- Saanich Fair – Lauri Roche
- Sep 2-4, 3 days
- Thanks to all the volunteers, but we could use more for next year
- 3,500-4,000 people visited the booth and telescopes
- Solar telescopes used to show the public the Sun
- Clear and beautiful weather except for Sunday afternoon rain
- Telescope raffle
- Island Star Party – Reg Dunkley
- Very good attendance 70 + 200
- Dave Payne project lead
- Cloudy skies on Friday but some sucker holes
- Pristine skies on Saturday night
- Zero gravity chairs were popular with cheers from the crowd when the Perseid meteors streaked across the sky
- Volunteers from Cowichan Valley Starfinders did a great job
- Two interesting speakers on Friday and Saturday night
- Next year: 1st weekend of August
- Donations more than covered our expenses
- Grand prize of a telescope and mount
- CU Star Parties – Lauri Roche
- Weekly events – mid-May to mid-Sep
- Good attendance every Saturday event
- Presentations every week – either in-person or virtual
- Monthly events during off-season
- Saturday FDAO Star Party (Sep 16th) – Mary Beth Laychak, CFHT Outreach will be presenting
- Plaskett Observing – Sep 16th
- Contact Dan Posey email
- Starts at 11:30pm
- Must be a member and registered as an Active Observer to participate
- Personal Observing Reports
- Brock Johnston – photos
- Helix Nebula
- Solar disk in Ha – discussion
- Jupiter – good seeing on Saturday
- Saturn – 3 images showing changing ring tilt
- Explore the Universe observing group – Marji & Jill
- 110 celestial objects
- Observe and/or draw at least 55 objects
- There is also an Explore the Moon workbook
- Group of 6 observing from Cattle Point
- Moon – Randy Enkin
- Sinus Iridium & Jura Mountains – comparing Mike Nash’s image & Randy’s sketch
- Island Star Party astronomy images review
- Brock Johnston – photos
- Announcements
- Teacher’s Workshop – Lauri Roche
- Mary Beth Laychak, CFHT Outreach will be leading the workshop
- Monday – 4:30-7:00pm for teachers
- Monday after the teachers – present at Astro Cafe
- 2019 AGM presenter
- Council meeting – Randy Enkin
- Tomorrow night – all members welcome
- UVic Wednesday night monthly meetings restarting – Alex Schmid
- Teacher’s Workshop – Lauri Roche
- Minima of Algol – David Lee
- Eclipsing binary
- Short cycle of 3 days
- Magnitude 3.4 to 2.1
- Dates coming up – ref S&T
- Partial Solar Eclipse – Oct 14th – David Lee and Lauri Roche
- Observe from the Centre of the Universe – 8am to 10:30am
- Solar observing glasses
- Safety briefing
- Breakfast beverages and snacks
- Activities for kids and adults
- $5/person – registration through Eventbrite
- Rain or shine event
- Volunteers needed
- Blake Nancarrow remembrance – Randy Enkin
- Memories from Bill Weir
- Black was Chair of RASC Observing Committee
- RASC Double Star program – designed for small aperture urban observing
- David Dunlop observatory champion
- Memories from Peter Jedicke
- Blake retired to St. Thomas, attached to RASC London Centre
- Blake was the first Astronomer in Residence at York University’s observatory at Killarney Provincial Park
- Blake’s obituary
- Memories from David Lee and Jill Sinkwich
- Stellarium courses
- Double stars tribute – Randy
- Different colours of binaries
- Splitting the doubles, triples and quads – challenging technique
- A Tribute to Double Star Observer and Our Friend Blake Nancarrow –The Actual Astronomer Podcast – Chris and Shane
- Lyra – 3 doubles – Marjie Welchframe
- Memories from Bill Weir
Video transcript of meeting
- Intro – Jeff Pivnick
- To the Moon, with Robots and Humans – Dr. Gordon “Oz” Osinski, Dept. Earth Sciences, University of Western Ontario
- Sailing ships to space missions – history of human exploration
- The Moon has thousands of meteorite impacts
- 2019 announcement by Canadian government
- Canadarm 3 on Lunar Gateway outpost
- Lunar Exploration Accelerator Program (LEAP) – Canadian lunar rover
- Artemis I – launched last year
- Lots of images from this mission
- Artemis II – orbit Moon
- Canadian astronaut – Jeremy Hansen
