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Astronomy Cafe – April 17, 2023

Posted April 17, 2023 by Webmaster as Astro Cafe

Video transcript of meeting

Regional Science Fair – report by Randy Enkin
- 3 prizes awarded
- Measured the period of the pendulum
- Supernovae red shift analysis – Nathan Mestleman-Keller
- Double Di-pole Radio Telescope – Io/Jupiter generates – Evan Warburton, Oak Bay High School, Grade 12
- Distinguished Service Award to Randy
Astronomy by Night – new astronomy website hosted by Carina Ockedahl (former editor of Skynews), Chris Vaughn, Charles Ennis, and more contributors
JUICE – Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer launch – Randy Enkin
- ESA launched this mission to Jupiter on Friday
- Lunar-Earth flyby a year from now
- Venus and Earth flyby
- Arrives at Jupiter – July 3031
- Multiple flybys of Jupiter’s icy moons
- Orbit Ganymede for 3 years
- 10 instruments onboard
SIGs – David Lee
- Makers SIG
- Astrophotography SIG
International Astronomy Day – Lauri Roche & David Lee
Neutron Stars – The Quest to Understand the Zombies – a book by Katia Moskvitch – review by Ron Fisher
- Latest research and very interesting story
- Research in Italy
- NGC 4993- emitted radio waves and captured visual light from neutron star collision
- CHIME – fast radio bursts
Astrophotos and Sketches
- Double Transit – John McDonald
  - Planets and shadows visible
  - Moon Shadows on Jupiter – video
- SkAc1 faint Planetary Nebula – Dave Payne
  - Challenge by Bill Weir
- Double Transit sketch – Bill Weir
- Orbital Motion of Venus – Marjie Welchframe
- Bode & Cigar Galaxies, Horsehead & Flame Nebulae – Ken McGill

Astronomy Cafe – Apr 3, 2023

Posted April 3, 2023 by Webmaster as Astro Cafe

Meeting transcript video

SIGs – David Lee
- Beginners’ SIG tomorrow night
- Electronically-assisted Astronomy & Citizen Science SIG – Thursday
Mallory Thorp – profile by Marjie Welchframe
- PhD UVic 2022
- IFS / MaNGA survey
- Working on PHANGS
- Postdoctoral researcher the Argelander-Institut für Astronomie (AIfA) at the University of Bonn in Germany
- May 8th Astronomy Cafe – upcoming speaker
- Spoke at the last year’s Island Star Party
- The ALMaQUEST Survey X: what powers merger induced star formation?
Island Star Party 2023 – Dave Payne
- Speakers TBA
- Telescope tours and tutorials
- Make suggestions for activities
- Tue, April 11th – kick off meeting
- Contact Dave (email) or
  Christopher Gainor, FRASC Email
  to help out with this fun event
Fast Radio Cosmos lecture by Victoria Kaspi – Reg Dunkley
- Uses the CHIME radio observatory near Penticton
- 3 additional outrigger radio telescopes: 160 kms from Penticton, Green Bank, WV, and Hat Creek, CA
- Good Q&A at the end of the lecture video
- Skynews – Feb 2017 issue highlights the CHIME instruments
- DRAO open to the public starting April 8th
- Discussion of radio interference when using radio telescopes
Astronomy Day – Lauri Roche
- FDAO Star Party – Observatory Hill – April 29th – evening hours
  - Need astronomers with telescopes to volunteer
  - Starlink speaker
- UVic – April 30th 11AM-4PM
  - Lots of volunteers have signed up, but everyone welcome to help, especially someone to lead the event promotion and communications – contact Lauri by email
  - Astronomy labs open
  - 6 speakers
  - Free parking
Virtual General Assembly 2023 – May 5-7
- Jeremy Hansen, CSA astronaut – speaker
RASC Victoria Hopes & Dreams – Randy’s list
Christopher Gainor, FRASC Email
- Open Council meetings. Now that we have a smaller Council, we should make more effort to advertise the meetings to the entire membership – and possibly lay the foundation for more recruitment to leadership.
- Closer ties to UVic. I often hear that members want to get back to meeting at the University. I also think we should offer programs that encourage undergrad students to be active in the RASC-VC.
- Closer ties with the FDAO. We have overlapping mandates and volunteer bases. Closer coordination will benefit both organizations.
- More in-person events, especially under the night sky.
- More scheduled and ad hoc evenings at the VCO
- More diversity in membership and leadership.
- A budget!
- Revised Statement of Goals of the Society.
- Calendar on the website
- Documented Council job descriptions
- October 14 Solar Eclipse event
- Display of Astrophotographs
- Support Vic High club, Oak Bay, Mount Doug
- Prizes or other activities with UVic students (Volunteerism, Outreach)
- Using the telescope collection to support School Clubs.
- Help with the telescope lending library
- Recruitment and Retention of membership.
- Sustainability of Volunteers and Council members
- Organize the Google Drive. Make more complete.
- Member survey
- Diane Bell Award for Astrosketching
- Car share to VCO
- NOVA program!
- Schools Program – with FDAO?
- Liaisons with school groups
- Mentors with school groups
- Join in school-group observing nights
- Prizes and goodies for school groups
- Support for Science Fair – volunteers for judges, prizes, handing our RASC bookmark etc.
Sky At Night Podcasts – Bill Weir & David Lee
- Lance Bass (nSync boy band) – selected to be a Russian cosmonaut! “The last Soviet citizen”
- JWST podcast series
Victoria Centre Observatory (VCO) – Reg Dunkley
- Active Observers to have access soon
- Tech committee needs to check on the health of systems up there first
- No more than 16 people at a time, with social distancing and health precautions (personal choice)
- Ad hoc observing sessions for favourable weather to start with
- Scheduled observing sessions later
- Must be an Active Observer and must adhere to safety procedures
- Gate codes for existing MICs have been refreshed for the coming year
Astrophotos during galaxy season – Dave Payne
- M94 galaxy – elliptical shape and outer ring of material
- M106 and friends – 4 arms in M106
National Council – Chris Gainor
- Complete staff turnover at the National office is ongoing
- Randy Atwood is interim Executive Director, working with the Board to recover
- Annual Report – Victoria Centre’s report still needed
- Skynews magazine is still being wound up

