Astronomy Cafe – March 20, 2023

Posted by as Astro Cafe

Video transcript of the meeting

  • Vernal Equinox Today – Jeff Pivnick
    • Caused by axial tilt of the Earth
    • Celestial Equator intersects with the Ecliptic
    • Babylonians picked 12 constellations 3,000 years ago, but Ptolemy named them later
    • Declination and Right Ascension coordinates are referenced to the equinox
  • Astronomy Day – Lauri Roche
    • Sunday, April 30th 11AM – 4PM at Bob Wright building lobby at UVic
    • Free parking on outside of the Ring Road in Lot 1
    • Setup is Saturday afternoon
    • Leads
      • UVic Site Manager – Sam Fielder
      • Technical Support – David Lee
      • Welcome Table – Marjie Welchframe
      • Telescope Show & Tell – Bill Weir
      • Children’s Astro Crafts – Rachel & Ryan Holmes
      • Astrophotography – Brock Johnston & Dan Posey
      • Responsible Lighting – Dave Robinson
      • Planetarium – need a lead to used Starry Night on TV
      • Solar Observing outside – Alex Schmid, Sid Sidhu
      • Ask An Astronomer –  need a lead and 3 or 4 astronomers (UVic students?)
      • Speakers – Lauri Roche
        • 3 speakers signed up, 3 to go
        • 20-minute talks
    • FDAO, NRC, Science Venture, Camosun College, Mt. Doug High, Vic High & Oak Bay High
    • Tour of the Bob Wright telescope
    • Need volunteers – 2-3 shifts is ideal – contact Lauri Roche roche.lauri@gmail.com
    • Saturday, April 29th 7-11PM Star Party on Observatory Hill
  • Open House – Centre of the Universe – March 25 – Lauri Roche
  • Victoria Centre Observatory – Randy Enkin
    • Will open to members once the road is open
  • Standing Where Ansel Adams Stood – Randy Enkin
    • Moon and Half Dome – Dec 28, 1960
    • When the Light, Shadow and Stars Aligned: Standing Where Ansel Adams Stood – Kim Beil, NY Times
    • Ansel Adams joined Sierra Club Outings
    • Kim Beil found the exact spot where Ansel Adams took his famous Moon and Half Dome photo, and determined four possible dates based on the star field and Moon
    • 6:47AM on Aug 6, 1936 – date/time of famous photo
  • Meetings
    • Social Dinner – March 27th – contact Randy to attend at Moon Under Water Pub on Bay St.
    • Council Meeting – March 28th – 7:30PM
      • Open to all members
      • Budget for coming year – we have funds to spend!
  • Vancouver Island Regional Science Fair – Dorothy Paul
    • April 16th
    • 100 projects, 150 students
    • Need some specialty judges from RASC – about 2 hours
  • Astrophotos from members
    • Moonrise from Clover Point – Randy Enkin
    • Jones-Emberson 1 Bubble planetary nebula – Brock Johnston
  • 2023 RASC General Assembly – May 5th – May 7th, 2023
    • No business meeting, just fun meeting and interacting with everyone – Bill Weir
    • Speakers list almost complete – Lauri Roche
    • $35 admission for members to participate for three days
  • Vic High Astronomy Deck – Clayton
    • Mitigate the light pollution at the site – discussion of strategy
    • New 12″ Skywatcher funded by a generous donation
    • City of Victoria will install shields on the streetlights

There will not be an Astro Café next week in order for the RASC Victoria Centre Social Dinner to take place. Please RSVP to Randy president@victoria.rasc.ca by March 19 if you would like to attend.

