Austin Astronomical Society Executive Committee Minutes

Minutes of the Executive Committee - 6 May 2013

9709 — Tue, 07 May 2013 02:03:20 GMT

The meeting was called to order at 8:00 p.m. by President Joyce Lynch. Additionally present were: Ron Carman, VP; Dawn Davies, outreach; Tim Brown, Member Services; Jim Spigelmire, communications; Mark Lyon, treasurer; Jack Estes, ALCor; Lauren Rogers, Secretary; Mike Krzywonski, Member at Large; David Lynch, president elect. A quorum was present.

Minutes were approved as posted.

Officer reports:

Treasurer: We have ~$32,000 or so. We are at the point where the pro-rated membership amount for some categories is exactly what we have to send to the AL. We may need to look at a minimum amount at some point in order to not lose money on a membership.

VP: Vic/Mark/Jim will be doing the May meeting with the solar scope, and Phil Schmidt’s ME students will come to talk about their research on observing chairs. Since we’re at Wild Basin, people can bring food/drinks. Don Olson will be able to present in June, and we have meetings scheduled for August (David Henderson – published books) and September (Jack Peterson – comets).

Communications: no report

Equipment: no report

Member Services: We had a dam party last Friday night, and we had about 8 people come out without telescopes. Nothing in May.

Outreach: We’re out of patches and magnets at COE (we can add that to the merchandise list), Maker Faire went really well. Wild Basin is May the 19^th, public night June 1, then AUTS the 15^th (with talks, showing the 3D universe, and the mobile dome). Dawn is putting together a kit for anyone interested in spear-heading a star party to help with people interested in doing outreach but don’t feel that they have everything they need (materials and/or knowledge-wise). We have new info cards and business cards. We also have some craft activities for kids to do that we can add to the website and use for future events. We’re still working on the forms for merchandise. Hopefully by mid-week, we’ll be activating a star-party page on the website. Dawn requested an additional $300 for her budget (AUTS), and it was approved.

IDA: none

ALCor: none

President’s report: COE report- LCRA doesn’t want to do anything other than own the land and improve the septic system. Caliber will be responsible for the water well, lawn mowing, maintenance, running the RV park, etc. Cindy likes the idea of hang-tags to show AAS membership for those entering the park. They would still like people to check in at the lodge when going to the field at times other than regular star parties. AAS members will not be required to pay the day entrance fee. Caliber is very happy with what we’re doing with the public events, but they have concerns with member event issues. For example, It is a wilderness preserve, and there should not be camping on the field (only at the campground), cars on the field, food, etc. Cindy is willing to find campsites for people who are coming up to do star parties for them. She would love us to have one of our EC meetings out there. We need to sit down and plan the calendar with them to help resolve some conflicts. Cindy also has concerns about expensive (port-a-potties, electrical, internet, mowing). Jim S made a motion that we get our own internet, Dawn seconded, and Mike K will research it. The subcommittee (Joyce, Dawn, Mark, Mike, Jim) will get together to get a proposal together.

New business: none

Agenda for GA meeting 5/10/13- at Wild Basin, food and short presentations.

Next EC meeting will be 6/3/13 at Conan’s (Anderson and Burnet).

Meeting was adjourned at 9:24.

Minutes of the Executive Committee - 1 April 2013

9709 — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 02:01:47 GMT

The meeting was called to order at 7:03 p.m. by President Joyce Lynch. Additionally present were: Ron Carman, VP; Dawn Davies, outreach; Tim Brown, Member Services; Darin Koch, Equipment; Jim Spigelmire, communications; Mark Lyon, treasurer; Jack Estes, ALCor; Lauren Rogers, Secretary; Mike Krzywonski, Vic Ellisor and Terry Phillips, Members at Large; Steve Bosbach, IDA. A quorum was present.

Officer reports:

Treasurer: We have been spending money on things for COE (lighting, monitor, etc.) Spending is relatively minimal, though, and we are still bringing in more than we are spending.

VP: The April presentation will be Dawn Davies on constellations. Vic/Mark/Jim will be doing the May meeting with the solar scope. Don Olson will be able to present in June or July, and we have tentative meetings scheduled for August and September.

Communications: We would like to be doing some click studies on the website to figure out what people are looking at and what can be improved. We have also submitted for the newsletter award and the website award for the AL. Winners will be announced in July.

Equipment: We’ve been working on the new telescope at the Ruof observatory. The M object plaque in the observatory is coming down, and Darin’s getting that fixed. We’re also getting another filter for the TV to make it a little darker. Grounds were good Friday night, but we have a bit of an issue with fire ants.

Member Services: April 5-7 is CTSP: potluck Friday, BBQ Saturday ($5 per person for reservations, pay by the 4th). We will have the Ruof observatory dedication and the Ealing rededication on the 6^th. Plaques are ready for the Ealing rededication, and Fred is going to speak for the new observatory dedication.

Outreach:

April -- Meridian Charter 6^th (during the day), Public party at COE 13, Pflugerville library the 20^th, Inks Lake the 23^rd or 24^th,and Wild Basin the 26^th.

Merchandise: pretty much ready to go, just waiting on one thing…

IDA: Cindy and Erika both know now how to do lighting assessments. Cindy is working on a handbook on how to expedite the process. Blanco State Park is up next. Palo Pinto Mountain State Park is having its first star party coming up. HCA is really pushing to get nearby municipalities on board with fighting light pollution. April 5-11 is dark sky awareness week. Austin Energy’s retrofitted lights have a lot of glare and uneven, very white lighting, and Steve is working with them on that. They are also working on lights at Barton Springs.

ALCor: Mark Johnston earned another certificate, but he is not receiving it at the meeting.

President’s report: Email from Cindy at COE – day fees are not required for AAS members. There are inconsistencies with some people paying and others not. There were several concerns that Cindy raised that Joyce addressed as well regarding other issues (multiple people in cars, multiple cars, rudeness). We need to be looking at other options for a site, but also we should be OK with reasonable requests from COE personnel, especially in the lack of a contract. ZeeCom is the new internet provider, and there should be WiFi to go for 11 miles.

New business: Joyce received an email from someone who would like to donate a scope. She will get back with them.

Agenda for GA meeting 4/12/13: election

Next EC meeting will be 5/6/13

Meeting was adjourned at 8:49 pm.

Minutes of the Executive Committee - 4 March 2013

9709 — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 02:55:09 GMT

The meeting was called to order at 7:06 p.m. by President Joyce Lynch. Additionally present were: Ron Carman, VP; Dawn Davies, outreach; Mark Lyon, treasurer; Darin Koch, equipment; Jack Estes, ALCor; Lauren Rogers, Secretary; Mike Krzywonski and Terry Phillips, Members at Large; Steve Bosbach, IDA. A quorum was present.

A motion was made by Mike Krzywonski to approve last month’s minutes; the motion was seconded by Ron Carman.

Officer reports:

Treasurer: Mark is collecting some information from Terry Phillips regarding purchasing of the new loaner scopes and from Vic about fair market value for scopes/parts donated.

VP: The March presentation will be on Herschel, and April will be Dawn Davies on constellations. We do not yet have a May presentation scheduled. We do not yet have a response from the San Antonio club yet regarding a joint meeting and/or observing night. The astronomy department has agreed to sponsor us for our meeting location, and they will reserve our meeting location in ETC. We will need to have a UT employee at each meeting.

Communications: We will be submitting the most recent newsletter to the AL as our submission for consideration of the newsletter award.

Equipment: We have some new lighting at COE that we are still working on adjusting (brightness, shielding, etc.) Vic is still working on solar scope instructions/training video. COE is working on getting their internet fixed, and once that happens, we’ll see what we need to do with ours. Joyce will speak to Jim Henson to see if he has experience with Wild Blue.

Member Services: April 5-7 is CTSP: potluck Friday, BBQ Saturday ($5 per person for reservations). We will have the Ruof observatory dedication and the Ealing rededication on the 6^th.

Outreach: March- SXSW (UT students and their model of the James Webb Telescope) at Auditorium Shores, Earth Hour is the 23^rd (8:30-9:30) at city hall. April- Meridian Charter School 6th, Public party at COE 13, Texas Stars (October at the arena), request from Goddard School (week of June 24^th), June 15^th AUTS.

Merchandise: orders will be done twice a year, so we don’t need to worry about sales tax. Setup cost will be included in the price of the items. People who want the items shipped will pay their own shipping.

