The Canadian Astronomical Society (CASCA)

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The Canadian Astronomical Society (CASCA) is a Canadian society of professional astronomers, founded in 1971 and incorporated in 1983. The society is devoted to the promotion and advancement of knowledge of the universe through research and education, and its membership is open to people with a professional involvement in astronomy and related sciences.[1]

The main activities of the Society are its annual scientific meetings, the planning and realization of scientific projects, the support of the scientific activities of its members, and the dissemination of related information among members and other interested people.

One of the major purposes of the (CASCA)is to serve as a national forum for scientific planning in astronomy. This function is served in part by the annual meetings of the society, and the quarterly newsletter of the Society, called ''Cassiopeia'' is published at equinoxes and solstices. Both of which serve to examine existing and proposed projects and facilities in astronomy on a regular basis,The commitees of the CASCA also serve as a vital element of the planning process. for these reasons members are encouraged to raise an opinion or propose a scientific project at any time to the appropriate CASCA committee, with a copy of the submission being sent to the president of the society.

In 1992, the society established CascaTrust as a charitable trust fund for the advancement of education and research in astronomy. A receipt is issued to all memebers who make contributions.

The Long Term Plan

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Starting in 1998, CASCA has initiated and sponsored the development of a Long Range Plan for Astronomy. the first LRP, was released in May 2000 it was called the "The Origins of Structure in the Universe" in collaboration with the NRC and NSERC. The second LRP was released in February 2011 through working with ACURA, [[NSERC[2]]], NRC, CSA, and CFI. The [[Coalition for Canadian Astronomoy[3]]], bring together representatives from CASCA, academia(through ACURA) and the industry. The coalition was formed in 2000 and works with a goal of securing federal funding to support the projects endorsed by the LRP[4].

Annual Meetings

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These annual meetings are open to all people interested whether they belong to the society or not. These meetings are used for the presentation of scientific papers through talks or posters. Although these presentations are restricted to present members, other speakers invited by the organizing committee. Other than the invited talks all CASCA members are allowed to present one oral and one poster communication if they wish to do so. The annual meeting are held in a different city of Canada every year for example the May 2015 meeting is scheduled to be in Hamilton, Ontario with a grad student workshop as well. The 2016 Meeting is set to be located in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Along with future dates and locations for meeting the website also includes a section for previous meeting and locations with some previous meeting minutes shown as well.[5]



References:

  1. ^ "CASCA". Retrieved 21 October 2015.
  2. ^ "NSERC". Retrieved 21 October 2015. {{cite web}}: |first1= missing |last1= (help)
  3. ^ "Coalition for Canadian Astronomy". Retrieved 21 October 2015.
  4. ^ "LRP". LRP. Retrieved 21 October 2015. {{cite web}}: |first1= missing |last1= (help)
  5. ^ "Annual Meetings". Retrieved 21 October 2015.