- Resumption of monthly meetings and speakers at UVic – Jeff Pivnick
- First presentation on Oct 11th – NEW EARTH Lab – Find Life on Exoplanets | RASC Victoria – Dr. Christian Marois, NRC, UVic
- Unexpected Results from James Webb Space Telescope – Chris Gainor
- Annular Solar Eclipse from Victoria on Oct 14, 2023 – Randy Enkin, Lauri Roche, David Lee
- Lots of families at FDAO event on Observatory Hill
- Randy gave 10-minute eclipse basics talks
- Pre-eclipse report and time lapse video by David Lee
- FDAO eclipse event report by Lauri Roche
- Streamed images from David Lee’s telescope in lower parking lot
- Streamed images from Time & Date website
- Homemade waffles, fruit and parfaits were popular
- Lots of RASC members
- About 150-200 public attended
- Eclipse Images by members
- Impromptu event from Cattle Point – Nathan Hellner-Mestelman
- Sid Sidhu’s Highlands neigbourhood event – David Lee
- Gordon Head sketches – Dorothy Paul
- Observatory Hill photo series – Brock Johnston
- John McDonald’s photos – David Lee
- Cattle Point – Alex Schmid
- Partial Solar Eclipse 2023 – RASC Victoria online gallery
- Eclipse photos from online sources – Randy Enkin
- Eclipse reports from members
- Total Solar Eclipse – April 8, 2024 – Discussion about this upcoming event
- SIGNALS – Star-formation, Ionized Gas and Nebular Abundances Legacy Survey – CFHT – Laurie Rousseau-Nepton, Principal Investigator
- Étoile du Nord – NFB series – French with English translation
- FDAO Star Party AGM, 2024 RASC calendars or workbooks – contact Lauri Roche (roche.lauri@gmail.com)
- Beginners’s SIG – Algol Minima – David Lee
It’s October! The nights are longer. The moon is higher. And lots of events are happening for our amateur astronomy community.
The big one is the Annular Solar Eclipse which will happen on the morning of Saturday October 14. The moon will nibble away at the sun starting at 8:07AM, half an hour after sunrise in the east. The maximum here will be at 9:19AM with a whopping 85% of the sun in eclipse. And the show is over at 10:38AM.
The Victoria Centre is not running any official viewings. Members are invited to help the Friends of the DAO with their Eclipse Breakfast at the Centre of the Universe. Note, we have 1,000 solar-viewing glasses to hand out, so we encourage members to go to good east-viewing sites (e.g., Clover Point, Cattle Point, Mount Tolmie) with a handful of these glasses. Contact me (email) or Lauri Roche (email) to get your glasses. Lauri will also be handing them out at the University on October 11.
What a great segué! Finally, after a 3½ year hiatus, we are back to holding monthly Wednesday evening talks at the University of Victoria. The first will be on Wednesday October 11, at 19:30, in the Bob Wright Centre, Lecture Theatre A104. We have a very exciting speaker, Christian Marois, who led the international team of astronomers that first imaged extrasolar planets. His topic is “The NRC NEW EARTH Laboratory, and the Quest to Develop the Tools to Find Life on Exoplanets”. Let’s have a big crowd join in this talk. And afterwards, everybody is welcome to chat in the Astronomy lounge in the Elliott building, and have access to our library for the first time since the lockdown. Many thanks to Alex Shmid and Reg Dunkley for organizing the event.
After a 2-week break, the weekly Monday evening Astro Café continues on October 16 with Jeff Pivnick as our host. Join online with Zoom, or better still join in person at the Fairfield Community Centre and enjoy the cookies!
The last point I am pleased to make is that the Victoria Centre Observatory is up and running better than ever. Use the wonderful telescopes up there or bring your own, and join the community looking at the sky together. Note that you must be on the “Active Observers List” to be allowed up to the VCO (Members Only). Contact our Membership Chair, Chris Purse (membership@victoria.rasc.ca) to get on the list. Members on the Active Observers List get emailed when the sky is predicted to be clear and one of the Members in Charge opens it up.
