The Celestial Observer
Newsletter of the North Shore
Amateur Astronomy Club
November,
2005
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From the President
I
want to thank all those members who endured a miserably rainy evening on
October 14th to attend the business meeting. I was worried that the
horrible weather would once again prevent us from having a quorum, and that the
Young Astronomer Program would not be voted upon for another month, but fifteen
members (a quorum is eleven) unanimously approved it. Members also approved
making the Young Astronomer Program an ongoing yearly event, which will enable
the Board to make purchases for the program (up to $150.00) without needing
approval from the membership.
I’m
really excited about this program and judging from comments I’ve received, so
are many of our members! After the elimination of the SHARE program, we needed
something to work on to fulfill our mission of promoting astronomy to the
public. The Equipment Enhancement program with loaner scopes for the public to
use was a good idea, but is hard to implement and would not affect nearly as
many people. The idea that some child participating in our yearly program could
be so inspired as to pursue a career in astronomy, and possibly make history
some day, is extremely gratifying!
The
Board will be working on details of the program and will report at the November
4th meeting. As of now we are considering: advertising it to the
public during November; having the program on the first or second Saturday in
December; and limiting it to forty kids aged 12 to 16. First prize will be a 6
inch DOB and second prize will be a pair of 10 X 50 binoculars. There will be
24 third prizes of 10 inch planispheres and binocular observing booklets, and
some sort of consolation prize for the remaining participants, possible a 6
inch planisphere. Members who are interested in participating in the planning
and implementation of the program should contact me and request to be placed on
the email alias list youngastro@nsaac.org.
The
November 4th business meeting will be followed by a Mars GO-ON
event, weather permitting. With a little luck, this could prove to be on the
most memorable observing event of the year, so do plan on attending! It will be
an excellent chance to observe this great planet via many different telescopes.
In addition to good weather at Veasey Park, we also need to keep our fingers
crossed for good Martian weather as a dust storm was brewing at the time of
this writing!
Clear
skies,
Kevin Ackert
President
NSAAC Welcomes Our New Members:
Chuck Allen of Haverhill
Phil Moskowitz of Georgetown
Scott A. Mortimer of Newburyport
Crystal Condakes of Beverly Farms
Brian Wells of Haverhill
Richard Filosi of Reading
John D'Aoust of Haverhill
Jill Haber of Raymond, NH
Barrie Sawyer,
Membership Coordinator
Votes at November Meeting
Membership
will also be asked to vote at the November Business Meeting on the two items
below:
Mid-Year IDA Contribution
The
International Dark Sky Association (IDA) has requested a mid-year donation. We
have a Club Membership which costs us $100.00 per year. The Board discussed
this at the last meeting and agreed upon a $50.00 mid-year donation. Members at
the October meeting approved this in a non-binding vote. Members will be asked to
officially approve this expense at the November meeting.
Members Awards Program
Members will be asked to
vote on a Members Awards Program at the November Business meeting. The Board
would like to implement a program which gives awards to members who do extraordinary
work for the benefit of our club. The parameters of the proposed program are
outlined below:
- Awards will be limited to two per fiscal year
and to a value of $50.00 each.
Most likely they will be gift certificates to a local restaurant.
- The Board of Directors will decide when and to
whom awards are given.
- Members of the Board will be excluded from being
award recipients.
Help Wanted
Below is a list of positions which need to be filled in our club. They are listed in order of their need. Please consider volunteering for one of these positions if you have the means. Please contact any Board member with questions about these positions.
Young Astronomer Program Volunteers: Volunteers are needed to help with the Young
Astronomer Program which is scheduled to be held on either the first or second
Saturday in December.
Merrimack Observatory Staff: We currently have three volunteers to fulfill four
Wednesdays each month. We need one monthly volunteer for one of the Wednesday
positions. The current staff is flexible in that we can switch the assigned
weeks to accommodate. A backup staff person is also needed. The backup host
would staff the observatory on these “Fifth Blue Wednesdays” and may also be
called upon to substitute for one of the regular staff when they can not
fulfill their evening.
Equipment Manager: This person would be in charge of managing the
storage and usage of the clubs astronomy equipment. At this time, the position
would require almost no effort as we really have little equipment which hardly
ever gets used. The duties will
increase if we ever acquire a suitable “clubhouse” or storage facility and the
amount of equipment we own increases.
Star Party Helpers: As we enter the Star Party season, please monitor dates, locations, and
telescope needs of the various star parties and help out whenever you can..
Minutes of the NSAAC Business
Meeting:
October 14, 2005
President Ackert called the October Business Meeting of the NSAAC to order at 8:20PM. President Ackert called for introduction of new members: Chuck Allen and John D’Aoust. There were 15 members in attendance plus 5 Board members. There was an official quorum.
Committee Reports:
Secretary: The minutes of the June business were accepted by acclamation.
Treasurer: Checking account balance is $9292.87 and the land fund account balance is $7954.56. Treasurer’s report was accepted by acclamation. IDA has requested a midyear donation and the board recommends a $50.00 donation. A notice about this donation will be placed in the newsletter and a vote on this motion will be taken at the November business meeting.
