Upcoming Events
| Event | Date | Details |
|---|---|---|
| RAS monthly meeting | Nov. 11 | Our monthly meeting will be held at the Science Museum of Virginia (in the Thalhimer Theater) and online at 7:30 pm. We will open the video conference at 7:00 PM at this link for people to chat, if they like, and keep it open after the meeting. Please join us if you can. |
| James River Star Party | Nov. 14-15 | If you want to participate and enjoy the beautiful dark skies of James River State Park for the star party, just send an e-mail to president@richastro.org and provide the best e-mail address or phone number to reach you and a description of what type of vehicle you plan to bring (to make sure we save space for you). Please join us – it should be a lot of fun. Here is a link to the location where we will camp/observe in the Amphitheater area of the park: https://maps.app.goo.gl/4mCa4RfnAaEySVPh6 |
You can find a full list of venues on the Venues Page
Searching for Information About the Sky?
What’s in the Sky Tonight?
Facing South, look to your right (West), and you will see the bright star Arcturus. The really bright star almost straight overhead is Vega. Left of Vega, you’ll see another bright star–Deneb. And…
Telescope Buying Guide
Do you want to buy a telescope, but don’t know where to start? You might consider using a pair of binoculars first, to become acquainted with the night sky. You…
Schedule a Skywatch
Are you a teacher? Scout Leader? We offer skywatch sessions, free of charge, for any educational purpose. We’ll bring one or more telescopes, depending on the size of the crowd….
Future and Past RAS Events
RAD Report (Richmond Astronomy Day) 2025
The stars were aligned for us this year-we had a great venue at Dorey Park, and beautiful weather. We had tables set up inside the rec center: a meteorite display;…
Michael Holland
Michael Holland, longtime associate of the Richmond Astronomical Society, passed away on February 27, 2025 at the age of 76. He was a US Navy veteran and served in the…
Blood Moon this Thursday (3/13)
Get ready! A total lunar eclipse is happening on March 13-14. We’ll see a lunar eclipse late on March 13, stretching into the wee hours of March 14. It starts just…
Observing Charts by Steve Bellavia
RAS member Steve Bellavia has created a set of excellent observing charts focusing on the Messier objects and the more popular NGC objects. Each chart is printable and shows the…
The Library Telescope Project
An Update from John Sokol (Editor’s note: The Library Telescope Program is a project that a number of astronomy clubs support. Participating clubs purchase and maintain simple telescopes that are…
A Venus Nighthawk
She’s Got It – an update from Josh Urban’s adventures on the farm and in the city. #212 By Josh Urban – Nov 18 Appearing in the Altavista Journal, etc:…
A System of Binoviewing
by John C Raymond I’d like to share some of my ideas and opinions on binoviewing. What is a System of Binoviewing? An assembly of common observing equipment that’s powerful,…
Peter Tlusty’s Students to Compete in International NASA Challenge!
NASA recently selected 75 student teams to begin an engineering design challenge to build rovers that will compete next spring at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center near the agency’s…
First Astronomy Day at Crump Park
RAS decided to try something different this year, and partner with Henrico County for Astronomy Day. While the crowd was not great, everything else worked out very well, and we…
Pass Me a Wrench…
Letters from Josh (A weekly update from Josh Urban’s adventures on the farm and in the city. #204) Excerpted from a Letter from Josh as it appeared in the Altavista…
Mysteries of Lyra
By John Raymond Lyra is a prominent and fascinating constellation that passes overhead for us in the mid-northern latitudes. Its visible most of the year. It has one of the…
Review of Taurus Telescopes’ 12 inch T- 300 Ultra-light Dobsonian
By John Roberts One of the hurdles that we amateur astronomers have is that most of us live in or near cities with bright night skies. Our home’s Bortle 8+…