The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Calgary Centre is excited this week as we will be hosting an astrophysicist, Sarafina Nance, from The University of California, Berkeley to discuss the lives, deaths and explosions of massive stars! You can register for this free event at the following link. It will take place on January 21, 2021 at 7:30pm MST.
https://www.meetup.com/The-Calgary-Astronomy-Meetup-Group/events/275513173
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| Cassiopeia A Supernova |
This is a free event for anyone to attend to learn more about supernovae. Sarafina is a brilliant scientist and an excellent science communicator. She recently teamed up with Seeker to discuss constellations and why zodiac constellations are still used in astronomy. A link to this video is provided below.
The sky this week will contain some gems for those who take the opportunity to look up! The Moon will be at its first quarter phase this Wednesday. The first quarter is always my favourite phase because it is in a dark sky at a reasonable time of the evening. Also, the terminator (region between dark and light) intersects some amazing features on the lunar surface. The shading from the terminator line helps you to see greater details on these features that you would not see when they are fully illuminated. Take a pair of binoculars or a telescope, if you have one, and look at our celestial neighbour and compare what you see to a lunar map!
The next evening we will be in for a treat. Not only will Sarafina be speaking to us but Mars and Uranus will be in a close conjunction. Look just below Aries (one of the constellations Sarafina speaks about in her video) and you should easily be able to see Mars with the unaided eye.
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| Mars/Uranus Conjunction (January 21, 2021) |
Once you have found the red planet put it in the field of view of any pair of binoculars and you should see Uranus just to the south.
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| Mars/Uranus Conjunction Fields of View |
Something else you may wish to check out is trying to glimpse our diminutive friend Mercury in the dusk twilight. Mercury reaches its greatest elongation east from the Sun during sunset on the 23rd and should be easy to spot at magnitude -0.5. After sunset look in the area the Sun dropped below the horizon and you should see something that will appear as a 'star-like' object. It will be the brightest visible object in the area. This will be the unaided eye view of Mercury. If you have binoculars or a telescope see if you can put this planet in your field. However, if you're going to use optical aid be sure to wait until the Sun is fully below the horizon.
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| Mercury in Dusk Twilight (January 23, 2021) |
As you can see from the image above both Saturn and Jupiter will be in conjunction with the Sun on January 23 and January 28 respectively. They will slowly start to appear in the morning sky late in February and early March.
I suggest you check out the RASC Calgary social media and webpage to learn more about the great astronomy activities that are held by our Centre. All of our online events can be broadcast worldwide so you don't have to live in Calgary to participate! Also, follow me on my personal Facebook page at:
I suggest you check out the RASC Calgary social media and webpage to learn more about the great astronomy activities that are held by our Centre. All of our online events can be broadcast worldwide so you don't have to live in Calgary to participate! Also, follow me on my personal Facebook page at:
Stay warm, stay safe, and always keep looking up in wonder!
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