Notice of Next Meeting
Our next monthly meeting takes place on:
- Date: Wednesday 10 April 2019
- Time: 19h00 for 19h30
- Location: Jhb. Observatory
- Presenter: TBA
- Topic: TBA
- Donation: R20 pp for tea and snacks
Meetings generally last about one and a half hours, and include a Topic of Interest, What’s Up in the Night Sky, and the Main Speaker’s Presentation. Tea and coffee are served afterwards. Visitors are welcome.
Sky and Braai
Our next monthly Braai takes place on:
- Date: To Be Confirmed
- Time: 16h30
- Location: Jhb. Observatory, Top of the hill at the Herbert Baker Library. Map.
- Topic: Whats Up – a detailed overview af some objects.
- Donation: R20 pp for the fire wood. Children under 15 free.
Agenda:
- 16h30 – Arrival and Fires started
- 17h00 – Braai
- 18h00 – Presentation
- 18h20 – 10 min Break
- 18h30 – Viewing
- 20h00 – close domes and lock up.
Our fire glows warmly with a spirit of friendship settling to waft delicious aromas that pervade the olfactory nerves, creating intense appeal for taste buds.
Read More.
The murmering and chuckling displays delight, comfort and contemplative joy at what will be seen in the sky tonight. Bursts of joyous laughter bring one back to the chatter and fun of the evening. Do join ASSA JHB on the hill for a lovely evening of sky and braai. Dress warmly, bring along your meat to braai, your condiments, drinks and salads, anything you need for your meal, hmm… fingers were invented before knives and forks? and oops, do not forget a chair or ‘situpon’. You may bring your own telescope if you want to.
Events
13 March monthly meeting.
Venue : Wits Planetarium
Time : 19h30
Speaker : Dave Blane
Topic: The Island Universes
Dave will take us on tour of the amazing objects we know as galaxies that make up our universe, there origins, structure, classification and how intertwined they are in the cosmic thread of dark matter.
This is an ordinary meeting. There is no Planetarium show.
R20 donation for refreshments.
Sky Guides will be available at R35 each.
Visitors and friends are welcome but we have had to restrict the numbers. We therefore have allocated place for 20 visitors who must please book through Monica Loubser via email. monicaloubser.ml@gmail.com
Venue : Wits Planetarium
Time : 19h30
Speaker : Dave Blane
Topic: The Island Universes
Dave will take us on tour of the amazing objects we know as galaxies that make up our universe, there origins, structure, classification and how intertwined they are in the cosmic thread of dark matter.
This is an ordinary meeting. There is no Planetarium show.
R20 donation for refreshments.
Sky Guides will be available at R35 each.
Visitors and friends are welcome but we have had to restrict the numbers. We therefore have allocated place for 20 visitors who must please book through Monica Loubser via email. monicaloubser.ml@gmail.com
The December 2018 issue of MNASSA can now be downloaded from http://www.mnassa.org.za/
The attached cover picture shows what is installed in this issue.
The attached cover picture shows what is installed in this issue.
Hi all. Very sorry to announce that the meeting for 23 Jan has to be cancelled due to unforseen logistical issues.
Please let others who are not on this group know.
Please let others who are not on this group know.
The Voyager 2 probe no longer feels the solar wind and is flying through the interstellar space between the stars. It carries a working instrument providing first-of-its-kind observations of the nature of this gateway. Mission operators still can communicate with the probe as it enters this new phase of its journey, but information – moving at the speed of light – takes about 16.5 hours to travel from the spacecraft to Earth. Here's a look at this incredible mission by the numbers: https://go.nasa.gov/2Gjpero #AGU18
OSIRIS-REx spacecraft arrives at Bennu | EarthSky.org
After traveling through space for more than 2 years, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft arrived on Monday at its destination, asteroid Bennu.
earthsky.org
Sat, Dec 1st, 2018 at 12:11pm
Branson tells @RachCrane Virgin Galactic will be in space by Dec. 25 https://t.co/f1EiFEaNVi
Branson tells @RachCrane Virgin Galactic will be in space by Dec. 25 https://t.co/f1EiFEaNVi
Wed, Aug 15th, 2018 at 10:55am
ASSAJHB
Monthly Meeting
Date: 15 August 2018
Venue: Wits Planetarium
Time: 19h15 for 19h30
Open to ASSAJHB members
Visitors welcome
Limited number of seats available for visitors (non ASSAJHB members)
Visitors Booking Contact : monicaloubser.ml @gmail.com or SMS 084 405 4005
ASSAJHB
Monthly Meeting
Date: 15 August 2018
Venue: Wits Planetarium
Time: 19h15 for 19h30
Open to ASSAJHB members
Visitors welcome
Limited number of seats available for visitors (non ASSAJHB members)
Visitors Booking Contact : monicaloubser.ml @gmail.com or SMS 084 405 4005
Wed, Aug 8th, 2018 at 3:10pm
ASSAJHB
August Monthly Meeting date rescheduled .
August Monthly Meeting : 15 August at Wits Planetarium see link for details
https://t.co/Oa7IN72mGf
ASSAJHB
August Monthly Meeting date rescheduled .
