http://www.blottr.com/world/breaking-news/earth-wins-game-chicken-sun

747^th Consecutive Meeting

December 13, 2011

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Jim Browder called our meeting to order in a room off of the rotunda.

Greeting & Announcements – approximately 41 in attendance at the meeting.

Please check the link to our RAS blog: http://richastro.org/index.php/category/blog/

Annual dues are due. $30 for a regular membership; $10 more to be an observatory operator: discount subscriptions are available to Sky & Telescope and Astronomy. You can pay by check to Jim Blowers or by PayPal at this link:

http://richastro.org/ras_payments.htm

If you joined our organization after July 1, your dues payment will be applied to next year.

The 2012 Board of Directors and 2012 Officers have been elected:

Board of Directors: Jim Blowers, Jim Browder, Gary Cowardin, Chris McCann, David P. Medici, Bill Newman, Prashant Reddy, Tim Streagle, David Walton, Betty Wilson, Ken Wilson

Officers: Jim Browder, President; David Medici, Vice-President; Chris McCann, Secretary; Jim Blowers, Treasurer

Congratulations to Betty Wilson:

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) Minor Planet Division has designated asteroid 84991 (2003 YM94) for Betty Philpotts Wilson at the request of the discoverer – Rik Hill of the Catalina Sky Survey. The orbital information and citation are available at this link:

http://ssd .jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi#top

Share Table

    A lot of good food!!

Library Report – none

Events and Individual Observing Recent Events:

• Heart of Virginia Fall Star Party and school skywatches.
• Individual observing
• Observatory maintenance

Upcoming Events:

• Science Museum Skywatch, December 16: Please sign up if you can bring a telescope. More information is at http://smv.org/events.html. The theme of the LiveSky event will be ‘Hollywoodin Space.” Come and see what they did right and what they did wrong.  If you have a chance, please have a look at the promotional video by theScienceMuseumon the RAS web site.
• January RAS meeting, January 10: We will have as our special guests a group of fourth graders fromRidgeElementary SchoolinHenricoCountyalong with their parents and teachers. The students will be presenting some recent special projects in astronomy and space science. These should be very special evening. Please join us if you can.

Visitor and New Member Welcome:

There were several visitors.  Two of our visitors were first time visitors – Cierra and Wallace Bracey.  Cierra is interested in astronomy and wants to study it at U.Va.

Our other visitors, Dee Remmick, Karen Streagle, Marie Barnett, and Anne Blowers are spouses of some of our regular members. 

Short Talk:

Tim Streagle had a very humorous photo show, showing people and their telescopes.  It was great seeing several of our members and their “collections of equipment” that they bring to the skywatches. 

Potluck Dinner

Presentation: Astro-Jeopardy, Leslie Bochenski

After our potluck dinner, we were divided up into 4 teams and played a friendly and lively game of astronomy Jeopardy

Thank you to all who donated food for our potluck dinner!  Lots of delicious food and friendly conversation was a great way to end 2011.

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Reminders:

The next RAS meeting will be Tuesday, January 10th at the SMV.

The next board meeting will be Monday, February 20 at Extra Billy’s at 7:00 PM (arrive earlier for dinner). Meeting is open to all members.

Check out the web site at http://www.richastro.org/

RAS Café Press store.  Please take a look at the online store where you can purchase items embossed with the RAS label. The site can be found at http://www.cafepress.com/RichAstroShop .

746^th Consecutive Meeting

November 8, 2011

—–

Jim Browder called our meeting to order in theEurekaroom.

Greeting & Announcements – approximately 37 in attendance at the meeting.

Please check the link to our RAS blog: http://richastro.org/index.php/category/blog/

Annual dues are due.

$30 for a regular membership; $10 more to be an observatory operator.

Benefit of being a member is you are eligible for a discount subscription to Sky & Telescope and Astronomy. You can pay by check to Jim Blowers or by PayPal at this link:           http://richastro.org/ras_payments.htm

If you joined our organization after July 1, your dues payment will be applied to next year.

