LVAS is a proud member of the NASA/JPL Night Sky Network. LVAS events will be posted on the Night Sky Network website at

Night Sky Network:Las Vegas Astronomical Society:Event Calendar.

LVAS currently is in the top five Astronomy Clubs with the most posted events on the Night Sky Network. NASA/JPL is trying to have more than 2,500 events posted by the end of April. Active clubs with ten or more events posted by the end of April will receive the new Night Sky Network banner. We have already qualified to receive it and we currently have four completed events logged.

Messier Marathon This Weekend

Well, we had mixed results this weekend - like usual, we had one night of good observing out of the two. Great skies Friday night until clouds shut us down about 1:00a.m. Saturday night was a bust - clouds until about 9:00 initially, but the wind following the front prevented any observing once the skies cleared. We had a great social time at the pot luck dinner, though. Many thanks to Allan and Shannon Guthmiller for being such gracious hosts. I'll tell you more once I have a chance to put an event report together. Look here for an announcement of the report. - Rob

Science Olympiad Exam Answers

Click on the following links to see the Exams for the 2010 Science Olympiad held at Rancho High School on 6 March. If you have any questions regarding the exams, call Rob Lambert at 461-1390 anytime between 1:30 and 10:30 P.M. on Sunday, March 7th or anytime during the day during the week thereafter. The exams and answers will remain posted on this page for two weeks.

Astronomy Exam - C Division (High School) Solar System - B Division (Middle School)

Recent Updates

- Issuing the March Challenge for the Observer's Challenge

- February's Observer's Challenge Report

Notable Events

International Space Station Passes

March 1st begins a entire month of evening passes of the International Space Station. Normally I only post the passes that are brighter than -2.0 in magnitude, or those that are brighter than -1.5 magnitude and greater than 4 minutes in duration. There are many passes this month that are just below that threshold, so check the link below for other that you might like to catch.

Date	Mag	Start	Finish	Duration	Direction
19 Mar*	-2.8	19:53:12	19:56:52	3:40	NW (323°) to E (85°)
20 Mar*	-2.3	20:17:49	20:21:03	3:14	WNW (298°) to SSW (196°)
21 Mar* **	-2.9	19:07:12	19:12:48	5:36	NW (322°) to ESE (118°)
22 Mar **	-2.0	19:31:48	19:37:13	5:25	WNW (296°) to SSE (150°)

*These passes are exceptionally bright passes. Note: Only passes of mag -2.0 or higher are listed above.

** These are horizon to horizon or near horizon to horizon passes of over 4 minute duration.

Be sure to check www.heavens-above.com for the most current prediction information. The information above is updated at least weekly, but checking the Heavens Above website will ensure you have the most accurate and up to date information about upcoming passes. A magnitude of -2.8 is about the brightness of the planet Jupiter in the Southeast evening sky. Look for Jupiter in the Southwest after sunset to get an idea of what to expect when the Space Station becomes visible.

Iridium Flares - an interesting phenomenon where sunlight is reflected from the large aluminum antennae on Iridium communication satellites to your observing location on the ground. Heavens-Above.com can predict Iridium Flares for almost any location. Below are links to Heavens-Above.com predictions for selected sites of interest to LVAS members:

Boulder City Henderson Las Vegas North Las Vegas Overton

Cathedral Gorge Furnace Creek RedStone Red Rock Visitor Center Sawmill Trailhead

There are a few bright Iridum flares across the Valley this week - check the links above for those occurring in general areas, but login to Heavens-Above to see the specific information for your location.

Note from the President - March

Can you believe it's March already? I thought Christmas was just last week. Well, I guess I had better catch up. In addition to March Madness, March is Messier Marathon month for the LVAS. I hope you'll join us as we try a new observing venue in Meadview, AZ for our Messier Marathon this year. Check the Upcoming Event Info page for detailed information and map.

I'd like to thank John Heller for giving the presentations at our last Red Rock Astronomy in the Park and at our March LVAS meeting. John gave a couple of great presentations on Mars and Observing the Sun. I'd also like to thank David Blanchette and the Education Outreach Team for their support of the local schools and Scouting organizations during the past month. Our Education Outreach Program (EOP) has already been quite busy and March will be no exception. Please check the Events Calendar and EOP page for dates and please help out wherever you can.

