- Lisa Dang, PhD Student McGill – Marjie Welchframe (Women in Astronomy series)
- 1st principal investigator to use JWST using MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument)
- Hot Jupiters’ atmospheres gas giant exoplanets with very short orbital periods
- Erin Gibbons presentation : Perseverance First Year on Mars – RASC Montreal Centre online – Jeff Pivnick
- Erin is an Astrobiologist
- Payload specialist for the Supercam remote sensing instrument aboard Perseverance
- Search for life on Mars – primary mission
- Ingenuity drone is being used to scout routes for the rover
- Stromatolites on Mars
- Perseverance landed on west side, inside of Jezero Crater – indications of flowing water
- John McDonald
- Changes at Ross Place – building a construction crane
- Photo of the Orion Nebula and Lunar surface taken by the new Victoria Centre Observatory’s OGS telescope and QHY camera
- Cosmic Generation – Nathan Hellner-Mestelman
- Youth astronomy group being formed
- First meeting was Feb 13th
- Next meeting is Mar 13th – sign up
- Outreach and building members phase
- Website, magazine and social media coming soon
- Want to hold monthly webinars
- OCCULTATION OF ZC2118 on 22 FEB 22 observation report – David Lee
- High winds and very cold, so used light weight rigs – camera and lens, and small refractor for visual
- Video of Alpha 1 & 2 Librae stars ingress and egress
- Observing reports from Sid Sidhu, Nathan Hellner-Mestelman, Chris Purse and Randy Enkin
- IOTA lists occultations and grazes
- Lauri Roche
- Artemis Mission Launch coming up – Canadian Space Agency is looking for promotion to the public by RASC. April 16th FDAO event is proposed with a speaker from CSA.
- GA is online again this year – June 24-27
- Virtual observing across the country on two evenings – solar observing from Victoria?
- Edmonton Astrophotos – Dave Robinson
- Bi-marathons – Messier & running marathon in the same night
- Andromeda Galaxy & Ha regions & Cepheid Variable VI – Abdur Anwar
- Lunar Occultation – 2 photos 48 seconds apart – Mike Webb
- Chris Gainor
- James Webb Space Telescope Report
- Pointing and focusing 18 mirrors progressing nicely
- Now resolving a single star with completed image stacking
- More work on focusing required
- Artemis Mission – probably a May launch – Chris Gainor
- Artemis 2 mission will take humans around the Moon
- The Ukraine war will probably affect space launches from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Russia. Other space exploration may be affected. Discussion about International Space Station.
- James Webb Space Telescope Report
- Bill Weir
- Equatorial Poncet platform for the 20″ Truss Dobsonian built by Guy Walton is now working again
- Will be used at the Centre of the Universe for public viewing when restrictions permit events
- SIGs – David Lee
- Beginners SIG – tomorrow evening
- EAA SIG – Thursday – discuss a National RASC public outreach initiative using EAA
RASC Victoria Centre AGM Speaker: The Life and Times of the Sky Quality Meter (SQM) – Doug Welch, Unihedron
- 2005 first SQM manufactured
- Anthony Tekatch
- co-inventor of SQM
- PCB design, app coder (Unihedron Device Manager), production of all meters, user support
- IR limiting filter in front of sensor
- SQM-L – handheld +- 20º viewing angle
- SQM-LU – USB connected device, continuous monitor, light pollution surveys with GPS
- SQM-L-DL – data logger, runs for about a month on AA batteries
- SQM-LE – PoE Ethernet device, can function as a cloud monitor
- Website illustrates the cloud sensing function
- 10,000 SQM devices being used
- Used for mapping night sky quality worldwide, with lots of published studies
- Sea turtle light trespass use case
- Car-based mobile light pollution surveys – using a SQM-LU & computer
- Q&A
- Victoria Centre teams mapped light pollution in our area back in 2010 – Sid Sidhu & David Lee
- Can interface to Raspberry Pi with Python code
- Is it weather proof? No, but a weather enclosure is available which copes with most conditions
- Are the various models interoperable? Yes, all SQMs are calibrated before shipping.
- Milky Way can affect readings by 0.2 in southern hemisphere, 0.1 in the northern hemisphere
- Driving technique – stop then take reading is recommended
- Magnitudes/square second? It’s a logarithmic surface brightness number. Darkest are 22, meter saturates at 6 (not daytime).
- Has the SQM been useful in reducing light pollution? Yes, promoting dark areas and encouraging change.
