The Hubble Ultra Deep Field Image (see description on the right, below)

The Hubble Ultra Deep Field Image
(10,000 galaxies in an area 1% of the apparent size of the moon -- see description on the right, below)

Friday, April 15, 2022

2022 April

 

AEA Astronomy Club Newsletter   

April 2022

 

Contents


AEA Astronomy Club News & Calendar p.1
Video(s) & Picture(s) of the Month p. 2
Astronomy News p. 11
General Calendar p. 16

    Colloquia, lectures, mtgs. p. 16
    Observing p. 18

Useful Links p. 20
About the Club p. 21

Club News & Calendar.

Club Calendar

 

Club Meeting Schedule: --

 

7 Apr       AEA Astronomy Club Meeting     TBD – Great Courses video        Teams

 

5 May      AEA Astronomy Club Meeting     TBD – Great Courses video        Teams

 

AEA Astronomy Club meetings are now on 1st  Thursdays at 11:30 am.  Virtual meetings on Teams until further notice.  When live meetings resume, our preferred room has been A1/1735, when we can reserve it. 

 

Club News:  

 

Mt. Wilson – Tentative reservation requests have been made for the 60-inch Oct. 21 (Friday), and 100-inch Oct. 22 (Sat.).  This year would normally be our every-other-year for the 60-inch, but we put in the 100-inch request as backup in case we don’t get the 60-inch.

 

 

2024 Eclipse --   An update from the 2024 solar eclipse committee (Mark Clayson, Mai Lee, Melissa Jolliff, Nahum Melamed, Judy Kerner, Marilee Wheaton):

 

73 responses to our survey had been received as of this week, of which 32% were club members.  24 would commit to group lodging, but 60% were undecided.  88% prefer lodging near centerline.  50% would stay 2 nights (April 7, 8), 38% 3 nights (April 6-8).  41% would fly, 26% drive, and the rest are undecided.

 

We will for now continue looking to nail down lodging for 50 rooms (31 would be needed for those 24 responses to the survey).  Focus is on Kerrville and Marble Falls/Burnet – near San Antonio & Austin, respectively.  Most hotels say they won’t be taking bookings until between Sept. & next April, but we have found a Marriott in Boerne (halfway between San Antonio and Kerrville) willing to do a contract now for half our group, and they say a sister hotel nearer San Antonio could accommodate the rest of us.  We will continue to check for managers of hotels nearer centerline  willing to negotiate a contract.

 

We do have an observation site reserved in Kerrville, and have identified candidates in the Marble Falls area.

 

Doug Enright shared the following:

I actually just got back from a vacation to the Texas Hill Country, visiting Austin, Houston, and San Antonio.  I also spent a whole day driving through the Hill Country between Houston and San Antonio, through Shiner and Gonzales, where the Texas Revolution of 1836 got started.  

“I also visited Space Center Houston and took tours of NASA/Johnson Space Center while staying in Houston.  Seeing a full-scale Saturn V they have on display was quite special along with touring the original Manned Spacecraft control room where the first images of man landing on the Moon (Apollo 11) were displayed on Earth.    I was wondering if Eclipse trip attendees might be interested in visiting NASA/JSC.  We might be able to get a special tour for our group beyond the standard public tours through Space Center Houston. Space Center Houston | Science and Space Exploration Learning Center

 

Contact Jason Fields if interested in joining him for an observing night with his 20” Dobs.

We need volunteers to help with:

·         Installing our new software on our tablet & laptop

·         Populating our club Sharepoint site with material & links to the club’s Aerowiki & Aerolink materials – Kaly Rangarajan has volunteered to help with this

·         Arranging future club programs

·         Managing club equipment & library (Kelly Gov volunteered to help with the library, Sam has a fair chunk of the equipment)

 

Astronomy Video(s) & Picture(s) of the Month

(generally from Astronomy Picture of the Day, APOD: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html)

VIDEOAnimation: Odd Radio Circles https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220330.html
Credits: Illustration: Sam Moorfield; Data: CSIROHST (HUDF), ESANASA;
Image: J. English (U. Manitoba), EMUMeerKATDES (CTIO); Text: Jayanne English

