- Intro – Chris Purse
- Astro Imaging Corner No 151 from Edmonton Centre – Alistair Ling
- Double Cluster in Perseus
- Aurora – very red – Nov 11-12
- Aurora Australis from New Zealand
- Halloween Moon
- Comet Lemmon
- 78 nights of Mars from Namibia – see Alister Ling’s article in the RASC Journal
- Question Mark Nebula
- Bubble Nebula and M52 region
- NGC 3372 – Eta Carina Nebula from New Zealand
- Cocoon Nebula
- Eastern Veil Nebula
- Soul Nebula
- M2 Globular Cluster
- Milky Way and Large Magellanic Cloud from New Zealand
- Small Magellanic Cloud from New Zealand
- M31 Andromeda Galaxy
- M33
- The Sculptor Galaxy NGC 253
- Lunar Standstill video showing 2024-25 time sequences of the Sun and Moon rising and setting over the city of Edmonton – view on APOD – Luca Vanzella & Alister Ling
- Some months there were not clear skies, so sky substitutions were used
- Lunar Standstill occurs every 18.6 years
- Plaskett’s Director’s House – Dennis Crabtree
- The “White House” was built in 1915, originally intended to be an observers’ house
- Plaskett planned a suitable Director’s home, but finally gave up in 1928, residing in the “White House”
- Main office building built in 1924 with 4 additions over the years
- Virtually created photo generated from the plans for the Director’s House
- Events – David Lee & Lauri Roche
- Beginners SIG – tomorrow night – David Lee
- Orientations visible through various optics
- Practice sketching
- Feb 23rd – Victoria Centre’s Annual Awards and Dinner at Four Mile Pub – please sign up lauri@victoria.rasc.ca
- May 2-3 – RASC General Assembly
- Dennis Delorme will be presenting his virtual reality of the Plaskett telescope and dome
- Beginners SIG – tomorrow night – David Lee
- Astrophotos – Dave Payne – online gallery
- Eagle Nebula and Pillars of Creation
- Proposition: non-smooth mountain-like undulations in the stellar nursery may be due to instabilities
- Caused by UV emitted by the central star? Perhaps caused by friction instead?
- Iris and Rotton Fish dark nebulae – very little UV is present
- Herbig-Haro 215 AKA Gyulbudaghian’s Nebula
- Swirling gas during star formation, protostar stream
- 20 hours of imaging time
- Artemis II Mission Patch – Natasha van Bentum
- Anishinaabe artist Henry Guimond and David Courchene III, Leader of the Turtle Lodge in Sagkeeng First Nation (Manitoba) – Indigenous artist’s interpretation of the patch
- Jeremy Hansen’s mission patch: recognizing Indigenous Peoples – Canadian Space Agency video
- Artemis II Mission Update – Chris Gainor
- Countdown started two days ago
- Today is fuelling day – leaks
- Tomorrow’;s update – press conference
- Possible launch on Sunday evening
- For current mission updates, consult: NASA Plus app and online videos
- Crew has been in quarantine for two weeks
- Heat shield issues have been examined and risk of failure with reentry is judged acceptable
- Astronomy from Namibia – Alistair Ling
- AndBeyond Sossusvlei Desert Lodge – a very dark and remote luxury lodge!
- Read the Feb 2026 RASC Journal article by Alistair about spending 78 days at this location as an astronomy expert
- Alistair is talking about his experiences at the London Centre‘s November meeting
Important Reminders
- Our AGM is being held next week at this time – online only via Zoom
- Feb 16th is Family Day – no Astronomy Cafe
- Feb 23rd – Victoria Centre’s Annual Awards and Dinner – no Astronomy Cafe
- March 2nd – next Astronomy Cafe
Video recording of the meeting – audio enhanced
Astronomy Cafe – Feb 2, 2026
