Astronomy Cafe – March 20, 2023

Posted by as Astro Cafe

Video transcript of the meeting

  • Vernal Equinox Today – Jeff Pivnick
    • Caused by axial tilt of the Earth
    • Celestial Equator intersects with the Ecliptic
    • Babylonians picked 12 constellations 3,000 years ago, but Ptolemy named them later
    • Declination and Right Ascension coordinates are referenced to the equinox
  • Astronomy Day – Lauri Roche
    • Sunday, April 30th 11AM – 4PM at Bob Wright building lobby at UVic
    • Free parking on outside of the Ring Road in Lot 1
    • Setup is Saturday afternoon
    • Leads
      • UVic Site Manager – Sam Fielder
      • Technical Support – David Lee
      • Welcome Table – Marjie Welchframe
      • Telescope Show & Tell – Bill Weir
      • Children’s Astro Crafts – Rachel & Ryan Holmes
      • Astrophotography – Brock Johnston & Dan Posey
      • Responsible Lighting – Dave Robinson
      • Planetarium – need a lead to used Starry Night on TV
      • Solar Observing outside – Alex Schmid, Sid Sidhu
      • Ask An Astronomer –  need a lead and 3 or 4 astronomers (UVic students?)
      • Speakers – Lauri Roche
        • 3 speakers signed up, 3 to go
        • 20-minute talks
    • FDAO, NRC, Science Venture, Camosun College, Mt. Doug High, Vic High & Oak Bay High
    • Tour of the Bob Wright telescope
    • Need volunteers – 2-3 shifts is ideal – contact Lauri Roche roche.lauri@gmail.com
    • Saturday, April 29th 7-11PM Star Party on Observatory Hill
  • Open House – Centre of the Universe – March 25 – Lauri Roche
  • Victoria Centre Observatory – Randy Enkin
    • Will open to members once the road is open
  • Standing Where Ansel Adams Stood – Randy Enkin
    • Moon and Half Dome – Dec 28, 1960
    • When the Light, Shadow and Stars Aligned: Standing Where Ansel Adams Stood – Kim Beil, NY Times
    • Ansel Adams joined Sierra Club Outings
    • Kim Beil found the exact spot where Ansel Adams took his famous Moon and Half Dome photo, and determined four possible dates based on the star field and Moon
    • 6:47AM on Aug 6, 1936 – date/time of famous photo
  • Meetings
    • Social Dinner – March 27th – contact Randy to attend at Moon Under Water Pub on Bay St.
    • Council Meeting – March 28th – 7:30PM
      • Open to all members
      • Budget for coming year – we have funds to spend!
  • Vancouver Island Regional Science Fair – Dorothy Paul
    • April 16th
    • 100 projects, 150 students
    • Need some specialty judges from RASC – about 2 hours
  • Astrophotos from members
    • Moonrise from Clover Point – Randy Enkin
    • Jones-Emberson 1 Bubble planetary nebula – Brock Johnston
  • 2023 RASC General Assembly – May 5th – May 7th, 2023
    • No business meeting, just fun meeting and interacting with everyone – Bill Weir
    • Speakers list almost complete – Lauri Roche
    • $35 admission for members to participate for three days
  • Vic High Astronomy Deck – Clayton
    • Mitigate the light pollution at the site – discussion of strategy
    • New 12″ Skywatcher funded by a generous donation
    • City of Victoria will install shields on the streetlights

There will not be an Astro Café next week in order for the RASC Victoria Centre Social Dinner to take place. Please RSVP to Randy president@victoria.rasc.ca by March 19 if you would like to attend.

Next Astronomy Cafe in 2 weeks – April 3

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