Explanation: What do you call a cosmic puzzle that no one expected to see? In this case, Odd Radio Circles, aka ORCs. ORC-1 typifies the enigmatic five objects, only visible at radio frequencies, that were serendipitously discovered in 2019 using the new AustraliaSKA Pathfinder radio array. The final image in the featured video uses 2021 data from the South AfricaMeerKAT array to reveal more detail. The radio data, assigned turquoise colors, are combined with a Dark Energy Survey optical/IR map. The animated artist’s illustration explores just one idea about the ORCs’ origins. If two supermassive black holes merge in the center of a galaxy, the associated shockwaves could generate rings of radio radiation. These grow to fill the video frame. The video zooms out so the expansion the ORC can be tracked until it is about a million light-years across. Fortunately, the up-coming Square Kilometer Array can help test this and other promising scenarios.

 

The Observable Universe
Illustration Credit & LicenceWikipediaPablo Carlos Budassi

Explanation: How far can you see? Everything you can see, and everything you could possibly see, right now, assuming your eyes could detect all types of radiations around you -- is the observable universe. In light, the farthest we can see comes from the cosmic microwave background, a time 13.8 billion years ago when the universe was opaque like thick fog. Some neutrinos and gravitational waves that surround us come from even farther out, but humanity does not yet have the technology to detect them. The featured image illustrates the observable universe on an increasingly compact scale, with the Earth and Sun at the center surrounded by our Solar Systemnearby starsnearby galaxiesdistant galaxiesfilaments of early matter, and the cosmic microwave background. Cosmologists typically assume that our observable universe is just the nearby part of a greater entity known as "the universe" where the same physics applies. However, there are several lines of popular but speculative reasoning that assert that even our universe is part of a greater multiverse where either different physical constants occur, different physical laws apply, higher dimensions operate, or slightly different-by-chance versions of our standard universe exist.

 

2MASS J17554042+6551277
Image Credit : NASASTScIJWST

Explanation: 2MASS J17554042+6551277 doesn't exactly roll off the tongue but that's the name, a coordinate-based catalog designation, of the star centered in this sharp field of view. Fans of the distant universe should get used to its spiky appearance though. The diffraction pattern is created by the 18 hexagonal mirror segments of the James Webb Space Telescope. After unfolding, the segments have now been adjusted to achieve a diffraction limited alignment at infrared wavelengths while operating in concert as a single 6.5 meter diameter primary mirror. The resulting image taken by Webb's NIRcam demonstrates their precise alignment is the best physics will allow. 2MASS J17554042+6551277 is about 2,000 light-years away and well within our own galaxy. But the galaxies scattered across the background of the Webb telescope alignment evaluation image are likely billions of light-years distant, far beyond the Milky Way.

 

Gems of a Maldivean Night
Image Credit & Copyright: Petr Horálek (ESO Photo AmbassadorInst. of Physics in Opava)

Explanation: The southernmost part of the Milky Way contains not only the stars of the Southern Cross, but the closest star system to our Sun -- Alpha Centauri. The Southern Cross itself is topped by the bright, yellowish star Gamma Crucis. A line from Gamma Crucis through the blue star at the bottom of the cross, Acrux, points toward the south celestial pole, located just above the small island in the featured picture -- taken in early March. That island is Madivaru of the Maldives in the Indian Ocean. Against faint Milky Way starlight, the dark Coal Sack Nebula lies just left of the cross, while farther left along the Milky Way are the bright stars Alpha Centauri (left) and Beta Centauri (Hadar). Alpha Centauri A, a Sun-like star anchoring a three-star system with exoplanets, is a mere 4.3 light-years distant. Seen from Alpha Centauri, our own Sun would be a bright yellowish star in the otherwise recognizable constellation Cassiopeia.



