The StarSeeker Newsletter of the R.A.S.C. Calgary Centre, Member of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada May 2021 Volume 62 Number 5

Spring Fundraising 2021 This is your opportunity to get some amazing art and apparel. Money that is raised by this fundraiser will be going towards supporting the RASC Calgary Centre and its programming and resources for its members.

Photo Credit: Kimberly Sibbald, Grasslands National Park Painting, Valerie Le Baron, Butterfly Nebula, NGC 6302 Teepee Poles and Milky Way

You can place your bid on these incredible framed prints and paintings (and more) here: https://app.galabid.com/2021rasc/items

Bidding closes on May 3, 2021 at 11:59 p.m.

Inside the StarSeeker: D Editor’s Message...... 2 D New Members...... 7 D President’s Message...... 2-3 D RASC Calgary Centre Contact List...... 8 D P.A.R.S.E.C. Meeting Schedule...... 4 D RASC Membership...... 9 D General Meeting Online Presentation...... 5 D Update/Telescope for Rent Program...... 10 D Youth Group, NOVA & OG Reports.....6-7 D Calendar...... 11 Editor’s Message President’s Message By Carole Benoit By Simon Poole StarSeeker Newsletter Editor President, RASC Calgary Centre

Our Centre continues to function throughout the third Welcome to the May 2021 edition wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and remarkable things of the StarSeeker. are being done. I attended the PARSEC meeting earlier this week and one of our own members, Laurie Sibbald, The 2021 Spring Fundraiser is captured photometry data indicating exoplanets in transit. still ongoing for few more days. This was done from the light polluted skies of Calgary! Bidding closes on May 3, 2021 We are excited to celebrate the success and share the

at 11:59 p.m. To place your bid, knowledge with all Centre members who would like to please visit: participate in this program. Next month’s meeting will https://app.galabid.com/2021rasc/items focus on how to measure double stars in a talk given by Richard Harshaw. Learn more about how you, as The guest speaker at the RASC General Meeting this a member of the Calgary Centre, can get involved in month is Alexandra Yep. The topic of her on-line astronomical sciences by contacting David Brown: presentation is: “Earth & Beyond: Young Stars amid External Radiation and Colliding Clusters”. More for more information and a link to join this great program. details on page 5. The Calgary Centre continues to be a leader in the city in From David Brown, you can find the meetings schedule online programs to educate members of the community, for our new P.A.R.S.E.C. program and a brief description including the youth. In partnership with the Calgary of the upcoming May meeting with guest speaker Richard Public Library, each Saturday morning several Centre Harshaw. Details p.4 volunteers spend 2 hours of their time teaching youth various topics about astronomy to provide them a solid You will find the latest Observing Groups Report from foundation in the topic and scientific literacy in general. Jack Milliken on page 6-7. This program will be expanded to adults in the first week of May. For up-to-date information and upcoming events, visit the calendar of activities in this newsletter (p. 11) and/or The Wilson Coulee Observatory now has reliable high- on our web site for more details. speed internet for all members and guests to access https://calgary.rasc.ca/calendar.htm astronomical information and share the sky with their friends. When the policy and security surrounding Until next month. internet use at the facility is finalized, we will officially Clear Skies! open it to Centre members. As a first test of this internet, we will be live streaming an event in partnership with the TELUS Spark Science Centre. A “Directly from the *** NOTICE REGARDING *** Observatory” program is being planned for June and we will broadcast on location from the WCO into classrooms The Eccles Ranch Observatory around the region. No admittance. The Eccles Ranch We are extremely grateful to those who have donated Observatory is closed to ALL their time, effort, and financial support to renovate and activities until further notice. enhance our great observatory facility. There is still time to help with a tax-refundable donation that will go directly to the ongoing renovations at the WCO. If Thanks to all who contributed articles you can help with a targeted donation for this once in a this month. Don’t forget, we would like generation project, please reach out to our treasurer Russ to hear from you! Dueck at: and put “WCO Renovation” in the subject line.

