The Celestial Observer
Newsletter of the
Amateur Astronomy Club
May,
2007
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From the President
Late Fee: We did not
discuss the late fee to any extent. I asked the members present if anyone would
like to comment in favor of keeping the late fee. Nobody responded. Assuming we
have a quorum at the May meeting we will discuss the issue and vote on whether
the club would like to keep it in effect or eliminate it. If we eliminate it
members who have paid the late fee in 2007 will have an option of donating the
$5.00 to the club or requesting a refund.
Re-scheduling
of Business
Meetings: The board should have foreseen earlier that the April
meeting was falling on Good Friday and discussed the re-scheduling sooner than
three days before the meeting. I have looked ahead at the remainder of 2007.
The only other conflict I foresee is the October meeting falling on Columbus
Day weekend. Please note that the
October meeting has been moved from October 5th to October 12th.
Young
Astronomer Program: (see Post-YAP Report elsewhere) By the time you
read this the 2007 program will be history. We have gone over our budget of
$1,400.00 with the purchase of one hundred glow-in-the-dark sky charts by
Waterford Press. We wanted to make sure that every child attending received
something. These charts will make great give-a-ways and I’m sure they will all
be used even if the YAP program does not continue in future years. Currently we
have spent $267.55 over the budgeted amount. Don’t worry,
the board did not spend club monies without your approval. I paid for the
charts myself and will ask for your approval to reimburse me for this expense
at the May meeting. If the 2007 YAP program is deemed successful we will
attempt to fund this program via corporate grants in the future.
Land Fund: The board has
concluded that the land fund can be used for “…the purchase or lease, and
required improvements and/or maintenance of, property to be used by the
membership of the NSAAC for observing and any relevant and/or other activities
deemed appropriate by the members…” Other board members and I will soon answer an
invitation to meet with park officials from
List
Server: The recent chatter on the list server over the late
fee and the re-scheduled meeting prompted some members to complain about
receiving so much email which was not of interest to them. One member dropped
off the list server because of this chatter which made me feel bad because I
had caused it. I do believe that for every one person who complains about
something, there are several others who feel the same but remain silent. The
ATMoB club has two list servers; one for announcements and one for discussions.
If an ATMoB email recipient hits REPLY to an announcement, the reply goes to
the original sender only. If the recipient hits REPLY to a discussion post, it
goes to the entire list. On our list server, when one hits
REPLY it goes to the entire list.
Having two list servers is not hard to initiate, but
it makes for more administrative work to maintain. After discussing this issue
at the April meeting members thought the best thing might be to keep our one
list server, but to have the REPLY go to the originator instead of the entire
list. Obviously there are pros and cons to both methods. This topic will remain
on the meeting agenda so that more members can opine before we decide.
Star Party
Coordinator: Jim Foy will be resigning from this very important NSAAC
position come July. We discussed having
a Star Party Committee which would have one person as the main coordinator, and
at least two others who were willing and able to do the presentations when the
main coordinator was not able. I might consider being the main coordinator of a
Star Party Committee that had at least two other backups. I would, however,
have to remove some of my other NSAAC obligations in order to do this. It is
beginning to sink into my brain that if one spreads oneself too thin that the
quality of their work is diminished.
Membership
Renewals: As of April 13th there remained forty
members who have not yet paid their 2007 dues. Soon I will do the annual
email/snail mail appeal to these members. This usually results in some
renewals. Following that, unpaid members will receive a notice that their
membership privileges will soon be revoked. This usually also results in some
renewals. If you intend to renew your NSAAC membership, please do so now and
spare your overburdened
President some precious time.
Starport
Party In May: Barrie Sawyer and I are planning a star party at
Kevin Ackert
President
NSAAC Welcomes Our New Member:
Patricia Merchant of Everett, MA
Minutes of the NSAAC Business Meeting,
President Ackert called the April Business
Meeting of the NSAAC to order at 8:10 PM. There were no new members or guest
present. There were 8 members present plus 2 Board members. There was an official quorum.
Secretary: The minutes of the March
business meeting were accepted by acclamation.
Treasurer:
Treasurer is recuperating from surgery and
sent an e-mail report to the President.
We have had about 21 renewals come in since the March meeting. The finances are in good order. The Board is waiting for the FY 2006 Annual
Report from the treasurer.
Membership:
There has been one new member since the last
Business Meeting. Patricia
Merchant of
Early Meeting Announcements:
President Ackert showed the glow-in- the-dark sky charts that will be
given out to all participants at the YAP program.
