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On behalf of the Officers of BBAA, let me welcome you to the Back Bay Amateur Astronomers Group. We intend for this group to be a resource for club members as well as the rest of the amateur community. It's a place where you can post observing reports, events, questions, answers, photos and information of interest to the community. Most of all, it's intended to be fun, so let's have a spirited discussion with no personal attacks. Rob

Welcome to the backbayastro list! We hope this will be an improvement over the mass email list that we have used in the past. This will also be a place that you can upload files, photos, observing reports and the like that you want to share with other members. You can also just post your reports, comments, and suggestions about the club, and just about anything you think is of interest to the other club members. We should be able to have some lively debates, share our observing experiences, and get to know each other better. Please try to stay "on-topic." Good subjects are astronomy, telescopes, observing, astro-photography, club administration, projects, and events. Bad subjects are politics, and religion. Ted Forte

This article is pretty long, but really chilling and prophetic. Really worth reading. <A href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/popupsubscribe.html"> Spaceshuttle Article</A> Ted

Guys, Here's a great website for astronomy news. 8-/ http://my.core.com/~carhart/ Be sure to check out the back issues. http://my.core.com/~carhart/oldcopy.htm Just gotta have one of those Nagler Type 12's. Rob

Just a reminder that we have an event at Western Branch Intermediate tonight, Tuesday, February 11. 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. The school is located at 4013 Terry Drive in Chesapeake. 494-7355 The weather doesn't look too bad, we might have some clear sky. We can hope anyway. See you there! Ted

This is mainly a test to make sure everything is going smoothly at this new address. Let's all keep looking up, even during periods of the full moon. There are lots of nice open clusters and planetary nebulae which can be observed under city lights and moonlight. Forget globulars and galaxies though; save those for dark skies. Kent Blackwell

Can't make it. Good luck to all. Gerry

I wish I could be at Western Branch tonight but my workload is keeping me tied to my chair. Have a great time with the kids tonight!

On behalf of BBAA, THANK YOU Ted Forte, George "3" Reynolds, Rick Bish and Dick Moncure for volunteering at Western Branch Intermediate Science Expo last night and for "Bringing Astronomy to the People of Hampton Roads!" Thanks for volunteering! georgie :)

Guys, We were talking at the meeting last Thursday about NASA using K3CCD Tools to process images of the shuttle. Now it appears that the picture attributed to the Air Forces Starfire tracking station showing damage to the left wing was actually shot by some engineers there playing around with a webcam and a 3.5" scope. See the article at: http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/02/12/shuttle.photo.ap/index.html Rob

I have an excellent condition Panoptic 35mm that I placed for sale on Astromart for $280 that I will sell to a local member for $250. This assumes I do not have to pay shipping and can just hand off in person. It also assumes you will not just flip it for a quick buck. :) The street price new for this guy is $365 plus shipping. See my add on Astromart for details and a photo. The optics are "as new". You can reply through Astromart and mention you are a club member for the cheaper price. Thanks, Richard Dickson

Sorry if posting stuff for sale is off topic, or maybe it's not, I'm not sure. Anyway, I have a few more things I want to get rid of a club member might be interested in. I have not posted these on Astromart so maybe a club member will actually get a chance at them. 1) Orion 50mm 2" Plossl. This is a very nice eyepiece for someone who wants to get into the 2" world on the cheap. It was my first 2" when I bought it a dozzen years ago. It is multi- coated, however acid-dew has slightly etched the coatings a slight amount. This is really unnoticable in use. There are no scratches on the lenses and the eyepiece is otherwise in great shape. $40. 2) Orion Tri-mag 3X barlow. Absolutely like new. New price is $44.95 + S&H. I will sell for $20. 3) Piggyback camera addapter for Meade 10" SCT. Very good condition. I no longer have a 10" Meade. $25 4) TeleVue 11mm Plossl purchaced new in November. Like new with caps and box. New price $82 + S&H. I will sell for $65. Please contact me offline at dickson@.... I can deliver any of these at one of the upcomming viewing sessions. Thanks, Richard Dickson

Interesting experience a little while ago which tells me it's been too cold for too long! Stepped outside to run an errand and the temperature felt very pleasant and conducive to working in the yard -- but when I checked Accuweather the temperature given was 46 degrees. Hope someone had a chance to enjoy the view last night. As for myself, once I finished working at 5 AM, it was a little too late for me.

Congratulations, Keep it up :)

Congratulations are in order for George Reynolds who has once again been selected as a NASA Solar System Ambassador. We have known for several weeks now that George was selected to continue in this role again this year, but now the press release on the SSA program is out. You can read about the NASA Solar System Ambassador program and today's news release at<A href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov"> JPL Nasa</A> And don't forget to visit George's website <A href="http://www.geocities.com/pathfinder027/spacex.html">George Reynolds SSA </A> Way to go George! BBAA is proud to have you!

Hi all As I am a new member to BBAA I was looking at getting some advice from the membership. As it stands now I am looking at ordering a new Meade LX90 next month (w/UHTC). This will be my first scope. I have been looking at Astromart over the last month and have seen some nice deals….. At least what I think are some nice deals. I was wondering if I could get some input from you all on what you think of New / Used and any experiences good or bad anyone has had dealing through Astromart. Any info that might help so I can make a informed decision would be great. Thanks much Mat

What a great job on the Fan Mountain report, Ted! Great pictures, too! I would like to be involved in that project, if there's still room. In addition, I would love to go up there in the late spring or early summer. Let me know if I can do some "foot work" for this, as my schedule can be fairly flexable.

I'd like to receive some new digital astro-photos from BBAA members for use on our HR.Com web site. Please include the details of how the photo was taken and the image processed. The website limits image file size to 100kb, and suggests that images be kept to under 50kb, so it would help if you can send the file as a JPEG and reduce it to the required size, but its not absolutely necessary ... I can resize the file. And don't forget that there is room for photos here on backbayastro too. Yahoo makes it really easy ... they reduce the files automatically. Go to the backbayastro home page and click on photos. Then create an album and upload your pics. Let us know that you've uploaded them, and let me know if I can use them on the BBAA website. Thanks, Ted

Don't forget to check out our website. http://groups.hamptonroads.com/bbaa There is a new page detailing the upcoming opposition of Mars. On our "Notices" page you can read the latest on the Deep Sky 2003 conference/convention of the NDSOS, and read about the Planetary Society's "Red Rover Goes to Mars" program. On "Current Sky Events" read about objects of interest in this week's sky from Sky & Telescope. "Space Place" has been updated and contains a tribute to the Columbia crew. And of course you can still read Kent Blackwell's eclipse trip to Africa article, George Reynold's article on the Chiefland Star Party, keep up to date on planned events and more! Ted

I accompanied Dr Salgado and Dr Miller from Norfolk State to the University of Virginia yesterday. We spoke to several members of the astronomy department about a possible collaboration with them in building a remote robotic observatory on Fan Mountain. We later toured the observatory and discussed possible sites for the NSU telescope. Dr Salgado asked me to attend because BBAA will be an important partner in the observatory project. You can read all about it in next month's newsletter or you can go to the files section of the backbayastro site and download (or read) the full report. I've also uploaded some pictures from Fan Mountain. (Click on photos and then open the Fan Mountain album.) I'll try to do a page soon on our HR.Com website too. The short version is that we got a very positive response from UVA and the project looks like it could go forward with a funding request in January ... then who knows. I hope to arrange an observing session at Fan Mountain sometime this year, along with Dr Sagaldo and a few interested BBAA members, to help evaluate the site ... Ted