Tonight’s guest speaker was Rod Streeper who is the North America operations manger for Redshift 7. His talk was “Redshift 7.” Lucky for us, Rod lives in Shelby NC and was able to drive in for our program. Rod’s talk began with what is a planetarium program and what does it do. He covered specific aspects of Redshift 7 such as what catalogs are included, how the graphics work, images included, how to plan an observation session, and how to…
RAC Treasurer’s Report Dated 2/9/2011 Regular checking account activity since last report dated 1/10/2011: One check written: $320.00 to Marsh-Seabury-Smith for annual liability insurance One deposit of $333.51 was made for membership dues Regular checking account balance———————————–$ 4,068.74 Special purpose account balance—————————————-$10.00 Savings account balance——————————————–$12,111.72 Total all funds on hand——————————————–$15,731.95
A good crowd of people showed up at Bigwoods for the Club observing session. By one count, we had 21 people and 12 telescopes. The weather showed mercy on the group by not being brutally cold as January can be on clear nights. As usual, there was a good mix of telescopes available. There were several good size Dobs present, some regular Newtonian scopes, a couple of refractors, and several Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes. The crowd thinned out a lot by midnight,…
Tonight’s meeting was called to order by Ian Hewitt. It was the first regular meeting in three months since the November and December meetings were cancelled due to the holidays. Ian introduced tonight’s speaker: Rob Teeter of Teeter’s Telescopes. Rob’s talk was titled “Teeter and his Telescopes.” Rob, who lives in New Jersey. told the Club about his career in telescoping building. Starting in 1998, he has built 72 scopes so far. His first scope was an 8″ f/6 Newtonian…
This report covers checking account activity since 9/19/2010. There were six checks totaling $461.86 issued as follows: $65.10 to Ian Hewitt for cake & food supplies for the RAC Swap Meet. $158.96 to Jerry Watson for 10 months worth of RAC phone bills. $20.90 to Chuck Jaynes for Astronomy Days privacy & domain names. $96.00 to USPS for annual post office box rent. $100.00 to International Dark Sky Association for annual club dues. $20.90 to Ian Hewitt for Michele Shin speaker…
Oct. 8, 2010 RACOBS. Weather cooperated so an outdoor observing session was held at BigWoods. There were 14 RAC members and 6 visitors present. Some Club members were at the Mid-Atlantic Star Party which held down attendance somewhat. Sky conditions were good allowing nice views of the planets and deep sky objects. One highlight of the evening was a transit of Io across Jupiter. Nov. 12, 2010 RACOBS. A crowd of around 20 people with around a dozen scopes showed…
Tonight’s talk was “Current Research on the Origin of Dark Matter” by Dr. Michelle Shinn from the Jefferson National Lab in Newport News Virginia. In addition to being a physicist, Dr. Shinn is also an amateur astronomer and member of the Back Bay Astronomers. One of the interesting observations Dr. Shinn talked about tonight was that “regular matter” observed in spiral galaxies would not be enough to make them stable. There must be some kind of other matter present. She…
Regular meeting Sept. 24, 2010 – RAC Club Swap Meet. Tonight was a regular indoor meeting at the museum, but it was a bit unusual as it was a departure from our normal meeting format of a talk and then a business meeting. Tonight was our second and hopefully annual Club swap meet. Members brought equipment that they wished to sell. Other members and guests came hoping to pick up some used bargains. The Club raffled off several items including…
RAC Treasurer’s Report Dated 9/19/2010 Regular checking account activity since 8/27/2010: Two checks totaling $194.37 were made as follows: $67.03 to Doug Lively for the 8/27 speaker dinner. $127.34 to Chuck Jaynes for annual Ipower website service fees. No deposits were made. Regular checking account balance————————–$3,465.20 Spec. Purpose checking account balance———————–$10.00 Savings account balance———————————–$8,488.65 Total all funds on hand———————————-$11,963.85
RACOBS Sept. 10 A really nice crowd of 32 people showed up at BigWoods for RACOBS (Raleigh Astronomy Club Observing Session). Although the skies only partially cooperated, the humidity was low and the temperatures were very comfortable during the evening hours. Tonight’s crowd was made up of mostly visual observers with a couple of imagers mixed in. Lots of Dob type Newtonians were in use, with a few refractors, and several Schmidt-Cassegrains also. We were treated to some nice views…
(I Apologize for the delay in posting this. -Ian) Meeting was called to order at 7pm. Attendees: Ian Hewitt Doug Lively Michael Keefe Jim Dellapenna Mark Lang Officer Meeting Minutes – There was unanimous agreement among the officers that these would be published to all members after all officers meetings. Speakers/Meetings – There was a brief discussion concerning speakers. Ian reminded the group that there are 12 Regular Meetings in 2011 which require speakers. The…
Aug. 13, 2010 – RACOBS meeting. Weather prevented an outdoor observing session so an indoor roundtable discussion was held. Approximately 18 members showed up with the pre-announced topic of “Top 10 best and worst astronomy experiences” on their minds. Each member shared his/her story. Even a couple of our junior members shared their stories. After the meeting, most of the group went to Tripps to eat. Aug. 27, 2010 – Regular meeting. Host Mike Keefe introduced tonight’s speaker Dr. Brand…
July 9, 2010 – RACOBS was clouded out so a meeting was held at the Museum. This time, rather than an unplanned meeting, Steve Izzo brought his computer and showed his favorite summer objects that he has imaged. He also projected views from The_Sky planetarium program to show where the objects were located. Many of the 17 members present shared their favorite objects visible in the summer sky. July 23, 2010 – Regular Meeting. Roy Campbell, an artist on the…
Second Quarter 2010 Meeting Summaries April 9, 2010 – RACOBS. A good sized crowd made it out to BigWoods under conditions that turned out quite good in spite of the pollen. There were about 20 people present, quite a few of whom were first time visitors. April 23, 2010 – Regular Meeting. The meeting tonight was entitled “The Birth and Death of Stars” by Dr. Fabian Heitsch. Dr. Heitsch is an assistant professor in the Physics and Astronomy department at the University…
First Quarter 2010 Meeting Summaries by Mark Lang Jan. 8, 2010 – RACOBS – A group of 10 very hardy members and a couple of visitors headed out to the Lake. The weather conditions were brutal – cold, windy, and some clouds. Some observing happened during holes in the clouds, but by 9:30 everyone had left due to the bad conditions. Jan. 22, 2010 – Regular meeting. Filmaker Stephen van Vuuren from Greensboro, talked with the Club about how he…
