Saturday, 11 Feb
7:00pm (19:00 for you military types)
River Ridge Observatory grounds in the clear, dark skies between the cities of Wye and Roland, AR.

Presentation for this month:
This is going to thrill ATMers (Amateur Telescope Makers) -and- people that want to tweak/fix their imperfect “big box store” telescopes to get max performance. Ray Jeter is going to present how he turned a humble collection of cheap/eBay/mall store “scope parts” into a compact wonder you can carry with one hand, yet captures the Heavens above with visual Image & Color perfection. If your bright “star” looks more like a bright “starfish” then you need to hear his tips, then your Reflector telescope can become a humble Hubble in your own back yard.

DOOR PRIZE:

All in attendance are eligible for the drawing for 2 more HUBBLE‘s best space pics photo books.

We’ll be getting an updates regarding:

William Bryden — he is designing CAAS shirts for 2012

Jim Fisher — CAAS business cards are in for every member and guest. Also, an update on our 501C status.

Need to learn how to use your scope?

We can help teach you… parents or kids. All you need is a love of the night’s sky and a sense of wonder in your heart, shooting stars, nebula and galaxies …await you together with friends. If you are bringing a scope you want to learn how to use, contact us so we can set your scope up BEFORE sunset (5:45pm)

After the short welcome and meeting at 7 p.m., skies permitting, we will adjourn to the observing field for fun and fellowship under the planets and stars.

If you need directions to the River Ridge Observatory, please email info@caasastro.org and they will email you the coordinates for Google as well as the password protected Driving Directions located on our website http://www.caasastro.org/category/dreictions-to-caas . Possibly, even meet up with a staff member in L.R. and you can follow our car as we drive to the site…or or maybe even arrange a ride with a staff member if you need a ride.

Become part of our family and friends. You don’t even need to own a scope. All are welcome.

Blue Skies
Bill
Servant to the amazing members of C.A.A.S., Skipper of the Big Dipper, Club President

Never looked through a telescope? YOU are invited! Like looking at the stars, but don’t know a thing about them? Come and bring your friends! You don’t need to be a member to attend and there is no charge to visit; see and look through all the other scopes; learn how to use “that telescope you were given as a gift”;  and love the beauty of the night’s sky, shooting stars, nebula and galaxies …together with friends. All are welcome.

DOOR PRIZE: That night, all in attendance are eligible for the drawing for 2 more HUBBLE‘s best space pics photo books.

–All, please email or bring a list of Presentation Topics you’d like to hear for 2012 and we’ll share/compile them during the meeting. If you think of one or many topics, maybe someone else will jump on one idea and they will give a 5 minute – 45 minute presentation on it later this year.

If you want to present a topic  [ YOU WOULD BE MY HERO ]  let me know so the secretary and I can schedule it on the month you want, and advertise it to the gang.  

You do NOT need to be an expert, just talk about what you love and what you learned. ( p.s.  I didn’t know a thing about the Mayan 2012 Calendar until I Googled and Wiki’ed everything )

Hopefully we’ll be getting an updates regarding:

   William Bryden — he is designing shirts for 2012 with Carolaina helping with info from last order.

    Jim Fisher — ordering CAAS business cards and fixing “tax exempt” 501C status with local tax lawyer. On that note, I’ll be moving that the Club pay for all the Cards and distribute 20 or more per year to every member…so we can actually do membership outreach “that works” by giving out a card in the dark (or at work / school / church)  rather than hoping guests and strangers remember a funny-spelling-acronym-filled-website-name …24 hours later.

After the short welcome and meeting at 7 p.m., skies permitting, we will adjourn to the observing field for fun and fellowship under the planets and stars.

If you need directions to the River Ridge Observatory, please email info@caasastro.org and they will email you the coordinates for Google as well as the password protected Driving Directions located on our website   Directions to CAAS .

I wish you a blessed New Year and amazing 2012.

Blue Skies

  Bill Engberg

   C.A.A.S. el Presidente, Boss of the Bolides, Captain of the Van Allen’s …and chief bottle washer

The lone matter of official business will be the election of the 2012 Officers and Board members. The following members have been nominated for the 2012 CAAS leadership positions:

Bill Engberg                          President

Eric Walker                            Vice President

Jim Fisher                              Secretary

Andy Reed                             Treasurer

Jim Fisher                              Immediate Past President

Jim Dixon                               Board

Carl Freyaldenhoven             Board

John Reed                             Board

Coy Scott                               Board

Further nominations will be accepted from the floor just prior to the election.  All active CAAS members may participate in voting.

Holiday themed pot luck:  All CAAS members and guests are invited to bring potluck dishes.  Set up will begin at 4 p.m. Social hour and observing on the observing field beginning at  5 p.m.  Dinner will be served at 6 p.m. in the classroom.  The brief business meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Clouds permitting will adjourn to the observing field for fun and fellowship under the full moon and stars.

Please email jrfisher7@gmail.com if you plan to attend (no regrets please) and the dish or food item you plan to bring.

If you need directions to the River Ridge Observatory, please email info@caasastro.org.

