NOVAC’s Byron Bergert Imaging Group will hold its Not-a-Leap-Year Processing Party online on Saturday, February 27 from 10am to 1pm. As our planet’s satellite moves into its springtime prime, when the first-quarter moon will ride high in the sky, this seemed like a good opportunity to take a step sideways from our usual focus on deep sky astrophotography to do a session on lunar imaging. Our Special Guest Processor for this meeting is Tom Glenn, a skilled lunar and planetary photographer who lives in San Diego. You may be familiar with Tom’s work from his fantastic APOD of the International Space Station transiting Mars, but if you look at Tom’s Flickr site you’ll quickly see that he’s equally talented at lunar imaging, and in fact he earned his first APOD for that work. Tom images the moon with a 9.25” Celestron SCT and an ASI183 camera.
We’ll be holding this meeting online via Google Meet. Follow the link below to join the meeting (you can dial in for audio only):
Phone: 414-436-7479
PIN: 891 623 500#
We’ll open the connection about 10 minutes before the meeting time.
Details and Google Meet link TBA.
Event is confirmed! See you tonight!
RSVP here.
Join NOVAC members who will be on hand to share views of the night sky including Mars, star clusters, the Milky Way, and many other deep sky objects.
Activities during Astronomy Day will include a telescope meet and greet, solar observing, a guided sky tour, night sky observing, and other demonstrations.
Feel free to walk around and enjoy the views of objects through a variety of telescopes on the field. Please ask the owner before using a telescope. If you have young children, please watch them around expensive astronomical equipment. Remember, telescope mirrors are sensitive to cigarette smoke and bug spray. Pets should also not be brought onto the observing field.
No astronomy experience or equipment is necessary to attend. If you have your own equipment, feel free to bring them along, even if it’s just a pair of binoculars.
For lighting, cover a flashlight in red cellophane (the darker the better). Bring along water to keep hydrated and plan on staying the entire evening or as long as the weather allows. Please dim your vehicles headlights when arriving and departing.
Crockett Park charges $7 per vehicle if you’re not a Fauquier County resident. However the event itself is completely free. NOVAC members are admitted free upon presentation of a membership card (available from the members-only section of the website). If you’re not a member but would like to become one, you can join the club online and print your membership card in only a few minutes.
Note: Masks are required throughout the event. This event is also weather-dependent and may be cancelled because of significant cloud cover or precipitation.
Head over to the Astronomy Day page for more information.
Due to predicted overcast and possible precipitation, Star Gaze is cancelled for this year.
RSVP here.
Join NOVAC members who will be on hand to share views of the night sky.
Activities during Astronomy Day will include a telescope meet and greet, solar observing, a guided sky tour, night sky observing, and other demonstrations.
Feel free to walk around and enjoy the views of objects through a variety of telescopes on the field. Please ask the owner before using a telescope. If you have young children, please watch them around expensive astronomical equipment. Remember, telescope mirrors are sensitive to cigarette smoke and bug spray. Pets should also not be brought onto the observing field.
No astronomy experience or equipment is necessary to attend. If you have your own equipment, feel free to bring them along, even if it’s just a pair of binoculars.
For lighting, cover a flashlight in red cellophane (the darker the better). Bring along water to keep hydrated and plan on staying the entire evening or as long as the weather allows. Please dim your vehicles headlights when arriving and departing.
Crockett Park charges $7 per vehicle if you’re not a Fauquier County resident. However the event itself is completely free. NOVAC members are admitted free upon presentation of a membership card (available from the members-only section of the website). If you’re not a member but would like to become one, you can join the club online and print your membership card in only a few minutes.
Note: This event is weather-dependent and may be cancelled because of significant cloud cover or precipitation.
Head over to the Astronomy Day page for more information.
RSVP Here.
Members of the public are invited attend the largest annual astronomy outreach event in the U.S.
NOVAC will join 30 other astronomy/science organizations on the National Mall between 3rd and 4th Street to share astronomy concepts during the day and share views of the D.C. sky at night.
The festival is hosted by Hofstra University’s Department of Physics and Astronomy and their Astronomy Outreach Program.
The event will be on the National Mall between 3rd and 4th Street, sandwiched between the National Museum of the Native American and the National Gallery of Art- East Building.
Note: This outdoor event is weather-dependent and may be cancelled because of precipitation.
RSVP here.
Join NOVAC members who will be on hand to share views of the night sky.
Activities during Astronomy Day will include a telescope meet and greet, solar observing, a guided sky tour, night sky observing, and other demonstrations.
