VOL 34 NO 6 JUNE 2005 PUBLISHED MONTHLY

Star Party at Orion Acres: Saturday, July 9th at 8:00 pm. Camping is fine if you wish to spend the night. All Star Parties are weather dependent, and subject to cancellation due to clouds or rain. For more information or for confirmation the event is a go in the event of questionable weather, call Victor Rogers at (423) 842-5595. See the BAS website for directions to Orion Acres or visit www.orionacres.org  

MEETING NOTICE:

The regular meeting of the BARNARD ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY will be held Thursday June 9th at 7:30 PM at Jones Observatory on Brainerd Rd.

PROGRAM:

To be announced.

OFFICERS

MAY MINUTES

The monthly meeting of The Barnard Astronomical Society, held at the UTC Jones Observatory, was called to order at 7:45 P.M. on May 12, 2005 with Tom Adkins presiding. There were eight regular members and no guests present. 

The minutes of the April meeting were accepted as published in the newsletter.

Treasurer's Report: David Witt announced that there is a balance of $510.71 in the bank account, down from $668.00 last month. BAS made a major purchase of a DVD/VHS player for club use. The bank balance is expected to drop below $500 next month, and that is a cause for some concern. Is BAS regular income now too low to cover its recurring expenses? Is the cost of a yearly BAS membership ($15.00 regular; $7.00 associate) set unrealistically low? Examples were cited of other hobby organizations which have dues of at least $25.00 or more per year, and their members do not think the cost is too high. . A convincing argument can be made that the yearly BAS dues of $15.00 per person now are simply not matching up with rising expenses. For example, just the cost of belonging to the Astronomical League has recently been increased $3.00 per year to a total cost of $15.00 per member. This expense is payable in June. It can be quickly seen that just this one expense item, the Astronomical League, now will use the entire BAS yearly income from membership under the current dues rate. Obviously, there are other fixed expenses (e. g. State of Tennessee Non-Profit Corporate Charter, $25, payable in September). A dues increase does appear inevitable if BAS is to remain solvent. 

Meanwhile, as another approach to the problem of insufficient club income, Tom Adkins proposed that, beginning with the June meeting, BAS have regular raffles of used books. A raffle ticket would be $1 and a discount price of three tickets for $2. Proceeds from the raffles to be conducted at monthly meetings would go into a "Programs Fund" to help defray club expenses. Is this something we need to do throughout the year? 

David Witt again discussed the need for a BAS credit card to more efficiently handle renewal notices for member subscriptions to astronomy magazines. Amsouth Bank, where the BAS account is located, seems to be the best option.

Old Business: 

The slate of proposed BAS officers for 2005, which was selected by the nominating committee and published in the April "Barnard Star", needs to be voted on by the membership. However, the quorum of membership for voting was not present at the May meeting. Please make every effort to be present at the June meeting so that this important pending parliamentary item can performed by the required minimum number of members.

New Business: 

A discussion was held concerning how BAS handles telephone and e-mail inquiries from the general public. Are all inquiries being processed promptly and followed up? Victor Rogers and Rod Ruch get e-mails, and Gary Caldwell's telephone number is listed on the web page. It was agreed that the Web Master should follow-up on e-mails which are received through the web site and direct them to the appropriate person. If Victor takes the role of Public Relations Director, as has been proposed, then all public inquiries received by anyone at BAS would be immediately made known to him for handling. One BAS officer would then be in charge of all contacts with the public. 

Two local area schools have star parties scheduled in May and request the assistance of the BAS. Karen Paik, a club member was at the May meeting and discussed the needs of The St. Nicholas School for the night of the13th. Daisy Elementary is scheduled for May 17th. Several members have volunteered to take telescopes to these events. 

Victor Rogers reports that Harbor Tools sells a metal box adaptable for storing and transporting eyepieces. The price is $19.95, considerably less than the boxes sold by astronomy venders such as Celestron.

Program: 

(Note: The program originally scheduled for the May meeting, "The Greatest Hubble Space Telescope Discoveries", to be presented by Sam Delay, Jr., was postponed until a later date.) 

