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Last night was the RASC star party at the Diefenbunker, and it was a perfect night. I haven’t heard the official counts, but there were about 15 ‘scopes, and over a hundred visitors. At dusk, before fully dark, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars were all visible, and being shown in most of the scopes.  As dark came on most people switched to deep-sky objects. The sky was very clear, good transparency, and good seeing.  It was also, finally, pleasantly cool, temp around 10°. A great evening.  With luck, next weekend we might manage another sidewalk session too.

The Carp Star Party has been cancelled for tomorrow (Friday).  Rain date is Saturday.

• Who & What are OAFs: A casual astronomy group.
• How to reach us: OAFs Mailing List.
• What do OAFs do: Observe, Outreach, Conversation.
• When do OAFs do Astronomy Events: Real Soon Now.
• OAFs Observing sites

Public Observing Coming Events

During the COVID-19 pandemic, OAFs stopped doing public “sidewalk astronomy” events.  We miss it, and hope we’re in a position to be able to safely resume, maybe in the spring or summer of 2024.

Update: We’re doing our first Sidewalk Astronomy event in several years on May 18, 2024, to celebrate International Astronomy Day.  See us in front of Kanata Chapters (Indigo).

News: the Ottawa chapter of RASC has resumed its star parties at the Diefenbunker. Check their Star Party list to stay informed (or updates via Twitter, Meetup, or Facebook).  Check the RASC web site or Facebook page for the latest information on COVID protocols.

OAFs are strong supporters of RASC and their events, and most of us will be at the RASC star parties with scopes.

Watch our twitter feed (see right margin) for the latest.

Event	Where	When
Next Dark Sky Public Star Party	Carp Diefenbunker	Sprint, 2025
Next Sidewalk Solar Observing	Kanata Chapters	TBD
Next Sidewalk Astronomy	Kanata Chapters	TBD

Other OAFs Stuff

• A page of links to other articles such as observing tips, star-party etiquette, questionable humour, etc.