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SLAS Regular Meeting
Friday, January 15, 2015 7:30pm
McDonnell Hall,
Washington University
Preview of Interesting
Astronomical Events for 2016
by
Mark Jones
SLAS
Mark Jones will be featured at the January
meeting of the St. Louis Astronomical
Society. The meeting will begin at 7:30 PM
Friday, January 15, in McDonnell Hall, Room
162, on the Washington University campus,
Saint Louis, MO 63130.
The transit of Mercury across the Sun's
disk and the close approach of Mars are two
of the highlights for 2016. Mercury passes
directly between the Earth and the Sun only
about fourteen times each century. The next
transit after May 9, 2016 will not occur until
November, 2019. Since the Earth is closer to
the Sun than Mars, it moves faster. As a result,
the Earth passes Mars about every two
years. Closest approach this time will be on
May 22 – but Mars will still be more than forty-
seven million miles away. Mark Jones will
discuss these events and include information
on upcoming meteor showers, planetary conjunctions,
Lunar occultations and other astronomical
events for 2016. Many of these
events will be visible to the unaided eye.
Mark Jones, currently the Secretary of
the St. Louis Astronomical Society, is a veteran
amateur astronomer with decades of experience
in experience
in observing both daytime and night
skies.
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Meeting Agenda
Welcome
Introduction of Officers and Visitors
Main Speaker: Mark Jones
Astro 101: Dale Engelbrecht:
Library e-books
Homemade Fest scheduled for Saturday, February 27, 2016 at the Kirkwood Community Center, room 300 from 5-10pm
Library Telescope Build - Saturday, March 5
MSRAL 2016 - June 3-5, 2016 - Columbia, MO Hosted by MU Physics Dept
Volunteers needed for MSRAL
Raffle Tickets for:
1. Lowell Talk
2. MSRAL registration fee
Star Parties
Meeting for April moved to April 22
Announcements
Vacancies in SLAS:
Merchandise Chair - Organizes and selects SLAS merchandise to offer to the public and to members
Eyepiece kits for sale
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