Announcements
| Starfest web address by Malcolm Park, at 2008-01-27 09:16:59 |
| I am discontinuing use of the old Starfest domain. From now on we will use the NYAA.ca domain to simplify club and Starfest website management.
If you still have nyaa-starfest.com book marked, when you visit the site you will get the following message...
NYAA-Starfest.com has moved to a new domain
Please reset your bookmarks
You will be forwarded automatically in 10 seconds to http://www.nyaa.ca
The website look and feel is exactly the same, just the domain is changing. Please update your bookmarks.
|
| Otmar Eigler Memorial award by Malcolm Park, at 2008-01-19 07:50:35 |
| I am requesting nominations for the annual Otmar Eigler Memorial award. The award is given to the NYAA member who has made an outstanding contribution to the club in the previous year. Please send your nominations directly to me at malcol@hotmail.com by January 26. I will compile the nominations and send you a list of nominees by January 28th. Everyone will then have one week (until February 4th) to send your vote (via e-mail please) to malcol@hotmail.com thank you,
Malcolm Park |
| Observatory Park by Malcolm Park, at 2007-12-15 10:01:50 |
| The NYAA membership stepped up and pledged 500.00 through the club. The club will match this $500.00 and so a grand total of $1,000.00 has been pledged in the name of the North York Astronomical Association.
$31,000.00 has been pledged so far, with the goal being $50,000.00.
Malcolm |
| Club Pledge. by Malcolm Park, at 2007-12-09 00:26:28 |
| The deadline for declaring your pledge through the NYAA to the RASC to help build a future for the DDO will be December 14th. We have 4 contributors so far.
Malcolm |
| RASC-DDO Initiative by Malcolm Park, at 2007-12-01 11:54:04 |
| Members of the NYAA,
Denis Grey of the RASC Toronto Centre made a presentation to the club at our November club meeting describing the RASC’s strategy to address the fate of the DDO. There is a website with complete details on this at http://www.observatorypark.ca
Also, the NYAA recently wrote a letter to the Governing Board members of the UofT, carbon copying the Mayor of Richmond Hill, the regional councilors, and local councilors describing in detail why the NYAA is in favour of preserving the DDO as a public outreach facility.
The executive of the NYAA met to discuss the issue of pledging a financial contribution to the RASC’s effort on Wednesday of this week, and decided that the NYAA will match, up to $500.00, any pledges offered by members of the club. This only applies to money donated by club members for the purpose of being pledged by the NYAA.
If nobody offers to pledge money, the club will not pledge any.
If a member donates in his own name, it will not be matched.
But if money is pledged through the NYAA, the maximum amount matched will be $500.00. If over 500.00 is pledged, it will be that amount plus $500.00 that is pledged to the fundraising.
If you would like to make a pledge through the NYAA please reply to me directly at malcol@hotmail.com
Malcolm |
| Starfest Yahoo Group by Malcolm Park, at 2007-10-28 14:30:17 |
| The Starfest Yahoo Group has been created, and invitations to join the group went out this afternoon. If you did not receive an invitation to join, then I did not have your email address on my list. Please email me at malco@hotmail.com to be added to the group.
This group is for club outsiders to engage in discussions and keep in touch with Starfest friends throughout the year. I approached 3 members to ask them to be list moderator along with myself. I have posted a couple of polls on there as well. IThis afternoon I sent out about 850 invitations, and within an hour we had 10 people accept the invitation to join.
Please have a look at the group on Yahoo.
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/NYAAStarfest/
Malcolm |
| Looking for some cloudy night image processing material? by Rick McWatters, at 2007-05-03 20:02:16 |
| Recent testing of the Lorenz Telescope Remote Control System at the
April dark sky weekend resulted in several sets of image data which
I have posted in the R.A.T area of the members only section.
These are unprocessed fits format. Image runs were made to check
polar alignment and drive tracking. You will notice some sets
show tracking errors. A PEC feedback upgrade is in the works.
April 21 after Andreas had done some polar alignment testing he
captured some images of M27.
On April 22 I ran 3 hours of imaging using the MaximDL/CCD
sequencing script. Each object was imaged 5 times at
30 60 and 120 seconds with a dark frame for each exposure.
Each target sequence took about 30 minutes.