As a substitute program, Tom Adkins led the group in a discussion regarding the fate of our library: the finding of a permanent home for the 100-200 science, math, and astronomy books in the BAS collection. Although most of these books are stored temporarily at the UTC observatory, BAS has a desire to re-establish a permanent library at some location. Can a written contractual agreement be reached with the UTC administration recognizing the books as BAS property so that they can securely remain at the observatory and a library located there for the long term? Or, should other possible library sites such the Audubon Society (Audubon Acres) or the Chattanooga Nature Center be considered? Also, Rose Secrest has volunteered to organize the library, but it is not known if she would be willing to take on the permanent job of librarian. Someone will need to perform the librarian role once a permanent location for the books is settled and the books are initially organized. These are all issues to be dealt with by the BAS officers in the future. No decisions were reached regarding the library during this exploratory discussion at the May meeting, but many interesting possibilities were brought up. 

The meeting was adjourned at 9:30 P.M.

Respectfully submitted by Bill Seymour

in absence of Gary Caldwell

REMINDER

Your annual BAS dues of are now due on June 1, in accordance with the adopted amendment to the by-laws. They are as follows: REGULAR $15.00, REGULAR ASSOCIATE $7.00, JUNIOR $8.00, JUNIOR ASSOCIATE $5.00. Your Sky & Telescope or Astronomy subscription will continue to be handled as in the past. When you receive your subscription reminder card, submit it to:

David Witt
4503 Cove Lane
Chattanooga, TN 37415-2306

Along with the group subscription rate of $32.95 for Sky and Telescope, or $29.00 for Astronomy.

DEADLINE

All articles and other materials for publication in the next STAR are due no later than Wednesday, July 6th. The following media are acceptable: hard copy, disk (IBM), video tape (VHS), prints, or e-mail to bas@chattanooga.net or stramey@catt.com and attach a file or mail to:

Steve Ramey
109 Sioux Trail
Ringgold GA 30736

PHOTOGRAPHS ARE ALSO ACCEPTABLE.

ORION ACRES DIRECTIONS:

Our monthly star party is scheduled for July 9th. Following are directions to Victor's property, Orion Acres. Check our web site or contact Victor for late-breaking news concerning future star parties

FROM NORTH HAMILTON COUNTY: From 27 (corridor J) take hwy. 111 to Dunlap, continue through the Sequatchie Valley up the next mountain (Cagle Mountain). When you reach the summit about 5 miles turn LEFT onto hwy. 399 (sign reads 'to Savage Gulf State Park' Stay on 399 until it ends, which will be in Grundy Co. Now make a LEFT onto hwy. 108 South. This goes thru Palmer TN. Continue on 108 up to a higher elevation. When this levels off, turn RIGHT onto Palmer Fire Tower Rd. This is a large open area with possibly trucks loaded with timber for the paper mills. Orion Acres will be on the RIGHT about 8 tenths mile. A sign will be posted at 7pm on Saturday July 9th.

FROM INTERSTATE 24 (to Nashville): Go to the Dunlap/Whitwell exit (#155). This is hwy. 28. Exit right and keep on 28 for about 11 miles, passing Hardee's on your left. Continue through the stoplight and take the next LEFT on Hwy. 108 North. Continue another 11 or so miles. You will see 'Grundy County' sign. Take the next left. This is Palmer Fire Tower Rd. Go 8 tenths of a mile and Orion Acres is on the RIGHT. There will be a sign posted at 7pm on Saturday, July 9th.

 

Astronomy At Your Fingertips

Many of us have discovered yet another wonderful use for the internet where we just get our e-mail from friends all over the world without ever a second thought. The latest wonder on the net it seems is an astronomical data miners dream come true. It has come to be called the "Virtual Observatory". 

Tap it in on Google and all kinds of good stuff is there, from serious knowledge quest to the casual browse for the best look at the latest super nova you missed because of bad weather at the dark sight. Astronomers from all over the world are invited to upload their goodies for others to share for whatever reason. 

We can see data from all the major observatories and universities of the world. We can even study the techniques and equipment that are used for the acquisition of astrophysical data from all but the classified science satellites. The serious amateur can be in touch with people and things that only a few years ago we would have to wait years for the publication to grind through peer review. 

Now we can envision our very own "Google" for astronomers. Indeed Google may be your first step on the way to these gold mines. Yes, I know we all like to haul the old C-8 out to the site and just look, indeed us old scope and eyepiece people wouldn't have it any other way. But then what we see from this data flow to the net will give us street signs to all the things we missed for one reason or other with no bad weather in between!

Good Seeing and Good Data Mining!