Next Astronomy Cafe in 2 weeks – April 3

Astronomy Cafe – March 6, 2023

Posted by as Astro Cafe

Video transcript of meeting

  • Randy Enkin (video recording)
    • Venus-Jupiter Conjunction
      • Some great photo taken of the conjunction both by members and others
      • Venus can be up to 47º away from the Sun
      • Venus-Jupiter Conjunctions 1990-2060
      • March 1st conjunction – Venus-Jupiter had 0.5º separation
    • Victoria Centre’s Annual General Meeting – March 13th (virtual)
      • Need 25 members for a quorum
      • Links to Zoom sent to members along with supporting documents
      • Social dinner at the Moon Under Water Pub to be held on March 27th
  • The Hunt for the Culprit  – Part 2 – Reg Dunkley
    • Jan 9th – Part 1 was presented
    • Iron 60 and Supernovae relationship
    • Are Supernovae responsible for climate change on Earth?
    • Star formation near the Sun is driven by expansion of the Local Bubble by Catherine Zucker, et. al. – Jan 2022
    • Caroline and William Herschel
    • GAIA – astronomical big science, inspired an astronomical gold rush
      • ESA video on GAIA
      • 3D map of the Milky Way
      • Photometric instrument
      • Measures: Brightness, positions, proper motions, radial velocities, spectra
      • 11 years of data, 150 complete surveys of the sky
      • How this data is being used – a review
    • Interstellar Extinction
    • H-R Diagram: Colour Index vs Magnitude
    • 3D Mapping of Interstellar Dust
    • The Local Bubble – dust map
    • Traceback of Star Cluster
    • Idealized Model for Local Bubble Evolution – Stellar and Solar Orbits animation
    • Location of the Culprit
    • Summary of Zucker et al findings
    • A Golden Opportunity!
      • Data freely available along with analysis routines
      • Do some citizen science?
    • Radcliffe Wave by Brian Ventrudo
  • Special Interest Groups – David Lee
    • Beginners SIG – tomorrow evening
    • Citizen Science SIG – Thursday evening – sign up with David Lee
  • Photos & Observations by members
    • Venus-Jupiter conjunction from Hawai’i – photo of closest approach (0.5º) by Dave Payne
    • Jones-Eberson Bubble planetary nebula – photo by Brock Johnston
      • Jones 1 in Pegasus – next object to try for – Bill Weir
    • Explore the Universe observing program – Marjie Welchframe
    • Moon-Jupiter-Venus conjunction on Feb 23 – iPhone photo taken from the city by Doug Hardy
    • Photos – Ken McGill
    • Moon-Jupiter-Venus conjunction on Feb 23 – Marjie Welchframe
  • Reports – Lauri Roche
    • Centre of the Universe Open House on March 25-26
    • RASC Online General Assembly (no AGM)
      • Virtual tours of DDO and DAO (7-8pm on Fri)
      • Poster sessions – April 1st call for papers
    • RASC National AGM – June 25th (virtual)

Astronomy Cafe – Feb 13, 2023

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Video transcript of meeting

A Special General Meeting (SGM) was held before Astronomy Cafe commenced. After the SGM concluded, members heard a guest speaker and reports.

A Brief History of Galaxies: from the discovery of island universes to a clash of the Titans – Dr. Sara Ellison, UVic Astronomy professor

  • Our own Milky Way and other galaxies showing light and dust features
  • Deep field taken by JWST
    • FOV: a grain of sand held at arm’s length
    • thousands of galaxies in the image
  • History
    • Charles Messier – a 17th century comet hunter who listed 110 objects that are notcomets
    • Lord Ross used the 1.8m Leviathan telescope to sketch spiral galaxies
    • Shapely-Curtis debate in 1920 about the nature of nebulae
    • The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars: Sobel, Dava: 9780143111344: Books – Amazon.ca
    • Henrietta Leavitt discovered the Type 1 Cepheid Variables, correlation between the brightness and variations in the luminosity
    • Leavitt’s discovery used by Edwin Hubble, who in 1923 settled the Shapely-Curtis debate. The Hubble Law related distance to velocity (red shift), the start of cosmology as we now know it.
    • Hubble Tuning Fork classifications of galaxies
    • Halton Arp studied Peculiar Galaxies – guide: arpgalaxy.com
  • Early modelling of interacting galaxies
  • Video – current modelling of interacting galaxies
  • Toomre Sequence – showing different morphologies
  • Galaxies cluster in groups, which is how they grow mass
  • Stellar streams in the Triangulum Galaxy – research at Herzberg
  • Tidal streams in the Milky Way are remnants of small galaxies that have interacted in the past
  • How a galaxy merger transforms it – simulations predict:
    • Isolated disk
    • Small group
    • Gas funnels to the galaxy centre
    • Black hole accretion
    • Decay
    • Dead Elliptical
  • Sara’s research – Sara Ellison – University of Victoria
  • Q&A

