20150606ACATHMin

The ACA held its monthly star gaze on June 6th, 2015, Saturday 8:30 PM, at NMR-DSO with 11 members and 3 guests attending.

After getting the declination motor repaired in CA, and John installed it, the declination motor on the Meade 12” LX200 was still a running away so we corrected manually. The next week John found a pinched wire and corrected it. Pat’s scope was working better after sending it in for servicing, but still not just right. Steve’s 6” scope worked well.

Though it didn’t get really dark until really late, we had a fairly clear sky, and enjoyable weather. Our visitors enjoyed learning about the phases of Venus, but had the most fun finding and counting satellites. Pat found several globular clusters for us. Mark and Steve focused on Jupiter and its moons. We started looking for Omega Centauri, and Tedda finally found it at 11:00 above the power pole. Then we all found it. It wasn’t as clear as it has been other times, so we concluded that the atmosphere was not as clear as before.

Tedda provided some layered zucchini cake, and Mark brought rice krispie treats.

Steve came over on June 17 to try some timed photos of Omega Centauri, but the sky was still not very clear, and his camera couldn’t seem to pick it up.

Respectfully submitted,

Tedda Howard

20150619ACAVLMin

ASTRONOMY CLUB OF AUGUSTA Meeting Minutes for Monthly Meeting
Date: June 19, 2015
Location: GRU Augusta
Eighteen people attended, 13 members and 5 guests.

1. Installation of ACA Officers for 2015-16. List of elected officers:

2. Officers Reports.
a. Treasury – John White.
i. _____ in bank. Copies of written report available at next meeting.
ii. $196.44 designated for telescope repairs.

b. Observing Events presented - Stan Howard.
i. Mercury visible early morning on June 24.
ii. Check Jupiter / Venus conjunction (1/3 °) on June 30.
iii. Next Star Gaze on July 11.
iv. Annual Club picnic followed by Star Gaze and Perseid Count on August 8, Sat.6:30PM
Sign up on website.
v. Sign-up sheet for IOMN = International Observe the Moon Night on September 19, Sat. 7:00PM,
and SEED on October 10, Sat. 8AM-3PM
vi. Outreach @ Mark R’s Middle School, probably on November 3, Fri.6:30PM. More details later.

3. John White’s presentation: Caveman Astronomy.

4. Many thanks to John W. for also bringing tasty refreshments.

5. Even though the lights never turned off, we spent some lovely moments outside at the parking lot naked-eye viewing the Moon, Venus and Jupiter. We also enjoyed seeing Saturn close to the head of Scorpius with its beating red heart below.

Respectfully submitted,
Victor Levy