 |
President: Vice President: Secretary: Treasurer: |
Roger Cowley Bernie Kosher Dave Neunheuser Wade Evans |
 |
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).
|
|
President: Vice President: Secretary: Treasurer: |
Roger Cowley Bernie Kosher Dave Neunheuser Wade Evans |
|
Announcements Last Update: Saturday, July 23, 2016
| Aug 2 | New Moon at 4:45 pm EDT, in Cancer. |
| Aug 5 | Informal 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 who will direct you to the conference room. Click here for minutes of the July 15th meeting. |
| Aug 6 | Public Star Watch at Batsto Village, the full schedule of Public Star Watches for 2016 is available here. |
| Aug 18 | Full Moon at 5:27 am EDT, in eastern Capricornus. |
| Aug 19 | Formal Meeting, 7:30 pm at the Virtua Health and Wellness Center in Moorestown, NJ. |
Photo Spotlight Image posted 07.17.2016
The planets Venus and Mercury were at conjunction on Saturday, July 16, 2016, just half a degree apart after sunset in the Philadelphia area. Alas, we experienced evening thunderstorms, so their close appulse was not visible in our area. The previous evening, July 15, they were 51 arc minutes apart when they were captured at 8:36 pm EDT in this picture by Joe Stieber, nine minutes after sunset when they were at 5.3° altitude and 10.5° solar elongation. Magnitude -3.91 Venus was 12.9x brighter than magnitude -1.13 Mercury. Taken from Swede Run in Moorestown, NJ, a mile from the WAS meeting site as the crow flies, with a Canon 6D digital SLR camera on a fixed tripod and a Sigma 70 to 300 mm, f/4-5.6 apo zoom lens set to 300 mm focal length, then magnified by cropping to about 30% of the original size. Exposed 1/350 second at f/8, ISO 800. Mouseover for labels. On Sunday night, July 17, Mercury will be just under a degree above-left of Venus as they straddle M44, the Beehive Cluster (but the sky will likely be too bright to show any cluster stars, but be on the lookout anyway).
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.