Stratford Astronomy Group

Do you know the ” Curse of Iron” with respect to a star? 

Club member Patrick Hayes delivered a fascinating presentation on the life cycle of a star. His was the first presentation of the night at the SAG Star Party held at the Stratford Museum Friday, March 21. This was followed by Paul Bartlett’s presentation on the 15 Guide Stars of the Night Sky throughout the Seasons. Dr. Michael Burn’s wrapped up with a talk where he answered questions about the Universe.

(15 GUIDE STARS OF THE NIGHT SKY THROUGH THE SEASONS AND THE WINTER HEXEGON AND SUMMER TRIANGLE)

Fusing atoms is what generates energy for a star. With each fusion process beginning with hydrogen fusing into helium, energy is released.

This process continues in a star with each new fusion producing a new atom reflected in the periodic table. This fusion continues until  two silicon atoms fuse together into an iron atom.

As Patrick explains, “Iron doesn’t produce energy when it fuses, it absorbs energy”.

Do you know what comes next? Click HERE to view the presentation (A Star is Born and Then…), one of three  delivered at the Stratford Museum as part of the Star Party.

Following the talks, attendees went outside the museum where two SeeStar S50 telescopes were operated to view the night sky. 

Many thanks to Patrick and to presenters Paul Bartlett and Michael Burns as well. And to Patrick and to Ken Roberts for operating the telescopes.

Megan Patterson of the Stratford Museum was very pleased with the night. The museum donated $150 to the Stratford Astronomy Group.

Tom Kimber – News

The night sky in the Stratford area was crystal clear last night and early Friday morning and all eyes were turned toward the eclipsing Moon.

Ken Roberts took this photo as the Moon was exiting its total phase in the early hours Friday, March 14.  He used the Seestar Z50 astrophotography Smart scope (for background on this scope and another ZWO smart telescope, click HERE).

As Ken points out, locating the Moon is not always as easy to”zero in on” as one might think. He says, “Upon starting, the S50 could not “goto” the Moon.
I asked it to goto another object (M100).
Then it knew its orientation and could goto moon”.

We will have some Z50 smart telescopes on display at the Friday, March 21 Star Viewing Party. Come. out and see for yourself.

Tom Kimber – News

 Two Canadian companies play important roles in the recent Firefly Aerospace moon lander mission. One, Integrity Testing Laboratory Inc.,  a manufacturer of moon dust repellent and the other, NGC  Aerospace based in Sherbrooke, Quebec, involved in the lander’s moon making system. Click on the above links to read their stories.

Tom Kimber – News

Over the past two years, at Club Meetings, when time permitted, Dr. Michael Burns has delivered on-going talks of the Big Bang based on the physical theory of the universe expanding from an initial high density and temperature state.  Members in attendance at any of these talks have been mesmerized by the presentations.

He plans to continue. For those needing a refresher (me for sure), here is a link to the Big Bang Talks Summary to-date.

Updated December 7, 2024

And for those curious about Space-time and how best to understand it and relativity, see this article by Sean Caroll appearing in Quanta Magazine. To read. the story, click HERE

Tom Kimber – News

Following in the path of the SeeStar S50 Smart Telescope is an even smaller ZWO product, the SeeStar S30 Smart Telescope.

This “little brother” telescope comes equipment with similar high quality optics, GoTo functionality and internal technology within a highly affordable, miniature build.

For a comparison of the two smart telescopes, you can view this video by clicking HERE

You can view the discussion published in March about the SeeStar S50 by clicking HERE.

Tom Kimber – News

The lunar rover, designed, constructed and tested in Canada, will be going to the Moon with the Artemis program before the end of the decade.  SAG member Jamie Page sent a link to a prototype test conducted recently in Longueuil, Quebec. Click HERE to watch the video.

What will its mission be? For details, click HERE.

Tom Kimber – News

Hello, fellow SAG members. I have many of the club’s astro equipment stored in my garage. I wanted to try out the SeeStar S50 so I arranged to borrow it from Patrick Hayes for two nights.  Patrick is the custodian of the SeeStar and its equipment. He has agreed to checkout and receive back this telescope for club members.

 To reserve you chance to try it out in your own yard, email Patrick at hayesp42@rogers.com. Your name will be placed on a loaner wait list.

With the  SeeStar S50, I took pictures of  M1 (the Crab Nebula), M15 Globular cluster in Pegasus, M33 Triangulum Galaxy and M45 Pleiades.

I then processed them using the free software as described in the YouTube video by Cuiv the Lazy Geek. For the video I refer to, click HERE. I made a cheatsheet of the software mentioned in the video

And for members interested in the other equipment that you might checkout for borrowing, see this list HERE. If you area member and interested in an loan of any equipment in the above list, reach me at this email address: 1948paul.bartlett@gmail.com

Paul Bartlett

Keep looking up!

I have an update to this story. Jim Goetz came to our November 5 meeting and made a request. He is a man on a mission. He showed this Eclipse photo that he obtained from the St. Marys Museum. It was taken in the greater Stratford area.

Jim wants help identifying exactly where it was taken. See Jim’s notes attached here for guidance. The photographer was H.R. Robinson.

Tom Kimber – News

From the skies of Stratford, Tavistock and St. Marys we were treated to a partial solar eclipse on April 8, 2024.  We were not in the path of totality, so the Moon did not cover the complete face of the Sun.

But, on January 24, 1925, under different circumstances, a total solar eclipse was visible.

(See this review from the Tavistock Gazette of the 1925 astronomical event).

Jim Goetz, of the KW-RASC, will join us at our November 5th SAG meeting and present us with a unique view of this 1925 solar eclipse.

Please join us  Tuesday to hear what Jim has to say about this eclipse. The meeting takes place at St. Michael’s Secondary School on Oakdale St. in Stratford. Enter from the parking lot at the north of building. The meeting is held in Room #104.

Tom Kimber – News

GO TO HOME

For the past two weeks we in the Stratford area have been treated to views in our post sunset skies of Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, (AKA C2023-A3).

This comet from the Oort cloud was first discovered by the Purple Mountain Observatory in chine on January 9, 2023 and independently found by ATLAS South Africa on February 22, 2023.

Now on its way back having passed around the Sun, it continues on a 80,000 year journey before its return. Back in 1996-1997, you might have seen Comet Hale-Bopp, another long-period comet and the most widely observed comet of the 20th century.

But, like all long-period comets, Hale-Bopp is not expected to return to the inner solar system until 4385.

Using the SeeStar S50, I was able to get images of the comet Sunday evening after 8:00 pm from the dark skies of South Perth. See these two images.

Keep looking up!

Tom Kimber – News