Abridged membership meeting minutes: 6/14/2014
Meeting was held at the River Ridge Observatory.
The meeting Followed a starBQ dinner of brisket, ranch beans and talk of the wonderful fresh salad that was left at home.
(attendance omitted)
There was a brief update on outreach. The cub-scout troop we have rece ntly been trying to have an onsite program for was bumped again for weather, rescheduled for July 17th. We are planning on opening he observatory to the public for the Perseids in August. First clear night of the three peak evenings 11th, 12th, or 13th a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Also looking for a members only observing event, first clear weekend night, summer galaxy and globular cruise.
(Authors note: was not announced but we could have a novice observer clinic on that evening if there is interest. Look for more on this on the caas@caasastro.org list service.)
Rocky, presented a slide show from the recent MSRAL conference, then gave an extensive Constellation Of the Month presentation on Coma Berenices, the only constellation named after a documentable person.
(Authors note: Great presentation & ndash; one of the best ever COM’s.)
Bruce presented a few slides of stone hinge, the first such vacation astronomy presentation we have had in awhile. (author’s note: unfortunately he was not very informative on the topic.) He followed that with some slides take on top of Crystal Mtn., a potential observing site in the Winona area of the Ouachita forest. The final 400 feet of road to the top is too rough for most cars, is the main draw back. However there is a good place to park at the based of that road on the main forest road so someone with a truck or other high clearance vehicle could shuttle people and equipment to the top. It is about 12 miles west south west of lake Sylvia, a stretch that is well maintained but not paved.
This was followed by several video clips of Peggy Walker’s astronomy outreach work with the blind, in which she makes 3D forms from basic craft type material, of astronomical structures and objects for the blind to be able to see with touch; really fascinating work.
This was then followed by the St. Louis Astronomical Society’s MSRAL slide presentation on it library telescope project. This quick start guide provides some concept of how the program works.
LibraryTelescopeQuickStartGuide_StLouisPublic
Jeff Creemer offered to provide his scope for modeling purposes as a demo to the libraries. Carl Freyaldenhoven noted that the League is offering a LT to each region but the time to apply is running short.
Post meeting there was a brief skull session on the boy scout camp program and John Reed, who had already put his considerable collimation skills to work on Bruce’s dob, held a clinic for new members and guest’s scopes.
Alas though, as has been the case all year, the sky was cloudy.