About Us
The Victoria Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society is part of a national society dedicated to bringing information about astronomy to the general public.
Membership
Open to everyone with an interest in astronomy. Membership in the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada does not require any knowledge of astronomy. We enjoy helping beginners!
Joining the Victoria Centre of the Canada-wide RASC is easy – Join Now
Contact Us
President
Reg Dunkley Email
Membership
Chris Purse Email
Mailing Address
EMAIL US FOR OUR MAILING ADDRESS
Victoria Centre Council
President
Overall responsibility for Victoria Centre, its members and Council & public relations
Reg Dunkley Email
First Vice President
Monthly meeting & speakers, major events
VACANT Email
Second Vice President
Special projects, observing events, volunteers
VACANT Email
Treasurer
Financial, retail sales, AGM, taxes
Deb Crawford Email
Secretary
Minutes, official records, correspondence
Barbara Lane Email
Librarian
Lending library – periodicals, books, CDs, DVDs & other media in our library
Diane Bell Email
Progressive Lighting Policies
Dave Robinson Email
School Program & Telescopes
School telescope program & lending telescopes to members
Sid Sidhu Email 250-391-0540
Past President
Business continuity, special projects, nominating committee
Chris Purse Email
National Representative
National RASC representative and liaison
Nelson Walker Email 250-477-4820
Skynews Editor
Skynews, our monthly publication
Bruce Lane Email
Membership Coordinator
Enquiries from the public & new members, membership roster
Chris Purse Email
Observing Chair
Vested with authority by the National Observing Chair to review and approve observing certificate applications
Jim Stilburn Email 250-479-4662
Technical Committee Chair
Server, Email, Victoria Centre Observatory, Online Services Coordination
Matt Watson Email
Webmaster
Website content
Joe Carr Email 250-744-9981
Members at Large
James Di Francesco (Dominion Astrophysical Observatory Liaison)
Jim Hesser
David Lee
John McDonald
Jim Nemec (Camosun College Liaison)
Dan Posey
Lauri Roche (Friends of the DAO Liaison)
Alex Schmid (University of Victoria Liaison)
RASC Roots
In 1868 a small group of amateur astronomers formed the Toronto Astronomy Club. In 1903, King Edward VII gave his permission for “Royal” to be included in the title and the Society became the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. There are now around 5,000 members in 29 Centres, found in most major Canadian cities.
The Victoria Centre was formed in 1914 and quickly developed into one of the largest centres in the country. There are currently over 250 members. Most are amateurs with some being professionals from the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, the University of Victoria, and Camosun College. Professional astronomers frequently appear as guest speakers at RASC monthly meetings.
Victoria Centre members have a long history of offering public observing sessions to residents of Victoria.