- 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
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.
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