2 R.A.S.C. CALGARY – STARSEEKER I spent two great evenings down at the WCO in April and WHAT I AM READING: measured Bortle 4 skies. Both nights I was looking for • Catching up on my latest Astronomy magazines galaxies within the Virgo Cluster. I am excited to say I found more than a dozen in my first trip around this area MY CURRENT PERSONAL ASTRONOMY: of the sky with a telescope. It was thrilling to see these • Visual observing of the Virgo Cluster faint fuzzy objects and know they are millions of light years away. I can’t wait for all of you to come out and experience the night sky from our great facility.

This past April we had Dr. Raafat El-Hacha and Mr. A’Arif Hamad speak to us on the scientific advancements from more than a thousand years ago. Now, this upcoming month we will hear from a Ph.D student, Alexandra Yep, from Georgia State University on “Young Stars amid External Radiation and Colliding Clusters”. Join us on May 20 at 7:30pm MT to delve into this topic. Information on joining this online lecture can be found further below in the StarSeeker.

If you are reading this newsletter and are not a member of the Calgary Centre, we encourage you to join. We will have a renovated observatory open for use at any time for members and we can provide you with some one-on-one assistance as you start out in this wonderful hobby. When the pandemic comes to an end you will have full access to a Telescope-For-Rent program and can try out all sorts of great equipment to enhance your wonder of the night sky. https://www.rasc.ca/join

We are excited that you are part of the Calgary Centre during some revolutionary changes to modernize how we do astronomy and I hope you can continue to enjoy the night sky with all of us going forward. We understand the financial hardships this pandemic has caused but I would just like to remind our Centre membership of the words of our National Executive Director, Phil Groff:

“We have your back” “To anyone facing the prospect of not being able to renew your membership due to financial circumstances resulting from this pandemic, we have your back. Please Image Credit & Copyright: Rogelio Bernal Andreo (Deep Sky Colors) don’t hesitate to contact the national office, we will and APOD where an annotated version of this image is available. maintain your confidentiality, and no one who applies This colorful and broad telescopic mosaic links Markarian’s Chain of galaxies across the core of the Virgo Cluster to dusty spiral galaxy will be refused.” Messier 64.

Galaxies are scattered through the field of view that spans some 20 full Our Council wants to support you in staying with the moons across a gorgeous night sky. The cosmic frame is also filled with foreground stars from constellations Virgo and Coma Berenices, Centre during this exciting time. We want you to continue and faint, dusty nebulae drifting above the plane of the Milky Way. to be a part of this great community of people. If you Look carefully for Markarian’s eyes. The famous pair of interacting need support, do not hesitate to contact the Membership galaxies is near the top, not far from M87, the Virgo cluster’s giant Coordinator at the national office, Adela Zyfi: elliptical galaxy. Toward bottom left is Messier 64, also known as the Black Eye Galaxy. The Virgo Cluster is the closest large galaxy cluster to apply for this program. to our own local galaxy group. Virgo Cluster galaxies are about 50 million light-years distant, but M64 lies a mere 17 million light-years away.

CALGARY.RASC.CA 3 Calgary Centre of the RASC May P.A.R.S.E.C. Meeting P.A.R.S.E.C. Meetings May 27, 19:30-21:30 By: David Brown Talk Topic: Calgary Centre of the RASC, P.A.R.S.E.C. Meetings Richard Harshaw – A double star observer from Arizona will P.A.R.S.E.C. = Promoting Amateur Research and Scientific Exploration of the Cosmos. be giving a nuts and bolts talk on measuring double stars. The P.A.R.S.E.C. group's objectives are for members of . the Calgary Centre of the R.A.S.C to gather scientific Biographical Sketch: Richard Harshaw data with the equipment they or the centre own and submit the scientific results to the appropriate scientific Richard holds a Bachelor’s databases or journals. of Science in Education (Mathematics / Physics) The group will achieve these goals through participating from Central Missouri in workgroups and workshops to provide information and State University where he skills on planning, gathering, processing and submitting graduated in 1973. Born scientific data. and raised in Missouri, he now resides in Cave Central to the group will be the encouragement of its Creek, Arizona (a suburb of members and the sharing of ideas and experiences. Phoenix) with his wife.

