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General news
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    December 2003 and January 2004 were the toughest NYC Events to 
compile! You good folk who feed NYC Events were away on holiday, 
schools where many of your meetings are held were closed for 
intersession. Those events I'm reasonably sure take place in January I 
put at the top of the list with the adviso to check the sponsor's 
website or phone. 
    New York Public Library, serving Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten 
Island, continue to accept book donations. I leave out the item here 
because the project is now a permanent feature of the library. Please 
bring to any library branch your unneeded astronomy and other books. 
    On December 22 the New York Chapter of National Space Society 
opened its new website at www.nsschpaters.org/ny/nyc. 
    I welcome three newcomers to NYC Events, Brookhaven National 
Laboratory, the observatory at East Stroudsburg University, and Lehigh 
Valley Amateur Astronomical Society. The first has many public 
lectures during the month, but most are REALLY advanced and technical. 
The Lab noted that a few talks are more on the popular level so I 
include one of those here. 
    Brookhaven is a federal atomic facility now encumbered with World 
Trade Center concerns. Be SURE to bring your government-issued photo 
ID with you to enter the lab's campus. Typicly this is a driver's 
licence, nondriver ID card, or passport. A federal, state, or local 
government employee ID is also valid. Privately issued IDs, like from 
schools, businesses, clubs are not accepted. 
    The East Stroudsburg observatory seems to be a new facility with a 
30cm Schmidt-Cassegrain scope, CCDgraphy, and computer controls. Dates 
and hours are still in preparation at end December, so check with the 
website or phone. The dates will also be advertised in the town's 
local newspaper. 
    The Lehigh Valley club is a old established outfit, first seen by 
me for its national convention of the Astronomical League in 1976. It 
has its own edifice and observatory as headquarters on South Mountain, 
Allentown PA. Its website has a map and driving instructions. 

Skywatching
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    December featured a mixed viewing of the delta Scorpii occultation 
on the 21st. This occurred along the southern graze line, which cut 
across the south parts of the City from northwest to southeast. At 
about 06:15 EST on that winter morning, in waxing dawn, the star 
skimmed the south horn of the thin crescent Moon. 
    Viewings were of mixed success, from wonderful to awful. Thin 
cloud, air turbulance, skyline interference, automobile breakdown, 
missed train connection, and wind upset the plans of some NYSkiers. 
Others got a pleasing show, ranging from a short full occultation 
north of the graze limit to a close miss south of it. A few of us saw 
a good graze, where the star flitted among the mountains on the lunar 
limb. 
    Occultation expert Dr David Dunham and his team scored a fetching 
view of the graze from Averne QN. Is he ecstatic from the occultation 
or from his foray into New York and living to tell about it? 
    Venus is getting above the City skyline in early dusk. Many of us 
are starting to hear inquiries about that brilliant thingie following 
the Sun in twilight. For some of us, this apparition of Venus, the 
climax of her 8-year cycle around the heavens, marks the home stretch 
for trips in June of 2004 to witness her crossing over the SUn's disc. 
    Bear in mind that no living soul experienced such a transit of 
Venus; there was none in all of the 20th century! Already I hear of 
NYSkiers booking trips to Europe for the event, either on special 
transit [of Venus] excursions, or regular vacation trips. 
    Thru most of December we watched Ceres in northern Gemini, gliding 
past Pollux. Nominally a binocular target, it was just far easier to 
follow with small scopes. 
    To ring in the new year, several NYSkiers and a couple other 
astronomers gathered near Turtle Pond in Central Park. We had 
binoculars, computer-generated starcharts, small scopes, and one large 
computer-video scope. The group included Alice Barner, Antoinette 
Booth, Ben Cacace, Mary Carlson, Tony Hoffman, Lincoln, John Pazmino, 
and Charlie Ridgway.  
    Under clear skies we examined Ceres, Double Cluster, Jupiter, 
Orion Nebula, Andromeda Galaxy, Moon, Saturn, Beehive Cluster, and 
other targets. Just after Saturn hit the meridian, New Year's Eve 
being the night of its opposition, the first of the fireworks at Times 
Square detonated. The pyrotechnics capped off the starviewing, after 
which we repaired to Barner's pad for chili, pea soup, hot chocolate. 

Special Events
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    December opened with a special show by JPL called Marsapalooza. It 
played at the Hayden Planetarium on Tuesday 2 December to school 
classes and invited astronomy and space representatives. I was honored 
to show the flag for NYSkies. The show was aimed at the kids, yet was 
mature enough to keep the attention of grownups, teachers and 
chaperones.
    The students staged an egg-drop contest and a photoelectric car 
race, then heard a team of six JPL scientists explain the Mars 
Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. 

 Continued in next message.

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