The Moon at Noon: Introduction

Welcome to the first episode of our newest observing program: the Moon at Noon! This session we'll be going over some basic information that you may find helpful throughout the course. We'll talk about Q-days, how to keep track of the lunar cycle, when to observe, and how the course will be structured. We'll also go over some lunar sketching tips so you can spice up your logbook!

Register here! Sessions will also be livestreamed to YouTube and can be watched at any time.

Women of Aerospace: Christine Tovee

University of Toronto Aerospace Team (UTAT)

Do you want to learn from Aerospace experts? Attend the Women of Aerospace Speaker Series, hosted by the University of Toronto Aerospace Team, to hear the experiences and lessons of the women leading this fast-growing industry! Coming up on April 1st, 2021 at 7pm EST, we are joined by Founder of CATx Technology and Creative Destruction Lab Fellow, Christine Tovee.

Join us via Zoom to hear her story! Sign up to receive Zoom links and information regarding upcoming talks, including Tovee's, using this link. 

A Walking Tour of Optical History -- Artifacts and Anecdotes from the Astronomical Lyceum 

Presented by: John W. Briggs, Magdalena, New Mexico, USA 

RASC History Committee

Pioneers in optics allowed a revolutionary ascendancy in astronomy in the 19th and early 20th centuries.  The Astronomical Lyceum in New Mexico, originally built in 1936 as a theater and gymnasium, now houses a collection of telescopes, optics, archives, and literature from this ascendancy.  Its volunteer staff finds the artifacts and associated history surprisingly engaging for visitors of all interest levels.  The presentation will include unusual items, large and small, created by some of the America's greatest early optical artists, including Henry and Harry Fitz, Alvan Clark and Sons, Carl and Robert Lundin, John A. Brashear, George Willis Ritchey, and the pioneer of astronomical spectroscopy and photography, Lewis Morris Rutherfurd.  The collection includes artifacts originating right up through the Space Age, including from the amateur telescope making movement and its surprising influence.  While time allows only an overview, the presentation hopes to remind participants how the history of science and technology can be powerfully engaging and interesting for essentially anyone when offered in the right spirit.  In some cases, the written remembrances of pioneers spell out the inspiration they had, often taken from the beauty of Nature.  Arguably no one was more eloquent in such words than Albert A. Michelson.  In other cases, the artistry in the artifacts themselves is a similar testimony, and intense pride-of-workmanship is dramatized by how instruments were signed.  It is necessary and worthwhile that we and our students remain aware of these inspirations -- they are all lessons to be learned.

This talk will take place Tuesday, April 6th, 2021 @ 8:30 pm EDT

Click here to Register for this Zoom Webinar!

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. 

Recreational Astronomy Night (ONLINE)

Wednesday, April 7, 2021 - 7:30pm to 9:30pm

Join us for our monthly recreational astronomy night meeting. This is where our members get to show their latest projects or give tutorials and tips on just about everything to do with astronomy.

Blake Nancarrow - The sky this month
Francois Van Heerden - The astro-video learning curve: Fine tuning settings to get results
Ron Macnaughton - Microbial mats on Earth and Mars

https://rascto.ca/content/recreational-astronomy-night-online-2

Who can attend: Everyone
Fee: Free
Registration: Not required
Organized by: RASC, Toronto Centre

Link: https://www.youtube.com/rasctoronto/live

The Moon at Noon: Q-5

Where do you find mountain ranges, craters and lava plains on the Moon? We'll be talking about common features, how we find them, and how we use cardinal directions on the Moon. Bring something round (a golf ball or styrofoam crafting ball are pefect) and you can join in while we simulate the Moon's orbit!

Register here! Sessions will also be livestreamed to YouTube and can be watched at any time.

Monthly Virtual Meeting

RASC Ottawa

This month's virtual meeting will take place on Friday, April 9th, 2021 @ 7:20 pm EDT.

They are looking for observation images. Please send these images to Dave Chisholm (meetingchair@ottawa.rasc.ca) or Chris Teron (chris@teron.ca) by the end of Monday, April 5th, 2021 to be included in the slides.  

The agenda for this meeting is as follows:

- Ottawa Skies - Dave Chisholm
- Bob Olson - Astro-Imaging - What Can Go Wrong!
- Meteors Part II - Upcoming Meteor Showers - Pierre Martin
- M&M Challenge (over the 5-minute break)
- Dr. Jayanne English - CHANG-ES (Continuum Halos in Nearby Galaxies). 
A survey of 35 nearby edge-on galaxies is revealing new and sometimes
unexpected and startling results in their radio continuum emission.
- Observations
- Observing Challenges

If you are NOT presenting a talk or observation you will need to
register in advance for this Zoom webinar HERE!

