Table Of ContentJULY/AUGUST 2022
Exploring space
An interview with Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk
Starstruck canucks
Canadian scientists memorialized in the night sky
Lasting impacts
The legacy of space rocks in craters across Canada
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TOP 10 TARGETS
Read our pick of along the
summer Milky Way, ideal for binoculars
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JULY/AUGUST 2022
VOLUME 27, ISSUE 2
Tour the
summer
Milky Way
Alan Dyer reveals his pick of
top 10 targets along the summer
Milky Way, ideal for binoculars
40
DEPARTMENTS FEATURES
04 Editor’s report 10 ASTRONAUT TALK 28 EXPLORING THE NIGHT SKY
Allendria Brunjes Exploring space Plenty of planets
06 Letters to Astronaut Robert Thirsk recounts his first Brian Ventrudo writes about Saturn at
journey into space. By Theo Nicitopoulos. opposition, a meteor shower and more.
the editor
12 PODCAST REVIEW You need a plan
32
07 SkyNews Earful of stars
briefs Spend less time slewing and more time
viewing with astronomy planning software.
Eric Klaszus interviews Saskatchewan’s
By Blake Nancarrow.
Chris Beckett and Shane Ludtke, hosts of
The Actual Astronomy Podcast.
26 July/August
Starry stories
star chart 35
Lasting Impacts
15
James Edgar A list of asterisms from cultures around
the world is available through RASC.
Crater explorer Charles O’Dale explores the
46 RASC legacy of space rocks that have smacked
into Canadian soil.
spotlight Boost your binos
38
20 BEGINNER SKY Amateur astronomer Christopher Friesen
50 Parting shot reveals how to get the best out of your
High rewards
binoculars.
Silvia Graca
Nicole Mortillaro reveals easy access 2
points into astronomy. 2
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Skyward canucks AU
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Chris Vaughan highlights Canadians JU
who are memorialized in the stars. S
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ON THE COVER: Alan Dyer took this image as part of a panorama in May 2018 of the summer Milky Way arcing over the Red Deer River and badlands S
of Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park in Alberta. The full image is on Pages 40-41.
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EDITOR’S REPORT
By Allendria Brunjes
On July 17, 2020, Trevor Chandler and his nephew watched Comet NEOWISE from a favourite
dark-sky site near Donnybrook, Ontario. Chandler captured the image with a Canon EOS 5D
Mark II, with a focal length of 50mm, aperture at f/4, ISO 3200 and exposure of 15 seconds.
Making connections
Earlier this year, I took my telescope out to my cousin’s how to view Halley’s Comet. I found a section about
property near Chatham-Kent in southwestern Ontario. Mars from the Toronto Star on August 2, 1997 — “3D
photos from Pathfinder mission,” complete with red-
After the chickens went to bed and the Sun set, we put up and-blue cardboard glasses to “put you right on the rocky
the scope and pointed it at the crescent Moon. We slewed surface of the red planet along with the Sojourner rover.”
to Castor and Pollux, Mizar and Alcor. I pointed out Boötes,
Ursa Minor and Leo. We each saw a meteor. We stared at For the past couple of years, I had sheepishly been giving
the sky, looking for dim hints of the Milky Way through my grandfather copies of SkyNews, and he had generally
distant lights while laughing and retelling family stories. seemed pleased to get them.
I gave my cousin NightWatch: A Practical Guide to Viewing The last thing he gave me was a Peterson First Guide to
the Universe by Terence Dickinson, which Nicole Mortillaro Astronomy, written by Jay M. Pasachoff, illustrated by
mentions on Page 20 as one of the best astronomy guides. Wil Tirion (also mentioned by Nicole on Page 20) and
I also gave her a copy of The Royal Astronomical Society of Robin Brickman.
