About Us

The Royal Astronomical Society, Victoria Centre is part of a national society dedicated to bringing information about astronomy to the general public.

Membership

Open to everyone with an interest in astronomy.  Membership in the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada does not require any knowledge of astronomy. We enjoy helping beginners!

Joining the Victoria Centre of the Canada-wide RASC is easy - Applying for membership

Contact Us:

New Member Liaison: Bruno Quenneville (250) 477-2257

Postal mail

RASC Victoria Centre
c/o Nelson Walker, Secretary
3836 Pitcombe Place
Victoria,  BC  V8N 4B9

Victoria Council

** Click on the link to email a member of Victoria Centre's Council, or alternately build their email address by appending "@victoria.rasc.ca" to the email account listed above. To contact Members at Large, please send email to Web for forwarding.

Library

An extensive library is maintained by the Centre. It offers:

Titles may be borrowed free of charge by members - see Charles in the Astronomy Lounge, Fourth floor of the Elliott Building after the regular monthly meetings.

Charles Banville, Librarian
(250) 686-0558
 

Telescopes for Loan

To provide first hand experience in using a telescope, new members are invited to borrow the Centre's telescopes. The Victoria Centre keeps various sizes of telescopes to suit most needs and these are available to lend. If you are contemplating buying a telescope of your own, and would like to find which one you should buy, first think of borrowing from the Centre for a test run. Here is a list.

Reflectors:

1. 150 mm Orion XT6 - SkyQuest, (Dob)
2. 150 mm Orion XT6 - SkyQuest, (Dob)
3. 200 mm Orion XT8 - SkyQuest, (Dob)
4. 200 mcm reflector, f/8 - (Dob)
5. 254 mm reflector - f/6 (Dob). Mount under construction
6. 500 mm reflector (Dob)
7. 114 mm Tasco reflectors (2). Flimsy mounts. Will be converted to Dobs
8. 114 mm Omcon reflector - (Equatorial)
9. 120 mm reflector, f/9 - (Equatorial)
10. 150 mm Criterion reflector with equatorial mount
11. 220 mm reflector with heavy equatorial mount
12. 220 mm reflector, wooden tube, equatorial mount. Requires a new mount
13. 500 mm reflector (at Pearson College)
    
    Refractors:
14. 60 mm "Polarex" refractor, f/15.
15. 100 mm Takahashi refractor.

All of these telescopes are portable, and capable of being carried in a car, except the 500mm Dob, which will likely require an SUV or van.

Sid Sidhu, Co-ordinator of Telescopes
(250) 391-0540  Telescopes

Activities

The local members have a wide range of interests and are happy to share their knowledge and expertise with others. Some of their talents include astrophotography (film and digital), telescope making, variable star observing, "planetology", stellar evolution and cosmology.

RASC Roots

In 1868 a small group of amateur astronomers formed the Toronto Astronomy Club. In 1903, King Edward VII gave his permission for "Royal" to be included in the title and the Society became the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. There are now about 3,000 members in 22 Centres, found in most major cities.

The Victoria Centre was formed in 1914 and quickly developed into one of the largest Centres in the country. There are currently about 200 members.  Over half are amateurs with the remainder being professionals from the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory and the University of Victoria. Professional astronomers frequently appear as guest speakers at RASC monthly meetings.

Victoria Centre members often assist as volunteers at the NRC-HIA Centre of the Universe - Public Observatory and Astronomy Centre during public observing sessions.