Monday, May 16, 2022

AIR day 8 - item 3

The following is a blog post from the Astronomer-In-Residence (AIR) web site, reproduced here. Text and images used with permission.

Day 8 blog entry.

Monday 16 May 2022: Planning Week Two

Cool and overcast today. During breakfast, I watched them unload a wood delivery from a flatbed.

10:44 AM. Allendria sent me my proof copy for the next SkyNews, Canada’s astronomy magazine. I reviewed it and submitted the required revisions.

The weekly e-newsletter from the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada came out. I noted the Haudenosaunee Astronomy Webinar offered by the Six Nations Polytechnic. I'll try to register so to learn more about indigenous astronomy.

In addition to the lunar and solar eclipse patterns and Saros cycles, I read about the designations for Dark-Sky Preserves, Urban Star Parks, and Nocturnal Preserves. Killarney PP is a Dark-Sky Preserve, of course.

While at the park office, I chatted with some visitors about astronomy.

While examining Google Maps, I noticed there are a bunch of streets in Sudbury with celestial names, e.g. Galaxy Court, Crater Crescent, Moonrock Ave.

Met with Kathleen in the afternoon and we planned out the activities for the week. Weather's not looking great, according to Environment Canada but we'll try!

  • Wednesday, day-time, 1-3 PM drop-in, solar observing, with a rain date of Thu
  • Saturday night "tour of the night sky", 1 hour plus Q&A
  • Sunday, day-time, 1-3 PM drop-in, Ask-Me-Anything (AMA), telescopes and mounts

I also showed her a couple of prediction tools we could share with park visitors. The Space Weather Prediction Center by NOAA (NASA) in the US has an Enthusiasts Dashboard that can help determine if aurora borealis (northern lights) may be visible. And the Heavens Above website is good for planning for flyovers of the International Space Station (or identifying mysterious moving objects!). Sent her the links and she's going to arrange to print and post in the "astronomy booth" in the park office.

Stumbled across an Ojibwe Sky Star Map sheet, a nice colour print out, prepared by Annette S. Lee. It will help me better learn some of their sky stories.

Silly me. I forgot to do this before. I created a sky alert for the Killarney Provincial Park Observatory. Of course, astronomers rely on the Clear Sky Charts created by Attilla Danko using Allan Rahill's astronomy data from Env Can. But I also have alarms configured using Mark Casazza's Clear Sky Alarm Clock. If good conditions are coming down the pipe (per my parameters), I will receive an email.

New parts of my body are itching. Darn blackflies!

It looked like clear skies as the Earth turned away from the Sun tonight but it was very windy, gusting at times. Shifting from the north-west. Temperature dropping. It was too windy for the big 'scope, unfortunately. That said, I was tired. So I took it easy, caught up with friends.

The Astronomer-In-Residence program is coordinated by the Allan I Carswell Observatory (AICO) at York University with the Killarney Provincial Park Observatory (KPPO).

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