Announcements

  • Council meeting coming up – Tue 28th – AGM planning
  • Awards Nominations and nominees for Council – contact Reg Dunkley pastpres@victoria.rasc.ca
  • AGM will be held online, tentatively on March 13th
  • Social dinner will also be held later – awards
  • SIGs

No Astro Cafe next week. Next Astro Cafe will be held on Feb 27th

Astronomy Cafe – Feb 6, 2023

Posted by as Astro Cafe

Video transcript of meeting

  • Silent Sky at Langham Court Theatre – performances Jan 25 to Feb 11
    • Positive comments from RASC members who attended performances, especially Sara Ellison’s presentation at the end of the Sunday afternoon performance.
    • Full bus from Berwick House attended the Sunday afternoon performance
    • Lots of seats are available for Wed, Thu & Fri upcoming performances
    • History of the production by Jim Hesser
  • Welcome from Jeff Pivnick
  • Beginners’ SIG – tomorrow evening – David Lee
  • Special General Meeting – Feb 13, 2023 – Randy Enkin
    • Need to adopt new bylaws for Victoria Centre
    • Presentation: A Brief History of Galaxies… – Sara Ellison
  • Black Holes
    • How can a black hole conserve angular momentum? – Randy Enkin
      • Conservation of angular momentum examples
        • Solar system
        • Earth-Moon system
      • Black Holes – 1915 Albert Einstein, 1916 Karl Schwarzchild (point singularity), 1963 Roy Kerr (ringularity)
    • What really happens at the black hole singularity? – John McDonald
      • Black Holes can be explained somewhat by Gravity (very large things) and Quantum Theory (very small things)
      • What happens to information that falls into a Black hole? We don’t know.
      • Black Holes are not likely a singularity, so it’s unknown what form they actually take
      • Entropy – measure of the disorder of things
  • Uranus – Jeff Pivnick
    • Relative distances of planets in solar system
    • Distance from the Sun to Saturn is about the same as the distance from Saturn to Uranus
    • Photos of Uranus taken by John McDonald and Lucky Budd – Zenfolio | RASC Victoria Centre | Search
    • William Herschel, an astronomer, reflecting telescope maker, musician and composer
      • Discovered Uranus on March 13, 1781
      • Discovered infrared light
      • Caroline Herschel – first professional astronomer (paid by the king)
      • NGC list was first compiled by the Herschels
  • Horizons – Dorothy Paul
    • Observed from the White Mountains of California in October 2022
    • Camped for 10 days with 7 days of good observing skies
    • SQM at least 21.8, with good transparency and stability
    • Dorothy and Miles observed the southern sky from 38.5º north, observing the Grus constellation at -50º altitude!
    • Observed stars right down to the True Horizon at -51.5º
    • Discussion of the term Astronomical Horizon
  • Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) photos – Dave Payne
    • Globular Cluster discovered by Caroline Herschel
    • Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) on Jan 28th
    • Diatomic carbon causes the green colour in many comets, including this one
  • RASC Victoria AGM tentatively to be held on March 13, predicated on the new bylaws being passed.

Astronomy Cafe – Jan 16, 2023

Posted by as Astro Cafe

Video transcript of meeting

Dr. Laurie Rousseau-Nepton is an astronomer in residence at the Canada France Hawaii Telescope (CFHT). She received her PhD from Université Laval and is the principal investigator for the SIGNALS project. This is a large survey program aiming at observing over 50,000 resolved star-forming regions in nearby galaxies.

