Observing Program Division Announcement – AL Downloadable Certificate: The Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn
The Astronomical League has a downloadable certificate available for the Great Conjunction. Get one here.
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Observing Program Division Announcement – AL Observing Challenge: The Great Conjunction Special Award
The Astronomical League is excited to announce that we will be offereing a Special Observing Award to commemorate the Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn on December 21, 2020. For more information check out the web page: click here.
Observing Program Division Announcement – NASA Observing Challenge: Perseverance Lander
In February, the Perseverance Lander will reach Mars and land in Jezero Crater. To commemorate this event we will be having a NASA Observing Challenge. For more information go to our NASA Observing Challenge web page. Get your image of Mars now while it is positioned well.
Observing Program Division Announcement – Mars Map
One of our members, Robert Brayton, has assembled a Mars map that he has graciously agreed to provide to folks who are pursuing the Mars Observing Program. More information on how to get your copy is near the bottom of the Mars Observing Program web page: https://test.astroleague.org/mars-observing-program
Free Webinars at AAVSO
Our cousins at AAVSO are offering a free set of Webinars. I checked it out, and there seem to be some great topics coming. We have worked closely with AAVSO on a number of occassions and are very happy that they brought these to our attention.
AAVSO has a new and free Observing Section Webinar Series. This educational opportunity has been quite popular so far among a wide array of observers, and we think some of you may be interested in attending. Each Saturday throughout the summer, our Observing Sections host a 2-hour Zoom webinar complete with guest speakers on their respective observing categories.
These Zoom sessions are entirely open to the public. More information and registration for any to all of the remaining webinars is available at https://www.aavso.org/2020-observing-section-webinar-series.
Observing Program Announcement: New Observing Programs – 2020
The Observing Program Directors are excited to announce that at the July AL Council meeting, the Council adopted five new Observing Programs and Awards.
They are:
- Alternate Constellations Observing Program – Brad Young, Coordinator
- Foundations of Imaging Observing Program – Dan Crowson, Coordinator
- Library Telescope Observing Award – Tom Lynch, Coordinator
- Lunar Evolution Observing Program – Chuck Allen Coordinator
- Master Imager Award – Aaron Clevenson, Coordinator
This is the start of the Astronomical League’s foray into Imaging specific certifications. Foundations of Imaging is the first of this family of Programs. We have also added the Master Imager Award. It parallels the Master Observer Award for visual observers.
Lunar Evolution and Alternate Constellations are aimed primarily at fairly new observers, although Lunar certification is a requirement for the Lunar Evolution certification.
Lastly, the Library Telescope Obserinv Program is designed to recognize the value ot the Library Telescope Program implemented by the Astronomiucal League, as a means to recognize those members who dedicate effort towards this program.
All in all, we believe that these are great additions to our suite of Observing Programs and Award. We hope you will jump in and tacle some of these new options.
Aaron Clevenson, Al Lamperti, Cliff Mygatt, and Maynard Pittendreigh – Observing Program Directors