Spring Friends/Family Star Party – Canceled

The APL Astronomy Club’s Friends & Family Star Party will be held on Friday, May 2nd, at 7:00pm until 10:00 pm or so, depending on how things are going, how enthused the telescope volunteers are for staying late, etc. is canceled due to clouds. We will try again in the Fall.

Star gazing (and telescope viewing) is always dependent and contingent upon the weather. Please check back to this post as the date draws nigh to verify whether or not the star party has been cancelled due to inclimate weather (rain and clouds being the biggest impactors). We will be putting weather updates here as they are necessary. If we are clouded/rained out, we will regroup in the Fall.

APLers and their friends and families are all invited to attend. Club members will have several telescopes out for your viewing pleasure, but feel free to bring your own optics if you have them – the more, the merrier! And even though there is plenty of light pollution around, PLEASE: NO FLASHLIGHTS!

Where: On the lawn by the Big Dish, outside the security fence, on the west side of the main campus. See map to right.

Clothing: dress as if the temperatures will be 10 degrees colder than what the weather prognosticators are calling for! (standing around looking through telescopes is not the most heat-generating activity you can do at night)

Sunset: 8:01 pm EDT
End civil twilight: 8:30 pm EDT

Moonset: 11:21 pm EDT
Moon phase: Waxing Crescent (12% illuminated)

Meeting March 19, 2014

What: APL Astronomy Club monthly meetingaplac-5
Where: Gibson Library room L-2
When: Wednesday, March 19, noon to 1:00 pm

Club business:  Spring star party, solar observing party, dark sky party, observing reports

Other club events coming soon:
April 4: Friends and Family Spring Star Party
April 16: Club Meeting
April 22: Solar Observing at Building 200
April 24: Possible club trip to Stargaze at Tuckahoe State Park

Astro Club March 2014 Meeting

Meeting February 19, 2014

What: APL Astronomy Club monthly meetingaplac-5
Where: Gibson Library room L-2
When: Wednesday, February 19, noon to 1:00 pm

Club business:  Spring star party, solar observing party, dark sky party

Speaker: Ron Farris – Solar Observing

Other club events coming soon:
March 19: Club meeting
April 4: Friends and Family Spring Star Party
April 22: Solar Observing at Building 200
April 24: Possible club trip to Stargaze at Tuckahoe State Park

Astro Club February 2014 Meeting

Solar Observing – by Ron Farris

2014feb_occultations – by Dave Dunham

Meeting November 20, 2013

What: APL Astronomy Club monthly meetingaplac-5
Where: Gibson Library room L-2
When: Wednesday, November 20, noon to 1:00 pm

Club business: Discuss status of our budget request. Discuss implementation of new equipment check-out procedure.

Speaker: Dave Vasholz will give a talk entitled “Motion analysis of a pair of iPhone images.”

Other club events coming soon:
November 8: Friends and Family Star Party at APL (October 11 date cancelled due to inclement weather)
December 18: Club meeting – Speaker: Ron Vervack on Comet ISON

Astro Club November 2013 Meeting

Motion analysis of a pair of Iphone images

Fall Friends/Family Star Party – Nov 8, 2013!

The APL Astronomy Club’s Friends & Family Star Party will be held on Friday, November 8th, at 6:00pm until 10:00 pm or so, depending on how things are going, how enthused the telescope volunteers are for staying late, etc.

Star gazing (and telescope viewing) is always dependent and contingent upon the weather. Please check back to this post as the date draws nigh to verify whether or not the star party has been cancelled due to inclimate weather (rain and clouds being the biggest impactors). We will be putting weather updates here as they are necessary. If we are clouded/rained out, we will regroup in the spring.

APLers and their friends and families are all invited to attend. Club members will have several telescopes out for your viewing pleasure, but feel free to bring your own optics if you have them – the more, the merrier! And even though there is plenty of light pollution around, PLEASE: NO FLASHLIGHTS!

Where: On the lawn by the Big Dish, outside the security fence, on the west side of the main campus. See map to right.

Clothing: dress as if the temperatures will be 10 degrees colder than what the weather prognosticators are calling for! (standing around looking through telescopes is not the most heat-generating activity you can do at night)

Sunset: 4:58 pm EDT
End civil twilight: 7:02 pm EDT

Moonset: 10:16 pm EDT
Moon phase: Near First Quarter (35% illuminated)

Meeting October 16, 2013

What: APL Astronomy Club monthly aplac-5meeting
Where: Gibson Library room L-2
When: Wednesday, October 16, noon to 1:00 pm

Club business: Club business will be kept to a minimum to allow plenty of time for our speaker.

Speaker: Claudia Knez will talk to us about the APL 24″ telescope.

Other club events coming soon:
November 8: Friends and Family Star Party at APL (October 11 date cancelled due to inclement weather)
November 20: Club meeting

Astro Club October 2013 Meeting

In the days leading up to the height of the Perseid Meteor Shower, I happened to have worked out a mini vacation trip to Colorado and Wyoming. During the trip, whenever I was camping out, I was shooting astro-lapse sequences as the weather allowed. The culmination of these sequences is the astro-lapse video link below. The sequences were shot on the nights of 8/7, 8/9, 8/11, and 8/12. Between the two cameras,I captured no fewer than 130 meteors (actually now 131, as I just found a new one in one of the stills while reviewing a sequence the other day). Most nights I did not stay up to watch the show, being exhausted from the day’s activities, so I only got up to adjust and re-time the cameras. However, while I was up, I would see 2-3 meteors in that short time. The night of 8/11, morning of 8/12, I stayed up for about 75 minutes. In that time I counted 40 or so meteors, no fewer than 8-10 were fireballs. And half of the rest were easily 1st magnitude or brighter. (repeating this time frame and observing the following night/morning, which was post-peak, resulted in only 9 meteors, a dramatic drop-off from 24 hours earlier).

Enjoy the video, feel free to share it as you think people might like to see.  😎