Richmond Astronomical Society
762nd Consecutive Meeting
March 12, 2013
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Announcements / Share Table
Annual dues are due: This is the time of year when we ask our members to make sure their dues are paid for the upcoming year. Please contact Jim Blowers to pay dues or use the RAS web site at the “Membership/Dues Payment” link.
Year of the Comets: This should be a great year for comet observation and imaging. There are lots of articles on the web about this year’s opportunities. You can read more about them at Space.com and you can find late-breaking info about the visibility of Comet PanSTARRS at Sky and Telescope.com or at Astronomy.com.
Library Report
Events and Individual Observing
Recent Events:
• Staunton River Star Party, Belmead skywatch, Comet PanSTARRS
Upcoming Events:
• Science Museum February Skywatch, Friday, March 15: This month’s skywatch at the Science Museum will be held under a waxing crescent moon. If the weather holds out, it should be a beautiful night. Please join us and bring a telescope if you can.
• Petersburg National Battlefield Skywatch, Saturday, March 16, 6:00 PM: Skywatch at Petersburg National Battlefield – please contact Ray Moody at moodya@comcast.net if you can bring a telescope to this event or for more information about the event.
• Metro Richmond Science Fair, March 23, Hanover High School, Mechanicsville: RAS usually provides judging support along with an astronomy/space science award. Please let Terry Barker know if you are interested in assisting with this event at teebark@gmail.com.
• Brandermill Skywatch, March 29, 8:00 PM, Brandermill Community, front lawn of the Swift Creek Middle School: Please contact John Raymond at raymond7419@verizon.net if you can help with this event or if you need further information. The rain date is March 30.
• Belmead on the James Skywatch, Saturday, April 20, 7:00 PM: Skywatch at Belmead on the James / Thomas Berry Educational Center, Powhatan. RAS will deploy astronomers and telescopes for the event and there will be an indoor introductory session prior to the observing session. This is an easily accessible dark sky location with plenty of parking adjacent to the observing site. Please contact Jim Browder at president@richastro.org if you can help with this event. More info about Belmead and the Thomas Berry Educational Center is at http://francisemma.org/.
• Astronomy Day, Sunday, April 21, 12:00 PM- 4:30 PM, Science Museum of Virginia: This year’s spring Astronomy Day will be celebrated on April 21 at the Science Museum. Prashant Reddy has kindly offered to coordinate this year’s volunteer support. Please let him know if you can help with the event at reddypva@verizon,net. Note that the regular SMV skywatch will be held on April 19.
• Northeast Astronomy Forum (NEAF), April 20 – 21, Rockland Community College, Suffern, NY: NEAF is the premier astronomy products event in the eastern US. It’s a great experience if you can make it. More information about the event is at http://www.rocklandastronomy.com/neaf/index.html.
Break – Comet PanSTARRS was seen by members during the break.
Presentation: “Lunar Geology,” Eric Douglass