Afterwards we made some flats using white paper over the front
of the refractor.
M49
M59 & M60
M87
M99
M104
NGC4038 & NGC4039 "Antennae"
( see the apod of May 6 1997 http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap970506.html )
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| NYAA Astrophotography by Malcolm Park, at 2007-04-08 13:17:06 |
| At the next darksky weekend at Oak Heights, Apr 20-21, I will be available for anyone interested in some hands on tutelage in astrophotography. Using my own equuipment, we will cover the following:
Basic imaging techniques with tripod and camera.
Piggy back mounted SLR imaging. (film or Digital)
Deep sky imaging with a 10" LX200.
Widefield imaging with an 80mm refractor.
Computer (laptop) controlled imaging.
Anyone interested in this please let me know,
cheers,
Malcolm
malcol@hotmail.com
|
| Otmar Eigler Memorial award by Malcolm Park, at 2007-03-06 15:58:24 |
| I am requesting your nominations for the annual Otmar Eigler Memorial award. The award is given to the NYAA member who has made an outstanding contribution to the club in the previous year. Please send your nominations directly to me at malcol@hotmail.com by March 12. I will compile the nominations and send you all the list of nominees by March 14. Everyone will then have one week (until March. 21) to send your vote (via e-mail please) directly to malcol@hotmail.com
thank you,
Malcolm Park |
| 25th Anniversary Group Picture by Malcolm Park, at 2007-02-05 09:18:05 |
| The 25th Anniversary Group picture from Starfest 2006 has been posted on the club website. Go to http://www.nyaa.ca and follow the Starfest link. Also, work will begin within the next week or so to modernize the old Stafrest site.
Cheers,
Malcolm
|
| Meeting Notes by Malcolm Park, at 2006-12-03 14:29:01 |
| We now have a page on the club web-site where a recap of our monthly meetings is posted. Notes prepared by Ramesh Pooran.
From the main page, click About Meetings, then Meeting Notes.
Malcolm
|
| Lorenz Observatory Image Album Debuts by Rick McWatters, at 2006-10-31 22:43:37 |
| Visit the Gallery page at nyaa.ca to see some test images taken
last spring while constructing the R.A.T. The camera is attached
to the 5 inch F5 refractor so gives a very wide field at 1280 x 1024.
I have performed some image processing and combining with
MaximDL and Photoshop.
When the raw image files are made available shortly in the
Members Only section you can try your hand at getting the most
out of them.
The FLI camera was in need of a clean and purge of the sensor
chamber at that time so there are many anomalies to edit out. |
| Demo Remote Access Telescope by Marc Castel, at 2006-10-25 19:23:08 |
| Robosky.com now has one of its remote access telescopes online and available to members for testing in the members section on the RAT page |
| Nirvana by Malcolm Park, at 2006-10-21 10:53:48 |
| Sadly, the weather has not cooperated with us and the trip to Nirvana is cancelled. |
| RAT imaging software by Malcolm Park, at 2006-09-21 18:35:42 |
| Marc Castel is setting up some imaging software on his site that members of the club can use and try out. It will be the same software as we will use for the R.A.T. Please feel free to try it out, there is a link in the members section on the RAT page. |
| October Dark Sky Weekend date change by Malcolm Park, at 2006-09-12 18:21:30 |
| the Nirvana camping trip is being held on the 20th of October.
The Dark Sky Weekend at Oak Heights is being moved to the 27th of October. |
| Nirvana by Malcolm Park, at 2006-08-30 14:18:33 |
| October 13th or 20th, a weekend club camping trip to Nirvana is being planned, near Bon Echo Provincial Park. Email me if you are interested in joining us. malcol at hotmail.com |
| Weather Synopsis by Malcolm Park, at 2006-08-28 07:52:08 |
| New in the Observing Conditions area, Marc Fitkin is now posting a weekly weather synopsis, which will help members make their observing plans. |
| Oak Heights Weather Station goes live. by Marc Castel, at 2006-07-23 11:53:20 |
| The Oak Heights Weather Station is up and running and can be viewed online. Follow the Observing Conditions link above. |
| New Web Site Launched. by Malcolm Park, at 2006-07-20 05:09:28 |
| The NYAA is pleased to announce the launching of the new NYAA website.
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