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President: Vice President: Secretary: Treasurer: |
Al Meloni Wade Evans Suzanne Leap Jim Brennan |
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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.
|
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President: Vice President: Secretary: Treasurer: |
Al Meloni Wade Evans Suzanne Leap Jim Brennan |
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Announcements Last Update: Wednesday, November 17, 2021
| Nov 17 | The Leonid Meteor Shower peaks overnight, Nov 17-18, but unfortunately, the nearly-full moon will interfere. |
| Nov 19 |
Full Moon at 3:57 am EST in
Taurus. There will be a deep partial eclipse (about 97%) reaching a 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, at the Virtua Health and Wellness Center in Moorestown, NJ, 7:30 pm. We are finally able to resume our in-person meetings at Virtua! We also plan to be concurrently online via Zoom (log-on information will be posted to the WAS e-group). Guests are welcome at Virtua. |
| Dec 3 | Formal Meeting, at the Virtua Health and Wellness Center in Moorestown, NJ, 7:30 pm. |
| Dec 4 | New Moon at 2:43 am EST in Ophiuchus. |
| 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 10.30.2021
WAS Secretary Suzanne Leap captured this image of the Milky Way passing through the Summer Triangle, which she took on August 5, 2021, from Wharton State Forest in the dark New Jersey Pinelands. It's a 35 minute stack of seventy 30-second exposures at ISO 800 captured with a Canon 80D digital SLR camera and a Rokinon 16 mm f/2.0 lens set to f/2.8, mounted on an iOptron SkyTracker. Suzanne received assistance with camera setup and post-processing from renowned astrophotograper, Jerry Lodriguss. Mouseover for labels; click the image, or click here, 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.