- Crewed test flight to the Moon and Earth high orbit
- Engineering mission, not a science mission
- Launch – late 2024 or early 2025
- Artemis III – land on the Moon
- Geology training for astronauts
- 18 astronaut candidates
- 13 candidate landing sites – all near Lunar South Pole
- Geological samples will return to Earth with the astronauts
- Canada has 30 out of 200 impact craters found on Earth
- Mistastin Lake impact structure – best analog to lunar craters since anorthosite ejecta is found here, same as on the Moon (light material)
- Canadian Lunar Rover Mission
- Canadensys – contractor for 30kg prototype
- Science instruments will take about 5-6kg
- South Pole – geology and mineral resources
- Volatiles – water
- Permanently Shadowed Regions – no sunlight
- Radiation monitoring to ensure astronauts’ health, both on the Moon and future Mars missions
- Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter – images showing deep lunar shadows
- Q & A
- Island Star Party 2023 – Dave Payne
- August 11-13, 2023
- In-reach – socializing with fellow members
- Location: Bright Angel Park – south Cowichan
- Activities
- Solar observing
- Nature walks
- Kinsol Trestle
- Lots of activities in Cowichan Valley
- Telescope walk, how to use a telescope, observing skills
- Speakers – one each night
- Perseid Meteor shower
- T-shirts – contact Joe Carr to preorder
- Volunteers needed – contact Dave Payne
- ISP Volunteer Email List
- Victoria Centre Observatory – Reg Dunkley
- Last night – 10 Active Observers
- Both visual and photography
- Become an Active Observer – contact Chris Purse
- Occultation of Jupiter by the Moon – David Lee
- Wednesday, May 17th 4:52am – 5:33am
- Moon 3º above the eastern horizon during the occultation
- Astrophotography by local members
- Astronomy Day slideshow – Ken McGill
- Brock Johnston
- Orion & Flame Nebula widefield
- M94 – halo
- Cat’s Eye Nebula & NGC 6552 barred spiral galaxy
- Randy Enkin
- Deep Sky Filter – a Lumicon “UHC” legacy visual filter
- Orrery – kit build
- Observations – Marjie Welchframe
- Kemble’s Cascade
- Spring double stars
No Astro Cafe next week due to the Victoria Day statutory holiday. The last Astro Cafe before the summer break will be held on May 29th.
Video transcript of the meeting
- Pendulum Experiment To Measure Local Gravity – Kemi Daniel (Grade 5, PCS)
- Gravity in her house is slightly lower than earth’s gravity
- Science Fair winner
- Astronomy by Night – A new Canadian website for amateur astronomers. hosted by Carina Ockedahl (former editor of Skynews)
- Reached out to contributors – Chris Vaughan, Dan Kusz, Alan Dyer, Charles Ennis, and others
- AstroPhoto of the Week – not just for Canadians
- Newsletter
- Collaboration with SkySafari
- This Week’s Night Sky
- Gear Reviews & Tech
- Columns
- World’s Asterisms
- Research
- Profile
- Podcast – 2 per week
- Video – interviews
- Star chart – from Heavens Above
- News – both from International and Canadian sources
- International Astronomy Day/Weekend – David Lee, Lauri Roche
- Speakers are lined up
- Local astronomy organizations will be there
- Observatory Hill on Saturday night – 29th
- UVic on Sunday daytime – 30th
- SpaceX Starship Launch on Apr 20, 2023 – Chris Gainor
- Huge amounts of smoke and debris at launch
- Disintegrated 4 minutes into the flight
- Rocket left a huge crater at the launch site
- Questions and discussion
- Hybrid Solar Eclipse – April 20th – Randy Enkin
- 1 minute duration
- Total & Partial Solar Eclipse
- Solar maximum corona, so lots of plasma streamers visible
- Time & Date – particulars of this eclipse
- Photos & video of eclipse chasers
- Other events and discussion
Video transcript of the meeting
- The Birds, Pacific Victoria Opera – Randy Enkin
- Featured the Moon
- Land of the Birds
- Funny and serious story
- Zodiacal Light – Randy Enkin
- APOD photo showing both Venus and Jupiter in the middle of the light spire
- Brian May showed the Doppler Shift in the Zodiacal Light, finished his thesis 30 years after starting the research before his music career with Queen
