- Intro & Welcome by David Lee
- Events – David Lee
- Full Moon on April 12th
- 8 observed from Observatory Hill
- Various names for this Moon
- Micromoon – Moon at Apogee – smallest and furthest away from Earth
- VCO observing session on April 12th
- UVic meeting – April 9th
- Comet 2025 F2 (SWAN) is observable now in the early morning
- Full Moon on April 12th
- Early morning observations from King George Terrace – Randy Enkin
- Venus and the rising Sun
- International Astronomy Day – May 3rd – Randy Enkin
- Setup possible on Friday afternoon
- Royal BC Museum during the day – RASC Victoria
- UVic, Camosun, FDAO, schools, RASC members
- Speakers
- Observatory Hill in the evening – FDAO
- Zoom organisational meeting tomorrow evening – contact Randy (pastpres@victoria.rasc.ca)
- National Astronomy Day Zoom call at 8PM – need 2 volunteers – contact Lauri (lauri@victoria.rasc.ca)
- Zodiacal Light – Part 2 – Randy Enkin
- Probably caused by cometary dust and broken asteroids orbiting the Sun
- Torus shaped between Earth and Jupiter
- 1984 results from IRAS data
- Various direct dust counters have been conducted by space probes
- New Horizons student dust counter
- Juno probe to Jupiter
- Distribution of Interplanetary Dust Detected by the Juno Spacecraft and Its Contribution to the Zodiacal Light – Jorgensen, Benn, Connerney, Denver, Jorgensen, Anderson, Bolton.
- The large solar panels on the probe detect massive numbers of larger dust particles
- Mars is causing the Zodiacal Light we see from Earth
- Star Formation – Dave Payne
- Rosette Nebula
- Cluster of stars in the middle of this 55 ly wide nebula
- Double-ionized oxygen in the middle (blue colour)
- Banks of hydrogen ionizing sulfer and oxygen
- California Nebula
- Brightness along the edges generated by a star that is off-frame
- 22 ly wide, 5x closer than Rosette Nebula
- Ionized sulfer and oxygen
- Rosette Nebula
- Space News – Chris Gainor
- All-woman 11-minute New Shepard flight
- NASA budget leak indicates cuts by up to 50% – Eric Burger, ARS Technica reporter
- Jared Isaacman, NASA Administrator nominee
- RASC General Assembly – Lauri Roche
- April 26-27
- Programs start at 9AM from our time zone
- Two streams of workshops
- $30 for 2 days – sign-up online
- Any questions, contact (lauri@victoria.rasc.ca)
- Upcoming Astronomy Cafes
- Next two Mondays are cancelled – Apr 21 (Easter stat) & Apr 28 (election)
- May 5, 12, 26 – last three meet-ups before summer break!
Video transcript of meeting
Astronomy Cafe – April 14, 2025