First Quarter Moon
2022-10-31, 2022-11-30, 2022-12-29 | CA
Views: 3

Taurids Meteor Shower
2022-11-04 - 2022-11-05 | CA
What makes this long-running meteor shower unique is that it consists of two separate streams — the first created by grain dust left behind by Asteroid 2004/TG10, and the second by dust grains left behind by Comet 2P/Encke. It runs Sept. 7-Dec. 10. A nearly full moon at the peak will make viewing difficult.
Views: 3

Online Beginner's Class
2022-11-04 19:30 - 21:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | 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.
Views: 3

TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE
2022-11-08 00:00 - 05:50 | CA

Full Moon
2022-11-08, 2022-12-07 | CA

Online General Meeting – November 2022
2022-11-11 19:30 - 21:30 | Online
This is a free and open to the public online event.
Join Zoom

X-raying the Winds of Giant Stars

We are made of stardust—or, at least in significant parts, of material produced in giant stars. These giant stars have strong winds that strip away the outer layers of stellar material. To understand giant stars, astronomers thus need to understand their winds. In this talk, Dr. Grinberg will explain why astrophysicists use space-based X-ray telescopes such as ESA’s XMM-Newton to study such winds and show how they are using black holes and neutron stars as backlights to make such stellar winds visible.

Photo:Friedhelm Albrecht/Universität Tübingen

Dr. Victoria Grinberg is an astrophysicist working in the Netherlands for the European Space Agency (ESA) where she helps ESA communicate with the scientific community. After her PhD in Germany, her research has taken her around the world – USA, the Netherlands and again Germany – before accepting her current position. Using space-based telescopes, Dr. Grinberg is studying the most extreme environments in our Universe: black holes, neutron stars, and the winds of the most massive giant stars. She also publishes on sustainability and climate crisis from an astrophysics perspective. In her free time, Dr. Grinberg creates cartoons about science and academia.
Views: 3

Open Spiral Bar
2022-11-12 22:00 - 23:30, 2022-12-10 22:00 - 23:30, 2023-01-14 22:00 - 23:30 | Online
This is a free and open to the public online event.
Join Zoom

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.

Views: 3

OCA Board Meeting at 10:30 am
2022-11-13 10:30 - 13:30 | Online
The OCA Board meeting will happen on November 13, at 10:30am via Zoom. All current members are welcome to attend the meeting, please contact Alan Smallbone so that the meeting information can be sent to you.
Views: 3

Third Quarter Moon
2022-11-16, 2022-12-16 | CA

Leonids Meteor Shower
2022-11-17 - 2022-11-18 | CA
The Leonids meteor shower runs Nov. 6-30 and puts on an average show of about 15 meteors an hour — except during cyclonic peaks that occur about every 33 years, when hundreds of meteors an hour can be seen. It happened last in 2001, putting us years away from a similar show from this shower created by dust grains left behind by comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, discovered in 1865
Views: 3

Astrophysics Special Interest Group
2022-11-18 19:30 - 22:00, 2022-12-16 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.
Views: 3

NEW MOON
2022-11-23, 2022-12-23 | CA

Online Beginner's Class
2022-12-02 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.
Views: 3

General Meeting – December 2022
2022-12-09 19:30 - 21:00 | Irvine Lecture Hall of the Chapman University, 336 N Center St, Orange, CA, 92866, United States
This is a free and open to the public hybrid event, held both inperson and online. Due to the newly effective insurance requirements, we regret that we can not allow people under 18 on the Chapman Campus, they are welcome to attend online.
Join Zoom
The meeting is held at the Irvine Lecture Hall of the Chapman University, the exact street address can be found on the section above under “VENUE”.

The Voyager Spacecraft

Where they are, how they got there,

and where they are going

Twin Voyager spacecraft were launched in the summer of 1977 on a four-year mission to study Jupiter, Saturn and their natural satellites. A fortuitous option existed for one of them to continue on to Uranus five years later and Neptune after another three years. Space missions at the time were typically of days to months duration, and technology for even a four-year mission was considered pushing the limits of technology. A 12-year mission was seen as a pipe dream. But the Voyagers were outfitted with some new innovations, and techniques were developed in flight to make enhanced science possible at Uranus and Neptune if they should survive that long. The only thought given to a purpose beyond Neptune was in the form of a video record of sounds, music and greetings from the people of Earth to any intelligent beings that might happen upon the derelict remains of either craft somewhere in the cosmos. As the world has seen, expectations were exceeded beyond anyone’s imagination. The spacecraft are still operating well, with data being transmitted continuously and received daily.
This talk is intended to focus on the spacecraft technologies and highly creative techniques developed in flight, in the hands of a dedicated flight team, that allowed these intrepid explorers to extend their four-year prime mission to 45 years now, with the expectation of another possible five to ten years before they finally succumb to the inevitable loss of enough electrical power to keep them running.