- Photos of the Zodiacal Light by Victoria Centre members John McDonald and Joe Carr
- Citizen Science – David Lee
- Definitions – Sky & Telescope, NASA, SpaceHack
- Concise instructions given to participants/contributors
- Data archive used to share observations
- Community shares their skill sets in the interest of collaboration
- Light Pollution – Globe At Night
- 6 easy steps
- February & March campaigns
- New constellations to observe each month
- Variable star observations – AAVSO
- Beginners SIG observed Algol last summer
- 54 million variable star observations
- Astronomy-focused citizen science projects – S&T>Get Involved>citizen-science-collaboration
- Citizen Science – new SIG
- Thu, March 9th 7:30pm
- Contact David Lee to participate – email
- Galaxy Cruise – Japan
- Images from Subaru telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawai’i
- Introductory demonstrations
- Radio observations during solar eclipses
- Big Changes at RASC National – Bill Weir & Chris Gainor
- Skynews magazine ceasing operation
- Robotic Telescope – project terminated
- Staff departures at the national office, including Phil Groff, Executive Director
- Charles Ennis, RASC President – sent out a note to the national RASC email list
- History and perspective on RASC financial woes – Chris Gainor
- Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF photos & sketches – Brock Johnston
- Jan 19th – earliest taken by David Lee
- Collection of comet photos taken by Victoria Centre members
- Photographers & sketchers: Lucky Budd, Bill Weir, Dave Payne, David Lee, Dan Posey, Alec Lee, Brock Johnston, Ron Fisher
- Feb 23rd – last image taken
- Underground Railway & Night Sky by Amy Archer – Lauri Roche
- Suggest Amy to be a speaker to RASC Victoria Centre
- Odd-looking crater feature observed – Bill Weir
- South of Short crater
- Appeared as 4 white dots visually
- Astronomy Day – Randy Enkin & others
- FDAO holding Astronomy Day on Observatory Hill – April 29th
- RASC will hold Astronomy Day on April 30th – Bob Wright building at UVic – need a coordinator
- Victoria Centre Annual Events – Randy Enkin
- AGM – March 13th online (members only)
- Dinner, celebration and social event – March 27th in-person (members & guests)
Video transcript of meeting
- Astronomical Society of the Pacific – David Lee’s report from a virtual conference
- Diversity and citizen science
- Upcoming solar eclipses
- OpenStax Astronomy – topics for beginners
- Mentorship of students, STEM
- Active Learning
- NASA Citizen Science
- Vera Rubin Observatory – public portals to data
- World Asterisms – RASC Charles Ennis
- Accessible astronomy for blind people and others
- Citizen Science SIG/group – contact David Lee
- “Silent Sky” – a play about Henrietta Leavitt- Langham Court Theatre – Jeff Pivnick
- Playing Jan 25-Feb 11th, 2023
- RASC should have telescopes outside – Marjie & Reg
- Astronomical Images – Real or fiction? – Joe Carr
- Faked ring detail on Saturn image posted by Jason Guenzel and critical reaction from many on social media
- Io in True Color from Galileo mission, and a monochrome LORRI image from the New Horizons mission
- Joe’s 2016 Total Solar Eclipse false colour image processed using HDR, split toning and tone curves
- Joe’s Prominences on the Sun in Ha using Sobel edge detection filter
- Dave Payne’s Tadpoles Nebula images in RGB versus a Hubble-like palette using narrowband hydrogen, oxygen and sulphur
- Ken McGill’s Eastern Veil Nebula images with and without stars
- John McDonald’s various processing techniques of the Cave Nebula using Dave Payne’s RGBL & Ha, OIII & SI narrowband source image data
- Lava Flows North on Mauna Loa – Landsat infrared data overlaid on natural colour
- Landsat NIR, IR and green wavelengths used to depict fine detail in the Columbia Glacier – Prince William Sound, Alaska
- High Dynamic Range source data and resultant image illustration of process
- Question to the group: Which astrophotos do you consider fake?
