Our 27th annual Island Star Party on the weekend of August 9 to 11 at St. Stephen’s Anglican Church in Saanichton has gone into the books as a success.
Like everyone else, I got in some good observing and looked at and through the various telescopes and cameras that were on the field at the star party. Observing highlights for me were the Lagoon Nebula and the Trifid Nebula in the southern skies.
I also had the chance to slow down a bit and enjoy dinner with fellow members of the Victoria Centre, all of them good friends. This year we enjoyed the generous portions available at the Prairie Inn.
Fellowship is an important benefit of our involvement in the Victoria Centre, and indeed in other organizations we take part in.
The value of the social aspect of our group was driven home to me earlier this year at the Victoria Film Festival, where I saw a film called Join or Die. The film follows Harvard political scientist Robert D. Putnam, best known for his 2000 book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of the American Community.
In the film, Putnam talks about the major decline from the number of Americans who take part in clubs and other social organizations. I’m sure that this trend is also being felt in Canada. The result of this trend is less social cohesion, greater polarization, and the crisis of democracy that afflicts both of our countries and many others.
“The places that have better government are the places that have a long history of social networks and social capital,” Putnam said in the film. “Organization—connections with other people—is the only way you get big change.”
I find his arguments persuasive. Here in the Victoria Centre we meet people who have their own life experiences and different views on many aspects of life. What we have in common is our love of astronomy.
I think I’m a better person for the people I’ve met here in the Victoria Centre and other organizations I belong to. And almost always we have good times together.
During the recent pandemic, we learned some hard lessons about the costs of social isolation.
With fall coming on, we can look forward in the coming months to more social activities at our monthly meetings at the University of Victoria, Astronomy Cafés at the Fairfield Community Centre and online, and observing sessions at the VCO.
While we are looking to the skies, the simple act of getting together makes our home planet a better place.
Christopher Gainor, FRASC
President, Victoria Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada