The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada La Société Royale d’Astonomie du Canada annual report rapport annuel 2014 The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada / 2014 Annual Report • La Société royale d’astronomie du Canada / Rapport annuel 2014 1 Table of Contents President’s Message 4 Executive Director's Report 4 Secretary’s Message 5 Treasurer’s Message 6 Auditor’s Report 7 Annual Meeting Minutes—2014 15 Annual Reports from the Centres 17 Centre Treasurers’ Reports for Fiscal Year 2014 39 Officers and Councils of the Centres—2015 42 2015 Award Winners 45 2014 Certificates 45 Past Award Winners 46 Front Cover Photograph by David Lee Edited by Julia Neeser Translations by Suzanne Moreau Proofread by James Edgar Layout and design by Catherine Berry 2 The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada / 2014 Annual Report • La Société royale d’astronomie du Canada / Rapport annuel 2014 Royal Astronomical Society of Canada—2015 RASC Web Site: www.rasc.ca RASC eStore: www.store.rasc.ca National Office: 203-4920 Dundas Street W, Toronto ON M9A 1B7, Canada Phone: (416) 924-7973 Fax: (416) 924-2911 Email: [email protected] Office hours: Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Executive Director: Randy Attwood (FRASC) [email protected] Office Administrator: Renata Koziol [email protected] Marketing Co-ordinator: Julia Neeser [email protected] Officers Honorary President: Dr. John Percy [email protected] President: James Edgar [email protected] 1st Vice-President: Colin Haig [email protected] 2nd Vice-President: Dr. Chris Gainor [email protected] Secretary: Dr. Karen Finstad [email protected] Treasurer: Denis Grey [email protected] Director: Dr. Randy Boddam [email protected] Robyn Foret [email protected] Craig Levine [email protected] Dr. Paul Schumacher [email protected] Past President: Glenn Hawley [email protected] Journal Editor: Jay Anderson [email protected] Observer’s Handbook Editor: Dave Chapman [email protected] Observer’s Calendar Editor: Paul Gray [email protected] 2014 - 2015 Committees Awards: Glenn Hawley [email protected] Constitution: Colin Haig [email protected] Education and Public Outreach: Robyn Foret [email protected] Finance: Denis Grey [email protected] History: Randall Rosenfeld [email protected] Information Technology: Craig Levine [email protected] Light-Pollution Abatement: Robert Dick [email protected] Membership and Development: Roland Dechesne [email protected] Nominating: Dr. Chris Gainor [email protected] Observing: Alan Whitman [email protected] Publications: Colin Haig [email protected] Centre Representatives on National Council Belleville: Don Town Prince George: vacant Calgary: Heather Laird Québec: Pierre Desrosiers Calgary: Roger Nelson Regina: Peter Hagar Charlottetown: Mike Critchley St. John’s: Marcellus Redmond Edmonton: Ross Sinclair Sarnia: Joe Clements Halifax: Pat Kelly Saskatoon: vacant Hamilton: Mark Pickett Sunshine Coast: Mike Bradley Kingston: Kim Hay Thunder Bay: Brendon Roy Kitchener-Waterloo: Rick Burke Toronto: Eric Briggs London: Peter Jedicke Toronto: Rajesh Shukla Mississauga: Leslie Strike Toronto: Laila Zichmanis C. F. de Montréal: Patrice Scattolin Vancouver: Doug Montgomery Montréal: Frank Tomaras Victoria: Mark Bohlman New Brunswick: Mandy Bregg Windsor: Michael Mastronardi Niagara: vacant Winnipeg: Jennifer West Okanagan: Richard Christie Unattached: Randall Rosenfeld Ottawa: Rick Wagner Ottawa: Bill Wagstaff The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada / 2014 Annual Report • La Société royale d’astronomie du Canada / Rapport annuel 2014 3 President’s Message The RASC is in good hands—let’s state that from the outset. · The Society sponsored a table at AstroCATS in Hamilton. The Board of Directors have met a couple times in person, and a · The RASC published jointly with SkyNews an 8-page few times online, since being elected in the summer of 2014 and booklet Getting Started in Astronomy—60,000 copies so have gelled into a working group dedicated to the well-being and far! forward movement of our Society. Our paid staff at the Society · The electronic Observer’s Handbook is now available to Office do great work to keep the RASC running smoothly. We strive members as a PDF download. to do all things well. Sometimes we attain that lofty goal and at · The Society began sponsorship for the Clear Sky Charts other times we struggle, but we “keep calm and chive on.” created and maintained by Ottawa member Attilla Danko. We are one of the top sponsors. Some good things we’ve accomplished: · The Board decided to abandon the plan to re-publish ·We successfully transitioned our governance model from the Beginner’s Observing Guide (BOG), but to replace the National Council being the “official” Board, to a true it