member night

Tonight I attended another Toronto Centre RASC meeting. This was much better for me, much more interesting. It was a "member night."

There were three presenters, all members presumably. The first person was actually the owner of Khan Scope Centre and he discussed and demonstrated the new Celestron Sky Scout. It was cool to see the actual unit and see—from a distance—how it worked (I also grabbed a brochure). I was able to ask if it calculated altitude (it did) and learned the price (retail CDN$460 or US$399). The second presenter talked about an important member of the RASC from 100 to 50 years back: Clarence Chant. And the final presentation was on a barn door mount that the member made and used for astrophotography. Wow! Impressive what he did with little money, an old Pentax film camera, 400 ASA slide film, and a 50mm lens. Beautiful photos. Inspiring!

There was also a brief mention of an upcoming CBC Venture show which will feature the SkyShed company. That show is coming in a couple of weeks. Venture airs on Wednesdays at 7:30pm EST.

There are still some things about these meetings that I think are odd or perplexing to me. There are some things that are... I dunno... missing? Lacking? I'm starting to realise that I expected more socialisation. Some happens, to be sure, before and after the meeting(s), assuming you know someone. But there appears to be nothing here, at these meetings, for the newcomer.

Regardless, I think I'll join. I'll try it for a year. With a membership, I can at least explore the member-only activities, which I think I'll enjoy even more.