Month: July 2009

July, 2009 meeting

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Richmond Astronomical Society
718th Consecutive Meeting
July 14, 2009
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Jim Browder called our meeting to order, in the Eureka Theater.
Greeting & Announcements – approximately 25 in attendance at the meeting.

Share table:

  • Terry Barker brought in articles from Popular Mechanics and Smithsonian Magazine, on the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11 (moon mission), Buzz Aldrin, and the SR-71 Blackbird.
  • Terry also gave an overview of the prototype of our new web page. It allows for archival of past articles, easy editing of news articles, and a more uniform look to all pages.

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June, 2009 meeting

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Richmond Astronomical Society 717th Consecutive Meeting June 9, 2009 —– Jim Browder called our meeting to order, in the Eureka Room. Greeting & Announcements – approximately 42 in attendance at the meeting. Jim thanked John Raymond for agreeing to become our Outreach Coordinator! Share table: There were free magazines for anyone who wants them.  Extra … Read more

Alan Bean, art exhibit at Smithsonian

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Alan Bean, NASA astronaut, and 4th man to walk on the moon, is also an artist. He hightlighted some of work at the recent Green Bank Starquest convention, and he now has a large exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum in DC. The exhibit will run through January.

Apollo 11 is getting ready to launch!

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This is from Komando.com.

Today is an important day in America’s history. It’s the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch from Cape Canaveral, FL.

Apollo 11 was the first manned mission to land on the moon. To commemorate the anniversary, NASA is recreating the mission. You can watch it on today’s Cool Site.

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Brandermill Skywatch, Aug. 3

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John Raymond, our outreach coordinator, has arranged for a Summer Skywatch on Monday, August 3, 8:30 – 10 pm at Swift Creek Middle School.  This is a repeat performance – last year we provided telescopes and astronomers for a skywatch which was well attended by lots of interested Brandermill residents. Please let John or me … Read more

Iridium flare tonight (July 13)

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There’s going to be a nice flare tonight (July 13) at 21:04:33, -4 magnitude, 65 degrees high, in the east (84° degrees). I’m also going to start posting these events on Twitter at richastrova (note the VA on the end, richastro was taken).

Some News and Updates, Observatory Events, and Astronomy Podcasts

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A few updates …

The next meeting of the Richmond Astronomical Society will be on Tuesday, July 14 at the Science Museum of Virginia at 7:30 PM. Chris McCann will be presenting on “General Archaeoastronomy 101: How ancient cultures understood celestial events and how they used astronomy in their lives.” We also plan to have Terry Barker tell us about the Green Bank StarQuest by video link.

A number of us will be gathering at the Arby’s across from the Science Museum for dinner before the meeting. Please join us if you can – everyone is welcome to the meeting and the pre-meeting dinner.

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ISS pass Fri. night (July 10), 9:10 pm

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If you missed last night’s (yes, it was visible, despite the clouds), here’s another chance. It’s later tonight, so we might have a better chance of seeing the Russian space craft, too. -1.5 magnitue, traveling from the WSW to NE direction, it will get 37 degrees high. There’s a Russian space ship following it, Progress … Read more

ISS pass, Thurs. night (July 9), 8:45 pm

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-3.2magnitue, traveling from the SW to ENE direction, will get 56 degrees high. There’s a Russian space ship following it, Progress 33. You might be able to see it, as it’s following the ISS closely, preparing for a dock on July 12. If you go to this post on CloudyNights (http://tinyurl.com/lnguu9), you’ll see an amazing … Read more