IDA: Steve and Erika finished Inks Lake assessment. Steve is also working on a standardized system of assessment to export to the Texas IDA. He would also like to do a video to show the process. Austin Energy is gathering people interested in talking to Steve about LED retrofits (bright white/blue with a lot of scattering) to educate them about light pollution. Hill Country Alliance has their own night sky committee, and they’re looking at standardizing light pollution monitoring and going state-wide with that.

ALCor: John Huntsberger will receive his Messier certificate.

President’s report: Reimer’s Ranch- they’re working on the facility, but there are still a lot of obstacles/permissions to obtain. Nominating committee- please respond to the committee’s email with your intentions.

New business: none

Agenda for GA meeting 3/8/13: 1 certificate, elections, merchandise

Next EC meeting will be 4/1/13

Meeting was adjourned at 8:33 pm.

Minutes of the Executive Committee - 4 February 2013

9709 — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 01:57:44 GMT

The meeting was called to order at 7:06 p.m. by President Joyce Lynch. Additionally present were: Ron Carman, VP; Dawn Davies, outreach; Mark Lyon, treasurer; Tim Brown, member services; Jim Spigelmire, communications; Erika Rix, newsletter; Jack Estes, ALCor; Lauren Rogers, Secretary; Vic Ellisor, Member at Large. A quorum was present.

A motion was made by Jim Spigelmire to approve December and January’s minutes; the motion was seconded by Dawn Davies.

Officer reports:

Treasurer: We now have insurance again. We have people signed up to borrow the loaner scopes from now through this year. We will have new packages available soon.

VP: Steve Bosbach will present this week on IDA. The March presentation will be on Herschel, and April will be Dawn Davies on constellations. We do not yet have a May presentation scheduled. We do not yet have a response from the San Antonio club yet regarding a joint meeting and/or observing night. Phil Schmidt will be getting back with us soon regarding ETC availability after his retirement.

Communications: The website over the last month had 6700 page views with a 47% bounce rate, average time on the site ~3 minutes, average of 3 pages visited, 38% of visitors returned more than once, most traffic is direct. Yay! People are using the website, even with 10% international exposure. Jim will work with Erika and Jack to get some information about potential advertising/information from members only. We need to look at creating a communications framework: what will be our core communication (Yahoo! Group), the predominant method of information dissemination (the website), and what other media we will be using (Facebook, Twitter, Google+) and in what capacity. The communications chair needs to also be a moderator on the Yahoo group to help keep the conversation on astronomical topics. The communications team will also look into making the newsletter searchable (hashtags, keywords, etc.) The deadline is March 31 to submit the newsletter to the AL.

Equipment: Concrete pads at COE are not going to be approved on LCRA land. Darin is also looking into internet possibilities since the lodge’s internet is unreliable. Vic and Mark are going to shoot a video about the solar scope next week to get the directions for setup filmed so people can start borrowing it. They will have a set of paper directions and the video to go with the scope. We also have two scopes that are being donated to the club.

Member Services: The practical astronomy meeting (Jim and Mike) will be about first telescopes. We had 20 cars out at the dam last Friday (40-50 people). We have a lot of new members, so we’re on track with what we’re trying to provide to them. April 5-7 is CTSP, and we need to be thinking about the format (potluck, BBQ, etc.) We will have the Ealing dedication on the 6^th. The Ruof observatory equipment is now in place, and Fred and Joyce will be going out soon to check it out. It will be dedicated the 6^th as well. Possible Messier Marathon the 9^th-16^th (and the 9^th is our Members Only night, but it could be postponed to the 16^th in case of inclement weather).

Outreach: February events: Stars in the Park at Blanco 9^th, Barton Hills 15^th, Meridian Charter the 23^rd, Deer Creek the 26^th(mobile dome raffle winner). March à SXSW (UT students and their model of the James Webb Telescope) at Auditorium Shores, Earth Hour is the 23^rd (8:30-9:30) and we will have an event at city hall (hopefully with their lights off as well). We are also still working on AUTS and an event in Cedar Park with the hockey team and having an event with them. Merchandise should be ready by Friday’s meeting!

IDA: Steve has been asked to be a co-coordinator for IDA in Texas, then taking over to be the Texas coordinator.

ALCor: 1 certificate to present Friday

President’s report: The nominating committee is now set. Reimer Ranch: Construction on the observatory will be starting in about another month, and equipment will be purchased shortly thereafter. They would like to have some people come out to see the place and give some feedback. Information will be sent around shortly.

New business: none

Agenda for GA meeting 2/8/13: 1 award presentation, nominating committee info

Next EC meeting will be 3/4/13

Meeting was adjourned at 8:54 pm.

Minutes of the Executive Committee Meeting - 7 January 2013

9709 — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 03:15:48 GMT

The meeting was called to order at 8:10 p.m. by President Joyce Lynch. Additionally present were: Ron Carman, VP; Dawn Davies, outreach; Tim Brown, member services; Jim Spigelmire, communications; Erika Rix, newsletter; Darin Koch, equipment; Jack Estes, ALCor; Lauren Rogers, Secretary; Mike Krzywonski and Terry Phillips, Members at Large; Steve Bosbach, IDA. A quorum was present.

Last meeting’s minutes were not posted, so we will consider these minutes next month.

Officer reports:

Treasurer: We have lost a lot of members whose memberships lapsed and were dropped from Wild Apricot. We also need someone to write up some information about the solar loaner scope mount to help people who would be interested in borrowing it; we must also create a protocol for lending it out. Tim will work on the mount instructions, and Mark will work on the protocol.

VP: Jan- Jesse Huth, Feb- Steve Bosbach, Mar- Kim vanKampp, and Apr- Dawn Davies are upcoming presenters. May is at Wild Basin. Our new meeting place is ETC 2.136. We will need to decide next month how to proceed in finding a new meeting place after the May meeting.

Communications: Advertising in the newsletter and/or website- Jim is collecting some data regarding tracking numbers of unique views to different pages on the website to see if we could even charge enough to make it worthwhile. We may consider making it as a service to the membership, given specific guidelines. We will not put anything in for this month but will reconsider next month. Erika is also in need of chair reports by the 25^th of each month. Please be sure you are getting your information to her in a timely fashion.

Equipment: TV is working fine. We’re working on a way to get more accurate visitor counts to the observatory. We aren’t sure what the problem is with the Internet out there, and we would like to get the weather station working better. The red led light project is still in the works. We also need to consider getting a new lock to prevent the issues with not securing the building properly.

Member Services: Dam astronomy parties are still in the plans, but the weather hasn’t cooperated. Lauren will be presenting on AL observing lists for the practical astronomy meeting this month. Tim will look into organizing a possible Messier Marathon.

Outreach: January events: Jan 18^th Lockhart State Park, Jan 27 Wild Basin, Jan 31 Great Oaks Elementary. Lucia is also working on scheduling the planetarium event for the student who won the raffle at AUTS. We are also looking up setting up an event at Reimer Ranch and AUTS. March 23^rd – we would like to do an Earth hour event.

IDA: The light assessments are still going fine. Steve would like to complete 12 this year. He has supervisor/contact information for each of these parks. The hard part will be follow-up to see if anything changes following the light assessment; anybody able/willing to help out should contact Steve.

ALCor: Jack has 2-3 certificates in progress, but they won’t be ready for Friday.

President’s report: ESP proceeds were $430.98. As in the past, we will keep half and return half to ESP. Darin will check in with Fred Ruof and his observatory, and first light could be in the next few weeks. We are still planning to have the dedication in April. The nominating committee needs to be formed soon for upcoming elections. Neither current nor prospective officers are eligible to serve on the nominating committee. Calendar dates online need to be updated for members only star parties. Public events are already posted.

New business: none

Agenda for GA meeting 1/11/13: Nominating committee

Next EC meeting will be 2/4/13

Meeting was adjourned at 9:19 pm.

Minutes of the Executive Committee - 3 December 2012

9709 — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 03:13:31 GMT

The meeting was called to order at 7:08 p.m. by President Joyce Lynch. Additionally present were: Ron Carman, VP; Dawn Davies, outreach; Lauren Rogers, Secretary; Mike Krzywonski and Vic Ellisor, Members at Large; Steve Bosbach, IDA. A quorum was present.

