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October
2009
By John McDonald
This month I want to outline plans for the Victoria Centre Observatory (VCO) in
the next while and highlight the work of our Tech Committee and
Members-in-Charge (MICs).
The facilities at the VCO continue have evolved to the point that we have an
outstanding observatory for visual and photographic work. The experience we are
gaining with its use is moving us quickly to the point where we will be able to
operate remotely but that has to be done with care to ensure safety and
reliability. My thanks go out to all the members of the Technical committee for
their fine work.
A group of ten MICs have made the VCO available for members who want to observe,
photograph and generally enjoy the sky from Observatory Hill. These MICs have
been responsible for meeting Active Observers at the gate, letting them in and
hosting scheduled sessions twice a week since the beginning of the summer
whenever weather permitted. In addition, MICs have often offered unscheduled
sessions. The scheduled evenings have emphasized visual observing for the
attendees until around midnight with opportunities for individual observing
and/or astrophotography after that. On a few occasions a MIC has offered
training in astrophotography for those attending and on other nights a MIC has
held outdoor sessions on the observing pad or at the Centre of the Universe
(CU). From all reports the sessions have been very successful, and I want to
thank all of our hard working MICs for a job well done.
For the next few months the CU is closed in the evening hours, however we will
continue to have scheduled sessions at the VCO every Friday and Saturday
(weather permitting). Watch for go/nogo messages from the MIC responsible. These
messages are posted on the Active Observers e-mail list usually late in the
afternoon of the scheduled session. Any member not currently on the Active
Observers list who wishes to become an Active Observer should
review the procedures and then contact
Vice President, Lauri Roche.
In order to avoid burnout on the part of the existing MICs , I have asked for
permission to add an additional 5 to the group, and the DAO has agreed. As of
the time of writing this we have 4 new MICs, Michel Michaud, Sherry Buttnor,
Dirk Yzenbrandt and Nelson Walker. These new MICs will be trained and begin to
share in MIC duties later this fall. Thanks to all of them for being willing to
volunteer their time.
As we gain experience with the VCO we are also refining our procedures for use
of the facility. In addition to the 2 scheduled nights per week, MICs will
continue to offer sessions on some of the other nights. Until now we have not
had any way for MICs and Active Observers to "book" the facility for their own
"Special Sessions". For the next few months we would like to make opportunities
for "Special Sessions" available on many of the unscheduled nights. To make this
work we need to have a booking protocol, so we will try the following to see if
it meets our needs. In all cases at least one of those who book a "Special
Session" will have to be a MIC:
| MICs may book a hosted session open to all Active Observers up to one
week in advance. |
| Special Sessions can be booked on a first-come first-served basis up to
3 days ahead by posting a message to the Active Observers list and listing
the MIC responsible and other Active Observers planning to attend. |
| Occasionally the VCO will be unavailable as a result of maintenance and
upgrades. Every effort will be made to schedule these times more than a week
in advance. |
Hopefully every member who wishes to use our new observatory will find a
session that suits their needs over the next few months.
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