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.

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.

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 March 2021
• Notes from My Virtual Table, March 2021
• Total Solar Eclipses of Long Duration in Canada: 0-3000
• How to Calculate Astrophoto Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR)
• NASA Night Sky Notes
• Plus More

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

Photo credit: Waxing gibbous moon, by John Gauvreau.

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.

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

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!

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.

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

In this issue you’ll find…

• The Sky This Month for October 2020
• NASA Night Sky Notes
• Eye Candy
• Plus More

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

Photo credit: Mars by Alex Kepic.

It’s been a while since we had a story from a member, and I was particularly thrilled when this tale arrived in my inbox.  It’s a great story and so worth reading.  

Sue MacLachlan has been a great asset to the club, working behind the scenes in recent years to oversee some club events like the Christmas social (big success!).  Recently you have come to know her as the mastermind behind our Zoom meetings.  Next time you’re online at one of our meetings be sure to say hi to her.

Now here’s her story… 
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“My First Total Solar Eclipse!

Like many members of the HAA I have been fascinated by the night sky since I was a child. There are a few star gazing events that stand out for me: the dark velvet black skies in Banff National Park, my first guided star tour and finding that first object in our telescope. But there is one that memory that stands out above all the rest, the Total Solar Eclipse of 2017.

As beginner amateur astronomers my husband Doug and I knew about solar eclipses but we really weren’t that interested in them until we attended a lecture at Starfest one summer. The presenter opened up our eyes to the beauty and wonder of a total solar eclipse. So, we thought, maybe, we would go on a camping trip to the U.S. and take in the solar eclipse at the same time. Needless to say, we were quite naive at the time when it came to solar eclipses.

A little more than two years before the 2017 eclipse, the Bluewater Astronomical Society, a club from Owen Sound, where we are also members, asked if people were interested in travelling to Nebraska to see the solar eclipse. We figured that since we didn’t know much about solar eclipses it would be a good idea to join a group so we signed up.

The summer of 2017 arrived. Doug and I had planned a 5 week circle tour through the U.S. ending at the Grand Island KOA in Nebraska. There we would join up with our friends from the Bluewater club. All was going well, until the night we hit New Mexico. I suffered an eye injury which forced us to come back to Canada in the middle of the trip. My eye doctor prescribed a course of treatment and I asked with trepidation if I might be OK to go to Nebraska to see the eclipse. I was told “you could sit on the couch at  ome and follow the treatment or you could sit in the front seat of the car and follow the treatment, take your pick.” So, we packed up the car, again, and headed out for the Grand Island KOA in Nebraska.

We arrived 3 days before the solar eclipse. It was a great campground with pretty good amenities. You could order pizza to be delivered to your campsite and pick up a couple of beers to go with it right from the camp store!

As the weekend unfolded, the camp filled to the brim with amateur astronomers from all over the U.S. and Canada. The air was full of excitement as everyone prepared for the event.

The day before the eclipse was spent discussing the most recent weather reports. When I say most recent I mean people were checking every half hour (or less) to see if there were any changes. All day the forecast called for light cloud. There hadn’t been a cloud in the sky for days and now the forecast for eclipse day called for light cloud. Some people in the campground decided to leave that day and travel further west in hopes of clearer skies. Our group made the decision to stay and no matter what happened we would have had a good time anyway.

On the day of the eclipse I was up early and, yes, there were the light clouds. The morning was hot and the light clouds persisted. Everyone was busy setting up and checking their equipment over and over again. The air throughout the whole campground crackled with the nervous energy of expectation. Near the time of first contact, one of our friends started a countdown and a hush fell over our group. All were focussed on the sun and were waiting in anticipation. Then suddenly you heard shouts of “I see it!’ or “I got it!” as first contact was made.

As the time ticked towards totality we kept a careful eye on the equipment and the clouds in the sky. There was some light cloud but it didn’t really hinder the view at all. When the moon had sufficiently covered the sun to create a crescent, people used colanders and signs made with small punched holes to reveal hundreds of small images of the crescent sun. We took lots pictures of the crescents. While the crescents were amazing, the best was yet to come.

As totality neared a hush fell over the whole park. Once again the countdown was called out and you could feel the air rippling with excitement. Then a shout “I see the Diamond ring!” Another person shouted, “Baileys Beads!” Then the call came, “Filters off!” Totality had arrived!

The birds stopped singing. The sky darkened. Sunset appeared on the horizon everywhere, 360 degrees around us and the air which had been so hot started to cool. Then someone saw a star and the rush was on to identify it.

I stood there transfixed. I looked through our solar telescope and couldn’t see anything because I hadn’t taken the filter off, and at the time didn’t think to take the filter off, so I just stared up at the sun and the moon. Doug handed me the binoculars a couple of times and told me to look but I just handed them back to him without looking through them. I know this happened more than once because we have it on video. I was dumbstruck and awestruck. Here was a perfect demonstration of the precision and wonder of the universe.

