Come join the Hamilton Amateur Astronomers this November 19th between 1 and 4pm for our Telescope Clinic and open house! At this event you’ll find knowledgable amateur astronomers with their telescopes and gear on display and available to answer questions. This is a great opportunity if you’re thinking about getting into astronomy! Learn where to get started, the type of gear you should buy and more importantly avoid. Already an amateur astronomer? This is a great way to take your hobby to the next level and learn about more advanced topics such as CCD imaging, auto guiding and more!

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Annual General Meeting, October 14^th 2016

“Exploring the ghostly side of galaxies with Dragonfly” with Dr. Roberto Abraham, University of Toronto professor, Dept of Astronomy & Astrophysics

Bigger telescopes are usually better telescopes…. but not always. In this talk I will explore the ghostly world of large low surface brightness structures, such as galactic stellar halos, low-surface brightness dwarf galaxies, and other exotica such as supernova light echoes. These objects are nearly undetectable with conventional telescopes, but their properties may hold the key to understanding how galaxies assemble. I will describe why finding these objects is important, and why it is so devilishly difficult.

I will also describe a bizarre new telescope (the Toronto/Yale/Harvard Dragonfly Telephoto Array, a.k.a. Dragonfly) which is now being used to explore the low surface brightness universe and is testing some of the most fundamental predictions of galaxy formation models. Dragonfly is comprised of 48 commercial 400 mm f/2.8 telephoto lenses which utilize novel nanostructure-based optical coatings that minimize scattered light and ghosting. I’ll showcase some our early results, mainly focusing on the properties of ultra-faint stellar halos. I’ll also report the discovery of gigantic stellar disks underlying nearby galaxies, and will describe the discovery of a new class of ghostlike galaxies that are as big as the Milky Way but have about 1/1000 of its mass.

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The October issue of the Hamilton Amateur Astronomers Event Horizon newsletter is now available for download!

In this issue you’ll find…

• The Sky this Month
• Wanted – Dead or Alive
• Eye Candy
• Cartoon Corner
• Upcoming McCallion Planetarium Shows
• Upcoming Events

Download your copy from the newsletters section.

Photo credit: The California Nebula (NGC 1499), by Bob Christmas

Public Stargazing Night at Bayfront Park, September 10^th

Join the Hamilton Amateur Astronomers at Bayfront park for a evening under the cosmos. Starting at 8:00pm Saturn and Mars will be low on the horizon, a half Moon will be visible along with many visible constellations. Fun and educational for the whole family, club members will be unhand to answer cosmic questions.
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The Hamilton Amateur Astronomer’s 2017 Celestial Events Calendar is in production and it’s time to submit your images! 

The HAA calendar showcases photos, illustrations and other visuals exclusively from you, HAA club members. Everyone is encouraged to participate from very experienced astrophotographers to absolute beginners — all images are welcome.

When sending your photo, please submit the highest resolution you have in JPG format. In order to fit the format of the calendar please ensure your photos are in landscape orientation. You can submit as many images as you want and they can be astrophotos, related subjects (like sunsets or atmospheric phenomena), club events and activities. Please include a few details about your photo, the equipment used, where it was taken or anything else relevant.

Deadline for submissions is September 30, 2016.

Please submit your photos to webmaster@amateurastronomy.org.

Please note that by submitting a photo you are granting The Hamilton Amateur Astonomers right to publish your photo in the 2017 Celestial Events Calendar.

Photo credit: Aurora – Everett Cairns

The September issue of the Hamilton Amateur Astronomers Event Horizon newsletter is now available for download!

In this issue you’ll find…

• The Sky this Month
• AstroCATS Report
• Oh Me, Let’s Get Metaphysical
• Eye Candy
• Cartoon Corner
• Upcoming McCallion Planetarium Shows
• Upcoming Events

Download your copy from the newsletters section.

Photo credit: M20 – the Trifid Nebula, by Matthew Mannering

This unique and lively presentation is sure to entertain all ages and is especially suitable for newcomers to astronomy.

In the first half of the evening travel back to Renaissance Italy in March of 1610, where Galileo himself is portrayed as introducing you to his newest scientific instrument. Hear in his own words how he built this telescope, the observations he made, and the magnificent discoveries that even he realized would revolutionize our understanding of the heavens.

Then return to the present, as guest speaker John Gauvreau describes the great impact of this moment in history, showing how even today modern science still builds upon what Galileo started so long ago. The importance and value of this 400 year journey reaches far beyond just astronomy and science to change the very way we see the world in which we live.

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Unfortunately due to unfavourable weather conditions we are forced to cancel the Perseid Meteor Shower event planned for Friday, August 12th. The Weather Network is forecasting thunderstorms this evening which presents both unfavourable skies and a safety risk.

If the weather clears in your area and you would still like to catch the meteor shower here are a few tips. However, please be mindful of your surroundings and use common sense — avoid open fields if lightning is forecast.

• Try to get away from city light pollution to darker skies. With darker skies you’ll be able to view more of the fainter meteors.
• The best way to experience the show is to recline or lay down on a blanket and just look up.
• While August 11-12 is the peek, the Perseid’s can also be viewed a couple days after the main event and its worth a look up.

We’ll try again next year with hopefully better weather conditions.

If you’re interested in the sky above and would like to learn more about meteors, the stars, and planets please keep an eye on our event calendar. The Hamilton Amateur Astronomers host public stargazing nights where the whole family can look through telescopes, chat with knowledgable amateur astronomers and get first hand experience with the cosmos.

Please join us for a future event.

These two pictures are ‘astro images’ of the star Vega which is found in the constellation Lyra (The Harp), one of the most prominent night sky asterisms from early Greek and Roman civilization and culture. It is also one of the brightest objects in the night sky after the Sun, Moon, Venus and the star, Sirius.

Until about the beginning of the 20^th century, all astronomy, including professional studies, was basically descriptive and hand-drawn from hours of work spent at the eyepieces of a given telescope. However, since it was not going to go any further in this direction, it remained for astronomers like Henry Norris Russell and others to move astronomical studies into the realms of physics and emerging interpretations of Nature and the Universe such as Quantum Mechanics and the General and Special Theories of Relativity.

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A group of the Hamilton Amateur Astronomers got together for an evening of stargazing at the Binbrook Conservation Area, our “dark sky” site away from the lights of Hamilton. Observing at the park is available to all members of the club and offers a friendly atmosphere to observe the cosmos, chat with other club members and learn about astronomy.

I arrived at the park shortly after 9:30pm to see other members already setup and waiting for high-level clouds to pass. This evening we met at the boat launch area which provides a large level gravel parking lot with which to setup. We’re also right next to the reservoir which offers added photographic opportunities if taking a break from the telescope.

With Ontario going through hot daytime temperatures and low rainfall the evening hovered around a pleasant 26°C with no sign of mosquitoes or other pests. As I unpacked my gear heat-lightning put on a show over the southern horizon with fast sequences of flashes attracting excitement from the crowd of observers.

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