RAC – Raleigh Astronomy Club

2026-08-28 RAC Indoor Meeting Minutes

Attendance In-person: 26 Zoom: 12 Date: August 28, 2026 Co-Chair: Susan Herring Meeting Presentation: Meeting Topic: Eileen Collins: First US Female Space Pilot and Commander Speaker: Jonathan H. Ward Author of: Through the Glass Ceiling to the Stars: The Story of the First American Woman to Command a Space Mission (with Eileen Collins, 2021) Bringing Columbia Home: The Untold Story of a Lost Space Shuttle and Her Crew (with Mike Leinbach, 2018) Countdown to a Moon Launch: Preparing Apollo for Its Historic Journey (2015) Rocket…

RAC Outreach Committee Report – August 2026

General Interest, Public Outreach

(Updateded 2026-08-24) Recent Events: August 7 – First Fridays with TLC at Three Bear Acres (Creedmore) Canceled due to weather forecast August 8 – James Creek Cider House (Cameron) Coordinator: Steve B Volunteers: Blair, Alan, Sally, Martin, Steve B Recap: Steve B – When I said that I was going out on a limb approving the James Creek event last nigth, I had no idea that we would get to see the Milky Way there, but that is exactly what…

RAC Outreach Committee Report – July 2026

General Interest, Public Outreach

(Submitted 2026-08-06) Recent Events: July 10 – Second Fridays with TLC at Three Bear Acres (Creedmore) Canceled due to weather forecast. July 11 – Dix Park SUN-flowers #1 (Raleigh) Canceled due to weather forecast. July 11 – Dix Park SUN-flowers #2 (Raleigh) Canceled due to weather forecast. July 18 – Dix Park SUN-flowers (Raleigh) Canceled due to weather forecast. July 25 – The Exchange (Raleigh) Postponed by host (new date TBA). August 7 – First Fridays with TLC at Three…

2026-07-24 RAC Indoor Meeting Minutes

Club Reports, Meetings

Attendance In-person: 20 Zoom: 14 Date: July 24, 2026 Co-Chair: Dana Bostic Meeting Presentation: Meeting Topic: The Biome Above Our Heads: Why Space Debris Requires Our Attention. Speaker: Shriyans Dwivedi Meeting Description: Space debris is a growing problem in our orbital environment. It can harm the infrastructure we have spent over half a century building, which allows us to use technologies imperative to our everyday lives, like GPS and cross-continental communication networks. It poses a severe threat to our future…

2026-06-26 RAC Indoor Meeting

Club Reports, Meetings

RAC Indoor Meeting Minutes 6/26/2026 Attendance In-person: 33 Zoom: 5 Date: June 26, 2026 Co-Chair: Blair Groden Pre-Meeting Social: Food was served. People socialized. It was a good time had by all. Meeting Presentation: Meeting Topic: What If Our Moon Didn’t Exist? Speaker: Ron Monti Meeting Description: Life on Earth would be very different (and might not be possible at all) if it were not for our Moon. From the tides to the Earth’s rotation and tilted axis to tectonic plate activity,…

RAC Outreach Committee Report – June 2026

General Interest, Public Outreach

(Submitted 2026-06-30) Recent Events: June 4 – The Hartwell (Raleigh) Coordinator: Steve B Volunteers: Blair, Mark, Brian, Sarah, Steve B Recap: Steve B – The Hartwell is a challenging site to observe from, due to being near downtown Raleigh and having trees on three sides. The west is almost completely blocked and we couldn’t observe Jupiter or Venus from the rooftop. Blair brought out a solar telescope early, but the whole area near the building was in the shade. He…

2026-05-29 RAC Indoor Meeting

Club Reports, Meetings

RAC Indoor Meeting Minutes 5/29/2026 Attendance In-person: 19 Zoom: 7 Date: May 29, 2026 Co-Chair: Dana Bostic Special Announcements: Budget Announced. See Treasure’s Report below for details. Officer Nominations announced. Nominations will be accepted up to the June 26 indoor meeting vote. Please get them in as soon as possible to be added to the ballet. Current Nominations: Co-chairs: Dana Bostic, Blair Groden, Susan Herring Treasurer: Steve Izzo Secretary: Ann Murphy Still time to nominate someone for an Officer position. Next Meeting: Approve…

