Page 62 - Sonoma County Gazette April 2019
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Apr 23 ~ Praxis Peace Institute presents a Special Earth Day event with Michael Brune, Executive Director of the national Sierra Club. Michael began his environmental work as an organizer for Greenpeace and later served as the Executive Director of Rainforest Action Network (RAN) for seven years. His critically-acclaimed book, Coming Clean: Breaking America’s Addiction to Oil and Coal (2010), details a plan for a new green economy that will create well-paying jobs, promote environmental justice, and bolster national security. $20. 7:30p. Vintage House, 264 First St. East, Sonoma
A Guide to the Night Sky
April 2019
    Apr 14 ~ SHE RISES - Second Sundays of each month from 6-7:30p. We meet in circle format with the intention to empower, support, network, educate and strengthen each other. Marshall House behind the Russian River Senior Center, 15010 Armstrong Woods Rd Guerneville.
Apr 15 ~ Regional Parks Public Meetings - Please visit our website for the current agenda and to submit agenda items for consideration. 5 - 7p, Sonoma County Regional Parks, 2300 County Center Drive, Suite A212 (upstairs), Sanat Rosa, 707-565-2041, sonomacounty.ca.gov/Parks-Advisory-Commission/Calendar/ Meeting-2019-02-25/
Apr 18 ~ Lower Russian River Municipal Advisory Council Meeting. Agenda and location will be published on the website and posted at the meeting site at least 72 hours before the meeting date. INFO: http://sonomacounty.ca.gov/ Lower-Russian-River-Municipal-Advisory-Council/ and Amie Windsor at amie. windsor@sonoma-county.org. 707-565-2866
May 15 ~ Sonoma County Coast MAC Meetings at 5 p.m. Fort Ross Elementary School, 30600 Seaview Rd, Cazadero. Visit MAC website for agendas, at sonomacounty.ca.gov/sccmac. Learn more about the Coast MAC by visiting the Coast MAC homepage or by emailing Amie Windsor at amie.windsor@sonoma- county.org.
3rd Fridays - Chamber Perks - Coffee with Ambassadors - One-on-one conversations about maximizing your Santa Rosa membership with local business community members. Third Friday of the month and is open to members and prospective members. Brew, 555 Healdsburg Ave., Santa Rosa, 707-545-1414, Kim Williams
Sonoma County Commission on the Status of Women Meeting - Learn about CSW activities, and aboutLa Luz Center as a resource for disadvantaged families. Free, 6p - 8p, 17560 Greger Street, Sonoma, sococsw.org, sococsw@sonoma-county.org
62 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 4/19
Life is short, the night sky is majestic! Take the time to pause and look up—it’s literally OTHER WORLDLY! See you in May!
By Tre Gibbs, L.A.A.S.
Spring is in full swing! The days are noticeably long and growing longer,
and the nights keep getting shorter as Earth heads towards June’s Summer Solstice. Last month we experienced the Vernal (or Spring) Equinox, signaling equal amounts of day and night in both the Northern and Southern
Hemisphere. Now that we are a month beyond d
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  celestial event, it has become clear that the am
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As Earth both orbits our nearest star, The Sun, and rotates on its axis, at night time (weather permitting) we are treated to a full view of our solar system each night as well as a plethora of stars in our galaxy, The Milky Way. Since every planet (including ours) travels at different distances and speeds in their respective orbits around The Sun, we only are able to view the planets at inconsistent and sporadic—yet predictable—increments of time. For example, last Spring and Summer we were able to view Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars in our early evening skies. Now, almost one year later, we still have Mars barely visible, low in the western sky but the others are visible in our south eastern pre-dawn skies.
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 of daylight has grown and, conversely, the amount of night has diminished. Enjoy it— after June 21st, the days begin to get shorter again...
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This month’s Full Moon is known as The Full Pink Moon. Indigenous people labeled this moon as such due to its proximity to
the arrival of the first Spring flowers. Since the moon is in continuous motion around the
E E a a r r t t h h , , i i t t ’ ’s s o o n n l l y y t t e e c c h h n n i i c c a a l l l l y y f f u u l l l l f f o o r r a a m m o o m m e e n n t t a
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 4:12 am on April 19th, but as per usual, the mo o
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 also appears full the day before and the day af
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 Hey—the planets are up there also!
  Apr 6 - Jan 4 ~ Sacred Space ~ An intimate meditative service with guitar music. Free, 6-7p, Presbyterian Church of the Roses, 2500 Patio Ct., Santa Rosa, churchoftheroses.org
Apr 6 ~ NBIAA Holi Celebrations ~ NBIAA will provide non-toxic and biodegradable colors. Food for purchase. $8 Age 6 and above, 5 and under Free, 11:30a-3p, Rohnert Park Community Center, 5401 Snyder Ln, Rohnert Park, 707- 634-4633, northbayindia.org, nbiaaindia@gmail.com
Apr 19 ~ Community Passover Seder ~ Interactive, gourmet Passover Seder! $36 Adult, $18/Child, 7:30-9:30p, Petaluma Woman’s Club, 518 B Street, Petaluma, 707-559-8585, Rabbi Dovid Bush, JewishPetaluma.com, rabbi@jewishpetaluma. com
Apr 19 ~ Russian River Jewish Community Annual Seder ~ Call 707 632 5545 for reservations, (important!). Donation $12 members / $18 Guests, 5p, Monte Rio Community Center, 20488 Hwy 116, Monte Rio
-Concerned about helping immigrants, refugees, and Dreamers? FREE videos and other resources are available. Don’t know where to begin? Trinity Church Wall Street offers these, including talks by religious and secular community leaders, useful background information, and links to a variety of organizations who are already involved in this important work. FREE, trinitywallstreet.org/ social-justice/undocumented
Ongoing ~ Undocumented: A Free Resource for Your Faith Community
On the morning of April 1st, the moon pairs up with the brilliant planet Venus—but both will be so low on the eastern horizon that they will be incredibly difficult to spot. The good news is that Venus is low on the eastern horizon because it’s heading towards The Sun, which means it’s only a matter of months until it appears in our western skies after sunset again. On the early evening of April 8th, the moon has made its way around Earth and appears low in our western skies after sunset and pairs with Mars, but yet again, Mars is so low and faint—as is the new, young crescent moon, that both will be difficult to spot. So—that leaves us Jupiter and Saturn...
During the early morning hours of April 23rd, Jupiter will rise around
1:00 am with the moon. The interesting thing is, the moon will be so close to Jupiter, it will actually appear to partially obscure it as the night progresses. By 5:30 am, look for Jupiter in the south with a gibbous moon above it—but
so close to Jupiter, they both seem to be touching as daybreak overtakes the Roman King of the Gods. Two days later, on April 25th, look for the moon rising with Saturn, The Roman God of Agriculture, in the east around 4:00 am. Saturn is a big planet, but because it’s so far away, it appears only as regular, non-twinkling “star”. By 5:00 - 5:30 am both are heading to the south, getting
a little higher in the sky with the moon appearing to get so close that it almost obscures the quintessential ringed gas giant. By 5:45 am, there will be enough light in the morning sky that Saturn will quickly fade from view, while the moon will visually continue its path across the morning sky.































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