NEKAAL Observer - February - March, 2009 Vol. 3 No 1. Volume , Issue

	The NEKAAL Observer
February - March, 2009 Vol. 3 No 1. 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

President's Message
Brad Hutton
Brad ushers in the new year with his first President's Message.

The Things That Come In The Mail!
Janelle Burgardt
Janelle digs deep into her spam folder to find some unique opportunities for astronomy buffs.

Superstar Hide and Seek
Dr. Tony Phillips
Our December 2008 Space Place article from JPL discusses Peony-type supermassive stars.

Club Meeting Rooms
Brad Hutton
Meeting Room locations for the general meetings in Feb, March, May, and June.

Severe Space Weather
Dr. Tony Phillips
In this January, 2009 Space Place article from JPL, Dr. Phillips describes what could actually happen from a once-in-a-century geomagnetic storm. Solar max is approaching in 2012, and we are overdue for one of these types of storms. The last one in 1859 literally fried telegraph cables, starting prairie fires all over the continent. The next one could wipe out the entire power grid, internet, national defense, banking and finance, and even our water supply and toilets, possibly for months.

Sky Highlites for February and March
Janelle Burgardt
These are on separate pages for printing.

Strange Rock Formations on Mars Explained
Space.com staff
This article appeared on the space.com website and is worth reprinting here. Some areas of Mars have abnormally uniform distribution of rocks. Scientists have now figured out what probably causes this.

Runaway Stars Go Ballistic
Andrea Thompson
Another fascinating piece reprinted from the Space.com site. Some stars take off like a rocket and speed through the interstellar medium creating bow-shock waves that can be seen in these amazing images. Wow! I guess there really ARE such things as "shooting stars". Who would've thunk it?

The Newbie Corner
Brad Hutton
Brad's first installment of this new series is on PLATE SCALE. Brad helps us all learn together some of the basic concepts in astronomy.