Astral Projections Online June 2025
Check our Website for updated content at www.astra-nj.com
Club Presentations Wanted:
Does anyone have any astronomy items of interest to share with the membership?
Please let us know at Club Contacts.
Club dues and membership. If you renew after March 31 you will be renewed as a new member.
ASTRAL PROJECTIONS ONLINE (APO for short) is an email-linked publication for members only. If you exit APO to the club website or other resources you will need to use the emailed link again to get back to it. If you wish to retain a copy please bookmark or refer back to the email. We will make all efforts to post by the first week of the month.
Submissions Welcome: Members are invited to submit articles, photos, news, or stories for inclusion with Astral Projections Online. Please contact the ASTRA Webmaster.
Event Calendar
Event Cancellations: Members will receive email notifications of event cancellations.
Upcoming June ASTRA Meeting
ASTRA's next meeting will be Friday, June 13, 2025, at 7:00 PM EST.
Heads Up for July and August Meetings.
July and August meetings will be Observing Meetings at Island Beach State Park.
Unlike the public Star Parties at IBSP, Observing Meetings are at Area 15.
All members are invited with or without a telescope, but must be registered members.
Upcoming Public Star Parties
June 28, 2025 - Jake’s Branch - 9 PM
July 12, 2025 - Island Beach State Park - Beach House #2 - 9 PM
July 19, 2025 - Jake’s Branch - 9 PM
Upcoming Public, County & State Park Presentations 2025
Public Outreach Presentations, if any member wishes to support ASTRA outreach efforts with the public, please let Vinny, Ro, or Jim know of any interest. Additional help for these events is always appreciated.
County and State Park presentations require a registration fee; call the hosting park to reserve.
None scheduled at this time.
Website Updates …
Please visit our club website. We continue to have additional updates, if some content would be useful to members please let us know.
“Across the sea of space, the stars are other suns."
- Carl Sagan - Cosmos, 1980
ASTRA Meeting - June 13 at 7 PM
We will have a double-header of ASTRA member presentations at our May meeting, at 7:00 PM in the planetarium meeting room.
Robert Scerbo will share with us the “Evolution of Stars.”
John Endreson will provide a review on "Setting up Computerized Go-to Telescopes."
We are asking members to support our ASTRA meetings on Astronomy items of interest for presentations. Please let Jim, Ro, or Vinny know.
Event Reports
May was not good for Star Parties.
We tried on May 17 at Patriots Park. The clouds teased of a possible clearing, then rolled in with some sprinkles of rain.
May 30 at Jake's Branch was also canceled due to the unstable weather.
May ASTRA Meeting Summary
Christina Andrade from the University of Minnesota, a research professional from the Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics, provided a presentation on Kilonova Catcher. Kilonova Catcher is a citizen science program developed by the GRANDMA Collaboration, allowing any volunteer astronomer to join us in our research efforts and share a common passion for gravitational wave science and astronomy.
We have saved the Zoom presentation to YouTube.
Public Events and Presentations
On May 3rd, Novins Planetarium hosted an Astronomy Day event, and ASTRA was there to support the planetarium's efforts. We had a table set up as well as some Solar Observing.
Brick Library - May 15
The Moon, Our Nearest Neighbor
We had a Moon presentation at the Brick Township Library. A total of ten guests, the event was well received.
Ocean Fun Day
May 17 was our third year at Ocean Fun Day at Island Beach State Park. This year, the rain held off, and we got to see and observe the sun. It did get windy at times, and we had to retrieve the poster boards after they were blown around.
Manchester Township Green Fair - May 28
This was mostly a DarkSky event, but we did make it known that we are from ASTRA-NJ. This was a small event, but it went well. On the plus side, we did hear they are working on township light pollution ordinances. Photo Credits go to Alec Boss of Save Barnegat Bay.
Members Submitted Articles & Items
Whatever it is, how you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Contact: Jim Webster, ASTRA President and Webmaster, regarding submissions.
AstroMag May 2025
A free online publication for Amateur Astrophotographers.
The Moon: Our Nearest Neighbor
Let’s explore some interesting features, facts, or myths about our nearest neighbor, the Moon. Without it, life on Earth would be totally different, if not at all.
The Astronomical League had a good recent posting on the moon. So we will go with this for the June APO.
Outreach material below is distributed free for public outreach.
Astronomy for ASTRA Kids
NASA Science - Space Place - Aurora Borealis
For our young ASTRA members, NASA has online webpages for kids. Great education resource for fun learning and arts & crafts.
What is an Aurora?
Around The Web
Dark Sky News
Dark Sky New Jersey is now in discussion with Middlesex Borough and the environmental commission for another DarkSky exhibit board.
