CSAS News – Page 5 – Colorado Springs Astronomical Society

Rocket Science & Moon Myths – 8/25/14

This Monday, August 25th, a unique pair of space science lectures will take place at the Carnegie Reading Room at the Penrose Library in Downtown Colorado Springs. The event is called “Rocket Science and Moon Myths” and will center on the science, exploration, and common misconceptions about our natural satellite.

The opening presentation will be CSAS member and recent Sky & Telescope contributor Tristan Schwartz giving a comedic talk entitled “Moon Myth Media Mayhem.” From the moon’s perceived effect on human behavior and biology to the frenzy over the so-called “Supermoon,” Mr. Schwartz tackles the reality that people’s misconceptions about the moon ultimately teach us more about our own logical failings than they do about astronomy.Continue reading “Rocket Science & Moon Myths – 8/25/14”

May 20th, 2012 Annular Eclipse

Here is a video from Science@NASA which explains an annular eclipse and where it can be seen in the USA.

Globe at Night

March 3-16

GLOBE at Night is an annual 2-week campaign in March. People all over the world record the brightness of their night sky by matching its appearance toward the constellation Orion with star maps of progressively fainter stars. They submit their measurements on-line and a few weeks later, organizers release a map of light-pollution levels worldwide. Over the last four GLOBE at Night campaigns, volunteers from over 100 nations have contributed 35,000 measurements.

Go to the Globe at Night website for more info and to participate!

Starhopping 101

Rob Hawley has produced an educational video on YouTube, broken down into 4 segments, total is about 30 minutes.

The video is about finding astronomical objects using charts, aka “starhopping”. He uses charts from Sky Map Pro, and from Sky Tools V3, but refers to paper charts as well in the video.

Here is the link…

http://www.robhawley.net/sh101

RMSS Planning Meeting

Lets schedule our first RMSS meeting for Sunday, Jan 10th… 1:00PM.

I’ll host it at my store on 8th Street (address will follow…) unless someone has a better idea!

I’ll need folks to handle:Continue reading “RMSS Planning Meeting”

The Quadrantic Meteor Shower

The Quadrantid meteor shower is one of the strongest meteor showers of the year, but observers can be disappointed if conditions are not just right. The point from where the Quadrantid meteors appear to radiate is located within the extinct constellation Quadrans Muralis. On modern star charts, this radiant is located where the constellations Hercules, Boötes, and Draco meet in the sky. The shower can appear almost nonexistent until about 11 p.m. Unfortunately, the radiant does not attain a very high altitude for most Northern Hemisphere observers before morning twilight puts an end to the show. The best observations are actually possible from countries with high northern latitudes, such as Canada, Finland, Sweden, and Norway. The display is virtually nonexistent for observers in the Southern Hemisphere.

The Quadrantids generally begin on December 28 and end on January 7, with maximum generally occurring during the morning hours of January 3/4. The Quadrantids are barely detectable on the beginning and ending dates, but observers in the Northern Hemisphere can see from 10 to around 60 meteors per hour at maximum. The maximum only lasts for a few hours.

For more info, go to the Meteor Showers Online website: http://meteorshowersonline.com/quadrantids.html

Astronomical Christmas

Here is a clever rendition of the Night before Christmas – the Astronomical Christmas that is….

‘Tis the Night Before Christmas and high in the sky
The stars are a-twinkling sight for the eye.
The First Quarter Moon on the 24th shines,
Begging new telescopes to sight on her line.

To read the rest, go to the Naval Oceonagraphy website at: http://www.usno.navy.mil/USNO/tours-events/sky-this-week/the-sky-this-week-2009-december-22-30

Geminid Meteor Showers

From Floyd Glick — In case anyone is interested in “logging” their sightings of any Gemini meteors, there is a skychart available at:

http://www.bd-oculars.com/images/winter.pdf

You may plot the path of your sightings on the chart. If they are Gemini meteors, their apparent origin should radiate from the constellation Gemini (Castor and Pollox are the brightest stars in Gemini).

Happy hunting!

NASA’s Space Place

SpacePlace_1in.en — **Article of the month: July 2014**

LL Orionis and its heliosphere interacting with interstellar gas and plasma near the edge of the Orion Nebula (M42). Image Credit: Hubble Heritage Team (AURA / STScI), C. R. O’Dell (Vanderbilt), and NASA.

Continue reading “NASA’s Space Place”