Feel free to walk around and enjoy the views of objects through a variety of telescopes on the field. Please ask the owner before using a telescope. If you have young children, please watch them around expensive astronomical equipment. Remember, telescope mirrors are sensitive to cigarette smoke and bug spray. Pets should also not be brought onto the observing field.
No astronomy experience or equipment is necessary to attend. If you have your own equipment, feel free to bring them along, even if it’s just a pair of binoculars.
For lighting, cover a flashlight in red cellophane (the darker the better). Bring along water to keep hydrated and plan on staying the entire evening or as long as the weather allows. Please dim your vehicles headlights when arriving and departing.
Crockett Park charges $7 per vehicle if you’re not a Fauquier County resident. However the event itself is completely free. NOVAC members are admitted free upon presentation of a membership card (available from the members-only section of the website). If you’re not a member but would like to become one, you can join the club online and print your membership card in only a few minutes.
Note: This event is weather dependent and may be cancelled due to overcast or precipitation.
For more information, see our Star Gaze page.
Learn about the formation of supermassive black holes and what exciting new discoveries await us from the James Webb Telescope. Join NOVAC and one of the leading astrophysists in this field of study, Dr. Jenny Greene, Professor of Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton University.
When: 10/9/22, 7:30pm EDT
Where: Dr. Greene will present virtually. Those interested may meet at George Mason University, Exploratory Hall, Room 3301 (arrive as early at 6:30pm).
For those wishing to join virtually here is the link:
NOVAC General Meeting
Sunday, October 9 · 7:30 – 9:00pm
Google Meet joining info
https://meet.google.com/osh-bcyd-gti
Or dial: (US) +1 484-430-1468 PIN: 486 839 001#
More phone numbers: https://tel.meet/osh-bcyd-gti?pin=1354183604637
Talk Title: The birth of supermassive black holes
Abstract: Supermassive black holes are ubiquitous at the centers of massive galaxies in the universe today, but we have no idea when or how these monsters are first formed. For the first time we have the chance to catch them as babies or adolescents just hundreds of millions of years after the Big Bang, thanks to the remarkable performance of the James Webb Space Telescope. I will discuss prospects for first results in this area in the coming year.
Jenny Greene is a Professor of Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton University, where she has been chasing intermediate-mass black holes for more than a decade. She is also the faculty director of the Prison Teaching Initiative.
RSVP here.
Join NOVAC members who will be on hand to share views of the night sky.
Activities during Astronomy Day will include a telescope meet and greet, solar observing, a guided sky tour, night sky observing, and other demonstrations.
Feel free to walk around and enjoy the views of objects through a variety of telescopes on the field. Please ask the owner before using a telescope. If you have young children, please watch them around expensive astronomical equipment. Remember, telescope mirrors are sensitive to cigarette smoke and bug spray. Pets should also not be brought onto the observing field.
No astronomy experience or equipment is necessary to attend. If you have your own equipment, feel free to bring them along, even if it’s just a pair of binoculars.
For lighting, cover a flashlight in red cellophane (the darker the better). Bring along water to keep hydrated and plan on staying the entire evening or as long as the weather allows. Please dim your vehicles headlights when arriving and departing.
Crockett Park charges $7 per vehicle if you’re not a Fauquier County resident. However the event itself is completely free. NOVAC members are admitted free upon presentation of a membership card (available from the members-only section of the website). If you’re not a member but would like to become one, you can join the club online and print your membership card in only a few minutes.
Note: This event is weather-dependent and may be cancelled because of significant cloud cover or precipitation.
Head over to the Astronomy Day page for more information.
RSVP here.
Join NOVAC members who will be on hand to share views of the night sky.
Activities during Star Gaze will include a telescope meet and greet, solar observing, a guided sky tour, night sky observing, and other demonstrations.
Feel free to walk around and enjoy the views of objects through a variety of telescopes on the field. Please ask the owner before using a telescope. If you have young children, please watch them around expensive astronomical equipment. Remember, telescope mirrors are sensitive to cigarette smoke and bug spray. Pets should also not be brought onto the observing field.
No astronomy experience or equipment is necessary to attend. If you have your own equipment, feel free to bring them along, even if it’s just a pair of binoculars.
For lighting, cover a flashlight in red cellophane (the darker the better). Bring along water to keep hydrated and plan on staying the entire evening or as long as the weather allows. Please dim your vehicles headlights when arriving and departing.
Crockett Park charges $7 per vehicle if you’re not a Fauquier County resident. However the event itself is completely free. NOVAC members are admitted free upon presentation of a membership card (available from the members-only section of the website). If you’re not a member but would like to become one, you can join the club online and print your membership card in only a few minutes.
Note: This event is weather dependent and may be cancelled due to overcast or precipitation.
For more information, see our Star Gaze page.