Our November meeting will be at 7pm AST on the 17th (the third Saturday).
Location: 475 Bluff Road, Avonport
Topic: “Hooked” on Astronomy
Speakers: Bruce & Melody Hamilton
From the arrival of one new “star” in our family to the many stars
on Messier’s list, there is a story to tell. We will unfold our
three year journey through hooked mats, building projects,
photographs and adventures….
The MAG meeting this month is on Saturday October 13
7pm – speaker Blair MacDonald
The first MAG meeting of the autumn will be delayed to the third Saturday, Sept 15th – 7 pm at Bishop meeting house in Avonport
Topic to be announced.
Note the Delay of one week for the meeting. It was not on the 9th.
Topic: Introduction to Astrophotography
Speaker: Blair MacDonald
When: Saturday June 16, 7pm
Location: Avonport, 475 Bluff Road
Blair spoke to Minas Astronomy Group 8 years ago, and has kindly
offered to do so again. He is an accomplished photographer of the
night sky, and has published many articles on the topic. He is a
veteran of countless hours spent in the cold and dark capturing
sparse streams of photons from distant galaxies, and more hours at a
computer screen processing the images. Blair is a very active member
of the RASC Halifax Centre, including chairing the Nova East Star
Party again this year (at Smiley’s Provincial Park, August 17 – 19).
Blair is bringing his telescope and camera equipment to demonstrate
it, and hopefully to do some astrophotography after his talk (once
the sky darkens toward 10 p.m.). Bring your camera to receive
pointers from Blair, and possibly to take some photos “piggy back”
using Blair’s telescope mount.
The weekend gathering of amateur astronomers of the Maritimes will take place this year in Smiley’s Provincial Park.
Details are available on the Nova East Website
http://halifax.rasc.ca/ne
When : 12 May 2012
Where : Avonport, 475 Bluff Road
Topic: The 2012 Transit of Venus (5 June)
Speaker: Roy Bishop
A transit of Venus has been arranged for us, only 24 days after our
meeting this Saturday. The next transit after that is scheduled for
2117 December 11. I will describe the historical significance of such
an event, why it happens so rarely, how boring a transit must be to
those who know nothing about it, how inaccessible the transit will be
to those who are not prepared to see it, and how to see it. Also, if
anyone knows how to arrange a clear sky for the day of the transit,
let me know. – Roy
Roy and Larry will give presentations.
Roy has some photos, including several from our speaker of last September, Dr. Jose Francisco Salgado who visited the South Pole a few weeks after he spoke at our meeting.
Larry will present recent new astronomy i) Testing Relativity by counting galaxies ii) Citizen Science: finding star formation regions in the Milky Way iii) Dark matter clumping in a galaxy cluster.
Spacetime coordinates:
t = 2012 April 14 19:00 AST
R = Avonport, 475 Bluff Road
CANCELLED – Saturday 11 February – due to snow storm
New Date: Saturday 18 February, 7pm
Avonport, 475 Bluff Road
( If unsure of the location, email me RLB@eastlink.ca and I will reply with detailed directions. – If the parking lot is full when you arrive, parking is also available off-pavement directly in front of 475 Bluff Road, and in the driveway next door (my home) at 465 Bluff Road.)
Castle Frederick
Speakers: Jim Bremner and Roy Bishop
Few people know where Castle Frederick is located, and fewer still know its history or how it got its curious name. The area was settled over 300 years ago by the French Acadians, and following the Seven Years War was resettled 250 years ago by Europeans and New England Planters. During the decade 1763-1773 its most famous resident, J.F.W. DesBarres carried out the greatest survey of the coasts of Nova Scotia ever done up until that time. DesBarres named his estate Castle Frederick, erected an astronomical observatory there, and during the winters prepared hydrographic charts that he eventually incorporated into the most elaborate marine atlas ever published, the “Atlantic Neptune”.
– Jim Bremner, a descendant of J.F.W. DesBarres and a lifetime resident of Castle Frederick, will describe the early history of Castle Frederick and its central location on the route from Halifax to the Annapolis Valley.
– Roy Bishop, a descendant of New England Planters, will give a sketch of DesBarres’ life, his observatory, and his monumental publication, the Atlantic Neptune.