- Discussion about measuring darkness from a very dark site and the contribution of the Milky Way in that case
A colleague recently told me that my family name, Enkin, in Japanese literally means “near-far” (遠近). One sense of the Japanese word “enkin” is “perspective”; another is “bifocal glasses”. My colleague flatteringly suggested that if we could get some of our other colleagues to spend time wearing Enkin glasses, we could probably quickly achieve consensus regarding a scientific controversy that we have been involved in for the last 30 years.
One of the joys of astronomy is using our knowledge of what is near to help us understand what is far. For me, my training as a geologist gives me a fair amount of knowledge concerning how the earth works and this informs my way at looking at astronomical objects. In my Astro Café presentations, I try to help the rest of you to see my perspective on various astronomical topics.
Everybody in the Victoria Centre has something important to contribute. You all have your personal interests and experiences, which informs what you see and understand in our common interest of astronomy. It would be wonderful to hear more of you at the Astro Café. I am quite sure our wonderful SkyNews editor would love to receive more articles for this newsletter! Presentations do not have to be polished, nor original. Your perspective is what we value. In my experience, I see that we are a particularly patient and accepting audience.
So, put on some Enkin glasses. Take joy in what you see and share it with our community. We will all learn to see your subject with a new perspective, and we will gain a better appreciation of each other.
Thank you all for accepting and supporting me through my first year as President of the Victoria Centre. It is an honour to be part of this long-running institution. I look forward to year two, with lots more activities – sometimes even in person! I look forward to getting to know more of you and sharing our mutual appreciation of the wonders of the sky.
Look Up,
Randy Enkin, President@Victoria.RASC.ca
Transcript video of meeting
- Announcements – Chris Purse
- 2022 Observer’s Calendar – some available at $15 – contact Chris Purse or Lauri Roche
- Astro Cafe In Person – Fairfield Gonzales Community Association
- The portable we have been using is no longer available
- Other rooms are available, so when we resume in-person meetings, we will be meeting in another room
- The TV we installed will be moved to our new location
- Monday is one of their busiest nights, so we may also move days
- Feedback from members is welcome
- Standing for election as Secretary – Jill Sinkwich intro
- Now participating in RASC after 20 years of lurking
- Interests in music and law, but also astronomy (observing certificates)
- Quantum Gravity – Duane Weaver
- Attended Toronto RASC virtual presentation – Dr. Saeed Rastgoo, Dept of Physics & Astronomy, York U
- Event Horizon telescope & LIGO
- Reviewed some explanations of the characteristics of black holes given at the presentation
- York AICO Teletube Mar 31, 2021 – Black Holes Saeed Rastgoo (time stamp 28:08)
- Edmonton Astrophotos – Dave Robinson
- Andromeda Galaxy – Abdur Anwar tried to capture the integrated flux between the galaxies
- A red rainbow with the Sun very low in the sky – John Wooly
- Update on James Webb Space Telescope – Chris Gainor
- First light shared before aligning the mirrors
- News story about first light
- One of the more prominent scientists for JWST at the Space Telescope Institute is a black Canadian named Jason Kallirai
- Lauri Roche
- 2022 Observer’s Calendars – $15 each – contact Lauri(roche.lauri@gmail.com)
- FDAO Star Party this Saturday evening, Feb 19th – Intersection of Science and Art – Bob McDonald
- FDAO wants to open for in-person events, starting on Astronomy Day, May 7th, but dependant on NRC and Federal pandemic rules
- David Lee
- Makers SIG – this Thursday
- Lunar Occultation is coming up – contact =David if interested (david@victoria.rasc.ca)
- Victoria Centre AGM – next Monday – Randy Enkin
- Speaker: The Life and Times of the Sky Quality Meter – Doug Welch, Dean of Graduate Studies, and on the CFHT and TMT boards
- Need a quorum, so if you can’t attend, contact our Secretary Barbara Lane (secretary@victoria.rasc.ca)
- Link to Zoom meeting sent to members by the Secretary
- Astrophotos – Brock Johnson
- Pleiades M45
- Orion Nebula M42, M43
- Rosette Nebula without stars
- Black History – event this Saturday, Feb 19th at 10AM PST – Bill Weir
- 4 presenters
- National Report – Lauri Roche
