San Juan Stargazers’ newest program on the James Webb Space Telescope photos that started on August 11 was wonderful and we are highly encouraged to continue doing it. But, we realize that our lives on planet Earth rightly take precedence over ‘fabulous discoveries in the universe’. Since the second week in September is the start of the new school year, we will not have the program this month, but will continue with it on the second Thursday in the future and will be a regular event of the Stargazers. The James Webb is already changing astronomy and it will be amazing to learn detailed information about future discoveries. Dates and times will follow.
Chimney Rock National Monument celebration
On September 22-24, there will be a huge celebration of the 10th anniversary of Chimney Rock becoming a national monument. There will be a free all-day celebration at the site on September 24 starting at 10am. Of course, the San Juan Stargazers will be taking part since astronomy was an important part of life for the ancient people. Our special contribution will include making two comets, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. We can’t launch them, but you will be able to watch as the ingredients come together and there will be a tail. This will be in honor of Haley’s Comet that covered one-quarter of the night sky over Chimney Rock in 1066.
We hope that you will enjoy this free event put on by the U.S. Forest Service, the Chimney Rock Interpretive Association the San Juan Stargazers, and there will be many native Americans who trace their ancestry back to Chimney Rock who will be selling their special artwork and jewelry and possibly dancing (which may or may not be viewed by the public). Native Americans will have special time when the monument is closed to the public so they have an opportunity to honor their ancestors.
Club meeting to feature presentation by Bob Mitchell
Because of the Chimney Rock celebration, the regular club meeting for the San Juan Stargazers will be postponed one week and held on September 29 in the Community United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall located at 434 Lewis St. Please use the parking lot door so the front doors may remain locked. At 6pm, there will be a social time with coffee, tea, etc.
This month’s program beginning at 7pm sharp is Bob Mitchell, who worked on the James Webb Space Telescope. He did his first presentation to us on the James Webb in 2013. He will be speaking again just about the wonders of the actual telescope. It is perhaps the most perfect “machine” ever produced by humans. It is now 1 million miles from Earth and cannot be visited by astronauts as the Hubble was on several occasions. It had to be “perfect” before it left Earth and its performance so far is flawless. It had 344 single points of failure that would have scrapped the entire mission. It is an amazing story of how humans achieved ‘perfection’.
Mitchell is an engineer and amateur astronomer, so his talk will be about the development and construction of the actual telescope and the problems that had to be overcome. All students are encouraged to attend. The presentation will not be too sophisticated for people to understand.
COVID is not over and we are encouraging people to wear masks for our meeting. Let’s be safe, not sorry.
Stargazer T-Shirts
The San Juan Stargazers are very happy to offer everyone in Pagosa the opportunity to buy our 10th anniversary San Juan Stargazers T-shirts, long and short sleeve, and sweatshirt hoodies. All these shirts will have fantastic newly released photos from the James Webb Space Telescope on the back with a picture of the telescope on the front.
Four different photos are available, including the Phantom galaxy, M74 in the Pisces constellation, Stephan’s Quintet (which is a very popular galaxy group seen with a good telescope around 4am), a section of the famous Deep Field and the very latest photo released of Exoplanet HIP65426, which is the first photographed planet outside of our solar system. They will be unique to wear and a timely, special gift.
The shirts come in several colors and are in sizes small, medium, large and extra-large. The prices are: short-sleeve T-shirt, $22; long- sleeve T-shirt, $25; and sweatshirt hoodies, $31. We are asking people who want to order to call (303) 995- 2888 and leave a message with your name, phone number and possible order. Someone will get back to you later to discuss and confirm your order and set up payment.
The deadline for the order is September 19, and the shirts will be passed out at our 10th anniversary dinner and star party on October 7 and can be picked up by everyone not
attending the following week.