President's Message - April 2012

April is Global Astronomy Month culminating in International Astronomy Day which we are celebrating here in Victoria on Saturday, April 28th. Last month I asked you to put the date on your calendar so that you would make plans to come and drop by the Bob Wright Sciences building at UVIC for a while or take some time to volunteer for some part of the day. Thanks to all of you who have already signed up (or were pleasantly coerced by Sid Sidhu) to help and I encourage anyone else with some time to contact Sid and get yourself on the list. His e-mail is on the last page of this newsletter.

But what we really need is lots of visitors! And this is where I would like all the RASC members to help us out in one other way as well. If every person in our centre would talk to, tell about, and encourage 5 of your friends, relatives, and acquaintances to come to UVIC for some part of the day or evening programs then we would have an outstanding Astronomy Day. Please consider printing off several copies of our special poster and putting them up at your local grocery stores, library or coffee shop. You can download this from our website.

We would love to have line-ups at the solar telescopes outside during the day and the large 32 inch telescope on the roof at night. It would be great to have crowds of people talking to our members demonstrating astrophotography or mirror making, kids taking part in crafts and games, lots of questions being asked and lively discussions going on. In the evening we want to fill the lecture room to capacity when Bob McDonald from CBC�s Quirks and Quarks will be our feature speaker. Please help as we need as much publicity as we can muster!

Although we will always hope for clear skies for that day, we will be at the Bob Wright Sciences building rain or shine so come out on the 28th and help to celebrate the wonders of Astronomy. See you there.

Lauri Roche