President Jim Browder called the meeting to order at 7:02pm.

Attendees (9):

• Jim Browder, President
• David Medici, Vice President
• Jim Blowers, Treasurer
• Chris McCann, Secretary
• Ken Wilson
• Prashant Reddy
• Gary Cowardin
• Dave Walton
• Bill Newman

Secretary’s report given by Chris McCann

• November’s board meeting minutes were discussed and minutes were accepted.

Treasurer’s report given by Jim Blowers.

• Balance Summary         (as of 11/14/2011)                (as of  2/20/2012):

• General Fund:                        6455.39                               7211.78
• Observatory Fund:                    85.58                                   140.02
• TOTAL:                                 6540.97                               7351.80
• Checking Account:                1462.47                                2271.32
• Savings Account:                   2860.43                               2860.75
• Certificate of Deposit:            2218.07                               2219.73
• Pay Pal Acct:                                0.00                                      0.00
• TOTAL:                                 6540.97                                6351.80

Jim Blowers mentioned that RAS has 15 members who have paid observatory dues for 2012.

Treasurer’s report was accepted by the board. 

Observatory Report given by Jim Browder

• Maintenance update (significant clearing of brush, removal of a large tree))
• Many thanks to Tim and Karen Streagle, Bill, Randy, and Prashanth
• Discussion on how to get rid of brush.  Discuss with Randy first.
• A 10 foot clearance along fence is needed.
• Prashanth will check into burning ordinance for that area.  Else the cut wood will need to be hauled away.

Education Report (Jim Browder) :

• Civil Air Patrol skywatch – Keith Matos planned this at theChesterfieldAirport.  This was a “really good” skywatch with very little light pollution.  The 50-75 cadets were extremely polite with very good questions and comments.  Another will be planned but date is TBD.
• Outreach is being distributed among club members:
• Ray Moody has agreed to be RAS point person for thePetersburgNational Parkskywatches.
• Ken and Betty will handle Scotchtown,Montpelier, andHanoverCounty
• Chris will work with Brandermill
• Bill will look around for a good site.
• ScienceMuseumand Harbor Point will be covered by available members.
• Planning for other skywatch venues.

• Many outreach skywatches and events have occurred and continue to be scheduled at various places.

Library Report (made by Jim Browder)

• Virginiareported there was no change in status.  There is no issue at the Virginia Alarm Company.
• The lock on one of the cabinets needs repairing.  Prashant will handle the lock issue.  It was agreed to payWaynea maximum of $100 towards the fixing of the broken lock on the cabinet.

Other Reports:

• Annual SCC report has been filed

Old Business:

• Equipment inventory update – Dave
• Draft asset use policy – brief discussion, accepted with updates from November meeting
• Name tag status – Our logo needs to be out there.  Jim Browder passed around samples that he had created. The board accepted a version that is larger than previous name tags, has the RAS logo on it, and is secured by magnets to clothes.
• On November 16, Ken represented RAS at a discussion about the possibilities for starting a dark-sky workgroup.  He was invited by Laura Greenleaf from the Department of Games and Inland Fisheries.  Part of the presentation was a generic powerpoint presentation.  The SMV was very receptive to the ideas and that their lighting needs improvement. Virginiapurchasing specialists will do research and consider the use of shields and LED lighting within the city ofRichmondand its surrounding neighborhoods, including the James River Parks system.  We had a brief discussion about the movie “City Dark” and the possibility of presenting it at Astronomy Day or at VAAS.

New Business:

• Metro Richmond Science Fair prizes (HanoverHigh Schoolon March 15) – Discussion to allow Terry Barker to award cash prizes to selected students having projects related to Astronomy. Approved by board.
• VAAS 2012 (scheduled for September 15) Planning committee – need to find a committee lead and members for planning responsibilities.  The location this year will be at the Heart of Virginia scout camp, where the shelter and dining hall have been reserved.
• Astronomy Day Coordinator (April 28) – Prashant will head this up again.  Where are the rocket launchers?  What signage do we have?  Who is bringing scopes?
• Transit of Venus (Tuesday evening on June 5)  Will RAS have activities?  Look for sites around the area with WNW horizon clearance with minimal lighting.
• Annular Eclipse on May 21
• 501 (c) (3) filing upcoming – due May 15, 2012.  It was brought up as a reminder.