Membership: There were 5 new members since August.
Merrimack College: The 20 inch telescope optical tube is back at Merrimack and is performing better than ever. The status of observing at Merrimack College has been added to our web page so that we can give up-to-date information on the observing conditions at the observatory. Merrimack will also add this to the observatory web page.
Salem State: The Observatory has opened for the winter. The official public observing night has been changed to Wednesday nights for the rest of the year.
Go-On Committee: John Boudreau and Jim Foy’s CCD Imaging GO-ON will be rescheduled for a later date. John Hobbs will present digital setting circles GO-ON at a date to be determined. A Mars GO-ON is being planned for the November business meeting.
Star Parties: There will be a star party on November 4 at Castle Hill for the Trustees of the Reservations. On January 5 there will be a star party at the Proctor School in Topsfield. See the newsletter for particulars and directions.
High-Rock Tower Observatory: The city of Lynn is not interested in engaging the club’s assistance in running a program there. This topic will not be discussed in the future.
Upcoming Events:
Bird Seed day is November 5 at IRWS.
The NSAAC picnic is re-scheduled
for Saturday the 15th of October and we can have it indoors at
Veasey in case of the rain. [Obviously, this no longer applies… -ed.]
Barrie Sawyer is putting in an addition to Starport. Members are invited to come and observe at anytime; please call Barrie if you plan to use Starport. There is now a paved circle for the observing area.
Old Business:
Equipment Enhancement Program- The club needs suggestions for this program. We need to have different types of instruments available. We will also want to have a permanent equipment manager.
VMP clubhouse- There has been no contact from VMP for work on the cottage.
There has not been any input on the development of a new logo-no.
New Business:
The board would like to have a Young Astronomers Program this year and we would like to purchase a 6” Stargazer Dobsonian telescope for the first prize from the Astronomy Shoppe for $99.00 as a special with Tony Costanzo donating the rest of the cost. A second place prize would be a pair of Celestron 10x50 binoculars and a book on binocular observing. Other participants would receive a planisphere and a small token such as a paper planisphere, astronomical key-chain, or other memento. A motion was made to spend up to $600 to purchase the Dobsonian, the binoculars, planispheres, and mementos for the young astronomers program. Motion carried.
The Board would like to make the Young Astronomers Program an annual program and doing so would allow the board to annually purchase telescopes for up to $150.00 without requiring a vote by the membership. Barrie Sawyer made a motion to make the Young Astronomer Program an annual program and allow the board to spend up to $150 each year for this program. Motion carried.
The Treasurer has instituted a new policy that there will be a Late Charge Assessment of $5.00 added to any membership renewal which is received later than the date of the March business meeting. Late renewals that do not include the $5.00 penalty payment will be returned to the member and must be resubmitted with the correct payment. Lateness will be based on the postmark date of mailed renewals or the hand delivery date to the Treasurer or another NSAAC Officer.
There
will be a grace period of one month (through the April Business Meeting) for
maintaining membership privileges (voting, member discounts, etc.) and two
months (through the May Business Meeting) for List-Server inclusion for members
who fail to renew their membership on time.
A
$5 voluntary contribution will be requested from each renewing member who
requests mailed hard copy of the Celestial Observer but who has internet access
to the online version. This
contribution will be used to defray the printing and mailing costs.
The President would like to establish an award for service to the club. This would be some sort of award such as a certificate for a dinner or an astronomy item of value up to a certain limit to be decided. This will be posted in the newsletter and discussed and voted on at the November business meeting.
The club needs volunteers for several positions. These positions are detailed in a separate item of the newsletter.
There is a blackout day scheduled for IRWS on October 29th. Members will not be able to observe on this date.
Board Meeting has been set for October 25th at 8:00PM at VMP.
Meeting adjourned at 9:30 PM
Respectively submitted,
John Hobbs, Secretary NSAAC
Getting to Veasey
Memorial Park
From Interstate 95 north, take the Route 133 west (54B) exit, and follow it into Georgetown Center. Go straight through the light, now on Route 97N. Go about 1.5 miles and take a left onto Salem Street (Tea Garden Restaurant at this intersection). Stay on Salem Street and turn left onto Washington Street. VMP is down a bit on the right.
Directions to all of the NSAAC observing sites are available on our web site's “About” page at:
http://www.nsaac.org/about.htm
Contact Information
For more information about the club and its activities, contact Barrie Sawyer, Membership Director, email: membership@nsaac.org or contact Kevin Ackert, President, e-mail at president@nsaac.org. If you have no email access, you may phone Kevin Ackert at (978) 663-5305
Our club web site is: http://www.nsaac.org.
The Celestial Observer is edited by Leor Zolman. Feedback, and member contributions are welcome. Contact: newsletter@nsaac.org.
Suggestions regarding the content of the NSAAC web site are also welcome; Mike Deneen and I (Leor Zolman) are co-webmasters. Suggestions for the Resources (or any other) page? Just email webmaster@nsaac.org with your ideas.