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first of the month with a note that they run thru a future month. 
These events operate on every day of the month, during the open hours 
of their host property. Check with the property for exact hours. 
    An other clarification. Some events are within a property, typicly 
a museum, that has an admission fee. The 'free' or '$xx' charge noted 
in NYC Events is that AFTER getting into the host property. Note that 
museums set their own entry procedure, from pay-as-you-want to a 
declared ticket price. 
    Beginning with June, I'm making the calendar section in NYSKies 
website more of a reminder sheet, leaving out the details of the 
events, because NYC Events and that calendar now are essentially 
congruent. More over, many NYSkiers lack web service, but NYC Events
is sent to all NYSkiers by email. 
    The calendar now is a tickler sheet for upcoming events, which you 
then check out in NYC Events. Print the calendar in landscape mode to 
avoid clipping off the far right days. 

Skywatching 
 --------- 
    The fabled Manhattan Stonehenge effect occurs each year around 30 
May and 11 July, with a dayish swing due to atmosphere refraction and 
calendar wander. Altho any town's straight street aligned within the 
Sun's annual amplitude will feature this effect, that on Manhattan 
captures the world's home astronomy awe. After all, you CAN NOT do 
astronomy om Manhattan!! 
    A special concern is the brilliance of the Sun. On a clear day the 
Sun can be so dazzling that it distracts you from circumambulant 
traffic and other street hazards. Please keep alert! 
    A fuller explanation of the Stonehenge effect is in my paper, in 
the NYSkies files section in \pazmino\stone-ny.txt'. 
    Jupiter continue to be the highlights of the evening sky, with 
Saturn gone from us in western twilight. Informal skywatching sprang 
up here and there among NYSkiers and others to inspect Jupiter. In 
June Jupiter slides eastward from the Beehive cluster toward Regulus. 
    For me personally, when Jupiter reaches Regulus, I will have 
fulfilled, gasp!, four Jovian years of my home astronomy career!! The 
first planet I identified in the sky was Jupiter, then near Regulus, 
in spring of 1956. 
    We had spotty luck with the Mercury transit on the 7th of May. 
Most of us in and around the City were clouded out. A few did get 
clear views thru cloud breaks. The newer observers among us were 
amazed just how SMALL Mercury is compared to the Sun!
    The lunar eclipse on Thursday -Friday 15-16 May was substantially 
clouded out thruout the cosmopolitan region of the City. Only glimpses 
of the lunar disc were reported in the pretotality partial phases. Our 
next chance at a total lunar eclipse is 2003 November 8-9. 
    May and June are the newer season in New York for spotting the 
summer Milky Way. May offered no really clear dark nights to try this, 
but we usually can count one one sighting sometime in these months 
each year. The summer Milky Way ascends to the zenith around midnight 
in June, when most of the home and commercial outdoor lighting is 
turned off and you are better dark-adapted. 

Special Events 
 ------------ 
    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. 
    This exhibition had a vague closing date of 5th to 20th of August, 
but on 26 May 2003, the Museum established that it ends on 27 July. 
Main reason is to allow the next stop on the national circuit, the 
Field Museum of Natural History in chicago, Illinois, extra time to 
set it up. The exhibit opens there on October 17th.
    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'. 
    New York hosted the prestigious 8th Wigner Memorial Symposium, for 
campus physicists and grad student. It convened at the City University 
Graduate Center from May 27th to 31st. BYSkies friends Julius Chini 
attended some of the sessions and may report on them at in the June 
Recent Astronomy Seminars.  

New York 
 ------ 
    2003 My 4 marked the demise of the fabled subway token. In use 
since 1953 to accommodate multi-coin fares, the brass charm now is set 
aside in the favor of MetroCard. 30-day MetroCards bought before May 
4 are valid until the EARLIER of their own natural expiry or June 
12th. Unused time on these cards must be redeemed for pro rata refund 
at Transit headquarters. The station agents (formerly token clerks) 
can not handle this chore. 

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