by Bill Engberg; siderolite-o-phile
Iridium Flare …and the police
Never saw an Iridium Flare before….whoooo hoooo! -5 Magnitude (very bright) and one heckuva show when that satellite went over. At appx. 9:13pm, for about 5 seconds, the perfectly focused reflection of the sun, which was on the other side of the horizon, lit up the sky like a torch! It brought cheers and long applause from our large crowd …and the yells and cheering might have brought the police. Good thing the neighbors know we are “a little bit crazy about astronomy.”
But I digress…
Carolaina Ferren presented the meeting info and was kind enough to mail David Reynolds (our hero!) his much earned and well deserved T-Shirt for helping track down and recreate the fantastic double logos which adorn the front and back of our groovy new T-Shirts. I handed out about ½ of the order of the exquisitely made T-Shirts and will give out the rest at future meetings.
Photos of the T’s are attached.
A few extras were made. If you want one, the basic price is:
$17.10 for L
$18.50 for XL and
$20 for XXL and larger
$6 Flat Rate shipping anywhere in the U.S. No shipping needed if Andy and I can hand it to you at a meeting.
Please PayPal Andy Reed CAAS Treasurer if you want one. Simply go to PayPal.com, login, and click on “Send Money” and then send it to treasurer@caasastro.org
Special blessing and good karamel (apparently a hindu dessert for nice people) goes to Rocky Togni, Jim Fisher and Carl Freyaldenhoven for hosting the Boy Scout’s merit badge university, which was a huge success. That is right…the ACLU hasn’t destroyed the Scouts yet, so keep supporting your local Scout clubs! The University was held at the Federal building earlier that day and about 12 Scouts and their parents learned about the amazing sky above them. Jim said it was the best event yet for Scouts/CAAS. Then, the scouts were observing and sketching the planets and stars with us later, in order to earn their merit badge. Keep up the good work, Scouts!
We took some group photos of everyone at CAAS. I’ll post them to a Picassa/Google or other website (if someone will talk me through “how to post”). You don’t want me emailing a Gazillapixel-sized photo to you…
-Who was at the Meeting?
19 people were here tonight: Don and Carolaina Ferren, Carl Freyaldenhoven, Kevin Krug, Jim Fisher, Coy Scott, Rocky Togni, Paul Deeter, Allan Lee, John and Zachary Robins (father and son first time guests!…and Zachary is working on his Boy Scout astronomy badge. Their merit badge university was earlier in the day!), Jim Dixon and his daughter Samantha and her friend Emily (also a welcomed first time guest!), Darrell Heath (new member!), John Morrison and his 2 sons Jesse (merit badge university) and Caleb (all 3 were first time guests!)… and me…your humble scribe.
– PayPal is fixed! Try sending a $1 test gift just to try it out…
- Order your spiffy new C.A.A.S. T-Shirts (all the cool kids are wearing them)
- TAX DEDUCTABLE contributions to our fantastic club to help with school outreach and excite students about the sciences! (all the cool kids are donating a couple bucks) I did…now I’m a cool teenager, too.
- Annual dues (all the cool kids are joining C.A.A.S.)
People can still mail a check to our treasurer for any and all of the above.
Andy Reed, 312 Maranes Circle, Maumelle, AR 72113
-Upcoming Events
May:
Japanese “Advance Team” will be doing their site visit to Pinnacle Mtn State Park before bringing their large group of guests and visitors later in the year. CAAS will hold a Star Party in their honor at PMSP which is either May 29th (most likely) or 30th We’re confirming the dates right now.
June and July:
Multiple Star parties at Pinnacle Mountain State Park mean that both CAAS monthly 7 p.m. meetings will be held at PMSP on June 12 and July 10
See http://www.caasastro.org for more details.
