Our astronomy group is only three years old. Clubs are founded for one of two reasons. One reason is to act for the good of its members, it functions as a co-op. The second reason, as our founder, Jim Roe, envisioned is to serve the community. We have all worked hard to spread astronomy awareness and we have achieved a lot in just three years.
Last night, April twenty-sixth, the new astronomy site at Broemmelsick Park opened for the first time. Thank you St. Charles County Parks Department. For urban astronomy, it would be hard to find anything nicer. Thank you, Jim, for showing them the need.
Jim was raised on a farm in Oklahoma. There the night the sky was dark enough to see the Milky Way. While in college, Jim heard of an older student that was grinding his own mirror to make a telescope. Jim had found a way to look at those stars, he saw growing up on the farm. He proceeded to grind a six inch mirror himself to make a telescope.
Working for Mc Donnell Aircraft, Jim joined the astronomy club and served as president. In 1968 he ran the astronomy convention held in Fayette, Mo.
Jim has traveled to view four eclipses. Nova Scotia in ‘72 where his pictures through his 8 inch were published because his scope was in the only spot where the sky was clear. Next was an African cruise in ‘73. February ‘79 Jim was in Winnipeg for the eclipse, which he remembers as very cold. Last was a cruise off Greece in ‘06.
Jim spent nine years in Mexico where seven months of the year, especially the winter months, the sky is clear. Here he did serious astronomy and is credited with discovering 102 asteroids.
Even non profit organizations, like ours, need money, On May seventeenth, we will hold a Trivia night at the Elks Lodge on Tom Ginnever in O’Fallon. Bob Judd is working hard to make this a success. Bob is striving to do digital photography and has been generous to the club in many ways. We can make it a success by showing up.
June 13-14 we will host an art show, featuring the outstanding photographs of Gregg Ruppel. Gregg has generously donated a portion of his digital photos to us. This event will be held at the St. Peter’s Community and Arts Center. It will be a chance to own some beautiful autographed deep sky art produced by a local amateur astronomer. Again, a portion of the proceeds go to our club.
Saturday, June twenty-first we will host the Mid-States Region Astronomical League Convention. This event will kick off with a Star-B-Q at Bob Judd’s, Friday night the twentieth. The center piece for this event will be our 32 inch scope. Saturday the convention will be held at the St. Charles Community College.
All these events get us publicity, locally and regionally.
Our Outreach program is going well. Jim Twellman has given us the opportunity to make our club known to thousands of adults and kids. Participating in this program has been a pleasure. The folks that come to these events may not know much about astronomy, but they leave knowing St. Charles County has an astronomy club.
There was an elderly lady who passed through my life. Her name was Elsie. Elsie had a saying, "Prayers get answered when you put some feet under them." We can achieve our club’s goals by putting some feet under them too. Marv
May 1-3 Mercury passes less than 3deg. from the Pleiades.
5 New Moon.
6 The crescent Moon is close to Mercury.
8-9 Asteroid 5 Astraea is just south of 37 Virginis.
10 The Moon passes just below M44, the Beehive Cluster.
11 First quarter Moon.
12 Saturn and Regulus are a few degrees north of the Moon.
19 Full Moon.
22-23 Mars passes through the Beehive Cluster.
24 The Moon passes just below Jupiter in the south at dawn.
27 Last quarter Moon.