This will make three locations: Great Swamp, which is active, and two locations in the works: Middlesex and Jake’s Branch.
Island Beach State Park and the Nature Center of Cape May also have some early board designs on display.
State Bill A2196
The New Jersey State Lighting Bill is back with the New Jersey State Assembly, and some modifications have been made to the bill. For more information, the link to the bill is available: https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/bill-search/2024/A2196
Latest News: We have a big push going within DarkSky New Jersey on completing a Sample Ordnance for New Jersey towns. It continues to be asked for, so we are working on getting it completed and reviewed by DarkSky International as soon as possible. It’s good to see an increasing interest. We know of four towns that are actively working on this now.
On the lighter side of astronomy …
What’s Up:
Sky Watching Tips from NASA
Provided by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Is usually updated anywhere from the first day of the month to the fifth day of the month. Check back to this linked image if it hasn’t been updated yet.
For more go to NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory webpage: What’s Up: Skywatching Tips From NASA
This article and images are distributed by NASA Night Sky Network
The Night Sky Network program supports astronomy clubs across the USA dedicated to astronomy outreach.
Visit nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov to find local clubs, events, and more!
June’s Night Sky Notes:
Seansons of the Solar System
By: Kat Troche
Uranus rolls on its side with an 84-year orbit and a tilt just 8° off its orbital plane. Its odd tilt may be from a lost moon or giant impacts. Each pole gets 42 years of sunlight or darkness. Voyager 2 saw the south pole lit; now Hubble sees the north pole facing the Sun. Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, Amy Simon (NASA-GSFC), Michael Wong (UC Berkeley); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)
Here on Earth, we undergo a changing of seasons every three months. But what about the rest of the Solar System? What does a sunny day on Mars look like? How long would a winter on Neptune be? Let’s take a tour of some other planets and ask ourselves what seasons might look like there.
Martian Autumn
Although Mars and Earth have nearly identical axial tilts, a year on Mars lasts 687 Earth days (nearly 2 Earth years) due to its average distance of 142 million miles from the Sun, making it late autumn on the red planet. This distance and a thin atmosphere make it less than perfect sweater weather. A recent weather report from Gale Crater boasted a high of -18 degrees Fahrenheit for the week of May 20, 2025.
An artist's rendition of Mars’ orbit around the Sun, and its seasons. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Seven Years of Summer
Saturn has a 27-degree tilt, very similar to the 25-degree tilt of Mars and the 23-degree tilt of Earth. But that is where the similarities end. With a 29-year orbit, a single season on the ringed planet lasts seven years. While we can’t experience a Saturnian season, we can observe a ring plane crossing here on Earth instead. The most recent plane crossing took place in March 2025, allowing us to see Saturn’s rings ‘disappear’ from view.
A Lifetime of Spring
NASA Hubble Space Telescope observations in August 2002 show that Neptune's brightness has increased significantly since 1996. The rise is due to an increase in the amount of clouds observed in the planet's southern hemisphere. Credit: NASA, L. Sromovsky, and P. Fry (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
Even further away from the Sun, each season on Neptune lasts over 40 years. Although changes are slower and less dramatic than on Earth, scientists have observed seasonal activity in Neptune’s atmosphere. These images were taken between 1996 and 2002 with the Hubble Space Telescope, with brightness in the southern hemisphere indicating seasonal change.
As we welcome summer here on Earth, you can build a Suntrack model that helps demonstrate the path the Sun takes through the sky during the seasons. You can find even more fun activities and resources like this model on NASA's Wavelength and Energy activity.
This article is distributed by the NASA Night Sky Network, a coalition of hundreds of astronomy clubs across the US dedicated to astronomy outreach. Visit nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov to find local clubs, events, stargazing info, and more.
The Oldest Galaxy Ever Seen, so far …
Video review of the latest discovery and distance breaker, from the James Webb Space Telescope.
Let’s Explore Space - What’s in the Sky June 2025
By StarWalk Astronomy App - Sky Tonight
Please let me know if this is preferred instead of posting on individual constellations and deep sky objects. This will cover what was being posted in the past.
Tonight’s Sky: No longer posting
October 2024 was the last updated posting of Tonight’s Sky. It is still available via YouTube.
Linked is the twelve-month playlist on YouTube.
Any suggested replacements, let me know.
Visit the STScI which produces Hubblesite.org video overviews for Tonight’s Sky.
They can be found both on Facebook and stsci.edu.
Submissions Welcome
Members are invited to submit articles, photos, news, or stories for inclusion with Astral Projections Online. Please contact the ASTRA Webmaster.