Astronomy Cafe is normally held every Monday evening in Fairfield, Victoria, BC, Canada except during summer months or when the Monday falls on a statutory holiday. During the Spring of 2020, in-person meetings were suspended in favour of meeting online in order to comply with British Columbia’s provincial health directives to minimize risk for contracting the coronavirus COVID-19.
You are invited to share content for upcoming online meetings via our President Randy Enkin (president@victoria.rasc.ca). We will post your submitted content to our website and present it to members at the next online meeting, which still happens every Monday evening at 7:30PM. Of course, you are welcome to log in and present your content personally! Links to our online meetings are emailed to RASC Victoria Centre members a day or two ahead of time, so please join us!
- November 9, 2020
- Monthly meeting – announcements & reports – Reg Dunkley & others
- Four Decades Beneath the Shadow of the Moon – Jay Anderson
- Review of Astro Cafe web page – John McDonald’s M27 wide field photo, public lecture on cosmology discoveries, review of RASC National bulletin – Reg Dunkley
- Mars rotation sequence over a month (4 hours at a time) – Nathan
- Lunar sketch – Randy Enkin
- November 2, 2020
- 2021 Observers Calendars sales – Chris Purse
- Victoria Centre AGM and elections are coming up early in Feb 2021 – Chris Purse
- Explore the Universe observing program now posted online
- Work at the Victoria Centre Observatory (VCO) – Plan B – John McDonald
- Review of Astro Cafe web page – Reg Dunkley
- Startup of the VCO & proposed new Maritime Museum & possible planetarium in Langford
- Victoria Centre monthly meeting next Wed – Eclipse presentation by Jay Anderson
- UVic Open House – “Messy Stellar Siblings” – online presentation this Wed
- CHIME presentation from UofT – see bulletin from National
- Astrophotos from Edmonton – Dave Robinson
- Small Refractor Imaging & Electronically Assisted Astronomy – David Lee
- UVic Physics Colloquium – this Wed – Jim Hesser
- October 26, 2020
- History of Hubble book published – Chris Gainor
- Meteor sighting from the BC Mainland – Chris Purse
- Plans for development of new Maritime Museum & possible planetarium in Langford – Chris Gainor
- Discussion about surveillance satellites – Garry Sedun & Chris Gainor
- Small Refractor Imaging – David Lee
- Victoria By-election – Alex Schmid is running
- Edmonton imagery by Luca Vanzella – Dave Robinson
- New focuser for our loaner telescope at the VCO – Reg Dunkley
- Review of Astro Cafe web page, National events, weather forecast – Reg Dunkley
- Two astro images from members – M45 by Doug MacDonald & Dumbell Nebula by Brock Johnston – Joe Carr
- Buying and selling astronomy gear for sale – Chris Purse & Joe Carr
- October 19, 2020
- Kevin Light & Kia Tully’s photo of a kayaker in front of the full Moon, taken from Mt. Douglas
- Astrophotography by the Victoria Camera Club members who participated in John McDonald’s astrophoto workshop
- Harvest Moonrise over Edmonton – Luca Vanzella
- Black Holes and the 2020 Nobel Prizes – Randy Enkin
- TPO 16″ telescope repair status & observatory access update – Reg Dunkley
- Mars sequential photos – John McDonald
- October 5, 2020
- Sunset Azimuth Sweep – Luca Vanzella
- Review of Astro Cafe web page for this week – Reg Dunkley
- Mars detailed image – John McDonald
- Mars – Abdur Anwar, Edmonton Centre
- Unquiet Slumbers Aurora video from Alastair Ling, Edmonton
- Two astronomy presentation alerts from Jim Hesser – gravitational waves, asteroid sample return JAXA mission
- Electronically-assisted astronomy (EAA) – David Lee
- FDAO Star Party & AGM – Lauri Roche
- September 28, 2020
- Report from the VCO by Reg Dunkley
- Perseverance Mars Mission UofA webinar – Chris Herd, presenter – presented by Dave Robinson
- Mars & Uranus with moons – Abdur Anwar’s photos from Edmonton – presented by Dave Robinson
- 12.5″ RC telescope installation – a slideshow by Joe Carr
- Astro Cafe web page review – Reg Dunkley
- Astrobiology – a UVic Open House presentation by James di Francesco
- Baby Planets to Black Holes (ALMA & New Horizon telescope) – lecture to Engineering Society by Dr. Schieven
- The Quantum Physicist as Causal Detective
- What’s happening at the RASC
- Observe the Moon Night – Randy Enkin
- APOD Equinox composite photo over Edmonton by Luca Vanzella – presented by Chris Purse
- September 21, 2020
- Overall Winners 2020 – Insight Investment Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition – presented by Barbara Lane
- Return to the VCO – Reg Dunkley
- Time lapse video of the work party at the VCO today – Joe Carr
- VCO operating procedure Q&A – all
- Summer Solstice to Autumnal Equinox – Randy Enkin
- Astro Cafe web page review – Reg Dunkley
- FDAO Virtual Star Party
- UVic Observatory Open House
- Astro Imagers from Edmonton
- Indigenous Astronomy
- September 14, 2020
- Dr. Phil Groff, Executive Director of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada
- Used Newtonian telescope purchase, re-configuration and collimation – Randy Enkin
- Sketching Lunar trenches using NASA Scientific Visualization – Randy Enkin
- An upcoming astrophotography workshop to Victoria Camera Club (Sep 15 & 29) – a trial run using zoom – John McDonald
