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Re: SURVEY - Impact of Large Satellite Constellations on Astronomy
Done
On 7/2/2021 11:49 AM, Shawn Loescher
wrote:
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Re: SURVEY - Impact of Large Satellite Constellations on Astronomy
Done!
Dino.
-----Original Message-----
From: Shawn Loescher <shawn.loescher@...> To: BackBayAstro@groups.io Sent: Fri, Jul 2, 2021 11:49 am Subject: [BackBayAstro] SURVEY - Impact of Large Satellite Constellations on Astronomy As many of you may already know, the occurrence of “satellite constellations” is having a dramatic impact on professional astronomy while also affecting the amateur community. The American Astronomical Society has issued a survey to be completed by enthusiasts of the night sky – from causal stargazers to avid amateurs to professional astronomers – so they can better understand how it affects our society. Would you please take a few moments to answer a few questions about the important issue of satellite constellations?
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Re: Cooler for the Picnic
Secretary
I have a 36 quart cooler that I can bring, but it's rather small compared to this one.
Jeff Thornton On July 2, 2021 11:54 AM Shawn Loescher <shawn.loescher@...> wrote:Jeffrey Thornton Secretary, Back Bay Amateur Astronomers
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Cooler for the Picnic
In past years Chuck Jagow generously donated the use of multiple coolers for the club picnic. I don't think he will be doing that this year so is there anyone who has a large cooler they are willing to bring to the picnic. Ideally we should have about three big coolers there to hold the water, food, and other beverages. I have a medium cooler I can bring. If no one has a big cooler we (the club) can purchase one on the same day I pick up the food. This is a 150qt cooler.
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SURVEY - Impact of Large Satellite Constellations on Astronomy
As many of you may already know, the occurrence of “satellite constellations” is having a dramatic impact on professional astronomy while also affecting the amateur community. The American Astronomical Society has issued a survey to be completed by enthusiasts of the night sky – from causal stargazers to avid amateurs to professional astronomers – so they can better understand how it affects our society. Would you please take a few moments to answer a few questions about the important issue of satellite constellations?
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Re: The Universe In Action
This does have that "Wow!" factor when seen in time-lapse. I mean, I knew things moved, and have noticed changes in a few things over the decades that I've been looking up, but when you see the time-lapse... "Wow!".
I couldn't find any old images of the Horsehead Nebula (say, ca. late 1960s-early 1970s) to show a comparison to modern images of it, but personally, I think that nebula's right side has moved far enough away from the horse's "neck" that now it looks more like it should be called the "Sasquatch" Nebula than a horsehead!
"Keep looking up!"
Dino.
-----Original Message-----
From: Roy Diffrient <mail@...> To: BBAA Groups Io <BackBayAstro@groups.io> Sent: Tue, Jun 29, 2021 10:36 pm Subject: [BackBayAstro] The Universe In Action Think the universe is moving so slow and distances so vast that no change is visible? A look at the time lapse images here could change your mind. Surprising motion of stars and DSO’s shown by Tom Polakis. This from the Amastro list.
One of my fav’s is the difficult reflection nebula Gyulbudaghian’s Nebula – This image series really explains a lot about the visibility of this object over the last 25 years or so.
Roy
—————
“Something I've spent too much time doing is creating time-lapse sequences using images taken many decades apart. In this case, here's the motion of HD 134439 and HD 134440 over the course of 34 years. The 1954 image is from the first Palomar Sky Survey, while the image from 1987 is a UK Schmidt image. The pair of stars moved by more than 2 arcminutes between the two frames.
https://i.imgur.com/l0SEdWc.gif In case there's interest, here's my gallery of deep-sky object animations. https://pbase.com/polakis/timelapse_deepsky Tom“
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Re: Are we planning to have skywatch Saturday?
jimcoble2000
On Thursday, July 1, 2021, 10:32:48 PM EDT, George Reynolds via groups.io <pathfinder027@...> wrote:
Yes, this Saturday is Skywatch. George George Reynolds "Solar System Ambassador" for South Hampton Roads, Virginia Back Bay Amateur Astronomers (BBAA) http://www.backbayastro.org
On Thursday, July 1, 2021, 01:07:25 PM EDT, jimcoble2000 via groups.io <jimcoble2000@...> wrote:
Is sky watch on for Saturday?
