Object: Corona Australis
Class: Constellation
Magnitude: 4.1 (brightest star) — all the stars that comprise the crown are between 4th and 5th magnitude
RA: 18 h 34 m 24 s
Dec: -41 deg 29 min 24 sec
Size/Spectral: 128 degs². 80th in size.
Distance: 6500 ly
Optics needed: Binoculars to see the constellation, a small telescope for the double stars and a larger telescope for the nebula.

Why this is interesting: Anytime that the teapot (asterism) in Sagittarius is visible we point our telescopes at all of the famous objects in and around the area. These objects are a telescope magnet, attracting unwary observers to them like a fly to honey.

By Dr. Tony Phillips

This year NASA has announced the discovery of 11 planetary systems hosting 26 planets; a gigantic cluster of galaxies known as “El Gordo;” a star exploding 9 billion light years away; alien matter stealing into the solar system; massive bullets of plasma racing out of the galactic center; and hundreds of unknown objects emitting high-energy photons at the edge of the electromagnetic spectrum.

That was just January.

Why this is interesting:

After viewing the Venus transit I was talking with HAS member Bill Flanagan about the relative movement of the sun and Venus during the transit. In particular, we discussed which object, Venus or the sun, moved the most during the transit and by how much.

I first met Meg Stewart and her parents at a star party in La-Grange about two years ago. She was about 10 years old at the time and I must admit, she had more knowledge and desire for observing the night sky than I did when I was 10.

She also owns her own Newtonian telescope… an astronomical tool that I would have drooled over to have owned back in the hey-day. When I was 10 years old back in 58’ (giving my age away), I only had a used, crude, and optically poor ‘Sears and Roebuck’ 7x35mm binocular.

I’ve heard it spoken that many years ago, the ama-teur astronomer had inky-black dark skies while using their small aperture tele-scopes. Today, we have the opposite. The sky is washed-out with light pollution, but we now use superior large aperture equipment. Go figure.

Let’s read about Meg’s ideas here and get her perspective on how the younger genera-tion and she are pursuing their interest in astronomy. Here’s Meg Stewart…