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President: Vice President: Secretary: Treasurer: |
Roger Cowley Bernie Kosher Dave Neunheuser Wade Evans |
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West Jersey Astronomical Society www.wasociety.us
Welcome to the Official Home Page of the West Jersey Astronomical Society (formerly known as the Willingboro Astronomical Society). Our club is in its 49th year of serving both the public and the amateur astronomers of the Delaware Valley. We have a long history of public education, star parties, interesting meetings, in-depth training and experienced leadership. We are a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization.
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President: Vice President: Secretary: Treasurer: |
Roger Cowley Bernie Kosher Dave Neunheuser Wade Evans |
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Announcements Last Update: Wednesday, March 09, 2016
| New! | Membership dues can now be paid through PayPal. Click here for more membership information. |
| Mar 8 | New Moon at 8:54 pm EST (so Messier Marathon season is here). |
| Mar 9 | As a follow-up to yesterday's new moon, it will be a sublimely thin crescent this evening, just over 21 hours old at sunset, ≈6 pm. See if you can spot the crescent before it sets ≈7 pm! |
| Mar 13 | Daylight Time begins, 2:00 am EST becomes 3:00 am EDT (Spring ahead, Fall back) |
| Mar 18 | Formal Meeting, 7:30 pm at the Virtua Health and Wellness Center in Moorestown, NJ. As always, guests are welcome and no astronomical experience is necessary. |
| Mar 20 | Equinox at 12:30 am EDT, the Vernal (Spring) Equinox for the Northern Hemisphere. |
| Mar 23 | Full Moon at 8:01 am EDT. |
| Apr 1 | Informal Meeting, 7:30 pm at the Virtua Health and Wellness Center in Moorestown, NJ. |
| Apr 2 | Public Star Watch at Batsto Village. The full schedule of Public Star Watches for 2016 is available here. |
Photo Spotlight Image posted 02.25.2016
The great globular cluster Omega Centauri (NGC 5139) is understandably considered to be an object for observation from southerly latitudes since it has a -47.5° declination. However, in our area at a nominal 40° north latitude, Omega does breach the horizon and culminate at 2.5° altitude when it crosses the meridian due south (plus a little extra from atmospheric refraction). To improve the odds of spotting it, on February 18, 2016, club member Joe Stieber travelled to East Point, NJ, which is on the northern shore of the Delaware Bay. Besides the unobstructed sea horizon to the south, East Point is at 39.2° north latitude, providing an extra 0.8° altitude at transit compared to 40° north. On this morning, Omega transited at 3:37 am EST and was initially located with 16x70 binoculars at 3:40 am. This image of it was captured at 4:00 am with a Canon EOS 6D digital SLR camera (on a fixed tripod) and a Canon 100 mm f/2.8L macro lens (providing a field-of-view about 20° wide x 14° high). It was exposed 4 seconds at f/3.2, ISO 6400. At the time, Omega was at 3°23' apparent altitude and 184° azimuth. The peculiar galaxy, Centaurus A (NGC 5128), is also present 4½° above Omega and is visible in binoculars too. The next challenge will be to spot Omega from a location farther north. There's a site a mile from the WAS meeting venue at 40° north latitude (well, 39.99° to be more precise) which has a suitably low horizon. Mouseover for labels. The chain of stars Nu through Zeta Centauri provide a suitable guide to locating Omega Centauri and Centaurus A.
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