  • Resident astronomer at CFHT for the last 6 years
    • Started at Mont Megantic with SpIOMM instrument – spectral imager
  • SITELLE – Spectral imager
    • Started building the instrument in 2010
    • Acquires both spectra and an image of each object
    • 2017 – Instrument shipped to Hawai’i
  • Canada-France-Hawaii telescope
    • Some issues with weather (snow, clouds), earthquakes (volcanoes), but lots of clear and stable nights
    • Timelapse of telescope operation
  • Science
    • Big Bang
    • First stars formed
    • New elements
    • First galaxies formed
    • Stellar clusters form into stars
    • Stellar Initial Mass Function – stable through the whole Universe?
    • OB massive stars in H2 regions – Laurie’s study area
  • SITELLE – how it works
    • Michelson Interferometer – emission lines
    • Data cube has both imagery and spectra
  • SIGNALS – Star formation, Ionized Gas, and Nebular Abundances Legacy Survey
    • Large, multinational group of researchers
    • Star Formation Rate & Efficiency
    • Stellar Initial Mass Function
    • 9 fields to cover M33
    • More than 30,000 HII regions currently in the survey
    • Supernova remnants as well
  • U of T – new job at a development lab
    • Building a new generation of SITELLE
    • Imaging spectrograph at much higher resolution
    • The resulting instrument needs a large aperture telescope
  • Q&A
    • A dynamical Model – stellar winds affect dense molecular clouds – clumping and finger structures
    • Each pixel of data has their own interferogram
    • Initial Mass Function – huge amount of data
    • Changing instruments and telescope time at CFHT – ranking of proposals – technical and science
    • Mauna Kea Spectra Explorer – an upgrade to CFHT
      • Bigger aperture instrument
      • Using 20,000 optical fibres are part of the plan
    • Culture of astronomy – accommodating diversity and promote inclusivity
      • Mauna Kea is a sacred site
      • Include local aboriginal teachings in presentations at local astronomy groups
      • Learn some of the language used by first nations when they talk about the night sky
    • Is SITELLE technology used elsewhere?
      • Straight IR is being used in other instruments
      • The “perfect” beam splitter used by SITELLE is unique
      • Software to analyze the SITELLE data is unique
      • Size of the SITELLE detector and data throughput is also unique
    • DAO work being used by CFHT?
      • Spectroscopy innovations and staff
      • Adaptive optics systems
    • How did you get involved in astronomical research?
      • Asked a lot of questions about astronomy as a child
      • Enjoyed physics at the university

Silent Sky  at Langham Court Theatre – performances Jan 25 to Feb 11

  • Story of Henrietta Leavitt and her astronomical research done a century ago
  • Jim Hesser is the scientific advisor
  • Members of RASC urged to enjoy this performance
  • Special presentation by Sara Ellison at the Feb 5th afternoon performance

Observing Notes – Randy Enkin

  • Observers Handbook – Conjunction of Venus & Jupiter – Jan 21/22 – half a degree from Saturn just after sunset. In fact, the conjunction should be visible before sunset.
  • Sat 28th at 8PM – Uranus being occulted by the Moon
  • Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF – observable in the early morning hours – Sky At Night

Makers SIG – meeting online this Thursday – David Lee

RASC Publications for sale – contact Lauri Roche by email

  • 2023 Night Sky Almanac – good for planning your observing
  • Explore the Moon $10
  • Explore the Universe $10
  • 2023 RASC Observers Calendar – 2 left at $15 each

Observatory Hill road update – Lauri Roche

  • Probably another couple of months before the road is open to the public

Astronomy Cafe – Jan 9, 2023

Posted by as Astro Cafe

Meeting transcript video

  • Intro – Randy Enkin
    • We still don’t have approval to hold monthly meetings at UVic, so speakers will continue to present at Astronomy Cafe
  • Learning Astrophotography – Reg Dunkley
    • Dec 6th Astro Cafe presentation by Ron Fisher on his adventures learning astrophotography – thanks Ron!
    • Victoria Centre Observatory can help members to start taking astrophotos using our centre’s gear once the VCO reopens – soon now. Bring your own dSLR to use on our Takahashi refractor, or use our 61 mpix mono astro camera on our OGS Ritchey–Chrétien telescope.
  • Far Side Amateur Astronomers Observing a Supernova – Reg Dunkley
  • Laurie Rousseau-Nepton from CFHT is the speaker for next week’s Astro Cafe – Dave Payne
    • Hydrogen star-forming regions
    • Observing with the SITELLE sensor on CFHT
  • RASC Edmonton Astrophotos – Dave Robinson
    • WR134 Wolf-Rayette star and region – Abdur Anwar
  • Sunrise, Sunset and the Path of the Sun – Randy Enkin
    • Why does the shortest day not happen at Winter Solstice? – question posed by Marjie Welchframe
    • Obliquity – plus or minus 8 mins variability for a “day” – tilt of the ecliptic to the equator
    • Eccentricity – Kepler’s Second Law – causes variation between civil time and solar time
    • Sun compass – uses local solar tip and longitude, corrected for DST
  • SIGs – David Lee
    • Beginners Group – back to basics
    • Electronically-assisted Astronomy – winding down
    • Citizen Science – starting up
    • Astrophotography – had a meeting in Dec, and will report to Astro Cafe in a couple of weeks
    • Makers – David building an “environment box”
  • President’s Announcements – Randy Enkin
    • Soliciting feedback from members on the new proposed bylaws by Jan 15th – send to Secretary and President.
    • Special meeting to adopt the new bylaws
    • Hold AGM under (hopefully) new bylaws
    • Members should consider standing for election to an officer’s position – contact Reg Dunkley, Nominations – email
  • Handbooks for Explore the Universe and Explore the Moon are available at $10 each. Also some 2023 RASC Observers calendars are still available at $15 each. Contact Lauri Roche by email
  • Observing Opportunities

