Champaign Urbana Astronomical Society
Minutes of monthly meeting October 11th, 2001

M.C.: Geoff Burch, president

Notes taken by Phil Wall, secretary, who wishes to apologize in advance
for any errors in this or any other meeting minutes he posted or will
post to the mailing list.

Attendance: 10

- We discussed the picnic. It was decided that if the weather is clear, it
  would be held. The secretary was asked to send directions to Wayne
  James' farm to the email list. (NOTE: The picnic has since been cancelled.)

- We discussed the upcoming Telescope Buyer's Seminar, which will be held
  Thursday, October 18th, at the planetarium. Dave Leake said that members
  are welcome to help out, but CUAS members don't really need to show up
  (but, of course, are more than welcome) because they generally already
  know the material which will be discussed and shown.

- Dave Leake announced that the Floating Illini, a group of students who
  design experiments for NASA, will be at the next skywatch to shoot
  off bottle rockets at 6 pm (plastic soda pop bottles launched from gas
  pressure).

- Dave Leake, in his role as Director of Staerkel Planetarium, asked the
  members' opinions about what movies would be good to show for
  "Yesterday's Tomorrows," a series of features to be shown and displayed
  in March or April of 2002, about what people used to think about the
  future. Exhibits will be at museums across the country, including the
  aviation museum at the former Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul. We
  came up with movies ideas such as "Things to Come" (1936), starring
  Raymond Massey, and "Silent Running," a more recent science fiction
  film. Suggestions can still be sent to Dave Leake
  (dleake@parkland.cc.il.us).

- Phil Wall, CUAS secretary, brought up the idea of an observation shelter
  made of fence sections for the dome site, for shelter from wind and light
  for members desiring to use their own scopes, especially during winter
  or when there's heavy traffic going by the dome site. Ideas were brought
  up such as just putting up posts or a framework and wrapping it with
  insulation sheets which could be taken down after use and simply putting
  up one side as a test. It was decided that, at the next skywatch, we
  would put up red flags or other markers in a circle the approximate
  diameter of the proposed shelter to see how many people and scopes
  would actually fit inside. Phil mentioned that his original idea
  would cost about $300 including fence sections, attachment hardware,
  and delivery, but Mike Rosenberg, observatory director, said he could
  transport them on his truck if we went ahead with this idea.

- We also discussed putting up a deck around the pier (used to mount scopes
  at our dome site), but it was decided that since the ground around the
  pier is more stable due to material Wayne James put down, using the
  old wooden steps to the dome would now be sufficiently stable, and that
  a deck would make it too difficult for adults to use the scope.

- A member (sorry, I don't remember his name) brought in a map he had made
  of Champaign County which had an area marked with light levels based on
  "dark-o-meter" readings he had taken one night (Bob Robendunst had
  constructed the meter based on plans in Sky and Telescope). He brought
  up what he called a modest proposal, to obtain four more dark-o-meters
  (Note: would they actually be called photometers?) and spend one clear
  night in teams of two with Thermoses of coffee driving around Champaign
  County taking measurements to complete the First Annual Sky Survey for
  Champaign County. Members in attendance were enthusiastic. It was decided
  to ask Bob Robendunst about construction of more "dark-o-meters" and
  to send out a notice on the mailing list about when or if the survey
  would be held.

- We then took nominations for the 2002 CUAS officers. Sorry, I had only
  incomplete notes about who nominated whom, so I am omitting that part.

  OFFICE          MEMBERS NOMINATED (in order of nomination)

  President       Jeff Bryant
                  Chris Pond

  Vice President  Phil Wall
                  Lex Lane

  Treasurer       Dave Leake

  Secretary       Mark (last name?)
                  Cliff Medeusa

  Fifth Director  Geoff Burch
                  Scott Hough

  We toyed with the idea of nominating Chris Pond for all offices, but
  were confronted with the dilemma about what we'd do if he were elected
  for more than one, and that fact that no provision is made on the subject
  in the CUAS bylaws. Geoff Burch mentioned that the bylaws are probably
  available on the CUAS website, www.prairienet.org/cuas.

  Note: the offices of webmaster and observatory director are appointed
  by the CUAS board, which consists of the five elected officers.
  Currently, Chris Pond as webmaster and Mike Rosenberger as observatory
  director are doing a great job.

- We finished the meeting (I left near, but before, the very end) by
  looking at satellite tracks using a program run in a web browser
  called J Track, available on the Heavens Above website (I don't
  remember the URL, go to www.google.com and search for "Heavens
  Above").