Notice of Next Meeting
Our next monthly meeting takes place on:
- Date: Wednesday 13 March 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
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
I came across this postcard in the USA, and thought it might be of interest.
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
- Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo will fly to space again today
- The human body might survive a mission to Mars better than our minds
- Earthquake-detecting balloons may shed light on the interior of Venus
- Japan’s Hayabusa2 is going to shoot an asteroid tonight
- SpaceX to launch Israel’s first Moon lander tonight
- Meet Neptune’s new moon, Hippocamp
- This star in the Andromeda galaxy has exploded every year for millions of years
- The case for protecting the Apollo landing areas as heritage sites
- An asteroid will briefly blot out the sky’s brightest star tonight
- A philosopher asked physicists: ‘What is a black hole?’
- The truth behind the supermoon
- This supermassive black hole sends jets ricocheting through its galaxy
- Japan’s Hayabusa 2 mission will mine an asteroid this week
- Celebrate Galileo’s 455th birthday by walking in his footsteps
- The Sky This Week from February 15 to 24
Space.com
- The View from Space Could Change the World, Virgin Galactic Says
- NASA Center Director Nominated to Lead National Reconnaissance Office
- SpaceX Dragon Crew Demo-1 Flight to Space Station: What to Expect
- Ultima Thule Beyond Pluto Is Flat Like a Pancake (and Not a Space Snowman After All)
- Some Assembly Required: Giant Next-Generation Space Telescopes Could Be Built Off Earth
- After a Slow Start, Milky Way’s Neighbors Have Upped Their Star-Forming Game
- Geologists Figured Out Where the Most Remote Part of the Ocean Came From
- European Space Agency Celebrates Women in Science with Astro Pi Challenge
- Campaign Launched to ‘Revive the Saturn V’ Vertical Rocket Replica
- A Comet, Meteor, Nebula and the Pleiades Combine into One Epic Space Photo
- SpaceX’s Raptor Engine Hits Power Level for Starship Launches, Elon Musk Says
- NASA Spies InSight Mars Lander from Space as It Hunts Marsquakes (Photos)
- No, You Won’t See an ‘Apocalypse Asteroid’ in the Sky on Valentine’s Day
- You Can See Mars Near the Moon Tonight! Here’s Where to Look.
- Israel’s 1st Moon Lander: The SpaceIL Beresheet Lunar Mission in Pictures
Universe Today
- Shout Out to Japan! Their Hayabusa2 Spacecraft has Collected its First Samples from Asteroid Ryugu
- Signs that Ancient Rivers Flowed Across the Surface of Mars, Billions of Years Ago
- Antarctica is About to Unleash an Iceberg Twice the Size of New York City
- Japan’s Hayabusa2 is About to Shoot Up the Surface of Ryugu with Tiny Impactors so they can Collect a Sample
- Did You Know the Earth’s Atmosphere Extends Beyond the Orbit of the Moon?
- Gateway Foundation Shows off Their Plans for an Enormous Rotating Space Station
- This is a Dust Devil… on Mars
- Weekly Space Hangout: Feb 20, 2019 – Dr. Emily Holt talks Archaeology and Ancient Astronomy
- This Star Has Been Going Nova Every Year, for Millions of Years
- Messier 78 – the NGC 2068 Reflection Nebula
- Astronomy Cast Ep. 518: When the Universe tried to Declare War
- Carnival of Space #599
- British Satellite Tests its Space Junk Harpoon
- Land Heavier Payloads on Mars. Aim for the Ground and Then Pull up at the Last Moment
- We Hate Long Goodbyes, But Opportunity has Earned One
British Astronomical Association
- 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!