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing
information about joining the webinar.

If you are presenting a talk or observation Chris Teron will send you
your own private "Panelist" link. You do not need to register.

REMINDER:  All are welcome at the meetings. 

Monthly Virtual Meeting

RASC Winnipeg

The monthly gathering of the Winnipeg RASC will be held on Friday, April 9, 2021 @ 7:30 pm CDT (8:30 EDT). Due to COVID-19 the meeting will be held via Zoom. Meeting information will be forwarded to members via email.

Agenda:

Welcome and Announcements
Whats New
Whats Up

Main Speaker: Tom Field, Contributing editor at Sky & Telescope Magazine, Author of the RSPEC Spectroscopy Software

“Hi, I’m Tom Field, the author of the RSpec real-time spectroscopy software, and a contributing editor at Sky & Telescope Magazine.

This is not a sales demonstration! I will briefly cover the history and science of spectroscopy, and show exciting sample’s of spectra from small telescopes and DSLRs.  I discuss how to get started in the field, and end the meeting with a Q&A session.

Many amateur astronomers mistakenly think that spectroscopy requires expensive equipment, a mountaintop observatory, and advanced degrees in astrophysics. That was true many years ago, but today’s tools make it surprisingly easy (and affordable) to capture beautiful spectra, and then do some exciting science with those images. Spectroscopy is used in the majority of astronomical research today. In my Zoom presentation, your club members will gain a better understanding of spectroscopy, and they’ll gain the confidence to expand their activities into that field.

Your club members who are already capturing astronomical images will learn how they can use their current setup for spectroscopy simply by adding our inexpensive 1.25″  Star Analyser filter. Spectra can even be captured with a standalone DSLR.  And even the non-imagers in your club will enjoy my presentation because it will deepen their understanding of the scientific topics that fascinate us all.

To see examples of the exciting science that amateurs can do using just a small telescope, see http://www.rspec-astro.com/sample-projects.”

Stellarium introductory course (ONLINE)

Saturday, April 10, 2021 - 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM PDT

This class is planned for RASC members in the Pacific time zone. 

Stellarium is a powerful planetarium application available for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux computers. 

Class participants will learn how to setup the software for a specific location, date, and time. They will learn how to view the simulated sky, zoom and pan, and search for and select celestial objects. Features such as gridlines, the meridian, sky settings, and red light mode will be explored. This will provide an amateur astronomer a basic overview of the Stellarium program.

SORRY - FULL. Class sizes are limited to 15 individuals. A waiting list will be kept if additional participants wish to sign up.

This training is not for the paid Stellarium app on smartphones or the Stellarium web app.

https://rascto.ca/content/stellarium-software-introductory-course

Part of the Stellarium Training Series.

https://rascto.ca/content/stellarium-training-series

Who can attend: RASC members in good standing
Fee: Free
Registration: Required
Organized by: RASC, Toronto Centre

Planets under construction: how to study a million year process

RASC Edmonton

RASC Regular Meeting, Monday April 12, 2021

7:00 PM MDT (9:00 PM EDT), Meet and Greet

7:30 PM MDT, Meeting begins, including guest talk, News from Space, AstroImaging Corner, and other RASC news.

Guest Speaker:

Dr. Nienke van der Marel

Planets under construction: how to study a million year process

Planets around other stars, also called exoplanets, are seen everywhere! In the last 25 years, thousands of exoplanets have been found throughout the Milky Way. How do we find these planets? What are the chances of discovering life there? And if they are so common, why is it that we still don’t know how they are formed? With the ALMA telescope we can now finally zoom into the birth cradles of planets: dusty disks around young stars. The spectacular images have given us new insights, but also raised many more questions on the process of planet formation.

Nienke van der Marel is a Banting postdoctoral fellow at University of Victoria since December 2019, working on planet formation using the revolutionary ALMA telescope. Before this she worked for 2 years as NRC postdoctoral fellow at the Herzberg institute for Astronomy, and 2 years as Parrent fellow at the University of Hawaii. She received her PhD cum laude in 2015 at Leiden University in the Netherlands, where she originates. In September 2021 she will join Leiden University again as assistant professor. Nienke is also the founder and host of Nerd Nite Victoria, with public science talks in an informal setting every third Wednesday of the month since August 2018. 

** Please note that this meeting may be recorded and posted on youtube. By joining you agree to becoming part of this recording. **

Join the Zoom Meeting HERE!

Insider's Guide to the Galaxy: Library Episode

Join us for a special edition of Insider's Guide to the Galaxy! Take a look below at what we'll be diving into on this episode.



Hosted by Jenna Hinds of RASC and Chris Vaughan of AstroGeo.ca.



