5 Members showed up at the park on Upper Wentworth and the Linc last night. We all had a good time showing the about 60+ people(young and old) views of the Moon and Jupiter.There was still wow factor in the Moon even though it is only a day or so from full. The terminator showed lots of detail of craters and mountains. Jupiter was showing lots of detail the equitorial banding and the colours were clearly evident. Many questions were asked and answered and many (O My God’s, wow’s and cool’s)were heard from the public.
Hopefully some of the other members will add the comments to this blog.

__________________________________________________________________

From John G.

You’re right Jim, it sure was a lot of fun.
As the night wore on and the public left we had a good look at Jupiter.
There was a 6th magnitude star (45 Capricorni) right in line with the Galilean moons, and it gave the appearance of 5 moons. Jim was able to correctly identify which of the 5 was the imposter. Well done, Jim! You can look tonight for yourself and see 5 “moons” on one side of Jupiter.
Meanwhile, Steve K. and I were trying to identify the impact scar on Jupiter, and had a great time comparing views through our two 5″ achromat refractors, and comparing the clean, bright image of Steve’s orthoscopic eyepiece with the comfort and wide field of my Pentax. Both gave excellent views, and we were able to see a wealth of detail in the bands of Jupiter (including festoons and knots) and yes, we did see the impact scar in the south polar region. Unfortunately we didn’t stay late enough to see the GRS come around the limb. What a fun night!

A Few members will be out at McQuesten Park on Upper Wentworth south of the Link tonight for some side walk astronomy – feel free to join us.

Bert Rhebergen, the local sunspot expert, called me tonight with a heads-up about a possible sunspot (or sunspot group) just about to come into view on the solar disk. Tonight about 8:00 pm, he spotted a complex group of faculae on the limb of the sun. Bert explains that faculae (which appear as lighter patches on the sun’s surface when viewed through a white-light solar filter) often accompany sunspots. The patch swinging into view may be associated with a new sunspot. So I would encourage anyone with a proper solar filter or a PST to dust them off and watch the sun over the next few days.

Of course, any note about solar observing has to contain a warning to only observe the sun through a proper, safe solar filter.

Stay tuned for further developments…

Ann T.

In celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing, Carina Software is making available their SkyVoyager software available for free download from iTunes App Store. Normally this is a $15 USD product.

It is supposed to be a planetarium program for your iPod Touch or iPhone. Good for both beginners and advanced users. It contains 300,000 stars and 30,000 DSO’s in its database, provides NASA imagery, and shows the sky from any position on the Earth for any time from 100 years in the past to 100 years in the future.

Please note that this is only available for free on Mon Jul 20, 2009. I nor the HAA endorses or warranties it’s effectiveness, usefulness or availability. I’m just making you aware of this product. I don’t have an iPod Touch or iPhone, so I’m unable to download it or give it a try.

The link to the download and information for this product is:
http://www.carinasoft.com/products/index.html

If you do download it and find it useful, you might consider writing a blog entry or a small review article for the Event Horizon.

(Thanks to BadAstronomy.com for making us aware of this temporary freebie.)

One space station, one space shuttle, one camera and one chance at a photo, but the impressive number tonight is thirteen. That’s how many people are on that point of light streaking across the sky, and it includes two Canadians.

The International Space Station, accompanied by the space shuttle Endeavor, is currently making a series of favourable passes over Hamilton. I got this photo earlier this evening as the ISS passed through the Big Dipper. By checking the web site ‘Heavens-Above’ you can get predicted times when you can see the space station/shuttle as well. Here’s the link: http://www.heavens-above.com/?Lat=43.1&Lng=-79.8&Alt=197&Loc=Binbrook+Conservation+Area&TZ=EST

In this case, knowing that the ISS would pass through a particularly photogenic part of the sky, I set up well ahead of time and made several test exposures to make sure I had the right balance for the station, the stars and the light pollution! When it appears you only get one chance at your photo; moving at 25,000 km/h the station doesn’t stay around long! The massive station/shuttle complex appeared about as bright as Venus, easily outshining anything else in the night sky.

