Astronomy Cafe – April 12, 2021

Posted by as Astro Cafe

Meeting video transcript

  • Galactic-scale Gas Wave in the Solar Neighbourhood – The Radcliffe Wave – João Alves et al – presented by Dorothy Paul
    • Studied molecular clouds from Gaia data
    • Calculated exact distances to star clouds and their 3D shapes
    • Redefined our Local Arm of the Milky Way
    • Radcliffe College > Harvard College/university (history)
      • Cecelia Payne – 
        • She moved from Cambridge to Radcliffe to Harvard
        • Shapely published her Stellar Atmospheres – hydrogen is the major component of the Universe
        • 1957 first female full professor at Harvard
        • What Stars Are Made Of – her life – by Donovan Moore
    • João Alves, the lead behind the Gaia study revealed “At Radcliffe, an exhibit of a quilt of stars by Anna Von Mertins honouring Henrietta Leavitt…” opened his eyes to wider consideration of the data.
    • What is the origin of the Radcliffe Wave?
    • How stable is it and are there similar structures in other spiral galaxies?
    • A Galactic-scale gas wave in the Solar Neighbourhood – João Alves et al – PDF
  • Photos from Edmonton RASC – Dave Robinson
    • Lunar Transit of the ISS on March 27th – compiled from video by Arnold Rivera
    • Leo Triplet – Abdur Anwar – reprocessed to show colour
    • T-Rex shape in the Moon  – Abdur Anwar
    • Veil Nebula stereo image from Hubble – by Murray Paulson – https://esahubble.org/images/heic1520d/
    • M101 galaxy – Tom Owen
  • Jukka-Pekka Metsavainio’s Milky Way Mosaic – Randy Enkin
  • SIGs – David Lee
    • Makers – this Thursday – Jim Cliffe
    • Astrophotography – John McDonald
    • EAA – extra meetings, and some good results – David Lee
    • Beginners – virtual telescope walk (show-and-tell) – David Lee
  • Occultation of star (nu Virginis) by Moon on 23rd 11:10PM local time – David Lee will present more info next week at Astro Cafe
  • Annular Eclipse from Northern Ontario – June 10, 2021 – Brendon Roy, Thunder Bay may broadcast from the centreline if possible

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