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CFAS Monthly Board Meeting Minutes

December 19, 2006

Attendees:

Paul Kronenwetter

Walt Hamler

Alan Hoffberg

Tony Urzi

Frank Gutowski

Francisco Gonzalez

Tom Chitty

Derek Demeter

Laurence Lurie

Beeler Gausz

Guests: Ray Jones

President's Call to order. Welcoming remarks.

The meeting was called to order at 7:28pm.

Secretary's Report

A request was made for comments and changes to the November board meeting minutes. Tom made a motion to approve the minutes as distributed by email. Tony seconded the motion. The minutes were approved unanimously.

Treasurer's Report

Alan briefly reviewed the treasurer's report with the board. Walter moved to approved treasurer report, Tom seconded. The report was accepted unanimously.

Agenda Items
1. The holiday party was a great success. The budget was approved by the membership present at the party.
2. Astrofest
  1. Tom proposed to set the fees for Astrofest at $25 per family (membership). Larry made a motion to accept the proposed fees, Frank seconded and the motion passed unanimously.
3. Tom Chitty nominated Beeler Gausz to be the new Astrolog editor. Frank seconded the motion, the motion passed unanimously.

Committee Reports
1. Membership -
  1. No New Members for December.

1. Programs
  1. Tony distributed the 2007 program schedule. Three slots are still open. May's program will be filled with an astrophotography presentation. Tony will probably present a topic on filters in July. Derek will present a program on Mars in August.
  2. Ray asked why the number of outside presenters has decreased for 2007. Walt responded that this is primarily due to feedback from the membership. Many members have requested the topics be more focused on amateurs, rather than cutting-edge research.

1. DSAC/Library
  1. Derek mentioned that he and Alan are planning to photograph the area from the air in the near future to demonstrate the effect of lighting from the sky.

1. Publicity
  1. On January 25th at 6:30pm CFAS will present “Introduction to Astronomy” at the Alafaya Branch of the Orange County Public Library System. The library has already produced advertising material for this event. They were passed out at the meeting. Tony will bring the club's LX-200 for observing after the event.

1. Orlando Science Center
  1. Larry met with Paul Trembly to discuss the next meeting there. He also spoke to the volunteer coordinator who requested a write-up on the next movie we'll be showing at the general meeting. The information will be distributed to the volunteer at OSC.

1. Board Members at Large
  1. Beeler suggested a large portion of the membership that would appreciate additional hands-on training opportunities. Tom suggested a star party be held at a nearby site for the members that don't want to drive a long distance to observe.

1. Observing
  1. The 2007 dates for Ocala observing are available and will be posted on the website as soon as they're sent to Paul.
  2. Tom will make a short presentation about Astrofest at the January meeting.

1. Education and Outreach
  1. Princeton Moon Party - January 26th
  2. Palmetto Elementary - January 30th
  3. SCC needs help for a Saturn opposition event on Saturday, February 10th.
  4. Dommerich Elementary - February 23rd
  5. Odyssey Middle School – March 2nd.

1. Robinson
  1. The board discussed the future of CFAS's participation with the new Robinson telescope. For the moment, unless UCF requests otherwise, CFAS will likely limit participation to helping students on the Wednesday lab times.

1. Astrolog Editor
  1. Beeler requested inputs be sent to him as soon as possible for inclusion in the first 2007 edition.

1. Scientific Committee
  1. Tom was not present at the meeting.

1. NASA Night Sky Network
  1. NNSN will be sending at least three commemorative pins to CFAS in the near future. Walt suggested Tony generate the list of people and send it out via email for approval. The deadline for submission is January 8th.
  2. NNSN will also be sending a limited edition posted “The Eight Planets, the New Cosmic Order” because of the number events we hosted.

1. Webmaster
  1. No report.

Old Business
1. No old business was discussed.

New Business
1. Derek discussed SCC's plans to install a small observatory, using a NASA surplus dome, on a concrete pad to the West of the planetarium on the campus. They will need help with events on Fridays and Saturdays when these events are running. A Meade LX200 12” SCT will be installed in the observatory.
2. Ray described an idea that we could implement at the Ocala National Forest site about building an observatory on the property.

Motion to Adjourn
1. Frank motioned to adjourn the meeting, Francisco seconded. The meeting was adjourned at 8:53pm.

/s/ Paul Kronenwetter – CFAS Secretary