B.C.A.A.S. MEETING MINUTES

June 10, 2004

The meeting was called to order by Ron Kunkel at 7:30. There were 34 in attendance. We had quite a few visitors who introduced themselves. The Minutes of the last meeting were handed out with the agenda.

 Linda Sensenig reported a balance of $$$$$, with Astronomical League dues of $5 per member, or approximately $360 that will be due shortly.  She also noted that Kalmbach Publishers is offering a 15% discount on the 2005 calendars, if ordered by the end of June. As this is too soon to get our order together, she will just wait until later in the summer. However, as they ran out of calendars last year, she will start taking orders earlier this year.

 Sky Report:  Mars, Saturn and Jupiter are visible in the evening, along with three comets.

Old Business: Ron thanked Linda for filling in for him at the May meeting. There was a brief discussion of the ISS pass by Jupiter on May 13. The May 14/15 star party at the Heritage Center was cancelled due to weather. The Mason-Dixon Star Party was attended by several members.  The new site was nice, with better southern skies. Ron noted that he and Barb did another Comcast Tonight interview on June 1.  The star party at Blue Marsh Lake was attended by 18 guests, even though the skies where totally cloudy.  Ron and Barb presented several programs and gave out Hubble pictures. The June 8 Venus transit watch was well attended.

 Upcoming Events and New Business:  There will be a comet watch/star party at the Heritage Center on June 11 (r.d. 12th). A Board Meeting/Cookout will be held at Barb’s house on June 17 at 6:30. On June 28, Ron will be giving a program at Camp Joy for 26 high school students – telescopes are needed for observing.  Our next meeting will be July 8; our speaker will be Pete Detterline on the “Mars Student Data Team”. The Astronomical Society of Harrisburg will be having their Susquehanna Spring Star Spectacular at Pine Grove Furnace State Park July 16 – 18. We will be having our annual star party at Hawk Mountain on August 21 at 8:00 p.m.  There will also be a star party at the Green Bank Radio Observatory July 8 – 11.

After the break, the Member’s Night Programs were presented. Barb Geigle gave an overview of NASA’s Night Sky Network and demonstrated some of the hands-on activities, Larry Citro presented some of his incredible CCD images, Bret Cadmus had a display of his Meteorite collection, and Ron Kunkel headed a discussion of the Venus Transit with a PowerPoint show.

 Respectfully submitted,

Barbara Geigle, Secretary

 

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