Category Archives: Meeting

RASC Edmonton Regular Meeting: November 9, 2020

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RASC Edmonton Online Meeting

Monday November 9th, 2020. 7:30 PM MST

Zoom Meeting Format. Use the link below to join the meeting.

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https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87546996671

Meeting ID: 875 4699 6671

Featured Speaker: Dr. Brenda Matthews 

“Birth and evolution of debris disks: Windows into planetary systems”

Debris disks were identified relatively recently in astronomical terms, by the first all-sky infrared survey satellite IRAS. These interesting objects are continually created in planetary systems, both old and young, via collisions of comets and asteroids in orbit around stars.  The collisions create newly visible dusty disks, often detectable many millions of years after the dispersion of the protoplanetary disks which typify the youngest phases of star and planet formation.  I will describe what we understand about the origins, evolution and structure of these disks, as well as their role in planetary systems. Recent discoveries suggest they may be inexorably linked to the earliest phases of planet formation. Finally I will discuss some of the more esoteric examples of these disks which can show remarkable variability over relatively short periods of time.

 

RASC Edmonton Regular Meeting: April 13, 2020

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Due to the COVID-19 situation, this meeting was held via Zoom.

Featured Speaker: Erik Rosolowsky – The PHANGS view of Nearby Galaxies

This talk will present new observations from the Physics at High Angular Resolution in Nearby GalaxieS (PHANGS) survey, a coordinated effort to study nearby galaxies with some of the world’s best telescopes.  New data from the Atacama Large Millimetere/submillimeter Array (ALMA), the Very Large Telescope (VLT), and the Hubble Space Telescope are being explored together to create a new view the small-scale physics of galaxies.  I will discuss how each of these telescopes contributes insight to the questions of how galaxies evolve over cosmic time through the process of star formation and stellar feedback.

Also featured: The 100th issue of AstroImaging Corner.

RASC Edmonton Regular Meeting: March, 9 2020

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Free and Open to the Public 

Telus World of Science – Zeidler Dome

7:00 PM – Pre Meeting Mix & Mingle

7:30 PM – Meeting

Featured Speakers:

Bruce McCurdy – “Dynamic Astronomy: A ringside seat to our sensational Solar System”

Mark Zalcik – Ambler; A Closer to Home Graze

RASC Edmonton Regular Meeting: February 10, 2020

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Free and Open to the Public

Telus World of Science: Zeidler Dome

7:00PM: Pree Meeting Mix and Mingle

7:30PM: Regular Meeting

Featured Speaker:

      Dr. Sharon Morsink

 

 

 

 

Topic: Using Gravity to View Neutron Stars

“Gravity causes light to travel on curved paths, leading to a phenomenon called gravitational lensing. This effect allows us to view far away galaxies, the back sides of neutron stars, and the regions near black holes! Neutron stars are tiny stars with ultra-strong magnetic and gravitational fields and densities larger than nuclear. Their small size and large average densities allow them to spin at very rapid rates, with surface velocities that are a large fraction of the speed of light. The pulsed X-ray emission from hot spots on the surface of a rotating neutron star contains encoded information about the neutron star’s gravitational field and the properties of the spot’s emission pattern. NASA’s NICER (Neutron Star Interior Composition ExploreR) X-ray telescope is mounted on the International Space Station and is designed to do detailed observations of neutron stars. In this talk I will show how we used the observations of one X-ray pulsar to create a map of its surface emission and to determine other properties of the star. I will also talk about some of the other interesting observations of black holes and neutron stars made by NICER.”

RASC Regular Meeting – December 9, 2019

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Free and Open to the Public 

Telus World of Science – Zeidler Dome

7:00 PM – Pre Meeting Mix & Mingle

7:30 PM – Meeting

2020 RASC Calendars will be on sale at this meeting

Featured Speakers:

Elliot Saive & Nick Sorensen

AlbertaSat: ExAlta 1 & 2:

Alberta’s First Satellites

AlbertaSat is a student-run satellite project based out of the University of Alberta. With a membership of over 100 students (primarily undergraduate), AlbertaSat began by designing, building, and testing its first satellite, Ex-Alta 1, which was deployed into low-Earth orbit from the ISS in 2017. AlbertaSat is now designing and testing its second satellite, Ex-Alta 2. Ex-Alta 1 focused on magnetometry and the acquisition of space weather data, while Ex-Alta 2 will host a multispectral imaging payload for wildfire monitoring and research across Canada and the United States; this second project is scheduled to launch to the ISS in late 2021.

Image courtesy of NASA