- Dennis Crabtree’s posts of AI-generated images on Facebook
- Extra: APOD: An Artful Sky over Lofoten Islands (2022 Dec 13) – Giulio Cobianchi
- Tributes to Dave Bennett – Randy Enkin
- Guy Nason was his observing partner
- Randy visited with Sue and took away Dave’s astronomy gear. Bruce Lane will appraise it.
- Varsavia occultation – David Lee
- Dave Bennett Memorial
- Constitution and Bylaws – Randy Enkin
- Makers’ SIG – happening this week on Thursday – contact David Lee
- Lunar Occultation of Mars – Brian Barber & David Lee
- Very tough to photograph from Victoria, and the visual views were spotty
- Enkin’s Daily Moon is profiling photos of the occultation from around the world on Facebook
- Artemis I Return – Chris Gainor
- Splashed down after 26 days in space
- Entry used a different approach path over the South Pole, landing just offshore from San Diego
- Announcement of the crew for the next mission is next, including a Canadian astronaut
- Shorty crater and orange soil in 1972 broadcast from the Moon on Apollo Realtime Playback
- Bob McDonald’s Frankenstein Rocket presentation
Video transcript of meeting
- Beginning in Astrophotography – Ron Fisher
- 2018 Dobsonian telescope for Christmas
- Joined the Astrophotography SIG when it started up during the pandemic
- Climbed the “learning curve”
- Acquired an EQ6 mount, mounted 300mm telephoto lens and a dSLR
- Learned PixInsight
- Andromeda (1st photo), Orion Nebula (2nd photo)
- New gear acquired in April 2022
- Askar 500mm 90mm apo refractor
- 50mm Guidemaster scope & guide camer
- ASI Air Pro powers and controls all the gear
- M81, M82
- Pelican Nebula
- PixInsight used for processing
- With a focal reducer
- North American Nebula
- Elephant Trunk Nebula
- Soul Nebula
- Heart and Soul Nebula
- Ron’s astrophoto gallery
- Astronomical Holiday Gifts – Randy Enkin
- Starting in astronomy – David Lee
- Stars and Planets – Smithsonian handbook
- RASC Almanac
- Deep Sky Wonders – Sue French – good for beginners with small scopes or binoculars
- Binocular Highlights – Garry Seronik
- History of Hubble – Chris Gainor has a few copies at his house ($25)
- For sale – used from Randy Enkin’s bookshelf
- Apollo Murders – Chris Hadfield
- Silent Spring – Rachael Carson
- Planets – Dava Sobel
- The Day the World Discovered the Sun – transects of Venus in the 18th century
- Starting in astronomy – David Lee
- Edmonton Centre– Alistair Ling
- Finally staging hybrid meetings – Planetarium at Telus World
- What’s up in the sky – based on Edmonton’s sky
- The hybrid meetings have only attracted limited members to attend in-person
- Observatory at Black Nugget Lake – installing a 32″ telescope – unofficial first light by this summer
- Visual telescope – looking forward to observing the celestial splendors
- Designed to be an imaging scope, if needed in future
- Public access is planned
- Weekly public outreach at The Science Centre
- Helping people use their telescopes – by Alistair
- Have a full slate of officers
- Occultation of Mars – Randy Enkin
- Bad weather is likely a factor for our area
- Dec 7 Wednesday evening 7-8PM
- Watch Mars at opposition pass behind the moon this week in these free webcasts – space.com
- Mars photo from yesterday evening – Brock Johnston
- Observing techniques – discussion
- SIGs – David Lee email
- Beginners tomorrow night – magnitude basics
- Electronically-assisted Astronomy on Thursday, then on request only
- Citizen Science SIG – coming up in January
- Aaron Bannister request: astrophotography for school kids
- Capture brighter objects when weather permits
- Processing data sets
- Astrophotographers?
