Mount Diablo Astronomical Society Diablo MoonWatch · PDF fileMount Diablo Astronomical Society Diablo MoonWatch ... magicians Banachek, Penn and Teller,and of course James Randi himself

Black holes are regions of spacewhere gravity is so strong thatnothing, not even light, canescape!

No longer confined to the fer-tile imaginations of science-fictionwriters and theoretical physicists,numerous black holes have recent-ly been discovered by observation-al astronomers. Stellar-mass blackholes can form during the deathsof some types of massive stars, and

supermassive black holes arefound at the centers of galaxies.Come learn about the remarkableproperties of these bizarreobjects.

Please join us Tuesday, August23rd to listen to Dr. Filipenko foran entire evening lecture followedby a question and answer period.

Alex Filippenko received hisPh.D. in Astronomy from Caltechin 1984 and joined the UCBerkeley faculty in 1986, where heis currentlythe Richardand RhodaGoldmanDistinguishedProfessor inthe PhysicalSciences.Elected to theNationalAcademy ofSciences andone of theworld's mosthighly cited astronomers, he hascoauthored more than 670 scien-tific publications and is the recipi-ent of numerous prizes for hisresearch. He was a member ofboth teams that discovered theaccelerating expansion of the

Universe, voted the “Top ScienceBreakthrough of 1998” by Sciencemagazine.Voted the “best profes-sor” on the UC Berkeley campus arecord eight times, and winner ofthe ASP's 2010 Richard H. EmmonsAward for undergraduate teaching,he was also named theCarnegie/CASE National Professorof the Year in 2006 among doctor-al institutions. He has appeared innumerous television documen-taries, coauthored an award-win-ning textbook, and produced five

astronomy DVD courses with TheTeaching Company (including a12-lecture course on black holes,chock full of information).

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August 2011

Doors open at 6:45 p.m.Concord Police Association Facility

5060 Avila Road, Concord

GENERAL MEETING

“Hearts of Darkness -- Black Holes in Space” Tuesday August 23, 2011

Mount Diablo Astronomical SocietyDiablo MoonWatch

Mount Diablo Astronomical SocietyDiablo MoonWatch

By Dr. Alex Filippenko Professor of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley

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This month, Iwould like to give youa flavor of a highlyentertaining eventcalled “The AmazingMeeting” that I attend-ed with my son at theSouth Point Hotel inLas Vegas last month.You may wonder whatthe connection is toastronomy, yet underthe radar this meetinghas become one ofthe most interestingpublic forums in theUSA devoted to sci-

ence and critical thinking, with aregular emphasis on astronomicalsubjects whether it is the possibil-ity of alien life, the future of spacescience, the evolution of the solarsystem, or even the possibility ofUFO's.

The Amazing Meeting (TAM) wasfounded in 2003 by James Randi

He is well known as a stagemagician, escape artist, and tire-

less demystifier of scams, super-natural and pseudo-scientifcclaims, and the relent-less scourge of UriGeller. It is an annualforum that over 4-dayspromotes science,skepticism, and criti-cal thinking, and tothis author it is hardto think of a publicevent that attracts allin one place such adiverse range of highprofile media sciencepersonalities, all ofwhom are accessible,

available,and willing to chatone on one.Thisyears ninth TAM wasthe third I haveattended with my 19year old son Alexwho was part of astrong student repre-sentation amongstthe 1,650 attendees.The promotion ofthe values of scienceand critical thinking

for future generationsare essential to thefuture of our nation

and a key sub-theme of TAM.

This yearThe Amazing Meeting was

promoted as “TAM 9 from OuterSpace”, a pun on the famouslyawful movie of that name. Someof the most prominent personali-ties in the astronomical media andblogosphere were in attendanceincluding “Bad Astronomer” PhilPlait, Bill Nye The Science Guy,

Neil De Grasse Tyson, Pamela Gayof “Astronomy Cast”, and “The

Physics of Star Trek”Laurence Krauss, whoalso all participated ina panel entitled “OurFuture in Space” witha unsurprisingly widerange of opinions.Other high profile sci-entific media personal-ities at TAM 9 includedProfessor RichardDawkins, MichaelShermer, biologist P ZMyers, RichardWiseman, as well asmagicians Banachek,

Penn and Teller, and of courseJames Randi himself.Unfortunately absent at the lastminute was usual regular,Adam“Mythbusters” Savage.

