28th March 2012 status: On schedule
RASC Vancouver Centre member should be on site to help with telescopes setup and observation tips. Depending on the weather forecast or other circumstances, the event maybe cancelled 72-24 hours in advance. For more information contact RASC Vancouver Observing Chair at observing.rascvancouver@gmail.com
28th March 2012 status: Cancelled due to weather prospectives
Image taken: 11 July 2010, Oleg Mazurenko /The Ukraine Astronomy Group/
Description: The Promenance, Total Solar Eclipse, Atoll HAO, French Polynesia. Equinox-80, SONY HD Video Recorder, Stack of 10 selected image frames.
The Comet Garradd in 2011:
Image taken: 04 September 2011, Oleg Mazurenko
Description: Comet Garradd, Manning Park, BC, Canada. Equinox-80, CANON 250D, single processed image.
1. Mars, Saturn, Venus good visible for observing;
2. AOMO collimation completed, not perfect, but much better results, auto guiding, auto focus for CANON – next goal is – get sharp images of the stars before warm weather arrives;
3. Solar Observation – Safety first – the proper solar filters must always be put on;
4. 20May12 – Annular solar eclipse in Northern California and Nevada. Partial in Vancouver – PDT – 20May12 Sunday: C1: 16:58; MAX: 18:15 80% C4: 19:23;
5. 26May12 – Boundary Bay observation;
6. 26May12 – Grazing occultation 5.1m, Moon 33% at 22:45 PDT. Path running through Nanaimo & north of Seattle. Suggested to observe the star’s close fly by at Boundary Bay;
7. 04Jun12 – Partial Moon eclipse – early morning. Partial starts around 3:00 PDT, MAX around 4:03 PDT, 38%, eclipse ends 5:07 PDT;
8. 05Jun12 – Venus Transit:
a) Continue testing solar observation equipment – video with Equinox-80 and mount LXD – 75. Will be imaging Sun every clear Sundays Noon’s in May;
b) Vancouver local: C1 P = 41 degree (position angle, counter clockwise from N to E). Test on Full Moon around 5May12 and 4Jun12. Direction from Moon centre to (Sinus Iridum – Lat, Залив Радуги – Рус, Bay of Rainbow – Eng) Starts 05Jun12 Tuesday, 15:05:56 PDT (Alt 55) and lasts until the sunset;
9. Continue building guiding setup on Alt-Az mount. After some testing under the stars revealed the issues. Ran diagnostics on the driver using ASCOM utilities. Determined the issues with ASCOM driver compatibility with platform. Reviewing issues with driver developer’s team at iOptron.
