General Interest

This article originally appeared in the second quarter 1985 STAR Newsletter and described RAC’s Astronomy Days in 1985.  This was done at Crabtree Valley Mall, unlike today’s venue at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences.  This shows how far we have come in the last 20 years and how, even though some things are the same, a lot has changed.  However, it’s still interesting to occasionally look back. Enthusiasm turned Astronomy “day” into “days” which were celebrated April 27th &…

First Year in Amateur Astronomy (early spring 2007-2008) So, I’ve been at it for more than year now, and what I have seen and learned is astounding.  From a historical account I have always been interested in the cosmos since I was a single digit old, and took the boyhood dream of wanting to become an astronaut.  Now, I may be no astronaut but I do have a decent income.  It then hit me in the head, “Why don’t I…

There has been a lot of discussion in the news regarding green laser pointers.  The great concern recently has been that a terrorist might attempt to cause aircraft to crash by spotting one with a laser.  This seemed ridiculous to me for a number of reasons, but because laser pointers are so commonly used by the amateur astronomy community (including myself), I wanted to understand the facts better.  The following is what I found.