And then it was over. The diamond ring was magnificent as the moon started to move away from the sun. Someone outside of the campground had fireworks and set them off and a great cheer went up throughout the camp and champagne was popped. The clouds had parted just enough at the right time so the beauty and wonder of a total solar eclipse was there for us to see.

After the last bit of the moon left the edge of the sun all of the Canadians in the camp gathered to have their picture taken. As we waited for the photographer, a friend from the North York Astronomical Association asked me what I thought of the eclipse. I couldn’t answer him as I had no words to describe what I had witnessed. Then I started to cry. He gave me a hug and said solar eclipses had that effect on him as well.

It was an experience I won’t soon forget. Now, we are thinking about next one in 2024!”

Sue MacLachlan

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I look forward to 2024 as well, all the more so after reading about the excitement and thrill of seeing a total eclipse the way Sue and Doug did.  Thanks so much Sue, for sharing that wonderful experience! 

 If you would like to share an observing experience just email me and I will be happy to feature you in a future email.

Take care and stay safe.

Hi everyone,

These are challenging times for many, and I hope that each and every one of you is doing well, keeping safe, and staying healthy.  When any of us might be facing serious hardships the wellfare of the club and it’s activities might not seem like a top priority, and that is perfectly understandable.  And yet for some, indeed many, it is little things like the familiarity of the night sky and the pleasure of an evening under the stars that provide solace and escape from our daily struggles.  So I want to keep you informed of how the club is adapting to these changing climes and what we plan to do in the near future.  Even if we can’t get together, we are still a community and we can feel a part of that closeness even when apart.

John here once again, with the second installment of our weekly story time.

Today’s tale comes to us from Jo Ann Salci.  Jo Ann has been a wonderful addition to the HAA, involving herself in club activities and observing.  I was smart enough to invite her on to council a couple of years back and she is now our Education Director, offering wonderful programming to groups all around the city.  She has a real gift for dealing with the public, and has enhanced the children’s programming tremendously. She represents the club admirably and, well…basically makes us look good out there!

Her story today is something that, in one form or another, we can all relate to.  A big thank you to Jo Ann for sharing this with us. 

If you would like to share your story in an upcoming week please feel free to send it in to me (chair@amateurastronomy.org).  We would all love to hear from you.  For now, enjoy this week’s story, and please stay safe.

And now, here’s Jo Ann…  __________________________________________________________  

“As a young girl in a US elementary school in the 1960s, becoming an astronomer seemed like a remote option.  That didn’t stop me from loving the night sky and being in awe of its wonders.     My first memory is a striking one. Not only was it striking, but it was the beginning of my love of the night sky.  Somehow, my 9 year old cousin and I learned that our local science museum held Wednesday night observing sessions using the museum’s large telescope.  I don’t remember how large it really was, but they opened a large dome at the museum for this telescope.  The dome exists until this day at the top of the Buffalo Museum of Science, although I’m not sure if the telescope is still there.   So there we were, a pair of 9 year old girls, dragging our fathers (who took turns!!) to the Buffalo Museum of Science on Wednesday nights.  The first time I looked through the telescope and saw the moon, I never looked back.  That was the beginning of my love for astronomy and I had told my parents at that point that I wanted to be an astronomer.  The vivid detail of the moon’s surface was etched in my mind.  The light and dark areas, the craters, the peaks…seeing the moon with a telescope changed how I saw the moon and the night sky forever!  The moon literally “filled my eyes like a big pizza pie”, and I fell in love with Astronomy!!    –  The 8″ refractor at the Buffalo Museum of Science Flash forward to now…I consider myself a VERY amateur astronomer, yet I became one as I had wished for as a child.  I had taken an Astronomy 101 course at Mohawk College back in the 1990’s, and guess who the instructor was?  Our very own John Gauvreau!  So when I joined the HAA about 6 years ago, and saw a familiar face, I knew right away I was in the right place.  At that point in time I owned a cumbersome 4″ reflector telescope on a grumpy equatorial mount, purchased from a big box store.  I’ve since upgraded (as club members are great at helping me spend my money and they know who they are!).  I now own a 5″ Schmidt-Cassegrain and a 6″ Dobsonion.  I have also purchased a great set of binoculars, and have accumulated a number of filters and eyepieces. I have even enjoyed 2 Star Party outings…a definite Bucket-list item.

I credit those early days with bringing me to this point. Even though I consider myself a very amateur astronomer, I took on the role of HAA Education Director because I absolutely love sharing the joy of astronomy with others.  I just love when people look through a telescope for the first time at the moon or any other object in the sky.  Their reactions are similar to what mine was…the surprise, the awe, and the disbelief at how much there is to see on the moon and in the sky. It’s almost as though the moon is sending an invitation for us to see the rest of the night sky with that same sense of surprise and wonder. Children’s reactions are the best!  I had one child ask if I had put a picture of Saturn inside my telescope!  They couldn’t believe they were seeing the “real thing”.   Whenever you show someone an object through your telescope, try not to take it for granted.  You have no idea the impact that it will have on them.  Who knows?  You might be showing the moon, or planet, or … to a future Hamilton Amateur Astronomer!”       –   Jo Ann Salci