Election of 2012 Board of Directors was held after asking for nominations from the floor.  Chris McCann supervised the election by acclamation.  Elected members are:

Jim Blowers, Jim Browder, Gary Cowardin, Chris McCann, David P. Medici, Bill Newman, Prashant Reddy, Tim Streagle, David Walton, Betty Wilson, Ken Wilson

The 2011 Board members were thanked, including the 3 who were stepping down: Cal Pletcher, Bill Jeffries, and Jeff Pike.

Share table:

There were several books on display.  “The Big Book of the Universe”, donated books, and library books (to be discussed in a later report).  There were also several photos taken at recent star parties and observations.

Library Report was given byVirginia.  All is good at the library.  Her topic for this month was Sunspots.  She brought in a set of related books, including “Our Sun”, “Our Turbulent Sun”, “Chasing the Shadow”, “Sun and Its Influences”, and an old book, “Birth and Death of the Sun”.

Two (2) books have been donated to RAS.  Randy Tatum donated a book named “Sleep Walkers”.  Jim Calpin donated “First Light”.

Events and Individual Observing

Recent Events:

• Chiefland Floridastar parties (see Frank Green’s blog entry dated 10/30/2011, http://richastro.org/index.php/category/blog/ ) – passage from his blog:      The sky is darker at Chiefland than at manyVirginia sites, though not as dark as some of the W.V. ones. However, Chiefland is best known for great seeing.  … in a high-power eyepiece — Jupiter was nothing but bands, swirls and eddies from pole to pole, Europa was a beautiful, sharp white orb with a sharp black shadow as it moved across the planet that night.   …  Some folks had their scopes up to 1,100 power with razor sharp views. Have never experienced seeing like that in Virginia (or anywhere else).
• Girl Scout Astronomy Badge – 2 troops of 6 girls each, Mark and Syndey Mabry helped us out here
• City Point – no one
• Woodlake – 30 observers, helped by Hank and John Raymond
• Byrd Elementary – Tim Streagle and Jim Browder reported that they had a small group of students show up.
• RAS observing at the scout camp – good skies, especially Thursday and Friday;  a little cloudy on Saturday; good crowd; had 7 different telescopes available at different times during the night.

Individual observing

Alan saw spectacular views of Jupiter fromPettigrewState Parkin NC.  It is a dark sky area located about 3 hours from Eddington, towards Outer Banks.

Upcoming Events:

Thanks to ALL who helped at the skywatches during 2011!!

•ScienceMuseumSkywatch: No skywatch in November! The next skywatch at theScienceMuseumwill be on December 16.

• Heart of Virginia Fall Star Party, November 18 — 20: Star party hosted by the Heart of Virginia Scout Reservation, open to the public, convenient location, nice facilities and a dark sky:

More info at http://bradysaunders net/cam p/starparty.html

Don’t miss it — this should be a great event! The festivities start at 4:00 PM on Friday, November 18 with an astronomy club social.

• Matoaca Middle School Star Party, November 10: Please contact Jim Browder at presidentrichastro.org if you are interested in bringing a scope to his event.

• RAS Board meeting, November 14: 7:00 PM, Extra Billy’s Restaurant onBroad St. Please arrive earlier if you plan to eat.

• Skywatch at Five Forks,Hopewell, November 19: 6:00 PM, contact John Raymond at raymond7419@verizon.net for more information if you are interested in attending.

• Cub Scout Event inEastern Henrico: No date yet specified for this event, please contact Jim Browder at president@richastro.org if you are interested in helping a cub scout troop learn about astronomy and earn their belt loop award.

• December RAS pot luck party – location TBA.

Visitor and New Member Welcome, Chris McCann

We had a few returning visitors, but had 1 new visitor: Tamara Hubbard

Short Talk: “Moons of Jupiter — Research Project,” Nick Annichiarico

Nick is aUniversityofRichmondstudent, studying under Henry Nebel.  Nick is researching the orbital periods of the 4 major moons of Jupiter. Using photography, he hopes to repeat what Galileo observed (while under house arrest).  His goal is to select 1 of the moons at a time, starting with the closest to Jupiter, track its orbit and calculate its orbital period.  As each moon is successfully tracked, Nick will proceed to the next moon and repeat the process again. 

Good luck to your studies and research!!

