Astronomy Cafe – May 13, 2024

Video transcript for meeting

• Intro by Marjie Welchframe
• Aurora – David Lee
  • Huge Sunspot Wednesday of last week
  • Coronal Mass Ejection
  • Friday evening at Cattle Point was very popular by the public observing the aurora
  • Various types of aurora – BBC Sky At Night
• Cosmic Wonder book – Nathan Hellner-Mestleman
  • Nathan worked on his first astronomy book over last two years
  • Existential thoughts
  • Are we alone?
    • Carbon and water – source of life on Earth as we know it
    • Other elements are probably the source of life on other worlds
  • Where are we from?
  • Where are we going?
  • Don’t stress about our ultimate destruction!
  • Q&A
• The Geomagnetic Field and Solar Storms (Aurora) – Randy Enkin
  • Zoozve on Radio Lab t-shirt t-shirt
  • Aurora photos from Sechelt Peninsula at Sunshine Coast RASC Centre
  • Geo-magnetism
  • Earth’s magnetic field
  • Sun’s magnetic field and solar winds
  • Julius Bartels – Kp index
  • Number of Sunspots correlate with magnetic disturbances
  • How human night vision sees auroral colours
• Electromagnetic Spectrum Display – story boards for Astronomy Day – Dorothy Paul
  • A Brief History of Chronobiology and Light
  • The Electromagnetic Spectrum, Light, and Life on Our Home Planet
  • Responsible , good-neighbourly outdoor lighting
• Brock Johnston – photo gallery
  • Aurora photos from Central Saanich
  • M91, M95 & M96 spiral galaxies
• Event info
  • Beginners SIG – next Wednesday 7:30PM
  • Astronomy Day – this Saturday – all day and evening
  • ~The Photographic Legacy of the DAO and John Stanley Plaskett – Dennis Crabtree~ video recording of the presentation will be posted online in the next day or so – David Lee
• Aurora – May 10, 2024 – a collection of photographs of the aurora taken by our members – a once in 20 year apparition of the Sun at maximum, with coronal mass ejections causing amazing displays!

There is no Astro Cafe next Monday on Victoria Day, May 20th. The last Astro Cafe will be held on May 27th, hosted by Brock Johnston. We take a break over the summer months, resuming in September.