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Charlie
Elliott
Chapter Meeting Minutes
See photos
and additional information about the meeting here. |
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ATTENDANCE: Fourteen guests and
members attended the April CE chapter meeting. BUSINESS: JAKES DAY at Charlie Elliott (8:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. for volunteers): Debbie Jones thanked Alesia Rast and the Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center for their support and facilities and all the club volunteers for a very successful public event. There were about 60 visitors who passed through the indoor “planetarium” and outdoor Solar Observatory. All seemed to have a very good time. Thanks to Steven Phillips and his young son Brain for bringing a solar telescope. Thanks to Steve Bieger for bringing his solar telescope In company with Debbie Jones, Steven and Steve talked to the visitors about the Sun and showed them the Sun with sunspot 956 (Active Region 10956) meandering across the surface of the Sun throughout the day. Inside, Larry Owens had established his normal club meeting “planetarium” atmosphere, played music, showed astronomy movies (thanks Olga and Carlos Flores), and while connected to the Internet looked up coordinated for the evenings objects. Theo Ramakers, Jon Wood, Debbie and Clevis Jones talked with folks who came through about astronomy subjects, and answered questions. Handouts were available in the form of a club handout, S&T and ASTRONOMY magazines, NASA Solar System packets, and lots of Larry’s images of Mars, Saturn, the Moon, and the Moon with Saturn. Theo set up his new 9.25-inch Celestron for folks to see, Steve set up one of the club’s Maksutov telescopes. Steve Bieger, Steven & Brain Phillips, Debbie & Clevis Jones, Larry & Junior Owens, Theo Ramakers, Jon Wood. THANK YOU ALL!
ELECTONS: Debbie Jones (Election Committee) conducted the Elections for Officers: Director: Larry Owens (nominated, 2nded, accepted) – “For” vote was unanimous. Observing Supervisor: Steve Bieger (nominated, 2nded, accepted) – “For” vote was unanimous. Recording Secretary: Clevis Jones (nominated, 2nded, accepted) – “For” vote was unanimous.
The new terms begin June 1, 2007 and run through May 31, 2008. This will be Larry’s 4th year as Director, Steve’s 3rd year as Observing Supervisor, and Clevis’ 4th year as Recording Secretary. Congratulations!
Chapter director, Larry Owens, updated us on the club projects. The new optical tube assembly for the 16-inch, the equipment list (who has what available to members for observing), and it was decided that the June meeting will be the ever popular POT LUCK. The programs will be What’s up Tonight by Steve Bieger and Current Events by Clevis Jones.
SUNSET ALERT was given.
2007 remaining schedule for the CE Meetings is: June 9, July 7, Aug 18, September 15, October 6 (note: Peach State on the 13th), November 3 (back to 3 p.m. for the winter), December 15.
FEATURE PRESENTATION: “PhotoShop for Astro-Imagers” by Larry Owens. WOW, what a great presentation! Larry covered, what is Photoshop, a to-do list for acquiring the best image raw data, how to pick the right PhotoShop tool for the job, layers (including luminance layering), channels, filters, selection tools, plug-ins like the FITS Liberator from NASA - and then demonstrated the techniques on first a deep-sky image and then a planet image while answering a lot of questions from the audience. Simply outstanding! Thanks, Larry.
What’s Up Tonight Steve Bieger took us on another informative trip into the night sky. This month’s Moon is called the Flower Moon or Planting Moon. Speaking of Moon – what is a Blue Moon? There have been different meanings over the ages – today it usually means a 2nd full Moon in the same month. But wait! Is that by local time or UT? The next Full Moon occurs at 9:04 p.m. EDT May 31 – a May Blue Moon. But if you go by Universal Time, that same full Moon is at 1:04 a.m. UT – making it a June Blue Moon. So … take your pick. His various featured segments covered Mercury, Jupiter Venus, Saturn, Mayan Indians and their astronomy, the constellations of Virgo, Bootes, Draco, doubles, and the history of various U.S. observatories featuring Yerkes and the numerous famous astronomers who worked there creating many of the star catalogs in use today. Thanks, Steve!
OBSERVING SESSION: About 10 folks went to the observing field to catch the Moon and Venus early – enjoying the excellent weather and further observing and imaging.
MEETING DATES AND PROGRAMS: June 9 at 5:00 p.m. (Don’t be late or there won’t be any food left :-) Feature Presentation: POT LUCK night Start time is 5:00 p.m. Afterwards, we’ll have What’s up Tonight by Steve Bieger and Current Events by Clevis Jones, followed by Observing on the field weather permitting. Place:
Charlie Elliott Visitor's Center Next Meeting: July 7, 5:00 p.m. Feature Presentation -TBD FOR UPDATES & DIRECTIONS & LIVE broadcasts: PLEASE check the CEastronomy website for the most current meeting information !
Submitted: Clevis Jones, CE Recording Secretary Secretary@CEastronomy.org |
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Last Updated Wednesday, May 23, 2007 |
