Astronomy Cafe – Sep 16, 2024

• Intro by Marjie Welchframe
• Beginning Telescopes – Kirsten Pedersen
  • First telescope – 90mm Maksutov-Cassegrain
    • Purchased at the Nov 27, 2023 Buy & Sell event at a bargain price
    • Erecting prism diagonal, alt/az mount, red dot finder
    • Focal length and ratio determines what the design is best suited for and determines the Field Of View (FOV)
    • Good and appropriate eyepieces are key to enjoying observing through a telescope
  • Other popular telescopes
    • Dobsonian reflector
    • Refractor
    • Other Cassegrain designs
  • A good mount for your telescope is very important!
  • RASC observing programs
    • Explore the Universe
    • Explore the Moon
    • More in-depth observing programs available
  • Observing resources – books and apps
  • Kirsten has two more telescopes: 5″ Mak and 120mm Achromat refractor
  • Discussion of tripods, tracking mounts
  • Using binoculars discussion – Jan 15, 2018 – Buying & Using Binoculars – Joe Carr –Slides (5Mb PDF)
• Setting up the Kidscope – Randy Enkin, with Dave Robinson & David Lee
  • Donation from Edmonton Centre to Victoria Centre
  • Randy tried it out at the DAO
  • 6″ f/5 Newtonian
  • Telrad for finding celestial objects
  • Tracking equatorial mount
• Vox in the Stars – Sep 14 – Randy Enkin
  • Choral performance inside the Plaskett dome
  • Observing the Waxing Gibbous Moon from outside through outreach telescopes
  • International Observe the Moon Night
  • Venus observed through an amazing orange sunset sky
• Lauri Roche
• Bulk Order for 2025 RASC publications – contact roche.lauri@gmail.com
  • 2025 Observer’s Calendar $18-20
  • 2025 Night Sky Almanac $16-17
  • Eplore the Universe guide ($17) and workbook ($10)
  • Explore the Moon (binoculars and small telescope versions) $10 each
  • 50 Things To See with a Telescope – activity workbook – $10
  • Place orders with Lauri by Oct 21st
  • Delivery at November UVic meeting or make other arrangements with Lauri
  • Sep 19 – Canada in Space – presentation at the DAO by Randy Attwood, Bob MacDonald and Chris Gainor – tickets $10
  • Sep 26th – Bending Light – FDAO members only
• Saturn Occulted by the Moon – Randy Enkin & David Lee
  • 4:09AM to 4:57AM tomorrow morning – members at Cattle Point
  • Also happened on Aug 21 – photos featured
  • Syzygy
• Astrophotos by Brock Johnston – gallery
  • Saturn – time series over last 5 years
  • Sun in Ha – prominences and surface
  • Jupiter
  • Mars
  • Atmospheric Corrector – very useful to reduce atmospheric dispersion when photographing planets

Video transcript of meeting