Next Board meeting will be Monday, May 21, 2012 at Extra Billy’s at 7pm.  If you want to come early for dinner, come by at 6pm.   

• Meeting was adjourned at 8:47pm.

the Richmond Astronomical Society

Members are required to pay dues every year to the Richmond Astronomical Society; in addition, Observatory Staff members pay an additional fee for upkeep of the Observatory. Subscriptions to Sky and Telescope and Astronomy magazines are available at substantial discounts through the Richmond Astronomical Society. There are several ways to make these payments:

1. By Person. Pay the Treasurer (currently Jim Blowers) and submit a membership application to him.
   … 
2. By Mail. Fill out the membership application and mail it to the address at the bottom of the application.
   … 
3. Online. (NEW) You can now pay online using PayPal. Make dues payments, Observatory staff member dues payments, Sky and Telescope, and Astronomy magazine subscription payments here. Click on the appropriate “Add to Cart” buttons. This creates a new window. Click on other buttons you want; this will cause your “cart” to be updated with the items you click. If you lose this window, click “View Cart” below to bring it back up. Then click “Secure Checkout” and provide the items that PayPal requests, including credit card information. Note that a small fee is charged for each transaction, including a constant fee independent of the amount of the transaction; therefore, if you want to make several transactions, enter them all at once before proceeding to checkout. A shipping address will be requested. Please fill this in, and by your name indicate your phone number. This information will be used to update our membership roster.
   …

If you have any problems with this page, contact the webmaster at jimvb@mindspring.com.

Back to Main Page

2012 March 13

Greeting & Announcements

Astronomical League Update, John Goss, Vice President, Astronomical League

The first item was a presentation by Vice President John Goss of the Astronomical League by Skype. Among the things that he mentioned was an announcement of the Astronomical League Convention (ALCON) on the Fourth of July weekend (actually 2012 July 4-7). It will be in theChicagoarea (the Marriott Lincolnshire Resort inLincolnshire,IL) to honor 150 years of organized astronomy, which started in theChicagoarea. The conference will feature visits to Yerkes Observatory, the Fermi Lab, and Adler Planetarium.  There will be a big banquet on Saturday night. He also mentioned the Analemma Club, wherein amateur astronomers take observations of the Sun on dates throughout the year to form the analemma. He also mentioned transits of Venus and Mercury, and severalALawards.

Library Report

The library report was made; Virginia Eckert brought in several books from the RAS Library, including Other Worlds, a book from 1926 that was highly optimistic about life on other planets.

Observatory Report

Prashant Reddy (for Randy Tatum) gave an Observatory report. He thanked everyone for helping clean the Observatory of debris from the recent tree-cutting that went on there.

Events and Individual Observing

Jim Browder asked for observations. Many people reported the proximity of Venus and Jupiter in the sky, and someone reported that on Skywatch night the satellites of Jupiter looked like a double star on either side of Jupiter. Kathy Fatyga reported seeing the Venus-Jupiter conjunction and the satellites of Jupiter, but found Mercury too hard to see.

Someone reported an X5 coronal mass ejection from the Sun, but no one reported auroras here, and apparently we got through with no electronic or power problems.

Upcoming Events

Tomorrow (March 14) there will be a planetarium show at 8 at SMV. The skywatch on March 16 will feature participants from a robotics skywatch; this could cause parking problems.

Astronomy Day

Astronomy Day is coming up on April 28. Dan Salkovitz and Jim Blowers are doing the bottle rockets, and there will be other exhibitions at the ScienceMuseum.  Please let Prashant Reddy at reddypva@verizon.net know if you can help with Astronomy Day at the Museum. 

