4 July 2022
– Earth Reaches “Aphelion”:
Its Farthest Position from the Sun
Two Public Star Gazes for July
Image credit: club member Alan Davis – taken at Lookout Observatory
Continue to check this home page as weather could change the venue or postpone and possibly cancel a star gaze. Check again after 5:00 p.m. on the afternoon of the observing session for the latest info and update.
22 July 2022 — Friday night — This public star gaze will be held at Grassland Mountain Observatory in Madison County, with a weather backup night of Saturday, 23 July. This event is free and open to everyone — registration is not necessary to attend. A temporary gate code, required for entry, will be provided on the day of the star gaze by 5:00 p.m. Directions to Grassland Mountain Observatory can be found here. Sunset occurs at 8:42 p.m.
29 July 2022 — Friday night — The location for this star gaze will be Lookout Observatory on the UNC Asheville campus, with a weather backup date of Saturday, 30 July. While the event is free and open to everyone, pre-registration is required to attend. To learn more about how to register, please visit the UNCA Lookout Observatory website here. Sunset occurs at 8:36 p.m., with shuttle service beginning about 9:15 p.m.
4 Aug. 2022 – Club Meeting Presentation
— Thursday night, 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
Note that there will be no July meeting or presentation. This free speaker presentation will be offered in-person at the UNC-Asheville Reuter Center and virtually online. Registration is not required; use this Zoom link to watch the presentation remotely.
Image credit: NASA/ESA/Hubble
Forming the Brightest Galaxies in the Universe
– presented by
Desika Narayanan, Ph.D., Associate Professor in Astronomy at the University of Florida
25 years ago, using new far-infrared telescope facilities, observational astronomers discovered a new population of galaxies: the “submillimeter galaxy” population. Years of observational followup have determined that these galaxies live in the very early Universe (just 1-2 billion years after the Big Bang), and form stars at an astonishing ~1,000 suns per year: this is to be compared to our own Milky Way’s paltry ~1 sun per year! At the same time, over the last 25 years, theorists have scrambled to develop a theory for where these extreme galaxies come from.
Read more…