Motion made to approve last EC meeting’s minutes was made by Vic Ellisor, seconded by Mike Krzywonski.

Officer reports:

Treasurer: Planetarium donation- we will be going towards a Founder’s Circle membership, $5000 over a 3-year period. One concern would be invitations to planetary events, and how that would be handled with multiple persons contributing. Dawn Davies will be our planetarium liaison.

VP: There is no program this month due to the holiday party. Jan- Jesse Huth, Feb- Steve Bosbach, Mar- Kim vanKampp, and Apr- Dawn Davies are upcoming presenters. We still need to look at a new meeting place; Phil Schmidt may be able to get us into the ETC building.

Communications: none

Equipment: The gate was open and the south doors were propped closed with a brick or rock at some point last week. We may need to change the combination again. It is possible that COE staff members are accessing the building and not closing it properly.

Outreach: The holiday party is December 14^th (potluck). We’ve got about 40 RSVPs so far. The Visual Binaries may be performing. We will have a few awards to present at the party. --> December events: Dec 5 Fulmore Middle school, Dec 07 Lockhart State Park, Dec 08 Members-Only Star Party, Dec 9 Wild Basin, Dec 14 Austin Astronomical Society's Holiday Party, Dec 15 Public Star Party, Dec 18 Spring Hill Elementary. January events: Jan 5^th Public Star Party, Jan 27 Wild Basin, Jan 31 Great Oaks Elementary. February events: Feb 2 Public Star Party, Feb 7 Wild Basin, Feb 26 Deer Creek Elementary.

Member services: We are working on getting a form set up for ordering merchandise on the website.

IDA: The IDA conference was last month. Steve got some great ideas from some overseas astronomy groups. Rather than pushing lighting changes, China is working on getting more interest in night viewing, with a secondary focus on light pollution. Steve will be making a detailed presentation to the GA in February, and he will have an article in the upcoming newsletter. 4 parks’ lighting assessments are done; Enchanted Rock retrofits are done, and some monies will be available hopefully soon for Lost Maples. Pedernales is next, followed by Lockhart and Blanco. The next stage will be applications to become dark sky parks, followed by hopefully some protections for the park, once certified.

ALCor: Steve Bosbach and Lauren Rogers have awards to be presented at the GA meeting.

President: The November partner’s meeting was cancelled, and there isn’t one in December, so no new news from COE.

New business: none

Agenda for GA meeting 12/14/12: Awards and food! Holiday party at Wild Basin

Next EC meeting will be 1/7 at Dawn’s.

Meeting was adjourned at 8:05 pm.

Minutes of the Executive Committee - 5 November 2012

9709 — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 01:07:34 GMT

The meeting was called to order at 7:04 p.m. by President Joyce Lynch. Additionally present were: Mark Lyon, treasurer; Tim Brown, member services; Dawn Davies, outreach; Jim Spigelmire, communications; Darin Koch, equipment; Lauren Rogers, Secretary; Terry Phillips, Vic Ellisor and Mike Krzywonski, Members at Large; Steve Bosbach, IDA. A quorum was present.

Motion made to approve last EC meeting’s minutes as amended made by Jim Spigelmire, seconded by Mark Lyon.

Officer reports:

Treasurer: A check in the amount of $2830.75 will be given to the Austin Planetarium. We are running about where we normally do for renewals. Mark will send out an email to members regarding the RASC observing guides. Members who pay in advance will be able to order at a discounted rate. Joyce will mention it at the meeting on Friday as well.

VP: Erika Rix is presenting for both meetings Friday evening. Ron has spoken with people in the astronomy department about our ability to get into RLM on meeting evenings.

Communications: no report

Equipment: Jim Sheets reported that the observatory door was open one day last week. We will need to develop some sort of sign in sheet to determine who is accessing the observatory and not closing it up properly. Darin has already put some adhesive tape on the edges of some of the tables along the path to test how well it adheres; he will figure something out for the path itself (like painting some rocks with glow-in-the-dark paint to line the pathway). We will add $500 to the equipment budget for repairs, etc. We will also have our solar scope protocol soon.

Member Services: We have reinstituted the dam star party last Friday, and had 3-4 new people who had never been out before. We would like to continue pursuing that. Reimer Ranch will also be looked into in the future. The group would also look into studying some of the available software programs. Happy hours, breakfast/coffee meetings, and dam star party rotations have all been discussed. The member services committee forum group should be live on the website. Hopefully we’ll have a merchandise update Friday.

Outreach: The holiday party is December 14^th (potluck). We’ve got about 30 RSVPs so far.

--November events: Nov 10 Members-Only Star Party, Nov 11 Stargazing at Wild Basin, Nov 15 Pond Springs Elementary, Nov 17 Public Star Party. December events: Dec 5 Fulmore Middle school, Dec 07 Lockhart State Park, Dec 08 Members-Only Star Party, Dec 14 Austin Astronomical Society's Holiday Party, Dec 15 Public Star Party, Dec 18 Spring Hill Elementary. January events: Jan 5^th Public Star Party, Jan 27 Wild Basin, Jan 31 Great Oaks Elementary. February events: Feb 2 Public Star Party, Feb 7 Wild Basin, Feb 26 Deer Creek Elementary.

--For every star party request, there will be a contact person at that organization (school, etc.) for members to contact if they are interested in helping out. That point of contact can then cancel their event if there are not enough volunteers. Dawn will no longer be responsible for coordinating those parties. We will also include a star party map, illustrating areas in which we would consider traveling to present. Some locations requesting parties are just too far away. Awards to be thinking about for the holiday party: outreach and photography.

IDA: The IDA conference is the 10^th and 11^th of November. We are in the process of completing our light assessments of the four state parks that we are interested in making dark sky sites. Steve will be presenting on this process at the IDA conference. Hopefully, others will start doing this around the state. The procedure and matrix will be on the AAS website soon.

ALCor: Joyce will check with Jack to see if he has any awards to present on Friday.

President: There was no October partners meeting, but the November meeting is scheduled for next week. Cindy will check back with us about coming to a future EC meeting. The joint meeting with San Antonio has no new progress. We have no new information about the Fred Shed either. Erika donated a couple signed books to ESP, and we also donated a Barlow.

New business: none

Agenda for GA meeting 11/9/12: Hopefully a planetarium representative will be at the meeting Friday for the check presentation.

Next EC meeting will be 12/3 at Jack’s.

Meeting was adjourned at 8:06 pm.

Minutes of the Executive Committee - 1 October 2012

9709 — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 03:00:02 GMT

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by President Joyce Lynch. Additionally present were: Ron Carman, VP; Mark Lyon, treasurer; Tim Brown, member services; Dawn Davies, outreach; Jim Spigelmire, communications; Darin Koch, equipment; Lauren Rogers, Secretary; Terry Phillips, Vic Ellisor and Mike Krzywonski, Members at Large; Jack Estes, ALCOR; Steve Bosbach, IDA. A quorum was present.

Motion made to approve last EC meeting’s minutes as amended made by Mike Krzywonski, seconded by Mark Lyon.

Officer reports:

Treasurer: Since Joyce’s email, planetarium donations have risen from $245 to $1405. Anonymous donors are also matching the first $1000. We will close the fund drive on or about the next GA meeting, but we will continue to accept donations on behalf of the Planetarium even though the drive will officially be concluding. AMD also sent in a check for $210 for Jim Lynch’s hours of outreach.

VP: Programs are scheduled from now through February. We have Wild Basin scheduled for the December meeting. The San Antonio group has not yet gotten back with us regarding a joint meeting.

Communications: We purchased the software for Erika Rix for the newsletter. We also have 100GB of storage now through GoDaddy. The photo of the month and Sidereal Times archives have already been moved over. We may start using email routing through them as well. October observing targets are also on the website.

Equipment: We’re looking now at $1200 for the monitor set due to a price increase. Darin is looking at additional options. Darin is also experimenting with solar lights (LEDs for the ropes or lamps for the tables) for illuminating the observatory pathway. Vic will be working on the solar scope protocol after the 15^th of the month.

Member Services: Thursday night will be the first member services committee meeting, four of which are new members. We would most like to find out how to get the new members involved and keep them involved. An idea for a future practical astronomy meeting would be AL award observing lists.

Outreach: Centex will be October 6, and it will have a scout-focus. We have 50-75 reservations so far for that. McKinney State Park and Westwood High School events are the following week. Wild Basin will go to a quarterly schedule with a backup date to hopefully reduce the number of conflicts and aid in astronomer availability. We are looking at alternative days of the week as well. The holiday party is December 14^th (potluck). COE will do a better job of talking to the public about starting and ending times.

IDA: Light surveys on the 4 target state parks will be done by mid-October. From this point, we can get a submission in to Texas Parks and Wildlife regarding what can be done at each park. We would also like to do a survey at COE and present it to Cindy at a partners meeting. The IDA conference is the 10^th and 11^th of November.

ALCor: There are two certificates (Lauren and Steve) in process, but they may not be ready by the next meeting. We still have Erika’s outreach certificate to present as well. We would like to look at adding either the ExCel spreadsheet or some other page on the AAS website to recognize award recipients.

President:

COE partner’s meeting – Members visiting COE on non-star party nights are supposed to check in with the office to let them know of their presence (in case of emergency) and pay the day use fee. Cindy wants to come to an EC meeting to discuss it. An option would be to waive the fee for a time to just try to get people to sign in. After seeing actual numbers of how many people attend, the AAS could pick up the fees. Joyce also suggested that the club could pay the electricity for the EEO. Nothing has yet been resolved at this point.

ESP donation – ESP is looking for donations of door prizes. Erika might be willing to donate a signed sketching book. We also have a never-used Barlow to send.

Ruof Observatory – The Fred Shed was to be dedicated at CenTex, but it is not yet ready. The scope has to be sent back to Celestron for repairs. The dedication will be postponed. The dedication name plate is being designed by the observatory builder, and AAS will be paying for that. The renaming of the Ealing ceremony will be at CTSP in the spring.

New business: Dawn would like to do some recognition certificates at the holiday party. Be thinking about that for the next meeting so we can have awards prepared for December.

Agenda for GA meeting 10/12/12: ALCor awards.

Next EC meeting will be 11/5 at Jack’s.

Meeting was adjourned at 8:51 pm.

Minutes of the Executive Committee - 10 September 2012

9709 — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 02:00:00 GMT

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by President Joyce Lynch. Additionally present were: Ron Carman, VP; Mark Lyon, treasurer; Tim Brown, member services; Dawn Davies, outreach; Jim Spigelmire, communications; Lauren Rogers, Secretary; Terry Phillips, Vic Ellisor and Mike Krzywonski, Members at Large; Jack Estes, ALCOR; Steve Bosbach, IDA. A quorum was present.

Motion made to approve last EC meeting’s minutes made by Mike Krzywonski, seconded by Mark Lyon.

Officer reports:

Treasurer: We need to look at a replacement for Wild Apricot as far as online storage of the Sidereal Times. Jim will look around at some options and have those ready for us next EC meeting. We will also look at having the Yahoo group archives there as well. Another item for consideration is the Planetarium membership. We will begin taking donations online and announce it at the GA meeting Friday.

VP: We have programs scheduled through January. Anyone with program ideas should speak to Ron.

Communications: We need to decide whether we will move to website only or continue to have the Yahoo group. Jim is also working with Adobe to get us qualified as a non-profit for a software program for the newsletter.

Equipment: We are still in need of a solar scope protocol for checking out the scope. Ron is willing to run a training for the solar scope. Joyce has two Wild Basin scopes to be stored; we need to determine what should be done with them. The white, homemade dob is still at Wild Basin. COE resort has a donation box set up for contributions for the monitor that Darin wants for outreach. We have additional donations from Sharlene Forrest and the observatory donation box to put towards this project. We will bring the proposal to the GA on Friday, explaining that the project is about $1000, and we have these earmarked funds already totaling about $750. We are also looking at additional lighting for public star parties (i.e. red rope lights, poles with reflective tape, glow in the dark paint on rocks). Cindy from COE is concerned. Table lights could be replaced with solar powered red lights. We could also buy some gravel to fill in some uneven portions of the path. The EC will recommend to the GA that the Ealing be renamed the Larry Forrest memorial telescope.

Member Services: Tim would like to have the first member services committee meeting next week. We have a practical astronomy presentation that Erika is willing to do (probably in October), and we would like to line up some more of those. We would also like to set up some informal star parties at the dam.

Outreach: September events: members only star party is the 15^th, Wildflower Center the 23^rd, Wild Basin the 28^th. Centex will be October 6, and it will have a scout-focus. Blanco State Park October 12. Astronomy day will also be in October, and we will do an event with Westwood HS on the 20th. Lockhart State Park December 8. Wild Basin will go to a quarterly schedule with a backup date to hopefully reduce the number of conflicts and aid in astronomer availability. The holiday party is December 14^th. Reimer Ranch Park is in progress toward completion as a possible observing site. We also need to look into signage with information regarding star party ending times.

IDA: Steve spoke to Texas Parks and Wildlife a couple weeks ago. We may be able to get something going with them for establishing “Dark Sky Parks.” A couple parks in west Texas have some progress in this area, but no Texas State Parks yet have this designation. Hopefully we’ll see some changes in the next year. The IDA national convention is coming up. The EC moved to provide Steve with $200 for travel expenses. Jim Spigelmire made the motion, and it was seconded by Ron Carman.

ALCor: Erika Rix will be receiving the Outreach award at the GA meeting on Friday if she is present, if not, she will receive it at the next meeting. There are some awards that still are not appearing in the Reflector.

President: Cindy from COE is concerned about people parking on the field and the possibility of people running into cars. Joyce will speak to her about that. The resort would like to have a variation of the logo we came up with that includes their website for their merchandise. Members need to make sure that they at least stop at the gate if someone is present to check in. Members do not need to pay on star party nights, but please stop to speak to the gate personnel rather than blowing past. Members going on non-star party nights should check in at the office to pay their entrance fee. There will be a ceremony at CenTex on 10-6 to dedicate Fred Ruof’s new building and scope. Hopefully it will be ready by then. The Ealing re-dedication would also be at that time. Ceremony time would be 7pm. Regarding the possible joint meeting with the SAAA, they would like to meet with us sometime after the first of the year. May would be a possibility since we cannot meet at UT that month, but maybe on a Saturday rather than a Friday. Joyce will work with them on that. Astronomers Without Borders is gathering a database about clubs in the US. Joyce and Tim will work on registering us, and we’ll see where it goes from there.

New business: We will put some information regarding the EC meetings on the website and in the newsletter. We need to make it more well-known that GA members can attend the EC meetings and add information to the agendas.

Agenda for GA meeting 9/14/12: Budget items - Planetarium donations (including matching donations up to $1000 from anonymous donors) & monitor for COE. Rededication of the Ealing proposal.

Next EC meeting will be 10/1 at Jack’s.

Meeting was adjourned at 8:48 pm.

Minutes of the Executive Committee - 4 August 2012

9709 — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 20:19:34 GMT

The meeting was called to order at 7:35 p.m. by President Joyce Lynch. Additionally present were: Ron Carman, VP; Lauren Rogers, Secretary; Darin Koch, Equipment; Terry Phillips and Mike Krzywonski, Members at Large; Dawn Davies, Outreach; Jack Estes, ALCOR; Erika Rix, newsletter. A quorum was present.

Motion made to approve last EC meeting’s minutes made by Mike Krzywonski, seconded by Dawn Davies.

Officer reports:

Treasurer: New budget proposal was reviewed. We will have additional money coming in from Jim Lynch’s outreach hours; he would like to see the money go to additional outreach events. Dawn will be talking to Torvald soon about possible new sponsorship levels regarding the Planetarium. We will look also at whether the contribution might be donations-oriented versus budget-oriented. The budget will be presented at the next GA meeting for review.

VP: Jim Spigelmire will be presenting on astrophotography in August. The September program may be given by a member in the UT astronomy department. The October program will be about space exploration. November will be Erika Rix on astronomical sketching. December will be the holiday party. Anyone with suggestions regarding programs should see Ron.

Communications: none

Equipment: We need to develop a plan for storage/lending/usage of the solar scope. We will have one additional work party to finish painting the trim on the observatory. The Ealing is still sticking in 8x mode and may need a new motor. We are still looking at getting a large display monitor for outreach events. COE will be creating a donations box at the check-in desk for guests to contribute. We are also looking into purchasing a mower/weed eater to use for emergency purposes.

