Astronomy Cafe – May 2, 2022

Posted by as Astro Cafe

Video transcript of meeting

  • Intro – Randy Enkin
  • Astronomy Day – David Lee
    • Final check-in this Wednesday evening for leads before Saturday events
    • International Astronomy Day – May 7, 2022
  • Vancouver Island Science Fair intro to awardees – Randy Enkin
  • VI Science Fair: Light At Night – Beata Ariana-Minniti (Cedar Hill Middle School student)
    • Creating a bus stop light using natural resources
    • Parts: Thermoelectric generator, voltage regulator, LED light
    • Heat storage: sand in an insulated box
  • Canada-wide Science Fair: Lower CubeSat orbit could Protect Space Infrastructure – Nathan Hellner-Mestelman
    • CubeSats collide, creating dangerous space debris that orbits the Earth – Kessler Syndrome
    • Quantifying the collisions
    • Lowering the hazard: choosing best orbits, adding micro-thrusters to CubeSats to change orbit or de-orbit
  • Astrophotos from southern Arizona – John McDonald & Garry Sedun
    • Caldwell 30 galaxy
    • M33 Triangulum Galaxy
    • NGC 2903 barred spiral galaxy
    • IC 433 Jellyfish Nebula
  • Eclipse Crater Timing – Randy Enkin
  • James Webb Space Telescope Update – Chris Gainor
    • All onboard instruments are now in focus
    • Commissioning of instruments next, then science projects begin

New Horizons Pluto fly-by celebration – July 14th

Posted by as Special Events

Tuesday July 14 is going to be an historic day. The New Horizons spacecraft will make its long-awaited flyby of Pluto, obtaining the first closeup photos and data from this mysterious world.

In honour of this event, I am arranging an informal and fun event at Pluto’s Restaurant (“The Hottest Food from the Coolest Planet”) in Victoria, BC, Canada at 6 p.m. on July 14. This will be a dinner and celebration, including an update with the latest news from Pluto.

If you are interested in taking part, please let me know, so I can give the restaurant people an estimate of how many people they can expect. Once there, you can order off the menu and pay for your meal as usual.

About the time we sit down for dinner, the first transmission from New Horizons after its flyby is due to arrive on Earth. I am also trying to arrange for an expert speaker to give us a very brief update on the findings from New Horizons.

Pluto’s Restaurant is at 1150 Cook St., at the corner of View St. near downtown Victoria.

This flyby will be an historic event, no matter how you classify Pluto. This will be the last first-time flyby of what some call a “classical planet” and the first of one of the many smaller planets in the Kuiper Belt. Interestingly, the first flyby of a planet (other than Earth) was Mariner IV’s flyby of Mars on July 14, 1965, exactly fifty years before the New Horizons flyby of Pluto.

If you are planning to attend, please let me know or join the Facebook event. Family and friends are also welcome!

Chris Gainor