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James Webb Telescope updates:
https://webb.nasa.gov/content/webbLaunch/whereIsWebb.html
In the Mail and In the eMail
Table of ContentsEvents and Club News
Star Parties at Crestview Park
The complete SMCAS Newsletter in .pdf format is available from:
http://www.smcasastro.com/newsletter.html
SMCAS, Club Membership
New SMCAS astrophotography website
www.greenhawkobservatory.com
Ken Lum captures amazing inages with a 4 inch telescope.
https://groups.io/g/SMCASnews/message/678
https://groups.io/g/SMCASnews/message/679
Dear Friends:
Was out last night and took an eVscope pic of the Running Man Nebula,
NGC 1973, -5, and -7 in Orion near M 42.
Was listed as a recent Unistellar challenge object.
Very clear last night and should also be good tonight.
Ken L.
Feb 06
March 31
Final entry for March Newsletter
Crestview Star Parties
Star Parties at Crestview Park.
Crestview 2010 Sun Chart
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There is a Crestview Star Party scheduled for Saturday March 5. Sunset is at 6:07pm.
Weather forecasts are for good conditions. The Moon will be visible until 9:30 but it is a small waxing crescent and shouldn’t be a problem. It will make a nice target.
It will be cold so dress accordingly. Also, the humidly will be very high so protect your equipment.
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Come out and bring the kids for a mind expanding look at the universe!
The City of San Carlos Department of Parks and Recreation and the San Mateo County Astronomical Society have open Star Parties twice a month. These events are held in Crestview Park, San Carlos California.
Note that inclement weather (clouds, excessive wind and showers) will cause the event to be canceled without notice.
CLICK HERE FOR DIRECTIONS
or go to:
http://www.smcasastro.com/star-parties.html
for most recent update.
Reasons to Attend
- If you have kids interested in space or planets bring them here for a real life view of planets, nebula, star clusters and galaxies.
- If you are thinking of buying a telescope or want help using a telescope you own, come here to talk with experienced users.
- If you think you might have an interest in astronomy come and talk to experienced amateur astronomers.
Astronomers arrive to set up at around sunset. Observing starts at about one hour after sunset and continues for two to three hours.
Crestview Park is at W122 17', N37 29'
REACH FOR THE STARS AT CSM!
With its planetarium, variety of astronomy courses, top-notch faculty,
and special events such as Star Parties.
CSM partners with the San Mateo County Astronomical Society
for SMCAS meetings in the CSM planetarium.
The planetarium is currently unavailable due to covid. March 2022![]()
Astronomy Events in Our Area ( Edited for March )
Due to the covid virus many of the venues listed below are now on-line.
Presentation "The History of Lick Observatory" _ April 19, Tuesday, 6:30-8:30 pm
The Santa Clara County Historical and Genealogical Society General Meeting will host a talk about
Lick Observatory, an important research unit of the University of California, providing state-of-the-art research facilities to astronomers from all nine UC astronomy campuses. Opened in 1888 as part of the legacy of James Lick, it is the world’s first high-altitude astronomical observatory.
Lick Observatory astronomer Dr. Paul Lynam will share with us the history of how the observatory came to be built on the summit of Mount Hamilton and some of the astronomical breakthroughs associated with Lick.
Educated in the UK, Paul received his Ph.D. in 2000 and has worked in observatories in Germany and Chile. He joined
Lick Observatory in 2011 and is a regular contributor to teaching and public outreach activities as he continues his career at Lick. He is a member of the Institute of Physics (IoP) and a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS). You must pre-register at:
https://tinyurl.com/5kctcb7k
for this online meeting via Zoom. Open to the public and FREE.
Dr. Lynam spoke to the PAS back in November, 2015. His talk from that time can be found on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iOl818g6OE
Ken Lum's SMCAS Event Listing
https://groups.io/g/SMCASnews/message/692
https://groups.io/g/SMCASnews/message/707
https://groups.io/g/SMCASnews/message/711
https://groups.io/g/SMCASnews/message/714
https://groups.io/g/SMCASnews/message/718
https://groups.io/g/SMCASnews/message/719
https://groups.io/g/SMCASnews/message/721
https://groups.io/g/SMCASnews/message/722
Posted 03-28-22
SLAC Physics Lecture Series at Stanford Linear Accelerator
Archive of past lectures:
https://www.youtube.com/slac
On Wednesday, Mar. 9th, 2022 at 7 pm (PST), Dr. Adam Burgasser (University of California, San Diego) will give a free, illustrated, non-technical lecture entitled:
“Dark Star: The Invisible Universe of Brown Dwarfs"
On line at YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/SVAstronomyLectures
[if you go to this address the evening of the talk you will see and be able to participate in the live event; we will also make a recording]
The talk is part of the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture Series (through Foothill College), now in its 22nd year.
Normal stars, like our Sun, shine because they undergo nuclear fusion, turning hydrogen into helium and converting matter into radiation. But what if a star wasn't able to fuse? What would such a "dud" look like? These were purely theoretical question until the 1990s, when the first examples of non-fusing stars, or brown dwarfs, were discovered. Today, many thousands of such objects are known, spanning a wide range of temperatures and masses, and they occupy a unique niche of at the intersection of stars and exoplanets. In this presentation, Prof. Burgasser will introduce the science of brown dwarfs, discuss how they were and continue to be discovered, highlight some of their exceptional properties, and describe how this (mostly) invisible population may provide clues to the early formation and evolutionary history of the Milky Way.