Member Services: none

Outreach: Dawn would like us to consider putting up a bat box to help control bugs at COE. Joyce will talk to the COE partners and then LCRA. AUTS had about 250 guests sign in, and the talks seemed to go well. We would like to look for a new location for the spring AUTS so that it does not have to coincide with spring break. We would also like to have an alternative location to use as a backup in case of cancellation. COE public night for August is the 11^th, and members-only night is the 18^th. Friday the 17^th is at Wild Basin. Free BBQ, beer/soda for the first 6 astronomers to Wild Basin. September events: Public the 8^th, members only the 15^th, Wildflower Center the 23^rd, Wild Basin the 28^th. Centex will be 10-6, and it will have a scout-focus. Astronomy day will also be in October.

IDA: none

ALCor: none

President: We will be coming up with a contract soon with Caliber at COE. This will occur after they get their contract with LCRA. Caliber would like us to come up with some merchandise to sell with a new EEO logo, designed by Erika Rix. The Ruof building will be painted to match the tables and other trim; Darin will coordinate with Mr. Henderson, the builder. Fred wants Mr. Henderson to do all the work so that it comes to us completed. We may have a ribbon-cutting type ceremony at CenTex.

New business: Merchandise- we would pre-order merchandise a couple times a year for cheaper, bulk pricing. Black. gray, and white white t-shirts and polos, hoodies, water bottles, coolers, bumper stickers, and tattoos would be available. We will look at some selections at the Friday meeting.

Agenda for GA meeting 8/10/12: Budget, Jim Spigelmire- Astrophotography

Next EC meeting will be 9/10 (due to first Monday being labor day) at Jack’s.

Meeting was adjourned at 9:07 pm.

Minutes of the Executive Committee - 4 June 2012

9709 — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 03:11:05 GMT

The meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m. by President Joyce Lynch. Additionally present were: Ron Carman, VP; Mark Lyon, Treasurer; Lauren Rogers, Secretary; Darin (and Dana) Koch, Equipment; Tim Brown, Member Services; Vic Ellisor and Mike Krzywonski, Members at Large; Dawn Davies, Outreach; Jack Estes, ALCOR. A quorum was present.

Motion made to approve last EC meeting’s minutes made by Dawn Davies, seconded by Mark Lyon.

Officer reports:

Treasurer: We continue to draw members from the website. Everything is fine.

VP: This week’s meeting will be Tim Brown presenting on the sun. Anyone with program suggestions or anyone interested in helping get programs together should see Ron.

Communications: Erika Rix may be considering working on a newsletter for us.

Equipment: The solar scope has arrived! Coronado has said the most expensive repair they’ve ever done was $1500. We could consider loaning out the scope with a held-check in that amount. We also need to decide on procedures for check-out, orientation, etc. Darin (and James Hall, who also works the observatory often) would like to get some type of computer or projection/tv screen to use for outreach events at COE for instruction, especially when it is cloudy. We also need to look into replacing chairs, finishing the trim, working on the floors, removing the lighting on the tables, refinishing the rest of the tables, creating a checklist for closing up the observatory, new ropes for the roof, and making a decision on what to do with the Ealing. Cleaning supplies, bug spray, and other smaller purchases may be necessary. Darin will research some of the ideas and what they would cost in terms of money and manpower. We are still considering a light fence or other things to do with COE donations.

Member Services: We would like to get the practical astronomy meetings and the dam star parties going again. We need to have multiple people willing to present at the PA meetings.

Outreach: The transit event is tomorrow, June 5^th, at UT. There will be activities on the 13^th floor, and we will have a table set up near the roof access. The alternative plan in case of clouds is the live broadcast from Mauna Kea on the 4^th floor of RLM. COE public party is on the 23^rd, and Wild Basin on the 29^th. AUTS on the 28^th of July. We are going to raffle off or give away chances to win our other Planetarium Dome event at AUTS for the purpose of donating it to an area school.

IDA: Steve wants to know how many members belong to the IDA and how many might be willing to talk about it. He wants to have an article posted on the website. A membership drive is underway for IDA, and they are giving away a set of Ethos eyepieces as an incentive.

ALCor: Mark Johnson’s Northern Sky Constellation Hunter award has arrived, but he will not be at the meeting to receive it.

President: COE partners have not had a meeting lately, but there is supposed to be one this coming Thursday. Fred Ruof’s proposal is still in progress, but the site is moving to the north of the observatory due to erosion and runoff concerns. Now LCRA must re-approve the plan.

Bylaws have been updated to include proration of dues. A student membership category is now available for full-time students. These can be approved at the July meeting.

New business: Vic would like us to take a more proactive approach to looking for a new observatory site, perhaps at Pedernales. We could build a pitch to present to people as a proposal with specifications of what we need. Dawn would also like to start looking at alternatives to St. Stephens for AUTS. We have very limited availability at St. Stephens with scheduling, and it would be nice to have a backup location when dates don’t work out due to weather. Joyce would like us to look at ways to rodent-proof the observatory.

Agenda for GA meeting 6/8/12: Tim Brown- The Sun.

Next EC meeting will be a BBQ at the end of July or beginning of August. Be thinking about a date and location; maybe August 4 (Sat) or 5^th (Sun).

Meeting was adjourned at 8:39.

Minutes of the Executive Committee - 7 May 2012

9709 — Fri, 11 May 2012 20:31:40 GMT

The meeting was called to order at 7:02 p.m. by President Joyce Lynch. Additionally present were: Tim Brown, VP; Mark Lyon, Treasurer; Lauren Rogers, Secretary; Vic Ellisor and Mike Krzywonski, Members at Large; Jim Spigelmire, Communications; Dawn Davies, Outreach; Jim Linn, Member Services; Steve Bosbach, IDA; Jack Estes, ALCOR. A quorum was present.

Motion made to approve last EC meeting’s minutes made by Mark Lyon, seconded by Jim Spigelmire.

Officer reports:

Treasurer: BBQ payments must be made by Tuesday evening before CTSP. $4800 will be coming out of our account soon; the solar scope is on the way. It needs to be decided what should be done with the scope outside of outreach events. If it is to be lent out to members, we need a way to protect our investment. Nothing will be done with it prior to the June 5 transit event. Vic and Mark will research what other clubs do and what insurance would cost for the scope. Maybe members renting it out could pay a deductible fee in case of damage.

VP: This week’s meeting will be the Austin Planetarium.

Communications: Dark Sky Protocol and Star Party Etiquette information has been updated on the website. The contact considering working on a newsletter appears to have fallen through.

Equipment: We are still researching a possible light fence.

Member Services: We still need the numbers for CTSP BBQ for Saturday, 5-19. Friday, 5-18, will be potluck.

Outreach: We are ordering a sign for AUTS; it will not have a date listed, so that it may be used from year to year. Giddens elementary school event is coming up May 16th, the transit event on June 5^th, AUTS on the 28^th of July. We are looking into the possibility of raffling off or giving away chances to win our other Planetarium Dome event at AUTS for the purpose of donating it to area schools. Attendees will have, similar to last year, a “passport” activity in order to look for different objects. CENTEX (10/6/12) this year is one day only (a public event) but will have a scouting focus.

IDA: No major updates at this time. We will add information to the website on how to have the city of Austin screen streetlights. There are over 200,000 streetlights in the city of Austin. Steve will continue on as our IDA representative.

ALCor: Phil Schmidt will be receiving 3 certificates this month, one for Lunar and two for outreach. Jack will continue as ALCor representative.

President: The COE partners meeting was cancelled because our two LCRA contacts lost their jobs. We have yet to hear from our new contact. It is taking time for COE to approve Fred Ruof’s proposal due to these changes. Bylaws amendments regarding membership proration and student memberships ($15) are in progress with Jim Chandler and Joyce.

New business: none

Agenda for GA meeting 5/11/12: Austin Planetarium at Wild Basin, BYOB and snacks since we won’t be able to go to Double Dave’s, ALCor awards presentations.

Next EC meeting 6/4/12. Summer meeting schedule: skip July and do a BBQ in early August. September meeting which would be Labor Day will be bumped back a week to 9/10/12.

Meeting was adjourned at 8:00.

Minutes of the Executive Committee - 2 April 2012

9709 — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 01:15:10 GMT

The meeting was called to order at 7:03 p.m. by President Joyce Lynch. Additionally present were: Tim Brown, VP; Mark Lyon, Treasurer; Lauren Rogers, Secretary; Vic Ellisor and Mike Krzywonski, Members at Large; Darren Spohn, Equipment; Jack Estes, ALCOR. A quorum was present.