Astronomy Cafe – Dec 5, 2022

Posted by as Astro Cafe

Video transcript of meeting

  • Beginning in Astrophotography – Ron Fisher
    • 2018 Dobsonian telescope for Christmas
    • Joined the Astrophotography SIG when it started up during the pandemic
    • Climbed the “learning curve”
    • Acquired an EQ6 mount, mounted 300mm telephoto lens and a dSLR
    • Learned PixInsight
    • Andromeda (1st photo), Orion Nebula (2nd photo)
    • New gear acquired in April 2022
      • Askar 500mm 90mm apo refractor
      • 50mm Guidemaster scope & guide camer
      • ASI Air Pro powers and controls all the gear
    • M81, M82
    • Pelican Nebula
    • PixInsight used for processing
    • With a focal reducer
      • North American Nebula
      • Elephant Trunk Nebula
      • Soul Nebula
    • Heart and Soul Nebula
    • Ron’s astrophoto gallery
  • Astronomical Holiday Gifts – Randy Enkin
    • Starting in astronomy – David Lee
      • Stars and Planets – Smithsonian handbook
      • RASC Almanac
      • Deep Sky Wonders – Sue French – good for beginners with small scopes or binoculars
      • Binocular Highlights – Garry Seronik
    • History of Hubble – Chris Gainor has a few copies at his house ($25)
    • For sale – used from Randy Enkin’s bookshelf
      • Apollo Murders – Chris Hadfield
      • Silent Spring – Rachael Carson
      • Planets – Dava Sobel
      • The Day the World Discovered the Sun – transects of Venus in the 18th century
  • Edmonton Centre– Alistair Ling
    • Finally staging hybrid meetings – Planetarium at Telus World
    • What’s up in the sky – based on Edmonton’s sky
    • The hybrid meetings have only attracted limited members to attend in-person
    • Observatory at Black Nugget Lake – installing a 32″ telescope – unofficial first light by this summer
      • Visual telescope – looking forward to observing the celestial splendors
      • Designed to be an imaging scope, if needed in future
      • Public access is planned
    • Weekly public outreach at The Science Centre
    • Helping people use their telescopes – by Alistair
    • Have a full slate of officers
  • Occultation of Mars – Randy Enkin
  • Mars photo from yesterday evening – Brock Johnston
  • Observing techniques – discussion
  • SIGs – David Lee email
    • Beginners tomorrow night – magnitude basics
    • Electronically-assisted Astronomy on Thursday, then on request only
    • Citizen Science SIG – coming up in January
    • Aaron Bannister request: astrophotography for school kids
      • Capture brighter objects when weather permits
      • Processing data sets
      • Astrophotographers?
  • Last Astro Cafes for 2022 – Dec 12th, 19th
  • First Astro Cafe of the New Year – Jan 9, 2023 starting at 7:00PM instead of 7:30PM
  • Sunshine Coast Centre – Peter Broughton presentation on J.S. Plaskett – Dec 9 Friday 7PM – Victoria Centre members welcome
  • Winter Solstice Star Party – Dec 17th – Nathan is presenting
  • Status of national Observers Calendars – haven’t arrived yet
  • Artemis I update – Chris Gainor
    • Close pass to the Moon this morning
    • On its way home – Dec 11th arrival
    • Crescent Earthrise photo
  • Watching the final Apollo launch to the Moon – flashback tomorrow night – Chris Gainor
  • David Bennett memories from members – next week

