Events 2022
June 8, 2022
RAS Event June 2022: Ron Brecher
Join us tonight for our June 2022 event! As the last official event before our annual summer hiatus, we are privileged to be joined by Ron Brecher!
Ron is working to master the art of astrophotography, photographing galaxies, nebulae, star clusters, and more. His images are processed with PixInsight, and he has been published in magazines like Sky & Telescope and Astronomy Technology Today.
Tonight’s Agenda:
7:00 - Portal Opens
7:20 - Preamble & Officer Chat
7:30 - Event Begins: President’s Welcome - Ted Williams
7:35 - Planet Report - Denise Vacca
7:45 - Guest Presentation: Ron Brecher
8:20 - Breakout Sessions
8:35 - Rocket Science - David Walker
8:45 - Celestial Highlights - Ted Williams
Link to this event on our YouTube channel.
June 4, 2022
Members Night at Ryan Observatory
Members are welcome to set up their own personal gear to observe from our dark sky location. Plan to arrive at Sunset. If you are observing past 11:30 PM, campsites are available at Muddy Run Campground for overnight stays. Someone from RAS will be on-site to verify memberships or to renew if necessary. There is no overnight camping permitted at the observatory or visitor center.
May 21, 2022
Members Night at Ryan Observatory
Members are welcome to set up their own personal gear to observe from our dark sky location. Plan to arrive at Sunset. If you are observing past 11:30 PM, campsites are available at Muddy Run Campground for overnight stays. Someone from RAS will be on-site to verify memberships or to renew if necessary. There is no overnight camping permitted at the observatory or visitor center.
May 20, 2022
Members Night at Ryan Observatory
Members are welcome to set up their own personal gear to observe from our dark sky location. Plan to arrive at Sunset. If you are observing past 11:30 PM, campsites are available at Muddy Run Campground for overnight stays. Someone from RAS will be on-site to verify memberships or to renew if necessary. There is no overnight camping permitted at the observatory or visitor center.
May 14, 2022
Open House at Ryan Observatory
RAS educators will provide a live presentation at sunset for the first 45 minutes. This provides an opportunity for volunteer astronomers to align their telescopes (usually on the brightest stars or first visible.) We open the observatories and welcome visitors to our telescopes after the presentation.
Observatory 1 is limited to 8 visitors at a time. Masks must be worn inside the fenced-in area of the observatory. They are available at the entrance gate.
Facility opening of telescopes is dependent on volunteer staffing which we are currently training. Our plan is to have the Visitor center open along with observatories 1 and 2.
See you at sunset, rain or shine, cloudy or clear.
May 11, 2022
RAS Event May 2022: Warren Keller BillionsandBillions.com
Warren A. Keller is a world-renowned astro-imager (APOD, Sky & Telescope, Astronomy magazines, etc.) and teacher of image processing. He has presented at the Northeast, Midwest, and Advanced Imaging Conferences and has written extensively on the subject. He is a six-time Sky & Telescope author. Keller produced the definitive commercial video tutorial series for PixInsight and published the first edition of Inside PixInsight with Springer in 2016.
April 30, 2022
Members Night at Ryan Observatory
Members are welcome to set up their own personal gear to observe from our dark sky location. Plan to arrive at Sunset. If you are observing past 11:30 PM, campsites are available at Muddy Run Campground for overnight stays. Someone from RAS will be on-site to verify memberships or to renew if necessary. There is no overnight camping permitted at the observatory or visitor center.
April 23, 2022
Open House at Ryan Observatory
This will be our first public event of the season.
Masking is required while inside the observatory with a limit of ten observers at a time under the dome.
RAS educators will provide a live presentation at 8:00 PM. Prepare to stay warm. If clear we plan to be outside in the amphitheater. If cloudy or below 50 degrees we will be inside the visitor center. Facility opening of telescopes is dependent on volunteer staffing. Our plan is to have the Visitor center open along with observatories 1 and 2.
Agenda:
Welcome - Al Ryan & Ted Williams
Planet Report - Denise Vacca, Stars on the Move
Rocket Science - Dr. Lydell Nunn, Ryan Observatory Astrophotographer
Celestial Highlights - Ted Williams, NASA Solar System Ambassador
April 19, 2022
astroQuora
The time has come to gather to do what we enjoy most. We invite all our volunteers to Zoom in to the Observatory live this Tuesday night at 8:30. Ted Williams and new volunteer Shaun Hower will host our astroQuora on site. See some new faces, and some older ones as well. A virtual mix so we can figure out where we are off to this season. 8:15 PM Portal Opens, 8:30 PM we meet and greet.
April 2022 Event
Robert D. Hicks, PhD, is the former director of the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia and a lifelong amateur astronomer whose doctoral study included the history of astronomy. As a college student, he worked at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, DC.
Visitors to Ebenezer Maxwell Mansion might discover a curious object in the children’s room: a large cardboard planisphere from 1871, a rotating disk adjustable to the appearance of the night sky at any date or time. Designed for schools and the curious public, the planisphere speaks to the widespread interest in astronomy during the mid to late 1800s. This presentation surveys what discoveries were made in astronomy during the era and how it was promoted and taught. What did people then think about intelligent life elsewhere or about the size and nature of the universe? Dr. Hicks explores these topics through the work of a journalist who wrote the most popular guide to astronomy in America; the first professional woman astronomer and the first American scientist to discover a comet; and a lawyer, astronomer, and Civil War general who was the pre-eminent public lecturer on astronomy in the country.
April 2, 2022
Observation Opportunity at Ryan Observatory
This was a ticketed opportunity for members to gather and see each other under a dark sky. Members were to bring their own gear for observing – no show, no cookies, just a dark sky, and an opportunity to connect live.
March 12, 2022
Observation Opportunity at Ryan Observatory
This opportunity for members that was canceled due to our weather forecast. “Snow Bomb Cyclone” was the outlook for late Saturday afternoon in the Holtwood area. Muddy Run Campground was not yet open (March 25) and roads would not be cleared of any accumulation that evening.
March 2022 Event
David Brown has built his own 8” Fork Mounted F-5 telescope, “built in the tradition of telescope building of the ’70s.” He will share the challenge and the joy of such an endeavor.
There is no video available from this event.
February 2022 Event
Our February 2022 event! This month, we welcomed Sean Walker, Associate Editor of Sky & Telescope. As longtime fans, readers, and sometimes contributors to this publication, we were very excited!
Sean spoke about the Amateur Hydrogen-Alpha Sky Survey, on which his team has been working. You can find out more about the Survey here.
January 2022 Event
Tune in for the first event of 2022 for the Rittenhouse Astronomical Society! Tonight our members will hear from our Executive Board and educators, as well as find time to catch up after the holiday season. We will incorporate our astroQuora session at the end of this monthly event. We will not live stream nor record on Youtube in hopes that members keep their cameras on and use Zoom to its real capacity, to have live-stream interaction!
New members, please consider attending with camera and mic, phone line is fine, as we will have time to virtually meet!
Event Agenda
7:00 ~ Portal Opens
7:20 ~ Pre-Amble ~ an invitation and opportunity for executive officers to introduce themselves and give any short brief on society news.
7:30 ~ Event Open: President’s Address ~ Ted Williams
7:35 ~ Planet Report ~ Denise Vacca
7:50 ~ Rocket Science ~ David Walker
8:15 ~ Celestial Highlights ~ Ted Williams
8:30 ~ astroQuora ~ Open Forum (event end TBD)
This event was not recorded.