with a new publication, a Guide to the Explore the Board of Directors. Universe certificate program, written by Toronto member · At the recommendation of the Awards Committee, we Brenda Shaw. This new work will likely form the basis for a instituted a new class of award, Fellow of the RASC (FRASC). re-invigorated NOVA program. ·We searched for and hired a new Executive Director, Randy · A new publication on small observatories is forthcoming Attwood, FRASC. soon, compiled by Sunshine Coast member Charles Ennis. ·For the first time, the Plaskett Lecture was live-streamed to · We now pay honoraria to editors of revenue-earning the General Assembly from Scotland. Dr. Andrew Pon’s talk publications (Handbook, Calendar, and Journal). Plus, a was well received and very informative, and it formed the budget is in place for the editors to recognize the volunteer basis for a Journal paper. contributors and production teams of these publications. · The Society implemented a new Sponsorship Program for corporate sponsors. A not-so-good thing: ·We re-visited our Vision, Mission, and Values statements to · The Charlottetown Centre has dissolved due to low bring them closer to what we truly value. membership levels. We now have 28 Centres, although ·We instituted a new web-based meeting program called membership generally is on the rise (a good thing). WebEx, which can be used by groups as large as Council, What makes all the good things possible is the support, both and as small as three or four people, to conduct meetings. financially and spiritually, of members and volunteers like you. We ·We wrote letters of support for the James Clerk Maxwell at the Board level only guide “the ship” along, trying to avoid shoals, Telescope and the Thirty Metre Telescope. and keeping an even keel in the main channel. We can be thankful · New Enhanced Membership packages are available on our that, 147 years later, our beloved Society continues to thrive. e-Store. ·First steps were taken to publish a Guide to the 2017 Total Clear skies! Solar Eclipse. James Edgar President Executive Director's Report It is my pleasure to write my first report as Executive Director For the upcoming year, I intend to work with the Board, the of the Society. Council, and Centre Executives to improve the way we provide Our first Executive Director, Deborah Thompson, helped services to members, run our outreach programs, and promote the to steer the Society through various required governmental Society. changes, which affected our governance structure. Since early None of this would be possible without our dedicated, hard- September 2014, when I assumed the role, we have focused working, and professional office staff, Renata Koziol and Julia on three areas: improving membership retention, increasing Neeser. Observer’s Handbook sales, and expanding fund-raising initiatives. Randy Attwood Executive Director 4 The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada / 2014 Annual Report • La Société royale d’astronomie du Canada / Rapport annuel 2014 Secretary’s Message There have been two different National Secretaries in 2014, These changes are expected to increase the program participation as I took over from James Edgar at the end of June. Together we levels in the future. recorded fourteen Board meetings, three Council meetings and one We extend our condolences to the families and friends of General meeting, modified the Policy Manual nine times, collected the following members who passed away in 2014: Barry Boyd several dozen reports, and attempted to keep 15 email lists current (Calgary), Dr. John Knight (Ottawa), Ben Llewelyn (St. John’s), Maria and up to date. Schmid (Victoria), Vern Richards (Windsor), Rod Clark (Windsor), During the course of the year, Public Speaker Program grants Bud Fairley (Winnipeg), Osao Shigehisa (Unattached), James Fell were made to Calgary, Halifax, Ottawa, and the Sunshine Coast (Unattached), Blaine F. Roelke (Unattached). Centres, for a total of six speaking events. In November, the Board The Society wishes to acknowledge the passing of long time approved changes to the program, which allowed funding for events but not current members: Richard Bochonko (Winnipeg), Antoine up to one year in advance of the date of application rather only Fils-Aime (Ottawa), Father William Lonc (Toronto), Nelson Teske for the current calendar year, and to expand eligible expenses to (Vancouver). include 50% of professional speaker’s fees up to maximum of $500. Membership Statistics 2004-2014 Karen Finstad National Secretary Centre 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 Belleville 28 31 30 31 37 26 32 35 33 32 29 Calgary 434 381 336 282 271 300 317 313 278 302 323 Charlottetown 7 13 20 19 25 24 24 22 21 20 19 Edmonton 274 277 229 235 260 257 258 255