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By John Jardine Goss, Vice President Astronomical League All joking aside about the end of the world in December, 2012 promises to be a great year for amateur astronomy. It features numerous celestial scenes worthy of viewing: lunar occultations, planetary encounters, comets, asteroids, planetary satellites, planetary visits to deep sky objects, and the last Venus … Read more

Next meeting:  The next meeting of the Richmond Astronomical Society will be on Tuesday, December 13, 7:30 PM at the Science Museum of Virginia in the Forum. At this meeting we will transform into the Richmond Gastronomical Society and have a potluck dinner as is our custom for the December meeting.  Please send me an e-mail to … Read more

Frank Green passed along this report on his recent expedition to Florida for some excellent stargazing: Drove down to the Chiefland Astronomy Villgae near Chiefland, Fl. last week (Oct. 23) for one of the two annual star parties there. The sky is darker at Chiefland than at many Virginia sites, though not as dark as … Read more

Calling All Astronomers! Heart of Virginia Fall Star Party November 18 – 20   The Heart of Virginia Scout Reservation in Goochland County is once again hosting a Fall Star Party! All area astronomers are invited to attend. The Richmond Astronomical Society will be there and will be supplying refreshments for the event. We hope that … Read more

RAS Fall Picnic: With all astronomical observing events, we run the risk of having uncooperative weather. That was certainly the case with Saturday’s RAS Fall picnic at the Heart of Virginia Scout Reservation in Goochland. Early in the evening we had solid clouds and so we moved the event indoors where we had great accommodations … Read more

Fall picnic:  Our fall picnic is scheduled for September 17, 2011 at the Heart of Virginia Scout Reservation in Goochland.  This is the same location where we had last year’s fall picnic.  The Scout Reservation is an excellent location with convenient picnic facilities, restrooms, electricity and, lest we forget, a nice dark sky.  With the … Read more

Many thanks:  Thanks to Isaac Steincamp and Dave Medici for a great meeting last month. Isaac recounted his experience at the Advanced Teen Astronomy Camp at Kitt Peak National Observatory and Dave entertained and educated us a with a game of Astro-Jeopardy. Based on Isaac’s description, I wish that camp had been around when I … Read more

Supernova in M51:  Supernova SN 2011dh continues to brighten and is visible in more and more amateur scopes. Kelly Beatty of Sky and Telescope reports that he was able to view the supernova visually in a 6-inch telescope. The supernova was first noticed on May 31st, by French amateur Amédée Riou in a CCD image captured … Read more

                                              East Coast Star Party: The East Coast Star Party is scheduled for June 2 – 4 near Coinjock, NC at the Hampton Lodge Camping Resort, approximately 45 miles south of the Norfolk/Virginia … Read more

Astronomy Day 2011: Many many thanks to all who helped out with this year’s Astronomy Day at the Science Museum. We had a steady flow of interested and engaged visitors. The activities included our traditional water rockets, solar viewing, telescopes on display, telescope construction, video astronomy, “Touch-a-meteorite,” indoor air pressure rockets and our roving astronaut. … Read more