There will not be an Astro Café next week as it is a holiday Monday. We will be back on Monday, April 17

Astronomy Cafe – March 6, 2023

Posted March 6, 2023 by Webmaster as Astro Cafe

Video transcript of meeting

Randy Enkin (video recording)
- Venus-Jupiter Conjunction
  - Some great photo taken of the conjunction both by members and others
  - Venus can be up to 47º away from the Sun
  - Venus-Jupiter Conjunctions 1990-2060
  - March 1st conjunction – Venus-Jupiter had 0.5º separation
- Victoria Centre’s Annual General Meeting – March 13th (virtual)
  - Need 25 members for a quorum
  - Links to Zoom sent to members along with supporting documents
  - Social dinner at the Moon Under Water Pub to be held on March 27th
The Hunt for the Culprit – Part 2 – Reg Dunkley
- Jan 9th – Part 1 was presented
- Iron 60 and Supernovae relationship
- Are Supernovae responsible for climate change on Earth?
- Star formation near the Sun is driven by expansion of the Local Bubble by Catherine Zucker, et. al. – Jan 2022
- Caroline and William Herschel
- GAIA – astronomical big science, inspired an astronomical gold rush
  - ESA video on GAIA
  - 3D map of the Milky Way
  - Photometric instrument
  - Measures: Brightness, positions, proper motions, radial velocities, spectra
  - 11 years of data, 150 complete surveys of the sky
  - How this data is being used – a review
- Interstellar Extinction
- H-R Diagram: Colour Index vs Magnitude
- 3D Mapping of Interstellar Dust
- The Local Bubble – dust map
- Traceback of Star Cluster
- Idealized Model for Local Bubble Evolution – Stellar and Solar Orbits animation
- Location of the Culprit
- Summary of Zucker et al findings
- A Golden Opportunity!
  - Data freely available along with analysis routines
  - Do some citizen science?
- Radcliffe Wave by Brian Ventrudo
Special Interest Groups – David Lee
- Beginners SIG – tomorrow evening
- Citizen Science SIG – Thursday evening – sign up with David Lee
Photos & Observations by members
- Venus-Jupiter conjunction from Hawai’i – photo of closest approach (0.5º) by Dave Payne
- Jones-Eberson Bubble planetary nebula – photo by Brock Johnston
  - Jones 1 in Pegasus – next object to try for – Bill Weir
- Explore the Universe observing program – Marjie Welchframe
- Moon-Jupiter-Venus conjunction on Feb 23 – iPhone photo taken from the city by Doug Hardy
- Photos – Ken McGill
  - Horsehead and Flame Nebula
  - Orion Nebula – Ken Burns effect
- Moon-Jupiter-Venus conjunction on Feb 23 – Marjie Welchframe
Reports – Lauri Roche
- Centre of the Universe Open House on March 25-26
- RASC Online General Assembly (no AGM)
  - Virtual tours of DDO and DAO (7-8pm on Fri)
  - Poster sessions – April 1st call for papers
- RASC National AGM – June 25th (virtual)

