The program tonight was The Life of Stars. It was presented by Stephen Meeks. This is a complex topic. Mr. Meeks explained how the color of stars indicates their temperature. He explained that the Sun, our star, is classified as a yellow star. He explained the percentage of stars that have different masses. He explained how the mass of a star controls the life cycle of that star. A high percentage of the stars we see with the naked eye are unusually massive, super bright stars. But, the most common type of star is low mass, very dim, red dwarf stars. Very massive stars are very bright and use up their fuel in a relatively short time because of the high rate of fusion in their core. Low mass stars are dim and their fuel lasts an extremely long time.
A collection was taken up to pay Juans Lawns to trim bushes.
T-shirt orders were taken. They were $15 that night. But, the t-shirts are now $20 each.
An announcement was made of the upcoming March 24 star party at Woolly Hollow State Park.
A discussion was held of what presentations we might have for the 4 months which don’t yet have a presentation scheduled.
A drawing was held for Hubble book door prizes. The winners were David Reynolds, and Danny Flippo.
A discussion was held of the May 20th solar eclipse, and the June 6th transit of Venus across the face of the sun.
CAAS Members and Guests In Attendance
- Jack Dixon
- Jim Dixon
- Bill Engberg
- Danny Flippo
- Carl Freyaldenhoven
- Roger Gudith
- Darrell Heath
- Chris Lasley
- Judy Lindholm
- Stephen Meeks
- Pat Morris
- Sandy Morris
- Greg Oehm
- John Reed
- David Reynolds
- Bill Sanders
- Coy Scott
- Rocky Togni
- Eric Walker
- Daniel Weatherly
The next regular meeting will be at 7 pm on Saturday, April 14, 2012. The program at that meeting will be Space Race USSR: 1957-75, and will be presented by Rocky Togni.
Board of Directors Meeting
A decision was made to collect funds for the CAAS t-shirts. But, don’t order them until we get a treasurer’s report from Andy.
The board was informed that the CAAS Amazon account is locked due to the tax problem.
A decision was made to apply for 501c3 status. If turned down for that, we will apply 501c7 (social organization).
It was decided that the board would ask Bruce McMath to birddog this tax issue.
A decision was made to scan club documents and store them on the web site in files requiring a password to read.
A decision was made to buy a fire safe to keep documents in at the property.
A decision was made that rent would be charged for new buildings that are built, and for old buildings which are refurbished.
The board of directors meeting was adjourned at 6:59 pm.