Elections

The business portion of the meeting covered recent club officer elections.  Mike Keefe and Chris COle are returning as club co-chairs. Ian Hewitt is stepping down after many years of outstanding service as a RAC co-chair.  Brian Reasor is elected to his co-chair position. Ann Murphy returns as RAC Secretary, and Chuck Jaynes is stepping down after several years as RAC Treasurer with Danny Marbell elected as the new Treasurer. The club thanks Chuck for his able service as Treasurer.

Astronomical Observing Awards

Astronomical League observing awards were presented to:

– Doug Lively  : Binocular Messier observing program

– Brian Reasor : Honorary Messier program.

Congratulations to both!

Public Observing and Events

  • Third Thursday of Every Month – Imaging Meeting  occurs at the Brickhouse Restaurant. The address is 3801 Hillsborough Street Raleigh, NC. This meeting discusses astro-imaging.
  • July 24 (Thursday) – Title 1 School Night.  This is located at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Nature Research Center building.  It will be indoors.  Telescopes will be needed.  It will be like Astronomy days.
  • July 25 (Friday) – RACOBS.  Keep an eye on the website for Go-NoGo status.
  • July 31 (Thursday) – Class: Getting Started in Astro-Imaging.  This free workshop is held at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Nature Research Center building, fourth floor.    It is from  7 to 8:30.
  • August 15 (Friday) – Public Observing – Art in the Evening.  This public observing session will take place at the Museum of Art from 8:30pm to 11pm.
  • August 28 (Thursday) – Class: Getting Started in Astronomy.  This free workshop is held at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Nature Research Center building, fourth floor.    It is from  7 to 8:30.
  • September 13 (Saturday) – Public Observing at Prairie Ridge in Raleigh.  Times are to be determined.
  • September 25 (Thursday) – Class: Getting Your Kids Started in Astronomy.  This free workshop is held at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Nature Research Center building, fourth floor.    It is from  7 to 8:30.
  • October 3 (Friday)  – Public  Observing at Annie Wilkerson Nature Reserve held TBD to 10:30pm
  • October 23 (Thursday ) Partial Solar Eclipse – Location and  times TBD.  It will be just before sunset, due to  the eclipse.  Prairie Ridge would be a good location.
  • October 18 (Saturday) – ASTC Rooftop Observing.  This is held at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Nature Research Center building, fourth floor.    It is from  6pm to 11:30pm.
  • December 31 (Wednesday) – First Night Raleigh.  At present, the location and the times are TBD.
  • Wake County Library presentations.  Five will be observing and one will be a presentation.  The presentation will be at the Cameron Village Library.  The times would be 7:30-8:30.  This needs to be finalized, but should happen in the Fall, so that it will be dark enough to observe.

Committees

Thanks to all the people that volunteered for the committees.  Mike Keefe will get an email out to get things started.  The telescope committee still needs volunteers.  Here is the list of committees that we have.  You can see last month’s business meeting notes for descriptions of each of the committees.

  • Greeting Committee
  • Observing Committee
  • Learning Astronomy Committee
  • Telescope Loaner Committee
  • Astronomy Days Committee