Titan Seas Reflect Sunlight
Image Credit: NASAJPL-CaltechU. ArizonaU. Idaho

Explanation: Why would the surface of Titan light up with a blinding flash? The reason: a sunglint from liquid seas. Saturn's moon Titan has numerous smooth lakes of methane that, when the angle is right, reflect sunlight as if they were mirrors. Pictured here in false-color, the robotic Cassini spacecraft that orbited Saturn from 2004 to 2017 imaged the cloud-covered Titan in 2014 in different bands of cloud-piercing infrared light. This specular reflection was so bright it saturated one of Cassini's infrared cameras. Although the sunglint was annoying -- it was also useful. The reflecting regions confirm that northern Titan houses a wide and complex array of seas with a geometry that indicates periods of significant evaporation. During its numerous passes of our Solar System's most mysterious moon, Cassini has revealed Titan to be a world with active weather -- including times when it rains a liquefied version of natural gas.

The Bubble Nebula from Hubble
Image Credit: NASAESAHubbleProcessing & Copyright: Mehmet Hakan Özsaraç

Explanation: Massive stars can blow bubbles. The featured image shows perhaps the most famous of all star-bubbles, NGC 7635, also known simply as The Bubble Nebula. Although it looks delicate, the 7-light-year diameter bubble offers evidence of violent processes at work. Above and left of the Bubble's center is a hot, O-type star, several hundred thousand times more luminous and some 45-times more massive than the Sun. A fierce stellar wind and intense radiation from that star has blasted out the structure of glowing gas against denser material in a surrounding molecular cloud. The intriguing Bubble Nebula and associated cloud complex lie a mere 7,100 light-years away toward the boastful constellation CassiopeiaThis sharp, tantalizing view of the cosmic bubble is a reprocessed composite of previously acquired Hubble Space Telescope image data.

The Sky in 2021
Image Credit & Copyright: Cees Bassa (Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy)

Explanation: What if you could see the entire sky -- all at once -- for an entire year? That, very nearly, is what is pictured here. Every 15 minutes during 2021, an all-sky camera took an image of the sky over the Netherlands. Central columns from these images were then aligned and combined to create the featured keogram, with January at the top, December at the bottom, and the middle of the night running vertically just left of center. What do we see? Most obviously, the daytime sky is mostly blue, while the nighttime sky is mostly black. The twelve light bands crossing the night sky are caused by the glow of the Moon. The thinnest part of the black hourglass shape occurs during the summer solstice when days are the longest, while the thickest part occurs at the winter solstice. Yesterday was an equinox -- when night and day were equal -- and the northern-spring equinox from one year ago can actually be located in the keogram -- about three-quarters of the way up.

A Flower-Shaped Rock on Mars
Image Credit: NASAJPL-CaltechMSSS

Explanation: It is one of the more unusual rocks yet found on Mars. Smaller than a penny, the rock has several appendages that make it look, to some, like a flower. Although it would be a major discovery if the rock was truly a fossilized ancient Martian flower, there are less spectacular -- and currently preferred -- explanations for its unusual structure. One theory that has emerged is that the rock is a type of concretion created by minerals deposited by water in cracks or divisions in existing rock. These concretions can be compacted together, can be harder and denser than surrounding rock, and can remain even after the surrounding rock erodes away. The flower structure may also be caused by crystal clusters. The small rock, named Blackthorn Salt, has similarities to previously imaged Martian pebbles. The featured image was taken by the Curiosity rover on Mars in late February. Scientists will continue to study data and images taken of this -- and similar -- surprising Martian rocks.

A Lion in Orion
Image Credit & Copyright: Maroun Mahfoud

Explanation: Yes, but can you see the lion? A deep exposure shows the famous dark indentation that looks like a horse's head, visible just left and below center, and known unsurprisingly as the Horsehead Nebula. The Horsehead Nebula (Barnard 33) is part of a vast complex of dark absorbing dust and bright glowing gas. To bring out details of the Horsehead's pasture, an astrophotographer artistically combined light accumulated for over 20 hours in hydrogen (orange), oxygen (blue), and sulfur (green). The resulting spectacular picture captured from RaachineLebanon, details an intricate tapestry of gaseous wisps and dust-laden filaments that were created and sculpted over eons by stellar winds and ancient supernovas. The featured composition brings up another pareidolic animal icon -- that of a lion's head -- in the expansive orange colored gas above the horse's head. The Flame Nebula is visible just to the left of the Horsehead. The Horsehead Nebula lies 1,500 light years distant towards the constellation of Orion.