Tim Hogle became hooked on astronomy at age 12 after building a 3″ Newtonian telescope and seeing Saturn with it in the dark skies of his front yard. These interests, astronomy and telescope making, have stayed with him ever since. After graduating in electrical engineering from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 1971, he joined the Navy Air Corps as a Naval Flight Officer for a few years, then left the Navy and serendipitously joined JPL and the Voyager flight team shortly after their launches; a dream opportunity to explore the solar system in a detail he never could through a telescope. This was so much fun that he accepted an offer to continue with the team to explore Uranus and Neptune.
Starting as a real time analyst, seeing the data coming in before anyone else saw it, he soon became the senior spacecraft systems engineer, responsible for a wide variety of duties including data and anomaly analysis, sequence, test, and contingency planning, and being involved in nearly all aspects of the mission. By the Neptune encounter, the Voyagers were as close as family members to him, and Tim wanted to continue using his years of experience to extend the mission as long as possible. His total time with Voyager was 27½ years. He has been retired since 2006, but kept in touch with former colleagues on the flight team to keep abreast of the progress of the Voyagers in his absence. In retirement, his astronomical interest has continued with visual observing at every opportunity, especially of faint galaxies through an 18″ telescope.
Views: 3

Adopt-a-Scope Pickup
2022-12-10 10:00 - 12:00 | South Coast Self Sorage, 3480 W Warner Ave, Santa Ana, CA, 92704, United States

Geminids Meteor Shower
2022-12-13 - 2022-12-14 | CA
Meteor experts say the Geminid meteor shower is hands-down the best in the heavens, producing 120 multicolored meteors at the peak. Produced by debris left behind by the asteroid 3200 Phaethon discovered in 1982, it runs from Dec. 7-17. Moonlight will wash out some of the faintest meteors, but the Geminids are so bright and prolific they should still offer a good show
Views: 3

Ursids Meteor Shower
2022-12-21 - 2022-12-22 | CA
This minor meteor shower runs Dec. 17-25 and offers about five or 10 an hour. It is produced by dust grains left behind by comet 8P/Tuttle, discovered in 1790. A nearly new moon will mean dark skies to view what could be a good shooting show, and the last one of 2022
Views: 3

Beginner's Class In-person event
2023-01-06 19:30 - 21:30 | Orange Coast College, Building 40, Astronomy House, Merrimac Way, Costa Mesa, CA, 92626, United States
This is a free and open to the public event (In-person event only).
The 5th session of the Beginners Astronomy Class is the “How to Use Your Telescope”.
If you have a telescope and would like some help learning to set it up and use it, attend this Hands-on class.
For details, please visit here and download the sample information PDF package.
Views: 3

General Meeting – January 2023
2023-01-13 19:30 - 21:30 | Irvine Lecture Hall of the Chapman University, 336 N Center St, Orange, CA, 92866, United States
This is a free and open to the public hybrid event, held both inperson and online. Due to the newly effective insurance requirements, we regret that we can not allow people under 18 on the Chapman Campus, they are welcome to attend online.
Join Zoom

COSMIC ARTIST:

THE WORK OF JON LOMBERG

Artist Jon Lomberg will talk about his long career working with Carl Sagan on projects like the Voyager Golden Record, the TV series COSMOS, and the movie CONTACT. He will also discuss work with Mauna Kea observatories and his creation of the Galaxy Garden, the worlds first scale model, walk through galaxy.

Jo Lomberg is one of the world’s most distinguished space artists. He was Designer of the Voyager Golden Record and Emmy-Award winning Chief Artist of Carl Sagan’s COSMOS series. He is a winner of the ASP’s Klumpke Roberts Award for astronomy popularization and has an asteroid named after him. He lives in Kona, Hawaii.

www.jonlomberg.com
www.galaxygarden.net

Special Offer
Jon is offering two of his best-known pieces with Carl Sagan, one from COSMOS and one from CONTACT at a special price of $60 (+$15 shipping) each. You can see the details of each by clicking on the respective words. These prints can be ordered directly from Jon at this special members price. Do not order through the website but send payment via PayPal to lomberg@aloha.net

Views: 3

Adopt-a-Scope Pickups
2023-01-28 10:00 - 12:00 | South Coast Self Sorage, 3480 W Warner Ave, Santa Ana, CA, 92704, United States

OCA Board Meeting
2023-01-29 10:30 - 13:30 | Online
The Board of Directors for the OCA will meet online at 10:30am on January 29, 2023. All current members may attend. Please contact the club secretary for the link to the meeting.

Views: 3

In-Person Beginner's Class
2023-02-03 19:30 - 21:30 | Orange Coast College, Building 40, Astronomy House, Merrimac Way, Costa Mesa, CA, 92626, United States
This is a free and open to the public event
The 6th session of the Beginners Astronomy Class covers the basics of astrophotography, covering different types of imaging, how different types of cameras are used for this kind of photography, and other equipment and considerations for taking a good picture.
This session is taught by Kyle Coker, who is active in the club’s AstroImaging special interest group.
Free and open to the public as well as members of OCA.
For details, please visit here and download the sample information PDF package.
Views: 3
