Welcome to the RichAstro Blog

Welcome to the RichAstro Blog where you can find news and information about astronomy in the Richmond, Virginia area.

I would like to wish everyone a very happy holiday season and a wonderful 2009! As we all know, this year will bring a number of challenges and opportunities for many reasons. One of the more enjoyable opportunities will be how to properly celebrate the International Year of Astronomy.

A number of websites have information about the year-long event. One particularly good source of information is the US national site sponsored by several organizations at http://astronomy2009.us/. Ideas for celebrating the year are welcome from all.

At the next meeting of the Richmond Astronomical Society, Leslie Bochenski, with the Science Museum of Virginia, will be discussing the International Year of Astronomy and associated activities. Please join us if you can at 7:30 PM on January 13 at the Science Museum of Virginia.

Best wishes in 2009,

Jim Browder
Richmond Astronomical Society
www.richastro.org

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Items of Note:

Meeting Location for 2009: Due to budget constraints, the Science Museum of Virginia will be closing on Mondays in 2009. For this reason, our past practice of meeting on the second Monday of each month was necessarily changed. After careful review of member preferences, the RAS Board decided to change the meeting location to the second Tuesday of each month. As of the date of this post, we do not know which meeting space at the Science Museum will be available for us at the January meeting. When arriving at the Museum, the guard at the main entrance will be able to direct us to the correct location.

Buying Star Names: Ken Wilson of our society recently appeared in a local television spot by Aaron Gilchrist discussing the pitfalls of "buying" a star name. There are firms who claim to sell the right to name stars to individuals. Ken explains that the International Astronomical Union is the international body recognized by professional astronomers as the offical organization with the authority to name astronomical objects and they do not sell the right to name such objects. A link to the video appears here.

Skywatches in 2009: The schedule for the Science Museum of Virginia Skywatches has been updated by our webmaster, Jim Blowers. Click this link for the updated schedules. The main web page is at this link.