The night skywatch will be at Belmead Plantation in PowhatanCounty, as there is a prom at the ScienceMuseum. They have good parking at Belmead, and visibility is similar to that of the Powhatan Wildlife Management Area. If you can help with the skywatch at Belmead in the evening, please let Jim Browder know at president@richastro.org.

Belmead has had a number of incarnations since 1850 as a plantation, a school and now an environmental and community center in Powhatan.  It has a dark sky with convenient parking and facilities nearby.  This location offers a great opportunity for us as an observing and public skywatch location.

More Upcoming Events

Pocahontas State Park Skywatch, June 23:  If interested please advise Jim Browder at president@richastro.org.

Staunton River Star Party, March 21-25: StauntonRiverState Park (Scottsburg/South Boston/Clarksville VA area):  For more information see http://www.chaosastro.com/starparty/.

Prashant Reddy reported that on April 10 there will be the Staunton River Star Party somewhere in SouthsideVirginia(but notStaunton,Virginia). 

New Visitor

There is one new member, Chuck DeCost, who has already paid dues.

“Asteroids:  Friend or Foe,” Betty Wilson

The program of the month was by Ken Wilson as Betty Wilson could not make it due to a cold of some sort. Ken spoke on eclipses – Chasing the Moon’s Shadow. Among the things he reported was that solar eclipses distribute like this:

35% partial

32% annular

5% annular-total

28% total

When a total eclipse happens, the temperature drops, and shadow bands may be visible – an example was shown. When such an eclipse occurs, protection is necessary, from Mylar viewers or filters, for all phases except total. Often on an eclipse cruise, the PA system of the ship will tell when it is safe to look at it without protection. Cruises are also good because a boat does not have houses, trees, hills, and the like to contend with and can sail to avoid clouds.

On average a total eclipse occurs every 375 years at a given location, and an annular eclipse every 224 years. One of the most famous eclipses occurred in -584 May 28 (May 28, 585 BC Julian); a battle between the Lydians and Medes was stopped by the sudden darkness of the Sun; afraid the Gods were angry, the two sides stopped the war; therefore, eclipses as peacemakers.

Another famous eclipse was the Einstein Eclipse of 1878 July 29. Observations of this eclipse helped verify Einstein’s special theory of relativity. Ken Wilson showed observations he made of the 2006 March 29 eclipse inAfrica.

Ken then talked about future eclipses, especially the eclipses of 2017 August 22 and the eclipse of 2024 April 8; some noted the path of totality of the latter eclipse resembles a strong cold front that frequently occurs in April and brings severe weather.

The meeting ended around 9:30 pm.

Jim Blowers for

Chris McCann, Secretary, RAS

749th Consecutive Meeting

February 14, 2012

—–

Jim Browder called our meeting to order in theEurekaroom.

Greetings - approximately 22 in attendance at the meeting.

Happy Valentine’s Day!!

Annual dues are due. $30 for a regular membership; $10 more to be an observatory operator; discount subscriptions are available to Sky & Telescope and Astronomy. You can pay by check to Jim Blowers or by PayPal at this link: http://richastro.org/raspayments.htm

If you joined our organization after July 1, 2011 your dues payment will be applied to this year.

Share Table

Prashant demonstrated the use of red lights to highlight the tripod and its legs during skywatches.  He also showed us some of his glow tape and glow sheets he has been looking for, and recently purchased.  This will also be used to mark the legs and footings of the tripods, to prevent accidental kicking of the scope.  The glow sheets had a glow life about the length of our meeting, even though they were ‘powered up’ by distant ceiling lighting, and not point blank lighting.

We got an email asking about how to build a “Barn-door tracker”.  To prove this is a valid item, John Barnett brought in a 30-year old “Barn-door tracker”.  After describing it as a “precision piece of work”, he showed us how it was manually adjusted to keep the scope aimed at the same location in the sky.  It had holes to handle sidereal rate and lunar rate.

