The 2025 RASC Halifax Centre BBQ was a success!

 
Members and their guests are invited to attend the Annual BBQ & Observing night to the St. Croix Observatory (SCO)  next year.
 
Date: To be determined.
 
Time: BBQ start time 5:00 PM ADT approx., observing sometime after 8:00 PM when the stars begin to shine. It promises to be a good night for observing so bring warm clothes and your observing gear. 

Place: St. Croix Observatory
 

Burgers (beef & chicken) and hotdogs with all the fixings, chips, veggies & dip, pop, juice, water, coffee/tea/hot chocolate, cookies, apples and homemade apple cake. You won’t be hungry! Members with special nutrition requirements are invited to bring their own food for cooking on the grill.

Please bring your own plates and utensils.

Carpe noctum. Join us in the observing field of our gem in the woods.

 
Reminder: Any headlamp or flashlight you bring must be a red light or be covered with red cellophane.
 
For those new to astronomy and/or are visual observers, bring your binoculars (and telescopes if you have one) - you can see some wonderful objects in the sky. The Astroimagers in our Centre will be there taking pictures of the night skies that I am sure they would love to share. 
 
Bring layers of warm clothing to ensure you stay warm from the time of the BBQ through the observing session. There is a Warm Room and warm beverages will be available throughout the evening should anyone get cold, but be prepared for a cooler evening outdoors.
 
If you have any questions, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
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RASC, Halifax Centre Public Meeting 

 Devin Williams - "Building Galaxy Outskirts: The Role of Galaxy Mergers and Cosmic Environment"

 

Meetings of Halifax Centre are from 1:00 PM to 4:30 PM on the FIRST SATURDAY of the month (except July and August). There may be exceptions if the date falls on a holiday weekend. All meetings and special sessions are recorded and are accessible on the RASC Halifax Centre YouTube channel. 

Time: Feb 7th, 1:00 PM Atlantic (12:00 Noon, Eastern)
Place: Room AT101, The Atrium,  Saint Mary's University or by Zoom

We would love to see you at Saint Mary's University. However, if you are a distant member or would prefer not to attend at this time, you can attend via Zoom. If there is a change in location at SMU, we will notify members beforehand.

Register for the Zoom meeting using this link. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. 

For those attending in person there will be a free Door Prize  A Celestron PowerSeeker 127EQ manual German equatorial mount

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Public Meeting

  • Welcome & Introductions - David Hoskin
  • Photo Montage - David Hoskin

  • Keynote Speaker - Devin Williams.
    Building Galaxy Outskirts: The Role of Galaxy Mergers and Cosmic Environment

    Galaxies do not grow exclusively in isolation. Interactions with neighboring galaxies or dense intergalactic gas can alter a galaxy’s population of stars and overall shape. Understanding how this externally driven evolution varies over cosmic history and across different environments is essential for connecting galaxy evolution to the universe’s large-scale structure. One powerful tracer of environmental influence is a galaxy’s stellar halo—a faint, extended cloud of stars and gas surrounding a galaxy. Models suggest that stellar haloes may grow primarily from stars added through galaxy mergers, and observations studying their buildup across large galaxy populations can reveal how environmental interactions shape galaxy evolution. In this talk, I present results on the evolution of galaxy stellar haloes over ~6 billion years, based on hundreds of thousands of galaxies ranging from the most massive to one-tenth of the Milky Way’s mass. Deep imaging from the CLAUDS survey on CFHT and the HSC-SSP survey on the Subaru Telescope enables the detection of faint stellar halo emission down to less than 0.05% of the night sky’s brightness. I demonstrate how stellar halo growth depends on galaxy mass, cosmic time, and whether a galaxy is actively forming stars, revealing the relative contributions of stars formed inside galaxies versus those acquired from others. I also examine whether galaxy cluster environments—the densest regions in the universe— promote stellar halo growth through more frequent galaxy interactions, or suppress it through harsh environmental conditions.

    Devin J. Williams is a PhD candidate in Astronomy at Saint Mary’s University, working under Dr. Ivana Damjanov and Dr. Marcin Sawicki in the Department of Astronomy & Physics. He earned his MSc in Astronomy in 2023 and his BSc in Astrophysics in 2021, both from SMU. His research uses deep imaging from large-area ground-based surveys to study the physical processes driving galaxy evolution over cosmic time. In addition to his research, he works as a telescope operator and tour guide at the Burke-Gaffney Observatory in Halifax, Canada.

  • Food for the Soul - Paul Heath
  • News from the Board - Tony McGrath
  • Night Sky What's Up? -  David Hoskin
  
Devin Williams
David Hoskin
Tony McGrath
Paul Heath
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Members may be found observing at the St. Croix Observatory on almost every clear, dark night. Once a month, we encourage members and their guests to Observe With Us at SCO, at which time new members are particularly welcome. 

Members are advised to sign up to the email discussion list to keep up to date on gatherings of fellow observers.

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The viewing field at Nova East

For over 30 years, the RASC Halifax Centre and other local groups have hosted the Nova East Star Party. It was originally established as the camping and observing weekend for the Halifax Centre and has grown to include participants from other astronomy clubs in the Atlantic region, and a number of attendees from the northeastern United States.

All participants come to enjoy dark skies on a weekend near the new Moon phase towards the end of summer. Nova East is held at Smiley's Provincial Park, near Windsor, Nova Scotia. A limiting magnitude of +6 is the norm. 

Nova East registrants have access to all events, including all talks, workshops and presentations, three nights of observing (weather permitting!), the potluck BBQ, the astronomers' breakfasts and the door prizes draw. Nova East Registrants have onsite parking (if camping) or adjacent site parking (if not camping).

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  1. Outreach

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