Leslie J. Sage is an Astronomy Editor for NATURE magazine and Contributing Editor to the RASC JOURNAL (Second Light column) . Talk Title: My life with Nature Magazine View this talk on YouTube Abstract: In mid-July 1993 I flew to London to start my new job as the astronomy editor of Nature. I spent almost […]
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission recently grabbed a sample from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu.
Host: Randy Attwood Swapna Shrivastava Reflections on achieving the Explore the Universe certificate Ron Macnaughton The Sky This Month Tom Otvos […]
Host: Randy Attwood Kirby Aguire: Photos of the Jupiter/Saturn conjunction Chris Malicki: The Sky for January and February. Shakeel Anwar: Conjunction Photos / Comet Neowise Retrospective Fred Benedikt: Hunting for meteorites: anyone can own one with patience NOTE: This Meeting starts at 7:30 pm. Zoom information Topic: RASC Mississauga Centre Potpourri Meeting Time: Jan 15, 2021 07:30 PM […]
Title: The Mission of Apollo 14 Speaker: Randy Attwood January 2021 marks the 50th anniversary of the third successful lunar landing in the Apollo program. There was extra pressure on the crew of Apollo 14 to pull off a successful mission, following on the aborted Apollo 13 mission nine months earlier. Changes were made to […]
Host: Randy Attwood Presentations Simon Claughton: "Apollo 14: A Postal History" John Burgener: "A Consideration that the Fireballs Associated with the Perseid Meteor Shower are an Indication of a Previous Low Angle Skip Impact by Comet 109P/Swift–Tuttle" Swapna Shrivastava: "A trip to the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope" Betty Robinson: "A Helicopter Lands on Mars" Dennis Gasparotto: "A Visit […]
Speaker Night topic to be announced 2020 Mississauga Centre Annual Meeting
Host: Allan Connery YouTube video of the meeting Presentations Paul Taylor: "Paul and Gale’s NASA Adventure" Gary Crawford: "Rosette Nebula Astrophotography Project" Leslie Strike: "The Sky by our Photographers” - Astrophotography contest results! Krishna Vedala: "Astronomy Logbook Software" Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85274743460?pwd=Nno5N01hbWZuVk9kMzRHa1dIYWMyUT09
Host: Randy Attwood
Speaker: Mary Beth Laychak, Director of Strategic Communications, CFHT
Talk Title: The Canada France Hawaii Telescope
Talk Abstract: The Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope is a forty year old facility on the summit of Maunakea and consistently ranks among the world’s most astronomically productive. Mary Beth Laychak, director of strategic communications at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope shares the science, instrument suite and staff of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. She will discuss how those pieces work together to create the magic that is CFHT.
Host: Randy Attwood
Presentations
Allan Connery - Telescope Loan Program Update
Simon Berlet - Maintaining the CFHT
Keith Jarvie - Life on Venus?
Ron Macnaughton - Microbial Mats on Earth - and perhaps on Mars.
What was called "the "oldest uncontested biogenic structure" found on Earth is a microbial mat from West Australia. These structures form when microbes glue a layer of sediment together leaving characteristic patterns. If life existed on Mars, it is possible that similar structures might be detected by the Perseverance rover which has instruments to identify large carbon containing molecules.
David Maynard - My Astrophotography Learning Experience
Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87464539803
Speaker: Emily Carney
Title: Skylab: An Overview
Talk Abstract: Skylab, which was crewed from 1973 to 1974, enjoyed only a brief moment in the cultural zeitgeist (and, of course, infamously reentered over parts of Western Australia). While the United States’ first space station is often overlooked in the canon of space history, this talk will discuss its origins from its “wet workshop” days to its legacy, and direct descendant – the International Space Station (ISS), which still orbits above us.
Information about our speaker:
Emily Carney is a spaceflight enthusiast and author hailing from Saint Petersburg, Florida. Her first vivid space memory was seeing Columbia launch in late 1981 (STS-2). Even though she was very young (three years old) and the launch was 140 miles away from where she stood, she’ll never forget it. From then on, she was obsessed with the space shuttle, and spaceflight in general.
In 1997, Carney enlisted in the United States Navy, and at one point worked as a nuclear propulsion mechanical operator aboard the USS George Washington (CVN 73). When she was honorably discharged in 2003, she went back to college and earned a degree in education. She only taught for a brief time, but after she left the education field, her passion for spaceflight was reignited.
Carney worked as a freelance writer from 2008 to 2011, and during that time she started a spaceflight blog, This Space Available (accessible via https://space.nss.org/category/this-space-available/). She also co-hosts a weekly podcast, Space and Things, with Dave Giles (https://spaceandthingspodcast.com/).
In 2011, Carney wanted to start a Facebook group for space enthusiasts, but was struggling to find a good name. Her husband, Steve, suggested “Space Hipsters” as sort of a sarcastic placeholder, but the name stuck. The group grew more quickly than she could imagine, and at present time it totals over 20,000 members. Space Hipsters boasts members from all around the world, and includes space enthusiasts, writers, artists, scientists, engineers, aspiring astronauts, and even a few actual astronauts.
Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84379657584
Host: Randy Attwood
Presentations:
Randy Attwood The June 10 Solar Eclipse - what to expect and how to observe it safely
Simon Claughton Skylab - The beginning. A philatelic history Part 1
Randy Attwood, Kirby Alguire, Allan Connery The centre's email groups. The Astrophotography Groups IO email group has been around for a while but it is not very active. We will discuss the plan to make it and some new discussion groups active places for members to learn things and discuss various areas of interest. An Observiing email list and a Beginner email list have been set up and will soon be rolled out.
The May 10 1994 Annular Eclipse - 27 years ago , an Annular Eclipse passed right through Toronto. Many RASC members were busy with a live Astronomy Toronto in front of the McLaughlin Planetarium. Much Music was camped next to us and they had their own interesting take on the eclipse, including an interview with a pet astrologer/psychic!
Zoom link: Click here to join the meeting
