B.C.A.A.S. MEETING MINUTES
June 12, 2003
The meeting was called to order by President Ron Kunkel at 7:32 PM. There were 21 attendees. Secretary Barb Geigle noted that there were no outstanding issues from the May meeting and that a copy of the May General meeting minutes is available. Treasurer Linda Sensenig reported a balance of $8,179. She will have an updated member list at the next Board meeting. Paul Becker brought the remaining club t-shirts that are available for $10.
Sky Report: Ron advised that the mutual events of Jupiter's moons are still occurring. Mars, Uranus and Neptune are rising early in the morning.
Old Business: As usual, our scheduled star and lunar eclipse watches were all cancelled due to weather. The star party at Blue Ball Elementary School has been rescheduled for September 19/20. Ron noted that several members attended NEAF. Ron did have a talk at Camp Wood Haven, but the star watch was cancelled.
Upcoming Events and New Business: There will be a Board meeting at Paul Becker’s home on June 26 at 7:00. There will be a sun watch at the Mulberry Preschool. Bret Cadmus is the contact for those wishing to help. Our next regular meeting will be Member’s Night on July 10. Tom Boussom will be discussing cosmology, Ryan will talk about the club’s telescopes, and Barry Shupp and Michel Ramsey will be talking about the Astronomical League’s new observing certificate for Meteor Observing. On July 21, Ron will be talking at the Penn Laurel Girl Scout Camp. There will be a talk and Star Watch at Umbenhauer Park in Bernville on Friday, August 1. Dave Brown is the contact. There will also be a Star Watch at Hawk Mountain on August 23.
Ron also noted that the Astronomical Society of Harrisburg is having a bus trip to the Hayden Planetarium on June 14, LVAAS is having an informal star party at Cherry Springs from July 4-6, and the Black Forest Star Party is August 29-31. Those wishing to attend should sign up online as soon as possible as it is being limited to 300 registrations, with no walk-in registrations. Comcast Digital Cable, channel 110 has astronomy-related programs on Friday nights.
After visitors were introduced, Barry Shupp gave the Gadget of the Month talk on his Comet Tracker, which allows him to follow comets for photography.
Our program was a talk by Pete Detterline, of the Boyertown School District and a member of LVAAS. Pete’s program was on his stay at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah. This is a research facility used by the Mars Society to make studies for the human exploration of Mars.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:07.
Respectfully submitted,
Barbara Geigle, Secretary