RASC - Saskatoon Centre New Members Night

After a far-too long absence, mainly due to such horrible weather for most of the past few months, I finally have a new post. At a local meeting of our astronomy club (RASC - Saskatoon Centre), I had suggested we have a new members night as a way to get new people out and have some experienced astronomers share their knowledge. As a new(er) member myself, I thought this would be a good idea since there is much I need to learn about astronomy in general.

We met at the University of Saskatchewan Observatory on June 17th. It was organized mainly by Patricia G (thanks for that). Local members Richard Huziak and Mike Clancy spoke to us. Rick talked about choosing telescopes, eyepieces and binoculars, etc. while Mike spoke about the Explore the Universe certificate program offered by the RASC. There were about 10 people who were out to listen to the talks, which were both enjoyable, informative and entertaining. Thanks to Rick and Mike for speaking.

Below are some images of the talk itself and of the observatory. The observatory has been a fixture on the U of S campus for many years. It houses a 6-inch telescope. For more info on the observatory, visit this link.

Rick Huziak talking telescopes

Mike Clancy showing a star chart

U of S Observatory

6-inch telescope

Meteorite collection

Copies of the first star charts and such

Copy of Galileo's notes

Old telescope

Earth Hour In Saskatoon

The theme this year at the Centre Mall in Saskatoon for Earth Hour is "Go Celestial". Saturday, March 27, 8:30-9:30pm at the entrance by Tony Tomas is the place to be during Earth Hour. Here is a link to the Earth Hour Canada site.

Earth Hour was started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia when over 2 million homes turned off their lights for one hour to bring awareness to climate change. In 2008, over 50 million people in 35 countries participated and in 2009, more than 88 countries took part. 2010 is sure to be even bigger.

Last year in Saskatoon, there was a large line-up of people at the Centre Mall, so this year only promises to be bigger (weather providing of course). I plan on being there for this event, as does Bob of Blackholes and Astrostuff. The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Saskatoon Centre will be setup as well with telescopes set up. But Bob cautions everyone to maybe be there about 30 mins ahead of time to setup your scopes before viewing starts.

The first link below is to the page on the mall site about the event. It's the second from the bottom. The last link is the flyer the mall has put together for this event.

Centre Mall events

Centre Mall flyer

Hope to see you out

October Night Sky Events

October is a good month for observing. The sky is darker earlier, it's still not terribly cold outside (we hope), and there are different objects to see. For example, the Orion constellation is up and with it, the Orionid meteor shower.

On Oct. 8 at about 6 a.m., Venus should be shining brightly near the eastern horizon. Below that, depending where you are, you might spot Mercury and Saturn. By Oct. 13, at about 6:30 a.m., Saturn will have moved to the upper left of Venus. On Oct. 16, in the eastern sky, just before dawn, there should be a conjunction with the crescent Moon and Venus and Saturn. Then on Oct. 26 or 27, the Moon and Jupiter should be in conjunction at just three degrees apart.

A major event this month is the lunar landing of the LCROSS lunar rover. I believe it should be visible if you have a 10" or larger telescope. There is a countdown clock on the right side of this page.

Another important event this month is the RASC Saskatoon Centre open house at the Sleaford dark site. It is located about 65 kms east of Saskatoon and offers great celestial viewing. This event will be held on Friday, Oct. 23 and Saturday, Oct. 24. There will be a convoy of cars leaving from the east end of the Saskatoon Field House parking lot at 7 p.m. on both nights. The Sleaford site is operated jointly by the RASC Saskatoon Centre and the U of S Department of Physics and Engineering Physics. RASC club members will set up their own telescopes, in addition to the U of S telescopes that are setup there. For more information call 966-6429. Make sure to take warm, weather appropriate clothing.

Additional viewing events for October:

Oct. 7 - Moon 0.1 deg N of Pleiades (M45)
Oct. 8 - Draconid meteors peak; Mercury 0.3 deg S of Saturn
Oct. 10 - Moon 1.2 deg N of M35 (open star cluster in Gemini)
Oct. 12 - Occultation of the Moon and Mars
Oct. 13 - Moon at perigee (369067 kms)
Oct. 15 - Zodiacal light visible in eastern sky before morning twilight for the next two weeks
Oct. 21 - Orionid meteors peak
Oct. 25 - Moon at apogee (404166 kms)

Cypress Hills Summer Star Party (SSSP 09)

This year's edition of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC) Saskatchewan Summer Star Party (SSSP 2009). We left Saskatoon and it looked to be a promising weekend for star gazing. Apparently the weather had other ideas. We arrived on Thursday night in the rain. It rained and was foggy/hazy most of the day on Friday and that night. It was cold and windy on Saturday until it started raining just after lunch. It poured buckets the rest of the day and all night. It continued to rain all day Sunday until we arrived home. 300-400 people with telescopes and not one got used. It was the first time in 15 years that the entire weekend was rained out.

The picture below is a shot of the weather on Sunday just before we left.


And wouldn't you know it, back to work Monday, was clear, hot and sunny. Now tonight, it's cloudy and going to rain. We just can't win this summer. I don't know who is being punished, but man they must have done something bad to deserve this.

On the bright side, there were some great speakers, good food, fantastic door prizes and good times getting to know other astronomy enthusiasts. For example, Alan Dyer was there. He is a wonderful film maker, astronomer and photographer. I bought a copy of The Backyard Astronomer's Guide, co-written by Alan Dyer. He had a book signing, so I got mine by him. The other bonus was staying in a condo with my family. Always good times when you hang out with family. We played mini golf as well.

One cool thing I got to do was be involved with the door prizes. My Dad was able to get a huge amount of door prizes. I was able to donate two of them - a Galileoscope and one of the meteorites that I found from the Buzzard Coulee fall from November 20, 2008. Below is a picture similar to the one I donated.


The people were the highlight of the weekend. There were lots of great people who are very smart and fun to hang around and have a good time with. So, all in all, even though the skies didn't agree, the weekend turned out to be fun.

Finding Planets Easier

Below is a chart that a guy made from the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. His name is Brian Battersby. It is a helpful resouce for locating planets. It was all to do with the Sidewalk Astronomer's Program which is a program of the International Year of Astronomy 2009.


The image below is showing a conjunction in the Eastern sky involving the Moon, Venus and Mercury about 45 minutes before sunrise on June 19th.

2009 Star Party

The annual star party put on by the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (Saskatoon and Regina Centre's) will be held from August 13-16, 2009 in Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park. It is a growing event held each year in early to mid August in the southwest corner of Saskatchewan. This year's theme is Discover Saskatchewan's Living Skies.

Here is a link to the site that provides a wealth of info about the Star Party.