Mississauga Centre RASC

70th Meeting

        Members’ Night

Day:                Friday, Sept. 22, 2006

Speakers:         Bob Anderson

                         Randy Attwood

      Roy Swanson

      Mat Grinter 

Observatory Video

Bob Anderson showed a video about the construction of his observatory including the rationale for building it, the dome, specifications, dome base, piers, ring, casters (horizontal and vertical), dome skirt, tracks for shutters, shutter motions, dome control and observatory control software. The observatory is just about finished and planning is now for more automation.

Starfest, Space Station, Cassini, Pluto

Randy Attwood gave a report about this year’s rainy Starfest at Mt. Forest. One of the highlights this year was the veteran astronaut Story Musgrave who captivated the audience with stories of his shuttle flights.

Randy discussed recent space highlights such as Opportunity Rover on Mars, the Space Station with its new and future solar panels, transits of the ISS and shuttle over the Sun. He showed images of Cassini at Saturn with its fabulous images of the ringed planet, moons and the Pleiades, of the partial lunar eclipse, the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, Pluto cartoon and the NASA video on various space missions.

The Sky tonight

Roy Swanson discussed September astronomical events such as the equinox on the night of the meeting. He mentioned the “Heavens Above” website giving passes for the ISS.

Chasing the Sky

Matt Grinter showed the video “Chasing the Sky” which was presented at Starfest by Jay Ouellet.

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