RASC eNews

Crispy Cold Nights

Happy New Year everyone. As I wrote a few months ago, 2013 will be the year of brilliant comets including C/2012 S1. If the predictions hold, the comet will be a binocular object in August and moving up to naked eye status by November when it peaks at month’s end. Astronomers estimate C/2012 S1 will outshine the full moon thus becoming the brightest comet in history and be seen during the day. Only time will tell and is still many months away.

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA will host a media teleconference at 11 a.m. PST (2 p.m. EST) on Monday, Dec. 3, to discuss the latest findings and travels of NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft.

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2012-379

PASADENA, Calif. -- The next news conference about the NASA Mars rover Curiosity will be held at 9 a.m. PST(12 p.m. EST) Monday, Dec. 3, in San Francisco at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU).

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2012-377

Do you know someone who has done outstanding work in the RASC? Do they qualify for one of the RASC’s national awards? A list of national awards is given below. Please look within your Centre, and among our unattached members, for those bright and shining stars that deserve recognition. Go to www.rasc.ca/rasc-awards to check the requirements for these national awards, think about the contributions of those hard working RASC members that you know, and nominate them for an award. Now is the time!

The Big “W”

In astronomical and mythological terms, the Queen of the night belongs to Cassiopeia. Locating the Queen is as simple as looking up on these cool November nights and finding the five suns that form the distinctive letter ‘W’. These stars range in brightness from magnitude 2.5 to 3.4 and are circumpolar, meaning the constellation can be found all year round from our location as it circles some thirty degrees from the North Star – Polaris. Cassiopeia is ranked twenty-fifth in area.