Season’s greetings, no matter what planet you’re on!

ESA/Hubble & NASA Artist’s Impression.

122015

page 4-5: science news page 6: next month calendar page 7: NoCoAstro info page 8: northern colorado resources

What you’ll find in this newsletter.

Last newsletter of 2015!

position

President

Vice President

Secretary

Treasurer

Newsletter

Website

name

Amanda Bell

Robert Arn

Dave Karp

Greg Halac

Amanda Bell

Robert Arn

email

pres@ vp@ sec@ treas@ objview@

web-edit@

2015 officers

To contact officers, use @NoCoAstro.org

pg 3

Tally

O’D

onn

ell Jelly

fish Nebu

la / IC 4

43

time & date

location

Thursday, January 7th at 6:15pm

Fort Collins Museum of Discovery

408 Mason Court, Fort Collins 80524

First astro-talk of the new year!

Hubble Reveals Diversity of Exoplanet Atmosphere: Astronomers have studied the atmospheres

of ten hot, Jupiter-sized exoplanets in detail. But why do some of these worlds seem to have less water than expected? *

ALMA Reveals Planetary Construction Sites: Astronomers have found the clearest indications

yet that planets with masses several times that of Jupiter have recently formed in the discs of gas and dust around four young stars! *

VLT Revisits a Curious Cosmic Collision: New images from ESO’s Very Large Telescope reveal

details of a spectacular 360 million year old cosmic collision. *

XXL Hunt For Galaxy Clusters: An international team of astronomers use ESO telescopes to hunt

for the largest gravitationally-bound structures in the universe: galaxy clusters. *

Ireland to Explore Possibility of Joining ESO: Prime Minister of Ireland, Edna Kenny, has

launched Innovation 2020, a five-year strategy for research and development, science and technology. *

Science news. (go ahead: click the photos)

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pg 5

First Explanations for Observed Boundary Within Earth's Mantle Proposed:: "Earth is

unique, so learning what is going on deep inside its mantle is very important." *

Over Half of the Giant Kepler Planets May Not be Planets After All: According to a study

focused on gas giants identified, the total number may include more false-positives than previously thought. *

The Science of Family Guy with Seth MacFarlane on StarTalk Radio: Are you wondering

what we can learn about time travel or the multiverse from Stewie and Brian on Family Guy? Neil

deGrasse Tyson finds out! *

How to View the Best Comet of 2015, Comet Catalina: This huge mass of rock and ice is in the

midst of a one million year journey toward the sun from the Oort Cloud. Read more about its journey and

why you should catch it now (hint: because you won't get another chance!) *

Electron Lifetime is at Least 66,000 Yottayears: The best estimate yet for the lifetime of an

electron is an amazing five-quintillion times the current age of the universe, or 66,000 yottayears. *

…more science news.

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Do you know an event that should be added to an upcoming calendar?

Help keep everyone informed: send it to ObjView at NoCoAstro.org

pg 6

January 2015 A look at what’s happening in the world of astronomy.

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

31 2Globe at Night

Earth perihelion

Luna 1 (1959)

9

Globe at Night

16

23

Greeley Library Solar Viewing & NASA

Event FREE

1

8

Globe at Night

7

Globe at Night

NoCoAstro Meeting at FoCo MoD

6

Globe at Night

5

Globe at Night

4 Globe at Night

Quadrantid shower peak

Spirit landed on Mars

3

Globe at Night

10

Globe at Night

11

Globe at Night

12 13 14 15

Fossil Creek Skygazing 7:30pm

17 18 19 20 21 22

24First craft to

observe Uranus

Opportunity landed on Mars

25

Space Station Freedom

26 27

Apollo tragedy, 1967

28

Space Shuttle Challenger disaster,

1986

29

ISS agreement

30

Fossil Creek Skygazing 7pm

You are the

Northern Colorado

Astronomical

Society

(NoCoAstro).

Established in 1995 as a non-profit organization we are here to promote interest in the science and hobby of astronomy. We meet the first Thursday of each month to discuss our interests and experience in the universal world of astronomy.

Monthly talks are free and open to the public. Bring a friend!

Come to dinner!

Join your fellow NoCoAstro members after the meeting for dinner & drinks with this month’s speaker. RSVP to an officer if you’d like to join us. Dutch treat.

Member Photo Albums :

You'll want to see all of the amazing photos taken by our members.

NoCoAstro Email :

Anyone can join the email lists but subscription requests are monitored. Only approved subscribers are allowed to post.

NoCoAstro Admin Info:

Find group bylaws and constitution.

Borrow equipment here :

Club items may be borrowed at no cost by NoCoAstro members! Find out more here.

Request a Private Event :

How to request an astronomy event for your nonprofit group or club.

Regional Star Parties :

A gathering of amateur astronomers to observe the sky.

Become a Member: Learn about benefits of membership!

Astronomy Gear how-to Guides:

Learn about telescopes and astrophotography.

pg 7

Boulder Astronomy & Space Society

(BASS): meetings are hosted by the UC

campus at the Fiske Planetarium. Open to students and the public.

* Denver Astronomical Society

(DAS): promoting understanding of

astronomical phenomenon at the U of Denver's historic Chamberlin Observatory.

*

Estes Park Memorial Observatory

(EPMO): has many goals, including

encouraging enthusiasm for physics and math in kids of K-12th grade.

*

Fort Collins Museum of Discovery

(FOCO MOD): The MoD isn’t just where

we hold our meetings. Check out their calendar for current events or to find out more.

* FRCC Stargazer Observatory

(FRCC): thanks to a unique partnership with Village Homes, FRCC operates an astronomy lab at Observatory Village in SE Fort Collins.

* FRCC Sunlight Peak Observatory

(FRCC): operated on the FRCC Larimer

campus directly behind the Harmony Library. Open houses held 1st Friday of each month.

* Little Thompson Observatory (LTO):

no-charge public access to the universe available during regularly-scheduled public star nights or schedule your own private observatory event (for free!)

* Longmont Astronomical Society

(LAS): promotes amateur astronomy

through monthly meetings, star parties and public observing sessions. Meetings are open to the public.

* Sommers-Bausch Observatory

(SBO): Operated by the Department of

Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences (APS) at CU Boulder. See the spring semester Friday night viewing schedule.

* * *

local Museums, Astronomy Clubs, Observatories and Planetariums.

pg 8

201512

@TheSunToday NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory

Want to see your astrophotos in the newsletter? Send them to: objView at nocoastro.org

see you next year

f o r m o r e a m a z i n g n e w s , s k y g a z i n g a n d a s t r o - t a l k s