There is always a strong astro-nomical and space component toTAM

To give a sense of its contentthe famous evolutionary biologistRichard Dawkins delivered anexcellent talk on alien contact,while P Z Myers of thePharyngula blog presented a“Skeptical Look at Aliens”, and

Mount Diablo Astronomical Society Diablo MoonWatchMount Diablo Astronomical Society Diablo MoonWatch

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T’SCORNER TAM Nine (The Amazing Meeting) From Outer Space!

by Chris Ford

A stellar Astronomy speakers panel. (Left to right: Phil Plait, The Bad Astronomer, BillNye The Science Guy, Neil De Grasse Tyson, Pamela Gay of Astronomy Cast, and “ThePhysics of Star Trek” Laurence Krauss)

Keynote speaker the irrepressible Neil De Grass Tysonin full flow...

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Bill Nye signing an autograph for my Son Alex.

Pamela Gay gave an impassionedplea for the continued future ofthe James Webb Space Telescopeand what its loss will mean forscience educa-tion in thenation. Finally,Neil De GrasseTyson, who inmy opinion isthe most enter-taining advocatefor astronomypublic outreachwas the keynotespeaker at TAM9 and on fineform. His speechcentered on theconsequences of living in a socie-ty where science literacy is notgiven proper priority, giving manyexamples from his personal expe-riences. If anyone has seen Neillive, you will know he is anincredibly knowledgeable, charis-matic, and funny speaker, and anamazing advocate for astronomy.In fact the back and forth dia-logue between Neil and Bill Nyeon one panel was so hilarious that

someone tweeted during theevent that they should do a buddycop routine! Needles to say, Neilcaught the tweet live on stage and

duly showed it on screen duringhis keynote.

As is evident from the abovespeakers, TAM is a highly eclec-tic mixture of personalities fromthe sciences, arts, and entertain-ment.

It is also one of the mostentertaining and yet mentallychallenging meetings that you are

likely to encounter, and yet it isnot technical and always highlyaccessible.There is definitely a dis-tinct flavor to TAM that is as muchabout being in the company ofothers who value the importanceof science, education, and logicalreasoning. I cannot think of anoth-er forum that includes so manywell known faces from such adiverse range of disciplines, andfor around $375 per person for 4solid days, it is great value, andthat includes breakfast and lunchthrown in for the price also.

If you are interested in the sci-entific method, critical thinking,love astronomy and space, or arefrustrated by the poor reportingof science in the media,TAM maybe just the tonic for you.

http://www.amazingmeeting.com/

Chris Ford


TAM Nine From Outer Space! (Continued from previous page )

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My son Alex and I with James Randi (aka “The Beard”)

UFO’s and amateur astronomy donot go together.

Better put, UFO’s and amateurastronomers often do not gotogether. Skeptical writers oftengo to great lengths to discreditthe UFO narrative. In this essay, Iintend to try my best to take abroad view of the UFO phenome-non, and to see to it that I do nottake the dismissive approach thatso many skeptics take. Indeed,nothing is more insulting than tobe told that one is incapable ofdistinguish-ing Venusfrom a mov-ing object, orswamp gasfrom some-thing trulyunexplained.At the sametime, onecannot aban-don proper scientific skepticismin order to embrace a TrueBeliever mentality that acceptsclaims of alien contact uncritical-ly.Astronomers are right to sounda note of caution when approach-ing this subject.

What is the truth here?Let me begin by telling a story

of my own. I was at camp, and itwas late.We were all up afterdark, making life miserable for theCounselors. It was a teenagething, if you remember thosedays. Some friends of mine werestaring up at a mysterious objectthat was flickering in the darkwinter sky.They were in absoluteawe of an object that was turningblue and red in an alternating

manner.They turned to me andasked me whether or not this wasa UFO. I smiled and told them thatthey were viewing Sirius, a verynear star about nine light-yearsaway. Sirius could appear to be abrilliant flickering object due tothe very moist Marin county win-ter sky, and the interesting seeingthat the Pacific Ocean produced. Isuppose we can add Sirius toVenus or swamp gas and admitthat it is possible that people canmistake astronomical phenomenafor UFO’s.

