The Raleigh Astronomy Club particpated in the grand opening even for the new Nature Research Center in downtown Raleigh.  This was a 24-hour event with an attendance of the over 70,000!  Although the skies were not always cooperative, there was a lot of interest in the telescopes, with the wait times on the rooftop observing exceeding 1 hour at times!  We thank all the members of the public who attended and all our volunteers who gave up a night of sleep to help share astronomy with Raleigh!

Despite the clouds, 12 people and 5 telescopes showed up at Big Woods last night. Joe P, Travis W, Greg B were imaging. Coin P and I were doing visual work and someone whose name I didn't catch did visual work with a 6" refractor. Several guests shared views with the visual observers.

On April 9, 2012 the N.C. State University Department of Physics invited an amateur astroimager named Burley Packwood, M.D. to present "Astroimaging: What Technologies Enable Both Professionals and Amateurs to Obtain Such Spectacular Astronomical Images?"  Burley is a retired Radiologist who recently relocated to the mecca of optical observatories, Tuscon, Arizona.  Burley has a dome in his backyard, a 7' AstroHaven clamshell dome that protects an AP1200 mount and a 5" Takahashi refractor, SBIG ST2000XM and Adaptive Optical device from SBIG as well.  He has been imaging since the year 2000.