RAC Outreach Committee Report – December 2024

(Updated 2024-12-10) Recent events: November 09 – TechnoQuest (Girl Scouts) (Raleigh) Coordinator/volunteer: Frank H Attendees: 33 Recap: Frank H – 30 well-behaved very attentive 6th & 7th grades who asked a lot of questions. Accompanied by three adult “aides.” I brought a mounted H-alpha solar scope and a mounted 80mm Orion Short Tube along with 5 pairs of binoculars (2 solar white light) along with an “extra” 90mm f/6.5. It was a good thing I had a lecture worked out…

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RAC Outreach Committee Report – November 2024

(Updated 2024-11-12) Recent events: October 30 – The Willard Rooftop (Raleigh) Coordinator: Steve B Volunteers: Susan, Dean, Tony, Blair, Bill, Steve B Attendees: ~90 Recap: Steve B – The Willard event this evening started out slow but ended with a good crowd of at least 90 participants. We had three telescopes plus a Seestar on hand. Most of the evening was spent showing participants different views of Saturn and its moons, but Alberio, Comet C2023/Atlas, and the Dumbbell and Rosette…

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Meeting Minutes September 27, 2024

RAC Indoor Meeting Minutes September 27, 2024 Co-Chair Dana Bostic hosted the meeting in-person at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, as well as virtually using the Zoom platform. 19 meeting participants attended in-person, 10 attended via Zoom. Book Pre-Orders: The Objects in the Heavens books have arrived and are available for pickup, please see Susan Herring to get your order. The Log Books are on reorder and will be in by the October meeting . The secretary will send…

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Meeting Minutes August 16, 2024

RAC Indoor Meeting Minutes August 16, 2024 Co-Chair Naveen Malik hosted the meeting in-person at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, as well as virtually using the Zoom platform. 23 meeting participants attended in-person, 20 attended via Zoom. Upcoming Events: Aug 17 – Artspace Summer Celebration Aug 22 – Imaging Meeting Aug 25 – Beyond the Flames: Astronomy Amidst Wildfires Sept 6 – RACOBS & First Fridays with TLC Sept 7 – RAC Class Sept 19 – Imaging Meeting Sept…

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RAC Outreach Committee Report – October 2024

Recent events: October 4 – First Fridays with TLC at Three Bear Acres (Creedmoor) Canceled due to weather forecast Upcoming events: October 30 – The Willard Rooftop (Raleigh) Coordinator: Steve B Volunteers registered: telescopes: 1/3 floaters: 1/3 November 01 – First Fridays with TLC at Three Bear Acres (Creedmoor) Coordinator: Ana V Volunteers registered: telescopes: 0/15 floaters: 0/5 November 07 – Morrisville Community Library (Morrisville) Coordinator: Steve B Volunteers needed (registration opens October 09): telescopes: 5 floaters: 3 November 09…

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Meeting Minutes July 26, 2024

RAC Indoor Meeting Minutes July 26, 2024 Co-Chair Dana Bostic hosted the meeting in-person at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, as well as virtually using the Zoom platform. 21 meeting participants attended in-person, 11 attended via Zoom. Presentation: Exploring Saturn’s Moon Titan by Presenter Michael J. Malaska Business: Upcoming Events: 8/2/2024 – First Fridays with TLC at Three Bear Acres (Creedmoor) 8/7/2024 – The Willard 8/16/2024 – RAC Indoor Meeting 8/17/2024 – Artspace Summer Celebration (Raleigh) 9/6/2024 – First…

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Meeting Minutes June 28, 2024

RAC Indoor Meeting Minutes June 28, 2024 Co-Chair Anastasia Vail hosted the meeting in-person at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, as well as virtually using the Zoom platform. 21 meeting participants attended in-person, 10 attended via Zoom. Presentation: Peter Birren joined us via Zoom to discuss his book “Objects in the Heavens” and how to use it to get the most out of your observing. Business: Upcoming Events: June 29th: Astronomy on Tap Star Party June 30th: RAC Ladies…

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RAC Outreach Committee Report – September 2024