- Last Astro Cafes for 2022 – Dec 12th, 19th
- First Astro Cafe of the New Year – Jan 9, 2023 starting at 7:00PM instead of 7:30PM
- Sunshine Coast Centre – Peter Broughton presentation on J.S. Plaskett – Dec 9 Friday 7PM – Victoria Centre members welcome
- Winter Solstice Star Party – Dec 17th – Nathan is presenting
- Status of national Observers Calendars – haven’t arrived yet
- Artemis I update – Chris Gainor
- Close pass to the Moon this morning
- On its way home – Dec 11th arrival
- Crescent Earthrise photo
- Watching the final Apollo launch to the Moon – flashback tomorrow night – Chris Gainor
- David Bennett memories from members – next week
Video transcript of the meeting
- Astronomy Day – Jeff Pivnick
- Giveaways needed – contact Jeff
- Old Observers’ Handbook
- Past issues of magazines like Skynews
- Astronomy books no longer needed
- Giveaways needed – contact Jeff
- Victoria Centre AGM 2023 – Randy Enkin
- Decouple the social event and the business meeting
- How do members use the Observers Handbook? – Randy Enkin
- Read articles, but don’t use as a guide book
- Definitions are useful
- Source of authoritative information about astronomy
- Lists of eclipses, celestial objects
- Sky phenomena
- Tides
- Professional astronomers use it as reference
- Chris Purse and James Edgar have given tours of the Observers Handbook. James’ 6 presentations are available on RASC National’s Youtube.
- 2023 RASC Observers calendars – should arrive within a week for those who ordered – Lauri Roche
- SIGs – David Lee
- Members have shown interest in the new Citizen Science SIG – announcement pending
- Electronically-Assisted Astronomy SIG this Thursday
- Beginners SIG next week
- Astronomy Cafe venue – Randy Enkin
- Custodians want to clean our meeting room and leave by 9:00PM
- Proposing to start Astro Cafe at 7:00PM
- Possibly give up on in-person Astro Cafe?
- What about monthly meetings at UVic resuming? Parking is now $4 for the evening, and no word from UVic about restarting room rentals.
- Artemis Mission – Chris Gainor
- Photo of Artemis’ Orion, the Moon, Earth – Flickr
- Dec 1 – next burn
- James Webb mission blogs
- L2 outside the Moon gives Orion a low-energy position – Distant Retrograde Orbit
- Mass concentrations on the Moon affect the orbit of the rockets
- Nov 23 – Orion lost contact with Earth for 47 minutes – unexplained, to be investigated
- Discussion about launching processes
- Using Stellarium – Dennis F
- Impressed with the tutorials produced by National
- NRC Open House for RASC members?
- Would be great to have a tour of the new optical building
- Lauri to coordinate when the road reopens
- FDAO Star Parties – Lauri Roche
- Dec 26 – online only for last Saturday’s Star Party
- Presentation: CASTOR new space telescope (ultraviolet, wide-field) – Dr. Tyrone Woods, project lead
- Would make a good presentation for RASC Victoria members
- Dec 17 – virtual Star Party celebrating the solstice – Nathan is the speaker
- Dec 26 – online only for last Saturday’s Star Party
Video transcript of meeting
- Lunar background information – Jeff Pivnick
- NASA Science web – source of presentation
- Lunar origin – giant impact is most-favoured hypothesis
- Lunar orbit is locked to the Earth
- Composition of the surface & core
- 2 kinds of rock – black magma, white Vesicular basalt
- Regolith makes up the surface dust
- Exploration
- Apollo 11 through 17
- Artemis
- Artemis I Lunar Mission – Chris Gainor
- Artemis I is an un-crewed mission to test the Orion spacecraft and launch vehicle rocket systems
- Dec 11th – scheduled splashdown
- 10 tiny satellites part of the mission
- In-flight photos
- Cabin takes 4 people on future missions
- Photos of the Moon and setting Earth (behind the Moon)
- As close as 81 miles to the Moon’s surface
- Human Space Programs
- Apollo (1968-1972), space shuttle (1981-2011, ISS (1998-present)
- Human missions are very expensive
- Constellation Program – 2004-2010 – parts of this program are in Artemis
- Exploration test flights in 2009, 2014
- Space Launch System – SLS variants of launch rockets
- Orion Exploration Vehicle
- Crew of 4
- Crew Module (NASA contractors)
- Service Module (ESA)
- Cost of Artemis I mission is $4 billion
- Phase 1 – get back to the Moon
- Phase 2 – go on to Mars ~20 years
- Artemis II
- 4 astronauts on board
- Loop around the Moon and return
- No lunar orbit or landing
- 1 of 4 Canadian astronauts will go on the mission
- May 2024 probable launch
- Artemis III
- Landing on the Moon
- As early as 2025
- SpaceX Starship will be used as a lunar lander
- SpaceX Starship may fly to the Moon earlier and independent from Artemis!
