RASCals Star Party 2019

Posted by as Events

September 27-29, 2019

St. Stephen’s Anglican Church
7921 St Stephens Road – off Mt. Newton Cross Road
Saanichton, BC, Canada

2019 RASCals Star Party poster (774kb PDF)

Gates will open at 3pm on Friday. Camp on the field and setup your telescope for two nights of fun!

Cost: Free of charge! Visiting observers who stay overnight: suggested donation of $20/Adult one day or two.

Everyone who is present is entitled to a ticket for door prizes, attend presentations, and access the observing field.

Prizes for kids and adults.

Don’t want to camp? No problem if you live in the Greater Victoria area…you can drive home after spending an evening on the observing field.

Staying after dark? Please bring a red light with you – no white lights!

RASCals Star Party 2019 photo gallery
RASCals Star Party 2019 photo gallery

Schedule of Events

Friday 27th

  • 3:00 pm – Gates open
  • 6:00 pm – Welcome and door prizes, including a telescope!
  • 6:30 pm – Speaker: Apollo 11 – Chris Gainor
  • 7:30 pm until dawn: observing! No white lights during this time, please

Saturday 28th

  • Solar viewing – all day on the field
  • Afternoon presentation (possible) – StarBQ location
  • 5:00 pm – StarBBQ – burgers, drinks, crispy snacks
  • 6:15 pm – Welcome and door prizes, including two telescopes!
  • 6:30 pm – Speaker: Archaeoastronomy – Rob Beardsell
  • 7:30 pm until dawn: observing! No white lights during this time, please

Sunday 29th

  • Cleanup – everyone please pitch-in & help
  • Please, no parking in the church parking lot this morning in consideration of Church members attending their service!
  • 12:15 pm – solar viewing for St. Stephen’s congregation
  • Early departures are appreciated!

Facilities

  • Camping on the observing field with your tent, trailer or motorhome – bare camping, no utilities on the field
  • Setup your telescope and other astronomy gear on the observing field
  • Some power is available on the field for astronomy equipment, but no RV plug-ins please!
  • Washrooms and porta-potties
  • Water, self-serve coffee & tea
  • Visitor and drop-in parking
  • Church hall for presentations

Please do NOT park on the field with your vehicle if you plan to leave after dark! In this case, move your vehicle off the field after setting up, and park in the parking lot with your headlights facing away from the observing field. The same parking request applies to visitors dropping in for the evening – leave your vehicle in the parking lot and walk into the observing field.

Star Party t-shirts

A very limited supply of RASCals Star Party t-shirts will be available for sale. Pre-order yours by contacting Joe Carr. Black t-shirts available in Men’s S, M, L, XL and 2XL sizes – $15 ea, and navy Kid’s t-shirts available in S & M ($13 ea). Please make cheques payable to RASC Victoria Centre.

Prizes

We always have good prizes, and this year will be no exception!

  • TWO telescopes to be won – a grand prize each evening
  • Binoculars
  • Gift basket from The Butchart Gardens
  • Celestial sleep masks
  • Astronomy books – coffee table & for observers
  • Fun, activity-oriented kids’ prizes
Celestron Inspire 100AZ Refractor telescope
Celestron Inspire 100AZ Refractor telescope, including alt/az tripod, 2 eyepieces, red laser finder, smartphone adapter, red LED flashlight
Celestron C 90 Maksutov telescope (used, excellent optics)
Celestron C 90 Maksutov telescope (used, excellent optics, wooden tripod)
Celestron Skymaster 15×70 binoculars

Location

Star Party field map

What to observe

Map of the southern night sky for Sep 27, 2019 at 10PM

President’s Message Mid Summer Report

Posted by as News, President's Message

RASC Display at Library

The Summer is whizzing by and we are already a week deep into August! Since so much has already happened it is a good time pause and reflect on July’s accomplishments and look forward to August’s schedule.

During July most RASCals were infected with Apollo Fever. We were treated to a remarkable series of outstanding movies, documentaries, podcasts and articles about the Apollo 11 Moon Landing. The Victoria Centre participated in many related activities including:

On July 4th an Astronomy Display was set up at the Bruce Hutchinson Branch of the Greater Victoria Public Library. This lunar themed display was designed to resonate with the Apollo anniversary. We received very positive comments from the library and they noted that there was a significant increase in the circulation of astronomy books during July. Thanks must go to David Lee who initiated this project and to the following RASCals who helped make it happen: Marjie Welchframe, Lauri Roche, Sid Sidhu, Dave Essery and Reg Dunkley.

On the Moon Again. RASCals joined this global lunar observing event on July 12th and set up scopes at Cattle Point Urban Dark Sky Park. Clouds frequently blocked the Moon but a continuous stream of cruise ship passengers marvelled at views of Mount Rainier. This intersection of Cruise Ship Buses and Cattle Point RASCals may have the makings of an astronomical outreach sausage factory. That would really boost those Galileo Moments!

Lunar Saturday Night Star Parties. David Lee scheduled a series of interesting and relevant lunar themed talks for the Saturday Night Star Parties. Our tireless cousins at the FDAO went all out during the week of the landing with Apollo talks on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at the Centre of the Universe. The climax occurred on Saturday the 20th with a barbecue and a 2 hour Moon Walk presentation where Dr. Chris Gainor amazed us with all sorts of fascinating Apollo anecdotes. It was a wonderful opportunity for space travel enthusiasts. If you are suffering from Apollo withdrawal there is an absolutely riveting BBC podcast called 13 Minutes to the Moon Hardcore Apollo fanatics will love it. This celebration of the Apollo provided a welcome relief from todays rather disturbing news cycle. Congratulations must go to all the RASCals and Friends of the DAO for this epic outreach event. The scale of their endeavour acquired its own “Moon Shot” magnitude.

Meanwhile progress has been made on the optical front:

A mirror washing clinic was kindly conducted by Bill Weir on Friday June 14th using the 20 inch Dobsonian mirror at the Centre of the Universe. Several RASCals have already applied this technique to their own scopes. Thanks Bill.

The 16 Inch is Back! Congratulations must also go to Dan Posey, Les Disher and Matt Watson for successfully re-collimating the 16 inch Richey Chretien reflector at the Victoria Centre Observatory. This accomplishment required troubleshooting skills , mastery of new techniques and tenacity.

Events of August:

The Fort Rodd Hill Star Party will take place on the evening of Friday August 9th. Contact Chris Aesoph at chris@aesoph.com if you plan to bring a scope and have not already notified him or if you would like to lend a helping hand.

Cowichan Valley Starfinders Star Party begins on Friday August 30th at Bright Angel Park.

Saanich Fall Fair: Saturday August 31st to Monday September 2nd. Victoria RASCals share their enthusiasm of astronomy with thousands of attendees at this annual event. We will need volunteers. Please contact Lauri Roche at roche.lauri@gmail.com

And finally I would like to extend a thank you to all the RASCals who, as Ambassadors of the Universe, generously share their scopes, time, enthusiasm and knowledge to a grateful public at the Saturday Night Star Parties. Thanks also must go to Marjie Welchframe and her team of Victoria Centre volunteers who “person” the Welcome Table.

Cloud Free Nights

Reg Dunkley