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April 2004
Chris Gainor
Now that April is here, it's time to make sure that your telescopes are
ready for spring and summer observing. Weekend public observing at the
Centre of the Universe is back, and this month we are meeting on top of
Little Saanich Mountain to get to know the new CU staff and renew
acquaintances with the other staff members.
Despite the usual mixed bag of weather that we had this past winter, I
hope that few of our telescopes collected dust over that time, because
the winter constellations contain many treasures. I know that many of us
took part in the successful March 9 observing event at South Park School
in James Bay.
Jupiter and Saturn put on dazzling shows over the winter, culminating in
the March 28 triple shadow transit on Jupiter. That night in Fairfield
the clouds covered Jupiter just moments after Ganymede's shadow joined
Io's and Callisto's shadows on the disc of Jupiter. In that time and in
the few moments afforded me by sucker holes in the clouds, I could find
two but not three moons in my little ETX. Time for a stronger eyepiece,
more aperture and fewer clouds!
Now we are focusing on
Astronomy Day, which takes place
Saturday April 24 at the Royal BC Museum from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. This
is our biggest public outreach event of the year, and we want to make
sure that this year's event builds on the successful Astronomy Days we
have had in recent years.
Astronomy Day is a lot of work, but it's work that leaves one with a
feeling of accomplishment. Our reward is opening the eyes of many people
to the wonders of the universe. I'm sure that in the crowds we see on
Astronomy Day are future members of our centre and even a couple of
future astronomers and perhaps space explorers.
Sid Sidhu, who is organizing this event with his trademark flair, is
already making sure that we enjoy the usual great Astronomy Day weather.
The other important ingredient in our success is you. Please make sure
that you volunteer to help out with this important day. You'll be glad
you did.
We are also moving ahead on discussions about a permanent observing site
for the Victoria Centre. Please make sure to let Dave Bennett and his
committee know what you would like to have in an observing site. Dave's
new email address for this work is
site@victoria.rasc.ca
Other committee members are Bruno Quenneville, David Lee, Sandy Barta
and myself.
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