Victoria Centre held our Annual General Meeting on Saturday, November 18, 2017 at the Cedar Hill Golf Course in Victoria, BC, Canada. An excellent dinner was served by the golf course staff and some pre-dinner drinks; a fascinating speaker; awards were given to members for outstanding service and noteworthy accomplishments; and an election was held for the 2017-18 Victoria Centre Council (Executive).
Event Photos – online gallery opens in a new window
Speaker
The James Webb Space Telescope: the countdown is on – Chris Willott
The James Webb Space Telescope is the successor to the prestigious Hubble Telescope. With a diameter of 6.5 m, this infrared telescope will be launched 1.5M kilometres from Earth for a scientific mission lasting 5 to 10+ years. Canada, one of the main partners in this project with the United States and Europe, provides one of the four scientific instruments and the guiding system. The development of Webb is well underway and the world astronomical community is actively preparing for the planned launch in early 2019. This presentation will provide an update on the state of the development of the telescope and give an overview of the scientific program of the Canadian science team that includes observations to detect galaxies in the early universe and determine the composition of the atmospheres of exoplanets similar to Earth.
Chris Willott is a research astronomer at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory in Victoria. He studies the most distant galaxies in the Universe to understand how stars and black holes formed soon after the Big Bang. In addition to research, he works at the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre as the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope archive scientist and is the Canadian Project Scientist for the forthcoming James Webb Space Telescope.
Awards
The evening started with the award of past outstanding Certificates, due to absent recipients at past AGM’s.
From 2014
Certificate of Appreciation to Charles Banville for 2014 RASC General Assembly Victoria. Charles efforts in managing the logistics in transportation of our visiting members and guests.
From 2016
Certificate of Appreciation to Lauri Roche for Public Outreach at the DAO, for her outstanding support and engagement in the role of ” Person in Charge ” and volunteer coordinator.
Certificates and Awards for 2017
Certificates of Appreciation were presented to the many volunteers “For Public Outreach, Solar Eclipse 2017” for their outstanding support and engagement in Solar Viewing at numerous location in Victoria, including Mount Tolmie, the Royal BC Museum and Metchosin.
Recipients included : Ken Mallory, Jean Mallory, Jennifer Bigelow, Deb Crawford, Dan Posey, Sid Sidhu, Jim Stillburn, Li-Ann Skibo, Michael Wheatly, Marjie Welchframe, Prem Chainani, Fatimah Al Sharyah, Erin Britton, Sherry Buttnor, Michel Michaud and Bruce Lane.
Centre Certificates and Awards
Ernie Pfannenschmidt Award for Amateur Telescope Making 2017 presented to Mr. Chris Purse, for his outstanding achievement in designing and the building of a custom Field Power Pack c/w innovative digital and analog features.
Award of Excellence in Astrophotograohy 2017 presented to Mr. John McDonald, for his excellent photography of the Milky Way at the Vista Point of the Caves Creek Canyon, Portal AZ. Captured with a Canon 6D, Ioptron Sky Tracker, Sigma 15mm lens @ f / 2.8.
Certificate of Excellence 2017 presented to Reg Dunkley, in appreciation of his organization, leadership and guidance so capably rendered as the Skynews editor and Astronomy Café host.
Special Awards and Plaques.
Special Award Plaque of Excellence presented to Terry Ryals, for the design and fabrication of the Astro Café TV Cabinet. 2 Plaques were awarded with one to be mounted on the cabinet and the second as a keeper.
Award of Appreciation Plaque was presented to Michel Michaud, for his contributions as Plaskett Telescope Operator for the Summer DAO Star Parties and including the Active Observers viewing sessions.
Newton / Ball Award 2017
This year’s award went jointly to Matt Watson and Dan Posey for their distinguished service to the Victoria Centre. A certificate of appreciation was also delivered stating the following :
A major milestone was reached this year for the RASC Victoria Centre VCO, with the installation of it’s new 16 inch RC truss telescope. Technical planning and installation was a joint effort of Matt Watson and Dan Posey.
For years Matt and Dan have exercised the equipment at the VCO acting as MIC’s tending to the maintenance and creating some of the most beautiful images our centre has seen.
Congrats to both.
Many thanks for this opportunity to serve as awards coordinator, Bruno Quenneville
Minutes of 2016 Annual Meeting (available to Members Only) – Chris Purse
Centre Annual Report for 2017 (14Mb PDF slideshow) – Reg Dunkley
Treasurer’s Financial Report (available to Members Only) – Bruce Lane
National Representative’s Report – Nelson Walker
Awards – see above
Election of Victoria Centre Council Members: Sherry Buttnor
RASC Council positions for Victoria Centre 2017 – 2018 – no elections required – all acclaimed or appointed
Executive Positions
- President – Chris Purse
- First Vice President – Reg Dunkley
- Second Vice President – Deb Crawford
- Secretary – VACANT
- Treasurer – Bruce Lane
Other Positions
- Past President – Sherry Buttnor
- National Representative – Nelson Walker
- Librarian – Michel Michaud, Diane Bell (assistant)
- Telescopes and School Programs – Sid Sidhu
- Public Outreach – Ken Mallory
- Skynews Editor – Reg Dunkley
- Light Abatement – Dave Robinson
- Membership – Chris Purse
- Webmaster – Joe Carr
- Observing Chair – Jim Stilburn
- Systems Administrator & Technical Committee Chair – Matt Watson
Members at Large
- Jim Hesser
- Lauri Roche (FDAO Liaison)
- James DiFrancesco (DAO Liaison)
- Alex Schmid (UVic Liaison)
- Jim Nemec (Camosun Liaison)
- David Lee
- John McDonald (Astro Cafe)
- Li-Ann Skibo
- Chris Gainor (National Officer)
- Dan Posey
Door Prizes were awarded.