The NEKAAL Observer
October - November, 2008, Vol. 2 No. 5 PO BOX 951, Topeka KS 66619 (785)449-2102 http://www.nekaal.org The official newsletter of Farpoint Observatory and the Northeast Kansas Amateur Astronomers' League

• Time For Nekaal Board Nominations
  Members, these are your nominating materials and information. Please complete the second page and mail or email the nominations to Secretary Dale Lee by Nov. 5. The actual elections will take place, as always at the December meeting/party/food festival.


• Middleweight Black Holes Nearly Ruled Out
  - Space.com staff
  How astronomers figured out that intermediate-mass black holes cannot exist. They are either small, the result of star's collapse, or massive, lying at the heart of galaxies. This originally appeared at Space.com.


• The Tallgrass Prairie Public Event - an account
  Bryant Hertel
  Bryant Hertel gives a first hand account of the public astronomy event on the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. Bryant, along with Gary Hug and Brian Martin provided a rewarding experience for public sky watchers under dark skies on the Tallgrass Prairie...and during the Perseid meteor shower, to boot. Thanks, guys for representing NEKAAL so well.


• Partial Rings Discovered Around Saturn
  Andrea Thompson
  From Space.com, Andrea Thompson writes about the two newly discovered partial rings around Saturn, each accompanied by a small moon, that were recently discovered by the Cassini spacecraft. This mission continues to deliver gigantic scientific dividends.


• NEKAAL'S Dying Light
  Janelle Burgardt
  "Rage, rage against the dying of the light."


• Water Hit With Young Star's Best Shot
  From the Jet Propulsion Laboratory - Spitzer has been able to observe what happens when water is smacked with the jets from a young star. What chemically happens to water at plasma-like temperatures, and what does it tell us about the chemistry that led to life in our own solar system?


• SKY HIGHLITES FOR OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER
  Janelle Burgardt
  Solar System junkies! What does the naked eye astronomer look for in our own neighborhood for the next couple of months?


• A Mighty Wind?
  - NASA
  Riddle: What do the sun and the coming stock market have in common?


• Special Announcement
  Nancy Cole
  Has she got a deal for you!

View Online at: http://www.nekaal.org/observer/ar/127.html