2020 Blair Award Ceremony

Posted on by Cecilia Caballero

Topic: WAA G. Bruce Blair Award
Time: Dec 30, 2020 07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84876958189?pwd=MWZBclU3WE1kRGdjL3M4MXZ6bVVtZz09

 

An astronomy enthusiast since childhood, Bing F. Quock joined Morrison Planetarium’s staff in 1973 and joined the Planetarium Lecturer team in 1975, presenting live shows using the classic Academy-made star projector. In the late ’70s, he taught several semesters of Introductory Astronomy at one of City College of San Francisco’s satellite campuses under Don Warren, then the head of CCSF’s Astronomy Department. From 1982-2003, he served as Morrison Planetarium’s Assistant Chairman and Show Producer, writing and producing approximately 110 planetarium shows for the public, school, and special event audiences during that time, as well as teaching informal astronomy classes and guiding observing sessions for Academy members and youth. During this period, he wrote the “Skywatcher’s Guide” that appeared regularly in the Academy’s quarterly magazine and which continues today, still authored by him, in digital form on the museum’s website (www.calacademy.org). He also created the Academy’s popular “Pocket Almanac,” and since the ’80s has written daily skywatching snippets under the Planetarium’s byline for syndication to about 30 newspapers around the country. He has been a frequent interviewee on Bay Area radio and television, explaining eclipses, meteor showers, and other astronomical phenomena.  

 

From the mid-1990s to 2017, he assisted Ron Dammann as one of the principal operators of the Hume Observatory at Pepperwood Preserve in Sonoma, educating and entertaining small groups of visitors with views of the night sky through the facility’s instruments, which included a 6.4″ Alvan Clark refractor once owned by George Davidson and “Edelweiss,” a 17″ Dobsonian reflector donated by Doug Berger. Although the observatory and its equipment did not survive the Tubbs wildfire of 2017, Bing continues guiding occasional skywatching sessions as part of Pepperwood Preserve’s educational program.

 

From 2004-2006, he served as Acting Director of Morrison Planetarium when the Academy of Sciences temporarily relocated to downtown San Francisco, while the Academy buildings were renovated. He performed astronomy outreach to schools with an inflatable planetarium until
the new Academy reopened in the Park. 
Since 2007, he has held the position of Morrison Planetarium’s Assistant Chairman and presently continues concentrating on outreach, partnerships, and astronomy communication to the media.

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Online Solar Eclipse

Posted on by Reza

The last solar eclipse of 2020 will be on Monday December 14th and is going to be only visible from Southern America.

Behold that OCA in collaboration with Prof. Elizabeth Villanueva and her students from Colegio Alberto Pérez has arranged for an international live broadcast of the event.

The program will be held from the start of the eclipse at 6:30am PST up until its end at 9:30am PST. In addition to the Chilean view of the sun, there will be short presentations by students and teacher from all around the world.

To attend, have zoom installed and then visit the page below at the appropriate time.

https://www.astrozoom.space/attend

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Solar Eclipse Livestream

Posted on by Reza

The last solar eclipse of 2020 will be on Monday December 14th and is going to be only visible from Southern America.

Behold that AstroZoom with support from OCA and in collaboration with Prof. Elizabeth Villanueva and her students from Colegio Alberto Pérez has arranged for an international live broadcast of the event.

The program will be held from the start of the eclipse at 6:30am PST up until its end at 9:30am PST. In addition to the Chilean view of the sun, there will be short presentations by students and teacher from all around the world.

To attend, have zoom installed and then visit the page below at the appropriate time.

https://www.astrozoom.space/attend

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Jay Pasachoff – Golden Webinars in Astrophysics

Posted on by Reza

Sat Dec 12th 2020, 12:00pm PST

Zoom Registration Link: http://tiny.cc/GWA-Pasachoff

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Ursids Meteor Shower

Posted on by David Searle

Catch the shooting stars of the last major meteor shower of the year, the Ursids, when it peaks between the night of December 21 and 22, 2020.

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Earth’s Perihelion

Posted on by David Searle

At 5:30am, the Earth will reach its perihelion—the point on its orbit that is closest to the Sun.

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Ursid Meteors

Posted on by David Searle

Catch the shooting stars of the last major meteor shower of the year, the Ursids, when it peaks between the night of December 21 and 22, 2020.

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Election Has Begun

Posted on by Reza

OCA’s Annual Officers and Trustees Election Has Begun

Electronic Voting for OCA club officers and trustees is under way.  By the time you see this message, each eligible member should have received an email from the club with their voting credentials and a link to our electronic voting site.

If you have not received such an email, please check you spam folder to see if it was accidentally trashed. If our mailing missed you, it is likely that you are now using a different email address than we have on record. If you wish to vote electronically and did not get an email, send a message to John Hoot with your name and the email address you wish to be associated with your membership. We will update your membership record and send you out a voting link.

Voting by mail remains an option. A ballot will be included in you December newsletter. The election ends at midnight January 8, 2021. Voting both electronically and by mail will invalidate your vote.

Downloadable Ballot for Mailing

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First “Christmas Star” in 800 years

Posted on by David Searle

This December 21st, on the winter solstice, Jupiter and Saturn will be their “closest” in 800 years.  Not since the Middle Ages has this close encounter between these two planets occurred.  The event will occur 45 minutes after sunset in the southwest and will result in a spectacular view!  Get out your cameras!!

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Winter Solstice

Posted on by David Searle

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