Astronomy Cafe – Sep 12, 2022

Posted by as Astro Cafe

Video transcript of the meeting

  • Public Outreach at the Centre of the Universe (CU) – Lauri Roche
    • Saturday Star Parties
      • Thanks to all the RASC Victoria Centre members who volunteer
      • Tickets “sell out” quickly
      • Last event on Sep 24th
    • Cruise Tours this summer – successful and a source of income for FDAO
    • CU open during the day until the end of September
  • Saanich Fair – Lauri Roche
    • 2 nice days – solar viewing
    • 3rd day had some drizzle
    • Lots of interaction with the public about astronomy
    • 1,000 entries for the telescope prize – Melissa Long was the winner, and is thrilled with her new scope
  • Island Star Party – Dave Payne
    • Successful star party – 30 people on Friday, 45-50 people on Saturday
    • Speakers were fantastic
    • Quite a few campers
    • Some members of the public stopped by despite lack of advertising and promotion
    • Revenue exceeded expenses
    • Cowichan Valley Starfinders no longer have the volunteer numbers to sustain the event going forward
    • Cowichan Valley Regional District – arrangements for overnight camping appear to be
    • Discuss next steps with Victoria Centre Council 
    • August 16, 2023 is New Moon weekend for the event next year
  • Astronomy at Victoria High School – Clayton Uyeda
    • New astronomical observing deck being built as part of Victoria High School’s seismic upgrade
    • Astronomy 11 is now a course at Vic High
  • Tour of our new Zoom equipment for Astro Cafe – Chris Purse
    • New computer, microphone, webcam
    • 2 monitors
    • Sound is the biggest issue, and the new microphone seems to be excellent
    • Webcam has good coverage of the room’s occupants
    • New WIndows personal computer system is easy to setup, and is on rollers
  • Getting Started in Astronomy SIG – David Lee
    • Group met in person at Cattle Point a few times over the summer
    • Minima of Algol observed
  • Sky Brightness Survey – David Lee
    • Reviewed our mapping in 2010 (see maps at the bottom of our Night Lighting page)
    • Will repeat the survey this September and October
    • David to distribute SQMs to volunteers who don’t own one at the next Astro Cafe
    • Need more volunteers, so contact David very soon
  • RASC Board – Malhar Kendurkar
    • Malhar is imaging with the Plaskett Telescope
    • Virtual meeting of the RASC Board on Sep 14th
    • In-person meeting of the RASC Board will happen in October
      • The Robotic Telescope should be better used
  • VIctoria Centre Council meeting tomorrow – Dave Payne (VP)
  • Green Laser course offered by RASC – Lauri Roche
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