- New members
- Matt – astrophotographer
- Ewen, Michaela – Swiss visitors
- Cameron, Lisa, baby Max
- Carlos
- Eclipses – Randy Enkin
- Geometry of eclipses
- Types of solar eclipses
- The Saros Cycle
- Lunar Months – Sidereal, Synodic, Draconic, Anomalistic
- Every 18 years, the solar eclipse cycle repeats, but the track moves a third around the Earth
- Antikythera mechanism (~200 BCE) – predicts Saros cycles
- What is a conjunction? David Lee, Marjie Welchframe
- It’s a conjunction if the two objects share Right Ascension
- derekscope.co.uk – list of all conjunctions to 2025
- A large number occur during daylight
- Discussion of how to observe conjunctions during the day
- Makers SIG – this Thursday- David Lee david@victoria.rasc.ca
- Telescope Clinic – Nov 18 at FDAO Star Party event at the Centre of the Universe
- Need some RASC volunteers to help attendees use their telescope
- Contact Lauri Roche roche.lauri@gmail.com
- Victoria Centre Observatory – Reg Dunkley, David Lee
- Oak tree encroachment on the observatory is now trimmed back, thanks to NRC
- MICs need to be trained on the new equipment and procedures
- Workflows for imaging are now in place
- Picnic table – new one in the budget
- Amateur Radio and the ISS – Jim Cliffe
- Image broadcast from ISS to amateurs – Slow Scan TV
- Pearson CollegeAstronomy Outreach – Bill Weir
- Westshore Walmart parking lot
- Moon, Jupiter, Saturn
- James Webb Space Telescope – Chris Gainor
- M1 Crab Nebula – Hubble image vs Webb image
- 2024 RASC Observers Calendars – Lauri Roche
- $15 each – still some available – contact Lauri roche.lauri@gmail.com
- Lauri will also distribute calendars at the monthly meeting at UVic on Nov 8th
- Nov 8 monthly meeting at UVic – Reg Dunkley
- Circumstellar disks – Dr. Brenda Matthews | RASC Victoria – Young Stars and Exoplanet detection using ALMA
- Lecture Theatre A104, Bob Wright, UVic
- John McDonald
- ▪ NightWatch: A Practical Guide to Viewing the Universe– book review and recommended for beginners in astronomy. Perhaps a Festive season gift?
- Annular Eclipse event at Berwick Elk Lake
- Thanks for the eclipse glasses (Jeff Pivnick)
- Residents hadn’t observed a solar eclipse before, so there was lots of excitement
- Astronomy Outreach and Events – Patrick
- International Dark Sky designations
- Astronomy events near Hope
- Bonneford, Alberta
- Now resides in Victoria
- Nucleosynthesis – Jeff Pivnick
- First neutron star collision observed six years ago
- The origin of the elements: a century of progress | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences – Jennifer Johnson (OSU)
- Element Table showing creation sources
- Big Bang fusion
- Dying low-mass stars
- Exploding massive stars
- Cosmic ray fission
- Merging neutron stars
- Exploding white dwarfs
- Element Table showing creation sources
- Kilonova – created heavy elements from neutron stars in transition
- Planetary Nebula images
- Dave Payne
- Proto-planetary nebula
- Planetary Nebulae visual differences: larger, two explosions, classic, cosmic wind dispersion
- Brock Johnston
- M57
- NGC 7293 Helix Nebula
- M97 Owl Nebula
- NGC 651 Little Dumbbell Nebula
- M27 Dumbbell Nebula
- NGC 6888 Crescent Nebula
- Soap Bubble Nebula
- Use these images at the Centre of the Universe displays? Lauri Roche
- Dave Payne
- Lauri Roche
- 2024 RASC Observers calendars have arrived. Cost is $15 each, with some still available. Contact Lauri roche.lauri@gmail.com
- Thanks to everyone who attended the FDAO AGM a couple of nights ago.
- Special Interest Groups – David Lee david@victoria.rasc.ca
- Astrophotography SIG
- Makers SIG
- “Fix-It” Clinic at next FDAO Star Party on Nov 18th
- 3D-printed celestial objects, such as Moon surface features, Eta Carina, asteroids. Pre-made designs available for on Thingyverse and NASA 3D Resources.
