B.C.A.A.S. MEETING MINUTES
January 10, 2007
Dave Brown called the meeting to order with everyone enjoying a selection of good food. He noted that it is now very unlikely that the asteroid will hit Mars on January 30. A new hexagonal shaped spot has been found on the south pole of Saturn.
2008 Events: February 20 will have a total lunar eclipse, with partial starting at 8:43 pm. No public event has been planned, but we may plan a club event. Early in the morning of April 2, the Moon will occult Neptune. We will have public star watches at Blue Marsh Lake on April 12 and August 9 (no rain dates). Our public star watch at the Berks County Heritage Center will be on May 9, with a rain date of May 10. The star watch at Kaercher Creek has been scheduled for September 5, but as it was just announced that the Black Forest Star Party is scheduled for that weekend, Dave is going to call to see if it can be moved to another weekend. Barb had a handout with all of the local 2008 Star Parties that have been scheduled to date.
We will have a Board Meeting at Barb Geigle’s home on Thursday, January 17. Members are invited to attend. If you need directions, contact Barb at blgeigle@comcast.net or 610-775-8925.
Treasurer Report: Linda Sensenig reported a balance of $$$$$, along with the $$$$$ CD. She is currently collecting dues for 2008.
Night Sky Network Report: Barb announced that the NSN is joining forces with Constance Walker of the GLOBE at Night project and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory for the next Teleconference. It will be held on February 5 at 9:00 pm EST, and will cover what clubs can do to increase awareness about light pollution. GLOBE at Night is giving away 5 Sky-Brightness Meters as door prizes at the end of the Teleconference. In addition, 20 clubs will win a Sky-Brightness Meter with a full outreach kit if they agree to participate in the GLOBE at Night Campaign from February 25 through March 8 by hosting a public event and logging the results on their website. Our club will agree to participate.
Barb also noted that Berks County Earth Day will be April 20 from noon to 5 with a rain date of April 27. Astronomy Day is May 10, which coincides with our public event at the Heritage Center. We will discuss options for this at the Board meeting.
February Meeting: Keith Minnich is sponsoring our speaker for February. Dr. Derek Fox, from the Astronomy and Astrophysics Department of Penn State Main Campus will be discussing Gamma Ray Bursts.
Election of Officers: No new nominations were made for officers. It was unanimously decided to retain the current officers for 2008. Dave Brown noted that even though he likes being President, he thinks it is important to have a change periodically, and would like to see someone new as President next year.
Dave Brown also noted that Melody Gardner will be taking on the duties of webmaster. Due to Mike Bashore’s family commitments, he feels he doesn’t have the time to manage it properly. Many thanks to Mike for all of his past work.
As our speaker did not make it to the meeting, we continued with our New Year Celebration.
Respectfully submitted
Barbara Geigle, Secretary