The UBC Astronomy Club
312 - 6224 Agricultural Road Vancouver, BC, Canada

LAST DAY TO REGISTER FOR ASTRO+PHYS IN THE BIZ!! Have you ever felt stuck, not knowing what career paths you can pursue after completing your Physics or Astronomy degree? If you want to learn more about astro+phys in the biz, you’ll definitely want to come to our second Alumni Speaker Series event!... The Astro+Phys in the Biz: Astronomy and Physics Alumni Speaker Night is a networking event that will provide students with the opportunity to explore the career paths they can take in these two fields. We’ve invited alumni with diverse experience who currently work in the physics and astronomy-related industries with the help of the UBC Physics Society (PHYSSOC) and UBC Astronomy Club (ASTRO) . This event is FREE and open to ALL STUDENTS, so come whether you are in first year, graduating, or anything in between! Make sure you stay for the duration of the event to automatically be entered in a draw to win an Amazon gift card! Please RSVP using this form https://forms.gle/Qs86pNiqpMptxm2GA by Monday, November 23rd at 11:59PM. We will send out confirmation emails with a Zoom Link and a brief rundown of the event on November 24th.

Still remember seeing these cool pictures on our instagram? They're all taken by our club's Astrophotography Director, David Tong. David is a second year Bioinformatics Masters of Science student at UBC, and he'll be leading the Introduction to Astrophotography Workshop tomorrow. Don't forget to register here: https://fb.me/e/3SV6OjYT9

Join UBC Language Sciences for a Movie Night on November 26th from 2pm (PDT) for a virtual screening of Arrival, in which a linguist works with the military to communicate with alien lifeforms after 12 spacecraft appear around the world.

Welcome back to the UBC Astronomy Club's #AstroQuiz! In round 2 of our quiz, pick a level and answer a few short questions for a chance to win a prize! The Amateur level questions focus more on general knowledge of concepts, while Professional level questions require specific formulae to calculate an answer. Find the quiz here: https://ubc.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eX3zThOYEwds9Rb

OUTREACH VOLUNTEERS NEEDED Do you have a passion for astronomy? Do you want to share that passion with young children? We're excited to be teaming up with UBC Department of Physics & Astronomy Outreach as they move their outreach visits online!... Message the club for more details or if you're interested in joining!

Have you ever been at that perfect place on a perfect night, staring into the starry night sky and wishing you could capture that moment? Get ready for your wishes to become a reality! The UBC Astronomy Club and UBC Photographic Society are excited to be working together to bring you our Introduction to Astrophotography Workshop. This workshop will feature the Astronomy Club’s very own Astrophotography Director, David Tong.... Here is what the workshop will cover: Part 1 (~40 minutes): - how to plan the perfect shot - necessary/useful equipment (available to rent from PhotoSoc) - how to correctly process your images Part 2 (~20 minutes): - LIVE edit of David’s photos - features of YOUR images to receive suggestions from David (see link below for more details) Whether you own a camera or just a phone, we welcome EVERYONE! Astrophotography can be fun even if you’re just a beginner. Bring your questions, send your images and tell your friends! To register for this workshop, you must be a member of PhotoSoc or Astronomy Club. Please register through your corresponding club: PhotoSoc members: https://docs.google.com/.../1FAIpQLSdoBVBH9AO4Xr.../viewform Astronomy Club members: https://forms.gle/WnJXPMjaq4ryG4op7 Upload your own images for a feature during the workshop: https://ubc.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cMERrMtZm8bhrdX DATE: Saturday, Nov 21 TIME: 5:00PM - 6:30 PM ZOOM ACCESS: You will receive the Zoom link via email after we have verified your membership.

