West Jersey Astronomical Society  www.wasociety.us

Welcome to the Official Home Page of the West Jersey Astronomical Society (additionally known as the Willingboro Astronomical Society). Our club is in its 54th 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. Use of the Barnegat Road Observing Site in the dark New Jersey Pines is available to members in good standing.

 

President:

Vice President:

Secretary:

Treasurer:

Al Meloni

Wade Evans

Suzanne Leap

Jim Brennan

      

Announcements   Last Update: Saturday, October 16, 2021

Oct 20 Full Moon at 10:57 am EDT in eastern Pisces.
Nov 4 New Moon at 17:15 am EDT in Libra.
Nov 5 Formal Meeting, online via Zoom, opening at 7:30 pm (log-on information will be posted to the WAS e-group). Physical meetings at the Virtua Health and Wellness Center in Moorestown, NJ, remain suspended due to COVID-19 restrictions at the venue.
Nov 19 Full Moon at 3:57 am EDT in Taurus. There will be a deep partial eclipse (about 97%) reaching maximum at 4:03 am EST. The eclipsed moon will be half a dozen degrees from the Pleiades and a dozen degrees from the Hyades.
Nov 19 Informal Meeting, online via Zoom, opening at 7:30 pm (log-on information will be posted to the WAS e-group).
Note: The status of 2021 Public Star Watches at Batsto and Member Star Watches at Atsion is still indeterminate as a consequence of COVID-19 restrictions. However, member star watches at the Barnegat Road Observing Site have been, and will be held as the moon and weather permit (they will be announced on the WAS Google group).

Photo Spotlight   Image posted 9.14.2021

WAS member Bill DiBlasio captured this crisp image of the 16.6-day old waning gibbous Moon at 11:48 pm EDT on August 24, 2021, from Lumberton, NJ (full moon on August 22). Bill used a Nikon Z6 II mirrorless digital camera and a Nikon AF-S Nikkor 200 to 500 mm f/5.6E ED VR lens, set to 500 mm focal length. It was exposed 1/200 second at f/5.6, ISO 100, on a fixed tripod using a three-second shutter release delay to minimize vibration. Bill reports the sky appeared exceptionally clear and the seeing was steady. He captured the image as a raw (NEF) file, then processed it with Adobe Lightroom Classic (Enhanced Super Resolution adjustments applied), Topaz Sharpen AI and Adobe Photoshop, which brings out the crisp detail seen here. Mouseover for labels (crater names are rose-colored), click for a larger version.

 

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.

Astrospheric Forecast for the Barnegat Road Observing Site

Star & Constellation Pronunciation Guides

Lunar X predictions for August through December 2021

 

Alan Daroff submitted this challenge: He took a snapshot of his TV screen saver showing the Summer Milky Way as viewed from Thailand, so the orientation differs from what we would see at 40°N. Three major planets are in the TV image, can you find and identify them, and based on their position, can you tell when the TV image was taken? Here's a smaller version (2400 x 1800, 369 KB) and here's the larger original version (4032 x 3024, 2.56 MB). Bonus question: Can you identify the bright celestial object near the right edge of the TV screen? Ignore the room reflections at the bottom and the right-hand side of the TV screen. Posted 03-Sept-2021.

During the meeting on Sept 17, we reviewed the picture. Here's a labeled version showing the solution.