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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. Click here for membership information (dues can now be paid through PayPal).
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President: Vice President: Secretary: Treasurer: |
Roger Cowley Bernie Kosher Dave Neunheuser Wade Evans |
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Announcements Last Update: Thursday, April 07, 2016
| Apr 7 | New Moon at 7:24 pm EDT |
| Apr 9 | NEAF, the Northeast Astronomy Forum, opens at Rockland Community College, Suffern, NY. Continues on April 10. |
| Apr 15 | 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. Use the Main Entrance and check with the security guard. This will be Show & Tell Night, so be sure to bring any interesting astronomical items, especially those from NEAF. |
| Apr 21 | WAS President Roger Cowley will be giving a talk, Looking at the Night Sky, at the Greenwich Township Branch of the Gloucester County Library. 7:00 to 8:15pm in Meeting Room 2. |
| Apr 22 | Full Moon at 1:24 am EDT |
| May 6 | Informal Meeting, 7:30 pm at the Virtua Health and Wellness Center in Moorestown, NJ. |
| May 9 | The planet Mercury will transit the sun between 7:14 am and 2:41 pm EDT for observers in the Philadelphia area. Appropriate solar filtration will be needed to see this event safely. Mercury reaches greatest eastern elongation on April 18th (evening apparition), so now is a good time to look for Mercury after sunset. |
| May 14 | Public Star Watch at Batsto Village. The full schedule of Public Star Watches for 2016 is available here. |
Photo Spotlight Image posted 04.05.2016
As we approach the upcoming Transit of Mercury on May 9, 2016, the planet Mercury is now moving eastward from its superior conjunction with the sun on March 23rd. Mercury will reach Greatest Eastern Elongation on April 18th and start its sprint back towards the sun, inferior conjunction and the transit, so now is a good time to start looking for it low in the west after sunset. Currently, the ecliptic is at a favorable steep angle to the western horizon at sunset and Mercury will maintain a negative magnitude through April 17th. This picture of Mercury (mouseover for label) was captured by club member Joe Stieber at 8:07 pm EDT on April 3, 2016, from Coyle Field in the New Jersey Pinelands. At the time, it was shining at magnitude -1.3 and was at 3.1° altitude. Taken with a Canon EOS 6D digital SLR camera on a fixed tripod and a Canon EF 100 mm, f/2.8L macro lens (then cropped to 44% of its original size, so the field is nominally 9° wide x 6° high). It was exposed 1/80 second at f/2.8, ISO 12,800 (fully automatic mode). Initially, Mercury was spotted with 16x70 binoculars at 7:49 pm EDT, 25 minutes after sunset when it was at 6.4° altitude, then was glimpsed with unaided eyes around 8 pm. It was last sighted with the 16x70s at 8:20 pm as it sank behind the distant tree tops, 2 minutes before it set.
Click here for the previous home page image.
Click to contact the . Members are encouraged to submit their astronomical images to the webmaster for inclusion on the WAS Home Page. Be sure to include a description, date and time, as well as equipment and photo data.