We are so fortunate to have such a vital community in the Victoria Centre. Do seize the opportunities.
And as always,
Look Up!
Randy Enkin (email)
Video transcript of meeting
Fuelling Galactic Powerhouses – Dr. Mallory Thorp
- Mallory is a postdoctoral researcher the Argelander-Institut für Astronomie (AIfA) at the University of Bonn; MSc & PhD at UVic
- Hubble Deep Field – how do all those galaxies interact with each other?
- Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey (SINGS)
- Galaxy Zoo – internals to galaxies
- Baryon Cycle – gas, dust, stars
- Inter-stellar Medium – gas and star formation
- Sloan Digital Sky Survey
- huge number of galaxies
- great for big picture studies
- Phangs – high resolution studies of individual galaxies covering the complete Baryon Cycle
- Uses multiple telescopes for source data, including both space and ground telescopes – ALMA, JWST, HST, MUSE
- NGC 628 / M74
- Voids in the galaxy – biggest is The Phantom Void (1kpc across)
- Recently formed stars on the edge of voids at these “shock fronts”
- How stars form has now been observed, thanks to JWST
- Out of 74 galaxies only a dozen are mergers
- NGC 3637 – example merger galaxy
- Catastrophic events impact interstellar medium
- Strong star formation when the galactic structure is essentially destroyed
- Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) – eventual result of interaction between galaxies
- Jets of gas leave the galaxy
- AGN is likely responsible for star formation
- Galaxies turn off – why?
- Try to reconstruct an interaction of galaxies over billions of years
- ALMaQUEST – ALMA MaNGA Quenching & Star-Formation Survey
- How mergers power starbursts?
- Extra stars and extra gas
- Studying post-merged galaxies
- How do mergers trigger the birth of new stars?
- AGN or starbursts when fuel is pulled into the centre of a galaxy
- Q&A
Resumption of monthly meetings and speakers at UVic – Reg Dunkley
- NEW EARTH Lab – Find Life on Exoplanets | RASC Victoria – Dr. Christian Marois, NRC, UVic
- Oct 11th 7:30PM at Bob Wright Centre, Room A104, University of Victoria
- Meeting will not be streamed, so please attend in-person
- After the meeting, adjourn to the Elliott Building 4th floor Astronomy lounge for coffee, cookies and discussion
- Lauri will have solar eclipse glasses to give to members
Annular Solar Eclipse – Oct 14, 2023 – Lauri Roche & David Lee
- Solar Eclipse 2023 — Annular Eclipse, October 14 – Time & Date info page
- Start: 8:03AM PDT
- Maximum: 11:00AM PDT
- End: 1:56PM PDT
- Event at the Centre of the Universe
- Observe the eclipse
- Breakfast snacks supplied
- Kids activities
- Vignette talks
- Event tickets on sale from FDAO through Eventbrite
- Solar telescopes – dependant on RASC volunteers
- Will supply solar eclipse glasses to attendees and other people hosting events can come to pick up the glasses
- Best observing spot will likely be from the lower parking lot, not the Plaskett or Centre of the Universe parking lot
- For observing yourself from other locations, seek a site with visibility to the east, low in the sky
- Use solar eclipse glasses to directly observe the Sun, or use telescopes or binoculars with solar filters
- Practice ahead of time
- Discussion about timing and observing
- Solar Eclipse Eye Safety – American Academy of Ophthalmology
- RASC National 2023 calendars – Lauri has ordered 35 calendars, so contact her to sign up for a copy – roche.lauri@gmail.com
Victoria Centre Observatory (VCO) report – David Lee
- 20″ Obsession – guiding working, collimation is near-perfect
- 12″ Dobsonian also available
- Takahashi – available to members for photography and visual observing
- Discussion about parking issue at VCO – Garry Sedun
Astrophotos – Dave Payne
- SH2-157 Lobster Claw nebula in narrowband
- Shrimp nebula
- Heart Nebula and beyond
Oct 16th is the next time to attend Astronomy Cafe – in two week’s time.
