Astronomy Cafe – March 7, 2022

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Meeting video transcript

  • Intro – Chris Purse
    • Upcoming speakers
    • Working on hosting Astro Cafe in-person at the Fairfield Gonzales Community Association facilities
    • Welcome to new members
    • Garry Sedun, new VP
    • Dave Payne, new VP2
  • Edmonton Astrophotos – Dave Robinson
    • Orion Nebula, Virgo Galaxy Cluster and other galaxies – Tom Owen
  • Recent Astrophotos – Brock Johnston
    • M78 reflection and dark nebula east of Horsehead
    • M106 galaxy and satellite galaxies
    • Horsehead & Orion Nebulae widefield, starless version
    • Brock’s online gallery
  • Comet 19/P Borrelly is passing by the California Nebula (chart) – March 23-27 – Bill Weir
  • Recent Astrophotos – Dan Posey
    • From recent Plaskett Photography 12-hour session for RASC Victoria Centre members – Horsehead Nebula, more later (data available from Dan through Astrophotography SIG)
    • M81, M82 – VCO Takahashi & Canon Ra
    • Dan’s downtown deck – telescope & CCD
      • Horsehead Nebula, Lagoon Nebula, Swan Nebula – starless versions
      • Thor’s Helmut Nebula
      • Dan’s online gallery
  • Horsehead Nebula – best astrophoto using Garry Sedun’s astro gear
  • Recent Astrophotos – Martin Gisborne
    • Markarian’s Chain of galaxies – 80mm refractor and Nikon D850 unmodified dSLR
    • Rosette Nebula
    • Horsehead & Flame Nebulae with Iridium flare
    • Flaming Star Nebula IC 405 using 8″ SCT
  • Chris Gainor
    • No news with JWST mission
    • We are probably coming to the end of Russian collaboration with the ISS due to the Ukraine war
  • Congratulations to Sid Sidhu on local press coverage for his recent IAU asteroid naming
  • FDAO – Lauri Roche
    • March 19th Star Party
    • April 16th – Artemis Mission speaker
    • May 7th Astronomy Day – may open the Centre of the Universe for a public event
  • Interest in Citizen Science group? – contact David Lee (david@victoria.rasc.ca
  • Any interest in staging a Messier Marathon? – Chris Purse (membership@victoria.rasc.ca
  • The Last Stargazers book by Emily Levesque – recommended by Martin Gisborne and others

Astronomy Cafe – Oct 25, 2021

Posted by as Astro Cafe, Uncategorized

Video meeting transcript

  • Canadian Women Astronomers – Marjie Welchframe
    • Dr. Victoria Kaspi
      • Moved to Canada when she was 7 years old
      • McGill & Canadian Space Agency
      • X-ray astronomy expert
      • Herzberg Canada Gold Metal winner for 2016
  • Astronomers Find a ‘Break’ in One of the Milky Way’s Spiral Arms – Dorothy Paul
  • Randy Enkin
  • Record Maritime Bomb – Oct 24-25, 2021 – Reg Dunkley
    • Low pressure weather event hitting us over the last couple of days
    • Maritime Bomb caused by energy sources: colder air from the north moving south; hurricanes from the south
    • Mesoscale Wind Forecast – better resolution models showing SE winds in Georgia, Haro and Juan de Fuca Straits
    • Review of weather data from buoys and weather stations
    • Weather system time lapses & video
  • Edmonton Astrophotos – Dave Robinson
    • M31 redone using PixInsight – Denis Bouche
    • Coathanger area – Alister Ling
  • Events & SIGs – David Lee
    • Astrophotography SIG this Wed – John McDonald
    • Makers SIG (7PM), then RASC Light Pollution Survey (8PM) this Thursday – David Lee
    • FDAO AGM (7PM) & Star Party (8PM) this Saturday – Lauri Roche
    • NRC meeting with W̱SÁNEĆ Elders on Friday – James di Francesco
  • Astrophotos – Brock Johnston

