The Gaia mission is akin to a gothic cathedral. And now such analyses can be extended to hundreds of millions of stars with the public release of the Gaia data. For example, I love to learn how the first stellar spectra measured in the 19th century led to Annie Jump Cannon’s stellar classifications ( Only Bad Astronomers Forget Generally Known Mnemonics), leading to the Hertzsprung-Russell colour-magnitude diagram, and further leading to amazing insights such as the age of stars. One of my passions is following the trajectory of knowledge from the early astronomical observations to the present. The branch of amateur astronomy pejoratively labeled “ armchair astronomy” sounds very passive, but we delight in the personal journey to discovery, which the professional astronomers afford us by collecting and analysing these extreme data sets. But with space-based measurements over the last 20 years, the catalogs have improved by orders of magnitude! And Gaia should continue collecting data through to 2025 to continue this trend. From the Hipparchus’ catalog of 1000 stars in 150 BCE to the best Earth-based collections from last century, there was a continuous but slow improvement. For an Astro Café talk I prepared about the Gaia Data Release 2, I displayed a plot of the number and angular precision of catalogued stars. They are measuring positions, distances, motions, colours, and spectra. The Gaia satellite has been mapping 2 billion (!!!) points of lights in the sky – stars, galaxies, quasars, and solar system objects. And yes I was awake at 2 in the morning to watch the event. The Gaia Data Release 3 was publicized at 9 UT, June 13. This week, the citizens of the Earth were given a wonderful present. Membership in CVSF or RASC is not required. Evening “Drop In” Free, but donations welcome.Family: $30.00 Adults up to 3 Children (17 years or younger).Gates to the park are locked at 9PM, so park outside the gate if you are not staying overnight!įull Weekend Admission: (Includes 1 year CVSF membership) – cash only please.Reserve early, since the Cowichan Valley is a popular vacation destination. Not a camper? There are a good selection of accomodation a short drive away in Cowichan Bay, Cobble Hill, Shawnigan Lake, Cowichan Station, and Duncan.Flush toilets, potable water, extra parking available a short walk from the observing field.Motorhomes, travel trailers, campers, tents and vehicles welcome, however this is bare camping, with no services in the camping area.Admission includes camping for two nights on the observing field in designated areas.Two Full Nights of Observing, Guest Speakers, Door Prizes, Telescope Mentoring, Walking Trails, Swimming. Location: Bright Angel Park, 4528 Tigwell Rd, Duncan, BC, Canada The Cowichan Valley Starfinders Astronomy Club and the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Victoria Centre invite everyone to the dark skies of South Cowichan for the 25th Annual Island Star Party!
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