Equipment and Library check out

To checkout a library item, send an email to Dieter Kurtz and let him know exactly what you wish to checkout. He will then arrange to get the material to you.

Titles	Checked out	Description
(2 DVD set)		NOVA presents some startling new answers in Origins, a groundbreaking four-part NOVA miniseries. New clues from the frontiers of science are presented by dynamic astrophysicist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History. This is a 2 DVD set that was recorded from a television broadcast of this program. For more information see the NOVA Origins Site
(VHS or DVD)		Carl Sagan's original COSMOS television series including the following 12 episodes (2 episodes per DVD): DVD #1 (1. The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean and 2. One Voice in the Cosmic Fugue); DVD #2 (3. The Harmony of Worlds and 4. Heaven and Hell); DVD #3 (5. Blues for a Red Planet and 6. Travelers Tales); DVD #4 (7. The Backbone of the Night and 8. Travels in Space and Time); DVD #5 (9. The Lives of the Stars and 10. The Edge of Forever); DVD #6 (11. For All Mankind and 12. The Dream is Alive).
Understanding the Universe: An Introduction to Astronomy (VHS or DVD)		This course opens up the fascinating world of quasars, comets, black holes, nebulae, and "neutron" stars no bigger than a small city but more massive than the sun. Using hundreds of Hubble Telescope photos and graphics, Professor Alex Filippenko offers an account of our cosmos and its wonders that will interest astronomy buffs and newcomers alike. These are 40 lectures (45 minutes/lecture) on 5 sets of VHS Tapes (or DVD's) taught by Alex Filippenko University of California at Berkeley Ph.D., California Institute of Technology. Each set is a 3 VHS tape set with a study guide, to be checked out individually.
Einstein’s Relativity and the Quantum Revolution: Modern Physics for Non-Scientists, 2nd Edition (VHS or DVD)		Now you can learn the basic ideas behind the theory of relativity and quantum physics from 24 lectures that require no special background in math or science. Professor Richard Wolfson teaches the awe-inspiring—and even, at times, mind-bending—concepts of modern physics in ways that anyone interested in learning can readily master. With scientists perhaps on the verge of unlocking the deepest secrets of the universe and with breaking news of discovery after discovery, an understanding of this fascinating subject has never been so important. These are 24 lectures, 30 minutes/lecture on 2 sets of VHS tapes (or DVD's) taught by Richard Wolfson of Middlebury College. Each set is a 3 VHS tapes (or DVD's) set with a study guide, to be checked out individually. For more information see The Great Courses: Einstein's Relativity and Quantum Revolution Site
The Astronomers (VHS or DVD)		Excellent six part series follows astronomers to all regions of the globe on the search for answers of perplexing mysteries: How did mankind come about, where does the universe come from and where it is going to go, and do we have company among the stars. Subject part titles are: Where is the Rest of the Universe? – Searching for Black Holes – A Window to Creation – Waves of the Future – Stardust - and Prospecting for Planets. Produced by KCET, Los Angeles.
Night Sky Network Presentations recorded to DVD:		Stardust - 3/28/2006 - Dr. Bryan Mendez - 54 min DVD: Presentation on the Stardust mission. Telescopes: Jigsaw Puzzle of the Universe - 1/31/2006 - Dr. Rosendal - 48 min DVD: How to interpret images from telescopes. Spitzer Telescope - 7/26/2005 - Dr. Michelle Thaller - 1 hour DVD: Presentation on the Infrared Universe with the Spitzer Space Telescope. Awesome! MARS Rover - 9/29/2005 - Dr. Steven Squyres - 1 hour DVD: Presentation on the Mars Rovers mission. Dr. Janice Voss, Astronaut - 11/30/2005 - 59 min DVD: Presentation on views from Space.
Stardust Sample Mission - NASA		3/13/2006 - 1 hour DVD: First report on the Stardust mission at NASA.