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Re: Are we planning to have skywatch Saturday?
George Reynolds
Yes, this Saturday is Skywatch. George George Reynolds "Solar System Ambassador" for South Hampton Roads, Virginia Back Bay Amateur Astronomers (BBAA) http://www.backbayastro.org
On Thursday, July 1, 2021, 01:07:25 PM EDT, jimcoble2000 via groups.io <jimcoble2000@...> wrote:
Is sky watch on for Saturday?
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First Observed Thousands of Years Ago, Scientists Finally Confirm Elusive Third Type of Supernova | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine
Matthew Cook
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Are we planning to have skywatch Saturday?
jimcoble2000
Is sky watch on for Saturday?
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Re: The Universe In Action
Roy Diffrient
Tom Polakis has done so well at astronomy that he has made the pro ranks – he now drives a 1.1 meter telescope for Lowell Observatory.
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
Roy
On Jun 30, 2021, at 9:57 PM, Ted Forte <tedforte511@...> wrote:
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Re: Girl Scouts and Astronomy
I’ll be glad to help with the rocketry side and assist with the astronomy too. We have a nice rocket site at Heritage Park in Windsor, VA. I’m sure it’s a relatively dark sky, although we (rocket guys) always leave before dark. Often the cub scouts camp out there, too.
This would satisfy both venues at the same time. I can coordinate that, too.
Sincerely, Jeff G.
From: BackBayAstro@groups.io <BackBayAstro@groups.io> On Behalf Of George Reynolds via groups.io
Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 2021 9:57 PM To: BBAA-Group <backbayastro@groups.io>; EDDIE PARRIS <eddieparris1@...>; Leigh Anne Lagoe <redlagoe@...>; Jeff Goldstein <jeffgold1@...> Subject: [BackBayAstro] Girl Scouts and Astronomy
I just finished a 4-day online nationwide conference for the Girl Scouts Astronomy Clubs. NASA/JPL, SETI Institute, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) sponsor an extensive astronomy outreach to Girl Scouts. The interest and enthusiasm of those girls, not to mention their knowledge, was amazing to me. The object is to form at least one astronomy club among the Girl Scouts in each Council area. Our GS council is called Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast, and covers a wide area, from Williamsburg to Franklin to Elizabeth City, North Carolina. (And Tidewater, of course.)
I am the designated amateur astronomer to assist the club, but we are open and eager to have more of our members participate. If you have a desire to help young ladies get interested in astronomy, and build the ranks of amateur astronomers, and possibly direct some of these girls into careers in math, science, and engineering, please let me know. Your knowledge and expertise, along with your willingness (which is even more important) is needed, and will be very helpful.
BTW, Jeff Goldstein, they suggested a workshop for model rocketry, and I mentioned your name. You might become a featured event for the new Girl Scouts astronomy club.
Our local club chose the name "STAR" which is an acronym for "Sisters Teaching Astronomy Regularly". The older girls want to help teach the younger girls, the Daisies and Brownies, about space and help them earn their astronomy badges.
Please let me know if you can help.
George
Back Bay Amateur Astronomers (BBAA)
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Re: The Universe In Action
Tom Polakis does amazing work, doesn’t he?
I was mesmerized by many of these time lapse sequences, especially the planetaries, and the variable nebulae. As Roy points out the sequences with Gyulbudaghian’s Nebula does indeed explain a lot.
I can remember a number of times seeing Gyulbudaghian’s (and not seeing it) since you first brought it to our attention, Roy, back in 1998, I think.
Ted
From: BackBayAstro@groups.io <BackBayAstro@groups.io> on behalf of Roy Diffrient <mail@...>
Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 2021 10:36 PM To: BBAA Groups Io <BackBayAstro@groups.io> Subject: [BackBayAstro] The Universe In Action
Think the universe is moving so slow and distances so vast that no change is visible? A look at the time lapse images here could change your mind. Surprising motion of stars and DSO’s shown by Tom Polakis. This from the Amastro list.
