Category Archives: Event

Northern Prairie Star Party 2019
September 24 – 29, 2019
Black Nugget Lake

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The sixteenth annual Northern Prairie Star Party will be held at the Black Nugget Lake campground south east of Tofield from September 24 to 29, 2019. Most of our group activities will occur on Friday, September 27 and Saturday, September 28.

This event is open to the public – registration fees apply. Camping fees apply if staying overnight.*

For more information, please review the schedule and rules & regulations (PDF) and the Northern Prairie Star Party main page.

If you need more information or have questions, please email Rick Bramm.

Saturday Program (September 28)

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RASC Regular Meeting September 9, 2019

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Free and open to the public

Telus World of Science – Zeidler Dome

7:00 PM Pre meeting mix and mingle

7:30 PM Meeting

Summer: We hardly knew you edition.

With presentations from

Alister Ling

Bruce McCurdy

Steven Kovick

and others.

Plus our usual features

 

 

Astro Café
Postponed
Classic Telescope Night

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Postponed: Classic Telescope Night

Apologies, but we have had to postpone this event. Don’t blow the dust off those classic scopes just yet – the event will be back.

Do you have a classic “trash” telescope”, such as:

  • a telescope that came in a box stating “525 x” (or higher) power?
  • a telescope that came in a box with deceptively wonderful images of what you might imagine you could see, like Saturn, Jupiter, Orion Nebula, Andromeda Galaxy?
  • a telescope that was bought at a “department store” and came in a box like described above?
  • a telescope with a jerky, rickety, wobbly, flimsy or otherwise unstable tripod/mount?
  • a telescope with a primary lens or mirror 50 mm or smaller diameter?
  • a telescope of the type you were advised not to buy at the Astro Café “How to Buy a Telescope” presented by RASC?

Do you have a classic “good” telescope such as:

  • Celestron 5, 8, or 14 (1970’s orange tube)
  • Criterion Dynamax 8
  • Questar 3 1/2 or 7
  • Quantum maksutov
  • Criterion Dynascope RV-6
  • Star-Liner reflector
  • Cave Astrola reflector
  • Fecker
  • Astroscan reflector
  • old Meade refractor
  • Unitron refractor
  • Gotoh refractor
  • very old Tasco refractor

If the answer is “yes” to ANY of these questions, then bring your telescope to Classic Telescope Night, and show it off! We’ll line ’em up and compare views of the Moon at about 50x or 100x magnification.

Prize for worst view of the Moon thru a classic “trash” telescope!

Prize for best view of the Moon thru a classic “good” telescope!

Friday, July 12, 2019
9:00 – 11:00 PM

Location:
On the lawn at the RASC Observatory at TWOSE.
https://edmontonrasc.com/observatory/

*** Weather Permitting ***
This post will be updated with “Go” or “No Go” on the morning of July 12.

FREE event open to the public

RASC Regular Meeting June 10, 2019

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RASC Regular Meeting
TELUS World of Science – Zeidler Dome
FREE and open to the public.

7:00 PM Pre-meeting mix and mingle.
7:30 PM Guest Speaker

“From Aunt Effie’s Farm to the Moon: The Apollo Program in Context.”

Dr. Robert Smith 

In December 1903, Orville Wright, in the presence of a small group of people, piloted the Wright Brothers’ experimental airplane for a flight of around 12 seconds in length that had carried him roughly 120 feet. Brief though it was, this was the first successful flight by a heavy-than-air flying machine. A mere 66 years later, in Jul.y 1969, as part of the Apollo Program, humans were walking, in view of many hundreds of millions of people around the Earth, on the surface of the Moon. In this talk, Robert Smith will examine how and why this astonishingly rapid development came about, as well as discuss the overall significance and place of the Apollo Program in history.

 

Astro Café
May 15, 2019
How to Use A Telescope

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How to Use a Telescope

FREE event open to the public.

Are you having trouble using your telescope? Bring your telescope to a FREE workshop: How to Use a Telescope and experts from the RASC will help you learn how to use it. Let us show you how to make the most out of your telescope. Discover how to properly set up your telescope, how to find objects in the sky, what accessories would be useful to you and how to take care of your telescope.

Weather permitting, we can go outside to try out telescopes. Sunset is at 9:27 PM at which time the Moon will be in the Southeast at an altitude of 28 degrees.

Astro Café – How to Use a Telescope

Wednesday, May 15, 2019
8:30 PM to 10:30 PM

Windsor Park Community League Hall*
11840 87 Ave

FREE event open to the public.

* Note: Outside shoes are not permitted inside the hall.

RASC Regular Meeting May 13, 2019

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RASC Regular Meeting
TELUS World of Science – Zeidler Dome
FREE and open to the public.

7:00 PM Pre-meeting mix and mingle.
7:30 PM Guest Speaker

Photometry at Jasper Place High School        

Photometry is the study of variable stars.  These are stars that change in brightness for a variety of reasons including transiting exoplanets, star spots or intrinsic instability. At Jasper Place High School we have been observing variable stars and using a number of different tools to create light curves for some of them. Using Skynet, Muniwin, and AAVSO resources we took photos, identified variable stars and processed images of BL Cam. BL Cam is a rapidly pulsating variable star in the constellation Camelopardalis with a period of less than one hour. We already have plans for future projects to observe exoplanet transits! We can’t wait to share what we’ve learnt.