CUAS monthly meeting FEB 8th, 2001

notes taken by P. Wall, CUAS secretary

Members attending: 21

Visitors: 1 (did not sign guest book)

- Geoff Burch, president, mentioned upcoming events, such as March one-night
  Messier hunt.

- Dave Leake, treasurer, talked about doing observing at Sunnycrest IGA on
  25th to tie in with their science/astronomy promotion.

- Mike Rosenberger, CUAS observatory director, said that the new pier at the
  dome site is ready, but will only take Meade LX scopes, not Celestrons.

- Dave says half the club members have paid their dues as of the club meeting
  date.

- Current rebate from Amazon link on our web page: $29.50.

- Dave brought up T shirt design, and also mentioned that he has to return
  our list of upcoming events to the Park District.

- We need a new coordinator for Junior Stargazers, since Anne, the former
  coordinator, moved to Chicago. Anybody who wants to work with kids is
  encouraged to volunteer.

- The club challenge hunt this year: the Caldwell objects (109 of them, but 15
  are visible only from the southern hemisphere.

- There will be an all-night Messier hunt on March 24th for club members. We
  will split into teams and attempt to find all the Messier objects between
  dusk and dawn.

- Dave did the Constellation of the month, Canis Major, focussing on its
  brightest star, Sirius.

- Clarification: we are officially a nonprofit group, but we are not exempt
  from paying sales tax.

- The main event of the evening was disassembling disposable cameras, removing
  their shutters, and reassembling them. Dave demontrated how to do it and
  helped people who needed it. Some people had fun discharging their camera
  capacitors with screwdrivers.