August Monthly Meeting : 15 August at Wits Planetarium see link for details
https://t.co/Oa7IN72mGf
In the Night Sky
N In the South East with a broad sweep of the the MIlky Way rides the Celestial ship Argo Navis. This ancient vessel is made up of the current constellations; Vela, Carina and Puppis.
Left and to the north Lies Gemini with the bright and beautiful stars, Castor and Pollux in Gemini, while more to the north, the beauty of Capella bedazzles its host constellation Auriga, beside Taurus.
The equally bright stars of Crux and Centaurus brightly grace the Southern skies.
Cetus the Whale commands space in the Northwest. He had a name change. In ancient times he represented a sea monster called Typhon. There is all this and more to observe in the month of February.
Mira, which in Arabic, means “beautiful”. Joins the head and neck of Cetus, she is in the middle and known as the speeding wonder. Mira with a bow-wave made up of hot plasma/gas that form a tail so beautiful, in ultra-violet blue.
When our clouds are parted there will be time to look and see.
Astronomy.com
- A quasar-powered storm pours from the Teacup galaxy
- Hayabusa2 results hint asteroid Ryugu was broken off larger space rock
- OSIRIS-REx caught asteroid Bennu ejecting bursts of strange, high-speed particles
- SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket may launch first commercial flight soon
- NASA’s first Mars rover landed near an ancient sea, new research suggests
- What are tholins? The mysterious substance that turned Ultima Thule red
- It turns out this Turkish meteorite is a free sample from asteroid Vesta
- The Sky This Week from March 15 to 24
- Meet Chesley Bonestell, the most important space artist you’ve probably never heard of
- The Mars InSight lander is stuck. NASA’s hacking a fix with Earthly clones
- Astronauts set for 3:14 p.m. EDT launch to the International Space Station
- How high-speed stars escape the galaxy
- To celebrate Pi Day tonight, seek out the circular constellation Corona Borealis
- NASA’s Orion crew capsule may launch on a commercial rocket
- Astronauts set for 3:14 p.m. EDT launch to the International Space Station
Space.com
- Surprise! ‘Active Asteroid’ Bennu Is a Rare Particle-Ejecting Space Rock
- Scientists Are Fighting Drug-Resistant Bacteria in Space with Silvery Shield
- Neil deGrasse Tyson Returning to TV After Fox, NatGeo Investigation: Report
- Water on Asteroid Bennu Could Mean ‘Pay Dirt’ for Space Miners
- Watch Live Now: NASA Previews 3 Upcoming Spacewalks
- Asteroid Ryugu Surprisingly Dry, Japanese Spacecraft Finds
- Live @ 1:30 pm ET: NASA to Unveil New Discoveries from Asteroid Bennu Today!
- Sneaky Meteor Evades Earthling Detection, Explodes with Force of 10 Atomic Bombs
- ‘Apollo in the Archives’ Exhibit Offers Look at Neil Armstrong Papers
- 83 Gargantuan Black Holes Spotted Guzzling Down Dinner at the Edge of the Universe
- Space Orbiter Spots ‘Hairy Blue Spider’ on Mars
- ‘Space’s Deepest Secrets’ Probes Mystery of ‘Oumuamua Tonight (Video)
- 1st Scientist on the Moon Says NASA Lacks Urgency for Lunar Landing
- Venus and Jupiter Shine Over a Dreamy Lunar Eclipse (Photo)
- Rigel: Orion’s Brightest Star
Universe Today
- Six People Have Begun a 122-Day Simulated Mission on the Moon
- Almost 13,000 Years Ago, a Comet Impact Set Everything on Fire
- SpaceX Tests the Starship’s Hexagonal Heatshield. Starhopper Tests Could Come as Early as This Week
- Spot Failed Soviet Venus Probe Kosmos 482 in Earth Orbit
- Messier 81 – the Bode Galaxy
- Astronomy Cast Bonus Episode: Dust with Dr. Paul Sutter
- Astronomy Cast Ep. 522: Judging Age & Origins, part 1 – Earth Rocks
- Carnival of Space #603
- Which Habitable Zones are the Best to Actually Search for Life?
- SLS Rocket Promises To Do Better
- Progress for the Skylon. Europe agrees to continue working on the air-breathing SABRE engine
- Do You See the “Cosmic Bat” in NGC 1788?
- This Star has been Kicked Out of the Milky Way. It Knows What It Did.
- The Iridium Flare Era is About to End
- New Ring of Dust Discovered in the Inner Solar System
British Astronomical Association
- Observer’s Challenge – Mercury at greatest eastern elongation
- Early morning total eclipse of the Moon this Monday
- Star Count 2019
- Enhancements to the BAA Photometry Database
- Observer’s Challenge – Sirius and the Pup
- Observer’s Challenge: Total Lunar Eclipse on January 21
- Good Prospects for This Year’s Geminid Meteor Shower
- Highlights from the 2018 Observer’s Challenges
- Checking up on a cataclysmic variable in Cepheus
- McNeil’s Nebula disappears
- Rare asteroid occultation visible Monday, Oct 29
- Observer’s Challenge – the constellation of Pegasus
- Exoplanets
- Observer’s Challenge – Dark Nebulae of Summer
- Meteor observers wanted – no experience necessary!