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               With indoor lecture at 20:00 on 13th fl 

Fri - 25 Apr - 20:00 - Columbia Univ - MH - lecture 
               Pupin Hall, 13th fl. Dr David Helfand, 'Neutron stars'. 

Fri - 25 Apr - 20:00 - WIlcox Pk - NY - clearsky starviewing
               Mid Hudson Astro Assn. Cancelled for clouds.  
               www.geocities.com/mhastro1 

Sat - 26 Apr - 11:00 - Grand Cntl Terml - MH - Earth Day Fair 
               Vanderbilt Hall. Also on Sun 27 Apr. Visit the 
               NYSkies booth! Free.         

Sat - 26 Apr - 12:00 - several - BX - Earth Day celebrations
               Three separate Bronx parks: Van Cortlandt Pk, 12h; 
               Crotona Pk, 13h; also Pelham Bay Pk, Sun 27 Apr, 
               10h. Free. www.nyc.gov/parks, 866-NYC-HAWK 

Sat - 26 Apr - 20:00 - Inwood Hill Pk - MH - Exploring the Night Sky 
               Inwood Hill Natr Ctr. Indoor talk and clearksy
               starviewing. Free 

Sun - 27 Apr - 10:00 - Pelham Bay Pk - BX - Earth Day celebration
               Continued from Sat 26 Apr. Free. www.nyc.gov/parks, 
               866-NYC-HAWK 
               
Sun - 27 Apr - 11:00 - Grand Cntl Terml - MH - Earth Day Fair 
               Vanderbilt Hall. Continued from Sat 26 Apr. Visit the 
               NYSkies booth! Free.         

Sun - 27 Apr - 11:30 - Amer Mus Natl Hist - MH - science show 
               'The magic of science' on how magic tricks work by 
               science principles. $5 adm 

Tue - 29 Apr - 18:30 - AAA-HQ - Physical Astronomy Class 

Tue - 29 Apr - 18:30 - Hayden Plm - MH - Celestial Highlights 
               Live Zeiss show for evening sky. $10 adm 

Sun -  4 May - 00:01 - whole City - new transit fares begin 
               Start of new transit fares. End of token use in 
               subway; still valid on buses until YE2003. 

    Almost FIFTY astronomy-related events in and around New York CIty 
in April!! I can't brag about this being the largest column I ever 
compiled 'coz the whole character of NYC Events is evolved out of the 
single-club list of only six months ago. What happened is a sea change 
in the astronomy world's perspective of New York. Our humongous hamlet 
is flat out THE place to live and play and work as a home astronomer. 
    I include a couple bookfairs as events because so many of my 
readers collect science books, maps, charts, pictures. You know that I 
sure do! These fairs are excellent places to find that long-sought 
item or discover a gem of science you only dreamed of ever seeing. Do 
understand that these are shows for antiquarian pieces; you better 
have a full wallet. 
    Public shows and lectures relating to the 1953 discovery of the 
genetic code in DNA continue into April. I picked a couple of the more 
general ones as background for your interest in extraterrestrial life. 
    Jupiter and Saturn continue to be the highlights of the evening 
sky, with both planets rounding opposition. Informal skywatching 
sprang up here and there among NYSkiers and others to inspect them. In 
March and April Jupiter hovers in front of the Praesepe, or Beehive, 
cluster. Of special interest is the multitude of mutual eclipses and 
occultations among Jupiter's moons. 
    In March 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, with opposition on March 26th. 
    We did have sparkling clear skies in February, with transparencies 
of 4-1/2 magnitude on Manhattan and up to 5-1/2 in the other boros. 
Cassiopeia, Perseus, Auriga were filled with twinkling stars! The 
Rosette cluster stood out plainly! The empty zone surrounding Leo 
burst out with lots of small stars. Samples were spotted in Lynx, Leo 
Minor, Hydra east of Alphard, Cancer, and Ursa Major. 
    The Recent Astronomy Seminar on March 27th hosted Hideo Fujii (two 
'i's), Ama River Publishing. His firm translates Japanese astronomy 
books into other languages to make them better known and appreciated. 
He discussed, with charming viewgraphs, his current title 'Star lore 
of Japan'. Several members bought copies on the spot! 
    A surprise treat came from member Jocelyn Wilkes. She was in 
Iceland in late February and early March and saw her first good 
northern lights. She passed around a pile of pictures taken by a  
friend with her. They were fantabulous!! Among the auroral beams and 
arcs were stars upon stars, illustrating the far north latitude of the 
'Land of ice and fire'. 
    After the Seminar, several of us rushed to Carl Schurz Park with 
small scopes and binoculars to catch some Jupiter moon eclipses.  
    The megaevent continues to be the new Einstein exhibit at the 
American Museum of Natural History, the largest and fullest of any 

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