Astronomy Cafe – Feb 6, 2023

Posted February 6, 2023 by Webmaster as Astro Cafe

Video transcript of meeting

Silent Sky at Langham Court Theatre – performances Jan 25 to Feb 11
- Positive comments from RASC members who attended performances, especially Sara Ellison’s presentation at the end of the Sunday afternoon performance.
- Full bus from Berwick House attended the Sunday afternoon performance
- Lots of seats are available for Wed, Thu & Fri upcoming performances
- History of the production by Jim Hesser
Welcome from Jeff Pivnick
Beginners’ SIG – tomorrow evening – David Lee
Special General Meeting – Feb 13, 2023 – Randy Enkin
- Need to adopt new bylaws for Victoria Centre
- Presentation: A Brief History of Galaxies… – Sara Ellison
Black Holes
- How can a black hole conserve angular momentum? – Randy Enkin
  - Conservation of angular momentum examples
    - Solar system
    - Earth-Moon system
  - Black Holes – 1915 Albert Einstein, 1916 Karl Schwarzchild (point singularity), 1963 Roy Kerr (ringularity)
- What really happens at the black hole singularity? – John McDonald
  - Black Holes can be explained somewhat by Gravity (very large things) and Quantum Theory (very small things)
  - What happens to information that falls into a Black hole? We don’t know.
  - Black Holes are not likely a singularity, so it’s unknown what form they actually take
  - Entropy – measure of the disorder of things
Uranus – Jeff Pivnick
- Relative distances of planets in solar system
- Distance from the Sun to Saturn is about the same as the distance from Saturn to Uranus
- Photos of Uranus taken by John McDonald and Lucky Budd – Zenfolio | RASC Victoria Centre | Search
- William Herschel, an astronomer, reflecting telescope maker, musician and composer
  - Discovered Uranus on March 13, 1781
  - Discovered infrared light
  - Caroline Herschel – first professional astronomer (paid by the king)
  - NGC list was first compiled by the Herschels
Horizons – Dorothy Paul
- Observed from the White Mountains of California in October 2022
- Camped for 10 days with 7 days of good observing skies
- SQM at least 21.8, with good transparency and stability
- Dorothy and Miles observed the southern sky from 38.5º north, observing the Grus constellation at -50º altitude!
- Observed stars right down to the True Horizon at -51.5º
- Discussion of the term Astronomical Horizon
Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) photos – Dave Payne
- Globular Cluster discovered by Caroline Herschel
- Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) on Jan 28th
- Diatomic carbon causes the green colour in many comets, including this one
RASC Victoria AGM tentatively to be held on March 13, predicated on the new bylaws being passed.

