Kingston Centre Annual Reports
These are the collected annual reports of the Kingston Centre as published in the RASC's Annual Report.
1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979
Kingston Centre Report 1970
No report.
Kingston Centre Report 1971
Eight meetings during the 1970-71 season, the dates and subjects were as follows:
October 5, 1970 - Two films were shown, and the Queen's University planetarium and optical telescope were demonstrated.
October 19 - Film: "The Radio Sky".
November 2 - The Bell Telephone film: "The Strange Case of the Cosmic Rays".
November 16 - The guest speaker, Mr. Kenneth Chilton, discussed planetary observations.
January 18, 1971 - A film on radio astronomy was shown.
February 1 - The Bell Telephone film: "Time".
February 15 - R.N. Henriksen, Ph.D., Queen's University Astronomy Group: "Pulsars Present and Future".
March 8 - Film: "The Parkes Radio Telescope".
In addition to this, the Kingston centre has organized a mirror grinding project under the direction of Bob Baran, of the Queen's Astronomy Group, and Glen Chapman. The group hopes to continue work next year, with the aid of a grinding machine recently purchased.
Kenneth C. Heaton, President
Kingston Centre Report 1972
Kingston Centre meetings were held as follows:
October 10 |
A film entitled "The Universe." |
October 25 | A report on the progress of the Observer's Group. Glen Chapman, a graduate student at Queen's and past president of the Centre, presented a slide lecture on Interstellar Space Travel (Part 1). |
November 8 | A film "Our Mr. Sun." A Mrs. Shortcliffe advised she will donate to the Q.U.A.C. $500. to the cost of building an observatory for a 10 inch reflecting telescope, which she will also donate. Stipulation is that a proper place be chosen and plans presented to ensure the good intentions of the Q.U.A.C. and a committee was formed to carry out this plan. |
November 22 | Donald Retallack, a graduate student at Queen's in the Astronomy Department, presented a talk on recent developments in Radio Astronomy. The Observer's Group used the 15 inch Cassegrain Telescope and took astrophotographs. |
1973 January 15 |
Professor Bridle of Queen's Astronomy Department lecutred on "Some recent observations of Extra-Galactic X-Ray Sources." |
January 30 | A film "Radio Sky" from National Headquarters in Toronto was shown. A report on the meeting of the Council of January 27th was given by the Secretary, Geoffrey Wyght. The Q.U.A.C committee reported that they could not accept Mrs. Shortcliffe's donation. |
March 6 | Glen Chapmann presented a sldie lecture on Interstellar Travel (Part II). The following were elected to the Executive Committee - Paul Brown, President; Valerie Kirkwood, Vice-President; Geoffrey Wyght, secretary- Treasurer; and David Ridding, member of council. |
March 20 | A film "Fields of Space." The 15 inch Cassegrain Telescope at the Planetarium was used by the Observer's Group. |
Geoffrey J. R. Wyght, Secretary
1972 Activities
As printed in the National Newsletter, August 1973, p. L20,
in the section titled "Activities of the Centres".
From September, 1972 to March, 1973, the Kingston Centre had eight meetings with varied activities. The films presented to our members were: "The Universe," "Our Mr. Sun," "Fields of Space" and "Radio Sky."
The Centre was grateful to Dr. A H. Bridle Ph.D., G. H. Chapman B.Sc. and D. S. Retallack B.Sc., all of hte Queen's Unviersity Physics Department, who delivered lectures with topics ranging from Interstellar Space Travel to Extra-Galactic X-Ray Sources.
An Observer's Group was established and held regular sessions at the Queen's University Observatory which houses a 16-inch Cassegrain telescope.
It is the Centre's aim that more residents of Kingston will become involved and efforts are being made to see that this aim is achieved.
Geoffrey J. R. Wyght, Secretary
Kingston Centre Report 1973
A report of the meetings of the Kingston Centre from January to March, 1973 is in the Annual Report 1972.
October 2 Aims and future plans were described. Members visited the Ellis Hall Observatory.
October 16 A film entitled "Universe". The Instruments and Observers Groups were formed.
October 30 Slide-lecture on the Algonquin Radio Observatory of the National Research Council by Geoffrey Wyght. A film entitled "Eclipse at Grand'mere".