Books in the Sky: Harry Potter

We’ll tour the night sky virtually, and show you the stars that JK Rowling used to name many of your favorite Harry Potter characters.



Your Own Starfinder

Download and print a Starfinder from the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC), and we’ll show you how to assemble it and then use it on the next clear night.



Stories in the Stars

We’ll share some cool stories from Greek Mythology and Canada’s Indigenous Cultures.



How to see Where Stars and Solar Systems are Being Born – with Binoculars

Have you ever seen a nebula? We’ll point out where to see the biggest and best one in the springtime sky. It’s near Orion’s Belt! Then we’ll highlight more things to see on spring nights!



The Best Sky Sights for 2021

Finally, we’ll tell you what to look forward to in the sky this year, including advice for safely seeing a partial solar eclipse in June, August’s fantastic Perseid Meteor Shower, the bright planets Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn in the fall, Supermoons, and more! If the day is sunny, we might even share a view of the sun through a special solar telescope!

The Moon at Noon: Q-4 and Q-3

We have lots of cool-looking craters on our target lists today, so we'll be going over how to identify crater features. Things might get a little messy! If you want to join in, bring the materials you would normally use for chocolate chip cookies.

Register here! Sessions will also be livestreamed to YouTube and can be watched at any time.

The Golden Age of Islam - Contributions to the World of Sciences by Muslims

Presented by Dr. Raafat El-Hacha PhD, PEng and  A'arif Hamad MSc, PEng

RASC Calgary

The Islamic Golden Age traditionally dated from the mid-7th century to mid-13th century. Muslim scholars made significant and original contributions to mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, and medicine. They corrected previous astronomical data, constructed the world's first observatory, and invented the astrolabe, nicknamed "a mathematical jewel" at the time.

In this presentation, the Speakers will discuss what the Islamic Golden Age was and what advancements and achievements happened in that time, with emphasis on Astronomy and Mathematics.

This talk will take place on Friday, April 15, 2021 @ 7:30 pm MDT (9:30 pm EDT)

Join the Zoom webinar HERE!

Meeting ID:  96736157469

Password: 706627

Surveys of the Variable X-ray Sky:  eROSITA, Athena WFI and STAR-X

Presented by Dr. Ann Hornschemeier

RASC London

The guest speaker for London Centre's April meeting will be Dr. Ann Hornschemeier, Supervisor/Research Asst, Fields and Particles at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. She will be talking on the subject "Surveys of the Variable X-ray Sky:  eROSITA, Athena WFI and STAR-X”

Our meeting will be on Friday, April 16 at 7:30 pm EDT. Connect any time after 7:15 pm

Connect through your browser HERE! 
ID 719 353 982

Speaker's Night: Speaker's Night: A Cosmic Trek with Tim Russ (ONLINE)

Wednesday, April 21, 2021 - 7:30pm to 8:30pm

Join RASCTO on Wednesday April 21st at 7:30pm EDT for a conversation with actor, director, musician and amateur astronomer Tim Russ about his astronomy, stars, and favorite telescopes. Mr. Russ has travelled to the far reaches of the Galaxy with his character of Tuvok, but he has travelled perhaps just as far with his telescopes. Amateur astronomy, Star Trek and telescopes! Come and join this special event!

TIM RUSS has been working within the entertainment industry for over thirty years. His talents encompass a wide spectrum of the performing arts including composing, music (guitar & vocals), acting, writing, directing, voice-over and producing. Mr. Russ received his B.S. in Theater at St. Edward’s University Austin TX, and completed one year of post graduate work in theater at Illinois State University.

As an actor, Mr. Russ has worked in a cross section of feature film and television, including “KARMA,” “5TH PASSENGER,” “LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD,” “SPACEBALLS,” series regular roles on “THE HIGHWAYMAN,” “THE PEOPLE NEXT DOOR,” “STAR TREK-VOYAGER,” “SAMANTHA WHO,” and “iCARLY.” He has also appeared in numerous stage plays including the original Los Angeles premier of “DREAMGIRLS.”

https://rascto.ca/content/speakers-night-cosmic-trek-tim-russ-online

Who can attend: Everyone
Fee: Free
Registration: Not required
Organized by: RASC, Toronto Centre

Link: https://www.youtube.com/rasctoronto/live

The Moon at Noon: Q2

We have our first day of finding lunar landing locations! Moon at Noon cohost John loves the Apollo missions, so you bet we'll be talking about Apollo 12 and 14. We'll show you where Ranger 7, a critical US mission, "landed" (technically it hit the Moon at 2.6 kilometers per second). We might even discuss the potential of creating Moon bases, and what our lives would look like on the Moon.

Register here! Sessions will also be livestreamed to YouTube and can be watched at any time.

