B.C.A.A.S. MEETING MINUTES
March 18, 2004
The meeting was called to order by Ron Kunkel at 7:30 with 26 in attendance. Barb Geigle had the Minutes from the February General Meeting on the back of the Agenda. Linda Sensenig reported a balance of $*****. Linda will send our annual donation of $150 to the Museum. She also noted that her father, Clarence, will be 90 on April 20. Ron will send an email out asking everyone to send cards.
Sky Report: Venus, Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, and the Winter Constellations are in prime viewing position. Comet C/2002 T7 (LINEAR) is no longer visible, but was seen at the Heritage Center Star Watch. On March 27, there will be a simultaneous transit of 3 of Jupiter’s moons. Two comets will be visible starting mid-April and May, C/2002 T7 (LINEAR) and C/2001 Q4 (NEAR). Ron noted that an asteroid 100 feet across passed about 26,000 miles away from the Earth. It was also noted that Sunspot 564 is very large.
Old Business: There was a Board meeting on February 16. Star parties were held at the Heritage Center on February 20 and 27, and on March 13. On April 1, Ron and Barb were interviewed on Comcast Tonight.
Upcoming Events and New Business: Michel Ramsey reminded us of the Winter Observing Program, requesting observations of the Pleiades during the rest of March. Michel has forms available. Michel also noted that we were accepted into the Night Sky Network, a program sponsored by NASA, JPL and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, which is designed to help clubs with public outreach and education. More information will be given as soon as she receives the first packet of information. There will be a star party at 7:00 pm on March 19 (rd 26) for the Pottstown School District (contact Candi Simmons). We will try for a Messier Marathon at Dave Brown’s farm on March 20. Ron and Ryan will be attending the MERAL Officer’s Retreat at Green Bank, WV. March 24 is the award ceremony for the Reading-Berks Science and Engineering Fair. The Great Outdoor Expo will be March 28 at RACC from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. Volunteers are needed. Ron announced that Hands on Optics will be having a swap meet on March 28. April 3 will be the organizational meeting for the PA Astronomy Co-Op. Our next meeting on April 8 will be in the planetarium. Our program will be a new show on the Cassini-Hyugens mission. We will have a club star party at the Flying Field on April 9 (rd 10). NEAF will be on April 17 and 18 in Suffern, NY.
Our new member, Art LaFrana, introduced himself. We also had Glen and Carol Hacker visiting from LVAAS.
Our speaker was Larry Lebofsky, of the University of Arizona. His presentation was about asteroids, and the formation of the solar system. It was a very interesting and enjoyable program. As Dr. Lebofsky teaches a general astronomy course, he was pleased to be speaking to a group where he could use the term magnitude and be understood. I personally enjoyed the talk very much, and want to thank Keith Minnich for his sponsorship of the program.
Respectfully submitted,
Barbara Geigle, Secretary