Break

Presentation: “Unusual Refractor Telescopes,” Ken Wilson

Ken presented a lot of information about the historical progression of refractor telescopes, including a few unusual designs.  We started off thinking about Galileo’s gear from 1609 – 21x magnification, 37 mm objective diameter, giving a very narrow field of view that covered ¼ of a full moon.  Of course, it had its problems, like severe chromatic aberration.

We moved onto Aerial telescopes.  In 1673, Johannes Hevelius used a 149-foot long scope that hung from a 90-foot pole.  Too easy to move and not stable.  Constantine Huygens worked with a 123-foot long scope that was attached to a hinge at the opposite end.  The position of the eyepiece was controlled by a cord.

Improvement in refractor lens was proposed by Romer in 1675, when he suggested cutting a lens into 2 halves.  The 2 halves were to be moved back and forth to make small measurements.  The idea wasn’t successful until John Dolland worked with the concept in 1754.

Much later in history, a “fly’s eye telescope” was developed and used by universities such asHawaiiandArizona.  It involved multiple mirrors sending images to a common focus.  The same set-up was used to measure the distance to the Moon by reflecting a laser off of instruments left on the Moon by astronauts.

The largest refractor was the Great Paris Refractor, used in 1900.  It was a horizontal telescope with a movable mirror at the end.  49.2 inch diameter and a focal length of 187 feet.

Coude created a telescope with a ‘fixed eyepiece’.  Most of the telescope was not movable except for a mirror at the end.  Most of the telescope was contained inside of a building or structure and was not affected by heat differences.

Unusual mounts:

Peltier’s Merry-go-Round mount, where the telescope rotated about a fixed eyepiece.

‘Auto-mated’ telescope, mounted on the top of a car.  It could be moved to wherever it needed to be and could be pointed into any direction.  It was also called the “Volvo mount”.

Ken presented a lot of information by use of diagrams, showing quite a lot of ideas to improve telescopes.  Very interesting!!

—–

Reminders:

The next RAS meeting will be Tuesday, December 13th at the SMV.

The next board meeting will be Monday, November 21 at Extra Billy’s at 7:00 PM (arrive earlier for dinner). Meeting is open to all members.

Check out the web site at http://www.richastro.org/

RAS Café Press store.  Please take a look at the online store where you can purchase items embossed with the RAS label. The site can be found at http://www.cafepress.com/RichAstroShop .

All joking aside about the end of the world in December, 2012 promises to be a great year for amateur astronomy. It features numerous celestial scenes worthy of viewing: lunar occultations, planetary encounters, comets, asteroids, planetary satellites, planetary visits to deep sky objects, and the last Venus transit of the twenty-first century. Get your clean, crisp new calendars ready for marking! 

1. Comet Levy P(2006 T1) and Garrad P(2009 P1) 

We haven’t had a grand comet in a number of years and it doesn’t look like 2012 will be different. However, binoculars users may be able to catch two seventh — perhaps sixth — magnitude cometary visitors in the first part of 2012. 

Early evenings in January bring us Comet Levy, a seventh magnitude fuzzy ball scooting from Aries into Eridanus. On the 15th, it lies 6º west of Jupiter. The best times to view it will be from January 15 through 25 when there is no moonlight washing out the sky. Does your telescope view reveal a wispy tail?

From late February through March, Comet Garrad graces our skies. The big question is how bright it will become. Some accounts indicate 7th magnitude, other claim almost naked eye visibility. Garrad will be located in Hercules in January, then swing near the Little Dipper in mid February, and pass west of the Big Dipper in March and April.

2. Venus and Uranus.

On February 9 at 7 p.m., Uranus lies 19 minutes east of brilliant Venus. Can you spot the 5.9 magnitude planet amid the glare of Venus? Use moderate magnification (around 100x) or greater to see the round disk of Uranus and the gibbous disk of Venus.