One of my fav’s is the difficult reflection nebula Gyulbudaghian’s Nebula – This image series really explains a lot about the visibility of this object over the last 25 years or so.
Roy
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Girl Scouts and Astronomy
George Reynolds
I just finished a 4-day online nationwide conference for the Girl Scouts Astronomy Clubs. NASA/JPL, SETI Institute, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) sponsor an extensive astronomy outreach to Girl Scouts. The interest and enthusiasm of those girls, not to mention their knowledge, was amazing to me. The object is to form at least one astronomy club among the Girl Scouts in each Council area. Our GS council is called Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast, and covers a wide area, from Williamsburg to Franklin to Elizabeth City, North Carolina. (And Tidewater, of course.) I am the designated amateur astronomer to assist the club, but we are open and eager to have more of our members participate. If you have a desire to help young ladies get interested in astronomy, and build the ranks of amateur astronomers, and possibly direct some of these girls into careers in math, science, and engineering, please let me know. Your knowledge and expertise, along with your willingness (which is even more important) is needed, and will be very helpful. BTW, Jeff Goldstein, they suggested a workshop for model rocketry, and I mentioned your name. You might become a featured event for the new Girl Scouts astronomy club. Our local club chose the name "STAR" which is an acronym for "Sisters Teaching Astronomy Regularly". The older girls want to help teach the younger girls, the Daisies and Brownies, about space and help them earn their astronomy badges. Please let me know if you can help. George George Reynolds "Solar System Ambassador" for South Hampton Roads, Virginia Back Bay Amateur Astronomers (BBAA) http://www.backbayastro.org
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Re: Advance event notice
George Reynolds
My granddaughter Samantha has been there every year, too, but this year she will be going away to college, and I will miss her. I hope to have another granddaughter, Chloe, there, though. Chloe, age 13 (14 in October), is an associate member of the club. George George Reynolds "Solar System Ambassador" for South Hampton Roads, Virginia Back Bay Amateur Astronomers (BBAA) http://www.backbayastro.org
On Wednesday, June 30, 2021, 09:27:06 PM EDT, George Reynolds via groups.io <pathfinder027@...> wrote:
On Saturday, August 21, the BBAA will be setting up telescopes in Ghent, in front of The Muse Writers' Center, in a little district called the Ghent Market Shops. We have done this every year (except last year) for several years, and Chuck Jagow has always been there. We need a member or two to take his place. Leigh Anne has been there too, and I think Shawn has. We always have a good crowd, and a cross-section of personalities, young and old. The planets Jupiter and Saturn will be up that evening, though they will be competing with the Full Moon. We can set up our telescopes around 6 pm before sunset, which is 7:47 pm, and show people views of the Sun and sunspots, if there are any. It is always a fun time showing people the sky in downtown Norfolk. And they have refreshments there at The Muse. There is also a Mexican restaurant next door, where we can buy our dinner. If you can, please try to put this event on your calendar. George George Reynolds "Solar System Ambassador" for South Hampton Roads, Virginia Back Bay Amateur Astronomers (BBAA) http://www.backbayastro.org
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Re: The Universe In Action
William Rust
The stars in the Milky Way move a lot when seen from the earth. This is call "proper motion". That is why the Naval Observatory updates the bright star catalogue every year. This is not surprising since the earth rotates around the center of gravity of the
M.W. and experiences nutation and precession thanks to the moon, tides and other planets pulling us.
Bill
From: BackBayAstro@groups.io <BackBayAstro@groups.io> on behalf of Roy Diffrient <mail@...>
Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 2021 10:36 PM To: BBAA Groups Io <BackBayAstro@groups.io> Subject: [BackBayAstro] The Universe In Action Think the universe is moving so slow and distances so vast that no change is visible? A look at the time lapse images here could change your mind. Surprising
motion of stars and DSO’s shown by Tom Polakis. This from the Amastro list.
One of my fav’s is the difficult reflection nebula Gyulbudaghian’s Nebula – This image series really explains a lot about the visibility of this object over the last 25 years or so.