Astronomy Cafe – Nov 28, 2022

Posted by as Astro Cafe

Video transcript of the meeting

  • Astronomy Day – Jeff Pivnick
    • Giveaways needed – contact Jeff
      • Old Observers’ Handbook
      • Past issues of magazines like Skynews
      • Astronomy books no longer needed
  • Victoria Centre AGM 2023 – Randy Enkin
    • Decouple the social event and the business meeting
  • How do members use the Observers Handbook? – Randy Enkin
    • Read articles, but don’t use as a guide book
    • Definitions are useful
    • Source of authoritative information about astronomy
    • Lists of eclipses, celestial objects
    • Sky phenomena
    • Tides
    • Professional astronomers use it as reference
    • Chris Purse and James Edgar have given tours of the Observers Handbook. James’ 6 presentations are available on RASC National’s Youtube.
  • 2023 RASC Observers calendars – should arrive within a week for those who ordered – Lauri Roche
  • SIGs – David Lee
    • Members have shown interest in the new Citizen Science SIG – announcement pending
    • Electronically-Assisted Astronomy SIG this Thursday
    • Beginners SIG next week
  • Astronomy Cafe venue – Randy Enkin
    • Custodians want to clean our meeting room and leave by 9:00PM
    • Proposing to start Astro Cafe at 7:00PM
    • Possibly give up on in-person Astro Cafe?
    • What about monthly meetings at UVic resuming? Parking is now $4 for the evening, and no word from UVic about restarting room rentals.
  • Artemis Mission – Chris Gainor
    • Photo of Artemis’ Orion, the Moon, Earth – Flickr
    • Dec 1 – next burn
    • James Webb mission blogs
    • L2 outside the Moon gives Orion a low-energy position – Distant Retrograde Orbit
    • Mass concentrations on the Moon affect the orbit of the rockets
    • Nov 23 – Orion lost contact with Earth for 47 minutes – unexplained, to be investigated
    • Discussion about launching processes
  • Using Stellarium – Dennis F
    • Impressed with the tutorials produced by National
  • NRC Open House for RASC members?
    • Would be great to have a tour of the new optical building
    • Lauri to coordinate when the road reopens
  • FDAO Star Parties – Lauri Roche
    • Dec 26 – online only for last Saturday’s Star Party
      • Presentation: CASTOR new space telescope (ultraviolet, wide-field) – Dr. Tyrone Woods, project lead
      • Would make a good presentation for RASC Victoria members
    • Dec 17 – virtual Star Party celebrating the solstice – Nathan is the speaker

Astronomy Cafe – Nov 21, 2022

Posted by as Astro Cafe

Video transcript of meeting

  • Lunar background information – Jeff Pivnick
    • NASA Science web – source of presentation
    • Lunar origin – giant impact is most-favoured hypothesis
    • Lunar orbit is locked to the Earth
    • Composition of the surface & core
      • 2 kinds of rock – black magma, white Vesicular basalt
      • Regolith makes up the surface dust
    • Exploration
      • Apollo 11 through 17
      • Artemis
  • Artemis I Lunar Mission – Chris Gainor
    • Artemis I is an un-crewed mission to test the Orion spacecraft and launch vehicle rocket systems
    • Dec 11th – scheduled splashdown
    • 10 tiny satellites part of the mission
    • In-flight photos
    • Cabin takes 4 people on future missions
    • Photos of the Moon and setting Earth (behind the Moon)
    • As close as 81 miles to the Moon’s surface
    • Human Space Programs
      • Apollo (1968-1972), space shuttle (1981-2011, ISS (1998-present)
      • Human missions are very expensive
      • Constellation Program – 2004-2010 – parts of this program are in Artemis
      • Exploration test flights in 2009, 2014
      • Space Launch System – SLS variants of launch rockets
      • Orion Exploration Vehicle
        • Crew of 4
        • Crew Module (NASA contractors)
        • Service Module (ESA)
    • Cost of Artemis I mission is $4 billion
    • Phase 1 – get back to the Moon
    • Phase 2 – go on to Mars ~20 years
    • Artemis II
      • 4 astronauts on board
      • Loop around the Moon and return
      • No lunar orbit or landing
      • 1 of 4 Canadian astronauts will go on the mission
      • May 2024 probable launch
    • Artemis III
      • Landing on the Moon
      • As early as 2025
      • SpaceX Starship will be used as a lunar lander
      • SpaceX Starship may fly to the Moon earlier and independent from Artemis!
    • Lunar Gateway – Canadarm in lunar orbit
    • Space Shuttle engines are being reused for the Artemis missions
  • Minor details about Artemis I – Randy Enkin
    • Photo of the mission launch showing  Moon, rocket, meteorite for Enkin’s Daily Moon on Facebook
    • Trajectories
      • Distant Retrograde Orbit through La Grange points
      • Slingshot around the Moon to return to Earth
    • Cubesats
      • Space on Artemis for 16 cubesats
      • 10 cubesats on this Artemis I mission
      • The Cubesats all have different purposes and missions
    • Passengers – all mannequins
    • Photo of mission launch for Enkin’s Daily Moon on Facebook
  • Lunar Sketches – Randy Enkin
    • Waning phase – favourable libration – on two days
    • Photos of same area sketched – by Mike Nash (Victoria) and Steven Arthur Sweet (Toronto)
  • Apollo, Artemis and Orion – a backgrounder on the Greek gods by Jeff Pivnick
  • Concert at UVic on Dec 3rd – Dave  Robinson
  • Astrophotography SIG – this Wednesday – Dave Payne
  • Road construction has closed Observatory Hill to the public until Dec 22nd
    • Victoria Centre Observatory closed – Reg Dunkley
    • Centre of the Universe – virtual events only – Lauri Roche
    • Serious access problems for everyone
  • SIGs – David Lee
    • Makers SIG this Thursday
    • Citizen Science SIG – interested? contact David
  • Bollide Meteor over Southern Ontario – Peter Jedicke
    • 3:26AM EST on Saturday morning
    • Asteroid orbital predictions are now a reality
    • Predicted hit between London to Brantford, Ontario
    • Dave Clark, RASC member observed it
    • Photo taken by Rob Weryk from London, based on a tip from Hawai’i astronomy staff
    • Earlier photo from Lowell Observatory used to refine calculation of orbit
    • Peter didn’t spot the meteorite
    • Western News