Canada’s 2022 Observer’s Calendar, so she would be able to
see upcoming astronomical events. I think many of you reading this are interested in astro-
nomy in part because of the connection to the greater
The next day, my cousin said her daughter Ridley loved Universe, the understanding of something bigger out
the new copy of NightWatch, and I received a picture of her there than our wee little lives. This is one of the most
2
2 reading SkyNews, scanning pictures of Comet Leonard. common answers when I ask why someone is keen
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U had been admitted to hospital for the last time. For me, through astronomy I have found not just a
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Y/ connection to the world beyond our own, but to some
L
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J Going through his possessions with my family over the of the people closest to me. It’s a passion that passes
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SK Planisphere from the 1980s, complete with instructions on And the more we teach, the more can be discovered. •
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Magazine of The Royal
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SkyNews Media Board of Directors
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Editorial
Editor-in-Chief Allendria Brunjes
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Tirshatha Jeffrey, Lucy Kenward,
Rowena Rae
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
CHRIS VAUGHN’S ARTICLE, “Spring galaxies for the backyard I USUALLY SET UP MY TELESCOPE at dusk and then sit back and
and backcountry” evokes Walter Scott Houston’s beloved patiently wait for the darkness to descend. Luminous plan-
column in Sky & Telescope, “Deep Sky Wonders.” Pages ets like Jupiter and Venus are the first to appear in a sky still
30-33 also took me back to the halcyon days of David Eicher’s bright with the afterglow of sunset. I wait in silence under
“Deep Sky Monthly” and “Deep Sky” magazines. that Great Dome until one by one the first magnitude stars
pop into view. It doesn’t take very long for the really dark sky
I fervently hope to see more of this in SkyNews. And thank to reveal the cosmos in all its glory. Thousands of stars! The
you, Chris, for your outstanding work. subtle glow from the closest large galaxy, Andromeda, hits
my eyes, as well. At the speed of light these photons have
My notes for March 29, 2019 indicate I observed NGC 3521 travelled for over two 2.5 million years to reach my retina.
with 15 × 56 binoculars from my then-backyard, eight kilo-
metres east of city hall in Kingston, Ontario. My notes show If you spend a moment online, you can find the math behind
“fairly easy.” this speed. Travelling for one second at light speed would
send you flying around our Earth over 7.5 times. The Sun,
Readers may want to seek an edge-on galaxy NGC 3115 our own star, is just over 8 minutes away at this speed.
in Sextans. In 15 × 56 binocs (also on March 29, 2019), I Proxima Centauri, the next closest star to Earth, is 4.2 light
recorded “A little brighter than needing averted vision.” years away. Deep-sky imaging can pull glowing nebulae out
from between the stars. With a small telescope, I can see my
The magazine’s favourite galaxy, the Sombrero Galaxy, which is 31 million
makeover under the light-years away, as well as supernova remnants, star clus-
auspices of the RASC ters and the glowing red and blue of the Ring Nebula, and …
has my full approval. well, really just magic in the sky!
Larry Manuel Then the dreaming begins. People often gaze at the dazzling
RASC Victoria Centre night sky and wonder at their place in the Universe and are
humbled by the magnificence of it all.
However, light pollution, the extra unwanted light, can take
away this view of our larger home. This could result in gener-
ations of people losing something of extreme value they may
not even know exists. It’s invisible to them. The extinction of
the dark night sky is a tragedy.
Nancy Ng
RASC Windsor Centre
In our May/June 2022 issue, SkyNews ran two images with incorrect captions alongside the story "The green light." We apologize for the errors.
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JU Vancouver Island, British Columbia. (Emily Norton) Leamington, Ontario. The light pollution is brighter than what the eye
S sees, because the longer the shutter is open, the more light makes
W it into the photograph. Nancy Ng said the image, which shows the
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N Hallam Observatory grounds, was produced using a tripod-mounted
Y Nikon D5500 camera with a 10-20mm Sigma zoom lens at 10mm and
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CONTRIBUTORS SKYNEWS BRIEFS
Eric Klaszus is a Charles O’Dale is Alan Dyer enjoys Brian Ventrudo
visual observer who an amateur impact stargazing and is a writer and
enjoys exploring crater explorer. testing telescope amateur astronomer.
the dark clear skies He has visited 87 gear from his rural He writes about
of southern Alberta. potential impact home in southern astronomy and
Starhopping and craters around Alberta. If you stargazing in his blog
sketching are his North America are looking to CosmicPursuits.com
favourite modes by foot, canoe contact him, visit from home in
of transportation. and air. AmazingSky.com. Calgary.
Christopher Theo Nicitopoulos Nicole Mortillaro Blake Nancarrow:
Friesen’s interest is a science writer can be found double star aficionado
in astronomy who enjoys exploring appreciating the and David Dunlap
began with Halley’s Earth and space marvels of our Observatory telescope
Comet in 1986. He topics. His work has Universe. She is operator. He was
is an electronics also appeared in the editor of the the astronomer-in-
engineering Sky & Telescope, Journal of The residence at Killarney
technologist and Hakai Magazine and Royal Astronomical Provincial Park’s
technical writer. Discover. Society of Canada. observatory.
