Stockton Astronomical Society

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The Stockton Astronomical Society (SAS) meets on the second Thursday of the month at the Clever Planetarium at Delta College at 7:30 pm. Visitors are welcome.
A monthly star party is usually held on a Saturday near a new moon.

Coming Up [view SAS Sky Calendar (35.9 KB PDF file) May 2008]

Saturday, May 3 at sunset -- High Altitude Star Party
Monday, May 5 -- New Moon
Thursday, May 8 at 7:30 pm -- Regular Meeting of SAS
Friday, May 9 at 8:30 pm -- Sky Tours (Shima 2 parking lot)
Monday, May 19 -- Full Moon
Saturday, May 31 at sunset -- Highway 4 Star Party OR
Saturday, May 31 at sunset -- High Altitude Star Party

SAS News

SAS May 8^th Meeting

Stockton Astronomical Society presents:

Jeff Adkins

Jeff Adkins has become a regular and very welcome speaker for the SAS. This past October he spoke about and showed some of the projects he and his students had been working on at Deer Valley High School in Antioch. There was the student proposal that was awarded observing time on the Spitzer Space Telescope. There was the video of the drive to Alpha-Centauri. We were very impressed with the depth and scope of the work he was able to inspire his students to accomplish.

For our May meeting, Jeff will introduce some of his current batch of remarkable students. We will be treated to student presentations that are bound to be captivating. Jeff will also bring along some interactive astronomical activities designed at Sonoma State.

Some of the students were the first high school students to request (and be granted) time on the Spitzer Infrared Space Telescope.

Among the projects you will hear about are a report on the use of the Spitzer Space Telescope to determine the redshift of a distant quasar. Our students were the first scientists anywhere to determine a redshift for quasar S5 0716+714. Not only that, but other students were actually participants in a second Spitzer project, which led to the discovery of extended circumbinary disks around cataclysmic variable stars. We will also present a report on observations of last year's Mercury transit, as well as reports on the other topics entered in the local science fair by Deer Valley students.

Jeff Adkins, a member of the Mt. Diablo Astronomical Society, is also a GLAST Ambassador and 2007 Amgen Award for Science Teaching Excellence recipient. He was the driving force to establish Deer Valley High School's Earth, Space and Astronomy Center for Education (ESPACE). As part of the program he and his students will also guide you through some of the outreach projects they do for NASA-sponsored workshops. A small hands-on activity will be shared with instructions on how to implement it in your own outreach efforts.

Jeff is a physics and astronomy teacher at Deer Valley High School. ESPACE was originally funded by the California Department of Education. Using grant funds, Jeff and his students have constructed a school planetarium, set up a mini-exhibit hall of all the past students' science fair projects, competed in local, state, and national science fairs, and won several awards.

For more on Jeff see www.astronomyteacher.com. Better yet, come see him on May 8.

...Jerry Hyatt, Program Director

What's to See Tonight

This Week's Sky at a Glance
(Sky and Telescope Magazine)
Abrams Planetarium
Heavens-Above

Astronomy in the News

Thinking of Buying a Star?

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

California's First Astronomical Observatory

George Madeira and His Observatory

Picture of the Day

From Goddard Space Flight Center

Weather Information

From The Weather Underground:

From the US Naval Observatory

NASA Released Photo and Info Sheet

News Items

The following individual articles are maintained on other sites that have various archival or retention dates and therefore, the link to these articles cannot be guaranteed.

Nearby Star Should Harbor Detectable, Earth-like Planets (Spaceflight Now - 3/29/08)
Mercury's Rolling Past (Spaceflight Now - 3/29/08)
Stellar Explosion Is Most Distant Object Visible to Naked Eye (Space.com - 3/21/08)
Dainty Space Truck Proves Itself (BBC News - 3/31/08)
Seeds of Life Found Near Saturn (Space.com - 3/26/08)

The Stockton Astronomical Society (SAS) was founded as a non-profit California corporation to foster interest in and promote the general knowledge of astronomy and related sciences.

Member: International Dark-Sky Association
Member: Astronomical Association of Northern California

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