This website has been created by and is supported by a group of Boston-area amateur astronomers. It is intended to be a convenient site to access news and information about astronomy and space-related activities of interest to the community and the public.
"Meet the Universe" classes:
“Meet the Universe – Fall 2010”
is planned as an ten-week course in Introductory Astronomy
taught as an after-school program in the Cambridge Community
Schools.
How do we “know what we know” about the
Universe? As part of this course, each student will construct a
telescope and learn how to use it; we will also have a chance to
operate much larger robotic telescopes in Cambridge and in
Arizona. We will get familiar with the night sky through
sessions inside a portable planetarium. We will then practice
making models of planets, asteroids, stars, and galaxies, and
delve further into the nature of black holes, antimatter, dark
matter, and dark energy. We
will even launch our own rockets! As a culmination of the
course, we will have a student-run “star party” at the nearby
Harvard Observatory to which parents, family, and friends are
invited!
Cambridge Center for Adult Education "Introduction to Astronomy" class:
We will be offering an "Introductory Astronomy 4" course during the Fall 2010 semester. The class meets from 8 PM to 9 PM for 8 Tuesdays, from September 28 to November 16, 2010.
As the days of Fall get shorter, night inevitably intrudes into our lives. Rather than resisting, we can embrace the darkness and what it brings; on clear New England nights, that includes a sky full of sparkling stars and brilliant planets. If we learn a little astronomy, we can make friends with the night sky and understand what those points of light really are. Indeed, some of those bodies – remote though they are - have powerful lessons to teach us, not only about our place in the Universe but about better ways to understand and take care of our own planet right here on Earth! Did you know that Mars helped end the Cold War, and that Venus is the ultimate example of global warming gone wild?
At an agreed-upon time, we will meet at a local observatory; there we will be able to use a large telescope to enjoy views of Jupiter (with its moons and mysteriously-vanishing cloud belts), Uranus and Neptune (planets unknown to the ancients), and numerous double stars, star clusters, and nebulae.
No math or science background required!
8 Tuesdays 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM. Begins September 28, 2010.
All new and former students are welcome!
What's New
Many people are astonished to learn
that at least one planet – Venus – can be visible to the naked
eye in broad daylight. Yet when the planet has a sufficient
angular separation from the Sun – as it does now – this is
commonly the case. Needless to say, a clear sky is required – at
least in the vicinity of the planet’s location. But there are a
few other caveats to watch out for, and some tips to make the
search a little easier.
First of all, if it’s daylight, the
Sun, by definition, must be up, and since Venus is always within
46° or so of the Sun, utmost caution is required. Never look
at the Sun with an optical instrument; instant and permanent eye
damage can result. In fact, it’s not a good idea to look at
he Sun directly even without optics. A safe technique is to
station yourself in the shade behind some structure that
nevertheless affords a view of the portion of sky you will be
searching.
The first problem one encounters that
finding Venus in the daytime requires knowing exactly where to
look. Needless to say, as bright and noticeable as the planet
may be by evening, it is very difficult to see against a
brilliant blue sky. One technique is to first find the planet
with a “goto” telescope and to use its aim as a guide. (This in
itself presents difficulties if the telescope had not be already
aligned the previous night, when alignment stars were
available.) Another technique is to use the Moon, which is much
easier to locate in the daytime sky, as a guide; after all, the
Moon must pass Venus at some time during every lunation. Of
course, the Moon is only close enough to Venus to be useful as a
guide for, at most, a few days, once a month; timing is
critical. In July, the Moon passes closest to Venus on the 14th;
the configuration of the two bodies is shown in the diagram
below:

One can soon encounter another
problem when searching for a tiny white speck such as Venus
against a featureless background sky: one’s eyes tend to
“defocus” when they have nothing to focus on. What is required
is some reference object at “infinity” to focus on as they
search the background sky. In the scenario above, the nearby
Moon provides a perfect target; an occasional glance at it will
provide a perfect reference to keep the eyes focused at
infinity. In fact, if you can find Venus without its help, the
Moon doesn’t even need to be nearby; I recently found that this
trick works even if the Moon is just rising on the opposite side
of the sky from Venus.
The Sky in July

10:00 PM EDT on July 15th,
2010.
Looking at Zenith,
South at Bottom.
Among the constellations visible
in the northern summer is Scorpius – one of the few
constellations that convincingly resembles its namesake.
Scorpius’ brightest star is the red supergiant Antares. It
lies about 600 light-years away, yet manages to be a 1-st
magnitude star in our sky. If our Sun were replaced by a
star the size of Antares, its surface would extend outward
to the asteroid belt!
Venus

June 15, 2010 at 9:00 PM EDT
Mars

June 15, 2010 at 9:00 PM EDT
Saturn

June 15, 2010 at 9:00 PM EDT