Dr. Christian Marois has agreed to deliver a presentation for our October 11th UVic Meeting. It is an exciting topic from a renowned Astronomer. What a great way to relaunch the RASC Speaker Program at UVic! – Reg Dunkley, Past President, RASC Victoria Centre
Date/Time: October 11, 2023, starting at 7:30PM
Location: Bob Wright Centre, Lecture Theatre A104, University of Victoria. Park in Lot 1 (pay parking) and cross Ring Road.
“The NRC NEW EARTH Laboratory, and the Quest to Develop the Tools to Find Life on Exoplanets” – Dr. Christian Marois, NRC
Are there Earth-size exoplanets orbiting nearby stars? Is there life as-we-know-it on these Worlds? The exoplanet field is rapidly progressing toward having the required technology to discover rocky Earth-size exoplanets orbiting nearby Sun-like stars, and search for life signatures. I will describe my NRC NEW EARTH team progress over the last few years to test new innovations, and deploy them in two frontier instruments, the SPIDERS pathfinding at the Subaru telescope, and the CAL2 instrument at the Gemini North observatory. I will also describe our new breakthrough concept, STARLITE, that could dramatically speed-up the discovery and search for Earth-like exoplanets using current and future ground-based telescopes. I will finally discuss possible roles that Canada could play in the ~2040 NASA Habitable World Observatory, a ~6m Hubble Space Telescope successor that is optimized for imaging and characterizing Earth-size planets.
Dr. Christian Marois, NRC astronomer and University of Victoria adjunct professor, has revolutionized how we view the universe by pioneering direct imaging of exoplanets. He invented the most powerful high-contrast techniques, methods that are now widely used by the community, and he led an international team of astronomers to make the ground-breaking discovery of the first images of planets orbiting a star other than the Sun, the HR8799 planetary system.
Dr. Marois is the founder and principal investigator of Canada’s only high-contrast imaging laboratory, NEW EARTH, a one-of-a-kind facility for innovation. He is involved in international collaborations, including the Gemini Planet Imager instrument survey team, and is working toward developing frontier technologies for current and future 30-m class telescopes, focussing on the discovery of Earth-like exoplanets and search for life outside our Solar system. He is currently leading the development of three projects, SPIDERS, a pathfinder for the Subaru telescope, CAL2, a facility-class sensor for the Gemini Planet Imager, and STARLITE, a system for imaging Earth-like exoplanets orbiting Sun-like stars using ground-based telescopes.