(Morrie Portnoff)
International Astronomy Day
2
ON MAY 7, 2022, astronomers across presentation from Canadian Space 02
Canada celebrated International Agency astronaut David Saint-Jacques, T 2
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Astronomy Day with star parties and which was broadcast across Canada. U
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special events. U
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Pictured here, left to right: Jane Luben- Y/
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The Planétarium Rio Tinto Alcan in skyi, Russell Fralich (RASC Montréal J
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Montréal, Québec, held AstroFest, a day outreach coordinator), Shaziana W
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of festivities including arts and crafts, Kaderali and Lukas Vieira stand at the N
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an astrophotography exhibit and a RASC Montréal booth at AstroFest. SK
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SKYNEWS BRIEFS
Axiom Mission 1
spaceflyer aids
health studies in
Canada
A NEW CANADIAN SPACE INVESTIGATION
tied to Axiom Mission 1 promises benefits
for maternal and children’s health on
Earth.
Ax-1, which launched April 8, carried
Canadian Mark Pathy to the Inter-
national Space Station on a 17-day
mission in space. Pathy is nearly unique
among Canadian spaceflyers as he is
not a professional from a space agency.
The CEO of Mavrik, a privately-owned
Canadian investment company, Pathy
paid a reported US $55 million (around
CAN $70 million) for the journey.
While in space, Pathy and his three
companions the crew conducted over
25 scientific experiments and techno-
logy demonstrations, according to a
press release from the Houston-based
Axiom Space.
Pathy’s work was done on behalf of
several institutions, including the
Axiom Mission 1 launched on April 8, 2022, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
Montreal Children’s Hospital, which (Don Hladiuk)
told SkyNews that the research will
be valuable for its patients.
Pathy’s investigation will be valuable to Evelyn Constantin,
“What makes this project so interesting is that a pediat- senior clinician scientist at the Research Institute of the
ric hospital is leading research that we hope will lead to the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) and the hospital’s
development of new technologies and treatments, not just director of pediatric sleep medicine.
for children, but for adults, as well,” Pablo Ingelmo, director
of the hospital’s Edwards Family Interdisciplinary Centre for Constantin studies “social jetlag,” which she defines as “the
Complex Pain, said in an e-mail. discrepancy between a child’s sleep schedule on weekdays,
when they may get up earlier and go to bed earlier, versus
2 “Microgravity in space can enhance the pain perception in weekends, when they may sleep in and go to bed later,” she
2
0 50 per cent of astronauts,” Ingelmo said. “We’re applying a said in an e-mail.
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ST research model of chronic postsurgical or posttraumatic
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G pain, which is very well known to our research group. A While the mission was only 17 days long, results often take
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Y/A single event — microgravity — can produce chronic pain months or years to analyze before publication. Interim results
UL (pain that lasts more than three months) in a previously for both doctors and their large teams should be available
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S healthy [or] pain free individual.” roughly one year after the flight concludes, they said.
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Lake Simcoe meteorite could
reveal Solar System secrets
APRIL WAS A BIG MONTH IN CANADIAN ASTRONOMY NEWS.
In space, NASA extended the OSIRIS-REx sample-re-
turn mission (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource continue to get bright much lower in the atmosphere, gradu-
Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer), which carries ally disintegrating until practically nothing remains.
a Canadian laser instrument. Set to drop off samples from
Bennu at Earth next year, OSIRIS-REx will shift to orbit “This object was about, let’s say, 10 kilograms in size,” he said
asteroid Apophis in 2029. of its size as it initially hit the atmosphere. “But by the end, it
was only 300 grams.”
But anyone can take part in asteroid science long before
then. Just follow “fireball” events, which are harmless break- Researchers found themselves looking for a meteorite’s
ups of relatively large rocks high in the Earth’s atmosphere. remains — about the mass of a soda can — potentially
scattered among fields and forests near a Kawartha Lakes
One such event was observed near Lake Simcoe in Ontario at county road.
11:37 p.m. on Sunday, April 17, 2022.
After a fruitless search with local landowners, an updated
“Our camera recorded this big fireball,” said Denis Vida, wind model suggested the meteorites fell about 500 metres
a postdoctoral associate in meteor physics at Western further to the west than expected, meaning the fragments
University. “Within a couple of minutes [after looking at it], I likely landed among trees and would be harder to find.
realized that it is definitely a meteorite dropper.”
