Rappahannock Astronomy Club
Minutes, March 9, 2011, Meeting In attendance:
Benjamin Ashley Jim Baker Barton & Linda Billard Scott Busby Don Clark Brenda Conway George Clarke
Rob Friedel Leigh Gettier Ranny Heflin Glenn Holliday Jerry Hubbell Mike Masters David Williams
President Mike Masters began the meeting at 7 p.m. Fifteen members were present (one of whom joined at the meeting).

Program

The program was How to Use RACs Loaner Telescopes, demonstrated by the equipment custodians. The telescopes included were the Celestron NexStar 5, the 6-inch Orion Dobsonian, the Coronado Personal Solar Telescope, the Celestron Comet Catcher, and the Orion German equatorial mount (GEM) reflector. Mike said he had suggested that Scott did not need to demonstrate the 8-inch Dobsonian because of the similarity to the 6-inch and the difficulty of transporting the larger telescope. As part of his presentation, Ranny Heflin showed a sign-out sheet he created with an inventory showing what is being checked out and returned. He offered to make the form available or create one for other custodians who send him an inventory. Mike brought up the topic of holding a telescope help session for the community (shown on the agenda under new business). He asked about members experience with different telescope types to help determine whether we are prepared to cover what might be brought to such a session. From the responses, he put together a list with six telescope types against names of those members who had experience using them.

Old Business

Treasurers reportMike presented the Treasurers report Tim had provided for February 28, 2011. Twenty-one members had paid dues for 2011 by the end of February. Mike said he has received the reimbursement from Tim for the additions to the accessory folders for the loaner equipment less the amount Mike collected in dues at the February meeting. Status of Club loaner equipmentMike said Orion does not carry an exact replacement slow-motion knob for the GEM reflector. However, the Club could modify one available on back order to fit the shaft. It was done with the other axis knob that the Club received earlier as a donation. The cost would be about $10 for the knob plus the $10 minimum shipping charge. Leigh made a motion to authorize up to $25 for purchase of the slow-motion knob replacement. Scott seconded the motion, which carried on a voice vote. EventsWeather spoiled plans for the March 5 Messier Marathon. Mike noted April 2 would be the backup date for the Messier Marathon at Caledon. We had two outreach events on the schedule: a Girl Scout clinic on April 89 at Camp Kittamaqund, near Burgess on the Northern Neck and an outreach on April 9 at Lake Anna State Park. Glenn said he also received an inquiry about arranging another event for later in the year. Bart and Linda reported looking over the site for the Lake Anna Outreach while on a recent weekend outing. The site appeared to provide reasonable access for setup and packing away telescopes, without too many nearby lights or obstructions. Mike noted lights would be less of a concern on the date of the outreach because the Moon would be near first quarter anyway. The next Club meeting date is April 13, and Brenda Conway is going to present a 1

Rappahannock Astronomy Club Minutes, March 9, 2011, Meeting
program on the Sun. Another primary star party is on the calendar for April 30. A Girl Scout group is planning to attend. Raclub.org domain nameDon Clark reported the transfer of the Raclub.org domain name to the Club was completed, and he had set up some generic email addresses to allow all Club points of contact (POC) to have one. The information address needed for registering the Club with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Night Sky Network was raclub@raclub.org. Mike said he would send out a list of proposed addresses for other Club POCs. With the raclub.org ownership resolved and the email addresses set up, Don was ready to send in the Night Sky Network registration. Outreach talk on light pollutionScott reported on his talk at the Falls Run Community Center for the Falls Run Environmental Enthusiasts. He had prepared the talk from a paper he wrote a couple of years ago on light pollution. About 20 attended, and the talk was well received. He included an assessment of the costs of a 100-Watt light bulb over a year of use at night. In addition to light pollution, he listed costs of replacing the bulb four times and of generating 417 kilowatt-hours to light it. He also listed the quantity of coal used for the power generation and the amount of carbon dioxide and other emissions that result. Scott said he would email the presentation to Mike for the Club website. Alternate meeting locationBenjamin Ashley reported prospects for a University of Mary Washington (UMW) location were problematical. Unless someone on the faculty was willing to take the lead, the Club might need to deal with several people to get a location. UMW would charge a nominal amount, but it would be high for the Club budget.