Video transcript of meeting
- Island Star Party report – Dave Payne
- Thanks to all the volunteers
- Need a new leader for the star party next year
- Activities and functions
- Logistics
- Coordinating volunteers
- Coordinating with the Cowichan Valley Regional District & Parks
- Improvements and a new vision for next year’s event
- Astronomical Photos
- New 32″ telescope at Black Nugget Lake Observatory (near Edmonton) – Dave Robinson
- Ron Fisher (online gallery)
- M45 Pleiades Cluster
- M31, 32, 110 Andromeda Galaxy
- Cassiopeia’s Ghost SH2-185 – Gamma Cas star
- The Hebrew Calendar – Randy Enkin
- Jewish New Year on Friday/Saturday just past – Rosh Hashanah
- Based on a Lunar Calendar
- Review of rules to determine the New Year day
- Year number is calculated to when the human world was “created” on Oct 6, 3761 BCE
- Comparing the lunar and solar calendars
- Necessary and Unnecessary Miracles
- Discussion
- Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Updates – Mary Beth Laychak, CFHT Communications laychak@cfht.hawaii.edu
- Land Acknowledgements for both Hawai’i and the DAO lands
- Mauna Kea is one of the darkest sites in the world
- Instruments review
- Science Highlights review
- Planning for the future
- Maunakea Authority
- Maunakea Spectrographic Explorer (MSE) – Pathfinder construction
- New capabilities for CFHT
- Internship offer for opto-mechanical design and production
- Outreach to the community
- Maunakea Scholars
- Summer Interns
- School events
- CFHT Staff
- Q&A
- Announcements
- Makers SIG – upcoming
- Mallory Thorpe – next week’s speaker
- Saanich Fair – Lauri Roche
- Sep 2-4, 3 days
- Thanks to all the volunteers, but we could use more for next year
- 3,500-4,000 people visited the booth and telescopes
- Solar telescopes used to show the public the Sun
- Clear and beautiful weather except for Sunday afternoon rain
- Telescope raffle
- Island Star Party – Reg Dunkley
- Very good attendance 70 + 200
- Dave Payne project lead
- Cloudy skies on Friday but some sucker holes
- Pristine skies on Saturday night
- Zero gravity chairs were popular with cheers from the crowd when the Perseid meteors streaked across the sky
- Volunteers from Cowichan Valley Starfinders did a great job
- Two interesting speakers on Friday and Saturday night
- Next year: 1st weekend of August
- Donations more than covered our expenses
- Grand prize of a telescope and mount
- CU Star Parties – Lauri Roche
- Weekly events – mid-May to mid-Sep
- Good attendance every Saturday event
- Presentations every week – either in-person or virtual
- Monthly events during off-season
- Saturday FDAO Star Party (Sep 16th) – Mary Beth Laychak, CFHT Outreach will be presenting
- Plaskett Observing – Sep 16th
- Contact Dan Posey email
- Starts at 11:30pm
- Must be a member and registered as an Active Observer to participate
- Personal Observing Reports
- Brock Johnston – photos
- Helix Nebula
- Solar disk in Ha – discussion
- Jupiter – good seeing on Saturday
- Saturn – 3 images showing changing ring tilt
- Explore the Universe observing group – Marji & Jill
- 110 celestial objects
- Observe and/or draw at least 55 objects
- There is also an Explore the Moon workbook
- Group of 6 observing from Cattle Point
- Moon – Randy Enkin
- Sinus Iridium & Jura Mountains – comparing Mike Nash’s image & Randy’s sketch
- Island Star Party astronomy images review
- Brock Johnston – photos
- Announcements
- Teacher’s Workshop – Lauri Roche
- Mary Beth Laychak, CFHT Outreach will be leading the workshop
- Monday – 4:30-7:00pm for teachers
- Monday after the teachers – present at Astro Cafe
- 2019 AGM presenter
- Council meeting – Randy Enkin
- Tomorrow night – all members welcome
- UVic Wednesday night monthly meetings restarting – Alex Schmid
- Teacher’s Workshop – Lauri Roche
- Minima of Algol – David Lee
- Eclipsing binary
- Short cycle of 3 days
- Magnitude 3.4 to 2.1
- Dates coming up – ref S&T
- Partial Solar Eclipse – Oct 14th – David Lee and Lauri Roche
- Observe from the Centre of the Universe – 8am to 10:30am
- Solar observing glasses
- Safety briefing
- Breakfast beverages and snacks
- Activities for kids and adults
- $5/person – registration through Eventbrite
- Rain or shine event
- Volunteers needed
- Blake Nancarrow remembrance – Randy Enkin
- Memories from Bill Weir
- Black was Chair of RASC Observing Committee
- RASC Double Star program – designed for small aperture urban observing
- David Dunlop observatory champion
- Memories from Peter Jedicke
- Blake retired to St. Thomas, attached to RASC London Centre
- Blake was the first Astronomer in Residence at York University’s observatory at Killarney Provincial Park
- Blake’s obituary
- Memories from David Lee and Jill Sinkwich
- Stellarium courses
- Double stars tribute – Randy
- Different colours of binaries
- Splitting the doubles, triples and quads – challenging technique
- A Tribute to Double Star Observer and Our Friend Blake Nancarrow –The Actual Astronomer Podcast – Chris and Shane
- Lyra – 3 doubles – Marjie Welchframe
- Memories from Bill Weir
Video transcript of meeting
- Beginner Observers – report by Brenda
- Observing and sketching targets from Cattle Point
- Trying to find another observing spot to get away from the car lights
- Summer targets are next
- Four observers at Pearson College two weeks ago – liked it!
