Fifth Annual RASCALS Star Party 2005

Friday 2nd:

	12:00pm noon til dark - gates open, arrivals
	5:00pm-6:30pm - dinner time
	7:00pm - Presentation - Dr. Eric Peng, NRC-HIA

Bio: Eric Peng obtained his Ph.D. in 2003 from the Johns Hopkins University. He is currently a Research Associate at the NRC Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics (NRC-HIA). His research interests include planetary nebulae, globular cluster systems and galactic dynamics. A Young Blue Tidal Stream in NGC 5128 (Centaurus A)

8:00pm - Door prizes

Bruno Quenneville, Scott Mair and young Andrew Whitworth begin the draws for the many door prizes donated by: Island Eyepiece, Celestron Telescopes, Pacific Telescopes and Antares Telescope.	Andrew picks another winning number!
Freida wins a $25 gift certificate from Island Eyepiece.	Larry Danby adds new eyepieces to his collection.

 

8:30 pm Viewing the night sky till dawn.  We had two hours of absolutely gorgeous viewing, and then a few more hours of so-so viewing.  Some of our members took some very impressive astrophotographs.

M31, Andromeda Galaxy & M32 Photo by Joe Carr

Trifid Nebula Photo by Don van Akker

Meteor in Sagittarius Photo by Richard Fortier Taken with a Sony Cybershot digital point-and-shoot camera

Saturday 3rd:

	8-10am - breakfast time
	Solar viewing - all day

The field before many scopes were setup	Using the Victoria Centre's Solarxmax 40 Joe Carr, Sid Sidhu, Bruno Quenneville, Bill Calver	John Macdonald, Frank Ogonoski
Moe Raven showing off his new Solarmax 60, double-stacked Coronado	John McDonald & David Griffiths	This group of photos by Geoff Jones

 

	1:00 pm - Astronomy Swap Meet
	2:00 pm - Digital Astrophotography Workshop - Joe Carr's presentation & David Lee
	5:00pm-7:00pm - dinner time
	7:00 pm - Presentation - "Dark Energy from Exploding Stars" by Dr. Don Neill, UVic   What is this mysterious substance responsible for the accelerated expansion of the universe and given the enigmatic name dark energy? The Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) Supernova Legacy Survey (SNLS) will use hundreds of Type Ia Supernovae to help answer this question. 6Mb Quicktime movie version of Don's presentation Bio: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Victoria. Don started his astronomical career as an amateur. After obtaining a BS in astronomy from the University of Michigan in 1983, he began a ten-year stint working on the Hubble Space Telescope project in Baltimore, MD. He then moved to New York City and received his PhD from Columbia University in 2004. James D. (Don) Neill, University of Victoria Astronomy

 

8:00pm - Door prizes - grand prize: Celestron 6" Dobsonian telescope

Merit Award Larry Danby wins for his creative modification of a standard tent, transforming it to a practical Observers' tent.	Innovation Award Alex Schmid wins for his efforts in revitalizing a water-cooled CCD camera on his unique custom tracking refractor telescope.	Award of Excellence Don Crossley from the Fraser Valley astronomy group wins for his impressive work on a custom 10" truss-Dob incorporating carbon-fiber structural elements.
Scott and young Leo Neil (Don Neil's son) announcing the next winner of the many door prizes donated by the RASC Victoria Centre.	Ed Maxfield receives a cool Universal TV Remote supplied by Rich Willis of Richly Maintained Services of Victoria.	Bill Weir's son receives a 2006 Terence Dickinson Calendar
Uly Steinerstrauch from the CVSF accepts the Grand Prize of a 6" Celestron Dobsonian, generously donated by Celestron Telescopes and Island Eyepiece.	Congratulations to all our Winners!

 

8:30 pm - Viewing the night sky till dawn.  The clouds rolled in this evening, and didn't let up despite the eternal optimism of some of our observers.

Sunday 4th:

	8:00 am Breakfast
	9:30 am Site Cleanup - thanks go to those who helped with the site cleanup.
	12 noon - early departures please!

 

Location: Victoria Fish & Game, 700 Holker Place, Malahat, BC 48� 33.7' N  123� 33.7' W  Elev 345m Directions: Coming from Victoria … Take Highway 1 North, turn right on Holker Place opposite the Spectacle Lake turn off. Coming from Duncan� Take Highway 1 South, turn left on Holker Place opposite the Spectacle Lake turn off. Caution: no left turn lane! If traffic is heavy, turn right on Spectacle Lake Road and double back.