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A Perfect Winter Sky

2012-02-17 By jgoodyear 1 Comment

On Friday, February 17, 2012 the night sky was picture perfect. No clouds, no haze and no moon.

From central Toronto, at 8:00pm – well before bedtime – the following stars, planets, constellations and star clusters were easily visible with the naked eye:

The planets Venus and Jupiter
The constellations Orion, Gemini, Taurus, Cassiopeia and more
The brightest stars: Sirius, Aldebaran, Procyon, Castor and Pollux
The Pleiades (Seven Sisters) and Hyades star clusters

And using a pair of binoculars:

The Orion Nebula
The Andromeda Galaxy (two million light years away)
The Pleiades and Hyades star clusters (spectacular!)
Jupiter’s four brightest moons

Although light pollution reduces the number of stars that can be seen from within the city, there is still a lot to see and discover in our night sky.

The Seven Sisters (Pleiades) Star Cluster looks like this through binoculars.

Filed Under: Observation

The Sky This Month

2012-02-16 By jgoodyear Leave a Comment

The winter sky contains some of the most stunning stars and constellations of the year. Here is a quick tour.

Look south/west at 8:00 pm. Orion dominates the sky. Look for three stars in a row, and you have found Orion’s Belt. Follow the line of the belt (eastward) and you will find the brightest star in our sky – Sirius.

Follow Orion’s Belt westward (to the right) and look for the Seven Sisters (Pleiades) star cluster. Through binoculars, they look like sparkling diamonds – and there are far more than seven!

This year, as a bonus, both Jupiter and Venus are visible in the evening sky. In March they will get very close to each other.

Enjoy the view!

Filed Under: Activity, Observation

Astronomy Club Web Space: First Steps Towards March 1 Event

2012-02-4 By colliand Leave a Comment

The astronomy club met on Wednesday 2012-02-02 in Mr. Goodyear’s classroom during the lunch break. Jim Colliander showed the club some of the resources now available on our web space and invited the kids in the club to explore the links with their parents. We discussed the black hole at the center of our galaxy, the many asteroids and comets that fly around our solar system. One member of the club looked at the asteroid data and noticed the clumping of asteroids inside the Jupiter orbit in front of and behind the planet. Those asteroids are called trojans and greeks.

Mr. Goodyear then led a discussion where we explored ideas for the upcoming night our club will host for the Huron community. The event will take place on March 1 and our club members will be hosting and introducing astronomy to kids and parents that night! There was a lot of enthusiasm and we look forward to a great event.

Filed Under: Activity, Meeting Tagged With: FamilyNight

Scale model of Solar System

2011-12-18 By colliand Leave a Comment

2011-11-09

Mr. Goodyear and the astronomy club created a scale model of the solar system in chalk along the sidewalk in front of Huron. The sun was chosen to have diameter of 30cm and located near the driveway. Jupiter was located near the end of the sidewalk by big tree.

Filed Under: Activity, Meeting Tagged With: solar system

First meeting: virtual visit by Johannes Hirn

2011-12-18 By colliand Leave a Comment

2011-10-29

The Astronomy Club met for the first time in Mr. Goodyear’s class room. We talked a bit about plans for the year.We had a virtual visit by Johannes Hirn from the Dunlap Institute at UofT.

Filed Under: Meeting Tagged With: Dunlap Institute, UofT

Field trip to UofT planetarium and telescopes

2011-12-18 By colliand Leave a Comment

2011-11-02

About 50 Huron people, a mixture of kids and their parents, visited the Astronomy and Physics buildings at the University of Toronto. We had a tour of their planetarium and visited their telescopes on top of Burton Tower. We saw the craters on the moon and Jupiter. The Astronomy Club is grateful to the Parent Council for contributing funds to make this a free event for us.