Newsletter
The Winter BI Parks And Rec Catalog Is Here— And We’re In It!
We’re teaming up with Parks and Rec once again for out-of-this-world classes! Introduction to Astronomy 101 (ages 16+) is back with another fantastic lineup of classes to get you off to a great start in astronomy.
Volunteer Open House at the Observatory – Saturday, Jan 24th
Are you interested in learning about how you can volunteer at Battle Point Observatory in 2026? Come drop by on Saturday January 24, 4:00 – 5:00 pm! We’ll be open for you to take a tour and chat about opportunities in the Planetarium, Education, Programs, and Facilities. Learn how easy it is to sign up in our Volgistics system. Tell us about what interests you have and how you would like to contribute your time and talents.
Women in STEM Book Club is on!
The Women in STEM book club will meet on Zoom on the fourth Tuesday of each month at 6pm, starting in January.
BPAA Member Perk: Astrospheric
Have you heard about Astrospheric? It’s an important weather forecast tool for North American astronomers and astrophotographers, and an expanded version is available for free to BPAA members!
NASA Completes Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Construction
NASA’s next big eye on the cosmos is now fully assembled. On Nov. 25, technicians joined the inner and outer portions of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope in the largest clean room at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Set to launch by May 2027, the spacecraft will study mysteries of the cosmos while also testing the Coronagraph Instrument, a new technology designed and built by JPL.
NASA’s Hubble Reveals Largest Found Chaotic Birthplace of Planets
Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have imaged the largest protoplanetary disk ever observed circling a young star. For the first time in visible light, Hubble has revealed the disk is unexpectedly chaotic and turbulent, with wisps of material stretching much farther above and below the disk than astronomers have seen in any similar system.
Superkilonova: Double Explosion Could Be First Ever Seen
A team of astronomers using numerous telescopes, including the W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea, Hawaii Island, have discovered a possible superkilonova that exploded not once but twice. The evidence shows this oddball event may be a first-of-a-kind superkilonova, or a kilonova spurred by a supernova. Astronomers have hypothesized such an event, but it’s never been seen before.
A Dance of Galaxies
The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has spied a pair of dwarf galaxies engaged in a gravitational dance. These two galaxies are named NGC 4490 and NGC 4485, and they’re located about 24 million light-years away in the constellation Canes Venatici (The Hunting Dogs). Aside from the Milky Way’s own dwarf companions (the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds), this is the closest known interacting dwarf-dwarf system where astronomers have directly observed both a gas bridge and resolved stellar populations.
The Simplest Explanation for Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays
The highest-energy particles could be a sign of new, unexpected physics. But the simplest, most mundane explanation is particularly iron-ic.