From the President

April, 2005

CFAS Astrofest 2005 was a resounding success for all those that participated. What a great time to observe with friends under truly fantastic dark clear conditions! For those new to truly dark skies, the experience is one not to be forgotten. It is amazing how much more you are able to see, and how much more enjoyable the observing experience becomes. Becoming a member of CAV is a good investment, and the extra drive is worth it if you can spend a few days at the site. Our many thanks to the Chiefland Astronomy Village owners and in particular Tom Clark for letting us use the facility. Many thanks also to the CFAS board who put this together, especially Dave Furrow who ran the registration and kept the funds straight. My hats off to the membership that all followed the rules and left the site just as clean and neat as we found it.

As we enter spring there are many astronomy activities that the membership may participate in. On April 8th there will be a partial eclipse of the sun that will be a maximum (40%) around 3:15 pm. You can observe this event from the Robinson Observatory where the Hydrogen alpha filter will be in use on the TEC 140.

Harmony is having its Dark Sky festival on April 9th. CFAS members are requested to bring their telescopes to the Harmony square and host a public viewing session. Last year there were many hundreds of visitors that enjoyed the observing provided by many CFAS members. Come early and enjoy the festivities, including the food and special musical program during which CFAS member astronomy photographs will be projected. This is a great family event. Check out the flyer on our website.

CFAS is assisting the Orlando Science Center by supporting activities on Astronomy day on April 16th. Check out the activities and sign up for one or more of the programs you can participate in. See the OSC section of our web site for more details.

Meeting will again commence at the SCC planetarium on April 13th. At this meeting we will present the funding grant to the SCC planetarium. In order to serve our geographically spread out membership better the board has voted to now alternate meetings between these two locations. In response to many member requests general meeting star times have been moved up to 7 pm instead of 7:30 pm. So please check the web site to ensure you know the correct location and time before leaving for meetings. We are very lucky to be able to use the planetarium for our general meetings, and are very appreciative of both SCC and OSC for providing their facilities for our use.

In addition the Observing committee will be supporting several outreach observing activities at schools and libraries. Over the past few month CFAS has participated in several of these events that are greatly appreciated by the public. Of special note several school events were attended by the students and their parents. In each case almost 200 people attended these observing sessions. These are fun events, and give us the chance to educate the public about our great hobby. Check the observing committee section for more information.

The Losmandy G-11 mount for the TEC 140mm refractor finally arrived, and is now available for use with the TEC 140 during scheduled observing periods. Members need to reserve private use time of this telescope. If not reserved then the scope will be available for general member viewing. This is a magnificent telescope that provides spectacular views. Don’t miss the opportunity to use it at our site. Also available is our 12 inch Meade LX 200. Members may reserve time for either of these instruments by contacting Walt Hamler, the chairman of the observing committee. Walt is also still looking for a home for the Meade 12 inch. This is a great opportunity to maintain the 12 inch at your home. The catch is that you must be able to bring it (or have it brought) to each scheduled observing event. This is a very small price to pay for the use of this super telescope.

If you are not a member of the CFAS-FL Yahoo group I encourage you to join. The site is a great source of information about CFAS activities, but also a good place to get your basic astronomy questions answered. Many more of our members are into astrophotography, and share their photographs on this site also.

The Robinson UCF student observing program is operating successfully. Frank Gutowski still needs more membership support to help out with these events that are held as often as each Wednesday night. The program ends in April, and will start up with the fall semester in September. This is a good opportunity to interact with today’s youth and pass on your enthusiasm for astronomy. The CFAS board has moved its Board meetings to the third Thursday night each month in order to allow board members support this program.

Again this year many CFAS members are slow in renewing their membership. As of early March only 50 percent have renewed. So I am asking everyone to please renew quickly so CFAS can get its financial house in order for the year. Board members will be calling you. Please let them know if you are not planning on renewing, and the reason for letting your membership expire. We appreciate your input.

I will conclude again with a reminder to all of our CFAS members that we are a volunteer organization, and that for us to succeed requires member participation in the running of each part of the organization. We are fortunate to presently have all committee chairperson positions filled, but each committee can always use help. Check out the list of committees, and call the chairman to find out what you can do to help out. In particular both the Robinson visitor program and the Orlando Science Center NASA Night sky program continue to need volunteers. For Robinson Visitor Night program please contact Frank Gutowski FGutowski@yahoo.com <mailto:FGutowski@yahoo.com> , and for the Night Sky Program contact Paul Kronenwetter at (407) 388-7962 or email: kronenpj@netzero.net <mailto:kronenpj@netzero.net> .

Clear skies to all. Ray Jones