3. Can you spot Phobos and Deimos?

From February 12 through March 25, when Mars is at its closest and brightest, its two small, dim moons, Phobos and Deimos, are also at their brightest. To increase your chance of seeing them, Mars should be at least 25º above the horizon and there should be no moonlight interfering. In February, this corresponds to observing at 10 p.m. EST from the 12th to the 25th. In March this corresponds to observing at 11 p.m. EDT from the 10th through the 25th. Mars will span about 14 arc seconds and the magnitudes of Deimos and Phobos are 13.2 and 12.2, respectively. Phobos is situated to either side of the planet by less than the planet’s diameter. Deimos, although a magnitude dimmer, is situated from the planet by 2.5 times Mars’ diameter, possibly putting it far enough outside the planet’s glare to spot the little satellite. 

Place Mars near the edge of the field and focus on it. Then, move the planet just outside of the field. If luck is with you, you’ll be able to spot the moons just inside the field of view and just outside of the planet’s glare.

 Deimos:

 Date Separation from Mars Side away from Mars

 2/13 30 seconds west

2/15 32 east

2/16 30 east

2/18 38 west

2/20 37 east

2/23 38 west

2/25 40 east

…

3/13 40 west

3/15 33 east

3/18 39 west

3/20 36 east

3/23 36 west

3/25 38 east

 Phobos

 2/13 11 west

2/14 11 west

2/17 11 west

2/20 11 west

2/21 11 west

2/24 11 east

…

3/10 11 east

3/14 11 west

3/17 11 east

3/21 11 west

3/25 10 east

 The dates when both moons should be most easily visible are February 20 and March 25.

 4. Lunar occultation of Zeta Tauri

 For very early morning observers on March 2, the 2.96 magnitude star Zeta Tauri can be seen being occulted by the waxing gibbous moon. Begin watching at 1:40 a.m. before the star suddenly disappears behind the moon’s dark southern edge about 1:49. It reappears next to the brightly lit lunar surface around 1:55 a.m. making it more difficult to see than the disappearance.

5. The bright and the dim

 Mars slides into the same field of view as the galaxies M95 and M96 on March 16 and 17. How difficult will it be to spot both the bright planet and the two very dim galaxies at the same time? M95 and M96 will be giants compared to tiny Mars, but their low surface brightness may make their identification difficult.

 6. Venus Transit

 The transit begins on June 5 just after 6 p.m. and continues well after sunset. Let’s hope for clear skies with no late afternoon or early evening storms!

7. Vesta passes Aldebaran

 Asteroids are interesting to observe because they creep across the sky, showing discernible movement in just two or three hours time. Vesta passes Aldebaran on the morning of August 6. Look at Aldebaran at 4:00 a.m. when it rises above the atmospheric goop, for the 7.5 magnitude Vesta sitting thirteen arc minutes to the left of the star. The next morning, the asteroid will have moved eastward by a few minutes.

8. The moon points to Venus in the daytime.

 At 4 p.m. on August 13, the pale crescent moon lies next to Venus low in the west. Binoculars should help in finding this pair. Venus is about two-thirds of the moon’s apparent diameter to its upper left. The planet shouldn’t appear nearly as washed out as the moon because its surface brightness is much greater. The moon occults Venus at 4:43 when they are less than 7º above the horizon.

9. Ceres grazes southern lunar rim.

 The largest asteroid, Ceres, can be easily found on September 9 around 3:30 a.m. For observer’s north of a line extending from just north of Winston-Salem, NC to just north of Richmond, VA, and continuing to the northeast, the moon’s southern edge barely occults it. Begin observing at 3:40. Sometime in the next ten minutes, the moon blocks the 7.7 magnitude Ceres. Does Ceres wink out suddenly as the dark lunar rim covers it, or does it disappear gradually, taking many seconds to do so?

 Project: If simultaneous observations are coordinated by two observers who are located near the same longitude and who are separated by a north-south distance of a couple of hundred miles, then the distance to the moon can be calculated using simple trigonometry.

10. Ceres passes Eta Gemini

 Ceres can be found again, this time when it moves past the 3.3 magnitude star Eta Geminorum. On November 4 at 10 p.m., aim your scope at Eta. Ceres twinkles a minimum of three arc minutes to the star’s east. As the hours pass, the little worldlet creeps to the northwest. If a medium magnification eyepiece is used, after two or three hours a slight change in position with respect to the star should be noticed.

