11 people showed up last night for observing at the main site. We set up at the boat launch with 3 scopes on the dock and 2 in the parking area. The early arrivals where treated to a view of Mercury before it set. This, for me, was the last planet of the system to view through my scope.The rest of the night was spent helping knock the bugs out of a temperamental goto scope for one of our newer members, and sharing views of the night sky with the enthusiastic gathering. It was a fun time with several of us reconvening at Tim H. for coffee and conversation.

I arrived at Spectacle Lake Lodge on Tuesday, April 14, and I have had 3 clear nights under a dark sky. I have taken lots of images of several deep sky objects, including the open clusters M35, M36, M37, M38, M46 and M47, as well as galaxies M81, M82, M98, M99, M100, M108, NGC 2403, NGC 4214, NGC 4244 and NGC 4565. I will be posting some images soon.

One interesting thing happened when I imaged M38 in Auriga on Tuesday night (the 14th; see image below). I noticed a faint green fuzzy right beside M38, just to the left of the cluster (see image). It turns out, this was Comet Cardinal!

I knew this comet was in the general area, but I didn’t know beforehand that it was right beside M38. Talk about a stroke of luck! Comet Cardinal is very faint however, about 11th magnitude. By the way, if you have a BIG scope, or if you take a long image exposure, you might be able to catch it tonight (Friday April 17) when it’s right beside M36, another open cluster in Auriga.

If you check the main page of our website and look at the Clear Sky Charts for Hamilton and Binbrook, you will notice that we have very good observing conditions for tonight.

While nothing is being formally organized, we encourage any member to use the Alternate observing location on Tyneside Rd. There is a good parking area and park land available for setting up scopes and binoculars. There is pretty good visibility in most directions.

Here’s a map to the location: Tyneside

There are usually several observers at this location on any night that conditions are good, so you are likely to run into members or other astronomers that aren’t members.

One note of caution for personal safety though. This is an area open to the public. We have never heard of any problems from observers in this area, and many have used this alone or in small numbers, but bring along a cell phone in case of emergency. And it’s a good idea to go with another observer. You might consider holding off setting up equipment until another arrives – which is almost certain to happen. It’s great opportunity to get to know some other astronomers in our area.

Please feel free to take advantage of what is bound to be great seeing conditions tonight. And if you do go out, please post a note about your observing on the blog or email our observing director. observing@amateurastronomy.org

Over the weekend while you were all enjoying a lovely Easter dinner (I hope), I was enjoying a lovely night sky, and had some good observing. The Clear Sky Clock looks good for tonight, so I am hoping for more galaxies and double stars!

Jackie, Jim and I will be at the Alternate Site tonight for some warm spring sky observing. Join us and others there if you can, and remember, the alternate site is accessible to all members so show up whenever you like and we’ll see you there!

As always, email me if you have any questions, reports, observations or photos. observing@amateurastronomy.org

Is anyone going to Binbrook tonight (Saturday night)?

Tim

Topic: DSLR astrophotgraphy

Speaker: Kerry

It’s tonight, April 7, at the Burlington Arts Center, hosted by the Latow Photographers Guild,
at 7:30 PM. Join Steve G and others who will see the great range of possibilities for telescope-free
astrophotography, benefitting from the excellent optics and sensitivity of modern DSLR cameras.

Those of you who have heard her speak on this topic know this is not to be missed.

Static Home Page

While most of the HAA crew were out at Grimsby, a few of us were many miles away bringing a little sidewalk astronomy to the other end of the Hamilton region.

Two telescopes and three HAA members attracted about 40 people outside of a Tim Horton’s in Dundas. Jim single handedly managed a group of about 20 at once! Visitors were treated to views of the moon, Saturn, the Orion Nebula, the Pleiades and Castor, as well as whatever star the younger visitors wanted (“I want to see that star!”, was heard a couple of times from a youngster pointing at the sky). We were fortunate to have clear skies and a nearby supply of hot coffee and cider. One little fellow even claimed to have seen aliens through my telescope (green ones with three eyes). Although he encouraged me to look and see for myself, the aliens had unfortunately left by the time I got to the eyepiece. Maybe next time!

It was a fun and educational night for all!

A future astronomer gets his first look at Saturn.

A dozen HAA members and more than fourteen telescopes waited for clear skies that never came at Murray Street Park in Grimsby. Members of the public began arriving around 7:00 to check out the telescopes being set up and ask many good questions about astronomy and telescopes.

Views of the Toronto skyline (including the CN Tower) alternated with glimpses of the moon drifting in and out of clouds. A few lucky observers managed to catch Saturn and M42 for a few seconds, but as the clouds gradually thickened, the crowd thinned out and we packed up at about 10:00.

In total, it was estimated that we managed about 50-60 ?Galileo Moments? tonight.

Ann Tekatch

Nice summary, Ann – indeed, what promised to be a nice observing session, early on, turned into a telescope clinic instead. There were many questions about the pros and cons of the different styles of scopes on hand, and the Moon made enough appearances that comparisons could be made.
Thanks to all the members and guests who turned out to make this a worthwhile evening despite the clouds.

Glenn

Jackie F. and I started “The 100 hrs. of Astronomy” a little early.I set up my scope at the Tim’s in Dundas at sunset on Wednesday night.I had many curious folks come over to ask what I was doing. I explained to them that it was I.Y.A. and the 100 hrs. of astronomy was to start on Friday and I was concerned that the weekend weather may not be condusive to doing astronomy.I soon was busy showing people the Moon and Saturn in the still quite light sky’s. As the sky darkened, I had two very interested gentelmen asking to see more. I made an attempt, and succeeded to show them M42,M45,M44,as well as the Double Cluster.This was surprising, as the light pollution at this location is extremly bad, as is the case with most sidewalk astro sites.Jackie showed up about 8:45 and helped me show many more of the neighbourhood people views through the scope, and answered many questions about astronomy. We packed up about 11:30 and had a total of 50 or so Galileo moments, and many great memories.

As part of the International Year of Astronomy, observatories around the world are participating in the 100 Hours of Astronomy (April 2-5, 2009).

Today, Friday April 3, 80 observatories around the globe are participating in a 24-hour live webcast organized by the European Southern Observatory (ESO).

(From APOD) The webcast event follows night and day around the globe to visit some of the most advanced observatories on Earth and in space, exploring the universe in visible light and beyond. The Gemini North Telescope (Hawaii, USA) and the large observatories at the summit of volcanic Mauna Kea are scheduled for the first stops in the program beginning April 3 at 09:00 UT. Others on the schedule include the Swift Satellite and Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, the Himalayan Chandra Telescope (Hanle, India), and the 10-meter South Pole Telescope and IceCube Neutrino Telescope (South Pole, Antarctica).

Here is the link to the webcast.

If you miss some of the events, this link also has some recorded sessions for playback at a more convenient time.

And don’t forget that the HAA is also doing our own things with our general meeting tonight (Fri Apr 3) and a public observing night in Grimsby (Sat Apr 4 – see Glenn’s posting below). There may also be some sidewalk astronomy occurring over the weekend so keep an eye on this blog for details as they become available.