The Celestial Observer April, 1999

What a Party! Those of you who missed the Tenth Anniversary party on March 13th better hope that you are around for the 20th Anniversary. It promises to be twice as good. Ilane Walberg and her merry crew (well, mostly merry) toiled long and hard that weekend to pull the event together. About 40 club members, spouses, offspring ( they're too big to be called children ) and former club members showed up for food, festivities and remembrances. Member longest separated from us award went to Rich Hodge, who served as Treasurer during the early years, when there far fewer zeros after the treasury balance than there are presently. And other members who I don't remember ever seeing in the light made appearances.

In addition to good company we were regaled with the obligatory stifling speech of the President, and much heckling during same. Music of suitable fare was provided by a DJ, and in a special treat, Dennis Gudzevich and Ilane Walberg - founding members - gave the club a commemorative plaque marking the 10th birthday. Come to the April meeting to see this very nice addition to our collection.

Food was a highlight. Lots of food. Chef extraordinare Max Schenck spent a good 14 hours in the kitchen on the day of the event making and then serving the meal. Appetizers, a main course of either vegetarian or carnivore lasgna ( hey - it had meat in it ) sausages, meatballs, salad, coffee and a spectacular cake kept all well filled. We had plenty left over, which was donated to a homeless shelter in Haverhill where I'm sure it went to good use.

I can't say enough about the work Ilane and her crew undertook. Decorations, food and set up were handled with aplomb by Ilane's spouse John Peal, Dennis Gudzevich and family, Dave Fournier, Linda Pearce and Max Schenk. I know I've let some people off the list: please accept my apologies.

Clear Skies!

John Gall
President

Salem State College

A work weekend will becoming up in the near future. Stay tuned for details, and contact Ric Shanahan if you'd care to get involved.

VMP

We have two events coming up in the future - a star party on April 24th, and a workday on May 8th. Both events are ways for us to contribute "sweat equity" to this wonderful property

SHARE As one year has gone by since the idea of the SHARE Program was first developed, 1999 Proposal packages have been prepared. The first package was delivered by Ric Shanahan to the Lynn G.E. Employees Good Neighbor Fund on Monday, March 29th for their review. Additional packages will be forwarded to each of last year's corporate donors at an interval of about ten months from the date we received their 1998 Grant contribution. Materials have also been obtained for several additional Grant opportunities, which we plan to pursue vigorously.

This year we hope to be awarded sufficient funds to procure a video projection system, a laptop computer, and an additional rack mount case. If we are as fortunate as we were last year we would also like to obtain a Collins ElectroOptics I3 eyepiece (image intensifier). These items are in addition to maintaining the insurance policy on the equipment.

If you are interested in making a serious commitment to working with the SHARE Program, i.e. learning how to set up and operate the system, please contact Rob Nelson either by phone (work) 978-374-3527 or email Rnelson807@aol.com

Club Goods/Assets

The new blue Tee's are in sizes L, XL, and XXL @ $10.00 each. Quantity discounts are available for 2 or more purchased at the same time. See Dennis Gudzevich for them, as well as mugs and other items.

Dues Due

If you haven't paid your membership dues for this year, this will be your last copy of the Celestial Observer. Due remain only $18 per year. Please remit them to Chris McCarthy as soon as possible.

Road Trips

Several are in the offing. The first comes on the weekend of April 16, when we'll head off to a dark sky site for observing. Our travel options include Evans Notch, or Stinson Lake in NH, or perhaps a campsite in western Massachusetts. Snow cover will have much to do with our plans.

The second is the weekend of May 1. STARCONN, the annual daylong meeting of the Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford will take place at Weslyan College in Middletown, CT. This is usually a pretty good event, with a suite of great speakers, a nice dinner and door prizes. There are some vendors present, but not usually in great numbers. See John Gall or Dennis Gudzevich if you care to attend. Plan on a long day - generally from 6 am to midnight.

Finally, the truly hardy will be making a trip to the NorthEast Astronomy forum in Sufferyn, NY the weekend of May 15th. This is a longish trip, but reported to be well worth the effort.

Business Meeting Minutes from the Meeting of March 5, 1999.

The meeting was called to order at 8 pm, John Gall presiding. We had several new members and guests present including John Cogan, Tom Boutureira, Dave Goulet and Don Dagneault. Welcome all.

The meeting minutes of the February meeting were accepted with corrections as published in the Celestial Observer. The Treasurer's Report was accepted.