Vida urges local people to reach out to Western University
Meteors are streaks in the sky that you see as small pebbles if they find potential meteorites. Generally, meteorites look
or bits of dust come through the atmosphere. Often these are darker and more scalloped than local rocks. They will be
annual events, with famous examples including the Perseids denser and often magnetic. They are harmless to pick up,
and Geminids. Meteorites are more rare, occurring when but to preserve them as best as possible, use gloves and
debris from a meteor makes it down to Earth. plastic bags to handle them. Also, make sure to ask a
landowner’s permission before undertaking a search; in
In the case of the Lake Simcoe meteor, Vida said the bright Canada, meteorites belong to the owner of the land upon
light-curve and sudden drop-off of light high in the atmo- which they are found.
sphere makes him think this event was big enough for
meteorites to hit the ground. More fragile rocks tend to — Elizabeth Howell
CHIME gets a galactic boost out why FRBs arise and their implications for understanding
the Universe.
The CHIME telescope is ready to hit some new notes in space
This is where three new telescope “outriggers” come in,
said CHIME and McGill University postdoctoral researcher
The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment
Adam Lanman.
(CHIME) is getting a $10-million upgrade.
“CHIME is the world leader in … detecting fast radio bursts,
Achieving first light in 2017, CHIME is located at the Dominion
especially non-repeating events,” Lanman said. “There are sev-
Radio Astrophysical Observatory, a national facility for
eral other instruments that are coming online or already exist
astronomy near Penticton, British Columbia, operated by the 2
that are more sensitive, or maybe have better time resolution. 2
National Research Council of Canada. Along with a goal to 0
map hydrogen structure in the Universe to understand more But the advantage of CHIME is it has such a wide field of view.” ST 2
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The smaller outrigger telescopes, to be completed by 2023, U
bursts (FRBs). will be in three locations: Princeton, British Columbia, the Y/A
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Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia and the Hat Creek J
FRBs, mysterious pulses of radio energy from space, are S
Observatory in California. W
tough to track down because they are brief, bright and arise E
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in all areas of the skies. CHIME has been used to help figure — Elizabeth Howell Y
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ASTRONAUT TALK
E X P L O R I N G S P A C E
A N D T H E W O N D E R S
O F O U R W O R L D
at the Moon, trying to reconcile that
Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk recounts his first
these fuzzy white images I saw hopping
journey into space and shares his insight into the
around on the lunar landscape were
value of human space exploration actually up there,” he said.
Thirsk is looking forward to the return
of astronauts, including one Canadian,
By Theo Nicitopoulos to lunar orbit in 2024.
On the evening of June 20, 1996, “That will be humanity’s first return
Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk, to the Moon in more than 50 years!”
along with six crew members, launched exclaimed Thirsk.
into space from the Kennedy Space
Center in Florida aboard the space But the ultimate destination, he added,
shuttle Columbia. About 20 minutes is Mars: to understand its geology and,
into the flight, one of Thirsk’s crew- of course, to investigate whether life
mates tapped him on the shoulder to ever existed there.
remind him to look out the window.
“Wouldn’t it be mind-blowing if the
“I was so busy working, I hadn’t looked first astronaut crew were to come back
out,” Thirsk said, noting he had been from Mars with a fossil? That would be
reconfiguring the shuttle to function as the news of the century,” he added.
an orbital laboratory. “We were over the
Atlantic Ocean, and the sunlight was Thirsk said he’s hoping to see astronauts
glinting off the water, revealing some of fly to Mars, perhaps in the late 2030s.
Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert
the currents you normally wouldn’t see.” Thirsk lived and worked in space for 188 days
during his second voyage to space. (NASA) “I was a little naive when I was a teen-
Thirsk also lived and worked on the ager because I thought: 1969, we went
International Space Station for 188 flight in Grade 3, after his teach- to the Moon; 1979, we’ll be on Mars,”
days in 2009. But this first scene caused er played the live radio broadcast of he joked.
2 quite an emotional response and has John Glenn making history as the first
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0 remained in his mind, he said. American to orbit the Earth. Then, on But the spirit of exploration is a big
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ST July 20, 1969, Thirsk watched as the part of what being an astronaut is all
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G “I quickly realized this was not a simu- first astronauts walked on the Moon. about, he said.
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UL childhood dream of mine,” explained “I remember that night very well. It was “When I think about the astronauts I
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