RASC Victoria Centre Annual General Meeting 2012

Royal Astronomical Society of Canada
Victoria Centre

Annual General Meeting and Dinner

Sunday, November 18, 2012
at the Moon Under Water Brewpub, 350 Bay St, Victoria, BC

Last year we had a great dinner at the Cedar Hill Golf Course for our 2011 Annual Dinner but, unfortunately, that dining room closed and we had had to find an alternate venue. After searching quite a bit, and with thanks to Jim Hesser for bringing this place to our attention, we chose to change things up a bit and head to a local brew pub on Bay Street called, appropriately for our group, �Moon under Water�. It is an intimate, comfortable, informal pub with great food, an attentive staff and, for those interested, an invitation to take in the tour of the brew-making facilities.

They shut the restaurant down for our exclusive use on Sunday, November 18th beginning at 6:15 pm for drinks and conversation and a chance to do �the tour� for those who wished to.  There were prizes!

6:15pm - Drinks, conversation & tour

7:00pm - Dinner

A team of scientists, engineers, and project specialists is busily planning and designing what eventually will become the most advanced and powerful optical telescope on Earth. When completed later this decade, the Thirty Meter Telescope will enable astronomers to study objects in our own solar system and stars throughout our Milky Way and its neighboring galaxies, and forming galaxies at the very edge of the observable Universe, near the beginning of time.

Dr. Simard talked about the science, technology and the human factor of the TMT project.

Presentation (8Mb pdf)

Bio: Luc Simard is an astronomer at the National Research Council of Canada's Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics. He obtained his B.Sc. from Queen's University in 1990 and his Ph.D. from the University of Victoria in 1996. From 1996 to 2002, he held postdoctoral fellowships at the University of California, Santa Cruz and the University of Arizona, Steward Observatory. He joined NRC-HIA in 2002. His research interests include galaxy formation and evolution, image processing and astronomical instrumentation. He is currently working on developing instruments for the Thirty Meter Telescope. Luc Simard is the Group Leader for TMT Instrumentation.

9:00pm - Annual General Meeting Agenda

1. Call to order

2. Minutes of 2011 Annual General Meeting

3. Secretary�s Annual Report

4. 2012 Financial Report

5. National Representative Report

6. President's Message

7. Awards

   1. Volunteer Certificates of Appreciation were presented to

      1. Li-Ann Skibo for her service as Treasurer

      2. Bill Weir for his support to the Centre�s observing program

      3. Charles Banville for his dedication and efforts as Victoria Centre Librarian

   2. Excellence in Astrophotography Award was awarded to Joe Carr for his solar imaging work

   3. Ernie Pfannenschmidt Award for Amateur Telescope Making and Technical Excellence was presented to Matt Watson for his recent work in support of the Centre.

   4. Newton-Ball Award was presented to Sherry Buttnor for her exemplary service to RASC Victoria Centre over the past several years as Second Vice President.

8. Election of officers - motion PASSED

   1. President � Nelson Walker

   2. 1st Vice President � Charles Banville

   3. 2nd Vice President � Sherry Buttnor

   4. Secretary/Recorder � Deb Crawford

   5. Treasurer � Bruce Lane

   6. Librarian � Michel Michaud

   7. Telescopes/School Program � Sid Sidhu

   8. Past President � Lauri Roche

   9. National Representative � Mark Bohlman

   10. Skynews Editor � Diane Bell

   11. Membership Coordinator � Sherry Buttnor

   12. Webmaster � Joe Carr

   13. Observing Chairman - Bill Weir

   14. Co- Chairs 2014 RASC General Assembly - Paul Schumacher and Mark Bohlman

   15. Astronomy Caf� - Charles Banville and Malcolm Scrimger

   16. Centre of the Universe/HIA Liaison - Sherry Buttnor

   17. Light Pollution Abatement - Mark Bohlman

   18. Technical Committee - Matt Watson, Bruno Quennville, John McDonald

   19. Bill Almond � Historian (member-at-large)

   20. Jim Hesser � NRC Liaison (member-at-large)

   21. Alex Schmidt � University of Victoria Liaison (member-at-large)

   22. Li-Ann Skibo (member-at-large)

   23. David Lee (member-at-large)

9. New business from the floor

10. Door prizes

11. Adjournment