Archive for the ‘Astronomy’ Category
RASC Calgary Centre, Annual Spring Star Night, Mar 24th 2007, Fish Creek Park
March 8th, 2007 | 
Author: The event runs from 7 PM to 10 PM whether the sky is clear or cloudy. Inside the Shannon Terrace Environmental Learning Centre, there will be games,astronomy and “Rings in the Park†displays. RASC members will be on hand to answer any questions you may have.
To get there from the end of Anderson road SW (west end) turn south on to 37th Street SW. Turn east off 37th st SW onto 130 Ave SW, turn right on Woodpath RD SW into Fish Creek Park. Follow the road down the valley to the Shannon Terrace Environmental Learning Centre.
I hope that we will see some of you there and we may be there with a couple of our own scopes displaying objects!
Stephen
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Lunar Eclipse Tonight March 3rd
You may be aware that there is a full lunar eclipse tonight. The full moon will pass directly through Earth’s Shawdow and become red. Unfortunately if you live in Western Canada like me, it will be over or just about finished as the moon rises.
Not to worry, we will get a full Lunar Eclipse the evening of Aug 28th 2006. Mark this dae down in your calendar.
If you want to see what little of the eclipse you can you have to get out for moonrise and have a clear view of the Eastern Horizon. You may be able to detect a slight shawdow on the edge of the moon as it moves out of the last part of earth’s shadow. It will be extremely difficult to see and chances are you won’t see anything!
Stephen
Some new moon photos
I have posted some new moon photos to my gallery http://photos.chinookcity.com in the moon album. A couple of are a 2 day old moon and there are some earth shine shots. These were taken Dec 22, 2006 and were the first photos taken through my new Sky Watcher 100ED Telescope.
Also there are some photos taken of the moon Christmas day. These were taken through a new William Optics ZenithStar 66MM SD APO scope I picked up. This looks to be a sweet little portable scope and will be great for wide field imaging and guiding!
Stephen
Beautiful Site
I went out very late last night to have a quick peek at the skies before heading off to bed. I usually do this everynight. It was about 3:30 AM and the half moon was high in the sky but I could see what looked like a little star very close to the moon. I went back in grabbed my little quick set up portable scope (A Skywatcher Short Tube 80 MM refractor) and quickly attached it to my photo tripod. Grabbed a diagonal and Vixen 24 – 8mm eyepiece and had a look.
What a beautiful site, it was not a star at all but Saturn. In my wide field view on this little scope I could see the moon surface clearly and then the small rings of Saturn. I spent about 15 minutes zooming in on the moon and then the planet until the clouds started rollig in.
Really wish I could have set up a camera and grabbed an image but that would have taken too long. Still it was a beautiful site to see.
Stephen
Christmas Telescopes
Well this is covered in several stories in Astronomy Magazines all over the world at this time of year and I often get asked. With Christmas around the corner, please don’t rush out and buy a scope from one of the big discount retailers! Often these scopes promise huge magnifications and even computerized tracking but don’t buy the hype. Magnifications are theoretical and ability to achieve this your optics have to be perfect, not something you are going to get in bargain store scope. For the same money you can get a decent scope, or better yet for the beginner, an awesome pair of binoculars and a guide book ideal for the beginning astronomer.
So if you are looking for scope be sure to visit my primary dealer Blair of Sky Vue Telescopes in Calgary. He stocks many scopes for all ranges, can get almost anything in and can guide you as the proper scope to buy. You can reach Blair at 403 239-8386 or via email at skyvue at telus dot net.
 Stephen