- Famous Eclipses in History – Randy Enkin
- Some during BCE Era?
- Mar 1, 1504 Lunar Eclipse in Jamaica – Christopher Columbus
- 1868 solar eclipse – Janssen observed helium in the solar spectrum before element was identified on Earth
- 1919 solar eclipse – Eddington confirmed General Relativity
- Eclipses from Enkin’s Daily Moon – Randy Enkin
- Art, photos, juxapositions
- Weather Forecast for just-past Annular Eclipse – Reg Dunkley
- GOES-West satellite cloud cover loop shows the eclipse darkening
- DAO Current Weather – Sky Camera
- Sunspot Groups – David Lee
- Sunspots emerge through magnetic fields
- Individual sunspots and groups of sunspots
- AAVSO sunspot – online reporting
- Resumption of monthly meetings and speakers at UVic – Jeff Pivnick
- First presentation on Oct 11th – NEW EARTH Lab – Find Life on Exoplanets | RASC Victoria – Dr. Christian Marois, NRC, UVic
- Unexpected Results from James Webb Space Telescope – Chris Gainor
- Annular Solar Eclipse from Victoria on Oct 14, 2023 – Randy Enkin, Lauri Roche, David Lee
- Lots of families at FDAO event on Observatory Hill
- Randy gave 10-minute eclipse basics talks
- Pre-eclipse report and time lapse video by David Lee
- FDAO eclipse event report by Lauri Roche
- Streamed images from David Lee’s telescope in lower parking lot
- Streamed images from Time & Date website
- Homemade waffles, fruit and parfaits were popular
- Lots of RASC members
- About 150-200 public attended
- Eclipse Images by members
- Impromptu event from Cattle Point – Nathan Hellner-Mestelman
- Sid Sidhu’s Highlands neigbourhood event – David Lee
- Gordon Head sketches – Dorothy Paul
- Observatory Hill photo series – Brock Johnston
- John McDonald’s photos – David Lee
- Cattle Point – Alex Schmid
- Partial Solar Eclipse 2023 – RASC Victoria online gallery
- Eclipse photos from online sources – Randy Enkin
- Eclipse reports from members
- Total Solar Eclipse – April 8, 2024 – Discussion about this upcoming event
- SIGNALS – Star-formation, Ionized Gas and Nebular Abundances Legacy Survey – CFHT – Laurie Rousseau-Nepton, Principal Investigator
- Étoile du Nord – NFB series – French with English translation
- FDAO Star Party AGM, 2024 RASC calendars or workbooks – contact Lauri Roche (roche.lauri@gmail.com)
- Beginners’s SIG – Algol Minima – David Lee
It’s October! The nights are longer. The moon is higher. And lots of events are happening for our amateur astronomy community.
The big one is the Annular Solar Eclipse which will happen on the morning of Saturday October 14. The moon will nibble away at the sun starting at 8:07AM, half an hour after sunrise in the east. The maximum here will be at 9:19AM with a whopping 85% of the sun in eclipse. And the show is over at 10:38AM.
The Victoria Centre is not running any official viewings. Members are invited to help the Friends of the DAO with their Eclipse Breakfast at the Centre of the Universe. Note, we have 1,000 solar-viewing glasses to hand out, so we encourage members to go to good east-viewing sites (e.g., Clover Point, Cattle Point, Mount Tolmie) with a handful of these glasses. Contact me (email) or Lauri Roche (email) to get your glasses. Lauri will also be handing them out at the University on October 11.
What a great segué! Finally, after a 3½ year hiatus, we are back to holding monthly Wednesday evening talks at the University of Victoria. The first will be on Wednesday October 11, at 19:30, in the Bob Wright Centre, Lecture Theatre A104. We have a very exciting speaker, Christian Marois, who led the international team of astronomers that first imaged extrasolar planets. His topic is “The NRC NEW EARTH Laboratory, and the Quest to Develop the Tools to Find Life on Exoplanets”. Let’s have a big crowd join in this talk. And afterwards, everybody is welcome to chat in the Astronomy lounge in the Elliott building, and have access to our library for the first time since the lockdown. Many thanks to Alex Shmid and Reg Dunkley for organizing the event.