Today, July 20th, is the 40th anniversary of the first manned moon landing, Apollo 11. Think about that as you go out to see the ISS for yourself, and feel free to share your exeriences here on the HAA blog.

The International Space Station, the space shuttle Endeavor and 13 astronauts pass through Ursa Major, and over Hamilton.

Hi

I found out about some web content that will be interesting to some HAA members.
Canadian astronaut Dr. Dave Williams has documented some of his research, and it appears here
with some other distinguished canadian researchers and their work.

A lecture by the Canadian Astronaut Dr. Dave Williams, Up or Down ? The body?s plasticity in exploring inner and outer space, is also available for a limited time as a podcast here

http://blogs.mcgill.ca/science/2009/05/19/dave-williams-explores-inner-and-outer-space/

Playback of the lectures will require installing Microsoft Silverlight (a program similar to adobe flash player).

Lectures by renowned scientists and a Canadian astronaut on the latest developments in astronomy, space exploration and astrophysics are now available as webcasts here

http://www.mcgill.ca/science/mini/webcast/

These lectures are from Mini-Science 2009 To Infinity and Beyond: Space, Stars and the Universe held April 1 ? May 13, 2009. Mini-Science is a public lectures series organized each Spring by the Faculty of Science at McGill University.

For more information about Mini-Science please check out the website

http://www.mcgill.ca/science/mini/

Today marks the 40th Anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11 and the first manned mission to land on the moon. It’s hard to believe it’s been that long and 37 years since we’ve been back.

I remember watching all of the Gemini and Apollo missions as best as we could with our black & white television and roof-top antenna, listening to Walter Cronkite wax poetically about our accomplishments, and even get teary-eyed at certain significant moments. Our family was in the maritimes on summer vacation, and I remember being awakened early in the morning to watch various events.

Apollo 11 Launch, 16 Jul 1969

To mark this historic occasion, several groups have released some interesting items that you might like to check out.

First, The Boston Globe has a feature called the Big Picture. Among the various items they have covered, there is a recent release of some amazing images for the Apollo 11 Mission.
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/07/remembering_apollo_11.html

NASA has released some restored videos of the moon walking. (These are not the Lost Tapes – just restored versions of known tapes). These are quite large so you need some bandwidth or time.
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/hd/apollo11.html

Alternatively, there is a 2min YouTube montage created by Phil Plait from these videos. (YouTube loses some of the fidelity of the restored videos.)

NASA is also doing a real-time replay of the entire mission in audio streaming. It started this morning with the launch and will run for the entire 9 days of the mission (Jul 16-24) so you can jump in at any time to hear what was going on at the time. This includes sleep periods, cruise time to/from the moon, etc so there will be lots of quiet times too.
http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/apollo11_radio/index.html

In a similar vein, there is a website which has produced a flash recreation/animation of the moon mission in “real-time”. I haven’t really tried to follow this since the text doesn’t seem to display very well on my screens. But some of you may find this interesting.
http://wechoosethemoon.org/

I’ve been trying to follow LRO/LCROSS mission to the moon. There has been a rumour going around that NASA has planned the timing of this mission to be able to capture high-res images of the Apollo 11 landing site. If true, then these may be released on or about the 20th. At full resolution (70cm/pixel), you’d be able to make out a fair amount of detail from the landing site, including clear indication of the lander, tracks, and some equipment left behind. Unfortunately the website for this mission is not releasing intermediary images (or at least I haven’t found any) to give me an indication of how close they are imaging Mare Tranquillitatis. And their satellite tracking program doesn’t allow you to see much in the past or future of where the satellite will be on any given day. But keep an eye of the LRO website just case something does become available.
http://lro.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Happy Anniversary

Saturday eveing, July 11, John Gauvreau condicted an excellent sky tour for members and their guests, at the Binbrook Conservation Area, on the ‘hill’. Sixteen of us were there for the evening.

I made sure people got safely into the park, and put the combination lock on the gate for any stragglers, returning to the group at about 9:40 PM, having seen the International Space Station glide serenely across the sky toward the northeast.

After we waited a while for darkness, in the meantime setting up our telescopes, John called us together for the sky tour. Starting with the big dipper, we learned how to find a dozen constellations, and the milky way. We also paid tribute to the upcoming 40th anniversary of man’s first steps on the moon, this month. Using a green astronomy laser, we were all easily able to see where he was pointing.

