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We Observe - by A. Mallama

Update May 2, 2004

Treasurer:

Bank - $1988.38, Petty Cash - $52.00, Total - $2,040.38

1. Paid $16 phone bill.

2. Paid $309 for gravel that was put down on the entrance way drive to the hill.

3. Made a $142 quarterly insurance payment.

4. The taxes for our land are now split off from Keith's taxes. Steve and Dan are now working on the paperwork to get us a tax exemption. It takes the State of Ohio about a year to process the request.

Observatory Director:

1. 20 tons of gravel were tailgated in the drive and old parking area.

2. Had small training session before the meeting on the 16" and 12" telescopes, but the best way to learn how to use it is by doing it.  For the first time or two that you try to use one of these telescopes, you really need someone that has used it before present.

3. When it dries out, Marty will look into the electrical problem.

4. Anyone who wants mulch is free to take whatever they want.  There is a large pile of it southwest of the new dome.

5. Had a short work session before the meeting and cut a few small trees down to the west and northwest of the dome.

6. Joe Petrick donated his Meade 416 camera to the club. Ask Marty for any help in using it.

Director of Observations:

For Bob's complete observations report, please visit the Monthly Sky Calendar on our website.

Observations for past month:

Bob Modic and John Gorka made some observations of Comet Bradfield. Bob reported seeing a 1 degree tail from his home in Richmond Hts.


Editor:

Working on the next issue of The Valley Skywatch, probably will be out at the next meeting.

All members of CVAS and the OTAA are encouraged to contribute ideas, articles, images and observation reports for possible inclusion in future issues of this monthly update and in the quarterly editions of The Valley SkyWatcher

Old Business:

1. Light Pollution - Larry Boros reported that a car dealership in Mentor switched to full cut off lighting and he is still working on an article titled, "Smart People - Dumb Lighting". Plan to have two versions of this, one to give city officials and one to put in perhaps city newletters.

2. Dan Rothstein reported on the meeting with the Geauga Park board on the new installation for the 25" Oberle Telescope. The main topic of discussion was talking about who are they targeting with this installation and what exhibits and displays to have there. Talked some about what are the Ohio State standards for Education and how to meet these and how to provide assistance to schools. It is estimated this will be about a 4 year project. The old land owner has a 2 year agricultural lease on the land and any construction can't begin until this is up.

3. Grants - Larry Boros is done with the CVAS Mission Statement. If anyone has any comments on this contact Larry. A vote is plan for the next meeting to accept this.


New Business:

1. Went over calendar - Added two new dates. On June 4th there will be a Star Party in Madison for a group of Girl Scouts.  On June 10th, there will be a training session for the Lake County rangers on how to use telescopes.  More details (location/times) will be included in the Calendar page when they become available.

2. Larry Boros handed out a calendar of events sheet.

3. Voted to renew membership to the International Darksky Association. Cost is $50.

4. Club decided not to renew the club's subscription to Sky & Telescope. This was started when many club members did not receive the magazine, but now since most receive it on their own and no one really requests to see the club's magazine, it was decided not to renew the subscription.

5. Dan Rothstein has what is left of the club's library. Most of the books are old and not in the best of shape and not being used anymore. It was decided that Dan would put the books in the warm-up room.   Ayone is free to take what they want. After a couple of months, the books that are not claimed by anyone will be discarded.

6. Steve Fishman received an offer from NASA to use information that they are making available to certain astronomy clubs in their Space Place program. Steve said he probably will put a link to their web site on our web site and gave Earl the information for including any information in the newsletter.

7. Club member, Bobby Weitzner, reported that his Science fair project titled Astrophotography and Filters, won first place at The 2004 Intel Northeast Ohio Science and Engineering Fair which was held at Cleveland State University, during the week of March 18, 2004. He competed in the Middle School Division in the category of Earth and Space Science. He was then chosen to compete nationally in the Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge in Washington D.C. Additionally, he was the recipient of the 2004 Eastman Kodak Co. Award for the most creative use of photography in presenting scientific data.

8. The Lake Park district asked us if we can end our meetings at Penitentiary Glen a little earlier. We can either start our meetings at an earlier time or make sure we end our meetings at a specific time instead of always running over. A suggestion was made to start at 2:30, instead of 3.  A final decision will be made at a future meeting.

9. Reported on the Star Party at the Wickliffe library. Had a few club members show the planets and moon to about 20 visitors. Received a nice thank you letter from the Wickliffe librarian.

Visitors:

Had 3 visitors who checking out the club. One of them, Tom Wargula, joined the club, welcome to CVAS.

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