Richmond Astronomical Society
761st Consecutive Meeting
February 12, 2013
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Greetings – approximately 32 in attendance at the meeting.
Jim Browder called our meeting to order in the Eureka meeting room.
Announcements / Share Table
- Annual dues are due: This is the time of year when we ask our members to make sure their dues are paid for the upcoming year. Dues are $30 per year for regular membership, $10 additional for observatory operators. You can give your dues payment to our Treasurer, Jim Blowers, in person at a meeting or you can pay online with PayPal or by mail. Information on PayPal and mail payments is on the RAS web site under the “Membership/Dues Payment” link.
- Jim Blowers has astronomical maps to show path of Comet PanStarrs
- Books for Betty’s talk
- John Barnett brought in a new Orion dobsonian telescope that he recently got a good deal on. Facts: f’4, 100 mm lens diameter, approx 100x power, needs a Ploussel eyepiece. Through it he saw the Moon and a “glorious Pleiades”.
- JohnR is selling a rotating round table, large enough to hold a dob. By using a 12volt battery, it can be used to handle an hour of tracking.
- Prashant brought in a Photographic Moon Atlas, containing many amateur photos..
- Madhu stated that someone in Providence Forge is selling a 12-inch Meade LX90 (make an offer)
Library Report:
Virginia is starting to do inventory at the library. Everything is great at the RAC where the library is.
The books she brought in for perusal and checking out:
- How to Identify the Stars (1909)
- Ancient Life (1991)
- PBS Documentary: Seeing in the Dark (2002)
- Future of Space Time, by S. Hawkins
- Sleepwatcher
- Galaxies
- Space Shots, with an introduction by Michael Collins
- The Elegant Universe