RAC

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…

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 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 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 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 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…

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…