If you'd like to see photos of Herb, and the two Ricks at the Gayle Planetarium, follow the link from the Astronomy Day '99 page to the planetarium's Web page . It's now located in gondola 24. Considering that the Astronomy section started out as a double gondola and has atrophied to two shelves of one gondola, I hope the next move isn't around the corner and down the toilet. Alas, this is no conspiracy on the part of the bookstore, but a testament to the lack of sales of the genre. The exibition will run through through October 17.
Admission is free.
Borealis We have been informed by our observers that R Coronae Borealis, the prototype of the R CrB stars, is fading. The last fading of this star occurred in August 1998 - March 1999, during which R CrB faded to visual magnitude 8.4, brightened to magnitude 7.2, faded once again to magnitude 9.6, and then recovered. Fadings of R CrB are unpredictable both in duration and in the magnitude to which the star may fade. Nearly full moon hanging around in the southern sky. While there were some hazy clouds to the west, the sky was mostly clear.