Motion made to approve last EC meeting’s minutes made by Darren Spohn, seconded by Mike Krzywonski.

Officer reports:

Treasurer: Loaner program is going well. The 3 original loans have been returned and are back out again. One additional person is still on the list. When we see how many additional people are interested in signing up, we may consider purchasing more. Several people are still joining online.

VP: Bill Spizzirri – NASA and the Keck Observatory, May is the planetarium at Wild Basin. Some students from the ME department at UT will also speak for about 10 minutes about their CCD camera project.

Communications: No new news about the potential newsletter. Dawn has been doing some work on the website as well.

Equipment: Observatory siding and vent still need to be repaired. Darin Koch is running for equipment chair. Solar scope is still in progress. The donated scope isn’t as nice as we thought, but it can still be sold.

Member Services: CTSP is coming (May 18-19). Jim will work on getting the BBQ for Saturday, and people will pay $5 in advance on the website. Motion made by Tim Brown, seconded by Lauren Rogers. Potluck dinner will be on Friday. New dark sky protocols will soon be available online (one for members, one for visitors); a few wording adjustments have been made.

Outreach: We are doing a viewing at UT (RLM Hall) for the June 5 Venus transit with their astronomy group. The summer AUTS dates are in the works. We should probably look at a maximum number of events per month to help maximize our volunteers’ time.

ALCor: To get your certificates/pins, you have to be a member of a member society or a member at large of the AL ($30). We have several people with pending awards and others working on lists.

President: COE partners meeting was 3/9; press tour is going on this week. There is now a sign indicating the turn to the observatory. LCRA has turned off the phone line. When LCRA’s contract with Caliber is done, we will start ours with Caliber. Cindy would like more information about a light fence (aesthetics, cost, etc.) We may put it on hold for the time being and revisit it later. Insulation/fixing the building itself could be one avenue. We might consider trying to sell the Ealing and purchasing a new scope for its place. The LCRA people feel that, in principle, Fred Ruof’s proposal of erecting a new building for his donated scope would be acceptable. They would like some additional information before confirming. COE is going to try harder to collect entrance fees, including members, on non-event nights.

New business: Bylaws amendments need to be made at some point regarding prorated dues. We may also look at having a student membership rate. Jim Chandler will work on that, and we can look at voting on it at any point prior to the September 1 renewal date.

Agenda for GA meeting 4-13-12: Elections/declaring of additional nominees, AL award(s)

Next meeting 5/7/12

Meeting was adjourned at 8:25.

Minutes of the Executive Committee - 5 March 2012

9709 — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 03:36:16 GMT

The meeting was called to order at 7:02 p.m. by President Joyce Lynch. Additionally present were: Tim Brown, VP; Mark Lyon, Treasurer; Dawn Davies, Outreach; Lauren Rogers, Secretary; Vic Ellisor and Terry Phillips, Members at Large; Darren Spohn, Equipment; Jack Estes, ALCOR; Steve Bosbach, IDA, Ron Carman, COE Liaison. A quorum was present.

Motion made to approve last EC meeting’s minutes made by Mark Lyon, seconded by Tim Brown.

Special presentation by Fred Ruof: Fred has a 11” Celestron CPC series scope and another smaller 4” scope, a solar scope attachment, and some eyepieces he would like to donate to the AAS. He wants to pay for and build a small shed (6’ x 8’) at COE in which to house the Celestron. He would like to donate the scopes now, allow the club to use them and coordinate their use, provided he has the use of them until he dies. The LCRA owns the land, so there may be an obstacle regarding building there. We are also under contractual issues with changing our contract from LCRA over to Caliber. We can discuss this at the COE partners meeting Thursday. The shed would need power, but we could look at using battery packs or putting solar panels on the shed.

Officer reports:

Treasurer: Some members have still not yet paid. Soon, they will be removed from web access if they are not paid. A couple people may have incorrect email addresses as well.

VP: Terry Phillips will present this week on astronomy websites, astrophotography in April, planetarium in May at Wild Basin.

Communications: We have not yet heard back from Casey Hunt about the newsletter. He has agreed to do it, but we have not yet set up a schedule or process yet. The observing list on the website is outdated and needs to be updated, or we can put some AUTS information in its place.

Equipment: We sold another telescope this week for $969. We have a group of people still trying to work on making decisions about the solar scope. We have also received a donated 8” LX200 ($2600 new) that Vic will work on selling.

Member Services: CTSP is coming (May 18-20). This is a members-only event. We had a lot of extra BBQ last year. We might ask people to pay for food in advance so we don’t have so much left over.

Outreach: AUTS is this coming weekend, with a 5:30 start time for solar viewing. The planetarium will be there, and we will be showing The City Dark as well. Upcoming events: Pflugerville Middle School tomorrow, Laura’s library 3/16, Lockhart State Park 3/23. COE public night 3/24, Moonlighting at Wild Basin 3/30. We have several upcoming events in April as well. We are also looking into doing something for the June 5 Venus Transit.

IDA: Big Bend National Park has been designated a dark sky site. Hopefully this will lead to more national parks having appropriate lighting and maybe state parks as well.

President: The nominating committee sent out an email today about the slate for officers. We still do not have someone for Equipment Chair. The nominating committee asked some new members to serve on the EC, but none were interested in doing so. The COE partners meeting is Thursday; we will discuss the light fence at that time.

New business: none at this time

Agenda for GA meeting 3-9-12: AUTS, Steve Bosbach’s Herschel 400 certificate

Next meeting 4/2/12

Meeting was adjourned at 8:40.

Minutes of the Executive Committee - 6 February 2012

9709 — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:33:46 GMT

The meeting was called to order at 7:02 p.m. by President Joyce Lynch. Additionally present were: Tim Brown, VP; Mark Lyon, Treasurer; Dawn Davies, Outreach; Jim Linn, Member Services; Lauren Rogers, Secretary; Vic Ellisor and Mike Krzywonski, Members at Large; Darren Spohn, Equipment; Jack Estes, ALCOR; Steve Bosbach, IDA. A quorum was present.

Motion made to approve last EC meeting’s minutes made by Mike Krzywonski, seconded by Mark Lyon.

Officer Reports:

Treasurer – Everything is going well; we currently have around $30,000.

VP: Dr. Olson (moon and the Titanic) and John Huntsberger (The Electric Universe) are our next couple of programs. Jim S. will be putting together something on astrophotography for April.

Dawn for Communications – Forums are up online, including forms for AUTS. Things are still in the works with Casey for a possible newsletter. New website layout looks great.

Equipment – Vent on the storage shed at COE needs to be replaced. We need to get the membership to approve the purchase of the solar scope this week if we wish to have the scope by AUTS. We’ve made about $5000 so far, and have probably about $1000 left in sales yet to come up. Vic will speak at the meeting on Friday and make the motion to spend the money.

Member Services – No practical astronomy this month. Nothing to report otherwise. Terry is willing to help anyone set up a presentation to give. Perhaps we could ask the membership what they would be interested in learning about. We would also like to get the dam star parties going again and look at getting some workshops set up for AUTS (astrophotography, collimation, light pollution).

Outreach – Upcoming events: February 11^th at Blanco State Park. 13^th at Pflugerville MS, 15^th at Lamar MS, Wild Basin on the 17^th, Members Only the 18^th and Public night at COE the 25^th. March events: 1^st at Barton Hills Elem, March 3^rd is the ISS flash, AUTS is set for March 10^th, Westbank Library the 16^th, Members only the 17^th, Lockhart State Park the 23^rd, Public night at COE the 24^th, Wild Basin the 30^th, and Earth Hour the 31^st. We’re still looking to get a PDF online for star party requests.

IDA – We have a couple contacts (one local in Dripping Springs/Driftwood for ordinances and another interested in working with the legislature) we are working with. Right now we are focusing on light pollution education.

President’s report

Nominating committee: Michelle Harvey, Ana Chandler, Laura Hitt

Flash the ISS: March 3^rd is the current plan, 7:30pm, about 10 miles south of Blanco.

COE: We are going into a contract with Caliber, but we don’t have anything further yet from them. There is a partners meeting coming up on Thursday. At the present tie, LCRA is paying for electricity, but they don’t want to do that anymore. LCRA wishes to just be the landowner.

