Keene Astronomy

Welcome - What We Do

The Keene Amateur Astronomers Club is a group of people whose goal is the enhancement of Amateur Astronomy by fellowship, sharing knowledge and enjoyment of the hobby. The KAA Club provides outreach programs when asked and holds monthly viewing sessions at our own observatory. Regular monthly club meetings are held at the Keene State college. Anyone interested is invited to attend.

Our membership is open to students, parents, beginners, backyard amateurs and also experienced professionals. And we provide opportunities for our members to grow in one of the greatest hobbies in this world or any other!

Founded in 1957, our club has a long and distinguished history. We are also members of the Astronomical League. And we actively participate in the annual Stellafane Convention which is consistently rated as one of America’s top Star Parties!

May 11th, 2012 Meeting

The May 2012 business meeting will take place on Friday, the 11th of May, at 7pm at Bruce Norlund's home as the KSC location will be closed. After the business portion of the meeting, President Jim Fox will give lead a discussion of the summer hours of the sky. Finally, there will be a short presentation and discussion on the up-coming month’s night sky events. Weather and member interest permitting, observing will take place at the Sullivan Observatory after the meeting.

Also, weather permitting, observing will take place on Saturday, the 19th of May, at 8:30pm at our Sullivan Observatory.

All members and interested non-members are invited.

For directions, contact our Club Secretary, Bob Taylor, at 802.257.9358.

KAA Site of the Month

The current featured site is: Citizen Sky. Citizen Sky is a citizen science project providing you with a chance to do real scientific research. Citizen Sky welcomes everyone to be a citizen scientist. They will guide you through the process of how to observe objects in the universe, how to send them your observations, and then how to see your results, analyze them, and even publish them in a scientific journal!! No previous experience is required. They hope that this project will involve thousands of people all over the world in real, active scientific research.

This site serves as “home base” for participants. They launched in June, 2009 and the site includes blogs, discussion forums, places to submit and analyze data, training materials, and much more.

Here is a video introduction to the Citizen Sky Project by Rebecca Turner, the Citizen Sky Project Manager— outtakes included!

We will be featuring a different web site periodically for your interest. If you have a site you really like and think it has wide interest, please send it along to us.

The Spring Constellations

Spring begins with the vernal equinox which occured on March 20th in the Northern Hemisphere. This change heralds the rise of the spring constellations and we have to say goodbye to the bright stars of winter including the wonderful Orion constellation. The spring constellations are the 15 constellations that fall between 12 hours and 18 hours Right Ascension. Here are several resources to help you in your viewing during the coming months.

The American Association of Amateur Astronomers provides a list of the 15 spring constellations and a detailed map of the sky. They also provide similar information for the other seasons.

StarrySkies.com also has a nice interactive map of the stars of the spring.

For greater details on the sky's wonders, move your fingers over to the star website at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champain.

Are you looking to download a star chart or constellation map app for your smartphone or tablet computer? Here is an excellent article on available resources to guide you in your spring nighttime viewing. Some of these programs even allow you to hold your phone or tablet up to the night sky and see the exact position of the constellations. Pretty nifty!

Night Time-lapse Photography of the Stars

There have been quite a few timelapse videos making an appearance lately and Randy Halverson’s, Temporal Distortion, is one of the best. His timelapse takes us into remote areas in the United States and shows us what the night sky looks like without light pollution. Check out his video .

Aside from auroras and Milky Way sightings, his video is also chock full of other galactic phenomena, such as meteors with long twisting tails called persistent trains. While most of the scenes were shot near the White River in central South Dakota during September and October 2011, there are other shots from Arches National Park in Utah, and Canyon of the Ancients area of Colorado during June 2011.

Halverson notes that much of what we see in the video is not able to be seen by the naked eye. Halverson called on his Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 60D to capture thousands of images, with exposure times anywhere from 15 to 30 full seconds each. Using an aperture of 2.8, an ISO range of 1600-6400, and shot through Canon 16-35mm and Tokina 11-16mm lenses, Halverson spaced the individual images to be take at 3 second intervals. Each frame was shot in RAW.

View Tonight's Sky

To print out a clear map of this month's sky along with lots of information on the monthly highlights, go to SkyMaps and turn on your printer.

Viewing the ISS and Iridium Flares

To view the upcoming ISS paths and/or the Iridium flares, log into Heavens Above and input your observing site coordinates. Check for sighting information on the International Space Station and on the Iridium satellites.

Never Leave Your Camera Home...

The above image of our moon was photographed by Jim Faux on September 25, 2009 at 6:42 pm in North Truro, MA as a jet was lifting off from Logan Airport. The image was taken with a handheld Canon D20. [1/20 sec, F5.6, ISO-200, 300MM]

Keene, NH

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