R I Z Vol. 20 Issue 2 O O LA SOCIÉTÉ ROYALE D’ASTRONOMIE DU CANADA New Brunswick Centre du Nouveau-Brunswick Spring 2019 H THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF CANADA N Andromeda Galaxy and NGC 206 (Crop) - Image by Emile Cormier Left: The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) with satellite galaxies M32 above and M110 below. Right: NGC 206 is a star cloud in M31. Can you see it in the upper left of the galaxy? Captured in September 2017 but only processed recently. 80 mm f/6 Apo refractor. ASI1600 monochrome camera with filter wheel. ~3 hours total integration time. Processed using PixInsight. EVENT HORIZON Find us on ... Astronomy in New Brunswick SRAC/RASC Centre du NB Centre NB Astronomy Clubs Réunion / Meetings President/Président June MacDonald FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/RASC.NB [email protected] SRAC/RASC Centre du NB Centre June 15, Moncton HS 1st Vice-President/-Président Sept 21, UNB Fredericton TWITTER Don Kelly [email protected] Oct 19, Annual Meeting at MHS https://twitter.com/rascnb Nov 16, Saint John Rockwood Park 2nd Vice-President/-Président http://www.nb.rasc.ca/ Paul Owen [email protected] _________________________________ Secretary/Secrétaire William Brydone Jack Astronomy Club Curt Nason [email protected] (Fredericton) Star Parties / Events 2019 When: Second Tuesday of the month Kouchibouguac Star Party Treasurer/Trésorier Where: Fredericton, UNB Campus June 7 - 8 Emma MacPhee [email protected] 2 Bailey Drive, Room 203 Mactaquac Star Party July 5-6 www.frederictonastronomy.ca Mount Carleton Star Party National Council Representative August 2 - 3 June MacDonald (acting) ————————————————— Saint John Astronomy Club Councillors / Conseillers When: First Saturday of the month Fundy Star Party Gerry Allain Joe Cartwright Where: Rockwood Park Interpretation August 30 – 31 Mary King Chris Weadick Centre. Kouchibouguac Fall Festival www.sjastronomy.ca September 27 - 28 LP Abatement: Curt Nason Star Party-Events: Paul Owen ————————————————— Fall Astronomy Day and Education-Outreach: Curt Nason Astronomy - Astronomie Moncton Website: Laura Sponagle/Emile Cormier International Observe the Moon Social Media: Gerry Allain When: First Quarter Moon weekend Night: October 5 Equipment: Chris Weadick observing Mercury Transit: November 11 Library: Ted Dunphy Where: Moncton HS Observatory Fundy Upgrade: Paul Owen www.astronomymoncton.org Newsletter Editor: Curt Nason SRAC NB RASC — Volume 20, Issue 2— Page 2 Horizon: instruire, informer et inspirer A Visit to the OzSky Star Safari by Mary and Greg King If you are planning a trip to Australia in the near future, you may want to go in March or April. That is when the OzSky Star Safari takes place. The OzSky Star Safari is an exclusive event held in Coonabarabran, New South Wales (the Astronomy Capital of Australia), offering Northern Hemi- sphere astronomers a unique oppor- beds catering to vacationing families. breakfast before I hit the road to the tunity to experience the grandeur of There is no food onsite but an evening Hunter Valley for some wine tastings. the southern night skies through an home-cooked meal can be pre- impressive selection of large, high ordered. There are restaurants and Q What telescopes and lenses did quality telescopes. grocery stores about a 15-minute drive they have? away in Coonabarabran. The observ- There were ten telescopes and one My brother, Greg King (Calgary ing field is about a one-minute walk set of giant motorized binoculars avail- RASC), visited his daughter in Sydney behind the motel and all rooms had able to share among participants. The this spring, but took a week to explore blackout curtains to keep the site dark. telescopes were typically Obsession the night sky from a completely differ- Dobsonians from 14" to 25", most ent perspective. Q You prepared your own food or equipped with an Argo Navis Digital used the cafeteria. You said a wom- Telescope Computer (an Australian in- Q What were accommodations like? an cooked for people. vention), and all included a selection OzSky is held at the Warrumbungles I bought groceries for breakfast and of two or three eyepieces chosen from Mountain Motel near Coonabarabran, lunch for most days and ordered din- 31 mm, 26 mm, 22 mm, 17 mm, 12 about a six-hour drive northwest of ner every day. The OzSky hosts had a mm, 9 mm and 7 mm Naglers, 17 mm, Sydney. The whole motel is booked for welcoming BBQ and a wrap-up BBQ 13 mm and 8 mm Ethos, and an 8 mm the star party (no other guests). The (both with kangaroo), so you only Radian, and the faster telescopes rooms are very basic