Note:  We do NOT need any plastic plates, cups or service ware as the club has plenty.  In the event of an inclement weather forecast, we will move the meeting to the Whole Hog Café, 2516 Cantrell Road Little Rock, Arkansas 72202 with food service provided by the restaurant pay as you go (no pot luck necessary).

Clouds permitting we will adjourn to the observing field for fun and fellowship under the Gibbous Moon and stars! We hope to see you there.

Congratulations to Nancy Jackman of Little Rock who won the Bushnell ARES 5″ Compact Truss Tube Dobsonian Telescope – donated to CAAS by OpticsPlanet.net – in the drawing held at the conclusion the “Halloween Tricks and Celstial Treats Star Party” at Woolly Hollow State Park on October 29, 2011! http://www.caasastro.org/2011/10/12/central-arkansas-astronomical-society-and-optics-planet-net-team-up-to-give-away-telescope

Meeting place: Swim Beach. As with all CAAS star parties the admission is free!

At the conclusion of the “Halloween Tricks or Celestial Treats” star party, CAAS will hold the drawing for a Bushnell ARES 5” Compact Truss Tube Dobsonian Telescope Optics Planet Edition to be awarded to one lucky attendee at one of the last three CAAS star parties in 2011! The telescope was donated to CAAS by OpticsPlanet.net and retails for $159.99. http://www.opticsplanet.net/bushnell-dob-5-compact-truss-tube-dobsonian-telescope-opticsplanet-edition.html

The telescope contest is open to all star party guests with a limit of one entry per star party. No purchase is necessary. Members of CAAS, employees of the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism and their immediate family members are ineligible. The drawing will be held near the conclusion of the October 29^th Woolly Hollow event (approximately 10 p.m.) or at the November 12^th monthly meeting of CAAS in the event of a cancellation. The winner need not be present to win and will be notified the following day if not in attendance for the drawing.

CAAS will host three public star parties this fall where attendees can register to win the telescope in a drawing to be held October 29, 2011.  The next public star party is this Saturday evening at 8 – 10 p.m. at Pinnacle Mountain State Park at the Visitors Center.   CAAS will return to Pinnacle Mountain State Park for another public star party on Saturday evening October 1, 2011.   The final star party of the year will be the Halloween Trick-or-Celestial-Treats Star Party at Woolly Hollow State Park, on October 29, 2011, 8 – 10 p.m.  That night guests are welcome to wear their Halloween costumes (no face paint please, to protect the telescopes) and the astronomers will have plenty of candy for the kids in addition to the celestial treats.  All three events are admission free.

During all three star parties, members of CAAS will be on hand with their large aperture telescopes and will show guests galaxies, nebulae, star clusters, double stars, and constellations.  On October 1^st, a crescent moon will provide star part guests with beautiful telescopic views.  At the October 29^th event, the “star” of the show will be the planet Jupiter which will be at “opposition” (or opposite the position of the sun in the sky) and at its closest point in its orbit to earth for the year.   If clouds interfere with observing, an indoor program on astronomy will be presented at 9 p.m. at the Pinnacle Mountain State Park star parties. The Woolly Hollow State Park event will be cancelled altogether in the event of clouds.

The telescope contest will be open to all star party guests with a limit of one entry per star party.  No purchase is necessary.  Members of CAAS, employees of the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism and their immediate family members are ineligible.  The drawing will be held near the conclusion of the October 29^th Woolly Hollow event (approximately 10 p.m.) or at the November 12^th monthly meeting of CAAS in the event of a cancellation.  The winner need not be present to win and will be notified the following day if not in attendance for the drawing.

There will also be an InOMN event in downtown Little Rock organized by Darrell Heath in his role as a NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Solar Ambassador. At 1:00 p.m. there will be a free showing of Ron Howard’s “In The Shadow of the Moon” in Room 124 of the Central Arkansas Library’s Butler Center For Arkansas Studies Building (adjacent to the CALS Main Branch Building in the River Market); 3:00 p.m. there will be a talk by Dr. Marcus Seigar of UALR, in the same room, at 5:00 p.m. a Solar System Walk through the River Market led by Dr. Tony Hall of UALR; and from 7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. there will be a moon watch party with telescope viewing in Little Rock’s Riverfront Park.  If you would like to volunteer for the downtown moon party, you are welcome to do so instead of attending the CAAS meeting (unless you are a member of the Board or have business before the Board meeting that evening).  Please contact Darrell Heath to volunteer at DRHEATH@ualr.edu  or darrellh1@gmail.com or by calling 501-569-3512 during work hours.

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Commentary: The conflict in the scheduling of these events is unfortunate but unavoidable.  CAAS has a policy not to change either the location (from the River Ridge Observatory) or date/time (the second Saturday of each month at 7 p.m.) of its meetings (the December Annual Meeting being the lone exception). CAAS also has long standing commitments to co-host star parties at Pinnacle Mountain State Park the week before and Woolly Hollow State Park two weeks following.  The October 8^th date for InOMN was announced after the scheduling of these CAAS star parties.  While we would have liked to have joined the downtown InOMN celebration, it was not practical in light of the October meeting, the fall board meeting, and the proximity to the two previously scheduled October public CAAS events.  Nevertheless, we wish Darrell and the other folks participating in the downtown Little Rock venue for InOMN success for their program. – Jim Fisher, CAAS president.