- 2023 and 2024 eclipse events being planned
- New NOVA modules available beginning of April – volunteer testers needed
- 2022 GA being planned – contact Chris Gainor (cgainor@shaw.ca)
Transcript video of meeting
- IAU Small Bodies Nomenclature – Chris Purse
- Asteroid (10109) Sidhu – 1992 KQ – discovered by Eleanor F. Helin
- Sid Sidhu was nominated by President Chris Purse back in 2018
- Quite a few Victoria Centre members are already honoured, along with other RASC members
- Sid joined RASC in 1985
- The Transformative Journey of HD 93521 (Doug Gies, et. al) – Randy Enkin
- Rapid rotating star between Leo Minor and Ursa Major
- Blue star 40,000 times more luminous as the Sun, Spectral Type O
- Only 5 million years old, and burning out rapidly
- First spectra was published by Plaskett & Pearce in 1931
- Actually 39 million years old, but nuclear clock was reset 5 million years ago
- Discussion about black holes, stellar dust, and star formation and evolution
- Lunar Occultation – David Lee (david@victoria.rasc.ca)
- Zubelnelgenubi double star occulted by the Moon on Feb 22, 2022
- Published times for various locations
- Altitude of 20º and Azimuth 135-180º from Victoria
- Prepare ahead of time
- David can help anyone interested in observing or photographing this event
- Update on Victoria Centre Observatory – Reg Dunkley
- 20″ Obsession Dob telescope – visual observing
- Digital setting circles to be installed
- 12″ Dob telescope – visual observing
- Takahashi TOA – visual and photography configurations
- 12.5″ OGS RC – photography with a new 61 Mpix cooled camera, filters LRGB & narrowband
- First light of the Moon – photo taken last night
- Paramount mount still needs some service, but it’s working
- COVID-19 Regulations – 4 members at the VCO, and 2 more members at the Plaskett parking lot. Active Observers should attest to being fully vaccinated to President Randy Enkin (president@victoria.rasc.ca) and cc to Chris Purse (membership@victoria.rasc.ca)
- Member-In-Charge (MIC) – 2 spaces available for new volunteers. Training will be provided.
- 20″ Obsession Dob telescope – visual observing
- Update on James Webb Space Telescope – Chris Gainor
- Last week, instruments turned on
- First light on sensors
- Calibrating the mirror segments is proceeding
- History of Hubble – Chris Gainor
- Chris will be receiving copies of the book
- Requests can be sent to the Hubble Information Center – info-center@hq.nasa.gov
- Observers Handbook 2022 – free one available from Joe Carr (web@victoria.rasc.ca)
- SIGs – David Lee (david@victoria.rasc.ca)
- Makers SIG meeting online this Thursday
- Victoria Centre’s AGM – Feb 21, 2022 starting at 7:00PM PST
- Speaker: The Life and Times of the Sky Quality Meter – Doug Welch, Dean of Graduate Studies, and on the CFHT and TMT boards
- Need a quorum – proxies are good if you can’t attend – send to any member in good standing who will attend, or Barbara Lane secretary@victoria.rasc.ca
Video transcript of meeting
- Delivery of Calendars & Handbooks – Lauri Roche & Chris Gainor
- Delivery of RASC 2022 Calendars for Victoria Centre should happen tomorrow
- 4 members present still don’t have their Observers Handbooks – Duane Weaver, Brock Johnston, Bill Weir
- The last Board meeting was dedicated to getting the delivery issues resolved
- Pastel Paintings of the planets – Nathan Hellner-Mestelman
- Jupiter – from Juno mission image
- Earth and the Moon from space
- Saturn in monochrome
- Mars – Olympus Mons and Valles Marineris juxtaposed
- Discussion about artistic technique
- Cordillera Mountains & Mare Oriental lunar features – Randy Enkin
- Mare Orientale – libration sketch by Bill Weir
- Randy’s lunar sketches for the Isobel Williamson Lunar Observing Program
- Youngest crater – Lunar Explorer photo
- Mare Orientale extreme libration photo by Tom Glenn – Nov 27, 2021
- IAU switched east and west references for the Moon in 1961
- Mare Orientale is only visible to this degree every few years
- A Lunar Alpine Quest – Reg Dunkley
- Original presentation to Victoria Centre on Nov 6, 2017
- Dorothy Paul – sketch of lunar mountains from the 2017 Solar Eclipse
- Reg took a photo of the same area at the 2017 Solar Eclipse and measured the height of one of the mountains on the Moon and the height of the solar chromosphere
- Identified the particular mountain using Solar Eclipse Maestro software and some trigonometry from Lunar Reconnaisance Orbiter (LRO)
- Schluter Crater is likely the candidate for the gap in the corona imaged by Reg
