Mississauga Centre RASC

89th Meeting

                                                            Members’ Night       

Day:                Friday August 24, 2007

Chair                 Randy Attwood 

Speakers:            Randy Attwood

                             Denis Grey

                            Roy Swanson

2008 GA, July 1 Weekend

Randy Attwood and Denis Grey, President of the Toronto Centre, spoke about the next RASC General Assembly (GA) slated for the July 1, 2008 weekend. At the GA, there are meetings, awards, banquet. Last year’s was combined with the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers and with the American Association of Variable Star Observers.  Next year’s GA  is being co-hosted by the Hamilton, Mississauga and Hamilton Centres at the Department of Physics, York Univesity from June 27 to July 1.  With the theme: “Astronomy Night in Canada” it will launch the International Year of Astronomy and hatch plans and launch programs for that year (2009). 

The preliminary program is as follows:  On Friday July 27, the National council will hold its business meeting and observing can be held on the Friday and Saturday at York U. Saturday is Mississauga Day with a National members’ night.  Hamilton Day on Sunday with see a banquet at the OSC.  On Toronto day, Monday, the Hogg lecture will be given by Phil Plait.  Various attractions in the GTA such as the DDO and MDA (previously Spar Aerospace) can be visited.  Registrations will begin in January 2008.  Randy discussed things that volunteers can do.

Miscellanea

Randy Attwood pointed out that the next total eclipse of the Moon was on August 28, 2007. He asked he who would want to observe the eclipse in the early morning.

The Mississauga Centre Telescope and Binocular Loan Programme has a 20 cm. telescope renovated by James Crombie and a Bausch and Laumb donated by J. Jackson.  These are available for loan.

Randy described the Robert Baldwin School Science Fair on June 2, 2007.  Coming up is Astronomy Day September 15 at the Mississauga library.  A public outreach committee is desirable.  Starfest August 10 to 12 was described with Bob Berman as a speaker. 

Randy showed photots of the ISS transiting the Sun.

Randy also described the astronomy courses that he is teaching. 

How to Double Your Telescope Investment without Trying

Denis Grey described the Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope (SCT), its design, light paths.  It has the best general purpose design, convenient for photography and observing. Celestron and Meade use the SCT as their standard.  The telescope uses a moving mirror system. Filters that can thread into the eyepiece include colour, OIII, H-alpha and beta. The t-thread adapter allows prime focus photos with SLR/DSLR cameras.  A tele-extender is used for eyepiece projection.  Off-axis guiding accessories were described.  A polar eyepiece puts Polaris in the right spot to find true north.  A device to convert 1 ¼” to 2” format and 2” diagonal allow use of the larger eyepieces.  Focal reducers which change the f/10 to f/6.3 or f/5 allow a faster system for photography and give a flat field.  Binoviewers work well on SCT’s.  Due to mirror flop on a SCT, an enhanced focuser with a feather touch, or an electronic focuser are an enhancement on the basic focuser.  Finally, Denis described the turret eyepiece which allows an eyepiece or camera to be attached to the visual back of the telescope.

The Sky Tonight

Roy Swanson talked about sky maps and about the upcoming lunar eclipse. He described the ecliptic and its relevance to the September equinox. 

Submitted by Chris Malicki, Secretary  Chris Malicki, Secretary                               back to Miss Centre. meeting reports page
Mississauga Centre RASC