Astronomy Cafe – Sep 25, 2023

Posted by as Astro Cafe

Video transcript of meeting

Fuelling Galactic Powerhouses – Dr. Mallory Thorp

  • Mallory is a postdoctoral researcher the Argelander-Institut für Astronomie (AIfA) at the University of Bonn; MSc & PhD at UVic
  • Hubble Deep Field – how do all those galaxies interact with each other?
  • Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey (SINGS)
  • Galaxy Zoo – internals to galaxies
  • Baryon Cycle – gas, dust, stars
    • Inter-stellar Medium – gas and star formation
  • Sloan Digital Sky Survey
    • huge number of galaxies
    • great for big picture studies
  • Phangs – high resolution studies of individual galaxies covering the complete Baryon Cycle
    • Uses multiple telescopes for source data, including both space and ground telescopes – ALMA, JWST, HST, MUSE
    • NGC 628 / M74
      • Voids in the galaxy – biggest is The Phantom Void (1kpc across)
      • Recently formed stars on the edge of voids at these “shock fronts”
      • How stars form has now been observed, thanks to JWST
    • Out of 74 galaxies only a dozen are mergers
    • NGC 3637 – example merger galaxy
  • Catastrophic events impact interstellar medium
    • Strong star formation when the galactic structure is essentially destroyed
    • Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) – eventual result of interaction between galaxies
    • Jets of gas leave the galaxy
    • AGN is likely responsible for star formation
    • Galaxies turn off – why?
    • Try to reconstruct an interaction of galaxies over billions of years
  • ALMaQUEST – ALMA MaNGA Quenching & Star-Formation Survey
    • How mergers power starbursts?
    • Extra stars and extra gas
    • Studying post-merged galaxies
    • How do mergers trigger the birth of new stars?
    • AGN or starbursts when fuel is pulled into the centre of a galaxy
  • Q&A

Resumption of monthly meetings and speakers at UVic – Reg Dunkley

  • NEW EARTH Lab – Find Life on Exoplanets | RASC Victoria – Dr. Christian Marois, NRC, UVic
  • Oct 11th 7:30PM at Bob Wright Centre, Room A104, University of Victoria
  • Meeting will not be streamed, so please attend in-person
  • After the meeting, adjourn to the Elliott Building 4th floor Astronomy lounge for coffee, cookies and discussion
  • Lauri will have solar eclipse glasses to give to members

Annular Solar Eclipse – Oct 14, 2023 – Lauri Roche & David Lee

  • Solar Eclipse 2023 — Annular Eclipse, October 14 – Time & Date info page
    • Start: 8:03AM PDT
    • Maximum: 11:00AM PDT
    • End: 1:56PM PDT
  • Event at the Centre of the Universe
    • Observe the eclipse
    • Breakfast snacks supplied
    • Kids activities
    • Vignette talks
    • Event tickets on sale from FDAO through Eventbrite
    • Solar telescopes – dependant on RASC volunteers
    • Will supply solar eclipse glasses to attendees and other people hosting events can come to pick up the glasses
    • Best observing spot will likely be from the lower parking lot, not the Plaskett or Centre of the Universe parking lot
  • For observing yourself from other locations, seek a site with visibility to the east, low in the sky
  • Use solar eclipse glasses to directly observe the Sun, or use telescopes or binoculars with solar filters
  • Practice ahead of time
  • Discussion about timing and observing
  • Solar Eclipse Eye Safety – American Academy of Ophthalmology
  • RASC National 2023 calendars – Lauri has ordered 35 calendars, so contact her to sign up for a copy – roche.lauri@gmail.com

Victoria Centre Observatory (VCO) report – David Lee

  • 20″ Obsession – guiding working, collimation is near-perfect
  • 12″ Dobsonian also available
  • Takahashi – available to members for photography and visual observing
  • Discussion about parking issue at VCO – Garry Sedun

Astrophotos – Dave Payne

  • SH2-157 Lobster Claw nebula in narrowband
  • Shrimp nebula
  • Heart Nebula and beyond

Oct 16th is the next time to attend Astronomy Cafe – in two week’s time.

