Astronomy Cafe – Jan 26, 2026

Velocity, gravity & ground clocks as they relate to GPS satellites

Intro and New Members – Lauri Roche
Sid’s Books – Lauri Roche
Remembering Mark Tovey – Peter Jedicke
Coordinated Universal Time and UTC, GMT and all that – Jeff Pivnick
Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC) – Randy Enkin
Artemis II Mission to the Moon – Chris Gainor
Jeremy Hansen’s mission patch – Natasha van Bentum
A Aurora and hunt for Comet 24p/Schaumasse – Jan 20th early morning – David Lee
VCO Jan 23 Observing Report – David Lee and Reg Dunkley
Events – Lauri Roche

UVic Presentation: The McKellar Telescope:  Discovering Worlds Beyond our Sun – Allen Keefe

1943 72-inch mirror with Pearce, unknown & McKellar and 1.2m telescope with the McKellar spectrograph

Date/Time: Wednesday January 14, 2026 starting at 7:30PM Location: University of Victoria, Bob Wright Centre, Lecture Theatre A104

You may be familiar with the 1.8m Plaskett telescope at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory (DAO), but it is not the only noteworthy telescope on the hill. Located just across the road from the visitor’s centre, the 1.2m telescope and McKellar spectrograph has a vibrant history as well. Its namesake, Andrew McKellar, did lots of important work with spectroscopy at the DAO and designed the telescope’s coudé spectrograph. It saw first light in 1962 and has been in use for active research ever since. This talk will dive into Andrew McKellar’s research, his design of the coudé spectrograph, how spectroscopy works, and the role it has played in past and present astronomy research.

Astronomy Cafe – Dec 8, 2025

The upgraded 16" Centre of the Universe (CU) Boller & Chivens telescope

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 – Nov 3, 2025

An observatory and the night sky from eastern Australia

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

Dark Sky Reserve - Hanle, Ldakh, India

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

David Dunlap Observatory telescope

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.