- Intro & Welcome by Marjie Welchframe
- Birdwatching in Texas in February – Marjie Welchframe
- McCallum (near Brownsville) on the Mexican border and Gulf of Mexico
- Boca Chica – SpaceX Star Bases
- Star Base may become incorporated
- $800 million in direct/indirect taxes to local/state governments
- Star Base is built on lands supporting wildlife
- Other SpaceX launch sites: Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral (FL), Vandenburg (CA)
- Starship is launching from Texas, but will likely move to Cape Canaveral
- National Wildlife Refuge on Boca Chica beach beside Star Base – Marjie’s tour group look for birds
- Drawing of Elon Musk – Ad Astra (To the stars)
- Bust of Musk “Elon aka MemeLord by ElonRWA on BASE” commissioned by a French entrepreneur “Louie”
- Observed 185 species of birds and animals in 7 days, including: Green Jay, Armadillo, Pauraque (Nightjar family), Great Egret, Altamira Oriole
- Discussion of Elon Musk
- Enkin’s Daily Moon – Randy Enkin
- Lunar imagery over the years – cartoons, art, photographs, illustrations
- Randy will give a talk on the Moon at the upcoming RASC GA
- Grant Snider – Haiku Incidental Comics
- Social media – Facebook, Instagram, and soon on Bluesky
- Special Interest Groups (SIGs) – David Lee
- Astrophotography SIG – next meeting this Wed
- Beginners’ SIG – next meeting on Apr 1 – 275 Saturnian moons, Cassini
- The Language of the Stars – Brian Barber
- Book by Nathan, available at the Centre of the Universe, local bookstores and Amazon (Kindle)
- Upcoming presentations at Astro Cafe by Randy Enkin
- Zodiacal Light
- Green Flash
- Contact Randy to contribute your observations and photos (pastpres@victoria.rasc.ca)
- Space News – Chris Gainor
- Merrit Island National Wildlife Refuge – near Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral
- Blue Ghost – may revive when the sunlight returns
- Trump and Musk takeover of NASA – New Yorker article
- Six Mass Extinctions in Earth’s history
- Violent supernovae ‘triggered at least two Earth extinctions’ – Royal Astronomical Society release
- Design a Zero Gravity Indicator – Trisha Epp
- Discussion of Bob McDonald’s recent presentation on the possibility of us existing inside a black hole – Lauri Roche, Kirsten Pedersen, Dave Payne, Brian Barber
- Quirks & Quarks
- Horton Hears A Who! By Dr. Seuss
- Events
- Victoria Centre Council meeting – tomorrow evening, link sent to members
- Astronomy Day – May 3rd
- Plaskett Night this Saturday – info from Dave Posey pending
- UVic Presentation- April 9th
- NRC astronomer Dr. Toby Brown will be the guest speaker. Title, abstract and further information to come, but should be a very interesting talk!
- A “special announcement” so attend to find out
- VI Regional Science Fair – April 6th
- Beaveree – May 31st
Video transcript of meeting
Astronomy Cafe – March 24, 2025