Richmond Astronomical Society
734th Consecutive Meeting
November 9, 2010
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Jim Browder called our meeting to order in the Eureka room.
Greeting & Announcements – approximately 35 in attendance at the meeting.
- Dues are due: Annual dues are $30 per year with additional options available if you want to operate the observatory or subscribe to Sky and Telescope or Astronomy magazine at a discount. Please pay by check to Jim Blowers or by PayPal on the RAS web site at http://richastro.org/ras_payments.htm.
- Name tags: Please contact Jim Blowers (treasurer@richastro.org) if you want an RAS name tag.
- Contact Jim Blowers to update your email address if it has changed.
- Check out Jey Jeyasankar’s images and video from his recent trip to Mauna Kea on the Richastro.org web site.
November’s Presentation: Rich Conti, Director and CEO of the Science Museum of Virginia, spoke on the future direction of the Science Museum.
Break – –
Election of 2011 Board of Directors
The nominees for the 2011 RAS Board of Directors were elected:
John Barnett, Jim Blowers, Jim Browder, Gary Cowardin, Chris McCann, David Medici, Jeff Pike, Cal Pletcher, Prashant Reddy, Dave Walton, Betty Wilson, Ken Wilson.
Share table:
- Several members had photos on display.
Past Events:
- Science Museum skywatch / outreach events : successful; Outreach events are being scheduled and are on our RAS calendar. (See upcoming events.)
- Science Museum skywatch / outreach events
- East Coast Star Party and Fall Star Party at Camp and individual observing
Upcoming Events:
- Brandermill Skywatch, November 12, 6:30 PM, at Swift Creek Middle School, 3700 Old Hundred Road South, Midlothian, VA. Please contact John Raymond at raymond7419@verizon.net if you can bring a scope.
(http://www.brandermill.com/?id=4812) - Five Forks Skywatch, November 13, Skywatch at the Five Forks Visitor Center of Petersburg National Battlefield. Please contact John Raymond at raymond7419@verizon.net if you can bring a scope.
(http://www.nps.gov/pete/planyourvisit/directions.htm) - RAS Board of Directors meeting on November 15, 7:00 PM, at Extra Billy’s restaurant, 5205 West Broad Street. Please arrive earlier if you plant to eat dinner with us. Current and new board members are invited to attend. Board meetings are open to all members as well. Election of officers for 2011 will be held at this meeting.
- Bryan Park Skywatch, November 17, 7:00 PM on the soccer fields at Bryan Park. Please contact John Raymond at raymond7419@verizon.net if you can bring a scope.
(http://friendsofbryanpark.org/events/bryan-park-events-calendar/) - Science Museum Skywatch / LiveSky show, November 19, LiveSky at 6:00 PM.
(http://smv.org/astronomy.html) - Scotchtown Skywatch, November 19, 5:00 PM, 16120 Chiswell Lane, Beaverdam, VA 23015. Please contact John Raymond at raymond7419@verizon.net if you can bring a scope.
(http://www.apva.org/scotchtown/calendar/)
Observatory Report :
Randy Tatum will be our acting Observatory Director while John Barnett is ill.
Library Report: none
Short talk – ”Mid-Atlantic Star Party” by John Raymond
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Reminders:
The next RAS meeting will be Tuesday, December 14th at the SMV. This is the annual ‘eating’ party. Please bring a dish for all to enjoy.
The next board meeting will be Monday, November 15th 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/
Virginia Skylines: Be sure to check out the latest version of Virginia Skylines on our web site. Virginia Skylines is a weekly podcast written by Leslie Bochenski, astronomy educator with the Science Museum and Thomas Jefferson High School.
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 .