After a 2-week break, the weekly Monday evening Astro Café continues on October 16 with Jeff Pivnick as our host. Join online with Zoom, or better still join in person at the Fairfield Community Centre and enjoy the cookies!
The last point I am pleased to make is that the Victoria Centre Observatory is up and running better than ever. Use the wonderful telescopes up there or bring your own, and join the community looking at the sky together. Note that you must be on the “Active Observers List” to be allowed up to the VCO (Members Only). Contact our Membership Chair, Chris Purse (membership@victoria.rasc.ca) to get on the list. Members on the Active Observers List get emailed when the sky is predicted to be clear and one of the Members in Charge opens it up.
We are so fortunate to have such a vital community in the Victoria Centre. Do seize the opportunities.
And as always,
Look Up!
Randy Enkin (email)
Video transcript of meeting
Fuelling Galactic Powerhouses – Dr. Mallory Thorp
- Mallory is a postdoctoral researcher the Argelander-Institut für Astronomie (AIfA) at the University of Bonn; MSc & PhD at UVic
- Hubble Deep Field – how do all those galaxies interact with each other?
- Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey (SINGS)
- Galaxy Zoo – internals to galaxies
- Baryon Cycle – gas, dust, stars
- Inter-stellar Medium – gas and star formation
- Sloan Digital Sky Survey
- huge number of galaxies
- great for big picture studies
- Phangs – high resolution studies of individual galaxies covering the complete Baryon Cycle
- Uses multiple telescopes for source data, including both space and ground telescopes – ALMA, JWST, HST, MUSE
- NGC 628 / M74
- Voids in the galaxy – biggest is The Phantom Void (1kpc across)
- Recently formed stars on the edge of voids at these “shock fronts”
- How stars form has now been observed, thanks to JWST
- Out of 74 galaxies only a dozen are mergers
- NGC 3637 – example merger galaxy
- Catastrophic events impact interstellar medium
- Strong star formation when the galactic structure is essentially destroyed
- Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) – eventual result of interaction between galaxies
- Jets of gas leave the galaxy
- AGN is likely responsible for star formation
- Galaxies turn off – why?
- Try to reconstruct an interaction of galaxies over billions of years
- ALMaQUEST – ALMA MaNGA Quenching & Star-Formation Survey
- How mergers power starbursts?
- Extra stars and extra gas
- Studying post-merged galaxies
- How do mergers trigger the birth of new stars?
- AGN or starbursts when fuel is pulled into the centre of a galaxy
- Q&A
Resumption of monthly meetings and speakers at UVic – Reg Dunkley
- NEW EARTH Lab – Find Life on Exoplanets | RASC Victoria – Dr. Christian Marois, NRC, UVic
- Oct 11th 7:30PM at Bob Wright Centre, Room A104, University of Victoria
- Meeting will not be streamed, so please attend in-person
- After the meeting, adjourn to the Elliott Building 4th floor Astronomy lounge for coffee, cookies and discussion
- Lauri will have solar eclipse glasses to give to members
Annular Solar Eclipse – Oct 14, 2023 – Lauri Roche & David Lee
- Solar Eclipse 2023 — Annular Eclipse, October 14 – Time & Date info page
- Start: 8:03AM PDT
- Maximum: 11:00AM PDT
- End: 1:56PM PDT
- Event at the Centre of the Universe
- Observe the eclipse
- Breakfast snacks supplied
- Kids activities
- Vignette talks
- Event tickets on sale from FDAO through Eventbrite
- Solar telescopes – dependant on RASC volunteers
- Will supply solar eclipse glasses to attendees and other people hosting events can come to pick up the glasses
- Best observing spot will likely be from the lower parking lot, not the Plaskett or Centre of the Universe parking lot
- For observing yourself from other locations, seek a site with visibility to the east, low in the sky
- Use solar eclipse glasses to directly observe the Sun, or use telescopes or binoculars with solar filters
- Practice ahead of time
- Discussion about timing and observing
- Solar Eclipse Eye Safety – American Academy of Ophthalmology
- RASC National 2023 calendars – Lauri has ordered 35 calendars, so contact her to sign up for a copy – roche.lauri@gmail.com
Victoria Centre Observatory (VCO) report – David Lee
- 20″ Obsession – guiding working, collimation is near-perfect
- 12″ Dobsonian also available
- Takahashi – available to members for photography and visual observing
- Discussion about parking issue at VCO – Garry Sedun
Astrophotos – Dave Payne
- SH2-157 Lobster Claw nebula in narrowband
- Shrimp nebula
- Heart Nebula and beyond
Oct 16th is the next time to attend Astronomy Cafe – in two week’s time.