New business – none

Agenda for 1/13/12: Solar scope, Presentation of Jack’s Master Observer Certificate, Nominating committee pitch (elections in April, new officers take office in June), ISS flash

Next EC meeting 3/5/12

Adjourned at 8:00 p.m.

Minutes of the Executive Committee - 9 January 2012

9709 — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 01:59:19 GMT

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by President Joyce Lynch. Additionally present were: Mark Lyon, Treasurer; Dawn Davies, Outreach; Lauren Rogers, Secretary; Vic Ellisor, Mike Krzywonski and Terry Phillips, Members at Large; Darren Spohn, Equipment, Steve Bosbach, IDA; Ron Carman, COE liaison. A quorum was present.

The meeting was called to order by Joyce Lynch at 7:48 pm.

Motion made to approve last EC meeting’s minutes made by Mike Krzywonski, seconded by Dawn Davies.

Officer Reports:

Treasurer – Everything is going well; we currently have around 280 members.

Joyce for VP: Dr. Sneeden (heavy metals and stars) and Dr. Olson (moon and the Titanic) are our next couple of programs.

Joyce for Communications – Mark Florian has talked about wanting to do a column for new astronomers. Maybe he could do one each month for new members. Joyce will talk to him about that. Dawn is also in the process of learning the website in order to put things up, including observing targets, etc. We need to also consider ways to get information (maybe a monthly email) to members who are not on the Yahoo group.

Equipment – Sale of excess equipment: we expect another $1000 with our remaining equipment yet to go up for sale on Friday. Vic has collected a lot of pictures and articles about solar scopes that we can consider purchasing. Darron will be stepping down as the Equipment Chair effective the next election cycle due to time pressures with school, etc.

Member Services – no practical astronomy this month.

Outreach – Upcoming events: January 18^th Canyon Creek Elementary, Running Brushy the 27^th. February 11^th at Blanco State Park. AUTS is set for March 10^th. March 2^nd is the ISS flash and there will be an event at Laura’s Library as well. Merchandise is moving ahead to have 6 items or so to present to the GA and post on the website for purchase (Polo, T-shirts, hoodie, caps, bumper stickers, a tote bag, tattoos, etc.). We have a forum set up which will go on the website for groups wanting to set up star parties. We would also like to put a FAQ page on the website.

IDA – The dark sky presentation at the AAS meeting yesterday was great. Steve has a display board we can post about much of the dark sky protocol.

COE report – COE was too busy so we did not have our meeting. LCRA wants to get out of the business of operations entirely and turn it over to Caliber. We are still under contract with LCRA; they want us to have a contract with Caliber. We need to make a list of things we want for our side. LCRA has been paying for electricity and phone but will no longer continue to do so. We may ask Caliber to continue to provide the landline for 911 situations. Internet is working out there.

Nominating committee: we need a nominating committee for upcoming elections. Possibilities: Bob van Gulick, Michelle Harvey…

New business – Proposal from Fred Ruof: He would like to donate his equipment to us to use and pay for a movable shelter for the equipment at COE that he could use if he ever wanted to. We would have to contact Caliber regarding building. He is willing to come to speak to us at the next EC meeting.

Agenda for 1/13/12: We have a check from ESP. We will bring u what to do with it at the GA meeting this week. If Mark Florian is there, we will present him his outreach award. Nominating committee?

Next EC meeting 2/6/12.

Adjourned at 8:58 p.m.

Minutes of the Executive Committee - 5 December 2011

9709 — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 12:00:54 GMT

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by President Joyce Lynch. Additionally present were: Mark Lyon, Treasurer; Jim Spigelmire, Communications Chair; Lauren Rogers, Secretary; Vic Ellisor, Mike Krzywonski and Terry Phillips, Members at Large; Jack Estes, ALCOR. A quorum was present.

The meeting was called to order by Joyce Lynch at 7:04pm.

Motion made to approve last EC meeting’s minutes made by Jim Spigelmire, seconded by Terry Phillips.

Officer Reports:

Treasurer – Currently, all memberships expire 8/31 of each year. After January, memberships can be pro-rated for the remainder of the year, but all memberships still expire 8/31. Mark will look into what Wild Apricot will support for allowing different amounts of pro-ration, and we will make a decision at the next meeting.

Joyce for VP: Dr. Sneeden (heavy metals and stars) and Dr. Olson (moon and the Titanic) are our next couple of programs. April will be about imaging.

Communications – We will do some member awards for the Christmas program, including outreach awards. The photo of the year for next year will be chosen from each photo of the month this coming year. In January, we will look at some options for cleaning up the website.

Equipment – Sale of excess equipment: We’re up to about $5000 right now, and we expect another $1000 with our remaining equipment yet to go up for sale. As soon as the last round of postings are up, Vic will look into the solar scope options we have for purchase.

Outreach – Running Brushy the 14^th of December, public party at COE the 14^th of January. We are looking into the possibility of cancelling events if we don’t have enough scopes signed up in advance. We may also need to limit ourselves to one event per night and/or a certain number of events per month in order to spread us less thinly. Jack suggested rather than setting up events for those who call in, we could set up our own events at schools (one per month) in different areas of town and perhaps get more scopes out that way.

Holiday party – this Friday, Dec 9^th at 7:00pm. Phil and John will be performing, though not too many people are signed up to bring food. There will be a pre-meeting meeting at 6:00 for someone presenting research on the star of Bethlehem.

COE report – Jan 8 there will be a media event. The lodge would like to do some fundraising for us, and they would like to know what our needs are. Maybe a fence or signage for the parking lot? We will be speaking with Caliber regarding the contract in the next week or so.

New business – none not already discussed.

Agenda for 12/9/11 – Awards only, no other discussion. It will start at 7, meeting first right away (less than 10 minutes), then the party.

Next EC meeting 1/9 @ Dawn’s house.

Adjourned at 8:22 p.m.

Minutes of the Executive Committee - 7 November 2011

9709 — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 02:19:28 GMT

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by President Joyce Lynch. Additionally present were: Tim Brown, Vice President; Dawn Davies, Outreach Chair; Jim Linn, Member Services; Mark Lyon, Treasurer; Jim Spigelmire, Communications Chair; Lauren Rogers, Secretary; Vic Ellisor and Terry Phillips, Members at Large; Jack Estes, ALCOR; Ron Carman, COE liaison; Steve Bosbach, IDA rep. A quorum was present.

The meeting was called to order by Joyce Lynch at 7:04pm.

Special guest: Joyce Lynch presented Torvald Hessel with the AAS contribution to the Austin Planetarium for corporate membership. The AP is very thankful for our support; they are always looking for outreach support and financial support as well (flash fundraiser, etc). People who shop at Randall’s can also use their Randall’s card to help support the AP (1% of spending is donated to a non-profit organization). AAS can also post information on the website in support of the AP.

Motion made to approve last EC meeting’s minutes made by Jim Spigelmire, seconded by Dawn Davies.

Officer Reports:

Treasurer – eBay sales are going very well, renewals are at about 240 members (including a few new members every week via the website)

VP – we have no speaker for this Friday night, January is Dr Crispin from the astronomy department, February will be Don Olson from Texas State, March will be AAS member John Huntsberger, and we’d like to do a presentation on astrophotography soon. We can finish last month’s video on Friday. Michael Brown (How I Killed Pluto) is still a possibility, also perhaps a presentation by the Austin Planetarium.

Communications – 3 discussion groups have been created (general, outreach and astrophotography), additional ones can be created as well (newbies, ATM, EC). People can subscribe to the groups (like the Yahoo groups) available through the website. We would also like to move photos from the Yahoo group to the website. Anybody who has content to share on the website can be submitted to Jim S. Proposal to encourage participation: member awards (i.e. Image of the Year, Observer of the Year, Lifetime Achievement, and Outreach) to be given at the holiday party. Other ideas can be sent to the web team.

Equipment – Vent on shed at EEO needs to be replaced. Sale of excess equipment is going well; the last few items will be up as of Friday.

Member Services – Scope loaner program: scopes are together, and we anticipate emails will go out this week for scopes to be picked up. Practical astronomy program on filters this week.

Outreach – Banner is ready, we just have to pay for it and pick it up. We are still in the process of getting other merchandise samples to show at the holiday party. November events: Wild Basin this Sunday, 14^th and 17^th – elementary school events, public party 19^th at Blanco State Park, Wild Basin and COE public nights are posted on the website. We currently have 310 Facebook fans and 74 Twitter followers. AUTS is scheduled for 3/10.