Add to the mix the InternationalSpace Station, satellites, andstrange airplanes.

We cannot rule those out aspossibilities. So, how do we beginhere? I think that we have tobegin by a proper understandingof what intellectuals call the “Nullhypothesis.”The Null Hypothesisis what we assume to be true inlieu of extraordinary proof. Fordebunkers, the Null Hypothesis isthat all UFO’s can be explained byVenus, Sirius, Swamp Gas,Airplanes, Satellites, or overactiveimaginations. I believe that this isthe wrong approach to beginwith.The Null Hypothesis is notso simple when we really get into philosophy or logic. If we

begin with a Null Hypothesis thatconforms to our own point ofview we have begun with a dis-honest premise.A debunkershould not begin with a NullHypothesis that UFO’s are non-existent.The Null Hypothesis ismost honest when we assumethat it is the opposite of what weare trying to prove. If one is tryingto debunk a position, often oneshould begin by assuming it to bepotentially true and then showingit to be false, especially in lieu ofoverwhelming evidence either

way. My point ofview runs con-trary to the tradi-tional skepticmethodologythat merelyshowing that aclaim does notmeet the bar ofevidence isenough. I believe

that the burden of proof is on anyclaim that is made about UFO’s,pro or con. If one is a skeptic, onedoes best by postulating that thebelief could be true and the prob-ing the believers with intelligentquestions to see if their claimsline up with reason.

Therefore, we should begin byassuming that some UFO’s mightreally be alien space craft andthen evaluate how logical thisclaim is.We would see whetherthis claim lines up with logic, rea-son or science.This is a more rea-sonable path for skeptics than tobegin by assuming that all ofthese are natural phenomena andthen putting the entire burden onUFO supporters. Posit that UFO’s

An Honest Look at UFO’sby Nathaniel Bates


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are potentially real, and then pro-ceed with a number of skepticalquestions. For one thing, we haveto ask ourselves why these UFO’sare here.Why visit our planet?This is not an unimportant ques-tion. Some have alleged that thealiens want to interbreed withhumans because their DNA is frag-

ile and they cannot reproduce ontheir own world.This claim runsup against an obvious problem. Itis impossible for two distantlyrelated species to join their DNAthrough natural means. It isextremely hard even for closelyrelated species to interbreed. Itwould be utterly inconceivablefor a completely alien species thatevolved on another world to inter-breed with humans. Finally, itwould seem natural that advancedaliens could solve the issue ofDNA fragility without needing totravel many light years.

Now, for those who have claimedsuch contact with aliens I canonly say that their accounts aresincere.

They are not making anythingup, and I believe that they areoften well adjusted and lucid peo-

ple who make this claim.They are reporting whatthey believe has happenedto them. However, theycannot fault me for apply-ing scientific skepticism tothe claim that alien genet-ic codes could ever matchhuman DNA.This is evenassuming that aliens arecarbon based, which is notan unreasonable assump-tion but still an assump-tion on our part. I do notclaim to explain away theclaims of those who claimto be abductees or to

mock them (as has so often hap-pened), merely to posit what Ibelieve is a valid scientific ques-tion that advocates for alien-human breeding should address.

The other question that should beposed is the question of why thealiens described often seembanal.

They resemble Earth typeorganisms. Often, they evenresemble humans.Would a planetpotentially unlike Earth producean organism that looks like abipedal human with two hands,two feet and a head? I can thinkof other questions that should beposed.There is one importantquestion that is often overlooked.While some might object that the

UFO’s do not land on the WhiteHouse lawn, my own personalquestion is,“Why they are not bet-ter hidden?” If I were visiting aplanet, I would take a stealth posi-tion. I would observe, and notshow myself to those violent pri-mates on the ground becausethey have a tendency to shoot atwhat they do not understand.Strangely, however, the UFO aliensof the popular consciousnessshow themselves freely.Theirreported appearance does notconform to what I would expectfrom a Universe in which life cantake myriads of forms.The pur-ported UFO aliens are mostlyhumanoid, resembling humanswith superficially altered forms.

Now, I want to make somethingclear.

