September Meeting Minutes

RichmondAstronomical Society

744th Consecutive Meeting

September 13, 2011

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Jim Browder called our meeting to order in theEurekaroom.

 

Greeting & Announcements – approximately 27 in attendance at the meeting.

Please check the link to our RAS blog: http://richastro.org/index.php/category/blog/

 

The procedure for the election of the Board members for 2012 was discussed.  David Medici was introduced as the committee chair, with Betty Wilson and Chris McCann among the committee members.  Nominees will be introduced at the October meeting.  Nominations from the floor and the elections will be done in November.

 

Share table:

There were several items on display.  A National Radio magazine was available to be looked at.  Phil had found a story about an 1859 Sunspot storm that caused burned hands for some people on Earth.  Another story was on display where 15 Super Earth planets had been found. 

 

Library Report was given byVirginia.  All is good at the library.  She brought in a set of books, including “Galileo”,, “Choices of Catastrophes”, “Stars or Galaxies”, an old book from 1954 “Our Moon”, and an old book from 1949 “Mars”.

 

Observatory Report:  Physical updates are being done to the observatory.  John Barnette is looking for anyone who is interested in receiving training.

 

Past Events:

Science Museum Skywatch for August was clouded out.  Discussion was made into a process to announce the cancellation to members and the public.  Presently, the RAS website is updated, but there is no sign at the Skywatch site (even though there are no telescopes nor astronomers present).  Thanks to those who came by just in case it happened.

Dark Skies Bright Kids Skywatch:  Tim and Jim Browder attended it atCharlottesville.  There were many people, of all ages, who turned out for it.

Individual observing: Prashant, Alan, and Ray were among those to discusse their observations when they had clear skies and a few minutes to spend.

 

 

Upcoming Events:

SMV Skywatch : Friday, September 16

 

  • RAS Fall Picnic, September17, 5:30 PM: The RAS fall picnic will be held at the Heart of Virginia Scout Reservation in Goochland. The Scout Reservation is an excellent location with convenient picnic facilities, restrooms, electricity and, lest we forget, a nice dark sky. Directions to the camp are available at: http://bradysaunders.net/camp/direct.html. Once you enter the reservation, turn right into the Cub Adventure Camp, drive about 0.1 mile and the picnic shelter will be on your right.

 

  • Skywatch at Scotchtown, September 16, starting at dusk: Please contact John Raymond at raymond7419verizon.net if you can bring a telescope to this event.

 

  • Skywatch at City Point, Petersburg National Battlefield, September 23: please contact John Raymond at raymond l419@verizon.net if you can bring a telescope to this event.

 

  • Observing session for RAS members and friends, September 24: Heart of Virginia Scout Reservation in Goochland.

 

  • East Coast Video Astronomy Rendezvous, September 26 — October 2: Star Party atLuray,Virginiafocused on video astronomy. More information at http://www.ecvarstarparty.com.

 

  • Delmarva No-Frills Star Party, Sep 29 — Oct 2: http://delmarvastargazers.org/.

 

  • Virginia Association of Astronomical Societies, October 1: Hosted by the Back Bay Astronomers atTidewaterCommunity College; http://www.backbayastro.org/vaas/vaas.shtml.

 

  • Mid Atlantic Star Party October 24-30: Star Party near RobbinsNC; http://masp.us

 

  • East Coast Star Party, Coinjock, NCOct 21-23 Contact Kent Blackwell for more information at kent@exis.net.

 

 

Visitor and New Member Welcome, Chris McCann

 

Talk: “Meade Lunar and Planetary Imager,” Ken Wilson

      <to be updated>

 

Break

 

“Astronomical Software,” Dave Walton

      <to be updated>

 

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Reminders:

The next RAS meeting will be Tuesday, October 11th at the SMV.

The next board meeting will be Monday, November 21 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 theScienceMuseum andThomasJeffersonHigh 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 .