Astronomy Cafe – Jan 9, 2023

Posted January 9, 2023 by Webmaster as Astro Cafe

Meeting transcript video

Intro – Randy Enkin
- We still don’t have approval to hold monthly meetings at UVic, so speakers will continue to present at Astronomy Cafe
Learning Astrophotography – Reg Dunkley
- Dec 6th Astro Cafe presentation by Ron Fisher on his adventures learning astrophotography – thanks Ron!
- Victoria Centre Observatory can help members to start taking astrophotos using our centre’s gear once the VCO reopens – soon now. Bring your own dSLR to use on our Takahashi refractor, or use our 61 mpix mono astro camera on our OGS Ritchey–Chrétien telescope.
Far Side Amateur Astronomers Observing a Supernova – Reg Dunkley
- Time-resolved 2-million-year-old supernova activity discovered in Earth’s microfossil record – by UVic grad Shawn Bishop et. al., and refer to Reg’s article in Oct 2016 issue of our SkyNews (pdf)
- Star formation near the Sun is driven by expansion of the Local Bubble by Catherine Zucker, et. al.
- What Happens If A Star Explodes Near The Earth – by Dr. Derek Muller on his popular Veritassium Youtube channel
  - How a supernova happens
  - Neutrino flux hitting Earth predicts a new supernova (about 18 hours ahead of time)
  - Neutron stars, cosmic rays, Iron 60, Gamma ray bursts
  - If a supernova explodes within 1 light year from Earth, it will be serious. SNs could be lethal to humans even if they are up to 150 ly away.
Laurie Rousseau-Nepton from CFHT is the speaker for next week’s Astro Cafe – Dave Payne
- Hydrogen star-forming regions
- Observing with the SITELLE sensor on CFHT
RASC Edmonton Astrophotos – Dave Robinson
- WR134 Wolf-Rayette star and region – Abdur Anwar
Sunrise, Sunset and the Path of the Sun – Randy Enkin
- Why does the shortest day not happen at Winter Solstice? – question posed by Marjie Welchframe
- Obliquity – plus or minus 8 mins variability for a “day” – tilt of the ecliptic to the equator
- Eccentricity – Kepler’s Second Law – causes variation between civil time and solar time
- Sun compass – uses local solar tip and longitude, corrected for DST
SIGs – David Lee
- Beginners Group – back to basics
- Electronically-assisted Astronomy – winding down
- Citizen Science – starting up
- Astrophotography – had a meeting in Dec, and will report to Astro Cafe in a couple of weeks
- Makers – David building an “environment box”
President’s Announcements – Randy Enkin
- Soliciting feedback from members on the new proposed bylaws by Jan 15th – send to Secretary and President.
- Special meeting to adopt the new bylaws
- Hold AGM under (hopefully) new bylaws
- Members should consider standing for election to an officer’s position – contact Reg Dunkley, Nominations – email
Handbooks for Explore the Universe and Explore the Moon are available at $10 each. Also some 2023 RASC Observers calendars are still available at $15 each. Contact Lauri Roche by email
Observing Opportunities
- Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF at perihelion: online observation – Jan 12th live online

Astronomy Cafe – Dec 19, 2022

Posted December 19, 2022 by Webmaster as Astro Cafe

Video transcript of meeting

Artemis, the film – Nathan Hellner-Mestelman
RASC Robotic Telescope – David Lee
- Science Team will be observing variable stars
- Education – classroom outreach
- Buying time on the scope or the datasets is available for members
Mars – Brock Johnston, Bill Weir & David Lee
- Dec 15th – Brock’s photo and Bill’s sketch
- Occultation of Mars by the Moon
- Bill is observing Mars monthly
Rimouski observing conditions – Michel Michaud
- Observatory equipment is working well
- Waiting for better conditions when colder weather arrives
Buy & Sell review – items for sale on Victoria Centre’s website – Joe Carr
Astrophotography SIG – Dec 28th – Dave Payne
Discussion
- A deep field taken by James Webb Space Telescope – 9 days, 100,000 galaxies
- GAIA dataset
- Speakers for next year?
The Human Cosmos, Civilization and the Stars by Jo Marchant – at Munro’s Books for $10 – Mary Anne Gervais loves this book – Author’s website
Apodizing Mask – used to observe the bright planets – Bill Weir
- Boosting Performance by Apodization by Ernest Pfannenschmidt (April 2003 JRASC)
- Old Dec 2003 issue of our SkyNews has Ernie’s obit in it with an image of the refractor. Also there’s an image of a Mars map that he did. It inspired me to do the same in 2005 because in my arrogance I thought, Pfffftt, how difficult could that be? Turned out it was. Takes a lot of luck too to get all of the phases.
Next meeting – Jan 9, 2022 starting at 7:00PM

