Astronomy Cafe – Jan 6, 2025

• Intro by Marjie Welchframe
• UVic meeting – Wed, Jan 8, 2025 – Celestializing the HMS Bounty residents of Pitcairn Island – Bryan “Puppy” Elliot
• New members
  • Rob Gillespie – seat mates at concerts with Jim & Betty Hesser
  • Ian & Matt friends came with Puppy
• Observing Certificates – Chris Purse
  • Congrats to our members Kirsten & Marjie for completing observing programs
  • Tips on observing Venus during the day, but be very careful to stay away from the Sun with your binoculars!
  • Some certificates now allow using go-to technology
  • Get a pin and a certificate
• The Moon Over Italy – Randy Enkin
  • Rome
    • On the Ponte SIsto
    • Moon and famous Roman monuments
    • Lunar themed shops, artwork and sculpture
  • Gaeta
    • Crescent Moon across the bay
  • The Moon out the aircraft window with Saturn close by on the flight back home.
  • Also see Thierry Legault’s photo of the Grazing occultation of Saturn by the Moon
• Today’s Puzzle APOD Jan 5th – puzzle image source – Marjie Welchframe
  • Astronomy Puzzle of the Day – choose your degree of difficulty
  • Time lapse video of a Russian rocket launch from the International Space Station
• David Lee
  • Beginners SIG – tomorrow evening – all are welcome
  • A couple of conjunctions and occultations are coming up
• Mexico trip – Lauri Roche
  • Observed Orion, Pleiades, Venus, Jupiter, Centaurus
  • Forgot binoculars!
• Chris Gainor
  • Parker Solar Probe – Dec 24th Sun flyby
  • Activities coming up for RASC Victoria members
    • Jan 21 – Council meeting
    • Feb 10 – AGM
    • Feb 24 – Banquet
• Parker Solar Probe – Reg Dunkley
  • 12º field of view from the probe – 24x larger than we see from Earth
  • 3.8 million miles away from the Sun – Natasha Van Bentum
  • NASA blog report
• RASC Vancouver Centre activities – Bryan “Puppy” Elliot
  • Monthly meetings
  • Starry Nights – Friday night observing at the SFU Trottier observatory and on the plaza – on clear nights
• Fast Gamma Ray Bursts – Garry Sedun
  • CHIME telescope at the DRAO near Penticton
  • Energy coming from Neutron stars
  • NASA video
• Dr. Stephen Greer (MD) reports of aliens – Brian Barber
  • The Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence (CSETI)
• Google Quantum Computer – Garry Sedun
  • Machine consciousness?
  • Artificial Intelligence
• Spiral Galaxy dissertations – Dave Payne’s new website
• Astronomy Books
  • Life As No One Knows It – Seonaigh MacPherson
    • Intelligent life in the universe
  • Orbital (2024 Booker Prize) – Marjie Welchframe
  • Lunar – Seonaigh MacPherson
    • Forward by Dava Sobel
    • Chris Gainor to review the book
• NOVA – New Observers Visual Astronomy – David Lee & Lauri Roche
  • A series of 7 or 8 primers in astronomy
  • Live presentations with lesson plans and active learning
  • Open to both members and the public

Video transcript of meeting