Don't forget to use the Events Calendar to plan for our observing events throughout the year. All of our events have been posted on the Calendar with additional information and map links. Some of the highlights include the Messier Marathon this month, a couple of Sandstone Quarry and Valley of Fire all nighters, our Cathedral Gorge Spring Fling and Annual Campout, and return visits to the Grand Canyon and Great Basin National Parks for joint star parties with other clubs. We hope you'll put some of these events on your personal calendar and join us under the stars.

Ii mentioned the Messier Marathon in the opening paragraph. We're moving our observing venue down the road a bit to Meadville, AZ where we'll set up on the property of Allan Guthmiller and Bill Vorce. The skies are darker and the horizons a little lower all around, providing a great opportunity to catch all of the Messiers this year. As I mentioned last month, it will also give us an opportunity to check out a potential site for a remote observatory. Because of the change in venue for the Messier Marathon, I'm asking that we limit participation this year to LVAS members and their guests only, as a courtesy to our hosts.

Regarding the remote observatory, Dr. Harold Nations, Astronomy Professor at CSN, and I met with the District Manager of Nevada State Parks to discuss the possibility of establishing a remote observatory at Cathedral Gorge. He was very supportive and if Nevada doesn't close its State Parks in its budget reduction efforts, our proposal will be presented to the State Park Managers at their meeting this month. Keep your fingers crossed.

I still need some volunteers to give presentations at the Red Rock Astronomy in the Park events. I've posted the proposed presentations for the year on the Events Calendar. For some of the presentations, I already have a skeleton presentation prepared that you could work with and tweak to your liking. Please review the proposed schedule and if you could help with a presentation, please let me know.

I also need some ideas/suggestions for presentations for our monthly LVAS meetings at the CSN Planetarium. If you have some thoughts about presentations/topics you would like to see and discuss, please drop me a line. If you know of potential guest speakers you would like to hear from, let me know and I'll contact them about speaking to us. Our first guest speaker for this year was Kevin Janison, from Channel 3 Evening News. Kevin was quite entertaining and graciously fielded our probing questions about global warming and the perceived inaccuracy of weather forecasting. He especially liked the repeated questioning regarding the "chance of precipitation". I'm not sure we could have asked the same question any more ways than we did. It was almost like we were lawyers and Kevin was on trial and we were trying to trick him into slipping and telling the real truth. Thanks Kevin for being such a gracious guest.

Ok, we've got a busy month ahead of us, so I need to get back to coordinating and taking care of the LVAS, so I'll bring this note to a close. I hope you'll check out the Events Calendar and make plans to join us on some of the planned outings for this year. Until then, Clear Skies.

Rob Lambert

Last Updated on Saturday, 06 March 2010 07:29

Society Meetings

Monthly LVAS meetings are held on the first Thursday of each month at 7:30 p.m. in the Planetarium at the College of Southern Nevada, Cheyenne Campus - 3200 East Cheyenne (See Map). Following a short welcome and business session, a presentation on an Astronomy topic of interest is normally presented by an LVAS member or special guest. Occasionally, the program is the Planetarium presentation of the month.

Next Meeting

Thursday, 1 April, 7:30p.m.

Our presentations for April will be "Caring for Your Telescope Optics" and the Planetarium show, "Cowboy Astronomer". You can watch a trailer of the presentation by clicking "Cowboy Astronomer".

Agenda for the April Meeting

- Event Reports

- Messier Marathon

- Red Rock Astronomy in the Park

- Updates for Upcoming Events

- Sandstone Quarry Star Gaze

- Cathedral Gorge Spring Fling

- Kaibab Lodge Star Party

- Presentation:

- "Cowboy Astronomer"

- "Caring for Your Telescope Optics"

Member Discussions - Open Forum

- Presentation - TBD

Red Rock Events

Next Red Rock Public Star Party

Our next Public Star Party is Saturday, 20 March. The presentation "Open Star Clusters" will begin at 5:30pm in the New Red Rock Visitor's Center (See Map). Weather permitting, public viewing through LVAS member telescopes will immediately follow the presentation. Come see Mars and Saturn and observe galaxies, nebulae, dead stars, and star clusters. There's more up there than just pinpoints of light, so Look up Las Vegas.

Pubic Star Parties are free and open to the public; however, the Park charges an entrance fee of $5.00 per vehicle until the Park closes. If an attendant is in the Fee Station, tell the Attendant that you are there for the Star Party. See the Events Calendar for future Red Rock Event dates.

Note: Park entrance closes at sunset, so if you don't plan to attend the presentation, please be in the park by at least 5:00pm.

Last Updated on Sunday, 14 March 2010 08:07