2021 Calgary Centre of the RASC His exploits in astronomy P.A.R.S.E.C. Meetings began 52 years ago when he purchased a second-hand 4th Thursday of the month Meeting Schedule 60mm alt-azimuth refractor from a friend. Over the ------years, he worked his way up to a 4.5” reflector, then an 8-inch SCT, and his present scope, an 11-inch SCT. His May 27 19:30-21:30 main interest is speckle interferometry of close double Talk Topic: Richard Harshaw, a double star observer stars. But he is also an avid galaxy hunter and enjoys star from Arizona will be giving a nuts and bolts talk on clusters and planetary nebulae. measuring double stars. ON-LINE DIGITAL MEETING He has authored dozens of scientific papers on double star research and measurement and has a book published June 24 19:30-21:30 by Springer Publishing, The Complete CD Guide To The ON-LINE DIGITAL MEETING Universe, released late in 2006. He is presently working on speckle interferometry on extremely close binaries, July 22 19:30-21:30 doing observing runs at Kitt Peak National Observatory ON-LINE DIGITAL MEETING and other observatories as well as his own observatory.

CONTACT: Asteroid 2000 EF116 was named for him (26586 Harshaw) by the Catalina Sky Survey team.

Please contact David Brown for meeting link information:

4 R.A.S.C. CALGARY – STARSEEKER RASC General Meeting Upcoming Online Presentation Thursday, May 20 – 7:30 PM “Earth & Beyond: Young Stars amid External Radiation and Colliding Clusters” with guest speaker Alexandra Yep

SPEAKER: Alexandra Yep Alexandra Yep is a poet turned astronomer. Her first science course in college was quantum mechanics, and by some miracle she passed the course and kept on going. She is now pursuing her Ph.D. at Georgia State University, researching young stars in a moderate radiation environment and the collision of star clusters. She is on track to graduate this year.

TOPIC: “Earth & Beyond: Young Stars amid External Radiation and Colliding Clusters”

Stars are not born in isolation. Rather, they are born in a cluster of a hundred or even a thousand stars. Star clusters, meanwhile, are not alone either. In galaxies like ours, many of them form in the spiral arms. One may well ask: Do stars affect neighboring stars? Do clusters affect neighboring clusters? They certainly do. Hot stars can irradiate nearby young stars and prevent them from forming planets. Clusters can collide with each other, such that stars pass through the edges of each other’s solar systems and kick up comets and asteroids. It’s tough to be a planet out there.

PLEASE REGISTER AT THE LINK BELOW: https://calgarylibrary-ca.zoom.us/j/98799939739?pwd=VWoxUWFJNWl5NWxoYlRGWEdZWE4vQT09 MEETING ID: 98799939739 PASSECODE: 200735

CALGARY.RASC.CA 5 Observing Groups Report By Jack Milliken

YOUTH GROUP On April 16 Doug hosted a Zoom virtual meeting and 5 members of the Youth Group attended the meeting.

Doug welcomed a new member to the group and then reviewed the agenda.

I gave a short description of how to sketch constellations, using Leo as my example as it is now prominent in the Credit: Sketches by Jack Milliken night sky. I first showed a photograph of Leo and then a series of scanned images to show how I added stars to my sketch. Each scan showed a few additional stars and NOVA (New Observers to Visual Astronomy) I described how I used the previous stars to position each The April 9 meeting was a new star on the sketch. Zoom virtual meeting and 12 people participated. I then showed the photograph of Leo again and invited the participants to sketch the brighter stars. A few of I would like to congratulate Simon Poole who has them, including Doug, gave it a try and then showed their successfully completed the requirements for the RASC results. Observing the Moon (Telescope) observing program.

