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Hello fellow AANC members!
There is a astro-camping star-party that I am attending in September and I thought some of you might like to consider joining me. AANC member organization, the Valley of the Moon Observatory Association (VMOA) is holding its first Starcamp on September 11th and 12th. For those of you who have never been to the observatory, its located at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, near Kenwood (near a lot of wineries - nudge nudge) in Sonoma County. The 40-inch and 24-inch scopes await your visit! But bring your own telescope, too! I am!
Here are the directions: http://yorty.sonoma.edu/VMOA/directions.htm
This website gives some information, price, and whatnot: http://www.rfo.org/starcamp/
VMOA guy, Al Heppe, retired College of Marin Astronomy instructor and owner of Glen Ellen Scientific Co. ( http://www.metro.net/trillium/), is taking the reservations. His e-mail is Trillium@metro.net, and I think you can reserve space by sending him a note or calling him at 707/996-1246. The cost is $12.50.
Not too bad for admission, camping and parking. And Hot dogs are included! I hope some of you can join me for a weekend under the Sonoma County sky.
Jane Houston, AANC President
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Hello Friends,
We went to the Stellafane convention a few weeks back. If you hadn't heard, the convention was totally clouded out, though we saw some great Perseids the night before. I wrote a humorous piece for the Stellafane web site (http://www.stellafane.com) trying to find the humor in "the ultimate cloud party." If anyone's interested, it might be posted sometime in the next couple days.
It's such a great observing site there. M31 was an easy unaided-eye object, and that's something this myopic city boy has never seen from the murky skies of Northern Ohio! I'm sure everyone has heard of the prison issue that currently threatens the sky over Stellafane. It's a shame that this wonderful sky might be lost if that prison gets built. While jobs are needed in the community of Springfield, it's tragic that economic gain should come at the sacrifice of such a precious natural resource.
When I was at the '98 convention, one of the members of the Springfield Telescope Makers had asked if I would prepare some artwork to hang in Stellafane. Wanting to create something worthy of such an honor, I did an acrylic painting depicting the "classic" Stellafane scene, with the Porter Turret in the foreground. The painting shows night falling over Breezy Hill, with an overlarge crescent moon hanging over the sunset horizon. This painting is a different technique from my better known "astro-funnies," and it looks pretty nice (if I might say so myself!) I was thrilled to see this painting hanging inside Stellafane, right next to the door.
The Springfield Telescope Makers are offering copies of my Stellafane painting to anyone who donates $50 or more to the Stellafane Endowment Fund, for preserving the Shrine to the Stars into the future. During the convention, I signed and numbered the back sides of a batch of 100 prints (there wasn't enough room on the front!) I'm told that 85 prints remain. If you would like to see Stellafane continue into the next millennium, you can support this effort by sending your contribution to:
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