Thanks to the people in CS, especially Walter Gasiorek , Darlene Young , Kathy Baron , and Lloydene Eherer , who spent a considerable amount of their holidays in the office, attempting to have it ready for our return January 4. Thanks for all of the time and effort put into high calibre, user-friendly courses offered through Athabasca. You've made MY job much easier. I, for one, would certainly support this as an annual endeavour. They discussed their latest findings and theories about topics as diverse as the structure of the Earth's core, the meanderings of polar glaciers, the wild antics of the sun's atmosphere, and one of Martin's favourite topics these days, noctilucent cloud.
Noctilucent cloud is an unusual phenomenon of the Earth's upper-atmosphere.
They are most often seen at times close to the summer solstice, when they appear against the backdrop of deep evening twilights. Martin and his colleagues are currently seeking volunteer sky-watchers to keep an eye out for these clouds and report their appearances to a central monitoring bureau. There is a 60-strong network of cloud watchers across North America, coordinated by a Canadian amateur astronomer, Mark Zalcik . Prime Minister Jean Chretien recently appointed former AUGC member and AU honourary doctor Lois Hole Alberta's 15th Lieutenant Governor, the Queen's representative. A distinguished Albertan with a lengthy record of public service, Lois succeeds the Honourable Bud Olson who has held the post since April 1996.