Sunchie presented tips for getting started with night-time timelapse photography at our recent recreational astronomy night. Below is his presentation in PDF format.

The Sky This Month as presented by Chris Vaughan at the Recreational Astronomy Night meeting.

Where to see the lunar eclipse in the GTA.

Sometimes objects like the moon, planets or asteroids move in front of a star. An observer in the right location can see the star disappear or dim for a few seconds then brighten again.

Taken on the evening of October 23 from our member observatory, the Carr Astronomical Observatory, in the Thornbury area, with a great Westerly view; thank you Ian Donaldson for agreeing to share it.  Did you see it?

The Sun and Moon go through near-perfect alignments. We'll have a partial solar eclipse* on Oct 23. Try to spot Mercury naked eye at the end of October. Uranus and Neptune show off different shades of blue and tiny moons. Comets abound.

For a few minutes around 8pm on September 12, Lynn Hillborn was able to image this aurora from Grafton, Ontario.

For September, and a little bit of October, we'll enjoy some planetary conjunctions and a total lunar eclipse. You can do some citizen science by participating in the September campaign of the Globe at Night.

Comet Jacques with M52, the Bubble nebula and the Cave nebula.  Click on the image to enlarge.

Taken by Lynn Hilborn, Whistlestop Observatory, Grafton Ontario, August 27, 2014

Chris Vaughan delivered the following The Sky This Month presentation at the 6 August 2014 Recreational Astronomy Night Meeting at the Ontario Science Centre. The notes have been reproduced here.

A 10-week course for space exploration fans who want to learn maker skills and technologies. No experience required – get up to speed with maker tech with this fun and exciting theme!

Risa Horowitz captured this image Friday July 25 at the Carr Astronomical Observatory.  From the observing pad facing south Ian Wheelband's dobsonian telescope was in fine form.  Risa and Ian were joined by Blake Nancarrow.

Thank you Doug Isherwood for sharing this image of the happy members who spent the day at the Carr Astronomical Observatory on Saturday after a very successful Star-B-Q. Stay tuned for the full report coming to our SCOPE newsletter soon.

Ever seen Pluto?

Here's an animation of Pluto taken in July by Paul Mortfield, from Sierra Remote Observatories, CA, USA.  Click on the image to see this dwarf planet move.