November 13 Lecture on Black Holes by Dr. W. Y. Chau, Assistant Pro fessor of Physics at Queen's University. A report by the Observers Group on the Transit of Mercury.
November 27 A film entitled "Crab Nebula". A display by the Observers Group on recent observing sessions.
Geoffrey J. R. Wyght, Secretary
Kingston Centre Report 1974
Report missing.
Kingston Centre Report 1975
During most of this year the centre at Kingston has been a small tightly-knit centre. We did not consider ourselves large enough to warrant inviting outside speakers. Thus we contented ourselves with films and mini-lectures from members themselves. We hold a meeting every other Tuesday night and in good weather we hold an observing session for the whole centre on the intervening Mondays. Most of our lectures have been cnocerned with observing, the solar system and telescope-making. We had for insteance a lecure on the moons of the planets and one on celestial coordinate systems. We were luckey to get some films from the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa that were excellent. A new addition to the National Film Library Sand, Silver and Stars made by Frank Shinn about the making of Jack Newton's 12 inch reflector, was screened recently. This was in connection with the several telescope-making projects which are in progress. Right now, (early March) we are all continually trying to get ourselves up at 4 o'clock in the morning to see Comet West, and we hope to get some good pictues.
As we exist as a double entity - being the Queen's University club as well - the AMS, the governing student body at Queen's, has required that all clubs on campus submit a constitution and be ratified. This means that the financial year of hte club must run from September to September, therefore we are unable to submit oru financial report for 1975 at this time. However, in the summer when the AMS has reimbursed us a reprot will be sent to the National Office.
Paul Brown, Secretary
Kingston Centre Report 1976
The early part of 1976 was highlighted for the Kingston Centre by the appearance of Comet West. There were several 5.00 a.m. observing sessions in a row as members took advantage of a run of good weather.
During the summer, there were no meetings as most of hte Centre members are students of Queen's University who do not live in Kingston.
September saw a membership drive which for the first time in several years attracted new members from outside the Queen's community. during this latter part of the year, the Centre was presented a lecture by Dr. A. H. Bridle of Queen's University, Physics Department and organised a trip to the Toronto Planetarium.
Ms. Susan McDougall, Secretary
Kingston Centre Report 1977
Meetings were held every two weeks and during the first part of the year they were mostly devoted to making plans for building our own telescope. Happily, this past year has seen a concentration on increasing membership in the Centre and our increased activity is surely one of the reasons that membership has almost doubled.
There were three separate activities during the summer. These were: a picnic at the Holleford crater, a summer solstice celebration and a Perseid meteor observing session - which was an all-nighter and extremely worthwhile. In addition, we held an Orionid observing session in the fall.
Dr. A.H. Batten, our National President, honoured us with a visit and lecture as did Dr. John R. Percy, 1st vice-President, and Dr. A.H. Bridle of the Physics Department of Queen's University.
Susan McDougall, Secretary
Kingston Centre Report 1978
1978 was a very successful year for the Kingston Centre. Our membership increased and a corresponding rise in meeting attendance was also noted. The meetings were held on alternate Tuesdays with the other Tuesdays reserved for observing sessions at Queen's University's telescope. However, these observing sessions were attended only by our hardcore observing group of four. A list of our eight more important meetings follows:
January 10 | Display night for equipment and photos |
January 24 | A talk by David Levy on the "Great Comet of 1861" |
February 7 | A talk by Leo Enright on the astrolabe |
February 21 | A talk by Dr. A.V. Douglas on the history of the I.A.U. (see National Newsletter June '78 page L42) |
March 7 | A talk by David Levy on the observation of variable stars |
March 21 | Elections and a planned lunar observation night for the public |
April 4 | A talk by Leo Enright on the different types of light in the sky |
October 5 | A talk by Peter Jedicke of the London Centre on the colonization of space |
Not included in this list is our summer meetings which were still held but attended poorly and were quite informal. Our three annual summer excursions however were very successful. The first to Holleford Crater just north of Kingston proved enjoyable and was followed by two others to Sharbot Lake to celebrate the summer solstice and one to observe the Perseid Meteor Shower. Unfortunately, this last one was plagued by some clouds and the fallout from a skunk at 2:00 am; still we recorded fifty meteors.