- Lunar Gateway – Canadarm in lunar orbit
- Space Shuttle engines are being reused for the Artemis missions
- Minor details about Artemis I – Randy Enkin
- Photo of the mission launch showing Moon, rocket, meteorite for Enkin’s Daily Moon on Facebook
- Trajectories
- Distant Retrograde Orbit through La Grange points
- Slingshot around the Moon to return to Earth
- Cubesats
- Space on Artemis for 16 cubesats
- 10 cubesats on this Artemis I mission
- The Cubesats all have different purposes and missions
- Passengers – all mannequins
- Photo of mission launch for Enkin’s Daily Moon on Facebook
- Lunar Sketches – Randy Enkin
- Waning phase – favourable libration – on two days
- Photos of same area sketched – by Mike Nash (Victoria) and Steven Arthur Sweet (Toronto)
- Apollo, Artemis and Orion – a backgrounder on the Greek gods by Jeff Pivnick
- Concert at UVic on Dec 3rd – Dave Robinson
- Astrophotography SIG – this Wednesday – Dave Payne
- Road construction has closed Observatory Hill to the public until Dec 22nd
- Victoria Centre Observatory closed – Reg Dunkley
- Centre of the Universe – virtual events only – Lauri Roche
- Serious access problems for everyone
- SIGs – David Lee
- Makers SIG this Thursday
- Citizen Science SIG – interested? contact David
- Meteor counts
- Occultations
- Light Pollution monitoring such as Victoria Centre’s recent project
- Galaxy Zoo
- Wikipedia & Science Focus
- Bollide Meteor over Southern Ontario – Peter Jedicke
- 3:26AM EST on Saturday morning
- Asteroid orbital predictions are now a reality
- Predicted hit between London to Brantford, Ontario
- Dave Clark, RASC member observed it
- Photo taken by Rob Weryk from London, based on a tip from Hawai’i astronomy staff
- Earlier photo from Lowell Observatory used to refine calculation of orbit
- Peter didn’t spot the meteorite
- Western News
Video transcript of meeting
- Astrophoto SIG members’ photos – Brock Johnston
- Stephan’s Quintet – Plaskett telescope – Dan Posey
- Ring Nebula M57 and faint galaxy nearby – Plaskett telescope – Dan Posey
- Iris Nebula and dust in Cepheus region – Dan Posey
- Heart & Soul Nebula – Ron Fisher
- Veil Nebula, Cygnus Loop – Ron Fisher
- Shock wave from a supernova is faint part of the image
- Triangulum Galaxy – Ken McGill
- Indicating cardinal directions or orientation on photos would be helpful for visual observers – Dorothy Paul
- Discussion about what happens at the Astrophoto SIG
- GHS routine – Davey Payne
- Elephant Trunk Nebula – Ken McGill
- Ring Nebula M57 – VCO early image – John McDonald & David Lee
- Discussion about the astronomical imaging process rendering what we see in a photo
- Cygnus area of the Milky Way – wide-angle & Canon Ra camera – John McDonald
- Fox Fur, Cone, Christmas Tree, Cone nebulae – Dave Payne
- Radiation from star clusters power these nebulae
- Sulphur, oxygen and hydrogen elements – false colours
- NGC2264 (star cluster)
- Pleiades star cluster M45 – Dave Payne
- Star energy is being reflected off the adjacent gas clouds
- Mars – Brock Johnston
- Opposition – Dec 8th
- Combining and stacking video frames
- Bubble, Lobster Claw, Lagoon nebulae – refractor – Brock Johnston
- Lots of dust areas in this wide field
- M52 star cluster
- Centre of the Heart Nebula – Brock Johnston
