It Must Be Astronomical

The loaner program offers members a means to try scopes of various sizes and technologies before you buy. For more information please see the loaner program web page: http://www.sjaa.net/loaners

Q: Just doing a raw count of living cells, what percentage of the cells in your body are bacteria cells.

A: About 90%. (“Death from the Skies”, Phil Plait, pg. 184)

Effective January 1, 2011, the SJAA membership dues will be changed. The regular dues will remain at $20 but only for members choosing the electronic version of this newsletter. Those who want to continue with the print version will find that their dues are $30.

SETIcon - Aug. 13-15, Santa Clara. SETIcon will offer fascinating and fun panels about astrobiology and SETI research, with speakers ranging from SETI Institute scientists to science fiction actors. For more info go to: http://www.seticon.com/

SJAA Yosemite Public Star Party 2010 - Sept. 3-5

CalStar - Oct. 7-10. http://www.observers.org/CalStar/

Advanced Imaging Conference, October 22-24, Santa Clara. http://www.aicccd.com/2010/website/index.html

Family Friendly Links

The SciJinks Weather Laboratory at http://scijinks.gov targets middle-schoolers and explains the reasons for the seasons, the tides, and other weather and Earth science mysteries.

NASA Climate Kids at http://climate.nasa.gov/kids demystifies the “Big Questions” about global climate change using 4-6th-grade-level language.

“I can find in my undergraduate classes, bright students who do not know that the stars rise and set at night, or even that the Sun is a star” - Carl Sagan