Royal Astronomical Society of Canada

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Victoria's Astronomy Café

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


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Location: Fairfield Community Centre, 1330 Fairfield, Victoria

Open every Monday night
...observing when weather permits
Time: 7:30pm - 11:00pm

PLEASE NOTE: Astronomy Cafe has stopped for the Summer months, resuming in September.

Did you stumble in here by mistake, and really want to see Dr. Sten Odenwald's
Astronomy Cafe website?  Click here

Geoff Jones and Charles Banville host an informal get together every Monday evening.. from 7:30pm - 11:00pm.  All are welcome. A few scopes are often on hand, and we observe when conditions warrant.

Location : 1330 Fairfield Road (near the corner of Moss Ave. and Fairfield Road). Please use the rear parking lot off of Thurlow just before Fairfield as you drive down Moss.  N48° 24' 56" W123° 20' 50"  23m elevation See Maps

The Building : A permanent portable classroom adapted for society services and events by the Community Centre. It is located at the rear of the Fairfield school complex, behind the Garry Oak Room and gym.  It has full washroom facilities, handicap access, a good night viewing field nearby, and easy access to the parking lot, as well as a nearby bus service (Fairfield bus).

Phone Geoff at (250) 592-2264 if you have any questions or need directions.

Use our Shop Online to buy an Astronomy Café t-shirt.

 

Maps

 

Past Events

November 30, 2009 - Observing sites south of Victoria - Miles & Dorothy Paul

The Pauls described in detail some observing sites they make use of in Central Oregon and Northern California.  Here is their presentation enhanced with details on how to find these sites: 2009.11.30-Dark_sites_south_of_Victoria (3Mb pdf)

April 21, 2008 - Astronomy at Sossusvlei Mountain Lodge, Namibia - Miles and Dorothy Paul

Dorothy and I have been fortunate to have been resident astronomers at Sossusvlei Mountain Lodge in the Namibrand Nature Reserve in Namibia for 3 month sessions several times since 2003.  With a PowerPoint presentation, we will briefly introduce Namibia, talk about the Reserve and activities at the Lodge with emphasis on the astronomy program.  We will feature some of the highlights of the far southern sky and the experience of observing in the southern hemisphere.

Night Sky Viewing in Fairfield - March 17, 2008 -The Victoria Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada and the Fairfield Community Association presented a Night Sky Viewing on March 17th 2008, 6:30 pm to 10:00 at the Garry Oak Room, Sir James Douglas School and in the playgrounds nearby.

Seeing In The Dark - a film by Timothy FerrisSept 24, 2007 - Seeing In The Dark - a film by Timothy Ferris

A showing of this one hour film highlighting amateur astronomy, originally shown by PBS on Sept 19, 2007. Website: Seeing in the Dark

Double Vision presentation (555kb pdf)Oct 1, 2007 - Double Vision - An Introduction to Double Star Observations - David Lee

When you look up in the night sky there is something not readily apparent about the numerous stars that you see. As much as half the stars have a companion. We know these as double star or binary systems. These are great subjects for urban astronomy being largely unaffected by light polluted skies.

Learn the basics of double star observations and the equipment that you need to do it.  Presentation (555kb pdf)

Special Mid-summer Astronomy Café - August 6, 2007 - We took delivery of our new Paramount ME mount on August 1st, so Victoria Centre is now one step closer to our Observatory being operational. Some members who were interested in seeing this piece of gear up close, attended a Paramount ME Box Opening ceremony at a special mid-summer Astronomy Café.

Feb 5, 2007 - What is the maximum magnification or your telescope? - Ed Maxfield

The attached are from last weeks Astronomy Cafe - Feb 5/07. Ed Maxfield kindly agreed to give a brief presentation on the question we are always asked - What is the maximum magnification or your telescope? Ed went on to describe a quick way to work out the eyepiece focal length you need to get the maximum and minimum useful magnifications given the limitations of the eye.

Ed's talk led to a lot of interesting discussion about the experience of those present on what magnifications have worked best in different conditions. For those of you who missed this evening, all the math is on the whiteboard in two of the pictures although it may be a challenge to interpret without Ed's help.

Astronomy Café set a new record on Feb 20th, 2006 with 17 attendees at our previous venue, Bruno's Rec Room.

Back: Ed Maxfield, David Lee, Chuck Filtness, Sid Sidhu, Jeff Jones, John McDonald, Martin Shepherd, David Griffiths, Brian Robilliard. Middle: Joe Carr, Larry Danby, Frank Ogonoski. Front: Doug Simms, Eric Schandall, Charles Banville, Moe Raven. Photo taken by Bruno Quenneville, our host.

 

 

 

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Last updated: July 15, 2010

The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada is dedicated to the promotion of astronomy and its related sciences; we espouse the scientific method, and support dissemination of discoveries and theories based on that well-tested method.

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