Uncategorized

December Club Social

On December 9th, the RAC indoor meeting was a club Social.  We had a pretty good turnout of club members, guests and visitors who enjoyed the many great tasting items provided by the membership.

Read More

November Observing Session

November’s Raleigh Astronomy Club Observing Session was a GO!  Despite being a holiday weekend, we had a over ten members show up plus two guest observers, including a member from the Chesmont Astronomical Society.  The dew was pretty heavy and shut down several observers early.  However some late arrivals keep the observing going well past midnight!

Read More

Public Star Gaze November 2011

Approximately 200 people showed up at the Public Star Gaze held at North Cary Park on the evening of November 12th, 2011. Although the forecast was for clear skies, clouds hampered observing much of the night.  However between the over 20 telescopes operated by Raleigh Astronomy Club volunteers, visitors were treated to some great views.

Read More

Special Presentation

During the November 2011 Indoor Meeting, there were two very special awards presented to Mark and Phyllis Lang for their many years of dedicated service to the Raleigh Astronomy Club. Both Mark and Phyllis have served in both Elected officer and Staff officer roles in the Raleigh Astronomy Club for many years.

Read More

Eclipsing Binary Lecture

Eric Raymer from North Carolina State University gave a terrific introduction to eclipsing binary stars in our November indoor meeting.  The presentation started with the basics of what eclipsing binaries are, how we detect them, and showed some of the latest research going on at NCSU.

Read More

Asteroid 2005 YU55 Observed by Club Members

On Tuesday November 8th, 2011 asteroid 2005 YU55 which is about the size of an aircraft carrier buzzed the Earth within 201,700 miles (324,600 kilometers).  As a point of reference, our moon is 238,000 miles away!   Even though asteroids of this size pass by Earth frequently, the last time a space rock this large came as close to Earth was in 1976, although astronomers did not know about the flyby at the time.  The next such close flyby will take…

Read More

Treasurer’s Report 11/9/2011

Regular checking account activity since 10/10/2011 report: $140.41  to Spectrum Screen Printing for RAC logo clothing orders. $8.67  to Spectrum Screen Printing for RAC logo clothing order. Two deposits totaling $107.23 were made for membership dues and clothing order. $2,075.42——-Regular checking account balance. $10.00——-Special purpose checking account balance. $10,303.12——-Savings account balance. $12,388.54——-Total balance all funds on hand.

Read More

October 2011 Informal Meeting

Even though poor weather caused the regularly scheduled observing session to be cancelled, we had a great discussion on optics cooling and dew prevention during an informal meeting at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences on Friday Night…

Read More

October 2011 Indoor Meeting

We had a great indoor session this past Friday (October 14, 2011).  Dr. Fabian Heitsch of UNC’s Department of Physics and Astronomy gave a fascinating presentation on the Cosmic Distance Ladder starting from the use of parallax to calculate distances within our own solar system, the use of cepheid variable stars and then up to type 1A supernovae.

Read More

Observing at Staunton River State Park

On Sept. 24th, 2011, my eldest son and I joined up with other amateur astronomers from the Raleigh Astronomy Club (RAC) and the Chapel Hill Astronomical Observing Society (CHAOS) at Staunton River State Park in Virginia (http://dcr.state.va.us/state_parks/sta.shtml).

Read More

Treasurer’s Report 10/10/2011

RAC Treasurer’s Report dated 10/10/2011 Regular checking account activity since 8/10/2011 report: $25.00  refunded to a member for duplicate dues payment. $98.90  to Spectrum Screen Printing – 1st part of payment on clothing order. Four deposits totaling $402.31 were made for membership dues and clothing orders. $2,108.60——Regular checking account balance. $10.00——Special Purpose checking account balance. $10,301.82——Savings account balance. $12,421.28——Total balance all funds on hand.

Read More

Summer 2011 Meeting Summaries

May 27, 2011 The RACOBS meeting was clouded out.  Since this was the Memorial Day weekend, the Museum was operating with a reduced staff so the indoor meeting was cancelled also.  A few members met a restaurant in Cameron Village in place of a meeting. June 10, 2011  Regular meeting – Club member Mike Malaska gave a talk entitled “Titan’s Earth-like Landscape.” June 24, 2011 RACOBS – Clouds forced an indoor meeting at the Museum.  Jim DellaPenna gave the group…

Read More

Treasurer’s Report 8/10/2011

RAC Treasurer Report dated 8/10/2011 Regular checking account activitysince 6/9/2011 report: $139.97  to Doug Lively for Mark Lang’s gifts for long service. $54.24  to Ian Hewitt for Messier awards. $100.00  to Wachovia for safe deposit box rental. $41.09  to Doug lively for July 8th speaker dinner. One deposit of $72.45 was made for membership dues. $1,830.19———-Regular checking account balance. $10.00———-Special Purpose checking account balance. $10,301.82———-Savings account balance. $12,142.01———-Total balance all funds on hand.

Read More

RAC is a non profit organization

Please send general inquiries to [email protected]

Member Login
Social Networks

Proud Member of

Astronomical League


Night Sky Network

We Support

Dark Skies