Astronomy Cafe – Dec 12, 2022

Posted December 12, 2022 by Webmaster as Astro Cafe

Video transcript of meeting

Astronomical Society of the Pacific – David Lee’s report from a virtual conference
- Diversity and citizen science
- Upcoming solar eclipses
- OpenStax Astronomy – topics for beginners
- Mentorship of students, STEM
- Active Learning
- NASA Citizen Science
- Vera Rubin Observatory – public portals to data
- World Asterisms – RASC Charles Ennis
- Accessible astronomy for blind people and others
Citizen Science SIG/group – contact David Lee
“Silent Sky” – a play about Henrietta Leavitt- Langham Court Theatre – Jeff Pivnick
- Playing Jan 25-Feb 11th, 2023
- RASC should have telescopes outside – Marjie & Reg
Astronomical Images – Real or fiction? – Joe Carr
- Faked ring detail on Saturn image posted by Jason Guenzel and critical reaction from many on social media
- Io in True Color from Galileo mission, and a monochrome LORRI image from the New Horizons mission
- Joe’s 2016 Total Solar Eclipse false colour image processed using HDR, split toning and tone curves
- Joe’s Prominences on the Sun in Ha using Sobel edge detection filter
- Dave Payne’s Tadpoles Nebula images in RGB versus a Hubble-like palette using narrowband hydrogen, oxygen and sulphur
- Ken McGill’s Eastern Veil Nebula images with and without stars
- John McDonald’s various processing techniques of the Cave Nebula using Dave Payne’s RGBL & Ha, OIII & SI narrowband source image data
- Lava Flows North on Mauna Loa – Landsat infrared data overlaid on natural colour
- Landsat NIR, IR and green wavelengths used to depict fine detail in the Columbia Glacier – Prince William Sound, Alaska
- High Dynamic Range source data and resultant image illustration of process
- Question to the group: Which astrophotos do you consider fake?
  - Dennis Crabtree’s posts of AI-generated images on Facebook
- Extra: APOD: An Artful Sky over Lofoten Islands (2022 Dec 13) – Giulio Cobianchi
Tributes to Dave Bennett – Randy Enkin
- Guy Nason was his observing partner
- Randy visited with Sue and took away Dave’s astronomy gear. Bruce Lane will appraise it.
- Varsavia occultation – David Lee
- Dave Bennett Memorial
Constitution and Bylaws – Randy Enkin
- Please read the bylaws as sent out to all members
- Send any comments to the President and Secretary
- We will adopt the new bylaws at the Special General Meeting by 2/3 majority
- Then we will hold our AGM based on the new bylaws (hopefully)
Makers’ SIG – happening this week on Thursday – contact David Lee
Lunar Occultation of Mars – Brian Barber & David Lee
- Very tough to photograph from Victoria, and the visual views were spotty
- Enkin’s Daily Moon is profiling photos of the occultation from around the world on Facebook
Artemis I Return – Chris Gainor
- Splashed down after 26 days in space
- Entry used a different approach path over the South Pole, landing just offshore from San Diego
- Announcement of the crew for the next mission is next, including a Canadian astronaut
- Shorty crater and orange soil in 1972 broadcast from the Moon on Apollo Realtime Playback
- Bob McDonald’s Frankenstein Rocket presentation

