The Life and Times of Betelgeuse
This is a adaptation of a successful planetarium show I ran while at McMaster. The show focuses on a ‘recap’ of the life of Betelgeuse as it inches closer towards supernova and explores star formation, evolution and death. I’ll also talk about how planet formation is an intrinsic process in star formation as well. I’ll modify the talk to include more observational details and current images.
The latest issue of our club’s Event Horizon newsletter is now available.
In this issue you’ll find…
Download your copy from the newsletters section.
Photo credit: November 7 Telescope Clinic by John Gauvreau.
Not wanting to pass up a rare clear night, and despite the cold temperatures, I got out with my telescope and began with a below average view of the Orion nebula, due to light pollution from both the city and moon. I then went on to a spectacular view of Jupiter. The bands were detailed and the moons looked like little disks at 180x in my scope. Jupiter is always fascinating through a telescope, with the parade of constantly changing moons and the cloud bands swirling though new patterns all the time. I am looking forward to the upcoming months when Jupiter will be better placed and visible every night. Finally, I turned to the moon, as it was unavoidable on a night like tonight.
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40 Years of Astrophotography – the Good, the Bad and the Ugly
With the advances in digital cameras today, many people are trying to photograph the night sky. It’s always easy to show the successes in astrophotography, but there are many attempts that can easily frustrate and dishearten beginners. I will share the often humorous experiences of things gone wrong, and the journey to obtaining a successful astro-photograph.
Paul Mortfield is Chair of the David Dunlap Observatory in Richmond Hill and a member of the RASC Toronto Centre. He has worked on NASA’s SOHO and LCROSS missions and hosted educational broadcasts on NASA-TV. His astro-photos have appeared in museums, magazines, calendars and on NASA’s “Astronomy Picture of the Day” webpage.
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The latest issue of our club’s Event Horizon newsletter is now available.
In this issue you’ll find…
Download your copy from the newsletters section.
Photo credit: Partial Solar Eclipse of Oct. 23 by John Gauvreau.
Hot off the press, the 2015 Hamilton Amateur Astronomers Celestial Calendar is now available!
Calendars can be purchased at any club event or general meeting for $15 each or two for $25.
Packed full of beautiful astro-photos from club members, each month will inspire your own astrophotography or visual observing sessions. Each month also includes upcoming celestial events so you can stay up-to-date on great sky events. Any revenue generated from sales goes back into the club to help support club activities.
Be sure to grab your calendar or pick-up a few as gifts before supply runs out.
Well, it’s been almost two months since I took a picture of the Moon, and you’re probably saying to yourself, “Gee, I wonder if John is feeling all right.” Not wanting you to think that there’s something wrong with me, here is a shot of the moon that I took tonight. Yup, John’s a geek and all is right in his world. Now, go outside and look at how beautiful the moon is.
Bill imaged the Sun again today, just before an X3.1 flare was released. Sunspot Region 2192 appears to be be forming a new sunspot group. Check it out…
The largest sunspot region on the sun has now been dubbed the largest sunspot region of the current solar cycle. Here is a closeup view of the area from today (Wednesday, Oct. 22). Image was created by Bill Tekatch with a stack of frames from video shot with a monochrome Grasshopper 3 camera through a double stacked Lunt solar telescope.
This region should add considerable interest to images taken of tomorrow’s partial solar eclipse.
Today, Bill imaged the new, active, sunspot region which is just coming into view on the sun. This region was responsible for an X1.1 solar flare on Saturday, October 18. It will be interesting to watch for possible further developments as this sunspot region rotates into view.