Virtual Starry Night Join in on Simon Fraser University's Virtual Starry Night, live from the Trottier Observatory. Open to all!... 8:00pm - 10:00pm: https://youtu.be/R-FrZXxQVsA

External Opportunity from Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS - ÉEDS) This year, SEDS Canada has partnered with the Canadian Space Agency and National Research Council to launch your experiments on a stratospheric balloon platform or fly on a microgravity plane! Check out the following flyer for more info on a chance to submit your own project proposal.... More information can be found here: seds.ca/can-sbx seds.ca/can-rgx

Hello everyone! For this week’s #AstroNews, we want to congratulate NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft for successfully touching an asteroid’s surface on Tuesday. OSIRIS-REx touched the surface of a well-preserved, ancient asteroid, known as Bennu, currently more than 321 million kilometers from Earth. Bennu offers scientists a window into the early solar system as it was first taking shape bil...lions of years ago and flinging ingredients that could have helped seed life on Earth. Video: The video is a series of images, stitched together, to show the spacecraft touching down. The spacecraft's robotic arm appears to crush some of the porous rocks on the surface and fire nitrogen gas on the surface to stir up a substantial amount of material. The spacecraft then spent five seconds collecting dust and pebbles from the surface before backing away. Image credits: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

Hi everyone, welcome to another #SpaceSundays! This week we want to tell you about #Mars. Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, reached opposition on October 13th. It is a great time to observe the planet because it will appear brighter than any night sky object in its vicinity.... What is opposition? During opposition, Mars and the sun are on directly opposite sides of Earth. From our perspective, Mars rises in the east just as the sun sets in the west, staying up in the sky the entire night. Since Mars and the sun appear on opposite sides of the sky, we say that Mars is in opposition. Mars oppositions happen about every 26 months. Every 15 or 17 years, opposition occurs within a few weeks of Mars' perihelion (the point in its orbit when it is closest to the sun). The planet will continue to rise earlier and earlier in the weeks following opposition, before it gradually begins to fade. To locate the planet you try out Stellarium’s free desktop or Android version, and Night Sky for iOS! Image: On May 12, 2016, astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured this striking image of Mars, when the planet was 50 million miles from Earth. Credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), J. Bell (ASU), and M. Wolff (Space Science Institute)

This is an amazing photo and re-edit from our own astrophotography director, David Tong This photo was re-edited from last year’s stacked photos. The contrast was increased more and this was the first time our photographer has dealt with stacked photos. Since this was stacked, the image quality was not as affected when the contrast was increased. First image: 2020 (edited) ... Second image: 2019 Photographer: David Tong, Astrophotography Director at UBC Astronomy Club Model: Canon 6D astromod Lens: Sigma 35 mm f1.4 (will use 2.8 next time to reduce vignetting and aberrations) exposure: 28 * 30s tracked by ioptron smarteq pro, stacked by sequator Location: Lingshan, Beijing

We hope you are staying safe and practicing social distancing! For these week’s #AstroNews we bring you some news from Jupiter’s stormy skies! There are new storms raging in Jupiter’s dynamic North Temperate Belt (NTB), seen in this colour-enhanced image captured by NASA’s Juno spacecraft.... Storms in the NTB are among the most dynamic and energetic on the planet, seen as orange-coloured storms in this image. The belt gets its orange colour from fresh ammonia ice and water, from storm systems deep within Jupiter's water clouds, interacting with planetary winds that can go as fast as 600 kilometers per hour (370 mph). Did you know Jupiter spins differentially, with zones and belts rotating at speeds that differ by up to 100 metres per second. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS

RECRUITMENT The UBC Astronomy Club is Recruiting!! Are you a UBC student who wants to be more involved with the Astronomy Club? Interested in working behind the scenes as a club executive? Tasks like managing virtual observational events, promoting the club, running events, etc. are not simple. We have a few positions open across the club so you’re sure to find a role that fits your interests!... The open roles are: Social Media Managers - assist with our social media platforms, draft creative posts to share General Officer - assisting VP’s with the development of our club VP Outreach Apprentice - work closely with VP Outreach to create volunteer opportunities at elementary schools, and more VP Academic Apprentice - work closely with VP Academic to organise lectures and quizzes and maintain communication with professors Astrophotographer To apply for or inquire about a position, don’t hesitate to send us an email or message with your full name, year, and the position of interest! For those who are unsure but want to check out how the exec team works, feel free to message us about attending one of our weekly exec meetings (open to all members). Visit our website at ubcastronomyclub.com to check out the current executive team. email: [email protected]