I am of the opinion that theUniverse is potentially teamingwith life.And, I am also of theopinion that intelligent life maywell have been visiting Earth overthe course of our history! Yet,even there we have to address thequestion of Relativity.Althoughwe do not know enough aboutthe complexities of Relativity andQuantum Theory to rule out sta-ble wormholes and other anom-alous phenomena, as it standsnow complex matter is bound bythe speed of light.This means thatan alien space craft cannot travelat the speed of light.A ship travel-ing near the speed of light fromthe center of the galaxy to Earthwould indeed experience very lit-tle passage of time. However, thatis due to time dilation whichallows for a shorter passage oftime on board ship.The fact is


An Honest Look at UFO’s (Continued from the precious page)

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that a great deal of time will havepassed, over 27,000 years! Thealiens would have to be very com-mitted to such a journey because,although their experience of timeis vastly less than 27,000 years,they would return to their homeworlds many thousands of yearsin the future. Finally, the actualfact is that their ship will proba-bly be limited to about ten per-cent of the speed of light due tothe threat of space debris. But,then again, to be fair we cannotrule out the possibility of laws ofphysics currently unknown thatcould be harnessed for space trav-el along much shorter timelines. Itmay well be that a vastly moreadvanced species will have dis-covered those laws by now.

Really, to be honest, the possibili-ty of alien intervention in toEarth’s biology is not beyond thepale.

It may be possible that suchoutlier events as the CambrianExplosion could defy easy expla-nations such as “natural selection.”Such periods of rapid evolution-ary change does open the possi-bility that life got a little outsidehelp that allowed multi-cellularorganisms to thrive, making Eartha far more interesting world thanbefore. I cannot rule out such pos-sibilities, or even the idea thataliens might have visited Earthduring human history. I will evengo so far as to suggest that someUFO’s today might be alien innature.Yet, with the physics wenow currently work with, travel-ing to Earth from a distant planetwould take a great deal of time.

Some intervention in to our plan-et’s biology is one thing.Continual intervention wouldimply that our planet is special tothem in some way.Would it be fairto expect that Earth is special to agalaxy teaming with life?

Let me explain my methods. Ibegin with a Null Hypothesis thatcan include the possibility ofsome kind of alien visitation. Ibegin with the possibility thatUFO’s could exist and then, at thatpoint, I enter in to a skeptical dia-loguewith theclaimsprovidedme. Inotherwords, Itake theargu-ments ofthe UFObelieversandaddressthemcritically.If UFOresearchers tell me that there is agovernment conspiracy to coverup UFO’s, I then have to counterby stating that governments oftenlie about what they are lyingabout.We have to consider thepossibility that the Cold Warnecessitated cover stories foradvanced technology. If anAmerican military man does notwant the Soviets to know aboutsome new technology, an aliencover story becomes a verytempting way of doing damagecontrol. UFO researchers seem

largely unwilling to consider thispossibility.This is a logical possi-bility when we consider that agreat many sightings have beennear military bases. Such militarycover stories might take off in tothe culture, inspiring science fic-tion and fantasy. Perhaps wholeUFO religions emerged out of see-ing advanced stealth technologymuch as Cargo Cults arose duringWorld War II from sightings ofAmerican aircraft!

Now, I promised that thiswould be anhonest look atUFO’s insteadof a knee-jerkskeptical lookand I intend tofulfill thatpromise. Ibegan by stat-ing that I hadto begin with a“NullHypothesis”that someUFO’s might bealien spacecraft until or

unless I can disprove such aclaim.This is the most honestapproach I can take, far more hon-est than an approach that auto-matically excludes even the possi-bility of alien visitation unlessproven. It is possible that aliencontact has occurred, and that itis not provable given current sci-entific methods.Assuming our sci-ence can prove all things is arro-gant on the part of a new speciesthat has only been technologicalfor a few hundred years. Have Idisproven the Null Hypothesis?



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No, I have not. I had better behonest about that.

Sane people, of sound mind andbody, have claimed experienceswith UFO’s.