- Comet Imaging – journey of discovery – Garry Sedun
- Equipment purchases – small astrograph, new mount & Lunar Observing – David Lee
- Astro Cafe web page review – Reg Dunkley
- Sketch of fading Comet Neowise by Bill Weir
- What’s happening at the RASC? – how to register and a review
- Impressive Images of Mars using Winjupos software – from Edmonton RASCal Abdur Anwar
- Mars in 4K (Part 2) – youtube video – ElderFox Documentaries
- Dan’s image of the North America nebula (NGC 7000) – using dual narrow-band filter
- Sep 8th – Victoria Centre Council meeting
- Sep 14th Phil Groth presentation – send questions
- Membership is declining both nationally and locally – lowest in 5 years
- FDAO “Equinox to Solstice” – 4 public outreach sessions and Virtual tour for Observatory Hill is coming along – Lauri Roche
- August 24, 2020
- Perspective 209 seconds video – Marji Welchframe
- M31 Andromeda Galaxy from Nanoose Bay and 2,000th Moon milestone on Enkin’s Daily Moon on Facebook – Randy Enkin
- Review of tonight’s Astro Cafe web page – Reg Dunkley
- A Poetic Pelican photo by Doug MacDonald
- Lagoon & Trifid Nebulae photo by Dan Posey
- Cosmic Collisions – final UVic Open House – Mallory Thorpe
- RASC Robotic Telescope Editing Contest for August – M82 data processing
- Speaker Series – Hawaiian Nights
- Edmonton RASCals deep sky imaging
- Press briefing on Starlink
- Observing Comet NEOWISE & Campbell’s Hydrogen Star – Bill Weir at Pearson College Godin-Newton Observatory
- Moon shadows on Jupiter by John McDonald
- August 17, 2020
- Astronomy Cafe zoom passwords – Joe Carr
- Jupiter shadow transits – sequential frames – John McDonald
- Perseid meteor shower photos from his allsky camera – Sid Sidhu
- Mars, the Moon & Venus this past week – David Lee
- Question about observing meteors low to the horizon – Dorothy Paul
- Review of tonight’s Astro Cafe web page – Reg Dunkley
- August 10, 2020
- Mars and the Moon – David Lee
- Colour Filters for lunar observing – Randy Enkin
- How human sight works – yellow filters for lunar observing and seeing colour when observing nebula – Dorothy Paul
- Space Educator’s Institute -3-day online conference – Lauri Roche & David Lee
- Perseid meteor shower and other observing hints – Chris Purse
- RASC National for Perseids observing group – Discord chat service being used – Bill Weir
- July 27, 2020
- Historical Comets – members’ photos, sketches and observations of comets past, including some famous ones!
- “Falling Through Space” – Dr. Gordon Walker – UVic presentation
- First FDAO Virtual Star Party – featuring Dave Balam
- Canadian Comet Sleuth David Levy: Webinar
- July 20, 2020
- North America Nebula – image by Dan Posey
- Comet NEOWISE C/2020 F3 – images from John Mcdonald, Randy Enkin & others
- Bigger, better, faster: how changes in technology drive astronomy data collection by Nat Comeau – UVic Astronomy Open House
- Observing – links to resources
- July 13, 2020
- Comet NEOWISE C/2020 F3 – images and sketches from Victoria Centre members
- Useful comet websites
- Computer Science in Astronomy: A UVic Open House Webinar
- Observing
- July 6, 2020
- Noctilucent clouds from Edmonton – Alistair Ling
- Penumbral Eclipse – July 4th – Doug Hardy, David Lee, Dorothy Paul, Randy Enkin
- Martian Citizen Science – webinar notice
- Astronomy Poem inspires Mystery Novel – The Old Astronomer by Sarah Williams – Marjie Welchframe
- Lunar photos – Alex Schmid & John McDonald
- June 29, 2020
- More Lunar Photos from Mike Nash
- Balcony Astronomy from Edmonton – Abdur Anwar
- June 21st Annular Eclipse of the Sun from India – Time lapses by Neelam and Ajay Talwar
- Noctilucent clouds from Osoyoos – Debra Ceravolo
- Recording Astronomical Observations – Joe Carr
- “Planet Nine or Planet Nein?” with Dr. Samantha Lawler – presented by Reg Dunkley
- Observing and review of the RASC National youtube channel – Chris Purse
- June 22, 2020
- More Noctilucent Cloud Sightings from Edmonton’s Alister Ling
- Telescope Price Fixing Legal Dispute – presented by Chris Purse
- Christopher Go Planetary Imaging Tutorials
- Geomagnetic Measurements Project – Nathan & other members
- June 15, 2020
- Sketching by Victoria Centre Members – Phillip Teece’s historical sketches, Diane Bell, Dorothy Paul
- Noctilucent clouds from Edmonton – Alistair Ling
- Daytime Lunar Photo from Mike Nash
- Observing – review of the coming week’s opportunities from Skynews and Sky & Telescope magazines
- June 8, 2020
- First sunspot in 3 months! – Bill Weir’s sketches & public outreach photos and Joe Carr’s photo
- Photos from Edmonton – Alistair Ling’s and Larry Wood’s Moonset and Noctilucent cloud photos, and Alistair’s setting Venus and drifting fog time lapse videos
- Masked Men Make Off with VCO Telescope – Reg Dunkley, Dave Robinson, Dan Posey and Mike Nash remove and pack up the 16″ TPO RC telescope
- Venus setting behind the Chiricahua Mountains – Fred Espenak (Mr. Eclipse) captures a beautiful crescent-phased Venus setting in a time lapse video from southern Arizona
- Observing – review of the coming week’s opportunities from Skynews and Sky & Telescope magazines
Virtual Astro Cafe – March to June 1st, 2020
Astro Cafe Presentations Archive – 2014-2019