Notice of Next Meeting
Our next monthly meeting takes place on:
- Date: Wednesday 23 January 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 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.
Our Mars Odyssey orbiter phoned home, relaying the latest news from NASA InSight that indicates that its solar panels are open and collecting sunlight on the Martian surface. Also included in the dispatch: this snapshot from the lander's arm showing the instruments in their new "plain perfect" home. Get the latest: https://go.nasa.gov/2FDGbwu
Triffid Nebula - I shot this from my backyard in Kyalami
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
Our night sky in summer, on any hopeful clear night, offers an ever-changing display of fascinating objects, from stars and constellations to bright planets. Often the moon, and sometimes special events like meteor showers.
November and December were full of fascinating events but the speciality boils down to what man has been up to. We all watch eagerly as space science takes a veritable spot and space adventure draws closer and closer. 2019 will be notable. Man has already landed a satellite on the dark side of the Moon.
With New Horizons we are travelling further than man has ever been and the secrets of the Universe are unravelling before our eyes.
Robots are being made to land on other planets. Scientific instruments are being invented and made to measure, calculate and verify all theories. Is our Universe becoming smaller, or, is man learning to concede and accept?
Yet around us we have Life. We have our wonderful Earth where stars glitter and planets whisper fantasy to our minds. Earth, where our only star keeps us warm and happy by day nourishing all life, and by night, allows us to see the majesty of our Heavens above. To learn and to know!
Astronomy.com
- The Sky This Week from January 18 to January 27
- Ancient lunar craters reveal Earth’s own impact history
- Hot Jupiters may form close to their stars
- Get outside and see this weekend’s total lunar eclipse
- The plants that China sprouted on the Moon have died
- Saturn’s rings are surprisingly young
- Our solar system’s formation was a lot messier than you think
- To track greenhouse gases, this nonprofit wants to launch its own satellite
- Chang’e 4 sends another trove of images from the Moon’s far side
- Tonight, asteroid Eros will make its closest approach to Earth until 2056
- Plants have been grown on the Moon for the very first time
- A third of all galaxy clusters have gone unnoticed until now
- This Russian startup wants to put billboards in space. Astronomers aren’t impressed
- The Sky This Week from January 11 to January 20
- Hunt the Lion Cub tonight
Space.com
- A Memorable Plot Twist Dominates ‘The Orville’ Episode ‘Nothing Left on Earth Excepting Fishes’
- Lego’s Epic ‘Apocalypseburg’ Echoes Iconic Sci-Fi Scene for ‘The Lego Movie 2’
- Shy Milky Way Peeks Out from Behind Trees in Winter UK Photo
- In Photos: The Awesome Space-y’The Lego Movie 2′ Building Sets!
- In Photos: SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket Launches the Last Iridium Next Communications Satellites
- Huge New Solar Telescope Shares Science Excitement with Neighboring Schools
- Steve Carell Is Launching a ‘Space Force’ Comedy Series on Netflix
- Super Blood Wolf Moon Webcasts! How to Watch the 2019 Total Lunar Eclipse Online
- NASA’s Cassini Saturn Probe Makes Cameo in ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Season 2 Premiere
- Spock Is Missing in ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Season 2 Premiere, ‘Brother’
- Japan Launches Meteor-Spawning Minisatellite, 6 Other Spacecraft to Orbit
- Blood Moon 2019: Teach Your Kids About the Total Lunar Eclipse with These NASA Resources!
- Watch Ultima Thule Spin Like a Propeller in This Awesome New Horizons Flyby Video
- In Photos: China’s Chang’e 4 Moon Rover Toys Celebrate Mission to Lunar Far Side
- Fresh Rainfall on Saturn’s Huge Moon Titan Spied in NASA Photo
Universe Today
- Geothermal Heating Could Make Life Possible on the Super Earth Planet at Barnard’s Star
- Seeding the Milky Way with Life Using Genesis Missions
- Cassini Saw Rain Falling at Titan’s North Pole
- CERN is Planning to Build a Much Larger Particle Collider. Much, Much, Larger.
- Astronomers Aren’t Pleased About a Russian Plan to Put Billboards in Space
- Weekly Space Hangout: Jan 16, 2019: Paul MacNeal of JPL’s Annual Invention Challenge
- There’s Life on the Moon! China’s Lander Just Sprouted the First Plants
- The Prototype for the Starship has been Assembled, Hop Tests Could be Happening Soon
- Jupiter Meets Venus at Dawn in a Close Conjunction
- Titan’s Thick Clouds Obscure our View, but Cassini Took these Images in Infrared, Showing the Moon’s Surface Features
- A New Technique to Figure Out How Old Stars Are
- Bizarre Double Star System Flipped its Planetary Disk on its Side
- Incredible Descent Video of the Chinese Lander to the Lunar Far Side
- Habitable Planets Around Red Dwarf Stars Might not get Enough Photons to Support Plant Life
- Messier 76 – the NGC 650/651 Planetary Nebula
British Astronomical Association
- 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!