Meetings

September Members Meeting

Join us this Friday for our September members meeting.  We have a great meeting planned with some great speakers.
This is an online Zoom meeting and all members are invited to join in and enjoy the presentations. Alternatively you can view it on our YouTube channel here.

This month we have 3 presentations.  First we have Adam Gesjorskyj who has put together a wonderful instructional video on planetary imaging. 

We follow with another video created by our own Melissa and Brian Whitman who have put together a wonderful video about this summer’s solar eclipse.  

And of course, we will also have an instalment of The Sky This Month, with Matthew Mannering to guide us through the September sky (who may or may not have a video; you never know!).  

And as always we will have door prizes to hand out!

Photo credit: The Milky Way by Matthew Mannering

September 2021 Event Horizon Newsletter

The latest issue of the Hamilton Amateur Astronomers Event Horizon newsletter is now available for download!

In this issue you’ll find…

  • HAA Explorers
  • The Sky This Month for September 2021
  • What’s Up in Awards, September 2021
  • June 10th Annular Eclipse from Hamilton
  • Juno Mission Flies Past Ganymede
  • A Tribute To My Wife Jean
  • NASA Night Sky Notes
  • Plus More

Download the latest issue or visit the newsletters section for past issues.

Photo credit: June 10 Partial Annular Solar Eclipse at sunrise, by John Gauvreau.

The Life of a Star

Join us this Friday June 11 at 7:30 PM for our members meeting as we welcome Robert Chapman as our special guest speaker. Robert will be delivering his popular talk “The Life of a Star”.

Robert is one of the provinces most accomplished observers, having completed many observing programs from the Astronomical League and the RASC as well as creating his own.  Observing now from just outside Algonquin Park, Robert is working toward completing his lifetime goal of observing all 2,500 objects on the original Herschel list.

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Exploring the Night Sky with Binoculars

Beginning out in amateur astronomy can seem like a daunting and expensive task. Especially nowadays with the wealth of information, resources and equipment on the market, it can be difficult to find a path to start out in the hobby. Luckily, there is a tried and true avenue to hone your stargazing skills and knowledge as a novice, without breaking the bank, or your back hauling around a dozen cases and mounts.

Join us this Friday May 14 at 7:30 pm as Kevin Salwach discusses how a simple pair of binoculars can open up a view to hidden craters on the Moon, the moons of our fellow planets in the Solar System, hundreds of star clusters, galaxies, nebulae and many more objects and phenomena one would never guess they could see without a telescope. A cheap and effective way to become a pro stargazer, exploring the skies with binoculars is an easy way to get into the hobby with something most of us have sitting in our closet.

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Amateur Spectroscopy

Join us this Friday at 7:30pm for our March members meeting.  This month our special guest speaker is Tom Field, contributing editor to Sky and Telescope magazine and accomplished amateur spectroscopist.  Tom will be giving an overview of spectroscopy and how the amateur can contribute with their own spectra.

Advanced Imaging Conference 2012 Speakers

For the past 10 years Tom has been a contributing editor to Sky and Telescope Magazine.  About the same time as he began that he founded Field Tested Systems as a way to share his passion for hands-on-science, education, and citizens’ science.  Specializing in amateur spectroscopy his software allows the user to analyze stellae spectrographs in real time, allowing amateurs to explore the composition of stars.

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Greetings from the RASC!

Join us online this Friday February 12th at 7:30pm for our monthly meeting as Dr. Philip Groff of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC) joins us to talk about running a large, national organization through these trying times as well as provide some of the fascinating history of the RASC and give a tour of its wonderful collection of astronomical artifacts.

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February 2021 Event Horizon Newsletter

The latest issue of the Hamilton Amateur Astronomers Event Horizon newsletter is now available for download!

In this issue you’ll find…

  • HAA Explorers
  • The Sky This Month for February 2021
  • Notes from MyVirtual Table, January 2021
  • Canadian Solar Eclipses: 0-3000
  • Where Is Astronomy Going From Here?
  • NASA Night Sky Notes
  • Eye Candy
  • Plus More

Download the latest issue or visit the newsletters section for past issues.

Photo credit: Backyard shadows from an almost-full moon by Jo Ann Salci

Behind the Scenes with Mario Carr

Join us live on YouTube now http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2LTDy8xm8U

Join us online this Friday January 8th at 7:30pm for our monthly meeting, as our very own PR guru Mario Carr gives us a peak behind the scenes with stories as the region’s go to astronomy guy for the media. You’ve seen him on tv and read his newspaper columns; now here is your chance to talk to him directly!

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The Search for True Earth Analogs

Join us this Friday December 11th at 7:30 PM for our monthly meeting on ZOOM for members, as well on our YouTube channel for non-members. The YouTube link will be posted at 7:15 PM on Friday.

Our guest speaker this month is Dr. Yanqin Wu whose interests are in extra-solar planets, and and will discuss some of her most recent discoveries. These discoveries led her and her team to propose a new space mission, one that promises to find true Earth analogs.

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November Members Meeting

This Friday November 13th at 7:30pm we will be holding our November member’s meeting!  This is an online Zoom meeting, and all members are invited to join the meeting and enjoy the presentations.  Non-members can join our YouTube live stream.

This is November and that means the HAA Celestial Events Calendar is being rolled out.  This month we will hear from many of the photographers behind the images with insight into the how and why of their photos.  In the past we have had outside astrophotography experts speak to us about this beautiful and challenging hobby within the hobby, but it turns out we have some exceptionally skilled and talented imagers right here!

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