Monthly meetings are held on the second Tuesday of each month at 7:30 PM online at this link

Join us at RavenCon April 24-26. We'll also have telescopes there for daytime and evening viewing.

Terry Barker

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

Starquest 2009 Review

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Wow–what a weekend. My wife and I could not resist going this year. This is an annual event, normally taking place around July 4 weekend, at the National Radio Observatory, Green Bank, WV. It’s about 4 hours from Richmond. Alan Bean, The 4th man to walk on the moon gave a talk, and we got a chance to have our photographs taken with him.alan_bean_20090627 He gave an outstanding talk, including some stories from his days as an astronaut, and some motivational points, as well.

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February, 2009

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RAS Board Meeting February 16, 2009 Attendees: Jim Browder, President Gary Cowardin, Vice President Jim Blowers, Treasurer Chris ~McCann, Secretary John Barnett, Observatory Director Preston Kirby Treasurer’s report given by Jim Blowers. Balance Summary: General Fund:      $7,347.97 Observatory Fund:    $301.21 TOTAL:             $7,649.18 Checking Account:  $2,679.25 Savings Account:   $2,854.02 Certificate of Deposit: $2,115.91 Pay Pal Acct:                … Read more