- Good framing
- Astrophoto SIG will give a monthly update to Astronomy Cafe – Dave Payne
- Visit our Zenfolio photo galleries
- Ask questions and show your work in the RASC Victoria Astrophoto email list
- Victoria Centre Websites – Joe Carr
- Main website
- Special Interest Groups (SIGs) information and how to join
- Buy & Sell – good astronomy gear for sale
- Main website
- Stellarium app for desktop and smart devices – David Lee
- RASC National Youtube site has a webinar on how to use Stellarium
- Total Lunar Eclipse – Randy Enkin
- Time and Date – eclipse info for this eclipse and future eclipses
- Unfortunately our weather won’t be clear enough to observe the lunar eclipse later tonight
- Next good total lunar eclipse isn’t until March 2025
- Partial Solar Eclipse photos from a couple of weeks ago – Enkin’s Daily Moon on Facebook
- Great Moon Hoax
- Centre of the Universe – Lauri Roche
- Road construction is now underway on Observatory Hill – be careful when driving
- Star Parties to be held on Nov 26th, Dec 17th
- Victoria Centre Council meeting to be held on Tue, Nov 15th – Randy Enkin
Video transcript of meeting
- 2023 RASC Observer’s Calendar – still a few left from Victoria Centre’s bulk order – email Lauri Roche
- RASC Victoria Centre 2023 calendar – Joe Carr
- Online gallery
- Only 25 will be printed
- Email Joe to reserve one at $15 each (pickup only)
- Reports and updates – Chris Gainor
- Artemis Launch now on Nov 14
- James Webb Space Telescope
- Early images
- Some issues with one mode of the mid-Infrared imager (MIRI)
- Hubble Space Telescope images
- Skynews is running late, new editor hired
- History of the Canadian Astronomical Data Centre – repository for data from many big telescopes – article for Feb 2023 JRASC
- BBC National site has interactive display for JWST infrared – Michael Webb
- Lunar Eclipse on Nov 8th – Randy Enkin
- Umbra Crossings of Craters during the eclipse
- Refer to Sky & Telescope’s table of crater timings
- Refer to eclipse crater timing diagram sent out by Randy
- Randy uses the Ticking Clock app on Android
- How about using video timing? – David Lee
- How accurate does the timing need to be? S&T states 6 seconds
- Forecast for Nov 8th might indicate drier air from BC Interior will move over us – Reg Dunkley
- Refraction affecting measurements discussed
- Time and Date – eclipse info
- SIGs – David Lee
- Beginner’s SIG – talk about star clusters tomorrow night
- Electronically-assisted Astronomy (EAA) SIG – may discuss harmonic drives and other new products on Thursday evening
- Email David for more info about SIGs
- Public Outreach discussion
- David Lee: What is more effective for public outreach – using a screen or eyepiece/visual?
- Bill Weir: used his 4″ refractor for pubic observing at Jasper, while others showed images on screens
- John McDonald: sets up his telescope for observing by seniors, reporting an emotional response
- Dave Payne: setup time for EAA gear is a liability
- Garry Sedun: his family prefers visual astronomy
- Dave Robinson: reports an emotional response to observing with eye to eyepiece
- David Lee: EAA works when observing a dim object that is beyond the visual limit
- Lauri Roche: Any news about holding RASC meetings at UVic again? Nothing so far (Chris Purse)