- Island View Beach may be a good observing location
- Most of the group are working on Explore the Universe observing certificate
- Special Interest Groups – David Lee
- Beaveree and Seniors event at the Centre of the Universe – solar observing – Lauri Roche
- Plaskett Observing Session – video report by Randy Enkin
- First in-person observing session on May 19-20, 2023 since 2019
- Supernova 2023ixf photographed in M101 as our last target, unknown to us at the time
- Dan Posey notified Dave Bohlender at NRC, so the SN photometry was reported online quickly
- Subsequent processing revealed the SN is a blue star
- Koichi Itagaki, amateur Japanese discoverer of SN
- The progenitor star of the SN now has a paper published about it
- Thanks to Astro Cafe volunteers – Randy Enkin
- Photos of Supernova 2023ixf (Type II)
- Dave Payne
- May 13-16 images of M101 without SN
- May 20th image of M101 with the SN
- Brock Johnston
- GIF flashing old versus new image of M101
- Light curve of SN from AAVSO
- Also imaged M51 and M13
- Sketch of SN using 6″ Dob – Bill Weir
- Photos of SN on May 20th & 24th showing the SN enlarging – Ron Fisher
- Dave Payne
- Plaskett Observing Session on May 19-20 – Dan Posey
- Objects imaged before M101 are being processed
- NGC 4565 Needle Galaxy
- NGC 4605 Faberge Egg Galaxy
- NGC 6914 reflection and emission nebula
- Objects imaged before M101 are being processed
- National AGM – June 25th online – Chris Gainor
- Restricted to RASC members – log in to member area of rasc.ca website
- Reports, financial statement, bylaw amendments, elections
- Please attend and vote
- 2023 AGM Agenda
- Island Star Party – Dave Payne
- Aug 11-13
- Still need some volunteers – sign up for email list dapayne@shaw.ca
- Discussion of Supernovae (in general)
- Type I and Type II Supernovae – Dan Posey
- SN 2016aps – Lauri Roche
- Star Parties on Observatory Hill – Lauri Roche
- Saturday nights all summer long
- RASC volunteers invited with telescopes or without
- Event info on the Centre of the Universe website
This is the last Astronomy Cafe until we restart after the Summer break.. Astro Café will resume on Monday. September 11, 2023.
