Current News

CAAS was gifted with a mild clear evening Saturday night. John Reed called the meeting to order at 7 PM with the intention of keeping it short so we could get back out and play. There were 24 members and visitors in attendance by my count.

John brought the Pinnacle Mountain Master Naturalist series of programs. In this series, a group of attendees will go from one subject to another cover a wide range of topics. CAAS will particpate in two weeks, February 23rd at the River Ridge Observatory at 7 PM. What we will do is essentially a star party. The Moon will be three days past full so we will have a little time before it gets in the way.

At the next meeting March 8, weather permitting, we will fore go the normal routine and do a Messier Marathon as the presentation. If you want to participate, be there at dusk as you will need to pick up a few objects as soon as they are visible. Donald Ferren will provide tips and a suggested schedule for spotting the maximum number of these objects. If the weather does not cooperate, we will try again on March 29.

Between Pinnacle Mountain and Woolly Hollow State Parks, we will have several star parties this year. They are listed in our calendar but here is a summary:

• Pinnacle Mountain: May 10 (Astronomy Day), June 28, July 26, September 6.
• Woolly Hollow: July 19, November 1.

We had two visitors from the Village Star Gazers Society in Hot Springs Village, Marshall Dawson and Julie Schrader. They invited CAAS to come out and visit them as a group or individual members and perhaps have collaborative events. They meet every other Monday. They were warmly welcomed and I suspect several members will be glad to do just that.

Kyle Edwards gave a short presentation on the planet Mars, highlighting the difficulties and imaging techniques. It was very interesting. Thank you, Kyle.

The meeting was adjourned at about 8 PM so that we could head outside and enjoy the fine evening. We also at this time got our first look at Wade van Arsdale’s new warm room attached to his observatory nicknamed “the Man Cave”.

After a delicious potluck meal, John Reed called the meeting to order at 7 PM.  There were 12 regular members and 3 visitors in attendance.

Welcome Jason, Samantha, and Dan.  We hope you enjoyed your visit and hope you will make CAAS a habit.

Earlier today we had a work party and board meeting, which was detailed in a previous post.  One thing I will mention is that we now have a pile of scrap and need a member with a truck to volunteer to haul it off.  Thanks in advance.

John gave the treasurer’s report since Pat could not attend.  We start the year in decent shape, especially compared to last year, and have dues still to come in.  As mentioned in the earlier post 2008 will be the year we pay off the note on the class room so like any mortgage, that will help a lot.

The front building is on its last legs and needs serious repair or more likely replacement. Rocky has volunteered to check into the cost of replacement by a prefab building or perhaps a concrete block building.

Bob Stepp and his wife will bring her students out to CAAS on January 25^th for instruction.  Any member assistance will be appreciated.

Our first outreach event of the new year will be to participate in the State Park Master Naturalist program on February 23^rd.  As we are not sure precisely what is expected of us, John will contact them to find out and report back at the next meeting.

We’ve tentatively scheduled a Messier Marathon at CAAS in March.

Astronomy Day is May 10^th this year.

The presentation was a viewing of Ring World 2 from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory about the Cassini Mission to Saturn.

We adjourned at about 8:30, a long day for many of who had come from the work party.  The clouds and rain ruled out any outdoor activities.

Jim Dixon