- Saanich Fair – Lauri Roche
- Sep 2-4, 3 days
- Thanks to all the volunteers, but we could use more for next year
- 3,500-4,000 people visited the booth and telescopes
- Solar telescopes used to show the public the Sun
- Clear and beautiful weather except for Sunday afternoon rain
- Telescope raffle
- Island Star Party – Reg Dunkley
- Very good attendance 70 + 200
- Dave Payne project lead
- Cloudy skies on Friday but some sucker holes
- Pristine skies on Saturday night
- Zero gravity chairs were popular with cheers from the crowd when the Perseid meteors streaked across the sky
- Volunteers from Cowichan Valley Starfinders did a great job
- Two interesting speakers on Friday and Saturday night
- Next year: 1st weekend of August
- Donations more than covered our expenses
- Grand prize of a telescope and mount
- CU Star Parties – Lauri Roche
- Weekly events – mid-May to mid-Sep
- Good attendance every Saturday event
- Presentations every week – either in-person or virtual
- Monthly events during off-season
- Saturday FDAO Star Party (Sep 16th) – Mary Beth Laychak, CFHT Outreach will be presenting
- Plaskett Observing – Sep 16th
- Contact Dan Posey email
- Starts at 11:30pm
- Must be a member and registered as an Active Observer to participate
- Personal Observing Reports
- Brock Johnston – photos
- Helix Nebula
- Solar disk in Ha – discussion
- Jupiter – good seeing on Saturday
- Saturn – 3 images showing changing ring tilt
- Explore the Universe observing group – Marji & Jill
- 110 celestial objects
- Observe and/or draw at least 55 objects
- There is also an Explore the Moon workbook
- Group of 6 observing from Cattle Point
- Moon – Randy Enkin
- Sinus Iridium & Jura Mountains – comparing Mike Nash’s image & Randy’s sketch
- Island Star Party astronomy images review
- Brock Johnston – photos
- Announcements
- Teacher’s Workshop – Lauri Roche
- Mary Beth Laychak, CFHT Outreach will be leading the workshop
- Monday – 4:30-7:00pm for teachers
- Monday after the teachers – present at Astro Cafe
- 2019 AGM presenter
- Council meeting – Randy Enkin
- Tomorrow night – all members welcome
- UVic Wednesday night monthly meetings restarting – Alex Schmid
- Teacher’s Workshop – Lauri Roche
- Minima of Algol – David Lee
- Eclipsing binary
- Short cycle of 3 days
- Magnitude 3.4 to 2.1
- Dates coming up – ref S&T
- Partial Solar Eclipse – Oct 14th – David Lee and Lauri Roche
- Observe from the Centre of the Universe – 8am to 10:30am
- Solar observing glasses
- Safety briefing
- Breakfast beverages and snacks
- Activities for kids and adults
- $5/person – registration through Eventbrite
- Rain or shine event
- Volunteers needed
- Blake Nancarrow remembrance – Randy Enkin
- Memories from Bill Weir
- Black was Chair of RASC Observing Committee
- RASC Double Star program – designed for small aperture urban observing
- David Dunlop observatory champion
- Memories from Peter Jedicke
- Blake retired to St. Thomas, attached to RASC London Centre
- Blake was the first Astronomer in Residence at York University’s observatory at Killarney Provincial Park
- Blake’s obituary
- Memories from David Lee and Jill Sinkwich
- Stellarium courses
- Double stars tribute – Randy
- Different colours of binaries
- Splitting the doubles, triples and quads – challenging technique
- A Tribute to Double Star Observer and Our Friend Blake Nancarrow –The Actual Astronomer Podcast – Chris and Shane
- Lyra – 3 doubles – Marjie Welchframe
- Memories from Bill Weir
Video transcript of the meeting
- Pendulum Experiment To Measure Local Gravity – Kemi Daniel (Grade 5, PCS)
