PASADENA, Calif. — NASA’s solar-powered Juno spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 9:25 a.m. PDT (12:25 p.m. EDT) Friday to begin a five-year journey to Jupiter. . Juno’s detailed study of the largest planet in our solar system will help reveal Jupiter’s origin and evolution. As the archetype of [...]

News release from NASA about images of asteroid Vesta:  NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, the first ever to orbit an object in the main asteroid belt, is spiraling towards its first of four intensive science orbits. That initial orbit of the rocky world Vesta begins Aug. 11, at an altitude of nearly 1,700 miles (2,700 kilometers) and [...]

Many thanks:  Thanks to Isaac Steincamp and Dave Medici for a great meeting last month. Isaac recounted his experience at the Advanced Teen Astronomy Camp at Kitt Peak National Observatory and Dave entertained and educated us a with a game of Astro-Jeopardy. Based on Isaac’s description, I wish that camp had been around when I [...]

SkyDay Night at the Science Museum was apparently a hit.  The Museum staff recorded over 300 visitors for the evening event and the majority of them (if not more) visited our telescopes deployed by the Kugel in front.  On behalf of the Science Museum, Leslie Bochenski passed along a note of thanks expressing the Museum’s [...]

The Science Museum of Virginia will be hosting a special evening event on July 15 from 5:00 PM to 10:00 PM called SkyDay night. The Museum will have special IMAX Theater shows, Live Science shows and demonstrations.  The Richmond Astronomical Society will have its regular monthly skywatch in support of the event augmented by our [...]

Supernova in M51:  Supernova SN 2011dh continues to brighten and is visible in more and more amateur scopes. Kelly Beatty of Sky and Telescope reports that he was able to view the supernova visually in a 6-inch telescope. The supernova was first noticed on May 31st, by French amateur Amédée Riou in a CCD image captured [...]

East Coast Star Party: The East Coast Star Party is scheduled for June 2 – 4 near Coinjock, NC at the Hampton Lodge Camping Resort, approximately 45 miles south of the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area. To reach the site from this area, drive south on US 158, cross the Joseph Palmer Knapp Bridge at Coinjock. Turn [...]

Astronomy Day 2011: Many many thanks to all who helped out with this year’s Astronomy Day at the Science Museum. We had a steady flow of interested and engaged visitors. The activities included our traditional water rockets, solar viewing, telescopes on display, telescope construction, video astronomy, “Touch-a-meteorite,” indoor air pressure rockets and our roving astronaut. [...]

Astronomy Day is coming: This year Astronomy Day will be Saturday, May 7.  As we have done for a number of years, RAS is planning to support a number of Astronomy Day activities at the Science Museum of Virginia.  Prashant Reddy is coordinating volunteer support for the event this year.  Please let him know if [...]

February and March meetings: At the last meeting, Dr. Amy Treonis gave us a great overview of her work and research interests, specifically desert environments as analogs for Mars. You can read more about Amy and her work in astrobiology and extreme environments at the University of Richmond here. Sydney Mabry, one of our younger [...]