with kitchen- needed to buy five evening meals. I were all equipped with ParaCorr Coma ettes, a master bed, and four bunk went into Coonabarabran for my final Correctors. The scopes also had fans SRAC NB RASC — Volume 20, Issue 2— Page 3 Horizon: to educate, inform, and inspire and heaters to resist dew and there amazed by the detail I could see com- any galaxy in the northern sky and were some portable hair dryers availa- pared to my 8" SCT. It takes a while to easily visible naked eye at all times ble, as well. However, on most nights get used to objects like Orion being when they are up. the dew won by about 3 am because upside down. I had a hard time recog- the site had a major rain downfall in nizing the Teapot even though it was Q Who runs OzSky? the week before the event, and there high in the sky. Being upside down re- OzSky is run by volunteers who love was a lot of moisture about. ally messed up the pattern, plus Sat- astronomy. Most of the telescopes urn was in the middle of it confusing were provided by the 3 Rivers Foun- The detailed equipment list is: things. There are some great eye can- dation of Texas and maintained by the 25" ƒ/5 Obsession (x2) dy objects Down Under such as the volunteers. Some volunteers bring 20" ƒ/5 Obsession globular clusters 47 Tucanae (NGC their own telescopes, as well. They 18" ƒ/4.5 Obsessions (x4) 104) and Omega Centauri (NGC are a non-profit and run one or two 18" ƒ/4.2 UC Obsession 5139), and the Eta Carinae Nebula events per year in March-April and 14" ƒ/4.5 SDM telescope (NGC 3372). Our closest star, Proxima sometimes a smaller event in October. 12" ƒ/5 binocular telescope Centauri, is faint and unimpressive. 10" ƒ/5.6 Dobsonian Of course, the Large and Small Magel- Images courtesy of: 150mm Giant Fujinon binoculars on lanic clouds are much brighter than http://www.ozsky.org/ a Sky Rover Digital StarChair with joystick control. I looked through all of these at some point and it was not unusual to get one to yourself later in the night. I tried the big binoculars in the motorized chair but found it frustrating since I did not know the sky well enough to star hop around to desired objects. Q What was the most impressive viewing? Through those telescopes and eye- pieces everything impresses. I even looked at some familiar objects in the north like the Orion Nebula and was SRAC NB RASC — Volume 20, Issue 2— Page 4 Horizon: instruire, informer et inspirer A Busy Astronomy Week mer and I decided to do public solar John. Some local parkers, out to observing to kick off Astronomy Week. watch the surf and offshore ships, by Curt Nason While setting up my Coronado PST in were treated to views of the Sun and Loyalist Plaza by Market Square I was Moon through the more than a dozen International Astronomy Day is the pleasantly surprised to see Jenna and telescopes and binoculars that were in Saturday nearest the first quarter John at the Beaver Tails truck nearby. use. Saints Rest Beach is in the buffer Moon between mid-April and mid-May, John retrieved his refractor and solar zone of our Urban Star Park, within and the Monday to Sunday of that time filter and we entertained about 25 the Irving Nature Park, and INP Man- is Astronomy Week. This year it was passersby over an hour and a half. ager Katie Breneol was one of the from May 6 to May12. many people interviewed on the beach by Jenna and John. During the previous week, Jenna Hinds, the RASC Youth Outreach Co- ordinator, and Halifax Centre member John Read, author of the recent 50 Things to See on the Moon, were making RASC promotional videos in Nova Scotia. On Sunday they arrived in Saint John to meet with this year’s RASC Qilak Award winner, Chris Cur- win, to talk about his astronomy out- reach activities and Facebook live feeds from Saints Rest Beach. Chris Jenna interviews the had arranged for a mini star party at Astronomer by the Bay Phil and John scoping for Bay of the beach on Monday evening, where June MacDonald photo Fundy crabs at low tide they could interview several amateur June MacDonald photo astronomers for a video, but some Centre members met them at the That evening Centre members Trudy beach on Sunday. That evening Jenna Almon, Rob Darrah, Yolanda Kippers, A RASC promo video, using clips from interviewed youth member Amelia June MacDonald, Paul Owen, Mike the Halifax and Saint John visits, can West, and we did some observing until Powell, Jim Stewart, and Phil Webb by viewed here on You Tube: a sudden wintry wind from an ap- joined Chris and me and a dozen oth- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px0QfM85-yo proaching fog bank sent us packing.