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  • February 25, 2021 6:59 PM | Anonymous member

    Hi all at Roper Mountain Astronomers,

    Unistellar is hosting an international Messier marathon from March 10-16, 2021 featuring numerous astronomy “races” that can be completed in anywhere from an hour to an evening. 

    We’ll set a world record, bring international audiences together, have a lot of fun under the stars - all in the name of astronomy outreach.

    We’re seeking partners to officially participate in the event, alongside Unistellar, SETI Institute, and some of the northern hemisphere’s leading planetariums, observatories and astronomy clubs. I thought you might be interested because it’s a fun and easy to participate, and there’s opportunity to connect with astronomy-lovers around the world. 

     

      

    Please let me know if you’re interested and keen to participate, or if you have any questions. 

    I look forward to hearing from you. 

    Clear skies!



  • February 18, 2021 11:28 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    The day has finally arrived! The Mars rover "Perseverance" is due to land on Mars this afternoon! If you'd like to watch live, there are multiple streams available, starting at 2:15PM EST. See below for more details:

    https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/timeline/landing/watch-online/ 

  • January 18, 2021 11:25 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Greetings, RMA members!

    In an effort to improve the membership process, we have enabled email alerts for upcoming renewals. 7 days before your membership renewal date, you will receive an email reminder and invoice. Your membership fees can be paid online instantly (preferred), or via check by mail. On your renewal date, you will receive another reminder, followed by a "Grace Period" email 7 days later, and a Lapsed email 7 days after that, when access to some website features will be suspended.

    Since these notifications were enabled while some memberships were in a Pending Renewal state, you may only receive a Grace Period or Lapsed email for this cycle.

    You will continue to see renewal-related messages when logging into the website. 

    If you have any questions or issues with your renewal, please contact us. Thank you for being a part of Roper Mountain Astronomers!

    Josh Palmer
    Webmaster  

  • January 16, 2021 10:23 PM | Anonymous member




    Northern Hemisphere Astrophotography Competition


    Happy New Year! The world’s most awesome astrophotography competition is back in the Northern Hemisphere! Between the 1st January and the 31st March, nPAE invites you to enter any two astro photos taken either by yourself or a group effort with your friends into our annual Northern Hemisphere Competition!
     
    Not only can you win USD270 / GBP200 cash, there is also amazing nPAE gear up for grabs. See our website competition page for full details on how to enter.
     
    https://www.npae.net/competition/
     
    Once the 2021 North and South competitions have been won, they will, along with the 2020 World Champion, go head to head in a public vote to decide who will become the 2021 nPAE World Champion Astro Photographer!
     
    Good luck!
     
    nPAE Precision Astro Engineering.
     

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    Copyright © 2021 nPAE Precision Astro Engineering, All rights reserved.
    You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website.

    Our mailing address is:

    nPAE Precision Astro Engineering

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    North Gate

    Nottingham, Nottinghamshire NG7 7BQ

    United Kingdom



  • December 31, 2020 10:14 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    I just wanted to personally wish everyone a happy and safe New Year! Thank you for sticking with us, not only through the transition to the new RMA Website, but also through the introduction of our virtual meetings and events. 2020 has been a very challenging year for everyone, but it also has been full of interesting opportunities: Seeing the Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, watching all of the historic SpaceX launches, 4 consecutive "supermoons", a Lunar Eclipse, and more. I am convinced that 2021 will bring us together once again, where we can observe and share the night sky with each other in person. 

    Happy New Year! 

    Josh Palmer
    RMA Webmaster & Board Member at Large

  • December 22, 2020 10:54 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    From Allen Hill:

    We had a good turnout for the Christmas Star event at the Blue Ridge RC field. RMA and flying club members took part. We had some guests come late as people went home and told their families about the event.  Also Jonathan Zrake (our last guest speaker) brought his wife and baby daughter out.

    I think we were the last people in South Carolina as Bob was showing the last guests the planets at 7:10pm as they were on the horizon!






  • November 29, 2020 8:00 AM | Anonymous member

    Upcoming Lunar Eclipses. 

    This sight has details about upcoming eclipses and where they will be visible from.  Very detailed!

    https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/lunar/2020-november-30

  • November 24, 2020 12:02 PM | Anonymous member

    Some cool thinks from the European Space Observatory


    http://jean-ux.com/ESO/

  • November 23, 2020 10:34 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/ask-an-astrobiologist/

    NASA has a rich selection of resources for anyone interested in Astrobiology in general or career opportunities in this field. One weekly series is an interactive meeting with leading astrobiologists at NASA.  Ask An Astrobiologist allows real time interaction and recordIngs are also onsite. 

    November 24, 2020 10AM PST

    Our guest is Dr. Melissa Trainer, a Deputy Principal Investigator (PI) for the Dragonfly mission to Saturn's moon Titan, and lead for the Dragonfly Mass Spectrometer (DraMS), an instrument supporting the Dragonfly investigation of Titan's surface composition and characterization of potential prebiotic chemistry! She has spent more than a decade characterizing the chemical and physical properties of Titan and early Earth organic aerosol analogs.



  • November 23, 2020 10:10 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)


    https://www.sciencealert.com/the-planets-will-align-in-christmas-week-for-a-rare-spectacle-not-seen-in-800-years

    Star-gazers are in for a treat over Christmas, as Jupiter and Saturn will get closer to each other in Earth's night sky than they have been for nearly 800 years. Set up your telescope, hope for a clear night, and get ready.

    The celestial synchronisation has been in the works since summer as Jupiter and y have been moving closer together in the night sky, and between 16-25 December they'll be separated by only 1/5th the diameter of a full moon.

    While the planets won't physically be close to each other at all, of course, they'll look like a single point of bright light to anyone looking up at the night sky.

    "Alignments between these two planets are rather rare, occurring once every 20 years or so, but this conjunction is exceptionally rare because of how close the planets will appear to one another," says astronomer Patrick Hartigan from Rice University.

    star g 2How the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction will appear to telescope viewers. (Patrick Hartigan/CC BY 4.0)

    "You'd have to go all the way back to just before dawn on March 4, 1226, to see a closer alignment between these objects visible in the night sky."

    To get the best viewing experience for this spectacular show, you're going to need to be somewhere near the equator – but if the skies are clear then the alignment should still be visible from just about anywhere on Earth.

    The pair of planets will show up in the night sky for about an hour after sunset each evening, according to astronomers. If you're hoping to catch a glimpse yourself, you'll need to point your telescope towards the western sky.

    "On the evening of closest approach on Dec 21 they will look like a double planet, separated by only 1/5th the diameter of the full moon," says Hartigan. "For most telescope viewers, each planet and several of their largest moons will be visible in the same field of view that evening."

    "The further north a viewer is, the less time they'll have to catch a glimpse of the conjunction before the planets sink below the horizon."

    The planets will be bright enough in the sky to be visible in twilight, which might be the best time to try and take a look at them if you're in the US. Websites such as Stellarium should help you work out where you should be looking from your vantage point.

    While this kind of alignment hasn't occurred since the Middle Ages, it will happen again fairly soon, in March 2080. After that though, Jupiter and Saturn won't get as close in our night sky until 2400.

    When we're dealing with these sorts of timescales, it always pays to keep up to date with what's happening around the Solar System – you don't want to miss something incredible


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