- Intro & Welcome by Kirsten Pedersen
- New Observers to Visual Astronomy (NOVA) – Lauri Roche
- NOVA started in Prince George Centre years ago
- National Education & Public Outreach Committee took over NOVA in 2022
- Conversion of in-person materials to online versions
- Includes: observing, planetarium, concepts, demos, activities
- Part 1 running now on Observatory Hill – 5 weeks
- Part 2 coming later in 2025 – 6 weeks
- Small charge to participate – contact lauri@victoria.rasc.ca
- Check-in from Part 1 participants
- Discussion
- Size of Solar System using Google Earth – CJ Sandoz
- At a scale of 100’000’000:1, the dome of the Plaskett observatory is 14m in diameter and the Sun is 1.4 million km in diameter, one hundred million time bigger
- KML download file for Google Earth that displays the solar system at a scale of 100’000’000:1
- Lunar Eclipse – March 13-14, 2025 – Kirsten Pedersen
- Visible from here in Victoria starting around 9PM on March 13th
- The shadow of the Earth on the Moon creates the eclipse
- Phases of eclipse: penumbra, umbra
- Earth’s atmosphere scatters light from the Sun falling on the Moon, so during an eclipse the Moon appears orange or red
- Timing for Victoria
- 8:57pm – Penumbral Eclipse begins
- 10:09pm – Partial Eclipse begins
- 11:26pm – Total Eclipse begins
- 11:58pm – Maximum Eclipse
- 12:31am – Total Eclipse ends
- 1:47am – Partial Eclipse ends
- 3:00am – Penumbral Eclipse ends
- Detailed info about this eclipse customized for Victoria – by Time & Date
- Eclipse simulation by David Lee using Stellarium
- Brightness (magnitude) decreases dramatically during Totality
- Why is there not an eclipse every month?
- NASA overview of lunar eclipses
- mreclipse.com – good resource for info about observing and photographing an eclipse (both solar and lunar) – info for this Lunar Eclipse
- Lunar Eclipse photos taken over the years by Victoria Centre members – galleries
- Q&A
- Centre of the Universe News – Lauri Roche and Kirsten Pedersen
- Lunar Eclipse Star Party (sign up required) – Lauri Roche
- 8:30PM gate time
- 1:00AM end of event
- Grant received from Federal Government to increase the tourism component of events on Observatory Hill
- Grant received from the Victoria Foundation to support the school program
- Three movies have used Observatory Hill for segments
- Lunar Eclipse Star Party (sign up required) – Lauri Roche
- Ellen Harding Baker’s “Solar System” Quilt (website) see banner image above – Natasha Van Bentum
- Moon & Venus photos from Maui, Hawai’i – Dave Payne
- Astronomy at Cattle Point
- Observing and photography – Wayde, David Lee
- Visual observing is good – Kirsten
- I do broadband imaging from Cattle Point and don’t have too much of an issue with headlights affecting my final images – more of an issue with light pollution from Oak Bay but it mostly comes out in processing. – Megan Meraz
- Presentation at UVic Bob Wright A104 – March 12th, 7:30PM – Kirsten Pedersen
- Exploring the Europa Clipper Mission by Tess Grindlay
Video transcript of meeting
Astronomy Cafe – Mar 10, 2025