Roy
—————
“Something I've spent too much time doing is creating time-lapse sequences using images taken many decades apart. In this case, here's the motion of HD 134439 and HD 134440 over the course of 34
years. The 1954 image is from the first Palomar Sky Survey, while the image from 1987 is a UK Schmidt image. The pair of stars moved by more than 2 arcminutes between the two frames.
https://i.imgur.com/l0SEdWc.gif In case there's interest, here's my gallery of deep-sky object animations. https://pbase.com/polakis/timelapse_deepsky Tom“
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Advance event notice
George Reynolds
On Saturday, August 21, the BBAA will be setting up telescopes in Ghent, in front of The Muse Writers' Center, in a little district called the Ghent Market Shops. We have done this every year (except last year) for several years, and Chuck Jagow has always been there. We need a member or two to take his place. Leigh Anne has been there too, and I think Shawn has. We always have a good crowd, and a cross-section of personalities, young and old. The planets Jupiter and Saturn will be up that evening, though they will be competing with the Full Moon. We can set up our telescopes around 6 pm before sunset, which is 7:47 pm, and show people views of the Sun and sunspots, if there are any. It is always a fun time showing people the sky in downtown Norfolk. And they have refreshments there at The Muse. There is also a Mexican restaurant next door, where we can buy our dinner. If you can, please try to put this event on your calendar. George George Reynolds "Solar System Ambassador" for South Hampton Roads, Virginia Back Bay Amateur Astronomers (BBAA) http://www.backbayastro.org
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Re: Sunspots!
I've been out of town but just looked. Wow, huge sunspot visible with solar binoculars. Also, several nice prominences in H-alpha light.
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The Universe In Action
Roy Diffrient
Think the universe is moving so slow and distances so vast that no change is visible? A look at the time lapse images here could change your mind. Surprising motion of stars and DSO’s shown by Tom Polakis. This from the Amastro list. One of my fav’s is the difficult reflection nebula Gyulbudaghian’s Nebula – This image series really explains a lot about the visibility of this object over the last 25 years or so. Roy ————— “Something I've spent too much time doing is creating time-lapse sequences using images taken many decades apart. In this case, here's the motion of HD 134439 and HD 134440 over the course of 34 years. The 1954 image is from the first Palomar Sky Survey, while the image from 1987 is a UK Schmidt image. The pair of stars moved by more than 2 arcminutes between the two frames. https://i.imgur.com/l0SEdWc.gif In case there's interest, here's my gallery of deep-sky object animations. https://pbase.com/polakis/timelapse_deepsky Tom“
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Re: Webcast: Brother Guy Consolmagno, Director, Vatican Observatory (June 25, 2021)
jimcoble2000
My ex and he were friends in the peace corp in Kenya long before he arrived at the Vatican.
On Tuesday, June 29, 2021, 7:23:00 PM EDT, George Reynolds via groups.io <pathfinder027@...> wrote:
He is a great guy. (No pun intended.) Samantha and i met him when he was speaking at a catholic church in Hampton a couple years ago. I bought Samantha his book, _Turn Left at Orion_ and he autographed it. O also took with me my (older version) copy of TLAO and he signed it too. And just today I watched a YouTube video of an intriguing 46-minute interview of him, but I failed to remember the URL. George George Reynolds "Solar System Ambassador" for South Hampton Roads, Virginia Back Bay Amateur Astronomers (BBAA) http://www.backbayastro.org
On Tuesday, June 29, 2021, 10:23:31 AM EDT, Ted Forte <tedforte511@...> wrote:
Brother Guy was our club’s speaker in November 2015. He was our largest public draw at a monthly meeting since I arrived here. Very engaging speaker.
We always treat our speakers to dinner before the meeting, and as treasurer (the one picking up the check) I was seated directly across the table – and shared a pleasant hour’s conversation with him.
Ted BBAA Southwest
From: BackBayAstro@groups.io <BackBayAstro@groups.io> On Behalf Of George Reynolds via groups.io
Thanks, Jeff, for posting this. Samantha and I saw and heard Bro. Guy Consolmagno (author of "Turn Left at Orion") LIVE a couple of years ago, when he spoke at a Catholic church in Hampton.
He is a good speaker, very knowledgeable and witty.
george
Back Bay Amateur Astronomers (BBAA)
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