President’s Message – July 2022

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Randy Enkin - Luna Cognita
Randy Enkin – Luna Cognita

The first science images from the James Webb Space Telescope were released to huge fanfare last week. I’m not surprised that my social media was filled with the news, commentary, analysis, and silly memes. My favourite is the melding of Van Gogh’s Starry Night into the SMACS 0723 galaxy cluster. What surprised me was how much the images caught on with the general public. The images are indeed beautiful, and the public relations teams know how to get the message right. But there is a clearly a desire, a fascination to follow the story of this telescope and its potential.

I used to be “the general public”. When they went to the moon during the Apollo missions, I realized I had to learn all I could about astronomy. Most importantly, I decided to become a scientist. And through good fortune and a fair amount of work, I got to make a career as a research scientist – in geology rather than in astronomy, but my fascination with astronomy never left.

Is astronomy important? I really don’t know. But science and science literacy certainly is, and quite possibly the James Webb Space Telescope will attract the general public to find out more. People will look at the beautiful images and ask what is going on. They will learn about how 30 years of science and engineering went into producing the images. They will find out about the scientific edifice which has built up over millennia to place the new research in context.

The first batch of images masterfully span the range of subjects that the space telescope will research: the birth of stars, the death of stars, the structure of galaxies, and the early universe. The fifth image, or actually spectrum, reveals an application that could only have been dreamed of when the
instrument was designed – composition of an exoplanet spectrum.

Exoplanet: WASP-96 B

They weren’t even sure that exoplanets could be located when the space telescope was first designed.
We amateur astronomers get to play an important role as more space telescope data get released. Let’s keep up with the research and help our wider community understand what it means. Let’s help with outreach events whenever possible. Let’s do astronomy.

Astro Cafe Logo

On that note, the Victoria Centre Astro Café went virtual for two years. It was a tonic to our isolated lives during the worst of the covid-19 pandemic. Many thanks to Chris Purse and Joe Carr for their devoted work to keep Astro Café up and running so well! In May, we ran our first attempts at hybrid meetings, in person at the Fairfield Community Centre and online over Zoom. The response has been very positive, and we will continue the hybrid Astro Café format every Monday evening (except statutory holidays) at 19:30 starting September 12. WE NEED VOLUNTEERS. The roles are not onerous, but they are essential. Each evening we will need a host and a tech. Please be brave. Please be generous.

Look Up,
Randy Enkin, President@Victoria.RASC.ca