]]> http://richastro.org/index.php/blog/2012-a-great-year-for-amateur-astronomy/feed/ 0 http://richastro.org/index.php/events/2684/ http://richastro.org/index.php/events/2684/#comments Sun, 18 Dec 2011 04:24:50 +0000 president http://richastro.org/?p=2684

Potluck Dinner Delectables

Thanks to all who attended our annual potluck dinner.  Everything was absolutely delicious, the images of the Heart of Virginia Fall Star Party were great and the Astro-Jeopardy was a lot of fun.  It was really great to see everyone. Hope everyone has an enjoyable and safe holiday season.
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Regards,.
Jim Browder 

December - The Eating Meeting!

Next meeting:  The next meeting of the Richmond Astronomical Society will be on Tuesday, December 13, 7:30 PM at the Science Museum of Virginia in the Forum. At this meeting we will transform into the Richmond Gastronomical Society and have a potluck dinner as is our custom for the December meeting.  Please send me an e-mail to let me know what you plan to bring (so we don’t all bring the same thing). We will need a variety of main dishes, side dishes, desserts, drink, plates, cups, utensils and ice. Leslie Bochenski will be hosting a game of Astro-Jeopardy with prizes!  Please join us if you can – it should be a lot of fun.

This is the time of year to say thanks and we have plenty to thank our members for.  We are very fortunate to have a lot of folks who are willing to attend our meetings, help with skywatches, serve on our board, take care of our club business, organize observing events and represent our group at other events. We don’t say thanks often enough, but let’s not allow this opportunity to say thank you pass us by. Thanks to everyone many, many times over. We could not have the organization we have without you all.

Jupiter by Bryan Hartley

Thanks to everyone who attended and helped out with the Heart of Virginia Fall Star Party. It was a great weekend. At the star party Bryan Hartley tested his imaging technique on Jupiter, the Moon and the Orion Nebula. He kindly shared the image to the left with us. Note the shadow of Europa passing across the face of Jupiter. Thanks Bryan!

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President Jim Browder called the meeting to order at 7:00pm.

Attendees (8):

• Jim Browder, President
• David Medici, Vice President
• Jim Blowers, Treasurer
• Chris McCann, Secretary
• Ken Wilson
• Prashant Reddy
• Gary Cowardin
• Dave Walton

Secretary’s report given by Chris McCann

• May’s board meeting minutes were discussed, ‘Old Business’ was updated, and minutes were approved.

Treasurer’s report given by Jim Blowers.

• Balance Summary          (as of 5/16/2011)                (as of 8/15/2011):

• General Fund:                        6481.10                               6314.61
• Observatory Fund:                 180.91                                 128.35
• TOTAL:                                      6662.01                               6442.96
• Checking Account:               1590.08                                1366.35
• Savings Account:                  2859.72                               2860.22
• Certificate of Deposit:          2212.21                               2216.39
• Pay Pal Acct:                                  0.00                                     0.00
• TOTAL:                                      6662.01                                6442.96

The Astronomical League fees of $330 for 64 RAS active members are included.

It was mentioned that our bank’s name has changed from Wachovia to Wells Fargo.

Treasurer’s report was approved by the board. 

 
Observatory Report given by Jim Browder

• Maintenance update
• Reported that Randy Tatum had chipped away concrete from the apron, re-filled it, and painted it.
• Two exterior walls have been painted, leaving 2 more walls to paint.
• Grass needed to be cut, but it could wait until the end of the month.
• A tree had fallen on the power line, but was removed by Dominion Power.

Education Report (Jim Browder) :

• Many outreach skywatches and events have occurred and continue to be scheduled at various places.  There are several requests for skywatches in the near future. 
• SkyDay night was very successful.  The quarterly event was well attended by over 300 attendees.  RAS was well represented.
• “Good time was had by all”
• Skywatch guidelines completed and thought to be posted.  It was mentioned that the link had issues with WordPress.

Library Report (made by Jim Browder)

• Virginiareported there was no change in status. Process runs “remarkably smoothly”.  Air conditioned room protected the collection during these hot summer days.

