Astronomical Events for 2010: Wow! The calendar is already filling up with astronomical events for the year. Thanks to Betty Wilson we have a list of some of the more notable upcoming events. Betty discussed these during her presentation at the regular RAS meeting in March. (Image by David Medici)
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- March 19, 2010: Dr. Frank Summers, an astrophysicist at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, will speak on “The Day the Universe Changed: Astronomical Discoveries Across the Centuries” at the James City County Library, 7770 Croaker Rd. on Friday, 7:30 p.m. The program is free of charge and reservations are not needed.
____ - March 23, 2010: Open house at the RAS observatory, starts at 8:00 PM.
___ - April 17-18, 2010: Northeast Astronomy Forum (NEAF), Suffern, New York,
www.rocklandastronomy.com/neaf.htm
___ - April 24: Astronomy Day! RAS will be supplying volunteers to staff exhibits at the Science Museum’s Astronomy Day events.
___ - May 14-15, 2010: East Coast Star Party, Coinjock, North Carolina,
Kent Blackwell, e-mail: kent@exis.net
___ - May 14-16, 2010: Southern Sky 2010,
www.charlotteastronomers.org/southernstar/index.html
___ - June 10-13, 2010: Cherry Springs Star Party, Cherry Springs, Pennsylvania,
www.astrohbg.org/CSSP/Information.html
___ - June 10-13, 2010: East Coast Video Astronomy Rendezvous, Luray, Virginia, for questions about the Rendezvous, please email Jim Turner – jturner9@triad.rr.com or Scott Short – sshort1205@gmail.com
___ - July 7-10, 2010: Green Bank Star Quest, Green Bank National Radio Observatory,
www.greenbankstarquest.org
___ - July 9-11, 2010: Mason Dixon Star Party, Shreveport Airport / Footlight Ranch,
masondixonstarparty.org
___ - August 5-8, 2010: 75th Anniversary Stellafane Convention,
stellafane.org/
___ - September 3-7, 2010: Almost Heaven Star Party, Mountain Institute at Spring Knob, West Virginia,
www.ahsp.org/
___ - October 8-10, 2010: No-Frills Mason Dixon Star Party, Shreveport Airport / Footlight Ranch, masondixonstarparty.org
___ - October 9-10, 2010: Starfest, Kingsport, Tennessee,
www.baysmountain.com/Astronomy/Starfest/starfest.html
___ - November 6, 2010: The Scouting Family Star Gaze, Goochland, Virginia,
bradysaunders.net/camp/starparty.html
Upcoming RAS Skywatches: Not only do we have numerous star parties this year, we have a bunch of RAS-supported skywatches. Please contact our outreach coordinator, John Raymond at raymond7419@verizon.net if you can help out by bringing your telescope and your expertise to entertain and educate members of the public that come out for the event. The list below indicates those events we have scheduled as of the date of this blog entry. Please check the electronic calendar on the Richastro web site for the most current information and for details about the location and time of each event: richastro.org/index.php/calendar/.
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- March 19: Skywatch at the Science Museum of Virginia
___ - March 26: Skywatch at Scotchtown
___ - April 10: Yuri’s Night at Westover Hills Library
___ - April 16: Skywatch at the Science Museum of Virginia
___ - April 24: Stargazing at Five Forks / Petersburg National Battlefield
___ - April 30: Skywatch at Woodlake
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SMV skywatches: Many thanks to those that have helped with recent skywatches at the Science Museum. We have lately had very good attendance at the skywatches and the help provided by those who brought their telescopes to the events is very much appreciated. One of the strengths of our organization is the willingness of our members to pitch in and help with outreach events like these. Our membership is our greatest resource.
Pleaides Occultation: There will be an occultation of the Pleiades star cluster by the first quarter moon on the evening of March 20. Depending upon which star you are viewing, the occultations will occur between 8:00 and 10:00 PM. If you have not seen an occultation, they are very striking events – one moment a star is visible – the next it is gone. More information is available from IOTA. John Raymond captured this video of an occultation of the Pleiades by the moon in late 2009:
Virginia Skylines: Don’t forget to check out this week’s edition of Virginia Skylines, a weekly audio program by Leslie Bochenski describing current astronomical events. You can hear the program on the Richastro web site or at this link.
Regards,
Jim Browder
Richmond Astronomical Society