Library Report

Virginiareported no problems with the library.  She brought in 5 books:

• Observing Comets, Asteroids, Meteor, and the Zodiacal Light
• Satellites of the Sun
• Life on Other Worlds (Ragland used to own this book)
• The Lunar Rocks
• Our Moon

Events and Individual Observing

Recent Events:

Civil Air Patrol skywatch – Considering the location, it was a surprisingly good sight and had good skies. really good skywatch; cadets were very polite; lots of questions; lot of fun.

Upcoming Events:

• Science Museum Skywatch, February 17: Please sign up if you can bring a telescope. More information is at smv.org/events.html. The RAS skywatch will start at dusk.
• Livesky is at 6pm prior to skywatch.  Topic: “Space Junk: The Earth is a Hoarder”
• Elko Middle School Science Night, March 5: If interested please advise Jim Browder at president@richastro.org.
• PocahontasState Park, June 23: If interested please advise Jim Browder at president@richastro.org.
• RAS meeting, March 13: Please join us if you can. A number of us also gather before the meeting at Arby’s across the street from the Museum about 6:00 PM
• Staunton River Star Party, March 21-25:StauntonRiverState Park(Scottsburg/South Boston/Clarksville VA area): For more information see http://www.chaosastro.com/starparty/.
• 2012 Astro Events: Be sure to read John Goss’ article on some great observing opportunities for amateur astronomers in 2012 in the Richastro Blog at richastro.org/index.php/category/blog/.

Visitors

We had 1 new visitor: Nancy Nichols, a friend of David Medici.

Short Talk:

Astroimages Hot Off the Press!,  by Tim Streagle

Tim briefly explained his process of taking photos and processing them.  There was an earlier presentation months ago explaining imagery in details.  This presentation was to show his recent successes of the photos taken from the scout camp.   His photos were quite impressive and were images of the triplet in Leo, a couple of spiral galaxies, M51, M3, and ended his photos with Comet in Hercules from January.

Major Presentation:

Science on a Sphere, by Leslie Bochenski

Leslie took the group down to the first floor to show how science and its discoveries can be displayed on a 3-dimensional globe. 

The program we saw was the “observe & inference” SOL lesson for middle/high school students.  Actually, it was called “Globular Clusters”, demonstrating the outward motion of globular clusters while looking towards the center of the Milky Way.

Afterwards, she passed the controls around and let us display each of the planets and “spin” the planets to observe all views.  It can show physical occurrences on the Earth.  For example, we can see weather, climate changes, and where earthquakes and aftershocks have occurred at any time on the Earth.  We even pulled up the recent quake that occurred in Mineral,Virginia.  It was very spectacular when we took a look at the major quakes and hundreds of aftershocks inJapana few weeks ago.  It was quite a learning experience and can be very useful to teach to any group.  I notices how several of the members were examining how 2-dimensional views were displayed on a 3-dimensional object from 4 different directions.

The SMV pamphlet explains Science on a Sphere as “Animated images of atmospheric storms, climate change and ocean temperature are shown on the sphere, illuminating sometimes complex environmental processes in a captivating way”.

—–

Reminders:

The next RAS meeting will be Tuesday, March  13th at the SMV.

The next board meeting will be Monday, February 20^st at Extra Billy’s at 7:00 PM (arrive earlier for dinner). Meeting is open to all members.

Check out the web site at http://www.richastro.org/

RAS Café Press store.  Please take a look at the online store where you can purchase items embossed with the RAS label. The site can be found at http://www.cafepress.com/RichAstroShop .

We’ve been doing this for about 15 years now, and we almost always have at least one recipient. And we had a good one this year–Sydney Mabry, of Moody Middle School, composed her project on sunspots by observing them with a telescope that she constructed herself. She was able to determine that the size of a sunspot is directly related to how long the sunspot exists.

Not only did Sydney have a good day in collecting our award, she also won the Milky Way Award . This is not an official award, but one I give out to someone in the audience if they can answer a question about a recent astronomy event. Syndey was the first one to come up with the answer, “which space agency launched the robotic supply ship to the International Space Station,” on the day before the science fair? It was the European Space Agency. Her prize? A Milky Way candy bar, of course.

