RIVERSIDE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY INC Information

The Riverside Astronomical Society continues to heavily support the efforts of the RTMC but has not limited itself to only those activities. Since the early 1970's, the RAS has conducted workshops in telescope making and basic astronomy for the students of Riverside Community College and the University of California at Riverside. Many of its new members are students from the local colleges. The Club has conducted tours for its members to such places as Mt. Palomar, JPL, and several local observatories. The RAS has also furthered academic research by working with the US Naval Observatory in conducting Grazing Occultation observations. When processed, these observations contributed to measurement of continental drift and aided in refining the distance to the moon. Since 1974, the RAS has heightened public awareness of astronomy by supporting National Astronomy Day. Each year at a local mall, the club has conducted an interactive display of telescopes, which are pointed at the sun during the day, and the Moon and planets in the evening. Many unusual astronomical events have taken place during the existence of the RAS, and the society has always made itself available to interpret them. In 1974, the RAS organized two weeks of observing sessions at the Palm Springs Tramway for Comet Kohoutek. For two days in 1976, the RAS treated over 300 people to the early morning wonders of Comet West. When Halley's Comet arrived in 1986, the RAS conducted two weeks of observing sessions, enabling the public to see the comet at its best. More recently, in July 1994, the RAS showed 500 people impacts caused by the collision of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter. For 1996, the club brought the spectacular views of Comet Hyakutake to hundreds of people from a location in the high desert. Comet Hale-Bopp was shown to large groups of people who traveled out to Joshua Tree National Park in the spring of 1997 to view this object away from city lights. In August of 2000, five acres of desert property in Landers, California, were ...