December 22 at 19:00: Informal Astro Café. On-line only! No host, no video recording or notes, but good old conviviality. Same Zoom link as always. NO ASTRO CAFE ON DECEMBER 29. Video recording of meeting
Astronomy Cafe – Dec 15, 2025
Astronomy Cafe – Dec 8, 2025
Intro & new attendees – Lauri Roche; Upcoming Astronomy Cafes – Randy Enkin; Astrophotography and 16″ CU telescope upgrades – Brock Johnston; Geminid Meteor Shower in 2014 – Reg Dunkley; The Week That Shaped Astronomy in Victoria – Dennis Crabtree; Newcombe Singers Concert – Randy Enkin; Mizar (and friends) – binary stars – Randy Enkin
Astronomy Cafe – Dec 1, 2025
Intro & new attendees – Randy Enkin; Canadian meteorite fall events: Keep looking up – Phil McCausland; Eagle Nebula astrophoto – Dave Payne; “The Fall of Icarus” – Randy Enkin; Announcements – Randy Enkin, David Lee, Lauri Roche; Two Personal Observatories – Garry Sedun
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 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
President’s Message – October 2025
As fall settles over Victoria and we are faced with what may be the last stretches of clear evening skies (for a time at least), I hope everyone has a chance to wind up any lingering observing projects.
Looking back at the summer there was so much activity from our society that I failed to share a summer highlight of my own: a visit to the David Dunlap Observatory in July.
For those who haven’t had a chance to work with one of these large telescopes up close, I’m pleased to announce our next Plaskett Night, scheduled for October 25. As always, it’s a special opportunity to use the 1.8m telescope and chase down some faint targets.
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
“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