Committee Reports:
Merrimack College:
The observatory was opened one day last month with 12 visitors. The scope is consistently off on every
target.
Salem State:
Dennis Gudzevich reported poor weather and other circumstances resulted
in no viewing last month. Dick Collins
and his son have made contact with Dennis Gudzevich.
Entertainment Report:
Alan Peters will do a future Constellation
Conversation. Dave Fournier will be doing a scope review in the spring. See the newsletter later this month for the
May meeting entertainment.
Star Parties:
The star party at the Sanborn School, Andover MA on March 21 was given
to a smaller group of 4th graders this year. There is an April 25 ATMoB star party and Jim
Foy will post an announcement about this on the list server.
Young Astronomers Program:
The YAP program will start at 2PM on April 21, 2007 in conjunction with
Astronomy Day at Merrimack College. We
have purchased the 4 six-inch telescopes and 10 pairs of binoculars. We have 17 Bino booklets, 15 planispheres,
and 10 astro bookmarks. We have
purchased 100 night sky brochures that glow in the dark. We have gone over our
budget with the purchase of these Waterford Press brochures and will ask the
members for more money. An artificial star will be used for sighting in the
scopes at the YAP.
News, Correspondence and Upcoming Activities:
Bob Blackburn wants some advice on purchasing
a scope.
Cheryl Sheppard purchased a scope for their 5
and 7 year olds and wanted some club information.
Kirsten Perras from the
Mario Matto (ATMoB) has persuaded the
Gloucester City Council to adopt a light pollution ordinance.
Jim Foy will host an Astrophotography
workshop to be held at VMP at 7:30PM on Friday, April 27. Sign up online with Jim (jefoy at comcast.net )
Barrie Sawyer is planning a star party for
club members at Starport the weekend of the new moon in May.
Old Business:
The Club will participate in the
star party at IRWS for the public on Astronomy Day.
We would like to have an additional person
trained on the Merrimack telescope for back up situations. See Kevin or one of the observatory operators
if interested in such a position.
Ron Sampson has sent a letter and a proposal
to the owners of Long Hill Farm regarding using their site for observing. We have not heard back form them.
Member John Tulik has made contact with the
officials at Bradley Palmer State Park and they would like to meet with President
Ackert to discuss using the park as an observing venue.
Since the upcoming departure of Star Party
Coordinator, we need a volunteer to head up this activity.
All the club material has been now placed
under lock and key in the attic of Kevin’s rental property garage.
New Business:
New business topics will be discussed in the months ahead.
The late Fee was discussed and an announcement will be posted in the newsletter about what the board recommends be done. It will be discussed at the May meeting and a possible vote on an action will be taken. Any past member who paid a late fee this year may request a refund or donate it to the club.
The purchase of the hats that was approved over a year ago was put on hold pending a search for a new logo. No logos have been submitted until just recently and so this will be discussed at the May business meeting.
There was discussion of having two list servers for the club due to all of the posts concerning the late fee. For the time being we will keep just one server at this time and possibly set it up to respond only to the poster. If the poster wants to post to the whole group then the poster would have to change the reply to all. This will be discussed more before a decision is made.
Jim Foy is resigning as Star Party Coordinator and we need either an individual or a committee to replace him. He will continue to help as long as he can.
The Board has reviewed the Land Fund and its uses. The purpose of the Land Fund is to earmark monies for the purchase or lease, and the required improvements and/or maintenance of, property to be used by the membership of the NSAAC for observing and any relevant and/or other activities deemed appropriate by the members of the NSAAC and its Board of Directors. This will be discussed at the Board meeting and at the upcoming business meetings.
The entertainment for the evening was a Constellation Conversation on Canis Major given by Jim Koerth.
Board Meeting will be Tuesday April 24h at 8:00 PM at VMP.
Meeting adjourned at
Respectively submitted,
John Hobbs, Secretary NSAAC
by
To Goto or
Not to Goto…
I am a bit of a traditionalist. I
have always hunted for my deep objects with the mantra; "Real astronomers
push their scopes". However, I once was observing with two friends who had
guiding computers. While I spent a long time hunting NGC7331, they had found
it, then Stephen's Quintet and had moved on to several other objects. I chalked
it up to having a bad night, but it did get me to thinking. There are two
arguments against using electronics. First, they often misbehave. But, the
quality of most guiding computers is improving. I used the club LX200 in Costa
Rica. It worked well, often centering the target in my high power eyepiece.
