A Brief Message from The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Concerning RASC
Publications
The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada traces its roots to the middle
of the nineteenth century and was formally incorporated in 1890. Without a doubt
this makes it one of the oldest Canadian scientific institutions and its members
and friends have worked tirelessly for over one hundred years to further the
society's goals: To the Advancement of Astronomy and Allied Sciences. This effort
has taken many forms over the years. Today, with more than 4300 members, it
is no surprise that many of its activities are centered on the amateur astronomer,
from the beginner to the expert.
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But it would be a mistake to think that the Royal Astronomical Society
of Canada is only of use to the casual observer on warm summer evenings.
For nearly a century the Society's publications have striven to always
be pertinent to its members and to bring something useful for the astronomical
community at large. The Society has two annual publications: The Observer's
Calendar, and the Observer's Handbook.
With the 2002 editions of our annual publications now available let us
explain why we believe every astronomer will find them useful.
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The stunning cover of the 2002 Observer's Calendar - click for full
view
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The Observer's Calendar is a twelve-month
wall calendar with stunning 10" x 12.5" color images on top-quality paper. It
is designed with the astronomer in mind and contains a host of astronomical
information such as: planetary conjunctions, eclipses, major meteor showers,
daily Moon phases, Moon and Sun rise/set times. It also comes with large enough
squares so that you can pencil in any other event that is of particular interest
to you. Entirely produced with the best images from Canadian amateur astronomers
we are rightfully proud of our award-winning calendar.
In its 94th year of publication, the Observer’s Handbook has come to
be regarded as the standard North American reference for data on the sky. It
contains a unique blend ranging from the fundamentals of astronomy to pragmatic
observing tips.
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It is a source of ephemerids for the year to come such as sunrises and
sunsets, occultations, eclipses, predictions of the cycles of many variable
stars and the popular 24-page section called "The Sky Month By Month"
which gives an extensive listing of events.
It is also a collection of concise and informative texts from 35 contributors,
many of whom are world-renowned experts in their field of study.
Primarily geared towards observational astronomy it provides excellent
introductions and observing tips on a wide variety of topics for the novice
and experienced alike. Because of this, and of the breath of content it
covers, it can be an ideal complement to an introductory or practical
astronomy course. Considering the quality and quantity of the content
we believe that the Observer's Handbook would quite likely be the
best value someone would encounter in his or her student career.
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We at the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada are proud of the high quality
of our publications and hope that you will take a look them. Whether it is the
Observer's Handbook for your personal, professional or classroom use
or the Observer's Calendar just for the simple pleasure of hanging beautiful
astronomical photographs on your office wall, we encourage you to find out how
to obtain these resources by visiting our publication webpage http://www.rasc.ca/pubs/home.html
or by calling (416) 924-7973 in Toronto or toll-free at (888) 924-RASC.
Publication Committee
Royal Astronomical Society of Canada