The newsletter of the Rainwater Astronomical Association.

August 1999, Vol. 10 No. 5

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The August meeting of the Rainwater Astronomical Association will be on Friday, August 13 at 7:15 PM at the Observatory. There will be an introduction to solar eclipses and the Perseid Meteors. On Wednesday, August 11, there will be the last total solar eclipse of the Millennium for those who are rich enough to go to Europe to see it, and the Perseid Meteors are suppose to peak the night of August 12 and morning of the 13th. See below for more details.

On Wednesday, August 11, 1999, a total solar eclipse will be visible on a line from France to India. Unfortunately for us in Mississippi, we wont be able to see anything. Many people will be on cruise ships or touring Europe, just for this occasion. For those of us who cant go, there are some great resources available on the Internet:

http://eclipsecast.com On August 10 and 11 The site will feature live audio webcasts of a special radio transmission from Europe designed to test the effect of the eclipse on Earth's atmosphere. On August 11, images of the eclipse as viewed from the path of totality in France will be posted while the eclipse is ongoing.

http://www.skypub.com/sights/eclipses/eclipses.html Sky & Telescope Magazines site devoted to the Eclipse. It has a timetable of events for cities worldwide, links to live webcasts, and a daily eclipse journal from the Editors of S&T.

Note to Educators: The Eclipse will be going on in Europe during the school day. Viewing the Eclipse live over the Internet at one of the sites above would make a wonderful activity to start the school year.

The Perseids, one of the best known meteor showers or shooting stars, can be seen from July 17 to August 24, and might reach a maximum number per hour around Thursday, August 12. The meteors from this shower are particular fast because the Earth, as it orbits the Sun, hits them head-on. They streak through the atmosphere at a speed of 40 miles per second. In dark skies and with a little luck, it is possible to see as many as 100 meteors per hour from this shower. Many of the Perseids are bright and leave a persistent tail. We are fortunate that the peak on August 12 occurs near the New Moon. Some of the more faint meteors will be visible. The observatory will be open for meteor watchers on both Thursday night and Friday after the meeting.
Some hints for successful meteor observing:

• Find a spot far away from street lights and where the light pollution is minimal.
• Wear clothing appropriate for the weather and bug repellant.
• Bring a comfortable chair to sit in, drinks, and munchies.
• Be patient. Perseus (from which the Perseids appear to radiate) rises over the horizon after midnight and you will see more meteors between midnight and 5 a.m. than any other time.

Rainwater Goes Hi-Tech Last month, Craig Hodges setup our new computer lab in the planetarium. Thanks to the donations of computers and funds, we now have Internet access on three Pentium computers that can be used by school, church, and civic groups visiting the observatory. Thanks goes to Dr. Don Brannan for arranging the donation of two Hewlett Packard Desktops and a HP laptop. If anyone has an old system that is collecting dust, we can put it to good use. Also, a work in progress, we are installing new software on the web server that will help us create a Yahoo!-style Astronomy links site. We need links! If you have one, please visit our web site, http://rainwater.astronomers.org and "submit a link". Educators: Schedule a field trip to Rainwater today!

New dome for the 6 Refractor takes shape. By the Sept. meeting, we plan to put the dome on the waiting base. Thanks to Andy Doty and RAA Member Dale Jones. Rainwater Astronomical Association Current Members: 47