Attendance 

  • In-person: 22
  • Zoom: 11

Date: September 25, 2026

Co-Chair: Blair Groden

Meeting Presentation: 

Meeting Topic: The Pleiades are actually huge!

Speaker: Andrew Boyle

Andy is a fourth year graduate student at UNC where he studies stellar rotation, open clusters, and young planets. One of the goals of his research is to use stellar rotation to learn more about the time scales and mechanisms that drive open cluster dissolution and translate these findings into building a better map of the Galaxy around Earth. Outside of work he enjoys running, cycling, and spending time outside.

Meeting Description: 

NASA’s TESS Spacecraft Triples Size of Pleiades Star Cluster

Meeting Description: Stellar rotation offers a powerful probe of stellar evolution, age, and magnetic activity in low-mass stars. As stars age, magnetized winds extract angular momentum, causing their rotation rates to slow—a process that forms the basis of gyrochronology. This technique has become central to studies of exoplanet host ages, stellar population mapping, and open cluster evolution. One application of studying stellar rotation is in reconstructing the formation histories of dispersed open clusters. While Gaia has improved our ability to trace cluster kinematics, linking individual stars to specific birth events becomes difficult beyond ~100 Myr, as remnants spread over hundreds of parsecs and conventional age estimates lose precision. In this talk I will share the results of a new methodology that combines stellar rotation periods with Gaia kinematics to identify diffuse, coeval structures. Applying this method to the Pleiades reveals that the Pleiades is the bound core of a much larger, spatially extended structure: the Greater Pleiades Complex. This 600-pc-wide assembly comprises multiple known groups with common ages, abundances, and dynamical histories, all likely originating from the same star-forming event. This work shows that the Pleiades is not just seven stars but is in fact the bound remnant of far larger, dissolving association of stars.

Upcoming Events:

  • October 2: First Fridays Under the Stars with TLC (3BA)
  • October 3: The Exchange (Raleigh)
  • October 5-11: Fall SRSP at Staunton River State Park, VA
  • October 14: The Willard Rooftop (Raleigh)
  • October 16: RAC Observing Session (RACOBS)
  • October 24: International Observe the Moon Night (Raleigh)
  • October 30: Next Indoor Meeting
    • Topic – Chris Beckett – The Actual Astronomy Podcast
    • Building The Cactus Hill Observatory – The challenge of building a remote observatory to handle -50℃ (-58℉) to +50℃ (122℉)

Treasurer’s Report:

  • Memberships:
    • RAC memberships: 567
    • Cancelled memberships: 1
    • TOTAL memberships: 556

Financials:

    • Checking: $2,353.44
    • Savings: $21,475.95
    • Special Purpose: $0.88
    • Note: membership dues increase to $35.00 for the coming 2027 calendar year. Renewals start in early December and will reflect the new amount.

Astronomical League Report:

Dean’s AL Messier/Caldwell Monthly Challenge for 2026

A yearlong monthly observing challenge to get members(esp those who did the Hubble Challenge) to the AL’s messier and Caldwell Awards. Bonus Bright/Dark Nebula Observing program.

New/Holdovers:

  • Dana Bostic – Herschel 400 #69I (I) Certificate and Pin
  • Al Hamrick – Hydrogen Alpha OP – (V) Pin and Cert
  • Dean Herring – #17 AL Challenge – Scutum – Gold Cert
  • Susan Herring – #17 AL Challenge – Scutum – Gold Cert

Dean’s AL Messier/Caldwell Monthly Challenge for 2026

  • Blair Groden – September
  • Bethany Bennett – August

Outreach Report

  • September events canceled due to weather.
  • Outreach Committee is looking for volunteers to coordinate events and assist at events; with or without telescopes.
  • Outreach Committee is looking for volunteers to coordinate events and assist at events; with or without telescopes.  To join the committee, send a blank email to [email protected].  Every club member is welcome, regardless of experience!  We will train you.
  • September’s outreach report is available at RAC Outreach Committee Report – September 2026 – Raleigh Astronomy Club

Safety: Nothing new to report.

Members interested in First Aid/CPR/AED training can register themselves by finding a convenient class here:

https://www.redcross.org/local/north-carolina/take-a-class/cpr-raleigh-nc

Loaner Scope Report

Available Checked Out In for Repair Available
Cassegrains 7 5 3
Dobsonians 9 2 1
Maksutovs 5 0 0
Refractors 0 0 2
Reflectors 0 1 4
Binoculars 4 1 1
Accessories 8 2 39
Outreach 3 4 6

Education Committee Report – Nothing new to report

Webmaster Report – Nothing new to report.  Still informing.

Web team Report: Nothing new to report.

Committee Reports

Social Events:

RAC Family Picnic 

  • The RAC BBQ Picnic was held on September 5th and was a hit!
  • A big thanks to Chris Cole and his family for hosting us at Buckwheat Farm in Apex. Great Food, Great Location and Great Fellowship! We had about 55 RAC Members (10% of our membership) and their families attend. Thank you to everyone who came and supported RAC. It was great to see so many people including our youth come and enjoy the picnic. There were lots of giveaways (thanks to Yvonne and the Loaner scope crew for getting the items organized!) Missed this year? Check out the photos on the Socials and plan to attend in 2027.

Pre-meeting Social

  • Save the Date
  • Our next Pre-meeting Social will be at the December 18th Imaging Showcase. We’ll be having a Christmas/Holiday Dinner similar to last years event, sign up and more details will follow closer to the date.

Social Media: 

  • Around 3 dozen new followers between Instagram and Facebook
  • Instagram: 55% of views are regional (Raleigh, Cary, Apex, etc)
  • Facebook: 10K views on, up 25% from last month. 70% of the views are regional
  • Regional views means we’re reaching a lot of people that have the chance to join the club or engage with club activities

A/V – Nothing new to report.  Still recording.

Imaging Report: 

  • October 22nd Target Challenge Meeting:  Cocoon, Iris Nebulae Results
  • A new poll will be put out soon after the October Meeting to select the next target challenge for January 2027
  • Imagers should start thinking about the December Imaging Showcase

Key-Holders Report – Nothing new to report.

Socialize after the meeting at Sammy’s.