Get ready for the Astronomy Club’s first academic lecture of the year! Comets are frozen leftovers from the formation of the solar system composed of dust, rock and ices. But what can we learn from them? In this lecture, Professor Brett Gladman will explore how we can look at the composition of these comets to learn more about how planets were formed. Tune in on Friday Oct 16 via Zoom to learn Comets: Regal Relics of Planet Formation. Everyone from all majors a...nd faculties are welcome! Brett James Gladman is a Canadian astronomer and a full professor at the University of British Columbia's Department of Physics and Astronomy in Vancouver, British Columbia. He holds the Canada Research Chair in planetary astronomy. He does both theoretical work and observational optical astronomy. TIME TBA

Hey Everyone! Welcome back to another #SpaceSunday This week we want to bring you this four panelled artist’s conception of what really happened to Betelguese when it suddenly started dimming in our night sky. Observations by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope showed that the unexpected dimming of the supergiant star, located 650 light years away from us, was most likely caused by a dust cloud formed when superhot plasma from the star passed through the hot atmosphere to the c...older outer layers, cooling and forming dust grains resulting in a cloud that blocked upto th of the star’s surface! Betelguese, the second brightest star in Orion, started dimming in October 2019 and the star lost two-thirds of its brightness by mid-February 2020. This was extremely interesting for astronomers observing the star since it is one of the closest supernova candidates in our galaxy and could go supernova anytime between now and 100,000 years. Maybe some other time! Images : NASA, ESA, and E. Wheatley (STScI)

Hello everyone! We have great news! You can now buy memberships to the UBC Astronomy Club by going to this link: https://www.showpass.com/ubc-astronomy-club-membership/ Please purchase one of the following memberships: - Student Membership ($5): for current students enrolled at UBC... - Non-Student Membership ($10): for anyone and everyone else If you are a UBC student, please make sure you include your student number when asked upon the purchase of your membership. If you are not a student and are purchasing a non-student membership, please write "N/A" in the allocated section. Both types of memberships are valid from the time of purchase to 11:59pm PST on August 31st 2021. On becoming a member of the UBC Astronomy Club, you get access to the following perks: - Free entrance to all UBC Astronomy Club online events until August 31st 2021 (including but not limited to, astrophotography workshops, starry nights virtual tours, games night, lecture series, and more). - Discounts on our club merchandise. - Special promotional discounts with the clubs sponsorship partners. And More! Don’t forget to sign up on our CampusBase page to officially join as a member. Navigate to https://amscampusbase.ubc.ca/ubcastroclub/home/ and click on Join. For any questions regarding memberships, please reach out to us at [email protected] or send us a Facebook message! Thank you for choosing to become a member of our amazing club!

Interested in learning and working with space data and technologies? NASA Space Apps Vancouver is this weekend from October 2nd to October 4th and it is a space-themed hackathon where you will have a chance to meet like-minded students who share the same passion and excitement as you for Space exploration and technologies. Sign up: https://2020.spaceappschallenge.org//vancouver-british-co/ Email [email protected] for any questions!

Hi everyone, welcome back to another #SpaceSunday! Today we are looking at a picture of NGC 7380, known as both the ‘Wizard Nebula’ AND the ‘Flying Horse’. Before swiping through the post, see if you can spot both interpretations of this magnificent nebula! Let us know what you see in the comments below! Over 800 light years away in the constellation of Cepheus, this open cluster was first discovered way back in 1787. The wizard/horse is very good at hiding and is ex...tremely difficult to observe visually without special equipment and dark skies. . Image 1: Thomas E. Christian, Jr. (@astro.ed_) Image 2: NASA Michael Miller Image 3-6: Edits of NASA Michael Miller . #porteaucove #stargazing #UBC #universe #ubcastronomyclub #astrophotography #nebula #spaceimages #astronomy #cosmos #backyardphotography #nasa #esa #deepspacephotography See more