24 February 2013

SJAA Solar Picnic

  Observe The Sun Safely - Never look at the Sun without a proper filter! 
 Solar Programs are held 1st Sunday of every Month 2:00-4:00 PM at Houge Park  weather permitting

 SJAA Solar Picnic - Fun Under the Sun!
 
Double Trouble: Michael Swartz's H-Alpha and Standard Filter duel scope setup
 
 Today's Sunspots: small but with good distribution. Solar proms: Numerous and Large

Relaxing Solar Picnic was the note of the day!



Bill O'Neil (Left) Sunspots views using 18Ga aluminum and powder coated white or
 "Baader" type white solar filter

Michael Packer checking out H-Alpha emission 
 Next Solar Party is Sunday March 3rd
Volunteers with scopes and SJAA members get free hydration (water and soft drinks)

23 February 2013

Comet L4 PANSTARRS

YES PANSTARRS is Still Visible In Silicon Valley!
 Use Binoculars - Use a smart phone astro app if you got one.
MEDIA CONTACT: Michael Packer at m.packer@yahoo.com

How to view L4 PANSTARRS
 http://astrobob.areavoices.com
PanSTARRS is high enough to see in Silicon Valley. Folks have seen it around the South Bay at Shoreline and at the March 15th SJAA Beginner Class. Kids got a 30 minute view at Houge Park before it set. Use Binoculars! It is now a superb small telescope object at places like Fremont Peak.
Where in Sky
 Click to Enlarge
 Seek out a good Western horizon and start looking with binoculars in the evening ~ hour after sunset. The comet is still just visible without using binoculars but is hard to find without them. And binoculars will let you see detail like the tail.
 IMAGE OF COMET SATURDAY MARCH 16th
IMAGE OF COMET LEFT OF MOON FROM SKYLINE BLVD MARCH 12th

Above image was taken by Michael Packer on March 12, 2013 Nikon D3s, 230mm, f6.0, ISO1000, 3/4s exposure.

Comet L4 PANSTARRS click image to enlarge
"The above image was taken by Ignacio Diaz Bobillo on Feb 15th through a telescope, I'm sure you will agree this is a wonderful capture and full of potential for nice show on the weeks ahead. The green colour around the coma (comet's head) is the gas/ion envelope around the comet's nucleus and the white/gold colour is the dust tail reflecting light from the sun. L4 Panstarrs sports a very high abundance of dust which indicates a fairly large and very active nucleus which should continue to brighten every day as solar heating and pressure increases."

Comet PanSTARRS is named after the person or group that discovered it. In this case, the University of Hawaii's Panoramic Survey Telescope & Rapid Response System Pan-STARRS which is an innovative wide-field imaging facility developed for astronomy. It's full name C/2011 L4 PanSTARRS is a non-periodic comet discovered in June 2011 that is expected to be visible to the naked eye when it is near perihelion in March 2013.

11 February 2013

Solar Sunday Report Feb 10th

Solar Sunday Report February 10th,  2013
Observe The Sun Safely - Never look at the Sun without a proper filter! 
 Solar Programs are held 1st Sunday of every Month 2:00-4:00 PM at Houge Park  weather permitting

A beautiful California day provided a good crowd and fun viewing of the solar disk. Malika's projector showed the major sunspots. And Michael Swartz's dual refractor set up (Neutral density green and H-alpha - both with binoculars) simultaneously displayed the sunspot and prominences in great detail
  Photo courtesy of Jag Sonti
With the Rotation of a new spot into field of view the Sunspot Count Jumped to the 40's and solar viewers got to see the Wilson Effect - See below images.
Click Image For Larger View!
We have another Solar Observing Day this month on Feb 24th and as usual 1st Sunday March 3
Come on out. (Folks with solar setups and scopes are provided with water.)

06 February 2013

Feedback on February Astronomy Class

Hello SJAA Members and Friends,

Friday saw another excellent installment of Mark Wagner's beginner astronomy classes. I'd like to ask that if you attended the class, please fill out the survey below.  This is just an experiment to start to gather feedback about SJAA programs, but the information will be reviewed by the board and used to help guide future events. And of course, responses are anonymous and will be held in strictest confidence.

Thank you in advance.
Rob Jaworski