I reviewed the spring target list from the Explore the I began the meeting with some recent pictures of the Universe program and noted the constellations on the deployment of the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars. list, one of them being Leo. I encouraged everyone to get outside and try a few constellation sketches. Then I did a brief review of the constellations around Hercules using the “Hopping Around Hercules” chart, Doug then reviewed upcoming events using the calendar and then I walked through the spring target list from on our website. We had time at the end of the meeting to the Explore the Universe program. The handouts for answer a few questions. Hercules, the spring ETU list, and Starhopping were distributed with the meeting notice via email. Anyone wanting more information about the Calgary Centre Youth Group please contact Doug Thorp at: I gave a short presentation about star charts and showed some examples, highlighting characteristics to look for when choosing a star chart. I also talked a bit about starhopping using charts to find objects in a telescope.

6 R.A.S.C. CALGARY – STARSEEKER I also showed the web pages for a few star charting programs. Skymaps provides a monthly allsky chart that is excellent for beginners and highlights targets for naked eye observing as well as binoculars and small telescopes. Heavens-Above allows you to customize charts for your location and provides an allsky chart as well as charts for asteroids, comets, etc.

Next up was a demonstration of the online version of the Stellarium planetarium program. There is also a free version you can download and install on most platforms. I followed that with a demonstration of the program Cartes du Ciel, another free charting program that I have installed on my computer. This is a full featured program with several catalogs that can be downloaded and accessed from the program, including three from the Gaia catalog Welcome! NEW MEMBERS which together contain stars down to the magnitude 21. Tara M. Scarrow If you are interested in attending NOVA meetings, please Rob Cruickshank send an email to my address at the end of this article. I send out an email about a week before each meeting with Scott Nelson Powell the agenda, the zoom meeting link, and the handouts. Michele Shaben Kai Shaben-Powell OBSERVING GROUP The virtual zoom meeting on Robyn Daniel Moody April 10 had 6 participants. I Mike Hooge showed the usual What’s Up Ramona Hooge presentation that talked about where the planets are, upcoming meteor showers, Danielle Forrest visible comets and asteroids, etc. Not a Member Yet? Join RASC! Canes Venatici was the constellation of the month and I More information at: had sent out handouts of the constellation star chart and http://calgary.rasc.ca/applinfo.htm a target list including objects from the Messier, Finest NGC, and Herschel 400 catalogs. The presentation SOME MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS: showed images for most of these objects, several from • National Membership in the RASC Calgary Centre member John Mirtle, and others found on the Internet including a number from the Hubble • Membership Association with the Space Telescope. After the main presentation four of us Calgary Centre of the RASC hung around and chatted about telescopes and things for • Subscription to the national publication, another 40 minutes. the “eJournal” (the printed Journal is optional) The OG zoom link and the handouts are included in the • Subscription to the national publication, email to the NOVA distribution list and I have started the “eBulletin” a separate email distribution list for the OG meetings. Please contact me to be added to that list if you are • The national annual publication, the interested. “Observers Handbook” (300+ pages) • Subscription to the Calgary Centre Anyone wanting more information about the Calgary newsletter, the “StarSeeker” Centre observing groups please contact me at: • Members will also receive a free subscription to “SkyNews”, the Canadian astronomy magazine. Wishing you clear skies and good Internet connections!

CALGARY.RASC.CA 7 R.A.S.C. Calgary Centre Executive, Councillors & Other Contacts

Executive President...... Simon Poole...... Past President...... Roland Dechesne...... Honorary President...... Dr. Phil Langill, RAO...... First Vice President...... Bryan Lyonnais...... Second Vice President...... David Brown...... Secretary...... Peter Brackett...... Treasurer...... Russ Dueck......

Councillors Councillor ...... Phil Tracey...... Councillor...... Eric Klaszus ...... Councillor...... Andrew Bennett...... Councillor ...... Larry McNish...... Councillor...... Andrea Poole ...... Councillor...... Jennifer Howse...... Councillor...... Doug Thorp...... Councillor...... Steve Donaldson......