- Brock Johnston showed a photo of the partial eclipse featuring similar “bumps” in the partial eclipse line
- Edmonton astrophotos – Dave Robinson
- JWST telescope in a star field time lapse imaged by Anwar Abdur
- Jan 28, 2022 text observing report from Luca Vanzella – Orion & Auriga and NGCs in Cancer, Gemini, Monoceros
- SIG meetings – David Lee
- Getting Started in Astronomy – this Tuesday
- Electronically Assisted Astronomy (EAA) – this Thursday
- James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) – Chris Gainor
- Switched on the instruments, and all are functional
- Future dreams in view as Canadian instruments power up aboard James Webb Space Telescope – Globe & Mail
- Apollo 16 article coming up in JRASC
- History of Hubble – Chris is getting copies of the book for distribution around Victoria
- Victoria Centre AGM – Randy Enkin
- Monday, Feb 21st – starting at 7PM online
- Keynote Speaker: Life and Times of the Sky Quality Meter – Doug Welch
Video transcript of meeting
- JWST Report – Chris Gainor
- Spacecraft now in orbit around L2
- Telescope commissioning is now starting over the next six months
- Cooling the onboard instruments is critical
- Discussion about Black and White photography
- B&W Gallery by John McDonald
- Processing techniques converting digital colour images to black and white
- Methods of Observing and Scientific Illustration
- Photography – digital and analogue
- Sketching – perhaps a new SIG?
- Painting – watercolours
- Observing vs art
- Astrophotos – Brock Johnston
- Orion Nebula region – Jan 20th, through gaps in the clouds and trees – 400mm f/l
- Missing RASC 2022 calendars – Chris Gainor
- Shipping issues discussed at the national level
- Calendars are now considered missing, so they will be reshipped
- Recent and future astronomy presentations
- Charles Ennis talk about cross-cultural asterisms to the FDAO Star Party last Saturday
- Chinese Giant Solar Telescope – Les Welch
- Ring design solar 1.8m telescope – 2010
- Paul Hickson at UBC is working on this instrument
- Speakers covering new subjects – Dave Payne to coordinate either a new SIG or ongoing discussion at Astro Cafe
- FDAO Report – Lauri Roche
- Calvin, Lauri and Sid are still doing outreach online to schools
- Made 12 online sessions to Grade 10 classes over the last 2 weeks
- Did an in-person session with Kindergarten and Grade 1 students once last week
- NSERC grants haven’t been granted to FDAO as well as other deserving organizations
- Pearson College Report – Bill Weir
- International students are still in lockdown
- Canadian students were sent home
- College management is very nervous about their operation
Transcript video of the meeting
Meeting notes
- A Woman of Astronomy – Marji Welchframe
- Urania, Muse of Astronomy
- Seal of the RASC – “Quo Ducit Urania” (i.e. where Urania leads, we follow)
- Urania is 1 of 9 Muses of the Arts in Greek Mythology
- Uranometria star atlas by Johann Bayer (1603) – published and sold by Sky & Telescope (Willman Bell section)
- Early computer memories
- LGP-30 tube-based computer used at the University of Alberta in Edmonton by John McDonald in 1958
- Reminisces from various members about early computers, calculators, slide rules, and other computing devices and programming languages they used decades ago.
- Lunar Puzzles – Randy Enkin
- 100-piece from NASA
- 1000+ piece from Cobble Hill
- 1000 piece from Four Point
- 3-D printed Moon puzzle – Randy and his daughter assembled it
- Reports from Lauri Roche
- 2022 RASC Calendars have still not arrived
- Sky Cultures of the World: RASC World Asterisms Program – Charles Ennis, 1st VP with RASC National – FDAO Star Party – this Sat, Jan 22nd 7-9PM – available on Zoom and Youtube
- Eclipses for 2023 and 2024 – Education & Public Outreach Committee task force headed by Randy Attwood. Thousands of eclipse glasses will be available and sent to RASC Centres. Members can participate on the committee – contact Lauri.
- JWST Update – Chris Gainor
- Mirror Segment Deployment Tracker – activating the actuators behind the mirror segments
- JWST enters a halo orbit around L2 position this Sunday, Jan 23rd
- Astro Cafe next week – Jan 24, 2022
- Dr. Tanya Harrison, “a professional Martian” – our Astro Cafe speaker next week
- David Lee will be hosting
- Scarlett Caterpillar Club – a parasitic fungus Bill Weir found near the observatory at Pearson College
Extras
- NASA 3D Resources – 3D models of equipment, models of celestial and solar system objects, space missions (like JWST). Various media for download: fly-throughs, interactive visualizations, 3D printer files, stereo images.