- Gravity in her house is slightly lower than earth’s gravity
- Science Fair winner
- Astronomy by Night – A new Canadian website for amateur astronomers. hosted by Carina Ockedahl (former editor of Skynews)
- Reached out to contributors – Chris Vaughan, Dan Kusz, Alan Dyer, Charles Ennis, and others
- AstroPhoto of the Week – not just for Canadians
- Newsletter
- Collaboration with SkySafari
- This Week’s Night Sky
- Gear Reviews & Tech
- Columns
- World’s Asterisms
- Research
- Profile
- Podcast – 2 per week
- Video – interviews
- Star chart – from Heavens Above
- News – both from International and Canadian sources
- International Astronomy Day/Weekend – David Lee, Lauri Roche
- Speakers are lined up
- Local astronomy organizations will be there
- Observatory Hill on Saturday night – 29th
- UVic on Sunday daytime – 30th
- SpaceX Starship Launch on Apr 20, 2023 – Chris Gainor
- Huge amounts of smoke and debris at launch
- Disintegrated 4 minutes into the flight
- Rocket left a huge crater at the launch site
- Questions and discussion
- Hybrid Solar Eclipse – April 20th – Randy Enkin
- 1 minute duration
- Total & Partial Solar Eclipse
- Solar maximum corona, so lots of plasma streamers visible
- Time & Date – particulars of this eclipse
- Photos & video of eclipse chasers
- Other events and discussion
Video transcript of meeting
- Astrophoto SIG members’ photos – Brock Johnston
- Stephan’s Quintet – Plaskett telescope – Dan Posey
- Ring Nebula M57 and faint galaxy nearby – Plaskett telescope – Dan Posey
- Iris Nebula and dust in Cepheus region – Dan Posey
- Heart & Soul Nebula – Ron Fisher
- Veil Nebula, Cygnus Loop – Ron Fisher
- Shock wave from a supernova is faint part of the image
- Triangulum Galaxy – Ken McGill
- Indicating cardinal directions or orientation on photos would be helpful for visual observers – Dorothy Paul
- Discussion about what happens at the Astrophoto SIG
- GHS routine – Davey Payne
- Elephant Trunk Nebula – Ken McGill
- Ring Nebula M57 – VCO early image – John McDonald & David Lee
- Discussion about the astronomical imaging process rendering what we see in a photo
- Cygnus area of the Milky Way – wide-angle & Canon Ra camera – John McDonald
- Fox Fur, Cone, Christmas Tree, Cone nebulae – Dave Payne
- Radiation from star clusters power these nebulae
- Sulphur, oxygen and hydrogen elements – false colours
- NGC2264 (star cluster)
- Pleiades star cluster M45 – Dave Payne
- Star energy is being reflected off the adjacent gas clouds
- Mars – Brock Johnston
- Opposition – Dec 8th
- Combining and stacking video frames
- Bubble, Lobster Claw, Lagoon nebulae – refractor – Brock Johnston
- Lots of dust areas in this wide field
- M52 star cluster
- Centre of the Heart Nebula – Brock Johnston
- Good framing
- Astrophoto SIG will give a monthly update to Astronomy Cafe – Dave Payne
- Visit our Zenfolio photo galleries
- Ask questions and show your work in the RASC Victoria Astrophoto email list
- Victoria Centre Websites – Joe Carr
- Main website
- Special Interest Groups (SIGs) information and how to join
- Buy & Sell – good astronomy gear for sale
- Main website
- Stellarium app for desktop and smart devices – David Lee
- RASC National Youtube site has a webinar on how to use Stellarium
- Total Lunar Eclipse – Randy Enkin
- Time and Date – eclipse info for this eclipse and future eclipses
- Unfortunately our weather won’t be clear enough to observe the lunar eclipse later tonight
- Next good total lunar eclipse isn’t until March 2025
- Partial Solar Eclipse photos from a couple of weeks ago – Enkin’s Daily Moon on Facebook
- Great Moon Hoax