Other Reports:

• Telescope donation by Ray Matsuura (Celestron 4.5” reflector).  Need to send a letter receipt for donations such as this.  The board needs to review a receipt template.
• Rezoning near observatory for medical facility.  We believe there may be a probable tree buffer.  Our concern was about possible light sources on such objects as a building identification sign and a flagpole.  Prashant had agreed to go make contact and fine out information.    Brief discussion about the possibility of an amendment in the state constitution that we could use to our advantage.
• Scout Camp observatory plans – Tim proposed creating an observatory on the scout camp grounds that can be used by the RAS.  Well received by the board.  It will need further discussion and research into cost, timeline, accessibility, and probably more issues.  An advisory panel was started that included Jim Browder and Ken Wilson.  More members will be added.
• Goochland lighting ordinance – plans by the board of supervisors are in disarray.  RAS will hold its support letter for Laura Graham until she requests it.

Old Business:

• Name Tags – discussion continued with details of needs and different types.  We need to consider tags for present members and going forwards.  We need to consider cost, and ease to make quickly and inexpensively.  It all comes down to a happy medium among ‘time to create’ vs ‘cost’ vs ‘ease of reading tag’.  We would like to keep the logo.
• Existing prices: Staples FedEx can create tags quickly (was $4, now $5 a badge).
• Magnetic type seemed to be popular to not damage clothing or puncture skin.
• Garyspoke of a machine that we could use to make name tag labels.
• Equipment inventory – Dave Walton (Inventory controller) stated that we need a form to use for check out purposes.  We need to look at what the members now have in their possession.  Dave will need to eventually get it finalized and posted on the web site under the member’s security page.  Jim Browder will send an email to members inquiring what RAS equipment they have.  Dave Walton will ask at a future RAS meeting.
• Draft asset policy – Ken Wilson distributed a procedures draft for RAS’s inventory control.  He requests for the board to review and respond with comments before the next board meeting.  There is a target to get a final version of it approved at the next board meeting.

New Business:

• Selection of nominating committee – Dave Medici volunteered as chairman.
• Fall picnic is scheduled for the 3^rd Saturday of September (Sept 17) at the scout camp.  A $60 check is needed to pay rental fees to Tim.  It was decided that if members brought visitors, they may either bring additional food or donate money to the food cause.
• The RAS version of VAAS 2012 is scheduled for September 15, 2012.  the shelter and dining hall at the Maidens scout camp have been reserved).  Planning committee will be created after elections are done and new board has begun.

• Proposed purchases – Prashant proposed a purchase of a double stack filter for the solar telescope.  Discussion delayed until later after other estimates have been found.  It was re-iterated that John Raymond needs to be consulted for advice before equipment is purchased.
• Announcement to be aware of suspicious Facebook emails.  Several board members have received SPAM emails addressed to Dave Walton.

Next Board meeting will be Monday, November 14, 2011 at Extra Billy’s at 7pm.  If you want to come early for dinner, come by at 6pm.  Normally, the board meeting would have been on November 21, but with that being on Thanksgiving week, there may be attendance issues.

• Meeting was adjourned at 8:34pm.

Asteroid YU55 blew past us on November 8. RAS member Tim Streagle appeared on WTVR Channel 6 in a story about the asteroid pass at this link.
…..
So did anyone observe or image the asteroid? Please let us know or pass along an image or video and we will be happy to post it.
…..
An article in Sky and Telescope about the asteroid is here.

745^th Consecutive Meeting

October 11, 2011

—–

Jim Browder called our meeting to order in theEurekaroom.

Greeting & Announcements – approximately 29 in attendance at the meeting.

Please check the link to our RAS blog: http://richastro.org/index.php/category/blog/

The procedure for the election of the Board members for 2012 was discussed.  David Medici introduced the slate of nominees:

Jim Blowers,            Jim Browder,            Gary Cowardin,            Chris McCann,

David P. Medici,      Bill Newman,            Prashant Reddy,           Tim Streagle,

David Walton,          Betty Wilson,            Ken Wilson.

Nominations from the floor and the elections will be done in November.

Share table:

There were several items on display.  A CD of demo astronomy programs.  Library books (returned and to be picked up).  An Orion catalog.  October issue of Astronomy magazine.  An occultation astronomy journal. 

