Continued from previous message.

               Mid Hudson Astro Assn. Cancelled for clouds. 
               www.geocities.com/mhastro1, 845-485-5669  

Fri - 30 May - 19:30 - Cranford - NJ - Amat Astro Inc mtg
               Sperry Obsy, Union Cnty Coll, www.asterism.org
               19:30 children's lecture, 20:30 feature lecture. Free

Fri - 30 May - sunset - R Moses St Pk - LI - clearsky starviewing

Sat - 31 May - sunset - Southold - LI - clearsky starviewing
               Custer Inst, cancelled for clouds. 
               www.custerobservatory.org

Sat - 31 May - sunset - R Moses St Pk - LI - clearsky starviewing

    An other monster list of astronomy things to do in New York and 
surrounds! With NYC Events expanded to all of New York astronomy, 
events have been pouring into the column. If you're into home 
astronomy, there really is only the one place to be: New York. 
    Public shows and lectures relating to the 1953 discovery of the 
genetic code in DNA continue into May. I picked the more general ones 
as background for your interest in extraterrestrial life. 
    Jupiter continue to be the highlights of the evening sky, with 
Saturn leaving us in western twilight. Informal skywatching sprang up 
here and there among NYSkiers and others to inspect them. In May 
Jupiter slides eastward from the Praesepe, or Beehive, cluster. Of 
special interest is the multitude of mutual eclipses and occultations 
among Jupiter's moons. 
    In April we tracked asteroid Vesta, so much in the news from a 
meteorite probably broken from her mantle and the prospect of a space 
flight to her in a few years. She's in Virgo, in the galaxy cluster 
area, and starting fading beyond binocular reach by mid month. 
    We're looking forward in May to the transit of Mercury on the 7th 
and the lunar eclipse on the 15th. Note that Mercury is almost all the 
way across the Sun at sunrise. Mercury slides off of the Sun at 
altitude only 6-1/2 degrees. You need a clear geometric horizon and 
clear skies near it. And, remember to fit your instrument with proper 
solar viewing filters, or use projection. 
    The lunar eclipse is a perfect event for the City, occurring 
across the midnight of 15-16 May. Note! There are STILL a few eclipse 
watches posted for the SIXTEENTH of May. This is ONE DAY LATE. Get out 
there in the night of the 15th. 
    The megaevent continues to be the new Einstein exhibit at the 
American Museum of Natural History, the largest and fullest of any 
Einstein ever. It's on the fourth floor, with the dinosaurs, and is a 
must-see for anyone visiting the City. The Einstein artifacts are 
rotated every couple weeks, both to upset preplanned theft and to help 
preserve the fragile papers. There are lots of 'toys' to play with 
like a rubber table for warped space near masses, a floor mat which 
shows your 'gravity field' on a mural-size video screen, a time 
dilation wall of clocks. 
    The second megaevent, a lot smaller but really good, is the DNA 
show at Science Industry Business Library on Madison Avenue between 
34th and 35th St. You can do it within lunch. Centerpiece is the 
replica of the original DNA model built by Watson and Crick, all 
spread out in a giant 'specimen jar'. Show runs thru September 2003. 
    With the municipal funding crunch, due to the reparations of World 
Trade Center and the overall sluggish economy, the American Museum of 
Natural History (and just about al other cultural facilities) is 
restructuring its events. Please check with the Museum, 212-769-5100, 
before making a major trip to some listed event. 
    Offsetting the shuffling of events, the Museum extended at least 
thru May its supersaver ticket. For $28 you can see the Einstein and 
Butterfly exhibits, a spaceshow, and an IMAX cinema. This deal was 
going to expire on April 27th. 
    Other casualties of of the funding downturn litter the City's 
astronomy scene. The Hayden Planetarium called off its plans for 
Astronomy Day on May 10th. Amateur Astronomers Association dropped out 
of Earth Day for April 26-27 and out of Northeast Astronomy Forum on 
May 17-18. 
    The Museum closes its Gem & Mineral Hall and Hall of Meteorites on 
May 4th for a renovation, with reopen on 20 September 2003. The halls 
were opened in the southwest corner of the Museum in, if I recall 
rightly, 1979. I photoessayed the translation of the Anighito 
meteorite from the old Planetarium to the new hall. It was an amazing 
labor to shift that 36-ton iron out thru a hole punched in the 
Planetarium wall, around the block, and into an enlarged door of the 
southwest tower of the Museum! 
    Earth Day for 2003 was litterally [almost] under the stars! Yes! 
Over the two day run, April 26 and 27, 200,000 to 250,000 visitors 
crammed into Grand Central Terminal's Vanderbilt Hall! The attendance 
was depressed due to a cold continuous drizzle on the 26th and perhaps 
the overburden of SARS concerns. Those who came were greeted by over 
fifty booths, including our own NYSkies table, music, raffles, 
singing, and the fantastic depot itself. 
    The visitors followed the stars on the Sky Ceiling with NYSkies 
charts, inspected the genuine Sun with NYSkies projection sheets (no 
noticeable spots), agitated against luminous graffiti with NYSkies 
promos. They grabbed up the preliminary issue of this NYC Events, 

 Continued in next message.

---
 þ RoseReader 2.52á P005004