- Centre of the Universe – Lauri Roche
- Road construction is now underway on Observatory Hill – be careful when driving
- Star Parties to be held on Nov 26th, Dec 17th
- Victoria Centre Council meeting to be held on Tue, Nov 15th – Randy Enkin
Video transcript of meeting
- 2023 RASC Observer’s Calendar – still a few left from Victoria Centre’s bulk order – email Lauri Roche
- RASC Victoria Centre 2023 calendar – Joe Carr
- Online gallery
- Only 25 will be printed
- Email Joe to reserve one at $15 each (pickup only)
- Reports and updates – Chris Gainor
- Artemis Launch now on Nov 14
- James Webb Space Telescope
- Early images
- Some issues with one mode of the mid-Infrared imager (MIRI)
- Hubble Space Telescope images
- Skynews is running late, new editor hired
- History of the Canadian Astronomical Data Centre – repository for data from many big telescopes – article for Feb 2023 JRASC
- BBC National site has interactive display for JWST infrared – Michael Webb
- Lunar Eclipse on Nov 8th – Randy Enkin
- Umbra Crossings of Craters during the eclipse
- Refer to Sky & Telescope’s table of crater timings
- Refer to eclipse crater timing diagram sent out by Randy
- Randy uses the Ticking Clock app on Android
- How about using video timing? – David Lee
- How accurate does the timing need to be? S&T states 6 seconds
- Forecast for Nov 8th might indicate drier air from BC Interior will move over us – Reg Dunkley
- Refraction affecting measurements discussed
- Time and Date – eclipse info
- SIGs – David Lee
- Beginner’s SIG – talk about star clusters tomorrow night
- Electronically-assisted Astronomy (EAA) SIG – may discuss harmonic drives and other new products on Thursday evening
- Email David for more info about SIGs
- Public Outreach discussion
- David Lee: What is more effective for public outreach – using a screen or eyepiece/visual?
- Bill Weir: used his 4″ refractor for pubic observing at Jasper, while others showed images on screens
- John McDonald: sets up his telescope for observing by seniors, reporting an emotional response
- Dave Payne: setup time for EAA gear is a liability
- Garry Sedun: his family prefers visual astronomy
- Dave Robinson: reports an emotional response to observing with eye to eyepiece
- David Lee: EAA works when observing a dim object that is beyond the visual limit
- Lauri Roche: Any news about holding RASC meetings at UVic again? Nothing so far (Chris Purse)
Video transcript of meeting
- The Moon over Paris – Randy Enkin
- A photo tour of Paris featuring the Moon
- Sky Brightness Survey 2022 – David Lee
- Preliminary results
- Data cleaning using R programming language
- Next steps
- Spectral response of LEDs and SQM readings
- Discussion
- Seeing Beyond video – Nathan Hellner-Mestelman
- Manifesto of what will happen once Artemis 1 is launched
- Colonizing the solar system will change mindsets of the population at large
- Seeing Beyond – better quality video and audio on Nerd Anomaly channel
- Seeing Beyond soundtrack
- Discussion
- Gamma Ray Burst – Randy Enkin
- Gamma Ray Burst 221009A – event just happened on Oct 9th
- Initial detection and follow-up observations continuing
- Discussion
- Announcements
- Astronomy Cafe next week is Halloween, so no in-person event – Zoom virtual meeting will be hosted by
- Lunar Eclipse on Nov 7/8
- 2023 RASC Calendars – email Lauri Roche to reserve a copy. Explore the Universe and Explore the Moon workbooks are also available.
- Skynews editor has retired and new editor is hired, so combined with printing problems, there will be delayed delivery of the next issue.
- Various reports from Bill Weir