- Intro – Marjie Welchframe
- New attendees introduce themselves
- Astronomy vs The Billionaire Space Race – Samantha Lawler, Campion College and the Department of Physics, University of Regina
- Artificial satellite impacts on astronomy
- The ancient science of astronomy
- Native Skywatchers Home – Tipiskawi Kisik: Night Sky Star Stories by Wilfred Buck
- Urban light pollution is increasing
- 9,500 Starlink satellites – 2/3’rds of all satellites
- Artificial satellites reflect sunlight well after sunset
- Mega constellations: Starlink, Bluebirds, Qianfan, Guowang, OneWeb
- KBOs are faint compared with the satellites
- CLASSY / OSSOS survey
- Samantha has been interviewed
- SpaceX Axiom Mission 3 – private astronaut mission
- A farmer found spacecraft debris near Samantha’s home in rural Saskatchewan
- Feb 26, 2024 – Debris from the Axiom “trunk”
- Liability is an unresolved issue
- SpaceX employees showed up with a U-Haul and hauled the debris away
- “Uncontrolled re-entries” are now happening more often
- Starlink satellites are now the size of a pickup truck
- Frequent Close Encounters – paper by Thiele, Boley, Heiland, Lawler, and many more!
- Runaway collisions – “Kessler Syndrome” – Starlink lowering the orbits of their constellation to reduce the chances
- Rocket launches are increasing quickly, which increase atmospheric pollution and including aluminum
- 1,500 Starlink satellites have already de-orbited
- DarkSky International opposes Reflect Orbital’s proposed orbital illumination system – space mirror launching
- There are currently no consequences to placing satellites in orbit
- List of things you can do to push back to regulate and control these commercial satellite companies
- Email: samantha.lawler@uregina.ca
- Online: @sundogplanets@mastodon.social
- Q&A
- Astrophotos– Dave Payne (online gallery)
- Eagle Nebula – new image
- 2 million year old stellar nursery
- Plasma escaping a molecular cloud
- Sadr region
- Another molecular cloud
- Star has matured a lot longer than the star found in the Eagle Nebula
- Lots of cosmic effects happening in the molecular cloud around the star
- Eagle Nebula – new image
- Beginners SIG – David Lee
- Tomorrow night at 7:30PM online
- Space News – Chris Gainor
- Jared Isaacman became NASA Admin on Dec 18th
- Spending on scientific endeavours restored for NASA
- Habitable Worlds Observatory – a future space telescope announced by Isaacman
- Artemis II Launch to the Moon draws near
- Possibly launch as early as Feb 6th
- Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen will be aboard
- 10-day mission to orbit the Moon
- Jared Isaacman became NASA Admin on Dec 18th
- Rockets – Myles Morrison
- Chinese First Century AD started rocket launches using bamboo tubes and gunpowder
- India – iron-cased rockets
- 1927 first liquid-powered rocket launch – Goddard
- 1957 Sputnik launch
- Rocket propulsion being developed: Electric, ion, plasma, nuclear fusion, Solar sails, matter-antimatter drives, quantum vacuum thrusters, sailing on a high energy beam,
- Song written in 2012 – sung and played by Myles on a national steel guitar
- New planetary presentation by Phil Stooke coming up
- Astronomical gifts received during the holidays? Some puzzles!
- Upcoming Events
- Monday January 12, 19, 26, February 2 at 19:00: Astro Café.
- Wednesday January 14 at 19:30 UVic speaker: Allen Keefe. 1.2 meter telescope history and current operations.
- Thursday January 15 at 19:30: RASC Victoria Centre Council Meeting
- Monday February 9 at 19:00: Annual General Meeting. On-line only! (No Astrocafé)
- Monday February 23: Social Dinner at the 4-Mile Pub
Video recording of meeting
Astronomy Cafe – Jan 5, 2026
