RAC – Raleigh Astronomy Club

2026-05-29 RAC Indoor Meeting

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…

2026-01-09 RAC Indoor Meeting

Club Reports

RAC Indoor Meeting Minutes Date: January 9, 2026 Co-Chair: Dana Bostic On-going Action Item: Need comments from club members about any updates to web pages or if a webpage is obsolete and needs to be deleted. See Webmaster Report for more details. Action Item: The Outreach Committee is looking for volunteers to coordinate events and assist at events with or without a telescope. To join the committee send a blank email to [email protected]. Any club member is welcome, regardless of experience…

RAC Outreach Committee Report – December 2025

General Interest, Public Outreach

(Submitted 2025-12-31) Recent events: December 3 – The Willard Rooftop (Raleigh) Coordinator: Steve B Volunteers: Blair, Chris, Mike, and Steve B Recap: Steve B – It was a mostly clear night tonight except for the cloud of hamburger-flavored smoke from Char Grill next door, but we had approximately 25 people stop by to observe the Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, the Pleiades, and M41. We were just a few miles from the path of the Moon/Pleiades occultation and hence missed it. Despite…

2025-12-12 RAC Indoor Meeting

Club Reports

RAC Indoor Meeting Minutes Date: December 12, 2025 Co-Chair: Dana Bostic On-going Action Item: Need comments from club members about any updates to web pages or if a webpage is obsolete and needs to be deleted. See Webmaster Report for more details. Action Item: Astronomy Days Registration Has Begun (raleighastro.org) – Go to the Calendar and register for your shift(s). Deadline for volunteer sign-up: Jan. 2nd Action Item: The Outreach Committee is looking for volunteers to coordinate events and assist at…

Canceling Your Membership

RAC Member Help

There comes a time where it may be time to part ways; no hard feelings. It is especially important to cancel your membership if you previously set up auto-renewing annual dues payments. The club does not offer refunds for partial years nor can it refund membership dues that were paid prior to you cancelling your membership. To cancel your membership: 1. Log into the website at https://raleighastro.org/. If you cannot remember your password, follow our guide for resetting your password.…

Renewing Your Membership

RAC Member Help

RAC offers two convenient payment methods for your annual dues payment. You can pay your dues using a credit card through our website, or pay by cash or check. To pay by cash or check: Contact our club treasurer by emailing [email protected] to arrange your cash or check payment. To pay by credit card: Our website has two payment options: An ‘Annual Membership’ and an auto-pay ‘Recurring Annual Membership’ At any time you can update your RAC website account to…

RAC Outreach Committee Report – November 2025

General Interest, Public Outreach

(Updated 2025-12-01) Recent events: November 7 – First Fridays with TLC at Three Bear Acres (Creedmoor) Coordinator: Naveen Volunteers: Naveen, Blair, Jesus, Kimberly, Jim, Al, Benjamin, Patrick, Marshall, Ayyavoo November 13 – The Hartwell (Raleigh) Coordinator: Steve B Volunteers: Steve B, Mike, Jesus Recap: Steve B – We had about 30 people stop by the rooftop deck at The Hartwell to skywatch. Light pollution is severe at this site but we were able to view Saturn, Uranus, the Pleiades, and…