Moon Atlas - CD		Collection of Moon pictures
		Night Myopia Diagnostic Flippers Two flippers (-0.25/-0.5 and -0.75/-1.00) Use to determine amount of night myopia you might experience by holding each flipper over present glasses or contact lenses at night. Best result occur when your eyes are completely dark adapted. There are four combinations of flippers. Use each combination separately to see which value (-0.25/-0.5/-0.75/-1.00) gives you the best view of the stars. Once you know this, you can discuss this information with your eye doctor to see if a special night prescription set of glasses are right for you.
*The Night Sky Network* Outreach ToolKit *PlanetQuest*		The search continues for planets around distant stars. None of these newly discovered worlds has actually been seen. The PLANETQUEST OUTREACH TOOLKIT contains a MANUAL AND RESOURCES CD, as well as many hands-on demonstrations to help your audience understand what astronomers do to find planets around other stars. The toolkit was provided to our club by the Night Sky Network, of which we are a member. We hope you, and the audiences you reach, enjoy this ToolKit of materials and activities featuring topics on planet-finding provided to you by NASA, the Jet Propulsion Lab, and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. For additional information, browse through the PlanetQuest Web Site.
*The Night Sky Network* Outreach ToolKit *Our Galaxy, Our Universe*		The ToolKit consists of activities and resources that are designed to help your audiences to visualize the basic structure and organization of our Galaxy and the rest of the universe, and the place of our Solar System within it, and to understand the vast distances to the stars, nebulae, and other galaxies viewed through the telescope.
*The Night Sky Network* Outreach ToolKit *Black Hole Survival*		The “Black Hole Survival ToolKit” was named to explain: How we survive in a galaxy full of black holes How to survive an encounter with a black hole How amateur astronomers can survive all the questions they get about black holes! The ToolKit consists of activities and resources that are designed to address gravity in general and black holes in particular as an extreme form of gravity. Designed for use before and during star parties, and appropriate for many other venues, the activities include: PowerPoints & Animations to introduce concepts about black holes to your visitors and to introduce the ToolKit to your club members. Black Hole Explorer is a board game where the players fly a spaceship to orbit a black hole and launch scientific probes to study it. Gravity and the Fabric of Space to discover the basics about gravity using a bucket with stretchy fabric, marbles, and weights. Where are the Black Holes? Uses magnets and star maps to show how scientists find black holes and where they are in the night sky.
*The Night Sky Network* Outreach ToolKit *Telescopes:* *Eyes on the Universe*		This ToolKit consists of activities and resources that are designed to help your audiences to understand how telescopes work. Included are quick, simple demos that can be done at the telescope. Additional activities show how much detail you can expect to see in the telescope, the difference between resolution and magnification, why we don't see any color, where are you looking, how much of the sky one sees in the telescope, why the images are upside down, averted vision, why images through the telescope do not look like the pictures in magazines. In addition, different types of telescopes are discussed.
*The Night Sky Network* Outreach ToolKit *Shadows & Silhouettes*		This ToolKit covers topics on Shadows: The shadow of Earth Phases of the Moon and Venus Solar & Lunar Eclipses. It also covers topics on Silhouettes: Transits of Mercury and Venus Detecting transiting planets around distant stars NASA’s Kepler Mission – NASA’s first mission to detect transits of Earth-size planets in the Habitable Zone of sun-like stars. Summary of activities and resources: PowerPoint “Kepler Mission” introduces NASA’s four year mission to detect transits of planets orbiting in the habitable zone of Sun-like stars. PowerPoint “Sun-like Stars” discusses what kind of stars we can see naked eye and where are stars like our Sun. Animations: Kepler Mission animations, eclipses from different perspectives in space, transits, and light curves of transiting planets. Activity: “Shadows in Space, Phases and Eclipses”: This set of activities provides a variety of methods to explain Moon phases, solar and lunar eclipses, and phases of Venus, including addressing a common question: Why don’t eclipses happen every month? Activity: “Be the Local Transit Authority”: This set of activities addresses transits and various aspects of the Kepler Mission’s objective: To detect transits of Earthsize planets in the habitable zone of Sun-like stars. Activity: “Trip Around the Triangle”: Visitors to a star party use a printed handout to take a walk through the telescopes to view the area of the sky where the Kepler Mission will be monitoring stars, and to view the variety of naked-eye and telescopic treats that occupy this very popular area of the night sky: the Summer Triangle.