Updated 2024-09-21 Recent events: August 14 – The Willard Rooftop (Raleigh) Coordinator: Steve B Volunteers: Dean, Susan, Mark, Benjamin, Jesus, and Steve B Attendees: ~40 Recap: Steve B – Despite some technical difficulties, about 40 participants got to view the Moon, Antares, and a few other southern sky objects through a telescope and binoculars at the Willard last night, and we distributed out several handouts on astronomy. This was a smaller crowd than typical which is a little surprising given…

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Meeting Minutes June 28, 2024

RAC Indoor Meeting Minutes June 28, 2024 Co-Chair Anastasia Vail hosted the meeting in-person at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, as well as virtually using the Zoom platform. 21 meeting participants attended in-person, 10 attended via Zoom. Presentation: Peter Birren joined us via Zoom to discuss his book “Objects in the Heavens” and how to use it to get the most out of your observing. Business: Upcoming Events: June 29th: Astronomy on Tap Star Party June 30th: RAC Ladies…

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RAC Outreach Committee Report – August 2024

Recent events: August 2 – First Fridays with TLC at Three Bear Acres (Creedmoor) Canceled due to weather forecast Upcoming events: August 14 – The Willard Rooftop (Raleigh) Postponed from August 7 due to weather; previous volunteer registrations voided. Coordinator: Steve B Volunteers registered: telescopes: 0/3 floaters: 0/3 August 17 – Artspace Summer Celebration (Raleigh) Coordinator: Steve B Volunteers registered: solar telescopes: 1/2 floaters: 1/2 RAC table: 0/2 August 25 – East Regional Library (Knightdale) Coordinator: Doug L Doug will…

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RAC Outreach Committee Report – July 2024

Recent events: June 7 –  First Fridays with TLC at Three Bear Acres (Creedmoor) Coordinator: Ana V June 19 – The Willard Rooftop (Raleigh) Coordinator: Steve B Volunteers: Tony, Chris, Jesus, Dave, Dean, Susan, and Steve B Attendees: ~80 Recap: Steve B – We had a good event at The Willard Rooftop summer solstice party tonight. They arranged for some influencers to be photographed looking through our volunteer’s telescopes before dark. The near-full moon was out and the haziness made…

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Meeting Minutes May 24, 2024

RAC Indoor Meeting Minutes May 24, 2024   Co-Chair Naveen Malik hosted the meeting in-person at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, as well as virtually using the Zoom platform. 26 meeting participants attended in-person, 10 attended via Zoom. Presentation: “Catching a Gravitional Wave” given by RAC member Ron Monti We learned more about gravitational waves, which are caused by the collision of two black holes or other cataclysmic astronomical events. Ron explained how the LIGO observatory can detect these…

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Meeting Minutes April 12, 2024

RAC Indoor Meeting Minutes April 12, 2024 Co-Chair Dana Bostic hosted the meeting in-person at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, as well as virtually using the Zoom platform. 22 meeting participants attended in-person, 22 attended via Zoom. Presentation: How do Galaxies Grow and Evolve “The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has made recent news, with fascinating observations of distant galaxies whose sizes, shapes, and heavy element abundances puzzle many astronomers. Dr. Shull discussed these observations and what they suggest…

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RAC Outreach Committee Report – June 2024

Updated 2024-06-24 Recent events: May 3 – First Fridays with TLC at Three Bear Acres (Creedmoor) Canceled due to weather forecast May 11 – Artspace Galactic Family Day (Raleigh) Coordinator: Steve B Volunteers: Annelies, Tony, Jacqueline Attendees: 111 Recap: Annelies – We had a great day at Art Space today! Expert Tony joined me with his solar telescope. I brought my M1 Polaris with solar filter. Member Jacqueline was able to help as a floater and a new friend by…

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RAC Outreach Committee Report – May 2024

Updated 2024-05-23 Recent events: Apr. 24 – The Willard Rooftop (Raleigh) Coordinator: Steve B Volunteers: 3 telescopes (Matt, Chris, Bill), 1 floater (Steve) Attendees: 30-40 Recap: After a rainy afternoon, the clouds cleared an hour or so before sunset. We were able to see Jupiter and Uranus briefly after sunset. Orion nebula, globular, and open clusters were also viewed, along with a beautiful near-full moon rising over downtown Raleigh. No luck observing Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks in the light haze near the…

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