Directors & Other Contacts Alberta Star Party...... Jason Nishiyama...... Donations Coordinator...... Simon Poole...... ERO Site Director...... Katherine Peterson & Frank Hendsbee Financial Scrutineer...... Glenn Hawley...... Financial Scrutineer...... Don Hladiuk...... Librarian...... Judy Sterner...... National Advisory Council ...... Steve Donaldson...... National Advisory Council ...... Judy Sterner...... National Advisory Council ...... Doug Thorp...... NOVA /Observer Group Chair...... Jack Milliken...... Observatory Tour Bookings...... Tour Coordinator...... StarSeeker Newsletter Editor...... Carole Benoit...... Star-B-Q Coordinator...... Roland Dechesne...... Telescopes for Rent ...... George Grant...... Volunteer Coordinator...... Robyn Foret...... WCO Site Director/C-14 Bookings...... Jason Nishiyama -– 403.289.3903...... Webmaster...... Larry McNish...... Youth Group Director...... Doug Thorp...... RASC Memberships/Address Change/National Office – 1.888.924.7272 ERO: Eccles Ranch Observing Site WCO: Wilson Coulee Observatory

8 R.A.S.C. CALGARY – STARSEEKER Enjoy the sky with like-minded people!

Whether you are an amateur or professional astronomer, The Royal Astronomical Society

Reunion of Olympian proportions Scoping out the competition Bright and sunny days of Canada (RASC) is the perfect place for you! The December Jupiter-Saturn Telescope reviews for the The world is seeing the Sun as never meetup is the closest in 400 years holidays, from stalwarts to Stellina before — with a hand from Canada

Join a RASC Centre to learn more about astronomy, receive and give support, build connections and make friends. Individual, family, and youth memberships are available. FIELDS OF DREAMS A Canadian-led team is uncovering magnetic forces Memberships include: surrounding galaxies

• The annual Observer’s Handbook, Explore the Universe guide, and six NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020 • $6.99 issues of the Journal of the RASC • Six issues of SkyNews magazine • Centres offer member benefits such as access to observatories, workshops, lectures, and observing sessions; mentorship for beginner astronomers; telescope loaning programs; and observing certificates*

* Member benefits vary between Centres

Give the gift of a RASC membership to your friends and loved ones!

HOLIDAY GIFT A RASC membership includes a wealth of resources and a chance to connect with a large community of astronomy enthusiasts. If you have MEMBERSHIPS a budding astronomer in your life, our annual membership makes an excellent gift!

To purchase a membership, go to www.rasc.ca/join or contact our Membership Coordinator, Adela Zyfi [email protected] Cygnus Wall image by Lenard Velensky, taken with the RASC robotic telescope with the RASC robotic taken Velensky, Lenard image by Wall Cygnus

CALGARY.RASC.CA 9 Telescope for Rent Program These solar telescopes enable detailed viewing of the Update solar surface and features beyond sun spots like the fine feather-like details of the faintest prominence, the by George Grant bright birth of a solar flare, and caterpillar/worm-like Coordinator, Telescope for Rent Program structures (filaments) snaking across the Sun’s surface.