New Business/News Items

Brenda told us the Messenger insertion into an orbit around Mercury was scheduled to start in the next week. Jerry recommended checking the education resource, Citizen Sky, which can be found from the AAVSO website under education. The 50/50 raffle drawing was won by Scott, who donated the winnings to the pot for picnic prizes.

Next Meeting

The next meeting is April 13, 2011, 7:00 p.m., at the Central Rappahannock Regional Library Headquarters, 1201 Caroline St., in Fredericksburg. Introductions will begin at 6:45 p.m. Submitted by Bart Billard, Secretary

Rappahannock Astronomy Club 2010 Annual Report
Membership: 30 members as of December 2010 Officers: President: Michael Masters Treasurer: Tim Plunkett Vice-President: Joseph Francis Secretary: Bart Billard
Significant activities: Formalized position of club Equipment Coordinator, filled by VP Joseph Francis Developed written equipment loaner policy codifying long-standing one month rule Appointed equipment custodians for each item of loaner gear Began long term evaluation and upgrade of loaner equipment & observer aids Assembled packets of star charts and observing aids for each loaner telescope Increased participation by club members in monthly meeting program presentations Dropped Skyline Drive as destination for regularly scheduled club star parties Ceased operation on Raclub@m31.us email list server, fully effective January 2011 Began process of assuming full ownership of raclub.org domain and Yahoo rac_group Began application process to join JPLs Night Sky Network Made individual Astronomical League membership optional Surveyed member interest in discount Sky & Telescope subscriptions Established RAC presence on FaceBook Planned star party schedule for 2011, with dates at Caledon and Westmoreland Planned 2011 public outreach star party at historic Stratford Hall Planned meeting programs for 2011, with speakers each month except Aug. & Nov. Elected 2011 officers; President: Michael Masters, Vice-President: Joseph Francis, Treasurer: Tim Plunkett, Secretary: Bart Billard
Club operations: Affiliate of Astronomical League Web site www.raclub.org Rac_group Yahoo group (register at http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/rac_group/) Raclub@m31.us email list server (final phased out end of January 2011)
Club Meetings, Programs & Speakers: January 13 CRRL Headquarters "Grab-and-Go Scopes" show and tell February 10 CRRL Headquarters Meeting cancelled due to snow March 10 CRRL Headquarters "Radio Astronomy and SETI", Robert Taylor April 14 CRRL Salem Church "Outfitting the Compleat Astronomer!", Michael Masters May 12 CRRL Salem Church "Webcam Astrophotography", Scott Busby June 9 CRRL Headquarters "Mercury", Brenda Conway July 14 CRRL Headquarters "Measuring the Universe", Part I Michael Masters August 7 Caledon Natural Area Club picnic, no program September 8 CRRL Headquarters "Measuring the Universe" Part II, Michael Masters October 25 CRRL Headquarters "Black Holes" (date rescheduled), Joseph Francis November 10 CRRL Headquarters Club election meeting, no program December 8 CRRL Headquarters "Astronomy Camp at Univ. of Arizona", Glenn Holliday

