Open Spiral Bar
2022-03-12 22:00 - 23:30, 2022-04-09 22:00 - 23:30, 2022-05-14 22:00 - 23:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Online
This is a free and open to the public online event.
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Come and socialize with your fellow astronomy enthusiasts face-to-face virtually!
Bring your latest astrophotography, mini-presentation, questions or none and your own refreshments.

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Full Moon
2022-03-18, 2022-04-16, 2022-05-15 | CA
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Astrophysics Special Interest Group
2022-03-18 19:30 - 22:00, 2022-04-15 19:30 - 22:00, 2022-04-29 19:30 - 22:00, 2022-05-20 19:30 - 22:00 | Heritage Museum of OC, 3101 W Harvard St, Santa Ana, CA, 92704, United States
The monthly meeting of the Astrophysics Special Interest Group at 7:30 at the Heritage Museum. Please contact the SIG chair for details and requirements. See the Contacts section of the website for details on contacting the group.
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Outreach: Biola University
2022-03-23 20:00 - 21:00 | Biola University, 13800 Biola Avenue, La Mirada, CA, 90639, United States

Third Quarter Moon
2022-03-24, 2022-04-23, 2022-05-22 | CA

Outreach: Emery Elementary School
2022-03-30 20:00 - 21:00 | Charles G Emery Elementary School, 8600 Somerset St,, Buena Park, CA, 90621, United States

NEW MOON
2022-03-31, 2022-04-30, 2022-05-30 | CA

Online Beginner's Class
2022-04-01 19:30 - 21:30 | Online
This is a free and open to the public online event, to attend please register with zoom by clicking here.
The 2nd session of the Beginners Astronomy Class covers the different types of equipment used to observe the night sky, including telescopes, mounts, eyepieces, filters, and advantages and disadvantages of different options.
This session is a must if thinking about buying a telescope.
For details, please visit here and download the sample information PDF package.
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First Quarter Moon
2022-04-08, 2022-05-08 | CA

Online General Meeting - April 2022
2022-04-08 19:30 - 21:30 | Online
This is a free and open to the public online event.
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The End of the Beginning

We used to think the Big Bang meant the universe began from a singularity. Nearly 100 years later, we’re not so sure. The Big Bang teaches us that our expanding, cooling universe used to be younger, denser, and hotter in the past. However, extrapolating all the way back to a singularity leads to predictions that disagree with what we observe. Instead, cosmic inflation preceded and set up the Big Bang, changing our cosmic origin story forever.

Download PDF of the presentation

Ethan has lived his life fascinated with one simple fact: we have the capacity to figure out definitive, scientific answers to even the deepest questions we can conceive about our physical reality. We do that by asking the right questions about the Universe, and then putting the Universe itself to the test. From where everything comes from to the Universe’s ultimate fate and all that lies between, he’s committed to not just figuring it out, but to sharing the answers — what we know and how we know it — with anyone curious enough to listen.

https://www.startswithabang.com/

https://twitter.com/StartsWithABang
https://www.facebook.com/startswithabang

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Adopt-a-Scope Pickup
2022-04-09 09:00 - 13:00 | South Coast Self Sorage, 3480 W Warner Ave, Santa Ana, CA, 92704, United States

Lyrids Meteor Shower
2022-04-22 - 2022-04-23 | CA
Lyrids meteor shower is an average shower, offering about 20 shooting stars an hour at the peak
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Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower
2022-05-06 - 2022-05-07 | CA
This above-average meteor shower runs from April 19-May 28. The best place to see it is in the Southern Hemisphere, where it produces about 60 meteors an hour, but it’s a decent show in the Northern Hemisphere, too, and viewers in this part of the world can expect to see about half that many
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Online Beginner's Class
2022-05-06 19:30 - 21:30 | Online
This is a free and open to the public online event, to attend please register with zoom by clicking here.
The 3rd session of the Beginners Astronomy Class covers different methods of finding objects in the night sky. Special topic is learning the constellations.
For details, please visit here and download the sample information PDF package.
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Online General Meeting - May 2022
2022-05-13 19:30 - 21:30 | Online
This is a free and open to the public online event.
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Oumuamua: The nearest exoplanet?

When ‘Oumuamua passed by Earth in October 2017, the only thing certain about it was that it was not from this Solar System. Because of its high velocity, it was the first confirmed interstellar object. The next year the object 2I/Borisov was the second confirmed interstellar object. But whereas Borisov behaved very much like a comet (albeit an unusual one), mysteries remain about what ‘Oumuamua actually is. Although it pushed away from the Sun by a rocket effect, like comets, it could not be made of water, or contain much carbon monoxide or dust, making it very unlike a comet. The acceleration it experienced was very large, and from the variations in sunlight it reflected, it was more elongated than any other solar system object: either a very skinny pancake or a very long cigar. Dozens of explanations have been proposed to explain these oddities, and speculation has run rampant, with some astronomers even suggesting it was alien technology. The truth is more mundane but no less exciting. In a pair of papers in 2021, Steve Desch and Alan Jackson demonstrated that ‘Oumuamua is consistent in every way with being a small fragment resembling the surface of Pluto. Our own solar system must have ejected trillions of fragments like ‘Oumuamua in its early days, and a population of fragments from the surfaces of Pluto-like exoplanets must be common throughout the Galaxy. ‘Oumuamua itself may have been ejected about 400 million years ago, from a Pluto-like exoplanet in a young system in the Perseus arm of the Galaxy. ‘Oumuamua is arguably the closest we’ve ever come to directly observing the surface of an exoplanet.

Steve Desch is a Professor of astrophysics in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University. He studies the formation and evolution of planets, the origins of the Solar System, exoplanets, and meteorites. He has written about ‘Oumuamua in the popular press and is thrilled to have contributed to our scientific understanding of this unique object.”

https://slate.com/technology/2019/01/oumuamua-alien-ship-anthropomorphize-space.html

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OCA Board Meeting
2022-05-15 10:00 - 13:00 | Online
The OCA Board Meeting will be held on May 15th at 10:00am. The meeting is open to all members of the OCA, to attend contact Alan Smallbone for the meeting details.
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TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE
2022-05-15 19:30 - 23:50 | CA

Online Beginner's Class
2022-06-03 19:30 - 21:30 | Online
This is a free and open to the public online event, to attend please register with zoom by clicking here.
The 4th session of the Beginners Astronomy Class covers the science behind the telescope.
How do our eyes actually perceive objects we see in the telescope and what is the physics that allows that perception.
For details, please visit here and download the sample information PDF package.
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