RASCals Star Party 2011

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The RASCals Star Party

July 29-31, 2011

Held on beautiful southern Vancouver Island

Metchosin, British Columbia, Canada

2011 RASCals Star Party poster (48k pdf)

RASC Victoria Centre held another successful Star Party on the Metchosin Cricket Field and municipal grounds. This location offered us one of the darker urban areas in the western communities near Victoria.  We very much appreciate the support from the local community!  Thanks to all our volunteers who make this fun event happen each year. Thanks go to Island Telescope and our own members for generously donating door prizes.


Star Party Event Photos

 


Astronomy Photographs taken at the Star Party

 

Schedule of Events

Friday 29th

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12:00pm noon til dark - gates open, arrivals

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5:00pm-6:30pm - dinner time

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8:00pm - Door prize draws

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8:30pm - The potential for planet formation in the Orion Nebula - Dr. Rita K. Mann, Plaskett Fellow / Research Associate, NRC Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics

Circumstellar disks surrounding young stars represent the birth sites of planets. Their fundamental properties, such as mass and size, critically influence whether planets can form in them. Most disk studies to date have focused on nearby star forming regions like Taurus and rho Ophiuchus, however, stars rarely form in such isolated regions. Most stars, including our own Sun, form in massive star forming regions like the Orion Nebula, and therefore it is important to understand disk properties and evolution in such environments. In this talk, I will review our current understanding of how planets form and what recent observations of disks are revealing about the planet formation potential in the Orion Nebula.

Download the Presentation (13Mb pdf) - HINT: Right click and "Save target as" in Windows; <Ctrl> click and "Save link as" on a Mac.

Bio: Rita Mann received her Honours BSc in physics and astronomy from the University of Victoria in 2004. She then moved to Honolulu where she completed her MSc and PhD in Astrophysics at the University of Hawaii. In September 2010, she began her first postdoctoral position, as a Plaskett Fellow at the NRC Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics in Victoria. Rita�s main research interests lie in planet formation; in particular, she uses high-resolution, submillimeter wavelength observations of protoplanetary disks to understand their fundamental properties and evolution, and their potential to form planets.

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9:30pm
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Guided Telescope Walk - a walking tour of the observing field with a guide to explain about all the gear

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Astronomy 101 - an observing workshop followed by a laser tour of the night sky

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Viewing the night sky till dawn - what we all came here for!

 

Saturday 30th

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8-10am - breakfast time

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Noon - lunch

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Solar viewing - all day

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1:00 pm - Astronomy Swap Meet

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2:00 pm - Workshops
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Travel Astrophotography - John McDonald (Metchosin House)

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Advanced Observing/The Herschels - Bill Weir (outside by the stage)

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Spectroscopy - David Lee (Metchosin House)

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5:00pm-7:00pm - dinner time

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8:00pm - Door prize draws

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8:30 pm - "An Epistemology of Planets, and Diverse Other Cosmic Verses" - Dr. John Blakeslee, NRC, Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics

The grandeur of the night sky has inspired both astronomers and poets since time immemorial. (Lovers, too, as Shakespeare notes, but that type of inspiration won't be covered here.) Today, the two occupations are usually categorized within very different spheres of human activity, but astronomy references abound throughout poetry. Further, recent dramatic advances in astronomical imaging capability, thanks especially to the Hubble Space Telescope, have inspired attempts by many to capture their visual impressions in poems.

While most "astropoems" are nothing to write home about, a few succeed in evoking the same spontaneous response as the sudden silent streaking of a Perseid's trail on a late summer evening. In honour of this Year of the Solar System, we take a light-hearted look at the subject, replete with illustrations. We'll examine how several well-known poets have employed astronomical themes in their works, discuss which celestial objects are celebrated most often in verse, and highlight some notable past and present examples of the genre.

Bio: John Blakeslee studies galaxies and the large-scale structure of the universe using data from the Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based observatories. He is the author of over 140 papers in the professional literature. Dr. Blakeslee received his PhD degree in 1997 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Following postdoctoral research appointments at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and Durham University in the UK, he joined Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys project at the Space Telescope Institute on the campus of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where he worked for five years. He was a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Washington State University from 2005 through 2007, before joining Victoria's Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics.

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9:30pm - Guided Telescope Walk and Binocular Tour of the sky

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Viewing the night sky till dawn - what we all came here for!

Sunday 31th

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8:00 am Breakfast

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9:30 am Site Cleanup

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12 noon - early departures

 

Location - The star party is held on the cricket field & municipal grounds, located behind the Metchosin Fire Hall in this small rural community.

Street address
4450 Happy Valley Road
Victoria, BC Canada V9C 3Z3

Geographic position
Latitude: 48� 23' N
Longitude: 123� 32' W
Elevation: 50m

Newton-Godin Observatory Clear Sky Chart - observing conditions report from the closest reporting station

Things to do in Metchosin
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Metchosin Community

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Metchosin - BritishColumbia.com

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Metchosin Community House

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Metchosin - BC Travel & Discovery

Directions using Google

Directions using Bing

 

Facilities and Activities:

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Camping - a good sized camping area is available on the Cricket Field - camp on the field with your telescope alongside your tent, motor home or camper.

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Parking - lots of space available on the main observing field and in adjacent parking lots. Please do not park in the nearby retail parking areas! There will be a special parking area for those of you who plan to leave after dark - our keen observers will thank you for preserving their night vision and not ruining their photographs with your headlights.

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Power - available on the field for telescope-related equipment only. Sorry, no RV plug-ins or full service hook-ups are available.

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Water - potable water available on-site from a tap

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Washrooms - both flush toilets and portable washrooms will be available (at least one will offer disabled access)

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Food - there is a coffee shop and restaurant within a five minute walk of the field. We encourage you to support our local businesses.

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Fast food - Order in or pick up pizza, Chinese, sushi, Tim Horton's or what you wish - we are only 15 minutes` drive away from major shopping & restaurants!

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Elevation - the site is approximately 50 metres (165') elevation and is approximately 1 km from the shoreline of the Pacific Ocean. Some coastal marine air may be a factor depending on weather conditions.

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Horizon - a good 360 degree view of the dark sky.

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Shopping - Island Telescope will have an on-site sales counter, should you need a new eyepiece or other accessory. Food, drinks and sundries are available from small retail stores within an easy 5 minute walk.  Major big box stores, shopping centres and food markets are located in Langford - a 15 minute drive.

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Workshops - we offer useful and topical workshops on Saturday during the day.

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Kids activities - videos will be shown on the big screen after dark for kids & teens to stave off any boredom. Don't forget to take your kids swimming, hiking and biking at nearby regional parks and the Galloping Goose Trail.

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Regional Parks & Recreation - no fees, gates generally locked at sunset
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Witty's Lagoon Regional Park - 2 entrances offering gravel & sand beach access and/or lagoon access (hiking, wildlife, swimming) -- 5 minute drive, 15 minute walk

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Devonian Regional Park - hiking, small pond, gravel beach at end of the trail - 10 minute drive

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Matheson Lake Regional Park - hiking, swimming, kayaking, canoes (bring your own equipment) - 10 minute drive

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Galloping Goose Regional Trail - access near Matheson Lake Park - walking, running, cycling - 10 minute drive to trail head

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Astronomy lectures - we always offer interesting lectures featuring professional and amateur astronomers

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Door prize raffles - held each night - for the kids and for the adults - thanks go to Island Telescope and our own members for their generous support.

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