IDA rep – New job description submitted (bylaws do not outline specific duties).

Holiday party – Evite will be going out later this week (Dec 9^th).

COE report – WiFi, phone, and water are all working on the field. The only problems with bandwidth: no YouTube and uploading pictures before midnight. We need a set-up and close-down checklist for the observatory. They would also like a 3-month calendar of what can be seen to attract visitors. Jim S. will help to compile some websites to do that. COE will help advertise that we are raising money for a new solar scope. Liability insurance: probably covers events but not individuals out there on their own…maybe people will have to sign waivers when they check in at the resort. Mark will speak to the agent regarding that and property damage insurance. Soon members will likely have to pay the entry fee at the gate for non-event nights. Jim S. will write up a draft of a contract with COE.

New business – We need to be thinking about a nominating committee together; be thinking about who might work on this. Green laser rules: 5 mW is the legal limit. Dogs at the star parties: Dawn will look into signs regarding not having pets at events. We will have a new form online for the star party request form. We are also looking at cancelling any event where we do not have 3 scopes guaranteed.

Agenda for 11/11/11 meeting: Joyce will present AL certificates to Phil Schmidt and Lauren Rogers.

Next EC meetings 12/5/11 and 1/9/12 (not the 2^nd).

Adjourned at 8:49 p.m.

Minutes of the Executive Committee - 3 October 2011

9709 — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 01:32:43 GMT

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by President Joyce Lynch. Additionally present were; Tim Brown, Vice President; Dawn Davies, Outreach Chair; Mark Lyon, Treasurer; Jim Spigelmire, Communications Chair; Lauren Rogers, Secretary; Vic Ellisor, Terry Phillips and Mike Krzywonski, Members at Large, Jack Estes, ALCOR; Steve Bosbach, IDA rep. A quorum was present.

Motion made to approve last EC meeting’s minutes made by Joyce Lynch, seconded by Mike Krzywonski.

Officer reports-

Treasurer: Bylaws for prorating dues are not supported by Wild Apricot. Next time we vote on a change of bylaws, we should update them to match what Wild Apricot allows for payment/renewals through the website. Through February, everyone pays $25 (regular membership), then starting in March it will decrease depending on the portion of the year remaining. Joyce will discuss this with Jim Chandler.

VP: This month’s presentation is TBD. Tim is also soliciting help for the Christmas party.

Communications: Launching forums and photo capability on the website will begin this month. We will archive the photos of the month, and Jim will look into archiving other information later this year. With the Google nonprofit, mail routing is getting sorted out, and that will be done this week as well.

Equipment: The gate and observatory locks have been changed. The EC has determined that the hour-long training is not sufficient for qualifying operators of the telescopes. Operator training will be expanded to include some apprenticeship time, etc. Vic – sale of excess equipment – we have a few more photos to take for selling items. We need to do some research into our options for a solar scope, either retrofitting one we have or purchasing a new one. We can consider loaning out the solar scope once acquired with the stipulation that whoever has it must bring it to outreach events. Motion made by Jim Spigelmire to make Vic the head of the solar scope committee, seconded by Dawn Davies. Mark, Jim S., and Dawn will also be on the committee.

Member services: Scope loaner program – Mark Lyon is willing to head the scope loaner program committee. Mark will be in charge of coming up with the program rules, tracking equipment, etc. Mike K and Jim S would both be willing to mentor new members wanting to learn how to use a scope.

Outreach: Banner is on its way. Plan is to get pricing on t-shirts/polos, tote bags, hats, bumper stickers and tattoos.

Old business- COE: Email has already gone out informing people that they need to check in at the resort when going on their own. Jim S. and Tim B. will work on drawing some things up contractually between AAS and COE/LCRA. Molly will be getting the internet problem solved this week. COE would like to also work up a cloudy night program for guests. COE is a pet friendly facility, but they are OK with telling their guests they are not to have dogs on the field. Austin Planetarium: At last month’s GE meeting, we tabled the discussion of the planetarium donation to the November meeting. We will need to vote on this motion. Other options may be discussed as well.

Agenda for 10-14 meeting- Planetarium vote. Jack will present constellation certificate to Lauren Rogers, and if Dave Clark is present, he will present planetary nebula certificate to Jack Estes.

Next EC meeting 11/7/11.

Adjourned at 8:49 p.m.

Minutes of the Executive Committee - 6 September 2011

9709 — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 01:38:57 GMT

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by President Joyce Lynch. Additionally present were; Tim Brown, Vice President; Dawn Davies, Outreach Chair; Mark Lyon, Treasurer; Jim Spigelmire, Communications Chair; Jim Linn, Member Services; Lauren Rogers, Secretary; Vic Ellisor and Mike Krzywonski, Members at Large, Jack Estes, ALCOR. A quorum was present.

Motion to approve minutes of July 31 made by Dawn Davies, seconded by Jim Spigelmire.

Tim Brown: October meeting presenter will be Terry Phillips. Future presentation; Michael Brown (How I Killed Pluto and Why It Deserved It.)

Mark Lyon: About half and half, people are paying online with PayPal and cash/check; we have about 140 paid members right now. Budget will be posted on the website. Scope/equipment sales will be discussed/prepared by Vic.

Jim Spigelmire: Tweaking will still be done on the logo colors before we print the banners. We will be revamping the links page to specifically recognize “friends of AAS.” We have been approved for the Google non-profit program account for web hosting/email/etc. We are still moving some of the recurring items to blog format.

Equipment (report by Joyce): COE lock combinations. Jim Chandler has a tool we can use to change them so that we don’t have to buy new locks. We will email the new combination to all paid members in October or November, and it will be posted on the member side of the website. Jim S. will work with Darron S. on this. When the observatory lock is changed, that combination will not be emailed out to all trained members; that combination will have to be requested from Darin. Sale of excess equipment: Vic, Darron and Mark will list the items on Cloudy Nights/Astromart/eBay. We are registered with the eBay non-profit site. Anything that is at Wild Basin will stay there.

Jim Linn: There will not be a Practical Astronomy meeting this week, but the member services committee will meet to talk about the action plan for future PA meetings. Mark Lyon has a form to use for the telescope loaner plan. As Terry started the plan, he and member services will discuss this at the committee meeting and get back to the EC next month.

Dawn Davies: Outreach and communications will work together on prices and a plan for the merchandising. For the most part, we would like to have people place orders online and have merchandise be shipped directly to them. Friday’s meeting should have a good turnout; there’s a lot of publicity out there. Wild Basin this coming Sunday, CenTex is a two-day event, but we may consider making it a one-day event in the future or perhaps a one day public and one day members only night. Members only night is the 24^th, and Women in Science Day is on the 25^th at the Wildflower Center. October: 1^st star party with central market and Austin Planetarium will be there for Astronomy Day. World Space Week is the 4^th through the 10^th. 8^th is Observe the Moon night on the Pfuger bridge. The holiday party is December 9^th at Wild Basin. Oct/Nov/Dec meetings - food drive for fire victims. Wild Basin is ready for us to discuss dates for next year. Cap on attendance is currently 60, though we may consider reducing this in cases of extreme heat/cold since we will have fewer scopes available. Connect-to-clubs directory has contacted us and placed us on their site. Armadillo will charge us $40 to set up our logo (2 colors), $4-6 per t-shirt (depending on color), and we will look at totes. We can order banners/bumper stickers/ball caps/light jackets through them as well.

Old business: Austin Planetarium. Jim S. moves that we bring up the $1000 contribution to corporate sponsorship at the GA meeting. We need to stress that this may be the future home of our meetings. We can entertain IDA donations as well, but this is a different discussion. Jack seconds the motion.

New business: COE – they are asking of notification of when someone fro AAS is there (regarding security, emergency contact, etc.) Proposal is that we will agree to check in at the lodge or by calling in; COE will observe dark sky protocol when they know someone is on the field. This will be discussed at the partners meeting on the 21^st. Other concerns that will be brought up: camping on the field and manning the observatory. We need an agreement for which party is responsible for what.

Agenda for 9/9/11: Vote on bylaws change, Planetarium proposal. Presentation of AL awards.

Next EC meeting 10/3/11.

Adjourned at 8:45 p.m.