President Jim Browder called the meeting to order at 7:00pm.

Attendees (11):

• Jim Browder, President
• David Medici, Vice President
• Jim Blowers, Treasurer
• Chris McCann, Secretary
• Ken Wilson
• Betty Wilson
• Prashant Reddy
• Gary Cowardin
• Dave Walton
• Bill Newman
• Tim Streagle

Secretary’s report given by Chris McCann

• August’s board meeting minutes were discussed and minutes were accepted.

Treasurer’s report given by Jim Blowers.

• Balance Summary          (as of 8/15/2011)                (as of 11/14/2011):

• General Fund:                        6314.61                               6455.39
• Observatory Fund:                   128.35                                   85.58
• TOTAL:                                 6442.96                               6540.97
• Checking Account:                1366.35                                1462.47
• Savings Account:                   2860.22                               2860.43
• Certificate of Deposit:            2216.39                               2218.07
• Pay Pal Acct:                                0.00                                      0.00
• TOTAL:                                 6442.96                                6540.97

Jim Blowers mentioned that RAS has 22 observatory members. (7 have paid dues as of morning of 11/14).

The reported totals are actually “under-balance” since 2 dues payments were received since creation of the treasurer’s report.

A motion was made to transfer money to the general fund when needed.  Motion was approved.

Treasurer’s report was accepted by the board. 

Observatory Report given by Jim Browder

• Maintenance update
• Reported that the cement based that had been coming apart has been fixed.
• The other two exterior walls have been painted.   The base, the poles, and the inside of the roof have been painted.
• A couple of roof holes have been patched.
• Remainder of painting (interior) will be completed in the Spring.
• A sapling tree that was resting on the power line has been removed.

Education Report (Jim Browder) :

• Many outreach skywatches and events have occurred and continue to be scheduled at various places.
• Our Outreach coordinator, John Raymond, continues to be working the night shift, and therefore, will not be able to work outreach events for 2012.  John needs to be removed as contact.  Most board members are expected to voluntarily fill in.
• It was recommended that at least 2 members be at each event, and have the designated person denoted on the calendar.  When planning, confirm contact information for site personnel, but do not denote on calendar.
• A suggestion was made to create an informal outreach team call list.
• A suggestion was made to ask Terry Barker to update the RAS email account and create a generic board email address for the public to use when requesting outreach events.

Library Report (made by Jim Browder)

• Virginiareported there was no change in status.  There is no issue at the Virginia Alarm Company.
• The lock on one of the cabinets needs repairing.  Can we ask RAC’s locksmith to work on it?

Other Reports:

• Heart of Virginia Star Party (November 18-20).  RAS will be providing drinks and will be a major supporter of the event.  A motion was made and accepted to allocate up to $100 for refreshments.  Admission fees will be $15 and $6 for lodging.  Wifi will be available in the field.  Expected weather for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday is clear skies and lows around 29.
• RAS has been invited by Laura Greenleaf, of the Department of Games and Inland Fisheries, to meet and discuss the possibilities for starting a dark-sky workgroup.  Ken will represent RAS this Thursday (11/16) at 5:30.
• Annual SCC report – due by the end of November.  $25 fee was paid and delivered by Jim Browder this week.
• Possibility of having an Astronomy event in April at Bellmeade, a Powhatan plantation built in 1856.
• Research needs to be done, there is a possibility of an event at ????, a Catholic convent.  It is located on the water and has a good observation area.
• Reminder that RAS is hosting VAAS 2012, scheduled for September 15, 2012.  The shelter and dining hall at the Heart of Virginia scout camp have been reserved.  Planning committee will be created after elections are done and new board has begun its duties.

