Intro – Jeff Pivnick; Smart Telescopes – Jeff Pivnick; Manned Space Missions – Chris Gainor; New Horizons mission – Phil Stooke; Announcements – Kevin Bertles, Randy Enkin, Lauri Roche, David Lee
Astronomy Cafe – Nov 10, 2025
Astronomy Cafe – Nov 3, 2025
Alex Schmid and Joe Carr honoured with minor planet naming; Introductions from new attendees; Newcombe Singers Concert: Sunrise Mass – Kathryn Whitney, Music Director; Events – David Lee, Randy Enkin, Kevin Bertles; Travels In Australia – Chris Gainor; Events – Jeff Pivnick, Randy Enkin, David Lee; Supernovae and stellar nurseries – Dave Payne; A Victory Story from Vince Geisler
Astronomy Cafe – Oct 27, 2025
Intro & New Members – Reg Dunkley; Memories of Sid Sidhu – Reg Dunkley, Marji Welchframe, David Lee, Garry Sedun, Chris Gainor, Susan Grady, Lauri Roche, Dave Robinson; 3I/ATLAS Interstellar Comet from Mars – Phil Stooke; Comet C/2025 A6 Lemmon – Reg Dunkley, Randy Enkin, Bill Weir ; WR134 Astrophotograph – Dave Payne; Astrophotos from Vince Geisler; Aldebaran – Randy Enkin
Nov 12th Presentation: Maximizing image resolution for ground-based telescopes using Adaptive Optics – Dr. Maaike van Kooten, NRC
Presentation at University of Victoria on November 12, 2025 starting at 7:30PM. “Maximizing image resolution for ground-based telescopes using Adaptive Optics: it is all in the details” – Dr. Maaike van Kooten, AO developer, Herzberg Astronomy & Astrophysics, National Research Council Canada.
In this talk, I will focus on the latest AO R&D happening in Victoria on our local telescopes and put it into context of the wider global AO community. I will also highlight the work being done at large facilities in Hawaii to further push the limits of our AO systems.
Astronomy Cafe – Oct 20, 2025
Intro – Chris Purse; New maps of the Apollo 17 LRV traverses (of the Moon) – Phil Stooke; M42 Orion Nebula – Dave Payne; The friendly skies – Saskatchewan Star Party ; Comet I3/Atlas – Randy Enkin; Dark Sky Reserve – Hanle, Ldakh, India – Natasha van Bentum; Space Mission News – Chris Gainor; Events – Lauri Roche, Dave Payne; Comets: C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) and C/2025 F2 SWAN – Randy Enkin & David Lee
Astronomy Cafe – Oct 6, 2025
Intro & New Members – Jeff Pivnick; New comets this month – Jeff Pivnick; The Sun – Jeff Pivnick; Titan Shadow Transit of Saturn – David Lee & Alex Schmid; The Moon – Randy Enkin; RASC Victoria Memorabilia – Randy Enkin; Events – Lauri Roche, David Lee, Reg Dunkley
Astronomy Cafe – Sep 29, 2025
Pre-order RASC Publications for 2026 – Lauri Roche; Space Exhibits In Missouri, Ottawa and Sidney – Summer Travels 2025 – Brian Barber; Astrophoto – Dave Payne; Hosting Astronomy Cafe next week – Jeff Pivnick; “20 Feet From Stardom” – Astronomers Forgotten in the Shadows – Reg Dunkley; 61 Cygni – Randy Enkin
“Northern Star” documentary – presented by Nick Versteeg, Producer/Director
Date/Time: Wednesday October 8, 2025 starting at 7:30PM Location: University of Victoria, Bob Wright Centre, Lecture Theatre A104. Park in Lot 1 (pay parking) and cross Ring Road “Northern Star – The life of Canadian astronomer J.S. Plaskett and the Canadian Space engineers
Astronomy Cafe – Sep 22, 2025
Intro – Lauri Roche;Space News – Chris Gainor; Observing Highlights and astrophotos – David Lee, Brock Johnston; Events – Lauri Roche; Astrophoto – Dave Payne; Human eyes perception of stellar objects – Bill Weir; Problem observing M74 – Brian Barber
Astronomy Cafe – Sep 15, 2025
Intro – Marjie Welchframe; Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory – Wyman Lee; Announcements – Randy Enkin and David Lee; Polaris- Randy Enkin; Space News – Chris Gainor; Artemis mission and Rainbows – Natasha van Bentum; Spaceweather, CHIME, Island Star Party – Reg Dunkley; NOVA and citizen science – David Lee