RASC London Centre

04/13/2026

Our regular monthly meeting will take place on Friday this week, April 17. Our Guest of Honor will be Chris Beckett. Chris will give a briefing about "Building a Visual Observatory in the Imaging Age."

We all want to do more astronomy. Whether it’s looking through our telescopes or taking photos of the universe. But free time is all too rare and the weather conspires against getting out and doing what we love. In this presentation Chris Beckett details the construction of an observatory for observing and sketching.

Chris Beckett has been an amateur astronomer for over 30 years and has volunteered with the RASC much of that time. He has served as the National Observing Chair, been a centre president and taught dozens of non-credit astronomy courses. He coordinates astronomy events with Grasslands National and is currently the RASC Observer’s Calendar Editor. Chris is also the co-host of The Actual Astronomy Podcast.

Please join us in person at 19:30 at the Hume Cronyn Memorial Observatory on the campus of Western University. You can attend in person at the Cronyn Observatory on the Western campus, or join us via Zoom. Non-members are welcome. We will post the Zoom link on Friday

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01/07/2026

Update: a video of Marks' memorial event 2026-01-17 is now available at www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeHEqhH3Tac

We are heartbroken to share the news that Mark Tovey, our 39th London Centre President, lost his battle with cancer on Tuesday 2026-01-06. Mark was a multi-talented person who worked hard on a wide variety of projects and made many friends along the way. He did his undergrad at Western U and earned a PhD in Cognitive Science from the University of Ottawa in 2011. He was History Curator at the Hume Cronyn Memorial Observatory, our local partners in astronomy outreach. In 2023, Mark published "A Cosmic Treasury," a compilation of astronomy poems gathered by Beatrice W. Welling in 1944, to which Mark added appropriate selections of artwork from museums all over. In 2025, London Centre nominated Mark for an Ontario Volunteer Service Award. Asteroid (178088) MarkTovey is named in his honour. You can follow his asteroid here
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html #/?sstr=178088&view=VOP
Here is Mark's obituary: https://harrisfuneralhome.ca/obituaries/mark-tovey/
Note: the photo we originally posted here was taken just a few months ago. We have replaced that photo with this one because Mark left word that this is the one he preferred.

12/19/2025

December 2025 Meeting, RASC London Centre, Friday Dec 19th

Hi all,

Looks like Friday's meeting will have contributions from a few different members, and a surprise activity!

Our newly minted President, Tyrone Klassen, will continue his series in the constellation of the month talks. Any guesses about this month's topic? I bet that it's NOT Andromeda...that was November's talk. 🤣

Former president Bill Gardner will start up a new series of his own, and it's going to be very valuable! I must say that I went years before I realised what could be found inside the Handbook and what a fantastic resource it is. If you're like me and aren't as familiar with what's in there, these talks will be for you!

Our Past President Craig Levine will shine the light on his latest observation experiences with Night Vision Astronomy! That's going to be super cool and is definitely a pretty hot topic in observing these days.

Dale Armstrong will give yet another (fantastic) expanded talk of his "what's up in the sky". Lately it's been "what's down here on Earth" too, as he's given lots of great news and olds (ie. historical context). Part of his talk this month will be highlighting the lives of two RASC members that have recently passed: Former National Executive Secretary Bonnie Bird and Former London President Peter Andreae.

Dale will also be preparing another fun and special activity, and those who were present for last December's meeting will know what that is! 🤔🤨 Here's a hint... 🎟️🏆! But you gotta be there to participate!

Our meeting will begin at 7:30pm. You can attend in person at the Cronyn Observatory on the Western campus, or join us via Zoom at: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89015777788

Meeting ID: 890 1577 7788 with no password.

Hope to see you soon!

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11/20/2025

Our regular meeting for the month of November is Friday this week, 2025-11-21. As usual, it will take place at the Hume Cronyn Memorial Observatory on campus at Western U, and we will try to offer it as a hybrid meeting on Zoom. We plan to start at 19:30. The meeting ID is 89015777788 and no passcode is required. This will be our annual meeting with formal elections for the 2026 Executive Committee. There will also be informal presentations by Craig, Dale, Tyrone, Peter and youth member Siddharth. Hope to see you there!

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10/17/2025

Calling all stargazers! Join us at Cronyn Observatory tonight for our Monthly Meeting, where members will share their recent astronomical activities. Doors open just before 7:30pm.

10/04/2025

We are kicking off our International Observe The Moon Night festivities early with solar viewing at Hume Cronyn Memorial Observatory - Western University Hume Cronyn Memorial Observatory - Western University

09/21/2025

We are thrilled to see our partner, the Hume Cronyn Memorial Observatory, mentioned by the The Western Gazette in the annual Frosh Issue as the number one "campus spot you'll wish you found sooner" (page 15). If it brings some of the current crop of students on campus to an event... we are proud to assist in making astronomy popular

09/18/2025

Our regular meeting will take place this Friday evening (2025-09-19 at 19:30) at Cronyn Observatory. Our Guest of Honour will be Tim Hunter of the Tucson astronomy club and Tim will give us (a remote presentation) about his book on the topic of "The Barnard Objects." There will a copy on display in the room of the 1927 "Atlas of Selected Regions of the Milky Way" that inspired Tim. All are welcome, and we hope to have a live feed on our Zoom channel. Try Meeting ID 890 1577 7788, with no password.

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07/18/2025

Join us today for our monthly meeting at Hume Cronyn Memorial Observatory - Western University featuring our guest Bryan Delodder from Ten Telescopes ( tentelescopes.com )

Bryan Delodder will be joining us in person to help guide us through his incredible journey and show us how he's developed an amazing system of telescope building based on 3D printing technology.

Our meeting will begin at 7:30pm. You can attend in person at the Cronyn Observatory on the Western campus, or join us via Zoom at: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82350783783opee