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

Events

NEAF 2018 by Mearl Balmer

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. On April 20 John Raymond, Ray Moody and I traveled by car to Suffern, NY for the 2018 Northeast Astronomy Forum (NEAF) show (27th year!). Indeed, quite a show it is.  . The lengthy trip was a pleasant one, with no shortage of discussion among the three of us about the world of astronomy. … Read more

East Coast Star Party–Endurance Test

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Clouds, clouds, and more clouds. ECSP, sponsored by Kent Blackwell, ran from Thursday 10/12 to Saturday 10/14, but it was cloudy every night. For those who could stay one more day, Sunday turned out to be the redeeming factor. It was clear, but oh, the result of hitting the dew point was almost as bad … Read more

2017 Solar eclipse at SMV

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We’ve had some pretty large crowds at the SMV, but Aug. 21 of 2017 was one of the largest I’ve seen. Since we gave away 750 pairs of eclipse glasses, I’m estimating we had at least 800 people there. As you can see from the pictures here and below, it was pretty much standing room … Read more

Use Nextdoor app to arrange a neighborhood skywatch

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I used an app called Nextdoor last Saturday night to announce a skywatch that I wanted to hold at my local high school. The tennis courts at the school are perfect, because there aren’t any parking lot lights in sight. And the webbing they have up on the surrounding fence almost completely eliminates the glare … Read more

Skywatch at Tomahawk Baptist Church

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Ray Moody and I (Terry) had a good crowd at Tomahawk Baptist Church last Friday (8/4/2017) evening, and in spite of being alongside very busy Hull Street, we had a great time viewing the Moon, Jupiter, Saturn, and Albireo (double star). I’m estimating about 60-70 kids and parents were there, celebrating the end of their … Read more

Nice Thank You letter from SPBC skywatch

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I received this email after helping St. Paul Baptist Church host a skywatch in July. They were a great bunch, and we had a good time viewing Jupiter, the Moon, and some double stars. And I was surprised and pleased to see Tiffany and Joyceline at the last SMV skywatch–now, that’s staying in touch. Hi Terry, We … Read more

Skywatch at Short Pump Middle School

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What a good group of kids–we had about 60 students and parents show up for the Short Pump Middle School skywatch. We started off in the auditorium with Madhup Rathi showed an astronomy slide show, and then we headed out behind the school to a fairly dark sky. Amazing–we could even see the big dipper … Read more

Chesterfield County skywatch

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Here’s an alternate use for a soccer field–Terry Barker led a Chesterfield County skywatch for about 20 people on April 28, at the Woodlake Athletic Complex (behind Clover Hill Elementary). The sky was pretty bright, but the Moon, Jupiter, and Mizar were easy targets. Information to sign up is shown below.

RAS presents STEM Fair awards

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Here’s an interesting idea–to avoid radiation danger to astronauts during space travel, shield them by scooping out a hole in an asteroid and place them in there. That’s exactly the point of Naren Kasinath’s science fair project this year. Every year, RAS (Richmond Astronomical Society) seeks out projects just like this, and others that relate to astronomy and space science.