Small Satellites, Big Stars 

Presented by Dr. Anthony Moffat

RASC Montreal

The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC) Montreal Centre hosts Dr. Anthony Moffat, Prof. Emeritus at Université de Montréal, for a Free Public Zoom Webinar on the study of Massive Stars using the BRITE Constellation of satellites.

Launched in 2013-2014, the independent BRITE nanosats continue to produce excellent science data, observing variable properties of the brighter visible stars in the sky – over 700 stars to date.
Equipped with a 30 mm telescope and an uncooled CCD detector along with either a blue or red optical filter, a 24 degree field of view provides observations of up to 30 stars simultaneously by each nanosat...allowing astronomers to probe the interior and surface structure of bright, “BIG” stars and binary star systems.

When: Saturday, April 24th 8pm EDT
Register to attend this Zoom Event HERE!
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
 

Stellarium introductory course (ONLINE)

Monday, April 26, 2021 - 7:30 to 9:30 PM ADT

This class is planned for RASC members in the Atlantic time zone. 

Stellarium is a powerful planetarium application available for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux computers. 

Class participants will learn how to setup the software for a specific location, date, and time. They will learn how to view the simulated sky, zoom and pan, and search for and select celestial objects. Features such as gridlines, the meridian, sky settings, and red light mode will be explored. This will provide an amateur astronomer a basic overview of the Stellarium program.

Class sizes are limited to 15 individuals. A waiting list will be kept if additional participants wish to sign up.

This training is not for the paid Stellarium app on smartphones or the Stellarium web app.

https://rascto.ca/content/stellarium-software-introductory-course

Part of the Stellarium Training Series.

https://rascto.ca/content/stellarium-training-series

Who can attend: RASC members in good standing
Fee: Free
Registration: Required
Organized by: RASC, Toronto Centre

Insider's Guide to the Galaxy: Spotting Satellites

Did you know that the International Space Station orbits the Earth once every ninety minutes? Many other satellites do too, which gives us lots of opportunities to see them. We’ll explain how to tell a satellite from an aircraft, talk about the different types of satellites, and share tools for finding any bright satellite in the sky, even Boeing’s new space plane!

Register here! Videos will also be livestreamed to The RASC YouTube Channel.

Introduction to Stargazing and the Universe

RASC Edmonton

7:30 pm MDT (9:30 pm EDT) Session 12: Welcome; Satellites; Spica/VIrgo, Moon Maria; Coma Berenices Star Cluster; Q&A
Wednesday, Apr 28, 2021 at 7:30 PM .

Would you like to know more about the night sky and what we can see? We welcome you to join us (via Zoom) once a month for a low intensity 45 minute presentation followed by Q&A. It’s ok if you missed the previous session, they’re mostly self-contained.

Attend via Zoom meeting HERE!

The Moon at Noon: Troubleshooting

We'll be taking a pause on targets today to talk about any observing problems you may be tackling. Bring your questions and troubles, and we'll dive into solutions.

Register here! Sessions will also be livestreamed to YouTube and can be watched at any time.

Two Eyed Seeing: Art, Indigenous Astronomy & NASA - Making Spirit, Making Art

Native Skywatchers 

Friday, April 30, 2021
9 am cdt, 10 am edt, 8 am mdt, 7 am pdt

Join us for an exciting live show at the intersection of: art, culture, and science. Three incredible teams will present their creative work from the Ojibwe cultural lens, the D(L)akota cultural lens and the African American/South African cultural lens. The Ojibwe team will share knowledge about the Spring constellations like: Mishi Bizhiw (the Great Panther) and Madoodiswan (the Sweat Lodge). D(L)akota elders and knowledge holders will share teachings of Sunka Wakan Oyate (Horse Nation) and Cansasa (Red Willow). Students and their teachers from the third grade class at Dr. Bernard Harris Sr. Elementary School in Baltimore will share the South African celestial teachings of the healing star, the crocodile who swallows the Sun, the giraffe stars, and the hopeless hunter.  

Presented by: Annette S. Lee, Carl Gawboy, William Wilson, Jeffrey Tibbetts, Jim Knutson-Kolodzne, Janice Bad Moccasin, Ida Downwind, Ramona Kitto Stately, Tavia La Follette, Mrs. Venzen-Hall, and Ms. Richardson. Our lead school is the Dr. Bernard Harris Sr. Elementary School in Baltimore, Maryland. Supporting organizations are Native Skywatchers, Minnesota State Arts Board (MSAB) and NASA. Funded by Minnesota State Arts Board-Creative Support for Organizations & Individuals FY21 and NASA-Next Gen STEM.

Register for the online event HERE!

To learn more about Native Skywatchers and their other events visit their website!