Astronomy Cafe – March 23, 2026

• Intro – David Lee
• Sid Sidhu’s Astronomy Collection – Lauri Roche, David Lee, Brock Johnston
  • Have over 10 SCTs
  • Committee is deciding about liquidation or re-homing
  • Please contact David Lee to participate david@victoria.rasc.ca
  • Legacy astronomy gear is becoming a significant issue. Browse Victoria Centre’s Buy & Sell listings for examples.
• A million new SpaceX satellites will destroy the night sky – for everyone on Earth – Dan Hagen
  • Samantha Lawler, Aaron Boley and Hanno Rein on The Conversation
  • A disturbing development that will degrade the night sky
  • Simulations indicate there will be more satellites than stars in the night sky
  • What do do about this?
  • Sam will be presenting at the GA
  • SpaceX wants to launch a million satellites. Here’s how that could impact the atmosphere and the night sky – Nicole Mortillaro · CBC News
• Dragonfly and MOTHRA – Randy Enkin
  • MOTHRA – a 1950s beast character
  • Observing Low Surface Brightness celestial objects is the goal
  • Fast refracting telescopes are ideal to reveal celestial objects with low surface brightness
  • Premium camera lenses are being used for this research – Canon f/2.8 400mm telephoto lens selected for MOTHRA project
  • Camera: SBIG STF-8300
  • Software Bisque Paramount ME II mount
  • Dragonfly – Deborah Lockhorst
  • For a monster-sized challenge in astronomy, summon MOTHRA – new observing site being setup in Chile near the VLT. YaleNews
  • Alex Gurko (CEO of XTX Markets) is financing the project.
  • Uses a filter tilter used to tune the wavelength being captured
  • Sky & Telescope article
• Events
  • Astrophotography SIG this Wednesday – Dave Payne
    • Whole group will be imaging the same target over the next few weeks
    • Get the whole dataset acquired so far, or gather your own data
  • International Astronomy Day – on April 25th -Lauri Roche
    • Royal BC Museum – daytime
    • Centre of the Universe – evening
    • Need volunteers – contact lauri@victoria.rasc.ca
  • RASC General Assembly – Lauri Roche
    • An online event
    • Social time on Saturday
    • Speakers on Sunday, with many members from Victoria Centre with Wes Fraser and Sam Lawler
    • Look for an announcement being sent to members in a few days
• Fundraising for the Centre of the Universe – Nick Versteeg
  • Five events happening between now and November
  • Nick wants to create a promotional video involving RASC members and highlighting their astrophotography and the Plaskett telescope. Need astrophotos (with releases) within the next two weeks.
  • Contact Nick nickversteeg1949@gmail.com
• Artemis II Update – Chris Gainor
  • Rocket returns to Pad 39B
  • Possible launch dates starting on April 1
  • Flight plan – loop around the far side of the Moon – 10 days duration
  • Future plans
    • Artemis III fly in 2027
    • Artemis II llanding possibly in 2028
    • SpaceX or Blue Origin will build the lunar module
    • Update from NASA – announcement March 24th
• Hubble Space Telescope – Chris Gainor
  • NASA’s Hubble Revisits Crab Nebula to Track 25 Years of Expansion – a time lapse
  • When Hubble’s mission will end depends on when equipment fails
  • 2035 will be the likely time of re-entry
• Photo of Comet Lemmon and satellite tracks – CJ Sandoz
• Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS) – Randy Enkin
  • Sun-grazing comet returning to our skies
  • Better to be observed from the Southern Hemisphere
  • From our area, try observing April 5-12 20 minutes after sunset
  • Sky & Telescope

Video recording of meeting