The Local Weekly The heart and soul of our communities with news and information about the Sunshine Coast
In October Saturn will be very low in the southwestern sky at sunset and will set early in the evening. In the evening of October 3, the Moon will come within 0.7° of Neptune. Neptune and Uranus will be visible for most of the night. On the 5th Venus and Mars will be only 0.2° apart in the morning. In the morning of October 12 Mercury is at its greatest elongation and will be 2.7° east of Mars. Early on October 18 you’ll see Mars within 1.8° and Venus within 2° of the Moon, which will be new on the 19th. Starting on Oct. 17 zodiacal light with be visible in the east before morning twilight for the next two weeks. On the 21st the Orionid meteor shower will peak and will best be viewed in the pre-dawn hours.
On Oct. 13, at 7:30pm, at the Sunshine Coast Art Centre, 5714 Medusa St., Sechelt, the Sunshine Coast Centre welcomes RASC Past President James Edgar, whose topic will be “The Synthesis of Elements in Stars.” James has been an active member of the society since joining in 2000. He has previous experience with councils and committees of the Society at both the national and centre levels, working on various committees: awards, constitution, executive, finance, membership & promotion, and publications. James was the Regina Centre representative on National Council 2005-2006. He currently is the Editor of the RASC’s Observer’s Handbook. James Edgar was the president of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada from 2014 to 2016.
During the October 13 meeting James will be presenting a Meritorious Service Award to Bill Clark, the past president of our Sunshine Coast Centre. Bill Clark was one of the founding members of the Sunshine Coast Astronomy Club that became the Sunshine Coast Centre of the RASC. Bill organized 16 people to become the original astronomy club on July 30, 2004. Bill was the president for seven of the eleven years we have been in existence, and led the effort to bring us into the RASC in 2007: Our club officially became part of the RASC in April 2008. Bill Clark was behind the move for us to build an observatory, which we opened in June 2015. When you look back at photo albums of past centre events, Bill’s picture is always in there.
Admission is free: donations gratefully accepted at the door.
