Library Report

Firstly, an apology. I am busy cleaning, sorting, ordering and cataloguing the library and this, as you can imagine, makes it difficult to find specific books. Please bear with me until I get it into tip-top shape. Pursuant to this, if you have had any books out for longer than three months, please return them so that they can be cataloged. Generally, books are available to loan for a month, or longer by arrangement with the librarian.

Secondly, if you have any topical books that you no longer need or want, please think of donating them to the library or at least make someone on the committee aware that they are for sale.

I have set aside a shelf especially for beginners’ books. If you are new to astronomy, this is the shelf for you. Here you’ll find all you need to set you on the path to expert-dom!

Clear skies.
Evan Dembskey

Web Between the Worlds

I am always trolling about the ‘net for titbits of interesting information. Trouble is, a number of the more popular search engines now sell priority to the highest bidder. Give them money, and their site will always feature prominently in a search.

Two that don’t can be found at http://www.google.com   and  http://www.scirus.com/

With the Rand reaching new all-time lows regularly, ‘scopes are reaching new all-time highs. Why not join our ATM class and build your own? Here are some sites to show you what can be done.

Dave Aucoin offers his thoughts on building a lightweight and portable dobsonian.

http://www.geocities.com/Deepskydave/Dobscope.html

As does Steve Scampini:

http://www.atmob.org/Articles/BuildingADob.html

And finally Kevin McCarthy offers short reviews on a number of commonly available raytrace programs.

http://www.atmob.org/Articles/RaytraceProgramsforATMs.html

JPL's solar system dynamics WWW site provides information related to all known bodies in orbit around the sun. This site is maintained by the Solar System Dynamics Group of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/

Moon Base Clavius is an organization of amateurs and professionals devoted to the Apollo program and its manned exploration of the moon. Our special mission is to debunk the so-called conspiracy theories that state such a landing may never have occurred. This site is named after the Clavius Moon Base in Arthur C. Clarke's novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, and visualized by Stanley Kubrick in the film of the same name.

http://www.clavius.org/index.html

Clear skies!
Evan Dembskey