In the fall we changed our meetings to alternate Thursdays at 8:00 pm with observing sessions on every clear Tuesday and remaining Thursday. Accordingly our activity has increased.
As many Centres have noted, our newsletter has grown since last year from 2 to 5 pages and as a result we have appointed an editor for 1979.
Finally, our long dragged out telescope building project has seen new hope with the purchase of finished 10" f/5.6 optics by the Centre. This telescope will probably help our many speciality observing projects such as Messier object hunting, astrophotography, comet hunting, variable star observing, and two new projects, a nova search program and long baseline aurora observations with the Maple Ridge Amateur Astronomer's Society in British Columbia. On the whole we have had a very active and enjoyable year with much progress made especially with membership.
Enrico Kindl, Secretary
Kingston Centre Report 1979
The year 1979 has been a very exciting and active one for the Kingston Centre. It began with about 46% of our membership joining various expeditions to observe the total solar eclipse on February 26. The eclipse was an unforgettable experience, recorded by David Levy in the form of a one-half hour slide presentation. This excellent show has been seen by many groups in various cities, and won the second prize at the General Assembly in London, Ontario, last May.
We have had the pleasure of hearing Dr. John Percy, President of the R.A.S.C., speak to us in February about the evolution of stars, and Dr. A. Vibert Douglas, our Honorary President, who spoke to us in April about the work of Sir Arthur Eddington.
In June, after several years of work, our Centre completed its own telescope, a 10-inch Newtonian reflector, which we name the Dr. A. V. Douglas Telescope, after a person who has made great contributions to the field of Astronomy, the R.A.S.C., and our Centre.
Numerous educational events have been organized throughout the year. David Levy was largely responsible for the work and we owe him much sincere appreciation. The first project was the "Astronomy Day", sponsored by the Kingston and District Science Council under the direction of Dr. James Allen and the Queen's University Physics Department. It took place on February 22, just before the solar eclipse, and several hundred children took part, learning about astronomy in general, telescopes, observing, radio astronomy, and discussing in detall how eclipses happen and how to observe them safely.
A second project was a course in basic concepts of astronomy, including as much observing as possible, given by David at his home outside Kingston.
For the third project, David had made arrangements to enter the Millhaven Penitentiary, a maximum security institution, in order to present the eclipse slide show to about twenty inmates. It was a very well received and successful endeavour.
On August 13th David attended a program of the International Astronomical Union's Commission 46, at the Université de Montréal. There he gave an excellent presentation on teaching astronomy to children. Dr. Douglas and Leo Enright were also present at this 17th General Assembly of the I.A.U.
The summer was very active, with members of the Kingston Centre taking part in several excursions to the Gatineau Hills in the Province of Québec, where David's hospitality and the dark skies made observing a great pleasure. The Holleford crater, not far from Kingston, is a very interesting area which was explored by some of our members in July and again in August.
On the 4th of August, the Centre organized a mall display at the Kingston Shopping Centre, with exhibits of their instruments and photos. The same evening, our Centre held a Public Star Night on the waterfront, during which people came to look through the telescopes and were able to get a small impression of what observing is all about.
David was very busily acquiring various telescopes throughout the year, including a "talking telescope" which he built, together with Constantine Papacosmos of Montréal. He entered it in the refractor category at the 44th annual Stellafane, held in Springfield, Vermont, and it won third prize.
In October Leo, Doug Baker, Denis Belanger, and Angelike attended Clubs' Night at Queen's University and talked to many interested students about astronomy and our Centre. Several of the students attended subsequent meetings.
Weather permitting, all members are keeping active with observing and photographing, ranging from the total lunar eclipse of September 6th, photographed by David from Tucson, Arizona (while Michael and Denis spent the night in the rain on Wolfe Island near Kingston), to sunspot observing, auroras, occultations, deep sky objects, and other phenomena.
Leo Enright continues to be the very enthusiastic editor of "Regulus", our newsletter, which is full of interesting information and keeps us up to date at all times.
Angelika Kahrkling, Secretary
- 3 views