Old Business:

We had a very productive discussion concerning the Asset Policy that was drawn up by Ken Wilson.  Among details that were finalized were definitions of assets to be tracked and the job description of the Asset Tracking Officer (ATO).  Dave Walton will be our ATO.  The ATO and the Board will work together to iron out any “grey areas” that occur during the beginning of this new process.  Digital photos will be taken of all equipment, and may be made available for website usage.  The ATO has the freedom for ‘callback option’ for any piece of loaned equipment.  Items cannot be checked out by members having less than 1 year of membership.  Training will be done for expensive and  “restricted items”.  Many other decisions were agreed to, too many to list in this report.  Motion was approved to accept Asset Policy, with recommended changes.  Our policy will be re-evaluated by the Board in the near future.

New Business:

• A suggestion was made to put FAQs on the RAS website.  Ken and Betty will research the idea.
• 501(c) (3) filing – no action has been done, since it is due next year,  May 15,2012.  It was brought up as a reminder.

Election of RAS Officers for 2012

Election results, elected positions, month of meeting presentation:

Tim Streagle                                                  January

Prashant Reddy                                             February

Betty Wilson                                                  March

Jim Browder                    President                April

Ken Wilson                                                     May

Dave Walton                    ATO                       June

David Medici                   Vice-President        July

Chris McCann                  Secretary                August

Jim Blowers                     Treasurer                September

Bill Newman                                                   October

Gary Cowardin                                               November

<Christmas Party>                                          December

Appointed Positions for 2012

Virginia Eckert                 Librarian

Randy Tatum                    Observatory Director

Next Board meeting will be Monday, February 20, 2012 at Extra Billy’s at 7pm.  If you want to come early for dinner, come by at 6pm.   There was a brief discussion about changing the meeting date, due to President’s Day being the same day.  Agreement was made to keep the meeting, as planned. 

• Meeting was adjourned at 8:42pm.

748th Consecutive Meeting

January 10, 2012

—–

 Jim Browder called our meeting to order in theEurekaroom.

Greetings - approximately 90 in attendance at the meeting.

 Special guests and presentation:

The meeting took a different order of events tonight, since we started off with one of our presentations, usually held for the latter part of the meeting.  Our special guests were 13 fourth grade students fromRidgeElementary SchoolinHenricoCounty.  The curriculum for their science classes allowed studies in astronomy, and had the students create projects involving planets and special astronomical items. For about 20 minutes, members moved about the many stations while these students presented their creations.  It was exciting to see the work that the fourth graders put into the projects, and the enthusiasm they had when they discussed their knowledge.  Well done!! 

Could one of our researchers be a future astronomer: Maggie Luu, Jon Lafoon, Matthew Boyle, Megan Mason, Nick Erickson, Alyssa Frankenstein, Alyssa Salmon, Will Turpin, Jospeh Shibley, Bless Jaa, Tula Jones, Emma Jordan, and Elijah Mason.

The event was an idea from the Ridge Elementary librarian, Nancy Essid, who asked if the students could present their work at 1 of our meetings.  She was accompanied by several of the teachers involved in the research: Scott Broderick, Crystal Heflebower, Homira Raonaq, and Heather Williford.  Good work!

Break  —–

 Announcements – about 27 people remained after the break.

 Annual dues are due. $30 for a regular membership; $10 more to be an observatory operator; discount subscriptions are available to Sky & Telescope and Astronomy. You can pay by check to Jim Blowers or by PayPal at this link: http://richastro.org/raspayments.htm

If you joined our organization after July 1, 2011 your dues payment will be applied to this year.

 Share Table

A 600mm Vivitar camera lens, that could resolve mountains on the moon.  May be for sale later.

StarBucks cards to get a free Astronomy app on an iPhone.

 Chris Diltz contacted us regarding a Celestron NexStar 4SE he wishes to sell, originally purchased in 2011. He advises that he has all accessories that came with it along with a plastic tote, 8 additional filters and 4 additional eyepieces including a Barlow. If you are interested, please contact Chris at cdiltzl974©yahoo.com or 804-898-2831.

 Library Report – none

 Events and Individual Observing

Recent Events:

• Individual observing

Dave Medici said that he saw about 11 Draco meteors at 7:10am one morning, while he was walking across the parking lot at the school he teaches at.