This cannot be denied. Ibelieve that explanations otherthan the alien explanation shouldbe considered, including the pos-sibility that agencies on Earth mayhave very advanced technology.Atthe same time, however, theUniverse is potentially teamingwith life and it maywell be that at somepoint planetsunable to deal withpopulation pres-sures then expandin to space. Suchcivilizations maytake an interest inup and comingplanets like ours,perhaps preferringto expose them-selves to humblepeople in thewoods than to gov-ernments.Conversely, it may also be that weare of no interest to anyone; thatwe are, as Carl Sagan suggested,better off listening with radioastronomy than looking to spacecraft to come from the sky. ForCarl Sagan and Frank Drake, thereal way to alien contact wasthrough SETI. Most scientistsdoubt the UFO claims, but thegreat majority of scientists do seealien life as possible. It is simplythat they pin their hopes onmathematical patterns revealed byradio astronomy. For them, SETI is

our ear to the sky while UFO’s arebanal and boring; hardly fit toinspire us with a sense of thediversity of technologies thatcould exist in our Universe.

Sadly, however, the SETI array isdown.

In this political climate, it maywell never return. In times ofgrave anxiety like our own time,human mythologies often turn tothe stars. Many UFO believersclaim that aliens will come andsave us from ourselves. Many of

their narratives are implicitly reli-gious. More often than not, reli-gious and secular salvation narra-tives will emerge when rationalscience does not appear to havethe answers, particularly in timesof grave ecological crisis wheremany justifiably blame humantechnological arrogance for envi-ronmental destruction. Personally,I do not oppose such hopes,because I believe that we maywell be genetically hardwired tobelieve in Utopia and to hope fora better world than we have cre-ated for ourselves. However, in

judging any new natural phenom-ena, or any claim such as UFO’s,science is the best system wehave. In that spirit, those whoclaim that UFO’s have arrived andthat we are in the midst of aliencontact should be able to addressa number of scientific questions,among them how the aliensresemble Earth forms, but alsohow the aliens can travel so freelywhen Relativity limits travel toless than the speed of light. I amthe kind of skeptic who can beconvinced.At the same time, I am

the kind ofpotentialbeliever whoneeds hard evi-dence and atheoreticalmodel that canfit the hard evi-dence. Sadly,the ability togather evi-dence hasdecreased dueto the declineof SETI and wemight be left

with speculation alone. If we are aGalaxy teeming with life, as ishoped, then we need more thanspeculation to give us a sense ofwhere we fit in the vast socialnetwork that extends throughoutthe starry disk we call home.

Go out before sun up any morn-ing, and you’ll see Jupiter as abright star high in the south-eastern sky.

Earth is catching up and willpass Jupiter – be at opposition –on October 29th. Jupiter is high,at 12° declination. Beginning in2005 its oppositions were at neg-ative declinations and that trans-lates to the planet being low inour bay area skies.The higher the

better for planetary observingbecause your telescopes is look-ing through less atmosphere andthat translates to less turbulence.

We call Jupiter The AmateurPlanet, because since Galileoturned his simple scope on it in1645 we’ve realized it exhibits themost pleasing, spectacular andchanging views of any planet wecan observe. Excellent views canbe had any optical aid from binoc-ulars up to and including theHubble Space telescope. But, themost interesting and spectacularobservations start with 7X50binoculars and telescopes fromfour (100-mm) to twelve (300-mm) inches of aperture.That opti-cal range includes just about anystar party or group observing

you’ll ever attend. Possibly themost interesting are it’s fourGalilean Moons.

Jupiter’s Moons Are ForEveryone.

Binoculars or a 50-mm tele-scope easily shows the fourbrightest moons discovered byGalileo.They are like a small solarsystem that changes positionsfrom night to night. .As you lookat them, let your mind wanderand think of what it must havebeen like to be the first person toever see them. On that day it wasthe greatest scientific discoveryever made. Image one showsthem nicely.

Watching solar eclipses onJupiter.

To watch a moon pass in frontof Jupiter requires at least aneight inch (180-mm) telescope

and very good seeing. However, inmodest seeing a six inch tele-scope shows the moon’s shadow

(a solar eclipse on Jupiter) pass-ing across the planet. Imagetwo, a sequence of imagesshowing Ganymede’s shadowpassing across Jupiter on July23, 2011. It also illustrates thatGanymede’s orbit is highlyinclined to Jupiter’s equatorialplane, so its shadow actuallypasses near the pole. Since theimage is inverted (as seen in the

scope) it’s actually the Jupiter’sSouth Pole. .Watching an eclipseon Jupiter gives an excellent per-spective on planetary dynamics.

