Observing conditions were excellent at this year’s Staunton River Star Party. Many RAC members stayed for the entire event and even more stayed for several days of cool, clear observing weather. As usual, the facilities were very good and the skies dark with the Milky Way seen horizon to horizon
The clear weather of fall is back! A large group of amatuer astronomers came out to the Big Woods site on Friday October 12 with approximately 27 people present. There were many good fall objects to be seen and there was a decent passage of the space station early in the evening, followed by simultaneous Iridium flares of magnitudes -3.5 and -5.8. The last observer left by 1 AM.
Officer for the meeting: Phyllis Lang There were many topics brought up for the business meeting. They included the phone line, Public Observing, Big Woods Key Holder summary, the Observer’s Handbook, Astronomy Days planning, the pros and cons of having the meeting in the Daily Planet Cafe and other topics. See below for more information.
The presentation by Matt Lochansky explained the steps used to do spectroscopy, basic theory, what a person could do using spectroscopy, limitations, resources, equipment, data processing, and show some of the interesting objects in our sky. Matt had many examples to help illustrate his points. The presentation was a good one and it generated a lot of questions.
The weather forecast for this month’s RACOBS was truly puzzling. Various club members collaborated throughout the day questioning the suitability of the weather for observing. Late in the day, most parties agreed that observing conditions would likely be decent, but not excellent. The decision to hold RACOBS turned out to be a good one. The gate was opened at 7:30pm for 4 waiting carloads of astronomers and equipment. Several more joined us over the next few hours.
Report Period: 7 Jun 2012 – 31 Aug 2012 Income/Expenses Income Membership Dues 167.45 Interest 1.30 Expenses Speaker Meals (Doug Lively) 60.64 Safe Deposit Box Rental Fee (Wells Fargo) 75.00 AL Annual Dues (Astronomical League) 680.00 Storage Unit Rental Fees (Uncle Bob’s Storage) 1052.00 Executive Committee Meeting (Mike Keefe) 37.68 Scope Refurbish Supplies – NC State (Doug Lively) 104.22 Loaner Scope Accessories (John Irwin) 259.27 Big Woods Lock & Keys (Mike Keefe) 38.37 Account Balances Business Checking 2340.71 Regular Savings…
August Business Meeting Officer for the meeting: Mike Keefe Club Picnic The picnic will be at Bond Park on September 23 from 1:30 to 7:30. This will include club members and family. It will be in the Buehler Shelter. The shelter closes at 7:30, so we may have a bit of time after 7:30 as well. The Shelter has access to restrooms, electricity, lights, water and a grill. Capacity is approximately 50. The club will provide the meat and drinks,…
This was a good talk by our co-chair Ian Hewitt. We also tried out a new venue at the Daily Planet Cafe. So you could enjoy the talk and dinner as well. The talk began with a history of how Pluto was discovered. It was discovered in 1939 in the Lowell Observatory. It was named after the Mythical God of the Underworld, not the dog.
This month’s meeting featured “Astrobiology – The Search for Alien Life” by Dr. Mike Malaska In order to understand how to find life beyond the Earth, Mike began his presentation with a review of how life formed on Earth. The questions “What is life?” and “When did life begin?” were addressed. Mike explained that life is chemistry and life began on earth 3.8 billion years ago. Life started from water and small organic molecules. The talked then focused on bacteria…
Cloudy weather prevented an outdoor observing session (RACOBS), so a dozen members & guests attended an informal meeting at the Museum. The evening’s roundtable topic was ‘cleaning optics’. Following on the theme of the previous weekend’s optics cleaning session at NCSU, techniques were shared for cleaning eyepieces, mirrors and Schmidt-Cassegrain corrector plates.
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!
RAC Treasurer’s Report dated 6/7/2012 Regular checking account activity since 4/26/2012 report: (No checks were written) Two deposits totaling $235.00 were made for membership fees. $4,267.68————Regular checking account balance $10.00—————Special Purpose (PayPal transfer) account balance $10,306.12———–Saving account balance $14,583.80———–Total balance all funds on hand. MEMBERSHIP: 29 memberships were dropped from the list in April. 39 new memberships have signed on since October 1. We presently have a total of 134 memberships consisting of 100 Individual and 34 Family. The %…