Upcoming Events:

• Science Museum Skywatch, January 20 (6:00pm): Please sign up if you can bring a telescope. More information is at smv.org/events.html. The theme of the LiveSky event will be “Jupiter —A Star that Could Have Been.” The RAS skywatch will start at dusk.

• Globe at Night, January 14-23: The GLOBE at Night program is an international citizen-science campaign to raise public awareness of the impact of light pollution by inviting citizen-scientists to measure their night sky brightness and submit their observations to a website from a computer or smart phone. More information is at www.globeatnight.org.

• February RAS meeting, February 14: Bring your sweetie to the next meeting of the Richmond Astronomical Society where he or she will see stars! Please join us if you can. A number of us also gather before the meeting at Arby’s across the street from the Museum about 6:00 PM

• 2012 Astro Events: Be sure to read John Goss’ article on some great observing opportunities for amateur astronomers in 2012 in the Richastro Blog at richastro.org!index.php/category/blog/.  John is the VicePresident of the Astronomical League, and a member of the Roanoke Astronomy club.

• Comet Levy: Early evenings in January bring us Comet Levy, a seventh magnitude fuzzy ball scooting from Aries into Eridanus. On the 15th, it lies 6° west of Jupiter. The best times to view it will be from January 15 through 25 when there is no moonlight washing out the sky.

Visitor and New Member Welcome

We had 2 visitors: Alex Wood (got a telescope for Christmas), and Melissa Wilson.

Major Presentation:

2012 Opportunities by Jim Browder, President

Jim gave a “State of the Society” talk that included thoughts about the progress of the study of Astronomy in a general sense.

We need to be constantly looking for ideas.  There is lots of interest, especially in our club, and many opportunities to enjoy our hobby and for educational outreach.  Understanding that there is a limitation on our time and resources, many of us have to pick and choose what activities we will be able to participate in.

He was very impressed with the hours that RAS has spent with Outreach in many locations, such as, SMV, AstronomyDay, Woodlake, Brandermill, Heart of Virginia Star parties,Montpelier, Scotchtown, Bryan Park, RavenCon, Powhatan, and many schools. An opportunity for RAS would be for each of these locations to have a specific individual coordinator. 

Going into 2012, we have the same opportunities, but we need to scope out more resources and possible sites for observing.  We also have the responsibility to host the 2012 VAAS meeting, planned for mid-September at the Heart of Virginia Scout Camp in Maidens.

He and a few others have participated in online broadcasts, to bring the Skywatch to those who could not make it.  There is an increased in the use of mobile devices to help display and ‘organize’ the sky. 

The opportunities for celestial imaging (both video and still) are getting easier with improved cameras, equipment, and advances in communications.  A new camera, Lytro, can change Astronomical photography forever.  It has the opportunity to take photos of an object while varying its focus on the object.  After the photos have been taken and evaluated, the best ones can be kept.

There are lots of free software and improved special software, with all levels of sophistication, that eases the process of image processing. One such software mentioned was Registax6.

There is a strong increase in the growth of Professional/Amateur Collaboration.  Many more opportunities for all levels of experiences astronomers to work together.  Some mentioned examples:

• Variable star observing in the epsilon Aurigae campaign
• Spectroscopy
• Galactical Tidal Structures (Jay Gabany is an expert in this)
• Galaxy Zoos (invites public to assist with galaxy research)
• Lunar and Asteroidal occultations (David Dunham is an excellent resource)
• Rapid Response telescope (NorfolkStateandBack Bayastronomy clubs are involved here)

There are increasing number of opportunities for Astronomers to experience, and will probably be even more as time progresses.  The world of Astronomy is growing and is strong!

—–

Reminders:

The next RAS meeting will be Tuesday, February 14th at the SMV.

The next board meeting will be Monday, February 20^st at Extra Billy’s at 7:00 PM (arrive earlier for dinner). Meeting is open to all members.

Check out the web site at http://www.richastro.org/

RAS Café Press store.  Please take a look at the online store where you can purchase items embossed with the RAS label. The site can be found at http://www.cafepress.com/RichAstroShop .