We will meet at 7 pm in the meeting house at 475 Bluff Road in Avonport (Not at Acadia U.)
Starry Nights and Mountain Bikes? A Dark-Sky Preserve Party at Jasper National Park
by Mary Lou Whitehorne – President of the RASC
Summmary: At the invitation (and expense) of Tourism Jasper, I traveled to Jasper National Park to participate in the Park’s Dark Sky Media and VIP declaration celebration on 1 October, 2011. This 40-minute talk gives an account of the event, including aboriginal participation and sky lore, and a brief overview of the RASC’s dark-sky preserve program and its successful and growing partnership with Parks Canada. My presentation will wrap up with a quick look at Jasper National Park’s dark-sky sites, and a short detour into other interesting Park locations.
(Refreshments and conversation following)
(RASC = Royal Astronomical Society of Canada)
7 pm
Topic: “Interplanetary Missiles and Sources of Water plus Gigantic Lenses for imaging Very Distant Objects” by Larry Bogan
– Interplanetary Missile (Asteroid 2005 YU55)
– Celestial Water for Earth (Measuring water isotopes on Comet Hartley 2)
– CLASH (A program to study gravitational imaging of distant galaxies)
– Imaging a black hole (Gravitational image of a black hole disk)
New Location: Next door (east side) to Roy Bishop’s home. If you need more detailed directions:
– Wolfville and westward: From Highway 101 take exit 9 past the double bridge at the Gaspereau River. At the stop sign, turn left, and then take the next left across the 101 overpass. Go 180 degrees on the round-about and continue past the L.E. Shaw school. Immediately past the school, at the church, turn right and continue a further 2.4 km (during which you will cross a railway twice). On the left side you will encounter a wood fence backed by pine trees. The meeting location is immediately past the fence, on the left (#475).
– From Halifax, the shorter route is to take exit 8 into Hantsport, go through Hantsport on Main Street and continue straight through Hants Border and onto the Bluff Road to Avonport, turning right into the driveway immediately before the wood fence and pine trees.
OR: Take Avonport exit 9, go 90 degrees on the round-about, etc. (as above, for members coming from Wolfville).<
Saturday, September 10, 7 p.m. at Acadia University, Huggins Science Hall, Room 202
Special Speaker:
Dr. José Francisco Salgado
Title: Communicating Science through Art and Technology
José Francisco Salgado is an astronomer and visual artist at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago and Executive Director of KV 265, a non-profit organization whose mission is the communication of science through art. Formally trained in Physics (BS, Univ. of Puerto Rico) and Astronomy (PhD, Univ. of Michigan), he uses his skills in astronomy, education, and visual arts to create multimedia works that communicate science in engaging ways and provoke curiosity and a sense of wonder about the Earth and the Universe. His education and outreach efforts include an Emmy-nominated astronomy TV news segment and critically-acclaimed astronomy films (Gustav Holst’s The Planets and Astronomical Pictures at an Exhibition) created to accompany live performances of classical music works. These films were featured in the opening ceremony of the International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009) at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris and were shown around the world as part of IYA2009 festivities.. He has presented these films in more than 55 concerts, spanning 13 countries, and reaching a combined audience totaling more than 135,000. Salgado, an avid photographer, will talk about these films and how he experiments with photography and music to enhance his multimedia works. He will show excerpts of these works and explain the concept behind his new “science and symphony” film about the Moon. Dr. Salgado is in Nova Scotia for the next few days to film the tides of Fundy.
(Huggins is the second building on the right as one goes up University Avenue (opposite the gymnasium). Enter by the corner door to the right of the main entrance. Once inside, enter the stairwell on your immediate right and go up one floor. Then keep right!)
At Smiley’s Provincial Park
August 26-28, Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday morning.
Astronomy Talks, Workshops, Observing, Telescope displays, Astronomer’s breakfast
For Registration and Details see http://halifax.rasc.ca/ne
(Huggins is the second building on the right as one goes up University Avenue (opposite the gymnasium). Enter by the corner door to the right of the main entrance. Once inside, enter the stairwell on your immediate right and go up one floor. Then keep right!)
Doug Pitcairn is an excellent speaker, with a passion for astronomy. He teaches “Architecture 1200, Science of the Built Environment”, a course that he developed for the School of Architecture at Dalhousie University. Doug also teaches introductory astronomy classes at Saint Mary’s University. He and Dave Lane are often guests on CBC’s Maritime Noon Phone-in on the topic of astronomy. Doug’s other interests include cycling in the Annapolis Valley, photography, music, writing, acoustics, gardening, and cooking.
This will be Doug’s second presentation to MAG. Two years ago this month his topic was “Ordinary Extraordinary Stars of the Milky Way”.
Abstract:
A dictionary describes the word “Edge” as a noun meaning “the outside limit of an object, area or surface.”
Human beings have a tendency to compartmentalize their physical surroundings. We draw lines between regions of everything from the surface of this planet, to the skin on our bodies. These boundaries create edges, which upon closer examination may be more in our minds than in physical reality.
This talk will examine a few of the edges of well known objects in the universe. We will see that where one thing stops, and the next starts, is often a matter of opinion…
There is a close, seldom-mentioned connection between the stars and the problems occurring at the Fukushima Dai-ichi reactors in Japan. The connection involves the properties of the isotopes of the elements, the curve of nuclear binding energy, and the life cycles of stars. The energy contained in fossil fuels arrived on Earth on a beam of starlight, but the energy contained in reactor fuel and the energy responsible for earthquakes arrived on our planet with the ashes of the most violent events in the universe, supernova explosions.
(Huggins is the second building on the right as one goes up University Avenue (opposite the gymnasium). Enter by the corner door to the right of the main entrance. Once inside, enter the stairwell on your immediate right and go up one floor.)
“Explore the Moon with your Binoculars and Small Telescope”
Abstract:
The Moon is an ideal object of study for the beginning astronomer, as it is easy to find, can be conveniently viewed from home, does not require a large, expensive telescope, and yields interesting and detailed views at low magnification. Even a modest lunar observing programme enhances your understanding of the motions of Earth and Moon, provides training in the operation of your telescope, and — above all — helps you learn how to observe.
The Speaker:
David Chapman started looking at the sky 50 years ago, and by age 10 had his first, small, telescope. Page one of his observing log was devoted to the Moon. He has been more or less involved in astronomy since then, as a hobby, but studied Physics in university and completed a research career in underwater acoustics. After he retired, he turned his gaze back at the Moon and earned the RASC Lunar Observer’s Certificate and pin. In other words, he is now a certified lunatic!
David has just returned from a 5-week tour of New Zealand, where he had the experience of observing a completely different starry sky and viewing the Moon upside down!
Also, David is the recently-appointed editor of the Observer’s Handbook of The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, so he is destined to have a significant influence upon the observing activities of amateur and professional astronomers in many countries during the next few years.
7pm in Rm 202 Huggins Science Hall, Acadia University
Member presentations – show your new astronomy-related Christmas gift, pictures, or other item.
This will be a Christmas/Solstice Party at the Funky Sun Observatory,
hosted by Robert and Ruth Clark – This is our 5th annual such meeting.
Saturday Dec 11, at 7 pm at the home of the Clarks on Rt 1 west of Berwick known as the Lone Pine Farm.
Meet in rm 202 Huggins Science Centre, Acadia University
Saturday, 13 November at 7 pm
Dave Lane will be our speaker and talk of
“Amateur Variable Star Research at the Abbey Ridge Observatory”
This is the Dave’s observatory he built and operates.