Some surprising facts about the potentially dangerous effects of a large solar eruption. And we’re going into a solar maximum, where the possibility of “the big one” exists.

http://www.blottr.com/world/breaking-news/earth-wins-game-chicken-sun

Potluck Dinner Delectables

Thanks to all who attended our annual potluck dinner.  Everything was absolutely delicious, the images of the Heart of Virginia Fall Star Party were great and the Astro-Jeopardy was a lot of fun.  It was really great to see everyone. Hope everyone has an enjoyable and safe holiday season.
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Regards,.
Jim Browder 

Interesting article from Michio Kaku, http://bigthink.com/ideas/41222

Asteroid YU55 blew past us on November 8. RAS member Tim Streagle appeared on WTVR Channel 6 in a story about the asteroid pass at this link.
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So did anyone observe or image the asteroid? Please let us know or pass along an image or video and we will be happy to post it.
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An article in Sky and Telescope about the asteroid is here.

Back Bay Amateur Astronomers

The annual meeting of the Virginia Association of Astronomical Societies was hosted this year by our friends, the Back Bay Amateur Astronomers, on Saturday, October 1, in Virginia Beach at Tidewater Community College. From the Richmond area we had Jim Blowers, Daryl Douglas, Bill Jeffries, Dave Medici, Dave Walton, Betty Wilson, Ken Wilson me.

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WASHINGTON — The existence of a world with a double sunset, as portrayed in the film Star Wars more than 30 years ago, is now scientific fact. NASA’s Kepler mission has made the first unambiguous detection of a circumbinary planet — a planet orbiting two stars — 200 light-years from Earth.  

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News from our friends with the Back Amateur Astronomers who are hosting this years meeting of the Virginia Association of Astronomical Societies:  The VAAS Annual Convention for 2011 is scheduled for Saturday, October 1, at Tidewater Community College, Virginia Beach Campus. Times are approximately 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM with an observing session planned for that evening at York River Park. More information is at this link.

PASADENA, Calif. — NASA’s solar-powered Juno spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 9:25 a.m. PDT (12:25 p.m. EDT) Friday to begin a five-year journey to Jupiter.

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Juno’s detailed study of the largest planet in our solar system will help reveal Jupiter’s origin and evolution. As the archetype of giant gas planets, Jupiter can help scientists understand the origin of our solar system and learn more about planetary systems around other stars.

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Read more about it here.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

News release from NASA about images of asteroid Vesta:  NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, the first ever to orbit an object in the main asteroid belt, is spiraling towards its first of four intensive science orbits. That initial orbit of the rocky world Vesta begins Aug. 11, at an altitude of nearly 1,700 miles (2,700 kilometers) and will provide in-depth analysis of the asteroid. Vesta is the brightest object in the asteroid belt as seen from Earth and is thought to be the source of a large number of meteorites that fall to Earth.

The Dawn team unveiled the first full-frame image of Vesta taken on July 24 which can be found here.

More information about the Dawn mission can be found at http://www.nasa.gov/dawn.

SkyDay Night at the Science Museum was apparently a hit.  The Museum staff recorded over 300 visitors for the evening event and the majority of them (if not more) visited our telescopes deployed by the Kugel in front.  On behalf of the Science Museum, Leslie Bochenski passed along a note of thanks expressing the Museum’s gratitude for our assistance.  RAS was well-represented and I think we provided some very nice views of Saturn, the moon and other objects that capped off the evening’s event rather well.

Thanks again to all who supported the event!  It was a lot of fun.