Members Blog

Cometary indulgement by end of 2018

Updated 12/10,11/17. About four years ago we could observe by naked eye comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy). This year in December, we expect to see periodic comet 46P/Wirtanen. Now, we have actually chance to see two comets! Comet 46P/Wirtanen has period 5.44 years. This year it will be as close as just 0.08 AU from the Earth, and it could be […]
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Members Blog

Galileoscopes in Rochester

Night Sky Network invited member clubs with courtesy of the  Astronomical Society of the Pacific  to online workshop From Pinholes to Space Telescopes: How Telescopes Work from  from September 24 to November 9 . Accepted clubs were given an activity kit for workshop use, and Galileoscopes for use in educational programs. RAC participants John Martin and Josef Chlachula applied, were accepted, and completed […]
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Members Blog

NASA iTech in Rochester

Post updated, see below. — On Friday November 9 at 6 PM will speak in Rochester Kira Blackwell from NASA.  The program “NASA iTech: An innovative way to work with entrepreneurs” is part of the Global Entrepreneurship Week in Rochester MN hosted by Mayo Clinic Office of Entrepreneurship and Collider Coworking at Mann Hall, 321 3rd Avenue Southwest, Rochester MN – Mayo […]
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What to expect at RAC Night Sky Viewing Events

The RAC hosts regular Night Sky Viewing and Dark Sky Viewing events. If you are new to astronomy or new to the club, these events may be new for you as well. Knowing what to expect might make the events easier to navigate and more enjoyable. The observing events typically take place in a public location, after dark. Club members […]
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Getting Connected with RAC!

The Rochester Astronomy Club is always looking to connect with our community and encourages anyone that is interested in astronomy to attend our events. We have monthly meetings that are open to the public with interesting and informative presentations. Additionally, we have regular public observing events where club members set up telescopes and share viewing experiences with anyone that has […]
Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner
Members Blog

Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner

Would you like to see a comet? Now, in September 2018 is pretty good chance to see comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner by small telescope or even by binocular. Periodic comet 21P can be seen in in September the second part of the night. Below is path map till beginning of the October. About 2 AM is already high enough above horizon, and can […]
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Members Blog

Smoky Mars

On Friday August 17th I was driving to the Watson Soccer fields, listening to the weather forecast on radio. They said “patchy smoke”, and I could not understand, what it means. That afternoon Sun was orange, even it was still high above horizon, and in my mind it was like filtered through high clouds fog. On Soccer fields, when getting […]
View to North from Soccer fields parking
Members Blog

Monthly Outreach

In Summer 2016 Mike Carlin and myself, we decided to organize public observing on monthly basis. The first event took place at Peace Plaza, whre joined us as well Jack. It was fun. So many people stopped by, many of the for the first time sow Moon through telescope. We had great discussions with locals as well with many foreigners. […]
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Members Blog

Mercury in front of Planetarium

On Thursday March 22nd, 2018 there was a class at Mayo High School Planetarium ending at 8 PM. Three members of the Rochester Astronomy Club – Jeff, John & Josef – came few minutes earlier to set up their telescopes. There was high on the sky Moon in the phase of the first quarter. On West horizon there was bright […]
Members Blog

The 32nd Annual Okie-Tex Star Party is September 12 – 20, 2015.

by Dean Johnson Go to http://www.okie-tex.com/ for more information. Last September five of us from the Rochester Astronomy Club traveled to the Okie-Tex Star Party, one of the biggest in the nation and we did it in style. Club President Randy Hemann lined up a very nice RV that his neighbor generously donated for a small fee and Vice President […]