Richmond Astronomical/Gastronomical Society
783rd Consecutive Meeting
December 9, 2014
Greetings – approximately 35 in attendance at the meeting.
Jim Browder called our meeting to order in a downstairs meeting room.
Announcements / Share Table:
Mike Holland displayed some very exceptional photos that he took of the Antares explosion at Wallops Island.
Tim and Karen Streagel were among 4 observers on the web watching our meeting (and our eating).
Jim Blowers had 2 more 2015 calendars for sale at $6.50.
Due to nature of our holiday celebrations, RAS gave out an RAS mug. The winner of the drawing was Scott Kozel.
Please take a look at the RAS café website: http://www.cafepress.com/richastroshop . You may find a nice gift for someone.
2015 RAS Officers: Your 2015 club officers have been elected. For those that do not know, the RAS officers are elected each November from the newly installed Board of Directors. The 2015 officers are Jim Browder, president; Matthew Roy, vice-president; Chris McCann, secretary; Jim Blowers, treasurer; and John Raymond, observatory director. Many thanks to the 2014 officers and to the 2015 officers for being willing to handle our club’s business matters.
Dues are due: RAS membership dues for 2015 are due by the end of this year. Please pay our treasurer, Jim Blowers, by mail, in person or by PayPal. Dues for regular membership are $30 per year; $10 additional if you wish to be an observatory operator. Mailing address and PayPal link are here. Many thanks for everyone’s support of RAS; your dues payments are used to pay for Astronomical League membership, club insurance, observing activities and education/outreach efforts.
Events and Individual Observing: RAS member observing,
Science Museum cancelled in November
Madhu had a photo of 1C396, where the dark part of the nebula looked like a skier
Welcome Visitors: Members, significant others, and family members
Skywatch at Belmead, Saturday, December 13, 6:30 PM: RAS and the Francis Emma organization will host a skywatch and a talk at Belmead on the James in Powhatan. We will digitally reconstruct what the night sky looked like 2000 years ago and speculate together on what the Christmas star might have been. Astronomers and visitors are welcome to set up their telescopes in the paved area near the mansion and observe as long as they like, but no telescope is required, just an interest in the night sky. Please let Jim Browder know if you can participate in this event at president@richastro.org. The entrance to Belmead is located at 5004 Cartersville Road, Powhatan, VA. A Google Map showing the location is at this link: https://goo.gl/maps/llnF3. Once you enter Belmead follow signs to the mansion. Hope to see everyone there — Belmead is a beautiful dark sky location. Note that the start time was previously advertised as 7:00 PM. The correct time is 6:30.
Science Museum Skywatch, Friday, December 19, 7:00 PM: Our regular monthly skywatch at the Science Museum is scheduled to start at 7:00 PM on the 19th, but we might want to have some astronomers set up closer to dusk. If those of us who will be helping out with the skywatch can be at the Museum closer to dusk it would be helpful since there may be visitors at that time.
Asteroid Occultation December 12: Star TYC 1405-01528-1 (mag 9.3) will be occulted by asteroid 1428 Mombasa in the early morning hours of December 12 and is expected to be visible from the Richmond area. For those interested in timing or recording the occultation, more information is available at these links:
http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/2014_12/1212_1428_33375_MapNA.gif
http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/2014_12/1212_1428_33375.htm
RAS Monthly Meeting, Tuesday, January 13, 7:30 PM: The next meeting of the Richmond Astronomical Society will be on Tuesday, January 13, 7:30 PM at the Science Museum of Virginia. Please join us for the meeting and, if you can, for dinner before the meeting at Arby’s across the street from the Museum about 6:00 PM.