NEW EARTH Lab – Find Life on Exoplanets

Posted by as UVic Meetings

Dr. Christian Marois has agreed to deliver a presentation for our October 11th UVic Meeting. It is an exciting topic from a renowned Astronomer. What a great way to relaunch the RASC Speaker Program at UVic! – Reg Dunkley, Past President, RASC Victoria Centre

Date/Time: October 11, 2023, starting at 7:30PM

Location: Bob Wright Centre, Lecture Theatre A104, University of Victoria. Park in Lot 1 (pay parking) and cross Ring Road.

“The NRC NEW EARTH Laboratory, and the Quest to Develop the Tools to Find Life on Exoplanets” – Dr. Christian Marois, NRC

New Earth Lab - NRC

Are there Earth-size exoplanets orbiting nearby stars? Is there life as-we-know-it on these Worlds? The exoplanet field is rapidly progressing toward having the required technology to discover rocky Earth-size exoplanets orbiting nearby Sun-like stars, and search for life signatures. I will describe my NRC NEW EARTH team progress over the last few years to test new innovations, and deploy them in two frontier instruments, the SPIDERS pathfinding at the Subaru telescope, and the CAL2 instrument at the Gemini North observatory. I will also describe our new breakthrough concept, STARLITE, that could dramatically speed-up the discovery and search for Earth-like exoplanets using current and future ground-based telescopes. I will finally discuss possible roles that Canada could play in the ~2040 NASA Habitable World Observatory, a ~6m Hubble Space Telescope successor that is optimized for imaging and characterizing Earth-size planets.

Dr. Christian Marois
Dr. Christian Marois

Dr. Christian Marois, NRC astronomer and University of Victoria adjunct professor, has revolutionized how we view the universe by pioneering direct imaging of exoplanets. He invented the most powerful high-contrast techniques, methods that are now widely used by the community, and he led an international team of astronomers to make the ground-breaking discovery of the first images of planets orbiting a star other than the Sun, the HR8799 planetary system.

Dr. Marois is the founder and principal investigator of Canada’s only high-contrast imaging laboratory, NEW EARTH, a one-of-a-kind facility for innovation. He is involved in international collaborations, including the Gemini Planet Imager instrument survey team, and is working toward developing frontier technologies for current and future 30-m class telescopes, focussing on the discovery of Earth-like exoplanets and search for life outside our Solar system. He is currently leading the development of three projects, SPIDERS, a pathfinder for the Subaru telescope, CAL2, a facility-class sensor for the Gemini Planet Imager, and STARLITE, a system for imaging Earth-like exoplanets orbiting Sun-like stars using ground-based telescopes.

Astronomy Cafe – Sep 18, 2023

Posted by as Astro Cafe

Video transcript of meeting

  • Island Star Party report – Dave Payne
    • Thanks to all the volunteers
    • Need a new leader for the star party next year
    • Activities and functions
      • Logistics
      • Coordinating volunteers
      • Coordinating with the Cowichan Valley Regional District & Parks
    • Improvements and a new vision for next year’s event
  • Astronomical Photos
    • New 32″ telescope at Black Nugget Lake Observatory (near Edmonton) – Dave Robinson
    • Ron Fisher (online gallery)
      • M45 Pleiades Cluster
      • M31, 32, 110 Andromeda Galaxy
      • Cassiopeia’s Ghost SH2-185 – Gamma Cas star
  • The Hebrew Calendar – Randy Enkin
    • Jewish New Year on Friday/Saturday just past – Rosh Hashanah
    • Based on a Lunar Calendar
    • Review of rules to determine the New Year day
    • Year number is calculated to when the human world was “created” on Oct 6, 3761 BCE
    • Comparing the lunar and solar calendars
    • Necessary and Unnecessary Miracles
    • Discussion
  • Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Updates – Mary Beth Laychak, CFHT Communications laychak@cfht.hawaii.edu
    • Land Acknowledgements for both Hawai’i and the DAO lands
    • Mauna Kea is one of the darkest sites in the world
    • Instruments review
    • Science Highlights review
    • Planning for the future
      • Maunakea Authority
      • Maunakea Spectrographic Explorer (MSE) – Pathfinder construction
      • New capabilities for CFHT
      • Internship offer for opto-mechanical design and production
    • Outreach to the community
      • Maunakea Scholars
      • Summer Interns
      • School events
    • CFHT Staff
    • Q&A
  • Announcements
    • Makers SIG – upcoming
    • Mallory Thorpe – next week’s speaker

