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Welcome
to the updated ALPO website! We are happy to launch this refreshed version
of our website and hope that you’ll be a frequent visitor. Our objective
is to have content that will be a resource for all observers that enjoy
studying our Solar System.
(July 31, 2024) -For those who attended this year’s ALPO 2024 Conference, THANK YOU so much to both the presenters AND the viewers, no matter whether it was via Zoom or the ALPO YouTube Channel! With 13 presenters and a total of 85 viewers over the two days, we believe we really did the amateur astronomical community proud. The conference was held July 26 and 27. And here’s another shout-out to our door prize donors — Celestron, Explore Scientific and Catseye Collimation System. (We ask that the winners of their door prizes to please take some time to write a thank-you letter (or email) to those door prize contributors.) For those who missed it: • Tim Robertson (ALPO Conference 2024 chairman) for overseeing things and making the online arrangements run so smoothly. • Matt Will (ALPO Membership Secretary/Treasurer) for his talk on the status of the organization today.
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Best Images Yet from BebiColombo
9/5/2024
The ESA/JAXA
spacecraft BepiColombo made a successful flyby at Mercury on Sept. 4th,
sending back its best images yet as it flew within 165km of the planet.
The successful maneuver will slow the spacecraft down to enable it to
eventually orbit Mercury starting in November 2026. The B&W images
were taken using the “M-CAM”, the main science camera is shield and will
provide higher resolution images once BepiColumbo starts its scientific
investigation in earnest.
Read More
Meteorites from Tharsis and Elysium?
8/23/2024
Scientists at the
University of Alberta have been studying some of the 200 meteorites in
their collection that have been identified as originating from Mars. By
examining the meteorites' “shock features” they were able to estimate the
size of the impact craters that could have launched the meteorites,
enabling them to speculate that the Martian rocks were ejected from
craters formed in the Tharsis and Elysium regions of the planet.
Read More
Check the Events Calendar
2024-09-06
Mercury at dichotomy (morning sky)
2024-09-06 17:00
Spica 0.5° south of Moon, occultation NE North America, Africa
2024-09-08
Saturn at opposition
2024-09-08 05:50
Rhea Transit
2024-09-10 13:00
Antares 0.1° north of Moon, occultation Africa to Indonesia
2024-09-11 06:06
First Quarter Moon
2024-09-11 07:10
Dione Transit
2024-09-12
Jupiter at western quadrature
2024-09-14 00:50
Dione Transit
2024-09-17
Mars reaches 7.0" in size