Author: Thomas Kimber

 

Explore the night sky this Spring from the Stratford Museum Heritage Trails  with the Stratford Astronomy Group (SAG) at the March Star Party event.

Engage with some experts and telescopes to learn about the twinkle behind our celestial world. Trade in your sunglasses for some nightshades and get a closer look at what illuminates our skies.

The program includes the use of astronomy equipment courtesy of the Stratford Astronomy Group – weather pending. This is for all ages and galaxy goer interests!

Date: Friday, March 21, 2025

Time: 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM

Supplies: All Included or you are welcome to bring your own

Price: $10.00 plus tax per person 0r $25.00 plus tax for a family of four or fewer – includes the Star Party program, regular admission to the museum, and light refreshments that evening. Youth ages 5 or under get in free (Please click Here for more information and to purchase tickets).

Location: Stratford Perth Museum at our Indoor and Outdoor Theatre

If you have purchased tickets in the past for this program and did not get a refund due to cancellations resulting from weather, they are valid for the new or scheduled date.

Presenters: The Stratford Astronomy Group

The Stratford Astronomy Group has been in existence since October 20,1999. We are an informal group of night sky enthusiasts from different backgrounds with fascination at looking up to the stars. We do not have group membership. All are welcome to join us at our monthly meeting and our sky-viewing events. Our group provides the community with an opportunity to learn more about the heaven’s above.

If you have questions, contact SAG’s Dr. Michael Burns at burns@mjburns.net

 

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

SAG members attending the September 17 meeting had an up close exposure to the club’s SeeStar S50 astrophotography scope courtesy of members Ken Roberts and Patrick Hayes.

Both members presented separate slide shows (see the two pdfs in this story). Ken started with a slide show highlighting what the SeeStar can do and what it can not do.

Many Youtube videos are available online allowing you opportunities to become familiar with the scope. No eyepieces are used. All is viewed on a screen – an ipad (such as the club’s ipad) on on a smart phone loaded with the SeeStar app.

Patrick opened the SeeStar S50, explaining its small size, the tripod, the main unit and the accompanying case. He also had the club’s ipad purchased for use with the scope.

He explained the importance of having the tripod and scope leveled. Also, most important to remember, attach the solar filter to the scope while pointed away from the sun before any solar viewing attempts. The sun can easily fry the scope without a filter attached.

Patrick has compiled a list of his personal favorite  Messier objects to view(a link to the list is provided below). 

Every year in March, all 110 Messier objects are visible during the course of a single night. Stargazers around the world take advantage of this coincidence and plan a so-called Messier marathon. Should you undertake this challenge and sight every Messier object in a single  night of observation, you will be awarded a Messier certificate  (Dr. Burns knows the details).

Following the two presentations, and with darkness setting in, the in-class  meeting concluded. We moved outside the building to allow Patrick to demonstrate the SeeStar S50 in action.

Members are encouraged to use the SeeStar S50 for themselves. Patrick is the acting custodian for the scope at this moment. 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.

If you are a club member and  plan to borrow and use the SeeStar for astrophotography viewing, I recommend you download to your smart device (phone or ipad) the SeeStar app. This will help you become familiar with its interface.

Here is a link to the pdf slide show that Ken presented.

Here is a link to the pdf slide show  presented by Patrick.

Here is a link to the Patrick’s favorite  Messier objects list in pdf format prepared by Patrick. If  you are a club member and are keen to have a copy of the Messier excel file compiled by Patrick, click Here.

Keep looking up.

Tom Kimber – News

GO TO HOME

Hi All… The June 28th event at Perth museum was very enjoyable. I also had some time to experiment with the Seestar S50. Conclusions thus far: Very useful. Can be used for viewing of bright images — moon, or terrestrial (at distances 30m+).

For starfield or cluster observations, it is an astrophotography scope. For instance, Polaris, viewing for 2 minutes with 10-second exposures, then allowing the scope to stack 12 exposures, gave a good star field. Can easily be transferred to the tablet used to control the scope. One can operate the scope in “station” mode, which means it is accessed via one’s home WiFi router, so from the tablet one has access to internet and to the scope, via the Seestar app. Likely useful if one want to checks email or play chess while waiting for image capture.

The star map is convenient for identifying objects to search for. Have not yet mastered alignment fully, but it was pretty good. Field of view is fixed, big enough to capture full circle of the moon. Typical orientation 0.7 degree wide and 1.2 degree high. AltAz mount does not allow good navigation / observing near local zenith, but of course celestial zenith (Polaris) is no problem as it is about 45 degree altitude locally.

Using a 10-sec exposure is advisable, and produced good images on stacking. Using a 20-sec exposure degraded the image, creating blacked-out streaks on stacked image. Not sure if it is algorithmic or mis-understanding on my part. Anyway, scope is good, keep learning, keep looking UP !! Best, Ken R.

GO TO HOME