December 2010

Star parties: 9 Jan Caledon (cancelled, weather) 16 Jan backup Caledon (cancelled, weather) 6 Feb Caledon (cancelled, weather) 13 Feb backup Caledon (cancelled, weather) 13 Mar Caledon (cancelled, weather) 20 Mar backup Caledon (cancelled, weather) 10 April Caledon held (Messier Marathon) 17 Apr backup Caledon (cancelled ) 8 May Caledon held 15 May backup Caledon (cancelled ) 5 June Caledon (cancelled, weather) 12 June Skyline Drive (cancelled, weather) 19 June Westmoreland held Outreach events:
10 July Caledon (cancelled, weather) 17 July Westmoreland (cancelled, weather) 7 Aug Caledon held (Club Picnic) 14 Aug backup Caledon (cancelled ) 4 Sept Caledon held 11 Sept Skyline Drive (cancelled, weather) 2 Oct Caledon held 9 Oct backup Caledon (cancelled ) 5 Nov Caledon (weather shortened) 13 Nov backup Caledon (cancelled ) 3 Dec primary Caledon (cancelled, weather) 11 Dec backup Caledon (cancelled, weather) cancelled because primary party was held
24 April King George Parks & Rec Earth Day (cancelled due to weather) 22 May Curtis Memorial Park (cancelled due to weather) 14 June Conway Elementary Space Day (cancelled due to weather) 19 June Westmoreland State Park outreach held 17 July Westmoreland State Park (cancelled due to weather) 4 September Stafford Boy Scout Troop 1717 attended Caledon star party 18 September Curtis Memorial Park outreach held 22 October Park Ridge Elementary School lecture by David Abbou 9 & 23 Sept Brock Road Elementary Club PST used in solar program by Brenda Conway 28 October Courtland High School Club PST used for solar program by Ann Aleo

Purchases: Replaced broken IR blocking filter in club Meade DSI digital astro-camera Purchased Celestron tripod and equatorial wedge for Celestron NexStar 5 Purchased 5 copies Discover the Stars for loaner telescope star chart packets Purchased Celestron Alt-Az tripod for Celestron 5.5 Comet Catcher Purchased Celestron Alt-Az tripod for Coronado Personal Solar Telescope Purchased 5 copies Bright Star Atlas for loaner telescope star chart packets
Donations: Celestron NexStar 5 SCT GOTO telescope and accessories donated by private party 6 Orion Dobsonian reflector and accessories donated by private party 400 Years of the Telescope DVD donated by Michael Masters Rigel QuikFinder for Celestron Comet Catcher donated by Don Clark Laser collimator for club loaner Orion 6 Dobsonian reflector donated by Ranny Heflin 2 copies Illustrated Atlas of the Universe donated by Joseph Francis 6 copies Backyard Astronomers Guide donated by Joseph Francis and Michael Masters 5 each planispheres, Moon maps, red flashlights, pocket folders donated by M. Masters Many years of Sky & Telescope and Astronomy magazine donated by Joseph Francis Multiple books donated to club members and the club library by Glenn Faini 12 red LED lights to mark telescope locations at star parties donated by Sarah Holloway 2
Donations and volunteers: We wish to thank the many RAC members who donated time, resources, services, materials and funds to club projects in 2010 as well as those who supported club outreach events during the year. The list below acknowledges all whose contributions we are aware of, with the exception of contributors to the August club picnic and the November club pizza dinner. For those events, many who attended donated food, drinks or other supplies, contributions that helped make each event a success. Names are listed in alphabetical order. David Abbou Ann Aleo Bart & Linda Billard Scott Busby Don Clark Brenda Conway Mark DeVito * Glenn Faini Joseph & Sherry Francis Leigh Gettier Ranny Heflin Glenn Holliday Sara Holloway Michael Masters Tom Pendergrass * Debbie Sandler Myron Wasiuta * * Former RAC member

RAC acknowledges with special gratitude the contributions of former member Tom Pendergrass, who has long hosted the raclub@m31.us email list server used for club email communication. After many years as a very active RAC member who provided much participation, hard work and technical expertise in the early days when RAC was getting started, Tom moved away a few years back. Tom graciously offered to continue hosting the list server for us, despite the fact that he was no longer a club member and resided many hundreds of miles away. This year RAC has begun the process of moving away from the raclub@m31.us email list server, but we are most grateful to Tom for his long service to the club and wish him well in his future endeavors. Submitted by Michael Masters President, RAC, December 2010