The key to star-hopping is remembering certain star-hopping tips which get you from one constellation to the next. The most famous star hop is from the big dipper to the North Pole’s star, Polaris. “Arc to Arcturus” then gets you going to other constellations.

Everyone had a good time, with several members lingering until 2 AM, when we locked up and headed to Tim Horton’s for some cookies and drinks.

Thanks, John for another fine evening. You were our ‘star’.

“Update: “John’s Galaxy” (NGC4565) taken by Ann Tekatch Saturday evening at Binbrook. Is that line of four stars in the lower right corner of the frame a real asterism or was there a satellite or other UFO travelling through the field during the exposures??”

On July 7, the Full Moon was upon us once again. With that, a couple of us ventured out to pay homage and witness the Full Moon break into the evening horizon. Each month we gather at the ridge on Scenic Drive to observe, and perhaps photograph, this wonderous sight. We have yet to be disappointed.

Last night Moonrise was at 21:30 to the SE. Upon arrival we target the Moonrise location along the opposite side on the escarpment. There is always the excitement of anticipation as the time grows close at hand. All eyes are fixed on the horizon waiting for that first hint of orange glow to break through. A loud yell and a pointing arm signal the Moon’s arrival. The Full Moon rises ever so quickly so the time for talk is over. With cameras and scopes set, we are honed in on our equipment to capture the moment. Then for a short while the only sound is the flurry of cameras clicking. With a sigh of satisfaction the Moonrise has been captured for another month. Then discussion turns to sharing photos and good natured bragging rights for the “Shot of the Night”.

Watching the moonrise is an activity the whole family can take part in…and its free. No equipment is needed. Sometimes around us, all along the ridge, couples sit on cars or fence rails drinking coffee in the solitude, leisurely talking and waiting. For family fun, you can gather and see who will be first to spot the Moon on the horizon. You can linger longer to view the city, the harbour, even talk about the Moon as it makes it’s ascent into the night sky. Each month, and as the seasons change, you can pick a different lookout point in the area. In these times of ?Staycations? why not give it a try.

Tonight July 8, Moonrise is at 21:59 and the Moon is 99.8% full, still well worth venturing out to see.
Future Moonrise times can be accessed through ?Stargazing? by the CSC. Then, below the weather, you click near the bottom where you see the phases of the Moon for the upcoming months.

The next Full Moon is on August 5 at 20:55….hope to see you on the ridge.

Jackie

As you are well aware (and as I have mentioned at a couple of the meetings) we are in a long, deep solar minimum, with very little solar activity to report and even fewer sunspots to observe. In fact, so far this year, 3/4 of the time the sun has been completely blank, and since solar activity started to decline in 2004 there have been 653 sunspot free days! (that’s way higher than average)

Recently there has been some signs of revival, and sunspots from the new cycle have been trading places with the last straggling spots from the old cycle, although so far the new spots have been small and short lived. Today there is a large grouping of spots on the sun that are visible in amateur telescopes. The grouping is about the size of Jupiter and has been waxing and waning for a couple of days now. In my 80mm refractor it appears as a chain near the limb, with two large, detailed groups and a string of small spots linking them. So, if you have been missing your chance for solar observing, or have had a solar filter or even a hydrogen alpha scope that you have been wondering what to do with, now is your chance! Get out and see sunspot group 1024, the first big sunspot of the new solar cycle 24. (there have also been a number of associated B-class solar flares with this group, so I will be intested to hear if Mike J. has picked up any ionospheric activity due to these spots on his LOFAR apparatus).

Remember, always use proper solar filter material or the projection method when looking at the sun, whether using a telescope, binocular or even just your eye. Using anything other than a proper solar filter or projection could result in permanent eye damage or injury. If you have any questions about properly and safely observing the sun, contact me before you try.

Or, if you don’t have proper solar observing equipment, try these links to see the latest images from the SOHO satellite:
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime-images.html
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/sunspots/

Now, lets see some solar observing reports!

Sunspot 1024 group, July 8, 2009; a sign of good things to come.