RASC Calgary Centre owns the following astronomical REQUIREMENTS FOR THE TELESCOPE FOR equipment for members to rent at very reasonable rates: RENT PROGRAM The “Telescopes For Rent Program” is one of the • 2 pairs of binoculars many benefits of Calgary RASC membership. The • 6 Dobsonian telescopes ranging from 6” to 13” Calgary Centre has a great ‘Scopes for Rent’ program • 5 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes from 4” to 8” and the rental rates are extremely low: $2.00 per inch • 2 Newtonian 6” reflectors of aperture, per month. Therefore a 6 inch Dobsonian • 2 Maksutov-Cassegrain 3.6” and 6” telescopes telescope would rent for $12.00 for a month. That’s a • 3 Refractor telescopes from 3” to 5” “steal” for an astronomical telescope worth about $500! • 2 H-Alpha Solar telescopes • 1 iOptron camera tracking mount with tripod The telescopes are rented for 1 month minimum and in increments of one month. Renters may keep the All equipment comes with reasonable accessories telescope for additional month (s) until another RASC (eyepieces, moon filter, red light) and I can usually member requests to rent it, in which case it will be include a Nightwatch book which has basic sky charts. recalled at the end of its current term by the program coordinator. If youtelescope want a particular telescope,for rent request The telescope for rent program is a popular benefit for it up to a month ahead of the desired rental date, and it Calgary members. These devices are all well utilized should be available. Interim payments may be required with an average time they are rented in 2018 of 78%. In if telescopes are kept for extended periods. spite of the high utilization rates the wait queues to get the telescope you want to try are quite reasonable for with the If yousafety don’t already of have all a scopeinvolved. or are wanting to try virtually all requests satisfied in 30-60 days. something different, the Calgary Center has a diverse range of instruments. All telescopes come with finder WithIn 2018 COVID-19there were a few changes still to the program.going Long strong, scopes, eyepieces, our and a moon filter. There are only time member Tom Swaddle donated a practically new two prerequisites for renting a telescope: You must be a Celestron EdgeHD 8” SCT with many accessories to member in good standing of the Calgary RASC Center, programthe program in March. is suspended It has been accessorized with and you must be at least 18 years of age. carry cases and eyepieces and is now available to rent. [email protected] This telescope with Advanced VX equatorial mount is Celestron latest update to Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope (SCT) design. It provides Celestron's best optical performance with EdgeHD's aplanatic, flat field SCT optics for pinpoint stars all the way to the edge of today's largest imaging sensors and widest eyepieces. When polar aligned, this "goto" telescope can find and track over 40,000 objects. It is big enough to see many deep sky objects yet relatively easy to transport and setup.

Also in 2018 the centre’s Lunt Hydrogen-Alpha pressure tuned solar telescope was moved into the rental program. This 50mm telescope is mounted on a Celestron NexStar computerized mount and comes with 15mm, 17mm, and 26mm eyepieces. Rental package includes detailed setup and operating instructions and is suitable for experienced observers. The Lunt became the second dedicated solar telescope in the program joining the Coronado PST.

10 R.A.S.C. CALGARY – STARSEEKER RASC General Meeting, May 20 – 7:30 PM May “Earth & Beyond: Young Stars amid External Radiation and Colliding Clusters” with guest speaker Alexandra Yep 2021 Webinar Link and Passcode, see page 5

SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY

1 May P.A.R.S.E.C. Meeting CALGARY RASC LIBRARY May 27, 19:30-21:30 PROGRAM Richard Harshaw – A double star observer from Arizona 11 A.M.-12 P.M. DIGITAL MEETING will be giving a nuts and bolts talk on measuring double stars.

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 LAST QUARTER CBC RADIO CALGARY RASC RASC CALGARY RASC ONE’S RASC LIBRARY Eta Aquariid YOUTH GROUP LIBRARY ASTRONOMY PROGRAM Meteor Shower ON-LINE ZOOM PROGRAM SEGMENT WITH 11 A.M.-12 P.M. MEETING 11 A.M.-12 P.M. DON HLADIUK DIGITAL MEETING DIGITAL MEETING 7:36 A.M.

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 CALGARY RASC NEW MOON LIBRARY PROGRAM RASC NOVA RASC COUNCIL 11 A.M.-12 P.M. MEETING ZOOM 7:00 P.M. MEETING DIGITAL MEETING ZOOM RASC OG MEETING ZOOM MEETING

16 17 18 19 20 21 22 FIRST QUARTER RASC GENERAL MEETING/PUBLIC LECTURE.

StarSeeker Article Deadline

23 24 25 26 27 28 29 VICTORIA FULL MOON DAY The closest Full CALGARY RASC CALGARY RASC 30 Moon of 2021 LIBRARY 31 357461 km P.A.R.S.E.C. 19:30 - 21:30 P.M. PROGRAM 11 A.M.-12 P.M. Total lunar eclipse ON-LINE ZOOM DIGITAL MEETING 05:11-05:26 MDT MEETING eastern Asia, Australia, Pacific, Americas

Additional information on these and other public astronomy events can be found on our website: calgary.rasc.ca/calendar.htm

CALGARY.RASC.CA 11 2. allstar4skynewsMJ20_Layout 1 23/03/20 6:43 PM Page 1

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12 R.A.S.C. CALGARY – STARSEEKER