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From the President May 2005

I wish to thank those CFAS members who participated in the many astronomy events held last month. The Harmony Dark Sky festival and Astronomy Day at the Orlando Science Center were a big success due in large part to your participation. All had a good time showing the general public the joys of amateur astronomy. The school and library programs were also well received and appreciated by the public attending these sessions. Well done to those members who participated in these activities. The Harmony foundation started an Observatory fund from the proceeds of the drawing held at this year’s event. CFAS members are encouraged to donate to this fund which will erect a permanent observatory on the Harmony site surrounded by additional telescope observing sites.

Walt Hamler and I just returned from West Texas after attending this year’s Texas Star Party (TSP) on the Prude Ranch near Ft. Davis, Texas. Unfortunately the highlights of the trip were not superb viewing, but rather the sightseeing trips of the local area, and the visit to the Mac Donald observatory complex which incidently houses the largest telescopic mirror in the world.

We arrived at TSP a day early, somewhat exhausted after the 2 day 1600 mile automobile trip. We were able to set up the 18 inch Dob, and the skies that night were incredibly dark with superb views of M51, M101, M80, M81, M104, M13, etc. We turned in early with great anticipation of the coming week’s activities. The next night viewing was only fair with lots of high cirrus clouds. I attempted some imaging, but the results proved to be mediocre because of the limited transparancy.

Little did we know this would be the last night of any reasonable viewing. A weather front stalled in the area and cloudy skies remained through Saturday night. When we departed at 5:30 AM on Sunday the skies were once again bright and clear. In fact I have never seen the milky way so bright!

The Prude ranch did a great job providing food and housing, as did Texas Star Party, Inc. in running the event. Excellent daily programs were given by professional astronomers. Despite the poor viewing conditions the attendees, some of which had come from England and all areas of the US remained positive. Many new friends were made. The prizes at the 2 drawings were also exceptional ( 3 telescopes, many eyepieces, and cash prizes). In all, over 500 astronomers attended the TSP. All the big vendors were their also, and many offered special star party discounts.

We were certainly dissapointed in the weather which was described as the worse for viewing in over 20 years, but the trip was enjoyable and worthwhile. I will attend agin, and recommend TSP to all of you.

I want to congratulate our VP, David Furrow on the excellent speakers he has provided at our meetings this year. Our June meeting will present NASA speaker, Mr. Thomas Howard Smith, who will talk to us regarding future NASA projects and payloads. Mr. Smith has been employed by NASA at the Kennedy Space Center since 1988. His initial jobs involved Space Shuttle processing, but recently he has expanded to work on logistics, Space Station ground processing and Human Exploration. He is currently an Operations Engineer supporting Space Station and Shuttle payload missions. You are reminded that meetings now start at 7 PM. Meeting locations will alternate each month between the Orlando Science Center and the SCC planetarium. In June the meeting will beheld at the SCC Planetarium.

The Robinson UCF student observing program and visitor night program has been discontinued for the summer. The program will resume next September.

I am happy to report that most members have renewed their membership for 2005, and although our numbers are somewhat smaller than 2004 we are able to meet our financial obligations for the year.

The CFAS board accepted the resignation of our secretary Andy Williams, and elected Paul Kronenwetter to fill this position. In addition, Francisco Gonzales was elected Board Member at Large to fill the vacancy created by Paul Kronenwetter.

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.

Clear skies to all. Ray Jones