Astronomy Cafe – Apr 4, 2022

Posted by as Astro Cafe

Meeting transcript video

  • Super PupZ kids’ series – David Lee
    • Netflix series shot on southern Vancouver Island, including the Plaskett observatory
    • Dave Balum an advisor for the series
  • Astronomy Day – May 7th – David Lee
    • Our first in-person event for the last couple of years is being planned
    • Day event at the Royal BC Museum – public welcome, inside and outside
      • Welcome desk
      • Telescopes Show and Tell
      • Astrophotography
      • Children’s Astro Crafts
      • Responsible Lighting
      • Planetarium
      • Solar Observing from the plaza outside
      • Ask an Astronomer
      • Speakers in the Newcombe
      • Friends of the DAO
      • NRC/DAO
      • University of Victoria
      • Science Venture
    • Cross-Canada RASC National virtual event – Victoria to contribute
    • Evening event on Observatory Hill (pending NRC approval for public event)
    • Volunteers are welcome – contact David Lee (email) or Lauri Roche (email)
  • SIGs – David Lee
  • Edmonton Astrophotos – Dave Robinson
    • Solar Sunspots in both Ha & white light – Arnold Rivera
    • Future presentation to Astro Cafe on solar activity and features – Chris Purse
  • Aurora – Randy Enkin
    • Alex Taalman aurora photos from March 30th – pending display
    • Sunspotter viewer
    • Sunspot frequency and historical observations
    • Space Weather Essentials – Sun and Earth
    • How Aurora happens
    • Aurora: Mysteries of the Northern Lights – Robert L. Lysak (Youtube)
    • Aurora stories from members
  • Astronomy Cafe – Joe Carr
    • Astro Cafe mugs for sale for $15 – contact Joe (email)
    • History of Astronomy Cafe – David Lee
    • New room for Astro Cafe will be used for in-person meetings within a few weeks
    • Need volunteers for both hosting the meeting and the Zoom session – contact Randy Enkin (email) or Chris Purse (email)
  • Astrophotos – Martin Gisborne
    • Aurora: In Search of the Northern Lights – Dr. Melanie Windridge – Amazon
    • Saving the Starry Night – Patrizia A. Caraveo – Springer
    • Astrophotos – Martin’s gallery
      • Hercules Cluster M13
      • NGC 4565 – edge-on galaxy, and other galaxies
      • M106 galaxy
      • ISS streak
      • Widefield view of many galaxies in Markarian Chain region
      • IC405 nebula
      • M101 Whirlpool Galaxy
      • M42 Orion Nebula – reprocessed 2019 image and recent 2022 versions
      • M81 & M82
      • M81 galaxy
    • Selling his Celestron CGEM mount soon

Astronomy Cafe – June 8, 2020

Posted by as Astro Cafe

A new sunspot!

There is a new sunspot on the Sun after three months of being spotless! Both Bill Weir and Joe Carr captured this apparition. More info on SpaceWeather.com for June 6, 2020.

Solar H-Alpha & White Light – June 5/20 – Bill Weir sketches & outreach photos
Sun with Sunspot & clouds – June 6, 2020 – Joe Carr photo

Golden Week of Webinars in Astrophysics 2020

The link for registration is www.astro.uc.cl
Note the time is for Chile time zone which is the same as Central Time

Photos from Edmonton

Thanks to Dave Robinson for forwarding these photos.

Moon set over Edmonton by Larry Wood - June 5th about 5am -ISO 100, 300 mm, 1/60 second
Moon set over Edmonton by Larry Wood – June 5th about 5am -ISO 100, 300 mm, 1/60 second
Noctilucent clouds on the morning of June 4th - a follow up to what Alister Ling talked about last week.
Noctilucent clouds on the morning of June 4th – a follow up to what Alister Ling talked about last week.
Alister with one of his patented moonset shots from Friday - the view from Kinnaird Park.
Alister with one of his patented moonset shots from Friday – “The view from Kinnaird Park, birds chirping, geese honking, lilac bushes perfuming the damp coolness. So much to image lately! It will take a while to process the time slice, time-lapse, valley fog time-lapse. How do you like your Mead/Honey Moon? Pale, yellow, peach, amber?”

Undulating fog in the river valley – a time-lapse captured by Alister. The movie really shows the bulk motions that are not visible to the eye. Sped up 100X. Definitely on the meteorology side of things, but the Moon is in the movie at the start!

Masked Men Make Off with VCO Telescope

On June 4th, vigilant lunar astrophotographer Mike Nash captures RASCals in the act as they conduct top secret mission to ship Victoria Centre Observatory scope to a telescope spa in the Los Angeles area.

Two Masked RASCals Surveying Victoria Centre Observatory Scope
RASCals Furtively Stow TPO 16 Inch RC Telescope in Crate.
The Crate Securely Lashed in Getaway Vehicle … Rumoured to Belong to Mike Nash
Crate Last Seen Passing Southbound Through Richmond BC

Venus setting behind the Chiricahua Mountains from Portal, Arizona

On May 28, 2020, I shot a video of the crescent Venus setting behind the Chiricahua Mountains. This was just 6 days before Venus passed between Earth and the Sun (i.e., inferior conjunction). Shot from Bifrost Observatory, 8-inch Meade LX200, Sony A6000. Fred Espenak (Mr. Eclipse)

Planet Venus setting on 2020 May 28 from Fred Espenak on Vimeo.

Observing