Astronomy Cafe – Sep 11, 2023

Posted by as Astro Cafe

Transcript video

  • Saanich Fair – Lauri Roche
    • Sep 2-4, 3 days
    • Thanks to all the volunteers, but we could use more for next year
    • 3,500-4,000 people visited the booth and telescopes
    • Solar telescopes used to show the public the Sun
    • Clear and beautiful weather except for Sunday afternoon rain
    • Telescope raffle
  • Island Star Party – Reg Dunkley
    • Very good attendance 70 + 200
    • Dave Payne project lead
    • Cloudy skies on Friday but some sucker holes
    • Pristine skies on Saturday night
    • Zero gravity chairs were popular with cheers from the crowd when the Perseid meteors streaked across the sky
    • Volunteers from Cowichan Valley Starfinders did a great job
    • Two interesting speakers on Friday and Saturday night
    • Next year: 1st weekend of August
    • Donations more than covered our expenses
    • Grand prize of a telescope and mount
  • CU Star Parties – Lauri Roche
    • Weekly events – mid-May to mid-Sep
    • Good attendance every Saturday event
    • Presentations every week – either in-person or virtual
    • Monthly events during off-season
    • Saturday FDAO Star Party (Sep 16th) – Mary Beth Laychak, CFHT Outreach will be presenting
  • Plaskett Observing – Sep 16th
    • Contact Dan Posey email
    • Starts at 11:30pm
    • Must be a member and registered as an Active Observer to participate
  • Personal Observing Reports
    • Brock Johnston – photos
      • Helix Nebula
      • Solar disk in Ha – discussion
      • Jupiter – good seeing on Saturday
      • Saturn – 3 images showing changing ring tilt
    • Explore the Universe observing group – Marji & Jill
      • 110 celestial objects
      • Observe and/or draw at least 55 objects
      • There is also an Explore the Moon workbook
      • Group of 6 observing from Cattle Point
    • Moon – Randy Enkin
      • Sinus Iridium & Jura Mountains – comparing Mike Nash’s image & Randy’s sketch
    • Island Star Party astronomy images review
  • Announcements
    • Teacher’s Workshop – Lauri Roche
      • Mary Beth Laychak, CFHT Outreach will be leading the workshop
      • Monday – 4:30-7:00pm for teachers
      • Monday after the teachers – present at Astro Cafe
      • 2019 AGM presenter
    • Council meeting – Randy Enkin
      • Tomorrow night – all members welcome
    • UVic Wednesday night monthly meetings restarting – Alex Schmid
  • Minima of Algol – David Lee
    • Eclipsing binary
    • Short cycle of 3 days
    • Magnitude 3.4 to 2.1
    • Dates coming up – ref S&T
  • Partial Solar Eclipse – Oct 14th – David Lee and Lauri Roche
    • Observe from the Centre of the Universe – 8am to 10:30am
    • Solar observing glasses
    • Safety briefing
    • Breakfast beverages and snacks
    • Activities for kids and adults
    • $5/person – registration through Eventbrite
    • Rain or shine event
    • Volunteers needed
  • Blake Nancarrow remembrance – Randy Enkin
    • Memories from Bill Weir
      • Black was Chair of RASC Observing Committee
      • RASC Double Star program – designed for small aperture urban observing
      • David Dunlop observatory champion
    • Memories from Peter Jedicke
    • Memories from David Lee and Jill Sinkwich
      • Stellarium courses
    • Double stars tribute – Randy
      • Different colours of binaries
      • Splitting the doubles, triples and quads – challenging technique
      • A Tribute to Double Star Observer and Our Friend Blake Nancarrow –The Actual Astronomer Podcast – Chris and Shane
      • Lyra – 3 doubles – Marjie Welchframe