Public Events

  • Statewide Star Party – Part of the NC Science Festival – 4/4 – 4/5

This was a big success.  The 4/4 day was cancelled, due to weather.  Annie Wilkerson Nature Preserve could not make up the day on 4/5.  This will be made up in the fall. Prairie Ridge and Howell Woods were able to have the Star Party.  There was at least 100 people at the Howell Woods location.

  • Boy Scout Camporee 4/25/2014 7pm – 11pm

This turned out to be a really good event.  There were about 500 kids, five astronomers for solar observing and lecturing and three astronomers for night time observing.

  • Girl Scouts 4/26 – 4/27

Clay Coor, Fred Fogg, former club member John Nigro, and Mike Mantini conducted a mini astronomy event for the Girl Scouts at Camp Mary Atkinson in Clayton,NC. Between the four of us, we had three SCT’s and one Newtonian. In attendance were somewhere around 45-50 Girl Scouts, though it did seemed like more. This was not a huge group, but just the right size to be able to spend some time with the girls looking through the scope and explaining things. There were two separate groups at two different times, which really helped.

  • “Star Party” at Midway Middle School Dunn 5/5/14 at 9pm-12pm

This was a great success.  There was about 30 students and teachers that attended.  Michael Fulbright and John Nigro did an impromptu telescope clinic with a teacher’s Celestron 4.5″ reflector and a student’s Meade refractor.  The moon, Jupiter, Mars, Saturn and some deep sky objects.  The principal was really pleased with the event and would like to repeat it.  The school site has great horizons and pretty dark skies.

  • Medoc Mountain Trip (informal) 5/3/2014

This was a viewing opportunity for the club.  Mike Mantini wanted to check this location out and invited club members to join.  He found out later that camping was not necessary and that you can make arrangements with the Park Rangers when you want to leave.

  • Morehead Planetarium Session 5/3/2014

This session was a success.  This is a monthly event organized by the Morehead Planetarium.  It was estimated that over 300 people attended.  About a 100 people attended from Green Hope Elementary.  These people will be returning for the next session.  Both CHAOS and RAC helped out for this evening.  The next session is Saturday, May 31, 9-11pm at Jordan Lake Ebenezer Church Recreation Area.

Upcoming Observing Sessions

  • RACOBS 5/23/2014 at 6pm

Friday, May 23, 2014, 06:00pm – 11:59pm

Details: Observing sessions are weather dependent. If an observing session is canceled due to weather, an impromptu meeting may be held instead.   Check the Announcements on the homepage after 5:00pm on the night of the observing session for the go/no-go decision and other pertinent information.

RAC Officer: Michael Keefe

Location : Big Woods

  • International “Sun” Day

This is Sunday, June 22, 2014.  It will be held at the museum during regular hours.  There will be solar observing.

  • Title 1 night

This is Thursday, July 24, 2014.  This is mainly an indoor event, but maybe an opportunity for outside viewing.  The location is at the museum.

  • Annie Wilkerson

This will take place in the fall.

  • Wake County Library

They would like a presentation in October.  The only caveat is that if you present at one library, you need to present at all six of them.

  • Girl Scouts

They would like another observing night on August 10, 2014.

Committee Help Needed.

Mike Keefe wanted to raise the discussion for individuals to be more involved in the club.

* https://raleighastroinfo.wufoo.com/forms/rac-committee-volunteer-form/

Here is the list of committees:

  • Greeting Committee:

Looking for about six members to serve as greeters at indoor meetings. They would be responsible for welcoming guests and new members as well as either answering questions or introducing them to experienced members that may be able to help. The plan is to schedule two greeters to serve each month, thus a total of four times a year.

  • Observing Committee:

We need several people to help plan and coordinate public observing sessions (like the Statewide Star Party). These public events are such a great way to share Astronomy that we would love to do more than just one a quarter.

  • Learning Astronomy Committee:

This group of people will ensure classes are scheduled with the museum, update course content, schedule clinics and solicit volunteers for the events. We would also encourage this committee to branch out into other areas such as skills videos on YouTube, etc.

  • Telescope Loaner Committee:

Rather than this fall on one volunteer (currently John Irwin) it would be very helpful to have at least one more person, if not two to assist John in managing this great resource for club members.

  • Astronomy Days Committee:

This group will help plan exhibits, speakers, and other events related to Astronomy Days. Also this group would assist in recruiting volunteers to work at the exhibits, provide talks and lead workshops.

  • Term Limit Discussion Group met

There was great discussion around this topic.  This committee will be bringing forth a proposal in the next few months with a vote in the September meeting.

  • Update on “Learning Astronomy Sessions”

Each session has been held at least once so far.  These sessions include Getting Started in Astronomy, Getting your Kids Started, Getting Started in AP and an Equipment clinic.  All sessions were very well received.

Ian Hewitt is looking for a substitute for the Getting Started in Astronomy session on May 29.  Please contact him if you can substitute for him.

  • Elections

There is not a full slate for officer candidates for 2014-2015 year.  We have candidates for the Co-chair and secretary, but none for Treasure.  According to the constitution, we can not have the elections in June.  A full slate of candidates is needed one meeting before the election.

Nominations are open for Treasure position.  Of course nominations are open for the other positions as well.  The Treasure position is not that difficult or time consuming.  You get to serve on the Executive Committee and get an equal vote.  We still have two past Treasurer’s in the club that can answer any questions you may have (even after you are elected).  The existing Treasure is Chuck Jaynes.  Nominations can be done via email.

  • Streaming Meetings

The presentation portion of the meeting is now being streamed.  The business meeting portion will not be streamed. The meeting on 5/8/2014 was the first one streamed.  This is available for replay at:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/events/cthdjmkun4bi8fehcgke1vvqds8

  • The audio is not consistent. We understand the reason and should have this fixed by June.
  • It seems like we had some bandwidth problems at several points. We are going to a wired Internet connection for future broadcasts.
  • The slides don’t scroll until part way through the presentation. This is due to the way sharing was configured. We understand that problem and know how to correct it.
  • The broadcast appears on Mike’s page instead the RAC page and YouTube channel. We had some technical problems and in the future these will appear hosted by the RAC page/YouTube channel

 

  • Going out to eat

It was decided to go to Tripps.