 

Astronomy News:

From ScienceNews.org

 

Here’s the best timeline yet for the Milky Way’s big events

Our galaxy formed its original disk 2 billion years before its stellar halo

The Milky Way arches over the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope in China, one of the observatories whose data has revealed that our galaxy began forming a disk of stars surprisingly fast after the Big Bang.

YINGWEI CHEN

By Ken Croswell

MARCH 23, 2022 AT 12:00 PM

A new analysis of nearly a quarter million stars puts firm ages on the most momentous pages from our galaxy’s life story.

Far grander than most of its neighbors, the Milky Way arose long ago, as lesser galaxies smashed together. Its thick disk — a pancake-shaped population of old stars — originated remarkably soon after the Big Bang and well before most of the stellar halo that envelops the galaxy’s disk, astronomers report March 23 in Nature.

“We are now able to provide a very clear timeline of what happened in the earliest time of our Milky Way,” says astronomer Maosheng Xiang.

Bottom of Form

He and Hans-Walter Rix, both at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany, studied almost 250,000 subgiants — stars that are growing larger and cooler after using up the hydrogen fuel at their centers. The temperatures and luminosities of these stars reveal their ages, letting the researchers track how different epochs in galactic history spawned stars with different chemical compositions and orbits around the Milky Way’s center.

“There’s just an incredible amount of information here,” says Rosemary Wyse, an astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins University who was not involved with the study. “We really want to understand how our galaxy came to be the way it is,” she says. “When were the chemical elements of which we are made created?”

Xiang and Rix discovered that the Milky Way’s thick disk got its start about 13 billion years ago. That’s just 800 million years after the universe’s birth. The thick disk, which measures 6,000 light-years from top to bottom in the sun’s vicinity, kept forming stars for a long time, until about 8 billion years ago.

During this period, the thick disk’s iron content shot up 30-fold as exploding stars enriched its star-forming gas, the team found. At the dawn of the thick disk era, a newborn star had only a tenth as much iron, relative to hydrogen, as the sun; by the end, 5 billion years later, a thick disk star was three times richer in iron than the sun.

Xiang and Rix also found a tight relation between a thick disk star’s age and iron content. This means gas was thoroughly mixed throughout the thick disk: As time went on, newborn stars inherited steadily higher amounts of iron, no matter whether the stars formed close to or far from the galactic center.

But that’s not all that was happening. As other researchers reported in 2018, another galaxy once hit our own, giving the Milky Way most of the stars in its halo, which engulfs the disk (SN: 11/1/18). Halo stars have little iron.

The new work revises the date of this great galactic encounter: “We found that the merger happened 11 billion years ago,” Xiang says, a billion years earlier than thought. As the intruder’s gas crashed into the Milky Way’s gas, it triggered the creation of so many new stars that our galaxy’s star formation rate reached a record high 11 billion years ago.

The merger also splashed some thick disk stars up into the halo, which Xiang and Rix identified from the stars’ higher iron abundances. These “splash” stars, the researchers found, are at least 11 billion years old, confirming the date of the merger.

The thick disk ran out of gas 8 billion years ago and stopped making stars. Fresh gas around the Milky Way then settled into a thinner disk, which has given birth to stars ever since — including the 4.6-billion-year-old sun and most of its stellar neighbors. The thin disk is about 2,000 light-years thick in our part of the galaxy.

“The Milky Way has been quite quiet for the last 8 billion years,” Xiang says, experiencing no further encounters with big galaxies. That makes it different from most of its peers.

If the thick disk really existed 13 billion years ago, Xiang says, then the new James Webb Space Telescope (SN: 1/24/22) may discern similar disks in galaxies 13 billion light-years from Earth — portraits of the Milky Way as a young galaxy.

Questions or comments on this article? E-mail us at feedback@sciencenews.org

CITATIONS

M. Xiang and H.-W. Rix. A time-resolved picture of our Milky Way’s early formation historyNature. Published online March 23, 2022. doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-04496-5.

