Education
Join us on April 12th 2019 at 7:30pm – Admission is free and everyone is welcome!
Our guest speaker will be Stephen Holmes. Stephen writes; “I suspect we all wonder about alien civilizations. SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, and the Drake Equation set out some tools to help us get our heads around these huge numbers and consider realistically how plentiful or rare these civilizations are. Astronomy gives us the tools to determine realistically the star systems that might host these civilizations. Join me to consider some of these considerations.”
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Amateur astronomy is a hobby of great diversity. From observing faint galaxies millions of light years away, to CCD astrophotography, to reading the latest magazine at the coffee shop, to comet chasing, tinkering with the latest equatorial mount, radio astronomy, enjoying a planetarium show and everything else in between. But for those who take a keen liking to the hobby – the time and money spent perfecting our craft can be astronomical, and we often lose sight of what it is that makes stargazing so appealing and so important. Join Kevin as we take a step back and a look up at the grander picture of the heavens above, and journey back to that very first moment when you realized the universe was calling for you to take a peek.
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Find yourself the proud owner of a shiny new telescope this holiday season and not sure how to use it? Or perhaps thinking of buying one but have some questions? You’re in luck! The Hamilton Amateur Astronomers will be hosting a Scope Clinic and Open House on Saturday February 2, 2019. Held in the auditorium of the Hamilton Spectator Building, 44 Frid St Hamilton, the doors are open to the public from 1:00 – 5:00PM.
A wide variety of astronomical equipment will also be on display, including telescopes, binoculars, astro-photographic equipment, charts and meteorites! Bring your own telescope to get tips and pointers on using it, or help fixing it if it is in need of repair.
Admission is free so bring your family and friends!
Location:
Hamilton Spectator Building
44 Frid St, Hamilton
When:
Saturday, February 2nd, 1:00 – 5:00pm
Food Share Donations:
Donations of non-perishable food for the Hamilton Food Share program will be collected at this meeting. Please drop off any items at the drop-box located near the entrance of the auditorium. All donations gratefully accepted and thanks to your generosity we’ve collected thousands of pounds of food since we began. Let’s keep up the great work as the need continues.
Photo credit: John Gauvreau
Join us on January 11th 2019 at 7:30pm – Admission is free and everyone is welcome!
William Shakespeare lived at a remarkable time – a period we now recognize as the first phase of the Scientific Revolution – and yet “Shakespeare” and “science” are rarely uttered in the same breath. But as award-winning journalist Dan Falk has found, a reassessment is at hand. In this illustrated talk, Falk will explore Shakespeare’s interest in the scientific discoveries of his time, with a particular focus on the changing conceptions of the cosmos, from Aristotle to Copernicus and Galileo.
Continue ReadingMark your calendars! Join the Hamilton Amateur Astronomers on November 16 at 6:00 PM for our Fall workshop. As with our spring event, there will be several speakers discussing various aspects of astronomy and how to get the most out of this very rewarding hobby. As always, be sure to bring your questions and curiosity as there will be several knowledgeable amateur astronomers available to help you start out in astronomy, take it to the next level, or perhaps give you some holiday gift ideas for the amateur astronomer in your life.
The schedule of speakers is as follows;
6:00 PM – Jim Wamsley, Meteorite Display (this will be an on going display throughout the evening)
6:30 PM – Barry Shermann, Introduction to Telescope Types
7:00 PM – Bernie Venasse, Choosing the Right Star Atlas
7:30 PM – Kevin Salwach, Binoculars for Astronomy
8:00 PM – Sue MacLachlan, The Astronomers’ Library
8:30 PM – Matthew Mannering, Eyepieces and Accessories
Admission is free so bring your family and friends!
***Please note that this event will be a workshop only. The scope clinic will held in January 2019. Stay tuned for those details.
These two pictures are ‘astro images’ of the star Vega which is found in the constellation Lyra (The Harp), one of the most prominent night sky asterisms from early Greek and Roman civilization and culture. It is also one of the brightest objects in the night sky after the Sun, Moon, Venus and the star, Sirius.
Until about the beginning of the 20th century, all astronomy, including professional studies, was basically descriptive and hand-drawn from hours of work spent at the eyepieces of a given telescope. However, since it was not going to go any further in this direction, it remained for astronomers like Henry Norris Russell and others to move astronomical studies into the realms of physics and emerging interpretations of Nature and the Universe such as Quantum Mechanics and the General and Special Theories of Relativity.
