RAC News

On Saturday, 07-Jul-2012, RAC had an opportunity to help NCSU students refurbish NCSU Observatory scopes and eyepieces. This event had been coordinated through the RAC Officers and NCSU Astrophysics department as an effort to revitalize NCSU’s Observatory. An additional benefit to the event was that of providing sustainability for future classes of rising astronomers, astrophysicists, and cosmologists. This sustainability was achieved in two ways: Eyepiece Cleaning and Scope Maintenance.

There were a three attempted observing sessions during the month of June. The sessions occured on June 15th, 16th and 22nd. A brief synopsis of each follows: June 15 – Impromptu Observing session at Bigwoods: Sky conditions for this event were simply amazing and offered a rare clarity that is seldom seen in the later spring and early summer months.  Five RAC members were on hand for this event.  Mike Keefe provided the following account of the session:

Speaker: Michel Tournay 2012-06-28 – June General Meeting This was a very informative and interesting talk.  Michel Tournay is a repeat speaker and a very good one.  He is a prolific photographer and an avid solar eclipse chaser.  He gave two talks for the price of one.

On the afternoon of June 5th, 2012 (the morning of June 6th on other parts of the planet) the black silhouette of Venus was observed crossing the face of the sun.  This passing in front of the sun is what astronomers call a transit.  The next time Venus will transit the Sun, from the Earth’s vantage point, will be December of 2117.  Yes, 2117; that’s 105 years from now!

The Raleigh Astronomy Club and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences again hosted the premiere astronomy event in North Carolina, Astronomy Days on May 19th and 20th 2012. The event drew over 10,000 people who were able to enjoys displays, activities, workshops, and presentations from the Raleigh Astronomy Club, NASA/JPL, the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, the Nature Research Center, and many other organizations.

We had a great turn out for the May 11th RACOBS.  At one point we counted over 28 cars and at least 45 attendees, many were new members and visitors.  There was lots of activity with many people floating back and forth between telescopes sharing views, equipment and stories.

The Raleigh Astronomy Club particpated in the grand opening even for the new Nature Research Center in downtown Raleigh.  This was a 24-hour event with an attendance of the over 70,000!  Although the skies were not always cooperative, there was a lot of interest in the telescopes, with the wait times on the rooftop observing exceeding 1 hour at times!  We thank all the members of the public who attended and all our volunteers who gave up a night of…

Four RAC Members, Mike Keefe, Jim McDaniel, Ian Hewitt and Doug Lively volunteered at the NC Museum of Natural Science Museum’s Grand Opening Gala for the Nature Research Center on Fri. April 13, 2012.

Despite the clouds, 12 people and 5 telescopes showed up at Big Woods last night. Joe P, Travis W, Greg B were imaging. Coin P and I were doing visual work and someone whose name I didn’t catch did visual work with a 6″ refractor. Several guests shared views with the visual observers.

On April 9, 2012 the N.C. State University Department of Physics invited an amateur astroimager named Burley Packwood, M.D. to present “Astroimaging: What Technologies Enable Both Professionals and Amateurs to Obtain Such Spectacular Astronomical Images?”  Burley is a retired Radiologist who recently relocated to the mecca of optical observatories, Tuscon, Arizona.  Burley has a dome in his backyard, a 7′ AstroHaven clamshell dome that protects an AP1200 mount and a 5″ Takahashi refractor, SBIG ST2000XM and Adaptive Optical device from…

In this day of multi-mega pixel DLSR’s, dedicated astronomical cameras, and high-tech photo-processing software we often over look one of the cheapest and easily accessible tools in our cosmic recording arsenal: Astronomical Sketching. During our March 9th 2012 meeting, presenter Ian Hewitt taught the club just how easy and effective this useful and often less attempted skill can be to pursue.

In the March Imaging SIG meeting (now the first Friday of every month!), there was a great discussion about processing planetary images with Registax. The group also worked with our own Chris Cole to produce a Mars image from video he had taken the week before.

At the February Indoor meeting, we were treated to fascinating talk by Dr. Carla Frohlich of the NCSU Astrophysics Department.  The topic was the Origin of Chemical Elements and focused on the various nucleosynthesis processes, especially those occurring in core collapse supernovae, that enriched the early galaxy with all the all heavy elements (elements heavier than helium).

It was a very good night of observing on Friday, January 27th! Conditions were mild (for January) and we had about 21 club members and 12 guests attend. Sky conditions were generally good, but the seeing was bit soft for most of the evening. The temperatures started around 56F and dropped to 36F by the time the last members left the site.