RAC Outreach Committee Report – May 2026

General Interest, Public Outreach

(Submitted 2026-06-03) Recent Events: May 7 – Martin Magnet Middle School (Raleigh) Coordinator/presenter: Tony V May 12 – Martin Magnet Middle School (Raleigh) Coordinator/presenter: Tony V May 7 – The Hartwell (Raleigh) Postponed to June 4 due to weather. May 15 – First Fridays with TLC at Three Bear Acres (Creedmoor) Canceled due to low attendee registration. May 16 – James Creek Cider House (Cameron) Coordinator: Steve B Volunteers: Ollin, Blair, Dean, Susan, Ana, Liam, Steve B Recap: Steve B…

RAC Outreach Committee Report – April 2026

General Interest, Public Outreach

(Submitted 2026-05-03) Recent events: April 3 – First Fridays with TLC at Three Bear Acres (Creedmoor) Coordinator: Ana V Canceled due to weather forecast and low registration. April 8 – The Willard Rooftop (Raleigh) Coordinator: Steve B Volunteers: Steve B, Brian, Blair, Lauren Recap: Steve B – Despite high/thin clouds, we had a huge turnout for observing at the Willard last night. A constant line at least 80-100 attendees for two hours at our two telescopes. People grabbed up our…

2026-04-10 RAC Indoor Meeting

Club Reports, Meetings

RAC Indoor Meeting Minutes Attendance In-person: 26 Zoom: 7 Date: April 10, 2026 Co-Chair: Susan Herring Meeting Presentation: Meeting Topic: Indoor Meeting: Double Feature – 35th Anniversary of The Hubble Telescope Landing of Artemis on Earth Speaker: Michael Keefe is a Finance/Accounting professional by day and an amateur astronomer by night, where his real passion lies. Bio: Mike’s been an active member of the Raleigh Astronomy Club (RAC) since 2006, observing the night sky since 2003 but his interest in space was sparked…

RAC Outreach Committee Report – March 2026

General Interest, Public Outreach

(Submitted 2026-04-12) Recent events: March 2 – Vandora Springs ES “Math Under the Stars” Night (Garner) Canceled by school. March 4 – The Willard Rooftop (Raleigh) Coordinator: Susan H Volunteers: Dean, Blair, Chris C, Lauren, Susan Recap: Susan H – We had a good outreach event at the Willard on March 3, 2026. The sky was cloudy with a few stars popping out now and again. Everyone was very excited to view Jupiter and the Moon. We had quite a…

2026-03-27 RAC Indoor Meeting

Club Reports, Meetings

RAC Indoor Meeting Minutes Attendance In-person: 25 Zoom: 11 Date: March 27, 2026 Co-Chair: Blair Groden Meeting Presentation: Meeting Topic: Indoor Meeting: Which Way Is Up? A whimsical presentation about frame of reference and location Speaker: Alex McConahay Bio: Alex McConahay has been an amateur astronomer for the last three decades with the Riverside (California) Astronomical Society. He has held nearly every office in the club, was on the Board of RTMC Astronomy Expo, the organizer of the Nightfall Star Party, and…

2026-02-27 RAC Indoor Meeting

Club Reports, Meetings

RAC Indoor Meeting Minutes Attendance In-person: 23 Zoom: 15 Date: February 27, 2026 Co-Chair: Susan Herring Meeting Presentation: Meeting Topic: PiFinder — From Idea to Observing Companion Speaker: Richard Wolff-Jacobson Bio: Richard is a software engineer and hobbyist designer with a passion for astronomy, vintage electronics and unusual form factor computers. He’s been observing the night sky for over 30 years with various commercial and home-built scopes, but still often feels like a beginner. Meeting Description: This talk shares the story of how the…

RAC Outreach Committee Report – February 2026

General Interest, Public Outreach

(Submitted 2026-03-08) Recent events: February 6 – First Fridays with TLC at Three Bear Acres (Creedmoor) Canceled due to weather forecast and Astronomy Days load-in. February 7 & 8 – Astronomy Days (Raleigh) Coordinator: Chris C Volunteers: many Recap: Chris C – Thank you everyone who were able to volunteer there time for Astronomy Days 2026. The final attendance count for this Astronomy Days was just over 15000 people which is surprising considering how the date was moved twice. I…

RAC Outreach Committee Report – January 2026

General Interest, Public Outreach

(Submitted 2026-02-07) Recent events: January 3 – First Fridays Saturdays with TLC at Three Bear Acres (Creedmoor) Canceled due to weather forecast. January 15 – Museum of Life and Science Teen Science Club (Durham) Coordinator/presenter: Tony V Recap: Tony V – Last night I presented “How to Become an Amateur Astronomer” to the teen club at the Durham Museum of Life and Science. We began with hands-on planisphere exercises, giving students a chance to experience a traditional star chart–without their…