The RAS skywatch scheduled for October 21 at the Science Museum of Virginia was canceled due to clouds. However, the less-than-favorable observing weather provided an opportunity for RAS astronomers on site to take in the Science Museum’s “Glow” event where we experienced lots of great displays including a Bernoulli blast of ping pong balls, resonant pendulums, lots of fluorescence and even fire dancers from the very proficient Circular Expressions dance troupe! The Science Museum did an excellent job with the event. Below is a short video.
Month: October 2016
Geology at the RAS Observatory?
Geology is a little different for us, but we are an eclectic lot and have widely varying interests. Recently RAS member Randy Tatum hosted Michael Davias and friends from the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences to sample the sediments underlying the RAS Ragland Observatory. As it turns out, our observatory sits in one of a number of a “Carolina Bays,” which are depressions along the Atlantic seaboard that are often not readily visible from the ground, but can be identified through aerial photography and LIDAR. Michael Davias is hoping to use data from the cores collected at our observatory to help understand more about the formation of these interesting features. The core data will also enhance general understanding of the geology in the Bon Air area where our observatory is located.
Citizen Science
If you have read more than a few of our updates, you will have had the pleasure of seeing some beautiful images captured and processed by Madhup Rathi. In addition to taking pretty pictures, he also submits asteroid tracking data to the Minor Planet Center & University Of Arizona scientists, as they are interested in … Read more