Library Report was given byVirginia.  All is good at the library.  She brought in a set of books, including “Beyond the Known Universe”, “Ancient Light”, “Splendor of the Universe”, “Manual of Advanced Manual Astronomy”, and an old book from 1929, “Energy”.

Observatory Report:  Physical updates are being done to the observatory.  John Barnette is looking for more people who are interested in receiving training.  Training will start soon for the original group from last month.

Past Events:

• Science Museum Skywatch for September was clouded out.
• RAS Fall Picnic: great time.  Good turnout.  Sky cleared up for 3-4 hours between midnight and dawn.
• VAAS: About 30 attendees, good speakers, dark sky at the observation site, but cloudy
• Observing at the scout camp:  Tim and Jim Browder had great views of the moon and other objects.  There were many people looking at their internet broadcast. 
• ECVAR:
• DelMarVa: Ray attended this.  Thursday – seeing OK, pushed the viewing limits, a lot of fuzzy objects.  Showers on Friday & Saturday.   DelMarVa is held each May and September.

Upcoming Events:

• Science Museum Skywatch No skywatch in October and November!

• Astronomy Badge Event for Girl Scouts at the Science Museum of Virginia, October 15, 9-12 Noon: The Science Museum is hosting a special event for girl scouts from 9 to 12Noon. If you can help with this event, please contact Jim Browder at president@richastro.org.

• Skywatch at City Point, October 15: Skywatch at the City Point Unit ofPetersburgNational Battlefield. Please contact John Raymond at raymond7419@verizon.net if you can bring a telescope to this event.

• Skywatch at Scotchtown, October 15: Please contact John Raymond at raymond7419@verizon.net if you can bring a telescope to this event.

• Observing session for RAS members and friends, October 29: See above for directions to the scout reservation.

• Mid-Atlantic Star Party, October 24 — 30: Star Party near Robbins, NC; http://masp.us.

• East Coast Star Party,Coinjock,NC, Oct 21-23: Contact Kent Blackwell for more information at kent@exis.net. Note that this is a revised date from previous announcements.

• Fan Mountain Retreat — Charlottesville Astronomical Society, October 28 – 30: RAS members are invited. If you are interested in attending, please contact Richard Drumm with the Charlottesville Society directly at richard@drummdigital.com.

• Skywatch at Byrd Elementary in Goochland, November 4: A special skywatch for fellow astronomer and elementary school teacher, Karren Streagle, for students ofByrdElementary School. Please let Jim Browder know at presidentrichastro.org if you can bring a scope to this event.

• Skywatch at Scotchtown, November 5: Please contact John Raymond at raymond7419@verizon.net if you can bring a telescope to this event.

• Skywatch at Woodlake, November 6: Please contact John Raymond at raymond7419@verizon.net if you can bring a telescope to this event.  Last outreach activity for the year.

• A Heart of Virginia Fall Star Party, November 18 — 19: Star party hosted by the Heart of Virginia Scout Reservation, open to the public, convenient location, nice facilities and a dark sky; http://bradysaunders.net/camp/starparty.html. Don’t miss it — this should be a great event!  The festivities start at 4:00 PM pm on Friday, November 18 with an astronomy club social.  $15 entry + $6 for lodging.

• December RAS pot luck party – location TBA.

Short Talk: “Dark Skies Update,” Laura Graham

      <to be updated>

Break

Presentation: “Adventures in Astronomical Imaging,” Tim Streagle

      <to be updated>

—–

Reminders:

The next RAS meeting will be Tuesday, November 8th at the SMV.

The next board meeting will be Monday, November 21 at Extra Billy’s at 7:00 PM (arrive earlier for dinner). Meeting is open to all members.

Check out the web site at http://www.richastro.org/

Virginia Skylines: Be sure to check out the latest version of Virginia Skylines on our web site.  Virginia Skylines is a weekly podcast written by Leslie Bochenski, astronomy educator with theScienceMuseum andThomasJeffersonHigh School.

RAS Café Press store.  Please take a look at the online store where you can purchase items embossed with the RAS label. The site can be found at http://www.cafepress.com/RichAstroShop .