About Ken Croswell

Ken Croswell has a Ph.D. in astronomy from Harvard University and is the author of eight books, including The Alchemy of the Heavens: Searching for Meaning in the Milky Way and The Lives of Stars.

 

The universe’s background starlight is twice as bright

 as expected

It took a spacecraft at the solar system’s edge to make precise enough observations of dark sky


From a vantage point far from the sun and light-scattering interplanetary dust (illustrated, center), the New Horizons spacecraft is well-positioned to measure the visible background glow of the universe.

NASA, JOSEPH OLMSTED/STSCI

Even when you remove the bright stars, the glowing dust and other nearby points of light from the inky, dark sky, a background glow remains. That glow comes from the cosmic sea of distant galaxies, the first stars that burned, faraway coalescing gas — and, it seems, something else in the mix that’s evading researchers.

Astronomers estimated the amount of visible light pervading the cosmos by training the New Horizons spacecraft, which flew past Pluto in 2015, on a spot on the sky mostly devoid of nearby stars and galaxies (SN: 12/15/15). That estimate should match measurements of the total amount of light coming from galaxies across the history of the universe. But it doesn’t, researchers report in the March 1 Astrophysical Journal Letters.

“It turns out that the galaxies that we know about can account for about half of the level we see,” says Tod Lauer, an astronomer at the National Science Foundation’s NOIRLab in Tucson, Ariz.

For decades, astronomers have measured the extragalactic background light in different wavelengths, from radio waves to gamma rays (SN: 8/23/13; SN: 11/29/18). This provides a census of the universe and gives researchers hints into the processes that emit those types of light.

But the background visible light — dubbed the cosmic optical background, or COB — is challenging to measure from the inner solar system. Here, lots of interplanetary dust scatters sunlight, washing out the much fainter COB. The Pluto-visiting New Horizons spacecraft, however, is far enough from the sun that scattered sunlight doesn’t flood the spacecraft’s images.

Sunlight scattering off dust near Earth makes for a lovely photograph (seen here from La Silla Observatory in Chile as a column of light), but it hampers observations of the faint cosmic background.Y. BELETSKY/ESO

So in September 2021, Lauer and colleagues pointed the spacecraft’s LORRI camera toward a patch of sky and took a bunch of pictures. They digitally removed all known sources of light — individual stars, nearby galaxies, even heat from the spacecraft’s nuclear power source (SN: 2/18/16) — and measured what was left to estimate the COB.

Then they used large archives of galaxy observations, like those from the Hubble Space Telescope, to calculate the light emitted by all the galaxies in the universe. The measured COB is roughly twice as bright as that calculation.  

While Lauer’s group previously noted a discrepancy, this new measurement reveals a wider difference, and with smaller uncertainty. “There’s clearly an anomaly. Now we need to try to understand it and explain it,” says coauthor Marc Postman, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md.

There are several astronomical reasons that could explain the discrepancy. Perhaps, says Postman, rogue stars stripped from galaxies linger in intergalactic space. Or maybe, he says, there is “a very faint population of very compact galaxies that are just below the detection limits of Hubble.” If it’s the latter case, astronomers should know in the next couple years because NASA’s recently launched James Webb Space Telescope will see these even-fainter galaxies (SN: 10/6/21).

Another possibility is the researchers missed something in their analysis. “I’m glad it got done; it’s absolutely a necessary measurement,” says astrophysicist Michael Zemcov of the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York who was not involved in this study. Perhaps they’re missing some additional glow from the New Horizons spacecraft and its LORRI instrument, or they didn’t factor in some additional foreground light. “I think there’s a conversation there about details.”

The light that reflects off the Milky Way’s dust, for example, is “a very subtle beast,” Zemcov says, “and our uncertainties likely get dominated by it at some point, just because it’s not very well understood.”  Several projects in the next few years, such as the CIBER-2 experiment and the space mission SPHEREx, could help astronomers understand this pesky dust-scattered light,  Zemcov says.