Jupiter is never without detail.About 150 years ago Cassini

observed a storm in Jupiter’sdense atmosphere that was brightred and has persisted since then.It was called as the Great RedSpot. In recognition of its color.Over these 150 years its color hasgone from red to salmon and allshades in between. Currently, it’smostly salmon colored. It has alsochanged size over the same peri-od and is now somewhat smallerthan when it was discovered.Thegreat red spot makes timingJupiter’s rotation easy. Image threeshows the great red spot on July28th as it crossed the planet.Thedifferences in brightness brings

Jupiter, the Amateur Planet Returns.by Jim Scala


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Jupiter’s four Galilean Moons at 0500 on July 30, 2011 as seen and imaged through a four inch telescope. The orientation is reversedas seen in the telescope. Thi is a composite of two images; one for the moons and one for the planet.

Ganymede’s shadow passes across Jupiter July 23, 2011 at the times shown on the image.

Ganymede’s Shadow Crosses Jupiter 07/23/2011

0405 PDT 0331 PDT 0320 PDT

Io

Europa aaa

CallistoGanymede

out theeffects ofseeing and isnot inherentin the image.It illustrateshow theatmosphereaffects obser-vation.Thelast image at0538 PDT was taken against alight blue twilight sky.

There’s more activity then theGreat Red Spot.

About five years ago Jupiterentered a period of increasedactivity resulting from severalcyclic changes that occur in oursolar system.These cycles, general-ly known as the Melankoviccycles make interesting reading.This has increased the interestingand exciting detail that can beobserved. Image four showsJupiter without the great redspot.. It illustrates quite nicely theincredible detail awaiting your tel-escope.

As you look over the fourimages that illustrate this article Ihope you will agree with me that

designating Jupiter as TheAmateur Planet is correct.

Would you like to take imageslike the ones shown here?

I took these images from mybackyard observatory in Lafayette.You can take similar images inline with the limits of your tele-scope and camera. Five years agoa small group of interested MDASmembers started the MDASImaging group.We meet on thesecond Tuesday of the monthfrom 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at theWalnut Acres elementary school.All the details are on our web siteat:

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/mdasimaging/.


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Jupiter, the Amateur Planet Returns. (Continued from the precious page)

Jupiter’s great red spot crossing the planet on July 28, 2011.

Jupiter on July 4, 2011 showing many cyclones and otheractivity in its incredible atmosphere.

0538 PDT 0454 PDT 0420 PDT


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August 2011

Mount Diablo Astronomical Society Event Calendar—August 2011

PresidentChris Ford - [email protected]

Vice PresidentRick Linden - [email protected]

Membership Coordinator, Mtg RoomMarni Berendsen - [email protected]

Meeting Program ChairDick Flasck - [email protected]

Outreach Coordinator, AANC RepJim Head - [email protected]

Publicity Board MemberSteve Jacobs - [email protected]

Observing Committee Chair, Board MemberRichard Ozer - [email protected]

Whats Up Coordinator, Board MemberKent Richardson - [email protected]

TreasurerWill Roberge - [email protected] EditorVianney - [email protected]

WebmasterGlenn Spiegelman - [email protected]

Secretary and RefreshmentsMoon Trask - [email protected]

New Member StewardNick Tsakoyias - [email protected]

Mailing address:MDASP.O. Box 4889Walnut Creek, CA 94596-General Meetings:Fourth Tuesday every month,except on the third TuesdayRefreshments and conversationsMeetings begin at 7:15pm.Where:Concord Police Association5060 Avila Road, top of theTake Avila Road from WillowDirections to facility:


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August 2011

Board Members & Address

Your Help Would Be Greatly AppreciatedOur association need a few members to come at

6:30 p.m. before our monthly meeting which starts at7:15 p.m. to help in seting up the chairs and otherelements needed to conduct the general meeting.

Similarly at the end of each meeting the chairsand tables have to be removed, the room has to becleaned and the garbages emptied.

Thank you for your help.

Documents

Mount Diablo Astronomical Society Diablo MoonWatch · PDF fileMount Diablo Astronomical Society Diablo MoonWatch ... magicians Banachek, Penn and Teller,and of course James Randi himself