Astronomy Cafe – Dec 5, 2022

Posted December 6, 2022 by Webmaster as Astro Cafe

Video transcript of meeting

Beginning in Astrophotography – Ron Fisher
- 2018 Dobsonian telescope for Christmas
- Joined the Astrophotography SIG when it started up during the pandemic
- Climbed the “learning curve”
- Acquired an EQ6 mount, mounted 300mm telephoto lens and a dSLR
- Learned PixInsight
- Andromeda (1st photo), Orion Nebula (2nd photo)
- New gear acquired in April 2022
  - Askar 500mm 90mm apo refractor
  - 50mm Guidemaster scope & guide camer
  - ASI Air Pro powers and controls all the gear
- M81, M82
- Pelican Nebula
- PixInsight used for processing
- With a focal reducer
  - North American Nebula
  - Elephant Trunk Nebula
  - Soul Nebula
- Heart and Soul Nebula
- Ron’s astrophoto gallery
Astronomical Holiday Gifts – Randy Enkin
- Starting in astronomy – David Lee
  - Stars and Planets – Smithsonian handbook
  - RASC Almanac
  - Deep Sky Wonders – Sue French – good for beginners with small scopes or binoculars
  - Binocular Highlights – Garry Seronik
- History of Hubble – Chris Gainor has a few copies at his house ($25)
- For sale – used from Randy Enkin’s bookshelf
  - Apollo Murders – Chris Hadfield
  - Silent Spring – Rachael Carson
  - Planets – Dava Sobel
  - The Day the World Discovered the Sun – transects of Venus in the 18th century
Edmonton Centre– Alistair Ling
- Finally staging hybrid meetings – Planetarium at Telus World
- What’s up in the sky – based on Edmonton’s sky
- The hybrid meetings have only attracted limited members to attend in-person
- Observatory at Black Nugget Lake – installing a 32″ telescope – unofficial first light by this summer
  - Visual telescope – looking forward to observing the celestial splendors
  - Designed to be an imaging scope, if needed in future
  - Public access is planned
- Weekly public outreach at The Science Centre
- Helping people use their telescopes – by Alistair
- Have a full slate of officers
Occultation of Mars – Randy Enkin
- Bad weather is likely a factor for our area
- Dec 7 Wednesday evening 7-8PM
- Watch Mars at opposition pass behind the moon this week in these free webcasts – space.com
Mars photo from yesterday evening – Brock Johnston
Observing techniques – discussion
SIGs – David Lee email
- Beginners tomorrow night – magnitude basics
- Electronically-assisted Astronomy on Thursday, then on request only
- Citizen Science SIG – coming up in January
- Aaron Bannister request: astrophotography for school kids
  - Capture brighter objects when weather permits
  - Processing data sets
  - Astrophotographers?
Last Astro Cafes for 2022 – Dec 12th, 19th
First Astro Cafe of the New Year – Jan 9, 2023 starting at 7:00PM instead of 7:30PM
Sunshine Coast Centre – Peter Broughton presentation on J.S. Plaskett – Dec 9 Friday 7PM – Victoria Centre members welcome
Winter Solstice Star Party – Dec 17th – Nathan is presenting
Status of national Observers Calendars – haven’t arrived yet
Artemis I update – Chris Gainor
- Close pass to the Moon this morning
- On its way home – Dec 11th arrival
- Crescent Earthrise photo
Watching the final Apollo launch to the Moon – flashback tomorrow night – Chris Gainor
David Bennett memories from members – next week

Astronomy Cafe – Nov 28, 2022

Posted November 28, 2022 by Webmaster as Astro Cafe

Video transcript of the meeting

Astronomy Day – Jeff Pivnick
- Giveaways needed – contact Jeff
  - Old Observers’ Handbook
  - Past issues of magazines like Skynews
  - Astronomy books no longer needed
Victoria Centre AGM 2023 – Randy Enkin
- Decouple the social event and the business meeting
How do members use the Observers Handbook? – Randy Enkin
- Read articles, but don’t use as a guide book
- Definitions are useful
- Source of authoritative information about astronomy
- Lists of eclipses, celestial objects
- Sky phenomena
- Tides
- Professional astronomers use it as reference
- Chris Purse and James Edgar have given tours of the Observers Handbook. James’ 6 presentations are available on RASC National’s Youtube.
2023 RASC Observers calendars – should arrive within a week for those who ordered – Lauri Roche
SIGs – David Lee
- Members have shown interest in the new Citizen Science SIG – announcement pending
- Electronically-Assisted Astronomy SIG this Thursday
- Beginners SIG next week
Astronomy Cafe venue – Randy Enkin
- Custodians want to clean our meeting room and leave by 9:00PM
- Proposing to start Astro Cafe at 7:00PM
- Possibly give up on in-person Astro Cafe?
- What about monthly meetings at UVic resuming? Parking is now $4 for the evening, and no word from UVic about restarting room rentals.
Artemis Mission – Chris Gainor
- Photo of Artemis’ Orion, the Moon, Earth – Flickr
- Dec 1 – next burn
- James Webb mission blogs
- L2 outside the Moon gives Orion a low-energy position – Distant Retrograde Orbit
- Mass concentrations on the Moon affect the orbit of the rockets
- Nov 23 – Orion lost contact with Earth for 47 minutes – unexplained, to be investigated
- Discussion about launching processes
Using Stellarium – Dennis F
- Impressed with the tutorials produced by National
NRC Open House for RASC members?
- Would be great to have a tour of the new optical building
- Lauri to coordinate when the road reopens
FDAO Star Parties – Lauri Roche
- Dec 26 – online only for last Saturday’s Star Party
  - Presentation: CASTOR new space telescope (ultraviolet, wide-field) – Dr. Tyrone Woods, project lead
  - Would make a good presentation for RASC Victoria members
- Dec 17 – virtual Star Party celebrating the solstice – Nathan is the speaker