Ric Shanahan reported that all was going well at Salem State, and that a work party was in the offing. He reports one confirmed Seibel Sighting. Greg Pearce reported that even though it rained, there was a session at Merrimack in February. Out of town visitors were treated to a private tour of the observatory !

Ralph Pass reported that there has been a change in management at MediaOne, and that their commitment to produce the cable television show with us is on hold. We are welcome to use their facilities, but we'll need to wait on professional production assistance.

Ilane Walberg discussed the logistics for the Anniversary Party and implored members to join in with the work, and to attend the meeting.

Dave Fournier reminded us that we are well into work for Astronomy Day, which will be held on May 22. We will be sponsoring events at several locations and can use assistance. Please see Dave at the next meeting.

The possibility of bulk purchases of the Observer's Guide was discussed. Several members had copies with them for others to review.

Elections of Officers for the forthcoming year were held, with the slate of the nominating committee elected by acclimation. The officers are:

President	John Gall
Vice President	Dave Fournier
Secretary	Barrie Sawyer
Treasurer	Chris McCarthy
Membership
 Director	Dave Thomas

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 9:00 pm.

John Gall, Acting Secretary

Project Astro Volunteers Needed

In this first year of Boston's Project Astro program, 25 teacher/astronomer partnerships have been working to increase science understanding by using astronomy as subject matter. Project Astro seeks to support science education at the 4-9 grade level by linking up astronomers (both professional and amateur) with teachers.

Twenty-five NEW astronomer volunteers are needed to expand the program for the next school year. A 2-day summer training course and free materials (including use of a STARLAB planetarium) are provided. This is a great opportunity to make an impact on science education beyond the short few minutes that a student looks through your telescope at a star party.

I will be making a short presentation at the April meeting. Those that can not attend can find out more by visiting the local Project Astro web site:

http://hea-www.harvard.edu/astro/index.html

Project Astro is sponsored nationally by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (http://www.apsky.org), and funded by the National Science Foundation and NASA. To join, or for more information, contact the Boston area coordinator Cathy Clemens at cclemens@cfa.harvard.ed or 617 496-7867, or contact me at bwl@jovian.com or 781 937-6300 x312.

Brewster LaMacchia

Directions to the NSAAC Observing Site

The NSAAC meets regularly on clear Friday nights in Groveland, MA at Veasey Memorial Park, 201 Washington Street. Observing begins around dusk throughout the year. If the sky is only marginally clear, members may not be present to observe on that night. Monthly business meetings are held on the first night Friday of the month at 8:00 p.m.

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 a short distance down on the right

For more information about the club and its activities, call Dave Thomas, Membership Director at 978-388-2341 or contact John Gall, President, e-mail at M104@aol.com. Better yet, visit our Web Site at

http://www.nsaac.org.

Please support those who support us.

Star.net is our internet service provider, please look them up if you need internet service. Also, Brewster LaMacchia's company Jovian Systems is now hosting our internet e-mail service. We're not sure what Jovian system does, but Brewster says if you send him money, that's ok.

Additionally, the Phoenix Press in Groveland provides printing services for our monthly newsletter. Please consider them for any printing needs you may have.

Lastly, we'd like to make special note of those people who have made generous contributions in support of the SHARE program, including Lucent Technologies and that inestimable gentleman, Harry Chase at F. C. Meichsner Co, in Boston. If you need to equip a telephone company see Lucent. If you need a telescope, see Harry.

The Survey Says …

In the membership notices sent this year we included a survey of interests and preferences. So far about 35 members have returned the survey - which represents about a 50 % return. My experiences with mail-in surveys says this is pretty good.

So, what does the survey reveal? Well, collectively you are a pretty gregarious group, enjoying the company of other amateurs. You are also …ahhhh …. errr…frugal. Magazine and book discounts were some of you favorite things.

I was surprised by how much people valued the business meetings, and especially the programs associated with the business meetings. This really gives us something to work on. I especially appreciated the comments on suggested topics for business meeting programs. Bob Donahue - we'll be in contact soon !

Trips to Dark sky sites were important to many people as were road trips generally. So the upcoming events seem to fit well with our member's desires, and we'll try to keep up a good list of trips in the forthcoming year.

There were a couple of flaws in our survey design. First, I'm sorry to report that those of you who wanted additional information on a topic, but left you name off the form ( it was an optional field ), we can't help. Get in touch with one of the officers if you care to follow up. And several people indicated a willingness to serve as officers of the club, but also forgot to include their name on the form. We are having those forms tested for evidence of DNA - we truly want your names.

And lastly, we'll be circulating a "please don't call " list for those who are not interested in star parties and the like.

John Gall