Planetarium Shows in December
Saturdays on December 6, 13 and 27: Planetarium Shows at Battle Point Observatory. Shows offered at 12:30 pm and again at 2:30 pm.
November 2025
Camp Promise Invitation
The Battle Point Observatory has been invited by the Jett Foundation to attend a stargazing event for their Camp Promise summer camp this June.
BPAA Members: Save the Date for the Annual Meeting
The Board of Directors invites all members to attend BPAA’s Annual Meeting on Saturday, January 10th, 2026 at 6 pm. The meeting will be held at Battle Point Observatory (10800 Battle Point Dr NE, Bainbridge Island, WA), with a virtual option for those who cannot attend in-person.
Why Did the Sundial Lose Its Numbers?
If you’ve visited the Battle Point Sundial recently, you’ll have noticed that the number decal marking the hours is missing. The numbers had faded almost to invisibility after 10 years (has it really been that long?) in the sun. Additionally, kids have scratched their names, initials, and worse into the painted surface with whatever hard implements they can find. We’ve removed the decal in preparation for repainting in the spring, when the weather improves. After painting, a new decal will be applied. If you’d like to help with this project, click this link to volunteer.
Astrophotographers Unite!!
Chuck Wraith is setting up a special interest Astrophotography Group. Read the post for details!
The Rosette Nebula (Caldwell 49)
Credit: Chuck Wraith
The Rosette nebula is a large, stunning nebula found approximately 5,000 Light-years from us in the constellation Monoceros. It is nearly 130 light-years wide and composed primarily of ionized hydrogen (red) with hints of twice ionized oxygen (blue) showing near its center.
Webb First to Show 4 Dust Shells ‘Spiraling’ Apep, Limits Long Orbit
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has delivered a crisp mid-infrared image of a system of four serpentine spirals of dust, one expanding beyond the next in precisely the same pattern. These shells were emitted over the last 700 years by two aging Wolf-Rayet stars in a system known as Apep, named after the Egyptian god of chaos.
Red Giant “Star Songs” Reveal Their Chaotic Pasts
Astronomers have studied two red giants, BH2 and BH3, each orbiting dormant black holes in binary systems Gaia BH2 and Gaia BH3. BH2 shows signs of having consumed its companion star, indicated by its age and rotation, while BH3 is an ancient star defying cosmological expectations by lacking predicted brightness oscillations. These systems are among the closest black hole binaries to Earth, located 3,800 and 1,900 light-years away respectively in the constellations Centaurus and Aquila.
Asteroid Loaded with Amino Acids Offers New Clues About the Origin of Life on Earth
The theory that life on Earth began with molecules delivered from space gains support from recent findings on asteroid Bennu. Samples from Bennu, a primitive asteroid largely unchanged since the solar system’s formation 4.6 billion years ago, contain 14 amino acids and five nucleobases, essential building blocks of proteins and genetic material. Notably, traces of tryptophan, an amino acid never definitively found in extraterrestrial material before, were also tentatively detected. These discoveries confirm that both protein components and genetic blueprints coexist in the same extraterrestrial source, reinforcing the idea that life’s origins may be linked to cosmic deliveries.