Astronomy Cafe – Nov 21, 2022

Posted November 21, 2022 by Webmaster as Astro Cafe

Video transcript of meeting

Lunar background information – Jeff Pivnick
- NASA Science web – source of presentation
- Lunar origin – giant impact is most-favoured hypothesis
- Lunar orbit is locked to the Earth
- Composition of the surface & core
  - 2 kinds of rock – black magma, white Vesicular basalt
  - Regolith makes up the surface dust
- Exploration
  - Apollo 11 through 17
  - Artemis
Artemis I Lunar Mission – Chris Gainor
- Artemis I is an un-crewed mission to test the Orion spacecraft and launch vehicle rocket systems
- Dec 11th – scheduled splashdown
- 10 tiny satellites part of the mission
- In-flight photos
- Cabin takes 4 people on future missions
- Photos of the Moon and setting Earth (behind the Moon)
- As close as 81 miles to the Moon’s surface
- Human Space Programs
  - Apollo (1968-1972), space shuttle (1981-2011, ISS (1998-present)
  - Human missions are very expensive
  - Constellation Program – 2004-2010 – parts of this program are in Artemis
  - Exploration test flights in 2009, 2014
  - Space Launch System – SLS variants of launch rockets
  - Orion Exploration Vehicle
    - Crew of 4
    - Crew Module (NASA contractors)
    - Service Module (ESA)
- Cost of Artemis I mission is $4 billion
- Phase 1 – get back to the Moon
- Phase 2 – go on to Mars ~20 years
- Artemis II
  - 4 astronauts on board
  - Loop around the Moon and return
  - No lunar orbit or landing
  - 1 of 4 Canadian astronauts will go on the mission
  - May 2024 probable launch
- Artemis III
  - Landing on the Moon
  - As early as 2025
  - SpaceX Starship will be used as a lunar lander
  - SpaceX Starship may fly to the Moon earlier and independent from Artemis!
- Lunar Gateway – Canadarm in lunar orbit
- Space Shuttle engines are being reused for the Artemis missions
Minor details about Artemis I – Randy Enkin
- Photo of the mission launch showing Moon, rocket, meteorite for Enkin’s Daily Moon on Facebook
- Trajectories
  - Distant Retrograde Orbit through La Grange points
  - Slingshot around the Moon to return to Earth
- Cubesats
  - Space on Artemis for 16 cubesats
  - 10 cubesats on this Artemis I mission
  - The Cubesats all have different purposes and missions
- Passengers – all mannequins
- Photo of mission launch for Enkin’s Daily Moon on Facebook
Lunar Sketches – Randy Enkin
- Waning phase – favourable libration – on two days
- Photos of same area sketched – by Mike Nash (Victoria) and Steven Arthur Sweet (Toronto)
Apollo, Artemis and Orion – a backgrounder on the Greek gods by Jeff Pivnick
Concert at UVic on Dec 3rd – Dave Robinson
Astrophotography SIG – this Wednesday – Dave Payne
Road construction has closed Observatory Hill to the public until Dec 22nd
- Victoria Centre Observatory closed – Reg Dunkley
- Centre of the Universe – virtual events only – Lauri Roche
- Serious access problems for everyone
SIGs – David Lee
- Makers SIG this Thursday
- Citizen Science SIG – interested? contact David
  - Meteor counts
  - Occultations
  - Light Pollution monitoring such as Victoria Centre’s recent project
  - Galaxy Zoo
  - Wikipedia & Science Focus
Bollide Meteor over Southern Ontario – Peter Jedicke
- 3:26AM EST on Saturday morning
- Asteroid orbital predictions are now a reality
- Predicted hit between London to Brantford, Ontario
- Dave Clark, RASC member observed it
- Photo taken by Rob Weryk from London, based on a tip from Hawai’i astronomy staff
- Earlier photo from Lowell Observatory used to refine calculation of orbit
- Peter didn’t spot the meteorite
- Western News