There’s a fast-moving returning comet in the sky, and we can see it with binoculars!
Comet 45P Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova
Here’s a link to the finder charts. The time is in universal time, so you will need to add 5 hours to the EST to get the time to use. Right now the Comet is not far from Hercules and is in the morning sky.
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General Meeting for February 10th 2017.
Barry Sherman will be discussing Chromatic Aberration and ways to mitigate this issue in your telescope optics. Barry will also include a few sample telescopes which suffer from heavy Chromatic Aberration and other issues so that you can stay away from these types of telescopes. Bernie Venasse will then open the floor in an open forum style chat to learn what you think of the club. We would like to hear your thoughts, comments and ways to improve your club.
The February issue of the Hamilton Amateur Astronomers Event Horizon newsletter is now available for download!
In this issue you’ll find…
Download the latest issue or visit the newsletters section for past issues.
Photo credit: The Moon & Venus by Chris White
Links for the leap second mention at tonight’s The Sky this Month:
…and for the International Occultation Timing Association. The focus of the IOTA has shifted from grazes to pure occultations where the double-ness of a star can be measured. In some cases this is the only way to know the star is a double.
To see how eclipse totality duration varies depending on observing locations see this page with detailed contour maps:
Photo Credit: Mercury Transit – Bill Tekatch
General Meeting for January 13th 2016.
Bernie Venasse will be speaking about caring for your telescope optics which includes a video from Sky and Telescope. Bernie Venasse is HAA Chairman and has been an active astronomer since the days of Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. He is an active member of the British Astronomical Association, The International Dark Sky Association, the Astronomical League and Astronomers without Borders.
Kevin Salwach will also be speaking on his favourite astronauts. Kevin Salwach is an HAA Councillor-at-Large, and has been a member of the club since 2009. Also a member of the British Astronomical Association and the International Dark Sky Association, Kevin is a devoted backyard astronomer and avid naturalist. He can frequently be found exploring the night sky with his 10″ Dob from his home on the West Mountain here in Hamilton.
The January issue of the Hamilton Amateur Astronomers Event Horizon newsletter is now available for download!
In this issue you’ll find…
Download the latest issue or visit the newsletters section for past issues.
Photo credit: The Dumbbell Nebula (M27), by Bernd Mueller.
In my talk and articles, I have often referred to certain free web resources which are useful observing planning tools.
These web pages allow you to locate items of interest in the sky, which vary (such as the location and brightness of asteroids) or are best observed from certain places on earth (such as eclipse paths).
General Meeting for December 9th 2016
Dr. Gord Williams will be talking about the design and construction of the observatory he made at his cottage in the Muskokas, and the challenges and victories involved. He will also share some collected stories about astronomy, and the visual treats he has observed over the years.
The December issue of the Hamilton Amateur Astronomers Event Horizon newsletter is now available for download!
In this issue you’ll find…
Download the latest issue or visit the newsletters section for past issues.
Photo credit: The Ring Nebula, David T.
Roger Burrough, the owner of Hamilton’s Camtech Photo & The Scope Shop, has passed away. Roger was a longtime supporter of the local astronomy community and we will miss him very much.
Visitation & services are this Saturday. Details can be found here.
