Starlight Astronomy Club Web Site

[Key Personnel Upcoming Events External Links]

[ Application for Membership ] [ Bylaws of the Starlight Astronomy Club ] [ Information for New Observers ] [ Three Astronomy Books ] [ New and Full Moons in 2009 ] [ Primary Meteor Showers ] [ Monthly Sky Tour Podcast ] [ Sky & Telescope's Weekly News Bulletins ] [ Sky & Telescope's AstroAlert News Service ] [ Sky & Telescope's Online Archive ] [ Photo Archive ] [ Clark Thomas' Astronomy Links ]

Next Meeting: Thursday, July 16, 7:00 PM, Penn-Mont Academy, Hollidaysburg

This page is always under construction!

Welcome to the Starlight Astronomy Club web site, hosted by the Web Space Outlet in State College, Pa.

Public Sky Watch

Friday, July 17, 2009

8:30 -- 11:00 pm
Canoe Creek State Park
(Rain Date: Saturday).

Plan your observing schedule around New and Full Moons

NEW: Download a monthly sky tour Podcast for your MP3 player

The club runs a Yahoo! chat group at http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/starlightastronomy/

Bill, one of out more active members, maintains a help page for the club. It's address is
http://webpages.charter.net/paastroman/grouphelp.html

Celestial Almanac
Evening Events	Morning Events
Jun 20 Longest day of the year, 15 hours 01minute Jun 24 Latest evening twilight Jun 27 Latest sunset Jul 3 Earth at aphelion at 10 pm EDT, 94,505,048 miles from the Sun Aug 2 Mercury 0.6 degrees northeast of Regulus Aug 14 Jupiter at opposition Aug 24 Mercury at greatest eastern elongation, 27 degrees Sept 16 Uranus at opposition Sept 22 Autumnal equinox at 5:19 pm EDT, fall begins	Jun 21 Summer solstice at 1:46 am EDT, summer begins Mars 2.0 degrees northeast of Venus Jul 7 Penumbral lunar eclipse (slight, barely noticeable) Aug 6 Penumbral lunar eclipse (weak) Sept 20 Venus 0.5 degrees north of Regulus

GAO Report Warns GPS System Could Fail Next Year
A GAO report says that the Global Positioning System (GPS) system could break down as early as 2010 due to the Air Force's failure to replace, repair old satellites.

Read the May 19 Fox News article.
Read the original PC World article.

Starlight_Astro_Club_2007.jpg 800 x 532
The Starlight Astronomy Club at their January 18, 2007 meeting.

Welcome to the Starlight Astronomy Club, central Pennsylvania's newest organization for amateur astronomers. We are based in Altoona, Pennsylvania, but our members come from all of the surrounding counties. You're welcome to join us, make suggestions and comments, and get involved as we continue to build the organization. It's an exciting project, and there's nothing like getting involved while the club is still young.

Meetings are held monthly on the third Thursday of the month at Penn-Mont Academy in Hollidaysburg. (See the schedule.) Public sky watches are conducted on the Friday after the club meeting from April through November at Canoe Creek State Park. (See the schedule.)

Anyone with an interest in astronomy is invited to become active in the Starlight Astronomy Club. Even if your interest is only casual, you'll find that we're a group which is open to beginners (since the majority of us are beginners).

One of the primary benefits of membership in the Starlight Astronomy Club is automatic membership in the Astronomical League. The League is designed to be an association of affiliated clubs. Individual members enjoy the benefits of a quarterly newsletter, excellent instructional programs, and opportunities to participate in conferences, symposiums, and expeditions.

Below, you will find a schedule of upcoming events, and on the following pages you'll find our current bylaws, brief instructions for subscribing to our list server, and information on getting started in amateur astronomy. You can also submit an application to join the club. Many of the documents are works in progress. Your contribution to the dialog is greatly desired. We want you to be involved in an organization that you can be proud of.

Key Personnel:

Office	Name	E-Mail Address
President	Tom Kasner	takasner@aol.com
Vice-President	Harold Fultz	HFultzjr@aol.com
Secretary/Treasurer	Diana Majcher	pegasus0416@yahoo.com

Upcoming Events:

Subscribe to and monitor the e-mail list server for any announcements of observing plans

Event	Date	Time	Venue
Next Outdoor Activity:	July 17	8:30-11:00 p.m.	Location: Canoe Creek State Park Rain Date: Sat.

Next Meeting	Thursday July 16	7:00 p.m.	Penn-Mont Academy Hollidaysburg
Next Indoor Activity:	TBA

Future Meetings	Thursday July 16	7:00 p.m.	Penn-Mont Academy Hollidaysburg
	Aug 20	7:00 p.m.	Penn-Mont Academy Hollidaysburg
	Sept 10 Oct 15	7:00 p.m.	Penn-Mont Academy Hollidaysburg
	Nov 19 Dec 17	7:00 p.m.	Penn-Mont Academy Hollidaysburg

Public Sky Watches	July 17	8:30-11:00 p.m.	Location: Canoe Creek State Park Rain Date: Sat.
	Aug 21	8:30-11:00 p.m.	Location: Canoe Creek State Park Rain Date: Sat.
	Sept 11	8:00-11:00 p.m.	Location: Canoe Creek State Park Rain Date: Sat.
	Oct 16	7:00-10:00 p.m.	Location: Canoe Creek State Park Rain Date: Sat.

NOTICE: Due to numerous abuses, online applications are no longer being accepted!
To join, you may submit an application in person at the next meeting.
(If you insist, you may join online by paying the $100 Online Application Fee
per application submitted within the past year!)

External Links:

SKY Online
Astronomical League
Heavens Above
Intellicast National Radar Map
Orion Telescope & Binocular Center

Discover the cosmos!
Visit the Astronomy Picture of the Day web site.

Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

Visit the Altoona Clear Sky Chart web site
configured for Altoona, PA

Visitors: Hit Counter

Last Modified: Sunday, June 28, 2009 07:17 PM

Web Site created and occasionally maintained by Eric Hilbert
mailto: ehilbert@outdrs.net

Last Revision: 06/28/09