa.gov/.

The software describes: recent results in planet detection, the conditions that make a planet habitable, different detection methods, the proposed Kepler Mission to search for habitable planets, an interactive planet detection simulator, and a description of Kepler's planetary laws and discoveries. The Mac version includes the Hyperstudio Player. A Windows version has not yet been prepared.

Orbital Elements (Continued from Page 4.)