Astronomy Cafe – Aug 30, 2021

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Video transcript of meeting

  • Local professional astronomer Frank Younger died at 80 years old – Jim Hesser
    • zoom service on Friday Sept 3 at 3:00PM (zoom Passcode: Frank)
  • RASC Exploring Exoplanets course – Aug 4 – Sep 1 – David Lee
    • Using the RASC robotic telescope and CCD camera to measure changes in brightness
    • Differential photometry generates a transit light curve from occultation
    • Using AstroImageJ software for data processing
    • Report results to AAVSO’s Exoplanet Watch program
  • Editing NASA Raw Data – Mars Perseverance and Junocam – David Lee
    • Presentation by Pete Williamson engaging UK youth in processing NASA data
  • Solar photos
    • Solar disk yesterday using a white light filter – Joe Carr
    • Calcium-K and Ha revealed many surface features – Arnold Rivera (Edmonton)
  • Openings, a time lapse of a Hibiscus blooming – by John McDonald
  • Observing as Galileo did – Bill Weir
    • Using Victoria Centre’s replica Galileo telescope to observe with
    • Specs: 26mm aperture, 1000mm f/l = f/37
    • Sketching Jupiter’s moons using the telescope
    • Will also observe Saturn and Venus
    • Telescope is very difficult to point and use effectively
  • Photos inspired by the Explore the Moon program – Brian Barber
    • Photos of the Moon taken through a Dobsonian telescope with 25mm, 7.4mm and 10mm eyepieces
    • Some optical illusion showing a bear shape on the Lunar surface
  • Next Monday is Labour Day, so no Astro Cafe
  • Current health orders preclude us from restarting in-person meetings. We had planned to restart Astronomy Cafe for mid-September at the Fairfield site, but Victoria Centre has rented the space, so we will keep members posted when the situation improves.

Astronomy Cafe – May 10, 2021

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Video transcript of meeting

  • Pocket sundial demo – Randy Enkin
    • Apply equation of time, time zone, longitude, latitude, north
    • Kala family makes this precision analemma design in Vienna
  • RASC Creation Station – May 15 – June 13 – Lauri Roche
    • A place to put stories, drawings, comics or poems about Astronomy and Space
    • Local Centres can help
    • Hope to highlight student’s work at the upcoming GA
  • Astronomy Day – May 15th – Lauri Roche
    • Virtual Star Party starts at 8PM with live-streamed events
    • Registration required – free
    • Plaskett history
    • Fossil Stars in the Galaxy – presentation by Dr. Kim Venn
    • Astrophotography display with VOX Humana audio
    • Ask An Astronomer 
    • Tours of the UVic & Plaskett telescopes
    • Ends by 11PM
  • Science Odyssey – Virtual tour of Plaskett – May 13 7PM – Lauri Roche
  • NightScaper Conference virtual conference – May 10-12 – David Lee
    • Air glow caused by the Sun during the day, is visible at night until it fades
    • Fixed tripods, tracking mounts, panoramas
    • Planning tools & software
    • US National Parks – permits and other restrictions
    • Female astrophotographers
    • Science of colours in the night sky – an analysis
  • Spectroscopy – David Lee
    • RSpec software
    • David is taking the course and reviewed his previous attempts at capturing spectra
    • Citizen science is a possibility – new SIG? Contact David.
  • General Assembly 2021 – June 25-28  – Chris Gainor
    • Speakers: Emily Calandrelli, Dr. Katie Mack, Kate Russo, Aaron Prasad
    • Panel discussion on Mars
    • AGM business meeting, elections
    • Nominal registration charge – $15
  • RASC National – Chris Gainor & Chris Purse
    • National staff are supporting members to access the new website
    • Members need to reset their passwords
    • New website supports many more features like: store, discussion groups and forums
  • Edmonton photos – Dave Robinson
    • Comet Atlas C2020 R4 – Arnold Rivera & Alister Ling
  • Helen Sawyer Hogg Lecture by Prof.  Andrea Ghez – tomorrow afternoon
  • No Astro Cafe on Victoria Day, May 24th
  • May 31st Astro Cafe – Lisa & Cameron will show their moving of Bill Almond’s observatory to their home