Video transcript of meeting
- Intro – Jeff Pivnick
- To the Moon, with Robots and Humans – Dr. Gordon “Oz” Osinski, Dept. Earth Sciences, University of Western Ontario
- Sailing ships to space missions – history of human exploration
- The Moon has thousands of meteorite impacts
- 2019 announcement by Canadian government
- Canadarm 3 on Lunar Gateway outpost
- Lunar Exploration Accelerator Program (LEAP) – Canadian lunar rover
- Artemis I – launched last year
- Lots of images from this mission
- Artemis II – orbit Moon
- Canadian astronaut – Jeremy Hansen
- Crewed test flight to the Moon and Earth high orbit
- Engineering mission, not a science mission
- Launch – late 2024 or early 2025
- Artemis III – land on the Moon
- Geology training for astronauts
- 18 astronaut candidates
- 13 candidate landing sites – all near Lunar South Pole
- Geological samples will return to Earth with the astronauts
- Canada has 30 out of 200 impact craters found on Earth
- Mistastin Lake impact structure – best analog to lunar craters since anorthosite ejecta is found here, same as on the Moon (light material)
- Canadian Lunar Rover Mission
- Canadensys – contractor for 30kg prototype
- Science instruments will take about 5-6kg
- South Pole – geology and mineral resources
- Volatiles – water
- Permanently Shadowed Regions – no sunlight
- Radiation monitoring to ensure astronauts’ health, both on the Moon and future Mars missions
- Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter – images showing deep lunar shadows
- Q & A
- Island Star Party 2023 – Dave Payne
- August 11-13, 2023
- In-reach – socializing with fellow members
- Location: Bright Angel Park – south Cowichan
- Activities
- Solar observing
- Nature walks
- Kinsol Trestle
- Lots of activities in Cowichan Valley
- Telescope walk, how to use a telescope, observing skills
- Speakers – one each night
- Perseid Meteor shower
- T-shirts – contact Joe Carr to preorder
- Volunteers needed – contact Dave Payne
- ISP Volunteer Email List
- Victoria Centre Observatory – Reg Dunkley
- Last night – 10 Active Observers
- Both visual and photography
- Become an Active Observer – contact Chris Purse
- Occultation of Jupiter by the Moon – David Lee
- Wednesday, May 17th 4:52am – 5:33am
- Moon 3º above the eastern horizon during the occultation
- Astrophotography by local members
- Astronomy Day slideshow – Ken McGill
- Brock Johnston
- Orion & Flame Nebula widefield
- M94 – halo
- Cat’s Eye Nebula & NGC 6552 barred spiral galaxy
- Randy Enkin
- Deep Sky Filter – a Lumicon “UHC” legacy visual filter
- Orrery – kit build
- Observations – Marjie Welchframe
- Kemble’s Cascade
- Spring double stars
No Astro Cafe next week due to the Victoria Day statutory holiday. The last Astro Cafe before the summer break will be held on May 29th.
Video transcript of meeting
- Intro – Marjie Welchframe
- Centre of the Universe Volunteer Coordinator – Aimee Rossen (info@centreoftheuniverse.org)
- Volunteer waivers – need to have everyone sign the form after viewing the safety video
- Volunteer list – access to Observatory Hill
- Volunteers should arrive before 7pm on Saturday night to avoid congestion at the access gate
- ORCASat – Prof. Justin Albert
- This microsat was built at UVic and launched six months ago to the ISS, where it was deployed – ORCASat — Launch
- ORCASat should burn up next month after six months of operation in low Earth orbit
- Background
- Modern cosmology started in 1929 Edwin Hubble’s assertion that the Universe is expanding
- Cepheid variable stars tell us the absolute magnitude, hence the distance away from Earth. Henrietta Swan-Leavitt’s research enabled this process.
- Observing past 10*7 Parsecs means using Type 1A SuperNova (White Dwarf), since Cepheids are no longer bright enough to use as a standard candle.
- Limitations of our Knowledge of Dark Energy 73% of Universe’s mass
- Calibration of brightness measurements are needed – flux as a function of colour
- Dark Matter 23% of Universe’s mass
- Atoms 3% of Universe’s mass
- The Dark Side of the Universe
- Supernovae are one of the powerful probes for understanding the eventual fate of the Universe
- ORCASat is in an ISS-like orbit
- Needs good coverage above ground observatories, so they can observe Orcasat
- Photometric calibration – Orcasat’s absolute brightness is compared with standard stars
- ALTAIR – Airborne Laser for Telescopes Atmospheric Interference Reduction
- Photometric Calibration using a high altitude balloon
- A laser photometric ratio star (LPRS) – exciting the Sodium layer
- I Need More Space-Time – review of a science fair project by Nathan Hellner-Mestleman
- Predict when our Universe will end
- Used Wiseman Observatory data for Type 1 SN
- Spectral lines: Hydrogen epsilon, Hydrogen delta
- Examined Supernovae 30 million LY to 40 billion LY
- Found the Hubble Constant to vary from 20 km/sec/Parsec to much bigger
- Using Slooh data didn’t work out, since Supernovae data levels are too low
- Project tried to infer how long the Universe will last from changes in brightness of Supernovae
- Consensus from WMAPS
- Q&A for both Justin and Nathan
- Is the Universe finite or infinite? We don’t know, and possibly will never know.