Yes, a couple of times the computer lost its way, but overall, it performed
quite well. Second, if you use a computer, you will not learn the sky. Well, I
had trouble identifying Vela, so I used the scope to zero in on a cluster near
one of its bright stars. After that, finding the rest of the constellation was
relatively easy. One neat feature of a guiding computer is the information you
can call up about the object you have in the eyepiece. So, I'm planning to hook
up a computer to Godzilla which should help to identify all those faint fuzzies
that keep crowding the field of view.
Post YAP Report
Last year’s event was both a success, and a failure.
This year’s
event was also both a success and a failure. The successes were that we placed
equipment into the hands of kids who really wanted it. The failures were the
ratio of the number of kids to the amount of work we did. The concept is a
good; Place equipment into the hands of kids that genuinely want it. The
problem is the event itself. I have some ideas for the future of the
2007
Dues Now Past Due
Dues for 2007 were due at the March business meeting. If you have not yet paid your dues please send a check for $20.00 as soon as possible.
Star Party for NSAAC Members May 18
& 19
Barrie
Sawyer will be hosting a Star Party at Starport for NSAAC members and their
friends and family on the weekend of May 18 & 19. Starport (for those who
don’t know) is Barrie’s mountaintop residence in Groton, NH (12 miles from
Plymouth, NH). There is a very large cleared field with a road with a paved
area. The dark skies are there are some of the best in New England.
Accommodations include a house with several bedrooms and beds, a couch, lots of floor space, a garage with floor space, a pop-up camper that sleeps four, and plenty of room to pitch a tent. There are also some motels a few miles away. The house will be available all night for bathrooms and breaks from observing. Accommodations will be on a first come, first serve basis. At this time we have about ten people who are expected.
Godzilla,
the monster 36-inch Dobsonian, will be there seeking out galaxy clusters
millions of light years away. You are welcome to bring any instrument of your
own, or just come along and mooch views from someone else! Please contact Kevin
Ackert at president at nsaac.org for
more information.
NSAAC
Annual Picnic
Returning
to an old club tradition of having it at a member’s home, the 2007 Annual Club
Picnic will be held a Kevin Ackert’s house in Billerica on Saturday, July 28.
Members always joke about seeing each other in daylight at the picnics. At this
year’s picnic you’ll really get an eyeful because it will also be a pool party!
I’m announcing it now because the picnic is usually in August or September and
there are only a few newsletters before then. Mark the date!
Entertainment for May
If you haven’t had the opportunity to check out any of the much talked about William Optics Inc. optical instruments, you’ll have a chance at the NSAAC May Business meeting. Just in case you have had the opportunity to check them out, all the better--Dave Fournier says he will not mind your help with information pertaining to the technical aspects of the optics! Dave will be doing a Show and Tell of the William Optics Zenithstar 110mm TMB APO refractor and the EZ-Touch Mount. Dave purchased this scope and mount for portability, simple set-up and strictly visual observing. He’s not much of an optically technical person but he was attracted to this optical system because of many favorable reviews, an affordable package and, the optical tube is gloss black with gold trim and really looks great! He added that, even with the poor seeing conditions for much of the time he has owned the ZS 110, he has had some truly rewarding observing sessions with it. Although, now he realizes he needs to purchase new eyepieces to match the scopes 770mm focal length!
If you have a suggestion for an entertainment idea please submit it to us with no obligation to do it yourself.
Help Wanted
Below is a list of positions which need to be filled in our club. Please consider volunteering for one of these positions if you have the means. Please contact any Board member with questions about these positions.
Long Term Positions
Merrimack College Observatory: We currently have a staff of four which is the
minimum. We need a fifth person to open on “Blue Wednesdays” and to fill in
when needed. Operating this observatory with its twenty inch R/C is a rewarding
experience.
Star Party Committee: We need a Star Party Coordinator and at least two
people on a three person committee who are able and willing to do the
presentation aspect of our star parties. The committee members would fill in
for each other or alternate as needed. The coordinator will be the contact for
organizing and scheduling the star parties.
Short Term Positions
Star Party Season is upon us. Please watch for announcements from our
Star Party coordinator for these events. This is a great way to support your
club in a fun and easy way, and with a very short commitment! These star
parties for local area schools are an important aspect of our club’s commitment
to the public
Getting to Veasey Memorial Park
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 Jim Koerth, Membership Director, email: membership at nsaac.org or contact Kevin Ackert, President, e-mail at president at 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 at nsaac.org.