Astronomy Cafe – March 9, 2026

2026 Lunar Eclipse photo series from Victoria by Mike Web

Intro – Randy Enkin
Artemis Mission – Jeff Pivnick
- Review of fuels used for manned USA space missions starting with Mercury
- How ignition works
Last week’s Lunar Eclipse – reports from members
- Shadow timing wasn’t possible from Victoria – Randy Enkin
- 60-70 attendees at the Centre of the Universe early morning event – Lauri Roche & David Lee
- Three photos taken through the clouds by Mike Webb
Astrophoto of the Clamshell Nebula – Dave Payne
- Photos taken last summer
- Type O star at the centre of the nebula creating a molecular cloud and star formation regions
- Gas Expression – Visual, Photographic and Astrophyical – detailed article about the processes involved
- Lots of dust and hydrogen
- Using the Sinbad database to identify celestial objects in the photograph field
Daylight Saving Time – Randy Enkin
- Time is all about where the Sun is located
- Sir Sandford Fleming invented the currently used standard time zones
- Daylight Saving Time started in 1908, becoming common in 1973 (energy crisis)
- DST not used in most equatorial countries since they have no shorter/longer days
- BC is now on permanent DST – now called Pacific Time, which is -7 hours from Coordinated Universal Time(UTC)
- Sun rising late and setting late is favoured by most of the world’s population
- Sunrise and sunset comparisons
- Discussion of how the original decision in favour of Daylight Time was justified
- Seasonal Affective Disorder
- Sundials can be up to 15 minutes fast or slow due to the Equation of Time
Sid Sidhu’s Assembly of Astronomical Gear – David Lee
- Need to match tripods to mount heads
- Old electronics present repair issues
- There are at least three more donations of astronomy gear
- Build a catalogue of the gear we have will be posted so members can view it
- Accessible gear will be assembled by Vince Geisler
- Disposal of gear to the landfill is the last resort
- There are 15-20 Celestron 8″ or equivalent telescopes available
- Volunteers for work party on March 22nd – contact David david@victoria.rasc.ca
Events
- March 11th – UVic Presentation: An Overview of the Vera C. Rubin Telescope and its Legacy Survey of Space and Time – Dr. Wes Fraser
- March 20th – star party in the Highlands District in memory of Sid Sidhu – contact Lauri to volunteer – lauri@victoria.rasc.ca
- Astronomy Day – April 25th at the RBCM – need volunteers – contact Randy pastpres@victoria.rasc.ca
- Bamfield Astronomy – May 8-10 – Bill Weir
  - Solar in the day and night viewing
  - Accommodation will be provided
  - To volunteer contact Bill metchosinskies@hotmail.com
- Beaveree – last Sat in May – Bill Weir
  - Solar is best
  - Looking for volunteers – contact Bill metchosinskies@hotmail.com