- Hot, dense start to the Universe – ratio of Hydrogen and Helium verifies this process, as does Nucleosynthesis with Quarks and Gluons (DOE Explains…Quarks and Gluons | Department of Energy).
- LIGO and other Gravitational Wave observatories should verify how the Universe started (inflation).
- Events
- RASC General Assembly – Lauri Roche
- Friday – shared Victoria’s Observatory Hill with delegates across Canada
- Thanks to members who attended
- RASC GA 2023 – CONNECT with the cosmos & community
- Beaveree at Camp Barnard – May 27th (9am-2pm) – Bill Weir
- Need volunteers for outreach – email Bill
- Island Star Party – Aug 11-13 – Dave Payne
- Permit for park use is in place
- More details at next week’s Astro Cafe
- RASC General Assembly – Lauri Roche
Meeting transcript video
- The Dual Dipole Radio Telescope – Evan Warburton, Oak Bay High School, Grade 12
- Io generates a band of electrons around Jupiter
- Setup dipole antenna on the Lansdowne Middle School field
- 20MHz ionized radiation – copper wire cut to half the wavelength
- “Floating” coaxial shield, not grounded
- SDR Console software – gain, bandwidth, Io A, B and C phase predictions – Software Defined Radio
- Spectrograph software
- Detected a radio storm – short, random bursts
- 10-40 MHz is the observable bandwidth range
- Observing time: about 1 hour per week
- NASA’s Radio JOVE Project: Home Page– helpful forum
- Project planning and execution – discussion
- Q & A
- Evan is travelling to the Canada-wide Science Fair in Edmonton May 13, and is attending UVic Physics this Fall with a prestigious Schulich scholarship to his credit.
- International Astronomy Day – April 29 & 30, 2023 – report by Lauri Roche and David Lee
- Saturday at Observatory Hill – FDAO event
- Event recording
- Astronomy Day | Star Party — Centre of the Universe
- Sunday at UVic Astronomy – RASC & UVic event
- School astronomy groups – Monterey, Shawnigan Lake, Victoria High
- About 100 public attended
- Needed more media coverage and promotion
- Need a discussion about next year’s effort
- Zenfolio | RASC Victoria Centre | Astronomy Day 2023
- Discussion of both events
- Saturday at Observatory Hill – FDAO event
- RASC Victoria Centre Council meeting on May 9th – Randy Enkin
- Members are welcome to attend online
- Beaveree at Camp Barnard – May 27th (9am-2pm) – Bill Weir
- Need volunteers for outreach – email Bill
- Solar and possibly daytime planets
- Telescopes – both Ha and white light
- RASC GA 2023 – CONNECT with the cosmos & community – May 5-7 – Lauri Roche
- Gather Town – social interaction
- Friday – Dr. Shandin Pete, Salish Sky Lore, 1 hour live from Victoria’s DAO (7-8pm) – contact Lauri to volunteer
- Saturday – combatting science misinformation, CSA Astronaut Jeremy Hansen
- Sunday – Dr. Linda Shore, Astronomical Society of the Pacific
- Members: $35 admission
- Zoom call is used for all sessions
- Astronomy by Night – A new Canadian website for amateur astronomers. – Michael Webb
- Explore the Universe – Marjie Welchframe
- Lunar crater sketches
- Astronomy Cafe – next week’s speaker is Justin Albert – cube-sat ORCASat
- Beginner’s SIG – tomorrow night – Jill & David