In addition, he and his research group member, astrophysicist Teresa Symons, are poring through hundreds of old LORRI images of dark sky and running their own analyses. Meanwhile, Lauer and his colleagues will take more pictures of other patches of sky with LORRI to strengthen their confidence in the measurement of the background light and to better understand intrusions from the spacecraft itself.

“There is something going on that we weren’t expecting,” Zemcov says, “which is where the fun part of science kicks in.”

CITATIONS

T.R. Lauer et alAnomalous flux in the cosmic optical background detected with New Horizons observationsAstrophysical Journal Letters. Vol. 927, March 1, 2022, L8. doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/ac573d.

T.R. Lauer et alNew Horizons observations of the cosmic optical backgroundAstrophysical Journal. Vol. 906, January 11, 2021, p. 906. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/abc881.

 

 General Calendar:

Colloquia, Lectures, Seminars, Meetings, Open Houses & Tours:


Colloquia:  Carnegie (Tues. 11am), UCLA, Caltech (Wed. 4pm), IPAC (Wed. 12:15pm) & other Pasadena

(daily 12-4pm):  http://obs.carnegiescience.edu/seminars/ 

 

https://carnegiescience.edu/events/carnegie-digital-series

 

Carnegie Zoom Digital Series

Register to Join Us!

 

Zoom Webinar Platform

 

January Night Sky Network Clubs & Events   https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/clubs-and-events.cfm  

 

7 April       AEA Astronomy Club Meeting     TBD – Great Courses video        Teams

Cancelled for now -- Friday Night 7:30PM SBAS  Monthly General Meeting

                                in the Planetarium at El Camino College (16007 Crenshaw Bl. In Torrance)

 

April 14  The von Kármán Lecture Series: 2022

April 2022 - A Look at NASA’s Earth System Observatory

A Delta Oasis in Southeastern Kazakhstan 

Credit: NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey

A Look at NASA’s Earth System Observatory

April 14

Time: 7 p.m. PDT (10 p.m. EDT; 0300 UTC)

NASA is working on a new set of Earth-focused missions to provide key information to guide efforts related to climate change, natural hazard mitigation, fighting forest fires, and improving real-time agricultural processes. Each uniquely designed satellite in the Earth System Observatory will complement the others, working in tandem to create a 3D, holistic view of Earth, from bedrock to atmosphere.

Speaker(s):
Erika Podest, Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems Scientist, NASA/JPL

Host:
Nikki Wyrick, Public Services Office, NASA/JPL

Co-Host:
Lindsay McLaurin, Public Outreach Specialist, NASA/JPL

Webcast:
Click here to watch the event live on YouTube

 11 April    LAAS General Mtg. 7:30pm Griffith Observatory (private)

NO EVENT IN APRIL 2022UCLA Meteorite Gallery Lectures

 

5 May       AEA Astronomy Club Meeting     TBD – Great Courses video        Teams

 

 

Observing:

 

The following data are from the 2022 Observer’s Handbook, and Sky & Telescope’s 2022 Skygazer’s Almanac & monthly Sky at a Glance.

 

Current sun & moon rise/set/phase data for L.A.:  http://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/usa/los-angeles

 

Sun, Moon & Planets for April:

 

     

 

Moon: April 1 new, April 9 1st quarter, April 16 Full, April 23 last quarter, April 30 new

Planets: Venus is visible at dawn all month.  Mars visible at dawn all month. Jupiter visible at dawn low in the east-southeast all month.  Saturn is visible at dawn all month.  Mercury emerges from the Sun’s glare on the 11th and is visible at dusk.

Other Events:

 

LAAS Event Calendar (incl. various other virtual events):  

https://www.laas.org/laas-bulletin/#calendar

 

2 April

SBAS out-of-town Dark Sky observing – contact Ken Munson to coordinate a location. http://www.sbastro.net/.  

 

April 3 Uranus 0.6deg N of Moon

 

April 4 Mars 0.3deg S of Saturn

 

None?

LAAS Private dark sky  Star Party   

 

April 6, 13, 20, 27

LAAS The Garvey Ranch Observatory is open to the public every Wednesday evening from 7:30 PM to 10 PM. Go into the dome to use the 8 Inch Refractor or observe through one of our telescopes on the lawn. Visit our workshop to learn how you can build your own telescope, grind your own mirror, or sign up for our free seasonal astronomy classes. 

