It was a very warm day on Sunday, June 21st, but the views were great! Several members brought white light and H-alpha solar scopes and set up on the bicentennial plaza outside the NC Museum of Natural Sciences in downtown Raleigh. The Sun provided a great show with two large sun spots and a really large prominence which just improved over the course of the observing session. About 100 folks stopped by on their way to the presentations at the…
On June 10-12, 2015 Raleigh hosted the 43rd AMS Broadcast Meterology conference. Broadcasters from all over the country converged on the Civic Center for presentations and meetings. They also were treated to a sidewalk observation session from the Raleigh Astronomy Club. On Thursday, June 11, several members came out and set up on the sidewalk to provide views of celestial objects. Despite the city lights and storms in North Raleigh and Cary, the skies downtown were clear and seeing very,…
Volunteers are needed for the listed events. Please consider volunteering and bringing your scopes. The link to volunteer is: https://raleighastroinfo.wufoo.com/forms/rac-events-registration-form/
John Sinclair from the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI) gave an excellent talk on NC meteorites for our May meeting. John is the curator of the meteorite collection at PARI (Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute) in Rosman NC near Brevard. The PARI site was originally a NASA tracking station during the 1960s and 70s and later became a DOD satcom site. Today, PARI is a non-profit institute supporting radio and optical astronomy research and education. We learned that there are 29 sites in…
Each April, as part of the North Carolina Science Festival, dozens of State Wide Star Parties are held. This year was no different. The Raleigh Astronomy Club supported 4 different star parties this year: Howell Woods, Four Oaks – April 18 New School Montessori Center, Holly Springs – April 21 Annie Louise Wilkerson Nature Preserve Park, Raleigh – April 24 Prairie Ridge EcoStation, Raleigh – April 24
Speaker: Phyllis Lang For our April meeting, long time RAC member Phyllis Lang gave an excellent talk on Binocular Astronomy. Phyllis described the different types of binoculars available for astronomy use, how to get the most out of them and what objects look best in binoculars. Many people assume that the best astronomy observing is done with the biggest telescopes. But many objects – the moon, large open clusters and large nebula look as good or better through binoculars. Binoculars offer a wider field of…
Apr 18th (Sat), Howell Woodstock Successfully held despite marginal weather. Thanks to the volunteers. Apr 21st (Tues), New School Montessori in Holly Springs Quick recap on how it went and thanks. Apr 24th (Fri), SWSP Prairie Ridge and Annie Wilkerson Park Last call for volunteers. Doug and Matt answered questions. There was a weather call at 12pm on Friday. Apr 25th (Sat), GS Camp Mary Atkinson Have 1 volunteer, could use 1 more. This was rained out for Saturday Apr…
Several resources were mentioned in the the presentation “Astronomy with Binoculars”. Links and information about these resources follow. Reading Books Touring the Universe Through Binoculars by Phil Harrington (Print & Kindle) Binocular Highlights by Gary Seronik (Print & Kindle) Binocular Astronomy by Stephen Tonkin (Print & Kindle) Magazines – all available at newsstands Astronomy (USA) Quarterly binocular observing articles. astronomy.com Sky & Telescope (USA) Monthly binocular observing articles. skyandtelescope.com Sky At Night (UK) Monthly binocular observing articles. skyatnightmagazine.com Online Resources Blog…
Is there any intelligent light out there? Not if we’re talking about the way we light our cities. Paul Bogard, author of The End of Night, gave an outstanding talk at our March meeting on light pollution and what we miss when we lose a dark night sky. About 100 people attended this joint meeting of RAC, the Audubon Society and the NC Herpetological Society to learn more about the impact of light pollution on the environment and our well being.
Winter can be the best time of the year for Astronomy if you do not mind bundling up. The air is at its driest and clearest of the year and the stars just seem brighter. Or it can snow a lot, be overcast and totally shut the hobby down. That was our club experience in February with most of our events, including the indoor meeting, lost to bad weather. But you can never keep a good man down. The RAC snowman was…
The Raleigh Astronomy Club and North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences held our Astronomy Days 2015 event in downtown Raleigh over the weekend of January 24th and 25th. Over 14,000 visitors of all ages attended this year. Our visitors enjoyed dozens of exhibits, attended presentations and participated in workshops on a wide range of astronomy topics. This year’s event had a Pluto and Outer Solar System theme with presentations covering the New Horizons mission to Pluto, Comets and the Kuiper Belt.
We got January off to a good start with over 20 club members and guests attending our monthly observing session at Big Woods. Comet Lovejoy was a popular target and easily found next to the Pleiades. Alan Dyer, a Canadian astronomy writer, produced this beautiful image of Comet Lovejoy and the Pleiades.
Term Limits As a practical matter, this means that both Ann Murphy and Mike Keefe must take a year off. This opens up the secretary position and a co-chair position. If anyone is interested in either one of these offices, please let Mike or myself know. Both Mike and I can train you in the position. RACOBS moved to 1/16/2015 for this month only Due to Astronomy Days, RACOBS will move to January 16, 2015. This will happen only for…
SteveChristensen, Ph.D. provided a very engaging presentation on back holes to almost 50 members and guests in attendance at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. The presentation was also streamed live via the club’s Google + account and is available for viewing on the club’s YouTube channel at http://youtu.be/x3EqklJbDCg. The presentation covered many aspects of black holes
Term Limits The Term Limits vote is to change the RAC Constitution to limit officers to a max of 3 consecutive, one year terms in any elected office. Anyone reaching their 3rd consecutive term in office must sit out a term before they can hold office again. Term limits, if passed, will be active for current office-holders. Current officers feel that term limits will be a good thing for the club by forcing regular turnover in club leadership and giving…
