The SBAU Forum

If you have binoculars or better, look for Comet Lovejoy Q2 low in southern skies below and behind Orion; see: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/observing-news/binocular-comet-lovejoy-heading-c2014-q2-lovejoy-1211142/ for more details on its path. 

Here is a pic, using 2min on my C8 iso100 Olympus E-3...not a great low light camera:

TimC
I thot it went well, a lot of questions that Chuck had to answer in 60 minutes, and he was sleep deprived, having done an asteroid occultation at 2am.  I tried to add some humor and poor Q&A if there was any dead space.  Baron was pretty good about keeping the questions flowing.

I recorded most of it in studio using my cell phone ("Smart Voice Recorder" app, 135MB--too big to attach), which worked pretty well, except for the guy on the boat, call-in questions, which was not heard in the studio except via the headphones.  I think the replay on KZSB http://morenews.newspress.com/kzsb/radio.html will be Saturday at 5pm if I am reading the program guide properly http://www.newspress.com/sbnp_radio/KZSB_PROGRAM_SCHEDULE.pdf .

See you  soon,
Tom T


On 12/10/2014 5:04 PM, Tim C wrote:
> Wouldn't you know, I was so scattered this morning, I missed the show. How did it go?
> T

Hi,
check out the photos taken at this session:
http://sbau.org/sbauforum/index.php?action=gallery;su=user;cat=12;u=6
Tom T

Dear SBAU members,
Art Harris, our equipment manager, November 10, 2014, is looking for a dry storage area for two large Meade 12" telescope boxes (without the telescopes).  Each are 20" x 29" x 44" (about 2' x 2.5' x 4') in size.  Our storage shed at the SBMNH is max'd out currently with the several large telescopes used at the Star Parties, and with several other telescopes and accessories.  If you can help out, with space up in your garage or elsewhere, please call or email Art Harris at 968-4017 or n6is@cox.net .  We will be happy to deliver and help store one or both at your address.

Thanks for your time,
Tom Totton, VP-programs

email I sent to: Mike and CT, TW, PW:
Below are the names and email addresses of the winners of the telescopes on Astronomy Day yesterday.  We promised one year free memberships to each of them, i believe, Colin to add to members list.

The Orion 4.5" StarBlast was won by:
Eric W (he attended the CubeSat meeting with his dad a few weeks ago; also a recent science fair participant at the State level (Goleta Valley Junior High student, Honorable Mention in the Mathematics and Software division and the Raytheon Junior Achievement Award, http://sbsciencefair.org/index.php, (1502) Balacing Diversity and Fitness While Evolving Neural Networks,  $50 Gold Medal, SB County; advisor: Kim M)

and the Zhumell 8" Dobsonian was won by:
Alexis F, a UCSB student, (and relative of Mike Faris?...must have been a 'fix')

I will let Mike send his photos for use in the newsletter and webpages, assuming he gets permission from Eric Wilson's family.

The evening event seemed much better attended than the daytime and was good despite the continuing wind.

Jim W suggested having an essay contest to determine winners of big prizes in the future.  This would avoid giving the prizes to those who have no intentions of using them well.  Luckily Eric W, a previous SBAU meeting attendee, was one of this years winners.  Essays could be submitted by a month ahead of Astro Day and the winner(s) presented on Astro Day?

Tom T

Webmaster Paul,
Lots of changes!  You are probably still modifying things, but here are a few of my observations, for what it is worth:
-Not having the drop downs is good by me, but Calendar button could have /Newsletter added or a separate page & button for that.  (I hope we can eliminate the paper newsletter as SBAU.org covers Meeting announcements and Calendars/events well.) 
-The Website could add a Presidents Blog page, a past Meetings review Blog, and maybe the Telescope Workshop could have its page under SBAU.org also, as these should be regularly occuring.  Otherwise the Forum can handle other random article entries by members, unless they want their own blog style page, for instance Chuck's astronomy articles he posts to Edhat, or TimC's articles on telescopes.  I think Blogs are nicer to keep a topic together compared to the Forum, unless there is expected to be a number of member comments on a narrow topic.
-Header of SBAU, I think you could just say "Gateway to the Stars" and leave off the "Santa Barbara" since it is already above it.  And that way, we in Goleta do not feel left out!
-Red font headings...hmm, not intense enough?  Seems to not connect to the paragraph below maybe due to the space under it or just not stand out enough? More Bold?
-I think the monthly SBAU meeting should start the left column, then the right column could have the latest general news/tv/club stuff, newer to older; and then maybe separate skywatching "news" events below that.
-Current moon, weather, clearsky chart could just be on the Weather page to condense the Home page.
-Telescope workshop paragraph could be put on Calendar/Events page, although again, a separate header button link labeled "Telescope Workshop" could go to a page, new blog, or to the existing blog (I keep wondering how long I can keep the Google Blogger blog going by myself...I have invited others to add articles on their own.)
-Wonder if justifying the print on the page would help to professionalize the appearance?  Everything is left justified at the moment, except for the "latest news in the Astro World" (skywatching?) which is centered.  Also, any images on the page look better to me if all are left or center justified the same? Not sure on that.
-My Flickr widget for random sbau photos could be placed on the Events page as that is what the photos relate to mostly.
-Interesting 2 column look, although I had to Cntl+"-" the Firefox page to fit and the fonts look now about 10pt on the right half of my 30" 2560x1600 screen.  MotoX cell phone Chrome page has a dark gray tint on the right side 15%, portrait or landscape, weird.
Enough for now.  Interesting changes going on.  Hope others chime in as to what makes the website the most useable for them...Maybe everything can be put on the Home page so I can see all if I just scroll down!  (only half kidding)

Dear Webmaster,
Can you have the SBAU.org drop down links to Forum pages open in a new tab? 
I like to have the Home page still open with the Forum separate. 

Also SBAU Links drop down is going immediately to Links page instead of waiting for drop down selection...You are probably working on this. 

Anyway, Thanks!

Check out our ongoing Santa Barbara Astronomical Unit (SBAU) telescope workshop fun at this Blogger website:
http://sbautw.blogspot.com/
Most Tuesday evenings, 730-9p, Broder Bldg, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.