Ah 2021. What a strange trip around the Sun! I am writing this letter on the day of the winter solstice. There is a waning gibbous moon shining high in the east, when I go to bed, and it is high in the west to greet me in the morning. I take great solace in watching and thinking about the dependable motion of the Earth through the Universe, while so much of life and news this year has left me feeling unsettled.
Nearly as dependable as the astronomical objects has been you, our astronomical community. I am so pleased when I see the 30 or 40 of us gather each Monday evening at our virtual Astro Café. We are an appreciative and supportive community. Look at all the different skill sets and experiences that get shared every week. And look at those beautiful photos and sketches that we have created. I particularly wish to mention the personal observatories (I know of 3!) that are getting designed and built by members of our centre, as well as the fantastic work by our technical committee in upgrading the Victoria Centre Observatory.
Our group has motivated me to try new astro-projects – whether observing sunspots with a solar telescope borrowed from the Centre (thanks to the capable curation of our telescope collection by Sid Sidhu), or star hopping to those faint fuzzies that you deep space observers like. And I love the expressions of appreciation when I show off my lunar sketches to our crowd.
Do remember that our community survives on the strength of our volunteerism. We have a specific requirement this year for a new secretary and a new vice president. Don’t feel you aren’t up to the job! I still feel like a newbie in the role of president, but there is no shortage of good council from the many past executives who continue to be active. Come join us on the inside, and you will feel even more affection for the Centre.
I wish us all a fruitful and fulfilling new year, with many clear skies.
Look Up,
Randy Enkin, President@Victoria.RASC.ca
Video transcript of meeting
- Updates – Chris Gainor
- James Webb Space Telescope – launch on Dec 24th 4:20AM – NASA TV & Youtube live streaming
- Parker Solar Probe – 5 min video from NASA
- RASC Board of Directors reportNational office moved last week to College Street in central Toronto
- RASC Centre orders for bulk 2022 Calendars – 7 centres have received their boxes, but delivery to BC centres may be delayed further
- Observing certificates sent out today
- Astrophotos – Ken McGill
- Orion Nebula – ZWO 1600MC, ASI Air Live View
- Andromeda Galaxy – Oct 30th
- Pleiades
- My Astronomy Sketch of the Year 2021 – Dorothy Paul
- Observed Nov 28-Dec 1, 2021 from the west side of Eureka Valley (NW corner of Death Valley National park)
- Remote, dark (Mag 6.5) and cold (-5ºC)!
- Sky Critters – Canis Major, Hydra, Leo, Ursa Major – sketched from memory, like being in a theatre
- They had Dorothy’s Dobsonian telescope with them, but didn’t end up using it
- Astrophotos – Brian Barber
- Full Moon – using a NexYZ for mounting a smartphone, PIP software to centre & size, AutoStakkert software to stack the photos
- Building the MCD Observatory – Michel Michaud
- Presentation to Club d’astronomie de Rimouski
- Started July 26
- 14′ long 4×4 timbers and special smaller door
- Built cases over the exposed rails to protect from rain and ice
- Paramount MX to arrive in Feb
- Celestron Edge HD 14″ – March – Summer 2022
- First projects
- Photometry
- Asteroids
- Restarting his Pleiades project when the 14″ scope arrives
- Currently using his Meade LX-55 mount and a 66mm refractor
- Report on astronomy activities – Nathan Hellner-Mestelman
- NerdAnomaly – online cartoons
- Learning sketching at school
- Casual public outreach – telescope setup on the sidewalk outside the house
- Report on astronomy activities – David Lee
- Pivoting to maintain community – formed Victoria Centre’s SIGs
- Personal study – astrophotography, observing, space exploration
- VCO Technical team – work to be ready when we can open to members again
- FDAO – collaborations with UVic – Dave Payne, Mike Nash, Dan Posey, Brock Johnston
- Variable Star Observing – completed 3 AAVSO certificates
- Australian sketching workshop – Dorothy Paul
Victoria Centre needs a new Vice-President and Secretary for 2022 – to stand for election, please contact Randy Enkin or Reg Dunkley
Astronomy Café will resume on Monday, January 10, 2022