Adam Burgasser is a professor of Physics at UC San Diego, and an astrophysicist who studies the coldest stars, brown dwarfs, and extrasolar planets. Prof. Burgasser defined the “T spectral class” of brown dwarfs as a graduate student; and is one of the co-discoverers of the TRAPPIST-1 exoplanetary system, a system of seven Earth-sized planets orbiting an object at boundary of the star/brown dwarf divide. He has authored over 600 publications, including work in astrophysics, physics education, and equity, diversity, and inclusion in STEM. Prof. Burgasser is currently a Vice-President of the American Astronomical Society and has been a Fulbright scholar.
The lecture is co-sponsored by:
* The Foothill College Science, Tech, Engineering & Math Division
* The SETI Institute
* The Astronomical Society of the Pacific
* The University of California Observatories (including Lick Observatory).
Past lectures in the series can also be found on YouTube at: http://youtube.com/svastronomylectures and as audio podcasts at:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1805595
_________________________
For a copyright free image showing an artist’s impression of a brown dwarf, see:
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/multimedia/pia17258.html#.Yglp6N_MKUk
____________________________________________
Andrew Fraknoi
Emeritus Chair, Astronomy Department
Foothill College
(Currently teaching at U. of San Francisco & San Francisco State U.)
E-mail: fraknoiandrew@fhda.edu
Web site: www.fraknoi.com
AstroProf Facebook Pages: www.facebook.com/Fraknoi
Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures
Home:
https://foothill.edu/astronomy/index.php
YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/SVAstronomyLectures
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UC Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science http://www.lawrencehallofscience.org
Lick Observatory:Lick Observatory Summer 2022 Visitors Program:
https://mailchi.mp/ucolick.org/1-899130?e=bcf94bce96
Posted February 23, 2022
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Plan to arrive after noon and before 3 PM for best access to Public Areas.
This is an all day trip climbing to 4200 feet on the historic
Mount Hamilton Road, Route 130, Alum Rock off of 101 or 680.
Please don't pass bicyclists on the blind curves.
Visiting
Gift Shop
The Gift Shop is your best contact for current visitors progam status.Visitor Center & Main Building
12:00 noon - 5:00 pm
Shane Telescope Gallery
Every Day: 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
Visitor's page
The APF Telescope is now doing science.
What this means to you (all) is that the dome and telescope can move at any
time without warning. Often we are doing tests during the day so please don't
enter the building unless you have a good reason to be inside.
Summer Visitors Program
Guided tours
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From Eyeballs to Electrons is the first online exhibit from the Lick
Observatory Historical Collections Project.
The exhibit draws on artifacts and images from Lick's collections
to illustrate the evolution of light detection in astronomy,
with special attention to Lick Observatory's role.
Part One begins with astronomy's first detector, the human eye,
and ends with photography's long reign as the principal means for
recording starlight.
http://collections.ucolick.org/exhibits_on_line/E2E.1/
The Historical Collections Project is a work in progress. It was
created to preserve and make accessible the observatory's historical
holdings through cataloging, online databases, and exhibits.
Please visit the Project website at:
http://collections.ucolick.org/archives_on_line/
Lick Observatory, telescopes and visitors program.
Technical talk given to the Peninsula Astronomical Society.
https://youtu.be/WB2q1lpQc8w
Posted January 2022
UCO astronomers prove the existence of
Black Holes:
https://www.keckobservatory.org/nobel-prize-ghez/
Posted November 25, 2020
UCO, University of California Observatories
U Tube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1GYJClPPnW-SoreLysNTAw
Posted Oct 15, 2020
A new era for Lick Observatory's Twin Astrograph
Posted February 2020
The Apollo Cube Reflectors and Lick Observatory
Lick Observatory on 'Facebook'
posted November 11, 2014
Mount Hamilton Wildflower Collection
California Condors visit Lick Observatory
Music of the Spheres, 2001 program.
About Adaptive Optics
Adaptive Optics on U Tube
For those of you with an interest in Java Programs and/or
extra-solar planet search see:
http://oklo.org
This is a forum run by students and instructors at Lick Observatory
concerning the reduction of extra-solar radial velocity data.
Update at: http://www.oklo.org/
Super Planet Crash, The Game (This link updated February 24, 2022)
Reference http://oklo.org/
Keck Observatory Science Talks
http://www.keckobservatory.org/events/
Exploratorium
Disney Museum in the San Francisco Presidio
California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park
The Tech Museum downtown San Jose
Peninsula Astronomical Society
PAS membership information
OTHER CLUBS EVENTS For regularly-updated information on other astronomical organizations and events
we refer you to the website of the Astronomical Association of Northern California:
https://sites.google.com/site/aancsite/home
Astronomical Society of the Pacific
ASP Website
U.S. Department of the Interior
U.S. Geological Survey,
Public Programs:
http://online.wr.usgs.gov/calendar/
Computer History Museum
JPL on_line
Alcoat Newsletter, Webmaster's Links