Call 213-673-7355 for further information.

Time: 7:30 PM - 10:00 PM

Location: Garvey Ranch Obs. , 781 Orange Ave., Monterey Park, CA 91755

 

9 April Global Star Party – Global Astronomy Month https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/event-view.cfm?Event_ID=123504

 

12 April Jupiter 0.1deg N of Neptune

 

26 March

SBAS In-town observing session – In Town Dark Sky Observing Session at Ridgecrest Middle School– 28915 NortbBay Rd. RPV, Weather Permitting: Please contact Ken Munson to confirm that the gate will be opened. http://www.sbastro.net/.   Only if we get permission to use the school grounds again and CDC guidelines are reduced

 

Cancelled

LAAS Public  Star Party: Griffith Observatory Grounds 2-10pm See http://www.griffithobservatory.org/programs/publictelescopes.html#starparties  for more information.

 

22 April Lyrid meteors peak

 

23 April SBAS In Town Dark Sky Observing Session at Ridgecrest Middle School– 28915 NortbBay Rd. RPV, Weather Permitting: Please contact Ken Munson to confirm that the gate will be opened. Only if we get permission to use the school grounds again and CDC guidelines are reduced

 

27 April Venuis 0.01deg S of Neptune

 

29 April Mercury greatest elongation E (21deg)

 

30 April Venus 0.2deg S of Jupiter

 

30 April

SBAS out-of-town Dark Sky observing – contact Ken Munson to coordinate a location. http://www.sbastro.net/.  

 

None?

LAAS Private dark sky  Star Party   

 

Internet Links:

 

Telescope, Binocular & Accessory Buying Guides

Sky & Telescope Magazine -- Choosing Your Equipment

Orion Telescopes & Binoculars -- Buying Guides

Telescopes.com -- Telescopes 101

 

General

 

Getting Started in Astronomy & Observing

The Astronomical League

 e! Science News Astronomy & Space

NASA Gallery

Astronomical Society of the Pacific (educational, amateur & professional)

Amateur Online Tools, Journals, Vendors, Societies, Databases

The Astronomy White Pages (U.S. & International Amateur Clubs & Societies)

American Astronomical Society (professional)

More...

 

Regional (Southern California, Washington, D.C. & Colorado)

Southern California & Beyond Amateur Astronomy Organizations, Observatories & Planetaria

Mt. Wilson Observatory description, history, visiting

Los Angeles Astronomical Society (LAAS)

South Bay Astronomical Society (SBAS)

Orange County Astronomers

The Local Group Astronomy Club (Santa Clarita)

Ventura County Astronomical Society

The Astronomical Society of Greenbelt

National Capital Astronomers

Northern Virginia Astronomy Club

Colorado Springs Astronomical Society

Denver Astronomical Society

 

 

About the Club

Club Websites:  Internal (Aerospace): https://aeropedia.aero.org/aeropedia/index.php/Astronomy_Club  It is updated to reflect this newsletter, in addition to a listing of past club mtg. presentations, astronomy news, photos & events from prior newsletters, club equipment, membership & constitution.  We have linked some presentation materials from past mtgs.  Our club newsletters are also being posted to an external blog, “An Astronomical View” http://astronomicalview.blogspot.com/. 

 
Membership.  For information, current dues & application, contact Kaly Rengarajan, or see the club website (or Aerolink folder) where a form is also available (go to the membership link/folder & look at the bottom).  Benefits will include use of club telescope(s) & library/software, membership in The Astronomical League, discounts on Sky & Telescope magazine and Observer’s Handbook, field trips, great programs, having a say in club activities, acquisitions & elections, etc.

Committee Suggestions & Volunteers.  Feel free to contact:  Jason Fields, President & Program Committee Chairman, Sam Andrews, VP, Kelly Gov club Secretary (& librarian), or Kaly Rangarajan, (Treasurer).

Mark Clayson,
AEA Astronomy Club Newsletter Editor

No comments:

Post a Comment